Hmm...A Few Random Thoughts Before Bed

Yup, I know. I just posted something else, but I have a few (okay, only a couple really) thoughts I want to share before I head to bed. Which I really need to do soon. So here goes:
1 - I signed up for AdSense and now I keep seeing diet ads on the blog. I don't do diet food, so this doesn't seem right to me. Or maybe it is, because it's probably all fattening food.
2 - I was just killing time and did a google search of recipes to see if I could find my blog. HA. Do you know how many blogs there are devoted to cooking? I didn't either. And I've already forgotten the number. But it was in the hundreds of thousands.
No, I didn't find my blog.
I decided to narrow my search. I searched for crockpot recipes. HA. Do you know how many blogs there are devoted to crockpot cooking? Almost as many as there are to just plain cooking.
No, I still didn't find my blog.
But I did find an entry dated today for a soup EERILY similar to my vegetable beef soup with the veggie juice in it that I posted 2 weeks ago. Instead of just veggie juice, it was 'spicy veggie juice.' Very interesting. And probably just a coincidence, because I really don't think anyone but me reads this blog.

A Short Hiatus

Yea, I know, I've kind of been absent from the blog world for awhile. The hubby got a different shift and I've been rearranging my office hours and schedules have been kind of goofy and I really haven't been doing much cooking lately.
Well, I did make spaghetti on Monday. But really, who needs a recipe for that: a box of spaghetti, a jar of sauce, a pound of burger and some spices for fun.
But I will return...and I'll bring recipes. Good ones too. I promise.

Beef & Ramen Noodles

This is one that I've done quite a few times, because it's easy and the kids all like it. How can you go wrong with ramen noodles?

Here is the ingredients list:

2 packages beef flavored ramen noodle soup
1 pound ground beef
½ cup onion
1 can (11 1/8 ounces) condensed Italian Tomato Soup (or if you can’t find that – I haven’t yet – use plain tomato soup and add some Italian seasoning)
½ soup can water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Generous dash of pepper

Once you've gathered every thing together, here's what you do with it all:

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain most of the liquid off & add seasoning packets. Set aside.
Meanwhile, cook beef and onion until beef is browned and onion is done. Spoon off fat.
Stir in soup, water, Worcestershire, mustard and pepper. Stir in reserved noodles. Heat through, stirring occasionally.

Everybody likes this one. Add some green beans on the side, and you have a meal. It is not enough if the hubby is home, but for the 3 kids and me, it's plenty; we had a small bowl full left.

Pour-A-Pan Pizza

Travis requested pizza last night.  Well, I didn’t have any pizza crust so I couldn’t make a traditional pizza.  I did, however, have all the ingredients for this recipe, because it (conveniently) was already on my list of meals for the week.   For anyone who wants to know, I make a list of meals each weekend before I head to the grocery store.  By doing this I know I always have the ingredients on hand for what I want to make.  I’m always on the look-out for quick and easy recipes that look like something our kids will like.  Another good reason for planning ahead is that it’s easier to stay within my budget – I know what I need, and I get everything in one trip.  I don’t go back to the grocery store 3 more times throughout the course of the week. 

Unless the boys forget to tell me we need dog food.  But that’s another story.

But I digress….

What you need to make this recipe:

 

·         1 cup all purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon garlic powder

·         1/8 teaspoon pepper

·         2/3 cup milk

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1 pound bulk Italian sausage

·         1 package ( 3 ½ ounces) sliced pepperoni

·         2 tablespoons chopped onion (I just cut up part of an onion and called it good.  It was way over 2 tablespoons but it still worked fine)

·         2 tablespoons chopped green pepper (I left this off.  I’m not a fan of green peppers.  I think one little piece of cooked green pepper makes the whole dish taste like green pepper.  If I wanted the whole thing to taste like that I’d just cook up a dish of green pepper and forget everything else.  That will never happen, by the way.)

·         1 cup pizza sauce (really I just used what looked like the ‘right’ amount to me.  You’ll have to judge for yourself if 1 cup is enough.)

·         2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

 

Okay, so I probably could have made traditional pizza crust with what I had.  I’ll be honest – I wanted to try this recipe instead.  Travis was still very happy - this was close enough in his book.

