Vacation

Hey faithful readers! Did you miss me? We went to Orlando for the week! I meant to post that before we left, but I just didn't have time! I'm going to work on getting my recap of the week posted, but I've got to get through my pics first. Check back tomorrow!

Happy Valentine's Day, and stuff!

Ha! A little late for Valentine's Day, I know, but I just now downloaded my pics from then, and had to share some. I have been cooking, just too tired to post what I've been making, so here's a few:

The Valentine's day pancakes were a recipe I pulled out of a magazine a long time ago. They were made with oatmeal. They turned out great, very fluffy, and surprisingly not anything like oatmeal. Honestly it wasn't noticeable.

"Buttered Noodles" from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook, this was really fast to stir together, and the kids and I gobbled it up. I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles in it.

Nacho Chicken from a Southern Living cookbook. This is coated in crunched up Doritos. I happened to have some leftover from D-NOW. I made potato pancakes to go with it. My mom always made these, but I only had instant mashed potatoes to use, and I don't think that worked out too well. She said she uses leftover mashed potatoes that are cold from the fridge. You just add a little flour till they are able to be patted into patties, and fry them in some oil. I added some garlic salt. They were still yummy the way I made them, just messy and not the same as mom's. Oh, yeah, and a little burned, that always happens when I try to fry anything! I'll need more practice at that one.

I stirred up some chicken salad for lunch today, just using some leftover stuff in my fridge, and it was really good. Here's what I put in: Chopped chicken, chopped apple, shredded coconut, toasted chopped pecans, celery salt, tumeric, white pepper, mayo, milk, lemon juice.

Hold the Lemon

Gross, I think I'll pass on lemon water at restaraunts from now on! Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeye8wnBJoU

Mexican Pile-Up

We had Scott's 9th grade guys over at our house for D-Now this weekend. There were about 13 of them. Reece now has 2 new holes in his wall where one of the guys accidentally got pushed a little too hard in some rough-housing. It's part of welcoming that many kids into your home, that's why we have a well used house, instead of a new one.
They ate here Saturday night and I made Mexican Pile-up for them. This recipe is really easy to feed a crowd with.

meat sauce
1 onion, diced
2 lb ground beef or turkey
2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 cans black beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 Tbsp garlic salt
4 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cumin
brown the onion and meat, add the rest, and simmer till thickened.

cook 2 boxes minute rice (8 cups)

Set up:
3 bags Fritos, rice, meat sauce, lettuce, chopped pecans, shredded coconut, shredded cheese, sliced black olives, picante sauce, sour cream.

I know the pecans and coconut sound strange, but you really should try it, it's really yummy. This is for a crowd of 12 big eaters, 16 if they aren't all boys, half the recipe for less. You could make the big recipe and freeze half of it for another time.

Tortilla Casserole

Tonight's dinner was really, really good! I made Tortilla Casserole out of Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook. I used a little milk instead of sour cream, though, because Scott won't eat anything with sour cream in it. I've been using this cookbook for about 5 years. It's really good for those of you who like recipe's with only a few ingredients, and few steps. It has alot of one dish meals, and most of the recipes don't take much time either. It also has lots of time saver tips throughout the book.

Spaghetti night

Tonight was spaghetti night! I did add a can of tomato sauce tonight, which is not on my earlier posting of my recipe for homemade sauce. I haven't posted dinners in a bit, but I've made Chicken Curry from the Betty Crocker Good and Easy Cookbook it was mediocre, but something different. Also, Cajun 15 Bean Soup, according to the recipe on the bag, it's really good. I cook it in the crock-pot instead of stove-top.

Minute Steaks

I posted pics from Hidden Valley, scroll down to see them.

Last night I made Mom's Minute Steaks, green beans, and mashed potatoes. I'm not really sure why it's called minute steak, because they are really 30+ minute steaks, that's just what my mom always called them. This is what I request for my birthday dinner at my mom's house, I like it best with mashed potatoes and butterbeans (baby lima's). Anyway, here's how they go:

Mom's Minute Steaks

4-6 round steaks, the ones that are tenderized so they look a little like ground beef patties.
flour
salt
pepper
oil
1 package onion soup mix
water

Heat oven to 400. Combine some flour, a little salt and pepper on a paper plate. Put some oil in the bottom of a large skillet that is oven safe, (no plastic or wooden handles), and heat it over med-high heat. Coat both sides of steaks in flour mixture. Brown in oil for about 1 minute on each side, sprinkle a little of the flour mixture into the oil also, to help it turn into gravy while it's in the oven. Remove from heat. Sprinkle onion soup mix over the top, and pour 1-2 cups water in. Cover and put into the oven for about 30-40 min. Serve with mashed potatoes.