A Day in the Life of my Semi-Crunchy Family

Another Chance to win Cloth Diapers

2011-02-28T19:35:00.002-07:00

Hello Blog Followers-
Last week I gave you the opportunity to look at a giveaway and here is another great chance.

Kellywels.com and BumGenius are giving away 18 diapers + Inserts and a Diaper sprayer

So hop on over to KellyWels Facebook page and get yourself signed up!

God Bless-
Christina

Mother of a Cloth Diaper Sale!

2011-02-24T14:07:00.002-07:00

Hello Blog followers,
I've been off the bandwagon, I know it is terrible.
But, I came back to share a great giveaway with you.

Mother of a Sale http://www.facebook.com/MotherOfASale#!/MotherOfASale?sk=wall&filter=2
is giving away $250 worth of Cloth Diapers from 3 new lines.

If you click on the link above you can find out where to enter.

You know I love Cloth diapers and use them on Lucy and plan to any any future kids, so if you are looking to try them out this is a great way to get some for free if you win.

Also, save an extra 10% off your order by using code yoyo10 by the end of today!

Enjoy and God Bless!

Free Martha Stewart Cookbook

2010-05-19T12:26:00.002-07:00

Sirius is offering a Free Martha Stewart Cookbook, it may only be for today so go get it!
Free Cookbook Here

Have a great day and God Bless!

Bountiful Baskets

2010-05-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

Another great week of Bountiful Baskets, hopefully we will be doing this nearly every week.

This week I received
1. Peaches ( a bunch)
2. 5 Yellow Mangoes
3. A whole bunch of little Limes
4. A Mini Watermelon
5. A butternut Squash
6. A 1lb bag of mini carrots
7. 2 Tomatoes
8. 1 - 3lb bag of Rome apples (plus 3 more)
9. 1 Bunch Bananas
10. 2 heads Romaine Lettuce
11. 6 Ears Corn
12. Brusslesprouts (a big bag) and I actually scored another because a lady there didn't want hers! yay!

I'll post an apple pie recipe sometime this week!
Don't forget to check out www.bountifulbaskets.org

Have a great day and God Bless

About Me Monday(s) 4

2010-05-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

46. If you could meet any person in the world who is dead who would you want it to be? meh, I'm not sure, maybe Corrie Ten Boom

47. What if you could meet anyone who is alive? Is it weird that I just don't have people in my head ?

48. Is there a movie that you love so much you could watch it everyday? nope

49. You are going to be stuck alone in an elevator for a week. What do you bring to do? I bring my laptop, Bible and a stack of books to read, I'm assuming they are providing me with food

50. Have you ever saved someone's life or had your life saved? Jesus Saved my eternal life...other than that I don't believe I have

51. Make up a definition for the following silly words...

Fruitgoogle: Google's front page on the national day of fruit

Ambytime: The time that a baby spends in an amby swing

Asscactus: When someone falls rear first into a cactus

52. What was the last thing you made with your own hands? Apple Pie

53. What was your favorite toy as a child? prolly one of my water dolls

54. How many TV’s are in your house? 1

55. What is your favorite thing to do outside? hike/rock climb

56. How do you feel when you see a rainbow? love it, it is a symbol that God will never again flood the earth

57. Have you ever dreamt a dream that came true? yes, I get de ja vu ish type dreams often

58. Have you ever been to a psychic/tarot reader? nope

59. What is your idea of paradise? a sandy beach and a teal ocean ;)

60. Do you believe in god and if so what is he/she/it like? God, captial G, He is the awesome God. One that sent His Son, Jesus to earth to live a blameless life and be crucified so that those who believe as I do will have eternal life in Heaven. He is sovereign and causes or allows all things to happen. Both good and bad to bring glory to Him and to draw people to him.

About Me Monday(s) 3

2010-05-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

31. What 3 things do you want to do before you die?

A Travel to some tropical places

B hopefully have some more children

C eat at many restaurants

32. What three things would you want to die to avoid doing?

A yikes, I guess I would just never want to see my family hurt in terrible ways

B

C

33. Is there a cause you believe in more than any other cause? Is Jesus a cause, if so things like supporting missionaries or Gospel for Asia (which we support)

34. What does each decade make you think of:

The 19..

20's: old school, fun dancing

30's: nothing really

40's: when I should have been born

50's: my parents were born

60's: the start of some gross times in our country

70's: too many drugs in our country

80's: big hair and gaudy clothes

90's: my youth/teen years

2000 (so far): college/life/love

2010's: my baby girl

35. Which decade do you feel the most special connection to and why? probably the 90's, youth

36. What is your favorite oldie/classic rock song? um, Livin on a prayer, haha I have no Idea

37. What country do you live in and who is the leader of that country? USA, President Obama

If you could say any sentence to the current leader of your country what would it be? Trust in Jesus and then hopefully everything would fall into place (or sentence #2, please outlaw abortion, so many babies are dying and it is terrible)

38. What's your favorite TV channel to watch in the middle of the night? well we don't have cable AND the tv is in the living room, but I'd go with ABC

39. What Disney villain are you the most like and why? villian, none! Well lets say ursula, because she likes to wear black ;)

40. Have you ever been a girl scout/boy scout? yeppers, I got my silver award (which means I was a big time girl scout ;) I did it until I was in high school)

41. If you were traveling to another continent would you rather fly or take a boat? fly!

42. Why is the sky blue during the day and black at night? The sky

43. What does your name mean? Christina = Christian

44. Would you rather explore the deeps of the ocean or outer space? the sea for sure

45. Word association

What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word:

Air: fresh

Meat: yum

Different: people

Pink: girly and one of my least favorite color

Deserve: what you get

White: snow

Elvis: you ain't nothing but a hound dog

Magic: is false

Heart: love

Clash: people with the same personality

Pulp:the stuff I don't like in OJ

An Attempt at Homemade Churro's

2010-05-07T16:18:00.003-07:00

Well for Cinco de Mayo we had Pollo Asado, brown rice, a salad and I made Churro's.
Boy was this quite the adventure.

It was really simple to make the dough.

I used this recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup water
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup white flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, depending on taste

Preheat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of vegetable (I used canola) oil in a 10 to 12 inch frying pan to 375 degrees F. note to self: buy a candy thermometer otherwise you will have no idea what 375* of hot oil looks like. This will help you in the future. Also, buy a meat tenderizer. That is all

In a sauce pan ( I used a 1.5 qt one but it called for a 3 qt one, mine was in use for the rice for dinner) add the water, brown sugar, salt, and butter and heat to a good boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour. Stir until well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and vanilla together and then add this to the pan with the flour mixture. Make sure that the egg gets all combined into the dough.

Put your dough in your decorator (think frosting decorator, if you don't have one you could always cut the tip of a plastic baggy off and squeeze from there, just be very careful) and attach a star tip.

Test your oil by placing a small amount of dough in it. The dough should bubble up right away or that means the oil is not hot enough, now if you were like me, yours bubbled and got dark right away which means your oil is too hot. Not hot enough oil = sogginess, Too hot oil = cooked on outside, NOT cooked on the inside.

Once the oil is hot enough, squeeze some dough (with decorator) into the oil about 4 inches long. Use your finger to release the dough from the decorator, just be careful because you are mighty close to the hot oil, you don't want your finger to get in on the frying action.

You should be able to cook 3- 5 churros at a time. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, turning once during the frying process.

Remove the churros with the slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel-covered plate.

I found it easiest while one batch was cooking to roll the last cooked batch in cinnamon and sugar. Then repeat.

So since apparently I let my oil get too hot and it doesn't cool down very quickly I had to do some fast thinking, so I put on a smaller tip from my decorator and used that, since they were thinner, they cooked faster and thus I didn't have a crispy outside and raw inside. Then once it got cool enough I switched back.

I told hubby the ones that were a different shape were American-ized Churro's since I am clearly not Mexican and this just proved it.

None-the-less they were still good! But very time consuming, all frying is I think!

Tomorrow look for a Buttermilk Pie recipe!

Have a great day and God Bless!

About Me Monday(s) 2

2010-05-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

16. How is your relationship with your parents? Good, I love them dearly and wished they lived closer

Will you miss them when they are gone? yes!

17. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you? most of the time yes

18. What is the truest thing that you know? That God is Sovereign and belief in Jesus is the only way to eternal life in Heaven.

19. What did you want to be when you grew up? A Doctor or Physical Therapist

20. Have you ever been given a second chance? Yep

21. Are you more of a giver or a taker? I think giver

22. Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind? I think so.

23. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you? A few REALLY bad ankle sprains, worse than breaking my elbow and worse than my nerve surgery

24. What is the most emotionally painful thing that has ever happened to you? Recently, my grandfather passing away

25. Who have you hugged today? My husband , my daughter and my grandma-in law

26. Who has done something today to show they care about you? Hubby ;)

27. Do you have a lot to learn? it is never ending

28. If you could learn how to do three things just by wishing and not by working what would they be?
A Learn spanish

B how to crochet

C how to ski

29. Which do you remember the longest: what other people say, what other people do or how other people make you feel? feel, do,say if it is good- feel,say,do if it is not good

30. What are the key ingredients to having a good relationship? 1. Jesus 2. Friendship 3. Love 4. Grace 5. Laughing

Homemade Flour Tortillas- A Comparison

2010-05-01T08:09:00.005-07:00

So yesterday, I decided I wanted to make some homemade flour tortillas for dinner. I then set off to find a recipe. A friend of mine, Liz sent me hers and I found THIS one on Homesick Texan.

I couldn't decide which to make so I decided to do both and hubby (the mexican food lover) and I would weigh in.

Recipe 1-Liz's
Ingredients
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons lard, butter, canola or other neutral oil
about 1/2 C warm water, plus more as needed.

Recipe 2
Ingredients
Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:
Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Here is how it went.

First in my Kitchen aid stand mixer I put the ingredients for recipe #1, let it form into a ball and knead for a few minutes until it was somewhat elastic-y (nope, that isn't a word but I am going to use it)

I put the dough ball into a bowl (the blue one).

Then I repeated this process with the ingredients for recipe #2. That went into the silver bowl.

I covered them both with a towel and let rest for a good 30ish minutes (it should be at least 20).

Then I took the dough ball out onto a floured surface and decided that they felt like the needed more kneading (that's a mouthful!) I kneaded both balls until they were where I thought they should be.

Then I separated them into 8 pieces each and placed them on a plate and covered with a towel to rest again for another 20ish minutes (should be at least 10). I put the plates on their corresponding bowls just to keep them straight. As you can see Recipe #2 has larger dough balls because it had more flour- though both recipes said they made 8, so that is what I stuck to.
After they had rested I started with the blue bowl because they had been first all along and I wanted to be fair with resting time.

I took one ball at a time and took it into my hands, starting in the middle I pressed it into an evenly flat disc and placed it on a floured surface. Then I flattened the rest of the way making it as even as possible.
Then I took a rolling pin and rolled it out THIN and they rolled out very easily. (even though my rolling skills are sub par and not all of them came out looking like perfectly round circles) I did this for all 16 balls.

I had Recipe #2 in the lead, because it had felt better while kneading. After rolling I started to think perhaps they were about even and maybe #1 had a slight edge because it rolled out nicer.

At this point I heated a non-stick skillet (because I don't have a cast-iron one, but if you are cooler than I am use that) and I heated it over medium/medium-high heat (I found a 7 on my stove worked well).

I cooked 1 tortilla from #1 - for about 1.5-2 minutes on each side (I flipped the first time when nice bubbles started to appear)- I then tore off 1/4 for myself and 1/4 for hubby- took it to him and interrupted his practice time at the piano and had him try it. He said they were great!

So I went back and cooked 1 tortilla from #2- same thing about 1.5-2 minutes each side (this one didn't show bubbles)

I then interrupted hubby again and said ok tell me which one you like better. He said he didn't really notice a difference so I brought him another piece of #1 and had him compare that way.

His thoughts (and I came to similar conclusions)
#1- thinner and not as chewy
#2- thicker, a little softer and chewy

He chose #1 as did I. We had some vegetarian taco's for dinner with these. They were great!

#2 was very good as well- they tasted almost exactly the same but the thickness of the 2nd tortilla made it kind of bready (which made it great for eating with some butter later (yum) ) but for mexican food we liked the thinner variety.

#1 on Left #2 on Right

As you can see #1 looks thinner and a little more crispy whereas #2 looks thicker, softer and more bready.

You can keep these stored in a plastic bag or tinfoil for a few days in the fridge.

Depending on your "likes" for Mexican food either tortilla is a good option but in our house we will definitely make #1 again!

Have a great day and God Bless!

12 Foods to Buy Organic/ 15 Foods Not to

2010-04-30T08:41:00.004-07:00

The Daily Green put an article up called "The New Dirty Dozen: 12 foods to eat Organic"

They also put up "The Clean 15: Foods you don't have to buy Organic"

As it stands now we don't buy much Organic, but I may have to look into some of them that are on the Dirty Dozen with as many pesticides as they test for!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Peanut Butter

2010-04-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

So my hubby and I both love peanut butter, specifically Laura Scudder's Natural Nutty PB. But at $4-5 a pop and one a week that can take a chunk out of your grocery budget.

Lately hubby has been having an apple & PB with breakfast or Toast with PB and raisins, so we have been blowing through it.

It was the end of the grocery budget this week and no room for PB...
*whoops*
So I took the peanuts we had and made PB!

Plain Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2-3 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Honey Peanut Butter Ingredients
1 Cup Roasted Salted (or unsalted) Peanuts (we get ours in the bulk bin at Sprouts)
2 Tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp (to taste) Salt

Now *sigh* I only have a blender, if you have a food processor and are much cooler than I, please, by all means use it.

Pour the Peanuts and 2 Tbsp Canola/Peanut oil into your Blender/Food Processor. Pulse a few times and then blend to combine. Add a pinch of salt, blend for about a minute then taste. Then you can decide if you need more. 1/4 tsp or so worked out well for me.

If you want it to be crunchy (like me) then you don't have to blend as long. If you need to add more Canola/Peanut oil go ahead until you reach the consistency you would like. I used 2-3 depending on the batch. If you want Smooth PB just let it keep blending (it will take quite a few minutes)!

For the Honey PB just add 1.5 Tbsp of Honey and you are golden.

