Thursday, June 25, 2009

Grilled dinner

Tonight supper is all on the grill!! We are having Fish, Sweet potatoes & zucchini. We havent made it yet so Ill have to post later if it was good or not.
For the fish- Rub with butter and sprinkle with dill weed & I used Citrus & basil rub from Pampered chef but you can use lemon pepper seasoning instead. I went ahead and put the seasoning on the fish now and its sitting in the fridge. We will see if its any better since it will sit for a bit before grilling.
For the Sweet potatoes- Peel sweet potatoes & slice it so they are little circles or you can slice it down the middle and make it more like wedges. Brush olive oil on it and sprinkle with salt & pepper.
For the Zucchini- Peel zucchini & you can slice it into circles or you can slice it lengthwise in thin slices and grill it like that. Either way. Spray some pam spray on each side and sprinkle with seasoning salt (Lawrys).

***Ok the Fish I would add more butter to it next time, it was good but needed some liquid to it.
The Sweet potatoes werent that great. This is the 2nd time i have tried them on the grill and the outside burns before the inside gets done so its crunchy in the center and not very good.
The zucchini were amazing!!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Granola Bars



This recipe I found on allrecipes.com. They are really good! The first batch I made I didnt add enough butter so it didnt stick together like bars. It was more like chunky granola cereal. Which it tasted good but just wasnt in a bar form. So this time I made sure to add the exact amount of butter the recipe calls for. They turned out great!!

4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I added regular chocolate chips instead of mini because I didnt have any mini and they worked just fine. I also added sliced almonds to it. They are really yummy!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Recipe from My Kitchen Cafe
This was really good. I sauted some veggies to go with it and made some white rice. My Dear husband just ate the leftovers and said its almost better reheated then it was the first time!

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Bisquick Shake and Pour

Ok, this is a quick "sales pitch" for Bisquick Shake and Pour pancake mix. Now I hormally make homemade pancake mix when I make pancakes at home but over the weekend we went camping and convenince reigns over "homemade" when your camping. I bought a bottle of this stuff and all I had to do was add water and shake. SOOO easy, and no dirty containers either, just throw the bottle away when your done. The pancakes were really yummy too, I couldnt tell much difference between my homemade pancakes and these.
That was my product recommendation for the day for all you busy moms!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cube steak & Dill Carrots

(Photo from ALL RECIPES)

Comforting Cube Steak
4 (4 ounce) cube steaks
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle lemon-lime
flavored carbonated beverage
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of
mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.Season the steaks on both sides with Cajun seasoning and black pepper. Place the steaks into the prepared baking dish. Pour the lemon-lime beverage over them. Combine the cream of mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix, and pour over the steaks.Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour, or until meat reaches desired doneness. Do not open the oven door during the first hour of cooking. Serve steaks with gravy spooned over.

The recipe says to use lemon lime beverage but I didnt have any in the house so I just used lemon juice and lime juice.

As a vegetable side dish tonight we are having with the cube steak:

Simmered Dill Carrots

8 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 inch
pieces
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dill seed


In a medium-sized heavy saucepan, combine carrots, water, butter, sugar, salt and dill seed. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, or until carrots are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

I am also making mashed potatoes to but Im sure everyone knows how to do that already!! If not then its time you learn! Seriously though on a side note- those instant potato packets you buy at walmart are pretty good in a pinch. Especially the garlic butter one. I have used them a time or two and they arent bad at all! I think they are either Lipton brand or Walmart brand.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Peanut Butter & Jelly


Last week on one of my favorite food blogs to read http://kitchenscrapbook.com/ she posted that she made Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches then fried them like Grilled Cheese sandwiches. I thought it weird at first but today for lunch decided to try it. They were yummy! The peanut butter was all gooey and warm.
Its real simple, just put peanut butter and jelly on the inside of your sandwich like you normally do then on the outside put butter like you would to do grilled cheese. Then grill on the stove like grilled cheese. Enjoy!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Baked Oatmeal

I know, its been a while. Honestly I havent cooked in 5 weeks! My husband has been surviving on pizza and sandwiches and take out since I got pregnant. I am 9 weeks now so hopefully I will be back in the kitchen soon!
This is a recipe that my mom used to make at home. I love it! I usually add a can of apple pie filling (chop the apples up before adding to the batter) or if your real healthy you can just add chopped apples but the pie filling has the "gel" which adds some moisture and flavor to the oatmeal.


1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar or 1/4 c. honey
1 lg. egg, beaten
3/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. quick oats
1 1/2 tsp. baking pwd.
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together oil, sugar (or honey) and egg. Add rest of ingredients. Mix.Add Apples or Pie filling now. Bake in a 9" greased pie plate at 350 or 25 -30 minutes. Serves 4 - 6.

NOTE: Mom always made this in a 9X13 so a whole can of apple pie filling will be too much for the 9 inch pie pan probably. I would use 1/2 the can.