Broccoli Shrimp Casserole

• 1 lb shrimp
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1tsp mrs dash
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp Tony's
• 2 tsp tomato chicken bouillon
• 1 cup rice
• 2 1/4 cup F/F chicken broth
• 12 oz bag frozen broccoli cuts
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 cup frozen seasoning "blend" of choice (onions, bell pepper, celery, carrots)
• 1tsp chopped garlic (1-2 cloves)
• 1 can F/F cream of chicken
• 8oz shredded colby jack cheese, DIVIDED

OK this seems like a lot but bear with me it was SO simple!

1. Preheat your oven to 325.
2. Peel and de-vein your shrimp. I was using 51-80s so I cut them in 3. This is up to you and also depends on the size of your shrimp. Put your shrimp in a bowl that has a lid, add the dry seasonings- paprika, Mrs. Dash, cayenne, seasoning salt, & bouillon. If you can't find tomato chicken bouillon, check your "ethnic" foods aisle. I usually find it with the other Mexican seasonings. If not, use chicken boullion. Not a huge thing here.
3. Put the lid on the bowl and put it aside if you are cooking NOW, but you can fridge it for 1-2 days if necessary.
4. Put your rice and the broth in a pot with a lid. Bring it to a boil. Put the lid on it and set it to simmer. Don't touch it for 25 minutes. At all. Don't open the lid. Don't stir it. Leave. It. Alone. Trust me. Until I did this I ruined every pot of rice I touched.  Incedentally if anyone knows how to cook a pot of BROWN rice... I'm all ears!
5. Throw the whole bag of broccoli in the microwave and hit 5 minutes. It doesn't matter if it's regular and not "steamable" I promise.
6. Heat the olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium and saute the seasoning blend and garlic until it is tender. Add the shrimp and continue cooking 3-5 minutes until the edges begin to curl. Add the cream of chicken soup and stir it all together.
7. Pour your cooked rice into a 13x9 casserole dish and stir in a hand full of the cheese. Pour the shrimp mixture over it
   and mix it all together well. Spread remaining cheese over the top and loosely cover with aluminum foil. Bake 25 minutes, uncovering the last 5 to brown the cheese.

SERVE WITH:
Garlic bread. YUM!!!



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Mexican 2 ways in 2 days!

CLICK HERE FOR INGREDIENTS & PICTURE until I get it transferred over :)

Night 1: Nacho & Tacos!!
Layer it! Wrap it! Do it however you want!

I like to season my taco meat with Alton Brown's Taco Potion #19. Use what you like.

Night 2: Mexican Pasta!!
~ Saute your leftover onions.
~ Add in the leftover meat and a jar of salsa.
~ Simmer on low while you cook your pasta to al dente.
~ Drain pasta and add into sause mixture.
~ Serve with a sprinkle of cheese, dollop of crema, and a side of chips for some crunch!

Simple but OH! SO! YUMMY!

Lumpia

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the meats, shrimp, carrot, onion, red bell pepper, and garlic. Mix. Gradually blend in the eggs, soy sauce, black pepper, salt, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and cilantro (if using). Mix with your hands so it is combined well. Do not overwork the meat though. Just mix until ingredients are evenly distributed.
Lay 2 damp (NOT SOAKED), warmed dish towels on a large work surface. Place the opened wrappers between them to prevent drying.
Lay out the spring roll wrapper on a flat surface. (I just lay it on top oft he damp towel.) Scoop about 2 Tbsp. of the meat mixture place it down in the center of the wrapper. Pat meat to form it into a line. Make sure the meat is no thicker than your thumb.
Take the bottom of the wrapper (nearest you) and fold it towards the center. Then take the left and right fold them towards the center as well. Roll it like you are making a cigar. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with a bit of water to seal. Place under the damp towl, seal edge down, to prevent overdrying before cooking. Repeat the procedure for the rest of the wrappers.
Heat 1" of canola oil in a heavy skillet to 300-325°F over medium heat.Pan fry 3-5 lumpia at a time so that you will not bring the oil temperature down too much. Turn with tongs every 2-3 minutes until golden brown all over. Approximately 6-8 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.
Cut in half and serve with a sweet & sour sauce, Asian sweet chili sause, or malt vinegar for dipping.
Alternately, these can be made ahead and frozen. Lower heat and fry while frozen being careful to cook meat through before serving.

Beer braised pulled pork

My oven is STILL broken so I decided to try my hand at a crock pot pulled pork today. I My husband is in love and plannin on bringing a pot full to the next UFC gathering.. LOL!

Remember: Most recipes you can adjust things to your taste, but don't be afraid to try something new!

