Monthly dinner Menu… February

Pin It

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
FEBRUARY		Assorted Appetizers for Sunday evening. on Feb. 2nd….			1--Beef Flamade--stew meat--Missions Conference this might change Joshua’s Bday!!!	2-Fellowship dinner at church Korean Beef http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html
3-Fellowship lunch @ church	4-Crock pot swiss chicken casserole	5-Lasagna	6-Bf Stroganoff	7-Cheese Potato smoked sausage casserole http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623	8-Crab Cakes	9-Shepherds pie
10-Tortellini tomato soup	11-Enchiladas	12-Smothered Chk casserole http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/smothered-chicken-casserole/	13-Tacos	14-Mongolian Beef--flank steak Orient Express	15-BBQ Pork Pork Butt Shoulder	16-Chk Parmesan
17-Wet Burritos	18-Italian Chicken	19-Low Country boil--Kielbasa	20-Ranch sauce chicken tacos	21-Spinach stuffed chicken breasts—this might change….. Matthew’s Bday!!!	22-Chicken Manhattan	23-Salmon something
24-Chicken Caesar wraps	25-Meatball sub casserole	26-Lemon Chicken	27-cheesy Hamburger broccoli casserole	28-Stk and Ale pie--Round Steak

 

Well here is the proposed menu for February.  I made a trip to Sam’s Club the other day.  I am trying this idea of buying all my protein/meat for the month at one time.  The idea is that I will get the meat for a less expensive amount. With the meat off of the weekly budget that frees up my money to buy more fruits and vegetables and other items to fill in the dinners. I took a couple pictures to show what I ended up with. 

This was my goal stew-1, Chicken-9 hamb.—8, crab/sal-2, sausage-3,  cube stk-1,flank stk—2, tortellini-1, Pork—1, church-1

I was able to purchase all of the chicken 5 bags, all of the hamburger two “tubes/rolls”, the sausage, pork tenderloin and pork shoulder and stew meat as well as Cod for a meal this past Friday.  Later in the month, I will need to get the salmon as well as cube steak and flank steak.

  

I was able to use my Seal A Meal and divide each roll of meat into 4-2 lb sections, split the Jimmy Dean Sausage into two sections as well as the Stew meat.

The purchase of all the meat as well as a case of soda and a case of water came to $204 and some change.  Due to the size I am able to buy in at Sam’s the pork tenderloin will be enough for 4 meals even though I do not have it on my menu this month, I am planning ahead.  The pork Shoulder will be enough for six meals once it is cooked.  The stew meat was 3 lbs. and that will work out for two meals for our family.

 

I just realized I forgot to get the picture of the Pork shoulder, but I can do that later.  I have the comparison shot of what the size and price of the one I bought at the local grocer. The chicken I am counting on 2 meals per a bag, sometimes there are 10 pieces or 11 pieces so this works out great. The chicken at Sam’s was 10.99 for a 10 pound bag.

Well there you have it, we’ll see how we stay on track for our meals this month.  January had lots of missed days due to being sick where we just ate sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Take care everyone and God Bless.

Toasty Cheese Bake recipe card #6 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library

Pin It

Have you ever had one of those recipes you just loved growing up as a child and still like to eat as an adult?  For me, the Toasty Cheese Bake was the one.  This recipe came from the fabulous 70’s and is due with great thanks to Betty Crocker.

You see in the 70’s BC came up with this great marketing plan to reach house wives by selling these ultra attractive boxes with recipe card collections…yes I am being slightly facetious here.  I have read comments on the internet about the slightly unappealing green color of some…we lucked out and ended up with the Harvest Gold Box.  You could subscribe to the recipe cards and each month you would get one new set in the mail.

