An Onion Shortcut

I love the flavor of onions but dread the chopping, tears, and mess that always comes with them.  When I buy them they usually sit there because I put off using them for the previously stated reasons.  Then they rot as I look at them day after day mocking me with their savory hard to get at flavor.

Being the lazy cheap resourceful person that I am I figured out a way to get around the chopping, at least for awhile.  It also lets you use up those onions you bought on sale before they go bad.

I buy a bag full of onions or 3 to 4 very large Vidalia onions at a time.  Then I peel (quickly) the outer skin, cut into 1/4th or 1/8ths, just until the easily fit into your food processor.  If they are too large they will not fall to the bottom and what is nearest the blade will turn to onion mushiness.  This is a picture of onions that have NOT been cut small enough.  The mushy result will be used in soup.

If you don’t have a food processor then I would recommend chopping all at one time.  If you are going to tear up then I suggest putting on some sad music and make a moment out of it.  Then you will be done for a few months.

I use a chopping blade in the food processor and pulse until chopped.  Turning it on and leaving it will turn your onions to mush.  The pulsing chops and knocks the larger chunks down toward the blade while keeping the mush at bay.  This takes around 2 minutes or longer if you let the 5 year old do it.

Then I fill gallon plastic bags with one to two large onions or 4 to 5 smaller onions.  Lay flat on a cookie sheet and label if you want.  I like to score mine with my hand so they are in easy to break off sections.  Also, laying flat on the cookie sheet makes them easy to stack in the freezer and keeps them from conforming to whatever object is underneath.  Because if they are in the metal grate then they will freeze in that shape, squish between the metal bars, and be impossible to get off without tearing the bag.  Not fun.

Once they are frozen you can easily, really easily, break off as much as you need for what every recipe you are doing.  They defrost in about 2 minutes or 30 seconds in a hot pan.  The bonus, no tears or running to the store for onions.

Because we are a cooked onion lovin’ family this is really the only way I use them.  If you are a raw onion lover I don’t see why this would not work for you too.  Someone give it a shot and let me know.  But if they will be cooked in anyway then this definitely will work with any onion.

FYI….if you stop to take pictures of the onions you don’t avoid the crying part.

A quick public service announcement:  Onions, even in small quantities cooked or raw, are life threatening to dogs and cats.  They can cause a deadly reaction called Heinz Body Anemia where the red blood cells will burst.  Treatment is available at your vets office but please be aware what your pet is into.

Linked up to Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family

Also, linked up at Women Living Well

Cookies and Milk for Dinner

Yup, I did it.

I made cookies and let them all eat it for dinner.

Why?  Well because it was Sunday and it was dinner time and I wanted cookies and I was tired and they wanted the cookies and they had a big lunch and I am THAT mom and any other excuse I could come up with .

I want them to remember making cookies and having fun together as brothers.  I want to also enjoy that time and not turn into Monster Mommy trying to clean and cook at the same time.  I want Sundays to be about God and rest and family and joy.  So I gave them cookies and milk for dinner.

Don’t worry it won’t happen every Sunday.  Usually we have cheesecake .

Linked up to Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are That Family

Thankful Thursday–Music

As a mom you often find you cannot turn things off.

Your brain, children, dinner, pets, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.

To combat my distracted self so I can finish cleaning and laundry I use my iPod to quiet those thoughts so I don't walk back and forth through the house forgetting why I am standing in front of the refrigerator and then walked to the bedroom.

I only have three requirements for my playlist, it is easy to sing to, clean, and fun.

This is my newest (to me) favorite song.  I heard it on someone’s blog and had to have it. 

It also makes me feel like Spring and Summer are just around the corner!  Aaahhhhhh……

Being Average

…..that is what I once wished worked for me.

I didn’t want to stand out.  I didn’t want attention.  I wanted to blend in.

I wanted to be just the right amount of helpful but not so much that it got me noticed.  I wanted to be just funny enough that someone is amused but not so much that milk came out their nose.

I want things to go smoothly.  I want no large problems.  I want to be what everyone else thinks everyone else is and they are not.

Thankfully, not one of us is that average person, are we?  You always seem like you are when I see you out at the store or church but you aren’t are you?

Good.  I thought I was the only one.

What works for me this week is being average.  Those few seconds were unexpected now back to my amazingly unusual life.  Average is overrated.

Mondays - The Jumble Of Life

There are days, weeks, months even that pass when life moves so fast you lose track of time. 

