January 2014 menus

I am going to try really hard, here people to post menus again and cook every night...here goes for January...

menus for January 2014
chicken:
   tetrazzini, garlic bread, green salad
   crick pot chicken a la orange, white rice, asian veggies
   honey glazed chicken with bacon, fried rice,veggies
   buttercream chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie
   country club chicken, corn casserole, barley pilaf
   cashew chicken stir fry, white rice, eggrolls
   chicken in walnut sauce,mashed pots, glazed carrots
   loaded baked pots with chicken
   tangy bacon chicken, risotto, veggies
   cranberry chicken, rice a roni, veggies, 7-up biscuits
   bisquick chicken, white rice
   chicken and wild rice casserole
beef
  
   beef stroganoff, buttered noodles, peas
   swiss steak, loaded BP cass, veggie
   salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, veggie
   shephard's pie (new recipe), soda bread
   million dollar spaghetti, garlic knots, veggie
   meat loaf, twice baked potatoes, green beans, biscuits
   taco salad or casserole  cornbread
   australian meat pies, fruit, asst raw veggies
   enchilada casserole, corn cakes
   pot roast, carrots, buttered noodles
   tacos, refried beans, rice
   cheeseburger macaroni, veggie
   beef stew with bread
  
soups
   beef, barley, bacon soup, some sort of bread
   meatball soup, some sort of bread
   potato soup, some sort of bread
 
misc.
   mongolian BBQ, rice
   bacon hash, crusty bread
  

new posts

I know I have not been good at all about posting my meals...I am going to get better...give me a break, I am trying...
it is always so hot here during the summer and that greatly affects how I operate...

my family should feel lucky that I get anything on the table at all, much less blog about it...

thanks for reading...

September menus...

1.  bbq meatloaf
2.  tri tip
3.  tacos
4.  swiss steak
5.  pork pulled
6.  cheeseburgers
7.  bacon hash
8.  fried rice
9.  rib tips or short ribs
10. spaghetti
11. foil chicken
12. chicken alfredo
13. sloppy joes
14. beer can chicken
15. egg salad
16. chicken salad
17. corned beef
18. sweet sour chicken (pioneer woman)
19. beef and barley
20. buttercream chicken
21. beef stew
22. hamburger rice gravy
23. bbq

mock lasagna

food guys with Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwJ8JppfFk&feature=youtu.be

food guys with Tim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMsqCR8y7L4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

a cupcake a day

http://mlkshk.com/p/MGG9

very cute idea

food guys with Tim

http://www.pe.com/iguide/dining/dining-headlines/20130509-video-sara-lee-aims-for-the-hostess-crowd.ece

chicken fried rice

food guys with Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgB2us_7DI&feature=youtu.be

macaroni and cheese

Sunday night, dinner at Disney

Friday night dinner, chicken & wild rice casserole

didn't want you guys to think I had gone off the deep end and just not cooked...I did...

been craving this dish so much that I just had to make it...

http://www.southernplate.com/2012/01/chicken-and-wild-rice-casserole-and-becoming-the-crazy-daffodil-lady.html

cupcakes vs muffins

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=188324194655029&set=a.130825290404920.30569.130807550406694&type=1

Food Guys with Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znG4_ap-d0o&feature=youtu.be

food guys with Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEtQnyplStg&feature=youtu.be

loaded baked potato soup

I have made this before and we love it...I like potato soup but do not like biting into a piece of potato...
for this recipe you bake the potatoes and then mash the insides...

bought the artisan bread at Ralph's...if you have not tried their breads, you must...tonight?  honey sunflower bread, one of my favorites...my other favorites is their cranberry walnut bread...

and of course on Tim's plate is the rice ball that I made earlier...

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/baked-potato-soup/c41d5252-b085-4ccf-9ae0-55df29ec31f7?src=SH

pepperoni rice balls

OMGosh is this the best thing ever?  I made these while waiting for the baked potatoes to cook and everyone ate them as an appetizer...

very delicious and I most definitely will make them again and again...

a small change to the recipe, putting them in frig first for a little while, might help making the balls a little better...

http://cleverhousewife.com/2012/12/ham-and-pepperoni-rice-balls-great-appetizers/

cranberry swirl coffee cake

I do not "do" breakfast, if we want something to eat that early, we usually go out...hubby likes breakfast so it seems that we go out a lot...LOL

for about a week now, this coffee cake has caught my eye and I wanted to surprise Tim and hubby with something nice for Sunday morning...

this was very good, went together fairly quickly and both guys declared it a winner...I most definitely will be making it again...


link:

http://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/12/cranberry-swirl-breakfast-cake.html

spaghetti

man I did not feel like cooking today at all, but I had already put off cooking for 2 nights...

Thursday, I had a headache and we decided to go to Sizzler and then last night, we ended up at the mall and we ate there...

so I felt compelled to cook tonight, even though it is 90 degrees here today...summer is coming people and there is no way I can stop it...I am dying today...

I totally went off of my menus for the month as hubby said I had not made spaghetti in awhile...and it did sound good too...

I make my spaghetti sauce much the way Pioneer Woman does, in fact I was very surprised when I was checking out her recipes on how close her recipe was to mine...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/09/spaghetti-sauce/

but here is where mine differs...
  1.  I do not use bell peppers
  2.  I also brown sweet Italian sausage with the hamburger (I cut the casings and use just the meat)
  3.  I add one can of Campbells tomato soup to the sauce

and we Americanize it by adding cheddar cheese to the top...I love this dish much better as leftovers...made green beans and garlic bread to add to dinner

totally yummy and maybe too much of a down home comfort meal for a day in the 90's...man I hate the heat from summer...not looking forward to this at all...tonight I am sitting down and making a plan of 30 meals that I can either BBQ or slow cook...

food guys with Tim (that I missed)

http://www.pe.com/iguide/dining/dining-headlines/20130407-video-food-guys-try-beer-onion-ring-chips.ece

food guys with Tim

today they tried oatmeal from Jack in the Box

http://www.pe.com/iguide/dining/dining-headlines/20130418-video-food-guys-try-out-jacks-blueberry-oatmeal.ece

cashew chicken with rice and asian veggies

link to dinner:

http://stephaniecooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/crispy-cashew-chicken-stir-fry.html

very good and everyone loved it...I will need to revamp a little next time, to me it was a little on the salty side...
but still very good and I will definitely make it again...in researching my recipes, found that I made this over a year ago and what I did was add some chicken broth to the sauce, maybe it would not so salty that way...

meatloaf sliders, corn cakes, roasted potatoes

when I saw this idea online, I thought it a really cute idea...but I used my own recipe for meat loaf that everyone in my family likes me to use...I use the Bisquick recipe, it is slightly sweet with a tad of brown sugar and I use BBQ sauce instead of ketchup...

this one, however tends to fall apart too easy to put as a slider...next time I will use the recipe that came with the idea of making them into sliders and see if it is better...

