Menu Planning Monday 12/20

The Christmas countdown is on!

Monday:  spinach alfredo pizza
Tuesday:  chicken apple sausage, roasted green beans, corn (didn't quite get to this one last week!)
Wednesday:  cornbread taco casserole, fruit
Thursday:  sausage and ham gumbo, bread
Friday breakfast:  sausage rolls, Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls
Friday lunch:  sandwiches
Friday dinner:  Christmas eve tradition - Chinese food!
Saturday:  Christmas! I'm bringing cheese grits, yeast rolls and homemade peppermint oreos
Sunday:  leftovers

Other things being made this week:  peppermint bark popcorn to pass out to our fellow church volunteers and some cookies for our neighbors...I'm still deciding what kind.

Meal Planning Monday 12/13

Monday: last minute change! homemade biscuits, turkey sausage and fruit
Tuesday: chicken apple sausage, peaches, roasted asparagus
Wednesday: out to eat @ Blue Mesa - yum!
Thursday: Supper Club - we're hosting and having lasagna
Friday: pork roast, rice, M&M cookies
Saturday: out to eat with Bart's family!
Sunday:  baked potatoes with ham & cheese, corn

Have a great week!  The countdown is on to Christmas! :)

Homemade Peppermint Oreos

If you're not already planning to make these based on the name, let me assure you - they are SO worth making! They have a few steps, but don't take many ingredients and look much fancier than your typical brownie or cookie.

Recipe source

Ingredients:
2 boxes devil's food cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract
sprinkles or other items for decorating

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl and mix until blended.  Batter will be very stiff. (I had to use my hands to get it fully mixed together.)
3. Break off pieces of batter and roll into 1" balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Place 1 inch apart on parchment and flatten slightly with fingertips.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove immediately from cookie sheets and place on wire racks to cool.
5. While cookies cool, combine cream cheese, butter and peppermint extract.  Add powdered sugar slowly and beat until the icing is smooth.
6. Once cookies are cool, assemble cookies with filling inside and decorate as desired.
7. Refrigerate or serve immediately - and get ready for the compliments!

a close up :) so delicious!

Tips & Tricks-
-these taste just as good without peppermint extract, I made a few without for my friends that aren't fans of mint and they were great!
-the sprinkles adhere really well to the filling, so you can just shake them onto the sides of the cookie and voila!

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Usually, I will take a chocolate dessert over a non-chocolate dessert without hesitiation. But, there's just something about Christmas that calls for frosted sugar cookies! My mom made sugar cookie dough using the Imperial Sugar recipe (on the bag) but we never got to bake or decorate the cookies over Thanksgiving. So this weekend, I got out all the cookie cutters and sprinkles (also courtesy of my mom!) and went to town.

I'm certainly not a good cookie decorator, but I tried! I thought the trees turned out the best. I used this frosting recipe which was delicious. One hint, you have to beat the crisco and some sugar together before adding the water, because the crisco and water won't combine correctly. Decorate to your heart's content!

Meal Planning Monday 12/6

Its my first week using my new meal plan and I'm excited!  I did it informally a few weeks ago, and I love having soup in the winter so I'm very excited to have soup each week.  I've also put a * next to recipes I'm planning to post.  Here's what I'm planning:

Monday:  cheese ravioli with tomato sauce, salad
Tuesday:  marinated salmon*, baked apples, fresh green beans
Wednesday:  chicken pot pie, fruit salad
Thursday: chicken enchilada soup* (recipe courtesy of my sister)
Friday: Going away party for our friends the Liggitts :(
Saturday: Bart's company Christmas party

Sunday: crescent chicken, mixed veggies

also this week...apple oat muffins

Hello Dollies

Also known as Seven Layer Bars, these are a delicious sweet treat, perfect for passing out to your neighbors or co-workers as a holiday gift!  The best part is you probably have all the ingredients on hand, or at least most of them.

Recipe Source

Here's what you need:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup white sugar (I used less than this)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of an 9x9 inch baking pan. Layer the chocolate chips, coconut and pecans over the crumbs. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares.

Tips & Tricks:
-One reviewer suggested heating the milk in the microwave to pour it evenly over the bars - this was very helpful!
-Multiple reviewers said to leave out the white sugar, but one mentioned that it helped the crust stay together so I decided to add about 1/8 cup.
-I also decided to used a 9 x 13 pan so that the bars would be a little thinner, which was a good choice.
-I only put pecans on about 2/3 since some people don't like or are allergic to nuts.  They still taste great without nuts!

