Meet Us In The Kitchen...Because Hyperactive Lu Cooks and Bakes!

Middle Class Beans and Rice

2011-10-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

Michelle, from Polka Dots and Stripes, came up with this recipe, I think, and its really yummy! Hubbie and I nicknamed it "middle class" beans and rice, because its not the beans and rice you always hear about on Dave Ramsey's show. This is definitely "more expensive" but still a cheap and hearty meal.

1 lb of ground beef
1 can of Bush's Grillin' Beans- Black Bean Fiesta
Rice, cooked, enough for your family

Brown the ground beef, drain fat and added a can of Bush's Grillin' Beans, Black Bean Fiesta. Stir and simmer until chili like. Serve on top of a bowl of rice. We usually serve with warm cornbread on the side. Yum!

Southwest Batter Bake from E-Mealz

2011-10-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

While recovering from number four c-section, a friend from MOPS brought us dinner that had been on her E-Mealz Low Fat (I believe) menu. It was very yummy and kinda different which made it nice!

Note: We don't use fat free milk or egg substitute, so I'll be using regular eggs and our non homogenized, local dairy milk. I am assuming it'll turn out the same!

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chkn breasts

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

(4c cooked rice)

15 oz can pinto beans w/ some juice

1/2 bunch green onions, diced

1 large tomato, diced

15 oz can corn, drained

(Salsa, FF sour cream) optional

8 oz. box cornbread mix

(Egg sub, FF milk)

Layer in 13x9: rice, beans, green onions, tomatoes, chicken- (sprinkle with taco seasoning), corn, and then corn bread batter. Substitute egg sub and FF milk in cornbread batter. Bake at 350 for 25-35 min, until cornbread is done. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Amy's Banana Bread

2011-05-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Amy's Banana Bread

For years I made a certain banana bread recipe and I guess in one of the moves or busyness with adding babies, I lost or misplaced it or forgot which one I used. I loved the recipe and hadn't really been able to duplicate it until, a friend, Amy brought over a loaf one morning for us. The boys begged for some at lunch time and I realized it was a hit! Amy's recipe is now ours!

Cream together: 1 cup of sugar and 1 stick of butter. Add 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 eggs and 4 mushy bananas. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 350 degrees for 65-70 mins.

Momma's Chicken Pot Pie

2010-12-27T05:21:00.000-08:00

My mom's chicken pot pie is SO good! I still remember the first time I made it for Hubbie.... he wasn't liking the idea of a non-traditional chicken pot pie ( a pot pie without a bottom crust AND a top crust), but I won him over and he always goes back for seconds! Its so warm and such a yummy comfort food! It freezes well too! So, here is the recipe!

Pot Pie:
Chicken (I usually eye ball this part... if I have a couple of chicken breasts I'll boil those and shred them)
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken
1 bag of frozen veggies
Stir all this together and dump into a casserole dish. Usually a 9x11 is too big. So something square but pretty deep is good. I have a round casserole dish that has tall sides and thats what I use for our chicken pot pie.

Topping:
1 cup of flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. salt
1 cup of milk
1 stick of butter, melted
Mix all this together....might be lumpy, so I use a wisk.... and pour over the pot pie mixture.

Bake 425 for 34-40 mins. :o) And enjoy!!

Hubbie's Chili

2010-12-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

When Hubbie and I first got married, all he ever raved about was his family, or maybe its his Dad's?, chili. He finally had a chance to make it and it was yummy! Along the years, Hubbie and I have added our own "special" ingredients to make it "Hubbie's chili" and its still quite yummy! We do cheat and use a little can called "chili magic". We really wish we could get away from using that jar, but its just too easy to use it with all the spices and seasonings in it! Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try to make it from scratch! So, here it is.... enjoy!

1 can of Chili Magic, traditional
1 lb of browned, ground beef
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
a few dashes of cayenne pepper
a few dashes of green tabasco

Follow the directions on the back of the chili magic can (which I believe is brown and drain the ground beef, saute the onions and then add the can of tomatoes and chili magic! Now...start dumping! I've done this next part in the slow cooker or on the stove... so either works... basically you just want it to cook and simmer. So, add the rinsed kidney beans and black beans to the pot. Stir. And then add the few dashes of cayenne pepper and tabasco. Stir and let simmer. :o) If its too thick, I'll fill up one of the bean cans or Chili Magic can with water and dump it in the pot. And thats it! And its tasty!

New Sloppy Joes

2010-09-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

I wasn't raised on a tomato based sloppy joe, so one day when making a menu I asked Hubbie if he'd like to try something new. So we searched around online and found this recipe. They were so yummy! Hubbie did them for us and he did a great job!

Homemade Sloppy Joes

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
Small onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. salt (to me, it DOES NOT need more salt! )
3/4 tsp. pepper
1 tbspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 sm. bell pepper, chopped

Brown ground beef. Drain. Add onions, bell pepper and add seasoning. Add tomato sauce rinsing the can with a small amount of water. Bring to boil, then cut heat down simmer 30 mins. Serve on hamburger buns.

And if you're curious, I grew up with this sloppy joe....

Mom's Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground beef
1 can of french onion soup

Brown ground beef. Drain. Add soup can. Simmer until thick. Serve on hamburger buns.

Enjoy!

Buggy's Birthday Cupcakes

2010-09-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

A year or two ago my parents bought me the book Hello, Cupcake! since I had taken a cake decorating class and enjoyed it. The book has a lot of cute decorating ideas and recipes. A few weeks ago we made the chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing. They were SO good! The kind of good that you have to use all the will power you can to not polish off the plate! Hubbie took the remainder to work so that we wouldn't be tempted! For Buggy's birthday, we decided to try out the carrot cake with cream cheese icing! Also delicious! This cream cheese doesn't have a "after taste or bite" to it. I think the butter helps mellow it out. Whatever the reason, this is definitely a family favorite!

Carrot Cake

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 large eggs

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of lightly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup of oil

1/4 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of grated carrots (about 4)

1/2 cup of dark raisins

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. In another bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs, brown sugar, sugar, oil and milk until light and thick.

4. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in vanilla and carrots until well blended (and raisins and walnuts if adding)

5. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 mins. Remove and cool.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package of cream cheese (8 oz), softened

1 stick (8 tblspoons) of unsalted butter, softened

1 box of confectioners sugar

2-3 tablespoons of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. Beat with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 mins.

2. Gradually add the sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. And add remaining 1 tablespoon of milk if the mixture is too thick.

Buggy is what we call our youngest son and I figured bugs made out of candy would be appropriate for his celebration! ~~Everyone~~ Our oldest sons enjoyed the candy!

The icing and both cake recipes that we've made are SO good! Once you eat these homemade cakes, you will never be able to go back to a box cake or tub of icing! I really wish I could "go back" sometimes, because it would make things a lot quicker and easier...... but once you eat one of these YOU DON'T want to go back to any store bought cake! Delicious!!!

Cheap and Delicious Granola

2010-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

One day while blog hopping, I came across a blog that offered "e-books" for free. The books were all about meal planning and special tips to make feeding your family a little easier and lighter on the budget. I usually pass over these, because most times I don't learn too much new...not to sound like a snob, but unfortunately, you can't get blood from a turnip. Everything that we can/want to do, we do. But I did go ahead and sign up for the Minute with Molly Newsletter that promises to give frugal tips, because I wanted the e-book!