This turned out SO great! It made about 5 oz of PB, so we have 2 flavors to choose from and we enjoyed some Honey PB on some wheat bread for a snack!

The whole process to make 2 batches took me about 15 minutes, but that was with figuring out the ratios and using a blender. So, next time I'm sure it will be quicker and if you have a food processor it should go even faster!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Cinnamon Toast

2010-04-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well many of you know that I love the Pioneer Woman, her website is amazing, as is the recipe she posts.

Yesterday as I was surfing the web I was on here site and the recipe was for Cinnamon Toast, I was about to make breakfast so I gave it a go.

p.s. If you want professional pictures you will have to go look at P.W.'s site. I'm not claiming professionalism here, especially not when I'm just trying to make sure I get to eat while Lucy girl is sleeping.

Ingredients (for 2 pieces of toast)
2 pieces of Wheat bread
2 Tbsp Softened Butter
2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Dash Vanilla Extract

Take the butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and combine in a bowl.

(before the mixing)

Spread onto bread.

Put into pre-heated oven (350*) for 10 minutes.

Broil on low for 2-3 minutes (keep watch!)

Enjoy!

About Me Monday(s)

2010-04-26T15:37:00.003-07:00

An acquaintance of mine has a blog and she has been working through the 5,000 questionnaire, I thought it would be fun to join along. So every Monday ( I hope) until I'm done will be 15 questions from the 5,000 Questionnaire, click the link to see it in full.

1. Who are you? Christina

2. What are the 3 most important things everyone should know about you?
1. I love Jesus and am thankful for my salvation through Him.
2.My family and friends are so important to me, I'm big big big on family.
3. Working out and cooking keep me sane.

3. When you aren't filling out 5,000 question surveys like this one what are you doing?
Caring for Lucy girl, reading, cooking, blogging, working out...etc.

4. List your classes in school from the ones you like the most to the ones you like the least (or if you are out of school, think of the classes you did like and didn't like at the time).
Once I got into my core courses for Exercise science I loved them.
I had a love/hate relationship with Gross Anatomy, the lab part (dissection) was my absolute favorite, but I could have done without the lecture part!

5. What is your biggest goal for this year?
By God's grace to be the best mommy I can for Lucy

6. Where do you want to be in 5 years?
In another (bigger) house with 1-2 more kids perhaps? Enjoying life with my hubby and kids.

7. What stage of life are you in right now?
The "grown-up" stage, married with a beautiful kiddo ;)

8. Are you more child-like or childish?
Hopefully Child-like

9. What is the last thing you said out loud?
Lucy

10. What song comes closest to how you feel about your life right now?
I'm so bad at these questions, I don't know.

11. Have you ever taken martial arts classes?
Nope

12. Does your life tend to get better or worse or does it just stay the same?
There is an ebb and flow.

13. Does time really heal all wounds?
Nope it helps, but Jesus does

14. How do you handle a rainy day?
By enjoying it, it hardly rains here in AZ, it also makes me feel relaxed!

15. Which is worse...losing your luggage or having to sort out tangled holiday lights?
Losing your luggage for sure! It is one of the worst things when traveling.

Food Inc. Yikes!

2010-04-24T03:00:00.001-07:00

Well can I tell you what I did last night?

Hubby was at the Diamondbacks game with a friend so after I put Lucy girl down for bed I popped a bag of popcorn, grabbed a beer and sat down to watch Food Inc. on my laptop via PBS (thank you very much PBS).

I had wanted to see this for quite some time but just hadn't gotten around to it, the Library didn't have it and I just never got around to renting it. I'm glad that I've seen it now.

I'd say as a whole we are fairly conscience about the food decisions we make, but I have to say I will likely be more so after seeing this movie.

Here are some of my thoughts...you don't have to agree, but I'm going to put them out there.

***Since it is so hard to find good research confirming or denying the claims of the movie that come from impartial sources; know that much of this is coming from Food Inc.***

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)- We decided close to a year ago to try to not buy HFCS containing products. THIS IS SO HARD! HFCS is in SO many things. Also, companies try to get around people avoiding their product by only having Corn Syrup rather that HFCS. We also try to stay away from these.
Next time you are in your normal grocery store (not health food store) try to find a brand of Raisin Bran that does not have HFCS or Corn Syrup, I've found it impossible.

This is not to say that I don't have it every once in a while (soda, etc) but as a whole the decisions we make do not include HFCS.

Sign a petition to get Congress to tax foods/beverages that contain HFCS to make ones that do not contain it more affordable HERE.

Soy- We also try to avoid Soy as much as possible, but again it is in SO many things you can buy at the grocery store. There have been numerous studies over the years saying that Soy may not be as good for us as we first believed. Again due to the fact that there are varying opinions, I urge you to check it out for yourself.

In the movie it talked about one particular company (which I will not name purely because thought I'm just a minuscule blogger, I don't want them after me) who has patented a particular type of soybean (that is Genetically Modified) and that is now close to 90% of soy on the market. WHOA!

Who knew you could patent food. Surely I didn't.

Meat/Poultry/Fish-I have to tell you I'm a meat eater. I like meat, I don't believe I could give it up. I like it, a lot. But, I have to tell you I was pretty disgusted to learn that there are hardly any farms that allow their cattle, poultry, hogs etc to eat anything but corn.

The conditions that chickens, cattle and hogs are subjected to is frankly, gross.

One company in the movie has made an ammonia based food additive to be added to hamburger to help stop the spread of things like E. Coli. Ammonia?

Food Inc. said if you allowed a cow to eat grass instead of corn for 5 days they would shed 80% of the E. Coli in their bodies....no ammonia needed there.

Also, Farm raised Tilapia/Salmon is now being fed corn! *Scratches head, a fish eating corn, hmmm*

In the film it talked about how corn is subsidized by the government, it costs less for meat companies to purchase corn than it does for farmer's to grow it due to the subsidization. Perhaps I'm a bit old school but I can't fathom why we are subsidizing this? *Bites tongue*

I will say after seeing this movie there will be certain companies I will not be supporting, Sprouts will be getting much more of my business when it comes to meat/poultry/fish.

My heart broke and I broke down in tears when the movie told the story of the 2.5 year old boy who died of a certain strain of E. Coli after eating an infected hamburger. He died 12 days later. His mother is now an advocate of regulating plants and sanctioning them/shutting them down if they continually fail safety standard testing. Support Kevin's Law HERE.

I could go on and on, but, I won't. Go back up to the top of the page and click on Food Inc. and watch it for yourself.

Here are some things you can do!
1. Buy Local /support Famer's Markets
2. Buy what is in season (Clicky)
3. Choose foods without HFCS/Soy
4. Buy Grass fed Beef/ Cage free Eggs
5. Pay more attention to what you put in your bodies, God only gave us one and he told us it is our Temple, take care of it.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sweet and Sour Swiss Chard

2010-04-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

I used up the last bunch of our Swiss Chard from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. I think I like this recipe more than the Sauteed Swiss Chard I made earlier.

I adapted it from HERE.

I didn't have any raisins in the house (we usually do!) so I had to omit those, I think they would have been great, but I didn't miss them.

Ingredients

1 Bunch Swiss Chard- stems chopped / leaves chopped (separate the two)
1 Medium onion Diced
Pinch of Salt
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Canola oil
3 Tbsp White Vinegar
3 Cloves Garlic
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Raisins ( I didn't add)

Start by adding the butter and canola oil to a pan that you have a lid for. Heat on medium high then add diced onion and a pinch of salt and cook until they just start to brown.

***note to self, reset your camera back so that you can take better pictures :( ***

Then add all other ingredients BESIDES the Swiss Chard leaves.

Cover and cook over Medium or Medium high heat for 8 minutes.

Then add the Swiss Chard Leaves but do NOT stir. Cover and let steam for 3-4 minutes.

Mix around and serve!

This turned out very well, I actually think that it could have used a bit more of a kick (more vinegar). But it balanced out the Swiss Chard nicely, I would like to make it again with the raisins I think they would really be nice with this.

I'm so excited that I get to try new recipes because of Bountiful Baskets!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Babywearing

2010-04-21T03:00:00.003-07:00

I have to tell you since I started wearing Lucy around in a wrap when I take her out I've gotten some crazy stares.

But here are a few reasons why I love to wear her:
1. It simulates what she was used to in the womb, being close to mom.
2. She can hear my heartbeat (also a comfort thing for her)
3. I have 2 hands available!
4. It's easier on my body than carrying her in the car seat.
5. She gets to experience everything I do (especially when facing out) because she can see and goes with me
6. It deters people from touching her

Now with all this Sling Controversy people (like a sweet postman at the post office) also sometimes feel the need to tell me "I just saw on CNN health that some babies died in Slings" in which case I replied "That's why I use a wrap, so she is upright". Not that I necessarily think there is anything wrong with slings, but it is easier to get out of the conversation that way.

The first time I ever took her out (and in the wrap), I had to go to the library to return some books. She was only 4 days old. We drove to the Library, I put her in the wrap, walked in, went to renew my books (apparently my card expired and I needed a new one) and the first thing the lady said was "Can she breathe in there"? I'm thinking to myself, yes of course she can! I'm not going to do anything to hurt my baby girl. But, I calmly replied, yes, she can.

But, I digress.

Babywearing has been so helpful for me. My dear friend L made my wrap for me as a baby shower gift ;). Did you know that it can wreak havoc on your body if you carry your infant car seat around? Read THIS. Think of this a typical infant car seat weighs about 7 lbs. At the beginning when you have a cute little baby then you are carrying around maybe 15 lbs.

But as your cute little bambino becomes more of a bruiser/bruisette and weighs 16 lbs now you are lugging around 23 lbs. No small task when you are holding it at your side!

There have been very few times I've carried Lucy in the carseat, Hubby would rather me not because he knows that it can just be so bad for your body. I've done it when she's been asleep mostly and we are going into someone else's house where I can't put her in her crib. Other than that she usually goes in the wrap.

Mostly, I use it while shopping. I take her to the grocery store and put her in a front cross carry (facing in). That way she can take a nap, because I can put one side on her head a bit so it stays in place and she can sleep.

Yesterday was the first time I put her facing out, because she has great head control. She had a great time taking in all the sights at the Grocery store.

Another bonus of having her in the wrap is people are less likely to come up and touch your child. Because of course they are mostly covered by the wrap and they are so close to you that it would be wrong for people to reach for them. This is nice because it keeps germy hands away from your kiddo!

Then we also use it to take Lucy girl on walks. She'll usually fall asleep from the walking and we don't have to worry about the stroller.

Here is hubby with her on when she was 2 weeks old. (He now wants a camo wrap, the blue isn't manly enough *shrugs*)
There are so many options for wearing your baby, wraps, slings, mei-tei's, beco's, ergo's etc. I'd love an ergo but I DON'T love the price tag.

For more info check out these sites:
TheBabyWearer (TBW)
WearYourBaby (this has picture by picture demo's of how to put your baby in safely).

Babywearing may not be for everyone, but I sure do enjoy it!

P.S. I get many compliments on the wrap as well and people often ask questions and say how good of an idea it is. So it isn't all negative.

I would love to try a back carry soon, but I'll have to perfect it around the house before I dare take her out in it!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sauteed Swiss Chard Recipe

2010-04-20T03:00:00.003-07:00

So I told you yesterday about Bountiful Baskets Food Co-Op. I hope you checked them out!

Since there were two bunches Swiss Chard and I had never had it before I looked up a recipe on Simply Recipes. com. I made something similar to THIS recipe.

Ingredients

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 small clove garlic, sliced (I used 1 tbsp chopped)
2 Tbsp olive oil (I used enough to coat the pan)
2 Tbsp water
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper (I used about 2 pinches)
1 teaspoon butter (I used 1 tbsp)
Salt

First I cut off the hard ribbed part of the Swiss Chard (this is the very red part) it was about 1/4-1/3 of the whole piece. Then I chopped it into smaller pieces.

In a sautee pan I put enough canola oil in to lightly cover the bottom and heated it over a medium heat.

After it was warm I added about a tablespoon of chopped garlic and about 2 pinches crushed red pepper. I let this sautee for about 1 minute.
Then I added all of the Swiss Chard, covered it and cooked it for 5 minutes.
After it had cooked covered for 5 minutes, I flipped it over, added a few tablespoons of water, covered it and cooked it for 5 more minutes.

Then I dished it up and we had it with Hamburgers and Garlic Toast for dinner.
It was pretty good, it had a buttery spinach flavor to it. Not something I'd put on my top 3 list but it is definitely something I would eat again.

If anyone has another recipe, I have 1 more bunch to use up!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Bountiful Baskets

2010-04-19T03:00:00.008-07:00

Here is one way you can:
1. Eat healthy
2. Save Money
3. Save yourself a trip to the store!
4. Try foods you wouldn't normally try
5. Support local or small farms

You can order a basket from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op!
I've been wanting to do this for a while now but somehow when they open up ordering in AZ from Tuesday-Wednesday I could never seem to remember. But this week I did.

How it works is you go to their website on the days that they open ordering for your state (AZ is Tuesday-Wednesday).
You place your basket order and anything else you would like, sometimes they sell bread, Italian packs, Mexican packs etc.
Then you choose where you want to pick it up (In AZ it is on Saturdays) They are almost always at a local park.
On that day you go at the time they say and you pick up your basket(s) of yummy produce!

This is what I got on Saturday!

I received for $19.50 (since it was my first basket, it is usually $16.50)
2 heads Romaine Lettuce
1 pint Grape Tomatoes
2 lbs of Carrots
6 Bananas
1 Pineapple
2 Packages Blackberries
1 Melon (I'm not sure what kind yet)
1 Package Mushrooms
3 Crowns of Broccoli
A few lbs of Red Potatoes
2 Bunches Swiss Chard

That's a lot of food- I'm trying to decide whether it would cost me that much at sprouts and I think it is about equal. The nice thing is I'm supporting local/small farms which I love AND I get to try new foods. Be sure to check out TOMORROW'S post for a Swiss Chard Recipe!

Bonus is all of these fruit/vegetables look amazing! We had some Blackberries and Romaine on Saturday and they were delicious.

So if you live in Utah, Arizona, Idaho or Nevada (I believe) check out Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op at the link below. If you live in another state, Google Food Co-ops and see if there is anything similar for you to try out.

