Side Dish. 4 Vegi Saute.

This is the starter of my semi home-made vegi pasta sauce, used in my Vegi Zucchini Lasagna, however, it makes an awesome side dish, or a topper for baked chicken too.

Simple and wonderful!
1/2 large onion diced
1 yellow squash diced
1 small/medium eggplant diced
6 large mushrooms largely diced
5-6Tbsp Olive oil
garlic salt and pepper to taste (I usually do around 2tbsp garlic salt and about 1/2tbsp pepper but I eyeball it)
A variation would be to add a tablespoon of pesto or a tbsp of chili powder.

Saute all in a large pan until softened but not mushy, we like it to have texture.

Here are some photos to show prep and it finished.

 

Breakfast Time! Waffles.

Lately I've made allot of pancakes, they are easy to freeze and the kids love them, especially with the addition of cinnamon/sugar in the batter and sprinkled on during cooking, YUMM! and no syrup needed with that so its an easy no mess one for my toddlers. That being said, I wanted to make some waffles, my mother in law made them some at a sleepover they had at her house recently and they enjoyed it so I thought I would try some too. After a great hit, thought I would share.

Waffles:
2C Self Rising Flour
1/3C Sugar
1tbsp. Vanilla
1tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 1/4C milk
1/4C Butter, melted

Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly (to avoid cooking the eggs when adding to batter) Add flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, egg yolks and milk together in a separate bowl and mix well until no lumps. Add butter in to the batter, mix well. Beat egg whites with electric mixer until meringue texture forms, fold in to the batter right before cooking. Now time to cook them... ENJOY!

Whats for Dinner? Chicken Casserole!

So I haven't posted a recipe in a while, just haven't taken the time to do it. However, making this today I was thinking allot of my grandma and her making Chicken casserole so I thought I would share.

What you need: **for a 9x13 pan
NOTE: I will list spices but I don't measure them in this so do what looks right.

2.5lb chicken (leg quarters on bone)
1/2c olive oil
chili powder
garlic powder
salt
1 can sweet peas
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 can of chicken broth (or a can of water and 1 bullion cube)
1 bag egg noodles
1 egg
1c bread crumbs (or saltines crushed)
3/4c shredded cheddar cheese

Lets start with the chicken, one thing I always remember about Grandmas chicken casserole is the chicken itself tasted so good, and it made the casserole even better. preheat oven to 250. Mix in a bowl olive oil, chili powder, garlic, salt and rub all over the chicken. Brown chicken on both sides in a pan (about 3-4 minutes each side) then place in baking dish in preheated oven for 1 hour. Raise oven heat to 425 with chicken still in it, bake for 15 minutes, flip chicken and bake another 10 minutes. Remove chicken and let it cool while you boil noodles in salty water. Mix in a pot cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, chicken broth and simmer 5 minutes on medium. Pull chicken off the bone. Mix chicken, cooked noodles, cream of/broth mixture, peas in 9x13 baking dish. Scramble egg in a bowl and mix into baking dish as well. Mix in a Small bowl bread crumbs and cheese and top the casserole. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. ENJOY!

And yes... you just need good home made biscuits with chicken casserole!

What's for dinner? Spinach lasagna

Spinach lasagna is one of my husbands absolute favorite meals, AND one of the few meals he really enjoys without meat involved. One thing he has always liked is creamed spinach and we all love pasta so one day out of pure boredom in the "usual" dinners we have I wanted to try something different and this is what came out. This was probably 2 years ago and he still asks for it rather often. Also took this to a church fellowship at our great little country church and despite my being hesitant to take it (not like spinach is a universal favorite food) my husband told me I should cause it was really good and it was ALL gone. Had many people comment on how much they liked it which made me feel awesome cause I get such enjoyment out of cooking for people and it is the icing on the cake when they really like it. And, this week my husband had a birthday so I was asked to make it again for him and I finally wrote it all down to get a recipe for it. Also, this is a favorite of my kids too, they love anything with cheese, noodles and mushrooms!

Here I'm going to give you a list of all the ingredients then I'll separate it out to the sauce, filler to make it easier when you are making it. It may seem like allot of ingredients but it is really easy to make, trust me, with two little ones I love me some easy meals.

This is for a 9x13 pan

Combined list of ingredients:

About 8-12 lasagna noodles broken to pan size

1 lg onion, largely diced

12 oz (approx 4c) mushrooms roughly chopped

1.5 tbsp + 1tsp garlic salt

2.5 tsp nutmeg

1.5 tsp chili powder

5-6tbsp olive oil

2tbsp minced garlic

2 10oz blocks frozen spinach (or about 5c fresh)

 2.5tbsp butter

2.5tbsp flour

3.5c milk

4tbsp Parmesan + extra for topping

1/2tbsp salt

6 1/4c mozzarella

Here are the ingredients separated out and the directions:

Boil Noodles to al-dente, set aside.

