Dinners Recently

I've been neglecting this blog. Lack of inspiration I guess. But I have been taking pics so here's a couple of our recent dinners:

Tonight I made this tomato/cheddar/macaroni bake that I concocted along with some help from a recipe I found online.

Here's what I did:

Boil 1/2 lb. macaroni about 8 minutes. Drain and add to 1 qt stewed tomatoes (I used some my MIL canned last summer), spices to taste including celery salt, black pepper, ground mustard, a little sugar and salt. Add about a cup of cheddar cheese shredded and about two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Pour into casserole dish and top with some more cheese and buttered breadcrumbs. Bake 30 minutes at 350. It was VERY good. I also made some steamed corn but you know what that stuff looks like!

The kids and I dined in front of Nemo since my husband is working late and it's just us girls.

Last night we had baked chicken with gravy, brown rice and steamed mixed veggies. I seasoned the chicken with this rotisserie seasoning I found at the store and some sage. It was really tasty.


I guess that's all. I'll try and get back in the habit of posting daily. I've just been consumed with other things lately and I'm not really thrilled with the pictures my crappy digital camera takes. Maybe Santa will bring me a better one. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes PW Style
Green Beans PW Style
Stove Top
Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potato Casserole

My grandmother's recipe:

2 huge red yams baked and then scooped out
mash w/ butter, cinnamon, maple syrup and some of the syrup from a can of apricots
layer 1/2 that in dish and then cover w/ apricots
top w/ other 1/2 and bake at 350 to warm if you had refrigerated the mixture
then top w/ marshmellows and bake till brown
Enjoy!

Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope all the American blog readers had a great Thanksgiving. It's currently snowing here, and I hope it keeps it up. I want to see some sticking!

We had a HUGE dinner tonight and will likely eat the leftovers for the next several days.

TOFURKY! Yum Yum.

















Learn why I don't feed my kids Turkey on Thanksgiving:


Stuffing:















Green Bean Casserole with Fresh Made French Fried Onions!















"Tomato Ick" (Recipe to Follow)
















Apple-Cranberry Dumplings
















Mashed Potatoes w/butter
















Rolls















Pumpkin Pie!
















Tomato Ick
Got its name because my father hates tomatoes and my mom made this and he said "oh, it looks like tomato ick"

2 large cans stewed whole tomatoes - drained
2 small onions sliced
1/2 stick butter
8-10 pieces of dry bread chopped into "squares"

Mix tomatoes, onions and bread gently in a baking dish. Top with pats of butter. Bake at 350 for like 40-ish minutes until the top is browned.

sketee

Baby wanted SKETEE SKETEE SKETEE... so I obliged.















And of course, Salad.

Spaghetti Night

I made some spaghetti with meat sauce tonight and mixed it all together. It was so good. I used a little bit of leftover sausage from last weekend with some hamburger meat. Then I added garlic and onions and spices.

We had salad, too.

Look at this kid. She's a mess!

Veggie Frittata

Company is gone. Yay! Back to reality. ;)

Dinner tonight was a Veggie Frittata with broccoli, Avocado, spinach and topped with cheese and salsa.
















Veggie Frittata
Veggies Chopped
Eggs
Cheese

Soften up your veggies a bit by cooking them in a pan with a little butter or olive oil. Wisk eggs in a bowl and then pour into pan and cook until done. Top with some cheese and Salsa.

Bourbon Chicken (thanks Meg!)

Man, this stuff freakin' rocked! Here's the recipe: Bourbon Chicken. Meg inspired this dinner when I asked her what she was having for dinner. I, however, used REAL Jack Daniels (instead of apple juice) and you know what, that stuff ain't half bad straight. ;)

I don't know why my salad was so blurry. It was good too. I finally found an Asian Ginger dressing comparable to my favorite Japanese steakhouse house dressing.

This dinner was loved by all and will be in our WEEKLY rotation! Maybe in the summer I'll add tomato slices. Ha ha!

Meat & Potatoes

We had steak (ribeyes) on the grill and mashed red potatoes with skins on and a big salad. They all ate it but my kids were wild and crazy. I really should feed them first.

Yummy Dinner

Isn't it hilarious how I covered Diego with this macaroni and cheese?

This was a new recipe for macaroni & cheese. It was scrum-dilly-umptious! Served with steamed broccoli and a classic favorite, tomatoes. ;)

The girls ate every last bite of it. They loved it all.

Here's the recipe for the mac & cheese - I left out the onions, paprika and the bay leaf and doubled the recipe so I could take it to a potluck tomorrow. For bread crumbs, I use scraps of crust (Emma hates the crust) that I froze and put through a food processor. I have no clue what Alton Brown is referring to regarding bread crumbs but these worked just fine.

