Cooking With Clorie

Black Bean, chicken, avocado Salad

2010-09-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

I had found a recipe for this once before. Loved it. Lost the recipe, forgot about it. Until recently a friend mentioned it to me, and all those memories came flooding back. Yummy yummy memories.

So the recipe I once had called for already cooked chicken, but I cook my own, its cheaper, and I know its real chicken, not stuck together hotdog type chicken.

So this may not be the original recipe, but after having just ate it, its okay if its not... Because its darn good!

Ingredients:

Chicken breast
cumin
garlic
chili powder
Juice from 1/2 lime
can of black beans rinsed and drained
one tomato chopped
1/2 a purple onion, minced
cilantro, chopped (as much as you desire)
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
avocado, diced

To start:

Cook your chicken breast in a little oil, with some cumin, chili powder, garlic and if you want salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is done. Set it aside to cool.

Meanwhile mix your black beans, tomato, onion, cilantro salt pepper garlic and the juice of a lime and stir. taste to make sure its to your liking. If you like spice, you could add some jalapeno in there as well.

Once your chicken has cooled off, cut it into diced up pieces, and add it to your black bean mixture. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. The longer the better the flavors will be!

When your ready to serve, add a diced up avocado and sir lightly. Serve. YUM!

The food networkers rise again! (French Onion Soup)

2010-03-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

So our group all somehow dropped out around the holidays. Go figure busy moms, holidays, somehow the hours in the day went faster than we could keep up! So we had decided that we could all most likely pull off ONE recipe a month together. So that is the plan.

This month Heidi picked ALTON BROWNS FRENCH ONION SOUP recipe. The only time I have ever had anything onion soup, is the Lipton mix, and normally used to make a roast, not to eat plain. I am always excited to try something new though! So here's my go at it!!!

Ingredients

5 sweet onions (like Vidalias) or a combination of sweet and red onions (about 4 pounds)
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white wine
10 ounces canned beef consume
10 ounces chicken broth
10 ounces apple cider (unfiltered is best)
Bouquet garni; thyme sprigs, bay leaf and parsley tied together with kitchen string
1 loaf country style bread
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
Splash of Cognac (optional)
1 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated

Some things I had to skimp on. I did not make it to the liquor store. So the white wine was replaced with sparkling grape juice... I did not have the fresh herbs, so I used dry. Apple cider was NO where to be found in my local stores, I guess its only a fall item? So I used a not from concentrate fresh apple juice instead. So that might have changed thing some. I hope not too much though.

Simple to make really. Takes a bit of time to sweat the onions and get them nice and dark though. That is the longest wait. Oh and be prepared for BURNING eyes. Even the kids complained their eyes were burning from the living room!!!

So you sweat the onions w/ salt

Brown them, then add the wine and cook until its a syrup consistency

Add your broths, cider, and spices, then simmer!

While your soup is simmering broil your toast until brown and toasty (not black, watch it)

when your soup is finished, ladle it into an oven safe bowl (Corelle dishes are oven safe in a preheated 350 oven)

Top the soup with a slice of bread, then your cheese, and bake at 350 until your cheese is melted and browned over your bread. Your done! Your bowl is HOT. Be careful!

last but certainly not least... ENJOY!

Mahi-Mahi

2010-02-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

I am telling you. Even if your not a really big fish person. You don't like fish, okay, try Mahi Mahi anyway. Its called "The steak of fish" and its not a lie. Its SO good. Its got a different texture, and it is not fishy at all. Another great thing about it, is its GOOD left over, unlike most fishes.

Tonight our dinner was broiled Lemon pepper Mahi-mahi, Rice pilaf, and sauteed asparagus w/ salt and pepper. It was quick, it was easy and it was SOOOO good.

Here's how it all went down:

Got my rice cooker out for the rice pilaf.

Filled 3 rice cooker cups with jasmine rice
1TBS chicken bullion granuals
some garlic and onion powder, and a pat of butter, and then I filled it with water to the 3 cup line.

Turn that on, and then I went to my fish. Coated the still frozen fillets with some mrs dash lemon pepper seasons (good and salt free!) Place it in the oven at 350 for about 20 min, then for about 10 more (my fillets were very thick) I broiled

While my fish was cooking I put some olive oil and butter in a pan, got it heated and added my asparagus spears, sauteed them with some salt and pepper until tender. Then took them off the heat, put the lid on the pan and they waited for the rice and fish to finish.

I was so hungry (forgot lunch today) that I did not get a picture of my dinner tonight but just trust me, it looked, smelled, and tasted wonderful!

banana nut waffles

2010-02-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

So today I was thinking of making banana bread. I picked up a big bag of browning bananas on sale at the store, and wanted to use them up. I also wanted to pre make a few waffles for my children for breakfast this week... So I got a great idea to look up a recipe for banana nut waffles. I could not find one I wanted to use, so instead I just made one up from a basic waffle recipe! The outcome is WONDERFUL if I do say so myself!

2 eggs
1 2/3 cup milk
2TBS vegetable oil
1 large, and over ripe banana
1tps vanilla
2 cups flour (1 wheat 1 white)
1 TBS baking powder
2 TBS sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

So you know the drill, put your dry stuff in a bowl wet stuff in a bowl, mix both apart, then put them together and mix until JUST blended. You dont want to over mix waffle and pancake mix. I cannot remember why I just know that your not supposed to, so don't!

Take about 1/2 cup, not quite, and put it in your heated waffle iron, according to the directions your iron has. I'd say mine took about 5 min each to cook. I wait until its not steaming so much and look if they are brown and crisp, they are done!

Serve with butter and syrup, yum yum!

Asian Chicken Breast

2010-01-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of my favorite dishes to make, and eat. Its so good, left overs are wonderful and its easy to make!

3 Chicken breasts (I fillet them in half as you would a fish)
1/8 cup sesame oil (Asian isle)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
4 cloves minced garlic

1 TBS olive oil
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, diced ((pictured is yellow and green, all I had))

The night before you want to make this, take your sesame oil, soy sauce, honey and garlic and mix it up in a big zipper top baggie. Add your chicken and let this marinate, over night in your fridge.... You can even make this marinade, add chicken then freeze it, later when you want to make it, as it thaws it will marinate!

Anyway. On to making it today.

Add 1 TBS olive oil to your skillet, get it nice and hot, then add your marinated chicken breast (discard marinade) Watch the chicken closely as the honey does like to try to burn on your pan. When your chicken is nearly cooked and your bell peppers. Saute until the peppers are tender and your chicken is cooked through.

I like to serve this over brown rice with glazed baby carrots on the side.

**Glazed baby carrots**
3 cups baby carrots, steamed or boiled until tender
1/2 TBS butter
2 TBS Brown sugar
Mix well :) YUM!

Lemon Shrimp Scampi

2010-01-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

Let me just pat myself on the back and say, this is a WONDERFUL recipe. MMMMM. Who needs olive garden when this is SO good and SO easy to make at home!