Tim said he loved dinner, I just was not too sure...

with it I made mini corn cakes and roasted potatoes...

will need to perfect this idea as it seems like it would make a great BBQ idea for the summer...I make meat loaf on the BBQ when it gets too hot in the house...

this is the link I first found:

http://www.plainchicken.com/2013/02/bbq-meatloaf-sliders.html  and this will be the recipe I try next...

my meatloaf recipe:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/30-minute-mini-meat-loaves/d691ebd6-743b-4dc1-a04c-40ee7da480d5?src=SH

Panera

found out in the morning that we had a planned PTA meeting at our local Panera bakery so we decided to have dinner there also...

hubby had the french onion soup and we shared a turkey bacon sandwich...
Zoe only wanted a bagel and then decided to try potato soup and shared that with me also...

nice night out

Sunday herb roasted chicken dinner

this was not on my scheduled dinners today but it just sounded good...plus they were having a sale on 2 chickens at Sam's Club...

made green beans and rice a roni to go along side...then we buy these great artisan breads at Ralphs lately and they are so good...tonight?  we got a honey sunflower bread that was delicious, one of our
favorites...

yummy dinner

Wednesday, twice baked potatoes with ham

my favorite way to use up leftover ham...

bake potaotes ahead of time and when done, scoop out the insides of the potatoes, mash up real well,
add diced ham, as much grated cheese you want, 1 mixed up egg for every 4 potatoes, some butter and seasonings...mix well and put back into the potatoes, cover with more cheese and bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes...

one of our family favorites...

 

cheeseburger flatbread melts

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/cheeseburger-flatbread-melts.html

a very good idea for someone else not for me...and only for the fact that for the life of me I could not get the dough to roll out flat or even try to be round...Tim and I did in fact each get one flatbread that was somewhat flat and round and those were pretty darned good...

but I hated fooling around with the bread...

):

might try flour tortillas next time...

Monday chicken and wild rice casserole

what can I say?  my most favorite dinner of all times...hands down...this recipe is the reason I do not get all of my new recipes tried out...I will not have this on the menu for the month and it just sounds too good not to make...

you must try this...you will love it...

http://www.southernplate.com/2012/01/chicken-and-wild-rice-casserole-and-becoming-the-crazy-daffodil-lady.html

"cat's away" tuna melts

hubby is visiting his mom for a few days, she was not feeling well and wanted him...hey when you are 87 and ask your son to come, he goes.....

don't need a recipe here folks, just tuna, bread, cheese and grill them...

too yummy for words

Friday night Spam Pie

I have been making this dish for many many years now...my own kids loved it when they were little so at least 30 some years...hubby absolutely will not touch anything at all with Spam in it...but, I was raised on Spam and when much younger could eat it straight out of the can as a sandwich, not anymore it has to be cooked for me now (getting too old I guess)...

with all of the furor on Facebook lately about who's recipe is who's, I could take credit for this one since I have had the recipe for so long and I have tweaked it so many times to fit our family likes, but I am an honest person and will not lay claim to something that was not mine to start with...I found this recipe in a magazine so long ago...it was an advertisement for Hormel for Spam and it sounded good so I copied it down and made it...recently I looked at Hormel's web site and this was not listed...

I actually think they should put the recipe on their site and promote Spam to a new generation...
my grand daughter absolutely loves this and begs me all of the time time for her and she was so happy on Friday night when she came over and it was ready for her...

recipe:

2 rolls of Pillsbury crescent rolls, spread out into a 9 x 13 pan, sealing all of the perforations, set aside...
small dice a can of Spam, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, 1 cup of montery jack cheese and 4 beaten eggs and pour into prepared casserole pan...
bake at 250 for approx 30 minutes, until egg in middle is cooked...

this recipe is known in our house as a "cat's away" dinner...we only make it when hubby is out of town, like now, visiting his mom...

I always make an extra one and take to my neighbor, who is American Indian and was raised on Spam and loves it....

not sure (my memory is fading, haha) if crescent rolls were part of original recipe or mine...

pls try this you will not regret it, even if you hate Spam...I have had people that say they hate Spam and would never eat it, try this not knowing and they love it...you could also subsitute bacon, ham or sausage instead...

yummy

swedish meatballs

last night we went out to dinner, an early one right after Tim got off from work...I told hubby to pick where we were going to eat and he picked Jason's Deli in Mo Val...they do have pretty good sandwiches, soups and salads...there is an extensive menu to pick from...they also give discounts to military, law enforcement and also teachers...how nice is that???

Tim got the french dip, the princess got grilled cheese and tomato soup, hubby got salad bar and a pastrami sandwich and I (not being real hungry) got the ham and turkey club on a croissant...all meals come with chips on the plate...

so tonight I wanted a nice down home comfort meal for Tim and he loves Swedish meatballs and people there is no secret to mine...I have found that the McCormick seasoning packet comes out just as good as if I had made them from scratch and a lot simpler too...
so I made to go with them, buttered noodles, green beans and leftover applesauce bread..

Tim said it was a winner...if the picture will upload I always use Tim's plate and he mixes everything together...haha

we are on Spring Break here and poor princess still had to go to 2 hours of tutoring today...she was just a little upset but I think dinner will make her happy...it used to be however, where she would not eat red meat at all and then she discovered one day what she was missing...LOL

Easter dinner (one day late)

I bought all of the ingredients for Easter dinner and then I was a little frazzelled and overwhelmed and so the three of us ended up going out for a really nice dinner...

so tonight I made spiral ham, mashed potatoes (homemeade and with a special ingredient that I will use from now on), carrots and applesauce bread...

Tim also added leftover macaroni salad to his plate...

everyone was happy tonight...especially hubby who loves applesauce bread so much...

terrific new cookbook

there are some really nice recipes in here, that I cannot wait to try...

found it at Wal Mart...

pink lemonade bars

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fluffy-pink-lemonade-dessert-with-pretzel-crust/de4eb5c6-ec81-4561-91ea-a77452983475?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Facebook&niseg4=BettyCrocker&nicreatID4=Post

I have been making this for years but not as bars...and this is what we always have for 4th of July...

cannot wait to try these...

extra chicken? = chicken salad

I love it when I have extra chicken (tht just happens to be laying around...)  on purpose I bought a bigger package of chicken today (for pretzel chicken) so that I would have extras...

I want some chicken salad this week and I cannot wait to have some...

my recipe?

cooked and diced chicken (of course)
diced celery
2 diced granny smith apples
chopped walnuts
dried cranberries
mayo

and oh my goodness, you mix it all up and serve it on some really nice big, soft potato rolls...my mouth is watering just thinking about it...