It will be healthy for you and your family and it will save you some money. Plus, you are supporting US (and Mexican) farms!

This is their website Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op
You can also check out their Facebook Page

Have a great day and God Bless!

I'm Back!

2010-04-17T10:30:00.011-07:00

Well, I have to say, I have been a horrible blogger!

I'd like to say I have a good reason. Being pregnant/giving birth/being a new mommy being the reason.

It was hard to do the food blog while I was pregnant because I was throwing up at the beginning and suffering from some BAD heartburn the rest of the time. This made food not quite so fun...

Then giving birth and having a brand new baby will zap all of the energy out of you!

But, that is no more, instead of solely focusing on food, I'll be talking about food, cooking, shopping for food, being frugal and all the new mommy stuff as well. Hopefully you will be able to learn some things about keeping your family healthy!

Here are some pictures of Lucy girl so you can see how busy I've been.

And Monday look for a post on Bountiful baskets, a cheap way to eat some healthy food!

Birth

1 week

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

5 weeks

6 weeks

8 weeks

9 weeks

10 weeks

11 weeks

12 weeks

Surprise!!!!

2009-08-03T10:47:00.001-07:00

Well yes, it HAS been over a month since I've blogged.

But here is the real reason!

I'm pregnant, about 15 weeks along and due January 25th, Hubby and I are super excited.

Now that I'm feeling a little bit better I'm hoping to start posting again, thanks for being so patient!

---Christina

Crockpot Chili

2009-07-01T18:51:00.003-07:00

I know I know, shame on me, I've been a horrible blogger.

Here's something I've made twice in the last two weeks because hubby liked it so much he wanted it again!

Ingredients

2 lbs Ground beef- browned
2 cans Diced tomatoes
2 cans diced fire roasted w/ garlic tomatoes
1 can Cannelini beans- rinsed
1 can Pinto beans- rinsed
1 can Chili beans
2 tsp Red Pepper flakes
2 Tbsp Salt
2 Tbsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
4 Tbsp Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce
2 Cups Water
3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Medium onion (minced)

Makes : 12 large servings

This is so easy. Brown your meat.

Throw everything in your crockpot and cook for at least 2 hours on low!

Freeze some for an easy meal to pull out when you need it.

Have a great 4th of July!

Would you like an E-cookbook?

2009-06-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me an E- cookbook that has recipes from a WHOLE BUNCH of different restaurants.

Since I've been such a bad blogger and haven't given you any new things I thought some of you may like it.

If you would leave a comment with your email address and I'll send it along!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Yup

2009-06-13T17:24:00.001-07:00

Well alright. I've been a bad blogger. But it's because I'm being a good wife!

Hubby is taking Master's classes this summer and for last week and this week he has to borrow my laptop because he has class in the am and pm and stays on campus all day.

So I've been without my computer (and photo uploader).

Don't worry, I'll be back !

Thanks for your patience!

Our Niagara Falls Fun!

2009-06-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Have you been to Niagara Falls (we were on the NY side)? It's a fun place. Hubby had never been and I had only seen them in passing ( I know I lived in NY for 21 years, what can I say).

We took the cave of the winds tour, which let me tell you was sweet. They give you sandals and a poncho. You take an elevator down and then you walk around on a bridge and get to go nearly IN the falls.

It was awesome. I just wanted to share the pictures! Enjoy and God Bless

(can you see my hubby?)

( he doesn't enjoy smiling, so he cheeses)

Fruit and Rhubarb Pie

2009-06-06T15:18:00.005-07:00

Well for my first post back it sure will be a fun one. I haven't had much time to cook since I've been home. Work has kept me very busy. Hopefully this next week will slow down some and I can get back in the kitchen. I just got all my new Pampered Chef stuff, so I'm looking forward to using it!

When I was home, my mom had bought some rhubarb but wasn't sure how she wanted to use it. So I made this pie. We had some great fruit in the house so I didn't go the basic Strawberry Rhubarb style.

This turned out great!

Ingredients
2 Pie Crusts (one for top and bottom)- I used Pillsbury, I didn't want to make one.
6 Stalks Rhubarb (trimmed and leaves removed *did you know they are poisonous*)
4 Small apples
1 Container Strawberries
1/2 Pint Blueberries
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Cornstarch (to thicken the juices)
2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 yolk + 1 tsp water lightly beaten
White sugar to top

Place one Pie Crust in a Pie Pan.

Slice up Rhubarb into 1/4-1/2" pieces. Slice Apples thinly (leave the skins on, it's good for you).
Slice Strawberries thickly.
Add Blueberries.

Put them all in a big mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix.

Pour into your pie tin and flatten as much as possible.
Now you can get fancy pants like me and make a lattice top (which is really easy by the way- if you need a good tutorial check out Smitten Kitchen's ).

Then take your beaten egg and water mixture and brush it on top, this will help it to brown. I always like to dust mine with some sugar. So take a pinch of white sugar and put it all on the top. Yum.

Put in the Oven at 400* for 20 min and then reduce to 350* for another 20-30 minutes until pie is lightly browned. Allow to rest and then enjoy!

Have a great Saturday and God Bless

A few days....

2009-06-03T09:48:00.002-07:00

Well everyone as much as I'd love to say that I can get some posts up, it will probably be a few days, I'm swamped at work!

Keep checking back!

I'm Back

2009-06-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from the trip, we had a great time and I even made some recipes while there. I'll try and post my Fruit and Rhubarb pie today or tomorrow, now I am trying to get back into the swing of things!

Reminder

2009-05-20T17:53:00.005-07:00

Just reminding everyone that there won't be much in the way of Food on the Blog for the next 2 weeks, I'll be outta town and very busy!

I'll be going to my dear friend Jen's Wedding (she's on the right)

I'll be visiting my family!

And seeing beautiful Upstate New York and Hiking with my Hubby
Have a great few weeks and God Bless!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

2009-05-19T18:00:00.001-07:00

Well it is another Taste & Create recipe for the Month of May. I have to tell you there was plenty on HoneyB's website for me to want to make. But these struck me as something different. And they came through. These puppies will RISE so don't overfill, how do I know. Just trust me.

The peanut butter icing was AMAZING and the cupcake batter was perfect. Everyone I gave these to thought they were awesome. Thanks Honey B!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
from Peanut Butter and Jelly Co.

1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup strawberry jam
2 cups Peanut Butter Frosting (recipe will follow)

Makes 17 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 17 muffin cups with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the milk. Slowly add the flour mixture and combine until the batter is uniform. Do not overmix.

Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter. Drop a tablespoon of the jam in the center of each cupcake and then top with more batter so they are a little more than three-quarters full. (do not overfill)

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched lightly. Let them cool completely before icing with Peanut Butter Frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth)
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp whole milk (I used 2% here also)

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the butter and peanut butter together.
Add the confectioners' sugar, salt, and then the milk. Add additional tablespoons of milk or sugar to loosen or tighten the icing, respectively. For best results, use immediately.
Have a great day and God Bless!

Blog slowness expected

2009-05-19T15:17:00.002-07:00

So Thursday early AM I am boarding a plane to Buffalo, NY to be in one of my dear friends Weddings and then DH and I will be vacationing for a week.

Tomorrow I hope to get up my Taste and Create Submission which are Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes (and are SO good).

But after that probably not too much until June 1st.

So check out the archives and YOU keep cooking! If you make something of mine leave me a comment and let me know!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Pasta with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce

2009-05-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 Zuccini's Quartered and sliced
2 Yellow squash Quartered and Sliced
1/4 Onion, chopped
2 Boneless skinless Chicken breasts-cut into bite sized pieces
1 Bag Pasta
1/2 Stick Butter
3 Tbsp+ 2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2-3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

MMMMMMmmmmmm this turned out wonderfully. It was just something I threw together after seeing The Pioneer Woman 's baked Lemon pasta dish. Mine isn't much like her's but I feel like I should say that seeing that inspired me to make my own.

Hubby absolutely loved this, he gave it the highest rating of anything so far. He couldn't stop commenting on how good it was. It makes a wife feel good for sure, I'm glad God paired the two of us together.

So first things first. Chop up your chicken into bite sized pieces. While you are doing that warm up a big skillet over medium high heat and put your 3 Tbsp canola oil in there.
Transfer your chicken pieces and salt and pepper generously. Cook for about 3-5 minutes each side or until cooked through and then remove and put in a bowl for later.

While your chicken is cooking cut up your zucc's and squash, I sliced and quartered them because I wanted them to be small-ish. I had some leftover onion chopped up from the other night so I used that too (but it was only about 1/4 cup).

Take your pan that is now over medium heat add your butter and 2 Tbsp canola oil. Once combined add everything you have chopped. Toss around so that it is coated and cook for 10 minutes or until they are tender.

Mince 2 cloves garlic and zest 1 lemon. Add this in at the end of the cooking of the zucchini and squash and cook together while you make the sauce.

In a pot combine sour cream, milk, parmesan cheese and the juice of one lemon. Add the chicken back in and cook over medium heat to warm.

Once it is warm combine the pan of veggies to the sauce.

Ladel over cooked pasta and enjoy! Yum!

Have a great Monday and God Bless!

Broccoli Slaw (or the best stuff EVER)

2009-05-15T03:00:00.001-07:00

Let me just tell you, oh.my.goodness. This is phenomenal. I'm SO glad I made a double batch! I was perusing Smitten Kitchen's website and found being pregnant is causing her to crave broccoli so she made THIS recipe. There really wasn't much need for me to make adjustments but I will note them in Red. Also remember I doubled her recipe, I'm going to post those as well.

2 heads of broccoli ( I used 4 medium to large broccoli heads)
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted ( I used 1 cup Dry Roasted sunflower kernels)
1/3 cup dried cranberries ( 2/3 cup)
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (3/4 medium onion, minced)

Buttermilk Dressing
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken (I used 1 cup whole milk, plus 2 tbsp white vinegar)
1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used 2/3 Cup)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar (I used the same, whoops)
1 tablespoon sugar ( I used the same)
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (I didn't add more than the 3/4 from above)

Salt and Pepper to taste

First off I HATE doing dishes, yuck! So I always try to use as few as possible. So I made the dressing first.

Put your mayo in the bottom of a big bowl ( I used a cute tupperware one, so I could put it all in the fridge, and covered later).

In a pyrex measuring cup, measure your milk and vinegar (or buttermilk if you are way cooler than me) and let it set for a few minutes.

Then pour that into the bowl with the mayo, add the sugar and cider vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk until smooth.

Now take your broccoli and slice them off just where it starts to stem to each piece. Then I just cut off the floret cut it in half (or thirds depending how big it was), cut the stem in half and threw them into the dressing mixture. Repeat until you've cut all of that yummy goodness up (Did you know broccoli is a good source of calcium?). Broccoli is my favorite veggie. If you couldn't tell.

Cut up your onion, mince it. Throw it in.

Now measure out 1 Cup Sunflower Kernels (oh man this was a great substitute in my book)

Then 2/3 Cup Cranberries.

Now grab your salad fork and spoon and mix, making sure to coat everything.

Then I covered it and put it in the fridge for an hour so it was nice and cold.

This was all I could have wanted and more, sweet, tangy, fairly good for you, with tons of broccoli. Let me suggest trying it with the sunflower kernels, mmmm.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Sauteed Garlic Zucchini and Squash

2009-05-14T03:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
2 Medium Zucchini's
2 Medium Yellow Squash
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

So I went to the store on Monday as usual and these yummy veggies were on sale $1/lb. So I picked up about 4 each just to break up the monotony of life at my house. Where we eat lots of salad and lots of broccoli. Both of which I love, but boring.

Wash your veggies.

Warm up a big pan to medium high heat.

Now slice them about 1/2 inch thick. Put them in a bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp Olive Oil.

Put them in the pan and salt and pepper them. Don't be afraid to put a pretty good amount in.

Sautee them, flipping occasionally for about 5-8 minutes. Then in the last 2-4 minutes add your minced garlic. You want it to get sweet. But not bitter.

Cover them for the last few minutes so they steam a bit.

mmmm this was just right. And tomorrow I'll post a Broccoli Slaw that will knock your flip flops off!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Spinach Florentine Lasagna Rollups

2009-05-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and her daughter came over the other day. She's a SAHM and I had the day off so we decided to get together. She brought her cutie daughter and we made this together. This is a recipe that she had. It was very good. It's a great vegetarian recipe if you need one for friends.

(This is my friend and her sweet, sweet daughter in a wrap that she made, so talented)

Ingredients
10 oz Frozen Spinach
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Onion Chopped (we used 1 tsp onion powder)
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 Garlic Clove Minced (we used 1/2 Tbsp)
1 egg slightly beaten
4 oz shredded Mozzarella Cheese
10 Lasagna Noodles
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
A few sprigs Flat Leaf Parsley

Boil your Lasagna noodles until they are Al Dente. You don't want to over cook them because you will put them in the oven later.

While they are boiling combine your Cream Cheese and Egg in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Then add your Spinach (rinsed in warm water and squeezed out of all water),Onion, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic, Parsley and Pepper. Mix well.

When your noodles are done rinse them under cold water in a colander.

Put one noodle flat on a cutting board. Put one heaping tablespoon in the middle and smooth out over all of the noodle. Top with a little mozzarella cheese.

(yup, it's me, in the flesh, my friend thought it might be fun to actually see me in the blog)
(ok, I'm sure you are sick of seeing me now. Back to the food)

Now preheat your oven to 350* (by the time you are done rolling it will be ready!)

Then roll up the noodle into a cute little roll up.

In a 9 x 11" pan put 1/3 of your jar of sauce on the bottom.

Put the rollup in the pan and continue to roll until all 10 are done and in the pan.

Pour the rest of jar of sauce on top and top with more Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 min at 350*

This was a great meal, it had a nice creamy filling and it was much quicker than a regular lasagna.
Have a great day and God Bless!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

2009-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you first off that this is one thing that I remember my Mommy making alot when I was growing up. I loved it and always asked her to make it. Originally my mom clipped this from a Bisquick box in the 80's but Betty Crocker does not have it on the site.

So I called mom and she read it to me over the phone!

