Baked Potato Skins

I got the idea for this from a recipe that I found on Allrecipes. Anyways just a few changes, but I don't remember which recipe I used. Anywho, as always the amounts of each ingredient are approximated.


2 big baking potatoes

6 strips of bacon (more or less..whatever)

1/2 cup of cheese

dash of cayenne

dash of garlic

salt and pepper

1/2 veggie oil

sour cream for dipping

Preheat to 400 degrees. Wrap potatoes in foil and bake them for about a hour.

When potatoes are cool cut them in half lenghwise, scoop out the flesh, and then each half into 3rds (You'll get 6 wedges per potato)

Brush wedges w/ veggie oil and sprinkle w/ cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper on both sides.

Bake the wedges flesh side up for about 10-15 minutes on 375 until they start to crisp up and brown a little.

add cheese and bacon and return to oven until cheese is melted

top w/ sour cream.

White Chicken Chili- Cheat

Yes, you can already tell that by saying "cheat" in the title that I used a seasoning packet...and believe it or not I followed the recipe. Well kinda, for the most part.

Kathryn discovered this and brought it to work for lunch one day. Well I drooled over it and she let me have a nibble. I had to make it for myself!

And from start to finish maybe 30 minutes. And that includes making rice and cornbread.

So you can basically follow the recipe on the back of the package. But I'll give you a rundown

1lb of chicken, cut very small

2-3 tbs veg oil

1 packet of White Chicken Chili

1 can of white beans (I used white kidney beans, but Kathryn used some other bean, they were both equally as good)

1 cup of water

heat oil to medium low and add chicken, put a lid on it and stir occasionally until its not pink.

Add beans, water, and seasoning packet and simmer for a few minutes.

I served it on top of rice and w/ cornbread muffins. Below is the 'mush deliciousness' that I made.

Grape vs. Cranberry--who will win???

So Anita and I always wondered which meatball was better. Grape or Cranberry. So I did a side by side taste test. The winner...well u need to read the rest to know.

Grape Meatballs:
Dump the following into a crock pot and cook on high until meatballs are tender (or low for a hell of a long time)



1 jar of grape jelly (medium sized jar)
1 jar of chili sauce
1 tbs mustard (if u wanna)
meatballs...duh


Cranberry Meatballs:
Dump the following in a crock pot and cook on high until the meatballs are tender or on low for a hell of a long time.

1 can of cranberry
1 jar of chili sauce
meatballs

****I did not do a full recipe so I eyeballed the cranberry and chili sauce. So eyeball it. Im guessing here



AND THE WINNER IS..............................Grape, hands down!

Rice Krispie Treats!

Thats right! The delicious treat you remember from ur childhood days. So easy and still one of my faves!

I think we all know the recipe for these, but just in case:

3 tbs butter
4 cups of mini marshmellows
6 cups of rice krispie cearl

melt butter over medium heat

add marshmellows and stir constantly until smooth and not lumpy

remove from heat and stir in cearl.

spoon into a greased 13x9 in pan and let cool...or eat it. I don't care either way!

I like to put it into shapes and things sometimes. Depends on my mood :)

Corn Souffle From Kraft

I made this at Thanksgiving and am JUST getting around to posting it. I got this recipe from my Kraft Foods and Family Magazine. Which is a really good magazine if I do say so myself!

I love to make this when Im making chili, soups, chicken and dumplings...u get the idea.

2 TBS Butter

1 8oz pack of Cream Cheese

1 Can Whole Kernel Corn, drained

1 can Cream-Style Corn

1 pkg Corn Muffin Mix

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preheat to 350

Microwave butter on high for 30 seconds

Add Cream Cheese and heat for an additional 15 seconds

Add both Corns, muffin mix, and eggs- Mix Well

Pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Sprinkle w/ the Cheddar Cheese

Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown. (I usually bake it for a little longer)

Thanksgiving Snack-A-Roo

Ok so everyone is always hungry while the cooking is going on so I made some boiled peanuts for everyone to snack on while the cooking missions were being completed. Light, yet a family favorite and everyone we still hungry!

couple lbs of green peanuts

good 1/4 cup of salt

boil peanuts on high heat w/ a lid for about 2 hours

taste to see if they are soft enough and/or salty enough. If not boil longer and/or add salt

transfer to crock pot to keep warm.

enjoy!

Told ya they were easy!

Thanksgiving- Deviled Eggs

I make my Deviled Eggs like my momma taught
me to make them. Im not sure of the exact measurements....as always!

