Meal Planning Just Got Easier…

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am big into meal planning! My husband bought me my first cooking software for Christmas 2005, so I have been at this for nine years.  It has been life changing for me, and has been a life saver.  I am not a great cook, and resorted to box meals many times.  I never could think of anything to cook, so we ate the same junk all the time.  When I got my software and could store my recipes on my computer, actually put them in menus, and make a grocery list, life changed drastically for this girl.  I started to love cooking and tried new recipes.

Sadly, over the years my software has run into some problems.  If you want to update you have to pay for it, and many promised features are either not working, or have never been implemented.  I won’t tell you the name of the software in this post, because I’m not interested in causing them any trouble.  But the glitches have been frustrating, and I’ve been looking for an alternative for quite some time.

My friend posted a link on Facebook the other day to an online site she uses for meal planning.  It’s called Plan To Eat.  I watched the video tutorials and I was immediately sold.  You can capture recipes from the internet on this program SO easily.  You can input your own personal recipes from your files.  You can plan menus for the whole month, but just shop for one week if you want.  The program creates a grocery list with ingredients listed the way you typed them in. No more weird brands like my old software had.  You can also create a staples list of things like toilet paper, shampoo, milk, eggs, butter, etc. You can check that each time you make a grocery list, and just check the items you need for that shop.  You can friend people on the site so that you can share recipes and menu plans.  It is so much easier to share recipes here than on my old software.  You can go to the site on your phone, and save it to your home screen so that it acts as an app.  I can take my phone with me to the stores and do my shopping right from that if I want.  There is no need to print out a grocery/staple list anymore unless I want to.  You can divide your grocery list by stores you shop at, AND all of your items are divided into different areas of each store like: produce, dairy, dry goods, frozen, meat.  It is SO cool. 

I’ve spent the last couple days capturing recipes, and typing in recipes from my own files.  I have planned my first menu for just one week, and I’ll be able to shop with it for the first time this weekend.  I’m so excited. 

When I updated to a new version of my old software, it would cost me nearly $100 each time.  That was frustrating when things didn’t work or features that were promised were not there.  At Plan to Eat, I signed up for a 30 day trial period.  After that I can either subscribe by month or by year.  It is only $39 for a year, so I think I’m going to go with that. If you do it monthly, it’s just $4.95.  It is $40/$5 you will never regret spending.  Menu planning has changed my life.  I never have to worry about what’s for dinner anymore.  With the whole month planned I can print a copy, post it on my fridge, and just check every evening to make sure I have any meat out that needs to be thawed, or do any prep that needs to be done ahead of time.  It’s such a good feeling.

Go here to check out Plan to Eat, and start your free trial today.  If I know you and you decide to do this, let me know so we can share recipes and meal plans! It will also be easier for me to post recipes here, so I’ll be sure to do that!

A Few Changes…

It’s been a while since I have been able to write a post for this blog.  I have much to tell you few who read my blog.  I’d like to tell you about the amazing events surrounding the celebration of Madison’s 18th birthday.  It was truly the most memorable of all of her birthdays for me.  My darling immediate family went above and beyond to make it an absolute joyful time for me…in spite of the fact that I miss this girl beyond words.  I will write a post about it soon and share some very special pictures.

The kids started back to school for their second year of online studies.  We got a much better start this year! The students are staying on track, and I’m happy to report are doing very well.  I love having them home with me, but having so much less of the burden to make sure they are learning.  I just didn’t feel qualified anymore.  I still oversee everything they are learning and I’m able to raise a ruckus if something doesn’t sit right with me.  I can write more about this later as well.

Probably the biggest change in my life is my drastic eating lifestyle change.  I got turned on to a page on Facebook called Wheat Belly.  I started to research it, bought the books, read testimonials, and viewed before and after pictures of people who have eliminated wheat from their diets. I.was.sold.  I bought the cookbooks, emptied my home of all things wheat (it is in SO much), and away we went.  I am not on a gluten free diet…there is a difference. On a gluten free diet you can still have some grains, and I have eliminated all of them.   The wheat we get today is genetically modified and wreaks havoc on so many systems in our bodies.  It can cause fat to accumulate in our abdomens…hence the name “Wheat Belly.”  Amazingly, people have adapted this lifestyle in their homes, and the transformation is incredible.  I have been on it for nearly a month.  I went through a withdrawal period (there are appetite stimulating opiates in today’s wheat that are like drugs in your system), and that was less than desirable.  I felt miserable for a few days.  But now…my constant joint/muscle pain is gone, my clothes are getting loose, I feel great, my appetite has decreased in a major way, I’m eating healthy stuff, I can think more clearly, and my blood sugars are coming down.  This may even allow me to eliminate all of my medications within the year.  That is an incredible thought for me….no more insulin shots? I’ll take it!

