teaching Zoie...homemade chicken pot pie

was so happy when I cam across this recipe and once again have been making for many many years now and even the cat (husband) liked when this was for dinner...it would always be my go to recipe as soon as fall hit and I finally could turn my oven on...
tonight, everyone was so happy when they saw what Zoie and I were making...I also like to make a small one and give to a friend or neighbor for their dinner...tonight I made the extra one for the girl that takes me to my chemo appointment, she was so happy and left me a nice text on Facebook...

this recipe takes a little time to prepare but was easier with Zoie by my side...

we roasted 5 boneless chicken breasts till they almost reached 165 degrees (remember they will still cook in oven too) and cut up into small bite size pieces...
we made a nice creamy roux with 8 tablespoons butter, 8 tablespoons of flour till all cooked through and then added 3 cans of chicken broth, 3 cans of evaporated milk (does not bother Zoie as plain milk does) and seasonings to your liking and keep stirring till thickened...
to this creamy mixture we added 1 1/2 bags of frozen peas and carrots and the chicken...

to a 13x9 pan and also an 8x8 pan (and this is where I cheat) I lined both pans with Pillsbury all ready made pie crust and made sure I sealed all cracks so the cream mixture cannot escape...and poured the chicken, veggie and cream mixture into the pans...I cover with additional pie crust...we like to use cookie cutters and cut a shape into each crust for steam to escape and bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes till brown and bubbly...

umm so good, happy eating...

teaching Zoie...hamburger, rice and gravy, Asian style

I have been making this since before we were married and everyone loved it...the cat (husband) would eat it although not one of his favorites (he hated rice after Vietnam...)

this recipe is so so easy and I originally made it as a Hamburger Helper box recipe...when I worked in nursing before I had my own kids, I would help out my coworkers by babysitting for them when they worked and I did not and one of the families would always leave this Hamburger Helper out for me to make for dinner...and then they quit making it...so I cam up with my own style...

here is what I do...
brown 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger
add 3-4 cans of brown gravy
a splash of soy sauce and simmer on low heat...

6 cups of prepared rice and mix with meat mixture...
here is the good part...on top we add slivered almonds and chow mein crispy noodles...

ummm so good happy eating

teaching Zoie: cheese fondue

I have made this for any many years now and everyone in the family loves it, although my husband did not...I usually reserved this recipe when the cat was away (when the cat's away the mice will play) but it is Zoie that loves it the most and she was very excited to learn about dinner this night...we recently learned that she is very lactose intolerant and she and I have been redoing my dairy recipes into ones that won't make her sick...so tonight for example we used more chicken broth than milk and everyone else said they did not taste a difference....

here is what we did...
this girl can make a mean roux, so much better than me, with absolutely no lumps...
so...
to 6 tablespoons of butter (melted) we added 6 tablespoons of flour and cooked until the flour was absorbed and then we added 4 cups of chicken broth and only about 1 cup of milk...
once that had thickened we added cheddar/colby blend of shredded cheese to her liking and a lot of seasonings such as garlic salt, pepper and onion powder...

we serve it with raw cut up veggies, wheat thins, cut up french bread and sometimes with little smokies...

happy eating and thank you

weekly menu post 2/4 through 2/10

cannot believe it is already February...later this month hubby and I would have been married 44 years...

this is a chemo week for me (last week was so nice, I have 2 weeks on and one off and I love my week off)...so trying to make dinner preparations easier for me...
I made a ton of egg salad for the week and Tim and I can always have egg sandwiches if I am too tired to cook...

so here we go...
Sunday.............taco lasagna (I did not get to it last week and it was so good too)
monday............rice bowls
Tuesday...........tuna casserole
Wednesday......chicken pie
Thursday.........hamburger, rice and gravy
Friday............."crack" spaghetti
Saturday.........corn chowder

thank you and happy eating

taco lasagna

https://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2016/01/25/taco-lasagna/

I have been wanting to make this idea for dinner for a long time now and tonight just decided to make the plunge and just do it...

it was very good and everyone loved it...