The e-book is definitely worth it. You do have to download it, of course, and print if you want a paper copy, but I have been very impressed with the spreadsheets and recipes. One of the recipes that I already tried out was the Yummy Homemade Granola on page 32. Its so delicious! Not sure of the cost to make a batch. I made a half of a batch to test it out. I added raisins and flax seed. I gotta say, adding flax seed is such a simple way to add a little more fiber in your food. You can hardly tell its there and when its toasted, as it is in this granola, it adds a great texture! :o)

Yummy Homemade Granola

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8 cups oatmeal (quick oats)

In a large, 4-quart saucepan, melt the margarine or butter and the brown sugar

together. Stir it up and let it simmer for a few minutes (2-3 minutes). Add the salt and

cinnamon, then the oatmeal. Remove pot from heat and stir until all the oatmeal is

coated. Spread the granola onto 2 cookie sheets (with sides) and bake at 375° for 10

minutes, until golden brown. Cool granola completely on pan, then break up into pieces

and transfer to a container. Add raisins or nuts if desired.

For us, since we only made a half batch, we substituted about a 1/2 cup of the oatmeal for the flax seed. It turned out dry for some reason. It was still good and tasted like the kind that you buy at the store, just didn't harder as much as the recipe said it would. Maybe the flax seed changed that. I'm sure there is something online about adding flax seed and maybe adding more liquid, but again, it worked fine! The big kids even asked for some of this!!

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

2010-07-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Check out my main blog today to find a thrifty cookie recipe! :o) Go here to check it out!

Best Ever!

2010-07-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you happen across one of those blogs that you could read forever... well.... Like Merchant Ships is one of those and sadly, some blogs don't last forever! One of the best things I read during Meredith's regular blogging was her cobbler recipe! Oh my goodness! This is scrumptious AND quick AND easy! I'm sure I've posted this before, because this is the 4th summer I've used her delicious recipe!!! I decided to share it today since I am making this for our 4th of July dessert!

First, toss the berries or chopped fruit with 1/4 cup sugar (if needed).

Preheat the oven to 350 while the fruit releases its juice.

Next, melt one stick butter or margarine in a casserole dish (8 x 10 or 8 x 8).

Simply double this recipe for use in larger baking dishes.

While the butter melts, combine dry ingredients with milk:

1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup milk

Pour batter over the butter. Don't mix!

Spoon fruit over the batter. Don't stir! Bake for 40 minutes at 350.

Serve with ice cream!!!

Squash Casserole

2010-06-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a delicious meal. Bubbie pronounced it a "yucky" dinner. Oh well...... I don't always aim to please, I guess. Tonights dinner was an E-Mealz meal that Hubbie and I really like- meatloaf, green beans, squash casserole and biscuits! Yummy! Yummy! But the squash casserole was a new menu item and I think it was a hit! At least with Hubbie and myself.... the kids? not so much! Oh well! I did convince Bubbie to eat all of his saying that it DID have cheese and Ritz crackers in it!!! The casserole was really sweet and reminded me of a corn casserole that I've had before.

Squash Casserole

1lb of squash, sliced thinly

1/2 cup of diced onion

1 can of cream of mushroom

1/4 cup of sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crumbled up

1 cup of cheddar cheese

Melt butter in large skillet. Add squash & onion. Season w/ salt &
pepper. Cook until squash is tender. Set aside. Mix together eggs &
mushroom soup. Add squash mixture. Stir in ¼ c sugar & crushed
crackers. Pour into greased 2 qt baking dish. Top w/ shredded cheese.
Bake at 350º for 30 minutes, until set.

Lu's Notes:

I did not use as much onion as they called for. I thought I had plenty of onion, but realized that all of the onion had gone bad, so I only had a tiny bit leftover. Also, I didn't realize that the recipe called for cheese, so my block of cheese was in the freezer until about 5 mins before I needed it. Ooops! So, I did not use anywhere CLOSE to 1 cup of cheese. Its just for the topping anyway, so I just did enough to cover the top lightly.... the block was frozen, so I was lucky I got what I did get!

Sugar Daddy à la Mode

2010-06-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sugar Daddy à la Mode

I noticed the free and easy dessert recipe a week ago on the E-Mealz website and thought that the recipe looked like something my family would enjoy! Then, when we were invited to my parents house to celebrate my brother's 25th birthday and Father's Day, I offered to make this!

The dessert was super easy to make! We had several things in the list of ingredients already, so it was a very inexpensive dessert for me to make! The recipe makes a large 9 x 13 dessert and it is SO SO SO rich, you just can't stomach a very large portion!

To get your free dessert recipe, go to E-Mealz and scroll down to the middle of the page. On the left hand side you will see a button where you can enter your email address and it will be emailed to you! Its gooey with lots of caramel and chocolate!!!
Hope you enjoy!

Also, don't forget that until June 30th you can get $2 your subscription to E-Mealz by using the code SHOESTRING. If you want to know more about E-Mealz, a JoAnna wrote a great blog post about it here.

Blueberry Apple Crisp

2010-06-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have fresh, hand-picked blueberries in my fridge and I couldn't wait to try this recipe here. Let me tell you- it was DE-LIC-IOUS! Hubbie even went back for seconds! He doesn't do THAT often!

I didn't really change the recipe too much. I didn't use as many apples and they weren't Granny Smith. Oh and I didn't do nutmeg either... Not sure why. Just not a fan!?! Anyway... here is MY version of this yummy dessert! And don't forget the ice cream on top! YUM-O!

3-4 small apples, diced
1 cup of blueberries
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
1/3 cup of butter, softened
3/4 tea of cinnamon

Spray non-stick cooking spray in an 8x8 baking dish. Diced up apples and line the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle washed blueberries on top of the apples. Mix the remaining ingredients to make the "crisp" topping and sprinkle on top. Bake 375 until topping is brown and "hardened".

E-Mealz French Club Sandwiches

2010-06-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is our version of a menu item from a past E-Mealz meal plan. Pair these yummy sandwiches with some chips, carrots and dip! Quite a tasty lunch!

French Club Sandwiches

Deli ham, sliced
2 tbspoons of soften cream cheese
1 tbspoons of mayo
1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Potato rolls

Combine cream cheese and mayo. Split potato rolls and place opened on a baking sheet. Spread cream cheese/mayo spread on cut sides of rolls. Place ham, onion and cheese on top and put into warm oven- long enough for cheese to melt. And EAT!

Typical Birthday Cake?

2010-05-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that the majority of the time I am the over-acheiever and don't enjoy being "like everyone else"....and Hubbie's birthday cake was no exception.

A few weeks ago I began to bug Hubbie about his birthday cake. I knew he had talked about several, but I didn't know if he had made his final pick. On his actual birthday (after working 180 hrs over the previous 2 wks) he got home and I actually cornered him and got his pick. It was decadent. It was "semi- involved".

We made it to the store that evening and got the ingredients....

These two things are the main ingredients. Hubbie's favorites! Yum!

Yes, it tasted as good as it looked! And just in case you aren't truly appreciating the awesome-ness of this....

Here it is again....

And again......

Hubbie's cake was a hit and I was glad Hubbie enjoyed it!

Go here to see the original cake and to find the recipe. You will not be disappointed!

Upside Down Pizza

2010-05-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

This recipe is an E-Mealz meal and it was delicious! And so easy! Of course, I had to tweak it a bit, but Bubbie and Peanut gobbled it up which means it was a winner! Add a salad to this dish and its a quick night's dinner!

