Stuffed Chicken Breasts

My menu for the week is downstairs, so I'm having to do all of this from memory! Not easy for those of us afflicted with Mommy Brain! Monday night we had stuffed chicken breasts. They were so yummy!! The recipe calls for goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh thyme, but I used feta, prosciuto, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. I love stuffing chicken...you can do so much with it!

Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, without oil, minced
2 oz. soft-type goat cheese
1 tsp thyme, chopped
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 4 4-oz breasts
1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup wine, dry, white
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup canned chicken broth, fat-free
1 Tbsp canned tomato paste
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped

IN a small bowl, stir together sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and thyme. Using a sharp paring knife, cut a horizontal slit through the thickest part of each breast, creating a pocket. Be careful not to cut all the way through. Stuff each chicken breast with 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with olive oil cooking spray and warm over high heat. Add chicken and brown well. Remove and set aside. Add white wine to pan and boil until almost all evaporated.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and 2 Tbsp chicken broth until smooth. Whisk cornstarch mixture, reminaing chicken broth and tomato paste into white wine. Return chicken breasts to pan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Review

The Napoleons weren't as fantastic as I thought they'd be. They had looked so good in the picture on the website, but the actual result was only okay. Well, we liked them and they were super easy, but they just weren't as great as I'd hoped. I mixed in some sour cream with the beans to make them a bit creamier and so they'd go further. I don't think one can of beans was really enough, but two would be too much. I'd make them again if I had everything on hand for them and needed something to make, but I don't think I'd purposefully buy the ingredients to make them.

Doot Doot

I'm sure you're saying, "Doot doot? What is doot doot?" It's what my two year old son calls ketchup. Get it...ketchup...catch up? Ha!

I can't believe I haven't updated since Sunday. This week has been ridiculously busy, but I didn't think it had been THAT bad. I'll start with a review of the Napoleons and then update my recipes for the week. What a slacker I am!

Mexicali Napoleons

Ahhh...finally! Finally we're done eating leftover pizza from Friday night, and finally I get to try this recipe!! I had a sheet of puff pastry leftover from something, so I checked out puffpastry.com for recipes. There were several that sounded good, but I had just about everything on hand for this one. I've been wanting to make it all week, but I wanted to wait for the husband to be well again.

Mexicali Napoleons
1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)
1 can (about 16 oz.) Pace® Traditional Refried Beans
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 tbsp. drained canned chopped green chiles
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped tomato
2 green onions, sliced
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves

THAW pastry sheet at room temperature 30 min. Preheat oven to 400°F.

UNFOLD pastry on lightly floured surface. Cut into 3 strips along fold marks. Cut each strip into 2 rectangles. Place 2" apart on baking sheet. Bake 15 min. or until golden. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack.

HEAT beans. Split pastries into 2 layers, making 12 layers in all. Spread beans on 6 bottom layers. Top with cheese, chiles and top layers. Spread top layers with sour cream. Sprinkle with tomatoes, green onions and cilantro.

*****

Mmmm...I can't wait to try it! I'm not sure what we're going to have with it, I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

Grilled Pizzas

Well, the husband is on the mend. Woo hoo!! We're having grilled pizzas tonight, and I'm so excited! We haven't had them in quite awhile. I bought two crusts at Trader Joe's today...one plain and one garlic and herb. I'm hoping to get two pizzas out of each dough, but we'll see. I don't remember how big they are. I'm going to use the plain crust for BBQ Chicken Pizza. The garlic and herb I think I'm going to do one margherita pizza (basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella) and one with red peppers, caramelized onions, and feta. I have a red pepper I need to use, so I thought that would be good.

For the BBQ Chicken Pizza I mix chicken with some BBQ sauce, not a lot, just enough to lightly coat each piece. I use BBQ sauce as the sauce for the crust. For cheese I do a mixture of smoked mozzarella and regular mozzarella. Then I top it with cilantro or green onions. Yum!!

Since it's been awhile since we've done grilled pizzas, here's a link to a tutorial on how to grill them in case you haven't tried it:

Cooking Light's How to Grill Pizzas

It says on there to flip after three minutes, but we've found it to be closer to five. It may depend on the grill, too. Grilling pizzas is totally addicting, so consider yourselves warned. I'm totally excited for this dinner tonight, plus we're going to have baked brie as a pre-dinner snack!

Crockpot Chicken

The husband is on the mend, so it's back to real dinners! Good thing because we didn't have a lot of random dinner stuff on hand. Last night the kid had chicken nuggets and I had a can of chili. Thankfully those days were short-lived!

I had gotten out a chicken to do in the crockpot, and that's what we're having tonight. I wasn't feeling overly inspired with it, so I cut up an onion and put that in the cavity. I mixed together some lemon pepper and Pasta & Co House Herbs and spread under the skin. I got a late start on it, so I've had the crockpot on high for the last five hours. When I checked a couple hours ago there wasn't much liquid in the pot, so poured some chicken broth over the top of the chicken.

I'm hoping it's done in time for us to eat...last time I checked it, the temperature of the chicken was still too low! I think we're going to have feta mashed potatoes with it and maybe some peas of green beans.

No dinners

The husband came down with some kind of cold yesterday, so I didn't make dinner last night and probably won't tonight either. I was going to do a crockpot chicken today, but I forgot to set it up before we left this morning. We'll probably have that tomorrow. I'm so bummed because I have a new recipe I want to try that I'm so excited about but the dinner keeps getting pushed back! :(

Sloppy Joes

So, did everyone have a nice weekend? I forgot to say that we were going to Houston for our nephew's birthday. We left Friday and got home last night. It was so fun, I love my niece and nephews so much! Will had a great time playing with his cousins, and my in-laws were there, too, so he got to spend time with his Texas grandparents whom he doesn't get to see very often. A good time was had by all.

Now it's back to our regular routine. I'm trying to use up some stuff we have on hand this week, so tonight is sloppy joes. It seems like we just had these, but when I went to copy the recipe it was about two months ago. Or I used different tags and made it more recently. ;)

Sloppy Joes
1 pound hamburger (or one box Boca grounds)
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup
1-2 cups ketchup, depending on taste (or how sloppy you like them)

Brown hamburger in skillet. Add in chicken gumbo soup, gradually add in ketchup until mixture reaches desired consistency/sloppiness. Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

I love sloppy joes...so tasty and so easy! We're having crinkle fries with it and probably some kind of vegetable. I'm trying lately to make sure we have a vegetable with dinner every night. Oh! Maybe I could sneak in some sweet potato puree. I bet that would work! But we'll still have a vegetable. :)

Review - Chicken and Rice

Forgot to do my review before typing up tonight's recipe. I won't be making the chicken again. The rice was totally over-cooked and the chicken was kind of dry. Not a good combo. It may have been my fault because I turned the heat up to high for about an hour, but I don't think I'll try it again. And I think this will be my last try with rice in the crockpot. So much for third time's the charm!

Hoisin Pork Medallions

I bought a pork loin roast at the store this week and need to cut it up, so I figured I'd make this. We haven't had it in awhile, and it's really yummy. It calls for a pork tenderloin sliced into medallions, but I always make it with pork chops.

Hoisin Pork Medallions
Cooking Spray
1 Tbsp dark sesame oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices
6 Tbsp water
1/3 cup dry sherry
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice, cooked without salt or fat
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil, and place over medium-high heat until hot. Add pepper and garlic; saute 1 minute. Add pork; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove pork from skillet. Wipe drippings from skillet with a paper towel.

Combine water and next 3 ingredients in skillet; cook over medium heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return pork to skillet, turning to coat. Place rice on a platter; spoon pork mixture over rice and sprinkle with green onions.

*****

I heart hoisin sauce. I don't remember the first time I used it, but it's something I always keep in my fridge now. It's kind of like Chinese ketchup or barbecue sauce. If you've had mu shu, hoisin is the sauce they spread on the pancake/crepe.

Now having said that I want some mu shu!

King Cake

Well, y'all are in luck and get my king cake recipe because I found it online! You'll see why I didn't want to type it out when you see how long it is. I am trying to decide if I should make it today or wait and make it Monday or Tuesday. Or both! Maybe reading the recipe will help inspire me to decide. :)

Last year my son's birthday fell on Mardi Gras, so we had a Mardi Gras themed party. My husband grew up in New Orleans and loves King Cake. In fact, we used to always order one each year from Gambino's Bakery in Louisiana, but it was something like $40. It was good, but not single income good. John wanted to have king cake at Will's birthday party, so I tried a few recipes to find a good one since I wasn't shelling out the dough to have one sent from Louisiana. This one was in my Ultimate Southern Living cookbook, and it turned out great. It was very well-received at the party.

To find out the origins and background of King Cake, read the Wikipedia King Cake Entry.

Southern Living magazine's King Cake
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
2 eggs
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
Colored Frostings (see below)
Colored Sugars (see below)

Colored Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 drops green food color
2 drops yellow food coloring
2 drops blue food coloring
2 drops red food color

Colored sugars:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 drops green food color
2 drops yellow food coloring
2 drops red food color
2 drops blue food coloring

COOK first 4 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Cool mixture to 100 degrees to 110 degrees.