Chicken Spaghetti

This recipe is courtesy of my friend, Cynthia. It is really delicious and great for leftovers as well (always a concern when its just the 2 of us eating).
Ingredients:
2 fryers, or 4-5 lbs meaty chicken pieces (I typically use 2 big chicken breasts)
1 green pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pkg (10 oz) spaghetti, broken in half
1 can (1 lb) diced tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 ribs celery (I omit)
1 onion
1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems & pieces (I omit)
1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed
2 T. chopped ripe olives (I omit)
Salt & Pepper
Paprika
Worcestershire

• Simmer chicken until tender in well seasoned water; remove chicken and broth.
• Measure 1 qt broth back into pan.
• Bone & dice chicken; set aside.
• Into broth, put celery, green pepper, onion, garlic & mushrooms.
• Let cook a few minutes, then add spaghetti and cook until done.
• Add tomatoes, olives, soup, S&P and paprika and stir.
• Add worcestershire sauce and Velveeta and stir well until velveeta melts.
• Add chicken and heat through before serving.

Enjoy!

Chicken/Turkey Noodle Soup

This recipe is supposed to be chicken noodle soup, but I'm sure we all have extra turkey sitting in the fridge from Thanksgiving last week!  I knew it would be great to substitute turkey in this and I wouldn't feel bad throwing away perfectly good turkey.  So, try it either way!

Ingredients:
7-9 cups chicken broth
chicken or turkey, about 1 cup
1/2 package baby carrots, cut into thirds
1/2 package frozen corn
1 onion (optional)
2 tsp poultry seasoning
 pasta of your choice

I've done this soup in a crockpot before (dump everything in except pasta, cook on low 4-6 hours and add cooked pasta right before serving) and it turned out wonderfully.  I didn't think that far ahead tonight, so here's the night-of steps:

1.  Add chicken broth to large soup pot.

2.  Add carrots, corn and onion if using.  Allow to simmer while you are chopping your meat.

3.  Add chicken or turkey and poultry seasoning and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
4.  While soup simmers, cook pasta is a separate pot according to package directions. I used about 1/3 of a box of mini bow tie pasta.
5.  Add pasta to soup and allow to heat through.  Serve with bread or a salad.

This soup is very versatile.  The amounts can be changed to your liking.  I put a lot of carrots, corn and pasta in, which is why I put the amount of broth as a range.  The amount you need depends on how much other stuff you have in the soup.  After adding the pasta, if the liquid looks too low, just add in some extra chicken broth.  Hope you enjoy!

Crescent Chicken

This recipe is SO delicious and simple. Here's the source.  This recipe seems pretty plain, but tastes awesome and is so quick to put together, especially if you have leftover rotisserie chicken or chicken from another recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
1 cup shredded cheese, any type
1 can crescent rolls
1 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup

• Mix chicken and cheese in a medium bowl. You could add veggies here if you wanted to!
• Separate the crescents and lay them out on a pyrex sprayed with cooking spray
• Place about 1/3 cup of chicken/cheese mixture on the crescent.
• Stretch the dough until you can pinch it closed.
• Mix 1 cup of milk with the soup and pour it over your bundles.
• Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Chicken Fiesta Soup

I'm always on the lookout for recipes that resemble chicken tortilla soup.  I've had this soup at probably 50+ restaurants, and my hands down favorite is McAlisters.  The only copycat recipe for that soup I can find did not turn out at all like the restaurant version!  So, I'm resigned to simply making any chicken tortilla-ish soup that crosses my path...and eating McAlisters version as much as I can drag Bart to go with me!  This recipe came from a crockpot cookbook I borrowed from a co-worker.  It definitely fits the bill for eating more veggies, and I thought it was good!  The green chiles make it a bit spicy, so I'd decrease those if you don't like spice.

just some of the ingredients...got ahead of myself chopping before I took the pic

Ingredients:
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 14oz can stewed tomatoes, drained - I used crushed, and poured the whole can in
1 28oz can enchilada sauce
1 14oz can chicken broth
2 4oz cans green chiles
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup chopped onion
chicken* - I used 1 large chicken breast, but the recipe called for 4! I'd recommend 1-2.
salt
pepper
chili powder - I substituted cayenne
cumin

-Chop all vegetables.  I used my mini chopper and this was a huge timesaver compared to last week's Sausage & Tortellini soup! 
-Add everything to crock pot except chicken. (Spray crockpot with cooking spray or use a liner for easy clean up!) I went in this order - veggies, canned items, spices.  I don't think it matters much, but don't put the spices in first or they might get stuck on the bottom and not mix through well.  Stir well.
-I added an uncooked, partially still frozen chicken breast and then cooked on low 8 hours.  When I got home, I took out the chicken and shredded it with two forks.  Then, I returned the chicken to the crockpot and allow to heat through (I also added a little water at this point because it was looking fairly stew-like).  The recipe calls for adding cooked chicken to the soup mixture, which you can definitely do.  I don't know all the rules for uncooked chicken, but I think the temperature and length of time you are cooking kills any bacteria in the soup that comes from putting the raw chicken in it.  But, if you are concerned, you can always cook the chicken in the crockpot overnight, shred it in the morning and throw it in with the soup ingredients.