The above card pictured is one the recipes that was fantastic…about 10 years ago, pregnant with my second child, I was visiting my parents in ID and I mentioned I wanted to write down the recipe.  Yes, my mom STILL has her box!!!   We dug the box out, I sat there reminiscing over old recipes and found the one I wanted….did I mention I was pregnant at the time….so we get talking about recipes, things get moved around on the table, cook books are out, etc….and the RECIPE DISAPPEARED!!! 

I kid you not, we looked high and low and have NEVER been able to find the recipe….anyone else have things like this happen when they were pregnant?????  We have thought many times about trying to find the recipe and to no avail.

Well recently about a month ago, I came across a blog post somewhere that got me thinking about those recipe cards once again and the lost recipe.  I started doing a search to find some Forums that might be able to help those who lost cards and would they be able to post the recipe, etc.  The same night I came across a blog that only had pictures of the cards and her running commentary about each one and how cruddy she thought the food was and would never serve to her children, blah, blah, blah……I spent over an hour going through pages of her blog and was ready to give up.  I pushed the refresh button one more time and I gasped out loud…it was like seeing a golden egg or something….so much time searching and there was the picture of what I had been missing all these years.  I sent a text to my mom asking her if the name of the recipe was Toasty Cheese Bake and she said she would check the index and sure enough it was!!!

The problem was it was just the picture!! And now for the silly part, why had I not tried to Google the NAME of the recipe years ago!!!!  I know, as savvy as I am at times with the computer, sometimes my mind just doesn’t think straight…I know, it is Peri-Menopause all over the place!!!

So I did a Google search and FOUND the recipe card and the picture!!!!!  I was so ecstatic.  So here I present to you a simple, humble recipe for ground beef.  It is just another economical recipe that uses ground beef and doesn’t end up as taco’s on your plate, or shepherds pie, etc.

With the size of our family I have modified it from the original.  I use 12 slices of bread and would triple the egg and milk mixture.  The first time I made it after finding the recipe I followed the directions and thought it a little on the dry side but still good. So to make it a little moister I increased the milk and egg.

I also needed to add extra amounts of cheese…for this to be cheeeeezy, you really need to have lots and lots of cheese, covering the meat mixture sometimes looks adequate but you need to load it on top to get that stringy cheese look when you pull it out of the pan.  The other possible change I might make the next time I make it would be to add in Velveeta cheese, maybe on the bottom layer? I am not sure as of yet but it is something I want to check out and see.

Enjoy~~

Honey Apricot Sesame Chicken

Pin It

We eat our fair share of chicken here at our house.  I am always on the prowl for new chicken recipes to give us a variety of flavors and cultures.

This was a nice recipe to try because it gave me the option of having Chinese food but without having the proper cooking wok to make it all come together.  A simple stove top skillet will work just fine and you too will have mastered this recipe in no time.

Honey-Apricot Sesame Chicken adapted from Hungry Girl Porvida

Serves 4
2 tablespoons honey
3 tbsp apricot jam
1/8 tsp grated ginger
2 tablespoons sesame seeds…(I just used 1/2T. a little goes a long way)
5 tbsp tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
½-1 tsp red pepper flake
¼ of a small onion, diced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks ( for us we use 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Coarse salt
vegetable oil
In a small bowl, combine honey, jam, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and ginger; set aside.

Season chicken with salt and dredge in cornstarch. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate paper towel lined plate; repeat, adding more oil if needed.

Add more oil to the pan if needed and add red pepper flake, heat for about thirty seconds. Cook onions, garlic, and thinly sliced zucchini in the pan with the red pepper, when zucchini is tender add sauce mixture and bring to a boil.

 

Return all the chicken to skillet and toss with sauce to coat and cook until chicken is heated through, cook longer if a thicker sauce is desired. Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!

Homemade Pizza

Pin It

Years ago, like back in the dark ages in the 80’s I used to work at Williams~Sonoma.  One of the nice perks of working there was access to the hundreds and hundreds of recipe cards. I only wish now, I had taken one of everything, knowing that I was going to come to love cooking so much.