9 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayo (add more if too dry)
1 tsp of mustard
dash of celery seed
dash of garlic
2 tbs dill relish
salt and pepper to taste

Peel cooled hard boiled eggs, split in half and put yoke in a separate bowl

Combine the remaining ingredients in the yoke bowl and mash well. Taste and see if it needs more seasoning. If dry add more mayo because im not sure exactly how much I used and I made these a few days ago and can't remember exactly.

Spoon about a teaspoon into the egg white and refrigerate until serving. So yummy!

Thanksgiving-The Bird

Okay, so this was my first T-day that I hosted at my house and I made the turkey. I had been talking to a friend earlier that day and she asked if I knew what I was doing. I (rather arrogantly) responded how hard could it be? have u seen some of the bozo's that make turkey?


Meet: The Bird. We'll call him Rosco. Why Rosco...idk it just happened.

So this is the point that my arrogance has turned into complete and utter frustration and I realize.....I have no clue what to do w/ Rosco. He was still a touch frozen and I was able to get the giblets bad out, but there was something in his butt which I couldn't get out. So I resorted to my AR friends and they said to put it in water. So an hour later hes almost ready and I attempt again to get the stuff out of his butt. So I tug and tug and finally pull out this well...thing! The neck! Im still having flash backs from that one! So I decided I was going to brine it. Well teeny tiny problem......I don't have a big enough pot so that was out. I decided to put Rosco back in the fridge to sleep off the humiliation of having his butt probed and I'd deal w/ him in the morning.

So the next morning I made some herb butter using garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and some other various spices in my pantry. I forgot to mention that I also stuffed his butt w/ onion, celery, carrots, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper. And I realized, tonight while w/ some friends that I never removed the bay leaf from inside his butt. But, I didn't geat anything out of the butt so I guess we're good huh?



I rubbed the butter mixture under the skin and all over Rosco. I put him in my pan breast side down and cooked him for a few hours. Then I flipped him and browned the skin on the breast. Rosco was a tasty bird!! My first turkey was a success! See!

Curry Grilled Chicken

Curry Grilled Chicken

This is a recipe that I "rescued" from my Recipe box on AR. This recipe is DELICIOUS!! This recipe tastes like you just stepped out of a Thai Restaurant. Im not a big curry fan, so don't let that stop you from trying this recipe because it is on my fav list now! You can find this recipe at Allrecipes.com


INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup (FYI i was out of ketchup once and used BBQ..tasted the same)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I like cayenne instead)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (use more..about 1-2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS
In a blender, combine the first 10 ingredients; cover and process until blended. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container; add the chicken. Seal or cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Grill the chicken, covered, over medium heat for 6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. (I put mine on kabob-o's...obviously!)

So w/ the Curry Grilled Chicken I made some fried rice. I, of course, did not measure so Im just guessing on this one. But the rice was good actually.

2 cups of cooked rice

2 TBS oil

1 tbs soy sauce

garlic

cayenne pepper (to taste)

curry (1/2 tsp)

2 eggs

salt

pepper

Directions:

heat oil on med high and add eggs, scramble

when eggs are done push to one side an add rice and remaining ingredients and fry for about 5 minutes or until the rice is a little brown.

taste and add more or less spices.

Tailgating Continuted

Ok so my Buffalo Chicken Dip was mauled before I was able to snap a picture of it. This is a recipe from AR but I don't follow the directions completely.

1 real chix ta-ta, boiled and shredded

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 cup of Ranch

1 TBS of Hot sauce (maybe more)

Dashes of Cayenne Pepper

half bag of cheese, whatever you like

Directions:

Spread cream cheese in the bottom of an oven (and microwave safe) pan

Sprinkle w/ cayenne pepper

Mix chicken, ranch, and hot sauce and spread on top of cream cheese

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for about 20-30 mins at 350

And, since u have it in a microwave safe dish...if it gets cold u can pop it in the nuker! smart huh!?!

U can also dump all this in the crock pot and heat that way, which is what I will probably do next time, but we didn't have any way to plug in a crock pot so I didn't

I also made pigletts in a blanket, but forgot to take a picture of it...I know..im mad about it too. I mean, it was really a difficult specialty.

1 package of little smokie sausages

1 package of grands biscuits

Tear pieces of the biscuit and wrap around the baby sausage

Bake per package directions and eat umm.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

So for this evenings dinner we had what I usually call: "You know baby, the chicken creamy pasta stuff" but I figured for my blog I could fancy it up a bit. Anyways heres how ya make the dang stuff.

