Menu

Sun: Waffles, fruit and turkey bacon

Mon:  Whole chicken in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots

Tues:  Pizza Casserole

Wed:  Chicken, pasta and chickpeas

Thur:  Bacon, shrimp and spaghetti

Fri:  Stromboli

French Dip Roast Sandwiches with Homemade Baguette

I've been busy in the kitchen today, as you know I have not taken up baking all of our bread.  It really made a difference in the grocery bill, especially today, I had one of those long once a month lists and it was no worse than normal.  So I started this afternoon by making a baguette for tonight's dinner.  Next time I will bake the bread a little less and I will divide the dough in 2 and make 2 loaves instead one, the sandwiches were a bit too big. 

I took the recipe from recipezaar.com.

1 t. dry active yeast

1 t. sugar

4-4 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup warm water

2 1/2 t. salt

In large bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water and let stand until foamy.  With wooden spoon, stir in 2 cups of flour until combined.  

Stir in salt and 2 cups of the remaining flour until mixture forms a stiff dough.

On lightly floured surface, knead dough w/lightly floured hands (8 minutes or until smooth and elastic.)  I used my kitchen aid mixer.  Kneading in enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour to keep dough from sticking.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled deep bowl and cover with plastic wrap until doubled.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Punch down dough and form into a long slender loaf.  Put load diagonally on a lightly greased large baking sheet and let rise uncovered for about 30 minutes.  

Make 3 to 4 diagonal slashes on the loaf with a sharp

 knife and light lightly brush top with cool water.  Bake loaf for 30 minutes.  

I let the bread cool with I made Au Jus from on of those mixes you get in the baking aisle.  

I let the bread cool enough so I could cut it, I cut the bread into sandwich size pieces and then cut those in half.  I spread some onion mayo, its mayo mixed with a little onion dip mix, pile on some roast beef and top that with provolone cheese.  I broil these in the oven until the cheese is melted and browned a bit.  I serve with the sauce for dipping.  

Biscuit Pizza

This recipe is what got my husband to eat spinach, I love spinach and he hates most vegetables and I've told him he at least needs to try new things.  I left broccoli off that list because he's emotionally scarred from eating a broccoli worm when he was a kid.  I would never get over that either so I'm not even going to try.  I got this recipe from Christina's blog, I have adapted a bit to our tastes. 

2 1/4 cups baking mix

2/3 cup of milk

1 c. shredded monterey jack cheese

3 handfuls of baby spinach

1 cup of pasta sauce

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 onion

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix baking mix and milk together to form a biscuit dough (follow the box instructions).  Spray a 9X6 glass baking dish with Pam.  Place biscuit dough in the bottom and flatten along the bottom.  Spread the pasta sauce over the top.

In medium frying pan add some olive oil and heat onions w/salt and pepper, cover and cook fro 6 to 8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add spinach and cook down.  Add this mixture to the top of the biscuit and pasta sauce.  

Cook up your ground beef in the same pan and add to the top of the dough mixture.  Top w/cheese and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.  

Menu

Sat: French Dip Sandwiches

Sun: Homemade Meatballs with Spaghetti Sauce

Mon:  Baked Beans with brown bread

Tues:  Nachos

Wed: BLT's

Thurs: Pasta w/chick peas and chicken

Fri: Out

Cornflake Chicken

Last night I made myself a nice turkey breast in the crock-pot and I knew it was a risk because JT is not a fan of turkey, I don't know how you can't like turkey but he seriously might be the pickiest eater I know.  So I had a back up meal on hand to make him just in case he hated the turkey.  This is one of his favorite meals so I think he just wanted to eat this instead.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips

12 oz. box of cornflakes 

2 cups of ranch dressing

Recipe

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, line a baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.  Pour the entire box of cornflakes into a ziplock bag, close bag and crush the flakes with a rolling pin.  Coat the chicken strips with a generous amount of ranch dressing and then coat in the cornflakes.  Bake for 20 minutes or so until the chicken is done and crispy.  

*I've made this meal so much that I am sick of it and won't eat it anymore.  

Crock-pot Turkey Breast

I like to try to cook a few things in the crock-pot during the work week, its nice to come home to hot and ready meal and it makes going to the gym after I eat a lot easier.  I was searching around the crock-pot lady's blog and found a recipe for a turkey breast in the crock-pot.  

