Chicken Parm is the new Spaghetti

A long time ago I started making baked spaghetti.  My kids loved it, and it became one of those meals you could make in your sleep.  It's entirely possible that I did make it in my sleep a time or two.  And it is so fast, I could make it start to table in 25 mins.  We ate it about 3 times a month, and for a while, my kids took the leftovers to school in their lunches.

I posted the recipe here.

When we needed a little break from baked spaghetti, I wanted to replace it in our dinner rotation with something equally as quick and easy to make.  The kids kept suggesting Chicken Parmesan so I've been making something that the kids all eat and is still ready in a flash.  Because ready or not, baseball season is here.

Ingredients:
1 pkg frozen chicken patties
1 regular jar Prego Traditional
1 sm can tomato sauce
2 small zuchinni sliced
2 c mozzarella cheese, grated
dried oregano, basil, and minced onion to taste
salt, garlic powder to taste

Because this recipe is designed for "fast" and "brainless activity" I buy it all canned, jarred, pre-packaged, and frozen.  Sorry.  Don't judge. And feel free to do what works for you.

1. Lay out the frozen chicken patties like this:

(That small pan?  That's what Bubba eats. All by himself.)

2.  Heat the spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce in a medium sauce pan.  Add the desired amount of spices.

3. When the sauce is all bubbly and warm, pour it over the chicken patties.  Layer the zucchini slices over the sauce and top with cheese.  I probably use a bit less than 2 c. of cheese.  Just add as much as you like.

(I haven't added the cheese to Bubba's yet.)

4.  Bake at 350° for 40 mins our until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.  We serve with a salad and a side of noodles.  This meal is probably 45 mins start to table.

What is your favorite, go-to, it's baseball night, mom has a headache, crowd pleasing recipe?

New Mexican Breakfast

One of the things that Prayer Group has done over the years is exchange recipes.  A few years we actually brought recipes straight out of our recipe boxes.  But most years, as we've taken turns hosting, we just end up sharing how to make what we serve, and the guests go home with several new dishes to try.

I have a recipe that I got from one of the girls way back at our very first PGR. It is for Green Enchiladas, and it is wonderful!  I'll have to share it some time.

Several years later at another PGR, one of the girls made an adaptation of the Green Enchilada recipe and served it for breakfast.  And it was yum!

The original recipe involves actually filling and rolling enchiladas.  It's a process that I find particularly tedious, and as with most things in my life, 'lazy' trumps 'taste'.  So, I set out to turn the breakfast recipe into a breakfast casserole recipe.  And, it was a smashing success if I do say so myself.

I'm calling it New Mexican Breakfast, because I use our New Mexico green chili.  But it has Velveeta in it, so there is a nod to Texas in there as well.  Tonight we're serving it with biscuits and hash browns.

New Mexican Breakfast

8-10 corn tortillas
10-12 eggs, scrambled
1 lb. breakfast sausage, browned and drained
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/2 lb. Velveeta
1 sm can green chopped green chilis
4 tbsp. flour
2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with 1 layer of corn tortillas.  Brown and drain sausage and set sausage to the side.  Using the pan the sausage was cooked in, scramble the eggs.  Get them done, but leave them a little softer than normal, and layer eggs over the tortillas.  Put a second layer of tortillas on top of the eggs.  Melt butter in a large sauce pan.  Add Velveeta, chili, milk, and flour and warm until melted and combined.  Add sausage to sauce and warm.  Pour sauce over tortilla and egg layers.  Bake at 20-30 mins or until all bubbly.  Let sit 3-5 minutes before serving.

2 Legit 2 Quit

Normally, I'm not one to spend much time in the kitchen.  I do what I have to do to feed my family, but beyond that, I don't look for reasons to be there.

Except when it's fall.  Or winter.  Or any holiday that happens in the months of October through January.

I love to bake during the holiday season.  I love to eat it right out of the oven while it's still warm.  I love how it makes the house smell.

If I cooked like this all the time, I would weigh 400 pounds.  It's probably good that the bug only hits me 4 months out of the year.

Last year I tried a recipe that a friend of mine posted on Facebook.  It was delish, and it has replaced a couple of my old favorites.  There's no need to bake just banana nut bread or plain old pumpkin bread when you can whip up

Krista's Pumpkin Banana Bread

1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
2 large ripe bananas
3/4 c. solid pack pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla (that's just a guideline, I usually drop in a bit more)
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking  soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)
 *Krista adds a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar to the top of mixture right before baking. I can vouch for that...it's a good thing!
** I add 2 tsp. cinnamon to the dry ingredients before mixing.  Because we like cinnamon at our house.