Now that its even cold in Texas, soup is the perfect thing to have for dinner!  Filling, healthy, and warms you up.  Try this one and let me know if you like it!

Thanksgiving Recap

I posted our Thanksgiving menu here and I wanted to come report back on how things went.  I made a detailed plan for the oven, and apart from a few minutes around 1pm (when I flipped out and realized a few things never made it in the oven!) everything came together great!  We had WAY more than enough food.  One of my take aways was to halve some of the side dishes, especially stuffing and sweet potatoes.

We deviated from the turkey recipe and just went with what my mom has done in the past.  I'll be posting the rolls recipe this week, as well as the sweet potatoes and stuffing.  We LOVE the Pioneer Woman's Macaroni and Cheese, but that recipe is well documented on her blog as well as in her cookbook, so I'll just point you there!

Menu Planning Overhaul

To simplify my meal planning, I'm going to try adopting the same plan each week.  I'll try to keep posting on how it goes, and revamp as necessary.  Here's the current plan:

Mondays - meatless (ex pasta, pizza, vegetable medley)
Tuesdays - trio (1 protein, 1 fruit, 1 vegetable)
Wednesdays - casserole (ex lasagna, enchiladas)
Thursdays - soup with bread or salad
Fridays/Saturdays - out to eat
Fridays/Saturdays - slow cooker meal
Sundays - anything!

I'm excited to see how this works out...I'm working on my first menu using the guidelines, and I'll post that over the weekend.

Thanksgiving Menu

We've finally got our Thanksgiving menu settled, and I am busy making lists for baking times as well as ingredients.  I  hope to nail down our plan and get all our shopping done by the weekend before Turkey Day, so we can relax and have fun with our visiting family the week of.  We're having a mix of Pyne family favorites along with some new recipes, which I'm excited to report back on.  Here it is:

Appetizers/Daytime Snacks:
Fruit salad
Spinach dip and hummus with veggies and pita chips

Main Courses:
Herb roasted turkey and gravy
Ham with brown sugar glaze

Sides:
Quick Yeast Rolls, tripled
Stuffing, recipe TBD
PW's Macaroni & Cheese
Green Bean bundles
Sweet potato casserole

Desserts:
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

What are you having for Thanksgiving? Let me know if you have any great recipes to share!

Meal Planning Monday 11/8

Here's what we are having this week:

Monday -  spaghetti and salad
Tuesday - chicken fiesta soup
Wednesday - I'll be in College Station for a recruiting event so Bart will eat leftovers!
Thursday - king ranch chicken, salad, bread
Friday - out to eat @ the Cheesecake Factory
Saturday - pork roast, rice, carrots
Sunday - grilled cheese and soup

Enjoy your week!  2 weeks til Thanksgiving :)

Italian Tortellini Soup

I mixed up our weekly schedule a bit after I read this recipe.  I have classes at work all week, so I knew I'd be getting home a little later, and this recipe called for quite a bit of prep.  The good thing about this recipe is you can do 85% of the work a day or two before, so I knocked that out Sunday night.

This recipe is from a sweet lady I met at a mom's group in San Diego with my sister.  She served a chicken and tortellini soup, which was good, but also gave us the recipe for this one.  I'm trying to up my vegetable intake so this seemed like a great way! Now, I'm not saying this is all that healthy, considering it starts with a pound of sausage... :) but it is so yummy so its worth it!

Ingredients:
1 lb sausage (sweet or chorizo recommended, I used regular italian) - not pictured, it was browning!
1 c chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, minced
5 c beef stock or canned broth- I used 3c beef stock and 2c broth from bouillon
2 c chopped tomatoes - I used crushed, and just 1 can
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 large zucchini, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium size green bell pepper, diced
1/2 c dry red wine - I omitted
2 T dried basil
2 T dried oregano
8-10 oz fresh cheese tortellini - like Buitoni
freshly grated parmesan cheese

-Saute sausage in large pot over medium heat until cooked through, crumbling with spoon.  Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a bowl. 
-Pour off all but 1 T drippings from pan (I only had about 1 T or less so I didn't pour any out).  Add onion and garlic to pan and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Return sausage to pan.  Add stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, vegetables, wine and herbs. 
-Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes.  (Up to this point can be prepared ahead 1 or 2 days ahead.  If so, cover and refrigerate.  Bring to a simmer before continuing.)

 Here's what it looked like when it was done simmering and ready to go in the fridge

-Add tortellini to soup and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

Ready to eat!

I made some cornbread to accompany our soup.  It was a Trader Joe's mix that my sister brought me from California and it was SO good.  Trader Joe's - PLEASE COME TO DALLAS!  Everything I've ever had from there has been awesome.  I so wish we had one closer!

Hope you guys try this out, its a perfect meal for winter and quick if you do the prep the day before!  Enjoy!

