Fried Chicken

This recipe was submitted by my friend Sarah.

Ingredients

10 chicken tenders
3 cups of flour
2-3 T of parsley
2 t of paprika
couple dashes of onion powder (I did 1 tsp)
couple dashes of season salt (I used 1 tsp. Accent seasoning salt.)
*I also added 1 tsp. of garlic salt
3 eggs

Mix together flour and spices. Beat eggs with a little bit of water. Dip the chicken in the flour mixture then dip it in the eggs and back in the flour mixture. Fully coat it (the more coated the better, the breading is the best part). Fry in Canola oil turning over when needed until a deep golden brown. Salt as soon as you pull them out of the oil.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile:8
Kiley: 6
Madee: 7
Destrie: not good

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe was submitted by friend Karen. I love chicken pot pie and I must confess, have never made one. I sometimes order this dish at Wingers and love it. Chicken Pot Pie is true comfort food and is going to be perfect on this cold winter day...which is actually April 1st! Karen suggested adding more seasoning to this recipe and that is what I did.


Ingredients

* 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast-cubed
* 1 cup sliced carrots
* 1 cup frozen green peas
* 1/2 cup sliced celery (I was out of celery)
* 1/3 cup butter
* 1/3 cup chopped onion
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
* 1 tsp. Accent seasoning-(this was my addition)
* 1 tsp. garlic salt-(this was my addition)
* 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
* 2/3 cup milk

* 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper,celery seed, Accent,and garlic salt. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Rate It!
Jen: 8.5
Kile: 8 This had the perfect "gravy" in the pie.
Kiley: 4.5
Madee: 6.5
Destrie: he was sick =(

Chicken Flautas

I can't remember where I found this recipe, so if it's yours, thanks for sharing. These are delicious. I do need to get better at keeping them rolled tight while frying them.

As you can see, there is also rice in the above picture. This was my attempt to modify a recipe for Cilantro Lime Rice that I found on Allrecipes.com. The lime was very overpowering and this rice got horrible reviews from the family. It does have potential though and when I figure out how to make it better, I will post it. So for now, just enjoy the flautas, they are so good.


Ingredients:
1 pkg 6 inch flour tortillas
2 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
1 can Rotel tomatoes with cilantro and lime
1 finely chopped green onion
1/2 tsp Garlic salt

Mix together ingredients (except tortillas). Heat oil in pan. Put a small amount of chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll tight. Fry in oil while holding tightly with tongs, turning a few times until brown and crispy. Place on paper towel to remove excess oil, sprinkle with a little salt then serve dipped in sour cream and salsa while still hot.


Rate It!
Jen: 9
Kile: 9
Kiley: 8
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: Not Good

Texas Sheet Cake

This recipe came from the Home Based Mom blog. I remember my mom making this when I was little so I had to make this even though I rarely eat cake anymore. I love the extra kick of flavor from the vinegar.

Mix together in a bowl and set aside:

2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix together in your mixer:

2 cubes/sticks butter
1/4 C cocoa
2 eggs
1/2 C buttermilk
1 C hot water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp vinegar

Mix together. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes

Frosting:

1 cube/stick butter, softened
6 Tbsp milk
1/4 C cocoa
3 3/4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
*I also added a teaspoon of Vinegar to the frosting- if I remember correctly, that's what my mom did.

Mix butter, milk and cocoa together. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well and spread on hot cake as it comes from oven.


Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 3-he hated the vinegar taste
Kiley: 7
Madee: 6
Destie: Good

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Steak, Cheesy Potatoes, Corn
(Yes we are skipping Salmon night again-I think we need a break)

Tuesday: Chicken Flautas and Cilantro Lime Rice

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie

Friday: Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Veggies

Pierogies

Pierogies are a potato and cheese stuffed pasta. I ran across these several years ago from a food delivery service called, Schwan's. I bought them out of curiosity and we really liked them. I came up with this recipe as a fun way to serve the Pierogies.



Ingredients:

Pierogies
Cheddar Cheese
Hormel Real Bacon Bits
Green Onions
Parsley
Sour Cream

Directions:
Cook Pierogies according to package directions. Arrange Pierogies on a serving dish and top each Pierogie with a thin slice of cheddar cheese. Top with bacon and onion. Heat in the microwave to melt the cheese. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with sour cream.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 7.5
Kiley: 6.5
Madee: 7
Destrie: Good

New Food Finds

I have decided I am going to add a new element to the blog. I will be searching out new food products that I have not used before and if I find something that I really like, I will review it on the blog.

