Second Time Around

Who's ready for a flashback? This week is crazy, with a change to my hours, the Taste of Home Cooking show is in town and I'm starting a new 10k training program. Since I have quite a few new Facebook followers (thanks to SITS Girls!), I thought I'd highlight some of the posts that got me to where I am today.

Ode to Crockpots

Keeping Up with the Joneses

And the one that started it all...

Domesticity

I appreciate everyone who takes time out of their busy (and probably more domestic) lives to read my blog and hope to have some new food posts very soon. That is, as soon as dinner stops coming from a box.

Melodie says "Thanks for stopping by. Wanna snuggle?"

Food, er, Saturday

This week passed in a blur. Most of the time I was asleep. Melodie went to the vet and we learned she has a heart murmur. Dealt with cranky people. Am constantly hungry. This post is already late and I don't know what to write. I'll just get to the good part.

Mac & Cheese

 Tried a new, slightly healthier version of mac and cheese. Also, used whole grain pasta which was surprisingly tasty. Even more surprising was the fact that Husband had a second helping.

I've been really bad at remembering to take the picture BEFORE I start eating, but in my defense, I make a tasty tasty ham sandwich.

Mexican Cornbread Casserole

 

Close up of the yummy goodness.

Mmmm corn bread.

 I love all things corn bread. Husband doesn't really, but last time I checked it was I who made culinary decisions in this house.

Crockpot Chicken Ragu

Served with whole grain pasta again. I made this mistake of adding a little water from trying to get the last of the sauce out of the spaghetti sauce jar, so my sauce was thing. Will note for next time.

Hope this post wasn't too boring for you. I'll try to do better next week (try being the operative word).

PS Anyone else think cornbread should be it's own food group?

Food Friday

Not gonna lie. Sometimes it's difficult to get full when eating between 1200 and 1500 calories. But...I sure as hell tried. AND I'm down three pounds. *Insert applause here* Even more difficult than actually counting the calories, though, was trying to make food Husband would still eat. He's been very supportive, which I appreciate, even when I needed a few more calories to make my day and he suggested Pop-tarts. Something about fruit filling.

Anywho, I did manage to find some great recipes once again on Sparkpeople.com and I think they'll make great additions to future menus.

Enchiladas

I think from now on I will always make enchiladas use corn tortillas. I will not, however, be rolling them again. This recipe reminded me of why I stopped doing that; mainly, because I suck at it. I did make Husband a couple in flour tortillas and I also added some fresh cilantro to my enchilada sauce. My cilantro obsession continues.

Crock Pot Sour Cream and Onion Chicken

If you don't try another recipe from this post, try this one. Super easy and the sauce made my super bland brown rice phe-nom-e-nal. One note: Even with still partially frozen chicken breasts, this recipe cooked in 4 hours on low. I think I must have the world's most impatient slow cooker.

Johnsonville 3-Cheese Chicken Sausage and Noodles

*Sigh* Just looking at this makes me hungry. Alas, I did not eat this. This is what I made for Husband after I heated up a sausage and brown rice for myself. I had leftover Lipton side dish noodles from his dinner yesterday, so I mixed the two together. It smelled so good. He ate it all. What a good man, eliminating temptation for his wife.

I'm rather impressed that I was able to sit down and write this entire post without having to run to the bathroom. Since starting to regularly drink 8 glasses of water a day, I've gone thru two entire rolls of toilet paper by myself. Interestingly enough, I think I've gotten to the point where if I were stranded in the wilderness, I would be okay drinking my own pee. TMI??

So, what did was your splurge for the week? Perhaps a slice of New York-style cheesecake? Hmm? Perhaps?

Food Friday

'Tis the season to make food that warms your heart and sticks to your ribs. It's also probably the last time I'll have two days off in a row, so don't get used to all the homemade goodness.



Meatballs for Meatball Sandwiches

I used french bread for our subs because...I like french bread.

I had made this recipe before when Husband and I were first married and they were super unsuccessful. I think is mainly due to the fact, that until recently, I was a hyperactive cook, wanting things to go at the speed of an unladen African swallow. Cooking is not always so, and I've had to learn to take a deep breath and just say, "You'll eat when it's ready."



Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I thought I had a pretty good recipe for cheddar bay biscuits like they serve at Red Lobster, but I somehow misplaced it and went frantically searching on Allrecipes.com and came across this gem that I like way better. *Tip* Make sure you season your batter as well with a little garlic powder or onion powder or both, whatever you choose.



Cowboy Casserole

Husband's Rating: Good enough for seconds

Thanks to Pinterest, at least one meal a week is found easily and this one was no exception. Thanks to Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary for posting this.



Slow Cooker Chicken

I realized that a) my slow cooker should be renamed to "Fastest Cooker West of the Mississippi" and b) that none of food in the above picture is from scratch. The marinade was from Lawry's, the green beans from a can and the noodles are Lipton's (*gasp* I know not Pasta Roni but they were on sale and what can I say, I'm a cheap whore, or whore cheaply, whichever you prefer).

So how was your week in meals? Lots of hardy meals overflowing with abundance? Or are you saving it up for the "BIG DAY"?

Food Friday

Oh man this has to be the first Food Friday post I've done in a while that was actually done without duress. I hope it shows.

Homemade bread

I started baking bread my sophomore year of college, after I received my bread machine from Middle Child and wife. I would say it's safe to say I've made close to a hundred plus loaves of bread since and while my machine still does most of the heavy lifting, I really like to bake the loaves off in the oven. A 1 1/2 lb loaf splits into two nicely, that way I can fulfill my carb cravings and give one away.

Grilled Stuffed Burritos

I will most likely never have a deep yearning for Taco Bell (or Taco S#@! as Husband calls it) since I know how to make these now. Kelly at Semi Homemade Mom has come up with a spot on recipe that makes a TON (be prepared for leftovers). However, these were so good, Husband ate...seconds. In all actuality, he ate fourths. Any time Husband eats more than one helping, I know I'm onto something. I was ready to give up my George Foreman, but I guess it now serves a purpose.

Cook chicken boobs, cook.

Original Recipe for chicken and good ol' Pasta Roni.

 So once a week, I do a slow cooker chicken recipe, usually on the day I know that I have absolutely no time because I need to sleep. What I've started to do, is take marinade recipes, throw my frozen chicken breasts in, turn the crock pot on, set my alarm and forget about it. For this week, I slightly modified the recipe I found because 1) I didn't need to marinade 18 chickens and 2) I didn't have all the ingredients. Also, when I put four chicken breasts, frozen, in my slow cooker, they're done in four hours. A minute more and they turn into dust balls. So make sure when making any of my slow cooker recipes in your slow cooker, you adjust for that. Apparently, mine thinks it's a microwave.

Marinade For Chicken

(adapted from recipe on Allrecipes.com posted by JILLYPOOH)

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

seasoning salt, to taste

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup Italian Dressing

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Rub chicken breasts with seasoning salt. Mix remaining ingredients together. Put in slow cooker with chicken. In a normal slow cooker, will most likely be 6-8 hours on low and 3-4 hours on high.

Food Friday

This week was kind of a roller coaster. Still haven't found a job but made a lot of good food. Am still trying to get Melodie over her fear of the dishwasher so that I can get the abundance of dirty dishes out of my sink. Also am wondering how she's going to react when we get our washer and dryer. Anyone interested in a neurotic puppy?

Friday: Biscuits and Gravy (Pizza was eaten a la Tombstone).

My all time comfort food. Once eaten every day for a week while on vacation.

Sunday: Baked Spaghetti

The beginnings of homemade sauce.

Peek a boo.

Ogres are like baked spaghetti, they have layers.

Homemade garlic bread

Sunday tradition (Husband even went in for seconds!)

 Tuesday: Baked Potato & Cheese Soup from Put A Lid On It! Cookbook

(from pg. 14 of Put a Lid on it! Cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. baking potatoes, peels and cut into 1/2" cubes

2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. ground red pepper

1/4 tsp. black pepper (or to taste)

1 1/2 cup Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

Directions:

(note: the longer this cooks the thicker it gets. I highly recommend it thick!)