 

Sauce:

2.5 tbsp butter

2.5 tbsp flour

3.5c milk

4 tbsp Parmesan

1/2 tbsp salt

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp nutmeg

Melt butter in sauce pan until bubbly then add the flour whisking quickly keeping it on the heat. Once it starts to thicken (which will happen quickly) and turns a light brown color add the milk and quickly whisk so there are no lumps. Stir in salt, garlic salt, chili powder, nutmeg and cheese and continue to cook over medium high heat. Stir frequently. The sauce will act similar to gravy and will thicken while cooking until removed from heat so once it reaches a smooth consistency and the thickness of an Alfredo type sauce remove from heat.

 

 

Filler:

1 large onion, largely diced

12oz mushrooms (about 4c)

1.5tbsp garlic salt

1.5tsp nutmeg

1tsp chili powder

5tbsp olive oil

2tbsp minced garlic

2 10oz blocks frozen spinach thawed or about 5c fresh

In a large saucepan saute the onions and mushrooms with the olive oil until onions are translucent and mushrooms start shrinking and are tender. Add spinach, garlic salt, chili powder, nutmeg, minced garlic and cook together about 5-10 minutes. Stirring frequently. 

 

Now for the fun part, putting it together. :) 

This is the order of layering:

-2/3c sauce to cover bottom of 9x13 glass pan

-Noodles

-2/3c sauce

-1/2 of the filling

-2c mozzarella

-Noodles

-2/3c sauce 

-Second 1/2 of filling

-2c mozzarella

-Noodles

-Remainder sauce

-2c mozzarella

-Sprinkle Parmesan on top.

 

 Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

(If coming from the fridge like I suggest below, increase cook time about 15 minutes)

Now if you are anything like me, you like things that are easy to make ahead of time and throw in the oven when it is time for dinner. I've been blessed with 2 great nappers, both of my kiddos take about a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, and at the same time too, how awesome is that? It gives me great "chill" time for cleaning, cooking and prepping supper, reading, crochet, crafts, or whatever I decide I want to do. This is one of the meals I love because I can prep it and have it in the fridge ready to go in the oven when my husband gets off AND have the kitchen cleaned and dishes from cooking done for easy cleanup later.

 

 

Ta-DA! A clean kitchen with lasagna prepped!

You could make this a day or two ahead of time and have in the fridge, if you do I'd suggest increasing the cook time about 15 minutes to make sure it heats thoroughly.

  

ENJOY!

Breakfast time. Pancakes.

UPDATED 2-5-14
Ok so everyone wants/needs a good go to pancake recipe. The kind you generally always have the stuff for, can add in fruits, chocolate chips, nuts or whatever to. Well, this is it for us. Last week my niece, nephew and sister in law were able to spend allot of time with us, including breakfast most mornings of the week and when I asked them what they wanted for breakfast my niece Julia chose pancakes so that's what we had and apparently they liked them cause she kept wanting them thru the week. Hey, it made auntie ellie feel good! My son loves any food pretty much any time of day but my daughter wants only fruit for breakfast ( which is healthy so I kind of cater to that) so we don't usually do big breakfasts they get fruit, cereal, eggs stuff like that allot but last week I think my daughter Annabelle discovered a new favorite, pancakes! They all enjoyed them and she ate something other than only fruit for breakfast for the first time in months ;)
Pancakes: ( yield 10-12 pancakes)
2c self rising flour
1/3c sugar
1tbsp vanilla
1tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/4c milk
butter or spray for cooking
Mix well everything except butter in a large bowl. Melt butter in pan and cook pancakes on medium heat until bubbly then flip. I used a 1/3 c measuring cup to spoon into pan.
Like I said before this is a great recipe either standing alone or with some add-ins and today since my kids love fruits I added in 1 1/2 bananas diced up, I didn't have walnuts but they would have been great too.
One last note, pancakes are a great, GREAT make ahead breakfast for busy mornings. I have done this many times, make a large batch and freeze in freezer bags then when you want just heat up in microwave or on a cookie sheet in the oven.
Hope you enjoy!

What's for dinner? Chili cheese pasta bake

What's for dinner? Chili cheese pasta bake

My kids love noodles... love, love, LOVE them. And honestly, so does my husband and I as well. So, we try all sorts of things with pasta, this is my latest, made it last night.