Recipe

Turkey Breast

1 sliced onion

1 stick of butter, I used half a stick since it was all I had and I'm on a diet

Salt & Pepper

2 cups of cheap wine

I cooked it on low for 7 hours and it came out okay, it was a little dry but turkey usually is.  

Beer Chicken

In honor of the snow melting and St. Patty's Day I made beer chicken.  I had been wanting to use the grille ever since I could see when the snow started to melt, while we still have a fair amount on the ground our deck is free of snow so I wanted to fire the baby up, and this chicken is really the best on the grille.  So I was outside in my lounge outfit freezing my butt off cooking dinner, it was worth it.  
This is really easy but you have to marinate the chicken overnight, you can use any chicken you want, I find that bone-in chicken is the best, the flavor is off if you use boneless chicken.  This is adapted from my Mom's recipe.

1/2 cup of vinegar

4 T of sugar

8 oz. of beer

3-4 crushed garlic cloves

Hot Sauce to your taste, I used a generous pour because we love things spicy.

Salt & Pepper to Taste.

Mix everything together in a Ziploc bag and insert the drumsticks, remove as much air as you can and seal the bag and let it sit in the fridge.  

 

Crock-pot Beef Stew

I had planned to make this before I left for work this morning but I woke up with the puking my guts out flu, it almost didn't get made this morning because I could barely stand up.  I really really hate using my PTO days for being sick but this was one of those times that I had no choice.  

Into my crock pot went

1 carton of beef broth

3 cups of water

4 diced potatoes

5 diced carrots

1 chopped onion 

A beef stew starter mix

1 pound of stew meat, coated in flour and browned in a frying pan.

I cooked this on high for 5 hours and then turned it to keep warm a bit before we were going to eat.  I probably would have turned it to low sooner but I fell asleep.

Garlic Knots

So I was stalking around what's cooking yesterday afternoon, and I saw a post about these rolls and they looked fantastic and I had all the ingredients on hand so I made them.  JT enjoyed them too, last night he said they were good, he's not much for words, but when I woke up from a nap this afternoon, I was home sick all day, he had eaten another one so I knew they were really good. 

Dough Glaze

3 cups of flour 2-3 cloves garlic

1 T. sugar 2 T. melted butter

2 t. yeast 1/2 t. Italian seasoning

1 1/4 t. salt

2 T olive oil

1/4 c. milk

1 c & 2 T lukewarm water

Combine dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook.  Add all the wet ingredients.  Stir until combined.  Begin kneading dough with dough hook for 8 to 9 minutes or until dough is smooth yet elastic.  Transfer to a bowl that's been coated with olive oil and turn dough ball until lightly covered in oil.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. 

Divide dough into 10 equal portions.  Roll each into a rope and tie into a knot, tucking the ends in on the center of each roll.  I did one roll at a time instead of rolling all the dough at once. 

Place on metal baking sheet and place each roll on the sheet.  Let rolls rise for about 45 minutes before glazing with the garlic butter.  Cook rolls for about 15 minutes at 375 or until golden brown. 

Wheat Bread

I attempted to make bread yesterday afternoon and for the first time in my life the dough just wouldn't rise, I've made bread alot and I just don't know what happened to it.  I tried again this afternoon and as you can see it came out much better.  I've been trying to make all of the things we eat myself, as well as trying to avoid a few things that I'm finding are in alot of foods.  On my no-no list is enriched floor, high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil.  In order to avid that in our bread it had to buy a pretty pricy loaf of bread and I'm trying hard to have save money on groceries, we were spending way too much money on them, but I'm happy to say that I've saved about 25 to 50 dollars off the bill each week.   I have decided to make all of our bread and rolls from now on, JT said if I kept up with it for a month I could buy a bread machine.  I am going to go pick up another loaf pan, because as you can see I have one very large loaf pan and one very small one.  I'm going to hit Bed, Bath and Beyond this week and pick up a few new pans. 

I just used a wheat bread recipe that I found in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  

Menu

I try to only going shopping once a week, well twice if you count going to Sam's Club to pick up salad mix, cukes and tomatoes,  so I plan out the menu for the week.   I just don't have time to shop any day but on the weekends, along with all the other crazies.  I just pick enough meals to make it through the week, they won't necessarily be made on the day I mentioned.