Upside Down Pizza

1 can of crescent rolls
1 jar/can of pizza sauce (at least 13 oz- I used a 15 oz jar and didn't have too much sauce)
1 cup of sour cream
meat/toppings of your choice
8 oz of mozzarella cheese

Prep your sauce. I buy a canned pizza sauce at Publix. Its so good with chopped up pieces of tomato and herbs... something you would find on your pizza at a "real" Italian pizza place and I have no clue what its called, but so much better than using the jar sauces or spaghetti sauce. Anyway, prep your sauce. If you want hamburger, cook that and then add your sauce to the skillet. Use a 9 x 13 pan and pour and spread your sauce into the pan. Then layer- just like you would a pizza- I did pepperonis but if I had known how good this was going to be, I would have prepped broccoli, olives and some onions. Man! That would have been tasty! So, next is a cup of sour cream, spread on top of the "toppings" and sauce. Then sprinkle 8 oz of mozzarella cheese over the sour cream. I did not use 8 oz, but I am ~~stingy~~ cheap when it comes to cheese! I probably used over of the 8 oz block of cheese. You really can't go wrong with this dinner, so whatever you're feeling- do it! Then unroll the crescent rolls and place on top. I went ahead and rolled out the crescent rolls on the counter top, pushed the edges together so that it would be a long pastry topping. Bake 20-30 mins on 350 degrees!

I probably did this meal for around $5-$7.00- of course we will eat it for 2 meals... hopefully, unless I think about it for lunch tomorrow!!!

Another Family Favorite

2010-05-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner was a rip-roaring success and the kids gobbled it up! All thanks go to Ragu for making providing this recipe just when this tired Momma need it!

I love this recipe because it has all my "pantry" staples- noodles, meat, cheese and sauce and after a ~~week~~ day like today, I needed something quick, easy and mindless!

Skillet Pasta and Beef Dinner

Get out one large skillet/pan. Brown 1lb. ground beef, add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce and 2 cups of water. Stir and add a box of noodles(I did corkscrew noodles). Stir occasionally so it won't stick. Let simmer for 10-15 mins. Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Allow cheese to melt. And EAT with bread and a salad!!! (follow the link here to get the FULL recipe!)

Low down- While devouring my ~~second~~ large plate of pasta(maybe Bubba was right)?! , I tried to think about how much I spent on this meal. We ate half of the dish, so we will have leftovers tomorrow night. I spent a little less than $3 on the 1 lb of meat at Publix. The box of noodles was 30 cents (sale at Publix with coupon). The jar of sauce was about a dollar or so (also on sale at Publix- B1G1 free with coupon).... so add the can of crescent rolls and a salad, its probably $8-$10 for two dinners for our family. Not bad!

A big thanks to Ragu for having all day commercials on Nick@Nite. :o)

I was not paid or given anything for doing this blog post....

A Family Favorite

2010-04-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

About 9 months ago, Hubbie and I were searching for a bread recipe.

We enjoyed the flavor of our bread that we were making, but it didn't do so well as sandwich bread. It did not toast. The more research we did, the more we learned about the "art of baking bread". We realized in order to make "true" whole wheat sandwich bread, we would have to purchase certain ingredients that weren't always handy to get to.

So, the search was on for something that was fabulous, easy, quick, cheap.... ya know?! All the things that you want in homemade bread!

In steps, Suzanne McMinn and her blog Chickens in the Road.

Can we say FABULOUS?! We quickly tried her Grandmother's Bread recipe. Hands down- it was a WINNER! The family LOVED it and it quickly became our favorite bread!

This weekend my husband attempted my birthday cake request- Italian Cream Cake.

Oh my! Be still my heart! Best birthday cake EVER! Moist, recipe, cream cheese iciing...

YUM-O! Worthy of Paula Dean!

We have tried several "Chickens in the Road" recipes and every single time- its a winner! We always seem to check this blog first when searching for a recipe.

Now, 9 months later, my husband only makes Suzanne McMinn's bread recipe... sometimes twice a week. We love her bread that much!

We love Chickens in the Road....

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

2010-04-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I offered to bring a girlfriend and her family dinner. She has an amazing story of God's blessing and provisions. Her and her husband have 3 children and they are in the process of moving to a beautiful, new house. I wanted to do something to bless her and her family, because she is always so thoughtful and helps me out with taking Bubbie to school.

When I asked what she wanted, she mentioned that her family loves poppyseed chicken without the poppyseeds. Her family calls this "Crunchy Chicken". I had a recipe on my E-Mealz menu from a few weeks ago that I had never made, so I decided to test the recipe out on her family. That could have been a disaster, huh?!

Thankfully the recipe turned out really good!

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Take 3-4 breasts of cooked and shredded chicken and spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Then combine 8oz of sour cream and 2 cans of cream of chicken. Let me just stop you here and let you know that this meal has no "redeeming" qualities. Nothing in it is healthy, low fat or low sodium. It is absolutely WONDERFUL, but not healthy AT ALL. Then pour the mixture over the chicken (I actually used a tad bit less than what this made- I just eyeballed it.) Crumble a sleeve of Ritz crackers over the casserole dish. Pour a stick of butter over the top. Bake on 350 degrees until hot and bubbly.

I split this casserole between her family and mine because I knew they were moving the next day and didn't need any leftovers, so you could easily get two meals out of this dish.

I paired the casserole with some white rice, green beans or broccoli and then a loaf of my husband's homemade bread.

Congrats to my sweet friend on the new home!

Praying many years of the warmest memories in your new home.

Biscuits

2010-03-22T16:20:00.001-07:00

I have been making a biscuit recipe in an old cook book for a while. I decided to make these tonight and they were very yummy!

A Good Staple Meal

2010-03-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

I love this meal because its made from our typical cabinet staples and its cheap too!

Sante Fe Wraps

1lb of ground beef
can of diced tomatoes
1 tbspoon of taco seasoning
1 can corn
1 pkg of cream cheese- cut up
6 8 in tortillas

Brown meat. Drain and add tomatoes and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in corn and cheese; stir until cheese melts. Spoon into tortilla and roll up or fold. Serve with lettuce, cheese, salsa, guacamole and/or chips!

Found it on the Del Monte website and made into my own!

A Christmas Eve Tradition

2010-03-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure when the tradition started, but I am assuming sometime once we moved to Georgia. After Christmas Eve service, at a different local church each year, we would come home, eat home made pizza and Christmas cookies and watch a Christmas movie. It is a tradition that I hold close to my heart. What memories and the fun we had! It was a very precious family tradition and probably one of the reasons why I try to make our own Christmas Eve's extra special!

Kim asked me for my Mom's pizza recipe, so here it is! It is very yummy! A definite winner! One day when I don't have 3 little boys, I will return to making this recipe. For now, I'll continue to make this one.

Crust
2 tsp. active dry yeast
3.5 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 cups warm water
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour
1 tsp salt

Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup of water. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile. mix the flours together in a bowl, mixer with bread hook or food processor.

To mix the dough by hand, make a well in the flour. Stir the yeasty water into the well, then gradually add the remaining water while incorporating the flour. Add the olive oil and salt. Stir the dough vigorously to incorporate as much flour as possible, then turn the dough onto a board. Gather and knead it, adding a little more flour if necessary, for 5 minutes or until it is smooth and lively.

If using the mixer, stir the flour in the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer to the lowest setting and gradually add the yeasty water. With the mixer running, add the remaining water, olive oil and salt. After 2 minutes, the dough will be clinging together in a rough mass. Stop the mixer and fit it with the dough hook. Knead the dough at the lowest setting for 5-7 minutes. All the flour should be incorporated and the dough should be smooth and lively.