So here it is : Adapted from Bisquick Box circa 1987

Ingredients
Filling:
1 Package Cream Cheese softened
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp almond extract ( I used vanilla)

For Dough
2 Cups Bisquick ( I used pioneer brand)
1/3 Cup milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter

Topping
1/4 cup Fruit Preserves ( I used 1/2 cup of Strawberry preserves)
1/3 cup sliced almonds ( I omitted)

Servings- 9

Preheat oven to 350*

In a bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Mix Well

In another bowl mix baking mix, milk, sugar and butter until it forms a dough.

In a 9x9 pan place the dough in the bottom and flatten so it covers the bottom and goes 1" up the sides.

Add the filling and spread so it is flat.

Warm your preserves a bit so they are easier to spread.

And CAREFULLY spread them out as evenly as you can.

Then pop in the over for 40 minutes or until the cream cheese filling is mostly set.

This is just heavenly, don't take my word for it. Make it for yourself! DH even helped out!

Have a great day and God Bless

Twice Baked Potatoes!

2009-05-11T03:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
6 Big Potatoes ( I used Russet)
1.5 Sticks butter sliced into tbsp
1 Cup Ground Sausage cooked and drained (I used leftovers that I knew that this is what I was going to use it for)
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
1/4 Tsp Season Salt
1 Cup Colby/Cheddar Cheese
Black Pepper to Taste

This recipe was adapted (and let me tell you not much!) from The Pioneer Woman's recipe. She's awesome and if for some reason you have had your head under a rock for sometime then you probably know about her. But if you don't; go check out her site.

Preheat your oven to 400*

Wash and dry your potatoes. Toss em on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

In the mean time, it's time to make the filling. Which of course I tasted along the way. Man, this stuff is good.

In a big mixing bowl put your sliced up butter.

Add your Sausage (or bacon, which is more normal, but I'm different) and your Sour Cream.

Then add your Salt, Pepper and Cheese, yum.

Now when your potatoes are cooked take them out of the oven and grab a hand towel. Put one of those Hot Spuds in the towel and grab a serrated knife.

Slice it in half length wise.

Now grab a big spoon and carve the insides of the potatoes out. Putting them into your mixing bowl.

Make sure you leave a little potato on the edges so they will hold up. I tore 2 of them. Which was fine because I didn't end up needing them all ( I only had enough filling for 10 anyways)

Once you have done this to all of your spuds you can use a hand masher like the Pioneer woman or you can do what I did (because I don't have a hand masher) and put 1 mixer into your hand mixer. And mix everything on low. Leaving some lumps.

Once it is all mixed together. Begin spooning it into the shells. Fill em up high.

Then once they are done pop them back into a 350* oven for about 15 minutes.

Take them out and enjoy ( and watch your husband be amazingly excited, as was I). Then I put the other 8 in tin foil and put them right into the freezer. Now I can pull a few out as I need them!

Have a great day and God Bless

Spicy Garlic Beef Burritos

2009-05-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 lb Ground Beef (I used 93% lean)
1/4 cup Spicy Garlic Sauce
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 Medium Onion Chopped
1 tbsp Canola Oil

Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Cheese

In a large pan cook the ground beef, garlic powder and onion powder over medium heat. In a small pan cook the chopped onion over medium heat with 1 tbsp Canola Oil until translucent.

Once the beef and onions are cooked. Then add the onions to the beef and top with the Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce.

Grab a tortilla, add beef, sour cream, salsa and cheese and wrap.

An easy, spicy, burrito for a wonderful easy meal.

Enjoy, have a great night and God Bless.

Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

2009-05-07T03:00:00.003-07:00

Joy the Baker

1 1/4 cups oat flour
1 1/2 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk ( I used whole milk + 1 Tbsp Vinegar)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 package strawberries, chopped
White sugar for the tops.

Pre-heat oven to 375*

Makes 12-18 muffins

Let me tell you I was WAY excited to make these. Earlier in the day I knew I wanted to make Strawberry Oatmeal muffins, I just needed to find a recipe to shake up. Well lucky me I went to
Joy the Baker awesome site and didn't really need to change much at all. I used Oat Flour and added some more oats. Left out the cinnamon and added some vanilla. Also, since they are healthy I *had* to add some sugar to the tops, just because I like how it looks ;)

About an hour before you are going to start making these yummy muffins, rinse and chop all of your strawberries. Then add about 2 Tbsp white sugar, mix well to coat, cover and put in the fridge. This will make the strawberries nice and soft and flavorful.

(unhappy strawberries, with no sugar)

Doot, duu, duu.

Ok 1 hour has passed.

(happy strawberries with sugar love)

Now beat one egg slightly in a large mixing bowl.
Add your brown sugar, applesauce, buttermilk (or milk and vinegar if you are awesome like me) and vanilla and mix together.

Now add all the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon to combine.

Now, this is important! Drain your strawberries! The sugar will cause there to be a syrup at the bottom. You don't want this in your muffins because it will add too much liquid. Drop them in a colander, shake, rattle and roll and then add them to your mix.

Stir together and then prepare your muffin tins.

I made 6 jumbo muffins and 6 eensy weensy regular size muffins. Spray your pans with some non-stick spray.

Then fill the muffin tins 3/4 of the way through. Top with a light dusting of white sugar, why? Well why not? God only gives us one life !

Now pop into your warm and toasty oven and cook for 12-20 minutes depending on the size of your muffins. My wee ones took close to 15 and my jumbo ones took about 20.

Allow to cool and enjoy the taste of summer on it's way. Oh and this weekend look for my version of The Pioneer Woman's Twice Baked Potatoes!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Tomato and Green Chili Hummus

2009-05-06T03:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
1 Can Chick peas Drained
1 Can Regular Rotel Drained
1/4-1/3 cup Oil ( I used Canola)

Grab your blender.

Dump in your chick peas.

Add your Can of Rotel. Make sure it is WELL DRAINED.

Blend, pour in your oil until it is at your desired consistency.

Cut up some veggies or some pita bread and enjoy!

This was great, had a nice little kick and was perfect with our veggies. I should have drained my rotel more, or added some more chick peas. I like my hummus thicker. But it was still great!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Go To Chicken Noodle Soup

2009-05-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts (boiled and cubed)
2.5 Quarts Water

1/2 Stick Butter
2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 Onion Diced
2 Cloves Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
2 Carrots Sliced
4 Cups Water
1/2 Package Farfalle Pasta

Hubby wasn't feeling well, he's got a Sinus infection :( so I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he said Chicken noodle soup, so that's what I made him ;)

In a 3 Quart Pot boil 2.5 Quarts of Water and add your Chicken breasts whole. Cook them all the way through. Remove the Chicken Breasts and cut them into cubes.

In the mean time in your BIG soup pot put 1/2 Stick butter and 2 Tbsp canola oil in and heat on medium. Again this keeps your butter from browning too much.
Then add your onion and cook for 5-7 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Add your Garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add your sliced carrots ( I don't like to add these too early because I hate them soggy, gross!).

Take your simple chicken stock that you just made by boiling your chicken and pour it into the onion, garlic and carrot mixture.

Add your chicken, water, pasta and all your seasonings.

Cook for 15-25 minutes or until pasta is at your desired tenderness.

Enjoy with some bread and butter or a biscuit.

Have a great day and God bless!

Pepped up Rice

2009-05-04T03:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
1 Cup Rice
2 cups water
1/4 cup Green olive juice
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 Cup Cheese ( I used mexican)

Ok so clearly I've been busy as my posts have reflected. So things have been pretty easy. I just wanted to play around with the rice.

So when I cooked the rice I added 1/4 cup Green olive juice to the water. It's VERY subtle and Id be surprised if people could put their finger on it unless they saw you put it in there.

After the rice is cooked add your garlic powder and cheese and mix well.

I don't think it could have been any easier and I promise I'll post up some real recipes soon! Look for a good ole fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup tomorrow!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Christina's Mexicali Dip

2009-05-03T19:28:00.003-07:00

Ingredients
1/2 Jar Salsa- I used Medium Pace
1 Can Refried Beans (I used lime flavored)
3-5 Tbsp Sour Cream

Now don't let the picture fool you, I know it doesn't photograph that well but it tastes GREAT!

Heat your Refried beans in a pan until they are smooth, pour them in a bowl and add your other ingredients.

Stir to incorporate and enjoy!

So easy, very good AND pretty healthy yay!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

2009-05-01T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 Cup Dry Roasted Peanuts
1/3 Cup Water
1 Clove Garlic Minced
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp canola (or sesame) oil
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Chili Powder
Juice of 1 lemon. (or a couple good squeezes of the stuff outta the bottle that is shaped like a lemon ;) )

Last weekend we had dinner with some friends of ours on a whim, she and I had made tofu wraps with peanut sauce one time for lunch. So we made Tofu stir fry and I told her I would make the peanut sauce.

This is easy and very good. You can adjust the Chili powder to your desired heat. This had a nice heat to it but it is very muted. I think to overcome the peanut taste you would have to add quite a bit of chili powder and then I don't think it would taste so good.

In your blender pour in your peanuts.

(see that beautiful red blender? Now, if I could only win one of The Pioneer Woman's giveaways then I could have a matching RED Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer *swoon*)

Add your water.

Add all your spices.

Blend. Alot.

Then add your oil while the blender is still going.

And Blend.....and blend.....is it smooth?

No? Keep blending.

(yes, I know, this is a crummy picture. It was after the fact. We were hungry, we ate)

Done? Good, now eat!

That was easy!

Have a great weekend and God Bless!

Smooth and Tangy Two Bean Soup

2009-04-29T03:00:00.003-07:00

First off, I know I've been a horrible blogger, I haven't posted for a week! Eeeek sorry! I wish I could say it is going to get better but I've got a busy week ahead of me, a banquet, a friends wedding and other misc stuff, but keep on checking back, it won't be too long.

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
2 Tbsp Canola oil
1 sweet onion chopped
2 cloves Garlic- minced
4 Cups water- heated
2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
4- 8 oz cans Tomato Sauce (2 without added salt)
1 Can Northern Beans
1 Can Kidney Beans
1.5 Cups Rice (+3 cups water)
1/2 Cup Mild Banana Pepper Juice
1 Tbsp Black Pepper

Makes 8 big servings.

So part of the reason why I didn't blog much last week is because I had some dental work done. Public service announcement: GO TO THE DENTIST REGULARLY your mouth will thank you. That is all.

So wednesday when I got home, I didn't want to cook, hubby wanted to cook for me (He is SO sweet) and I couldn't have anything much besides soup. So we made this. He asked what to put in and how, we did it together and voila a very tasty soup.

Heat a big soup pot on medium or medium high heat. Add your butter and oil, ( you do both so that your butter won't brown too much) and then your onion. Cook for 5-7 minutes and then add your garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.

Then add everything else.

Yup. Just toss it in. It will be fine.

The extra water is so your rice won't take up all of the water you put in earlier.

Cook on medium/low for 25-30 minutes or until your rice is cooked.

Then enjoy, this turned out so nicely. It was sweet and tangy all at the same time. I asked hubby what I should name it, this is one of the good ones he came up with ;)

Have a great day and God Bless!

Petite Cookie Cakes

2009-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Before we get to the good stuff, let me just tell you that this was for Taste & Create a place where other Foodie bloggers get together and test each others recipe's and link to each other. I thought this would be a fun way to do some new things!

Petite Cookie Cakes
adapted from Cookie Dough Dessert at (Ruth's Kitchen Experiments)

6-8 (mine made 12)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
10 ounces I used chocolate drops - a mix of milk and plain chocolate (I used Milk Chocolate Chips)

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F/160˚C.

2. Grease a 8"x 8" oven dish (I used baking cups and 2 cupcake tins)

3. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set to the side.

4. In a separate larger bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar then add in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla until well blended.

(Ah yes, real butter, the good stuff)(Sugar Mixture before adding the melted good stuff)(With the melted good stuff, before flour)(doesn't this look A-mazing, well it tasted superb, it's a perfect dough)

5. Stir in the flour mix with a wooden spoon then add in the chocolate chips.

(Yes, my Hubby laughs at me as I attempt to get my point and shoot
to take ~~great~~ ok, I'll settle for *good* food pictures)

6. Spoon a VERY and I mean VERY healthy Tablespoon of Cookie dough into each cupcake and smooth on top.

7. Cook for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Drool for a few minutes while the cool and then eat warm.

These were super and they were fun to make. I took them over to a friend's house and they got rave reviews. Hubby and I also enjoyed a few spoonfuls of the dough even before it was cooked. It was so good!

Enjoy, have a great day and God Bless. Thanks for going on my first Taste and Create Journey with me!

Sweet Curry Baked Beans

2009-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 lb Dry Pinto Beans
Water to Cover them

2/3 Cups Molasses
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Pepper
2 Cloves Garlic ( minced)
2 Tbsp Mustard
2 Medium Onions (diced)
5 Strips Bacon (cut into 1/4 in pieces)
3 Tbsp Ketchup
Water to cover

Dump your Pinto Beans into a BIG mixing bowl and cover with water. Let them soak overnight. Make sure you get any of the cracked or ugly looking ones out of there. Rinse them and pour them into your Crock pot.

Mince your garlic and dice your onions. Cut up your bacon.

Ready for how easy this is?

1. Dump onions and garlic on top of your beans.

2. Add all remaining ingredients

(hint, to get ALL of the molasses out, use this for your water as well and whisk lightly)

3. Cover with water.
4. Turn to low and cook for 10-12 hours or until beans are soft.
5. Eat!

These turned out nicely, I ate them with a little extra BBQ sauce for the kick. I made them sweet not spicy because mom was in town and she doesn't like spicy things. We took them to a Easter gathering and everyone liked them.

This made alot, I'm still eating them. It's 9 days after Easter ;)

Have a great day and God Bless!

White Bean Lasagna

2009-04-20T06:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
12 Sheets of Barilla No Boil Ready to go Lasagna Sheets
1 Can Pasta sauce (20 oz)
1 Can Cannellini Beans
1/2 Package Frozen Spinach (thawed)
1/2 lb Cheese ( I used Monterey Jack)
Garlic Powder to taste
Oregano

Preheat oven to 375*

Hubby and I were baby sitting our friend's sweet baby girl who is 7 weeks old on friday night. So I threw this lasagna together with some things we had in the house. This was good since I only had one hand to eat with since the other was snuggling the darling girl.