California Pizza Kitchen used to make a version of this, (but they added onions too) and that is always what I got, but I guess they quit making it...went there with my neighbor for lunch and I did not even look at the menu, I asked for this and the waiter looked at me like I was crazy...LOL

pretzel coated chicken

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pretzel-crusted-chicken-nugget-50400000109046/

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a long time now and today (Saturday) has been sort of a lazy day (though seriously catching up on put aside house work) and Tim has had a very hard work week and I wanted him to be happy...he loves pretzels...everytime we go near the mall, you will bet he will be at the Pretzel place and the frozen ones he likes also...

haha...funny story (well Tim did not think it was really funny) we went to Sam's Club this morning and I ordered him a soft pretzel to being home to him...once I got home, I realized they did not give
us his pretzel...too far for us to go back for a pretzel...

so, I thought this the next best thing...

and Tim proclaims it very very good and would like it again...

we also have not had macaroni salad all Fall and Winter and Tim also loves my pasta salad so since I
aimed to please him today....that is what I did...

my pasta salad?

1 pkg of pasta (my family likes either salad roni or shell roni) boiled till al dente
6 hard cooked eggs, diced
diced celery
diced green onions
small can of sliced black olives
diced kosher dills
your choice seasonings
mayo
mustard

mix all together, I add garlic salt and pepper, I add enough mayo to hold it all together, enough mustard to sort of make it yellowish (does that make sense?) and then I add a little of the pickle juice and mix it up real well and refrigerate it...everyone loves my pasta salad...

want to try this

http://www.smuckers.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=6938

oh my goodness doesn't this look scrumptious???  cannot wait to try this...

Thursday and Friday

I have been staying at Zoe's school a lot lately, and I have been exceptionally busy there...it is like I have a full time job...Thursday and Friday Elaine and I had tons to do, the only time we sat down was when we were stapling papers together...(well and yesterday she did buy us lunch from Pick Up Stix...(their beef friend rice it to die for)...

so as I said we have been so busy and then Thursday at 5:45 was Open House at the school so not a lot of time to make dinner but I came up with homemade Mac and Cheese with biscuits and Tim put a vegetable on...
my mac and cheese is the one my mom made when I was a kid...

I use shell roni, cook al dente and then layer macaroni and then shredded cheese and ending up with the cheese...I sprinkle seasonings to taste and then pour 2 cans of evaporated cheese over the top...sometimes I add cracker crumbs...bake at 375 for about 1/2-3/4 of an hour...

very good...

Friday we had had a long hard week and Tim (being the good son that he is) took us to TGIF for dinner...it was so nice to get away...Zoe was spending the night with the neighbor girl so we were kidless for once...
hubby got the California Club sandwich, Tim got the JackDaniel's chicken with baked potato and broccoli and I got a cheeseburger with bacon (of course) and the loaded mashed potatoes (cause I love their potatoes so much...)
we had a terrific night, ending up at Target and picked up a few more things for the kid's baskets...

pea soup with grilled cheese...

sometimes you just get something into your head that one thing sounds so good and that is what happened to dinner tonight...

I just kept thinking of pea soup and Tim and I happen to love the canned soup variety...we make it a little thick, so that it covers your grilled cheese instead of sliding off of it...

Tim and I are the only ones that will eat it but that was ok tonight as hubby and I had a late lunch at Anchos and he is not real hungry and if he is there are still leftovers...

yummy

food guys with Tim

http://www.pe.com/iguide/dining/dining-headlines/20130320-food-guys-laker-girls-heidi-klum-and-jim-beam.ece

http://www.pe.com/iguide/dining/dining-headlines/20130322-video-food-guys-try-orange-flavored-kit-kats.ece

April's main dish announcement

April 2013 menus...main dishes
1.   gumbo
2.   poppy seed chicken
3.   chicken with pea pods
4.   cashew chicken
5.   bourbon chicken
6.   swiss steak
7.   shepards pie
8.   meat pies
9.   saucy orange chicken bake  ($5 cookbook)
10.  braised chicken
11.  tangy chicken bake
12.  maple bbq meatballs
13.  no peek tips
14.  swedish meatballs
15.  cheeseburger flatbreads
16.  chicken soup
17.  buttercream chicken
18.  scalloped potatoes with ham
19.  twice baked potatoes
20.  pork chops with apples
21.  meatloaf sliders
22.  mac & cheese
23.  chicken and cheese quesadilla pie
24.  pad thai (wish me luck with this one)
25.  slow cooker breakfast casserole
26.  pretzel crusted chicken
27.  asian lettuce wraps
28.  cheesy beef corn chip skillet
29.  potato soup
30.  slow cooker lemon garlic chicken

you will notice some recipes that carry over from month to month...they are ones I have not tried...I am going to try really hard to cook every night...tho, I might add my BD is this month and I cannot help it if someone wants to take me out (*hint, hint*)
also hubby is going to see his mom for a week and if you have read here long enough, you remember that we have cat's away dinners (items that hubby hates) while he is gone...
so, I probably won't get to all of these menus this month and some will carry over to May...

Zoe's blog and cherry coconut cupcakes

http://zoesrecipebox.blogspot.com/

mock lasagna a family favorite

tonight I made a family favorite, a recipe that I have been making for about 35 years...

with all of the problems all over the internet about recipes and who has claim to them (it really is a
big deal) I cannot honestly say this is my original...I found it in an old magazine (then 35 years ago) and I have tweaked it and done so many things differently that it most likely does not resemble the original one and at all but I will not lay claim to it, cause I believe that is wrong...
there are so many recipes and foods and the like that I do not think there is anything original anymore...people may claim it as their own and maybe they believe it after having a recipe for so long and then tweaking it and changing it to their own tastes but it still started somewhere...

for my recipe I brown hamburger and sweet Italian sausage together...I add it to a sauce that I make
with 2 cans of 1 lb, 12 oz of diced tomatoes (& since some people in my family hate pieces of tomatoes, I puree these) and 2-16 oz cans of tomato sauce and 4 cups of water...I also add Italian
seasonings to tasste...bring to a boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes...

I then spread a thin layer of the sauce in a 9 x 13 greased pan...spread a layer of UNCOOKED egg noodles over the sauce and then pour the rest of the sauce over the noodles...add a layer of mozzarella cheese...cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes...if you bake much longer than that,
the noodles turn a little gummy...

I believe the dish is called Mock Lasagna because when you cut into it, it cuts very nicely into a square on your plate...hubby likes his with more sauce so I ladle a little bit out at the beginning and he adds his to his plate...

you must try this, you will love it as much as we do...this is one of those dishes that after a hot summer this is one of the first dishes you are craving...

sloppy joes

from my posts, it looks like I have not made dinner at all...LOL

and now I cannot remember what I did make...

Wednesday I know I did make sloppy joes, tator tots and corn...and I did not feel good so I did
not eat...

meatball soup

this was not on my rotation of menus for March but I wanted it tonight...it is always down home comfort food to me and it was so delicious...

super easy too...