What you will need:
2 pounds of shrimp, peeled and cleaned out, no one wants to eat icky. (make sure its well dried)
1/3 cup butter, use real butter, its worth it
Juice from one lemon, and zest from one lemon
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2Tbs Grated Parm. cheese
parsley, chopped
veggies of your choice cut small and uniform shape

(I like to use, asparagus, zucchini, snow peas, red pepper, mushrooms, the sky is the limit really)

So once your shrimp is cleaned get your butter in a pan and get it warm.
Add the garlic and the lemon juice and lemon zest, let it cook a while, until it starts to smell nice... MMM garlic.
Now add in your veggies, if they are ones that need some time to cook, say carrots, you might even want to steam them first. Once they are nearly to the tenderness you want.... Add your shrimp, it wont take long to cook! When it turns from grey, to pink, its done! sprinkle with salt and pepper to your taste.

Remove from heat, and add your cheese on top and some parsley to garnish.

You can toss this shrimp over angel hair pasta, or over rice pilaf, or heck just eat it alone, its shrimp and its veggies! We eat this with a nice big salad and its a meal. YUMMERS.

How To Make Eggrolls. Its simple!

2010-01-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Ok I have this recipe actually published here:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Never-Know-They-Werent-Fried-Egg-Rolls-328657

I have modified it a bit and I now make it without a recipe. I have given my BFF the recipe and she too makes them all the time... I know it might sound hard, but once you get the hang of it its not hard. Plus you can make up a giant amount, bake and then freeze them. They are just as good reheated, maybe even better!

So here you go. This is what you need This is for 1 batch, like I said I usually double or triple this:

1 pound ground pork (You could use shrimp or chicken also)

1 tsp minced ginger root (or dried if its all you have)

1 TBS garlic, minced (again you can use powder)

2 TBS oyster sauce (Asian section of your store)

3 green onions, minced

2 large carrots, shredded

1 small head of cabbage, shredded ((or get a bag of coleslaw mix and use that!))

2 tsp sesame oil (Asian section)

Salt and pepper to taste

Spray oil or olive oil and a brush

SPRING ROLL WAPPERS (Be sure to use the ones from an Asian market not the kind in the grocery store, these are super thin, and tear easy be careful.)

1 TBS cornstarch mixed with 2TBS water

Brown your pork in a pan with 1tsp of sesame oil, when its almost cooked add your garlic,ginger and oyster sauce. Once its all cooked through add the green onions and remove from the heat.

Stir together cabbage, carrots, sesame oil salt and pepper along with your still warm meat mixture. toss together well.

Now pull an eggroll wrapper out and set it on your countertop. Place about 1/3 cup of your cabbage meat mixture into the shell like so.

Then you fold the bottom up and roll a bit, then fold the sides in, until both sides JUST touch (this way they are the same length) Like this:

Almost like an envelope. Roll the rest of the way, and put just a dab of your cornstarch mixture on that last corner to seal it. Set it seam side down on your pan w/ a rack (oiled lightly)

Continue to do this until all your eggrolls, are rolled!

Lightly Spray your eggrolls with cooking spray, or brush them with olive oil (or canola whatever)

Bake in the oven at 350 until they get nice and crispy! If you want them a little browner, to look more "fried" Turn the heat up a bit to 425, or hit your broiler really quick careful those little ends will turn too dark pretty quickly though!

Once they are crisp and brown to your liking, remove them and let them sit on the rack. Once cooled some serve with soysauce, spicy mustard, sweet and sour sauce, or whatever you like!!!

If you made a bunch, like I do and your wanting to store them for later, if they last that long...

Take 6 or so and put them into a quart freezer bag. They fit great. Stick a straw in the top, and seal the zipper shut around it, suck out as much air as you can, then seal where the straw was... Or spend money and get one of those nifty machines that do it for you. They will last a good time in the freezer, and when your ready for one (or 6) just take them out put them back on a pan and bake again for 10-15 min until heated through!

They go great w/ any asian dish, or as a small meal or snack on their own. I figured them up to run about 100 calories and 3.5 grams of fat each. Less fat if you don't use meat, or use shrimp instead of pork.

Food Networkers... My turn!

2009-10-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well thoughout the course of this challenge, I first thought everyone was just going to drop out, when it was MY turn, which made me upset, then everyone was just late posting blogs. All was good, I had thrown my tantrum and gotten my way. We did all agree we needed more time than 2 weeks and added an extra week, and then guess what little miss tantrum went and did??? I FORGOT! Totally FORGOT the last 2 recipes I Picked. I forgot to make the apples and I forgot to make the calzone.

Steena, has since realized she just does not have time at all. Laurie has went on vacation and forgotten pictures, so I guess, gosh darnit, life somehow got in the way for ALL of us! I do however have my 2 recipes done, and I do plan on doing the other 2 this week sometime, and i will post that blog (late) and seperate.

So here's my take on our recipes

I wanted to choose things that were not hard to find, that were "normal" and had maybe a new twist. So EVERYONE likes burgers and fries right??? So I came up with

This Burger Recipe, and Potatao Cakes. Both are by Rachel Ray. I love her, although I wish she'd stick her hands in her pockets or something!!!

So first the burgers.

Just like you would make a burger. Nothing new so much. It has taco like seasons it it and RICE and BEANS though. I used Refried beans to disguise them, since my kids do not like beans. Heidi actually gave me a chili recipe that uses refried beans and I tell my kids its "beanless" They believe me. Heh. Anyway

So I mixed it all together and I was SO impressed with how well this burger formed into patties. EXCITED even over the fact. They looked like wonderful sticking together burger patties!!!

So I popped them babies on my stove top grill with some oil and started cookin!

I am not sure if it was because I used the grill... Or maybe I turned the burgers too soon... but I had a bit of a problem, and I ended up with this

After being SO pleased with how well they stayed together, they just fell apart. Totally. So I had another mini tantrum and just mashed it up, and cooked it through that way. Whatever.

The topping was good. Spicy. Some Jalapeno, avocado, sour cream... MMM MMM.

This would be my finished "Burger" Everyone enjoyed them, although with it being "loose meat" they kind of fell apart. We took our flat bread buns and folded them in half and this was almost like a chalupa!

When I make them again, I will use the flat side of my grill and see if that helps. I wonder if Heidi or Laurie's stayed together??? Well and even though Steena is no longer challenging with us, she still blogs, so you can check on her too!

The next time I may make them a bit more like a taco as well, adding some black olives for on top, a tomato and some cheese would be nice for sure. Except for falling apart, I enjoyed this recipe.

Now Along with my "burger" I made the Mashed potato cakes. I had never made potato cakes before and It seemed like it went with a burger fairly well, since its like fries.

It was easy to make, mashed up some potatoes with some cream cheese onion, lemon zest and an egg. I for some reason skipped salt and pepper totally. Not sure where my head was while cooking today.

Once its mashed up you add it to your pan of oil. My first pan was very soggy. I used WAY to much oil, thinking they needed to almost fry. Nope. They too fell apart on me.

By the second batch I had lowed the oil and they crisped up much better, they were turnable. Although they still were not crispy like I thought a potato cake would be... So while I made more, I put the done ones into the oven hoping to crisp them a bit more.

By this point I was a little overwhelmed that my 2 recipes were a big flop. They did taste okay though. The potatoes the kids dipped into ranch which makes almost anything edible for them. I had to put a LOT of salt and pepper on them, because I had forgot to put it inside.

I might try potato cakes again, but not this recipe. Maybe like a twice baked potato type or something. I think they could have been much better, for sure.

Involve your kids in the kitchen!!!

