More Success!

Remember that link I shared HERE? Well we've tried two more meals off that site and they were both great!

First up, Pepper jack Potato Soup! (listed under Comfort Food)
We served it with homemade bread for dinner, and then with left overs I've had crackers on the side.
The first thing I have to say about this, is that the time listed on that link is very misleading. It took nearly an hour to make this soup so I was glad I started it way before time to eat! I did not use fresh bell peppers, I had some frozen bell pepper strips and I just chopped up whatever came out of the bag- green, red, yellow. Also, because one of our kids is going thru a phase where she removes anything green found in her food, we pureed the contents of the soup pot before adding potatoes and bacon. hee hee hee.

and then we had Taco Salad! (listed under Mexican)
While I have no doubt I could have easily thrown together foods to create a taco salad, it was nice to have the list right in front of me.
I used 1/2 lb of ground beef (instead of 1lb), black beans (instead of kidney beans) and left off the olives and the ranch dressing (my kids do not like olives, and I didn't think it needed the ranch, so why add the fat?), LOL! Also, instead of crushing the chips and topping them with the salad, I served a scoop of the heated meat/beans/corn, put cheese, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream on top and ate it as a dip. I've mentioned before that my kids tend to eat anything better if it works like a dip, so I take advantage of the opportunity to do so! This picture shows my husband's take on the meal, he got home late and finished off all that was left!

Valentine Surprise Cupcakes!

Today's treat idea comes from HERE.
I got up this morning and as soon as the kids were off to school started mixing up cupcakes! I bought double-stuff oreos...because I'm crazy...and put them in 12 of the cupcake cups, and since I thought it just might be a little too rich, left the other 12 cookie free. I used a cherry chip cake mix to add a touch of festive red for Valentines Day.
When I stuck the pans in the oven, they were equally full. I found it interesting that the cupcakes with the oreos in them barely raised at all...

I wanted chocolate frosting so I called my husband to ask if he thought it would work with cherry chip cake, haha! It does work, btw- its very tasty!
A few cupcakes got candies on them too! Frosting recipe below....

and here it is, a fun little surprise to your average cupcake!

Did you have anything special or yummy for Valentines?

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.

 

*Once again, I needed more milk to make it spreadable

** I use cocoa powder. Always.

mmmm Cookies!!!

The other night I needed a treat to share. I wanted something chocolatey and had no brownie or cake mixes...and needed something fast too, lol. I found THIS recipe for peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies, and its a keeper! *grin!

My first pan did not spread at all, so as they cooled I smooshed them down a bit. My second pan I smooshed before baking, because you do that with regular peanut butter cookies... After that the rest of the pans spread a little.
Personally I thought they were best straight off the pan, even tho Mel says otherwise, with the recipe, hee hee. The dough was great, and they're very yummy no matter what point you eat them.
I didn't count before we dug in, and I'm not sure exactly how many I gave away, but I probably got 5 dozen cookies out of this batch. The hardest part was the baking for 11 mins and cooling for 3, lol!

Chicken Tacos

For 2011, I got a free Betty Crocker wall calendar, by responding to their email in time, lol. It was kinda fun because each calendar page featured a big yummy photo, and a recipe, that hung in the kitchen all month. In the middle (where the staples held it together) was a recipe card size copy of each month's photo and recipe.

Anyway, that's where this recipe comes from! I had never made chicken tacos before, I've never even had them! LOL! Sometimes I prefer to stick to what I know and with tacos, I like the beef thanks, lol! So this was a huge new change for me, and I liked it a lot! The kids liked it just fine, because I left peppers off theirs, haha.



titled Wild West Sizzlin' Chicken Tacos

2 cups cooked chicken strips

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

4 taco shells (Old El Paso Stand N Stuff - recommended)

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 cup bbg baked beans

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

*I used frozen bell pepper strips, which come with green, yellow and red.

I left off the bacon.

New Recipe Source!

A few weeks ago my husband sent me a link to THIS menu planner. If you click on that link and then click on the big orange rectangle at the top, it has more info about the program, etc. He liked the website because it allows you to print out a shopping list so that you have everything you need for two weeks worth of dinners in your house already! I like that idea too - that's how I do my grocery shopping, most of the time. However, for us, we have a fairly well stocked pantry and printing out the shopping list wasn't quite as helpful as we thought it would be. But it would be really great for anyone who does not have a stocked pantry, is just starting out, or just beginning to do well balanced, home cooked meals!

What I love most is the recipe ideas! I sat down and planned out several nights worth of dinners off this site, allowing for things like Leftovers Night (gotta have 'em!) and a plan to eat out one night and get pizza with the kids' friends another night...you know how it goes. Anyway, I bought the ingredients to allow us to give 10 days worth of meals a try. I'm going to share our reviews and photos, and tell you where to find the recipe on the website I linked above. (because it can be just a little tricky...)

We started with the Carrot Potato Soup with Ginger. (Go to Step 2, and under "Customize" choose "Comfort Food" as the theme...allow it to completely load and scroll down til you find it!) Oh. My. Word! It was sooooo good!! It was rich and creamy and so beyond perfect for a cold winter night! I planned to make the Breadsticks with it (found under "Italian" as the theme) but my day was much too packed, we were lucky to have dinner at all, lol! All four of us liked it a lot! My husband thinks I can half the butter to make it less rich and also less fattening. *wink

The next night I made their 3 Cheese Manicotti (theme: Italian). We do have a Manicotti recipe that we love already, (check HERE) but this one did not involve squeezing water out of thawed frozen spinach. Also I have never made our recipe, that's one of those meals my husband makes. This recipe was just as time consuming tho...its not easy to stuff cooked noodles. But, I thought I could give this a try so here we go...

My husband commented with disappointment on the fact that I made the sauce in the recipe, instead of our sauce...then he took a bite. LOL! This recipe is a keeper!!!

Doesn't that look yummy?? Well it was! I am excited to try more of these recipes, and thought I'd share with you too!

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)
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.