Summer Greetings!

I haven't posted since April...I can't even believe that!! Think of how many meals I've made, desserts I've attempted, picnics I've attended...and not one posting. I've read a massive pile of books, made countless cards and scrapbook pages, had a million and one up and down moments...and still no posts. Call me what I am...a slacker.

BUT the good news is that summer is here!!! Thank goodness!! Spring was too wet and long for me. Now we're back in the time of picking berries, fresh fruit and veggies. I'm already starting to ponder my canning activities for the end of my summer, and what other treats I could cook up.

I started my own garden in a corner of my yard, that now is full of little green tomatoes..cherry, roma, and champions. Little bell peppers and jalapenos are growing from tiny blooms, and lots of carrots, lettuce and cilantro are peaking up at me. I'm so excited to not only be able to grow my own food, but to can it and share it with others. After paying $1.49 for a pound of roma tomatoes last week, I'm more than ready to have my crops ready. Its cost me about $15 total to get my plants and start my garden. $15..that's less than I spend for a week of veggies. Plus there is no running to the store to grab a tomato or cilantro (we eat alot of cilantro in this house).

We have been living in this house for 4 years now. I think about how that first summer my mom would come down with plants, or we'd go pick them out and spend the afternoon planting them. I was so excited, and despite a few casualties to lack of knowledge of where to place them, or puppy Khloe's teeth. Its amazing to me to see my black thumb turn green. That I was able to plant a garden and actually reap the rewards!  Now the excitement has turned to my daughter. She has seen my plants grow and blossom and decided she needed a garden too. Not only did she decide to not put in a sandbox under her tree house/fort, but to plant a garden of goodies for the family and the cats (she had to plant them catnip). I guess the tradition continues and more generations of women in my family continue down the path of gardens of green and pink, and overflowing with the freshest of fruits and vegetables.

So now I want to share a recipe that comes to you thanks to my mother in law, and her work potlocks. Its truly the freshest tasting salad, low fat, and super yummy! It alot like a pico-de-gallo salad..with the tastes of jalapeno (which you could omit if you don't want spice, or replace with thai chilis if you want to pump up the spice), and cilantro, and lime. Its one of those salad that's perfect for hot days where you don't want to heat up the house or even ate anything warm. I don't have pictures to post since I wasn't thinking of my blog when I made this last week, but its gorgeous with all the colors of vegetables.

Lanchi Salad

1 bell pepper (I used green) seeded and finely diced

1 pkg. angel hair shredded cabbage

1 pkg. shredded carrots

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 medium red onion, finely diced

3 limes

1 t. pepper

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

optional: thai chilis or chopped tomato

Mix diced onion and bell pepper and juice of the 3 limes in a bowl and let sit in bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes. (while that sat I made my chicken and shredded it). Then add all the other ingredients ending with the chicken last. Mix and serve. 

You can eat this as it is and its wonderful. You can top tostada shells with it, or mix in rice noodles, or put it in tortillas. However you want, its very versatile.

Kids Night!!

With Spring Break here, in my house that means endless phone ringing and sleepovers.
I have to have recipes that please kids, because not all kids are raised politely. (I've had a kid spit food out in my sink...and no that's not a testament to my cooking, it was packaged food product.)
I'm trying to stay away from fast food. Its hard after the past month of eating out alot due to my pure laziness and lack of organization to pre-plan my meals. That's all changing.
This is a recipe my mom used to make for me and my brother, and that my family loves.
Calazones!
Mine are simple and quick. I know there are a million things to fill them with and that's what makes this so easy, and a people pleaser no matter the person.
I make mine with homemade pizza dough, but feel free to use pre-made stuff if that's more your style. I recently made these with grilled chicken and pesto in the middle and dipped them in a garlic cream sauce. Amazing! So as kid friendly as they are, you can make them as gourmet as you like.

Calazones

Pizza Dough:

1 pkg. yeast

1 c. warm water

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

1 T.oil

2-4 cups flour

Put yeast and water in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes till it dissolves.

Then add in salt, sugar, and oil. Let sit for a minute. (I use this time to get out my cheese and pans etc.)

Then by hand stir in flour a cup at a time. You can the dough to be a little sticky.