Oh, and to steam brocolli, I just chop it all up, even the stems, and add to a small amount of boiling water, butter and salt and cook till tender but not mushy.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe courtesy Alton Brown Show: Good Eats Episode: For Whom the Cheese Melts 2

1/2 pound elbow macaroni 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon powdered mustard 3 cups milk 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced 1 bay leaf 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1 large egg 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded 1 teaspoon kosher salt Fresh black pepper Topping: 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup panko bread crumbs Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf. Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Hodge Podge Veggie Pasta

Tonight's dinner was sort of a hodge-podge creation of things I had in the house that I didn't want to go bad. The boys are going out of town tomorrow, with their grandparents, so I likely won't post until they get back on Sunday. I also hope I shoved enough veggies in them tonight to counter-act all the crap food their grandparents will feed them. No matter how many times I ask, they let them eat crap like McDonalds once a day. *hurl*

This has lots of different veggies in there ... there is spinach, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and fresh mozzarella.
















Hodge Podge Veggie Pasta
1 medium zucchini sliced into small strips
1 bag of baby spinach
2 tomatoes, diced
2 portobello mushrooms sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
Fresh Mozzarella (I used 6 ounces) chopped into cubes
Olive Oil
Pasta of your choice

Boil pasta of your choice (we used penne). In a pan, heat some olive oil and toss in the zucchini and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Add the mushrooms and garlic and warm through. Add a few pinches of salt. Place on low heat and stir in most of the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Let sit until pasta is done.

When the pasta is done, drain and mix well with the veggie mixture. Spoon onto a plate and top with some of the remaining tomatoes and mozzarella. Add salt/pepper as desired.

Pizza

We had pizza that I made last night. I'm not sure what's on the menu for tonight. I need to get to the store but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow or Friday.

Sorry no picture but you've seen my pizza many times. ;)

Shells with Sour Cream

I was all set to make something else when my 9 year old asked if I would make this tonight, so I did. This is something that is from my childhood -- my great grandmother used to make this and I understand that it sounds gross but it actually is really good. The only thing with this is you have to use some salt. If you don't put salt on it, it doesn't taste right.
















Shells with Sour Cream
Pasta Shells
Sour Cream
Pepper
Salt
1-2 Tbs butter

Boil pasta per box directions and drain. Melt butter and mix with pasta. Add sour cream until well coated -- I honestly have no idea how much I use. Sorry. Liberal amount of pepper and salt and mix well and enjoy.

I know it sounds bizarre but have I steered you in the wrong direction yet? ;)

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Tonight's dinner was portobello mushrooms with spinach tomato stuffing.
















Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
1 bag baby spinach
1 tomato, diced
1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded or cubed)
2 eggs
2 cups (dry) stuffing mix (we used herb-style)
1/2 cup vegetable broth (or water)
4 Portobello Mushrooms
Olive Oil

Pre-Heat oven to 400

In a pan with some olive oil, cook the baby spinach until wilted. Add tomato, stuffing mix, and vegetable broth (or water). Remove from heat and gently stir (don't over-stir or you'll make mush out of the stuffing).

Let cool for a few minutes while you remove the stems from the mushrooms and scrape out the brown "gill" looking things. Rinse mushrooms and pat dry.

Gently beat the two eggs and mix with the stuffing mix. Mix the cheese in as well. Scoop the stuffing mix into the mushroom caps and place on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and the tops are brown.

Lasagna - The best ever!

I made the Pioneer Woman's recipe last night. It was so damn yummy I could almost eat it at 9:30 in the morning! LOL

I didn't take pics because mine wouldn't do it justice and she has amazing ones on her website. See here.

Friday night we went out to eat at a buffet/salad bar type place. The food was mediocre but it was fun to have someone else clean it all up for a change. The girls liked it because there were so many options. Oh, and they have a kids eat free till age 6 policy. Can't beat that. All four of us ate for around $20. What a bargain!

I still haven't got back on the meal planning wagon. I just fix whatever is here and plan most of my meals around whatever meat is on sale at the store. Like that pork roast the other day for example.

I think I'm going to start posting some of our other meals though and not just dinner. We eat a lot of the same stuff over and over so I thought maybe you'd like to see some breakfast and lunch pics for a change.

We're Back! - Cheese Steaks!

I think we're FINALLY all healthy! *knocks on wood* Three kids sick really sucks. Blech. Don't want to do that again. Considering that I got sick first and then didn't want to drag sick kids to the grocery store we hadn't been grocery shopping in like 3 weeks. It got to the point that last night was one of those "hmmm, what can I make with half a lemon, ketchup and some cheesesticks?" (Ok, not really but it was pretty bad.)

So, we went grocery shopping (370 dollars later - OUCH!) and we finally have food in the house! Yay! The baby actually let me put him down long enough to cook dinner so here we have it --

Tonight's dinner was Vegetarian Cheese Steaks!
