Spray the bottom of a pan ( I used a 7 x 10 ish ) with cooking spray. Cover with Sauce and then 3 sheets of lasagna noodles (by the way these ready ones from Barilla are AWESOME, no boiling before required, they are sweet).

Then add 1/2 of your can of cannellini beans and 1/2 of your spinach. (I didn't take a picture of this, sorry!) Then add 1/3 of your remaining sauce and a generous amount of cheese.

Repeat one more time.

To finish add sauce and cheese, garlic powder and oregano to the top.

Cover with aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet (because some will bubble out). Cook for 50-60 min covered and 5 minutes uncovered to brown the cheese.

Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Fun Potato Salad

2009-04-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Seeing Kay's Potato salad made me want to play around with one that I was taking to a home group of mine on Thursday.

Kay's Potato Salad- she's awesome, takes amazing pictures that I'm a little sad that I can't take and you should check her out.

Ingredients
6 Russet Potatoes (Rinsed, scrubbed, cubed)
1 Carrot (grated)
15 Green olives (minced)
1 Small onion (minced)
3 Stalks Celery (sliced)
6 Tbsp Mayonnaise ( I used my homemade mayonnaise)
4-5 Tbsp Sour Cream
3-4 Tbsp Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste (If you use regular mayo I would add garlic, my mayo already had it in there)
2 Chicken bouillon cubes

Serves 12-15

Bring a BIG OLE pot of water to boil for your potatoes, add in your bouillon cubes (for extra flavor).

Rinse, Scrub and Cube your potatoes into about 1" Cubes. Put them in your pot of boiling water and cook for about 7-10 minutes, you want them to be cooked through but firm.

Slice and Dice or grate all of your other ingredients, I don't need to list them again. You already wrote them down or at least saw them at the top! For the Carrots I just used my box cheese grater on the 2nd smallest side.

When your potatoes are done, drain them and allow them to cool for a few minutes.

Then add them to a large bowl. ( I used a big green tupperware bowl that I love) I made this for a Bible study pot luck that we had, so I made A LOT.

Add all of your ingredients together in the bowl and if you have a potato masher now is the time to use it. If you ~~are not cool enough~~ don't have a potato masher then follow me to the dark side. Take one of your beaters from your hand held electric mixer and go to town.

Make sure everything gets mixed together and you can leave as much or as little potato chunks that you would like.

This turned out really well and got many good reviews, the green olives gave it a nice kick as did the onions. The carrots balanced out with a nice sweet flavor and the sour cream makes it nice and smooth.

Have a blessed Sunday and God Bless!

Homemade Calzone's

2009-04-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury pizza crust
1 package light sausage ( the kind you only have to warm through), sliced about 1/2" thick
Pepperoni
Cheese ( I used Mexican)
Tomato Sauce
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

As you can tell I'm still loving the Pillsbury sale!

Pre-heat your oven to 400*

Roll out the pizza crust so it is about 1/4-1/2 " thick. Then cut into 4 pieces using a pizza cutter.

On a baking sheet with aluminum foil place one piece of crust on top. On one end add 2 Tbsp Sauce, onion powder and garlic powder to your liking. Then top with a few pieces of pepperoni and lots of sausage. Top with Cheese and fold the rest of the dough over. Press together to form a calzone.

Now take a knife and make breathing holes for your calzone on top. Spray with cooking spray so they will brown up nicely.

Do this with all 4 calzones. Toss them in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Mayonnaise

2009-04-15T19:18:00.004-07:00

I know I know...I've been not blogging this week. My mom has been in town so I've been super busy with hanging out with her and enjoying her while she is here. I've got plenty of things to be posting soon. Don't worry. Hang in there!

Ingredients
1 Cup Canola Oil
2 Egg Yolks
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Mustard
lots and lots of elbow grease.....

It's nice to know what goes into your food. And that it isn't a bunch of soybean oil or preservatives. So that made it fun. But it was long.

Take 2 egg yolks, add your lemon juice and all of your spices. Put all of your oil in something that you can get small amounts out at a time. I used one of those oil droppers that you use for cooking. I loaded my oil in there. It's going to be important that you only put in a little at a time so that your emulsification takes place and it doesn't separate.

(this is not what I used, only what I measured it in)

Use your hand mixer on low and start to mix your egg, lemon and spice mixture. Continuing to blend add in about 1 tsp of oil at a time, mixing all the way through. Continue to add 1 tsp at a time until you are 1/2 way to 2/3 done putting your oil in.

Then you can start to add it a little more quickly. Blend until you have all of the oil added in.

Place in the refrigerator for 30 min and then use as you please. Use all of it within 1 week because remember, there are no preservatives!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Rice and Beef soup

2009-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (cooked and drained with Salt and pepper)
1 Onion diced
1 Clove Onion minced
1 Quart Chicken Broth
1/2 Bag Frozen Corn
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 Cup Rice (+3 Cups Water)
3 Tbsp oil

In a large Soup Pot heated to medium heat add your oil. To that add your onions and cook for 5 minutes. Then add your garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add your ground beef and stir, mixing together.

Then add your quart of chicken Broth, 3 cups water and 1 cup of Rice. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. About halfway through add your 1/2 bag of frozen corn.

Cook until Rice is plump. Salt and pepper to taste!

Enjoy and God Bless!

Two Times the Spice Chicken

2009-04-11T17:56:00.005-07:00

Ingredients
1.5 lbs Chicken Pieces ( I used thighs)
1/3 cup Canola Oil
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tbsp Season Salt
Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce

Heat grill pan (or normal pan) to medium high heat.

Cut chicken up into bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl combine oil, chili powder, onion powder and season salt (this is your first spicy layer). Toss chicken to coat.

Transfer chicken to the grill pan and cook through.

When the chicken is done cooking toss it in the Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce (second spicy layer).

Enjoy with some Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing here .

Have a great night and God Bless!

Taco Pocket- wheels

2009-04-10T06:00:00.002-07:00

So yesterday I showed you how stoked I was about my pillsbury find. This was another one. I used a package of flaky buttermilk biscuits for this.

Ingredients
1 Package Biscuits
1 lb Lean Ground Beef (cooked and drained, seasoned with salt and pepper)
1 Medium onion chopped
1 Can Original Rotel
Cheddar Cheese

Let me just tell you before you see the pictures below. This turned out to be a fail. Not in the sense that it tasted bad, because in fact they tasted great. But in the fact that my beautiful pocket-wheels didn't stay together while they baked. This made me very sad.

Just ask my hubby, I was sad and dissapointed. I put a lot of time into making those things look really pretty. I was foiled.

Foiled.

So figure out a way to get them to stick perhaps with a tooth pick and you will have pretty taco pocket-wheels instead of misshapen taco pods.

Anyways. On with the recipe.

Cook your Ground beef (if it isn't already) with salt and pepper.

In another pan cook 1 Medium chopped over medium heat until slightly translucent. While they are cooking, add the juice of the can of Rotel so they will taste spicy. Once they are cooked add the rest of the Rotel to warm it through.

Take a biscuit and start by pressing in the middle and flattening in a circle until you get a fairly good sized circle (when I stretched mine they were probably 5"+). Continue until you are done with all of them (or fed up like me, I left one not done and cooked it as a biscuit)

This.

Is.

A.

Long.

Process.

Place them on the baking sheet, pulled nice and big.

Add 2 spoonfuls ground beef, 1-2 spoonfuls rotel/onion mix. Top with cheddar cheese.

Now the fun part (well I thought it was fun, until they opened during cooking and it was a big 'ole fail). Take opposite sides of your biscuit and bring them up over the top of your meat, onion and cheese mixture and press together and twist. Then do the same thing on the other side pinching and twisting together and pressing down slightly. Now open each of the 4 pockets. Pretty right?!

Do this over and over. ADD TOOTHPICKS!

Then cook at 400* until they are golden on the outside.

Don't be like me and be sad when they don't hold together, be happy that you used toothpicks.

Enjoy these spicy little wonderful pocket-wheels.

Have a great Friday and God Bless!

Pizza!

2009-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

mmmm How good is homemade pizza! Well let me tell you, I love it.

Let me tell you a story.

Last week I was at Fry's grocery shopping. I'm walking by the butter and canned biscuit area. I knew biscuits were on sale 4/$4. This makes me happy. Pillsbury Pizza crust was one of the things included. So I got 2 Pizza Crusts, one Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and one 4-pack of 10 small biscuits for $3.

I know you are saying, Christina, that math doesn't add up. You are right, but if you bought 4 you got a $1 off! YAY.

Best part, they were on sale AGAIN this week.

So I bought 3 more Pizza crusts and another 4 pack of biscuits.

I'm a nerd.

Ingredients
1 pizza crust (Pillsbury I used)
Pasta Sauce ( I used Zesty, Kroger Brand)
Mozzarella cheese ( I like alot of cheese, we used 1 lb)
Pepperoni
Mild Banana Peppers
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Butter Flavored Spray

Ready for how easy this is.

Roll out your pizza crust on a cookie sheet.

Add Sauce. Add toppings.

Put garlic powder around the edges and spray with Butter Flavored spray.

Cook at the temp on the package (350* I think) and then when it starts to look brown and beautiful. Remove. Let sit for 5 min and cut. Enjoy with a big healthy green salad (and a beer).

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing

2009-04-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
4 oz Bleu Cheese Crumbles
1/2 Cup Mayo
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
3 oz Milk (+1 Tbsp Vinegar)
1 Tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 Squirt Mustard

Have you ever read the labels on Salad Dressing, really it's a bit ridiculous. And they are expensive! So I started to make my own, buying the dry seasonings for italian and ranch. Now, making our own bleu cheese.

So here is just how easy it is.

Dump in your bleu cheese to a tupperware container (so you can store it for about a week).

Measure out 3 oz of milk and add 1 Tbsp vinegar (to use as buttermilk).

Add Mayo, Sour Cream, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Mustard, Milk mixture and the rest of the Vinegar.
Then get out one of the whiskers from your hand mixer and stir it all up. Refrigerate for 10 min and serve! (I like mine chunky) if you like yours more smooth you can put it in a blender.

This turned out ABSOLUTELY GREAT! I loved it, it has a much better taste than the store bought stuff. It reminded me of the homemade dressing at where I used to work at a family owned italian restaurant! Hubby thought it could use some sugar, I liked the tang. So if you think you'd like yours a little sweeter I'd add 1 Tbsp of White Sugar.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Meat and Potato Meal Take 1

2009-04-06T06:00:00.002-07:00

Since I live with my hubby sometimes I just like to make things that would fall into more of the man category. I'll be calling these Meat and Potato Meals (even if they don't have potatoes ;) )

Ingredients
1 lb Ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1 Can Original Rotel
1 Medium Onion Sliced Medium
2 Medium Baked Potatoes Cut Up
1/2 Cup Cheese ( I used Mexican blend)
Salt/ Pepper to taste
Sour Cream

Heat a Large skilled over medium heat, add your beef and onions and cook through, adding salt and pepper to your preference.

Once it is cooked through add your can of Rotel and mix well.

Add the Cheese and allow to melt.

In a bowl, cut up your potatoes.

Add a Heaping scoop of the meat mixture. Finish with a dollop of sour cream and you are done. This is another man meal for you ;)
Have a great day and God Bless!

Black Bean Stew

2009-04-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 Can Black Beans
1 Medium Onion thinly diced
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
2 (8 oz) cans Tomato sauce (1 No salt added, 1 regular)
1 Can Black Bean Refried Beans
1 Quart (ish) Chicken Stock
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
1/2 Stick Butter
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder

Get out a big Stew Pot.

Dice up your onion don't pay attention to mine, I sliced mine, you should not, then they fall off your spoon back into your soup and splash and make a mess, you have been warned, mince 2 cloves garlic. Then add Butter to your stew pot over medium heat. Once melted add your onions and cook for 5 minutes until they start to turn translucent. Then add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Then add your chicken stock.

Mine was homemade, I decided to make this as soon as I got home, so mine was frozen. Hence the chunk of chicken stock in my pictures. It worked fine ;).

Continue to cook over medium heat and add all other ingredients. Make sure you break up all of the refried beans. This will make your stew nice and creamy!

Serve with some bread or biscuits and enjoy the creaminess of this stew. It will have a bite so if you don't like your food too hot, cut back on the chili powder.

Easy Strawberry Shortcake

2009-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 Can Butter Biscuits
1 Quart Strawberries sliced
1/2 Cup + 2 Tsp White Sugar
1 Pint Heavy Cream

These are so easy, and yes I used canned biscuits because I was feeling lazy!

Slice your strawberries about an hour before you would like to use them. Put 1/2 cup (or more if you like) sugar on top, mix around (they will love you for this) and cover and put in the refrigerator. Then take a metal mixing bowl and put it in the fridge (for your whipped cream later).

Bake your biscuits according to package directions.

To make your Whipped Cream, take your bowl out of the fridge (this will help with your whipped cream). Put 2 tsp sugar in the bowl, add your pint of cream, whip on low for 2 minutes then turn your speed up to medium until medium-stiff peaks form.

To assemble, pull biscuits in half. Take the bottom of one and spoon strawberries on top. Add a dollop of whipped cream, add the top of the biscuit, add more whipped cream and put a cherry *ahem* I mean strawberry on top.

And then, get a fork, sit down and enjoy the yummy goodness that goes into your mouth.

Then finish the rest for the other people that will be eating with you too.

Have a great day and God Bless.

Garlic Bread Biscuits

2009-03-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 Cups Pioneer Baking Mix
2/3 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Oil
2 Cloves Minced Garlic

Sometimes I am just not in the mood to make biscuits, meaning putting them in balls ( I don't typically roll them out, I'm more of a drop biscuit kinda girl) and all that. So instead I decided to make it into more of a bread by cooking it in a pan.

Preheat oven to 375*

In a bowl mix together baking mix and milk, using a fork stir until combined.
Spray the bottom of your pan (I used 6 x 9) with Cooking Spray and add the dough to the pan. Spread out so it is evenly distributed.

In a small pot heat 1/3 cup oil over medium low heat. In the mean time mince up 2 cloves of garlic.
Once the oil is warm drop the garlic in and stir for 1-2 minutes until it is smells flavorful. Remove from heat and pour evenly over your dough. Spread it out so that the garlic is easily distributed.

