Moving continues

drying flowers and electronics waiting to be moved

Progress is being made. Really.

Rearranging continues

Cheese pie

This recipe was from a friend of my mom's. I use it every summer to keep the staff going! You can also make it in individual batches - I like to bake mini pies in my little custard pots sometimes.

Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (1 pack)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Make sure you crush the graham crackers very fine, then press the whole mess into the pie pan.

16 oz cream cheese (soften it first)
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

You can add these in order, but I don't think it makes any difference. Beat until it's smooth then pour into the crust. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, let stand about 15 minutes.

Topping
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Spread over the pie. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes (if you don't remember at this point to put a pan under the pie you will be sorry!)

Cool, then chill overnight.

Just out of the oven after the first baking

Topping added

Chilled - the next morning

Time to start moving the living room furniture

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I adapted this recipe from the Eating Better cookbooks. Generally, their recipes are pretty old-school healthy (read: gross) but this is a yummy one that I grew up eating. I use a LOT of broccoli and freeze the extra soup in small tupperwares. Great with some crusty bread.

Set aside a couple cups of chopped broccoli (I just use the florets)

7 cups chicken broth
roughly chopped broccoli (I think this is supposed to be four cups, but I just throw in LOTS)
small onion (sometimes I use one, sometimes I don't)
oregano (like, maybe a couple teaspoons?)

While this is boiling and softening the broccoli, make the sauce:

3 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons white flour
1 cup milk
2 cups grated cheese

If you don't know how to make a cheese sauce, look it up on the internet. The basic idea is to add everything in little bits and stir a lot until it's smooth and creamy. But if it's not, don't freak out.

Dump the cheese sauce into the boiled broccoli broth and whish it around a little.

Now you need a giant bowl in addition to your pot and a blender. Pour the hot soup into the blender a little at a time and BLEND. This is messy. Dump your florets into the bowl of hot, blended soup, as you blend it, then pour it all back into the pot and boil a little more to soften the florets.

Makes enough soup for me for about 8 servings.

Meatloaf

This recipe was adapted by my mom from the Eating Better cookbooks (note - in general, they encourage eating better by giving you food so blech that you won't want to eat anything, but some of the recipes aren't bad)

• 6 oz can tomato juice
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• sprinkle of garlic
• 1/2 cup oats
• small chopped onion
• 1 lb hamburger

Squish it all together with your hands. This is very therapeutic, if somewhat messy. Pat it into whatever shape you want - I favor large meatballs because they fit nicely in a tupperware for work and you can also slice them for sandwiches.

Bake at 350 for an hour to an hour + 15 minutes.