Ingredients

• 2 lb pork roast (trim excess fat & cut into chunks)
• Tony's or seasoning salt (enough to rub on meat)
• 1 c beer (steal your hubby's beer before he finishes it the night before!)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c mustard
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 pack real bacon bits or 1/2 lb bacon fried & crumbled
• 1 c bbq sauce ( I used my leftover sauce from the Cheyenne Burgers

Directions:

1. Toss it all in a crock pot and stir until combined and pork is well coated.
2. Cook on high for 6-8 hours.
3. Shred with 2 forks before serving on hamburger buns or crusty rolls.

I served it with a homemade potato salad and like I said the hubs devoured it!

Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger - Round 2!!

A lot of the ingredients were in the pantry and the burger itself is a full meal! If you need a little "more" try thin sliced red potatoes in the oven with rosemary, garlic, some s&p, and a little butter!

Use Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger Recipe @ Food Network

I followed his recipe FOR THE SECOND TIME TONIGHT!! I even made the BBQ sauce recipe. When I told the fam I was making this again I got "OOoooh! YES!!"

My changes:

I used lettuce and tomato, and he didn't.
I used a white cheddar.
I used light brown sugar, which may be why my BBQ sauce is lighter than his. I actually keep most of these ingredients in my pantry, so I had everything in his sauce recipe other than the dark brown sugar and molasses so I used another 1/2T each of honey and light and called it good.. it was AWESOME! BUT VERY SPICY!
I used regular milk for the onion ring batter, not buttermilk. Didn't have any. (OH THE SHAME!) Just put a 1 tablespoon vinegar and whisk well if you like that tangy taste.
Those of you who don't know Bobby Flay's cooking, he likes it hot! This was great!

Absolutely No Bake Cheesecake

Last weekend my oven stopped working. Maintenance had to order a part for it so the cheesecake I planned on making for Labor Day was a no go. NOT HAPPY!

I'm literally starving for cheese cake... So I made this recipe today!! It's not a "traditional" cheesecake... but it's close enough to satisfy me for now LOL!

Absolutely No Bake Upside-Down Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 16 oz softened cream cheese
• 1 can sweetened condensed evaporated milk
• 1 sm package of vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 c powdered sugar **OPTIONAL**
• 2 cups of your DRY favorite cookies (no cremes, fillings, etc) crushed
• 3 tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Blend cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk on high for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
2. Stir pudding mix into milk until mixed and add into cream cheese mixture, blending again until smooth.
3. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!! Stick your finger in the mix (LOL!) and taste for sweetness. If you want it a little sweeter, blend in the 1/3 powdered sugar.
4. Refrigerate 1-3 hours until it firms up.
5. Meanwhile, in a non-stick skillet, melt butter and stir in cookie crumbs, cooking over medium heat until crispy and dry (like a crumbled pie crust...IF YOU HAVE AN OVEN you can press this into a pie crust before instead of heating and bake at 35o for 15-20 minutes.)
6. Serve cheese cake filling with crumbs spooned over.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

I'll detail this later but for now, here is my crock pot chicken stew for Angela♥

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 4 medium red potatoes, washed & diced
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped seasoning blend or onions
• 6 cups of your favorite veggies (corn, peas, mix veg, broccoli, spinach, carrots, etc.  Literally ANYTHING you like!)
• 1 qt chicken broth
• Seasonings to taste (I've used mrs. dash, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, Tony's, etc)

TIP: Cut all veggies into similar sized pieces for even cooking

Directions:

1. Put everything in your crock pot and put it on high for 6-8 hours.

OPTIONAL:

Add in 1-2 cups minute rice during the last hour

Add in 1/2 cup softened cream cheese, sour cream, or milk right before serving to make it creamy. (DIVINE!!)

Add 1/2 c water & 2 T cornstarch (slurry) in the last 1/2 hour to thicken if you prefer a thicker stew.

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Broccoli Rice Chicken Casserole

Simple to make, since most of it is done in the microwave. If you have leftover chicken and/or rice it's even FASTER!

Ingredients:

 

• 2T olive oil 
• 1 cup frozen seasoning blend
• 1 lb chicken cut into bite-size pieces
• 10 oz bag broccoli florets
• 3 cups cooked (leftover?) rice
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 chicken soup can of lowfat milk
• 8 oz shredded or cubed American cheese
• Seasonings & fresh herbs to taste

 Directions: 

1. Saute seasoning blend and chicken in olive oil until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. 
2. Put broccoli and a few tablespoons of water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave 5-7 minutes until tender (or use the steamable bags to save a dish). Drain water from broccoli, mix in rice, herbs, and salt/pepper to taste.
3. In another (larger) microwave safe bowl add soup, milk, and cheese & microwave 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.
4. Combine all ingredients in the cheese mixture, tossing to coat evenly.
5. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes to absorb all the cheese mixture. It thickens up like a grown up mac & cheese!