Mix sugar & shortening.  Beat in eggs, mashed bananas, pumpkin, vanilla & mix well.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, (**cinnamon), and nuts.  Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well.  Spoon batter into 2 greased 9x5 loaf pans.  (*Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture) Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.  Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!

This recipe might be my husband's love language.

Thanks Krista for letting me share your recipe.   

I'm posting my November thankfulness on Instagram this year.  I'm joining the girls at eighteen25 for the #novemberthankful project.   I love this idea! It's not too late to get started...just take a few extra pictures for a couple of days til you get caught up.

On Instagram, I'm talkinghairdryer if you want to follow my pics.

 Happy Monday!

This is elementary for most of you, but just give me a minute to catch up...

When I left home, I wasn't exactly what you would call a Martha Stewart. I thought I was a bona fide cook the first time Honey came to visit for the weekend and I made him Hamburger Helper.

It wasn't my mom's fault.  She tried to teach me.  I just wasn't ever in the mood to learn.  The consequence of my teenage apathy, is that I've spent the first 15 years (and counting) of my married life learning.  Bless my husband's heart.

My family is growing...in size, not in quantity...I'm a bit out of my element when it comes to cooking for 5-ish adults.

But, I'm adapting.

I'm loving my freezer(s) right now.  I have three, and I'm slowly learning how to use them to their fullest benefit to make my life easier.  They are even kind of organized.

The house fridge has all of our convenience food...Eggos, and sausage patties, and frozen veggies, and rolls.  And ice packs, OH. MY GOODNESS at the ice packs. 

The smaller garage freezer has all of the leftovers that are waiting to be used. 

The larger standing freezer has uncooked meats, our New Mexico green chili, and any frozen dinners that are waiting for us to eat or give away.

And then there's stuff that doesn't really fit in to any of those categories that is just stuck in wherever there is space.

(By the way, our large freezer is in serious need of a defrosting.  Just sayin')

Here's why I'm loving my freezer(s) right now:

1)This week, I cooked a pot of Texas Chili.  We only eat about half of it at one meal, so I freeze it in individual servings for me or the kids to eat for lunch a couple of times over the next few weeks.  I do this with many of my soup-ish or casserole-ish recipes.  We don't get sick of eating the same thing leftover 4 meals in a row, and I can't remember the last time I bought a Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine.

If the kids are having it for lunch, I usually put it in the fridge overnight to defrost.  We use these containers in their lunchboxes and they warm it up using microwaves in their school cafeterias.

2)Last week, I cooked a huge ham.  (that I bought on sale and stuck in the freezer several months ago)  We ate it for dinner one night and the kids had sandwiches, but there was still a TON left over.  I chopped it up and froze it in 2 cup portions to use for quiche, baked potatoes, or pulled pork sandwiches later this month.

I also do this with ground meat. 

(My habit lately has been to use 2 lbs of ground beef and 2 lbs ground turkey.  You get the beef flavor and the healthier turkey all at once.  Last night I was out of turkey so I just used beef.  Mary TuTu noticed the difference right off and said, "I like this chunky meat mom!") 

While I'm browning 1 lb of meat, I might as well brown 4 lbs.  Then I divide it in to 4 parts, use one part for dinner and freeze the other 3 parts.

My MIL suggested doing it with pinto beans.  I make a huge pot (about 4 cups of dried beans is about all my crock pot will hold), and freeze in 1 heaping cup with juices servings.  Then when a recipe calls for a can of pinto beans, I use a bag of those. 

To defrost, I just put the sealed bag in a sink of hot water for about 10 minutes and whatever is in there is usually soft enough to remove from the bag easily.  I normally use these freezer bags. 

-Green Chili Enchiladas are on our list of options pretty often, but we hardly ever actually cook them.  Why?  Because Green Chili Enchiladas are one of Honey's specialties and he doesn't always make it home from work in time to cook supper. 

A few weeks ago, Honey did actually make the enchiladas.  I asked him to make a double batch of the green chili sauce and we froze half of it for later.  Guess what we're having for dinner tonight?  All I have to do is defrost the sauce, layer it in the casserole dish with the corn tortillas and cheese and bake for 30 mins.

Now it's your turn.  Help an apathetic teenage girl out and tell me why you are loving your freezer these days.  And where do you put all the stuff in the freezer while you defrost it?!

Ten-ish Things: The Olympics

Like the rest of the world, we loved watching the Olympics.  Just about every evening whether we were at home, in Branson, at a friend's house, or out to eat, we watched...at least a little bit.