DISSOLVE yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add butter mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

TURN dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

STIR together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

PUNCH dough down; divide in half. Turn 1 portion out onto a lightly floured surface; roll to a 28- x 10-inch rectangle. Spread half each of cinnamon mixture and softened butter on dough. Roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at long side. Place dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough, cinnamon mixture, and butter.

COVER and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

BAKE at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden. Decorate with bands of Colored Frostings, and sprinkle with Colored Sugars.

COLORED FROSTINGS: Stir together powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla. Divide frosting into 3 batches, tinting 1 green, 1 yellow, and combining red and blue food coloring for purple frosting.

COLORED SUGARS: Place 1/2 cup sugar and drop of green food coloring in a jar or zip-top plastic bag; seal. Shake vigorously to evenly mix color with sugar. Repeat procedure with 1/2 cup sugar and yellow food coloring. For purple, combine 1 drop red and 1 drop blue food coloring before adding to remaining 1/2 cup sugar

*****

See what I mean? I don't have the time or patience to type that out! :) I don't do colored frosting, I just keep it white and then color the sugar that goes on top of it.

It was awfully tasty when I made it last weekend...maybe I will whip up a batch today.

Chicken and Rice

Tonight's my photography class, so we're having a crockpot dinner. I had marked this as one I wanted to try and had most everything for it already, so I figured we'd give it a shot. Normally I don't like making rice in my crockpot because it just doesn't ever turn out well--it's always over-cooked. But, I'm giving it a try again.

Chicken and Rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
2-1/2 cups water
1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
6 ozs boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low 5-6 hours, stir occasionally.

*****

To me, six ounces of chicken didn't seem like that much, so I put in three chicken breasts. I also cut the water back to just two cups. I figured I could add more later if I needed to, but whenever I use a crockpot recipe that calls for water, it ends up being too soupy. I need to go check on it and stir, it's been in for about 90 minutes so far.

Spinach Artichoke Chicken

I forgot to post yesterday what we were having for dinner. I didn't so much forget, actually, as I was just lazy and never did it. It was super easy and really good. I had Bunco last Friday night, so I bought Costco's spinach artichoke parmesan dip to take. That stuff has got to be laced with crack! We still had some left, and I wanted to get rid of it, so I came up with a genius idea. I cooked chicken breasts on my grill pan (seasoned with just salt and pepper), then once they were cooked I moved them to a cookie sheet and spooned some of the remaining dip on top and stuck the pan under the broiler for a few minutes. Oh man, was it ever good! Will loved it, too.

Review

Well, the tofu fried rice was okay. I like the tofu lo mein I like better, but this wasn't bad. I was worried it was going to taste too much like the Hoisin sauce because I could really smell it while it was cooking, but the taste wasn't overpowering at all. It was better with the soy sauce than last time without it, but it was still just okay.

Tofu Fried Rice

Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile (i.e. my husband, brother, Jen A., and Joanne) may remember us trying this recipe before and not liking it. I didn't have enough soy sauce last time, so I figured it was worth another go. Plus all I needed to buy were the frozen peas and carrots.

Tofu Fried Rice
2 cups uncooked instant rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 (14-ounce) package reduced-fat firm tofu, drained and cut into (1/2-inch) cubes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (1/2-inch-thick) slices green onions
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon bottled minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
Thinly sliced green onions (optional)

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. While rice cooks, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu; cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from pan. Add eggs to pan; cook 1 minute or until done, breaking egg into small pieces. Remove from pan. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to pan. Add 1 cup onions, peas and carrots, garlic, and ginger; sauté 2 minutes.

While vegetable mixture cooks, combine sake, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil. Add cooked rice to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tofu, egg, and soy sauce mixture; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Garnish with sliced green onions, if desired.

*****

I don't use the instant rice, I had some white rice left from the gumbo so I made that instead of my usual brown rice. I have to say, I love the cooking time of white rice over brown rice, but I like the taste of brown rice better. I also don't have any fresh ginger, so I figure I'll sprinkle some ground up ginger in the pan. And since my two year old is going to eat it, I'm hesitant about using sake, so I'm going to use rice wine vinegar instead.

Review

Gumbo. Was. Awesome. I could leave it at that and call it a decent review. ;) My roux turned out great--probably the best I've ever done. John said I must have channeled Aunt Holly somehow, it was that good. That's a pretty huge compliment because Holly's gumbo is fantastic. I just now realized I forgot to add the file to it. Oops. We had leftovers of it for dinner last night, and there's still probably two or three servings left. I'll have to figure out when to have them because there's no way I'm letting good gumbo go to waste.

The king cake was pretty amazing, too. The recipe makes two, and we ate one of them on Saturday night. I think I'm going to try and make another batch before Mardi Gras happens next Tuesday. I just have to decide when to make it. I may do it Wednesday and take one of them to Book Club for my MOMS Club.

Gumbo

I'm pretty sure this is the earliest in the day I've ever posted my dinner recipe! I have a baby shower to go to this morning, then this afternoon I'm making king cake. I'll try to post that recipe later, maybe. It's long, I don't know if I want to type it all out. I guess I should, though. Anyway, tonight we're having gumbo. YUM! This recipe is my husband's Aunt Holly's recipe, and it's fantastic. Of course, she makes it way better than I do, but I think I do a decent job considering I didn't grow up in the south.

The recipe below is as Holly sent it to me, so you'll have to read through it to find out all the ingredients. She kind of makes it as she goes, so I wouldn't know how to list out measurements for ingredients.

Aunt Holly's Gumbo
First you make a roux. I don't use olive oil I use about 3 or 4 large cooking spoons of flour and about 1 large spoon of vegetable oil. Med. heat. The roux should be the consistency of a loose paste. Stir then let it sit a few seconds then stir. Keep repeating till the roux is a med dark brown. not as dark as chocolate. Then add 1 chopped onion, about 3 or 4 green onions chopped, 1/2 bell pepper, chopped, 1 or 2 sticks celery (optional) chopped, Parsley chopped. Keep stirring and cook about 10 min till onions start to cook then add about 4 cups of water this may not be enough. but let it come to a boil and let all your roux melt this takes about 20 min. You can always add more water. It may take about 6 or more cups. I don't know I never measure. I just know what constancy it should be. Remember Gumbo is watery not like stew. As soon as it comes to boil turn fire low or it will boil over. In separate pan on high heat brown chicken. I use either breast and thighs (boneless) or sometimes like my Grandma did I cut a whole chicken. Just brown the chicken don't cook it. Then put it in with Gumbo, add smoked sausage (Bryan) I also pre cook that in separate pot to get out oil. I also add andouille sausage. I also add 1 smoked turkey wing which is also hard to find. But the smokey flavor of the turkey wing just adds flavor it's not a necessity. Everything is in one pot now and boil on low fire till chicken is well cooked. Then you can add file' if you can buy that also. I think you can it's with the spices and called Gumbo file' Add about 2 tbs. of that sprinkle on top stir than cook about 5 more min. I add a little garlic powder. Oh don't forget plenty of salt thats your flavor and pepper and cayenne pepper to, it's Cajun remember. Serve over rice.

*****

I'm glad I did this early in the day because I forgot to get celery at the store yesterday. I need to go back and get white rice anyway because the husband thinks gumbo with brown rice (what we always have) would be weird. Anyway, the first time I made it I was like, "Cooking spoon?! What the heck is a cooking spoon?" So I just use one of my big spoons and call it good. I'm still not very good with the roux, but I'm learning. I think I end up using more oil than it calls for to get it the right consistency. Oh man, I'm totally excited for dinner tonight!

Review

The shepherd's pie turned out pretty good. I like it better with regular ground beef instead of veggie grounds, but it was pretty good. John went back for thirds (claiming veggie grounds aren't as filling as ground beef), so it must have been good. Will didn't eat a ton of it, but he's not a fan of the veggie grounds, nor does he really like mashed potatoes. I swear if he didn't look so much like me I'd wonder if he was really my kid. Not liking mashed potatoes?! That's my favorite food! Plus who doesn't like mashed potatoes?!

Shepherd's Pie

This is going to be my first attempt at making Shepherd's Pie with veggie grounds instead of ground beef. The recipe I use is a take-off of a Weight Watchers recipe, but I've modified it a bit over the years.

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
Mashed potatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet until cooked. In a small saucepan, make gravy according to package directions. Once ground beef is done, stir in vegetables and gravy until desired sauciness. Transfer beef/veggie/gravy mixture to a pie pan or 8-inch square pan. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

*****

I think it should turn out okay with veggie grounds instead of ground beef, but I've found with the Morningstar Farms veggie grounds that the consistency gets kind of funny when cooked in a sauce of some sort. I definitely like the Boca Grounds better, but these were on sale recently.