Goes great with a side of garlic bread!

 

This week's Meal Plan

Meal Plan Thursday

This week I continued cooking some things out of my old blog posts, some that I never blogged about after doing the meal plan.


Thursday (7/22) - Broccoli Rice Chicken Casserole

Friday (7/23) - Burgers on the grill at a friend's house

Saturday (7/24) - Beefy Potato Hash

Sunday (7/25) - Taco Salad

Monday (7/26) - Tamale Pie

Tuesday (7/27)- Cowboy Stew

Wednesday (7/28) - Left over night!!

Crema Beef & Pasta

I took my old Beef & Pasta recipe and jazzed it up with the leftover mexican crema.

Quickie!! Beef Fajitas

So while shopping at Sam's we got this bag of John Souls Foods Fully Cooked Restaurant Quality Beef Fajitas. Just click the link.. you'll see why I got it. It was a sampler and OOOOooohhh man was it tender!!!

So we cooked it according to package directions.
Greated some Oaxaca cheese.
Browned some onions.
Warmed some tortillas.
Slapped them all together.
Dipped it in Mexican Crema....

and YUUUUM!!!!

Tortilla Soup - revisited

We loved this stuff from a friend's blog that I blogged about before so we had it again. YUM!!!

Except this time I sautéed the chicken & seasoning blend then tossed it all in the crockpot on high for 4 hours while we went shopping (school clothes)! The chicken was melt in your mouth when we got home!

Mom's Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

• 2pk box of sour cream & chives instant potatoes
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Italian Dressing
• 1 lb.  Extra-lean ground beef
• 1 cup frozen seasoning blend
• 1 cup frozen peas*
• 1 cup frozen corn*
• ½ cup frozen spinach*
• 1 large carrot, sliced on an angle (or use store bought sliced!)*
• 2 T fresh chopped parsley or 1 t dried
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (I used… colby jack LOL)
• (**** or your favorite vegetable mix)

 Directions:

1. Combine potato flakes, 1 c broth, water and milk in a large microwaveable bowl.
2. Microwave, covered with wrap, for 5 minutes.  Set aside.
3. Put carrot in another microwaveable bowl with a little water. Microwave 3-5 minutes until tender.
4. Heat dressing over medium-high  heat. Add meat and seasoning blend. Sautéing until meat is browned.
5. Add, reduce heat & simmer until almost tender.
6. In a large oven-safe skillet ( I use cast iron), warm together ¼ cup of light oil and 2 heaping table spoons of flour.
7. Stir frequently until it starts to color, whisk in 1 c broth and enough water to create a not-too-thin gravy.
8. Mix vegetable/meat mixture into gravy and smooth down.
9. Spoon potatoes over mixture, leaving little peaks (they’ll brown pretty).
10. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350° until cheese melts and peaks brown.

GO VEGETARIAN!

Omit meat and add beans, tofu, or more hearty veggies like zucchini and other squash! Use vegetable broth in place of chicken.. VOILA!

Pictures soon!!

That's the plan Thursday!!!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!! 

And boy have I got some deals for you!!! I cireated a 4 week meal plan and went shopping. Everything for 4 weeks (other than milk, bread, eggs type stuff that I'll replace weekly) and I also bought some gifts and other assorted things and my whole bill came to $272!!! I'm guessing I spent a little over $50 per week!

This week we'll have some things out of my old blog posts, some that I never blogged about after doing the meal plan. I will this week, I promise!!

• Thursday - Dinner Out! 35 Chinese Restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC YUM!!!
• Friday - Mom's Shepherds Pie
• Saturday - Tortilla Soup
• Sunday - Beef Fajitas
• Monday - Dinner out! Village Diner Buffet GREAT PLACE!!!!
• Tuesday - Italian Beef &Pasta
• Wednesday - Left over night!!

Mexi-Vegi-Chicken.... Tortilla Soup???

I wanted "Mexican" food tonight. Tacos, nachos, burritos... SOMETHING.. but I didn't want to run to the store to get ingredients. Digging through the freezer I found... vegetables. Lots of them. We're veggie eaters here. Now while I could live on a meatless veggie soup, George isn't so happy about meatless eating.. but I had chicken, too!!! No potatoes.. what to do????