I start with 2 pkgs of Mc Cormick Beef Stew seasoning and mix with 8 cups of water, add premade frozen meatballs (as many as you would like) bring to a boil and add 3/4 pkg of any pasta (our favorite is egg noodles) and right at the end, I add 1 pkg of frozen peas...

voila done...

Tim bought and artisan bread to go with it...

corned beef and cabbage

this year we bought 2 corned beefs and ran the 2 crock pots all day...the corned beef came out really good altho I did not eat dinner...my stomach was upset after lunch and this is one of my favorites too...

I boiled some potatoes and carrots...and then I did the cabbage...now when I was a kid, I never had cooked cabbage and therefore I do not like it now...but hubby does, and so a couple of years ago I wanted to surprise him with a really good cabbage dish and came upon this recipe, re-vamped by me several times...

I saute an onion in some butter and once translucent, add thin slices of cabbage and cook it down with some garlic salt and pepper, and I add a few drops of water every so often to help it steam...he loves it like this and will not eat it another way...when we went to the Indian (San Manuel) casino for their buffet, their cabbage was sort of like this, but they also added bacon...

this is one of hubby's favorite dinners...and we have lots of leftovers tonight too...the picture above was of Tim's plate and he hates cabbage...

chicken taco casserole and corn cakes

http://bevcooks.com/2012/08/chicken-dorito/

this is what was for dinner tonight...nobody was real hungry as we had a huge lunch at Olive Garden today that was very yummy, so I am expecting a ton of leftovers...

also made the El Torito pkg mix for mini corn cakes...

tacos and Irish soda bread

it's what's for dinner...tacos and there is no secret to my tacos...haha tonight it was so hot here (95 to be exact...) and frying tortillas was a pain...OMGoodness I am not looking forward to summer...yuck...

but I made dinner and I got 4 tortillas done and I was hot, out of breath and hurting so I decided to make my own dinner and I sat down and ate efore everyone else did...was kind of nice...

made 3 small mini ones of this for Zoe's teachers for St Patty's Day:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazingly-Easy-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=107570748&prop26=Baking&prop27=2013-03-11&prop28=Feature&prop29=TextLink&me=1

and I was so happy that I had green gingham ribbon to tie around them...

family favorite...homemade chicken pot pie

I have been making my version of this dish for about 40 years and everyone loves it...

tonight I was feeling extra nice and decided to make my neighbors a pie also...I have made for the elderly people across the street from me and they love it, so I was first going to make it for them and then I remembered the ones next door would be getting home from work about the time it came out of the oven and I thought I would surprise them with dinner...she said it is her hubby's 2nd favorite dinner, the first being the Spam  pie I made them last week...

super easy recipe...
I use Pillsbury all ready pie crusts and then make a roux with 6 tbs butter and 6 tbs flour add in 2 cans of evaporated milk and 2 cans of chicken broth, and add what seasonings you like...add diced chicken and frozen peas, carrots, and corn...

bake 375 for about 30-40 minutes...

yummy

bacon and potato hash

I have been craving this and it was good of course...
tonight, I made banana muffins with it...

fried some red potatoes, added carrots and celery with garlic salt and pepper and diced onion...as soon as it was nice and crisp I added some cooked thick bacon...

love this stuff...

korean beef and rice...(really was Friday night)

http://elizabethbryant.blogspot.com/2010/05/korean-beef.html

this is what I made for dinner tonight and since I was not home to enjoy it, pictures did not get taken...as I made this dinner, I tasted and I thought it very good...(very good) and the picky princess came into the kitchen and said it lloked very good and smelled fantastic...as soon as it was done, she
was right there waiting with a bowl and spoon...she filled the bowl and I was amazed that she ate every drop...she was even trying to lick the bowl...this is a very good sign...

she and I were going to go to Bingo at her school at 4:30 and I was also babysitting Cj and needed something that would go together quickly and this did fit the bill...

Cj came into the kitchen and said, " don't you think you are getting too old to cook?"  I said, "no..."
he said " yeah well how many times have you gotten burned?"  funny funny 5 year old...

so we went to Bingo and I called later and asked how dinner was?  Tim was very upbeat about it, said
it was delicious and he mixed in some broccoli with his...he would want it again...
hubby now, is going thru a grumy stage and when I called him, he said it was just OK, but then I found out when I got home, he did not even try it...

there are leftovers and Zoe has already laid claim to them...

you should try this...pretty yummy

chicken and wild rice casserole

cannot say this enough, my all time hands down favorite dinner ever and the leftovers?  to die for...

http://www.southernplate.com/2012/01/chicken-and-wild-rice-casserole-and-becoming-the-crazy-daffodil-lady.html

March menu's main dish (sides TBA)

March Menus
4.   chicken pie by special Tim request...haha
5.   gumbo
6.   chicken taco casserole
7.   chicken and wild rice
8.   poppy seed chicken
9.   chicken with pea pods
10.  bourbon chicken
11.  beef vegetable soup
12.  swiss steak
13.  new shepards pie
14.  meat pies
15.  tacos
16.  cashew chicken
17.  corned beef and cabbage
18.  bacon hash
19.  spicy orange chicken bake
20.  braised chicken
21.  pork chops with apple stuffing
22.  tangy bacon chicken
23.  meatball soup
24.  korean beef with rice
25.  maple bbq meatballs
26.  no peek tips
27.  cheeseburger flat bread melts
28.  meat loaf sliders
29.  swedish meatballs
30.  round steak with onions
31.  Easter

February's favorite dinners

for first place for the month, hands down would be:

country club chicken...yummy

we also really liked:

beef and barley skillet

and once again, revamped for our taste:

chicken taco casserole

cranberry chicken

years ago I had this really good recipe for cranberry chicken, that used cranberry juice frozen concentrate...from my memory I could not remember ingredients but was going to mess around with it and see what I could come up with...Ralph's however, does not carry the frozen concentrate...so, I bought a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and mixed it with a little OJ and covered the chicken...

was going to make roasted potatoes, and discovered we were out of potatoes so I made Rice a Roni, which I happen to love...

voila a dinner everyone loves...

orange juice cake

http://www.southernplate.com/2011/04/aunt-sues-orange-juice-cake-from-danielle-dykman.html

made this the other day for Zoe's class but, I made into cupcakes...now they were OK, but, I will not
be making as cupcakes again...hard to pour the hot syrup over them...much easier to do as a poke cake and the syrup really can get into the cake...

one of the best cakes I have ever made...

applesauce bread

hubby likes to tell people that the only reason he married me was because I can bake...haha...

and this particular bread is one of his absolute favorites...I have the flu right now but thought I would make this for the family for dinner and hopefully put a smile on everyone's face...Zoe came over while I was mixing (she usually wants to help but has a big project going on) and she said, "call me the minute the bread is done, I can't wait to try it..."