Brats

Oops...forgot to post yesterda! I started a photography class on Wednesday nights; it runs for six weeks. Wednesday night dinners are going to be something super easy and fast or crockpot while I have this class. My friend Jen B. is taking it with me. We might be in a little over our heads, but we're hoping to find the artists within us. Or that's what we're telling ourselves anyway.

So last night's dinner was ridiculously easy. We had Boca Brats, and I just followed the instructions on the box for cooking them...nothing exciting. I did slice up a green pepper and onion and sauteed those to go with. I also found out that my son LOVES raw green peppers--just like his mommy! I wanted a side dish to go with it and found the following recipe on allrecipes.com. It was okay. The husband really liked it (reminded him of hash browns scattered and covered at the Waffle House), but I don't think it's anything I'd make again.

Bob Evans® Au Gratin Potatoes
1 (20 ounce) package Bob Evans® Hash Brown Potatoes
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a greased 7 x 11 x 2 inch baking pan, place half of potatoes. Sprinkle flour, then 1/2 cup cheddar cheese on top. Cover with remaining potatoes. Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper over, then pour on the milk. Pour the butter over top. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown.

*****

I skipped the parmesan cheese and butter on top. I didn't feel like shredding parmesan, and I was in a hurry to get it in the oven and didn't want to take the time to melt butter. I think maybe if everything had been mixed up and then put in the baking pan, it would have been better.

The brats, in case you were wondering, were actually really good. And MUCH healthier than regular brats. They only had three Weight Watcher points per brat. I don't know what regular ones have, but I have to figure it's significantly more.

Fettuccine Alfredo

I'm a little late in posting tonight, we had a busy day. We've already eaten, and it was yummy. :) There are two fettuccine alfredo recipes I've found from Cooking Light that I've tried, one I like and the other is okay. This ended up being the one that is just okay.

Fettuccine Alfredo
1 pound uncooked fettuccine
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 cups half-and-half
3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half-and-half, cheese, salt, and pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; add pasta, tossing gently to coat.

*****

To be sneaky and get my family to eat more veggies, I added in some pureed cauliflower. You couldn't taste it, but you could definitely smell it in the sauce. John actually asked, "Is there broccoli or something in this?" after he smelled it. Will loved it and ate it better than a lot of dinners I've fixed recently!

Review

Our Po' Boys were really yummy last night! John and I both liked them anyway, the boy wasn't so impressed. He's not a big fish fan, though. This was the first time I'd used the broccoli slaw with them, usually I use regular cole slaw mix. I didn't really notice a difference.

Catfish Po'Boys

I'm back in the land of the living! Actually I've been feeling pretty good since Saturday, just haven't made dinner. That's not really true either, for our date night Saturday the husband and I ended up making pizzas at home instead of going out, but it wasn't anything exciting. We were going to grill them, but 1) the store we went to was out of fresh pizza dough, and 2) it was really cold outside!

So now it's back to making dinners. When I was at the store a couple weeks ago they had had catfish nuggets on Manager's Special, so I stocked up and got three packages. I found this recipe for Catfish Po'Boys several years ago in Cooking Light, and I just haven't seen catfish on sale in a really long time, so we haven't had them in forever. I'm totally excited to have them tonight!

Catfish Po'Boys
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1 pound catfish fillets, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (such as McCormick)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Dash of crushed red pepper
2 cups bagged broccoli coleslaw
4 (2 1/2-ounce) hoagie rolls with sesame seeds, toasted

Combine milk and catfish in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Remove fish from bowl; shake off excess milk. Sprinkle fish with salt. Combine cornmeal and Cajun seasoning in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag. Seal and shake to coat.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

While fish cooks, combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients (vinegar through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add broccoli coleslaw; toss well to coat. Spoon 1/2 cup slaw mixture onto bottom half of each roll. Arrange fish evenly over each serving, and top with top halves of rolls.

*****

I think I'm going to set a couple pieces aside for the boy that won't have the cajun seasoning on them. He wasn't very fond of that with the chicken wraps we had last week, so his can just be breaded with cornmeal. I'm also not using hoagie rolls, I bought a baguette (sp?) at the store and will cut that into pieces to use instead. It's a bit more traditional that way.

No dinners for a few days!

I was diagnosed yesterday with strep throat...again! I just had it back in September. So I didn't cook last night, I'm not cooking tonight (except maybe a hot dog or grilled cheese for the boy), tomorrow night we're supposed to have a date night, and Sunday night is my cousin's 30th birthday dinner at my grandma's. The upside, of course, is that since I didn't make two of the meals I'd planned for this week means I have two dinners already figured out for next week!

Pulled Pork

This is what we're having for dinner tonight. I took dinner to someone from MOMS Club last week that just had a baby, and this is what I made. I still had some pork roasts in the freezer, so I thought we'd have it one night this week. I forgot to get it set up this morning before Cooking Club, so hopefully it gets done in time. I also forgot to get out my pork to defrost, so I'm hoping have the crockpot on high will help speed things along!

Pulled Pork
1-2 lbs pork loin roast
1 bottle barbecue sauce

Place pork roast(s) in crockpot. Pour in bottle of barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours. Remove pork from crockpot, shred meat with two forks. Return pork to crockpot and mix with sauce. Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

Ridiculously easy. When I buy the pork roasts, it's usually around four pounds, so I cut it into one pound sections. I used two pounds of meat last week for the new mom, and I decided to use two pounds for us for tonight based on how much that made. It's probably going to be a bit too much, but then we'll have lunches the rest of the week. I'm not sure what we'll have with this yet. Maybe crinkle fries. I'll have to see what I have on hand.

Oh, and to mine I sprinkled Montreal Steak Seasoning over the pork roasts before adding in the barbecue sauce. I also added in a little honey because I bought the "Traditional" flavor BBQ sauce.

Shrimp Scampi

It's another two-for-one day! My MOMS Club has a Cooking Club once a month where a recipe is demonstrated and cooked. I hosted this month's and made a Weight Watchers shrimp scampi. We don't eat shrimp anymore since it's really high in cholesterol, so it was a fun treat to make this since I rarely get to eat shrimp. This was in the WW cookbook "Take Out Tonight" I think it's called. It's one of my favorite WW cookbooks...just about every recipe I've tried from it is good, and they're divided up into ethnic food secions: Italian, Mexican, Deli Food, Indian, Chines, Japanese, Thai, Greek. There might be one or two more, but I can't think of what they are. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Weight Watchers Shrimp Scampi
WW Points: 3 points
4 tsp butter (teaspoon, not tablespoon!)
1 shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, butterflied, and deveined
2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Lemon wedges

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, then add the shallot and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Return pan to heat, cook until shrimp are pink. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.

Makes four servings, six shrimp per serving.

*****

It was a big hit! Everyone really liked it, including the kids. Well, not my kid, but all the other kids did! Scampi is usually just dripping with butter, but this is a really healthy, flavorful version. And it's super easy to make. The most labor and time intensive part is butterflying the shrimp, but once that's done it's super easy! The real recipe calls for you to broil the shrimp, but I don't see any reason to diry another pan, so I just do them in the same skillet. Plus shrimp cook really fast anyway, no reason to broil.

Review

The Chili Cheese Cornbread was really good, there's hardly any left. I saw the cornbread box said to bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, so I set the oven to 400 instead of the 350 in the recipe. I had it in there for probably 17 minutes I think.

Chili Cheese Cornbread

I don't think the husband will be excited about this dinner because it's not "chili weather," but it's what I had planned for tonight, and I don't feel like switching things around at the last minute. He'll just have to deal. :) I found this recipe a few years ago when we were low on funds. The website has a bunch of frugal recipes. I turn to it a lot when we're low on funds now. Chili happened to be on sale a couple weeks ago, and I had a coupon that made it $0.50 per can. We always have shredded cheese on hand, and the cornbread mix was something like $0.35. This is one of the most economical dinners I know of!

Chili Cheese Cornbread
2 cans chili w/beans
Cheese (shredded or sliced)
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 egg
1/3 c. milk

Spread chili in a greased 8x11 dish. Top with cheese. Stir milk and egg into cornbread mix and spread on top. Bake at 375 degrees or until golden brown and cornbread is done.

*****

It's a little white trash I suppose, but who doesn't like a good white trash dinner every now and then? I bought turkey chili because it's a bit healthier than regular. I'd have to check the cornbread mix box for cooking time, but I think I usually cook it for however long the cornbread is supposed to bake. I'll let you know in my review!

Tuscan Style Grilled Tuna Steaks

So I found a recipe close to the one I'd been looking for, but then when I went to dice up my mano, it was bad. Don't you hate when you buy something and it's bad when you get home?! I'm too lazy to go back to the store and fight over $1. Instead I found a different tuna steak recipe. The one I'd seen was sesame crusted tuna and a mango salsa. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, the one I ended up finding was pretty good. We both liked it, Will didn't really eat it.