At this stage, I always turn the dough out on a floured board and knead it by hand for at least 30 seconds to feel how responsive it is. The texture, strength and resiliency of your dough affect the time needed for rising, punching down, resting and baking. If it is sticky, I knead in more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in bulk,, preferably over night in the refrigerator. In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch it down. Return it to the bowl, cover again, and let it stand in a cool place for as little as 3 hours or as long as all day. About a hour before you are ready to serve the pizza, punch the dough down and divide it into portions and roll out and place on a well oiled pizza pan. Cover with your favorite toppings and cook for about 20 mins, depending on the thickness of the dough. One recipe makes 1 large thick crust pizza or 2 medium thin crust pizzas.

Thanks to my Mom for including this in a recipe book my Aunt made me as a wedding gift!

Warm Chicken Pasta

2010-02-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today we began a new menu style and method for our family. Its just a trial. I will write more about it on Monday when I post my Menu Plan Monday, over at my main blog, Hyperactive Lu. Our first new meal was this Warm Chicken Pasta. It was good and filling. This pasta was very easy to make while the boys ran around the house during the "bewitching hour". Since Hubbie didn't get home 'til late that night, I was glad that it was so easy! I hate doing new recipes without anyone helping with the boys.

Warm Chicken Pasta over Romaine Lettuce

Purchase 1 box of Kraft pasta salad(1.29), 1 chicken breast(1.00), 1 bag of Romaine lettuce1/2 bag-1.50)and crescent rolls(1.20).

Make the box of pasta salad according to the package. Boil chicken breast until done. Once chicken is done, cube and mix into the pasta salad. Wash and drain the lettuce and separate onto plates. Scoop pasta salad over the lettuce. Serve with apple slices and a crescent roll.

The downsides to this meal for our family is that we did not have any leftovers and I probably spent around $5. I can usually make a casserole/pasta dish for our family for less than $5 and feed our family a few times on it, so this is definitely not a "cheap" meal.

Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders

2010-02-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

My children attend a Christian preschool/MDO program at a nearby church. We love the teachers, director and the whole program! No complaints! Its a large church and they usually have free magazines in the foyer! Since the boys started attending the school back in the summer, I've been grabbing the free magazine Parent Life. I love this magazine! I read through it pretty quickly! I think its put together by the people at Life Way Christian BookStores! I didn't even know they had a magazine. If and when I can no longer get this magazine for free, I will definitely need to get a magazine subscription for this!

Last week, I was flipping through the latest issue of Parent Life magazine and noticed some recipes that I thought my family would love! We tried this one tonight!

So yummy- displayed on my beautiful, everyday dishes given to me by my Granny

Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders

2 cups French's Original Fried Onions
2 tblspoon flour
1 lb chicken tenders
1 large egg, beaten

Crush fried onions with flour in a plastic bag. Dig chicken tenders into egg; coat in onion crumbs. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

The recipe was easy, quick and so yummy! Very little clean up. I found Tyson chicken tenders on sale about a month ago at Kroger- about 8 or 9 strips for around $2 (during their 69 cent per lb chicken sale). So, I thought this would be a wonderful time to use those! Our whole family gobbled the strips up! This will definitely become a regular item on our menu! I added steak fries and Hubbie's homemade honey mustard.

I think I figured I spent around $5-5.50 for our family to eat this meal. I could have done it cheaper if I had made homemade oven fries, but we were already late getting dinner together that night!

Soup and a Great Investment

2010-01-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Hearty Homemade Beef and Vegetable Soup

1 lb ground beef

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 can kidney beans or pinto beans

2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth - about 4 cups

1 can chopped italian tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 dried italian seasoning

Heat oil in a 4 1/2 quart Dutch oven or soup pot over Medium Heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the pot. Add raw beef and brown. Drain any fat.

Add garlic. Drain beans and add them with the broth, tomatoes (with the juice), tomato paste and 2 cups of water. Raise the heat to HIGH and stir.

Add corn, peas and seasoning. Cover and cook until boiling. Reduce heat, simmer 5 to7 minutes.

Serve with warm cornbread or grilled cheese sandwiches!

Lu's take on this soup? Its yummy! I got this recipe out of my favorite cook book Cheap. Fast. Good! By Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross.. This has got to be the best cookbook that I have ever seen! So many good and cheap recipes! Go here for another recipe from this book!

This soup is good, quick, easy and cheap! All of my favorite words! I do not use a garlic clove- just because I didn't have any the days I made this. I never use a whole onion- I'm THAT cheap-and it was fine. I also just use a bag of frozen mixed veggies instead of the individual bags of each type of veggie. I love the fact that this recipe includes kidney beans! Such a wonderful addition to this soup! It adds more to the soup than just the typical veggies!

Enjoy! And go buy this book!!!! :)

Friends, Corn and Black Bean Salsa

2010-01-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

The other day, my friend Ashley and I invaded Sharon's house for a photo shoot! Sharon takes wonderful photos and she asked us to come over so that she could get some shots of our baby's hands and feet. The morning turned into more of a photo shoot of cute baby bums and cloth diapers, but we had fun!

Sharon is such a wonderful host and had some wonderful assortment of healthy snacks! I was so impressed! She had a wonderful salsa out to eat with healthy chips (as she called them). It looked so yummy! By the time I went and looked at the snacks, it was close to lunch so I just grabbed a few carrots and a cracker, but I went home and told Hubbie about the salsa and decided to make it soon!

Well, I am such a foodie, I couldn't think of anything else that week, food wise, and had Hubbie get the ingredients for me that very night! I finally made the salsa yesterday and man! it doesn't disappoint!

CORN AND BLACK BEAN SALSA

1 can white corn (drained)
1 can Rotel tomatoes (do not drain)
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 bunch of fresh cilantro…finely chopped
Mix everything together in a bowl and let chill for a couple hours. This salsa will keep in refrigerator for a few days.

I made cheese quesadillas and served them with sour cream, guacaomole and this salsa. What yummy and cheap lunch!

And since Sharon suggested marinating chicken breasts in this, that is exactly what I did for Sunday's lunch. While I was getting the boy's breakfast, I got out the crockpot, sprayed it with PAM and then put a small amount of the salsa in the bottom of the pot. Then I placed 4 small chicken breasts on top on the salsa. I then poured a little bit more on top of the chicken breasts with the remainder of the liquid from the storage container. I set on HIGH so that it would be ready in 4 hrs.

Once we got home, I shredded the chicken breasts. I took tortillas and we made burritos with some of the shredded chicken/salsa mixture, sour cream and cheese. I wished that I had had some green peppers and onions. It would have been so yummy in the burritos! We ate these burritos with the other half of our yummy Wholly Guacamole and the remainder of the corn/black bean salsa!

Thanks Sharon!

Cheap Meals

2009-12-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

I am all about being cheap. My husband and I discovered recently that I do, in fact, squeak when I walk. Nice to finally know at the "ripe" old age of 27 yrs old.

I wrote about my "snob meal" ways over at my main blog- Hyperactive Lu. Take a gander!

Holiday Baking...

2009-12-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

This year our motto was SIMPLE. Sure does make Christmas less complicated to keep things simple and focused on the most important things. So, since we were trying to keep things very simple and easy this year, we decided to cut down on the amount of baking that we did. We made a favorite of ours that we LOVE and then a few new ones.

We really enjoyed trying a few new things and not making as much.....