 

Once you have your ingredients ready, this is what you want to do with them all:

 

In a skillet, cook sausage until it is no longer pink.  Drain off grease.  While that’s cooking, combine the flour, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a bowl.  Stir in milk and eggs.  Pour into greased 13x9x2 inch baking dish.  Sprinkle cooked sausage over crust.  Top with pepperoni, onion, and green pepper (if that’s your thing).  Bake at 425°, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Spread with pizza sauce; sprinkle with cheese.  Bake another 5 minutes or so, until cheese is melted.  Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

 

So that’s the recipe.  A couple things I will do differently next time:  I will cook the onion with the sausage.  Nothing like an onion sopping in grease!  Seriously, they were cooked but I think they would have been better if they’d been cooked beforehand.  Part of it may have been that I had a LOT more than the 2 tablespoons called for though.  The other thing I will do is pop the pepperoni in the microwave on a plate with about a zillion paper towels for about 14 seconds per plate full.  Gets rid of a lot of the grease that way; I usually do that for traditional pizza and I’m really not sure why I didn’t for this recipe.  The dish was delicious but a little greasy.  I tilted the dish to let the grease drain out of the leftovers before I packed them up so that the hubby wouldn’t be overwhelmed with grease.

This dish was a huge hit!  The boys loved it – Travis said I could make it every day for the next week!!  So I am!!

No I’m not!!

The hubby agreed it was very good, and said that while every day would be too much, once every week or so would be perfect.

The Princess did not like it.  Sausage and pepperoni are just too spicy for her.  I gotta hand it to her though, for being just 2, she did great at least trying it.  She ended up having some sliced ‘ham’ (it was chicken, but it’s all ham to her), carrots, and raw cabbage.  I know!  Raw cabbage!  But she was happy and ate very well.  And so I was happy.

There was enough left when the boys and I were finished that I thought the hubby would have enough for his lunch.  And he would have too, but when he got home he ate it then instead.  And then he ate some more.  And then it was gone.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

I like a good crock pot meal. Monday's are exceptionally hectic, with the boys having Boy Scouts that night, so crock pots are a good thing on those nights. This particular recipe is very easy to throw together. I found that for me, the best thing is to brown the burger the night before. And so, let us begin....

Your ingredient list:
1 pound ground beef (the leaner, the better)
1 medium onion, chopped (I had a great big onion, and I used maybe about a third. I don't buy small onions)
2 garlic cloves, minced (or the equivalent in dried minced garlic. That's what I use. I never buy cloves.)
4 cups vegetable juice (V8 or something similar. I used the cheap WalMart brand and it was fine. And cheap.)
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes
2 cups coleslow mix (this is really just shredded cabbage. I don't know why they don't just call it that.)
2 cups frozen green beans (or, if you're like me and completely skip this line when making your grocery list, use one can of green beans, drained. Add 1/2 hour before serving. I called my son and made him do it.)
2 cups frozen corn
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (let me just say, I've used this for years, and never known until now what was actually in it. That's a good thing. Had I known then, what I know now, I would probably have steered clear. Now, I made the mistake of reading the ingredients list. Ew.)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Seems like a lot of stuff, but it's really very easy to throw it all together. Here is what you do with it all:

In a saucepan, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is browned. Like I said, I did this the night before so it was waiting in the fridge this morning.
If you're not using a handy dandy crock pot liner, you simply throw all the ingredients in the crock pot together and stir them up. If you are using a liner, put it all in a big bowl, stir it up, and then pour it in to the crock pot. It's just easier to stir it all up when you don't have to worry about messing up the liner. At least for me it is.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.
Now, the recipe says it makes 10 servings. I don't think so - the Princess really didn't like it (too much tomato flavor for her), so the boys and I are the only 3 that ate it, and there was just enough left for one lunch.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night I made some really good baked mostaciolli and beef. Too bad I left the recipe at home. Since I did, I'm going back to my 'tried-and-true' recipes, and today I'm reaching in the hat and pulling out......

Chicken Noodle Soup! (hence the title of the post)

Your ingredient list:
* 3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth OR equivalent water and bouillon cubes (no, it doesn't look like it's spelled right - according to spell check, it is)
* 2 medium onions coarsely chopped (if you buy onions like me, this means about half a large onion)
* 2 carrots, thinly sliced (if you buy carrots like me, this means 8 to 10 baby carrots)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 celery stalks, sliced (if you buy celery like me, this means 2 celery stalks, sliced) (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
* 3/4 cup small pasta shells
* 2 cups cooked, diced chicken

In this is what you do with all of it:

In a dutch oven or soup pot, cover and heat chicken broth or water and bouillon to a simmer. Add salt, onions, carrots and celery to broth. Cover and simmer until veggies are almost tender (about 5 minutes). Add pasta shells and cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and cook until pasta is tender, about 3 more minutes.

This is enough for the kids and I, but if I want enough for hubby's lunch or if he's home I need to double the recipe.

Vegetable Noodle Soup

This is a really easy, quick soup to throw together. Four ingredients – doesn’t get much simpler than that!