Meal Planning Monday 11/1

Here's what we're having this week:

Monday - Baked chicken with Tony's, roasted green beans, fruit
Tuesday - our last premarried class at Watermark
Wednesday - Supper club! I'm bringing bread and salad
Thursday - Italian sausage and tortelli soup, leftover bread and salad
Friday - I'm heading to Austin to throw a baby shower!
Saturday - Austin
Sunday - pizza

I'll leave you with a pic from Hawaii...so beautiful!

Caramel Apples

I've been wanting to make caramel apples for a long time, but was always a little afraid of it.  I remembered seeing caramel apples on Annie's Eats, so I checked out this recipe.  She made it look pretty easy, so I decided to go for it.   You definitely need the candy thermometer, so don't even try it with out it (unless you know what candy 'firm ball' stage looks like offhand!)

Ingredients:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10-12 small Granny Smith apples, stems removed
Popsicle or lollipop sticks

Directions:
Insert a lollipop or popsicle stick into the top of each apple so that it is firmly in place. Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Mix in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt.  Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil.  Stir in the condensed milk.  Cook and stir until a candy or instant-read thermometer reads 248° F (firm ball stage.)

Here's me waiting for the caramel to reach 248 degrees

 

 caramel right before being done

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

apples ready to dip - our toppings were candy corn, peanuts, walnuts, M&Ms and reese's

Dip the apples one at a time into the caramel mixture, turning slowly to coat evenly.  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with wax paper and allow the caramel to set.  Decorate as desired, with melted chocolate, chopped nuts, or candy pieces.

Some words to the wise - if you are going to decorate with nuts or candies, you need to do it before the caramel sets. My husband was helping me with this, so definitely grab a helper so one person can dip and one can add toppings.  Getting the nuts to stick was much easier when you roll the apple in the nuts rather than sprinkling them on.  The caramel is really hot, so try not to touch it while getting the toppings on.

The only negative about these was the caramel was a little too thick and chewy. Next time I will try to thin the caramel out a little with some cream and also try for a thin layer when dipping.  Let me know if you decide to try it!!

Menu planning

Monday: Lasagna, caesar salad, garlic bread and cookies
Tuesday: Dinner @ pre-married class
Wednesday: Soup, salad and french bread
Thursday: Breakfast casserole, fruit salad
Friday: kitchen closed
Saturday: kitchen closed
Sunday: Spaghetti with italian sausage, green beans, garlic bread

Meal Planning Monday - Happy Labor Day!

Its the 3rd annual No-eating-out September in our household, so I'm trying some new things and resurrecting some old favorites to keep us from being bored eating at home all the time! :)

Monday: Hungry Girl's Bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato chips, green beans
Tuesday: at Leaders training for the Watermark Pre-married class
Wednesday:  South of the Border chicken soup, cornbread muffins
Thursday: Chicken tinga, chips & salsa
Friday:  Mongolian beef, rice, sauteed broccoli
Saturday breakfast:  cinnamon rolls, fruit salad
Saturday lunch:  leftovers
Saturday dinner: pizza night - pick your own toppings!
Saturday dessert:  black and white cookies
Sunday brunch:  sharing the cinnamon roll bounty with our community group
Sunday lunch: grilled cheese and soup
Sunday dinner:  french dip sandwiches, fruit salad, carrots

DIY Burrito bowls

Inspired by our friends at Chipotle, I decided to make burrito bowls earlier this week.  They were delicious!  The options are really endless, so I'll tell you what we did as well as some alternatives we might try next time.

1.  Start by making cilantro lime rice (one recipe yields about 3-4 servings worth for the bowl, depending on how much you want)
2.  Marinate, then cook, your meat.  We used steak I got on sale seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, and lime juice.  Chicken would also be delicious, or slow cooked pork or beef.
3.  While meat is cooking, assemble other ingredients.  Ours were: black beans, corn salsa (courtesy of Chipotle!), regular salsa, lettuce, and cheese.  You could also have pico de gallo, queso, onions, pinto or refried beans.
4.  Layer everything up!  I think the best order is rice, meat, beans, salsas, cheese, lettuce. 

This is really SO easy, and though its a little time consuming to get everything together, its certainly worth the end result.  I think this would be a great (and healthier) option for a get together, especially as football season approaches.  If you try it out, let me know what you think!

Meal Planning Monday

Monday: burrito bowls with cilantro lime rice
Tuesday: herbed quinoa, grilled chicken and broccoli
Wednesday: our 3rd anniversary! out to eat at III Forks
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: out to eat (with a giftcard!) at Texas Roadhouse
Saturday: going to a wedding
Sunday: still need a recipe, but I'm making mahi mahi...any ideas?

Have a great week!

