Happy Pi Day!

That is to you, my husband, and your friends;)  I love my computer man genius:)

How is your weekend everyone?  Great over here!  Got to finally enjoy Up in the Air (to me, who knows nothing about the craft of acting, it was amazing), Frost/Nixon, and Precious - yes, it rained all weekend;)  Precious was intense but I see now why Mo'nique won an Oscar, etc. 

Oh yes, I did cook this weekend;)   Tonight I'm making Mexican Fiesta in the crockpot, and an Ultimate Carrot Cake, just for the man:)  I'm going to post the recipes and pictures below, then let you know we thought of them tomorrow night:)

Mexican Fiesta - what you'll need:

• 1 lb hamburg
• Pam spray
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1/2 bag white corn tortilla chips
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes and chiles
• extra small can of chiles if you like extra spice
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped

 Brown the hamburg, and once browned, mix in the beans, undrained.  Spray the inside of the crockpot with Pam Spray.  Place half the tortilla chips in the bottom, then put half of the hamburg/bean mixture on top of that.

In a separate bowl, mix together the soups, tomatoes/chiles, chili powder and onion.  Place half of this mixture on top of the hamburg mixture, then put half of the shredded cheese on top.  Repeat steps one more time, then cook on high for 3 hours.

How do you think it will come out??  It's Mexican food and in a crockpot, what could go wrong??

Ultimate carrot cake!  How will this turn out?

You will need:

•  1 box of carrot cake mix, for example, Pillsbury
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup any kind of chopped nuts - I used almonds
• 10 oz pineapple, not drained
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 13x9 pan with butter Pam Spray and then sprinkle with flour.  Mix together the carrot cake mix, water, oil, eggs, and pineapple.  Beat for 30 seconds on low and 2 minutes on medium.  Once mixed, add the nuts and coconut, then pour into the pan. 

Bake for 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for at least one hour, then frost with whatever type frosting you like - I used cream cheese frosting, just for the husband, and keep refrigerated until serving.

I'll give you a sneak of how we liked this one - I topped mine with the Purely Decadent Coconut Milk ice cream stuff I've been loving and um um um!  I scraped off my frosting though;)

So this continued the spring cleaning of sorts of our fridge/cabinets - another success in that aspect!  I'm so proud of us!  Grocery bills have gone down, and we're being creative:)

I've got some spreadsheets to make in regards to houses we're going to see soon, and I've got to watch Up in the Air again...love it so much:)  Then it's off to finish my book and start a new work week!  Lots of exciting things going on around here:)  What's exciting in your life?  What's in your pantry or freezer that want to use and what do you want to use them for. 

Here are 3 things I'm still trying to figure out what to do with:

1. can of chickpeas
2. 2 cans of mushrooms
3. flaxseed

Help!

See you tomorrow night - enjoy what's left of your weekend.  Is anyone as cranky about losing an hour's of sleep as me??