About the time the Opening Ceremonies happened, I was CRAVING some family time.  Our summer had been CRA-ZAY, and I needed ALL of my chickens back in the nest AT THE SAME TIME.  When I'm feeling that way, my method of operation is to create an event at home and invite only the five people that live in my house.

So we had an opening ceremonies viewing party.  The girls made decorations:

Can you tell which team we loved?

About 2 days before I decided to make something British for supper in honor of the host country.  The food they eat is pretty similar to the food we eat, so I thought it would be easy to find a recipe with common ingredients and familiar techniques. 

I tossed the idea around Facebook of making a chicken pot pie and calling it "Shepherds Pie" but was quickly corrected.  (I was enlightened, though, about a simple way to make Shepherds Pie...I think I might try it soon.)

I really wanted to use the rotisserie chicken I had in the fridge and I didn't want to buy too many special ingredients.  I asked the Google and I found a recipe for a Shooter Sandwich.  I ended up not following the recipe very much at all, but I liked the idea behind it, and it was something different, so...

Shooter-ish Sandwich

1 french loaf (whole, not sliced)
1/2 rotisserie chicken
1 pkg. frozen onions and peppers
4 slices any type cheese (we have used colby jack or swiss)

Warm chicken in oven.  Cut bread loaf through the middle and open sub sandwich style so that you have one huge sandwich.  Pick out the soft middle parts of the bread leaving just the crust (sort of like two long, shallow bread bowls).  Cook the onions and peppers in a skillet until desired tenderness.  When chicken is warm, de-bone and fill the bottom part of the sandwich with meat.  Next layer onions and peppers on top of chicken, and finally layer slices of cheese.  Replace the top half of the bread and wrap tightly in foil.  Heat at 250° for 20-ish minutes.  Remove from oven and slice for individual servings.  Serve warm with your favorite summer vegetable, or chips, or even a light soup in the winter. 

One loaf feeds our family of 5, with a couple of slices left over.

I've made it a couple of times since the Olympics and the last time I made it, I bought a whole chicken at the store and cooked it in the crock pot instead of buying a rotisserie chicken.  I think this would be a great way to use any kind of leftover meat...brisket, ham, roast, etc.

It wasn't very British, but it was fun to try something new. 

We spent 3 weeks staying up way too late cheering for Team USA.  Mary Tutu was really impressed with gymnastics.  When we are at the pool, all of the kids do the Phelps arm stretch before they jump in.  And now that Bubba has participated in a track meet, he was pretty interested in the Track and Field events.  I'm trying to convince the girls that they should go for synchronized swimming or diving since they are so similar in looks, size, shape, and mannerisms, but they aren't interested.

At least the kids got to sleep in after staying up past bed time.  The closing ceremonies were just in time for us to start the go to bed early/wake up early practice schedule.  We'll see how that went Monday morning when we do it for real.

Family time watching the Olympics...love!

New recipes that EVERYONE in the family will eat...love!

Share your kitchen successes!  What new recipes have you tried lately?

Ten-ish Things: New Recipe

It's been a wonderful, busy, full summer!  But it's winding down and school will arrive in Texas in a little less than 2 weeks.

To celebrate Summer 2012 (and to catch up the poor, neglected blog) I'm going to attempt to blog my top 10-ish favorite things about this summer.  (The ones I haven't blogged yet.)  (In no particular order.)

Tomato, Corn, & Black Bean Salad

Summer always brings out the health nut in me.  It probably has a lot to do with all the shorts and bathing suits and sun dresses.  I liked a page on Facebook, 100 Days of Real Food, hoping to find some healthy, quick, easy recipes to spice up our summer menu.  That page is also linked to a blog by the same name, and if you can get past all the organic, additives are bad, anti-hormone, red dye #67 is the devil, it does deliver some good recipes.

(I'm just a busy, West Texas mom, chasing/entertaining 3 kids, and I'm tired of Sonic chicken strips. I don't want to change the world, I just want to make it to softball practice on time.)

So this weekend Honey wanted to grill some steaks and I tried a new side dish.  I started with 100 Days recipe for Tomato, Corn, & Black Bean Salad .  I followed it almost exactly like it was printed.

For the first time ever(!) I bought fresh corn on the cob.  It was so sweet and yummy!  I'm definitely gonna get my hands on some more soon!

Also for the first time ever (!) I bought fresh basil leaves.  Oh yes I did.

And black beans.  Because we eat pinto beans all the time, but black beans, not so much.