Peanut butter ice cream

Yet another recipe find from Annie's Eats!  If you like reese's, I will be shocked if you can resist making this ice cream just after seeing the picture :)  We've had our ice cream maker three years now, and I used it for the first time this weekend (apologies to whatever nice person gave that to us as a wedding gift...but better late than never, right?)  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
2 2/3 cups half-and-half
Pinch of coarse salt
Dash of vanilla extract
1 heaping cup mini Reese’s cups, wrappers removed, frozen and chopped (optional)

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients (minus the candy) in a blender or food processor; and puree until completely smooth.  Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  When the mixture is chilled through, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  To mix in the Reese’s, transfer the ice cream to a storage container and gently fold in the peanut butter cup pieces until evenly distributed.

I didn't think far enough ahead to put the freezer piece in overnight, so after running the ice cream maker, it was still rather soupy. I also didn't freeze the Reese's, so they sunk right to the bottom.  I think they would have stayed mixed in better if my ice cream was thicker and if they were frozen.  The flavor of this ice cream is great!  Its the perfect amount of peanut butter, and I'm sure would taste good on any cake.  Report back if you decide to try it - or if you'd like another type of ice cream, Annie's Eats has quite a few she's made recently.

Chocolate buttercream frosting

We celebrated my husband's birthday a few times this year, but our first celebration was when my family was in town last week.  He asked for a marble cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, so I went searching for a frosting recipe. (I went box route on the cake - although I'm sure a marble cake homemade would not be too hard!)  I found this recipe, and it turned out wonderful!  Here it is:

Ingredients
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened -I used butter
3/4 cup cocoa or three 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted - I used cocoa
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
3-4 tablespoons milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Stiff Consistency: In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For Thin (Spreading) Consistency Icing: Add 3-4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

Since we were using it to frost a cake, I added 3 tbsp of water and it was very spreadable.  I wasn't sure how much 3 cups of icing was (the yield) but it was plenty!  I used a very small amount between the layers and I had leftovers.  So, if you use for a cake, feel free to load up the bottom cake layer - I promise you will have enough!  Next, I'm going to try the stiffer consistency on my favorite Magnolia bakery cupcakes. Yum!

German chocolate cake

I'm sure you were all anxiously awaiting this post...just kidding!  Unfortunately, my cake did not look nearly as pretty as this picture....but it did taste good!  The recipe is lengthy, so I'll just point you to it here.  Many of my recipes come from this site, Annie's Eats - you should definitely check it out!

A few notes on this cake...a lot of new skills for me, like cutting 2 cake layers into 4, whipping egg whites into meringue and making a custard.  The only one that didn't go super well was the custard.  I wasn't sure how thick it needed to get and I know now that I did not let it get thick enough.  After assembling the cake, the liquid from the coconut layer soaked into the cake, leaving pretty much a coconut only layer (I omitted the nuts).  It still tasted good, just lacked that typical German chocolate filling.  It will be awhile before I make this again, just due to the time it took, but I will at some point and hopefully will have a perfect cake to report!

Meal Planning Monday 7/19

This week, we're having:

Monday:  tacos, spanish rice, salad
Tuesday:  italian chicken and pasta with a pesto cream sauce, fresh green beans
Wednesday:  grilling out at my sister and brother in law's house
Thursday:  tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza - using fresh basil from our yard!
Friday: out to eat at Smashburger with our friends
Saturday:  marinated salmon, cilantro lime rice, fruit salad
Sunday:  out to eat (using a giftcard, so either Olive Garden or Texas Roadhouse)

I hope you have a great week!  This week, I'm planning to post a great frosting recipe, the results of my first ice cream endeavor and a long overdue coconut shrimp recipe that we loved.  Come back by to check all that out!

Coming soon...

In the process of making this...

Excited to report back!

Homemade Salsa

I made this last weekend and it was so good! I'm planning to make it again this weekend. It makes a TON, so I'm sure you could freeze it if you weren't going to eat it all immediately. Or, you can just be like us and eat it every day for a week :)

Ingredients:
1 bunch cilantro
1 can (28oz) whole peeled tomatoes
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles*
1 onion
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 limes
*if you use Rotel, you need 3 cans since they are smaller than 14.5 oz

Directions:
In a blender or food processor, put half the cilantro in, then one can of diced tomatoes, then the other half of cilantro, then the other can of diced tomatoes. Layering it makes it blend better. If something gets stuck, you may have to stir during the blending.

Blend thoroughly.

Dump into a big bowl.

Next, put half the onion in the blender, cut into huge wedges, half the big can of peeled tomatoes, the garlic and the lime. (I would chop the onion up itself first, because my onion still had some rather large pieces in the final product)

Blend and add to the bowl.

Put in the rest of the onion and the remaining tomatoes.

Blend and add to the bowl.

Add salt to taste.

Stir everything together in the big bowl by hand.

You should probably use your biggest bowl for this. I did, thinking it would be more than enough room, and it was just right. The end result tastes so fresh and delicious, I'm betting you won't want to buy pre-made salsa again! There is a strong cilantro taste, so if you are not a cilantro fan, you can omit it or just use a smaller amount.