This is what we made-

Rice Krispy bites.... for the life of me I cannot find the recipe to these... all I remember is melting a package of chocolate bark in the microwave, adding about 9 cups of rice krispies and then stiring until they were mixed together. Then I spooned about a tlbspoon sized cookie onto waxed paper and let dry. My handsome and sometimes-snobbish-about-my-baking-husband ate more of these than anyone else! I think I ate one and the boys/husband finished off the rest! So lets just say this was a big hit!

Oreo Truffles... OH MY GOODNESS! Those things are divine! Next year we are making two batches so we can give more out! Everyone MUST have some of this goodness!

Auntie C's.... Our family favorite! We cannot NOT make these... they are THAT good!

Chocolate Crinkles.... very good, but best warm and fresh!

PMS mix.... I know! I know! The name doesn't make any men folk want to try it, but it is really good! It has all my favorites- pretzels, chocolate and butterscotch!

Puppy Chow aka Muddy Buddies.... this is, by far, my favorite snacky food. I ate this A LOT while I was pregnant with Baby Bean. Its all I craved for a while!!! So good!

Our Christmas morning tradition is for Hubbie to make homemade cinnamons. This is a treat, because they are so good and take some effort to make! Here is the recipe for those. This Christmas we had the pleasure of hosting my youngest brother, his wife and my parents for Christmas breakfast! It was a lot of fun! Mom made two breakfast casseroles. Those were scrumptious! And my sweet sister in law brought a large fruit salad! It was so good to have a fruit salad!

Side note- if you haven't taken a look yet, I love this blog! It has the best recipes! We've made quite a few and everything is so good! Check out The Sister's Cafe!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Ham Leftovers? Try This!

2009-12-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

My handsome hubbie knows that I do not like to waste food at all, so when he saw the recipe (below) for a ham soup, he showed it to me! I purchased a ham this year for our Christmas dinner and I try to get at least 3 or 4 meals out of a large piece of meat. We ate ham with all the sides once and will have leftovers of that meal and then with all the leftover ham I made this soup. Hubbie found it in the latest addition of Runner's World magazine- January 2010.

This Hearty Ham and White Bean Soup is very VERY tasty. Don't let the name turn you off to trying this. It does have cabbage in it and I will admit, that kinda scared me! I decided to give it a try since the rest of the recipe sounded yummy. It was super easy to make. The thing that took the longest was chopping and washing the veggies. Even my Peanut and Bubbie gobbled it up!

I paired the soup with some yummy 30 min rolls and man! what a yummy lunch on a cold winters day!

Enjoy!

1 tblspoon olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced into medium pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 large carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
1/2 cabbage, cored, cut into bite sized pieces
12 oz lean ham steak, diced into small pieces
1 qt chicken stock
14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
2 cans white beans, undrained
2 tblspoon fresh parsley, chopped

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a soup pot. Add the onion, saute until soft and golden, about 5 mins. Add the italian seasoning and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients, then bring to a full simmer, skimming any foam that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to low, simmer gently until the vegetables are just cooked and flavors blended, about 15 mins. Stir in parsley; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Serves 6.

Calories per serving: 270 Carbs: 32 G Protein: 22 G Fat: 6 G

A few notes- I did add a tiny bit of italian seasoning to the onions, but since I had a can of tomatoes seasoned with italian seasonings, I used that for the majority of my seasoning. It was VERY tasty with that can of tomatoes. Also, I don't normally buy carrot bunches. I buy the large bags of baby carrots, so I just cut enough to make the soup colorful! Probably 20-30 baby carrots!

Laura Peitz's Taco Cups

2009-11-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

One day a few months ago while I was waiting in the doctor's office I saw a recipe in a magazine. I memorized it and about a month ago, we tested it out. The whole family loved it. We used Pillsbury Whole Wheat biscuits and added black beans and it was yummy!

Laura Peitz's Taco Cups

Ingredients

1/2 pound ground beef

2 tablespoons taco seasoning

1 can refrigerated flaky butter biscuits (Pillsbury® 12-ounces)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded Sargento

Salsa

Sour Cream

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat until browned and crumbly; drain. Add taco seasoning to browned meat; stirring well to combine.

Place one biscuit into each of 10 cups of prepared muffin pan, patting biscuit dough gently up side of cup.

Spoon meat mixture on top of biscuit dough. Top with cheese. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Auntie C's- Holiday Cookies

2009-11-10T03:01:00.000-08:00

Growing up, my Aunt Cathy made these yummy and SUCH delicious cookies! They didn't have a name, so we started calling them "auntie c's". They are so good and so easy! We make QUITE a few batches every year! These cookies are the reason I gain weight at Christmas time! I only want THOSE STUPID COOKIES!

Auntie C's

1 box Ritz crackers
1 sm. jar peanut butter
1 1/2 pks. milk chocolate bark

Put generous amount of peanut butter between 2 Ritz crackers. Melt chocolate over low heat (add a little paraffin to help it set up).

Using fork, dip crackers in melted chocolate, covering both sides. Place on wax paper until chocolate sets up and can be removed from paper easily.

Mummy Dogs

2009-11-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

I decided to get into the whole Halloween spirit this year and make these fun and creative "Mummy Dogs" for dinner one night. They are SUPER easy! I got the ingredients SUPER cheap by using coupons and searching for a sale on hot dogs and crescent rolls. We probably fed a family of 4 on less than 3 dollars!

I also made "spider" cupcakes but I couldn't find legs for the spiders and the boys devoured the cupcakes before I got a picture!

Laura McCown's Deep Dish Apple Pie

2009-10-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Clara asked if I had a good apple pie recipe and she is in luck! I do! I found this recipe in the Huntsville Heritage Cookbook that my grandmother gave me years ago. I have found the best pie and biscuit recipes in this book. This apple pie recipe is the quickest, easiest and yummiest pie I have ever had. You will not be disappointed!

Slice 4-5 apples into a deep pie pan. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup of brown sugar; dot with butter. Sprinkle with nutmeg (I don't own any so I do cinnamon); add 4 tblspoons of water. Make patties of 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup flour. Cover top of pie with patties. Bake 35 mins at 375 degrees.

I have noticed that if you use "fresh picked" apples, you don't always need as much water. I have never NOT used the 4 tblspoons of water, but it has been a little too "watery" at times.... so maybe it just depends on the apple type. We tend to pick a lot of fuji apples and I cook with them.

Enjoy!

Yummy! Yummy! Awesome Apple Bread!

2009-10-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

If you don't already know, Hubbie and I met at Chick-fil-A while we were both in high school. Hubbie was infatuated with me. I was....well..... I did not like him at ALL. He surprised me on Valentine's Day with a card and flowers. I was so embarrassed. I did not know how to let "this guy" down easily. If you asked him, he'd say I lead him on and I did talk to him for a few months on the phone, but once I realized that he wasn't a "good guy", I decided to let him know that whatever "it" was, was over! Thankfully for me, he went away to school, became a Christian and came back a different dude! I was smitten when I saw the "new" dude. During this time, I was still working at the chicken place and I chatted and became friends with a gal named Cristin. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. I actually told her once that I was considering dumping Hubbie and thankfully for him, my feeling changed and we got "serious" i.e. began to talk marriage, future, etc. Its kinda fun to have a whole sleuth of people that had seen our relationship from the beginning- Hubbie liking me, me disliking Hubbie immensely and then me falling for Hubbie and Hubbie getting the girl. We still have contact with quite a few of the people that saw the whole relationship and Cristin is one of them.