Vegetarian "Philly" Cheese Steaks
Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burger Patties
Mushrooms sliced
Onions sliced
Green Bell Peppers Diced (or sliced)
Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbs Butter
Sub Rolls

Saute the onions, mushrooms, and green peppers in some butter.
Microwave the veggie burgers for 30-45 seconds until not frozen. Slice into strips.
Add the burger strips to the veggies and warm through.
Put some Mozzarella cheese on the sub rolls and then top with the meat-vegetable mixture. Top with more cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Pork Roast

I made a pork roast in the crockpot today. It was delicious. I used a pack of the McCormick Pot Roast seasoning and a little water and let it cook all afternoon. Then I made gravy and roasted some veggies in the oven with a little olive oil and seasoned salt.

The girls and the husband loved this dinner.

Happy Halloween!

We're still here. I just haven't been inspired. But this morning I made us a yummy breakfast and decided to take a pic and post it here. Maybe I'm just burnt out on sharing my dinners. :)

We had scrambled eggs with a little bit of Jimmy Dean hot sausage sprinkled over them, cheese and ketchup. Strawberries and applesauce on the side. We eat a lot of applesauce around here. The girls love it. It's cheap and easy but I'm always careful to buy the unsweetened kind after discovering the other ones have corn syrup in them.

This is Cate's plate. She loves eggs. Emma's had a sprinkling of cheddar but she still didn't touch them.



And here are my two sweeties just yesterday when we were outside:





Hope you're having a fun Halloween this year! We seem to have been enjoying it for days now. ;)

On The Mend?

Just wanted to let you know I haven't left yet I just am still dealing with the germie kids.

Here's a link to my non-PC and non-kid friendly blog where you can read all about it, if you so desire.

Misadventures Of A Modern Day Alchemist

Baby screaming ... time to head back to reality ...

No Pics, Busy Day

Fed the girls some chicken nuggets, grape tomatoes, and some sliced apple. We were so exhausted from a day of fun that I didn't even think to take a picture.

Baked Chicken

We had baked chicken breasts that were delicious, green beans and rice. I'll add pics tomorrow.

Pork Chops

Shake and Bake pork chops, green beans seasoned with some Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon and Onion Onion stuff, twice baked potatoes (variation of the Pioneer Woman's recipe).

It was good. The girls liked it but Emma doesn't like potatoes even though she helped me make these.

Oh, and I'm starting to think we need new dishes. These are 11 years old and starting to annoy me with the scraped off flowers. Ha ha!

Beans & Stuff

Last night's dinner was some northern beans I cooked all afternoon. They were really good but Emma and Billy didn't like them so they ate hotdogs. I also made these cheddar garlic biscuits from the beer bread I got from Tastefully Simple. They were just okay. I didn't like how they had a sweet taste to them. Billy said they were good though.

Taking a Time-Out

I'm taking a break from this blog for a few days (if you haven't noticed). I was sick and now both of my older sons are sick with high fevers etc... Neither of them were interested in dinner last night so I didn't cook. I assume this will likely hit the baby soon, so I will be back to updating the blog as soon as we all are healthy.

Thanks!

Pizza Night

As usual, Emma helped. Pizza is her absolute favorite to help make. It was delicious!

Two Meals

The soup (yeah, I kind of copied Tali but this one is not vegetarian. ;) )

The casserole

I worked all day on making this chicken noodle soup. Well, the broth anyway. Then I used the chicken to make chicken salad and this casserole that Billy's aunt used to make - Chicken Divan it's called in the recipe book she made me. I used the broth to make soup without any chicken in it.

Emma didn't like the casserole but loved the soup and Cate liked the casserole. Strange kids.

Tomorrow night I'll be out doing a party - have I mentioned I sell sex toys? Please, don't let that make you lose your appetite.

There will be no post from me tomorrow since the husband will be feeding the girls leftovers.

Aunt Tina's Chicken Divan

Layer cooked and chopped chicken in bottom of casserole dish. Layer with steamed chopped broccoli. Mix up this for the sauce:

1 can of cream of chicken soup (or other cream soup that you like)
Aunt Tina called for 1/2 tsp. of curry but I used this Pampered Chef dill seasoning instead
1 tsp lemon juice
black pepper
1/4 c. mayo

Layer that over the brocolli and then sprinkle with parmesan. Repeat layering process and top with either bread crumbs or stuffing (I used Stove Top). Sprinkle lightly with cheddar and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

These crazy kids:

Pasta E Fagioli

Sort of ... It has a variety of beans whereas, most of the times this soup doesn't, but it's close enough for government work. ;)















Pasta E Fagioli
1 cup Carrots Shredded
1.5 cup Celery chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic minced
1 Onion chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
8 cups Vegetarian "Beef" Broth
Beans of your choice (usually cannellini beans)
2 Tablespoons dry Italian Herb Blend.
Pasta of your choice
Olive Oil

In a pot saute the vegetables until soft. Add the broth, beans and Italian Herb Blend. Cook until beans are soft -- usually 3-4 hours. Add water as needed (I usually add about 3-4 cups of water by the time the whole thing is over). About 20 minutes before serving, add the pasta and cook until done. Serve with some parmesan cheese on top and a side of fresh bread.

