boneless oven bbq pork ribs with leftovers

when I got the chicken out of the freezer, I noticed that we also had some boneless pork ribs in there so I took them out and thought I might go ahead and cook them and use them on a night when I did not have a lot of time...that time is tonight...

I went ahead and baked the ribs and thought they would be great warmed up on another night, rather than waste them...I put the 2 pkgs of ribs into a baking pan and covered with some bbq sauce, covered with foil and let them bake for about 4 hours...

I had never really come across boneless pork ribs before until the time when my hubby had lost his very good paying aerospace job and could not find another job...there was a local meat market close to us and hubby got to be good friends with the owners and he eventually went to work for them...however, they could not afford to pay him, but he could take what meat he needed to feed his family...this was a difficult time for us as the kids were teenagers and I was the only one working, trying to hold onto our house and car, etc.   so the extra meat came in handy...I had only ever heard of ribs being BBQ'd, but in the winter that was a hard task to perform...hubby came home regularly with these ribs and one time I decided to bake them with BBQ sauce and they came out so good and that is how I have always made them since then...

so I did them this way on Saturday night...and of course I had to try them and was eating ribs at 9 pm...(I had to taste test, right?)

tonight we had them with the easter leftovers such as veggies and the scalloped potatoes...

easter dinner, spiral sliced ham & au gratin potatoes

dinner tonight was a joint effort and it was nice...Sam bought the ham and made the deviled eggs and carrot salad...I made the potatoes and Tim did the veggies and bread...

nice, easy dinner, no stress

pioneer woman's perfect au gratin potatoes

I am trying these for dinner tonight and I am excited about them...when I was a kid and my mom would make our favorite dinners for our birthdays...
mine?  meat loaf and scalloped potatoes...once we were married, my MIL did the same tradition and she made me said dinner...hubby had a 10 and 12 year old siblings at the time and they hated this dinner...they thought they were being slick and put their dinner in the cat's dish...OMGosh FIL made them take it our and eat it...there was even cat hair on the meat loaf and they had to eat it...I have never forgotten that...

I followed this recipe except I added a few pieces of butter to top of potatoes and I blended the flour in with the half and half...and added seasonings instead of garlic cloves...

cannot wait to try

update...these were excellent...I will definitely make these again, everyone loved them

weekly dinner menus from 3/27 through 4/2

am so glad that my stressful week is behind me now that we are awaiting on a decision on where we will live...
I do not like to not have things upended in my life, I hate upheaval...I like to know what is going on...
cooking helps the indecisiveness, helps with the stress (until I have to clean up that is...haha)

here goes, hoping I have a much better week...

3/27 Happy Easter............spiral sliced ham
                                         pioneer woman au gratin potatoes
                                         deviled eggs
                                         dinner rolls
                                         green beans, and broccoli
                                         snickerdoodle casserole

Monday 3/28...................john wayne casserole
                                        artisan bread

Tuesday 3/29....................poppy seed chicken
                                         green salad

Wednesday 3/30..............basil soup
                                        knotts biscuits

Thursday 3/31.................chicken chimichangas
                                        refried beans
                                       spanish rice

Friday 4/1.......................lasagna
                                       garlic bread
                                       antipasto kabobs

Saturday 4/2..................bacon hash
                                      blueberry muffins

sonunds good to me

April menus

this wekend has been quiet for us...my house is super clean, no kids and so I worked on dinners and menus and the blog...

so since I had time I decided to go ahead with April menus now...who knows how busy I will get after this...
we do not have Sprng break until 4/4, so still another week of school...

here goes...