the changes I would make next time...I would make with corn tortillas...and instead of rotel I added tomato sauce and I would cut back on the amount of sauce I would add...maybe also not bake it for as long as I did...(the tortillas got a tad on the mushy side)...otherwise it was so good...oh, I also added cheddar cheese inbetween each layer also as some commenters said on the original blog...

thank you and happy eating

chicken, cranberry and pecan salad tortilla wrap

http://yummiestfood.com/chicken-cranberry-pecan-salad-wraps-recipe/

this is pretty much how I make chicken salad, but I like to add apples also...I was not sure how apples would do in a wrap, so I omitted them...

this was a very good sandwich to have and Tim loved it...

will definitely make it this way again but will try to add apples too...

happy eating

pulled pork on a cornbread waffle

https://passthesushi.com/pulled-pork-cornbread-waffles/

I made this a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday night that just happened to be the one year anniversary of my husband's passing...

everyone loved this so much, Zoie even asked if I would make this for her birthday dinner...she asked if grandpa would have liked this and the answer is no...he would have had the pulled pork and cole slaw but not the cornbread waffle...

I was not particularly feeling real good (from chemo) but I did have the waffle and immediately fell in love with it...

I will definitely make this again and again...

(when I was making this, I needed more of the cornbread mix then it called for)...

Weekly menu posts 1/27 through 2/

I am a little late posting this...sorry...chemo hit me kind of hard and my appetite is sure not what it should be...but I am still cooking for the family and I eat when I can...

So here we go...
Saturday......breakfast
Sunday......cool packet dinner
Monday......meatball with barley stew
Tuesday......one skillet hamburger stroganoff
Wednesday.....tuna casserole
Thursday.....honey sesame chicken
Friday....taco lasagna
Saturday.....hamburger, rice and gravy


Happy eating

weekly menu posts 1/7 through 1/13

thinking ahead for the week...I like to have my menus all thought out, it saves me so much time especially when I am up at the hospital so much with this chemo thing...

so here goes,

Sunday 1/7.........chicken fried rice (leftover chicken
Monday 1/8........creamy pasta, bacon and peas
Tuesday 1/9........cheese fondue
Wednesday 1/10.pulled pork on cornbread waffle (new recipe, did not get a chance to do it last week)
Thursday 1/11....hamburger soup
Friday 1/12.........leftovers
Saturday 1/13.....meatloaf and brown butter mashed potatoes (been craving this and by Saturday,                                   chemo should have worn off and I probably can eat)

happy eating

million dollar dip

https://therecipecritic.com/2016/09/5-minute-million-dollar-dip/

this stuff is so seriously good, addicting...we had forgotten how good it really is and I do not care for mayo based dips...you have to be careful around it, cause you will eat the whole bowl...

happy eating

weekly menu post 1/1/18 through 1/6/18 easy dinners

it's very hard to come home after a late day of chemo, and even though you do not feel like eating there are still family members that enjoy home cooking and Tim and I are trying very hard to not eat out. and since the cat died, we have done pretty well for ourselves...we have not had fast food at all...so no matter how bad I feel I like to have a home cooked meal and who knows it just might be the one day I can eat...I do have those although they are very few...most days, top ramen, saltines, and ginger ale are my best friends...

Monday 1/1.............beef stroganoff (Tim's favorite)
Tuesday 1/2.............leftovers
Wednesday 1/3........hamburger soup
Thursday 1/4...........pancakes and eggs
Friday 1/5................chicken and wild rice casserole
Saturday 1/6............pulled pork sandwich on cornbread waffle (*new recipe, cannot wait)

new hashbrown casserole, waffle cinnamon rolls

New Year's Day breakfast to watch the parade with..


.https://therecipecritic.com/2014/12/best-breakfast-casserole/, for some reason Tim was not thrilled with this...he said he was a little watery, so not sure what I would do different next time...everyone else said it was good...

to go along with this, I made cinnamon rolls in the waffle iron and these he did love...I bought the Pillsbury Grand Cinnabon Rolls...

here's to 2018, it has got to be better than last year for me