Here is the ingredients list:

· 3 ½ cups milk

· 1 (16 ounce) package frozen California blend vegetables

· ½ cup cubed processed American cheese (Velveeta)

· 1 envelope chicken noodle soup mix

See, pretty simple.

Here’s what you do with it:

In a large saucepan (or dutch oven of course) bring milk to a boil. Stir once in a while as it’s coming to the boil so that it doesn’t coat the bottom of your saucepan/dutch oven with cooked milk gunk. Doesn’t hurt anything, really, so if you don’t want to, don’t. I just don’t like having the gunk. Once your milk is boiling, stir in the frozen vegetables. Return to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6 minutes. Stir in cubed cheese and soup mix. Return to a boil. Reduce heat (I know, back and forth and forth and back – just do it!). Simmer, uncovered, for 5-7 minutes or until noodles are tender and cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.

For being so simple, it’s really very good. This amount made enough for the 3 kiddos and me. Had the DH been home there would not have been enough. Maybe a salad and some crusty bread would have made it go far enough for all 5 of us.

Enchilada Casserole*

Last night was “Kid’s Choice” – and since hot dogs wrapped in refrigerated biscuits don’t need a recipe, I’m reaching back into the files of the Tried and True Recipes, and finding my Enchilada Casserole to share. It’s pretty flexible – you can use turkey (I’ve used leftover from Thanksgiving and deli), chicken, or a pound of ground beef – whatever you happen to have.

And so, here is the list of ingredients:

* 1 can (16 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 can (4 ounces) chopped mild green chilies, drained
* 1 garlic clove, crushed (or, like me, the equivalent in dried or powder form)
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
* about 8 ounces cooked turkey or chicken, cubed – I usually add more than 8 ounces but that’s enough if it’s all you have. OR brown ½ to 1 pound hamburger and use that.
* 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (I hope you have better luck finding them than I have been lately – the last 2 weeks, the store hasn’t had any. None. Not even an empty space where they belong. What’s up with that?)
* 9 corn tortillas, cut in half
* 2 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Once you have everything together, here’s what you do with it all:

Preheat oven to 375. Combine tomato sauce, green chilies, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and pepper. Line bottom of deep dish pizza sized pan with 6 tortilla halves. Spread a third of the sauce mixture over the tortillas. Cover with half the meat and half the onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Top with 6 more tortilla halves, half the remaining sauce and all the remaining meat and onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup of remaining cheese. Top with the rest of the tortilla halves, the remaining sauce, and the last of the cheese. Bake 25 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before cutting into it. Serve with corn and/or corn bread.

The DH likes it best with ground beef. I think I do too, but it’s good with both turkey and chicken as well. It’s a little too spicy for my little one, but she’s happy if I leave out some of the meat for her and give her some corn to go with it.

*adapted from Pampered Chef's Busy Mom's Cookbook

Tomato Chicken Italiano*

Yea, I know, it's been a few days. Things have been pretty crazy at the homestead so I haven't been cooking. So much for this blog giving me quick ideas.
Seriously though, I treated the kids to McD's on Monday - the first time they've been there in well over a month. You should have seen the little peanut's excitement when we drove in the parking lot. So cute.
Yesterday the DH was home for the day so he made dinner.
And it's been busy at work so I haven't had time to add any tried and true recipes. But I'm back! And today, we're talking Chicken.

The ingredient list:
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed (or, what I do, sprinkle in some garlic powder. I never buy cloves. Just make sure you don't get carried away)
* 1 cup cubed zucchini (about one small to medium zucchini)
* 1 cup red bell pepper chunks (about one medium pepper)
*2 teaspoons dried basil
*1 can (14 1/2 ounce) diced tomatoes with Italian-style herbs

With the zucchini and bell pepper this is a great recipe for late summer when the garden's in full swing. If you have one. I never do, but my parents do, and I get the overflow. Because you know there's always too much zucchini.

Anyway, once you get all your ingredients together, here is what you do with them:

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, and black pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture (shake off excess). Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until golden brown. That'll take about 10 minutes. I always cook my chicken a little longer though, just because I'm terrified of biting into raw chicken.
Add the other 1 tablespoon oil and the garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant - about 30 seconds. Add zucchini, bell pepper and basil. Continue cooking and stirring for about 2 minutes, or when the vegetables are crisp-tender. Add tomatoes and stir. Return the chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in center and the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Serve hot with buttered egg noodles.

It's delicious. The DH wasn't sure, when he saw all those veggies in there, if he would like it, but was pleasantly surprised.

*because unlike the other recipes, I have not really made any changes to this one, I feel like I better give credit where credit is due. This recipe is originally from The Pampered Chef Busy Mom's Cookbook.