Tuscan Style Grilled Tuna Steaks
4 fresh tuna steaks, 8 ounces each, 1-inch thick
1 lemon, zested
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, about 2 tablespoons leaves stripped from stem
Handful flat leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning
Extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking

Rinse and pat tuna steaks dry. Place zest on top of cutting board. Pile rosemary and parsley leaves on top of zest. Pile garlic and some coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning on top of herbs. Finely chop the garlic, herbs, and spices. Drizzle the olive oil over the tuna steaks just enough to coat each side. Rub herb and garlic mixture into fish, coating pieces evenly on each side. Let stand 10 minutes.
Grill tuna steaks 6 minutes on each side or 4 minutes on each side, if you prefer pink tuna at the center. Cook steaks over: high setting on indoor electric grill, medium high heat on outdoor gas grill or, 6 inches from hot, prepared charcoal.

*****

It was really yummy, like I said. And a totally easy way to prepare it also. I only seared ours for about two minutes per side for pink in the center. We had Creamy Parmesan Orzo and some peas with it. All in all, a super yummy dinner!

Cajun Chicken Wraps

This was actually our dinner last night, I was lazy and never sat down to type it out for the ol' blog here. It was from the Weight Watchers website, four points if you're into that. I'd printed it out waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2003 but never made it. I used to print out recipes from the website when I was bored at work, so I have quite a few. :) Plus I did WW many times off and on over the years. From the date on the recipe, this was when I was doing it for my wedding. :)

Cajun Chicken Wraps
3 Tbsp Cajun seasoning mix
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp paprika
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders
4 medium fat-free flour tortillas
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups mixed baby greens
8 medium basil leaves
4 tsp fat-free mayonnaise
1-1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning mix

Combine 3 Tbsp seasoning mix, flour, and paprika. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in seasoning mixture.

Coat a large, nonstick pan with cooking spray. Over medium-high heat, add chicken to pan and saute until cooked through. Remove chicken from heat and set aside.

Combine mayo, lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp seasoning for dressing. On each tortilla spread 1 tsp dressing, add onion slices, greens, and two basil leaves. Top with chicken pieces and wrap.

*****

This was really good and really easy. I used a bit too much Cajun seasoning, so my son wouldn't eat it because it was too spicy, but the husband and I really liked it. I even scaled back and added less seasoning and more flour so Will would eat it, but I guess it wasn't enough. I skipped the onion and basil pieces because I didn't have either of those, and I did add in some shredded cheese because we like our cheese.

I'm having issues with tonight's dinner. I saw a recipe recently I wanted to make, but now I can't find the darn recipe for the life of me! I went back through my cookbook log but can't find it there, so it must have been a magazine or something. I'll have to do some more looking.

Baked Egg Tchoupitoulas

Today was my friend Laura's baby shower. My friend Jen B. was in charge of food, and I asked if she needed help with anything. She said she needed another egg dish, so I said I'd make this one. We had it for Christmas breakfast last year, and it was really good. It's a lot of work and soooooooooooooo unhealthy, but it was a special occasion. I told the husband as I was finishing it up this morning that the amount of cholesterol in it must be staggering. You'll see why! I found this recipe on a website my mother-in-law sent me from a Lousiana tv station. I had kind of forgotten about it until I thought of this egg dish. I need to check out the list of recipes and see what else is on there.

Baked Egg Tchoupitoulas
2 pats butter or margarine
2 cups French bread, broken into small pieces
1 cup whole milk
8 large eggs
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
4 Tbsp. salted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup fully cooked breakfast sausage links, thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 lb. Lorraine or baby Swiss, shredded or sliced
10 slices bacon, fried, drained and crumbled
1-1/2 cup soft bread cubes, sauteed in butter

First, grease a 9 X 13-inch (2-quart) baking pan with butter or margarine and set it aside.

Then, almost as if you were making a bread pudding custard, mix the milk with the bread, gently knead it together with your fingers, and set the mixture aside to soak and form a slurry.

In the meantime, whip the eggs gently with a whisk or electric beater. Then stir in the salt, pepper, and butter until they are fully incorporated and gently combine it all with the milk and bread slurry.

Next, pour everything into the pre-greased baking pan and gently swirl into the eggs the sausage pieces and the cheddar so that they are uniformly distributed. Then cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.

Then when it's time to cook, evenly layer on the bacon, top it with the Swiss cheese slices, and crown it all with the sautéed bread cubes. All that's left is to bake the casserole at 400 degrees on the center rack of the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the eggs have set. When you're ready to eat, just spoon out a generous helping right from the pan and chow down.

Most New Orleanians prefer to serve this breakfast dish with a hot cup of cafe au lait, a chilled glass of milk or orange juice, and a stack of toasted and buttered English muffins.

*****

I received a lot of compliments on it at the shower. It really was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I left what was remaining for Laura to take home becuase John can't eat this, and I didn't need to eat how much was left on my own.

John had a boys night out tonight, so no dinner at our house. Will had some tortellinis, and I don't know what I'll have. I'm still kind of full from the feast at the shower this morning!

Gouda Crawfish

I forgot to post this yesterday! This was the dinner we were going to have Monday night for the BCS National Title game, but since we were both under the weather we didn't want to waste it on a night we weren't even really hungry. So we had a mini date night last night and had this yummy dinner after the boy was in bed. It was so tasty! Except I didn't drain the crawfish first, so there was a bit of excess crafwish juice in the pan, and I think the crawfish got a bit over-cooked while I was trying to cook off the excess liquid. Oh well, it was still tasty!! Who can resist anything that has puff pastry and cheese?!

Gouda Crawfish
2 Tbsp butter
1 pound crawfish tails
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry Vermouth
1 Tbsp seafood seasoning
1/2 package frozen puff pastry
1 pound round Gouda cheese, cut into large slices
Melted butter

Simmer butter, crawfish, onions, parsley, and garlic until crawfish are tender. Add cream, parmesan cheese, vermouth, and seasoning. Simmer until liquid is consumed. Set aside to cool.

Defrost 1/2 package of puff pastry to room temperature. Place one pastry on baking sheet. Add gouda cheese in center. Add crawfish mixture on top of cheese. Fold pastry over cheese and crawfish. Seal edges. Brush with melted butter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serves 10.


*****

The 10 serving thing is a bunch of BS, if you ask me. John and I ate all but one piece of this. I guess it would be 10 servings if it was an appetizer? I just don't see ten people eating this and all being satisfied. I think the package of crawfish I had was 12 ounces, too, so it was a bit shy on that. We still enjoyed it.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

We haven't had this dinner in quite awhile. I had to come up with another new idea today since John nixed the tamale pie (okay, I nixed that one) and chili casseroles I had planned on making this week. I had some pork chops in the freezer (actually a pork loin roast I cut into four one-pound pieces, then I cut chops from one of the pieces) and realized we haven't had this in a long time. The first time I made it I fell in love with the gravy. It's so yummy--especially for being light!

Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1 inch thick)
1 teaspoon butter
1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated mashed potatoes (such as Simply Potatoes)

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt evenly over both sides of pork. Add 1 teaspoon butter to pan, stirring until butter is melted. Add the pork to pan, and cook pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.

Combine low-fat milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to pan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Return pork to pan. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until gravy is thick and pork is done.

While pork cooks, prepare potatoes according to package directions. Serve with pork.

*****

Mmmmm...doesn't it sound so down-home and yummy?! I love me some gravy! And I have to admit when I make this it's probably not as healthy as it should be. I trim the fat off the pork, but then I put the pieces of fat in the pan to cook to give it a little extra flavor. Clever, huh? We're not technically eating it, but the flavor gets in there. I've also made this gravy and added sausage to it for biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Oh, and I don't buy refrigerated potatoes, I just make my own mashed potatoes. Potatoes on their own are a lot cheaper than the already made mashed ones...why spend the money when all you have to do is boil potatoes, drain, add milk and butter?

Review

The spaghetti sauce from last night is NOT a keeper. John liked it and said he'd eat it again, but I didn't like it at all. It was way salty--probably from two cans of soup--and just didn't taste right to me. I don't really know what made it Irish...not like there was Guinness in it or something. I guess cream of mushroom soup is Irish? No idea. Anyway, I guess it was okay but not anything I'd bother making again.

Irish-Italian Spaghetti Sauce

So this wasn't what I had orignally planned to make for dinner tonight. I was going to do a tamale pie type thing, but in reading over the recipe it sounded an awful lot like a chili casserole I make that the husband said he wasn't in a mood for. So I started looking for something else. I don't want to have to go to the store, and we've had chicken the past three nights, so I really wanted to find something to do with the veggie grounds I had planned on using. I found this recipe on the Campbell Soup website. I only have spaghetti as far as pasta goes, so I thought I'll give this a try.

Irish-Italian Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Lightly brown meat in a heavy skillet. Add soups and spices. Stir well, cover, and simmer at least 45 min. Add mushrooms if desired.

*****

I really have no idea how this is going to turn out. THere was only one review, and that person gave it five stars but left no comments. I'm either going to make spaghetti to go with it, or I think I have partial packages of linguine and fettucine, so I may just make what's left in those packages. My fingers are crossed that this turns out okay. If not, there's always our universal back-up plan of $5 pizza from Little Caesar's.

