Just Blanche

In honor of Girl Scout Cookie booth sales which occur in the month of March, I have decided to share some links with you! I am a former Girl Scout and have been a Girl Scout Leader for several years. My co-leader (my Cookie Mom) and I have booth sales down to a science! I always purchase extra cookies to not only enjoy with my family and friends, but I use them to make some awesome recipes! I have also had a few parties where we pair the cookies with beer and wine! The money we raise through cookie sales, supports the girls.  We are 100% girl lead.  They vote on what they want to do. They may want to learn about horse back riding. Therefore, we visit a horse farm and learn all about horses including riding horses! We have visited places like Dunkin Donuts, Panera's, Pizza Places, TV Stations, Digital Newspaper Facility, Family Court Tour, Dr.'s Offices, Hospitals, Apple Farms, Animal Rescue, Airport Tour, and Silk Screening just to name a few!

There was a disagreement in the house. I asked what everyone wanted for dinner! My daughter wanted baked potatoes and my son wanted tacos. I said let's have both!  I got an ..... "oooh kkk?" I said let's combine them. The looks were skeptical. I started to describe what I had hoped to be the end product. They were so excited to make these with me! We went grocery shopping: russet potatoes ✔ ground beef ✔ taco seasoning ✔ sharp cheddar cheese ✔ lettuce ✔ tomatoes ✔ sour cream ✔  I wrote about this in a previous blog.  I found out the hard way, if you are making true baked potatoes, russet potatoes are a must! You need patience to make true baked potatoes. We started by washing the russet potatoes. Run under water and you can use your hands to remove any dirt. After washing them, using a fork, poke holes all over the potatoes. Next take some aluminum foil and either spray vegetable oil on one side of the foi

Growing up, whenever we have stuffed artichokes, it was a real treat!  I remember watching my grandmother prepare the artichokes.  She prepared them with such ease! It takes me much longer to prepare them ! I found these mammoth artichokes. I cut off the bottom and tops of the artichokes.  Then I trimmed the tops of the other leaves.  They are pointy, so I took my kitchen shears and gave them a haircut!  I even trimmed the inner leaves in the center of the artichokes.  I then started the tedious task of stuffing the artichokes!  Have patience and time for this task. I added a glass of wine (for me) to help (me) with the this process. I used seasoned Italian style bread crumbs.  I scooped the breadcrumbs with a teaspoon and placed the breadcrumbs in between the leaves. There were only 4 artichokes and it seemed like it took forever! Then placed them in a deep pan and added water.  Fill the pan with water so that the water goes