3 chix ta-tas

Dashes of garlic powder

Dashes of Cayenne

2 strips of bacon

2 TBS butter

1 16oz container of Sour Cream

1 can of Cream of Chix

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp parsley

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 cup parm cheese

Oh yea, and some pasta would be good. bout a box or so

Directions:

Cut bacon into small pieces and throw in a pan and heat until brown

Cut chix into chunks and sprinkle w/ garlic and cayenne

Once bacon is done, turn down heat, add butter and chicken cook for about 2 min on each side

Throw the rest of the stuff in except the parm cheese

Towards the end toss on some parm cheese. If you want to. ur call.

Spoon it over cooked pasta. Whatever you like. Today we had thin spaghetti, but usually, thats now how we roll. We like bow tie or rotini. Stuff with cool shapes. But I was kinda in the mood for the stringy stuff and I was cooking so I did what I wanted.

I also made some bread which doesn't look like much, but it was soo good.

Garlic Bread:

2 hot dog buns split in half

1 tbs of butter

1/4 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp parsley

4 TBS parm cheese

Preheat to 350

Heat butter, garlic and parsley in the microwave until butter is melted

Brush hot dog buns w/ the butter mixture

Spoon a TBS of parm cheese over each bun and bake for about 15 mins or until toasted

Up Next!

Tailgating!! Soon to appear in a blog near you!

So somehow Christopher caught me vulnerable one day and talked me into buying Season Tickets to the Jags games. But Im a Giants Fan!! Oh well. Since we live here I figured it wouldn't kill me to buy a $10 T-shirt and tailgate every week. Afterall...I love sitting outside in my folding chairs and having an excuse to make snack food. Why not right?

Brownies:

1 box of regular brownies, whatever you like, and follow the directions on the back of the box

Once ur bownie mix is ready add an entire back of cream cheese and mix well. It may be slightly clumpy

You may have to bake it a bit longer than usual. Just do the tooth pick test and u'll get it, no worries.

Ok, so I have learned that brownies bake sooo much nicer in glass pans. Maybe I'm making this up, but they always come out soo much nicer for me in a glass pan.

Sweet Potato Casserole.....kinda

So I love sweet potatoes, but I am extremely picky about how they are cooked. I am teetering w/ a recipe from what I have viewed from other recipes on AR. This is what I came up with.

1 really really big sweet potato

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1/2 stick of butter

wash and wrap SP in foil and bake for...IDK....and hour and a half at 350. (I got impatient and upped it to 400 after an hour.

unwrap SP and peel. Smash SP w/ sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Top w/ a sprinkle more of cinnamon and brown sugar and bake for about 20 more mins at 350.

This was good, however, it was not very thick and it was a touch on the sweet side. Next time I think I'll add an egg and maybe some heavy cream to the mix. Also, I may skip the brown sugar and cinnamon top. It was alright.

Anita's Meal, Part 5

The last and final part of this meal excursion was dessert. Which just happen to be Anita's brownie recipe which can be found on GroupRecipes.com.

I am unable at this time to complete this 'mission' due to my inability to find one of the key ingredients. I will continue my search for the missing piece and get back to you on this one.

Until next time.........

Anita's Meal, Part 4

The meat part of my meal was Allrecipes Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork, which can be found on their website.

1 2lb pork tenderloin

1 can of cranberry sauce

1/3 cup of french dressing

1 onion, chopped

combine the cranberry sauce, french dressing and onion in crock pot and mix

place pork tenderloin on top and swish the sauce on top. Make sure its covered well.

I cooked it on slow for 3 hours and on high for another 2 because we were ready to eat!

The meat turned out tender as could be, next time I could double the cranberry sauce and french dress, but cup back to maybe 1/2 an onion. My meat was soo juicy I think it diluted the sauce too much so I couldn't taste the flavor of it well. The meat was good anyways tho. Christopher also rated this a 5!

Anita's Meal, Part 3

OMG, these were the best cotton pickin taters I have ever touched to my lips. Heavenly if you will!!! This is also a Pioneer Woman Recipe. Her recipe calls for 5 lbs of taters, but Christopher and I would have taken quiet a while to eat 5 lbs of taters. My listed recipe is downsized. You can see her original recipe on her website.

5 yellow potatoes washed, peeled, cubed (mine were pretty big)

1/2 pack of cream cheese

1/2 stick of butter (ok, so there may have been more butter)

about 1/2 cup milk (PW calls for half and half)

2 heads of roasted garlic (see Roasted Garlic Post)

salt

pepper

boil taters until tender

add cream cheese, butter, milk, roasted garlic, salt and pepper and mash the hell out of umm! I am not joking when I say these are the best mashed potatoes you will ever eat. I mean, they are good enough for u to run to Walmart, this instant, and start making these. I don't care if it 12am...get ur badonkadonk to the sto!

