Baked Oatmeal

I have no idea where I first came across this recipe but I have been interested to try it for a couple months now. Today I had a kiddo with a cold and was looking for something quick and warm for dinner, "but not soup", because the sicky didn't want soup. I found this great recipe for Baked Oatmeal on Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog and gave it a shot!

I took her advice, perused the comments for additional ideas, used her exact recipe and sprinkled cinnamon all over the top before baking! We had canned peaches, so I used that.

I have to say, I loved it warm out of the oven with the peaches. I also liked it reheated, and I really liked it cold! Cold was a lot like a cookie or granola bar...I did not put milk on mine. My husband tried it both warm with peaches and a little milk, and cold, and liked it both ways. One of our kiddos only liked it with milk, and kind of a real oatmeal-y consistency. The little sicky didn't like it much, but I blame the cold. *smile
We'll use this recipe again, but we'll half it next time. It is really filling, and there's a lot of leftovers!  

Tomato Chicken Pasta

This was our Sunday dinner tonight, along with the biscuits from the previous post. My husband saw this type of meal on a commercial and recreated it with what he thought would taste good. I had him type up the instructions below! YUM!

Olive Oil
Butter
2 chicken breasts
montreal chicken seasoning
bell peppers (we use a frozen mixed bag of green, yellow and red pepper strips)
16 oz tomato sauce
brown sugar
Italian spices
shredded parmesan
sour cream
12 oz cooked pasta

Put 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium high heat. (Put the butter and oil into a cold pan and let it heat and melt as the pan warms up on the burner. Allow the butter to start to brown and get a nutty smell.) Cut two good size chicken breasts into about 1 inch chunks. Toss the the raw chicken chunks in Montreal Chicken Seasoning, about 3 to 4 Tablespoons.

Cook the chicken until it is all just turning white. Toss in about one cup of chopped bell pepper, either frozen or fresh, and cook until all of the liquid that will leech out from the chicken and the bell peppers cooks away. Saute the chicken and bell peppers until the chicken starts to brown.

Then add about 16 ounces of tomato sauce (or one can). Also add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and any Italian seasons that you may like. Turn the heat down to medium and allow to simmer for a few minutes until the sauce gets a little thicker. Add about 4 tablespoons of shredded parmesan and 4 tablespoons of sour cream. Stir in to combine. Add 12 ounces of cooked pasta (penne, spirals, shells, or whatever). Stir in to combine and coat all of the noodles with the sauce. Serve immediately with more parmesan if needed.

Biscuits!

When I began making dinner last night my daughter asked if I knew how to make "dinner rolls". That is her favorite part of school lunch and is always quite envious when she misses out on "dinner rolls" (my kids usually take their lunch from home). I told her I don't think I've ever actually tried to make rolls (other than Rhodes freezer rolls) but that I had just read a recipe for biscuits I wanted to try...would that work? lol!

I found the recipe and instructions HERE. I followed them exactly as she said, including using my food processor (which frankly, I am scared of, and have used one other time, LOL!) and mixing the egg and milk in the measuring cup. I used half butter and half shortening, just as she recommends. I even used a big heart-shaped cookie cutter, because that's what I had with sharp edges...except that then I used a knife on what was left, rather than kneading it again.

Mine turned out like this:

They were light, flaky and delicious, and my son asked if I'd make a whole batch just for him. Sounds like a keeper to me!

Its a Wrap!

That's what I think every time my son asks for this meal....which was rather a lot over the recent school break. hee hee... A few months ago, my husband decided that our son should be tired of pbj sandwiches and made something unique for lunch one day, and now its a hit! He's had this meal quite a bit, and in the last week or so found out the ingredients in the sauce, and was more than a little horrified! This child is the most picky eater in the family. So you know if he loves it, it must be good!

First, you make the sauce:

1 spoonful miracle whip
2 drops hot sauce
drizzle honey
1 small squirt mustard
Chop up one pickle slice, into little minced bits, put it all together and mix it up!

Then, we typically have flour tortillas on hand, and then whatever deli meat and cheese we have. Today's selection is turkey and provolone. Spread the sauce onto the tortilla, lay the meat and cheese how you like, roll it up and enjoy!

and I have to say it again, that's a wrap! hee hee!

**Edited to add: When my husband makes it, he adds some lettuce before rolling it all up.

Christmas Candy!

Instead of our usual quick and easy fudge, this year I made THIS recipe for a twist on Peanut Butter Cups, from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. These are SOOO good!!

