The Bread

First i’ll confess I didn’t actually MAKE this tonight. But I HAVE made it before. Many times. I took tonight off and heated up some fish from Costco, which Ava LOVED when we got the sample at Costco but somehow when I MAKE it- not so much. Anywho. She ate a peanut butter sandwich before you get all, ‘I hope you fed her SOMETHING!’, on me.

Now. Down to business. This recipe comes straight from the Pioneer a Woman herself, are Drummond. I love her. I love her recipes. I love this bread. You will too. Trust me.

It’s probably the easiest recipe ever: a loaf of French bread and butter. Lots and lots of glorious buttah.

I’ve been tempted to tweak it by rubbing a garlic clove over the bread but it’s so good as is, I’m afraid I won’t like it as much. If you don’t already check in regularly at her site you’re missing out. That link will take you straight to this yummy bread and if you’re making a shopping list, do yourself a favor and add this to the list. You won’t be sorry.

Tomorrow i’ll have two reviews for you. One from PW and one from I forget who. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Happy carb eating!

Abra Cadabra

So tonight I made a family favorite: smothered chicken. I’ve mentioned it before. You remember- chicken, BBQ sauce, bacon and cheese. Yeah. It’s pretty good. So go find that one and make it if you haven’t already.

I wanted a dessert for my first official ‘2014 blog kick off’ so I came across this magic cake from the Jo Cooks blog.. It was pretty. Had good reviews. Most importantly, I had everything on hand to make it. So make it I must.

I thought for sure I had done something wrong when I was folding the whipped egg whites into the super thin batter but it seemed to come out perfectly. The top was a pretty golden brown. I didn’t know how else to check for doneness (is that a word?) except to use a skewer. So I did that after an hour and it was perfectly done.

I let it cool like Jo advised and after waiting a couple hours (I cheated and used the frig’s help to cool it completely) I sliced her up.

And guess what. I had THREE LAYERS!!! Even I was surprised. The dense bottom layer. The middle custard layer and the top spongy layer. I couldn’t believe it. So we all tasted it and decided we had mixed reviews. The one thing we all agreed on was that we weren’t sure we would have it again. ABP said it tasted too eggy. I didn’t think so. I actually thought the flavors were good. My issue was with the consistency. It was too spongy I think. Like French toast that didn’t sit on the hot griddle long enough. Jordyn said she didn’t like the texture either.

Jo says its best the day you make it but I somehow think it MIGHT be better after chilling all night long (all night) in the frig. We shall see in the morning.

So I can’t say tonight was a total success but it wasn’t a flop either. Everyone wins with new recipes simply because they’ve tried something new.

Hop over to Jo Cooks and check out her other fun recipes. She’s got good ones!!

Happy 2014!!

So yes I’m certain you’ve forgotten all about me and that’s ok. But for those of you who haven’t and for those of you who missed me…I’m back.

I’m not a New Years resolution type person because I think those set you up for failure. I don’t need help with that, trust me. Instead I’ve decided to start making fun recipes and blogging about it. Again. Each new year brings fresh hope right? Right!

So tomorrow (or possibly tonight if Ava chills out) you’ll have a new recipe to read about.

Please check back and see what it is. Spoiler alert: it’s dessert. Take that you new year / new diet people! 🙂

cookie monsters

I found a recipe on pinterest for chocolate chip cookies.  I mean, who DOESN’T have a recipe for these things right?  But the comments on this one said, ‘I threw away my other recipe!’ or ‘I will never make another chocolate chip cookie again!!’  so from those, I had to try it out.

i’ll tell you, I didn’t think they were all that.  but ABP and jordyn loved them.  I’ll also tell you, when I tasted the cookie dough – IT was divine.  They bake up oddly tho which concerned me.  I used a cookie scoop and the first batch didn’t spread out at all.  The second and third batches didn’t either but what I did differently for those was to pat them down before baking.  I think this worked better.