I probably won’t turn this into a food blog, but I intend to post a great deal about my pursuit of healthy living. I’ll share recipes I’ve discovered, blogs that have been a great help to me, and maybe some progress pictures! I don’t think I’ll ever share my before pictures, but we’ll see…

As I said before, wheat is in SO much of what we buy now, that it was tricky to eliminate.  I also eliminated refined sugar, and limited my carbs and dairy drastically.  You’d be amazed at how much is still out there to eat, and how DELICIOUS it is.  I am no longer craving sugar or carbs, and I have not had a coke in over a month.  That is HUGE for me.  Coke is like alcohol to me.  I LOVE it, and it’s been the hardest habit for me to break.  I’d take an ice cold coke over almost anything any day.  But I can now sit in a restaurant (it’s the only time I allow my kids to have a soda…because I can’t have it in our home), and not try to sneak a sip of my kids’ drinks.  I’m happy with my lemon water…truly happy.  I’m happy because this is working for me, and I’m seeing results.

I’ll be back to share meal plans, menu ideas, a typical lunch for me, and a yummy hot cereal recipe that is rocking my mornings! I never dreamed something would appeal to me more than oatmeal!

One of my most favorite meals is spaghetti.  I didn’t think I’d ever get to have it again, because I can’t have any kind of pasta.  What a bummer.  Then I heard about the Spiralizer, and making “pasta” out of vegetables.  I am happy to report that I had spaghetti for dinner last night with zucchini noodles! It was the BEST I’ve ever had, and there was no guilt afterwards.  It was perfectly healthy.  I did not have that bloated full feeling you get after eating a big plate of pasta. I just had a wonderful full feeling that carried me through to bedtime.  No more evening snacks for me! Not because I can’t, I just don’t need one.  I’m not hungry anymore. Here is a picture of my spaghetti! It was so delicious!

So….I’ll pop in more often, because I have so much to share!  I’m getting healthy in other areas of my life, and I’ll share that with you as well.  Great things are happening at our casa!  Be back soon!

Date Day??

We’ve never really been fans of “Date Night.”  We’re usually tired in the evenings, and don’t feel like standing in lines for dinner.  I’ve never been one of those moms that felt like I needed a break from my kids…I LOVE being with them. Sincerely. We have pretty much included the kids when we’ve gone out, except on our anniversary celebrations.  We just love spending time together all four of us. 

Andy and I talked this week about the concept of a breakfast date, as we would both really prefer that.  I LOVE breakfast, so does he, and we are rested and refreshed that time of day.  It would most likely occur on a weekend, so neither of us will have to work that day.  We talked to the kids also about feeling like we need a date time especially for us more regularly.  It would not be to get away from them or take a break from them, rather to just have the private time to talk through anything we need to, and just be together as a couple.

We decided to start today! I had to drive Andy to his office to prepare some things for a trip next week.  Afterwards we decided to find a place for “brunch.”  There was a place a few minutes away that we had heard about.  We had tried to go there another time, but it was closed.  The restaurant only serves breakfast and lunch, so they close early.  Today they were open.  When we walked in, I was surprised to see white tablecloths on the tables, and it being a bit more “fancy” than I expected.  We made our menu choices and waited for our meals to come.  While we waited, I had a cup of the BEST coffee. Yum!

I ordered Seafood Eggs Benedict, and this is how it was presented!

It was served with salmon, spuds, and a side of cinnamon apple sauce.  It was so delicious.  The eggs were poached perfectly, the salmon was moist and yummy, and the hollandaise was so good!

Andy had a dish called “The Bandito”, and this is how his was presented…

It had chorizo sausage, salsa, spuds, chives, cheese, and green chili peppers in it, with two sunny side up eggs on top.  It was also served with an order of rye toast.  Andy had a small glass of citrus peach juice!

We loved our breakfast date, and plan on doing this one Saturday every month, maybe more if we can swing it.  We have a couple suggestions from friends/family for other great breakfast spots.  I’ll let you know if we find any other good places!