2009-10-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

I think it really makes an impact on them. Not to mention it helps to give them life lessons for when they are on their own. This way they do not live off of Top Ramen for the first 5 years after moving out!

Last weekend the kids and I baked a few things. The chex stuff and perogies and things. I think it was a good memory for Hannah. Because today I seen her homework

Assignment:

What did you do this weekend?

This made mommy All warm and fuzzy inside :)

2009-10-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

SOUP. The most wonderful fall time food. Its warm, its comforting, it can be good for you and it can be made in no time at all, or simmer all day long in a crock pot and be ready for you when you get home. Most soups are good reheated, frozen, and always go well with a grilled cheese!!!

I was more than thrilled to come across the blog called 1000 soups she has a recipe (which I linked) that is called EGGROLL SOUP. Ok. First off. I LOVE eggrolls. So does my family. I normally get the stuck to make them and make like 200 at a time, freezing most. I do not fry my eggrolls I bake them, and I feel that the way I make them, they are pretty healthy. They beat the grocery stores frozen version ANY day. However they are time consuming (even if you do not make 200 at once) The rolling, that is the hard part.

Well EGGROLL soup is all the goodness of an eggroll, but NO ROLLING! This is a recipe I will make again and again, and again and again! Hubby ate 2 bowls and did not even have any sesame chicken because it filled him up! I did however change the recipe some, to be like the eggrolls that I make at home.

To make it the way its been posted again go HERE Yum. Look at that photo! I wish I had taken a picture of mine, but it looked nearly the same, just trust me! Here is how I made my very similar version. Again I am SO thankful for this idea!!!

1TBS sesame oil

1 pound lean ground pork

4 garlic cloves - minced

1 small head cabbage - shredded (about 6 cups)

2 small carrots - shredded (about 1 cup)

1 small bunch green onions - sliced (about 1/2 cup)

5 cups chicken stock, 4 cups vegetable stock

1 TBS freshly grated ginger

1/4 cup soy sauce - plus more for serving

10 egg roll wrappers cut into thin strips

Oh this is so simple your going to think its not good. But it is. Trust me. Its like an eggroll, but soup. Seriously!

Ground up your pork meat in the sesame oil with the garlic and the grated ginger. Once your meat is cooked through and the garlic and ginger are smelling super good, add your cabbage carrots onions veggie stock and soy sauce, thats right just stuff everything into the pot. I also added some salt and pepper to this.

I cooked this for about 30 min then realized I never started the rice to go with dinner, and so it simmered another 30 before being served. The cabbage was not crunchy at all which I Loved!

About 10 min. before I was ready to serve the soup, I cut up some eggroll wrappers, into thin strips. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees sprayed with some spray oil over them, and on the pan.

Dish your soup into bowls and top with your now crunchy eggroll strips!

Add ANYTHING you would like in an eggroll. Chicken, shrimps, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, you can make this your own recipe VERY easily. No need to limit yourself.

My hubby stated this was good today (the day after) reheated, even better, he said, than the first time! MMM. All of my kids ate this, and said they liked it. I will make it again, did I say that?

Banana Bread

2009-10-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

I did not take pictures or do any sort of step by step story board for the recipes, but they are none the less darn good recipes . Simple enough I am sure you can figure it out without pictures! I have the faith!

My first recipe was banana banana bread. I got the recipe from All Recipes. Love that site!!

I have used this and several other banana bread recipes before but this one is my favorite, of course I change things a bit. If you want the original recipe, click the link above, if you want my version of this same recipe, keep reading!

First off I always double this. I have 4 kids. All love banana bread. It also freezes well and pretty much ANYONE would be happy with getting a loaf for no special reason! :)

Tip: when I have bananas fixing to go back I stick them, peel on and all that into the freezer. The day before I want to make banana bread I take all the bananas and put them in a large bowl in the fridge to thaw. When you need the bananas you just squeeze and banana slips right out of its peel!

INGREDIENTS (this is not doubled)

1 cup flour, 1 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup applesauce INSTEAD of butter!
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten (sometimes I use egg beaters to make it lower in fat, works fine)
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas ( never measure I just add lots of banana!)
1 Tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
walnuts or pecans can be added (1 cup)

TOPPING (OPTIONAL)

1/2 cup oats, 1tps cinnamon, 4 TBS packed brown sugar (mixed well)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together applesauce and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas cinnamon and vanilla until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
If using topping, sprinkle on top of loaves now. You can also use muffin pans and make muffins!
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

SO then we still had chex mix left!

2009-10-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

After our muddy buddies, there was still a half box of corn chex left. Not to be mean, but I do not care for chex, with milk as a cereal. Not even with sugar. Ick. So I wanted to make something else with what we already had on hand with what was left.

I found Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix

I had everything needed, and we all like cheese, and ranch (who doesn't) so it was a go!

For this you need, chex mix (or generic) Cheddar crackers (or goldfish would have been yummy I think) Butter, parm cheese, ranch packet (I have a big deal like a parm shaker of ranch) and pretzels I used stick pretzels and just crunched them up a bit, because that is what we had on hand.

This too is simple. You melt your butter, pour it over your chex, crackers and pretzels and then you sprinkle with the ranch and parm. you heat it up in the microwave for 3 min. Stopping every min. to stir. Lay out on wax paper to cool.

We all agreed this needed more ranch, and so we added more! Super good, just as good as those 3.00 bags of chex mix you buy at the store!

As you can see my hand model could not keep his hands out of it!

Kooking with the Kids :OP

2009-10-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

So last weekend, I did a few snack foods things with the kiddos. They wanted to help and I told them if they cleaned their rooms, they could. So they DID! Go figure!

Our first creation was Muddy Buddy's an old favorite

Not hard at all to make. Although my camera is taking rather crappy pictures (or I am) today. So I apologize in advance for the blurry photos.

You need

Chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, powder sugar, vanilla and of course, your chex mix (or off brand as we used since you can get the recipe online now)

You will also need a spoon, microwave, BIG bowl, and gallon ziplock baggies.

This is simple. You take your chips, butter and peanut butter, microwave until creamy. Add vanilla, pour over cereal in your giant bowl. Place mixed cereal into bags, add sugar and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE. Dance around a bit, shake some more....

This part is fun. Just make sure you have ZIPLOCKED your bag. :)

When I was a kid this was called Puppy Chow. I guess Purina sued them for the name, and so now its muddy buddies. Either way its GOOD!

We kept this in the bag, I made a double batch and froze one bags worth not sure why because the first bag was gone that same day! I did, however, learn its very tasty cold!!! :)

Trying a few new things!

2009-10-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Besides my "Food Network Challenge" recipes this week, which by the way were doing every 3 weeks or monthly now, I am unsure of which. We are all busy moms who have run out of time so we gave ourselves more.... Anyway besides that, I am trying a few new dishes, and a few old favorites in the next 2 weeks.

Since I had luck with home made rolls finally, I am being very adventurous, I bought Yeast in a little can even, and I plan on making french bread, crusty rolls, buttermilk biscuits, and also corn bread and pizza and perogi dough. Wish me luck there, that is a lot of meals to SCREW up if I do not do it correctly. But feel good knowing you will be there every step of the way with me, good or bad.