Gerry's sausage tortellini alfredo with spinach casserole
chicken tetrazzini
lasagna
beef parmesan
honey sesame chicken
honey mustard chicken with mozzarella
sweet/sour meatballs
chicken caccitore
bacon hash
orange chicken
some type of bubble up
swiss steak
one pot turkey skillet
beef enchilada bake
honey moon chicken
buttercream chicken
shepards pie
tortellini soup
slow cooker chicken/potatoes/green beans
chicken and pea pods
chicken and wild rice soup
country club chicken
sloppy joes
taco twist
pot roast
rice skillet (my facebook)
chicken enchiladas
chicken lazone (Tim's birthday...)
frito casserole (did not make last month)
disney cheddar cheese soup (did not make last month)

many new recipes, so I am excited...

easter brunch hashbrown casserole and cinnamon waffles

I have posted about this hashbrown casserole many times before...I had found it on a food blog that no longer exists...and it was interesting to me...
I absolutely adore interesting recipes, with a secret ingredient or a different way of doing it...whatever I love them and seek them out...
I love the recipe for tomato soup cake, for instance...and have made that many times also...I have a recipe for sweet potato cake that uses baby food...so this recipe really peaked my interest...and everyone in the family loves it and I make it quite often...little boy especially loves this and will be quite happy tomorrow when he learns I made it...often times when I make it I will send some home with him and he eats it for dinner...

so once again, here is how I do it (the original blogger said she made it out of desperation one day and only had these ingredients in her pantry)

1 bag of frozen hash browns
16 ounces of sour cream (think I needed a little more today)
seasonings
6 lightly scrambled eggs
cheese
browned sausage

the original recipe did not call for this, but I fry the hash browns in a tiny bit of oil...I think it takes away some of the frozen-ness and also adds to the taste, till browned on both sides...
then I mix everything together and bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes

and then today since I got a new waffle iron the other day, wanted to try something new...I had seen on the Pillsbury site, to put an unbaked (of course) cinnamon roll in the waffle iron...

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/cinnamon-roll-waffles-with-cream-cheese-glaze/42d0b4cb-56f9-47cc-a9d2-d5c3675e7d57



then I mix everything together and bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes

Irish skillet chicken with potatoes, bacon and onions

http://recipesfoodandcooking.com/2015/02/20/irish-chicken/

this recipe is definitely a keep a great menu item for rotating...

this chicken was perfectly cooked, and I added to the pot still partially frozen...we made glazed carrots to go with dinner...

here is where I differed slightly from the recipe...I did not add cabbage (hubby is the only one that likes cabbage) and next time I would cube the potatoes and a little less onions...
Tim just said it would be very good with some apples...

yummy happy eating

copycat Applebees oriental chicken salad roll up...yum

we love Applebees and are lucky that we have one close to our house...and I always get the same thing, every single time...

it is this...Oriental chicken salad but in a tortilla wrap...

I was heartbroken when they stopped selling it for a little while...even now, I don't think it is on the menu, if I remember correctly you have to ask for it...

http://mandysrecipeboxblog.com/2011/05/applebees-oriental-chicken-salad.html

and this copycat recipe is so spot on, the first time I was amazed...

so yummy and even though I make it at home, I still order it whenever we go to Applebees...

chicken fried rice

a long time ago, I tried to make fried rice and it did not turn out so well...it is a good thing I did not give up...I love fried rice and that is usually all I will get at an Asian restaurant...Pick Up Stix makes a really good beef friend rice...

so, I kept at it and came up with a good recipe that fits our family and we all love it...seconds do not stay around here long at all...

surprisingly, I use Minute Rice...and I make up ahead of time 7 cups of rice and let sit for a little while to let the moisture release...

I take 1/3 at a time and fry it in as little oil as I can and add garlic salt, pepper and onion powder to it...once it has gotten to the consistency I like I add soy sauce and I add enough where all of the rice is covered with the soy...

then once that is done I add:

cooked, diced chicken
bacon
green onions
frozen pead
shredded carrots
cashews
and some softly scrambled eggs...

once all of this is added, it makes me happy cause it looks so good and I love all of the colors in it...

so glad that there are some leftovers for lunch tomorrow (I had to hide me some in the frig...)

yum happy eating

old family favorite...taco casserole

today is the first day of spring, and that only means one thing to me...summer, unfortunately is coming very quickly...I HATE summer so very much...love the down time and not having to be in bed by a certain time, but the heat just melts me...I cannot take the heat at all...makes me physically ill...not looking forward to summer at all...
so, saying that, I am trying to use up all of my casserole recipes now, before I am on self imposed oven time out...