Through the wonderful world of Facebook, Cristin and I have gotten back in touch. We both just had a baby and we both have 3 kiddos, so I feel like we are in the same boat- her new baby boy is only 2 weeks older than Baby Bean. I wish she and I lived closer, but we plan to get our brood together one of these days since we don't live THAT far away!

Cristin published this recipe below on Facebook last weekend. I saw it just in the nick of time. My youngest brother made a quick trip to our favorite apple picking orchard and was kind enough to bring us back a 1/2 bushel! Last Monday I made two batches of the Apple Bread and LET ME TELL YOU, it is awesome! I have no clue where she found this recipe, but its a keeper! I made two batches- 3 loaves and 12 muffins and I gave only one loaf away! I had made a loaf for our next door neighbor in thanking them for the baby gift for Baby Bean, but Hubbie hadn't taken it over there yet, so I stole it! I plan to make another double batch again on Monday and take 2 loaves to MOPS on Tuesday! So, you MOPS gals, be prepared for awesome!

Apple Bread
1 (3-pound) bag small apples
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans

Peel and finely chop enough apples to equal 3 cups. Set aside.

Stir together sugar and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients; add to sugar mixture, stirring just until blended.
(Batter will be stiff.) Fold in finely chopped apples and 1 cup pecans.

Divide batter evenly between 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans, and cool on wire racks.

Can also be baked in muffin pans or 8-inch round cake pans.

We Love Pizza!

2009-08-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

My family LOVES pizza! I think this is probably an understatement! We all could eat it at least twice a week, that is how much we love it. Here in our Georgia town, we have lots of good "local" pizza places, but, like everything, getting pizza out adds up.

Ever since we moved to Georgia, my mother has made homemade pizza. It was always a special night when mom made homemade pizza! Yum! It is so delicious! For years, after Hubbie and I got married, I made the same recipe. Once Peanut came along, I found it very difficult to make the same recipe. It takes a little thinking ahead and once Peanut came, my "thinking ahead" to dinner wasn't always there, so the search was on. I needed to find a quicker way of making pizza. I found this recipe and posted it here. That recipe was good and quicker than the family favorite, but still required a little thinking ahead! I don't know how many times we would plan to have pizza for dinner and I wouldn't get the dough made in time for its "rising period" and then we'd be wondering what to do for dinner. Most of the time, since we were set on pizza, we would order pizza. It is so much cheaper to make pizza. I'm not even sure how much it costs to make pizza at home, but unless you're going to Little Ceasars (which is $5 plus tax a pizza), you're not gonna get anywhere close to what we make it at home for.

So, I began searching again for a "no-rise" option of pizza crusts. I was really wary about trying a "no rise" or very little rise crust, but have been pleasantly surprised by this recipe-

1 tbsp yeast
1 1/4 cup of warm water
2 tbsp oil (we use olive oil)
3 1/2- 4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt

Disolve yeast in water. Add oil and salt. Stir in flour slowly. Rise 20 mins. Punch down dough. Separate. Will make two medium pizzas. Enjoy!

This recipe has been wonderful for our budget! If I've had a crazy day or all of the sudden decide that tonight needs to be a pizza night, I can make this dough and have the pizzas made in about a hour. I've been using this recipe since the beginning of the year and have not had one problem. There have been some days that at 4 o'clock I'll decide to make the dough and I just punch it down a few times until I'm ready to make the pizzas, but like I said, if I forget about dinner until 6, I make it then, let it rise 20 mins on my dryer and we have dinner!

We can usually make this recipe last our family two meals. We'll eat pizza with fruit one night and then for the leftover pizza we'll add these yummy breadsticks.

Note: I found this recipe somewhere online, my apologizes for not linking to it, but I have no clue where I got it from!

In the recipe above, I have never gotten 4 cups of flour in the dough. I usually use 1 cup of whole wheat flour and almost 2 cups of regular white flour. If you can get that much flour in it, great! If not, don't worry, it'll still turn out the same!

A New Recipe

2009-07-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Mandy mentioned this book! I am all for saving money at the grocery store and spending less to feed my family good and healthy dinners! I quickly looked the book up on Amazon and decided their price was a little too steep for a book I hadn't ever looked at. I then went to Ebay and found the book for about $4.00! A steal! I bought it and got it within a week which was perfect timing because I was putting together my first ever once-a-month-grocery shopping list! You can read about it here.

So, I went through the book and dog-eared a couple of recipes that said their were cheap and yummy! This recipe below is one of the ones that I thought looked good. My favorite part about this recipe is that it includes things I already have on hand. I didn't have to buy "extra" ingredients in order to make this one-dish-meal! AWESOME, huh?!

The Texas Cowboy Pie was a hit! The family loved it! It was quick and easy and a good change from the typical "shepherd's pie"! Below is the recipe that I used, but it is pretty similar to that of the book...

Enjoy!

3 cups of already cooked, shredded beef (I used 1lb of browned, ground beef)
1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup of mild salsa
1/2 cup of sour cream

Mix all this together in a microwavable dish and cook on high for 4 mins. Then top with leftover mashed potatoes or instant potatoes. Since I had to cook the ground beef, I did all the above on the stove and let it simmer for a few minutes. Turn the broiler on, top the casserole with cheese and pop into the broiler to let the cheese get good and gooey! Eat and be happy!

Taco Casserole

2009-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning & water
1 jar salsa (16 oz)
8 (6-7 in.) tortillas
2 cups (8 oz) Co-Jack Cheese, shredded
Optional:
1 green onion
4 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom and sides of baking dish with veg. oil.
Brown ground beef and drain. Add taco seasoning and amount of water on package directions. Cook according to pkg. directions. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup salsa. Arrange 4 tortillas in bottom & up sides of dish (overlapping). Spoon mix mixture evenly over tortillas. Sprinkle with a cup of cheese. Slice onion & sprinkle half of the onion over cheese. Top with remaining 4 tortillas, overlapping slightly. Press tortillas down over filling. Spread remaining salsa over tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese & onion. Bake 30 minutes.
Serve alone or (optional) over shredded lettuce, topped with sour cream.

Taco Lasagna Casserole

2009-04-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

A very sweet friend of ours invited the boys and I over for a swim and dinner the last time Hubbie was gone for a week or so. We had a great time and I was so blessed by her willingness for us to invade her house at dinner time! This recipe is what she made for us that night. Add some chips and salsa or guacamole and you're set!

1 pkg small tortillas
ground beef (I use 1lb or little less)
onion (I used 1/2)
15 oz Mexican stewed tomatoes
taco pkg seasoning (I only use 1/2 a pkg)
4 oz olives
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 can chili beans

Brown meat. Drain. Add onion. Add tomato. Add seasoning. Simmer 15 mins. In 9x 13 dish layer tortilla, meat mix, beans and then cheese. Repeat like you're making lasagna. Top with olives and crushed chips. Bakes 375 degrees at 20-25 mins.

We don't put the chips on top since we have leftovers and the chips tend to get soggy.... just our take, but it is good with the chips on top! :)

Debbie's Casserole

2009-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

I received this recipe from my penpal of over 15 yrs. We really enjoy this meal and its so good with a crusty bread! Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut large chunks of carrots, potato and onion to fill the bottom of 13 x 9 casserole dish. Add 1 lb of ground beef (raw). Stir 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. Spread over ground beef mixture. Cook for 1 hour. Serves 4.

Note: We tend to have to cook ours longer than a hour... The meat is always done, but the veggies are usually a little too tough after a hr. So either cut veggies into smaller bite sized pieces or prepare to cook longer. Also, we usually try to get 2 meals out of this casserole, so serve with bread or another veggie if you're trying to stretch this meal.