Hope you enjoy!


photo credit

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Menu planning Monday

After a whirlwind week with 6 guests in our house (including our almost 3 and almost 1 year old nieces!), we are ready for a slow, relaxing, quiet week :) We loved our time with family, of course! But this week has a celebration of its own...my wonderful husband's birthday!! Here are our plans for the week:

Monday - out with our friends, the Liggitts - a free dinner at Trece!
Tuesday - broiled garlic tilapia - first time to try this! I'm excited.
Wednesday - sour cream chicken enchiladas
Thursday - Birthday celebration at Texas de Brazil!!!
Friday - probably not eating since we will be so full from Texas de Brazil :) or, soft tacos with mexican rice
Saturday - cookout with Bart's family to celebrate birthdays
Sunday - hosting a party to hear about our friend's time in missions overseas

Hope you all have a great week!

Oreo Cupcakes

Obviously, these cupcakes look good. But I don't think I can accurately express how really, truly delicious they are! You have to try them! For being a 'fancier' cupcake recipe, they were not that much work. Here is the link to the recipe:

http://annies-eats.com/2010/06/02/cookies-and-cream-cupcakes/

Its her photo as well above. Anyone that ate my cupcakes (at my work or Bart's) knows that mine were not nearly that cute! The taste certainly made up for it though :)

Give these a try. I promise, you will NOT regret it!

Back to blogging....Tom Thumb trip

Sorry to have been away from the blog world for so so long! but, I am back and have a great Tom Thumb trip to report on. The Tom Thumb by our house had a grand "re-opening" so they sent a ton of coupons for free items, and a free reusable bag (a cute one!). I'll just hit the highlights, since I didn't take a picture.

Full price $70.75
Saved $44.91 - 63%
Spent $25.85

Some of the best deals:
fresh tortilla soup from the deli - free with coupon
1/2 lb deli meat - free with coupon
organic salad - $1
pineapple - $1
organic white cheddar popcorn - $0.59 (after $2/any organic product coupon)
eggs - free with coupon
peanut butter - free with coupon
apple juice - free with coupon

We ran out of our June grocery money a little early, so I'm so excited to have a new month to get deals! Hopefully I'll have some other deal posts, and some great new recipes to share during July. Happy 4th!

Meal Planning Monday 4/19

Monday: Baked Shrimp in lemon garlic sauce, zucchini squash
Tuesday: Rolled chicken parmesan, green beans
Wednesday: Chicken enchiladas with red sauce, rice
Thursday: eating @ church with our fellow pre-married class leaders (check it out here!)
Friday: Pepper Jack Macaroni and cheese and crab cakes
Saturday breakfast: cinnamon rolls in the bread machine
Saturday lunch: soup and homemade bread
Saturday dinner: out to eat!
Sunday breakfast: cereal
Sunday lunch: leftovers
Sunday dinner: fried rice, this time with chicken, and fruit salad

Have a wonderful week!

Sunday Shopping

Before I post our Meal Plan tomorrow, I thought I'd give the blog world a peek at my grocery shopping today. This picture includes a trip to Sprouts and Kroger. I took a side trip to Tom Thumb, but all of that got put away before I got the camera out. Here are the details:

Sprouts (left section of photo):
Stacy's Pita Chips
bulk spices (chili powder, minced onion, bay leaves)
fresh green beans
apples
green pepper
zucchini squash
Total: $5.34
all were sale items, no coupons used!

Kroger:
Lays BBQ chips (new with all natural ingredients) *$1
Progresso soup - chicken gumbo, italian style meatball
corn tortillas *.75
elbow macaroni
Fiber plus granola bars
minced garlic
Granny Smith apple chips *mgr special
Red Delicious apple chips *mgr special
Barilla whole grain penne *.55
6 Yoplait yogurts *.40 (doubled to .80)
petite diced tomatoes
tomato paste
butter
parsley
milk
eggs
bananas
Kraft pepper jack cheese *$1/2
Kraft colby cheese *
Total: $30.68
*s represents items with coupons

Tom Thumb (not pictured):
1 lb snow crab meat *mgr special
1 lb jumbo gulf shrimp *on sale $4.99/lb
6 Smart Ones entrees *on sale for $1.50 each, *buy 5, get 1 free
Total $15.48

We enjoyed half the crab meat tonight for dinner, and are saving the other half to make crab cakes! Its so much more fun to eat crab when you don't have to do all the work yourself :) I'll update with the crab cake recipe and let you know how it went later in the week. Stay tuned tomorrow to see what we are doing with all these groceries!