I started making this when we were first married and so it was before I even had kids...hubby does not love this as much as the kids always have...Tim and Zoie love it...she was very excited when she came over and saw what was for dinner...

here is what I do...

browned 2 pounds of ground beef, add in 1 pkg of McCormicks taco seasoning mix and 2 16 oz cans of tomato sauce, 1 bag of frozen corn, some sliced black olives...stir all together and then add some shredded cheese and some crushed tortilla chips (we like ours in fairly big pieces...)  add some more cheese to the top and bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes...

paired tonight with the leftover corn casserole from last night...

yum happy eating

weekly menu posts for 3/20 through 3/26

this is going to be a stressful week...I hope I can keep up with the menus this week and living my overwhelming life...

Sunday 3/20...................taco casserole
                                       biscuits

Monday 3/21.................applebees copycat chicken wrap
                                      tator tots

Tuesday 3/22.................loaded baked potato soup
                                      artisan bread

Wednesday 3/23............chicken fried rice
                                      egg rolls

Thursday 3/24...............polish sausage, apples and onions

Friday 3/25...................skillet chicken, bacon and potatoes

Saturday 3/26................I am going to leave one night open to not cook depending on my stress level after Thursday...

yum happy eating

Captain Crunch Chicken dinner

several years ago, Tim came across a post that Planet Hollywood served Captain Crunch Chicken and we found a recipe and tried it...it was ok, a little sweet for my taste...

he mentioned it again, recently and I decided to give it another go and searched for a different recipe...the first one, had just dipping the chicken in cereal and baking it...I was not too crazy for this version...

so I found this one, that you make a batter with the cereal and some tonic water and eggs...ok...sounded interesting and I like interesting...

http://www.averagebetty.com/recipes/capn-crunch-chicken-recipe/

and we loved it...it is so good...almost like a tempura batter and not as sweet as I had thought...Tim and hubby totally loved it and want it again...
the chicken was a little time consuming with cutting up the chicken, flour dipping it and then into the batter and then frying a couple of pieces at a time...

made my homemade pasta salad and the jiffy corn casserole to go with it...

a very good dinner

St Patricks day dinner, corned beef with cabbage

we always look forward to this day, as everyone in the family loves corned beef...I guess it is apparent when I sent hubby to store for corned beef, he came back with 6 of them...I can only fit 2 into the slow cooker, so I still have 4 in the freezer...ha, hubby will love to have this again soon...

so I put 2 of the corned beef into the slow cooker before I went to work and started them on low and totally they cooked about 10 hours...

then I threw some diced potatoes and carrots onto boil...for the cabbage, I now like to use the cole slaw already shredded in the bag and I sautee 2 bags in a little butter, add some seasonings (garlic slat, onion powder, pepper and some celery salt) and cook down till wilted and tender...hubby absolutely loves it this way and daughter loves to make colcannon with it...

overwhelming, stressful day but this was a nice down home comfort meal...

Wednesday night dinner easy meatball soup

surprisingly it was 80+ degrees here in Riverside today, (in March no less...)  I am so sad that summer is getting closer and closer...hate the heat...though I am working on making up my summer menus...I cannot turn my oven on when it is so hot outside...

on Wednesday, I was kind of busy and have a lot on my mind and I needed to have something that was very easy to make for everyone for dinner...

I had meatball soup on my weekly rotation so I went with it...

I have posted about this previously and keep making it cause everyone loves it...

so here goes...

2 pkgs of beef stew McCormicks seasoning mixes
7 cups of water

combine the mix and water and bring to a boil...

add I package frozen meatballs to the water mixture, 1/2 package of egg noodles, and 1 package of frozen peas...

simmer until noodles are al-dente...

and you are done...yum,,,happy eating

layered chicken bake, Thanksgiving in every bite

I have made this before and posted of it before also...we love it...

this was originally a Kraftfoods.com recipe but they have since removed it from their site...they had it listed as a chart, with different ways to make it...(Italian, almadine, etc) but we loved the almadine version the best...and now, I cannot remember the other ways...so I continue with it this way...but once we got used to it, we changed it to our way of eating anyway...

it has chicken, diced up in a sort of gravy, with peas (original recipe had green beans) almonds sprinkled on it, (we also add cranberries) and some Stove Top stuffing (I used the cornbread variety) on top of the casserole, and some mozzarella cheese on top of that...

so here is what I use...