Chicken Soft Tacos

Okay, we actually had this for dinner last night, I just forgot to update the blog. I got a smaller version of the cold John had over the weekend, so I napped when Will did yesterday...and it was soooooooooo nice. :) Since I wasn't feeling 100%, I figured something easy in the crockpot would be best.

I love this recipe. It's ridiculously easy and so good. We hadn't had it in quite awhile, but it's usually something we have somewhat often.

Chicken Soft Tacos
1.5 pounds frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 envelope taco seasoning
Various taco fixings

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker. In small bowl, combine tomatoes and taco seasoning. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove chicken and shred. In a medium bowl, place shredded chicken and add sauce from crockpot until saucy-ness level of chicken is to your liking. Serve in tortillas with whatever taco toppings you like.

*****

The last part about saucy-ness was my own addition. The official recipe just has you shred it, but I like a little of the sauce in with it to give it some more flavor. I actually didn't have the tomatoes with green chilies, I had a can of fire roasted tomatoes with garlic, so I used that. I also added 1/2 a cup of pureed sweet potatoes to the mixture ala Deceptively Delicious. No one was any the wiser. I wanted to tell John about it, but then I figured he'd become suspicious of everything I make. I think not using the tomatoes with chilies and also adding in the sweet potato made these less spicy than usual, which was good because Will doesn't usually eat it well if it's spicy, and he was all over this last night!

Reviews

I realized I didn't review the mac and cheese from the other night. It was awesome. No one even knew there was cauliflower in it! I think it was an 11x7 pan I used to bake it, and there were no leftovers for the next day. Most of it was eaten by the husband, who by the way HATES cauliflower. So being Deceptively Delicious worked!

My tortilla soup from yesterday was okay. I don't think I put enough salsa in it because it didn't have quite the same kick this time as last time. Or I don't know if it was the chicken or what. Last time I made it I used leftover chicken from a whole chicken I had cooked, so there was some dark meat in it, and this time I just cooked up some chicken breasts. I think I caught John's cold, so I'm looking forward to having some of it later, even though it wasn't as good this time.

I had a great dinner planned tonight in honor of the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!), but since we're sick I don't think I'll make it. Instead we'll wait and have it as a celebratory meal later this week after the Tigers stomp all over the Buckeyes. :) We were going to have the Gouda Crawfish we had for our anniversary dinner. I'm not making that when neither of us feel like eating and won't be able to enjoy it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

The husband woke up with a really bad cold yesterday and is still sick today. We had some frozen gnocchi from Trader Joe's last night for dinner, which was really good. Today is mostly overcast and yucky looking outside, and I want soup. I have most everything on hand for Chicken Tortilla Soup, so I'm going to make some up after the kid and I run to Walmart for a couple items and some more tissues for the husband. I can't wait to have a big bowl of this for lunch today!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 container (12 ounces or so) salsa
6 regular cans chicken broth (or 2 large)
1 lime, juiced
1 bag tortilla chips
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
Hot sauce to taste
Shredded cheese to taste
Cooked chicken to taste

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil. When oil is heated, saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes. Add cooked chicken, chicken broth, salsa, and bring to a boil. Add any aditional vegetables (i.e. corn, tomatoes, black beans, etc.) at this step. Once boiling add cilantro, lime juice, and hot sauce to taste.

In individual serving bowls, place some broken-up tortilla chips in bottom and sprinkle with cheese. Pour the hot soup over the chips and cheese and serve.

*****

I can't remember if I mentioned last time that this can be made into a vegetarian version by leaving out the chicken and adding in some black beans or kidney beans (or both) or even just leaving out the chicken and not adding anything else to it. After I dry my hair, we're off to Walmart and then it's soup time! I'm trying to decide if I should sneak some pureed veggies into it, but I'm not sure what I'd use.

Macaroni and Cheese

I got the "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook for Christmas and was going to make the mac and cheese recipe in there, but then I figured I'd just make my mother-in-law's which I know is good and add in some pureed cauliflower to give it a nutritional boost. HOpefully the husband doesn't read this and find out I'm sneaking extra veggies into things, although this will be the first time I've done it.

Aurelia's Macaroni and Cheese
(these are "unmeasured ingredients", add to your taste)
hot boiled macaroni (8 to 12 ounce bag)
1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese (~8oz)
parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)
butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
few tablespoons of milk
salt/pepper

boil macaroni
drain
mix all other ingredients into the hot macaroni
place in 350 oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted
(toss in other cheeses as you like. ie american is good)

*****

I, of course, add more cheese than just one bag. I'm using the 2% shredded sharp cheddar, so it will be somewhat healthy. I'm so excited for this. It's been overcast off and on all day here, so some yummy comfort food sounds so good. The water is on the stove boiling right now!

Review

The cheeseburger hoagies last night were really good! Well, John and I both liked them, the boy not so much. I think he doesn't like the veggie grounds because he never seems to eat what I make with those. Anyway, they turned out really good and were fast and easy!

Cheeseburger Hoagie Sandwiches

So, are you guys enjoying all the new recipes so far this week? I've been enjoying making new things, and so far everything has been good. Phew! Will the streak continue?! Let's hope so.

This recipe comes from another Pampered Chef cookbook (I have many of them), and I thought it looked intriguing. I'm changing it up a bit, but I'll explain all of that after the recipe!

Cheeseburger Hoagie Sandwiches
1 package (11 ounces) refrigerated French bread dough
4 slices reduced-fat American cheese, divided
12 ounces 95% lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp yellow mustard
1 cup thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
1 plum tomato, sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Place bread dough on cutting board, stretch slightly. Cut dough into four equal portions. Cut three diagonal slits on top of each portion of dough; place seam side down and 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove loaves from baking sheet to a cooling rack.

Cut two slices of the cheese into small pieces. In a 10-inch skillet, cook and stir beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking beef into crumbles. Drain. Stir in ketchup, mustard, and cut-up cheese; stir until cheese is melted. Remove skillet from heat.

Slice each loaf lengthwise, end to end, cutting halfway through to center of loaf; spread open. Fill evenly with beef mixture; place on baking stone. Bake 6-8 minutes or until bread is toasted and meat mixture is heated through; remove from oven.

Cut remaining cheese slices diagonally in half; top each sandwich with one cheese traingle. Top sandwiches with lettuce and tomato slices.

*****

I'm using hoagie rolls that I have left from Meatball Sandwiches a few nights ago instead of going out and buying a thing of french bread dough. I'm also going to used reduced fat shredded cheese because I have that and didn't want to buy more cheese slices. I also don't have lettuce or tomato, but we usually eat burgers without any fixings, so I think it will be okay. The picture in the cookbook looks really good, so I'm excited to try them. I think I'll just bake some crinkle fries to have on the side. Oh yeah, and I'm using veggie grounds instead of ground beef.

Review

The tortellini was awesome!! There was too much sauce, but that was probably because I had less pasta than it called for, plus three cups of crushed tomatoes seems like it would be more tomatoes than three cups chopped. If that makes sense. :) I also skipped the olive oil and garlic step because I was feeling lazy and had a hungry kid and husband. My son totally loved this, and the husband had seconds and even ate the few tortellinis that were left in the pot when I went to do dishes. This one is definitely a keeper! Next time I'll try using fresh tomatoes.

Tortellini with Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce

Back to healthy eating now that the holidays are done! This is one I came across during my cookbook indexing project (which will probably take me forever to finish) and thought it sounded good, plus I had a can of crushed tomatoes in the pantry I figured I could use instead of fresh tomatoes. It's from a Pampered Chef cookbook.

Tortellini with Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce
1 package (20 ounces) uncooked refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini
6-8 medium tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped (3 cups)
3 Tbsp snipped fresh basil leaves
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh parmesan cheese

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain. Meanwhil, core tomatoes and cut crosswise in half and remove seeds. Coarsely chop tomatoes, set aside. Add snipped basil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to tomatoes; mix together. Heat oil over medium heat. Add pressed garlic, stir 1 minute or until garlic is lightly browned. Remove pan from heat. Add tortellini and tomato mixture; toss gently. Spoon pasta into serving bowl. Sprinkle grated parmesan over pasta.

*****

I'm using a bag of frozen tortellini that's only 16 ounces...oops. And like I said above, I'm using canned tomatoes not fresh. I think that's all I'm going to change about it.

Review

Okay, the stroganoff was awesome. Actually I thought there was slightly too much sour cream, and I also added in some red wine, and I could taste that too much as well. So next time I'll scale back on both of those. It was super good, though. We have stroganoff over rice, not nooodles.

Oh, and the creme brulee. Awesome. Fan-freakin-tastic. Amazing. Super tasty. Have I stressed how good it was? I made four ramekins-worth, so there are two more in the fridge. My friend Jen A. has never had creme brulee, so I promised one of them to her. It's a good thing, too, because John and I would probably be eating the other two!!