One of the cards I did happen to bring home was their recipe for Pizza dough.  It is recipe card number 19364 in case I need to mention that.

I have used this recipe with great success and find that it will make either two thin crust pizza’s that are about 16” diameter or one really nice thick crust. 

The flavor is great and I like it the way it is made.  I have also started adding the addition of honey to the recipe which I found on another site.  Unfortunately, back in 2008 when I started really saving recipes from the internet, I did not think to save the link from where I found the recipe as is the case with the honey recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (1 Tbs.) active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) water

4 cups of flour

2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup olive oil.

(optional 3 T. honey)

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water.  Combine flour, salt, yeast mixture, rest of water and olive oil.  Knead for 10 minutes, until dough is soft and silky but not sticky, adding more flour if necessary.  Cover and let rise until double, approx. 45 minutes.  Flatten out dough to fit baking stone or divide and flatten to desired sizes, cover and let rise 20 minutes.  cover with tomato sauce, etc., and bake at 40 degrees for 10-20 minutes (depending on size) until golden brown.

As far as the toppings go…. we use a homemade pizza sauce which I have currently run out of and frustrated to no end that I did not get more made this year since we were trying to sell the house.

I like to take two fairly large onions, sweet onions if you have them and then caramelize them on the stove.  We then like sautéed mushrooms, as well as mild sausage.  Let’s not forget loads of Mozzarella cheese as well.

Enjoy!!!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Pin It

I found this recipe back in 2010 and have been making it faithfully for the last two years. This has been a favorite of ours and there never seems to be enough even when there are left overs. 

I really enjoy the fact that this is a forgiving recipe, in that you don’t have to be exact.  I have used both Jack cheese and Mozzarella cheese and “eye-balled” the spices when I was in a pinch for time and they turned out great. The recipe also works if you have left over turkey during the holiday season and are not sure what to do with turkey left overs!!

I think the first time I fixed these I tried the corn tortilla’s but we like the flour tortilla’s the best.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos adapted from Our Best Bites

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder (I did 1/2tsp.)
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepper jack cheese (could probably use more like 2.5 cups I just used regular jack)

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. for 15-20 minutes Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

I usually take boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts, defrost in the microwave, slice them in half lengthwise and then cook them up in the frying pan.  Once cooked, I toss them in the food processor and let it shred them.  I used to cut it all up by hand before I was blessed with my kitchen servant and it works out great either way.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. roll them up, place on your baking sheet.  When you have used up all your filling, coat your tortilla’s lightly with cooking spray and give a very light sprinkle of salt over all.  Pop in the oven and then serve with sour cream.

If you prefer to use corn tortilla’s the original recipe has steps for handling them as well as some other sauce recipes for dipping.

I usually get in excess of 20 taquitos with this recipe.  I made a batch yesterday and only had one pack of 20 and I had enough filling left over for probably another 6.  These are great to take for camping and they freeze well, if you need that option.  I would freeze them after baking first and then reheat in a toaster oven for small servings if needed.

Enjoy and if you make them come back and let me know!!

Pork Lo Mein

Pin It

Tonight we opted for the Pork Lo Mein off of our Monthly Dinner Menu.  One of the handy features when you plan out a months worth of menu items is the ability to swap things around according to your needs, energy level, time, etc.

Having been under the weather lately, things were swapped around and skipped over in exchange for easy to fix and Lo Mein was the winner tonight.

This is a relatively easy recipe to fix and does not take very much time.

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury back in 2010.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Pork Boneless Loin

2 Cups fresh sugar snap pea pods

1 cup baby-cut carrots, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch sticks (I used regular and just julienned them)

1/2 package (9-oz size) refrigerated linguine, cut into 2-inch pieces (I just cooked linguine pasta, did not buy any special type like they suggested)

1/3 cup Progresso chicken broth

1 T. soy sauce (I doubled this amount)

2 t. cornstarch

1 t. sugar

2 t. finely chopped ginger root

2 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.