Pizza

Forgot to take pictures because we all were so hungry I just dished out dinner tonight. We had cheese pizza. Nothing exciting because I still feel like crap.

It's Shake & Bake (and Emma helped!)

For dinner tonight we had chicken breasts cut into nuggets and shaken by a 3 year old in some Shake & Bake, some kind of Pasta Roni, and fresh broccoli steamed.

We spent a few hours at the park this afternoon so I thought we'd just have something simple. Unfortunately, Emma filled up on snacks at the park (it was a playdate) and wouldn't touch her dinner. Cate loved the broccoli and the pasta but wasn't too keen on the chicken.

Mmmm. . . MEAT

Another oh-my-god delicious meal courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. I'm in love with that chick and so is my husband! The kids weren't so keen on it but I had a little home shopping party here today and they snacked a lot.

Just for fun, here's some recent shots of my girls getting maximum use out of Halloween outfits:

No-Chicken Noodle Soup

Company has gone home. I can't believe how fast it went. Of course she was only here for 3 days but still, it felt like it went way faster than that. It's prolly good she had to go today, though, because I'm sick! *cries* I've got some sort of creeping crud in my chest and my throat hurts. The best thing for sickness is chicken soup but since I'm a vegetarian we do the No-Chicken noodle soup! It tastes the same if you make it correctly. Alas, I'm too sick to type the whole recipe here, maybe next time. I'm sure I'll post it again over the winter.

No-Chicken Noodle Soup:

Chicken Spaghetti

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I have discovered a recipe that I will be making again. This was oh-my-god so good. Even though my picky ass husband had to pick out all the peppers, the kids and I ate it up. Cate loved it more than Emma I think.

A little tip, turn the broiler on at the very end to brown the cheese a little. I just can't say enough good things about this meal. Very simple. Very affordable (one whole cut up chicken was only $4 and change!) Delicious! There was plenty of chicken remaining to make a nice bowl of chicken salad for lunches over the weekend.

A salad with this would be great, too but I didn't bother.

Sandwich & Pasta Salad

Argh! I forgot to get batteries again! So I guess I'll just have to describe what we had last night.

I made some bacon ranch Suddenly Salad and added in some fresh broccoli, grape tomatoes and red onion. Then on the side I had part of a New Yorker sub that Billy brought home. Their subs are famous around here. It's got bologna and salami with some cole slaw and peppers and cheese I think. I only had a tiny portion of it and gave the bologna to the girls (ick!) They thought it was hot dog.

I've really been inspired recently by this blog. I went to the store again this morning and over the next few days I'll be using her recipes to make her famous Marlboro Man sandwich, chicken spaghetti, and beans and corn bread. Yum! I love how she really dumbs it down for the common cook. I've learned a lot just from reading over the past few days. Check her out! And thanks for the comments by the way. Comments are really the bread and butter (heh heh!) of a blog.

Jimmy John's Subs

Had to drive 400 miles today (had to get company from the airport) and then do Cub Scouts after that so no cooking today. So after Cub Scouts we ordered Jimmy Johns. This is a #13 :)

It has: Cheese, Avocado Spread, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers (that I pick off - blech!), Sprouts and Mayo. Add that with a pickle and some chips and we had easy dinner.

Dinners of Late

Tonight I made this lasagna. This one right here. But I didn't follow the instructions to the letter and that was my only mistake. I used spaghetti sauce instead of tomatoes and paste like the lady says in the recipe. It was good but a bit too juicy. My husband liked it though. He liked that it didn't contain ricotta.

Last night we had that meat and gravy with egg noodles that I've fixed before.

No pictures because I need some new lithium batteries for my camera.

You know what would be cool? If you could leave a comment letting us know you read us. Feeling kind of bored with this blog lately. Is anyone out there reading? What are your thoughts?

Tostadas

My older sons were convinced that tostadas taste different than tacos so we made them tonight. The verdict? They taste the same but are just messier.

Ribs *Drool*

Gardenburger makes the best fake meat product I've ever had -- the BBQ Riblets They are so good. They taste like real BBQ Ribs and the best thing is they are so much healthier than real ones. This is another one of those fake meat things that I think meat eaters would enjoy.

Tonight's dinner was a BBQ Riblet sandwich (add tomato to mine) with potato chips, a pickle and a small garden salad on the side (not pictured, forgot cuz the baby was screaming for food).