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

I've been really excited to try this recipe, so I hope it turns out. I love stroganoff, but really the only good one I ever have is my grandma's. Hopefully this one will be a keeper.

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 ounces dried egg noodles

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.

At the same time, melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring until softened. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are limp and browned. Remove to a bowl, and set aside.

In the same skillet, stir in vegetable broth, being sure to stir in any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, and cook until the mixture has reduced by 1/3. Reduce heat to low, and return the mushrooms and onion to the skillet.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir together the sour cream and flour; then blend into the mushrooms. Return the skillet to the burner, and continue cooking over low heat, just until the sauce thickens. Stir in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

*****

All the reviews said to add soy sauce and worcestire (sp?), so I figured I'd go ahead and do that. I had bought regular portobellos and some baby bellas to use, but the baby bellas aren't good anymore, so it looks like I'll be halving the recipe since I don't have enough mushrooms.

King Crab Legs and Creme Brulee

Mmm...it's a New Years Eve feast tonight at our house!! We always have king crab legs to eat for dinner tonight, and I got some good looking ones this year! The boy is going to Grandma's house for a NYE party with his grandparents (I'm sure it will be thrilling...my mom has always been one to celebrate NYE when it turns midnight on the east coast), the husband and I are going to an afternoon hockey game, then it's home for our feast! And probably some college football.

Since we have king crab legs so rarely, I always have to look up how to do them. This website had great tips on cooking them. I think this is somehow the same website I always find...I should probably just bookmark it. I normally bake them, but the husband is thinking of grilling them. He thinks we've done it that way before, but I don't remember. So here's how I do them, taken from the above website.

King Crab Legs
For whole (defrosted) crab legs, bake in a 350 oven for 8-9 minutes. Serve with melted butter.

*****

Pretty easy, huh. I put them in a roasting pan because normally the legs I buy are pretty big, so that's the easiest way to get them all cooking at the same time.

So, on to creme brulee. I heart creme brulee. I heart it very much. I think around this time last year (may have even been for NYE) I was looking for a creme brulee recipe because I had FINALLY gotten one of the sets with the blow torch. I had literally been asking for one for years for Christmas, Mother's Day, anniversary, my birthday...an occasion in which a gift is received, I asked for one. Last Christmas the husband came through and got one for me. Woo hoo! Then we went to use it and realized we had no fuel for it. Much sadness. But now we have the fuel and I wanted to do something fancy, so we're having creme brulee for dessert tonight. Anyway, I found this recipe online and it was awesome and easy, what could be better?!

Easy Creme Brulee
2 cups heavy cream
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup or so of light brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Whisk the cream, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Mix it all up until it gets nice and creamy. Pour this mixture into ramekins. Place the ramekins in a baking pan. Fill the baking pan with hot water, about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place the pan with the ramekins in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or so. After 45 minutes or so check them every ten minutes. You'll know they're done when you can stick a knife in one and it comes out clean. Remove the ramekins from the baking pan, set them on the counter, and let them cool for 15 minutes or so.

Then put them in the refrigerator and let them chill overnight.

Sprinkle a thin layer of the light brown sugar on the top of each. Make sure it's a THIN layer, but also make sure it completely covers the custard. Now torch it! Or, if you don't have a torch, you can put them under the broiler for a minute or so. The point is, you need to caramelize (melt and let harden) the sugar.

*****

Okay, I somehow missed the part about letting them chill overnight. DAMN IT!!! So I guess we'll be enjoying creme brulee tomorrow night. I'm so bummed. I did buy some spicy tuna rolls yesterday just in case we wanted an appetizer, so at least we have those in addition to the crab legs. Anyway, back to the creme brulee. Last time I made this I had to use the broiler, and they turned out just fine. Just watch them closely so they don't burn!

Review

Oh man, was that chicken last night good!! We both devoured our pieces. Super yummy, and the sauce is just incredible. The orzo didn't turn out as well as it usually does, I think we didn't put enough cheese in it or I maybe used too much liquid.

My friend Jen B. called me last night to ask about how I cut the chicken, so I figured I'd take pictures as I went last night. OH!! And I got new cookware yesterday so you can see my fancy schmancy new stuff! :)




This is how I cut the chicken breasts to stuff them. Technically one breast is two servings, but I wasn't in the mood to be healthy last night. See how I made a little pocket? By the way, the husband FREAKED OUT when he saw me using the camera around raw chicken. He must not know I always keep one hand chicken-free when handling chicken.





Here's the chicken after I stuffed it.





Here's the chicken cooking in the sauce. Like my new cookware? Costco, baby!!

Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Folks, this is one of my absolute favorite dinners!! We haven't had it in forever, so I'm really excited. Some friends were supposed to come over for dinner tonight, but we never heard back a final confirmation from them, but I'm making it for us anyway. Surprisingly (after you've tasted this), this is a Weight Watchers recipe! After our holiday binge eating I'm trying to do more WW recipes and really make sure we get back to eating healthy.

Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, without oil, minced
2 oz. soft-type goat cheese
1 tsp thyme, chopped
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 4 4-oz breasts
1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup wine, dry, white
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup canned chicken broth, fat-free
1 Tbsp canned tomato paste
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped

IN a small bowl, stir together sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and thyme. Using a sharp paring knife, cut a horizontal slit through the thickest part of each breast, creating a pocket. Be careful not to cut all the way through. Stuff each chicken breast with 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with olive oil cooking spray and warm over high heat. Add chicken and brown well. Remove and set aside. Add white wine to pan and boil until almost all evaporated.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and 2 Tbsp chicken broth until smooth. Whisk cornstarch mixture, reminaing chicken broth and tomato paste into white wine. Return chicken breasts to pan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

*****

Mmmmm...yum, yum! I can't wait to have this. I need to stick my wine in the fridge so I can enjoy some while I cook. This is a really versatile recipe because you can use just about anything for the stuffing. I'm skipping thyme and using fresh basil because I have some. I normally buy some kind of herbed goat cheese, but the store I shopped at this week only had plain. I've also used prosciuto that I've had on hand, and that was really good. Capers would probably be a yummy addition as well!

On the side we're going to have Creamy Parmesan Orzo, which is one of my favorite side dishes. I think I have some frozen peas I'll heat up as well. Oh man, I'm so excited for dinner! Oh, and the sauce you make is so super good. Did I mention I'm excited?!

Spinach, Mushroom, and Provolone Cheese Quiche

Forgot to post my recipe for yesterday! We waited until Will went to bed and had dinner while we watched Pirates of the Carribbean 3. I think we're probably the only people in the world that hadn't seen it. Anyway, this recipe was in one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks, and I came across it the other day while working on my cookbook indexing project (which I'll get back to if the boy keeps napping for awhile!).

Spinach, Mushroom, and Provolone Cheese Quiche
3 eggs
1/2 cup half and half
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
Dash of ground black pepper
1/2 package (10 ounces) frozen, chopped spinach, thawed, well-drained, and patted dry
1/3 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded provolone cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spray small baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together first five ingredients in medium bowl. Set aside. Combine remaining ingredients, spoon into bottom of dish. Pour egg mixture over filling ingredients. Bake 30-35 minutes or until middle is set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Cut in half and serve.

*****

The thing I hate about Pampered Chef cookbooks is how the recipes use the names of their products. So this one uses the "Small oval stoneware baker," so I'm not sure what that equates to. It's about 8-10 inches long and 4-5 inches wide, I would guess.

I changed a few things about this recipe. I used Egg Beaters instead of eggs, roasted red peppers, and Italian blend shredded cheese instead of provolone. And I've been inspired by Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook and had just pureed some cauliflower, so I added in a spoonful. I think that and the Egg Beaters caused an increase in the cooking time, mine probably baked for closer to an hour I think.

It was okay. I don't know if it would be better without the cauliflower, but you couldn't really taste it. I like the Vegetarian Frittata I make a lot better. Not really sure what the difference is between a frittata and a quiche except that this had flour mixed in with the eggs?

Fisher Nutty Bacon Cheese Ball

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!! Ours was great, although it looks like a toy tornado swept through our house. My son is the only grandchild on my side of the family, so he gets completely spoiled. My family spoiled the husband and me quite a bit this year as well, so pretty much the entire downstairs of my house is pure chaos. We have some errands to run this morning and then I'm cleaning house and hopefully making this place look presentable once again!

I've gotten a few days off from cooking which has been nice. We spent Christmas at my mom's last night and had quite the feast. All I had to take was a cheese ball and cranberry sauce. I saw this recipe on Oprah a couple weeks ago and it looked freakin' awesome. I was so excited to try it.

Fisher Nutty Bacon Cheese Ball
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup finely minced green onions (white part only)
1 jar diced pimento, drained
3/4 cup Fisher pecans, divided (Of course, any nut will do!)
10 slices of bacon, cooked, drained, finely crumbled and divided
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Place cream cheese in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed Two and mix 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to Speed Two and gradually add milk, mixing until well blended about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cheeses, onions, pimientos, half of the bacon and half the pecans. Turn to Speed 4 and beat until well blended, about another minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap. Form into a ball and wrap tightly. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Refrigerate (or freeze) at least 2 hours.