Sat:  Peanut crusted chicken, veggie and rolls

Sun:  Chili Mix, we got for valentine's day

Mon:  Beef Stew in the crock pot with homemade biscuits 

Tues:  Turkey breast in the crock pot, with stuffing and a veggie

Wed:  Biscuit Pizza with a salad

Thur:  Pork Chops, with roasted red potatoes and a veggie

Fri:  Beer chicken on the grill, because I can find it again on my deck!, veggie and something else

Mexican Chicken Stir-fry

Dinner tonight was a quick and easy one pan old school Weight Watchers recipe I have adapted to our tastes, that JT and I both really enjoy.  I don't have the point value for you guys, but its just a good hearty meal, that fills you up and it reheats well for lunch the next day. 

2 T. Olive Oil

1 chopped onion

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 diced green bell pepper

1 diced red bell pepper

1 small can of canned diced green chili peppers

1 can of tomato sauce

2 packets of instant chicken broth, you should find this with the stock, I use the Herb-Ox Sodium free kind.

2 T. chili powder, we like things spicier, I was trying to actually measure tonight for this post and I would have personally added more.

1 t. cumin

2 cans of kidney beans, the recipe calls for one but we love beans so I put in 2. 

1 lb. of boneless chicken breasts, diced

White or Brown Rice to serve the chicken and beans on

Cheddar Cheese for topping.

*Make sure you start cooking your rice first since this is a fairly quick recipe.

In wok or very large skillet heat oil, add onion and garlic, saute for 3 minutes.  Add bell and chili peppers and saute until vegetables are tender-crisp, about 2 minutes.  Stir in tomato sauce, broth, chili powder, cumin and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes to blend flavors, add beans and chicken cook until the chicken is done.  Serve over rice and sprinkle with cheese.  

Parmesan Chicken

This recipe is a staple in our home, its easy and good for you, its actually a Weight Watchers recipe my mom had in one of her old cook books.  I have adapted it a little bit to my taste, this is also one of those recipes I just have in my head so the measurements might be a bit off. 

Also I tried to break down this recipe's ingredients by the steps involved.

Chicken cutlets or chicken breasts butterflied and pounded thin.

1/4 cup flour

1 T. garlic powder 

1 t. onion salt

salt and pepper to taste

Mix these ingredients together and I put this on plastic wrap or wax paper, to make coating the chicken and clean up easier.

Dredge slightly moistened chicken cutlets or very thin chicken breasts into this flour mixture.

1 cup buttermilk, I use the mix powdered stuff that you find in the baking aisle, this way I can keep it on hand and I would never use enough if bought real buttermilk in the diary case.

1/2 cup parmesan cheese.

Mix the buttermilk and cheese together and then coat the floured chicken with this. 

Next you will coat the chicken cutlets in breadcrumbs, I use just regular ones but you could you panko if you want it to be crispier.  I use about 2 cups of breadcrumbs.

Finally cook the chicken cutlets in 2 T. of olive oil until done.  

I paired our chicken with some herb focaccia bread and some mixed veggies, I would like to add that JT totally picked out the carrots and peas and didn't any of the rest.  

Nuts & Bolts

Today I made chex mix for JT, its better than eating chips, and its so tasty, please excuse the photo I took it with my phone because I can't figure out his new camera and apparently I got my old one returned to me without my memory card. 

10 oz. Cheerios

10 oz. Rice Chex

10 oz. Corn Chex

1 16 oz. Package of Pretzel Sticks

1 16 oz. Jar of Dry Roasted Peanuts

2 Cups canola oil

2 T. Worcestershire Sauce

1 T. celery seeds

1 T. onion salt

1 T. garlic salt

Combine the first five ingredients in a large roasting pan.  Combine the remaining ingredients.  Pour over the first five ingredients.  Mix well.   Place in a 200 degree oven for at least 2 hours, never have the oven above 200 because the mix will burn easily.  Stir every half hour.  

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.  I've wanted to start a blog for some time now and I've finally gotten with it and made one.  I love to cook and try new recipes.  I am trying very hard to make all of our meals, JT and I are trying to eat healthier and I've been hitting the gym pretty regularly.  I like to craft when I have the time but with my job and just living my life that has taken a back seat lately.  I hope you all enjoy my blog.