My Favorite Soup….

I LOVE Clam Chowder! I like the New England version and the Manhattan version.  We have a restaurant that makes the best Manhattan Clam Chowder I have ever had, and I go there on every birthday…just for the soup! The New England Clam Chowder that I like around here comes from Red Robin and a little Greek restaurant.  They are not seafood restaurants. Isn’t that funny?

I have always wanted to try to make my own chowder, but my boys have an aversion to all things shell fish, so I have never bothered.  As I was perusing recipes on Pinterest, I found a really easy recipe for both versions of the chowder.  I decided I’d make it for lunch someday and my girl and I would get to enjoy it all ourselves! Today was that day.  I found a great easy recipe at Food.com, and tweaked it a bit to fit my tastes.  It called for dill weed, and this girl DOES NOT LIKE dill weed. Blech…

There was a little prep time involved in this soup, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  It all came together in less than an hour.  Though I don’t have a picture of the step by step process (I really need to start doing that), I have a picture of the finished soup, and it was DELICIOUS!

I did tweak my soup a bit from the original recipe.  I didn’t use the dill that the recipe called for, as I said before.  I used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.  It didn’t crisp up like normal bacon, but it was SO good in this soup.  Morgan, our bacon lover, said it was great.  I will probably stick with turkey bacon from now on!

Here is the recipe…my version.  If you want the real thing visit Food.com and search for…

Thick and Creamy New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

6-7 pieces turkey bacon cut into small pieces
1 medium onion chopped
2 (10-ounce) cans baby clams with juice reserved
6-7 potatoes cubed
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of celery soup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter

Method: Add bacon to sauce pan and cook on medium low heat until crispy (turkey bacon does not really get crisp…just cook until it looks done).  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Add clam juice from both cans. Add potatoes.  Cook and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally so potatoes won't stick (you might need to add a little liquid to keep the sticking from happening). Add clams, soup, cream, and milk. Stir together. Add butter and let melt into the chowder. Cook for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened.  Stir occasionally.

Note: The original recipe called for 2 – 5 ounce cans of clam with their juices.  I doubled it.  I hate when I have clam chowder in a restaurant and there is hardly any clam in it.  So I took care of that and doubled the clams.  It did not overpower at all, and was DELICIOUS! I actually forgot the 1 tbsp of butter in my soup, but will do that next time.  I guess it will add a tiny bit of richness to the soup. I am not a fan of condensed soups per se, but I do love cream of celery, so I was thrilled to see it is in this recipe.  I diced my potatoes quite small, so they cooked faster.  Once all of the ingredients were in the pot, I did not cook the soup for the 30-45 minutes the recipe suggested.  I just waited until it was heated through and the clams were cooked.  We grabbed the deepest bowls we could find and filled them up with this yummy goodness.  It is a VERY filling soup, so one bowl was plenty.  Since my girl and I are the only ones eating it, we have leftovers for the weekend!

I was so happy with the results of my first try making this chowder.  It was seriously one of the best I’ve tasted, and I will be making it often! Yum!

 

 

Let’s Lighten Up…

Things got a little deep and a bit sad around here for a couple posts, so let’s lighten up a bit, shall we? I got through one of the toughest weeks of my year once again by the grace of God…so that called for a yummy dessert.

Oh yes it did!

A few months ago I came across a recipe called Lemon Delight.  It called for a lemon crème pie filling made by Comstock (really yummy pie fillings).  When I put the dessert on my menu plan and went to shop for the ingredients, do you think I could find lemon crème pie filling? No I could not! So I substituted regular lemon pie filling, and the recipe turned out great, and was DELICIOUS!

SUPER DELICIOUS!

The dessert was so good that I thought I’d make it again, this time with the correct pie filling.  Again, I couldn’t find it.  But…I saw key lime crème pie filling.  We LURVE key lime pie at our house, so I was thinking that might taste pretty good.  I bought the pie filling, and the other day my sweet girl and I made that dessert together.  It was INCREDIBLE.  I’m not kidding when I say that.  It was sincerely VERY good, and I don’t think I’ll bother to look for the lemon crème again.  I like the key lime crème much better!

The crust of this dessert is one of the best parts of it.  You mix butter, flour, and crushed pecans together, and press it into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  You bake it until golden brown, and when it has cooled you add the layers of filling.  We finish ours off with a dollop of whipped cream, and we are in heaven!