2 chicken breasts (leftover from bourbon chicken the other night) diced
1 large can of cream of chicken soup
approx. 6 oz of sour cream
seasonings
1 bag of frozen peas
mix all of this together and place in a casserole pan, sprinkle with almonds and cranberries...

then mix 2 cups of hot water with 2 boxes of Stove Top stuffing cornbread mix and layer on top of chicken mixture...
gingerly lay some mozzarella cheese on top (about 1/2 bag already shredded)

bake 375 for about 25 to 30 minutes...

yum happy eating...

probably will be the last time I make this until after summer, when I can turn my oven on again...

swiss steak (tomato version) and homemade mashed potatoes

I absolutely love swiss steak made any way...always looking for a new way to make it different from what I am used to...

this is the recipe I used today...loosely based on this...

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2015/02/slow-cooker-swiss-steak.html

years ago, I made a swiss steak with a McCormick's seasoning packet...they no longer make it...and it was a good tomato-y based recipe...my favorite recipe is a creamy based one that I absolutely love...and it makes a terrific gravy...but I made that one about 2 weeks ago and I wanted to try a new tomato one...so I googled...

this one was good, although I changed the recipe a little to fit my family more...some members of my family absolutely hate tomatoes and this recipe called for canned tomatoes so I substituted tomato sauce instead...
I got up this morning and floured my meat and seared it and the onions before putting in slow cooker...I think it gives it a better taste and body...the rest of it I did the same...

it was good and everyone did like it...I still like my own a little better...

I would recommend this one if you like the tomato version...

and of course my own homemade mashed potatoes...everyone loves my potatoes...I add cream cheese and tonight I made them fully loaded with bacon and cheese also...

bourbon chicken with brown rice and veggies

last night, I felt like fried rice and we went to Pick Up Stix and Tim always gets Bourbon chicken...they were out last night...he was disappointed so I decided to try it for him for dinner tonight...

http://www.food.com/recipe/bourbon-chicken-45809

this is the recipe I used and he said it is so close to the restuarant's dish, he loves it and wants it again...the restaurant grills their chicken and I cut into bite size pieces and stir fried in a little oil...
the sauce went together really well and we paired with brown rice and asian veggies...

definitely a keeper

weekly menu posts 3/13 through 3/20

with only eating out once last week, I am happy with myself that I cooked 6 nights out of the 7...so, here are the new weekly menus for this week...

Sunday 3/13................swiss steak from the Chin Deep site
                                    mashed potatoes
                                    maple glazed carrots

Monday 3/14...............poppy seed chicken
                                    brown rice
                                    oriental veggies

Tuesday 3/15...............slow cooker hobo dinner

Wednesday 3/16..........meatball soup
                                     artisan bread

Thursday 3/17.............corned beef
                                    boiled potatoes
                                    cabbage
                                    carrots

Friday 3/18..................layered chicken bake

Saturday 3/19..............stuffed pasta shells
                                    green beans
                                    garlic bread

yum happy eating

tacos, rice and beans

tacos...can you believe that as a kid, I had never had a taco...(we were very sheltered and poor)...and once married I never even thought of tacos...I am sure we had tacos to eat but I never thought of making them...but, I was at a neighbor's house and she was making tacos for their dinner and I watched her and it was like a light bulb went off...I could do this...and this was like 30+ years ago...I have been making them since and the family all loves them too...

there is no secret to my tacos...I do like my ground meat heavily seasoned, and I love the yellow corn tortillas lightly fried...and since I have the carne asada fish tacos at Senor Baha's with cabbage instead of lettuce, I also add shredded cabbage to my tacos...

for my spanish rice I use tomato juice with salsa, seasonings and corn and black olives...

family was happy with dinner tonight...