I omitted the red onion because none of us are fans.  I used garlic powder instead of garlic cloves. 

I added about 6 oz. of whole grain rotini.  Because I added pasta, I used a bit more oil than the recipe called for.

It was yummo!

I saved the leftovers and added some chicken to it the next day for lunch.  I like it best as a cold salad.

So to wrap up:
3 ears corn, boiled for 3 mins if purchased at the grocery store
2 cups black beans, cooked & drained (and rinsed if canned)
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 c. fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Cut the corn off of the cob and gently mix with beans, tomatoes, and pasta in a large bowl.  In a small bowl whisk together the basil, vinegar, oil, and seasonings.  Pour over salad mixture and gently blend together.

I think next time I'll use a bit more corn and a bit less black beans to make my family (Mary TuTu) a bit happier to eat it.

What new recipes have you tried this summer?

Yum!

Last night Honey and I made Gina's Chicken Divan for supper. It was really good. Everyone ate it.

Everyone.

All five of us.

Seriously.

We made it just like Gina said to make it. Well almost. I used dried minced onions instead of shallots, because Momma don't use real onions when she cooks.

We also used garlic powder instead of crushed garlic cloves, because Momma don't use fresh garlic cloves when she cooks.

We also left out the sherry/wine because, well, Momma don't keep alcohol in the house.

But other than that, we made it just like Gina. And it was good. You should try it.

Something borrowed, something new

My husband loves a good meal that includes pork. So, when I was searching the internets for a new recipe or two, this one caught my eye. It seemed easy, and the ingredients were simple enough that I would be likely to cook it.

We had Gina's Kalua Pork . The recipe on Gina's website is really only directions on how to purchase, prepare, and cook the pork roast in the crock pot. I couldn't find the exact cut of meat that Gina suggested, but I did find a shoulder cut the same size she suggested.

I prepared the roast exactly like Gina suggested, but I cooked it in my newer, cooks pretty warm crock pot for much less time. I started it at about 7:30 in the morning on high, and then about 10:30 when I noticed it had quite a bit of liquid and boiling on the edges, I turned it down to low. It was cooked and tender enough to shred at 4:00, so I turned it down to warm until about 5:30 when we were ready to eat.

To serve the pork, I just copied Gina's picture. I bought whatever kind of lettuce that has the big green leaves...similar to Romaine, but softer. I also made some brown fried rice. I cooked the rice according to the directions. In a pan I cooked some zucchini, frozen peas, and frozen corn in sesame oil. When the veggies were soft, I put in some drained pineapple tidbits and warmed them.

Then I added the rice, some salt, pepper, garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp pineapple juice, and warmed it all in the pan until it looked done. See how scientific I am?

So, we made wraps with the rice and pork wrapped in the lettuce and fresh fruit on the side.

It was good. Everyone said they would eat it again. The pork was yummy.

Honey and I thought I needed to get a little better at seasoning the rice. It really needed a bit more soy sauce, salt, and ginger. I was afraid to over salt because I didn't know how the pork and soy sauce would be. I didn't add any ginger even though I'm pretty sure you put that in fried rice.

I made the box directions for 6 servings of rice and added 2 cups of cut up veggies and 1 small can of pineapple. Next time I'll just make enough rice for 4 servings. Each wrap only ends up using about 1/8 cup cooked rice. We had tons left over.

It was a good balanced meal for Brooke, and the rest of us, but having a little bit of everything at meal time really helps Brooke's sugar. She had protein, fat, carbs, and veggies.

Have you tried a new recipe recently? I would love to hear about it.

**Edited to add a sideways picture (Blogger?... hello?) of the leftovers I had for lunch today. The kids opted for a sandwich on a roll without the rice. Although, my carb loving Mary Tutu tried asking for a roll and rice:)**

For the "cook" at your house

I'm easing back in to this stay at home thing. Honey said he felt bad for messing with my routine by scheduling Bubba to have dental work done and as a result being home all day my first day of no working. I told him it was fine. I don't remember what my routine used to be anyway. And to prove it, I've been to Walmart every day this week.

I may not remember what my routine was, but I know FOR SURE it was not going to Walmart every day.

I'm sounding a bit dramatic, aren't I. It's not like I worked for 20 years and now I'm retired. It was just two months. Here's the deal. It would be one thing if I said, "Hey family! I'm going back to work full time, and because of that our lives are going to change just a little bit. You're gonna have to pull your weight around here and pitch in a little."

Instead I said, "Hey family! I'm gonna do this thing for 8 weeks and we're gonna do all the extra stuff we always do, and the expectations I have about you helping around the house will actually probably go down because I just won't have the energy at the end of the day to be the chore supervisor or the rule enforcer. We'll be lucky to get your homework done. But it's OK, because it's only for 8 weeks. Anything that we don't get to, we'll just put on hold and I'll do it in May."

You reap what you sow. And I think I'll be spending the next few weeks digging out from under all the stuff we put off until May. Yesterday I started a list...it ain't pretty. I might not finish my May to-do list until August.

On the bright side, I had some time open up on my schedule. While I was at Walmart I bought enough groceries to get us well in to next week. So, the time I would have spent going to Walmart, I can spend doing...whatever the next thing is on my list.

See? Jenni got her groove back.

My family loves salad in the summer. Tonight Bubba and Honey had baseball practice so I threw together one of our family favorites. We copied it from one of our favorite local resturants. There it's called Caribbean Way Salad.

1 bag lettuce

8 slices precooked bacon, warmed according to directions & chopped

1 package pregrilled chicken, cold

1 cup (or so)grated cheese

1 small can mandarin oranges, well drained

1 small can pineapple tidbits, well drained

1 tomato, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped

Throw it all together and you've got a salad.

This is after the girls and I ate. In the past we've used various other meats like ham, turkey, or sandwich meat, whatever is leftover. The salad at the resturant is served with slices of avacado. Don't put the fruit in until you are ready to eat. I think it might be impossible to get all the juice out of it and not make the salad slushy if it sits for very long. We like ranch or thousand island dressing.

Here's to being back home.

Taco Soup

Today is my day. I'm reading and scrapbooking all day long...or at least until the kids get home. My favorite dish to make on Me Days is taco soup. It's yummy, it involves the crock pot, and I could put it together in my sleep.

Everyone has a recipe for taco soup, so this isn't an original thought, but it's a recipe that changed my cooking life.

I remember the first time I ever ate Taco Soup. It was in college, and I'd brought my roommates home for the dead day weekend to "study for finals". It was cold and Christmas was right around the corner, so we were wearing our over sized flannel shirts with leggings, and thick comfy socks. We arrived at the house around dinner time and Mom served Taco Soup. And I'm pretty sure we ate on that pot of soup all weekend. And when it was time to go home, we all sat around the bar in the kitchen and carefully copied down Mom's recipe. And I'm pretty sure we're all still eating it (or at least our own little version of it) today.

Here's how I make Taco Soup:

1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, sausage all work great)
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can pinto beans
1 can Ranch Style beans
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
1 sm pkg Ranch dressing mix
(optional) 1 sm can diced black olives

Brown meat and season it to taste. Dump meat, all cans with juice, and package seasonings into crock pot. I usually throw in a can of water because the juices from the cans doesn't look like enough liquid to me. Cook on low all day long and forget about it. When your stomach starts to growl serve with grated cheese sprinkled on top and some good, sturdy, great for dipping corn chips on the side.

Good Food

It's fall, y'all! Here's what I'm making for dinner tonight. I need something quick and easy to end the day of grocery shopping. BUT...there will be several crock pot meals at our house this week!

Happy October!

An oldie, but a goodie...part of a post originally published December 5, 2007



I love this recipe because if I buy all the right package sizes, the ingredients are already measured and prepared. All I have to do is throw them together, all in one pot. Making the clean up easy schmeasy. Honey and the kids LUV it, it's oh so easy, and it goes a little somethin' like this;

1 lb. ground meat (we use ground turkey, but it would be great with beef or sausage)

1 1lb,10 oz jar Prego spaghetti sauce (we use traditional flavored because we're crazy like that)

1 sm can tomato sauce

6 oz. uncooked whole wheat spaghetti

2 c grated mozzarella cheese

to taste: garlic, dried diced onions, oregano, basil

Cook spahgetti in large sauce pan, drain, and set aside. Using the same pan, brown and drain the meat. Add Prego sauce, tomato sauce, noodles, and 1/2 of the cheese. Add seasonings. Stand at the stove and stir the sauce until the cheese is melted. Try a taste just to make sure the flavor is good and imagine you are a fiesty Italian mama that makes her own sauce from scratch. When your Italian alter ego is satisfied with the taste, pour in a 9 x 13 casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 mins or until bubbly. Have Honey pick up some Fazoli's bread sticks on the way home. Serve warm and enjoy!

Monkey Buns

This is what the people in my house looked like when the alarm went off this morning . . .

The second day of school isn't quite as exciting as the first one . . . some of the new has worn off. It doesn't take long does it?

It's been documented that our family loves us some Monkey Bread. This summer, Honey created a faster, less labor intensive way to make our beloved breakfast. It's perfect for those rushed school or church mornings when you need something with a little more pep than a boring old bowl of cereal.

We call them Monkey Buns . . .

Start with 2 cans of biscuits.

Break each biscuit into 4 parts and drop in a greased muffin pan. We usually put 2 biscuits (or 8 parts) in each muffin cup.

Melt 1 stick of butter (for best results) or 5 tbsp if you want less goo, and combine with some cinnamon and sugar and around 1 packed tbsp brown sugar. To really sweeten it up, throw in 1/2 tbsp of Karo syrup. If you wanted, you could throw in some chopped pecans, too.

Spoon the mixture evenly into each muffin cup. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with a side of your favorite fruit or yogurt.

By the end of breakfast, everyone was pretty much ready for the second day of school . . . pretty much.

Some Summer Crack

We all are self proclaimed Monkey Bread experts. We been makin' it for years and years. And it is good.

I've blogged about our family recipe. I've blogged about Aunt L's recipe.

A few weeks ago I found this new and improved recipe. I made it for a breakfast treat yesterday morning. And we all said it was good.

Try it.

Food and a Confession (of sorts)

I'm just going to get the confession out of the way right now. I can't stand the guilt any longer. It's giving me writers' block.

I've had this post in my head for months. It's one of those not-so-earth-shattering bits of knowledge that I think it'd be fun to share, so I've filed it away in my head to put out there when I can't think of anything better. And guess what? I can't think of anything better. So here it is.

Wow! That felt great. Confession really is cleansing.

This time of year I measure my days in dirt . . . meaning, how much dirt is blowing around in the air. Yesterday was a good day. The wind was blowing, but not hard enough to blow the dirt from the next county over in my back door. So, we fired up the grill.

We haven't grilled in a while, it being winter and all, but it's one of my favorite ways to cook. Probably because I don't really do the cooking when we grill. That's totally Honey's domain. I don't even know how to turn it on.

But since I like grilling so much, I look for ways to cook other stuff on the grill besides meat. Because what could be better than a whole entire meal cooked on the grill and not in my kitchen?

Last summer I was just beginning my little weight loss venture, and I happened upon a recipe for grilling corn on the cob. I didn't really like the ingredients it suggested, but it did spark a tiny bit of creativity in my little head and I tried my version of the grilled corn on the cob.

And I'm going to share it with you, today, in honor of the unofficial beginning of grilling season.

*Disclaimer* Remember, it's not earth shattering, so there is a significant chance that I'm not the first one to suggest this as an acceptable way to grill corn.

You'll need some foil, some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, and some Ranch dressing mix. I use Hidden Valley because they are the originators of ranch dressing. Oh, and some corn, which is not pictured here because I didn't think about taking pictures until our corn was actually cooking. We use the smaller sized corn on the cob (about 3 inches). Ours is almost always frozen because I never plan far enough ahead to defrost it before we're ready to cook it.

Tear a piece of foil large enough to wrap up 1 piece of corn. On the foil, spray 3-5 sprays of butter, and sprinkle a bit of ranch seasoning. Roll the corn in the butter/seasonings, and then wrap.

Grill for about 20 minutes if corn is still frozen when you start, less if yours is thawed.

Unwrap and serve with whatever meat dish you're having. It's so yummy and easy!

Breakfast of Champions

It's starting to get a little warmer here in West Texas. Even though it's like 50 degrees as I'm typing, it's supposed to reach 85 degrees by this afternoon. It's still really cool at night and in the mornings, but the afternoons are nice, if the wind's not blowing. I think that's called Spring, y'all.

Since it's been warmer, I've been craving milk shakes. Particularly one from here. Because they are really, really good.

But, alas, milk shakes are not practical for my little weight loss venture. So I started searching the Weight Watchers sight for smoothie recipes. I found one named Chocolate Covered Strawberries. It sounded wonderful, but when I went shopping for the ingredients, I could only find two of them: ice and strawberries. Oh, and milk. So I improvised. And here is what I came up with.

Jenni's Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie
1 serving; 2.5 pts per serving

Gather these ingredients:

1 blender

6 oz. ice

1/3 c. skim milk

6 oz. WW Boston Creme Pie yogurt

6 med strawberries, hulled

2 tbsp Ovaltine

(If you want, you can substitute vanilla yogurt. It still tastes great, but if it's not WW brand, you'll have to refigure the points.)