Form ball and let it sit for 15 minutes or so.

I used this time to shred or slice my cheese and other fillers.

Then roll out dough with a rolling pin into a rectangle on a  floured surface, and use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 3 inch wide segments. Then cut some of the slices horizontally if they are too long. Then fill with cheese and toppings on one half of the piece of dough. Then fold over the top part, and crimp edges with a fork that has been dipped in flour. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.
 Then warm up some pizza sauce in a microwave safe bowl (make sure to cover it with a plate or paper towel because it does splatter) for one minute on high.
Spoon sauce on top of calazones or dip them in the sauce.

Easter is Coming!

These yummy little treats are a tradition at my house. I got the recipe from my mom who used to make them for me and my brother when we were little. I've seen a million variations of this recipe, and I'm sure to you this is just one more. But I love it! My family isn't crazy about coconut, and many of the recipes call for coconut instead of oatmeal, or even chow mein noodles. But the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is to die for! Its up to you how you want to decorate them. In half, I did flaked coconut died green and jelly beans, the others I just put "eggs" in the nests and they were really peanut butter M&M's. Tailor it to your likes, and enjoy another recipe tradition from my kitchen to yours!

 

Bird Nests

2 cups of sugar

6 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/2 cup of margarine or butter

1/2 cup of milk

3 cups of oatmeal

1/2 cup of peanut butter

Decorations:

jelly beans

M&M's

coconut, died green with food coloring

In a large saucepan, add the first 4 ingredients over medium heat.

Bring to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes.

Add in oatmeal and peanut butter. Stir till all ingredients combined. 

Spoon onto wax paper and make little indents in the middle of each nest.

Add coconut and jellybeans/M&M's or whatever candy resembling eggs that you desire.

Let cool on counter or move pans lined with wax paper with the nests on it into the fridge till firm.

Store in tupperware to keep fresh.

Banana Crumb Muffins

My mother calls me and says "Um whats going on with your blog, you haven't posted anything since February 17th". I tried to explain we are plagued with slower than dial-up internet in the evening (I'm thrilled you're aware of it Qwest, but its time to do something about it), that prevents me from posting. I have a stack of recipes to post, and things to share...but when I get home from work and find a late evening boost of energy (which is rare mind you), and quick jump on the computer between a fish wrangler obsessed husband and an eight year old with spelling homework that can only be done on the computer....only to find a internet connect slower than a 100 year old lady with a walker. IT SUCKS!!

BUT the good news is that Spring Break 2011 is here!!! Oh yeah..that means morning internet that works, and extra time to cook and post. Hopefully I'll find some time to post some of these recipes.

And now for the first Friday Tasty Treat...cause you know you missed it....Banana Crumb Muffins!!!! *cheers*

Everyone has a banana muffin or bread recipe, or in my case multiple recipes. I didn't want another one. BUT when I saw over 6,000 people had reviewed this one I figured it might be worth a shot. Well that and I saw the black bananas on the counter and with knowing the prices of food, didn't want to feel wasteful. So here it is. A truly delicious recipe. My kid ate 7 of them. I made mini one's mind you, but even for her that's a lot.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

Topping:

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 T. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 350*. 

Lightly grease the muffin pans, or line with papers and give a light spray.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a another bowl, mix mashed bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla, and melted butter.

Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Spoon batter into muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the 2 T. flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. 

Cut in the butter till mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes for regular muffins or 13 minutes for mini muffins.

Make sure to check with a toothpick, toothpick must come out clean.

An Amazing Chicken Pot Pie

Six months ago, I have never eaten Chicken Pot Pie. Can you believe that?

I just thought it must be gross, why even try it?

Then costco changed my mind lol!

As browse the yummy meats and prepared foods, they had a chicken pot pie sample.

It smelled amazing! I tasted it...after sending my mom back to fight for a sample.

It was so delicious. My wonderful mother bought one and we had it the next night for dinner. I don't think there were leftovers.

So after Thanksgiving I decided to make my own with leftover turkey. It was delicious, but not quite as good.

Tonight all of that changed. I made the most amazing chicken pot pie that I absolutely loved. 