I have made this bread since before we were married, so for about 40 years?  wow, where has the time gone?

Applesauce Bread:

1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
16 oz of applesauce (today I used a chunky one)
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs
3 tbsp of milk
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of salt
nuts if desired...

mix wet ingredients with sugars then add the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, salt and nuts...

this makes one big loaf...

bake 350 for approx 50-60 minutes

happy eating

beef and barley skillet

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Barley-Beef-Skillet?pmcode=INADA02T&_mid=2397122&_rid=2397122.988145.509941

this is what was for dinner tonight and is definitely a keeper, tho hubby went to Subway once he saw what I was making, haha...

I had no zucchini or tomatoes, so instead of those, I added some corn and peas and at the end of cooking, I added a little butter and it made it so creamy...

please try this, you will not be disappointed...

oscar menu food...(Sunday post)

you know how much Tim loves the Oscar's and he likes to have a dinner that night that is easy and sort of appetizer-ish type...
so, all day we thought of what to make...
hubby wanted pigs in a blanket but, he and I do this dish much differently...
his way is that he wraps bacon around hot dogs and then bakes them...too greasy for me...
my version is to wrap hot dogs  with a biscuit and bake them...

but, I do not feel real well and decided to make his version and we named it "Frank-n-Weenie..."
ok one down...for "Life of Pi" decided to make a pizza but I wanted it different, this fit the bill...

http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/03/bubble-up-pizza.html

and it was very good, we definitely will be making this again...

one more dish...in the movie Amour, the guy smothers his wife and Tim came up with smothered
fries...only I made it smothered tator tots, with cheese and bacon on top...

I am sure that if I felt better, we could have come up with much better Oscar themed foods...

family dinner beef stew, yum

homemade beef stew with white rice and an artisan 7 grain wheat bread is my choice for a great down home comfort food...

stew beef cooking all day in the crock pot, ready after our busy day...

add our favorite veggies, potatoes, celery, pearl onions, carrots and peas and corn...hope there are plenty of leftovers as I love this more the 2nd day...

homemade macaroni and cheese family dinner

this is my mom's recipe for "grown up" mac and cheese...as kids we did not like this recipe as we were used to the "blue box variety..."  but, as an adult I have made this many times and my kids like this version...it is down home comfort food at it's best...

and so very simple...

I layer (almost always shell roni as I like the way the cheese clings to all of the folds) macaroni and then cheese...(tonight I used a blend of cheddar and jack) and end up with the top being cheese...sprinkle a little seasonings on top and then pour 2 cans of evaporated milk on top...
bake at 350 for about 30 minutes...

delish...

chicken fried rice

yes I have made this before...it is my go to recipe when I have some leftover chicken...and for days now, knew I would have leftover chicken and have been craving this since then...

yummy...

for my rice this is what I added tonight:
rice (of course)
soy sauce
shredded carrots
diced green onions
frozen peas
cashews
and chicken

and I am so not Asian, that to go with this tonight, I bought an Italian cheese bread...LOL...

country club chicken

this is a must try and you will love it kind of dish...a little labor intensive with the bacon and apples (yes you read right there are apples in this) and onions and the chicken but is well worth the trouble you go through...

I found this recipe (& some more on her blog) while searching for some Dutch recipes...those of you that know me, know how much I love anything Dutch...I love windmills, delft, dutch dolls, you name it I love it and I thought it would be fun to make some Dutch recipes...I think this is the 2nd or 3rd recipe I have made from her blog,,,

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/country-club-chicken

check out her blog, you might find some things you will like too...

this is a first for me as I usually never make spaghetti without marinara and this was a nice change of pace from other sides and goes very well with the dish...

do you like my token green beans just for the picture?  but, I absolutely refused to put any mushrooms on my plate...yuck  I hate them...hubby paid me $100 to take a bite of a mushroom and I thought I was going to die...

I am telling myself that it is yummy and will definitely make it again...

enchilada casserole, refried beans & corn cakes

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Enchilada-Casserole...

this is a new recipe to us...I love Taste of Home recipes...

everyone loved dinner tonight...the only change I might make to it, is I might brown the tortillas just a tad before assembling the casserole otherwise, it has a great taste and consistency to it...

also made El Torito's corn cakes and refried beans...

yummy

roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy Happy Heart's Day

I wanted a special dinner for Valentine's Day and remembered I had a roast in the freezer...I had a very hectic day with almost no time for anything extra...
but we had been out to eat 2 nights in a row...
we went to Pepito's and had mexican and then Tim paid for us to go to Chili's last night...I had a terrific cheeseburger...
so, I put the roast in the crock pot in the morning and then only had to do the potatoes and gravy...

everyone appreciated a nice homey dinner tonight

chicken bacon corn chowder (really was Sunday)

I had leftover chicken and decided to make corn chowder and add diced chicken to it also...
everyone in the family loves this soup and tonight Tim brought home some delicious cranberry walmut bread to go with it...

yummy

chicken and wild rice casserole, family favorite...

this, since I found the recipe, is my all time favorite, the best ever down home comfort dinner...I now make this at least once a month and everyone in the family loves it...it is especially great as leftovers...

as I have said previously, you must try this dinner, you will love me for suggesting it...

http://www.southernplate.com/2012/01/chicken-and-wild-rice-casserole-and-becoming-the-crazy-daffodil-lady.html

bacon cheeseburger soup & corn fritters

http://www.therecipecritic.com/2012/12/cheeseburger-soup.html

http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/corn-fritters-recipe

these are the 2 links I used for dinner tonight...and it was pretty good...let me give you a hint...someone in my family did not care for it and asked that I not make it again...but, everyone else in the family did like it...I give up on the one person, I most definitely cannot please him much of the time...

what I would do a little differently...I made way too much of the soup...I would not double it again and I would add more meat and more vegetables but, otherwise I would leave it alone...
the fritters were good also, but I would add chives and a little more flour...

yummy...

beef stroganoff

tonight I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner and wouldn't you know, my camera is still not working...
Beef stroganoff is a little labor intensive, in cutting the meat as I like it very very thinly cut so, that took me a little while...

but other than that, dinner was very good and of course everyone loved it...it is Tim's absolute favorite and I made this on purpose...I did not know that the little princess also loves it...

hubby did not eat as he had a meeting to go to tonight so (yay) we have some leftovers...

I do not have a big secret to Beef Stroganoff...I use the McCormick's season packet...

yummy

PTA, Olive Garden and spaghetti...

our PTA has been planning on doing a free spaghetti dinner for our students and parents for awhile now and is in the planning stages for this Friday night...OK...

(keep reading this all ties in together, believe me)

I get all of my ingredients for dinner out in the morning so I know what I have and don't have and this am I got everything out for (you guessed it) spaghetti...not a problem, we have not had it for awhile now and we love it for dinner...

so, hubby and I had to go somewhere this am and he surprised me by then taking me out to lunch to
Olive Garden and I always get spaghetti there...

so do you think I will be tired of spaghetti by the end of the week???