2 t. vegetable oil

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (I just finely diced mine)

Toasted sesame seed, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

Trim fat from pork.  Cut pork with grain into 2x1-inch strips; cut strips across grain into 1/8-inch slices (pork is easier to cut if partially frozen, about 1 1/2 hours).  Remove strings from pea pods.

In 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 quarts water to boiling.  Add pea pods, carrots and linguine; heat to boiling.  boil 2-3 minutes or just until linguine is tender; drain. ( I opted to cook my pasta separately, set aside and then add back in at the end after the broth, I did not cook it with the pea pods and carrots.)

In a small bowl, mix broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, ginger root and garlic.

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add pork and onion; stir-fry about 2 minutes or until pork is no longer pink.  Stir broth mixture; stir into pork mixture.  Stir in pea pods, carrots and linguine. 

Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle with Sesame seed.

Enjoy and if you make it come on back and let me know!!

 

 

 

Homemade Shake and Bake Chicken

Pin It

I remember as a child growing up every once in a while we would get to have Shake and Bake chicken and it always seemed like a treat.  The chicken was always tasty but I think the fun part was being able to shake the chicken in the bag.

I have this great recipe book called 365 Ways To Cook Chicken.  I picked it up eons ago when I used to work at Williams Sonoma.  And while I think there may only be 20 palatable recipes worthy of eating, one of them is this Homemade Shake and Bake.  The recipe I use does not have the breadcrumbs to give the extra crunch however, the mixture of spices and seasonings gives the chicken great flavor.  I suppose if you are in desperate need of the crunch you could modify this recipe and add in the breadcrumbs if you desire.

So here ya go all of the spices:

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 chicken legs and thighs

1/2 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Combine flour, paprika, salt, garlic powder, thyme, and pepper in a plastic bag.

Dip chicken legs in milk; shake off excess.  Add to bag and shake to coat evenly.  place chicken on a greased baking sheet.  Bake 40 minutes, until chicken is tender and coating crisp.

Now as you can see in my picture, we use the boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I take these and then butterfly them in half so they are not as thick and I end up with two complete servings as well.  I also find that when I slice the chicken breasts in half it takes just a portion of the baking time.  So if you decide to go with my version, modify your baking time to only 15 minutes for a nice tender chicken breast.

I happened to have served this with sweet potatoes and fried russet potatoes last night. The sweet potatoes were more like sweet potato casserole and I was not thinking straight and had wanted to have fried potatoes.  It wasn’t until I had the potatoes peeled that I realized that I had two potatoes on the plate.  Normally it would be zucchini or broccoli.

Enjoy and if you happen to make it come back and let me know!!

Apple Fritter Bread

Pin It

Well today is the second Tuesday of the month and that day is usually reserved for our Ladies brunch at church.  This is a ministry for the ladies to come together and pray for each other’s families and needs.  Sometimes the prayers may be requests that are not shared with the whole entire church and sometimes they are.  In any event, we come together each month to lift each lady up to the Lord.

We usually start off with fellowship over food/brunch and then have a devotional followed up by prayer time.

Today I made this Apple Fritter Bread that I had found on Pinterest.  The picture, of course, caught my attention.  As with most food items I proceed to make it is because my eyes have already dined and decided that was the next thing I need to make.

The page I followed for the recipe has some great step by step photo’s and I suggest keeping that page open as a reference.  I took my pictures and you will see them below as well. I always wonder why this happens when I copy someone’s recipe and they have step by step pictures, mine never look the same!!  Anyone else have this happen?

So anyhow, here ya go.

Apple Fritter Bread adapted from Flour Me With Love

Dough:

3 C flour

1 package yeast—2 ¼ teaspoons

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C water

1 egg, beaten

3/4 C milk

1/4 C butter

Filling:

6 small apples, peeled & diced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 C brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. cornstarch

Glaze:

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 C powdered sugar

3 tsp. half & half (or milk)

 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 5 bread pan.