Thursday night dinner...Olive Garden lasagna

we love to go out to eat for a late lunch, early dinner...say around 3 pm or so...we pick Tim up from work and then go out...we do not eat out nearly as much as we used to since I made a pact with myself to cook at home a lot more...and I am proud of myself because of it...I really have done a good job of staying home...even though it is a lot of work...

we happen to love Olive Garden but always ate the same thing...spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs...but about two times ago, I decided to get the lasagna and I was definitely not disappointed...now this is my go to every time I go to Olive Garden...

so we needed to go by the mall Thursday night and went to Olive Garden and the lasagna was the best ever...it was so good this time and I have been thinking of it since...we almost went there again today...I also love their Italian sausage and get one to go with the lasagna...

oatmeal pancakes and sausage pie...breakfast for dinner

wanted a little change for dinner tonight...have wanted to try oatmeal pancakes for awhile now...so I said why not?

here is how I made the pancakes...I looked at many recipes and did something of my own from the different ones...

2 cups of Bisquick
1/2 cup of oats
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons of brown sugar (would put a little more in next time)
2 eggs
oh and since it was my recipe I threw in some pecans

mixed al together and made into pancakes...

they were wonderful and I will make again...

for the sausage pie...

1 large roll of Crescent rolls, lined a 9x13 pan...

meanwhile
6 eggs beaten, added to browned sausage, with some cheddar and some mozzarella cheese
baked at 375 for about 30 minutes...

and after I made, I thought there was a little too much bread type but need to worry...I was out of Pam and the biscuits stuck to the pan so badly, we just scooped the sausage mixture out and ate it that way... (problem solved...)

dinner was great tonight, yummm

chicken and wild rice casserole

0h man I have posted about this dish soooooo many times...we absolutely love it and do not know what we did without it before...and holy crap, summer is coming and I cannot turn my oven on then, what will I do without this dish?

was not really on board with my monthly menus, but little boy asked if I would make his favorite meal ever and how can I say no to the cutest 8 year old in the world?  especially when he loves my cooking so much...says when he grows up, he is going to buy a restaurant and I will be the cooker (hahaha does he realize how old I will be by then?)  he is going to be so happy tomorrow...besides, this is also Tim's and my favorite also...hubby had seconds tonight, but said, it was not cause he likes it all that much, he is getting used to it...LOL

http://www.southernplate.com/2014/08/chicken-and-wild-rice-casserole-bags-to-dishes.html

please try this tomorrow you will love me forever for telling you about this

hamburger soup...(a little change)

so it is rainy here and I love it...seems to bring out the domesticated person (more I guess) in me...love to cook and bake in the rain...I definitely could live in Washington...just wish the grandkids would live in Wa. also...I would be there tomorrow if I could...

I have posted about this recipe previously but today I made a couple of changes in it and wanted to put them  in print...

today I added italian sausage and 1 small can of tomato paste too...

to 9 cups of water, 1 16oz can of tomato sauce,
1 small can of tomato paste, 2 pkgs of onion soup mix, I added browned hamburger, browned italian sausage, frozen peas, carrots and corn and half of a box of ditalini, and seasonings...

so good for a stormy day...

baked oatmeal...

I decided to take a day off from school today...I took the kids and then I went to the store to get what I needed for dinner...

today in Riverside, it is my kind of day...rainy, thunderstorms...I love it...

but, I had to get kids to school and go to the store and hubby had dialysis...the funny thing is I was worried about the rain...I love it, but I like to be home, where it can be nice and cozy when it is raining...so I took kids a little early (they can go to eat breakfast) and I hurried to the store and the minute I got home, the downpour started (I was kind of proud of myself...)

once in the house, loving every minute of the storm, I turned the oven on, turned all of my fairy lights on, lit some candles and started cooking...

once my wet, tired minions come home from wherever they have been, I want them enveloped in warmth, coziness and security...Tim had an important doctor appointment and hubby with his dialysis and then the kids from school...

this baked oatmeal recipe had been in my favorites for a long time...can I just say here, I HATE oatmeal...being one of 12 very poor kids, if we were lucky we had oatmeal every single day of our lives...YUCK...but, I do like oatmeal cookies, etc.  and this recipe sounded interesting...Tim loves oatmeal and I thought this a nice treat for him...

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/51013/baked-oatmeal-ii/

I also added pecans and a little coconut to this and it is so yummy...so far, everyone has loved it...

weekly menu posts from 3/7 through 3/13

 a fair amount of thought went into this week's menus and most of them are new recipes...

here goes...