What made me think of Perogies? Well I found THIS

At a local thrift store for .75 cents and I thought heck, WHY NOT! You roll out your dough over the circle thing w/ all the holes, poke it down, fill, then roll another sheet of dough over top and it cuts it AND presses it for you!!! Sounds simple right? Again you shall see. I think its funny it says "as seen on TV" because I HAVE NEVER even heard of one, let alone seen it on TV, then again I was not alive in the 70's which is when I think this was created. Heck its nearly antique!

So wish me luck tomorrow. Busy day. Cleaning then baking and cooking and freezing. Hopefully this all works out and I really do save money!

Fun things I am making that you can look forward to seeing a blog about:

Perogies
Pizza Rolls
Granola, and granola bars
Puppy chow (made with chex mix)
Split pea and Ham soup
Stretch a buck turkey and bean burrito burger

Probably more as well, like rolls and french bread and pizza dough, which I still really hope turns out right!

Stay tuned tomorrow!!!!

Simple, Easy, Cheap

2009-10-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

No I am not talking about what type of date I am....

I'm talking about dinner!

Sometimes you just don't have the time to go all out and make something extravagant. Sometimes you just simply shouldn't have too. That is when stuff like hamburger helper and the like come in handy. I try to stay away from the super processed crap (I mean food) like that. Although I do have to admit to having several boxes in my pantry, its not that we DONT use it, I think its good in a pinch and its better for you than McDonalds or Pizza delivery (cheaper too) but tonight Hamburger Helper was the plan.

Today were having Sausage and Sauerkraut... 2 of 4 kids hate it. But that is okay, they just don't eat the sauerkraut. This is super simple and cheap to make. In fact I had coupons for the Kielbasa a while back so I stocked up (It was also on sale) and just froze them for later use!

If you have a big family as I do, you will need this much, you can always half the recipe if you have less to feed!

2 packages Kielbasa sausage (I get the skin free turkey kind)
1 bag fresh sauerkraut (or 2 cans)
3 cans new potatoes, whole or sliced you pick!
1 onion, chopped (optional today I used onion powder)
pepper
Garlic powder (1tsp or so, just sprinkle some in)
1-2 TBS butter or margarine

So that is it. You take your ingredients, plop them out into a pan, Normally I cut up the sausage but it was still frozen so today it will be whole links! Heat this on low on your stove an hour or so, OR for even more flavor put this into your crock pot around 12 and heat on low 4-6 hours until dinner (this way works best if your adding fresh onion)

Once its hot and the flavors have melded its ready to serve. We normally have it with bread and butter, tonight there will be some cranberry sauce (canned too lol) along the side. MMMM MMM good. Simple, cheap and easy! What more does a lazy (I mean busy) mom want?!

What do you do when Life (or work) tosses you apples??

2009-09-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well you make APPLESAUCE of course!

My boss bought about 300 pounds of apples to put on our salad bar, but did not think about how they, well turn BROWN when cut up and exposed to air... So needless to say there are like 290 pounds of apples still in our back cooler. She told me to take a few bags home.

I sat there thinking I already HAVE apples at home, but I am NOT one to turn down food for free... I know I have a kick ass recipe for Apple Pie Muffins, but I will eat like 300 of them and get fat(ter) having made them. So I started trying to think of something fairly HEALTHY to make with them... and applesauce came to mind! So I went to my most favorite site for recipes http://www.recipezaar.com and found THIS RECIPE. Looks simple enough to make and I have ALL the ingredients on hand... Love that! So guess what I am about to do?

Yep, make applesauce!

Since I had SO many apples, I quadrupled the recipe as follows. This only made about a large jar, and a half worth, not more than my family of 6 will be able to polish off within a few days I am sure!

16 apples, peeled and cored, cut into pieces
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar (Should have been 1 cup but I lowered it, since I had sweet "gala" apples
Cinnamon (just sprinkle some in there!)

Thats it? YES THATS IT!!!!

So you go and you peel and core your apples. This is probably the hardest part, and its not really hard!

After that cut the apples into chunks, about how you would cut potatoes to make mashed potatoes. Add the cut up and peeled apples to your 2 cups of water in a sauce pan, and cover on high heat, bring to a boil.

Boil about 20 min or until your apples are mushy and breaking up, and its starting to look like a chunky applesauce. If you want your applesauce to have less texture, then use a potato masher, or a blender at this point to puree. Add your sugar and cinnamon and continue to simmer until the sugar has dissolved.

I let this cool on my stove top a while, and then I put it into a tuperwear bowl with a tight closing lid and put it into the fridge. I tried it warm, and it was very good. Better than store bought, and So much better for you!

So when life tosses you Apples. Make Applesauce. It's simple, healthy and TASTY! :)

Baked Potato... Pizza?

2009-09-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

I work at a pizza place, have now for nearly 7 years, and I have never heard of such a thing until recently. Somewhere in Little Rock there is a place that offers it. I heard it was good. Never really gave it much more thought than that. Frankly, after 7 years of looking at pizza, its usually the last thing I want to make, at home!

Until yesterday when I was thumbing through a friends recipe book and in it was a recipe for this thing called baked potato pizza. I figured it was a sign, and I noticed that I had all ingredients on hand at home, so I thought okay. I will make it!

Just in case you would like to make it too, here is the recipe. Well MY version of it. The one in the cookbook varied a bit, it asked for mozz cheese and parm, which I did not have, but CHEDDAR goes on a baked potato anyway right? I also used more bacon since its the meat. Tim does not like a meal if there is not meat in it. So I added in more bacon, it is turkey bacon anyway so no harm right???

Baked Potato Pizza: 12 pieces

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 pound pizza dough (store bought or home made will work)
3 TBS butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cheddar/jack cheese, shredded
1/2 package of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
green onions, chopped

Sour cream (if desired)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Boil potatoes until tender.

Meanwhile spread out dough,

melt butter in microwave with garlic in it.

Spread garlic mixture over pizza dough.

Once potatoes have cooked and cooled off enough to touch, spread out over pizza dough in a single layer.

Salt and pepper to your taste and then top with cheese.

Place pizza in oven until crust is done to your likeness, about 22-28 min

. Once out top with bacon, and green onions and if desired sour cream!

This pizza was a HIT with 3 out of 4 kids. I liked it, as it did NOT taste like pizza, because frankly, I am tired of pizza. This tasted JUST like a loaded baked potato! It was fairly simple to make and if your not counting carbs, its not too bad for you either! I used a pre-made pizza crust from Pilsbury and it served the 6 of us with a couple of slices left over.

I would save left over mashed potatoes to use for this recipe in the future. I think that would work just as well, if not better than the potato slices. I will make this again, because as I said 3/4 kids liked it and those are odds you just don't mess with!

If you try it, please comment and let me know your thoughts :)

We served ours tonight with a salad, that I brought home from my work places salad bar (talk about easy) I cannot think of anything better to serve it with!

Another First

2009-09-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Acorn squash! On a whim at the grocery I seen the pretty squash and thought heck, for .88 cents I can stand to try one (or two) of them!

So I built my meal around this. I thought what do I have that will go with squash? I made pork chops and "hot crash potatoes" they are good! Along with that I reheated frozen "edward style" green beans and carrots that I had forgotten to heat up the other day with dinner!

I have made porkchops, the potatoes, and green beans for dinner before though. This was more about the squash. I did not have a recipe, really, so I just did what the sticker on the squash said to do. I added butter, and some brown sugar (I also sprinkled on cinnamon) and then I baked them, along with my potatoes in the oven.