You rush the kids out the door with lunch sacks in their hands.  They need to eat in the car.  You are late.

But if you give them just a few extra minutes you will find they made those extra 5 minutes into something special.

I hope and pray they remember this today and not their crazy mommy.

Cheesecake Saturday-Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Happy Saturday!

I am up late and I will pay for it in the morning but the cheesecake needed to be made.

Again I changed it.  I know you are shocked.  I always follow the recipe, keep traditions, and never break the rules.

That was a nice break but back to reality……

I didn’t like the chocolate fudge mirror in the original Junior’s Triple Chocolate Cheesecake.  It was too acidic for me, too sugary.  So I tried a chocolate glaze from another recipe and it was more like someone put a candy bar on top.  Good but it doesn’t go on creamy perfect chocolate cheesecake.

So in the interest of keeping the title I wanted 3 different types of chocolate.

Again with the brownie crust, it is easy and I like it.  I use a box version usually whatever is on sale.  I do have limits and prefer Ghirardelli (summer in CA and one cute boy got me hooked) but Betty Crocker will do too.  I just pour a small layer in the pan and bake for 25 minutes.

So the same basic cheesecake recipe used with the original New York (I memorized it therefore I will use it forever) split in half in two different bowls.  Then I added melted (in the microwave) Ghirardelli milk chocolate (5 oz) in one bowl and Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate (5 oz) in the other after they had cooled a bit.  Stirred gently until incorporated thoroughly.  Next I poured the semisweet batter into the springform pan leaving about a cup in the bowl.  Then I gently in small dollops placed the milk chocolate batter on top of the semisweet layer (leaving 1 cup in the bowl), careful not to mix the layers.

I was also trying out new 4 inch springform pans so I took the remaining one cup of each batter and did the same with them as with the 9 inch.  As I discovered last week, the smaller cheesecakes will cook the same amount of time as the larger so I put them in the same pan to cook.

Aren’t they cute all wrapped up ready for their warm bath?

They are baking now while I type.  After a rest and some cooling off time they will be dressed up for presentation tomorrow.  The little ones will go to work with my husband and the larger one will go next door for a big Sunday dinner.

I promise to take pictures before they leave.  Aaahhhhh, they grow up so fast don’t they?

Now for cleanup….

On a brighter note, I just came into a lot of Pampered Chef products.  It was an exchange of sorts so it is guilt free Pampered Chef.  The best kind.  I will definitely be telling you about all of it because I love love love kitchen tools that work and make life easier.  That is definitely these!

UPDATED: Pic of finished cheesecake. L.O.V.E. It was so so good.

Thankful Thursdays–Aprons

Donna Reed and June Cleaver had it right.  The women of that decade were wise in the use of aprons.  Did you see the dresses they were cooking in?

                                                  Image source

I know we have better washing machines and more durable fabrics but saving money and clothes is always important.  I am on a tight tight tight budget.  I don’t have time or funds to replace clothing.  This is not to say I am a pig.  But I also cook, clean, raise boys, have 5 dogs (we were down to 3, long story), one guinea pig, and actually leave the house.  Stuff happens.

“But Sgt Z don’t you know all the handy dandy tricks for getting stains out of fabric?”

Yes, I do.  I have the Martha Stewart “I have a bazillion hours in one day” Homekeeping Handbook with the very clever chart. (Okay I actually love the book but who are we kidding? It is very informative and useful but requires you have time to actually do the home keeping.)

So in light of my predicament and my unwillingness to part with certain clothing I am embracing the apron.  Join me, won’t you?

I have 3 of these aprons now.  I just ordered them off Amazon and they look like they can take a beating.  They are by Chef Works. I originally ordered one but quickly realized they get dirty hence their usefulness.  So when one is dirty and you only have one then you have no aprons. (Did you like that story problem? Can you tell I work with a 2nd grader on math everyday?)

Seriously, this seems small in the light of important wonderful miracles of life we contend with daily.  But sometimes you are just thankful you don’t have to change clothes again or can walk out of the house and not be embarrassed you never noticed the stream of soda/ketchup/spit up/chocolate/milk/cheese down your shirt because you haven’t looked in a mirror since your kids got you up at 5am.

The Apron and Book pics were from Amazon.com.

Linked up today over at The Nut House.

Also linked to Thankful Thursday with http://www.eph2810.com/.