This is not going as I had planned! - But here is a recipe.

Well things are not going as I had planned with this cooking experiment!  It is not that I am not cooking, just not doing as many new things!!  Part of the problem is we have just been so busy!  But I think now that we are into the new routines I could go ahead and start my cooking new recipes again.  I have a few that I have already picked out so we will get started again next Monday.  Tonight I am making this really HUGE salad that we like!  It is really good and very filling.  


I use chicken tenderloin pieces and grill them on the grill or on the George forman.  Use any kind of seasoning you would like.  I like to use the bag of mixed garden greens that you can get at the store in the produce section.  We call them the bag of weeds but you can use any mixture you would like. While the chicken is cooking start your layering.  You will want to use, drained mandarin oranges, pineapple pieces drained (not crushed), your favorite kind of nut, dried cranberries (or raisins), cheese, boiled eggs, and then the chicken goes on top. I usually dice up my chicken into bite size peices but you could shred your chicken or keep it whole.  These ingredients do not have to be put on the salad in any certain order but here is a hint.  If you put your hot chicken on top of your cheese, it melts the cheese and that is really yummy!!  Top with your favorite dressing and you are good to go!  This recipe is so nice because you can make it as fancy as you want or just throw it all together and go.  It is very versitile also.  If there are other things that you would like to put on the salad go for it.  We like to use fresh berries that are in season also. 


So happy cooking!!!


Oh...another hint: keep your juices and add them to your orange juice container!

Disasterous Beef 'N' Rice Enchiladas

Okay so has anyone else ever made the same HUGE mistake that I did tonight?  Enchilada sauce comes in different spiciness levels!!  Yes my friends it does.  Tonight I succeeded causing my families lips to catch on fire and their noses to run!!  If they recover it will be a miracle!  I can tell you that there will be some things that I will be sure that I do next time I make this recipe!!  For starters, I will be sure to purchase the Enchilada sauce in mild and not HOT!  The pan also needs to be sprayed with the spray grease first so that things do not stick!  This recipe really is good and it was very easy to make.  Below you will find the recipe, enjoy my friends and I hope that your family will have a better experience then mine did!

I do want to give credit to the Taste of Home website for these recipes! It is an awesome website!

Ingredients

• 1 package (6.8 ounces) Spanish rice and pasta mix
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cans (10 ounces each) enchilada sauce, divided
• 10 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed
• 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divded

Directions

• Prepare rice mix according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in Spanish rice and 1-1/4 cups enchilada sauce.
• Spoon about 2/3 cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla. Top each with 1/3 cup cheese; roll up.
• Place in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with the remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Yield: 10 enchiladas.

Pork Roast

So I have not really done any major cooking this week!  I did however make a pork roast on Monday for my family because I went out to eat with some friends.  No recipe though.  I just made it like you would a beef roast.  I melted a stick of butter in the pan. Got enough flour (mixed in some salt and pepper) to coat the roast and then cooked it in the butter until it had a nice "crust".  Once that was done I turned off the heat (oh turn the oven on to 350) while I peeled and cut up some potatoes.  Put 1 bag of baby carrots in the bottom of the pan, one onion that has been cubed and then put the potatoes in.  I added one can of cream of mushroom soup and 3/4 can of water.  Put the lid on the pan and put in the oven until the meat is done.  I cook long enough so that the meat is basically falling apart. It was very yummy. 



 

Cupcakes!

Have you ever just wanted a cupcake really bad?  Well mom came threw again and found the easiest recipe for cupcakes ever! I made the original recipe and then altered the recipe a little so we could have chocolate ones also.  I have attached the recipe below!  

Lemon-cream cheese cupcakes

What You Need!

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix (chocolate cake mix)

1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding (chocolate pudding)

1 cup water

4   egg whites

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg.  (16 oz.) powdered sugar

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup  (1/2 stick) butter, softened

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350ºF. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, water, egg whites and oil in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined 2-1/2-inch muffin cups.
BAKE 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.
MEANWHILE, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes.

Cheesy chicken & salsa skillet

My Aunt found this recipe on the Kraft foods website and decided to use it because there was not alot of ingredients and it looked really easy. Something that would be quick for a Sunday afternoon meal! I just wish that I would have had the green peppers and the chicken cut up ahead of time.  But other than that it was supper easy and yummy!  I am sure you can make changes to it once you know the general idea! It made enough to feed at least 6 people easily and you could pair it up with some garlic bread nicely!