The cookies aren’t overly sweet, which is one reason ABP loves them I think. They are very easy to make also.  Chances are you have everything in your pantry. Surprisingly, I did.  They were easy to mix up and bake.  A perfect treat for an after school snack.  I do think these are better when paired with a glass of cold milk..  (soy milk is my choice but go with YOUR favorite).

So head over to the plain chicken blog and check these out for yourself.  They weren’t my favorite, but hey, it’s a chocolate chip cookie…  there are no bad ones!!

(side note: the image is from the plain chicken site..  mine didn’t have the pretty color so I used the photo from the original blog). 🙂

i’m baaaaaaaaccccckkkkk!!!!

ok ok I know I’ve been gone for a while.  I swear I’ve been cooking still though.  While some things might not have been blog worthy (or they were repeats of blog worthy stuff), I have been cooking.  And trying to keep up with a 7 month old.  And trying to keep up with the never ending homework of a 5th grader who you would THINK is in college with the amount of work she’s got.  I digress. 

This post is about my 5th grader..  Jordyn had a birthday earlier this month and I made the dinner menu totally up to her.  I knew exactly what she’d pick though…  but to be sure, I asked her..  ‘what do you want for dinner on your birthday?’  she thought for a second and said, ‘BAKED ZITI!’  (say what??)  I was stunned.. but I said, ‘Oh alright.  I didn’t expect that but I can totally make that for you if that’s what you want.’  side note:  I have made baked ziti for ages ever since my cousin Daiana gave me her recipe.  I made it for two Christmas Eve dinners, ABP’s bday and another time I think.. it’s delish and not TOO terribly difficult to make.)  Seconds later, Jordyn said, ‘WAIT.. can I change it?’  I smiled and said sure.  ‘Okay, then I want, chicken tenders,’.. (mm hmm that’s what I thought.) ‘Luby’s mac and cheese.’ (mm hmm I knew it.) ‘and corn.’ (now you’re talking.)

So the chicken tenders she’s talking about I’ve already mentioned in another post.  Super easy and quite yummy..  Jordyn LOVES them.  The Luby’s mac and cheese is another one of her favorite things.  For those of you who don’t know what Luby’s is, it’s a cafeteria eatery.  I have no idea if it’s a Texas thing or a nationwide thing, but if you google ‘Luby’s mac and cheese’ you will find the recipe.  The secret is powdered milk and American cheese I think.  I’ve never been able to find shredded American cheese so I use the velveeta shreds..  it works and she hasn’t complained yet. 

The corn, well that’s the easiest of all..  a bag of frozen corn kernels, salt, pepper and butter…  done.  LOL 

The big ticket dish was her cake.  I told her I was making her cake myself and asked if she wanted me to tell her about it.  Jordyn said no..  I eventually told her one ingredient, oreo cookies..  she seemed to approve.  I found the inspiration for this ‘cake’ in a Kraft email and then found another one similar to it on Pinterest.  So in a way, I meshed them together. 

We were having a large family over for dinner and I knew the Kraft version would be too small, so I made the Kraft version but in the size of the one on Pinterest.  Here’s how it went down..

Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with foil leaving some to hang over the edges..  Layer about 8 – 10 (depending on how you arrange them) ice cream sandwiches on the bottom of the pan… get a tub of cool whip and a jar of hot fudge sauce (microwaved so it’s thinner) and blend the two into a wonderful, chocolatey cool whip…  spread that luscious stuff on top of the ice cream sandwich layer and then top with chopped up oreo cookies..  then add another layer of ice cream sandwiches and then cover the whole thing with regular cool whip.  I put mine in the freezer immediately after the cool whip finale and let it chill overnight.  The morning of Jordyn’s party I took it out of the baking dish and onto a cardboard sheet I covered in foil..  then I ‘frosted’ the sides with more cool whip and topped the whole thing with more oreos..  Back into the freezer it went til it was time to serve it. 