Looking at them now, cooked and finished, I am pretty sure I could have went MUCH lighter, on the butter part! :OP Having less butter would have made a nice crust of sugar on the squash. Either way this tasted good. I, of course, was the only one who really ate it, the other kids did give it a try though.

Anyway dinner tonight was good and easy. I just sprinkled the chops with Mrs. Dash and garlic and popped them onto my oven top grill. Voila! Dinner! :)

week 3, Second set for me!

2009-09-25T23:33:00.001-07:00

This week time around it was Heidi's turn to pick a chef and menu. I think she did a great job, aside from choosing a recipe with FIGS which I can find nowhere!!! I still have time, I will get that one made, eventually, although like the lemon bars, last time, I am not really looking forward to them... Who knows right?

So the Main course this week is: CHICKEN my hubbys favorite meat! The side dish, which again I chose to make at the same time as my main course was ONIONS. Go figure I could not find Cipollini onions anywhere. I could not even find pearl. I found some small onions I thought were pearls eventually but upon ringing them up, she called them scallions, so I am unsure of what the heck I actually bought! Either way its what I got.

So the chicken I was most excited about. I, unlike Tim, LOVE chicken, and I love to try it different ways! This chicken has a stuffing that adds the flavor for you.

This is onions, thyme, salt, papper, and a lemon quartered up with some olive oil tossed around. Just that smelled great. I did not have fresh thyme, so I opted for the easier, dried variety!

After you have mixed the stuffing, you get your chicken all ready for baking. I like to rinse mine off, and then dry it with paper towels. Mine did not have any gizzards inside. I felt cheated!

Once your chicken is prepared, you stuff it with your mixture, and you tie it up. I do not normally tie up my chickens, but because this recipe said to do it, I did it. Do not look at my picture as an idea for how to do it, because I more than likely did it the incorrect way. Oh and once its tied up and stuffed, you top it with BACON!!! You cant go wrong there!!!

As you can see, I popped in the oven all excited, almost forgetting it needed its picture taken!!! I was maybe a bit hungry?

SO once its cooked for a while 45 min I believe, you add your mushrooms. Oh my goodness. The aroma of the mushrooms cooking... Well you might drool! MMMMMM.

Mine took much longer to bake than the recipe says. I probably had a bigger chicken, and I probably hung the door open too often wanting it to hurry.Either way, it smelled delisiouso and I had high hopes, but before I get to the end of that, I had to make the onions!!!

So you put them into hot water, to get the skins to come off easily. This did not work for me, but then again I was using the wrong kind of onion, so that might be why! I had to cut the ends off most of them and peel and it was not easy (I might have cursed Heidi a bit) Once they are peeled, you toss them with the other ingredients. Once tossed add them to a pan and sizzle. MMMMM

Once they have sizzled a while you put them into the oven to cook, or caramelize. Like this They looked and smelled FANTASTIC! I think they were super pretty! The pan, however, was NOT fun to clean out. I may have said bad things about Hedi again, under my breath :OP

So although during my shopping process, and my starving waiting for the chicken to be done which by the way looked pretty good when finished, although I think my bacon got a bit overdone

The mushrooms were everyones favorite part (well except my 2 that dislike mushrooms) they tasted like the kind at the chineese buffet we often go to. MMMM. I will make it again, if nothing more than for the shrooms! Very good A++ for those, the chicken was moist, and had a nice flavor, but I mean it was nothing extrodinary to me, tasted like chicken, for the most part. The bacon did help it stay juicy though.

The onions I liked the idea of the onions. I think had I used regular onions and cut them up, I would have liked it. The onions that I used, were very strong flavored in the middle. I did not so much care for them, but want to try it again, for sure, if I can ever find the correct onions!

I served this dish along with my Rice pilaf recipe. I thought it was a great meal, and I am glad I had the chance to make it!!!

check out the blogs of Heidi, Laurie and Steena to see how the recipes turned out using the right ingredients!

Appetizer Time!

2009-09-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

The Appetizer Heidi picked this week is prosciutto roasted figs. I must say going into this one, I am wondering what Hedi is thinking? I have never had, a fig, seen a fig, and I did not find FRESH figs anywhere!!! I settled for the dried variety which BTW is in near the raisins. Thanks for that info Laurie!!!

Next I sent my hubby out to do my dirty work, buying the ingredients. He came home with Pancetta NOT prosciutto, I thought OH wonderful, here I go again, screwing up yet ANOTHER recipe by NOT adding ingredients, losing them or getting the wrong thing... So I googled, Google is my friend. I asked it weather it was okay and I got this It IS okay no harm were its exact words!!! So I am currently soaking my figs, and I will go on to try this recipe, with an open mind.

The kids, however, minds are closed. They all asked me WHY I was making this. Why anyone would stuff cheese into something that tastes like a raisin, and then wrap it in bacon. They have said they MIGHT try it. I just pulled them out of the oven (the alarm is going off) so we'll see what we all think here soon.

My six year old, who was just set up with a yahoo account by her sister, and I, had this way cute conversation:
My Baby Girl: wht als do you wut to tacka balt
Clorie NoneYA: I dont know
Clorie NoneYA: I love you.
Clorie NoneYA: Are you going to try one of the figs I am making?
My Baby Girl: i dot no olley if u tri owe fist
Clorie NoneYA: ok Ha ha

So if you do not know what a fig is... Like me, this is what it looks like:

and stuffed with cheese, like the recipe says to do

After you have slit each one, and wrapped it in the bacon(y) ham type stuff... and then you pop the bad boys in the oven for about 15 min.

So the figs come out of the oven, Once they have cooled a bit you put them onto a serving platter, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with pepper and then serve!

So they looked pretty, they smelled nice. Taste. Hmmm. Well they tasted like a raisin wrapped in bacon, with blue cheese inside of it. Not my idea of yummo. Not horrible. I will not make them again though, unless someone says Hey can you make me bacon wrapped cheese stuffed figs? Which I doubt anyone would ever ask me to do!

Oh and since I have 6 "reviewers" in house:

Destiny: She did not even try one she just texted on her phone. 13 year olds. Sheesh.
Promise: She had one in her hand, licked her fingers, and decided she did not want to try it
Hannah: She had to see me eat one first, I took (another) bite, and handed her the other half, she said EEEEEWE After a bitty taste and asked where the trash can was at.
Bailey: He asked "Are those things good?" Licked one and said NO WAY.
Tim: Tim liked them. He's a freak. Promise took one back to him and he popped it into his mouth and said MMM Pretty good. She took him more and apparently he ate them as well. Hmmph.

So there you have it. Another recipe down. Although I did not care for it, I did learn some things. Blue cheese tastes different when melted, and I like it. And I like that bacon(y) ham stuff! I will buy more and use that again! So I am not upset that I made this. I also learned that I am pretty sure, figs, do not appeal to me. Not even in a "newton".

A Simple Classic

2009-09-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

So who would believe, I have never, in my life made, from scratch, chocolate pudding!? Any pudding in general actually. I am not sure I have ever even EATEN pudding made from scratch. I always thought that is was something that was difficult to do.