Two weeks ago, I hosted Bunco at my house. I served a tossed green salad with my home-made Ranch Dressing. I wanted to have other dressing options available also. I picked up a bottle of Western Family Light Raspberry Vinaigrette. I had no idea if it would be any good, but I thought it was worth a shot.
I just barely got around to trying this dressing 2 days ago and I loved it! It only has 70 calories per 2 Tbsp serving and it is delicious. Some times "store brands" aren't that good, but in this case, the Western Family brand dressing was a great choice and was much less expensive than the "name brand" product. Try some, and let me know what you think.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

*I found this recipe on the Real Mom Kitchen Blog. She had cut the spread ingredients for this bread recipe in half, so that is the recipe I used and what is posted below. This bread was good, but there was still too much of the spread. The next time I make this, I will 1/2 it again, resulting in a 1/4 of the original ingredients. I think I will leave the cheese amount the same though. This will make it much better I think.

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2cups shredded cheese-
* 3/4 cup mayonnaise
* 6 Tbsp."I can't believe it's not Butter Spray"
(I substituted this in place of butter)
* 2-3 cloves garlic – peeled, minced fine
* 1 loaf French bread – cut in half lengthwise
* 1 bunch green onions – root and green ends trimmed, chopped


Directions:
1. In a bowl, stir together cheeses, mayonnaise, butter, and garlic until thoroughly mixed.
2. Spread prepared mixture evenly over the cut side of each bread loaf half. Sprinkle onions evenly over cheese mixture.
3. Place bread, spread side up, on a cookie sheet or aluminum foil, and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes. Turn oven setting to broil and broil for 3 minutes.
4. Break or slice bread into serving-size pieces and serve.

Rate It!
Jen: 7
Kile: 5 "It has potential, needs less spread on the bread."
Kiley: 7
Madee: 7
Destrie: Not Good.

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Free Night! Choose what you want. Kile will be out of town tonight with the baseball team and I don't really cook if he's not here. On these nights, I let the kids do their own dinner. Of course, I help Destrie. He tells me what he wants and then we get it together. I'm guessing he will pick cereal-that's usually what he does when given a choice!

Tuesday: Pasta, Cheesy Garlic Bread, and Tossed Salad

Wednesday: Sandwiches and Chips - I have dinner club that night and will be dining at Calloway's!

Thursday: Popcorn Chicken with dipping sauce and Pierogies

Friday: Spinach Salad with Teriyaki Bow Ties

Banana Carrot Bread

I found this recipe at a blog I just discovered and I had some ripe bananas that needed to be used. Let's see if this recipe goes over any better than the
Cranberry Pecan Banana Bread from a couple weeks ago!

* http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/ (This link is on my sidebar)

1 cup mashed bananas (~3 very ripe bananas)
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup canola oil-I used olive oil
2 eggs
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup finely grated carrots

Combine bananas, brown sugar, oil and eggs in mixer. Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in large bowl. Stir in banana mixture. Fold in carrots. Spoon into greased and floured large loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until done. Do not over bake.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 8.5
Kiley: 6.5
Madee: 5
Destrie: Good

Penne Primavera

This photo came from Allrecipes.com
I got the basic idea for this recipe from Allrecipes.com also. I did play around with it and change several things though.


Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 Tbs. Accent seasoning
* 2 cups broccoli florets
* 1 10 oz. bag match stick carrots
* 1 can beef broth
* 1 can chicken broth
* 5 cups penne pasta
* 8 oz. frozen petite peas
* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the broccoli and carrot in the skillet, sprinkle in Accent and cook 2 minutes, just until heated through.
2. In a pot, bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the penne pasta and cook for 5 minutes, or until pasta is almost al dente.
3. Transfer the partially cooked pasta and broth to the skillet. Mix in the peas. Cover skillet, and continue cooking 10 minutes over medium heat, or until pasta is al dente and vegetables are tender. Toss with the Parmesan cheese to serve.



Rate It!!
Jen: 7.5
Kile: 7
Kiley: 6.5
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: Good

Ham and Veggie Casserole

This is a recipe I adapted from a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com
I had left over ham from the ham I cooked for Bunco and thought this would be a good way to use it up.


Ingredients

* 1 (16 ounce) package frozen Tater Crowns (like Tater Tots, but flat)
* 1 cup broccoli cut in to small pieces
* 1 cup diced carrots
* 1 1/2 cups cooked, cubed ham
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 (10.75 ounce) canned milk
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese cheese
* Parmesan Cheese- sprinkle on top of casserole

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Cover bottom of dish with layer of Tater Tots. Add a layer of broccoli and carrots, then sprinkle ham evenly over the vegetables. In a small bowl mix together soup, milk and mayonnaise, and cheddar cheese. Pour mixture evenly over ingredients in baking dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
3. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 6.5- not a fan of cooked broccoli
Kiley: 8.5
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: ok

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Dinner @ our friends house
Tuesday: Ham, Potato and Broccoli Casserole
Wednesday: Green Pancakes and Green Scrambled Eggs
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Thursday: Penne Primavera
Friday: Kids Choice

Bunco Menu

I hosted Bunco last night at my house. The theme was "Easter".
I choose to do Easter dinner as my meal plan for the evening.
Here is a look at my Bunco Menu.