I got the recipe off www.allrecipes.com, but I managed to make numerous changes that made it my own. You wouldn't think that pot pie would have so many variations but it does! Lots! This is mine and believe me...before its even popped in the oven, your mouth will be watering and your husband will make a couple appearances in the kitchen :)

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pound cubed chicken breasts, diced

1 c. sliced carrots

1 c. frozen peas

1/2 c-1 c. of potato, diced

1/2 c. sliced celery

1/2 c. butter

1/3 c. chopped onion

1/3 c. +2 T. flour

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1/2 t. celery seed

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. poultry seasoning

2 c. chicken stock

1 cup milk

 1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 425*

In a saucepan, combine carrots, peas, potatoes and celery. Add water to cover, and boil for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain, and pour into the bottom of pie or casserole dish.

Cook chicken over medium heat until cooked all the way through. 

Stir into veggie mixture in the casserole dish.

In a saucepan, over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, poultry seasoning, and garlic powder.

Slowly stir in the chicken broth and milk. 

Simmer over medium low heat until thick. 

Remove from heat and pour over chicken/veggie mixture. 

Cover with crust, cut small slits in top of crust and bake for 30-35 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, allow it to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

*You can make this with two pie crusts, if you do, just put a crust in the bottom of your dish and bake for 6 minutes, then remove from the oven and you can add the chicken and veggies, and continue on the recipe. I have double the sauce in the recipe, but it in turn has made it a deep dish pie or a deeper casserole dish. But use what your able to, and adjust the amounts if needed, or make it as I instructed and feel free to reserve some of the veggie, chicken and sauce to make as chicken and dumpling (and serve with biscuits instead of crust). Just multiple options. :)

I made my own pie crust.

Butter Flaky Pie Crust

1 1/4 c. flour

1/4. t. salt

1/2 c. flour, chilled and diced

1/4 c. ice water

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.

Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

Stir in the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 4 hours to overnight.

*I did have to use a little more than 1/4 cup of water...just make sure to add water a little at a time.

Hints from a working mother

The past couple nights I've been cooking dinner and meal multitasking.
I'll be the first to admit that I get lazy, a lot.
I have many nights that I don't feel like making anything, or just dread defrosting whatever meat may be called for in my latest recipe.
So last night as Nick was cutting up chicken for chicken tacos, and I had him cut up a couple extra breasts. All the extra effort to do that was taking 2 extra breasts out as the same time as the chicken for the tacos, and then like 5 minutes maybe to dice it up, along with the other chicken.
The results: Prep time was cut for dinner tonight: Chicken Pot Pie. I didn't have to dread cutting or cooking the chicken (I could have cooked it with the taco chicken before I added the taco sauce to it and saved even more time). Plus knowing that I had raw chicken in the fridge that would go bad if it stayed there too long was motivation enough to cook it right away tonight.

I'm constantly amazed at how easy it is to get two meals out of one dish, or even to take one step out of the next nights meals and encourage myself to cook instead of run out to grab something. This is a lesson I've tried to show my brother time and time again, as he complained that cooking for one was really hard. Yes, you may not want to eat meatloaf for a week the same way, but there are way to turn that meatloaf into other meals like spaghetti and meatballs, meatloaf sandwiches, Italian subs etc.

So here are some examples of way to make homemade easier for you:

Example #1: Spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad...great for one night..not so great over and over, so I'd have spaghetti and meatballs the first night, the next night (or skip a day so you don't get burned out, they'll keep), Meatball Subs- heat up the meatball and sauce (or add a little extra sauce) and serve them on toasted sub rolls with melted mozzarella cheese. Then have the salad with lunch and add a little turkey, cheese, or extra veggies like avacado if you like that, or even leftover taco meat from another dinner and tortilla chips.  You just got a lunch, and two dinners out of one meal, and that's not even counting if you ate the dinners as lunches or dinner as a repeat.