Monday 3/7..................... hamburger soup
                                         biscuits

Tuesday 3/8.....................bourbon chicken
                                         brown rice
                                         oriental veggies

Wednesday 3/9................tacos
                                        spanish rice
                                        refried beans

Thursday 3/10.................applebees copy cat chicken salad

Friday 3/11.....................john wayne casserole
                                       artisan bread

Saturday 3/12.................chicken and wild rice casserole

Sunday 3/13...................breakfast like oatmeal pancakes???

yum happy eating

bowtie alfredo with chicken, bacon and broccoli

after a really big dinner last dinner (time wise big) I wanted something tonight that was much less work entailed...I thought a lot about it and came up with this...

was going to make fettuccini and while at Target, liked the looks of bowtie pasta instead and everyone ended up loving it too...

listened to Ina Garten and roasted the chicken breasts instead of poaching them and it was a wonderful taste to the dish...

in respect to time today, I used Bertolli jars of alfredo sauce and added to the pasta and sauce, the chicken, diced bacon and broccoli pieces...

added mozzarella cheese to the top and baked it at 400 for about 20 minutes...

yummy

lemon ooey gooey bars

http://bsugarmama.com/lemon-coconut-gooey-butter-bars/

very good, very lemon-y...

will post more when we taste them...

steak pie (so so good) with mashed potatoes and peas

I have had different versions of this recipe in my favorites for a very long time...just recently, however I became really serious about wanting to try it...I settled for this particular recipe cause it seemed easier than some of the others but also looked amazing at the same time...

this recipe was so amazing...outstanding...I have one very happy family tonight...

there are a couple of changes I would make next time (not big ones...)

I would cut the meat in smaller pieces (I used a london broil)...
I would work with the gravy a little bit...
and I would add the peas to the pie, instead of by themselves...

when I was a kid, a very poor kid, for a treat my mom would sometimes buy the Swanson pot pies and I loved the beef ones...since then I have wanted to make a similiar one...this has taken me 60 some years but I have found it, only like 100% better....

nothing else...

http://christinascucina.com/2014/01/steak-pie-with-peas-mashed-potatoes-and.html

this was definitely a lot of work but so well worth the effort...could only be a weekend meal for me...

yum happy eating...please try this

cashew chicken

http://therecipecritic.com/2012/07/slow-cooker-cashew-chicken/

this is the recipe I made for today...I came home from school at lunchtime to prepare it for the slow cooker...

now it went together fairly easy and the family liked it...I was not crazy about the sauce...I am not sure I would use the slow cooker again...when it finished cooking, the sauce seemed too thick for my taste...

this is the recipe I made before and would do it this way again...it was so long ago, that I have forgotten what the taste was...

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

my daughter and I love this one Chinese restaurant (a little on the pricey side) but they make the best cashew chicken and I will have to go back and see if I can tell what the sauce is made from...

this is one of my favorite dishes and I would love to replicate Monark's recipe...

paired tonight with
brown rice
brussell sprouts
egg rolls

spaghetti

in the midst of making new recipes, I wanted an old family favorite, I was kind of craving this...

my spaghetti...

I use jar spaghetti and use my own seasonings and I also add one can of tomato soup (I think it cuts down on the tomato-y taste a little)

and I always add ground italian sausage with my browned ground beef...

Sunday night dinner, swedish meatballs

this is definitely a family favorite...

I have tried making these from scratch several times and I always come back to the way I usually do them...

I use the McCormicks seasoning mix...

paired with buttered noodles
maple glazed carrots...

last week, homemade mac and cheese (revision)

I made this dish one night last week and I have posted about it before...

I am writing about it now, to help make me remember what I did...

I did the usual (that I have posted previously)
    2 cups of elbow macaroni, cooked
    2 cans of cheddar cheese soup
    and this is where I differed...you are supposed to use 2 cans of evaporated milk and I only had one...and I wanted to see what would happen with only one can...and I really liked it this way and might do it on purpose next time...
    1 stick of melted butter
    cheese
    16 oz of sour cream

mix all together and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes...