Monday and Tuesday

Monday: I am working all day and then in college from 4-10 p.m. with a 2 hour drive both ways. I will not be cooking on Mondays. My husband made dinner and he made Creamed Hamburger over noodles. This is a basic recipe- cook ground beef until done, add cream of mushroom soup and milk, serve over egg noodles (or mashed potatoes, or rice) The kids love it. I loved it because I didn't have to cook it. :)

Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
I buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shred it by hand. Set chicken aside. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish I begin with enchilada sauce, then I layer corn tortillas on that, then chicken, then shredded cheese (a mexican blend) and top with enchilada sauce. I continue this layering until the pan is full and I end with cheese on top. We (adults) like green onions on ours, notice in the picture half the pan has them - half doesn't. We have picky kids. :)  I bake this at 350 for about 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Tonight I even made dessert - brownies (out of a box!) they were yummy. :)

Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight's dinner consisted of: bacon, eggs, maple flavored smokey links, french toast, and oranges fresh picked from Florida!

I bought bakery fresh cinnamon swirl bread, made a mixture of eggs, cinnamon blend from Pampered Chef, brown sugar, and maple syrup to soak the bread in. I fried the french toast on the electric griddle and viola! Done.

The oranges were a gift from some friends of mine who just got back from a trip to Florida. The oranges grew on his parents' tree in their yard. For this Michigan girl a fresh picked orange is a treat, and yes, it tastes different.

As always, here's a picture of part of our meal. It's the french toast cooking!

Tomorrow we have been invited to a pot luck so I am not sure that I am going to be making dinner but if I do you'll be the first to know :)
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Chris's Chili

My husband makes the chili at our house and tonight I had to work late so he made dinner.

3 pounds of ground chuck
1 large can of Tomato Juice (He prefers Campbells)
Diced tomatoes (you can buy the flavored ones, the plain ones, the petite diced ones) Use as much as you like!
Beans (our kids don't like the beans so we only use one can of beans, tonight's beans were kidney beans)
Mushrooms (if you prefer, which we do, fresh or canned)
Chili powder, sugar, and salt to taste

Yes folks, that's it. He cooks the meat in a large pot, pours the juice, tomatoes, beans, and mushrooms in. Simmers for a while, adds the spices to taste.

He serves the chili with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. I also love corn bread with my chili.

Creamy Chicken in the Crockpot

I have a family of five. My youngest is 4 (almost 5), my middle child is 8, and my oldest is 10.  In preparation for today's dinner I trimmed and washed four decent sized boneless skinless chicken breasts that I bought on sale at my local grocery store for 1.89 pound. I sprayed the inside of my crockpot with cooking spray and placed the chicken breasts in the crock. I opened one large family size can of cream of chicken soup (today was Campbell's brand since it was on sale) and I spread this evenly over the chicken. I added about a half of a can of whole milk (that's what I had in the fridge). Looking back the flavor would have been better if I would have used canned milk. Please remember that! After adding the milk I mixed it around in the crock pot a little and turned it on low. It cooked all day. Tonight when we all got home and it was time to eat I boiled a bag of egg noodles (I forgot to salt the water - damn it!) I microwaved Bird's Eye Broccoli in light cheese sauce. Let me just tell you - HUGE disappointment. If you have children like mine who only like the "tree" part of broccoli then this veg in a bag is NOT for you. When we opened the two bags it wass filled with mostly stems or "trucks" as my kids call them. They are tough, have no flavor, and taste like crap. Shame on Bird's Eye. I won't be buying that again. I also did a steam friendly brand of peas. Below is a picture of what the meal looks like minus the peas.

Oh, I forgot the best part of this meal. When the chicken cooks all day it simply falls apart. When dinner was ready I just took the serving spoon and mixed the chicken around until it was shredded. You can see it in the black crock pot in the picture.
After dinner was over I saved the leftover creamy chicken in a gallon size freezer bag. I will freeze this for a later time. I will use it for when I make chicken pot pie!!!

This was my plate. I love veggies. Peas are my favorite.

Creamy Chicken in the Crockpot

Before I left for work this morning I put four chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) in the crockpot with a large can of cream of chicken soup and milk. I turned it on low and this will cook all day. When I get home the chicken will have cooked so much so that it will shred into the soup and I will serve this over egg noodles. I will serve this with two different veggies - probably green beens and broccoli - my kids favorites. Easy peasy. Of course tonight I will have pictures of dinner for you all :)

Baked pasta, garlic bread, and salad

Baked Pasta consists of whatever box of pasta we happen to have in the cupboard. Sometimes it's spaghetti, sometimes macaroni, today we had Rigitore. While your pasta is boiling fry one pound ground Italian Sausage and mix in whatever veggies you like (we do fresh or canned mushrooms, you could also do spinach, etc). When the pasta is done mix it with the meat/veggie mixture and add a jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Mix well. (I have to tell you that my family adores Spartan Brand pasta sauce. We used to be a Prego family but Spartan Brand has a better flavor.) When it's all mixed pour it in the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish, top with a bag of mozzeralla or Italian blend of cheese and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Serve with garlic bread and salad. :) Add whole wheat pasta to make this even healthier for your family and do a skim milk cheese if you desire. Personally, I'd rather add more veggies and leave the cheese alone, but that's me. 

Dinner on Night #2

Beef Roast in the Crock Pot

The meat turned out a little dry, I was very disappointed. Must have cooked it on high too long. Damn.
I served the roast with carrots that cooked with it all day. For sides we had a blend of red skin potatoes with green beans in a rosemary sauce (don't get all excited, it was a frozen blend, some sort of steam friendly brand).
Side note: I am totally okay with frozen helpers to go along with dinner. I loved Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network. She taught me the many uses of a grocery store rotisserie chicken. Bless her heart.

This is Hannah's plate. She loved everything, mind you she is also my least picky child. Wait. Let me rephrase that. Hannah will eat most anything but she has this weird issue with picking her food apart. So saying that she isn't picky isn't accurate. She's very picky. She disects everything. She peels everything. Hannah loved the carrots the most. :)

We had a decent size roast, enough for the five of us with two large slices leftover. No carrots though, they went fast. Next time I won't cook the roast on high for as long as I did, I would do more than one pound of carrots, and I would add the potatoes to the crock pot like I usually do.

Eh, I'm not perfect BUT it was home cooked, everyone liked it, everyone ate it, and it was less expense than eating out. PLUS it was much heathier than take-out food. Bonus! Yay me!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe makes 6 dozen cookies

Cream together until light and fluffy:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time
Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp coconut extract
Set aside
In a seperate bowl combine
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
I set my Kitchen Aide mixer on the lowest setting and slowly add the dry mixture to the sugar mixture a little at a time until it's mixed well. Remove from mixer.
Stir in 2 cups of flaked coconut and 2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate) by hand.
Drop by tablespoons onto parchment paper, bake for 10-13 minutes at 350. Just until you see the coconut brown on the top of the cookie. I cooled them on a wire rack and then stored them in plastic zip top bags.

Beef Roast in the crock pot

Next week this busy mom will be heading back to college so I am dusting off the crock pot once again. Today I am making an old standby - beef roast. It's very simple and my entire family loves it - even picky Logan.

I began by browning the roast on all sides in a frying pan. I peeled the carrots and chopped them into 3 inch pieces. Let me just say that regular carrots are much better tasting in roast than the cute little baby carrots. I discovered my potatoes were not any good this morning so I didn't add those to the crockpot. Fooey! I also quartered an onion. The veggies go on the bottom, the roast lays on top, I pour a box of beef broth into the crock and then I cover the meat in an envelope of onion soup mix. Ta da. Done. I love the way the onion soup mix carmelizes on the meat as it cooks all day, it's the best part.

Here is a picture of the roast pre-onion soup mix. I will take another picture to show you what it looks like after it's cooked all day!

My Christmas Menu

It is tradition in my family that I make breakfast for everyone on Christmas morning. I love to cook, really love it, but I HATE to clean up after myself and I would rather starve than wash dishes. However, on Christmas I make breakfast and a few of my friends have asked for recipes. I am going to post them here.