Combine the remaining bacon and remaining pecans, parsley and poppy seeds in a pie plate. Then, remove the plastic wrap and roll the cheese ball lightly in the bacon/nut mixture until evenly coated. Wrap it back up in plastic wrap and refrigerate again until ready to use.

*****

I initially tried to make just one big ball, but that wasn't working, so I ended up spliting the mixture in half and making two. There were 13 people at Christmas dinner last night, and we only went through one of them. The finished product after you roll it in the mixture was really pretty--and festive with the red pimentos in the cheese and the green parsley. I just realized I forgot to put poppy seeds in it, but I don't think it made any difference. It was totally awesome, if I do say so myself. I served it with Wheat Thins, but really any cracker would do or maybe even celery sticks.

Tonight it's back on track for dinner. I think we're going to have pizza, but I'll decide for sure later in the day.

Chicken Parmesan

I forgot to post my recipe yesterday! Not sure why, we did absolutely nothing all day. The husband and boy didn't even get out of their jammies. I would have stayed in mine, too, but I had to run to Walgreens to pick up some pictures. We waited until Will went to bed to have dinner. It was so yummy. We haven't had this in so long. The original recipe was from a show that's no longer on Food Network, but I've modified it a bit over the years. I'll write it how I made it, but you can make it with as many chicken breasts as you want or need.

Chicken Parmesan
2 chicken breasts
1 egg
Italian bread crumbs
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Marinara sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Slightly pound out chicken breasts to make flat. Break egg into one dish and mix. Pour bread crumbs into another dish. Dip chicken breats into egg, coating both sides. Dredge chicken breasts in bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in skillet, add chicken. Cook chicken approximately five minutes per side or until no longer pink inside. Spread some marinara over each piece of chicken, add more marinara to skillet around pieces of chicken. Sprinkle mozzarella over each piece of chicken. Cover skillet until cheese is melted.

*****

We usually have spaghetti on the side with it. Normally I use just the white of the egg, but last night I used Egg Beaters. It was so yummy. I honestly can't remember the last time we had this, and it used to be in high rotation in our kitchen!

Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps

Man, I feel like I'm making stuff this week that we have all the time! All of my chores are done, so I'm going to spend the rest of my son's nap time going through cookbooks and finding new recipes to try. Or recipes I haven't made in awhile. I think I'm going to make up a spreadsheet. What can I say, I used to be in finance, and I have a thing for spreadsheets.

We're going with some friends to look at Christmas lights tonight, so I wanted something easy that could be made ahead of time. We always like this, and we haven't had it in a couple weeks, so I figured what the heck.

Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps
1 16-oz can nonfat refried beans
1 8-oz package nonfat cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
1 4-oz can diced green chilies, drained
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup nonfat shredded cheddar cheese
4 98% fat free flour tortillas

Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine refried beans, cream cheese, chilies, and green onions in slow cooker and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours or high heat for 2 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking. If cooking on low heat, increase to high. Stir in 3/4 cup of the cheesse and sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over top. Warm tortillas. Spoon bean mixture into tortillas; roll and serve immediately. Can be served with tortilla chips instead of tortillas.

*****

I didn't feel like chopping up green onions, so I skipped that. I didn't drain the green chilies either, so I figured that would compensate for the green onions.

Tomorrow night is a new recipe I don't think I've posted on here yet. Exciting, huh? ;) It's one we used to have a lot but haven't had in forever!

Sloppy Joes

I was taking dinner to someone from my MOMS Club tonight that had a baby recently and figured I'd just make us the same thing I made her, only I used Boca grounds for ours instead of hamburger. So yummy...I love Sloppy Joes!

Sloppy Joes
1 pound hamburger (or one box Boca grounds)
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup
1-2 cups ketchup, depending on taste (or how sloppy you like them)

Brown hamburger in skillet. Add in chicken gumbo soup, gradually add in ketchup until mixture reaches your desired consistency. Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

These were so yummy! The husband almost washed all the leftovers down the sink, but luckily I caught him in time. Phew! There's enough left for at least two more sandwiches.

Review

The fish tacos were fan-freakin'-tastic! We both really liked them. There were no leftovers. I had forgotten how good they were, I think it was August last time we had them. I definitely need to get them in higher rotation.

I feel like we've been having a lot of the same stuff over and over lately, so after Christmas next week I think I'm going to revisit some cookbooks I haven't used in awhile to come up with some new ideas. My brother got me one for Christmas I can't wait to read through and use!

Blackened Fish Tacos

Now I'm officially caught up! I had bought tilapia a few weeks ago on Manager's Special at the store. They always have tilapia on Manager's Special...not sure why, but it means I get it for cheap which I like. I was trying to use up some stuff we had on hand and eat healthy this week after our food-fest in Seattle, and I remembered seeing this recipe on my blog awhile back when I was scrolling through looking at old recipes. This is one I probably would have forgotten about entirely had it not been for my blog! Just giving myself a little pat on the back. :) We really liked it when we had it before, so I'm looking forward to having it again tonight.

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

I think the only thing I'm changing is that I'm using regular cole slaw mix, not broccoli slaw mix. And I didn't buy radishes because I don't think the husband likes them. And we don't like corn tortillas, so I'm using flour.

Tofu Lo Mein

Okay, getting more caught up. This was what we had for dinner last night. It's one of our favorites, and I had a package of tofu in the fridge. This is also one of my favorites because it's super cheap. Roughly $1.50 for a package of tofu, $0.15 for the ramen noodles, and $1 for the bag of frozen vegetables. Can't beat that!

Tofu Lo Mein
1 (16 ounce) package extra firm tofu
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 (3 ounce) packages Oriental flavored ramen noodles
1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir-fry vegetables
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon soy sauce, or to taste

Press tofu between paper towels to remove some of the water; cut in to bite size cubes. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu, and fry until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Meanwhile bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add noodles from ramen packages, reserving the seasoning envelopes. Boil for about 2 minutes, just until the noodles break apart. Drain.

Add the stir-fry vegetables to the pan with the tofu, and season with the ramen noodle seasoning packet. Cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender, but not mushy. Add noodles, and stir to blend. Season with soy sauce to taste and serve.

*****

I remembered too late (i.e. as I was cooking) that the last time we had this we decided it needed two packages of ramen noodles because one wasn't really enough. Oops. Hopefully I'll remember that next time. This time also I waited until I had added the vegetables to start cooking the ramen, otherwise it gets really sticky just sitting there.

Chex Mix

I'm sure everyone has this recipe, but I figured I'd post it anyway. To me, it's just not the holidays if I don't have a big thing of Chex Mix sitting around. I think I get that from my mom. Of course that means I spend all day snacking on it, but it's just so darn tasty. I also had a coupon for Chex cereal, so how could I not make it?!

Original Chex® Party Mix

6 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
3 cups Corn Chex® cereal
3 cups Rice Chex® cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup bite-size pretzels
1 cup garlic-flavor bite-size bagel chips or regular-size bagel chips, broken into 1-inch pieces

Preparation Directions:
1. Heat oven to 250°F. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in remaining ingredients until evenly coated.
2. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

*****

I don't add bagel chips to mine, just the nuts and pretzels. And I don't really like Wheat Chex, but I always include them anyway. I don't know why. I know there's a microwave way to do this, too, but I like the oven way. Plus that way requires a large microwavable bowl, and my son broke my large microwavable bowl, so I didn't have much choice this year.

Four Layer Bars

Well, we are back from our trip to chilly Seattle. We had a great time, but man alive was it cold up there! My mom--who lived there for roughly 40 years--said on the last day, "I just don't know how people live here." Amazing what constant sunshine will do to you! :) We got to visit with a lot of friends and spend time with my brother. It was really fun.

My son was having major grandma and grandpa withdrawals yesterday, so I wasn't able to get much done while he napped, so I never had a chance to update my blog. My MOMS Club had a cookie exchange today, and this is what I made to take to it. These are one of our favorites. I stumbled across the recipe a couple years ago, and the husband goes crazy for them. The recipe came from kraftfoods.com

4-Layer Bars
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
3 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces
1/2 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine cake mix, butter and egg. Spread into lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top immediately with remaining ingredients. Bake an additional 2 minutes or until marshmallows begin to melt. Cool completely. Cut into 32 bars to serve.

*****

I had to make two batches to have enough to take today, and I messed up cutting the first one and cut 24 bars when I meant to do 30. I think I like them cut into 24 instead of 30 (or 32 as recommended here). The pan cut into 30 had pretty small pieces.

Oh, and to spread the cake mix, I usually just use my hands to spread it around.

Tacos

Nothing exciting for dinner tonight, just tacos. We leave tomorrow morning for Seattle for six days, so I won't be on for awhile. We've rented a house to stay in while we're there, so I may end up cooking dinner some while we're there. If I do, I'll let you know what I'm making. Should be a fun but interesting trip...my son was diagnosed with an ear infection this morning. Great news the day before we're flying somewhere. At least I took him in to see the doctor! He has pain reliever ear drops and antibiotics, so he should be in decent spirits for traveling. Let's hope anyway!