Chili cheese pasta bake:

1 lb ground beef (we used venison but I know that's not something allot of people use)

3c elbow mac noodles

14.5oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (or fresh tom. diced and roasted)

27oz can Busch's chili beans

16 oz mild cheddar, shredded (divide into 2 8oz sections)

4oz Velveeta cubed

2 eggs

 3 tbsp chili powder

3 tsp cumin

1tbsp salt (plus extra for boiling noodles)

Saute onions and meat together with chili powder, salt and cumin until meat (if you do use venison you will need to add a tbsp or 2 of olive oil as it is more lean than beef) is browned and the onions are translucent. Add beans, tomatoes to meat mixture and simmer together on med-low heat.  Boil noodles to al-dente in salty water, drain. In large bowl mix noodles with meat/onion mixture then add 8oz of the cheese, mix well. In small bowl scramble the 2 eggs and then stir in quickly to noodle mixture. Pour into 9x13in glass pan, place Velveeta evenly around the mixture and then top with the remainder of the shredded cheddar. Bake at 375 about 25 min or until cheese starts to brown.

 

ENJOY!

(It was definitely a hit with my husband and our kids who love anything involving noodles and cheese)

Whats for dinner?... Broccoli Cheese soup

Well our household has been sick lately... ALLOT. From my son having RSV which was his latest sickness until today when he was diagnosed (one week from hospital discharge) with norovirus. It seems between the cold weather and a house of sick kids and sick parents that it was the perfect time to try broccoli cheese soup I've been wanting to make. YUMM! Soup is great and my one year old, the one who has been so sick lately, he LOVES it, ate so much and was quite impatient in between bites, we just couldn't feed him fast enough. Anyhow, here it is...

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 bunches fresh broccoli heads, washed and chopped

1 onion diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp parsley

3 tbsp garlic salt

 2tbsp salt 

1 tbsp nutmeg

1 tbsp minced garlic

16oz half and half cream

3c milk

2c chicken broth

8oz shredded cheddar cheese (plus extra to top)

1/2c parm. cheese shredded

6oz Velveeta cubed (this could be omitted I think if you want to substitute more ched.) 

3tbsp butter

3tbsp flour

 

 Saute onion with olive oil and minced garlic until translucent then set aside. In large stock pot melt butter until bubbly then whisk in the flour until paste like and then stir in cream.

 

 

Cook on medium for 5 minutes continuing stirring occasionally, add chicken broth and the milk. Stir in onions, shredded cheddar, Parmesan and Velveeta until melted. Add parsley, garlic salt, salt and nutmeg then add the broccoli. Simmer over medium stirring occasionally until broccoli is tender.

 

Once broccoli is tender remove approx half of the broccoli heads and place in food processor (I used my ninja) and pulse until no large pieces left. Return to pot and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes. 

Serve with shredded cheddar on top.

 

 

ENJOY! 

What's for dinner? Pizza night!

The other night we tried something I found on Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted to pinterest). It was a great concept but for some reason the amounts did not turn out just right for us. My husband tried it and I tried it also, both came up with about the same thing but still more flour than the recipe I found had. SO, this time around I measured it out and here is our recipe we used for Pizza dough, SUPER SIMPLE 2 ingredient pizza dough that is!

1c plain greek yogurt

2c self rising flour (a little extra for dusting your hands and surface also)

Yep, that is all!

(roll out to about 1/4 inch)

Now you can top it with whatever you like, it being our daughters favorite we used mushrooms and pepperoni and cheese!

 

And as it goes most times when we are cooking, here is our little helper who found her way to the counter!

 

 

Brush on some garlic butter at the end and you are done!

 

ENJOY! 

Whats for dinner? Croissant roll-ups

This is from the other night, nothing difficult to do but we needed a simple and quick meal so these were it!

First there was the simple pizza rolls,

lay out the croussaints on pan as directed by packaging. Spoon a small amount (about 1-2tbsp) of pizza sauce onto the croissants.

 

Add some cheddar cheese, (or mozzarella if you prefer) and some pepperonis if you want.

 

Roll them up and bake as directed on packaging.

And then there are the Roast Beef ones, again, unroll and lay out croissants as directed on packaging place 1/4 slice of provolone on the croissant, then lay on roast beef (i shredded mine up one slice per croissant). Then lay another 1/4 slice of provolone on top of roast beef. Saute 1/2 small onion in small amount of olive oil and about 2 tsp garlic salt until transluscent. Divide these onions onto the cheese.

Roll up and bake as directed on packaging.

 

(the roast beef ones after being baked... I didnt get a picture of the pizza ones sorry)

Simple dinner for those busy nights!

ENJOY!