Pop in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the top and sides start to brown slightly.

Cut and serve!

This turned out really nicely, nice and light with a great garlic flavor and SO EASY. I'll definitely be making this again.

Healthy Chicken Parmesan BBQ Style

2009-03-28T16:48:00.005-07:00

Ingredients
6 - Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Egg , beaten
1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 1/2 Cup Flaxseed Meal
Barbecue Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

Ok so many of you have asked for a healthier chicken parm recipe, so here it is. By using Flaxseed Meal you are giving yourselves good fat and taking out a bunch of carbs. By cooking it in the oven and using the broiler at the beginning you take out the frying aspect of normal Chicken Parmesan.

In a small bowl combine your egg, milk, pepper and garlic and beat well. Put your flaxseed meal in a larger seperate bowl.

Start by taking a fork (this will keep your fingers clean!) Take one piece of chicken and dredge it in your egg mixture. Then transfer to the second bowl and cover in flaxseed meal. Place in a 9 x 13 Glass Dish covered in aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Continue until you have finished all pieces. Then spray pieces with cooking spray.

Turn the oven to a High Broil and then place in the oven (middle/bottom), don't put it too close to the top or you WILL set off the WAY TO SENSITIVE fire alarm multiple times. So don't do that, ok?

Allow them to broil for 3-5 minutes then flip and broil again for 3-5 minutes.

Turn the oven to Bake at 350 and cook for 10-15 minutes more. Check your thickest piece to make sure that it is cooked through.

Remove them from the oven and place 1 Tbsp of BBQ sauce on top and top with Mozzarella Cheese.

Now just remember, flaxseed is NOT going to taste like breadcrumbs. It tastes good, it's just not bread so it's going to taste different. But we really liked it!

Have a great Saturday and God Bless!

Cost of Food

2009-03-26T07:40:00.003-07:00

Have you ever checked out the Hillbilly Housewife? If not, you should go, now. She has a whole bunch of ways to save money on things. She sends out great e-mails if you are on her list.

One that I got today had a link showing how much it costs to feed a family or individuals a "Nutritious Diet" in 4 categories: Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate Cost and Liberal.

Right now, hubby and I fall just under the Thrify because if you average our monthly out to weekly we would be at $75, the thrifty plan for two people ages 19-50 is $77.50 a week.

Interesting stuff, so check it out and see where you fall!

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/09s0708.pdf

Look for a healthy Chicken Parmesan Recipe tomorrow (hopefully).

Free Pace Salsa

2009-03-25T11:27:00.002-07:00

Check out this coupon for PACE that I found on the Thrifty Mama Site via the Freebie Blogger.
These are great ways to stay within your budget.

I will for sure be using these. This should allow you to get your pace for FREE!

Go to the site, the coupons will print when you click the link from Thrifty Mama. It will take about a minute to print. You can print anywhere from 10-15 depending on what you are running for your browser.

God Bless and Have a great day!

Oatmeal Scotchies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2009-03-23T06:00:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Butter softened
1/2 Cup packed Light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1/3 Cup Butterscotch Chips (use a 1/2 if just making 1 kind )
1/3 Cup Raisins (use a 1/2 if just making 1 kind )

*adapted from my Old Fashioned Cookies Book*

Preheat Oven to 350*

Beat Butter and sugar in a large bowl at medium speed until creamy, add egg and blend lightly.

Mix flour, oats and baking powder into another bowl. Stir in flour mixture and milk into the egg mixture alternating, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

Split Dough in half into two bowls. Well you don't have to do this, but hubby doesn't like butterscotch. I LOVE butterscotch. So I made him oatmeal raisin and myself oatmeal scotchies).

Stir in your chips or raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden brown.

This made about 2 1/2 dozen.

These aren't my normal recipe, I think I like my other one better but, that's what I get for trying another one. They are still good, but I like mine a little more oatmealy and a little more gooey.
Have a great monday and God Bless!

Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-03-21T12:46:00.007-07:00

Ingredients
1/2 Cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
3/4 Cups Peanut butter (creamy)
1/2 Cup butter (1 stick)
3 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Green Decorating sugar
**adapted from my Old Fashioned Cookies Book ***

Makes 2 Dozen Cookies

Heat oven to 375*

In a large bowl combine brown sugar, white sugar, peanut butter, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix at medium speed until well blended. Add your egg and mix until just combined.

Add flour, baking soda and salt while mixing on low speed.

Roll 1 tbsp of mix into a ball and place on a foiled baking sheet.
Continue until you have finished all the dough. Leave 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. With a fork press down with a criss cross pattern.

Then shake some decorating sugar on top (it was close to St. Patty's day). You don't NEED the sugar. ;)

Bake one sheet at a time for 7-9 minutes. Don't do like I did and FORGET that they were in there for your 2nd tray. It will make you sad. But it will make you happy that putting them in the microwave for 30 seconds makes them edible.

Enjoy, have a great Saturday and God Bless!

Corned Beef and Hash

2009-03-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

And GREEN BEER!

Ingredients
1 Corned Beef Roast (2.5 lbs)
2 Russet Potatoes (chopped small)
1 Large Yellow Onion (Chopped Small)
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1/2 Stick Butter
1/4 Cup Whipping Cream

Heat your oven to 300*, place roast wrapped in aluminum foil in a baking dish. Cook 1 Hour per pound or until fork tender. I cooked mine 3 Hours. After letting it rest for 15+ shave off the fatty side (well that's what I do) I'm grossed out by fat, so I just lop it off. Then cut it into bite sized pieces for the hash.

Heat a BIG skillet and put your potatoes in there, covered with water. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn to medium low and cook for 5-6 minutes. Then drain.

Wipe out the pan, then add 1/2 stick butter and melt. Add the onions and cook 5 minutes. Then add the potatoes, pepper, cream and corned beef and mix it all up. Continue to cook on medium, covered for 10 minutes each side to brown it all up nice.

Pair with Green Beer and serve!

Hubby and I really enjoyed this, it's a nice meal to have once a year.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and God Bless.

What would you like to see?

2009-03-16T16:22:00.002-07:00

Ok followers, here's your chance, tell me what you'd like to see me make!
I'm always up for trying new things and staying frugal so leave a comment and give me some ideas!

Ready, GO!

How to Hard Boil Eggs

2009-03-15T20:40:00.009-07:00

Ingredients
12 Large Eggs

Ok now if I was thinking when I was doing this I would have taken a picture of a pretty hard-boiled egg, but I was making food for my hubby to take on his trip so clearly I was not thinking. So no, I don't have a picture.

Here are some tricks for how to hard boil an egg.

1. Eggs should be at room temperature. This is so when you put them into hot boiling water that they don't crack (hopefully)
2. Bring water to a boil (enough to cover all the eggs once they are in there)
3. Using 2 spoons, put the egg in between and slowly lower and place (not drop) your eggs into the water.
4. Continue to boil on a heat of 8/9 for 12 minutes
5. Drain out the hot water into the sink
6. Run Cold water over top and allow to sit for 3 minutes or so in the pan.
7. Drain that water, put more cold water in and then place in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.

(this was a very sad moment because see the egg by the handle that is turned the opposite way? Well it decided it didn't like what was going on, so it jumped into the sink and into the garbage disposal before I could catch him, good bye little egg)

Now here is how to peel an egg, which used to be a big pain in the rear until I figured out how to do it.
1. Take your egg and crack it onto a plate (long ways) then roll it around until it is all cracked (see video 1)
2. Then pull on one side of the shell while holding the other side. This should peel off a big chunk, then continue to pull off the egg shell, it should come off in a wrapping fashion (see video 2)

Then you are all done!

Look for some egg salad later in the week!

Have a great Monday and God Bless!

Kick'n Pork Loin

2009-03-13T14:57:00.003-07:00

Ingredients
3 lb Pork Loin
Weber- Kick'n Chicken Seasoning
1 Cup Chicken Stock

Thursday is typically crockpot night as you know. I took my pork loin. Cut it in half and placed it in the crock pot. Then I put 1/3 Cup seasoning onto the top of the loin. Then add 1 Cup Chicken Stock.

Cook on Low for 6-7 hours.

Have a great day and God Bless! Look for some St. Patty's day recipes and fun stuff over the next week!

Dilly Porkchops

2009-03-09T19:40:00.002-07:00

Ingredients
6 Pork Chops
1/2 Cup Canola Oil
1 T Season Salt
1 tsp Dill Weed

These turned out simply fabulous and were SO easy.

I used my grill pan (which I heart). I pre-heated it up to 8 so that I could sear the chops.

Combine oil and spices in a bowl. Put all the pork chops in there and get 'em nice and coated.
Then place in the hot pan and sear for about 5 minutes each side. They should be a nice color and have some nice grill marks by the time you flip them. Then turn the heat down to medium and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

That's it. Now c'mon could it REALLY get any easier than that?

These really blew me away, I forget how much I like dill and with the pork it was just right. Searing makes the juices stay in the meat so these were very very moist. Hubby was equally impressed with how they came out.

So for those of you looking for a simple recipe. There is one!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Creamy Potato and Bean Soup

2009-03-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
3 Medium Red Potatoes- Chopped
2 Carrots- Sliced
3 Cloves Garlic- Minced
1 Medium Onion- Sliced
3 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 -16 oz Can- Diced Tomatoes
1- 10 oz Can- Original Rotel (Tomatoes and green chilies)
1 Can Red Kidney Beans (Rinsed)
1 1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tsp Salt
7 Cups Chicken Broth ( I used a leftover piece of chicken and boiled it to death, it worked ;) )
1 Cup Milk
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
Sour Cream to top.

Makes:5-6 large bowls

So since I've been fighting off a cold, I came home today from work and decided I wanted to make a homemade soup. It hit the spot. had some good spice to it and was creamy but not thick (If you want to make it thicker add more cornstarch).

Chop, Slice and Dice all of your fresh ingredients.

Put a Large Saucepot over Medium heat. Add the Canola oil and then add your onions to the pot. When they start to get slightly translucent add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add your carrots and potatoes and mix all together allowing them to be coated in the oil. Then add your pepper and salt.
Now add your chicken stock, tomatoes, rotel and kidney beans and cook for about 45 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender. Then dissolve 1 Tbsp Cornstarch into 1 Cup of milk and stir until combined. Take your pot off of the burner and add the Cornstarch/Milk and stir together. Put the pot back on the heat and bring back to a boil. Stir it up again.

turn it down to low until you are ready to serve. Add a dollop of sour cream when serving.

This turned out very nicely, hubby ate 2 big bowls and I had a nice big one as well. The rotel added some nice heat (which helped my stuffy nose ;) ) and the sour cream gave it a creamy texture and make the heat nice and smooth. Definitely worth giving a try!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

2009-03-07T15:26:00.006-07:00

I'll be the first one to tell you that I've never like homemade mac and cheese. I'd prefer the stuff in the blue box any day. Well until this day. This was great and was super easy. For the basic recipe I used this from the food network and then made my changes from there. It turned out great!

Truth be told I was a bit under the weather the day I planned to make this so my dear hubby told me I was not going to do the cooking (I've got a wonderful man I know!) So he was gracious enough to let me sit next to him in the kitchen and let him know the steps to making the mac and cheese!
He did great and it's nice to cook with him.

Ingredients
1 1/2 bags of pasta ( we used penne and tri colored noodles)
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
2 Cups Milk
2 Cups + 1/2 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 cup Sour Cream

Serves: 8-10 as a side, 6 as a meal.

Preheat oven to 350*

Boil your pasta for about 10 minutes so it is cooked just slightly less than Al Dente since you are going to put it into the oven later. Then drain it and toss it with a few tablespoons of butter in the pan so that it doens't stick together. You will thank me later.

In a medium sauce pan, melt your butter over medium heat. When melted add your flour to make a roux (see picture below). Once it is golden brown add your 2 cups of milk. Cook on medium until it starts to become thick, this will take a while (6+ minutes) but you have to keep stirring so yummy stuff doesn't get stuck to the bottom of your pan. This will not make you happy if this happens.
Now you are going to add your seasonings while it is thickening. Add your pepper, onion powder, salt and garlic powder (you can add whatever you like, this was what we decided to add). And keep stirring.

Yup, keep stirring I said. This is my dear hubby, still stirring, and stirring. He's looking like he's having fun huh? He was ;)

Ok now you aren't done stirring yet. Once it is starting to get thicker you are going to add your 2 cups of cheese, 1/2 Cup of Sour Cream and your 1/3 Cup of Parmesan. It's ok to drool, we were about there at this point. I'm saying to him that I think I'll actually like this homemade mac and cheese, sweet.

(hubby wanted his hand in the picture with the finished cheese sauce)

Now you are going to spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 glass pan and dump your buttered pasta in there. Now pour that beautiful sauce on top and toss so that it is coated with cheese. Now stick it in the oven, but really 5-10 min is all you need. No more or you will start to have a dry, sticky mac and cheese and who likes that?
Pull it out when it's done and top with your last 1/2 cup of Sharp Cheddar and voila. You're done!
We took this to a pot luck dinner and got lots of great comments on it and even I the blue box loving mac and cheese lady liked it. It's definitely a keeper and so easy that we will definitely make again.

Hope you are having a great weekend and God Bless!

How to Blanche Broccoli

2009-03-05T14:58:00.007-07:00

How to Blanche Broccoli ....or any vegetable for that matter.

This is such an easy thing to do and produces wonderfully tender yet crisp vegetables.

This will also help to keep many of the vitamins and minerals in the vegetables, which is part of what we are looking for right?

Ok now you will probably think that I'm weird after I type this but broccoli is one of my favorite foods, it's definitely in my top 10. I could eat it almost every day. Not. Kidding. I love it. Ok, now onto the cooking.

Start with a medium sized pot filled halfway to two-thirds with water. Add some salt, about 1 tsp.

Now, cover and allow to boil, and I mean boil, hard. So walk away and come back when you hear the steam. This is not the kind where you push down on the lid to get it to boil quicker. This is a nice rolling boil. It should look like this.

Now before it gets to that beautiful boil, take your broccoli and cut it into florets. if there are some bigger ones and you would like them smaller then just cut them in half. It's really up to you. These are mine.

Now, it's time to put them into the water. Just drop them in and push them down so that they are all in the water. Since that's what's cooking it you are going to need to get it all covered.