Just like she says, they are soo smooth and absolutely delicious! I poured mine into an 8x11 baking pan, instead of piping them into mini muffin cups, because as stated earlier, I only have a 12 cup pan...and that would take forever. *grin Then I cut them into bite size squareish shapes, and oh yes, we enjoyed!!

12 oz melted chocolate

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla  

I used 12 oz semi-sweet, Hershey's brand chocolate chips. I melted them in a pan on the stove, on very low heat (like 2 out of ...) and once the chips melted I added the pb, then the sugar and vanilla. I stirred it a long time and they turned out perfect!

~~~~~
These are made very similarly to the "fudge" I have made the last few years. I call it Darci's Fudge because my friend Darci gave me the recipe, and I don't know where she got it.

1 1/2 bags chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk) (17oz or so)
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
dash salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In sauce pan, melt chips and condensed milk SLOWLY over very low heat on stove top. Add salt and vanilla when they start to get melty.
When its melted and smooth you can stir in nuts, pb chips, mini marshmallows, or broken up candy canes! YUM!!!
Pour into an 8x11 pan, lined with foil or plastic wrap. That way you can lift the whole thing out to cut the fudge into bars.

Christmas Cookies and Frosting

Does your neighborhood give treats at Christmastime? I do love that part of the holidays! Already we have gotten chocolate drizzled pretzels, hot cocoa, three kinds of fudge, three kinds of cookies, cupcakes and some pecan rolo turtle type treats I've seen on blogs! YUM! Neighbor gifts are also an excellent way to "get rid of" the extra cookies you have to make for Santa, haha!

In years past I have made different kinds of cookies, THIS popcorn and a yummy easy fudge which I will share tomorrow. This year I asked my kids if there is anything in particular they like at Christmas, or simply want to eat. lol! They both voted for cookies they can decorate! That's not exactly specific, beyond needing sprinkles, so I thought I'd try out a few new recipes I found online!

I made cookies using THIS recipe found one the Clover Lane blog.
ETA Recipe:

2 2/3 cup granulated brown sugar*

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix sugar, salt and butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat eggs and vanilla into mixture until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, and gradually blend into sugar ingredents. Chill well. (about an hour at least). Roll dough out on well floured surface. Cut into shapes. 

Bake on lightly sprayed cookie sheets at 350* for 8-10 minutes.

*except I couldn't find granulated brown sugar. I used half granulated white sugar and half regular brown sugar.
I got 64 cookies with our cookie cutters. They're super easy to roll out and we all liked the taste of them a lot! Mine turned out flat, chewy and with crispy edges, like this:

(Christmas trees, snowmen, teddy bears, stars) and this:

My husband didn't love the idea of a glaze so I used our stand-by frosting recipe (found below), and the random assortment of sprinkles we had in the house. The kids had a blast cutting out the shapes, sneaking bits of dough and putting the sprinkles on! Looks like a merry Christmas!

Butter Frosting:

1/3 cup margarine or butter (I usually use margarine)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 Tbsp milk*

1 tsp vanilla

In large bowl cream margarine. Add remaining ingredients. Beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency. If necessary, thin with additional milk.

Can frost 9x13 inch cake or 2-layer round cake

For chocolate butter frosting blend

1/3 cup cocoa powder

OR 2 envelopes pre-melted unsweetened baking chocolate flavor  

OR 2 squares (2 oz) melted unsweetened chocolate

into creamed margarine.

*This time I ended up using about 5 tbsp milk...I don't know why!! And it frosted all 64 cookies with a perfect thin layer.

Lasagna!

The first time I made lasagna, I used a pan to cook the sauce in, a bowl to mix the cheese in, a pan to cook the meat in and the crock pot to cook the meal in! Three of those dishes had to be washed by hand. I would rather do almost any other chore than wash dishes by hand, so I was less than impressed with this kind of a meal! LOL! After complaining on facebook about what a nightmare lasagna was, my friend pointed out she just throws a handful of this and that and calls it good. HMM. I suppose I could  give it another try.......!

So this time, I laid lasagna noodles along the bottom, sprinkled cooked hamburger meat over that, spread my uncooked sauce over that, dolloped ricotta cheese, and sprinkled Parmesan, mozzarella cheese, and did it again! That meant I only had to wash the meat pan by hand, and everything else was dishwasher-friendly! Yeay! Plus it was much faster to put together and no measuring mess either! And it turned out GREAT!

So, I used:

1 box lasagna noodles