I hope u guys try this and love it! Oh, and Christopher gave this a 5!!!!!!!

Oh, and "Don't Try Her" on this one......

Anita's Meal, Part 2

Roasted Garlic

I have never roasted my own garlic before, but it was soo easy and SOOOO worth it. I don't know if I will ever be able to use garlic regularly again. This is a Pioneer Woman Recipe that you can find on her site, but if u want a quick break down....well here you go!

2 whole heads of garlic

1-2 tbs olive oil

salt

pepper

cut the top off the garlic heads just enough to expose all the cloves. Place the cut side up in a greased pie pan (just sprinkle a bit of the olive oil)

drizzle oil olive over all the little garlic pods (U like that? Pods..hehe) to keep them from burning

sprinkle w/ salt and pepper

cover tightly w/ foil and bake on 375 degrees for 1 hour. (PW says for 40 mins, but that wasn't long enough for me)

Anita's Meal, Part 1

So Anita aka Chicago Cookie and I decided to pick out meals for each other to try this past weekend. I will do this in parts as it may take me a few days to get it all posted. However, you can expected the following:

Anita's bang bang green beans (I gve them that name for her)

Roasted Garlic-PW site

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes- PW site

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork- Allrecipes.com

Anita's Brownies

Anita's Bang Bang Green Beans

Fresh Green Beans

Butter

Bread Crumbs

Boil GB's until tender

Toss w/ butter and bread crumbs

Yep, that is the EXACT recipe and instructions I got from her. Shocked? Don't be, its Anita. Well she said I'd just know and I did. Since Im the only GB eater in the house I decided to only make enough for me. I used about 1 cup of green beans, 2 TBS butter, and about a palm full of bread crumbs....soo 1/4 cup.

I really liked this recipe. It was a nice twist on such a simple recipe. Bravo Anita!

Toffee Almond Bars

I love love love the Toffee Almond Bars at Starbucks. So my friend and I found a recipe online that is very similar. It was Perfect the first time I made it, but somehow I cannot make it as good as the first time. We made these a while ago, but Im just getting to post the recipe.


1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup (6-ounce package) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup (6-ounce package) White chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped toffee candy such as Almond Rocca (I used heath bars)

Instructions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 9-inch-square baking pan.COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and chopped toffee. Spread into prepared baking pan.BAKE for 20 to 23 minutes. Remove pan to wire rack. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into bars.

Breakfast Bowl...for dinner

This is a simple and easy breakfast or dinner that I make for us sometimes. Christopher really enjoys it and it doesn't take very long to make.

For Grits:
3/4 cup of grits
3 cups water
few good dashes of salt
1 cup (more or less for ur taste) cheese
2 TBS butter
pepper

combine grits, water and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiled turn heat down and let simmer until thick. Add cheese, butter, pepper and more salt if needed

Sausage: I buy the frozen sausage from walmart. Maple flavored. Heat in a pan for about 3-5 minutes per side. (I make 4 pieces for the two of us)

Eggs: Do I have to explain scrambled eggs? ok I will

2 eggs
2 TBS water
1TBS butter
salt & pepper

whisk eggs and water in a bowl
melt butter in a small skillet
add egg and well...scamble
add salt and pepper towards the end.

To Assemble:

Scoop generous amount of cheese grits into the bottom of a bowl. Top w/ 2 pieces of sausage and half eggs. This will make 2 breakfast bowls.

I sometimes change it up and use bacon, biscuits, etc. etc. Very yummy!

Banana Puddin

I made this for my brother and Christopher the other day when he visited. He ate and but didn't say if he liked it or not. But Christopher rated it a 5...I think. Its not the traditional Banana Puddin my momma used to make, but its pretty close.

1 big box of vanilla pudding

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 8oz package of cream cheese

3 good sized bananas sliced into coins

1 box of Nilla Waffers

Sit cream cheese out for a few minutes to get soft and cut into 8 pieces

mix pudding with milk and blend until it starts to thicken. Add cream cheese and beat until smooth.

In a medium sized bowl layer Nilla Wafers, bananas, and pudding mixture. I like to layer it about three times. Last layer should be nilla wafers.