White Bread/ Cinnamon Bread

2008-05-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Since I've started baking my own bread, I have always made a yummy Whole Wheat bread. This past weekend as I started my "baking marathon", as Hubbie calls it, I thought something different might be nice! I got out a cookbook that I rarely use and decided on the white bread recipe and went ahead and made 2 batches of it. The second batch I made into cinnamon bread! So good! I won't ever buy cinnamon swirl bread from the store! Mine is so much better! Both recipes come from the Better Homes and Gardens The New CookBook.

Perfect White Bread

1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup of warm water
2 cups of milk, scalded
2 tblspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tblspoon shortening
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups of sifted all purpose flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Combine hot milk, sugar, salt and shortening. Cool to lukewarm.

Stir 2 cups of the flour; beat well. Add the softened yeast; mix. Add enough of remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn out on a lightly flour surface. Knead until smooth and satiny. Shape into a ball; place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to greased surface. Cover; Let rise in warm place until double (about 1 1/4 hours). Punch down.

Cut dough into 2 portions. Shape each in smooth ball; cover and let rest 10 mins. Shape into loaves; place into greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise til double (45 to 60 mins). Bake in hot over 400 degrees or until done. Makes 2 loaves.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Make the perfect white bread, increasing sugar to 1 1/3 cups and shortening to 1/4 cup. After first rising, roll dough to two 15 x 7 inch rectangles. Combine 1/2 sugar with 1 tblspoon of cinnamon. Spread over each rectangle. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons water over each. Roll into loaves. Continue as for Perfect White Bread. Bake at 375 for 30 mins. Makes 2 loaves.

Tater Tot Casserole

2008-05-22T15:09:00.001-07:00

When I heard of Tater Tot Casserole I wasn't really impressed. I'm not a big fan of tater tots, but Hubbie was very excited so we tried it. The recipe was so -so, but I could take it or leave it. I never made it again. One day while surfing the net I came across the Duggars website. They have mentioned their Tater Tot Casserole on their show. After looking at the recipe (and seeing that it was quite different from the one we had tried) I decided to try it again. If you go to the Duggars website, it'll show their recipe yields 2 9 x 13 pans. I just divided their recipe. Oh so yummy!

Tater Tot Casserole

1 lb browned ground beef
1 bad of tater tots
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of evaporated milk

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Brown ground beef. Mix soups and milk together in separate bowl. Once the meat has browned, pour into greased casserole dish and spread. Layer the tater tots on top of the meat. Pour the soup and milk mixture on top evenly. Bake in oven for one hour.

Serve with a yummy green veggie! Enjoy!

The Easiest and Best Lasagna You've Ever Had... I Promise!

2008-04-16T13:20:00.001-07:00

Growing up, we had Stouffer's Lasagna.... I loved it.... until I started making my own lasagna. I found a recipe that made it quick and easy to make one of my favorite meals. This recipe feeds my family for about 3 nights....at least, so I don't make it very often (usually once we finish it, we're sick of lasagna)! Enjoy!

Simply Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, divided
15 oz. container of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup of parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown meat in large skillet, drain fat. Mix 1 1/4 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, the container of ricotta cheese, the parsley and the egg. Blend well. Set aside. Pour spaghetti sauce in the skillet (with the meat). Pour the cup of water into the empty spaghetti sauce jar, cover and shake well. Add to skillet and stir. You should end up with 5 cups of sauce. Now, layer- start with 1 cup of sauce at the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Then top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and then 1 cup of spaghetti sauce. Repeat layers 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the cheeses on top. Cover with greased foil. Bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 mins.

Just Call Me Betty Crocker...

2008-04-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Today has been busy and I've still got a gazillion things left to do. I am hungry, so I thought I would take a break and give y'all a recipe! I have made the dough for bread sticks and pizza, peanut butter muffins and chicken is thawing for chicken pot pie (making for a MOPS mom that was diagnosed with cancer). I still need to make two batches of Scotcheroos(totally not organic or natural....especially the Karo syrup! ouch!) and a loaf or two of banana nut bread. Not sure when I'll finish the rest. Peanut is sleeping in his crib. Bubbie has been helping me bake. When he gets bored, he'll run to his trains in the next room and then come back... I have promised Bubbie an outing once I get most of my "to-do list" finished. I might just have to wait until this evening to finish the rest- once Hubbie gets home.

The recipe is for Peanut Butter Muffins. My grandmother sent it to me a few months ago and I am just now getting around to making them. I have been calling them Peanut Butter Cupcakes. If you say muffins to Bubbie- he says he doesn't like them. If you call it cupcakes, he's excited! I let him make these with me this morning. He never questioned the yellow and orange "stuff" going into the bowl! I think the article in the Tennessean says that this mother adapted this from Jessica Seinfeld's recipe. Not sure, so if you have that book, you might have this recipe.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Muffins

1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of carrot puree
1/2 cup of banana puree
2 large egg whites
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl mix 1/2 cup of the brown sugar with the peanut butter, carrot and banana puree, and the egg whites, using a wooden spoon.

Put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix. Add to the bowl with the peanut butter in it and stir just to combine (batter will be lumpy). Add the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar and stir once or twice.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Bake 15-20 mins. Turn muffins out onto a rack to cool.

Yummy! Yummo!

Menu Plan Monday...errr Wednesday?

2008-04-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, its not Monday. It is a little late! Thanks to my sweet Hubbie- we now have groceries! I was able to make our menu plan while feeding Grayson and now we're set until April 19th! Hubbie was able to find a lot of things at Kroger that were natural and organic. We even found some "pop tarts" that were all natural. Bubbie loves pop tarts and they are so easy to serve to him on busy morning! Our favorite ceral here lately is Kashi and Good Friends. Both have a lot of fiber and have all natural products in them. I told Hubbie to go ahead and buy some bread. I didn't do so hot last weekend with my baking, so we're out of bread. I can't seem to find time to bake during the week. I must do better this weekend!

Wednesday night- Homemade pizza, bread sticks and salad

Thursday night- Leftover pizza, bread sticks and salad

Friday night- Fish, noodles and squash medley

Saturday lunch- Chicken Pot pie
Saturday night- Chopped Steak, potatoes and leftover squash medley

Sunday lunch- Leftover chicken pot pie
Sunday night- Lasagna and rolls

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

2008-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

We found this muffin recipe online at cooks.com a few months ago. The whole family loves these muffins. In order to get the recipe a little healthier we added flax seed. The recipe is already adjusted for the flax seed. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (we tried whole wheat flour and they turned out B-A-D)
3/4 sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
4 tblspoons butter, melted
1 egg, beated slightly
1 cup finely chopped apples
3 tblspoons flax seed

Heat oven 375 degrees. Bake 18-23 mins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Stir just until flour is moistened. Spoon batter into muffin liners.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-03-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

Monday- Date night

Tuesday night- Homemade pizza

Wednesday night- Baked Spaghetti

Thursday night- Chili and cornbread

Friday night- Leftover Baked Spaghetti

Saturday lunch- Leftover chili and chips
Saturday night- Chicken Pot Pie

Sunday lunch- Breakfast (eggs, bacon and biscuits, pancakes or waffles)
Sunday night- Pasta

Menu Plan Monday

2008-03-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

Monday nite- Leftover Roast, veggies and homemade bread

Tuesday nite- Leftover Potato Soup and homemade bread

Wednesday nite- Burrito Casserole with chips and salsa

Thursday nite- Baked Spaghetti and bread sticks

Friday nite- Leftover Mexican Casserole

Saturday lunch- Sandwiches and chips
Saturday nite- Home made Pizza

Happy Easter!
Sunday lunch- Leftover Baked Spaghetti
Sunday nite- Leftover Pizza

I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter this year! We will have two Easter egg hunts- one with the Mom's group and one with Nana and Pops. Chandler keeps saying "It's almost Easter!" We've got the goodies for his Easter basket and the camera ready!