Here is a picture of our finished dessert! Isn’t it pretty and refreshing looking?

Want the recipe? Ask and you shall receive…you’re welcome!

Ingredients:

Crust:
3/4 cup butter softened 1 stick + 4 tbsp
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped pecan

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping (I used Cool Whip – GASP!)
1 (21-ounce) can Comstock Key Lime Crème pie filling
1 can whipped cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare shortbread crust by adding the butter and flour to a bowl and blend using a large fork or pasty blender. Add chopped pecans and mix. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown. When done remove from oven and let cool. While the crust is cooling prepare the filling. Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together using an electric mixer. Fold in the whipped topping (cool whip) into the cream cheese mixture. When the crust is completely cooled add the cream cheese filling on top of the crust and spread evenly. Top with lemon creme and refrigerate for at least 4 - 6 hours (I could not wait this long…2 hours tops). Garnish with Reddi-Whip before serving.

If you try it, come back and tell me! We loved this dessert so much!

Nothing says summer to me like freezer jam!

I have always loved freezer jam.  My grandma used to make it, my mom made it, and my sisters make it.  My favorite is strawberry.  There is nothing like a piece of toast with REAL strawberry jam on it, and a hot cup of tea.  I’m a big fan.  I made jam with my sister a couple summers ago, but I have never made it on my own.  Today I did!

I wanted to process a whole flat of strawberries into jam.  The only problem is that I’m not able to pick them.  If I did that I would not be able to walk the next day.  Thankfully, a dear friend offered to pick them for me, and I took her up on the offer! This afternoon she delivered a flat of strawberries, and I got to work.

Here was my list of ingredients minus the berries…

YES, that is 10 pounds of sugar! I actually had another bag of sugar off to the side, so I used nearly 2o pounds altogether.  Isn’t that insane?  I would not change the recipe one bit though.  It tastes SO GOOD! I don’t eat this stuff every day, so it will last us a long time. 

So a flat of strawberries, 20 pounds of sugar, lemon juice, and 9 packets of liquid pectin.  I also bought 16 plastic containers.  I really like the look of the glass mason jars, but I just can’t open them anymore.  I wanted something that is easy to get into.

The process…

I think I used every big bowl I own.  I bought them after my sister and I made jam once, because I knew I was going to try it myself at some point.  I love these bowls, and they came in very handy today.  I poured that whole bag of sugar into a bowl, because it was so much easier to divide it up that way.  That big blue bowl is holding all of the mashed strawberries. 

It’s a very simple recipe.  You just mash all of your berries, and then each batch takes 2 cups of berries, 4 cups of sugar (yikes!), 2 Tbsp of lemon juice, and one packet of the pectin.  You mix the berries and sugar and let it stand for 10 minutes.  Then you mix the lemon juice and pectin and stir it for 3 minutes.  Mix both mixtures together and pour them into containers leaving a 1/2 inch space at top of container.  Voila! You have freezer jam.  After two batches, I doubled my batches so it went faster.

The result…

I made 5 batches of jam, and ended up with 18 containers full.  I had to grab a couple extra containers out of my cupboard, because I ran out.  I had a bunch of sugar left over, and only one packet of the pectin left over as well.

The fun part was finding room in my fridge for all of these containers! It will be even more fun when I have to find room in the freezer tomorrow for them! These babies have to set for 24 hours before they are ready to eat or freeze.  I’m planning to keep one in my fridge at all times, and freeze the rest.  I’m going to share with some friends as well.

I LOVE freezer jam, and I’m so excited that I got to finally do this myself.

Raspberries will be ready soon, and I’ll be making a bit of that as well.  I’ll let you know how it all turns out!

Meal Planning & Cooking software…time saving, money saving, stress relieving :)

Ok…Once a year I have to write a post on this.  I can’t think of another area of my life that I have relieved as much stress as I have in the cooking department (maybe with the exception of recently cleaning/purging my house ).  It did not come easy to me.  When we were first married and became parents, I did not cook well.  I had a few recipes that people gave me with wedding gifts, but we ate a lot of boxed foods, and just JUNK now that I look back on it.

For Christmas 2005, my husband gave me a copy of some cooking software.  I looked at the box and thought he was crazy.  What in the world would I ever do with cooking software? But then I read the back of the CD case, read the reviews online, read what that software would help me do, and I was hooked!