Example #2: I love breakfast for dinner..love it!! As a mom its a night of no whining and clean plates. Plus leftover pancakes, waffles or french toast for the morning. So the other night we had breakfast for dinner. We had eggs, hash browns, fruit salad, and french toast. There were leftovers (on purpose), so I was able to have french toast in the morning for Izzy, fruit salad to go in her lunch, and mix in for Nick's yogurt, and some for a small smoothie in the morning for me. Then eggs were used in fried rice, I had leftover rice from the day before that I just put in a pan with salt and pepper, soy sauce, the leftover egg, and a little cubed ham, and green onions. Then hash browns were combined with the leftover ham (that was used in the fried rice) and an au gratin sauce and that made a hash brown and ham casserole.

Are you getting my drift? This way you are able to make all your food and dinners stretch into lunches, breakfast or snacks, and sometimes into another dinner. In times where food prices soar, and laziness prevails, its nice to think of ways to make it all work but without much effort at the same time.

If you don't want to try this method...fine. Atleast make it easier on yourself and take steps out of tomorrow's meals, and do prep when you can the night before. Make bacon for breakfast and cook the whole package and use it on club or BLT sandwiches, or crumble it and put it in potato soup, or on potatoes with cheese. Cut up extra chicken so you don't have to worry about it later. Make your budget and creativity stretch and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I promise! This is a lesson I've seen my mother use, and I now actively enjoy. I actually enjoy it! Just try it when you make you meal list this week...I bet you'll throw away a lot less.

It must be potato week!

Yes, I realized that the last 3 posts have pretty much been about potatoes. I must have been craving them more than I thought. Even more surprisingly, no one in my family complained lol. But either way I have been able to get through a 10 pound bag of potatoes this month lol!

This recipe is for bacon scalloped potatoes. They are great with ham slices, or ham in the them instead of bacon. I made this this week with ham slices, and applesauce. The whole meal wasn't more than $10, and there were leftovers. The scalloped potatoes even hit the spot in the morning...think about it..its cheese, potatoes, and bacon. Yum! :)

Bacon Scalloped Potatoes

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. milk

3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 small onion

3 bacon strips, or package of bacon pieces

1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper, to taste.

In a greased 8x8 pan, layer the potatoes, onions, cheese, salt and pepper. Usually makes 2-3 layers. End with cheese on top.

In a saucepan, melt butter.

Stir in flour and salt until smooth. 

Gradally add milk.

Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Pour white sauce over top of potatoes.

Cover and bake at 350* for 65-75 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with bacon.

Finding Balance

January was a month of chaos in this house.

I went to work for the first time in 8 years. Can you believe it? I got a job doing housekeeping at a local hotel.
The job did NOT turn out like I thought. I thought housekeeping would be perfect for me. Its what the past 8 years have been about...cleaning my house, keeping things orderly. HOWEVER...when its someone elses blood on the sheet, and someone else's poop that you are looking at, and knowing that you have to get all the hair out of the bathroom or fail your room inspection...things take on a new view. To do housekeeping you have to wear a sort of veil over your mind...you cannot think deeply about what you are doing or what you are touching. You don't want to know whether that hair is from a balding man, or his nether regions. In the span of a week I had to pull poopy toilet paper that had been put in a toilet and basically filled it so that it couldn't be plunged, out with my hand in a glove and garbage bag...risking my health and lunch for $8.50 an hour. I cleaned hundreds of hairs out of countless bathrooms, found blood on a comforter, had to do a maintenance report for a clogged sink in which some trucker clogged trying to dump out his cup of chew, got a 5 CENT...yes cent...tip, cleaned ash trays over flowing with cigarette butts, the list could go on and on. The job was not for me. I worked my ass off when I was there, and collapsed when I got home. Making 15-20 beds a day was like doing endless squats..a great workout, but painful once you sat for more than 5 minutes. In the end I quit, childcare was difficult to find on weekends, my daughter wasn't handling it well, and I felt like I was a whiny baby every time I talked to my husband.

However I did come away with a whole new respect for housekeepers and what they do. The ladies who I worked with did it quickly efficiently and were strong people. I give them a huge amount of respect. I also came away with a new outlook on my husband's life. He works in a job he doesn't enjoy (would you like to be surrounded by murders and gang members everyday yelling horrible things at you? and threatening your safety?) I give him alot more credit and respect, especially when he says he's tired. I get that now.
Third...I am grateful for my life. The life I craved and almost grieved over while I was working. All I wanted to do was clean my house and cook and be there to take care of my family, and spend time with my friends and do my PTO things.