So my tacos are pretty no frills. I'm using soy grounds instead of hamburger. I just follow the instructions on the taco seasoning packet...brown a pound of hamburger, add water and seasoning mix. I'm a tortilla kind of girl, I don't really like the shells. If we have refried beans I usually heat some up to have in the tacos and on the side. We're pretty minimal with toppings, too. Cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce and tomato if we have those. I am trying a new brand of soy grounds this time, so I'm hoping they're okay. I saw them at Trader Joe's and picked up a package. They were cheaper than the Boca Grounds I usually get but only by $0.30 or so.

Review

The beef surprise was super yummy! Our only complaint was the minute rice I made to go with it...I hate minute rice. The husband had to work late, so I didn't know when he'd get home to make normal rice. But the sauce and the meat were really yummy. I didn't have celery like the recipe called for, but I did have a red pepper I used instead. I think that was the only difference. I would definitely make this again! Thanks, Jen, for a great recipe!!

Oh, and I love Jen's enamel pot. I must have one!!

Jen's Beef Surprise

Tonight is another Jen B. creation!! I've been dying to try this ever since she sent me the recipe. I almost made it one night a couple weeks ago, but I didn't have any sour cream. I was so bummed. It's still cloudy and gray in Phoenix, so a dinner like this will be so good tonight!

Jen's Beef Surprise (as written by Jen)
1) In a medium sized bowl, mix flour and seasoning with 1-2 lbs. of cubed beef stew meat. Seasoning includes: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper (to taste for each). Each piece should be well coated with flour mixture.
2) Brown meat mixture in enamel pot with canola oil (2-3 tablespoons)
3) Remove browned meat mixture from pot; leave brown bits on bottom
4) Brown diced onion, celery (about 2 stalks), and 1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic with approx. 2 tablespoons of butter and salt to taste until onions are translucent and mixture is soft
5) Deglaze pot with 1-2 cup chicken stock and 2 cups red wine
6) Add 1 tablespoon of minced ginger, 1 tablespoon of worsteshire, 1 bay leaf, and a pinch of the following dried herbs: parsley, marjoram, thyme, rosemary (to taste). Add a little more salt and pepper to taste.
7) Cook COVERED on Med-Low heat for 2 hours (burner gas level between 2 & 4 on my stove), checking every ½ hour to make sure the liquid is sufficient. Liquid should be approx. 2 inches around pot. Add more chicken stock, water, and/or red wine to add more liquid if needed (add to taste—depending on what you like).
8) In a separate bowl, make mixture of 1 cup milk, 2-3 tablespoons of flour, and ½ cup of sour cream. Mix together with a wisk until combined. Ladel some of the hot liquid from the beef mixture into the milk mixture to thicken (1-2 ladels). Once liquid is incorporated, return all liquid to enamel pot.
9) Heat through to thicken for approx. 5-10 minutes on MED heat on stovetop.
10) Serve with egg noodles.

*****

Doesn't this just sound SO GOOD?! We're going to have it over rice instead of noodles, but that's all I'm doing differently! I bought some asparagus last week that I need to use up, so I'll roast that to go along with it. YUM. I can't wait for dinner!!

Review

The tortilla soup was SO GOOD!! I could definitely tell the cilantro wasn't there, but it was still good. I added a dollop of sour cream to mine, and it was really good. John wasn't sure what he was going to think about it, but he said he really liked it.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Oh man, I've been waiting a week and a half to make this! My MOMS Club has a cooking club and this was the recipe that was done for December. This is why I cooked the whole chicken last night, so I could use the leftovers for this! My friend Jen B. made it...her recipes have so far all been awesome!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 container (12 ounces or so) salsa
6 regular cans chicken broth (or 2 large)
1 lime, juiced
1 bag tortilla chips
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
Hot sauce to taste
Shredded cheese to taste
Cooked chicken to taste

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil. When oil is heated, saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes. Add cooked chicken, chicken broth, salsa, and bring to a boil. Add any aditional vegetables (i.e. corn, tomatoes, black beans, etc.) at this step. Once boiling add cilantro, lime juice, and hot sauce to taste.

In individual serving bowls, place some broken-up tortilla chips in bottom and sprinkle with cheese. Pour the hot soup over the chips and cheese and serve.

*****

I realized when I was getting stuff out for it that I forgot to get cilantro. I hope it turns out okay without it...the cilantro really gave it a fresh flavor when Jen made it. I added in some canned corn to mine, when Jen made it she had some tomatoes she needed to use and added those. My best friend's mom makes tortilla soup and adds avocado when she serves it, and that's really good.

So far the sample tastes I've had are really good...I can't wait to have some!

Crockpot Roast Chicken

I have to say I'm more excited for what I'm doing with the leftover meat from this chicken than for the dinner tonight. It's so good...I can't wait to share the recipe tomorrow! It's totally overcast in PHX today and raining off and on, so it's nice to have a chicken cooking away in the crockpot. It's only been in for an hour, but my house smells so good already.

Frances' Roast Chicken
3-4 lb whole frying chicken
half an onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp dried basil

Sprinkle chicken cavity with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Put onion and celery inside cavity. Put chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle with basil. Cover, cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours.

*****

I rubbed some of the poultry seasoning and basil under the skin of the chicken to flavor the meat a little. Also I thought I had celery, but when I took it out of the fridge parts of it were fuzzy. Gross. So, I just added more onion. Before I put the onion in the chicken I sprinkled it with basil and the poultry seasoning. I think we're going to have feta mashed potatoes and asparagus with it.

Oreo Balls

More Christmas treats today!! My MOMS Club does a Secret Sister program, so I made these for my secret sister. The recipe comes from my friend Lindsay, and they are oh-so-yummy!! I thought it was cake or something in the middle, I was shocked that it was Oreos! I changed up this batch a bit, but I'll get in to that after the recipe.

Lindsay's Oreo Balls
1 package Oreos
1 package chocolate almond bark
1 package cream cheese, softened

Chop up all the Oreos and mix with cream cheese. When you cant see cream cheese anymore you're good to move on. Melt your bark as directions say. When that's done you roll the Oreos into balls and dip in bark and get it all over the Oreo stuff and than take it out and put on aluminum foil until cooled. Keep in fridge until time to enjoy.

*****

I put the Oreos in a big Ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Then once the Oreos and cream cheese are mixed together, I form the little balls and put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper (aluminum foil would work too). I use tongs to dip the balls into the chocolate, much less messy that way.

So for this batch, I had bought a box of Trader Joe's Candy Cane Jo-Jo's (their version of Oreos) and used those instead of regular Oreos. Dear lord are they ever fantastic! The cookies on their own are laced with crack, I'm pretty sure, so mixed with cream cheese and dipped in chocolate...wow. The cookies are basically Oreos but in the filling there's chopped up candy canes. Amazing--and I don't even like candy canes. Thankfully most of these are going to my secret sister and the rest got eaten at our play group this morning. I think I only brought home four or five which isn't bad at all.

Spiced Pecans

Turns out we're going to have dinner with some friends tonight, so I'm off the hook for cooking! I made a Christmas treat today and thought I'd share this recipe. I don't know why I only make these at Christmas--they're good any time of the year. The recipe comes from my mom's friend Nancy Kronoshek. Every time I walk into the kitchen I have one...I need to put them in some kind of container so they aren't just sitting out!

Spiced Pecans
1 egg white
1 t. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 lb. pecan halves

Blend all ingredients but pecans with fork in a large bowl. Add nuts and stir until coated. Roast on ungreased cookie sheet at 225 for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

*****

These are good on their own or they're yummy in salads, too. Like a spring mix salad with feta and craisins or spinach salad with strawberries, red onion, and balsamic vinegar.

I've got a toddler trying to climb into my lap, so I guess that's all I'll say about the pecans!

Marinated Ahi Tuna

Hey guys!! Hope you all had a good weekend, even though it's Wednesday. We had a great time in Vegas, and my best friend's wedding was AWESOME. She looked so beautiful! We were definitely ready to come home yesterday--four days in Vegas is about a day and a half too long.

I'm kind of taking the easy way out for dinner tonight becausse I wasn't going to have time to go grocery shopping today, so it had to be something I already had on hand. Luckily I picked up some more of those yummy marinated ahi tuna steaks when I was at Trader Joe's last week. I can't wait to have them--they were so good last time! With it, we're having mushroom risotto...also a TJ's product. I'm on a risotto kick, I don't know what it is. I had it twice in Vegas!

So dinner preparation should be pretty easy--sear tuna, heat risotto. I hope no one was expecting some grand meal on our first day home. ;) I don't remember what's on the list for tomorrow night, but I worked up a menu for the next week while sitting in the car yesterday. We're actually leaving again next Wednesday, so I'm using up a lot of things we have on hand so I don't have to buy a bunch of groceries and then leave again.