Let me tell you…  this thing is SOOOO good.  You truly have no idea until you try it for yourself.  Jordyn LOVED the sight of it, the taste of it and so did everyone else.  I sadly don’t have a picture of mine because it didn’t occur to me at the time but when I make it again, and I’m sure I will be making it again, I promise to share a pic with you guys… 

So, I didn’t pin it here for you…  mostly because I’m using a new laptop (yes, laptop daiana – I didn’t return it for the MacBook pro…  cuz I just couldn’t spend the money and I really liked this) and I’m trying to figure out how this wordpress app works in the windows 8 environment…  when I get it figured out, you’ll know.  until then, I’ll try to make my entries as detailed as possible… 

Now, do yourself a favor and make this ice cream ‘cake’ for your household…   and I don’t care if it IS cold outside…  you simply MUST make this soon…  🙂 

Remember me?

Ok so yes I’m aware it’s been DAYS since my last post, ok WEEKS, maybe even months I’m really not sure. But I have been busy. Lots going on. What’s really sad is that I truly can’t remember what I’ve been doing. Having a 5 month old will do that to ya I guess.

So have you seen the hits about making hard cooked eggs in the oven? Well I have and I was intrigued. So in an attempt to eat better, read:lose weight, I decided hard cooked eggs would be a great addition to a healthy plan. So I popped six into a muffin tin and baked the, for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I must say it was quite perfect. I let them cool a bit in the pan then transferred them into a bowl of ice water. The shells peeled off perfectly and they tasted great. I’m not including the pin because seriously, I just told you how to do it and there’s no need to force you to click on a series of links. So there you go. You’re welcome.

I also made the pork tenderloin again. Just LOVE that dish. If you’ve not made it yet, what on EARTH are you waiting for? Your whole house will smell like thanksgiving! YUM!

Well sadly this will have to be a short entry. Ava has woken up because the local fire dept decided to blast their sirens to exit their driveway. Dammit. So she’s up. Sitting up in her bed actually. Maybe his shorter nap means she will go to sleep earlier tonight. A mom can dream, right? I’m coming Ava kitty!!

The best pork tenderloin. Ever.

Ok so I hardly ever brag about food I’ve made. But this … This was divine. In fact it was so good I want to make again this week.

I had a tenderloin leftover from the last time I made one (love buying in bulk) so I set out on a search to find another recipe. I almost settled for a crockpot version but, after reading some reviews, I decided to keep searching. I’m so glad I did.

This was another simple meal to make that tastes like you worked all day. I seriously started this at 430pm and it was ready to serve by 530 when ABP got home. Side note: I’m getting better at timing my meals.

So check this out. The blog is very fun and she’s got lots of other things to check out as well, but let’s stick to the tenderloin, shall we? I did nothing different with this except instead of using tobasco, which I didn’t have, I used Valentina sauce which is pretty much the same thing I think.

Making the rub was super easy, searing it in my skillet was easy and making the glaze was easier still. I can’t begin to tell you how great this dish was. When you make it, be sure to serve. Bit of the sauce over the tops of your tenderloin pieces. It’s a great combination of spicy and sweet but not overpowering at all. I served this up with steamed rice (surprise surprise) and black beans.

So as you plan your meals for the week, add a tenderloin to your list and make this. If you don’t love it as much as we did, well there’s something wrong with you. 🙂

Chicken chili

I know it’s been a while since we talked but seriously, Ava no longer sleeps like she used to. So I’m on Ava duty all the time. In fact, the only reason I’m able to do this now is because she decided to nap after 2oz of formula. So I better get moving on this meal.

I always have chicken in the freezer. And ever since ABP saw it on sale at Costco, I have even MORE chicken in my freezer. So much it scares me. But I’ll use it.

This meal was very simple. I did nothing different from the instructions. Well I didn’t have corn so that was omitted. I also used 2 tablespoons of my home made taco seasoning. Other than that, I made this perfectly according to directions. Oh! I used one can of rotel instead of separate cans as listed in the recipe.

It was absolutely delicious. I served this over steamed white rice and topped it, mine anyway, with freshly grated cheddar cheese. Jordyn loved it, as did ABP. He took some leftovers to work and a friend / coworker had a taste and asked me for the recipe. (shout out to evelyn!) sorry it took me this long to post the recipe. Better late than never right?!