When I seen Heidi has this chosen as dessert, I was happy (because it was a "normal" food) and also a bit nervous it was going to be hard. I had it in my mind, that it was going to be similar to making fudge, which for some reason I cannot do!

Checking out the recipe it actually looked fairly simple. I got very excited to make it! Why it was the last one I made, I am not sure! This morning though I made an awesome Pot Roast, I figured while I was at it, I would do up some of this pudding so that it would be set, and ready for the kiddos to eat for dessert.

So I assembled everything needed, which is NOT much!

All that is needed is Milk, sugar, cocoa, egg yolks, cornstarch and vanilla and oh yes, not pictured, salt. That is awesome! I bet most the time all of us have those things on hand. Who needs to buy a box to make this stuff???

So you take 1.5 cups of your milk, your sugar, your cocoa and your salt and you whisk while you heat it up, simmering.

Meanwhile you mix the other .5 cup of milk with the egg yolks, cornstarch, and vanilla. Once your hot mixture is mixed well, you S L O W L Y add it, to your cold mixture (the one with the eggs) while stirring. This has to be done SLOWLY so that you do not COOK your eggs. I remember this from "food network" I knew watching would come in handy!

((I used my leftover egg whites to make myself an omelet))

Once you have heated your mixture and it has thickened, you put it in bowls. The recipe says to put it into 6. I tried that, but my bowls were kind of big and it looked like nearly nothing was in them so I poured the pudding into 4. Hoping the kids would share, at least a bite with mommy.

Once this is done you put them in the fridge to set. Overnight is suggested, but mine sat from 9am-8pm and that worked for us!

Once your ready to serve, you take your whipping cream, and well... You whip it! I added a bit of splenda, to my whipped cream, because it seemed well not sweet!

Top your whipped cream onto your pudding and ENJOY!

By the way I did get to have a taste, or two. The kids loved it. I loved it. Tim loved it. I swear I will not make the boxed kind again. This is JUST as easy, well almost. and its VERY very good.

So this challenge was a bit harder on me. I had a hard time finding several ingredients near me. I did not like the figs AT.ALL. I am not sure what anyone was even thinking coming up with that idea. I did hear that Heidi, and Laurie enjoyed them. I am unsure of Steena's response yet. Be sure to check out their blogs to find out how they did.

Of all the recipes this time I have to say the dessert was my favorite one.

The chicken was good, but I really REALLY loved the mushrooms in the dish the most there.

The onions, I think if I would have had the right kind I would have liked. I will make them again, maybe using just "normal" yellow onions.

The figs, well I have spoken my feelings about the figs already. I just do not like figs.

So.

This challenge was fun, and I am super excited because this following week its MY TURN to pick the chef and the recipes!! I need to get going on picking them out!

Nothing like coming home to a dinner already made for you!

2009-09-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight, well this morning really I got up, got the kids off to school and set out to make Stephanies Pot Roast.

I have had her roast before, made by her and it was fantastic. When she wrote a blog about how to make it I knew, that was going to be MY dinner one night this week. And so that night, was tonight.

So after the kids were gone I assembled my stuff needed to make my roast.

I bought the Sirloin Tip for mine just because it was the largest roast at the store I went to. My hopes were to have leftovers, so I could make Manhattans for dinner later in the week! That is a HUGE hunk o' Meat!

So first I had to sear my meat. Again... Searing. I hate it. BUT. Stephanie told me it had to be done. I burned myself, and I cursed her. :OP It is all her fault, I should have taken a photo of my wounds.

You take the oil that popped all over your arm in the pan, and you add your flour to make your roux. I know about roux, but I believe this is the first time I have actually make one, besides doing it with sausage gravy.

You keep whisking, and whisking, and whisking... untill your roux turns dark brown. I am not sure this was "dark" brown, but I was tired of whisking, it was early and I had only had half cup of coffee. I called it good.

So then you mix up your soup and your water mixture, and you add that to the roux, and you make gravy.

You have your roast already put into the crock after being seared, and burning yourself, and then you cover it with this super yummy smelling gravy and some butter... cant go wrong with butter! Keep it on high, while you cut your potatoes and carrots.

Now I did not cut my carrots, I never do. I keep them whole and use the baby ones. I also used red potatoes, because its what I had on hand! It was hard adding them to the crock, I had SUCH a large roast, that it took up a good deal of space in the crock! So I had to fight to get my veggies down in the gravy. Maybe next time I should try a smaller roast? NAH!

So once that is finished, your pretty much done. Turn it to low and let her cook. All day. Do chores, go to work whatever. I am GLAD I did go to work, because being at home smelling this all day would have KILLED ME!!! When I came home it smelled like a chef had been working in my home while I was away!!! MMMMMMMM.

So turns out tonight was a fantastic night for a crock pot meal too. I had 2 choir things to go to, and lots to do. So once I got the kids home, settled, I opened the loaf of fresh made (storebought) french bread and spooned this out into bowls and called it dinner. I called it a FANTASTIC dinner.

Thanks again, to Stephanie for a wonderful recipe, that I will make again and again. And for the life long scar I received making it :)

Green Chilie Chicken Enchilada Casserole MMMMM

2009-09-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I originally got from Saving Dinner which if you want a really awesome cook book, with low cost meals and a shopping list for each week MADE FOR YOU I suggest this cookbook. I cooked almost every recipe (in order) in the book. I would have to say I liked 85% of them and that I remake at least 50% of them pretty often! If you want a new cook book, that is the one you should get!

So This one, the green Chile Chicken Casserole, I have made so many times, I do not need to look in the book anymore. I have changed it a bit, to make it "my own" and still add things from time to time just to change it up. Tonight, I had 2 extra kids in the house, and it was GONE. Normally I have left overs to enjoy for lunch 2 times at least! I was happy, but upset all at once about this. Might have had something to do with the fact that it was 8pm before we ate! Either way, they ate, and I only had ONE Pan to clean up! :)

So here is what you need:
Chicken breasts (I use four good sized ones)
Corn tortillas (12) I like to use the white corn, that is of course my preference use what you like flour would work too
Green Chili enchilada sauce
1 cup sour cream (I use light, and I mix it with water to make it easily spreadable)
2 cups cheddar or Mexican cheese, shredded (I use 2% cheese to make this "lighter")
Cumin, Garlic powder, and olive oil

Things I think also go well:
Black olives
green onions, chopped
Tomatoes, diced

Preheat your oven to 350, and then take your chicken breasts, and season them both sides with some cumin and garlic powder if you want salt and pepper too. Whatever you want really, if you want it spicy add chili powder whatever really. I use the cumin and the garlic powder.

Cook your chicken in some olive oil, until it is done through (no longer pink inside) It will smell yummy and you may want to munch some right now. That's ok!

Chop, your chicken or if you have patience you can wait for it to cool and then shred it with a fork. I have used my food processor a few times to just pretty much grind it up too. Today I did not want to wait for it to cool, so I put it on the cutting board and I chopped it into strips, or chunks. It looked like that, and anyway it does not matter how its cut, it all tastes just as good!

Once your chicken is ready, oil your 9x13 inch casserole pan. Lay 6 tortillas down on bottom, top with 1/2 your chicken, 1 cup of cheese, 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/2 the can of enchilada sauce. Just like a lasagna then start over with your second layer!