Now cook for only 1-2 minutes. No more. You don't want the water to turn green which means that all of those wonderful vitamins and minerals are escaping into the water that you will throw away. And that is bad. You can tell when it is time to take them out when they turn a vibrant green.

Then, remove them from the heat and pour into strainer. Shake off excess water.

To finish, I usually just top with Salt and Pepper. Or with some butter depending on my mood.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Peppery Sausage Casserole

2009-03-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Usually most of my creations just come from my brain, on a whim or me looking at ingredients and trying to figure out something new to do with them. This is one of those brain-childs.

Ingredients
1 Package Hot Turkey Sausage, casings removed (do this while it's still not completely thawed)
1 1/2 cups Rice (not quick cook) I used long grain
1/3 Cup + 1/2 Cup Banana Pepper Juice
1/2 Bag Frozen Peppers/Onion Mix (or 1 1/2 Bell Pepper Sliced)
1/2 Onion Sliced
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Black pepper

Servings: 4

Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Take your sausage and slice through the casing longways and remove meat from the casing. Place it in the pan still in link form. Do this for all 5 links.

In the mean time start to cook your rice, follow the directions for making 1 1/2 cups rice (which for me was 3 cups water) I used 2 1/2 cups water and 1/2 cup Banana pepper juice. But I think the rice was a touch too salty so I'd drop it down to 1/3 cup Banana pepper juice and 2 2/3 cup water.

Cook rice as you normally would, it will have a yellowy-greenish color. That's ok, banana peppers are that color!

My inspiration- Mild pepper rings (well the juice anyways)

Chop onion and add it to your pan as well as your peppers/onion mix. Add black pepper and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally until meat is cooked through and all vegetables are tender. As the cooking time ends add 1/3 cup of the Banana Pepper juice to the pan and allow it to incorporate.

When everything is finished cooking just combine in your rice pan and enjoy a nice big bowl.

I thought this was really good, but like I said I thought a touch too salty. That being said hubby loved it (he loves salty food) and said it was perfect.

So if you have some leftover pepper juice that you don't want to throw away, give this a try, you won't be dissapointed!

Have a great day and God Bless!

"Fried" Mashed Potatoes

2009-03-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2 Cups Mashed Potatoes (mine were leftovers from the night before)
So if making them from scratch.
2 Medium Russet Potatoes (washed, with skins left on), chopped
1/4 cup Milk
3 Tbsp butter.

4 Tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste.

Servings: 3

So I was browsing through the many food blogs that I follow and stumbled across this recipe.
"Fried Smashed Potatoes"
And since I had made mashed potatoes the night before I figured I would give them a try. So this is a spin on Drew's recipe.

To make your Mashed Potatoes, Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the chopped potatoes and cook until fork tender. Transfer to a mixing bowl with Milk and Butter. Beat on low for 30-45 seconds and then on Medium until they are creamed to your perfection ( I like mine to have just a few lumps).

In a large skillet preheat to Medium/ Medium High depending on how high yours gets. Add your 4 Tbsp of butter and melt so it looks something like below.

Now take your mashed potatoes and put them in the butter, smash them down flat. Add your chili powder, pepper and salt. Now let them cook until they get browned on the underside. Then flip them over and cook until they are browned on the other side as well. All in all it should take 10-ish minutes to get them browned (but remember, mine were cold, if you are using warm potatoes it will take less time).

Serve along side your main dish for the night and enjoy the slightly spicy golder potatoes.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Pinapple Pie

2009-03-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury Pie Crust- Cooked and Set aside
For the Custard
2 Cups 2% Milk
6 Large Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Packed light brown sugar
1/3 Cornstarch
1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
3 Shakes Pumpkin Spice
Pinch of Salt
1 Tbsp Pineapple Juice
3 Tbsp Cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
(recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking from my home to yours (banana cream pie))

For the Topping
1 20 oz Can Pineapple Chunks in unsweetened juice

To make the Custard Filling: Bring the milk to a boil. Then in a large saucepan (one you can use a whisk in, so not non-stick) whisk the yolks together with the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and salt until well blended. Now keep whisking while pouring about 1/4 cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture. This will warm the yolks so they wont curdle. Then still whisking slowly add the rest of the milk.

Place the pan over medium heat and continue whisking (get the edges too) until it comes to a boil. Whisk while boiling for 1-2 minutes, the mixture will get very thick at this point. Once it looks fairly thick remove it from the heat. Add the pineapple juice and whisk together.

Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Then take your pieces of butter in and whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap (right on top of the mixture) and place it in the fridge for 3+ hours. It should look something like the picture below.
Then in the mean time take your can of pineapples. Pour them out onto a cutting board and slice each chunk into 3 relatively thin pieces. As evenly as possible, in the same direction, for all the chunks. Reserve 1 UNCUT piece for the middle of the pie.

Take out your Custard and whisk it so that it is all smooth. Pour into your prepared pie crust.

Now the fun part (if you are weird like me). Take your pieces of pineapple and starting on the outside make a circle of pineapple pieces around the outside. Continue the next row halfway on the last row until you have made the whole pie that way. Place the one uncut piece in the middle of the pie. TA-DA all done. You have a beautiful wonderful tasting pie!
I let hubby try the custard once it was made and he probably would have eaten a bunch more had I not stopped him. I'm so glad I have him as a taste tester!

Have a great Monday and God Bless!

Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce

2009-02-27T15:45:00.006-07:00

Ingredients
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
1/2 Onion- Chopped
1 Roma Tomato- Chopped
4 Tbsp Butter
4- 8 oz cans Tomato Sauce (2 no salt added, 2 regular)
2 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Pepper
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Tbsp Salt

for Meat
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/2 T pepper

In a medium frying pan, sautee ground beef with salt and pepper until thoroughly cooked. Break into small pieces as it is browning. Reserve for sauce.

In a medium saucepot on medium heat start to melt butter. Add onions and cook, covered for 8-10 minutes or until they start to get soft. Add the garlic, lemon juice, tomatoes and all seasonings and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the garlic starts to smell sweet. Then add the tomato sauce and meat and simmer for 10 minutes. During this time taste test it, salt/pepper to your taste.

Add to cooked pasta and enjoy. (At some point I'd like to make homemade pasta, so hopefully in the future (maybe over spring break) I'll get to try it). Yum.

Have a great day and God Bless.

Peanut Butter Chocolate chip pancakes

2009-02-27T14:42:00.003-07:00

Ingredients
2 Cups Pioneer Baking Mix (+ 1/3 cup)
1 1/2 Cups Milk
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Melted Butter
4 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
Chocolate Chips

Makes 12-20 pancakes depending on size.

Before I tell you how to make these, first let me tell you that Pioneer Brand is bomb, yup it's amazing. It makes great biscuits and great pancakes as well. So if you haven't bought some, well, you should. ;)

Heat a pan or griddle over medium to medium high heat.

In a Large mixing bowl combine all ingredients EXCEPT Chocolate chips. Using a whisk, mix until smooth. They typical recipe from Pioneer Brand calls for 2 cups for a whole batch, I added another 1/3 cup because they were not thick enough because of the addition of peanut butter.

Spray your pan with cooking spray before each use. Pour Pancakes to your desired size. Then sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top (see below). Cook for 1-2 minutes each side, and only flip ONCE or your have extremely thin pancakes. And that just isn't fun!

Repeat, repeat and repeat, until you are all done ( I really NEED (want) a bigger pan, or a griddle).

These turned out fabulous, they had just enough peanut butter without being overwhelming. And they tasted like a Reese's Cup and really who wouldn't like that on a Saturday morning (or any morning for that matter!).

So make these for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend and God Bless!
p.s. if you have been stalking my blog, leave me a message/comment, it gets kind of boring over here on my side of the screen. That is all ;)

Chocolate Birthday Cake with Pink Buttercream frosting

2009-02-22T18:44:00.003-07:00

Ingredients
From Betty Crocker's New Edition Cookbook
2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 2/3 Cups Shugar
3/4 Cup Butter- softened
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs

Frosting Ingredients
From The Cake Doctor Book
1 stick butter at room temperature
3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
5 Drops Food Coloring

Heat oven to 350*
Spray Pan ( I used a 12" springform) with Cooking spray/flour.

For Cake
In large bowl, add all ingredients and blend on low speed on low for 30 seconds until combined. Then on high for 3 minutes. Pour into pans.
Cook until a toothpick comes out clean roughly 35-40 minutes.

Cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

To cut, take a serrated knife and mark the middle with small slices. Make deeper cuts as you go around. To finish take a 12" long piece of dental floss and slip through.
For Frosting
Put butter in a mixing bowl, blend with mixer on low until fluffy. Add the sugar, milk and vanilla and mix on low for 1 minute. Then turn speed up to medium for another minute until fluffy.

Place a dollop of the buttercream frosting in the middle of the 1st layer of cake. Spread LIGHTLY until it covers all of the cake. Now CAREFULLY place the top on the cake. Frost the sides and top of the cake, and TRY (really try, I did REALLY try, but alas, I need some work on my skills) to frost it all pretty like. *sigh*

Now take some sprinkles (or jimmy's if you prefer) and sprinkle them on top, take this to a friend for her birthday and enjoy celebrating with her!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Taco Pie

2009-02-21T14:17:00.004-07:00

This was good, I adapted this recipe from here Tina at Mommy's Kitchen called this Nacho Pie but I switched some things around and we had a fab dinner.

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury Pie Crust
4 Handfuls (yes I know, very precise) Tortilla Chips
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion sliced
1 can Rotel (original flavor)
1/2 can refried beans (heated)
3 Tbsp Sour Cream
2 Tbsp Water
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Serves 6

Ok are you ready for how easy this is?

Preheat oven to 350*

Roll out your pie crust into a pie tin. Take your handfuls of tortilla chips and squeeze them into little pieces and place in the bottom of your pie.

Take your ground beef, onions, salt and pepper and cook over medium (or medium high) heat until cooked through (about 10-12 minutes). Add 1 can of Rotel to the beef and onion mixture, mix together. Pour the mixture into the pie tin on top of the tortilla chips.

In a bowl take your refried beans, water and sour cream and mix together until combined.
Pour on top of the pie and spread out so it covers the pie. Add 1 cup cheese on top and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and pie crust is golden.

This turned out great! The spiciness from the Rotel was PERFECT it didn't overwhelm the dish at all which was nice. The refried beans and sour cream mixture pulled it all together. We served this with some broccoli (hey you gotta get your greans!) You should definitely make this. It's easy and tastes great!

Have a great Saturday and God Bless!

ps it's ok to be pleased that my picture taking skills are getting better (I know they still aren't great, but I'm learning!)

Giveaways on other blogs

2009-02-20T07:24:00.002-07:00

Over at Priscilla's Baking Adventures she is giving away some super cute shirts. Go take a look and perhaps you will get a chance to win!

http://priscillabakes.blogspot.com/

Good Luck and God Bless!

Chicken with Peppers, Olives and Onions

2009-02-18T17:30:00.004-07:00

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts, sliced into strips
1 Green Bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 Medium Onion, sliced into strips
1/2 Can Black Olives, slivered
1 clove Garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil

Serves 2

Heat a Grill Pan or Sautee Pan on Medium High Heat. Salt and Pepper Chicken and toss with oil.
Add to pan and cook for 6-8 minutes each side until cooked through.

In another pan over medium heat, add 3 Tbsp oil, then add peppers and onions. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until onions become translucent. Add garlic and olives and cook for another 2 minutes until garlic becomes pungent and sweet smelling.

Spoon vegetables over chicken and enjoy.

We really liked how the vegetables turned out, they were sweet and garlicky but the garlic was pungent and really went well with the black olives. The pepper was a nice balance.

God Bless!

Penne with Garlic Tomato Butter Sauce

2009-02-17T20:01:00.006-07:00

Ingredients
1 Package Penne Pasta (I used bowties as well)
2 cloves garlic minced
3 Tomatoes chopped (I would have used about 5 but didn't have that many) or 2 cans
1 Can Cannellini Beans Drained
1 Bunch Asparagus- Chopped into pieces
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
8 Tbsp Butter Melted
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Serves: 3 as a meal; 4-6 as a side dish

In a medium pot boil water and cook pasta to desired tenderness.

Chop all vegetables and set aside.

Boil water and blanche asparagus (1.5 minutes), drain.

In a sauce pan, add 2 Tbsp Oil on medium heat. Add tomatoes and garlic to pan, cook for 3 minutes and add cannellini beans. Heat for another 3 minutes. Add asparagus to the pot.

Melt 8 Tbsp Butter, add all vegetables, parmesan cheese and pasta and mix together.

This made me happy when it was cooking, it smelled like Tortellini Paloma from the Family owned Italian Restaurant that I used to work at. This turned out really well and the parmesan cheese had enough bite that it balanced out the sweetness in the butter and tomato garlic mixture. Yum.
Enjoy and God Bless!

Chicken and Mashed Potato Bake

2009-02-11T20:05:00.004-07:00

So as I was racking my brain for something to make tonight, I just kinda threw this together. It reminded hubby and I a wee bit of shepherd's pie.

Ingredients
3 Chicken Breasts - Cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups Broccoli
2 Cups Spinach
2 Large Russet Potatoes
1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese
1 Egg- Beaten
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375*

In a medium pot, boil water, add potatoes and cook until fork tender.

In a grill pan or skillet over medium high heat cook your chicken until it is no longer pink, add season salt and pepper to taste.

You are almost done. Yup, already. I know. It's fabulous!

Take your potatoes, add about a 1/4 cup of milk and beat until they are mashed potatoes.

Now take a 13 x 9 baking dish. Place your chicken on the bottom, then add a layer of raw broccoli, a layer of raw spinach and a layer of cheese.

Now evenly spread dollops of mashed potatoes on top and using the back of a wooden spoon or a spatula smooth so it covers the top of the entire dish.

Take your beaten egg and spread over the top of the mashed potatoes, this will cause it to brown while you cook.

Put into your preheated oven set to 375* (alright, I'm now adding that to the top, but just so you know, I forgot to put it in before...yeesh)

Cook for 20-25 minutes until potatoes are starting to lightly brown.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

We liked this but I think it needed something, I'm thinking it was garlic, but I'm not positive, it just didn't have that oomph. hmmm....