So the next time you have a freezer full of chicken and need a meal that’s ready when you walk in the door, give this a try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Two minutes to deliciousness

Tonight I really didn’t make anything exciting. I had a busy day so dinner was simply baking some fish, whipping up a quick pasta tossed in garlic infused olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes and salt, and a side of green beans (jordyn’s choice). Seriously, to say this exact meal could be found in your average tv dinner would be fair and accurate, but it was good and my peeps ate every bit.

Dessert, however, was pinned a few days ago and tested tonight. I found this and thought, ‘whoa, a brownie in two minutes. No way.’. Well guess what, YES way. Here’s how it went down.

Jordyn helped measure, mix and stir the ingredients and then we made the magic happen in the good ole microwave. We ended up doing three reps of 30 seconds before it reached the spongy consistency mentioned in the recipe. The end result was perfect.

We divided it up into our cute little dessert cups, topping them, of course, with a bit of vanilla ice cream, a dollop of whipped topping and a dash of multi colored sprinkles. The only thing we lacked was a cherry on top but now that I say that, we actually had those too. Next time.

I think I’ll make these again tomorrow night when aldemar is here. He seems to like this type of thing. Now, if you want a lot of brownie you shouldn’t share this with two other people. But for us it was perfect.

So the next time you want something sweet, sure you could grab a handful of grapes but really, wouldn’t a quick chocolate brownie REALLY get the job done better? Yes.. I thought so too.

Chinese take out, sort of

Long time, no blog eh? Yeah I know. It’s not that I’ve not wanted to blog, quite the contrary. It’s just that life happens and before you know it, it’s been like 2 weeks since I blogged. And, for the record, I’ve been cooking and pinning my little (I wish) butt off. I have an arsenal of stuff I’ve already made so get ready readers. Cuz when I have the time, I’m gonna catch up.

But tonight I was so excited about our meal that I had to MAKE time to blog. Ava is snoozing after eating a bit of green beans. (side note: she seems to really like them. The peas, not so much but I’ll try those again later). Have you ever said to yourself, ‘I really want Chinese food but don’t want to go out for it?’. Well I didn’t really say that either. I chose tonight’s meal simply because I pinned it and HAD all the stuff I needed to make it. Now here’s what I’ll tell you up front. This meal will jack up your kitchen in every way possible. And if you know me, you know I clean as I cook. But this meal, well it wasn’t that easy. It looked like it snowed on the cooktop. But to see my kitchen now post meal, you would never have known the chaos that ensued during the cooking process.

Before you go any further, here’s the recipe. Now that you’ve seen it and read it, here’s how it went down when I made it.

I had two large chicken breasts and cut them up into small chunks. I must have ended up with a million chunks. Or maybe 35 I really couldn’t tell. All I know is it seemed like I was dipping those suckers in egg for EVER. Now the recipe says to dip in cornstarch THEN egg but that was weird to me. So I did egg then cornstarch, which was just fine. I fried these babies up in batches. My mom in law got me one of those green organic skillet things. You know, as seen on tv, so that’s what I used. Worked fine but during the frying process, some (lots) of the cornstarch came off and formed a thick crust like goo. I still fried each and every piece of chicken though. I put them on paper towels to get off any grease (like it mattered) then out them in the baking dish.

The sauce, well here’s where I changed things up. I read in the comments that some people found the sauce too vinegary. I did not wish to feel the same so I used 1/4 cup instead of half. The other ingredients I used per directions except I adjusted the sugar slightly. Just taste it and go with your gut.

I did not turn my chicken chunks to coat both sides before baking. Nor did I turn them halfway thru the baking process. Mostly because Ava wouldn’t let me and I was lazy. More the lazy part. And you know what. You couldn’t tell.

If you love sweet and sour chicken, you need to make this dish. It was really very simple and chances are you, too, have everything in your pantry and frig to make it. I paired this up with steamed rice (shocker I know) and stir fry veggies. But this chicken was the show stopper. I have enough rice and chicken for lunch tomorrow and I might not even tell ABP about it. Muhahahahaha