Here's what I came up with:

Mexi-Vegi-Chicken Tortilla Soup


Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 lb frozen cut broccoli
• 1/2 lb frozen mixed veggies
• 1-1 1/2 c frozen seasoning blend (I've been asked what this is :-) follow the link to see!)
• 1 T powdered chicken bouillon OR 3 c chicken broth
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 t paprika
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t Mrs. Dash (yes, I was just throwing things in at this point)
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 chipotle in adobo, mashed to paste (optional- add more, less, or none to taste)
• 1 sm can of tomato paste
• 3-6 c boiling water (3 if you use broth, 6 if you use bouillon)
• 2-4 large tortillas, cut into 1" squares and lightly browned

Directions:

1. Set crock pot to hi for 6 hours or preheat a large soup pot on the stove.
2. Lightly season chicken and brown in olive oil
3. Add all ingredients (EXCEPT TORTILLAS) to pot.
4. Simmer on low for 3-4 hours or cook on high in crock pot for 6.
5. Add tortillas in the last 5-10 minute sof cooking on the stove, last 1/2-1 hour on the crock pot, or just add to bowl.

Serve with sour cream.. sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro.. YUM!! It was so good.

BUT remember.. it is SPICY from the chipotle!!! If you don;t like spicy skip it or start with 1/2 a pepper.

yummmy

so tonight I was organizing the freezer and found a tub of cookie dough I had forgotten about.



So I did this:




After about 13 minutes they looked like this:





Gorgeous right? I thought they needed more so I did this:




But this looked even better:

Throw it in Thursday - Mexican Skillet

I don't know what else to call this.. I've made it before, but I don't think I blogged it. Bad Anne!
Anyway it is neat simple and YUMMY!!! One pot folks! That's it!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 c frozen seasoning blend
• 2-3 cloves or 1 heaping teaspoon of minced garlic
• 2 cups of beef broth (or 2c hot water & 2 bouillon cubes)
• 2 cups of your favorite salsa (or 16 oz diced tomatoes)
• 3 cups uncooked pasta ( I used wheat penne)
• 1-2 cups fiesta/mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Brown burger, veggies, and seasonings.
2. Add broth and salsa, and bring to a simmer.
3. Stir in uncooked pasta. Add water to just reach the top of the pasta, if necessary.
4. Simmer 7-10 minutes until pasta is al dente.
5. Stir in cheese and serve with sour cream.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Simple and YUMMY!

What-a-burger Wednesday - Italian Beef & Pasta

My darling husband is somewhat against tomato based sauces. This has effectively ended my go to meal- spaghetti.  He'll eat it red sauces, but he doesn;t enjoy them. So, what's the point?

On another hand I have a friend in TN that is pregnant with twins, and tomato sauce just isn't appealing to her right now. So I asked for some ideas. Her mom had done this a few days ago, and I'm sure I didn;t do it quite right, but it came out good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozenseasoning blend
• 2-3 garlic cloves, or 1 heaping teaspoon of minced garlic
• splash of olive oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 tsp Original Mrs. Dash seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp dried basil*
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme*
• another splash of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 lb whole grain pasta in your choice of shape. I used spaghetti.
• 4 beef bouillon cubes

Directions

1. Saute frozen seasoning blend and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes.
2. Add in ground meat & brown breaking into small pieces.
3. Drain any fat from meat if necessary and return to pot.
4. Add dried herbs and.another splash of olive oil.
5. Stir well to distribute herbs and oil.
6. Cover and reduce heat to low
7. Meanwhile prepare a pot of water for boiling pasta, add boullion cubes and 1tsp of salt.
8. When boiling add pasta (breaking if you prefer) and cook until al dente, as per package directions.
9. Do not pour pasta cooking broth out, but drain pasta by using a slotted pasta spoon and add to meat mixture.
10. Toss to combine, adding a few ladles of pasta cooking broth to add moisture.
11. Serve with garlic bread and if you prefer add more broth to individual bowls.

Carbs & Protein... perfect comfort food!!

Even Mr. Picky loved this and Kaelyn ate two servings. I also meant to add some peas into the dish and forgot.. NEXT TIME!!



*Note: If you use fresh instead of dried herbs, use 3-4x more and add them at the end of thge cooking process.

2 Tips for Tuesday

Today's tips will be ways to entice children to eat new foods:

1. Don't assume they won't eat something- The might like it and not know it. Just explain that it is something new and they need to TRY it. And if they don't like it, wait a while and give it a try again.
   
2. Include them- Even the smallest children can help in the kitchen.. washing fruits ^ veggies, carrying boxes of pasta or canned/frozen foods to the counter. Find something age appropriate they can do. they will be proud and have a sense of accomplishment and WANT to try their meal!
   

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