Serve and relax, there is just something about comfort food that makes the day better!

God Bless!

Breakfast Burrito's- Breakfast For Dinner

2009-02-11T19:50:00.004-07:00

Sometimes breakfast for dinner is just what you need. It gives you a break from the normalcy of dinner time food and who doesn't like breakfast?

I had been planning on making sausage for dinner. But a friend stopped over to visit hubby and while they were gone I cooked dinner. Thinking that I wanted to invite our friend to stay for dinner and seeing that there wasn't going to be enough sausage for two hungry men and one hungry woman (who.can.eat.alot.) I decided to make breakfast burrito's.

Ingredients
3 sweet sausages
3 Red potatoes- Chopped into small squares
9 eggs (4 egg whites/ 5 whole)
Tortillas
Cheese
Salsa
Salt, Pepper and Paprika (to taste)

Put a pot of water on to boil for the potatoes (boil them for 4 minutes and then drain).

Heat a skillet on medium high heat and add your sausage, cook until brown. Remove from pan and place on a plate with a paper towel.

Leaving all the sausage grease in the bottom of the pan add 4 Tbsp of butter to the pan and melt on medium high heat. Then add your par boiled potatoes to the pan add salt, pepper and paprika and cover. Stirring occasionally until browned on all sides.

Now for the eggs, break your eggs into a separate bowl and whisk until smooth (I usually use a bit of milk in mine). Pour into a pan heated over medium heat. Stirring occasionally until lightly scrambled.

Now grab a tortilla, add your sausage, eggs, cheese (optional) and salsa (optional)- try your best to fold it up and enjoy!

God Bless and remember to be thankful for all that you have, it is easy to forget.

Spicy Chicken and Potato Soup

2009-02-08T15:48:00.008-07:00

Crockpot Thursday(yes I know I'm publishing it sunday!)

mmm this soup turned out amazingly well and with a nice firm kick as well!

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless) cut into bite sized pieces
4 stalks Broccoli (just the stalks)
1 Bell Pepper (I used Green)
1 Medium Onion (chopped)
2 Medium/Large Red Potatoes (chopped)
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Can Original Rotel (Tomatoes and Green Chilies)
Salt and Pepper to taste ( about 1 T each)
1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon
4 Cups Water

In a Medium pot bring water to boil. Take your Chicken pieces and boil them until they are cooked through. Take Chicken pieces out of the water with a slotted spoon. Turn the water down on low and let simmer for 40 minutes. This becomes your base for the soup.

Chop up all of your vegetables. Here's how to do the broccoli stalks. I bet you looked at the ingredients and thought this lady is nuts. Well I'm not. The inside of the stalks are very good you just have to take off the outsides. So take a knife and remove all of the darker fibrous outside until you get to a lighter, non-fibrous inside. Do this on all 4 stalks and then chop the insides up and add to the crock pot. This will make you feel good because you won't be throwing them away like you usually do ;) more for your money!

Toss everything into the crockpot, including the broth that has been simmering. Add 4 more cups of water and 1 T of chicken bouillon and your can of Rotel. Stir, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4.

Now be careful. This has a big kick. If you don't like things that make your mouth burn you might want to try mild rotel, or just switch out for regular tomatoes. If you like things that make smoke come out your ears you could get the hot Rotel. This was about as hot as I could go and hubby thought it was perfect!

God Bless!

Easy Chicken Stirfry

2009-02-08T15:31:00.006-07:00

ok, ok, I know I've been a terrible blogger over the last week. It's been super busy, so I just haven't had time to upload some meals, but I have been cooking.

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless)
4 cups fresh spinach
2 heads of broccoli (cut into florets)
1 Medium Onion- sliced
3 Cloves garlic- minced
1/2 Tsp Ginger
Canola Oil
Salt and Pepper

To start cut your chicken breast into bite size pieces (at this point you can leave them a little larger and as they cook you can break them up more if you like), toss in a medium size bowl with a few tablespoons of canola oil and some salt and pepper. Add the chicken to a large preheated (to medium high) skillet. Cook for about 3-4 minutes each side until cooked through. Then turn down to low until your veggies are finished. At then end toss some teriyaki/soy sauce in with the chicken for the last few minutes.

In another pan (over medium heat) add 1-2 T of Canola oil and add your chopped onion and broccoli florets, add your ginger on top. Cover the pan and cook on medium for about 6-8 minutes stirring occasionally until the broccoli and onions are cooked through but still slightly firm. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute before adding in all of the spinach.

Now if you haven't cooked with spinach before it goes from looking like a whole bunch to looking like very little. So when you add your 4 cups of spinach it WILL overtake the pan. But keep pushing it around and let it get down to the heat and it will start to cook and wilt very quickly.

Once the spinach is wilted. Spoon some vegetables and chicken over white rice add some more teryaki and enjoy!

God bless!

Refried Bean Stew

2009-01-31T12:40:00.007-07:00

On thursday night (which is usually crockpot night) I hadn't had time wednesday to get stuff into the crockpot. So I decided I'd make a bean soup. So where did I first go to look? The Crockpot lady ( even though I wasn't going to do it in the crockpot) and she did not dissapoint, here is the recipe.
She had changed it from another recipe and I've also made some changes.

Ingredients
1 Large onion- chopped
3-4 cloves garlic (I used 3 monster ones)- minced
1 1/2 cups Chicken stock
1- 8 oz can no salt added Tomato Sauce
1 Large Hot House tomato- chopped
1 Can Refried Beans
1 Can Black Beans (rinsed)
1 Cup Corn ( I used frozen) cook it first
1 1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 T Hot Sauce

Take a Large Sauce pot and place it on the stove on medium heat. Once it is heated, add a few Tbsp of Oil. Add your chopped onions and cook for 5 min. Add in your garlic and all spices and cook for another 3 minutes ( you may have to add a little bit of water to keep from sticking). Now you dont have to put your spices in then. You can save them for when you add all of the other ingredients but here is why I do it.

It just gives it more flavor. The onions soak up the flavor and make it more potent (at least in my mind). So it is your choice. Before or after.

Then add the refried beans to the pot. Stir them around so they break up and start to melt. Then add all of your other ingredients (you can adjust the chili powder and hot sauce to your desired level, ours turned out with a pretty good kick). Stir it up well. Turn it down to medium low and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Southern Plate Giveaways for February

2009-01-29T09:54:00.004-07:00

So Christy at Southern Plate is a Cooking stud (see below for the doughnuts I made from her recipe). Check out her site at www.southernplate.com to check for giveaways and to check out some amazing recipes.

Here is some of what she is giving away!

Giveaways

Rotisserie Style Chicken

2009-01-27T19:59:00.007-07:00

MMMmmmm...it looks good doesn't it!

I have to thank Stephanie the Crockpot lady for this recipe that I have adapted my recipe from Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients
8 Chicken thighs (or any chicken for that matter)
1 tsp Salt ( you will need 3 tsp if you wan't it to be like the stuff you get in the store)
1 tsp paprika
1 tosp onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp italian dressing mix
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
4 cloves minced garlic (added on top)

Mix all of the seasonings but the garlic into a bowl. When I make it I make a big portion, I made about 4 servings last time so this time I just had to pull it out and rub it on the chicken and I still have at least 1 serving less. Sweetness, saving time is awesome.
my bowl o' saved rub on the left and the one to use on the right.

Ok, if you are using chicken thighs you get to do the fun part now, skin the chicken *enter sarcastic typing now*, no really, skin your chicken. Well you don't have to but it's WAY healthier for you.

Once that's done, put them all on a plate, meaty side up. Like so. Now it's time to make the chicken "happy" as Emeril would say. Take that rub and pour it on top of the chicken and then rub it in, now you have happy chicken. When you eat it when it's done you will also be happy.

This is Happy Chicken

Put it in the crock pot meaty side down and DO NOT ADD WATER! not even a little bit, I know what you are thinking, won't it turn out dry? Nope, nope it won't, it will turn out moist and wonderful. So just trust me on this one and step away from the water (and the chicken stock for that matter).

Mince up your 4 cloves of garlic, add it on top in the crock pot. Then cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8.

Yum. Go make this.

Have a great night and God Bless!

Biscuit Pizza "Man Meal"

2009-01-26T20:25:00.004-07:00

I came home from the grocery store spending the last of our $300 budget (which I went over $2.16 whoops) and I had to make dinner for tonight and dinner started in the crockpot tomorrow when we have guests.

I had just bought some Pioneer Baking Mix. So I wanted to use it. So, I did.

Ingredients
2 cups Pioneer Baking Mix
2/3 Cup Milk
10 Tbsp Pasta Sauce
1 lb Ground Beef ( I used 93/7)
1 Cup Monterey Jack Cheese- shredded
1 Medium Onion - Sliced
2 Cloves Garlic- Minced
3 Handfuls Spinach
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 450*

Mix Baking mix and Milk together to form a biscuit dough (follow directions, including kneading and adding extra flour while doing so), spray a 9 x 6 Pyrex dish with Pam. Place Biscuit dough in the bottom and flatten along the bottom. Spread the pasta sauce over the top.

In a medium frying pan add some canola oil and heat on medium, add your sliced onions and salt and generous pepper, cover and cook for 6-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook down. Add this mixture to the top of the biscuit and pasta sauce.

Cook up your ground beef in the same pan and add to the top of the mixture. Top with Monterey Jack cheese and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Allow to set for 5 minutes and serve. Hubby said this is a man meal because everything is in it together. The carbs, some veggies, meat and cheese.

I'm excited to have it as a leftover for lunch tomorrow!

God Bless and have a great night.

Pork Carnitas

2009-01-23T20:15:00.009-07:00

This is one of my favorite crockpot recipes. So easy and so absolutely tasty.

Ingredients

3 lbs pork loin
1 bunch cilantro
5 cloves garlic - minced
1 T Chili Powder
1/2 T Black Pepper
1/2 T Salt
1 Medium Onion Chopped
1 bottle Black Butte Porter

Here we go,
Step 1. Get out your crockpot
Step 2. Put your pork in the crockpot
Step 3. Chop cilantro/ garlic and add on top

Step 4. Add seasonings and onion

Step 5. Pour the beer (goodness) all over the meat/spices

Step 6. Cover and turn on low for 6-8 hours or on High for 4
Step 7. Shred (or have your wonderful husband do it, because he's better at it than you)

Step 8. Serve on a tortilla with Cheese and Salsa and enjoy!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Sausage Milk Gravy and Biscuits

2009-01-21T20:16:00.007-07:00

So again I have to thank Christy at Southern Plate for this recipe, it turned out absolutely spectacularly! check out her recipe here Sausage Milk Gravy Recipe , I modified it slightly

Ingredients
1 Package of Mild Italian Sausage (out of casings)
3 Tbs Flour
1 3/4 Cups Milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet to medium heat and place sausage into the pan. Break up into pieces and cook until it is no longer pink. When fully cooked remove only the sausage onto a plate covered in paper towel (leaving all the sausage fat in the pan).

Turn to medium low heat and add 3 T of flour and cook until a light brown. Add your salt and pepper to taste and be sure to make sure you get all of the drippings from the bottom of the pan, because this is your flavor for the gravy. Add the milk and continue to heat until it thickens. Depending on how thick you like your gravy you can cook it longer or add more milk.

Then take your broken pieces of sausage and liberally add to your gravy. Then spoon over fresh biscuits and enjoy.

This gravy was spectacular, the pepper gave it a nice kick and the mild italian sausage paired nicely. Hubby even asked for a spoon so he could get all of the gravy out of his bowl!

Tomorrow I'll be posting the carnitas recipe like I promised! So stop back.

Good night and God bless!

Crockpot Chili

2009-01-19T20:36:00.005-07:00

So here is the 2nd part of the 2-fer. Use the meat leftover from yesterdays recipe as your base. If you missed it here it is.

Ingredients
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef (I used 93/7)
1/2 Tb Garlic Pepper
1/4 T Curry
1/4 T Garlic Powder
1/4 T Cayenne

2- 8 oz cans Tomato sauce (no salt added)
1- 8 oz can Tomato sauce (with salt)
2 cans Hot Chili Beans
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Kidney Beans
2 Cans Diced tomato's
1 Large onion Chopped

2 T Chili Powder (add more if you like it really hot)
1 T Onion Powder
4 Cloves minced Garlic
1/2 T Black Pepper

Shredded Cheese (we used cheddar).

This is so easy and SO tasty and hearty. Mmmmm
If you haven't already, brown your beef ( with all the spices under it) , then put it in your Crock pot (which is a great friend).
Chop your onions and Garlic. Put it on top of the beef, add all the other ingredients, give it a good toss.

Put it on low heat for 4-6 hours. Add some shredded cheese and enjoy a nice warm meal!

Have a great night and God Bless!

Hodge Podge Lunch at G-Ma's

2009-01-19T20:24:00.007-07:00

This is a 2-fer meaning I'm going to use a little more than half of my meat for the next dinner. So i'll adjust the ingredients as necessary.

Ingredients
2 lbs lean ground beef (I used 93/7) (3/4 lb for just this meal)
1 Tbs Garlic Pepper (1/2 T)
1/2 T Garlic Powder (1/4 T)
1/2 T Curry (1/4 T)
1/2 T Cayenne (1/4 T)

1 Box Rice-a-roni Chicken flavor (Fry's Brand)
1 Packet Rice Sides Taco Flavor
2 Cans Corn
Canola oil
Shredded Mexican cheese
Heat a large skillet on medium high heat and then add a drizzle of oil for browning the meat (If you are using a larger fat blend you probably wont need it. Add the beef to the pan and break up. Add all spices and cook for 5 min on medium high, flip meat when browned and decrease heat to medium (or medium low).

In a large pot cook your rice to the package directions (since this was a hodge podge I didn't have the same brand, so I had to add half of the rice halfway through the cooking time. In an ideal world I would have had the same. Cook it until it is nearly done, in the last 3-5 minutes add the corn to the mix. Then at the end add your meat (3/4lb). Stir up.

Add mexican cheese on top and stir up and serve. Mmm I forget how much I love curry.
We had a very relaxing day of sittin on the porch swing and playing rummikub with G-ma with an easy hot, comfy meal.

Have a great night and God Bless!