Dump it all in the blender. I like putting in the ice first so it gets good and . . . blended. I also use the liquefy setting (the highest setting I have) because I don't like ice chunks. It ruins the effect I'm trying to achieve which is "milk shake" and the chunks get my straw all stopped up.

Pour it in a large glass. I chilled mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes because that's how they do it at the old fashioned ice cream parlors. The recipe makes about 14 oz. which was the perfect size for my breakfast this morning.

A New Favorite

Over the Thanksgiving holidays. . . I know, it's been a while . . . I was reading one of my favorite magazines All You. Try to get past the title and see that it's cheap and inside it has great tips and advice for all things woman. And not the supermodel, airbrushed, perfect homemaker, supermom woman. These pages have little tidbits of golden advice for the everyday, I have no time, I'm a few lbs overweight, but I still like to look pretty girl like you and me. And just so you know, All You isn't paying me a penny for all this love. I'm just doing it out of the goodness of my heart.

ANYWAY, over the Thanksgiving holidays I came across this recipe for chicken strips. The recipe is very simple and quick and easy on the Points. My family loves it and I've added it to our dinner menu because an entree that all 6 of us will eat just doesn't come along every day.

Crunchy Chicken Strips from All You
Serving: 2 strips Serves: 4
per serving: 192 cal., 1 g fat, 1 g fiber

1.25 lb boneless skinless chicken strips
1 egg white beaten
2 1/2 c corn flakes
1 tsp seasoning (the recipe suggests poultry seasoning, but I can't stand that stuff, so I use something bbq flavored.)

Toss strips with egg white. Place cornflakes and seasoning in food processor and blend into crumbs. Dredge chicken in crumbs, shake off excess and place on baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray. Spray chicken lightly with cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through.

We had this last night and every person in my house cleaned their plate without complaining. It was a Valentine miracle.

Do you like my fine china? I'm just keepin' it real girls. That's the way we roll around here.

Chocolate: The Tie that Binds

You may be feeling a little unsettled today as you wake up and watch the morning news. Or, maybe you're elated. Whatever the mood, chocolate is always the answer, am I right, girls?

So, President-elect Obama, if you want to bridge that gap between Deomcrats and Republicans, may I suggest chocolate?

Chocolate Pie

1 Oreo cookie pie crust
8 oz. Cool Whip Free
1 cup skim milk
1 sm package ff, sf chocolate pudding mix

In a large bowl, combine milk and pudding mix. Add Cool Whip and mix well. Pour contents into pie crust and chill 2-3 hours. Serve cold and enjoy.

Serves: 8
Points: just ask and I'll share

Bloggy Book Games and Food

The next leg of Bloggy Book Games 2008 is underway. Skizzer is en route to Tamara's place, Variety is the Spice of Life. I'll post giveaway details when they come available. If you're curious about what's going on with the game, check my sidebar for the latest...



In other news, it was pay day here, so I did some menu planning. Instead of sharing my whole entire list of options, I thought I'd share a few recipes that we'll be eating for dinner some time over the next 2 weeks. I'm even going to include the nutirtional information for each recipe, for those of you that care.



Chicken Salad
7 servings, 1/2 c. each
174 calories, 7 g fat, 1 g fiber per serving

2 2/3 c. shredded boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 c. fat free Miracle Whip
1/2 c. pineapple tidbits, drained
1/2 c. grapes, halved
1/3 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. reduced fat shredded cheese
2 tsp. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients. Chill and serve with your favorite bread as a sandwich or alone with a side of fruit.





Green Chicken Enchiladas
12 enchiladas
222 calories, 9 g fat, 1 g fiber per item

12 Mission corn tortillas
24-36 tbsp shredded, boneless, skinless chicken breast
12 tbsp reduced fat shredded cheese
8 oz. Velveeta Light
2 c. skim milk
4 tbsp flour
4 oz. green chili
4 tbsp light butter

In 1 tortilla, place 2-3 tbsp chicken and 1 tbsp cheese. Roll and place in baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and milk until clumps are gone. In a medium sauce pan, over medium heat, combine milk/flour mixture, Velveeta, chili, and butter until melted and warm. Pour over enchiladas. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 min or until bubbly.


Chicken Pile On (I've posted this one before, but it's really easy and really good.)
9 servings, 2/3 c. each
157 cal, 2 g fat, 6 g fiber per serving

2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Mexican corn
1 can pinto beans
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can green chili
2 cans chicken broth (you can use fat free chicken broth, but it doesn't change the WW pts value)

Place frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot. Pour remaining ingriedents over chicken. Add water if desired. Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours. Shred chicken once it's done. Serve as a soup or as a topping for nachos. It tastes wonderful with a few tortilla chips and some cheese sprinkled on top. (Just be sure to add the pts for the chips and cheese if you're a WW girl.)