In a skillet, cook apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, vanilla, butter, cinnamon & cornstarch until mixture is thickened.  Set aside to cool.

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles; remove from heat. Add the butter and stir until melted; set aside.

Put flour, yeast, brown sugar and salt in a bowl, mix well. Add the water, egg and milk/butter mixture.

Mix until dough forms into a ball; knead for an additional five minutes. On a well floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle. (On the page I followed the recipe she has a picture here and she used a stand mixer, I mixed by hand and kneaded by hand as well)

Evenly spread apple mixture over dough. (This picture looks drastically different from hers…mine was soooo moist and I used the exact amounts called for….Its all in the apples…extra moisture I am convinced.)

Cut dough into even squares (she got 20 from her dough, I had 35 pieces  Go Figure!!!). So you are going to do something like 4 rows by 5 columns or slightly more.

Carefully stack pieces of dough onto each other forming four piles. (use a spatula, it makes stacking much easier!)  Place piles of dough into prepared pan.

Here is the picture that she does not have on her blog but necessary to show you….this is slightly messy to put together….Or at least in my case!!

Here it is all piled in the pan, I am not sure if it would have just been better to use a longer pan or leave part out since I had more pieces.

Bake 45-50 minutes; until golden brown.  Immediately remove from pan.

Mix butter, vanilla and powdered sugar into a bowl.  Add half & half; stir until you get a creamy consistency.  Pour on glaze and allow to setup for a few minutes. Pull some apart and enjoy!

So, because mine was so juicy, it took at least a half hour longer to bake.  This is where I am wondering if I had moved it to my longer bread pan it might have turned out even better.  The bread was very dense.  It had a sweet taste but it didn’t have the pull apart, monkey bread fluffy texture that I was expecting….so it was the first try and I will try again using a longer bread pan to give the bread a little more space.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!!!

Cheeseburger Soup

Pin It

This recipe I found on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

Recipe adapted from: The Recipe Critic

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef (use 1 pound)
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups of Velveeta processed cheese cubed (I used 20 oz on the markings of the Velveeta)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

1.  Brown the ground beef in 3 quart saucepan.  Drain and set aside.
2. In the same saucepan add 1 T butter and add onion, shredded carrots, and celery, basil and parsley.  Sauté until tender.
3.  Add the broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
4.  In small skillet melt remaining butter (3 T) and add the flour.  Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to the soup and bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.
5. Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until cheese melts.  Remove from heat and blend in sour cream. 
Yield 8 servings

Ok here are my notes: Overall, I thought the flavor was really good.  I did change some things.  I used more than a pound of meat to serve our family and used more Velveeta. 

The second thing that occurred the potatoes seemed to me mushy, grainy???? I am not sure what could cause this except the extended time of the potatoes cooking with all the food and getting broken up trying to get softened.  I think when I make it next, I would make the potatoes in a separate pot and add in at the end, to retain firmness but doneness and not break up so much in the mix.  Perhaps that also adds to the thickening of the soup????

Lastly, I added an extra cup of stock because the amount of my potatoes were not covered by the liquid called for.

The soup made a bunch, partly because of the additions I made for our size of family, and we had some left over which is always a plus for lunch the next day.

Enjoy and if you make it come back and let me know!!

Hamburger Pinwheels

Pin It

Hamburger Pinwheels adapted from Hillbilly Housewife

Dough:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk (or a little less) (my notes: needed more milk to keep it stuck together)

     Filling:

• 1 pound ground beef (see note below about taco seasoning)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup milk

 

“I usually make the filling first, so it has a chance to cool down. Fry the hamburger in a skillet until it is crumbled into small pieces, and grey all over. Cook the onion with it if you like (I always do). Drain or spoon off some of the fat. Don't get rid of all of the fat. You need some of it to absorb the flour.(Save at least 2-3 Tablespoons) So after you have spooned off most of the fat, add the flour, salt and pepper. Stir it up until the flour is dissolved in the fat. Add the milk and continue stirring until the mixture thickens considerably, and boils. Boil for a minute and remove the filling from the heat. If you want to cool it down quickly, transfer the filling to a bowl and put it into the fridge or freezer while you prepare the dough. This is what I usually do. It also gives me a chance to wash the skillet before anything sticks to it unmercifully.

