Cooking minus the boxed helper

I am coming a long way on my goal to lean to cook five meals that don't come with a box containing the instructions. My mom got me hooked on this website called allrecipes. I can search for meals about a thousand different ways and save the recipes I like in my own personal recipe box. There are also reviews of most of the recipes and people can leave comments about what they changed that made it better. (No, I don't work for allrecipes. I just love the site.) I have tried several from the site and my favorites are the slow cooker/crock pot recipes. Since I am a working mom and I leave my house between 7 and 8 pm and don't get home until after 5, the crock pot really saves me. Here is what I have tried so far:

1) Tuna and macaroni casserole - this one is easy. Cook a box of mac and cheese and add a can of tuna, some milk, a can of cream of mushroom soup (the recipe called for cream of celery but I prefer the mushroom) and sprinkle some shredded cheese and parsley on top. Cook in a baking dish for 20 minutes on 350 and it's done!

2) French dip sandwiches - I cooked a roast in the crock pot for about 6 hours with a can of beef broth, condensed onion soup mix and about a half a bottle of heavy beer (again, I took liberties. Instead of using a whole bottle I only used about a half). Then I served it up on french rolls and used the juice for Au jous dip. Another hit!

3) Beef brisket - I've actually done this one before. I wasn't sure the kids would like it but they did. They raved about how good it was. This was also super easy. Put a 3 lb. beef brisket (not a corned beef brisket) in the crock pot. To make the sauce, mix two bottles of chili sauce, a packet of dry onion soup mix and a small spoonful of chopped garlic (or use 2 tsp. of garlic powder). Mix it all together and pour over the brisket. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. This is perfect for the long days when I have to leave early.

Next up is brown sugar meatloaf, which sounds really good. I don't really like meatloaf, but this got rave reviews. I wish I had pictures of what I have made so far so you could see my progress. I have brisket in the crock pot right now so I'll try to get a photo of it before I serve it.

Another good cooking tip I have learned is to wait until the grocery store puts meat on sale then stock up on as much as they will let me buy. Then I just separate it into the size I will need and put in baggies in the freezer.

I am making good progress toward my goals. First, I went out and purchased a quality LSAT prep book and am slowly making my way through it. I am having lots of trouble with the logic games, but I think I have nailed down a strategy for solving them. Take this one, for example:

Each of seven travelers—Norris, Oribe, Paulsen, Rosen, Semonelli, Tan, and Underwood—will be assigned to exactly one of nine airplane seats. The seats are numbered from 1 through 9 and arranged in rows as follows:

Front row: 1 2 3
Middle row: 4 5 6
Last row: 7 8 9

Only seats in the same row as each other are immediately beside each other. Seat assignments must meet the following conditions:
Oribe’s seat is in the last row.
Paulsen’s seat is immediately beside Rosen’s seat and also
immediately beside an unassigned seat.
Rosen’s seat is in the row immediately behind the row in which Norris’ seat is located.

Neither Semonelli nor Underwood is seated immediately beside Norris.

1. Which one of the following is a pair of travelers who could be assigned to seats 2 and 8, respectively?
(A) Norris, Semonelli
(B) Oribe, Underwood
(C) Paulsen, Oribe
(D) Rosen, Semonelli
(E) Underwood, Tan

As you can see, I have to draw the same puzzle for each of the five questions that accompany this mind bending exercise. I started by assuming that the questions were not independent of each other and quickly discovered that was all wrong. Then I tried to use the same drawing for each question and found that didn't work either. So now I am working on getting through the questions no matter how much time it takes and expecting to get better at these with practice.

ABC

In a desperate attempt to find new things to blog about, I shamelessly went back to some of my friend's blogs for some of their better stuff. So, Amanda, I have pilfered from you today for the "ABC's of me"

A - Attached or single: Attached, married for nine amazing years!
B - Best friend: My best female friends are Amanda and Marcia. My hubby is a great best friend; I can tell him anything.
C - Cake or pie: Ooohhh, tough choice. But I think cake probably wins this one. It seriously might depend on my mood, though.
D - Day of choice: I like Saturdays, because I usually don't have to work and my husband is home with me..
E - Essential item: Before I lost it, it was my Palm. Now I guess it's my cell phone.
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gummy bears or worms: Another tough choice. I think it's equal.
H - Hometown: Born in Idaho, raised in Salt Lake, 10 years in Vegas. I miss Vegas the most, though.
I - Indulgence(s): Getting a pedicure and massage.
J - January or July: Definitely July. I can't handle the cold. January is depressing.
K - Kids: Three (see right for info).
L - Life is incomplete without: Husband and good friends, the kind you can call when you need to cry.
M - Marriage date: June 24, 2000
N - Number of siblings: Seven
O - Oranges or apples: Apples, if they are crispy and sweet.
P - Phobias or fears: I am afraid of all kinds of bugs, spiders, snakes and scorpions. I am also afraid of dying in a fire or drowning. Because of this, I am also generally afraid to fly, but it's getting a little better.
Q - Quotes: Margaret Thatcher said, "I'm not lucky, I deserved it." You go girl!
R - Reason to smile: My kids can always make me laugh.
S - Season of choice: Depends on where I am - In Arizona, it's spring and fall. Vegas is spring only. Salt Lake is summer.
T - Tag three friends: The only other person whose blog I follow is who I stole this from, so I don't think I will. But thanks.
U - Unknown fact about me: I'm pretty much an open book. There's nothing interesting there.
V - Very favorite store: Target for stuff and CJ Banks for clothes.
W - Worst habit: Overeating.
X - X-ray or ultrasound: I guess it's an ultrasound, since I remember the ultrasounds for all of my kids. There are some bad memory ultrasounds in there too, but I'm not sure how one would prefer to be x-rayed.
Y - Your favorite food: Anything chocolate. Chicken crispers from Chili's.
Z - Zodiac sign: Scorpio.

Goals

They say that you are more likely to achieve your goals if you write them out and track them. To that end, I have some goals to share. Some are for the next few weeks, some will take longer to complete. Hold me accountable and ask about my progress. Here goes....

#1 Take the December Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). I was going to do this a while ago, but I sort of fell off the wagon. A friend of mine at work who is an attorney reminded me that I am wasting my smarts and talent. She also reminded me that I hired her as a temporary employee in an entry level department and she is now one of our general counsel. She was already a lawyer when I hired her, she just needed her foot in the door. So I went out and bought a good prep book and plan to make it my new accessory.

#2 Clean my oven. Can I say I have achieved this goal if I hire someone to do it for me?

#3 Learn to cook at leas five things that don't come with a boxed "helper". I can't handle all the grease in my diet.

#4 Lose 75 pounds. This will take some time, but I have to get motivated. I bought a Weight Watchers magazine while I was at the bookstore and if I like it, I'll get a subscription.