Anatomy of a Jumbo Freezie – Evil plastic edges

humor, pictures, snacks | June 20, 2011 | By

Drawing of a jumbo freezie popsicle with descriptions of each part: Yummy, cold eatable bit (turns mouth blue!), evil plastic edge (will cut your mouth), broken section to hold so your fingers don't freeze, more for later, the juice? (a.k.a. the best part) (also found on t-shirts), little cut off bit Moms will find on the floor

Is that not the truest thing you’ve seen all day? I have nothing to add*. Mmmm, freezies. <3

* Okay, I do have something to add. 1. I’ve always called these popsicles, but finally trained myself to call them “freezies” around anyone not from the US. 2. Eatable? I’m trying not to notice….

3 cheese stuffed shells – Do you really want to cook 7 nights a week?

2009, oamc, pasta, recipes | May 22, 2012 | By

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This is another guess-y recipe, but another one that I used to make a lot circa 2009. It was sooo easy to just put all the cheeses together, pipe it into dozens of partially cooked jumbo shells.
 
(Side note – When I was looking to see if I had posted about these yet, I realized I have more posts marked as “jumbo” than I would’ve expected. Aiming for “larger than life” much?)
 
I looked up a recipe for you so I’d have the right proportions listed, but really, I just used whatever I had. No mozzarella? Let’s go with cheddar. No cottage cheese? Cream cheese it is then… At one point, I kept catching plain yogurt on sale and even that would get added for the creaminess. It’s a catch-all recipe that works with whatever you have.
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You can use the pre-grated parmesan shaker cheese if you want, but we prefer buying the block. If you’re going to use a shredder like this instead of a microplane, though, then watch out for shredding your palm, too. Not that I’d ever do anything like that… 

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Am I the only one that finds these pictures appetizing? More than likely….but I also know what it tastes like in this form and it is delicious. Cheese, cheese, and more cheese, mmm. 
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Do not skip the step of writing the instructions on the bag. Sure, you probably assume you’ll remember the temperature when you’re ready, but chances are, you won’t. But hey, if you do, this is pretty forgiving considering the shells are already partially cooked and the filling only needs to be cooked enough to heat the egg and melt the cheese.
 
3 cheese stuffed jumbo shells
  • 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
  • 4 cups large curd cottage cheese
  • 12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 pinch garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Cook shells according to package MINUS about 2 minutes cooking time. Toss in cold water to stop the cooking.

Mix filling and put into a gallon sized ziploc bag. Cut the tip and pipe filling into shells. I tend to double the filling recipe and then split it between 3 boxes instead of just two. Perfect for once-a-month-cooking plans again.

Place on a pan or two and then place in the freezer for an hour…or until you remember to pull them out.

When shells are a little more solid, place them all into a ziploc bag and freeze until you need them. When you’re ready to reheat, place in a casserole pan, cover with your favorite pasta sauce, and cook for roughly 30 minutes.

Or…. toss them in the microwave for a couple minutes, pour some sauce on, and call it a day. Either way works. :P

Hot chocolate recipe – Giant campfire marshmallows required

hot chocolate, hot cocoa | December 8, 2011 | By

Giant jumbo campfire marshamallows for hot cocoa in a penguin mug

 
Adorable penguin cups are optional, but these giant, jumbo marshmallows just make hot chocolate way more fun, even if you’re not a huge marshmallow fan.
 
Giant jumbo campfire marshamallows for hot cocoa with chocolate chips as a smiley face
 
Add a chocolate chip smiley face and winter blues will melt away.
 
Giant jumbo campfire marshamallows for hot cocoa sinking in chocolate
 
Actually, so will the marshmallow. And the chocolate chips. It was tricky to get the chips to stick in the first place, but getting the marshmallow to stay upright while I tried to take a picture -and- the chocolate chips from sliding off had us all giggling for a while.
 
Giant jumbo campfire marshamallows for hot cocoa
 
If you don’t have a penguin cup, tea cups make the marshmallow look even more abnormally large.
 
Giant jumbo campfire marshamallows for hot cocoa in a giant cereal bowl cup
 
Or put them in a giant soup bowl and they’ll look strangely tiny in comparison again, hehe.

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Keep this mix stashed in the pantry for cold days. Or Swiss Miss….she makes a good one, too. ;)
Bulk Hot Cocoa Mix
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered milk

Also, while looking around for pictures of the marshmallows, I found these sheep/lamb marshmallow pops

Marshmallow lamb sheep pops using giant marshmallows on sticks

Sweet Simple Stuff has a full tutorial of how to make them. So cute!