To make the dough, get out a big bowl. In it combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the shortening. Use your fingers or a fork to mash in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the milk, forming a nice, slightly stiff dough. Knead it about 8 or ten times to get the gluten in the flour activated a little bit. Rip a piece of waxed paper off of the roll. Place it on your counter and pat the dough into a thick rectangle on top of it. Use a rolling pin or sturdy jar to roll the dough out into a big rectangle, about 1/2 an inch thick, or a little thinner. 

Spread the cool filling onto the dough, like spreading butter on bread. Spread it to within 3/4" of the edges. It is good to cool the filling down because hot filling is challenging to work with. Warm filling is acceptable. Now, using the waxed paper to help, roll the dough up like a jelly roll, peeling back the waxed paper as you roll. Form a long cylinder of dough and filling swirled together. Toss the waxed paper in the garbage. Slice the roll with a sharp knife into 12 or 15 pieces. Lay the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet, rearranging them slightly so they are pretty and pinwheel shaped if necessary. Bake at 425° for about 20 minutes. These are good served with Italian Tomato Sauce or canned tomato sauce, or Cheese Sauce or Tomato Gravy or even plain old ketchup. I like them with steamed broccoli and carrot raisin salad, and macaroni and cheese. Kids like these pretty well.”

 

So I made these this evening and I will add some of my notes/thoughts here with some pictures for those that find it easier seeing the process so that they can compare that there stuff looks like the picture thus giving confidence that they are doing the recipe the right way…at least that is how it goes in my head when I look at pictures!!

And before I go any further….DISCLAIMER….I am a Stay At Home Mom…I homeschool, I raise six children, I love to cook, I really love to share recipes, I like to take pictures….HOWEVER, I am NOT a professional photographer….gasp….so you get the occasional over saturated photo’s, you get the slightly blurry pictures, you get stuff in the backgrounds…because that’s how it is at this house…and I am not doing this because I want to become the next greatest Foodie Blogger….uh NO…I really really love to cook and I love to share recipes…well except the four that are in the family vault…lol…and I want to encourage others who might want to cook to see how easy it is and to not be intimidated….I like tasty food that doesn’t take forever to fix….and so those last comments also sum up the perception that some might have that all those who post cooking recipes on their blog are “showing off” and have the attitude of “oh look at me and look what I did today”….that is not me and if you know me in real life I sure hope you know that image doesn’t go with who I am…. If I can inspire someone to become a better cook or to experiment more often with different foods and in the process they become a better homemaker in the cooking department then Praise the Lord that it worked out that way…its not about me….ok end of the Disclaimer!!

Ok back on track… So the first part, brown the meat, drain, mix in the flour…at this point I usually add about a Tablespoon of Mexican Seasoning, you can either use a homemade mix or buy one of those seasoning packets from McCormick.  I just happen to like the extra kick it has but not overly spicy.

The consistency is somewhat paste-like from the thickening brought about by the flour and milk and as you can see by my picture….I forgot the onion tonight…I was in a rush for Wednesday night Kings Kids at church and didn’t realize it until the meat was already browned…it’s ok though it still came out really tasty.

Then the dough part…

This is what it looks like when rolled out and I would guess this was about 16” high by about 24” wide.  Here is a picture of the thickness up close.

Pretty thin, less than a 1/2” in thickness.

The next step would be to spread the meat mixture onto the dough.