1/2 lb ground beef, browned with ground black pepper and dehydrated onion

15 oz container ricotta cheese

few handfuls shredded mozzarella

sprinkles shredded Parmesan

basically my mom's spaghetti sauce, mixed in a bowl instead of on the stove

Sauce:

2 cans tomato sauce

oregano

basil

minced garlic

onion powder

sage

thyme

parsley

 

And cover the meal with foil, bake at 425* for 50 minutes, or until noodles are tender.

Make Your Own Mexican Wrap!

Friends are an excellent source of dinner ideas. One day a few months ago, my friend told me what they'd had for dinner the night before. I jotted this down: refried beans, salsa/black beans/ lime, brown rice, cheese, sour cream, avacado, wrapped in a tortilla! 

We finally got around to having it!
I started by microwaving one 10-inch flour tortilla for each of us, and set out the fillings!
We had brown rice, refried beans (with a good handful of shredded cheddar and a few tablespoons milk mixed in), ground beef with taco seasoning, shredded cheddar, shredded pepperjack cheese, salsa and sour cream! The kids could choose any protein and any dairy they wanted, and I served limade with it, instead of putting lime juice in with the rice or something...some members of my family don't like lime... 

Burger & Fries Casserole

Tonight was one of those nights I didn't want the food in my house but I wanted a good and quick dinner... I was perusing websites looking for something fast that I had all the ingredients for, lol, and THIS is what I found.

It was fast.
It was easy
and it was good!

On the side of that recipe link was a "what people are saying" box and I loved the ideas from "msuavacado". I combined the original recipe with this person's changes and here's what I came up with:

• 1 lb ground beef cooked with dehydrated onion/freshly ground black pepper, and drained
• 2 tbsp flour
• few big squirts ketchup
• about the same amount A1 as ketchup
• 3 drizzles worcestershire sauce

Put meat mix across bottom of casserole dish

• topped with shredded cheese,
• an even row of tator tots and
• a little shredded cheese on top of that.

baked at 425* for 20 minutes, 40 minutes.
served with carrot sticks!
It was a hit!

Next time I'll use the full 1.5 lbs of meat. maybe even more....
....make that 40 minutes. The tator tots in the middle were still frozen after 20 minutes today....

Pumpkin Donut Holes!

I found this recipe, at The Craving Chronicles in September and have been anxious to give it a try. I am not the biggest donut fan in the world, but I do like pumpkin treats and these sounded fabulous. WOW, it is sooooo yummy!! It was also very easy, especially if you have enough mini muffin pans (or have great friends willing to loan you theirs!). I did a double batch because I needed to make a birthday treat, and wanted enough for my family to enjoy some too. Um...pretty sure my family could have eaten all 84 without help! LOL!

Here they are, right out of the oven! ...these look huge...this pan is only 8x10 inches big, from edge to edge! haha!

 There's the melted butter* and cinnamon/sugar mixture...

 and here's a whole delicious plateful, waiting to be devoured!

*actually, it is melted margarine. We do have butter, but when I can get 1lb margarine for $1.8something and the same amount of butter is $3.8something.....yeah, we use margarine around here unless its something important.

Caramel Apples!

I DO have some 'real food' photo'd and prepped but today we made these, using the instructions found HERE. It was pretty easy but rather messy... *wink

And my photos are not ah-mazing because it is night and they must be devoured! (I mean, who doesn't need a ton of sugar right before bed the night before Halloween?)

So we started with this: a bag of caramels, unwrapped by the helper team, and two apples for each of us!

Then, we rolled some apples in crushed oreos and some in a smashed-to-bits butterfinger bar! I melted some chocolate chips mixed with a bit of shortening and attempted to drizzle it over some of the apples.

 voila! My husband wanted them plain, I wanted both with butterfinger and chocolate and the kids wanted one butterfinger, one oreo, and all chocolate! *grin

In spite of all the work, I will be slicing mine. There's no way I can take a bite out of that! LOL!

apple cider floats!

Earlier this week I took my kids to the local pumpkin patch, where we always get some fresh apple juice and apple cider doughnuts. The juice is not clear and I always thought it was cider. So today I picked up some ginger ale, vanilla bean ice cream and we made THIS.

Ohhhh yummm!!!
Yes, really, you MUST make this!
This is mine! 

And in case the recipe is ever removed from the link: 

1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup ginger ale
1-2 scoops vanilla ice cream, or any seasonal flavor such as cinnamon or apple pie
ground cinnamon and nutmeg for sprinkling
1-2 tablespoons jarred caramel sauce

Pour apple cider and ginger ale into a glass.  Add vanilla ice cream.  Sprinkle on nutmeg and cinnamon to taste and drizzle caramel sauce on top.  Serve immediately with a straw and a spoon.