Tony

This is Tony. Christopher gave him to me for my birthday. He his perched nicely so that he can see everything that goes down in my kitchen. After a bottle of wine he starts giving out orders...hes only bossy when Im drinking.... :)

My Brother Visited

So my big brother came over last night for dinner and to force me to look at wedding stuff. And then I made him help me hang this art stuff I have that he gave me...that was a pain in the ace to hang!

For Dinner we had:

Curry Grilled Chicken (From AR w/ modifications)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (Recipe called for paprika, but I didn't have any and I like it spicy)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves Cut into chunks

Combine all ingredients and let marinade overnight.

Thread onto Skewers and grill until no longer pink.

****OMG this was soo good. Taste like u just stepped out of a Thai Restaurant. My brother and Fiance loved this!

I also made Beef or Chicken Marinade from AR

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 green onions, chopped (I omit this)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix soy sauce, honey, distilled white vinegar, garlic powder, ground ginger, vegetable oil, green onions and black pepper. Place desired meat in marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours before grilling.

****This used to be my fav until I had the Curry Grilled one. I let this marinade for 2 days once and the chicken was soo good it make you wanna slap your momma!

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I got this recipe from my Taste of Home Cookbook. This is not my original recipe and believe it or not I did not alter it. (ONly cuz im not a baker)

1 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
1/2 cup creamy PB
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5-6 tbs milk (I had to use a little more)

in a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, PB and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture

Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 in apart on ungreased baking sheets (I greased mine). flatten to 3/8 in thickness w/ a fork. Bake 375 for 7-8 mins (took me about 10-12) remove to wire racks and cool.

Filling: In a large mixing bowl beat the PB, confectioners sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on half of the cookies and top w. another.


***I put the filling in a sandwich bag and pipped it onto the cookies. These were pretty goood. I made them for my neighbors birthday.

Also for this party I made some Bean Dip. A friend of mine in High School taught me how to make this. I have altered it slightly, but the basic recipe is the same deal. We used to eat this about once a week (at least) in art class w/ Mr. B. He was an odd duck!

1 package of cream cheese
1 can hormel chili w/ beans
1 bag of taco (or just cheddar) cheese
Dash of Cayenne
Dash of hot sauce (more of less of those last to...whatever u like)

You can either:

A. Layer cream cheese then chili (add ur dashes here) then cheese on top and bake for about 20 mins at 350. OR

B. Thrown all of it in a pot and heat until melted well. OR

C. Do B and throw it in the crock pot.

It all taste the same to me I think.

Chix Teriyaki

Ok so at first I thought I flopped this recipe until Sunnybyrd suggested I add some brown sugar. Why didn't I think of that. Anyways it was delicious when I added the sugar

2 chicken breast cut into chunks
2 TBS veg oil
2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup of Lowry's Teriyaki Sauce
8 oz can of pineapple chunks w/ juice
1 TBS soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger (would do more next time)
2 TBS brown sugar

11/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup water

Heat Oil and add chicken, sprinkle w/ garlic until no long pink (I put a lid on the pan so its not sooo tough)

add teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice and chunks, soy sauce, ginger, and brown sugar and let simmer.

Mix corn starch and water in a small bowl and add to the sauce, let simmer some more.

Serve over steamed rice.

I thought it was really good.

Catch UP

So I've been a little busy lately, but I've been having fun!

We have had a few little cookouts lately. We went on the boat and I made some delicious brownies to take w/ us. My friends all enjoyed them. I used a regular brownie cake mix and topped it w/ cream cheese. A little gooey for my taste, but still yumo. Anita gave me that suggestion.

My neighbor helped me prep the bubba burgers we grilled. She put worstershire sauce, garlic, onion powder, montreal seasoning, and pepper on them. Grilled delicious.

Monday night we were having a small dinner party of 4 which turned into 12. So I grilled some more burgers and hot dog, made the best baked beans ever (recipe to follow), left over pasta sald my friend makes (which is to die for...recipe at a later date when i make it myself) and some tater tots for the kids.

Baked Beans:
1 big can of Bush's Original Beans
2 good TBS of kraft teriyaki ginger bbq sauce
5 TBS brown sugar

Combine and simmer on low for about 30 mins.

I also made some of MY Feta Stuffed Mushrooms (the MY is a joke for the AR people hehe)

Just Dinner

Okay, so I told you that I would do the marinades again tonight and keep them separate...and I did!! Marinade Number 2 is way better in my opinion.

Also, remember those pork ribs I told you I butchered last friday? Member? Too salty. Well I couldn't stand to throw the $8.00 of ribs in the trash so I tried to salvage them today....success. I boiled them for about 15 minutes to try and get some of the saltyness off. Then I smothered them in Sesame Ginger BBQ (kraft) sauce and regrilled. They were actually really good.

