Lazy day chicken

Found this recipe online but substituted what I had:

Lazy Day Chicken
2 frozen chicken breasts
1 can rotel
2 cans beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
8oz cream cheese
1pkg taco seasoning
Cook in crockpot in high for 6 hours. Shred chicken. Serve over rice. Top with cheese, sour cream, etc.

Kolaches

One thing I miss from Texas is good kolaches! We used this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/kolaches-from-the-bread-machine/detail.aspx
But we filled them with a cream cheese filling in half and cocktail sausages and cheese in the others. I would like a sweeter dough, so I think we'll alter the recipe a little next time but they were definitely tasty!

Dewberry Cobbler

Why do Northerners call dewberries blackberries? Adeline made us Better Homes and Garden recipe.

Ouefs a la Fondue de Fromage

Today I cooked Ouefs a la Fondue de Fromage. Now I know you're thinking she can't even say that, let alone cook it; I've eaten her meals! Well, have you a surprise in store! Maybe I should preface with the fact that even the smell of that slightly cooked but mostly raw, oozy egg yolk gives me instant gag reflex. I have never entertained the idea of eating poached eggs. Eeeww!! BUT....cover those poached eggs in a lovely, creamy vermouth and swiss cheese sauce and set it atop a piece of buttered toast (aka cranape) and heaven has descended to my dining room! Find this recipe in Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Your world will be changed! [And as an aside, no I have NO idea how you say that. I've checked out some French CDs from the library in hopes that I won't be so clueless.]

Julie & Julia

Yesterday I watched Julie & Julia. This was very timely as Thom has been commenting lately that we eat out too often. So... we shall eat homemade food! Today: breakfast was cookies, coffee and Dr Pepper; lunch - Ramen noodle, cheese stick and cheesecake. Hmm.... this isn't going well. The point was to have healthy, delicious meals to make and eat as a family. I have yet to sit at the table today. In fact I am consuming my Ramen noodles standing at the bar as I write this.

But I have plans for improvement! For dinner tonight we will be having brisket and potato salad. Tomorrow night I work late, so I'll prepare a lasagna for Thom to bake. We'll also be making coconut flan for dessert, Paula Deen's recipe.

Not enough excitement, you say? Well, I'm going this afternoon to check out some books from the library.

-A mom should be a gastronomical genius!

The Roast with the Most!

This is hands down the best roast I have ever had!

Salsa smothered Roast
1 1/2 lb roast (that's how big mine was anyway)
Steak seasoning of your choice (I used 'montreal seasoning' because I had a sample and it was great!)
1 cup beef broth
1 cup salsa

Rub roast with steak seasoning. Brown in olive oil. Place in baking dish. Combine broth and salsa. Pour over roast. Cover with foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 3 hours or so.

South Beachin' It!

I went on a diet and started eating (and cooking) deliciously! That is thanks mostly to Kalyn's Kitchen.
Here is what we ate this evening:

Mexican Beef Stew
1 lb stew meat (I cut it into bite size pieces.)
4 cups chicken broth
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves diced
4 cups pinto beans (I made these homemade yesterday.)
1 can Rotel
1 T or so tomato sauce (I used V8 because one was open in the fridge.)
1 T cumin
1/2 cup snipped cilantro
1/4 cup sliced green onion
Juice from one lime
1 alvocado, diced

Saute meat in a bit of olive oil. Throw some ground black pepper on the meat while browning. Remove meat to stew pot. Add a bit more olive oil and saute onion. Add garlic to pan when onion is almost done and saute a little longer. Add garlic and onion to stewpot. Also add broth, beans, rotel, tomato sauce and cumin. Simmer an hour or so. Add cilantro, green onion, and lime juice. Simmer a few more minutes. Place in serving bowls. Add a little alvocado. Enjoy!

Coconut Flan

From Paula Deen at Food Network:
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup shredded coconut flakes
* Fresh whipped cream, for garnish
* 1/4 cup shredded coconut flakes, toasted, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the sugar until it caramelizes. Pour it into a flan dish, pie plate or round souffle baking dish with shallow sides, swirling it around to coat the bottom.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy with a wire whisk. Beat in the condensed milk, coconut milk, vanilla extract and 1/4 cup coconut. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. It will need to bake in a water-bath in the oven. Set the dish into a large baking pan with sides and carefully pour water around the flan to come 2/3 the way up the sides. Carefully transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for about 1 hour, until the flan is set and the center only jiggles a little bit, like a cheesecake would. Remove from the oven and water-bath and allow to cool completely. Turn the flan out onto a flat serving platter. Cut into slices for serving. Garnish with whipped cream and toasted coconut.

Salsa

My hubby makes world's best salsa!
What you need:
4 roma tomatoes
4 tomatoes
1 or 2 jalapenos
4 cloves fresh garlic
cilantro
2 limes, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste
Boil the garlic, tomatoes and jalapenos until the skin falls off the tomatoes. Peel the tomatoes, de-stem the jalapenos, chop up a handful of the cilantro and throw it all in the blender.

I know there's a million and ten ways to make salsa, so how do you do salsa?

Dinner Rolls

These rolls can compete with Golden Corral's rolls! They are so scrumptious!

4 1/2 c flour
2 1/2 t yeast
1 c. milk
1/3 sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 t salt
2 eggs

Mix together half the flour and all the yeast. In a saucepan warm all other ingredients, except eggs, until butter almost melts. Add warm stuff and eggs to flour. Mix with beaters 3.5 min. Stir in rest of flour. Knead 6 min. Cover and let rise one hour. Punch down. Let rest ten min. Shape dough into 24 balls. Arrange in greased 9x13 in pan. Let rise 20 min. Bake at 375 for 14 min. Enjoy! (Brush with melted butter, if desired. Or soak up delicious white gravy, if desired. Or lather with stirup [honey butter, for any non-Dunkins.])