I learned to cook by recipes and ingredients, and have rarely if ever bought another boxed food item.  This software and the beginning of meal planning was life changing for me…and I don’t say that lightly.  I mean REALLY life changing.

I entered all of my favorite recipes into my software, used some of the recipes that came with the software, and found a few more favorites online.  I began to compile menus for two weeks at a time.  I wholeheartedly recommend the two week plan.  Meal planning is not the most fun thing to do for some, so only having to do it every two weeks is great.

Here’s what I do:

I first look in my pantry/fridge to see what ingredients I have on hand.  I can enter those ingredients into my software, and it will give me meal ideas from the recipes I have there…so cool!  Next, I pick a few of our favorite recipes, and I set up a two week menu and fill it in. I try to have a couple chicken dishes and a couple beef dishes on each menu.  I like to have one pasta dish, and one international dish if possible.  I add soups to the menus during the cold months, and some during the warm months.  We have seafood dishes on occasion as well.  My crock pot is my friend in the kitchen, so I use a lot of crock pot recipes.  I will add event dishes to my menus if we are going somewhere, and I make one dessert for every 2 week menu plan.  Here is what my software looks like…

That column on the left is a list of all of my cookbooks.  I can click on the cookbook I want, and scroll through it for recipes.  I add those to my menus.  Once the menus are complete, I click on “list”, and my software will make me a grocery list based on the recipes I chose, and the ingredients needed for them.  Once I have the list in my hand, I do inventory of my fridge/pantry again to see what I have on the list and what I need to buy.  I then hand write a final list and that is what I take with me to the store.  I write it based on sections of the store, and it’s very easy to shop that way.

This is how a typical week’s menu prints out for me…

I am able to choose fun fonts for printing, and it prints out in an easy to read format.  I print out both menus for the two week plan…seven days at a time.  We eat leftovers on the weekends, so I only plan five days. This gets posted on the side of my fridge, along with a sheet protector filled with all of the recipes for that two week plan. A typical recipe looks like this…very easy to read and follow with ingredients listed at the top in columns, and directions underneath.

All I have to do when I’m ready to prepare a meal is grab that day’s recipe out of the sheet protector, and voila! I’m ready to make dinner.   The nice thing about having the menus and recipes posted on the fridge, is that no one EVER has to ask me what is for dinner.  They can just look at the menu.  Now sometimes, due to circumstances beyond our control, I have to switch days around.  That is not a problem at all.  I just do it.   I make the meal that was scheduled for that day another day.  It is just whatever works out best for us. We are able to be a bit flexible. 

Here are the menus and recipes posted on the fridge…Menus on top, recipes underneath.  The watermelon pad is where I make lists of staples we need like toilet paper, etc.  Things that would not be on a cooking list

I cannot express to you enough how much this has changed my life.  It is something I only have to think about every two weeks, and then I don’t.   I just grab a recipe and cook meals.  My husband takes most leftovers for his meals at work, and we eat some on the weekends.  Otherwise we just have soup and sandwiches or stuff like that…easy peasy. I am a person who THRIVES on routine, order, schedules and everything in its place.  Menu planning allows me to have that in a very important area of our lives.  I can still be flexible, but for the most part we follow a schedule, and it relieves a lot of stress for me.

Meal planning has saved us money.  I only buy what is on my list.  I used to shop grabbing whatever looked good to me, and would find ingredients months down the road that were never used.  I have cut our grocery bill well in half doing this, and most two week shopping trips, we come out having only spent $150 or less, both stores combined.  That’s pretty good for a family of four.

For Christmas this past year, my husband bought me the updated version of my cooking software (and I got two extra copies for a STEAL).  I will soon be able to get an iPhone app for the software that will make it even easier to shop.  I can email recipes easily with the software, and I can even type the name of a dish in the search engine, and it will find a recipe for me online.  Then I just click “capture”, and the recipe is automatically entered.  SO NICE.

I gave one of my copies of my software to my sister, but I still have one left.  It is normally around $100 to buy it (SO worth it), but if any of my local friends that read my blog think that this could be for them, I’d be happy to GIVE them the other copy. (Sorry…not into shipping and you MUST be serious about this.  I don’t want to give it to someone that doesn’t really want to give this menu planning business a shot )

The example of the recipe I posted was for Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells.  It was a new recipe, and I was excited to try it.  It was a bit more work than most recipes I use (I go with easy prep recipes ), but it made two batches.  I cooked one tonight for dinner, and put the other one in the freezer for a future meal.  Next time will not mean as much work!   The meal was very tasty, and I’ll definitely make it again.  This is what it looked like, and this is the picture that I will enter into the recipe so that I can see what it looks like when I’m choosing recipes.  I always try to add a picture, because that helps greatly in recipe selection.