Ok so had some more Feta Stuffed Mushrooms, because everyone likes them alot. AND the new recipe I made tonight is Mac 'n' Cheesee (yes 2 ee's because I can)

I also tossed some onions w/ Italian dressing and kabob-oed those as well. Didn't get a praise or complaint about them, so im not sure how they were.

7oz twisty macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 cup of sour cream
2 cups of cheese (1 cup italian style and 1 cup 4 cheese)

boil and cook macaroni until al dente

In a separate pot melt the butter completely then add the flour and stir continuously to blend.

once the flour/butter deal is turns golden brown gradually add the milk while whisking any lumpies out. Add the ground mustard and cayenne pepper.

bring that to a bubble (which is my word for almost boiling) and add the cheese then the pasta.

I then added the sour cream and some salt and peppa!


Christopher said he really liked it. Wasn't really my cup-a-tea, but im not a big mac 'n' cheese eater.

The "Dinner Party"

OK so I had 3 people coming over last night for dinner, and that turned into 7 people so I was Ms. Dinner Impossible. (you know, from the show) Anyways I had 3 hours to get to the store, clean my house, and cook for 7 people when I was prepared for 3. I had fun, im not gonna lie.





So we had:

Pasta Salad

2 boxes of Betty Croker's Classic Pasta Salad

Follow box in structions

Add about 3/4 cup of imitation crab meat to the mix and stir well

serve cold.

Everyone loved this and no one had a clue I used a box.....and I just let them go on thinking it was made from scratch!

Pork Ribs

These were a total flop. and by total flop I mean HORRIBLE. They tasted like you stuck ur tongue in a salt shaker! I don't know what really went wrong because I've made them like this before. I put cajun/creole seasoning and garlic powder on them and grilled. Yuck. But the chicken was a much better story.

Chicken Kabob-o's (yes, I addded the o because I can!)

I used 2 marinades and both of them I am pretty sure I got from AR.

Marinade Number One:
2/3 cup vegie oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup steak sauce (I was out so I used Kraft Sesame Ginger BBQ sauce)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
10 cloves garlic (chopped)

Marinade Number Two:
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 TBS honey
2 TBS distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp ginger (I didn't have fresh so I used the sprinkle kind)
3/4 cup veggie oil
pepper (I crank the pepper thing until my hand gets tired, about 1/2 TBS or so.)

Both marinades are good. I would love to tell u which one I like better, but I alway end up mixing them up and I can't remember which one is which. I did made this marinade tonight and I hope to keep them separate tomorrow when I grill the kabob-o's. I'll letchya know tomorrow!

We also had stuffed shrooms (My feta stuffed ones), brown sugar smokies(from AR...aka crack on a stick), artichoke dip (I didnt' make this), and carrot cake (didn't make that either)

Oh and my brother bought some porterhouse steaks that he grilled. but I had NO part in that. Not how I roll.

Breakfast for Dinner

Yesterday was a pretty rough day and I forgot to take out some chicken. We had a very easy breakfast dinner last night.

Pancakes
Sausage
Grits (lots of cheese and butter)
Scrambled Eggs.

For those of you non-grit eaters, you need to reform because those were the best part of the entire meal! Christopher wasn't a grits eater until me! Now hes hooked too.

Cheeseburger Pocket Things

Ok so Adrienne had me try her Chix Ceaser Pockets so now I have been putting everything in my kitchen in a 'pocket'. Just so you know, the kitchen sink is not so yummy in a pocket!! Don't try it!

OK so again, I am a horrible measurer. So the amounts are approx.

1lb Lean ground hamburger meat
1-2 TBS worshtershire sauce (yeah i can't spell it) 1 tsp garlic powder (maybe more)
1 tsp onion powder (maybe more)
sprinkle of parsley
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs mustard
6 strips of cooked bacon
2 good handfuls of ur fav cheese
2 cans cresent rolls (i buy the whole sheet kind)

preheat oven to 375
brown ground beef on med high heat and mash into tiny pieces
add garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley and cook until completely browned
take pan off heat and add ketchup, mustard, bacon, and cheese.
let mixture cool (if u put it in the dough hot it melts it or something funky)
cut dough into 8 rectagles
fill each rectangle w/ filling and fold up into a 'pocket'
bake for about 15-20 minutes in preheated oven

OMG delisiousness. I even ate the soggy left over ones for lunch and it was still good.
I was only able to make 6 because i guess i over stuffed, but whatever. I stuffed the extra two w/ what I could find in the fridge.