Once your 2 layers are complete, you can top with the other things you want, or you could layer them in. Or just leave it as is, its just great that way!!! Cover it with foil and stick it into your oven! Bake about 45 min, until your cheese is melted and your sauce is all hot and bubbly and it looks DELISH!

Doesn't that look GREAT!?!

You wish you had a sample right? Well good news! Its super easy to make and I KNOW you heard me say it takes ONE.PAN. What busy mom does not enjoy a meal in ONE PAN?? I know I do. Left overs of this (if you have any) are GOOD as well.

I served mine tonight with black olives, baby carrots, chips and sliced garden tomatoes... Speaking of garden tomatoes, I think they may be the last, this season I will get from my garden. I will miss you, juicy red, yummy, garden tomatoes, I look forward to having you grow in my garden again, next spring!!!

So back to the subject of dinner, Here is the finished product. I used a bit too much sauce this time, I bought a BIG can, when all I needed was a small (normal 10oz or whatever size) can. Either way, it tasted great, even if it looked a little messy!

Pizza Pockets, the appetizer, in our case, LUNCH!

2009-09-12T08:00:00.002-07:00

Pizza Pockets

This was the final of my four recipes to make. It is the appetizer but we ate them for lunch! Because of my mishaps at the grocery store, first with them being OUT of ingredients I needed, and then my forgetting a bag with ingredients I needed. The recipe was made in 2 parts.

Day 1 I cooked the sausage, and added the spinach. I had to use spinach in place of arugula because there was NOT one place around me that was selling it, and I was looking for lettuce, NOT CHEESE :OP (inside joke towards Steena there)

I went ahead and cooked up the whole package of sausage, and froze half for a later use

I love this sausage, its made with turkey so its healthy for you. I really hoped that the kids, and I would enjoy this recipe, because they too love this sausage!

Once the sausage is cooked up you add your spinach, or arugula if you can find it.

If your me, this is when you realize that you do not have parm. cheese, and you take this, and put it into the fridge to make when you can get your husband to go and get you some :OP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So once your husband has gotten the sauce, and the olive oil, and the cheese you needed, you can make this FINALLY!

Add your cheese, to the sausage mixture. Then roll out your pizza dough and cut into equal size rectangles. I did not do so well on the "equal size" part. I hoped it did not matter. It didn't.

Oh and in the purple bowl? Egg wash. I do not believe the recipe states anything about needing an egg. Luckily hubby did not have to make another run, I had eggs on hand :)

So you take about a TBS of your sausage cheese mixture and put it onto each square, then you fold each square. I found that some went into triangles, and some went into squares, again I hopped it did not matter, and it didn't! They taste the same no matter what shape! I crimped the edges of mine down with a fork and found they stuck fine without any egg wash to close.

Then you take your egg wash and with a brush paint it over each "roll" Then sprinkle the rolls with the parm you did not use inside with the meat! Pop them in the oven at 400 for about 15-17 min. Serve them with some heated up marinara sauce and ENJOY!

They were very very good. I enjoyed them. Tim enjoyed them. 2 out of 4 kids really liked them, the other 2 were just being overly picky I think.

I like that these seem to be easy to make however I want to. I could put veggies in there, ham and cheese, turkey, whatever! I will make them again, in many different ways and put them into the kids lunchboxes. I think its the perfect amount of food. The crust was my favorite part, although next time I will make my own, even if from a Jiffy Mix type thing. Its cheaper that way!!!

Super yum.

Out of all the recipes Steena, Heidi, Laurie, and I did this week. I would have to say that my favorite would be the potatoes and zucchini. The one I will probably remake the most, is that, and probably the pizza rolls, although I will change the pizza rolls up quite a bit. The potatoes I will keep just the same I believe!

The recipe I disliked the most were the lemon bars. I will not make them again. Ever. This challenge has been fun, I enjoyed all but losing ingredients! I cannot wait to see what Heidi picks as her recipes next week!!!

Be sure to check out their blogs to find out how the recipes looked, and tasted to them!!! And "stay tuned" for the next "food networkers Challenge" :)

Dinner and a Side Dish

2009-09-12T08:00:00.001-07:00

I was going to make my appetizers next, but ended up leaving half the ingredients at the store apparently to make them!! I hate when that happens. I always vow to check my bags before leaving, but never do. Anyway this is not about the appetizer, this is about this weeks Main Course, and Side. I will blog about them together, since I made them together. Let me say it went over MUCH better than my dessert.

The Main Dish and Side were

Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce

Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parmesan Crust

I started my potatoes boiling first off, I got the tiny baby new potatoes, and I also used about 2 times what the recipe called for because my family enjoys potatoes!

Meanwhile I salted, and peppered my roast

I braised the meat while I seasoned my Roma (and garden) Tomatoes

I did not have the spice needed, so I compromised with spices that were similar, and just sprinkled. I do not measure often, which is why I do better at cooking, than baking. In baking measuring is pretty important!

After the meat is braised you add the seasoned tomatoes, and place your pan into the oven. Looks good already and smells FANTASTIC!

So while that was in the oven, doing its thing. Back to the potatoes. While they cooled and drained I cut up my zucchini, and got the butter and herbs simmering in the iron skillet. I LOVE the smell of butter and garlic cooking. YUM!

So you cut your potatoes in half, and your zucchini, and you add them to the pan of heated butter and herbs like so:

Yummy. You cook them like this until the bottoms get a nice almost crisp golden color to them. I doubled the butter amounts also, since I had doubled my potato amounts. Once I took this batch out and onto my foil lined pan, I added more! I am glad I did!

So once they are cooked, golden and brown my roast was ready to come OUT of the oven!!! Just in time for me to turn the oven to BROIL and put the potatoes in!

Top the potatoes with some shredded parm and broil away! While they were broiling, and my meat was resting, I made the sauce for the roast. It just so happens on my quest to the store, I had left more than just the pasta sauce, and cheese there, I also left my olive oil! A needed ingredient for the sauce. At this point there was no going to the store, so I had to use the 2TBS or so I had left, and the rest was canola oil instead. The kids said that the sauce looked like...Well I wont say what they said it looked like since this is a FOOD blog.

Okay. Finally. Dinner is READY! It all came together quite well! The potatoes were done, the meat had rested, the sauce was finished, even without the right ingredients.... And it looked BEAUTIFUL if I do say so myself!

Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce

Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parm Crust

And the finished product that I ate, and enjoyed very much:

Everyone enjoyed the "steak" Bailey was the only one brave enough to try the sauce, out of the kids. He liked it, alot. He is into green foods, more so than any kid I have ever known. The sauce was not "spicy" in my opinion at all. Of course I think I went easy on the red pepper afraid the kids would not eat if it was. I got MORE than one compliment from the husband. So that means it must have been pretty good!

I will CERTAINLY make this roast again, I will make the potatoes A LOT, I LOVED them and so did the kids. They were also quite simple to make. The whole meal was actually. It seemed very complex though when eating. Which is always nice. I like for it to seem like I worked harder than I actually did!

Please take the time to check out how HEIDI, STEENA, and LAURIE liked the dishes!!!

Edited to add:

I realized today that my sauce, for the roast was made incorrectly! I was supposed to ADD those tomtoates I roasted TO THE SAUCE! No wonder it was such a BRIGHT green!!! I just had parsley and oil I think! :O) It was still good, but when I make it again, I will add the tomatoes to the sauce, and I will let everyone know what I thought! Oh boy! READ the recipes don't just assume. HAHA.