Meal Planning Monday

Here's what we're having this week:

Monday: homemade meatballs subs, chips, veggies
Tuesday: Tilapia in parchment paper, rice, veggies
Wednesday: out to eat with our supper club at Babe's
Thursday: cheeseburgers with turkey bacon, fruit
Friday: Beatles Rock Band/basketball watching party with our small group!
Saturday breakfast: Eggs, bacon and cinnamon toast
Saturday lunch: helping my sister and brother-in-law move (closer to us!)
Saturday dinner: taco soup, cornbread
Sunday breakfast: cereal
Sunday lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches and soup
Sunday dinner: out to eat for a family birthday at Hard 8

Hope you all have a great week!

King Ranch Chicken

I'm surprised I haven't posted about this already - its one of our favorite chicken dishes! I just made it tonight with a little twist, so I'll tell you about two variations.

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel
1.5 cups chicken broth
12 tortillas, cut into quarters (pizza cutter works great for this!)
1/2 to 1 onion, chopped (amount to taste)
3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1-2 cups shredded cheese (amount to taste)

To do:
-Mix soups, Rotel and chicken broth in large saucepan (a skillet might be too small, I use this piece and it works great).
-Add chicken and onion and cook for 10 minutes, covered.
-Spray a 9x13 or other baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
-Layer tortillas, 1/3 of soup mixture and 1/3 cheese. Repeat layers 2 more times.
-Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Please, no comments on our lack of vegetables. I'm pretty sure Rotel counts. :)

Tips:
-I sometimes use 2 cream of chicken soups rather than 1 mushroom/1 chicken. I had one batch of King Ranch turn out very mushroom-y which was not too good (but no prob if you like mushrooms!)
-Tonight, I substituted crushed tortilla chips for the tortillas, and barely noticed a difference.
-This reheats GREAT! Almost better than the first time, which, if you know me well, is a big claim for me to make. I'm usually anti-leftovers :)

Let me know if you try it and like it!

Cinnamon Rolls

Recently, I was in San Diego visiting my sister and her adorable kids while my brother-in-law was on a trip. We decided to make the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, which was a two person job for sure (especially since there was also a 2 year old 'helper' and a 6 month old 'observer'). These cinnamon rolls were absolutely divine, but time consuming and far from healthy! :)

Yesterday afternoon, I decided I would try Money Saving Mom's Bread Machine cinnamon rolls, since I knew that the bread machine would make it much speedier. We served them to our small group this morning, and they definitely got a thumbs up all the way around! This is definitely a recipe I will be making again, as the product was great and the work minimal. One recipe's worth made two full cake pans and one loaf pan...I think it was 14 rolls? I doubled the filling as the recipe suggested. Next time, I might do 1 1/2 rather than 2 times the filling just to make it a tad healthier! Overall, these seemed like a fairly good recipe, health wise (as healthy as you could make a cinnamon roll!). Next time, I'll try subbing applesauce for the oil and possibly half wheat flour. You should definitely try these! If you don't have a bread machine, I believe there is some discussion on how to make them without one in the comments section.

Photo credit Moneysavingmom.com

Valentine's Day update...a little late

Well, its been a month since Valentine's day, so I'm a little behind on my blogging! Life has been crazy. Our power went out Valentine's weekend, so my big plans to create a great multi-course meal went out the window. Monday night, I did end up making Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy.

It was, of course, fabulous! I was sad our original plans fell through, but to be honest we probably didn't need the remaining 8-9 slices of a peanut butter chocolate cake around the house :) (that was my planned dessert)

Hope you all had a great Valentine's day, and a great March too! Since its almost over, that is.

Meal Planning (Tuesday)

So, I know its Tuesday. Busy Monday! Here's what we are having this week:

Monday: Super Bowl leftovers
Tuesday: Chicken francais, garlic rice pilaf
Wednesday: Baked potato soup, homemade bread
Thursday: Tilapia in parchment paper, rice
Friday: Crockpot chicken tacos, chips and queso
Saturday: Chicken, bacon, mozzarella paninis, homemade chips
Sunday: Valentine's day meal - I'm going to do a separate post about this later in the week!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Meal Planning Monday

Happy Monday! Last week turned out to be crazy, so we're carrying forward quite a few meals. Here's what I'm planning:

Monday: Chicken roll ups (carryover from last week)

Tuesday: Date night! We're using our free movie tickets from Studio Movie Grill

Wednesday: Cornbread taco casserole (carryover from last week)

Thursday: Turkey burgers, homemade chips, carrots

Friday: Pan fried tilapia with white wine sauce, rice, veggies

Saturday: Chicken fettucine alfredo, salad

Sunday: Grilled cheese and gumbo -Progresso, not homemade :)

Pork tacos - recipe for leftovers!

I typically make the pork roast for guests, but this time I just made it for Bart and me, so there were a ton of leftovers. We had the idea to make pork tacos out of some of the leftover meat, since it was so tender from the crock pot.