As Adrienne would say I served this particular delicacy w/ tater tots.

Corn and Crab Chowder/Bisque...or whatever

Ok so I made this last night for just myself and it got a little out of hand. I made enough to feed a small starving country. Anyways it was much better after it had been able to sit and stew a bit, and even more yummier at lunch today. Anyways im horrible at measuring, but I tried real hard....its something like this

1 Stick butter
6 TBS flour
1TBS garlic powder (estimate)
1 TBS onion powder (estimate)
2 cups chix broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 red potatoes (peeled and chopped into small pieces)
1 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning (estimate)
1/2 tsp old bay (estimate, and im not a fan of the flavor)
1 TBS dried parsley
8 oz velveeta, cut into cubes
1 can cream corn (next time i'll use whole corn, but it was still good w/ the cream corn)
1 cup of imitation crab meat (i am cheap, don't judge me)

In a pretty good sized pot melt butter until completely melted ( I added some garlic and onion powder to the melting butter, just for fun) and add flour. Stir for about 2 minutes or so , continually stirring, until it is brownish.

Pour in chix brother and whipping cream into roux. Add potatoes, garlic powder, onion powder, cajun seasoning, and old bay.

When the potatoes are about done add the corn, parsley, velveeta, and crab. Stir and let mingle on really low for a little while.

I had a bowl after it had simmered all together for about 15 minutes. Then I sampled about an hour later after it had been simmering and it was a lot tastier. And at lunch it was really good. I estimated on the spices because I would add a little and taste, add some more and I got frustrated w/ the measuring. Its not how I roll. Next time I will either use real crab or nix it all together.

OH and by the way, if u wanna try it I have a truck load of it left over. Christopher won't eat it because it has corn in it....I know, I know.

12/1/2008 I froze two ziplock bags and they kept good for the 3 months they were in the freezer. I soaked the bags in cool water to loosen it up and then just heated it on the stove. Just as good, if not better, than when I originally made it!

General Tso's Cheat Chicken

So I made some GT's Chicken last night, but I may have cheated...ok so I did. My grocery store sells these seasoning packets you can find them by the soy sauce and other chinese foods in ur grocery store. Its made my Sunbird (yellow pack). They are soo good I have tried a few of them. They are so quick and easy and really edible, no really...im for real. Anywyas...



You cut up the chicken and toss it w/ flour

Pan fry in about 2 TBS of vege oil until about done. (I always put a lid on chix when pan frying otherwise I have shoe leather) I sprinkle w/ garlic and crushed red pepper during this time.

Meanwhile I mixed my seasoning packet w/ 1/4 sugar, 2 TBS Soy Sauce, 3/4 cup water and added it to the chix and let it simmer for a few mins.



Ok...so that took all of maybe 25 mins from start to finish. Well I wanted some Crab Rangoon(thanks to Adrienne) but I didn't have the stuff so I ordered some from the Chinese Rest. about a mile away...well I ended up ruining my 'steamed' rice so i also ordered some fried rice for the two of us...well whats fried rice and crab rangoon w/out a spring roll??? So anyways $16.00 later all I made was the actual chicken. This dinner was supposed to be cheap!!! **But to be fair I like my General Tso's Cheat Chicken better than the actual Chinese restaurants. Plus I KNOW im eatin chicken!!

Jalapeno Bacon Thingies (Pioneer Women)

Ok so I made those this past weekend for my football clan. They liked them, but like my feta cheese stuffed mushrooms better. I only made a sample of them for them to try, So I did not use the full recipe.



Jalapeno Bacon Thinkies (Pioneer Women)

3 whole Jalapenos
2 strips of bacon
about 3 tbs cream cheese



cut jalapenos in half lenghwise and take out seeds and membranes.

stuff inside of jalapeno w/ cream cheese

wrap w/ a piece of bacon

Heat in oven on 375 (I think) bake for about 25 mins.



The gang decided they like the mushrooms I make better. I am not sure of the exact mesurements but its something like this:


Feta Stuffed Shrooms
Pack of smaller white mushrooms

Crumbled Feta Cheese (1/2 cup to 3/4 depending on how big ur mushrooms are)

2 Tbs olive oil

dash garlic powder

dash of Cayenne pepper

Fresh ground Pepper



clean mushroom caps w/ a damp paper towel and remove stems. (discard)

burn cap side up and drizzle w olive oil and sprinkle w/ garlic powder, cayenne, and pepper (more or less depending on ur taste)

Stuff caps w/ Feta cheese and place cap side down on a baking sheet.