I LOVE to talk about meal planning and cooking software, because it is something that has changed my life, and has relieved a great deal of stress.  Cooking is easier now, and the whole family gets involved in the planning and preparation of meals now.  We love it!  Maybe I will start posting my menus, and some of my recipes again.  I really enjoyed doing that!

Local friends….let me know if you are interested in this software.  It has been a great help to me.

Recipe Freak…

I’ll admit, I have turned into a recipe freak.  I LOVE to scan cookbooks, cooking sites, and cooking blogs for new recipes.  I LOVE Pinterest for finding new recipes, and my new favorite is Punchfork.com.  You can type in ingredients you have on hand in the search bar, and tons of recipe suggestions will pop up in just a second.  I love the blogs and sites that let you pin their recipe pictures, because I can come back later and jot down the recipe.  Those are the only recipes I copy now, because I don’t always have the time to jot it down right when I see it.  There are many sites/blogs that do allow pinning, so I’m all set!

I usually use Punchfork for meal suggestions.  I’m not ever in a pinch wondering what to make for dinner, because I plan my meals two weeks at a time, and my menus are on my cooking software (which I have raved about on my blog several times).  I have found some great new recipes all over the internet, and cooking is so much fun now!  I really enjoy it…

This is what I am making tonight….only I’m tweaking the recipe a bit.

I never liked cabbage rolls as a kid.  I think I had them once, and thought “this is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth”, second only to a dish my mom served once called “Slum Gully”.  Don’t ask…

As I’ve gotten older, my taste buds have changed, and I like things I didn’t like as a child.  My husband brought home a big cabbage on Saturday, so I decided to give cabbage rolls a shot.

I like the cooking sites that have reviews on their recipes.  That is a great help to me, and I usually read them all.  I get ideas for tweaking the recipe, and can see things that didn’t work out with the original recipe.  This recipe was no exception.  There were hundreds of reviews on this recipe, so I didn’t read them all.  But the ones I read were a great help, and I think dinner will be good tonight!

This was supposed to be a crock pot, cook all day recipe, but many found that their cabbage rolls turned out dry, or dry in spots.  Many just baked theirs in a 9x13 at 350 for 90 minutes.  That’s what I’m doing.  Many doubled the sauce, added different spices, excluded some things that didn’t taste right, etc.  One person said that the rolls were too much prep, so she made hers into a casserole.  I agree.  I had to boil the cabbage to loosen the leaves, make the rice, make the filling, pull the leaves off the cabbage, and then I would have had to stuff the leaves and roll them.  I opted for the casserole version tonight as well.  It looked fanstastic going into the oven, and I can’t wait to try it. 

If you’re interested, I’ll post the recipe I used, and my tweaks!  I don’t have time right now, but I’ll be back….and I’ll let you know how dinner turned out!

Pioneer Woman Cooks…And So Do I!

I love Pioneer Woman’s blog, and I think her recipes are great.  I love how she takes pictures as she cooks, because I am a visual learner.  It helps me when I can see what is “supposed” to happen :).  Many of her recipes are too involved for me, or for our household. I like quick, easy, simple meals. 

I saw this recipe on her blog months ago, and have never tried it.  It sounded really easy, and looked delicious.  Tonight I finally tried it, and it was fantastic.  It is called Pasta In Tomato Cream Sauce.  The flavor was so good, and it was great just paired with a side of whole green beans.  This is what it looked like plated (don’t I sound cook-smart? :)

I shall present this recipe to you as Pioneer Woman does.  First we have our “cast of characters.”