Lets start with Dessert!

2009-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know its a bit backwards, but dessert was the first of the four courses that I made, mainly because I had all the things on hand first to make them.

So dessert this go around was Lemon Thyme Bars

I must admit, I am not a big fan of Lemon in desserts, and I also am not a huge fan of herby type "savory" desserts. So I was not really looking forward to this recipe, but I did go into it with an open mind. I have tried other things and ended up enjoying them. Maybe this, would be one of those times.

First I got my ingredients together

Turns out I only needed ONE lemon, I bought three. I will have lots of lemon water over the next week :)

So you take the thyme and you have to pull it off the stems. This was not much fun. In fact, I will go as far as to say it was a PITA! This is what you end up with, I must say I felt like a druggie fixing up my pot... Not like I would know WHAT that was like, but well I have seen movies :OP

Im telling you... If the cops came to the door, I might be questioned right about now!!!

So once that is all pulled off the stems you chop it up, and then mix it with the flour and salt. Set that aside and start work on the wet ingredients.

You mix until this looks fluffy. And then you slowly add your flour mixture into the bowl and slowly stir. SLOWLY is key here, or flour will go all over the place. Dont ask me how I know.

Oh and a great tip for buttering the pan, just use the wrapper from your stick of butter! It has just enough on it to do the job, and then your getting your moneys worth!

So once your wet and dry mixtures are together, you put it into the pan, and flatten with wet hands. Until you get this Then bake until it looks about like this:

While you wait for your bars to cool, you can prepare the glaze by mixing the sugar, and lemon juice together.

Once cooled glaze. I left mine over night and then cut them into bars.

The verdict? I thought they were Ok. I could taste the thyme and I just did not care for that flavor in a dessert. Destiny tried it and spit it out, Hannah did the same, Promise tried a bite so small I am pretty sure she could not taste it, but she said they were gross. Bailey and Tim would not even try them, for fear I would yell at them for spitting in the trash can, like I yelled at the first 2.

What did I do with them? I ended up throwing them away. Oh well I did give the rats each a serving, they ate them. They were very easy to make and I think, had I left the Thyme out, I would have liked them. Will I make them again? No. I will not. I am glad that I tried something new though. It is an easy recipe and if you like lemon, and you like thyme, chances are you would like these bars!

I hope that Laurie, Heidi, and Steena, had fun making them and enjoyed the bars! Be sure to check out there opinions!

MONKEY BREAD FOR MY MONKEYS!

2009-09-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

So cans of biscuits were on sale, and I had a coupon. There for I did what any frugal mom would do… I stocked up! Now I am sitting here with a fridge full of dough wondering what to make. When MONKEY BREAD came to mind!!!
Luckily I had everything else on hand. I think most would and if you are missing something, chances are your neighbors have what your missing! What else are neighbors for?
Here is what you need:

Ingredients

3 (10 ounce) pillsbury refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2-1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup walnuts or pecan

So we gathered up all the needed ingredients, and then took our pan and sprayed it with oil, and preheated the oven to 350 degrees. The monkeys wanted to help mom with the bread, and that is what this recipe is good for! Have them wash their hands and help out! Its fun!
Pop open your dough, I had to use 2 cans as my cans were each 16oz. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. I used scissors, it was easiest. Let the kids roll each dough piece into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place your nuts in the oiled pan. I did not have walnuts or pecans, I had peanuts, and I wish I had left them out. One kid has braces, and one does not care for nuts, so next time, it will be without nuts.
So once the dough is covered in the sugar mixture you can add the dough balls into the pan. The monkeys enjoyed this, and almost got along while doing it!

MMMM sugary dough. The monkeys were getting excited! :)

Next you take your butter, brown sugar, and water. Heat it in a small saucepan until boiling. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes. It will thicken up almost like a caramel and should look something like this:
Obviously this mixture is HOT. So a grown up Monkey should do the pouring of this sauce.

Pour over your biscuits and then pop them into the oven!
Yummy right?!

Bake at the 350 for 20-25 min.Once you remove it from the oven, let it cool. For a while. This will be hard, but trust me, even when the top is cooled, the bottom (which will BE the top) is NOT! OUCH!

It pulls apart easily for yummy munching. It was a GREAT before bed snack for the monkeys!

They enjoyed them :)

Now I do think my biscuits were larger than what the recipe called for, so I think I should have cooked mine longer. In fact I did. The monkeys ate the top half, but the middle pieces were still doughy so they went back into the oven and that was mommy and daddy monkeys snack before bed. Yum yum!
Oh and I used reduced fat biscuits. So it was “healthy” right? YEP!

Melon Sorbet

2009-08-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today, I had extra melon that was going to probably go bad, so I found this recipe by Alton Brown.

It is for MELON SORBET. I had all the things on hand to make it:
Ingredients
1 pound, 5 ounces diced watermelon, muskmelon or honeydew
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons vodka
9 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/4 cups

and I am armed with an ice cream maker. So I figured I would give it a go!

I chopped up a half of a seedless baby watermelon, and a half of a "yellow melon" that we had. this melon reminded me of cantaloupe or honey do. I chopped them up and had what my measuring bowl said was 64oz. I thought about the size of my ice cream maker and chose to not do as much as the recipe stated. Good thing, because only doing 64oz chunks, which became 48oz pureed, more than filled my maker!

I also did not have fresh lemon juice on hand, and was not about to run to the store, when I have vowed to stay in jammies all day... So I used the bottled stuff.

While I was blending watermelon, and about to add the vodka, 2 of my 4 kids came up wanting to know "when the smoothie would be ready". I told them it was going to be like ice cream and they decided it was going to be their bedtime snack. Tempting as it was, I omitted the VODKA because of this... Although they might have been easier to get to sleep, had I left it in :O)

As for the sugar, I had splenda (the generic brand) already in the cabinet open, so I used that, and not nearly as much. The reviews had said it was too sweet, so I tasted as I added, I think it will totally depend on how sweet your melon was in the first place! So I would say add some, taste, you can always add more!

After blending together, I put this in my ice cream maker and turned it on. It was about smoothie consistency after 15 min (as my makers directions say to churn) So I removed it and placed it in the freezer. It is now nearly rock solid, I think because there is no vodka to help keep it from freezing all the way!!! (I knew I should have left it in). It does taste very good though. I would do it again if I have melon that is about to go, or that has no room in the fridge.

Would I go to the store and buy melons JUST to make this recipe? Probably not.

I was going to include pictures, but then I got lazy. I still need to clean house and make dinner. So Just use your imagination! :)

Later, I thought about making some "kool aid" Sorbet with the kids. IT was still pretty slushy when we wanted to eat it, so we combined the two. This is what it looked like:

Tasted pretty good. I bet tomorrow, when the lime is all firmed up it will taste even better! YUM!

I love to try new recipes!

2009-08-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

So when I found out some online friends of mine were doing a food challenge I HAD to be included. I beg and whined a little and they let me in on the game. I am one challenge behind but that is okay. I Love the idea of cooking new recipes and taking pictures of the food and posting my review of how it went! LOVE IT! I am super excited to start!

So this, now my second of blogs, will be used for the "food networking challenge" and also for any and most other food related things that come about in my life. Stay tuned!