Ingredients:
leftover pork, shredded
taco seasoning to taste
salsa
water, about 1/4 cup
tortillas
taco toppings of your choice

Bart actually made these so I'm not entirely sure of all the measurements, but it would depend how much pork you used anyway. Dump everything into a large skillet and simmer the same way you would with ground beef and taco seasoning. Serve immediately with warm tortillas and any toppings you like.

I definitely need to challenge myself to utilize leftovers more - I typically want to throw them out! Thankfully, Bart eats them. Now, what to do with the half a 9 x 13 of baked ziti....noodle sandwiches? :)

Pork Roast

This recipe came from my friend at work, Joy. I have made it three times and it is always so good! The best part is how easy it is. I have copy and pasted from her email and added my comments in italics. Here goes:

Ingredients:
pork roast - any weight is fine, mine are usually about 3 lbs I think
fresh black pepper
kosher salt
cayenne pepper
1 onion, finely chopped
minced onion
baby carrots, about 3 cups
3/4 c cooking sherry
2-3 c low sodium chicken broth (bigger roast = more broth)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire

1) Coat the roast with fresh black pepper, kosher salt and cayenne. The black pepper should be put on generously. When you think you have enough, put more. Most of the seasoning will end up coming off and into the gravy so there should be plenty. Then I apply the kosher salt, not as much as the pepper since not as good for you. Then dust some cayenne on there. This part you'll just figure out how much you like as you make it more often. I use regular salt and I just bought a pepper grinder, so I've always used regular pepper too.

2) Depending on the fat content in the roast, you may want to try to cut some off if there is a lot. If there's not too much then I broil it in the oven on broil for about 10 minutes. The fat on the outside pretty much disintegrates. If its low fat, like a pork loin roast then I just put it straight in the crockpot and don't broil. I always buy pork loin roast, so I've never done this.

3) In the bottom of the crockpot, put a finely chopped onion, some minced garlic (jar or fresh) and baby carrots (as much or as little as you like). Then put the roast on top.

4) In a mixing bowl, combine the following: sherry, broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire. Then pour over the roast. You want it to pretty much be covered. If you need extra liquid, add more broth.

5) Leave crock pot on low for like 10 hours. Time is not important here, just all day while you are gone. Unfortunately in our line of work its extremely normal to be gone for 10+ hours :)

When you get home:

1) Make rice.

2) Dump the liquid/onions in a pot and add about 3 heaping tbsp of flour. Whisk constantly over high heat until it comes to a boil. Add extra flour if necessary. This step is SO crucial. It makes the meal so much better.

I'm making a commitment to use the crock pot once a week in 2010, because its so helpful for an easy dinner (and cuts back on my desire to just "pick something up"!) My sweet husband has also volunteered to make 1 dinner a week since he has a new job with awesome hours. He's the best! I know this pork roast will be one of my constant go-to's for crock pot meals. Hope you enjoy it!

Pork with Tomato & Pepper Sauce

I made this recipe for our friends, Ashley and Andreas, who came over Friday. I had made it once before, probably 2 years ago, but I couldn't remember how good it was. It was delicious! The recipe is from this recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients:
2 tsp butter -I used smart balance
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 lb lean pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 c thinly sliced green bell pepper- I just used 1 pepper
1 onion, diced - I only used 1/2 an onion

Directions:
1) In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Stir garlic into sizzling hot butter, and then arrange as many sliced pork tenderloin strips as you can fit into the pan. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned on both sides. Remove from pan; set aside. Repeat with any remaining pork tenderloin strips.

2) Return all pork tenderloin strips to pan. Stir in tomatoes and season with basil, salt, and pepper. Cook until mixture comes to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and cover.

3) Meanwhile, heat water in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook peppers and onion in boiling-hot water until vegetables are tender-crisp. Stir into pork tenderloin and tomatoes. Continue cooking until pork tenderloin strips are no longer pink, about 50 to 60 minutes. It only took me about 30-35 minutes, since my strips were fairly small.

We served this over rice, which was perfect because there was a lot of sauce. We all really liked it, so you should try it out!

Meal Planning Monday

Now that work is back in full swing after the holidays, I've buckled down and planned out our meals for the week :) Special thanks to my friend, Katy Link, for the image on this post - isn't it so cute? Here's what we are having:

Monday : taco soup, cornbread

Tuesday: chicken sandwiches, baked french fries, salad

Wednesday: Sour cream chicken enchiladas, spanish rice

Thursday: turkey burgers, homemade potato chips, fruit

Friday: Chicken francais, rice, salad

Saturday: Cornbread taco casserole

Sunday: Crescent chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies

I am very excited to tried the crescent chicken. Click on the link to see the recipe over on Katy's blog. My recipe postings have been seriously lacking lately, but this week I hope to post these I've made recently:

-pork with tomato and pepper sauce

-pork roast (with a great recipe for leftovers)

-tilapia in parchment paper

Have a great week!