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (sorry it didn’t make the picture :)
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves minced (I used my Tupperware chopper…love that thing!)
1/4 teaspoon salt ( I used sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon  black pepper 
2 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 dash of sugar (to cut down on the acidity from the tomatoes)
1 pound fettuccine noodles
1/4 teaspoon chopped basil (I just used dried basil, and it was fine)

Start by cooking your noodles and set aside ( I did this about halfway through the sauce prep so that the noodles would not finish cooking too soon).  Reserve one cup of pasta water to thin sauce at the end if needed.  In a heated skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions and garlic and saute for about a minute.  Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 25-30 minutes stirring occasionally. (About 15 minutes into this process is when I tossed my noodles in to cook)

This is what my sauce looked like at this stage… It tasted HEAVENLY. I could have stopped there, and it would have been great. But we move on…

 
Remove sauce from heat.  Add heavy cream, and cheese (to taste…you might not need the whole 1/2 cup cheese.  I love it, so I added the whole ding dang thing :) If the sauce needs to be thinned a bit, this is where you would do that by adding a bit of that pasta water you reserved.

Mix the pasta with the sauce, sprinkle the basil on top, and voila! You have dinner!

I’m not kidding when I say the flavor in this dish was SO DELICIOUS.  You could taste the garlic so well, and the combination of the tomato sauce, cream, and parmesan cheese was wonderful.  I would DEFINITELY make this again.  It took me around 45 minutes to prepare this, including the time the sauce had to simmer, and the noodles cooked.  Yum, yum, yum!

Since we are a diabetic household, I must add this.  You can make this recipe just as good, and just as yummy if you use the fat-free or low-fat version of every ingredient I listed (or most of them anyway).  I didn’t tonight, but I have used them and it would be fine.  I cooked it the way Pioneer Woman does, and just had a very small portion.  It was very filling, and SO SO SO yummy :)

As I said earlier, I served mine with a side of whole green beans, and I had a dish of parmesan cheese in case anyone wanted that on top.  It really didn’t need it. :) Try it, you’ll LOVE it!

Chicken Pillows…

This recipe is a keeper.  I found it at Life as a Lofthouse’s blog, and it’s a fabulous recipe.  You can exchange every ingredient in this recipe for either low-fat or non-fat ingredients (except the dough and chicken :). I didn’t do that, because I was preparing it for my family, and I served it with vegetable sides.  I figured the little extra fat wouldn’t hurt them, and would taste great. :)

I have to get in the habit of taking pictures of my recipes as I make them, like the fancy cooking blogs do.  I always forget, so I just have a final result picture.  These are my Chicken Pillows…

I am going to try my hand at some other variety of pillows in the coming weeks/months. I think these would be great with a small spoonful of mixed vegetables thrown in, as sort of a mini-pot pie pocket.  I’m also going to try some little Chicken Cordon Bleu pockets.  I’ll make them the way the recipe specifies, but I’ll add some diced ham and Swiss cheese to the mix, and then prepare a light Swiss cheese sauce to pour over them instead of the chicken gravy.  I think those would be really good.  I’ll let you know how they go…and I’ll try to take pictures as I make them this time!

In the meantime…here’s the recipe…

Chicken Pillows

4-6 servings

2 cups Chicken, cooked and shredded (I cooked 3-4 chicken breasts and shredded them.  I like my pillows MEATY :)
4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon Butter, softened
1/2 Tablespoon dried Chives
1/2 Tablespoon dried, minced Onion
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1- (8 oz) can Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 cup Italian Breadcrumbs (I used plain this time because that was all I had. They worked fine, though I’m sure the Italian will add some flavor)

GRAVY: (I just made my gravy with my poultry gravy mix.  I’ll post her recipe for you)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 packet Chicken Gravy mix
3/4 cup Water

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix together the softened cream cheese and 1 tablespoon butter. Add in chicken, chives, onion and season with salt and pepper.

Unroll your crescent dough and press together two triangles to create one rectangle. Make sure you press together the perforations well so your filling wont ooze out. You should have 4 rectangles total.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of chicken mixture into the center of rectangle. Fold each corner over the center of filling. Press together to cover filling entirely. Shape into a ball. Repeat with all rectangles. Once all pillows are formed, dip each into the melted butter, and then coat in breadcrumbs. Shake off excess. Place each coated chicken pillow onto the greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

While chicken pillows are baking, make the chicken gravy. In a small saucepan, mix together the cream of chicken soup, gravy packet and water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and let simmer and thicken until ready to use.

Pour gravy over each chicken pillow and serve!

Let me know if you try these!

***COOK’S NOTE*** I doubled this recipe thinking these pillows looked small.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT.  One per person was PLENTY.  I had four left over!  They are great as leftovers, but I really did not need to double the recipe.  I will not do that in the future.