Loaded Chocolate Cookies

Loaded Chocolate Cookies

3/4c white sugar

3/4c dark brown sugar

2 sticks butter (softened)

1/4c cocoa

1tbsp vanilla

2 eggs

2c Self rising flour

1c mini marshmallows

1 1/2c semi sweet chocolate chips

(ok so everything is pictured, BUT apparently I forgot to add the vanilla into the picture so lets just ignore that mistake lol)

My daughter, Annabelle is just over 2 years old and aside from being miss chatty, she LOVES to help me with anything, cleaning, taking care of her little brother, any chores but most of all she loves to cook or bake so every now and then we forget the things that need to be done and simply enjoy things together. Today, Cayden (little brother) was happy playing with his toys and she wanted to bake so instead of our usual chores this morning we made some cookies together. This, well this is one of my all time favorite parts of being a stay at home mom! Yes, I take care of the house, the kids, the meals and all that BUT, the little moments that we can laugh and play doing things together and making memories with one another... That is the BEST part.

Here is miss Annabelle (her messy hair and all) using the mixer all by herself...

So, on to the cookies...

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and both sugars together. Add vanilla and cocoa and mix again. Add flour and mix well on slow speed, then add eggs and continue to mix on low speed until well blended.

Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon cookies onto greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart then place 2 or 3 marshmallows on each cookie. Bake at 350 for approx 7-8 minutes. Let stand on pan for about 3 minutes to firm up some and then transfer to baking rack to finish cooling.

 

(Annabelle Rose... so proud of her baking skills :)

YUMMMMMM... 

And most of all, they are kid approved... Little brother likes when we bake.

This is a recipe we threw together today, but I wrote it all down as I went so I'd be able to remember it all and they turned out great! Extra chocolate and yummy bites! Maybe this recipe will make it into your kitchen making memories with your family!

ENJOY!

Whats for dinner?... Stuffed portobello, Easy glazed carrots & rice with gravy!

So, what's for dinner? Last night we had one of my husbands (and my daughters) favorites, stuffed portobello mushrooms! Now keep in mind, this is one of my own recipe/creation so there is no exact science to my cooking. I don't generally measure things but I am going to put down what is in it and the amount I try to stay around I trust you can use your judgement if it needs a little more or less. I LOVE to cook, and so these post's will be ideas and things we came up with or recipes we use to create the meals we enjoy. If you have any questions on anything you can surely ask!

Teriyaki Stuffed Portobello

4 large portobello mushrooms

1lb hamburger

1bag mozzarella shredded cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Garlic salt

1 medium onion

1/2c teriyaki (see bellow for brand but any will probably do)

1/4 c soy sauce

4tbsp minced garlic

1tomato diced

First off, I washed the mushroom and pulled the stems out (save them for the gavy) then in an 11x13 pan I drizzled some olive oil and used a pastry brush to coat the bottom of the pan. Put the mushrooms in the pan stem side up.

 

Next, in a large sauce pan, saute 1 onion and the 1lb hamburger meat together with 2 tbsp minced garlic and 1 tbsp garlic salt. (Portobello mushrooms are great as the "meat" of a meal, but, husband is quite the fan of meat so most meals will include necessary or not lol... oh, and we are ALL lovers of garlic so you can expect to see that in most every meal)

Once the meat is browned and the onions translucent add in approx. 1/8c Soy and 1/4c Teriyaki sauce (this kind pictured has a GREAT flavor and we use it quite often but if you have one you like I'm sure it'll do the trick). Then let simmer for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add salt to taste.

 

While the meat, onion mixture simmer top all of the mushrooms with about 1/8c chz per mushroom

Once the meat mixture is thru simmering spoon mixture onto mushrooms. (it's ok if a little of the mixture is left in the pan, you'll use the same pan to make your gravy)

Let the mushrooms sit aside for a few minutes. In the same pan as the meat mixture add approx. 4c water and 2 bullion cubes.

Cut up the stems that were pulled from the mushrooms and add them to the pan as well. Add approx 1tbsp salt, 2tsp garlic salt and 2 tbsp minced garlic. Once the bullion is dissolved good add 1/4c teriyaki sauce and 1/8c soy sauce then mix 1c cold water with 2tbsp corn starch and add to the mixture, bring to boil and cook until thicken slightly. Add more to your preference of "thickness" for gravy.

Once the gravy is to your preference (you may need to add a little salt, I tend to under-guess my salt allot due to I need more salt then most people so I dont want to tell you too much and it be too salty). At this point, spoon a small amount of gravy on each mushroom and top again with cheese.

Top the mushrooms and cheese with the diced tomato.

Bake at 350 for approx 15minutes or until you can see the mushroom side soften and start to fall a little.

We served with rice and extra gravy and some easy glazed carrots.

2 cans sliced carrots (mostly drained)

1/8c brown sugar

1/4 c teriyaki sauce

Cook the carrots approx 5 min and then add teriyaki and brown sugar, cook an additional 5 minutes. Voila!

 

ENJOY!