Burrito Casserole

2008-03-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

My wedding present from my Dad's sister, Auntie C, was a scrapbook of family recipes. I have loved that book and cook from it often. Not only does it have great recipes, but also the pictures and stories behind the recipes, when they were made, etc. One of the recipes was from Wanda who worked for my Aunt. When I lived in Nashville, with my grandparents, for a few months, Wanda made this Burrito Casserole one day for lunch and it was so yummy! Aunt Cathy put the recipe in my cookbook and Andy loves it! He is always asking me to make it! It's a very heavy meal, so we have leftovers for a LONG time! Serve it with chips and salsa! Enjoy!

Burrito Casserole

Ingredients:

1lb (I use 1/3 of a lb) ground beef (drained)
1 pkg. of taco seasoning
1 can of refried beans
8-10 tortillas
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 medium can of sour cream
1 pkg of cheddar cheese

Mix the first three ingredients together. Then fill the tortillas with the mixture and place them in a dish. In a separate bowl, mix 1 can of mushroom soup and the container of sour cream, and pour it over the tortillas. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, until bubbling. Take out and sprinkle cheese over it. Put the casserole bakc in the oven to melt cheese!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-03-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

A little late, but since we weren't planning on being in town, we hadn't planned any meals. We went grocery shopping and finally planned meals on Tuesday. We're good to go for the rest of the month!

Thursday lunch- Leftover Beef Pasta
Thursday dinner- Chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions in a chicken broth (crock pot)and Homemade bread

Friday lunch- Leftover Chicken
Friday dinner- Roast, potatoes, carrots, garlic and onions in cream of mushroom, a little red wine (crock pot) with corn bread

Saturday lunch- Hamburgers on grill w/ potato salad and beans
Saturday dinner- Leftover Roast

Sunday lunch- Leftover Roast or C.O.F. (clean out fridge)
Sunday dinner- Soup-maybe Potato (bought a HUGE bag of potatoes...need to use them up!) and Homemade Bread

For more MPM, check out Laura's site! Enjoy!

Yummy! Yummy! Honey Whole Wheat Bread!

2008-03-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

I decided to start baking our own bread. Its really easy to find good, healthy and natural bread, but since we love bread so much in our house, we go through a lot. I decided on our quest for more healthy, natural foods, I could start to make all our bread. Hopefully it'll save on money too! Even better!

I found this recipe on Cooks.com! This recipe was a winner. I was able to make 2 loaves and about 20 small rolls out of one recipe. One warning... I couldn't get 6 cups of flour into this recipe. I was only able to fit 4 cups. Also, the recipe doesn't have any time frame. I left the rolls in for about 15 mins. They were a little brown on the bottom... so I'll probably watch them closer next time. The bread loaves were left in longer. Maybe 20-25 mins. It really didn't have the look like other bread recipes do. You couldn't go by "knocking" on it and making sure you heard a hollow sound. So, once I REALLY started to smell the bread, I took it out. I know that sounds odd, but it worked! Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread or Rolls

2 tbsp. yeast
2 c. lukewarm water
1/4 c. honey
3/4 c. olive oil
2 eggs
6 c. whole wheat flour (it only took 4 cups for me)
2 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in water and honey for about 5 minutes. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and knead until it loosens from sides of the bowl. Place in large oiled bowl, cover and let rise until about double (took a hour or two). Be sure it is in a warm place. Remove and shape into loaves, rolls, or buns. Bake at about 375 degrees until browned.

Beef and Parmesan Pasta

2008-03-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Alright, folks! This is one of my all time favorite pasta dishes. I found this on Yahoo Food and it has everything a pasta lover wants- noodles, meat, tomatoes and veggies! Yumm-O! If you want to decrease the amount of sodium intake- buy the low sodium beef broth. I make this with extra zucchini and it is extremely filling! Add some crusty french bread and you've got yourself a tasty meal! Also, if you're trying to not have any dairy in the pasta- just don't add the cheese. I made this without cheese and allowed my family to add it to their portion and it was great without it! I didn't even notice a difference!

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (we use 1/3 lb of meat and you get plenty)
14 oz can beef broth
14.5 oz can of Italian style tomatoes
2 cups of uncooked bow tie pasta
2 cups of sliced zucchini (1/4 inch thick)
3/4 cup of grated Parmesan chese, divided

Preparing

In a large skillet over medium/high heat, brown the ground beef. Pour off the fat.
Return the skillet to the heat and add the beef broth, tomatoes, and pasta. Stir to coat all of the pasta. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes stirring frequently. Add zucchini and continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Return beef to the skillet and stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese; heat through. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over each serving.

Yield: 6 servings

enjoy!

Italian Cheese Bread

2008-03-08T04:45:00.000-08:00

My SIL had these on her menu plan on week and I had to steal the recipe from her! I love these bread sticks. They are quick, easy and so yummy! We make these once a week to go with Italian dishes or sometimes with our Homemade Pizza!

Bread sticks:
2-1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 TBSP quick-rise yeast
1 C warm water
1 TBSP vegetable oil

Topping:
1/4 C prepared Italian salad dressing
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Dash peper
1 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese (we always use more)
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese

Note: We have run out of thyme and oregano. The bread sticks are still wonderful without those ingredients!

In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Combine water and oil; add to flour mixture. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead for 1-2 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Punch the dough down. place on a greased 12" pizza pan and pat into a 12" circle. Brush with salad dressing. Combine the seasonings; sprinkle over top. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake at 450* for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. From Tracy's Recipes.

Slow Cooker Ravioli

2008-03-08T04:22:00.000-08:00

Slow Cooker Ravioli

1 (25 oz.) bag beef or cheese ravioli
1 (26 oz.) jar pasta sauce
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Pour about 1/2 the pasta sauce in the bottom of slow cooker. Add frozen ravioli. Pour additional pasta sauce, tomato sauce, and water over ravioli. Sprinkle cheese on top. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 4-5 hours (until ravioli are tender).

Thanks to Aldi Queen and Punkin Press!

Yummo! We love Italian food around our house! Any kind of pasta dish and bread it okay by me! Oh! And if I can get away without severing meat in a meal and having leftovers....well, you have made my day! Enjoy!

Welcome!!!

2008-03-08T04:14:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my new blog! I have been blogging for almost a year and you can check out my other blog here! This blog- Meet Us In The Kitchen is a way for me to keep track of all my recipes. My 3 yr old son and I are always making something in our kitchen! I love to bake and cook from scratch. I am trying to keep from eating too much dairy, because my newborn son is slightly intolerant. I was put on a no-dairy diet to see if his tummy got any better. During those few days I found a lot of sites and recipes that either have no dairy or have substitutes for dairy products! Also, I am learning to "hide" healthy stuff in our food so that our 3 yr old won't notice! He is on a strict diet of goldfish, p b & j sandwiches, spaghetti o's and milk! Ha! We also are very budget conscious people so if I can squeeze another meal out of something....I'll do it! I also do a weekly menu so that we don't end up wasting money on eating out! For more about Menu Plan Monday, check out Laura's site!