Happy Valentine’s Day…

I do not need a set day during the year to show my husband and my family how much I love them.  But I’m a sucker for a good party, so I love all of the holidays.  I love Valentine’s Day, and Sweetest Day because they help me FOCUS on what I love so much about my husband, why I married him, and what he means to me. 

This was the best Valentine’s Day ever.  Seriously…I loved it! I had thought about going out for dinner tonight, but our kids hate it when we do that.  They LOVE to celebrate with us.  On our anniversary I’m adamant about having that time be just for Andy and me, but Valentine’s Day is fine with me to share with the kids.  I didn’t want to mess with crowds tonight, so we stayed in.  I’m glad we did.

Earlier today there was a knock at the door.  It was a delivery man bringing a beautiful bunch of flowers from my husband.  I think I have shared here before, that flowers is not really his thing.  So I was very pleasantly surprised when they arrived today.

I baked a heart shaped meatloaf for dinner, and chilled a bottle of sparkling grape juice.  Here is what our table looked like with the candles.

My heart shaped meatloaf…

  
This is what it looked plated…with sauteed mushrooms and mashed potatoes…

Later on, we will dig into this heart shaped cake!

We had a nice skype session with our sister in law and her kids in Arizona, and we always enjoy that.  Then my love and I had a nice little dance in the family room to Carly Simon’s “My Romance”. 

It has been a lovely Valentine’s Day, another day to reflect on the beautiful marriage God has given me, and also love on the littles He has given us.  God is good, and we are grateful!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Peanut Butter Goodness…

I have been married to my dear husband for nearly 17 years.  How is it that I could be married to him that long, and NOT know that his favorite cookie is peanut butter?  I assumed he loved chocolate chip cookies like almost every other person in the world! :)  When I asked him this week what my favorite cookie is, he knew right away…I love snickerdoodles!  I felt like a ditch dog for not knowing what his favorite is.

To make it up to Andy, I found a simple recipe on Allrecipes.com, and for the first time in my life, baked a couple batches of peanut butter cookies tonight.  They turned out great (you never know with me and cookies!), and Andy said they are the best he has ever had :)

Here are the little golden lovelies…

I found a very easy recipe to make these…

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg

Mix all ingredients together in mixing bowl.  Place dough on cookie sheet formed in 1" balls.  Bake at 325 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Leave on cookie sheet to cool until they set, and then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

***Baker’s Note*** I made my cookies a little bit bigger, so I baked them for closer to 10 minutes.  The recipe didn’t call for the fork imprint,  but my mom always made them that way.  You just fill a small bowl with milk, dip your fork in it, and make the imprint on the cookies two ways.  The milk helps the batter not stick to the fork.  I also sprinkled my cookies with sugar as soon as they came out of the oven.  It soaks into the cookies as they set, and tastes so good! My mom also did that.

This was my first time ever making peanut butter cookies, and I love how they turned out.  I’ll be making them again soon!

Shredded Apple Pie…

I found this wonderful recipe on Life As A Lofthouse’s blog. It is a recipe from a steakhouse down south, that went out of business.  I thought it looked so yummy, that Morgan and I just HAD to try to make it.  You’re supposed to serve it with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream, but I only had whipped topping tonight.  Next time I will be equipped!  The pie is REALLY RICH, so the whipped cream was probably plenty.  FYI…I don’t skimp on my dessert recipes, so no low fat, or no fat ingredients here.  You can do that if you want…but like I said…no skimping here!

Here we go…

(In my best Julia Child voice) First…you peel the apples…The recipe calls for Red Delicious, but I used Honey Crisp.  They are so sweet and flavorful.  I don’t care for Red Delicious, personally. To each his own… :)

Then you shred the apples…being very careful not to shred any fingers.  Morgan wanted to do this part, so I only had her shred until she got close to the core.  I wanted her to have enough apple to hold onto, that her fingers would not come near the grater…She did a great job!

  
Next you mix all of the ingredients together, and bake all of this yummy goodness! Pay no attention to the dirty oven :(

Just out of the oven…beautiful! We put foil around the edges of the crust for the first half of baking time, so the crust would not burn. 

  
A close up of how beautiful the crust turned out…

Cutting into our beautiful pie after we let it cool for a while…

Plating pieces of pie…

The finished product….complete with a lovely dollop of whipped cream…

   
Click on the link at the top of my post, and that will take you straight to the recipe for this yummy pie!