Bake at 375 for about 25 mins or until the mushrooms are tender.

The mushrooms are toooo simple to make and everyone likes them, even those who dont' like feta cheese. I once tried to replace the Feta w/ onion cream cheese and I was told they were "okay" but not as good as the Feta.

Panko Crusted Chix

3 boneless skinless chix boobs
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pepper to your liking
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
3 cups panko crumbs
2 Tbs oil (more or less depending)

Pound chix to 1/4 inch thick
Place flour, egg, and panko crumbs in 3 separate bowls
Add Cayenne, Garlic & pepper to eggs and whisk
Heat oil to medium high heat.
Dredge Chix in flour, then egg, then panko crumbs.
Fry on each side until no longer pink in the middle (2-3 mins per side)

I like this a lot. Very crispy and airy. Next time I think I will add more spices to the egg mixure and maybe some cajun seasoning to the panko crumbs. It needed something.

My Birthday

So my birthday was yesterday and I had one of the best ones ever! My mother bought me several things before my birthday because she feels Im picky-whatever. She got me 2 Disney DVD's I wanted, a pancake pan, and some of the coolest Halloween kitchen towels ever! My wonder Fiance couldn't wait to give me his gifts so I got them the day before. He gave me a $50 gift card to a nail place in town and this adorable Fat Chef man tart burnger from Yankee Candle that totally matched my kitchen perfectly. (who knew he even realized the kitchen was done in Fat Chef Men!!) Anita sent me a box w/ Witch sock, a garlic press, nutrageous candies, and a card. Kathryn and her boyfriend, Eric gave me a gift card to the Gap!! yeaah! I got calls, emails, posts and text from several friends and family memebers. My parents took us out to dinner at La Nopalera and my niece and nephew came too! All in all it was a great birthday! Sebastian, my nephew, did hit me up for money for doing good in school, tho...and of corse I gave it to him and Isabella too. So thanks to everyone who made my birthday great!

The Stalker Story-Headbanger

I seem to find this particular story very entertaining simply because I am not the Stalkee...my co-worker/best friend just happens to be the subject of this story.

So anyways K-we'll call her K because she is going to flip when she sees I've posted this. Anywho so K used to work at this video store in our town and this guy who is a few french fries short of a happy meal, who is also homeless and dirty, would come in and talk to her while she was at work. Words cannot adequately describe the way he looked. His face is always red and kinda lop sided, he has a HUGE knot on his head (which will be explained later), his hair is always greasy looking, his clothes always dirty, he always carried a beat up looking leather satchel carrying only heaven knows what, and he always wears this weird like 'poet' hat.

Well when K was not available to talk to him because she was busy w/ customers or whatever he would get so upset her would go outside and bang his head against the cement pillars outside. Hints the name: Headbanger. I mean that had to be somewhat painful. He would walk from the downtown shelter to where we live just to come tell her something stupid. One time he came to tell her a picture of a girl in the newspaper looked just like K...yeah not even a slight resemblance. Keeping in mind the driving time from where we work to the downtown shelter is at least a 40 minute DRIVE...muchless to walk it.

So K has been working at the office now for about 6 years. Somehow Headbanger figured out she was working at our office and started stopping by. Well I started working there about 3 years ago so the first time he came in you can only imagine what I was thinking. K was freakin out telling me to get rid of him. How he found her? We may never know.

So I have told Headbanger OVER and OVER and OVER again to stop coming by the office. Well he stops by every so often to see if im not there, hoping that someone else will let him in. Im the mean one remember!

So he stops by today, K was gone and it was just me. Our sprinkler is messed up so it sprays water all over our front door for about 15 minutes everyday around 2:30. You cannot walk in the door w/out getting soaked. So someone comes in today and I hear the door beep so I walk up to the window and guess who's there? Headbanger....soaking wet! He stands there and blankly tells me that we need to get a shield or something to keep people from getting wet. HEHEHE Then he turns around and walks out.

So Headbanger is also writing a book. We have read some of it, which is kinda- well Odd. But one day we are going to see ole Headbanger on Oprah talking about the million dollar book sale he just had and we are going to wish we'd let Headbanger talk to us! Is that not hilarious?

This is not a feel bad for him kinda story...its funny all around. You should see the letters he will write to her when I won't let him see her. It starts out normal and then half way thru its like a totally different person is writing the letter.

He has moved up in the world now. He lives in the back of a jiffy store down the street. I think he sweeps there or something. But his humble abode is all he needs to write his book.