Sunday family dinner: chicken taco casserole & cornbread

this is the 2nd time in 2 weeks that I have made this dish...and this time it was very very good...I re-vamped it just a tad to suit my picky family's taste (we don't do spicy too well) so instead of Rotel, I increased the taco seasonings and added about 10 ounces of tomato sauce...

Zoe made the cornbread...

yummy, you must try it...

recie link:

http://bevcooks.com/2012/08/chicken-dorito/

January's favorite dinners

I thought I would post every month which dinners we really liked a lot and will most definitely be adding to our monthly rotation of menus...

we really liked this chicken taco casserole very much and in fact, I am making again for Sunday night, a little re-vamped (it was a little too spicey for everyone...)

http://bevcooks.com/2012/08/chicken-dorito/

this was hands down our favorite for the month and my mouth is watering just thinking of making it again for tomorrow...

now, this one certainly placed a close second, the chicken with walnut sauce:

http://stephaniecooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicken-in-walnut-sauce.html

was so very good with just a teeny bit of cinnamon and the walnuts, oh my...delicious

almost forgot...this one, buttercream chicken was so good that I have to add this:

http://jamiecooksitup.net/2012/02/butter-cream-chicken/

and the 2 sides that we all fell in love with are:
http://cassiecraves.blogspot.com/2009/03/mexican-sour-cream-rice.html  &
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/barley-pilaf-caramelized-onions-4431?click=recipe_sr


and have to add these biscuits were to die for...

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2012/08/7-up-biscuits.html

there you go, our favorite new recipes for January...thanks for reading...

sloppy joes family dinner

we went grocery shopping at the commissary today and man it was packed and everyone was grouchy...I should have realized that 1. it was the day after payday for military, and 2. it was the day before superbowl and everyone was out getting snacks, etc. for the big day...

we did not even get 1/2 of the stuff I wanted to, just way too many people...

and so because of this, I wanted a nice easy dinner tonight...

Zoe made most of the dinner, that is how easy it is...

baked spiral ham family dinner

this dinner is totally going off the menu planner...I found a big spiral ham on sale at the supermarket for only $10 and I could not pass it up...
I think my favorite food of all times is either ham or bacon...I love me some pig, I guess...

so I baked the ham, threw some potatoes in the oven for baked potatoes made some green beans and some biscuits...

yummy yummy of course noone in my house is complaining tonight

crispy chicken with pea pods, carrots & pineapple

when I was first married and then had several babies, I was trying to find my groove in cooking and I devoured recipes and cookbooks as much as I could...on the back of a Bisquick box, they had an address where you could sign up for a Bisquick newsletter and I did it...it was great...once a month, you would get a newsletter in the mail and also recipe cards...

this is where I originally found this recipe...I tried it, loved it, hubby loved it and the kids as they got older they also loved it...my youngest son loved it so much he requested this dish every year for his BD...

over the years, I have changed it to our needs (or wants) and now I am not sure what the original recipe was for...tho I think it had onions and peppers...I add carrots, snow peas and pineapple to mine...that is what my family likes...
I looked on the Bisquick web site and they no longer have this recipe...(does that mean it is mine?) LOL...

it is a different in the fact that it does not have a sauce to it, and might seem dry to some people but for some reason, it just works...if you get a piece of everything on your fork, man there is nothing as good as a piece of the chicken, a carrot, a snow pea and a pineapple all together...
this is a labor intensive dinner, I have to warn you...tho I did get help tonight, Tim came home from work and did the chicken for me...

here goes...

for my family I had 6 chicken breasts, that I cut up into bite sized pieces, then coat them in a mixture of Bisquick and garlic salt and pepper...then into an egg mixure and back into the Bisquick...I fry a few pieces at a time till all are browned...as I finish, I put the previous ones in the oven to keep warm...
when all are browned, I discard the oil (I have a thing about "old"  oil) and add just a tiny bit more to the cleaned pan and stir fry the carrots and pea pods...add the pineapple just at the end to warm up...

try it, I promise you will love it as much as we do...

taco "cupcakes," sour cream & cheese rice family dinner

dinner was interesting tonight to say the least...one of the crazes going around the internet is savory cupcakes (made with egg roll wrappers...)  I have seen lasagna cupcakes, sloppy joes, chicken pot pie, and a ton more...so I took a leap of faith and decided to try them too...

had my eye on them for awhile now and thought tonight would be a good night...

I will start with the sour cream & cheesy rice:

http://cassiecraves.blogspot.com/2009/03/mexican-sour-cream-rice.html
and this is definitely a keeper...I did not quite follow the recipe exactly...and I should have put what it said to put in for the sour cream...ours was a little dry, but nonetheless very very good...this resembles very much like a potato casserole that I have made for years and everyone loves...I cannot wait to make this again...yummy...

now, the taco cupcakes:

http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/07/taco-cupcakes.html
now these to me are OK...before I made them again, I would need to add something...not sure what right now...they are just lacking something...but, neither did I put anything on top like salsa and that
would probably add what I was missing...son and hubby just said that they love them, so we will see...

had refried beans to go with dinner...the princess is with her dad tonight but I saved her a "cupcake" to see what she thinks...

February main dishes (will post sides later)

it is quite a chore finding recipes for 30 days out and then writing them out and choosing sides etc...
took me most of yesterday to come up with February's menus...but I was sort of helped out by the fact that because of either 1. eating out, 2. cat's away meals, 3. eating off of the menu, or 4. eating leftovers, I was left with 10 days of menus from January that will skip on over to February...

so here goes for February...
main dishes...

chicken
    gumbo
    chicken taco casserole
    chicken & wild rice casserole
    poppy seed chicken
    chicken & pea pods
    fettucini alfredo with chicken
    honey glazed chicken  from Jan
    cashew chicken  from Jan
    cranberry chicken  from Jan
    tangy bacon chicken  from Jan
    bourbon chicken
    chicken pot pie soup
    chicken noodle soup

beef
    sloppy joes
    beef stew
    spaghetti
    swiss steak  from Jan
    beef stroganoff   from Jan
    new shepards's pie   from Jan
    meat pies   from Jan
    enchilada casserole   from Jan
    cheeseburger soup
    beef/barley skillet
    cheeseburger helper from scratch

misc...
    mini impossible pies
    macaroni and cheese
    bubble up pizza

15 are brand new to me recipes,  9 recipes are original to me (at least made more than 5+ years) and 4 are ones that I have made recently and am totally in love with...

now to making the side's list, make my grocery list and then look for and cut out coupons...

salisbury stk, gravy & mashed potatoes, family dinner

now, I have made salisbury steak for many years and my family has always been happy with it...but, I just wondered today how I could change it a little bit...I liked mine but I wanted it to be a little moister (or something...)

so today I researched salisbury steak and came up with several different variations while still staying with my recipe sort of...

here is what I did...