Praline Pecan French Toast
In a 9x13 inch generously greased casserole dish lay 2 loaves of cinnamon flavored bread overlapping to fit. See photo.
In a blender mix together:
8 eggs, 1 1/2 cups half-and-half, 1/3 cup real maple syrup, and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar.
Pour this mixture over the bread evenly and cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
In the morning preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan melt 1 stick of butter, add 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and 2/3 cup cup maple syrup stir constantly until warm. Add in 2 cups of chopped pecans. Pour this mixture over the bread, spread evenly and bake for and hour. (I keep mine covered with foil for 45 mins and uncover it for the last 15 mins so it doesn't dry out)

Christmas Breakfast Burritos
Fry 2 lbs breakfast sausage (I use one Bob Evans spicy, and one regular pork) in a large frying pan. When done, add in 3/4 cup green onion tops chopped and 1 red bell pepper chopped into tiny pieces. Spoon 1/4 cup of sausage mixture down the center of a flour tortilla, add 3 TBS of cheese (I use a Mexican blend), and roll up. Place the burrito seam side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Continue with the tortillas until the pan is full. If there is extra sausage mixture left just sprinkle it over the burritos.
In a blender combine 5 eggs, 2 cups of half-and-half, 1 TBS flour, and 1/4 tsp. of garlic powder. Pour this over the tortillas. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. Next morning bake at 350 for an hour. I keep this covered for 45 minutes and for the last 15 minutes I sprinkle a bag of shredded cheese on the top and ake uncovered for 15 minutes until brown and bubbly. Serve with sour cream. *You will not be able to eat them as burritos, you will need to cut them like a casserole, the egg mixture softens up the flour shells too much.

Ham and Cheese Quiche
I had chopped ham and shredded swiss cheese already on hand because we were having a ham later on Christmas morning.
In the frozen pie shell I combined 1 1/2 cups of swiss cheese, 1/2 cup of chopped ham, and 4 teaspoons of flour, I mixed them by hand to evenly coat with flour. In a seperate bowl I beat 3 eggs, added 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder. I poured the egg mixture over the ham and cheese. Cover just the crust with tin foil and bake for an hour at 350. If the center of the quiche isn't set you will need to bake it longer.

On Christmas I put all three of these things in the oven together. I found that the quiche needed more time.

Ideas for Future Dinners

Enchiladas

Chili

Meatloaf

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Pork Chops w/ mushroom gravy

Steamed mussels and garlic pasta

Homemade chicken nuggets

Baked spaghetti

Lasagna

Chicken pot pie

Chicken Cordon Blue

Fajitas

BLTs

Breakfast

Chicken chili

Tacos

Hamburgers

Hot dogs/ Brats

Grilled steak

Salmon patties

Stuffed peppers

Homemade pizza

Stuffed cabbage casserole

Corned beef and cabbage

Beef roast

Pork Roast

Shrimp scampi

Kabobs

Tuna casserole

Quesadillas

Stir fry

Macaroni and cheese

Chicken noodle soup

Creamy Chicken in the Crockpot

Pasties

Split Pea Soup

Chicken and stuffing bake

Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches

Chicken and rice

Chicken and salsa tacos

Meatball subs

Preparation and planning

Day 1
I decided that we needed to have a clean space to work in and my kitchen was a hot mess. So I got to work. I cleaned out the fridge - ew ew ew. I cleaned out the cupboards and rearranged things. I cleaned off counters and gave myself space to work in. I have a small kitchen which also houses my washer and dryer so this room seems to always be a total mess with five of us living here. *sigh* So today, day one, it's clean.

Dinner tonight:
Tater tot casserole, tuna fish sandwiches, and peas.

Tater tot casserole consists of 2.5 lbs of ground beef (cooked) mixed with 1 large can of cream of mushroom soup and milk as the first layer in a casserole dish. On top of that I add a layer of tater tots and I bake this until the tater tots are crispy. I pull the casserole out of the oven pour a bag of shredded cheese on top and broil it until the cheese is brown and bubbly. It's not healthy but they all like it.

Comments:
Chris- TT Casserole is one of my husband's favorite meals so he ate it. And ate it.
Logan- He ate part of it, he doesnt like tater tots.
Hannah- She liked the casserole and tuna "very much"
Aidan- "I was too full to eat one more thing. I think I ate it." -- Aidan is four and has something to say about everything. He ate a tuna sandwich and liked it but couldnt remember eating the casserole when I asked.
Me- I don't like tater tot casserole so I am the one that decided to make tuna sandwiches with it. I also love peas so I ended up eating the whole bag.

I am counting tonight as a success for eating at home. I should have bought the ground beef on sale though so I paid more for it than I normally would have but it was a holiday today and I did no preplanning. I bought an off-brand cream of mushroom soup and I had the milk on hand. I chose a name brand tater tot because I like the flavor of them better than off brand.