Now I believe in putting the mixture right up close to the edge closest to you (the edge of the counter) the reason being this is going to be the center of the pinwheel so I don’t want it to be just dough, I want it to be nice and meaty all the way through.  Just an extra tip there.  Now I usually like to use an icing spatula to spread the mixture and since that was used to scrape play dough off the counter this afternoon it wasn’t available.  The next best option is the back side of a large soup spoon, or you could use a knife you use to spread jelly with on bread….you get the idea….  mash it down.

The pointer about letting your meat mixture cool is important, otherwise your dough gets soggy and that creates a mess on the counter. I usually make mine, put it in a glass bowl and pop it in the freezer.  The freezer will cool it down but not freeze it in the time it takes to roll out the dough and you will be set to go.

Now for the rolling up, start at the long edge closest to you and roll it all the way up and then slice it into about 1/2” slices….

 

Those little dimples on top..those are just from me holding it steady while slicing through, make sure you flour your knife about every two cuts to keep it going smoothly and not tearing the roll apart.  Place them on a cookie sheet, I actually don’t spray my sheet pan and have not had any issues with it sticking so try it both ways and pick the best for you.

  So here we have fresh out of the oven, lightly browned.  I had approximately 30 slices out of the roll.  I have served these with a brown gravy in the past as my husband liked that option.  However, the favored sauce is actually ketchup as seen this evening.

  Enjoy and if you give it a try pop back over and let me know.

On the Menu….Smokey Corn Chowder with Shrimp

Pin It

Well this recipe came via Pinterest

  And as you can see the picture is quite eye catching and it is called Smokey Corn Chowder with Shrimp… and the title makes it sound delightful to eat as well.

When I read her instructions I realized that the recipe was scaled for only two servings…well that is not going to help us out…and then I noticed that she had included her source for where she found the recipe and I saw this picture….

which serves at least 6 and as I read through her directions on this new recipe I was getting a little confused because the directions were not telling me when to cook the shrimp like the first recipe.  So after slowing down and reading closely I realized that the picture from Pinterest, that cook had added her own twist to the recipe!  So you can see just by the pictures here that there is plenty room for variation to tweak it to your tastes.

So to make it kind of easy, I have included both the recipes here:

SMOKEY CORN CHOWDER…This is for the picture directly above

Ingredients—Serves 6

• 8  ounces  sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1  large sweet onion, chopped
• 2  cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2  teaspoon  smoked paprika
• 1/4  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 2  10-ounce packages frozen corn
• 3  cups  low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1  cup  half-and-half
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4  scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1  baguete, sliced and toasted (optional)

Directions

1. Cook the bacon in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

2. Spoon off and discard all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Return the pan to medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add the garlic, paprika, and red pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

4. Stir in the corn, broth, and half-and-half and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

6. Divide the soup among bowls and top with the scallions and bacon. Serve with bread, if desired

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/smoky-corn-chowder-10000001699491/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Smokey Corn Chowder With Shrimp-What it took for 2:

* 2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 Tbs. smoked paprika
* 1 pinch crushed red pepper
* 3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed
* 2 cups chicken stock
* 1/2 cup half and half (or cream)
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* basil slivers for garnish (optional)

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain. Drain all but 1Tbs. bacon fat, if you have that much in the pot.

Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the shrimp to the pot and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Flip and sear 30 more seconds. Remove shrimp from pot and set aside.

If you need to add a little oil (or bacon fat) to the pot, do so. Add the onions to the pot and sauté 5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, crushed red pepper and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté another minute.

Add the fresh corn to the pot and toss to combine. Heck, sauté another minute.

Add the stock and half & half to the pot. Stir to combine. Keep on a low simmer for 15 minutes. Taste it. Need a little salt and pepper? Add a pinch or two.

If you have an immersion blender, place it in the pot and pulse it a few times until about half of the soup becomes creamy, still leaving whole kernels as well. If you don’t have an immersion blender, ladle about a cup and a half of the soup into a blender and pulse until creamy. Pour back into the pot and stir to combine.