2 pounds of hamburger
1 cup of uncooked Stove Top Stuffing mix (this was my original idea)
2 eggs
1 pkg. of beef gravy (the packet kind)

I made into 6 oval patties and browned on both sides...then I put them into an oven pan and covered them with  2 jars of beef gravy mixed with 1 cup of sour cream...this is also new to me, I then put into the oven covered at 350 for 40 minutes...

DELICIOUS
and this will be my to go recipe from now on...

I am getting so good at making mashed potatoes and they sure did deliver tonight with some of the gravy on top...

yummy

my style of cooking...

I was thinking of my style of cooking today while I was trying to lay down with a migraine (that is always the perfect time for me to think about things and prevent me from sleeping...)

so anyway, I got to thinking about styles of cooking and since I of course sort of learned from my mom, I will start with her...
tho, it is not really fair to compare her cooking...we were a very poor family of 12 kids, some nights the bigger kids went to bed without dinner...and when I think of her, she did not have the ability of having money just to go to the store for any ingredients she might need for a recipe...she cooked simply...
spaghetti sauce was tomato sauce
salad dressing was mayo tossed into some lettuce
tuna casserole, was just chicken soup, tuna and noodles
get my drift???
but she was a fantastic baker, when we had the monies for such pleasures...her angel food cakes from scratch with coffee frosting were legendary and her cinnamon rolls were to die for...we all loved her Christmas cookies...

when I got married, I cooked what I was used to and hubby was not too happy with my dinners...I have posted before how he was used to a meat and potato dinner, unless it was Italian and his mom can make a mean Italian dinner...when she still cooked (she is 86) lasagna was always the Christmas dinner...

I started expermenting a little with seasonings and I like to think I got pretty good and hubby started liking my dinners more and more (otherwise I told him he either ate or he didn't...) and I had a month's supply of menu ideas that I could grab at any given time...so from the time we were first married and then kids and then kids growing up, I sort of stayed with my 30 day's of menus...in December, hubby always had 3 weeks of paid leave and I would make up my 30 day's of menus so we would not run out of food while he was off...(money was a little tight, tho nothing compared to my mom...) and this worked for us, especially when I worked...

since retired, I have been more experimental with cooking and especially in the last couple of years, I really can say that I have gotten pretty good...say like this month, I tried 19 new recipes...
and I am getting pretty good at looking at a recipe and decide if I want to keep it the same or substitute something...such as I did with the barley pilaf in the previous post...I did a few changes to it and I ended up loving it...
I can remember just a couple of years ago, when I wanted to make a soup, I had to google or try Food Network for an idea...now, I can think of something, try it according to my thoughts and it comes out pretty good...

I am proud of myself for coming this far and only see good things in the future...

herb roasted chicken, barley pilaf family dinner

I have got to get my camera charged...do you know how many pictures I have missed due to this?

ok...for dinner tonight, I went off of menus and decided to make herb roasted chicken, (it has been raining for 2 days and I wanted a nice cozy home comfort dinner) and I had just found this recipe for
barley pilaf, which sounded absolutely terrific and I made carrots too...

I also got my energy and made chicken waldorf salad from leftover chicken for the weekend...

the barley pilaf is from here: 
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/barley-pilaf-caramelized-onions-4431?click=recipe_sr
I did change it a little, by putting cranberries instead of apricots

and the pilaf is delicious, will have to see what the rest of the family thinks

homemade pizzas for dinner & smore egg rolls

this really posted out of sequence, it was really Sunday night... tonight was a weird night...personal problems abound...I will get there eventually... Sian is spending the night with Zoe here and with problems I am trying my best... I let them make english muffins pizzas and they had such fun... check out Zoe's blog: www.zoesrecipebox.blogspot.com for dessert they made smores egg rolls...we crumbled up some graham crackers, and put them along with some chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in the middle of an egg roll wrapper...it was cute watching Si roll up the wrappers... we got it in the end and the girls said they were delicious...

beef, bacon, & barley soup with english muffin bread

my camera is out of memory and I kee fogetting to plug it in (sorry for lack of pics...) this is what was for dinner... http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/english-muffin-toastable-bread/ & http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/beef-bacon-and-barley-soup/170e9b81-8754-47ec-b280-ba2516678882/ this is the second time I have made this soup and I forgot from last time if I made any adjustments to it or not...today, I did not have carrots and so put peas instead... the bread is the first time I have made it and it is very good...for a yeast bread it goes together fairly quickly, rose well (a little too much, I was not watching like I should and it went all over the oven...) LOL... as soon as it came out of the oven everyone was in the kitchen getting a piece to snack on... Tim said the house smelled good when he walked in...I love comliments like that... yummy dinner, you will enjoy...

chicken taco casserole

http://bevcooks.com/2012/08/chicken-dorito/ this is what I made for dinner, tho I did change the recipe a tad...it was very very good albiet a little bit spicey... here is what I did; instead of 2 cans of soup, I added one and 1/2 cans of soup, and 1/2 cups of sour cream...with the cubed chicken, I did add the Rotel, taco seasonings, and then I added some frozen corn and some black olives... next time I would not put the Rotel (too spicey for our family) and I would add a little more of the taco seasoning... otherwise very very yummy

new bread

I saw this at the store and was somewhat impressed...I love a good homemade bread, but am sometimes overwhelmed with the ingredients and the getting the yeast just right and the kneading and everything and I did not have that kind of time today... this bread did fit the bill and they have other varieties...you don't have to knead it at all...it rises for and hour and only takes 20 minutes to bake and it was very good...

OMGoodness...chicken in walnut sauce family dinner

this was a fantastic dinner and will most definitely be put on our dinner rotation...so so so good... I have had this recipe on my favorites for more than a year, and I will put it on the monthly menus and it was always the first recipe to be cut if we happened to go out to eat or something... now, I wish I had never done that...I cannot really even describe in words how great all of the flavors combine into one really really good dish... you get a hint of cinnamon and just a little taste of the walnuts and oh my does it just work... paired with homemade mashed potatoes, broccoli, and a sort of handmade bread from a mix... one of the best dinners I have ever made... so yummy everyone loved it...you simply must try it... forgot to add the link where I found it: http://stephaniecooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicken-in-walnut-sauce.html

million dollar casserole, green beans, garlic bread

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/12/million-dollar-casserole.html