Ham (cooked for 10 hours in the crock pot and shredded-YUM!)
Market Street Grill Potatoes
Tossed Salad w/ craisins,real bacon bits,croutons,dressing
Rolls

Carrot Cake


And no I did not win a prize. I am so on a losing streak right now, but Madee was a sub last night and she walked away with the biggest prize of the the evening-
Most Buncos! She has the Fisher luck.

Shredded Beef Nachos

I adapted this recipe came from the Real Mom Kitchen Blog. I made a few changes to use the ingredients that I had.

Ingredients:

1 pound shredded leftover roast beef
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with cilantro and lime juice
1/2 cup beef broth
2 tsp. chili seasoning (from a packet)
2 tsp cumin
Tortilla chips
Serve with sour cream.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the leftover roast, shredding it as it warms up. Add tomatoes, broth, chili seasoning, and cumin. Stir together and cover. Let it simmer for 15 minutes, until heated through and completely shredded. Place chips on a plate and cover with cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds or more until cheese is melted. Top with shredded beef and sour cream.

Rate It!
Jen: 7
Kile: 7
Kiley: 8
Madee: 8
Destrie:not good

Apple Dumplings

This recipe is being submitted by Kiley. A few weeks ago, Kiley was at her friend Emmy's house and they made this recipe. Kiley loved it, got the recipe and made it for us. Thanks ladies!

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
8 oz. Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Can serve with vanilla ice cream.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: doesn't like cooked fruit- wouldn't try it.
Kiley: 8
Madee: same as Kile
Destrie: Good

Menu Planning Monday

Before I post this, I need to just warn you that this week is not going to be very exciting. I am still in the food rut I was in last week (if you remember, I had the kids pick what we would be eating.) I am so far behind with everything because of the dang sinus infection I had and losing my voice didn't help matters either. I am also hosting Bunco at my house this week, so I am going to be busy with that. Hopefully next week's menu will be more exciting...

Monday: Teriyaki Salmon, Glazed Broccoli Salad
Tuesday: Leftovers-Roast Beef,Mashed Potatoes,and Corn
Wednesday: Sandwiches
Thursday: Shredded Beef Nachos
Friday: Chef Salad

Ramen Stir Fry

Kiley introduced me to this recipe when she took FACS(family and consumer science) @ her school several years ago. We make this often, perhaps too often because I know some in the family are getting sick of it. It is easy to make and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:
2 packages of Top Ramen Noodles
2 cups of water

Use the amount you would like of these veggies-
(I usually do 1/2 cup to 1 cup.)
diced carrots
broccoli
cauliflower

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
Break up Ramen Noodles and put in a bowl. Add water and seasoning packet. Set aside.

In a skillet, add olive oil on medium heat. Add vegetables. Stir to coat veggies with olive oil. Cook until veggies are tender/crisp- about 5 -7 minutes. Don't overcook- they are not as good.

Add the Ramen Noodles and water to the skillet and cook until noodles are cooked-about 3- 4 minutes, just watch it.

Serve with Soy Sauce.

Rate It!
Jen: 7.5
Kile: 6
Kiley: 6.5
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: Good

Butter Beer

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1/4 cup butterscotch topping
* 2 tablespoons whipped butter, room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups vanilla cream soda

Directions

Combine condensed milk, butterscotch topping, and butter in a glass heatproof measuring cup. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir until butter has melted and incorporated into mixture. Meanwhile heat cream soda in another heatproof measuring cup for 1 minute 30 seconds.

Divide butterscotch mixture between 2 (10 to 12-ounce) mugs. Fill mugs with heated cream soda and stir thoroughly.


Madee saw this recipe on a Sandra Lee cooking show on food network last year and has been dying to try it. I guess they drink butter beer in the Harry Potter books, which added to the excitement of this drink for the kids.

**On a side note, I don't ever "drink" calories unless it's a glass of milk. I did have a sip though so I could rate this recipe.

Rate It!
Jen: 3 too sweet!
Kile: 4
Kiley: 5
Madee: 5.5
Destrie: good

Menu Planning Monday

This week I am letting the kids pick what we will be eating. I am having the hardest time trying to think of things to put on our menu...

Monday: Salmon, Garlic Roasted Vegetables, and Rice

Tuesday: Ramen Stir Fry and Butter Beer (Madee's choice)

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner-
Pancakes, Hashbrowns,Scrambled Eggs (Destries Choice)

Thursday: Beef Stroganoff and Apple Dumplings (Kiley's choice)

Friday: Burgers and Ranch Fries