Serve chowder with the shrimp and reserved bacon crumbles. Garnish with slivered basil if desired.

My NOTES: 01/08/2013—I used 2 cans of sweet corn vs. the bags of regular frozen corn, I thought the flavor was a little sweet the children didn’t seem to notice. I blended the whole pot of soup so there were no chunks, it actually made it thick enough to not need to add a roux which was nice. I didn’t have the Smokey paprika so used the regular, but didn’t see any added taste so perhaps using/adding more next time. I had followed the recipe on top for the larger amount of soup and it called for only a half teaspoon in the recipe below you will see that it called for 1 Tablespoon, quite a difference.  I loved the bacon combination with the soup and would use more, I used half a package ..I would like to have bacon in each bite. Great flavor overall! Served with crescent rolls.

Enjoy~~

 

Dinner Menu Planning….January

Pin It

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
30-Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup --Pinterest XX	January --Italian Chicken XX	1-Homemade Pizza XX	2-Chicken Fajitas XX	3-Meatloaf XX	4-Chicken Parmesan XX	5-Corn and Shrimp chowder—Pinterest  my post about it here XX
6-Hamburger Pinwheels—Hillbilly Housewife XX	7-Honey Apricot Sesame Chicken XX	8-Pork Lo Mein XX	9- Raviolis XX	10-Homemade chicken shake and bake XX	11- Homemade Chicken Taquitos XX	12-Cheeseburger Soup—Pinterest My post about it XX
13-deli sandwiches----Apple Fritter Bread--Pinterest for ladies luncheon—My post about it here XX	14-Spaghetti	15-Lemon Chicken	16-Toasty cheese Bake—a recipe from the 1970’s I grew up eating and found on Pinterest!!!  My post here XX	17-Pork Medallions	18-Meatballs and rice XX	19-Church Fellowship--Pizza Rolls/Walnut rasp. Torte XX
20-Chicken and rice Casserole	21--Cheesy Hamburger and broccoli—Pinterest XX	22--chicken Marsala	23--Tacos XX	24--meatballs and veggies	25--Fish Tacos XX	26-Creamy bacon ranch chicken pasta orig. found on Pinterest
27-Beef Stroganoff---Ended up eating Ravioli’s	28-Italian Crockpot chicken XX	29-Pork Tenderloin with honey---Ended up eating pizza from Aldi’s	30-Sloppy Joes	31-chicken pot pie		XX = Recipes that have been cooked for the month.

So the month of December for our family was pretty rough in terms of finances.  We had a paycheck the week before Thanksgiving and then no paycheck until the week of Christmas.  Not an easy way to live, but when you have the Lord in your life, all things are possible and He will provide for your needs.  We made it through with help from my parents, birthday money that I had received and was waiting to spend, help from my Sister and help from our Church!! 

Being Self-employed there is always the chance that there will not be paychecks.  So I sat down a week ago and made up a menu for the whole month of January to help me keep on track so that we did not spend any extra on eating out when that is just not an option. 

I also changed our food budget based on an idea I read about over at: Bacon In My Pocket she has a modest grocery budget for the size of her family and she manages to set aside money every two weeks to go towards buying her meats at either Costco or Sam’s club depending on where you live in the U.S.  I decided to put that plan into action.  We currently have 120.00 a week set aside for our family of 8 for groceries.  I changed it to be $100/week and set aside the extra $20 in a Sam’s Club envelope.  This money is not to be spent but saved up for a trip to Sam’s Club once every 3 months.  This is to then be the meat stock up.  Having an extra stand up freezer out in our garage allows us to be able to stock up.  We will be able to get large quantities of hamburger, chicken, etc.  I calculate we will have approximately $240 to stock up at that time and once we have done that, it will free up my regular grocery budget for buying more fresh vegetables as well as other items for making some really nice dishes…

So in the meantime, here is our menu for January and I will try to post the recipes with pictures.