I have seen this recipe on several different blogs and had it on my favorites for a couple of months and decided tonight was the night to try it... it is very good and everyone loves it... I did make a few changes, as I added Italian sausage to the meat mixture, and instead of layering the cream sauce, I mixed the sauce into the noodles...I layered the meat sauce first (just enough to line the pan) then put the noodles (mixed with the cream sauce, rememmber?) and added the rest of the meat sauce to the top...baked at 350 for 30 minutes, pull it out of the oven add cheddar cheese on top and finish baking for another 15 minutes... hubby did not throw his in the trash tonight (wow...I am amazed) and Tim is getting seconds...I also think this will make fantastic leftovers... yummy

bacon & potato hash with blueberry muffins

this recipe was loosely based on this recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/sidedishes/bacon-potato-hash/ but I added celery and carrots too... and I just thought blueberry muffins sounded good with this and even tho I do not care for blueberries, they were pretty good...

pumpkin pancakes, sausage, eggs for dinner

when I first made up this menu for January, I was going to make homemade chicken apple sausage to go with the pancakes... today when I got up, I knew that after a couple of labor intensive dinners I really wanted something easy tonight... I re-looked at the recipe for making sausage and it was going to take me buyin a bunch of spices that I did not have and well, it is the middle of the month (money wise) and I was not sure I wanted to spend (all) that kind of money on spices... so this is what I made and I am very happy with the pancake recipe and will definitely make them again... pancake link: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/spicy-pumpkin-pancakes/f93e66ed-68c6-4f1d-8f98-5dcbd90ed36e

can I just add that early on in our marriage, hubby always liked to tell me that he hated breakfast for dinner, so we don't do this very much at all...

month of january

Bread Machine Baking Month National Candy Month National Egg Month National Hot Tea Month National Meat Month National Oatmeal Month National Soup Month National Wheat Bread Month Prune Breakfast Month National Pizza Week Second Week National Meat Week Fourth Week National Irish Coffee Week Fourth Week Bloody Mary Day January 1 Apple Gifting Day January 1 National Cream Puff Day January 2 Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day January 3 National Spaghetti Day January 4 National Whipped Cream Day January 5 Bean Day January 6 National Shortbread Day January 6 National Tempura Day January 7 English Toffee Day January 8 National Apricot Day January 9 Bittersweet Chocolate Day January 10 Milk Day January 11 Hot Toddy Day January 11 Curried Chicken Day January 12 National Peach Melba Day January 13 National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day January 14 Strawberry Ice Cream Day January 15 National Fig Newton Day January 16 International Hot & Spicy Food Day January 16 Hot-Buttered Rum Day January 17 Peking Duck Day January 18 National Popcorn Day January 19 National Buttercrunch Day January 20 National Cheese Lover's Day January 20 National Granola Bar Day January 20 New England Clam Chowder Day January 21 National Blonde Brownie Day January 22 National Rhubarb Pie Day January 23 National Peanut Butter Day January 24 Lobster Thermidor Day January 24 National Irish Coffee Day January 25 National Pistachio Day January 26 Chocolate Cake Day January 27 National Blueberry Pancake Day January 28 National Corn Chip Day January 29 National Croissant Day January 30 Brandy Alexander Day January 31

crockpot chicken l'orange, rice, homemade egg rolls

have been eyeing this recipe for sometime and decided tonight was the night to try it...it was very good and Tim said to put it on the menu rotation... Tim loves Chinese food, especially since he is trying very hard to eat healthier and he said this fits the bill for him... with it, I made white rice, green beans and I made some homemade egg rolls... here is how I make eggrolls: I brown some breakfast sausage and mix it with some cole slaw mix (from the salad aisle in the market...I roll up in a large egg roll wrapper and fry in a little oil... see how fat I made them? so yummy everyone was happy tonight...

can I just add, the chicken was so tender, it cuts with a fork, but still moist and delicious... chicken link: http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/crockpot-chicken-a-lorange

meat loaf, potato casserole, maple carrots

it is cold here today...very cold for California standards...it was 27 degrees when I walked Zoe to school this morning and I was so so so cold (we are not used to this, LOL)...even with mittens and my heavy jacket, it still took and hour once home to thaw my feet and hands out...
so, thus saying...I wanted a nice home cooked comfort all oven dinner tonight...I wanted Tim to come
home and be warmed and happy to be home...and my good luck was that he had not eaten lunch today and came home extremely hungry...

so this is what I came up with...

 I love meat loaf very much and I scour the internet looking for different meat loaf recipes...I came across this one and it has been my staple recipe since then tho I am not entirely sure this will be my forever one...we shall see...I do really like this one ( a little sweet and a very good taste to it...)  I made it for a large crowd one time and a guy came up to me and said he hated meat loaf since he was a kid but, he really liked mine...so, that was a nice compliment...

meat loaf link:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/30-minute-mini-meat-loaves/d691ebd6-743b-4dc1-a04c-40ee7da480d5?src=SH

and then I wanted something different for a side dish and I have been eyeing this recipe for some time now and decided to give it a try...and it was delicious, just what I wanted and needed for this winter night...

potato casserole:
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/sidedishes/loaded-baked-potato-cassarole/

then I re-made from last week, the maple glazed carrots...

yummy, everyone was pleased with dinner tonight

chicken tetrazzini and cheese savory "brownies"

OMGoodness is dinner wonderful tonight...a little labor intensive but, so well worth the time put into it...
this is a recipe that I got from Pioneer Woman and is the third time I have made it andeveryone loves it...
I am such a ding dong...went to the store to get all of the ingredients and when I get ready to make dinner I realize something very important that I forgot to do...
I forgot to buy the chicken...yay team me..but, not only that I had already made most of the dinner before I realized what I had done...so, there was no way I had time to go buy the chicken and then cook it too in time for dinner...
we have a busy evening ahead of us...Zoe has tutoring and then later we have the award's thing to go to where they will announce where Zoe placed in the school art contest...

so the only thing I could think of doing was to send hubby to the store and buy a deli chicken...
that is what we did and it turned out great...I still feel stupid...

recipe link for tetrazzini:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/11/turkey-tetrazzini/

then, I had bought garlic bread to go along side dinner but found this weird recipe this morning, and
since I love weird recipes so much, decided to try it...the recipe title says it is "cheese brownies..."
and I was very intrigued...

link:
http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2013/01/cheese-brownies/

and these were very good, everyone loved them...I did not add the jalapenos, but it does need some kind of spice added to it....I might try the peppers next time just to see how that is...and this recipe
definitely has some great possibilities...(thinking green onions, maybe some bacon, corn?)
even, with cooling down, these cheese things are very good...

yummy...a huge thumbs up from everyone for dinner tonight

tacos

so do I really need to give you a recipe for tacos?  everyone has their own taco recipe that their family
loves...mine is no exception...even Tim who is on a eat better diet and eats very little beef, loves his
tacos...and tonight can I just say they came out so perfect...just the right amount of seasonings and the taco shells were just the right crispy and soft...

did have to send hubby to the store (well, really back to the store) cause he got flour tortillas instead of corn ones...but Tim liked the flour ones so much, he made all of his with flour tortillas (I will stick with corn, thank you very much...)