Now I am back at work, luckily its a schedule that matches my daughters. I'm subbing for classified teachers in the school district where I live. I seem to be able to have enough work that I could almost do it everyday. I know that I need to step it up. There are days that I'd rather be chatting at the school with my friend and PTO President Jacque as we do posters for PTO events, or helping plan out the school carnival, more than work. I know I need to step it up and work more and rarely turn down jobs. This job has longer hours but is much more fulfilling. It will challenge me in ways that I need to be challenged. It will allow me to grow and learn. I can't live in a bubble in my house, cleaning and cooking, and doing the same things over and over. I have a wonderful friend, a PTO board position that gives me many things to do and help out my daughter's school, and a job that allows me to learn and grow, which I enjoy. Its time to enrich my life.

Now don't think I won't be cooking or cleaning! HA! I'm currently looking for yummy Valentine's Day treats, spent the rest of my scrapbooking gift certificate from Christmas, getting some wonderful supplies to do some of my Grandma GoGo's photos, and still fighting the endless fight against dirty laundry and dishes. But now I do it with a smile on my face...well most of the time.

Sandwich Night: MM Sandwiches

Part of doing a blog is constantly scouring other people's blogs, and recipes to conform to your own needs and like. I however, have fallen deeply in love with The Pioneer Woman...her blog is amazing and has so many delicious meals and treats I'm constantly stealing them. This sandwich was one of those. I copied it, and the next day my mom had sent me a copy of it telling me how amazing it was. I knew I had to try it.

First let me tell you that YES cube steak is the must have ingredient in this. It truly makes the difference. Do NOT skip it, exchange it, change it! Just buy it! This is basically a philly cheesesteak sandwich, and if you have a boyfriend or husband or father in your life that you need to smoosh up to a bit..make this. They will love it! Serve it with fries, salad, potato salad, macaroni salad...whatever you love..but the sandwich will the be star. Next you must put the sauce on the roll. I skimped on my sauce and soon discovered my error. The sauce is truly delicious.


Now I'm not going to post the recipe because of course the amazing pioneer woman has explained and shown it perfectly. I couldn't even try to compete. But this sandwich is so yummy I have to post it here, so here's my pathetic photo (I really couldn't take the time to take a great photo of it because I was trying to shove the sandwich in my mouth so fast LOL).  Enjoy!

Here is the address to get yourself the sandwich recipe...hurry go do it! Get it on your meal list for this week!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/the-mm-sandwich-pw-style/

Slow Cooker: Cheesy Potato Soup

Ignore the pathetic roll, its from a previous post.

I've posted on this blog about potato soup before. I made my aunts which was truly amazing...I shouldn't say was..I mean is! But since I couldn't post that recipe, I've been testing out other potato soup recipes and I think I found one that's a winner.  Normally I despise any slow cooker recipe that requires me to cook before I put it in there, but truly cooking the bacon and onion just took about 7 minutes total. Its easy to do. Plus this recipe allows you to chop your onion, celery the night before to cut down on prep work in the morning.

Cheesy Potato Soup

4 slices of bacon

1 1/2 cup of chopped onion

5 cups diced, peeled russet potatoes

1 medium chopped celery stalk (1/2 c.)

1 carton (32oz) chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 c. or 8 oz of shredded cheddar cheese

Cook bacon over medium heat.

Remove from skillet, reserve fat in same skillet and cook chopped onion in the bacon fat over medium heat for 4-5 minutes till tender.

Spray the slow cooker with cooking spray. 

In the slow cooker, mix cooked onion, potatoes, celery, chicken broth, and salt and pepper.

Cover and cook for 6-7 hours on low.

In a small bowl, beat flour and half and half with a whisk, stir into soup.

Increase the heat to high.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Stir in cheese, crumble bacon. Serve.

*Tips/ Adjustments: I always like to put a little sliced green onions on top. I also crumbled the bacon and put it in when I added the flour/half and half mixture. Also everything can be adjust to your personal tastes. I used about 1/2-1 cup of onion instead of the full cup and a half. Make the recipe your own.