Below you will find the recipe!

What You Need!

2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb.  boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/4 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa

1 cup  frozen corn, thawed

1 large green pepper, cut into short thin strips

1 cup  KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese

Make It!

COOK pasta as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 min. Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally.
DRAIN pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Top with cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

Fajita!!

So I got to cook tonight!!  And fajita's ended up being on the menu.  I got some sirloin steak and had the meat store cut it into strips for me.  You can see the recipe that I used below. I will admit that this was not a "new" recipe but it was something that I have not made for a really long time and Charity was ready for some beef! I also got a little bit of dessert...canned chocolate pudding and mini Nillas!!!  YUMMY!!!


Here is how I made the fajitas! 

Ingredients:

sirloin steak cut into strips

1 packet of fajita seasoning

1 each green and red pepper cut into strips

about 2 tablespoons oil

1 large onion

salt/pepper to taste

sour cream

your favorite cheese

flour tortillas

Put the oil into a skillet and heat over medium heat add steak, season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes and then add peppers, onion, and fajita package. Cook until desired tenderness.  Heat up the tortillas and then add the meat mixture and then add your cheese and sour cream.

YUMMY!!!

Not going so good is it?

Okay so this first week has not panned out like I thought it would as far as my cooking goes!!  We have either not been home for dinner or our dinner was provided!!  How is this possible?  If I am going to be doing this little adventure I think somehow this is not going to work!  The plan earlier this week was to have the leftovers from Monday on Tuesday and we ended up eating at Grandmas and on Wednesday Grandma sent home lasagna...well leftovers is what we are having tonight. I am going to add some cheese and I think I am going to make some cheesy garlic bread.  I have a few recipes already picked out that I can use for tomorrow night!  

I plan on taking Saturday and Sunday off so there may not be any postings from me unless I cook something.  With all that said, I am going to go and put our leftovers in the oven to heat it up.

Still here!

Well I did not need to cook last night because we went to my Grandmas for supper.  She made ham and beans, corn bread, and a coconut cream pie.  It was all really good.  Tonight we will be having left overs from Monday night, so I will not be cooking tonight either!  Unless you would like to consider reheating cooking!  :)

I will be cooking on Thursday night though, probably something with chicken because that is what we have here already.  I would like to try and make it so I do not have to go to the store to purchase anything!  We will see how that all works out for me! So come back tomorrow night to see what recipe I made!



If you would like to share a recipe that you think I should try please post it as a comment and I will see what I can do!

 

Jambalaya Recipe!!

Okay so the first recipe is complete and edible! Charity helped me by reading the recipe and keeping me on track! She is now my official photographer so I will be posting pictures as the time goes on so you can see how it looked! So for the recipe...it went well. It was not hard at all. I did alter the recipe a little. I put some kielbasa and Tabasco in it because I did not think it would be hot enough but found out real quick that I should not have put as much in or just stuck with the cayenne pepper. Ended up having to put some sugar in there to tame it down a little! Cut some french bread and toasted it up. We added some sour cream into each bowl just to make it a little creamer. The recipe made enough for us to have more another night which is exactly what I was hoping for! I hope that I can cook one night and we can eat it that night and then again the next night! I am excited about this new adventure!

Here is the recipe for everyone in case you would like to try it!!

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups cooked long grain rice

Directions

• In a large Dutch oven or saucepan, saute the chicken, onion, green pepper, celery, jalapenos and garlic in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, water, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add shrimp; simmer 6-8 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink. Stir in rice. Yield: 6 servings.

First day of new recipes!!

Well this is a first for me! I am going to try my hardest to keep this updated and have everything looking really good! Here is my plan:

I would like to cook at least 2 new recipes every week for my family and post on here how it went! Yes I got the idea from the movie Julia/Julie or whatever it was called but I love the idea! I think it is a challenge to come up with new ideas for dinner and something that everyone will eat! Do you know how hard it is to do that? Ok so it is not that hard at my house but I am sure that some homes it can be difficult. So here we go! I am going to find a new recipe for tonight so I will post something later for everyone to read and will hopefully have a picture of the item also!

So wish me luck and please, if someone reads this and has any comments please post something!