Have a great weekend!

Good Times

A few weeks ago, we had a house full of children for the dinner hour. Our three were here, and we had 2 extras for the evening. And of course our 4th child would be dinning with us also. I needed something to offer that was kid friendly, crowd pleasing, speedy quick (because it was church night), and easy clean up (because I'm lazy). Here's what we came up with. A little something my mom forwarded to me in an e-mail. I'm not sure who thought up this idea, but it's a keeper. And now I'm passing it on to you. My bloggy friends. Because I love you. And because I've been neglecting you for a few weeks and this is my feeble effort at making nice.

We made omelets! In record time, I might add. The whole thing, cooking for 8, eating, and clean up, only took about 45 mins. Here's what we did:

You'll need to gather these ingredients:

quart (for 1 egg omelet) or gallon (for 2 egg omelet) sized freezer bags; sharpie; eggs; and omelet fillings

(we chose to use ham, cheese, and green chili for the grown ups)

This is a picture of the cooking staff that night.

You'll also notice the various freezer bags on the bar. Before we started cooking, everyone got a bag with their name on it. That way we knew for sure that each person got the omelet they'd prepared.

Once the bags were labeled, we let the kids add the ingredients they wanted to theirs. Here's H. putting some ham in his. His technique was his very own. He preferred the "one-bite-in-the-bag-one-bite-in-the-mouth" technique.

Here's Bruiser and Mary TuTu filling their bags. This is the "kid friendly" part, by the way.

After adding the ingredients, we added the eggs. Just cracked them right in the bag. We sealed them up and let the kids shake till their hearts content. When the omelet was thoroughly mixed, this is what it looked like.

Then we placed them all in pots of boiling water, and set the timer for 13 mins. Here's a shot of our omelets cooking. This is the "speedy quick" part. Cooking all 8 omelets at the same time in 13 mins.


Here's an after shot of mine all nice and warm and ready to eat.

Now the only thing left is remove the omelet from the bag and eat! I have to admit that we had some interesting shaped omelets. The "easy clean up" included tossing the paper plates and pouring out the hot water. We did stick our silverware and drinking glasses in the dish washer.

And here's the "crowd pleasing" part. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

If they're eatin' it, they're likin' it. I give you "crowd pleasing".









We've tried this a couple of times since then and we still love it. Here are some helpful hints though:

Don't use more than 2 eggs. I'm not sure why, but that's what the e-mail I got said. And I always trust what I get in the e-mail.

I only eat a 1 egg omelet. The first time, I ate 2 eggs, and I got so full. So the next time we did it I just used 1 egg for myself and it was pu-lenty.

Do you have any more kid friendly, crowd pleasing, speedy quick, easy clean up recipes? I'd love to hear about them.

Something to be thankful for

Well, we're headed home to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Greats and Uncle Bubba tomorrow. Uncle Bubba works at a restaurant and has to be there all day. So, instead of cooking for hours and hours, we're loading up the family and heading to the restaurant for our holiday dinner. We'll get to eat with Uncle Bubba AND skip the crazy prep and loooong clean up. When they pitched this idea to me, I immediately replied, "I'm totally in."

So, as to not totally abandon the feeling of a homemade holiday dinner, Mom and I decided to make a brunch for the relatives to eat while we wait for our 2:00 reservation.

I've been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's recipe for cinnamon rolls, but needed an excuse to bake something completely from scratch. Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I finally tried it. And they are heavenly! Ree's really outdone herself on this recipe. Oh, and if you're curious, these would probably be really good, too, since they are made from the same dough.

If you find yourself snowed in this holiday season, making these cinnamon rolls would definitely be a fabulous way to pass the time indoors.

In other cooking news, I also made a pecan pie. This is newsworthy because pecan pie is Honey's favorite, and until about a week ago, I'd never in almost 10 years of marriage made him one. I always thought they were too hard. But when I saw Big Mama's tutorial and recipe for pecan pie, I decided it didn't look so hard after all. Honey was so excited when I presented him with his very own pecan pie. He loved it and said it was the best one he'd ever eaten. His happiness was only slightly dulled when he saw on Biggest Loser that pecan pie has the most calories per slice, beating out pumpkin, cherry, and banana cream.

So, there you go, my Thanksgiving meal contributions. We'll have a wonderful time. I hope yours is great, too!