Chicken Enchiladas

I bought a can of enchilada sauce and followed their recipe. I thought everything was wonderful, except their sauce! It was gross! So I modified it for my lunch today and this is what I came up with:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1c sour cream
2c mont jack cheese
1 small can green chiles
Mix together and put in 10 tortillas. Roll up, place in dish, smother in salsa (I get mine fresh from Costco and it's d-licious!), sprinkle 1 c cheddar cheese on top, cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 min.

What's your secret to enchiladas? I tried churros, but only had whole wheat flour and no piping stuff, so they were .... Although Isaac ate ALL of them. Do you have a good churro recipe? Or tortillas? My tortillas never turn out!

Smoothies and Salads

I have been having a smoothie for breakfast every morning and a salad for either lunch or dinner. I love smoothies! I love salad! And both are so good for you.
Usually for my smoothies I put in about a cup of yogurt, a glub of milk, a cup of fruit and several pieces of ice, unless the fruit is frozen. My favorite right now is probably strawberry banana, with pineapple coconut coming in a close second.
My salads are usually baby spinach leaves, tomato, cheese, hard boiled egg white, turkey or chicken breast and olive oil and lime juice for dressing.

So, what are your favorite smoothies and salads? Give me some new recipes!

Coffee Mug Chocolate Cake

1 coffee mug
4 T flour
4 T sugar
2 T cocoa
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T oil
3 T chocolate chips
Splash of vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cook in microwave for 3 minutes on high.
Easy. Delicious. Sinful!!!

Banana Pancakes

2 c flour
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T sugar
1 3/4 c milk
2 eggs
2 T melted butter
1 c mashed butter

Mix together. Pour on hot skillet. Eat with syrup.

We enjoyed these for dinner the other night.

Potato Soup

With the wonderfully cooler weather, we have dug out our winter recipes. One of our all time favorites is potato soup.

Ingredients:
3 med potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 c water
1 small onion, diced
3 T butter
3 T flour
Pepper to taste
3 c milk
1/2 t sugar
1 c shredded Cheddar cheese
1 c cubed ham

Boil potatoes in water. Remove from pot and save taters and liquid. Melt butter in pot. Add onions and cook 'til translucent. Add flour and pepper. Cook a minute. Add all other ingredients and simmer til perfect temp to eat.

What are your favorite winter meals?

A Present from my Comments

A fairy Godmother left this in my comments and I thought I'd share:

Here are three easy family meals that have contributed to the development of three healthy teen boys over the years.... and one less meal-stressed mom... :o)

Coonan Beans -
Brown 1 pound hamburger. Drain.
Add
16 oz can of favorite baked beans with liquid
several squirts of ketchup to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Simmer til cooked through
(great camping recipe - in one fry pan! Easily doubles with about 2 pounds h-burger and 28 oz can of baked beans. Experiment with proportions. Maybe add some molasses?)


Crock pot Cookery
(Love crock pots - it is not possible to "overcook" these meals - they just get better.)
Any meat, mostly thawed (chicken breasts, pork chops, or pot roast beef)
Place in crock pot in morning. No need to brown meat first.
Layer with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and favorite seasoning (we like ground black pepper; dry steak seasoning is good with pot roast beef, too)
Cook all day on low setting. Makes the house smell good!
The soup will turn into a nice gravy. Thicken if needed. Serve over white rice with parsley, wild rice, or mashed potatoes, with sauce over everything!

"Stringy Beef"
This is a crock pot pot roast - meat falls apart after cooking all day.
Pot roast beef (1 to 2 pounds)
1 can or two of crushed or diced tomatoes (more cans = more sauce)
If you like: half a medium onion, sliced; favorite spices - pepper or steak seasoning, Italian seasoning
When done... remove meat and skim off some of the surface oil on remaining liquid; puree/thicken liquid to make sauce.
Can also throw in a bunch of veggies in the morning - carrots, potatoes, etc, for a stew)
Serve with rice or potatoes with sauce over everything.

BBQ!!!

I found out an easy way to cook for the week: Have hubby grill several pounds of meat. It's delicious. It doesn't heat the house. It feeds us for a week. It provides fast, easy, healthy meals. It's awesome! On July 5th (we slept through the fourth), we bbq-ed 2lbs of hamburger patties, 6 chicken breasts, and 7 hotdogs. We ate hot dogs, hamburgers, hamburger steak, grilled chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, and arroz con pollo. D-licious!

What are your easy cooking ideas? Do you crockpot? Once a month cooking?

Addictive Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last night I had some major sweet tooth action going on and remembered that I had a package of chocolate chips on hand. So I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and Man! are they addictive!!! Doesn't bode so well for my weight loss at all!

1/2 c shortening
1/2 c margarine
2 1/2 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda
12 oz pkg chocolate chips

Mix together, plop on a baking sheet and bake at 375* for 11 to 13 min. And eat a whole batch in 24 hours with me!

Chicken Fried Steak

Tonight we enjoyed a good Southern style meal: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, sweet corn on the cob, rolls, cream gravy, and sweet ice tea. D-licious!!! I'm getting better at frying. Have any good tips? What do you use for batter? How do you make the batter for sweet and sour chicken? I've been wondering that for some time and no one has been able to give me an answer.

It's been a while, but I've got a good reason!

I hate to even admit to anyone what we are eating right now as it is, frankly, whatever is easy for me to cook, eat, and clean. You know, like frozen pizza, bacon and eggs, cereal... I know I'm a bad mommy, but I'm trying to recover from major surgery. So, what do you do for quick easy meals?