Combine potatoes, soup, 1 cup green onions, garlic powder, red pepper and black pepper in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8 hours (4-6 if using a gigantore slow cooker like mine). Add cheese, sour cream and milk and stir until cheese has completely melted. Cover and continue cooking on High an additional 10 minutes. Garnish with remaining green onions.

Probably the thickest potato soup I've ever made.

It may not look like it, but this soup tasted EXACTLY like a Wendy's baked potato.

 Wednesday: Campbell's Kitchen Cheesy Chicken Casserole

(posted by Campbell's Kitchen on allrecipes.com; adapted by The UDG)
Ingredients:
vegetable cooking spray
4 (4 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
  2 cups frozen peas, thawed
2 cups cooked instant brown rice
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 
Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 10-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes Add mushrooms and continue to cook until chicken is well browned and cooked through and mushrooms are soft, stirring often.
Spray a 3-quart shallow baking dish with the cooking spray. Place the chicken into the baking dish. Spoon the celery soup over the mushrooms. Top with the peas and rice. Spoon the mushroom soup over the rice. Sprinkle with the cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling. 

I love dishes that have everything in one...dish.

Aw the money shot.

Get in my belly!

Thursday: Stovetop Mac & Cheese
Please take a moment to visit the link for this recipe.

Cheddary goodness

Perfect side: cornbread

Make sure you check out the What's Cooking page for complete recipes!

Hungry??

Time for a photo dump! Here are all the goodies that I've made over the past few months and may or may not have posted. I will try and make the recipes available (if I can remember what the heck it was that I made).

Homemade mac and cheese because let's face it, I make it at least once a week.

My new fave enchiladas.

I quite literally licked the plate when I made these.

My #1 comfort food: chicken pot pie.

Chicken casserole that was quite scrumptious.

Slow cooker turkey meatballs

MY FIRST OMELET EVER!! Thanks maternal unit for letting me experiment on your breakfast.

 Thanks for looking! Oh and don't forget to answer the poll or leave a comment here.

Slow cooker yum!

Yummy melt in your mouth meatloaf (made with ground turkey).

Theme for tonight: Sodium

My slow cooker did it again. Three cans, four chicken thighs, and a cup of rice for 4+ hours. Easy Slow Cooker Chicken is an understatement. I really do need to break out the recipe for cream of mushroom soup I was given because these canned renditions are making me retain water worse than the Hoover Dam.

Also, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but this is my blog, so I will. I'm a great veggie eater. I eat pretty much any and all veggies, including lima beans. I already love broccoli but now I refuse to have broccoli unless I've made cheese sauce to go on top of it (minus the teaspoon of salt; even though it was sea salt (and the recipe only called for 1/2 tsp), it was over the top). However, who knew it would take me close to AN HOUR to find a cheese sauce recipe?

Now I must wait for it all to digest before I make Scott get up and scoop me some ice cream. HUSBAND! ICE CREAM! NOW!

CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!! SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Broccoli. With CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAUCE!!!!!!!

Dinner.

Ode to Crockpots

I love my slow cooker. Like, love it. Would take it to bed at night and let it take Mandie's spot if I could love it. And this is why:

1) Little to no prep work. The most I've had to do is brown some ground beef, chop some onions, open a few cans. Perfect for someone who wants to spend as much time in bed as possible.

2) Doesn't require me to be a "helicopter cook." I hate when I turn my back for two seconds and all of a sudden my water/milk/butter mixture for Pasta Roni is all over my burner (this happens to me a lot, why haven't I learned?!). My motto is "Stir occasionally (or not at all).

3) It's done when am I. When I get home at five, I have laundry to do, dogs to feed, walk, and adore, and a husband to feed. My crock pot ensures that I can do all of it (too bad it can't clean itself too) and write a blog or two about it.

Tonight's dinner was kind of a masterpiece. I made bbq shredded pork, my mom's potato salad and Pasta Roni (shut it). I was stuffed two bites into my sandwich. You have no idea how excited I am for leftovers on break tomorrow. And leftovers for lunch. And leftovers for afternoon break. And maybe again for Friday's break. Yeah I made a lot. Now to decide what for dinner tomorrow: Chicken OR Chicken??