Summer Treat!

In the summer I could eat nothing but popsicles and snow cones.  I crave cold and sweet.  Well, if you can make ice cubes you know how to make popsicles but what about snow cones?  I don't have one of those really cool Snoopy Snow Cone makers.  Hell, I don't even have a blender!  I do have a food processor though and that baby chops ice like there is no tomorrow.  You can buy snow cone flavor syrup but I don't.  I have those little water flavor powder packets though. 

Snow Cones
2 cups ice cubes
1/2 or 1 individual serving water flavor packs

Put the above in a food processor and pulse until you have snow cone consistency.  That is it!

Target even has Margarita flavored ones so a frozen margarita with or without tequila is easy and cheap too.

Snack Attack!

Penny Popcorn

Gryffin and I love popcorn.  Let's face it, it is the perfect snack.  It can be salty or sweet and its not that bad for you.  Plus, you can eat a ton since it has very few calories.  The commercially made, chemical flavored stuff has been reported to give the manufacturer's employees cancer just by making it.   Don't have an old fashioned stove-top or air popper?  Neither do I, you can make microwave popcorn in a brown paper lunch sack.  I used one of the recipes for it via.www.allrecipes.com.  If you've never visited this mecca of deliciousness, you should.  All of their recipes are rated by the users.  I have yet to be led astray but don't attempt anything under 4 stars.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels, can be found in the same isle as the pre-packaged stuff but usually on the bottom shelf.
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Directions

In a cup or small bowl, mix together the unpopped popcorn and oil. Pour the coated corn into a brown paper lunch sack, and sprinkle in the salt. Fold the top of the bag over twice to seal in the ingredients.
Cook in the microwave at full power for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, or until you hear pauses of about 2 seconds between pops. Carefully open the bag to avoid steam, and pour into a serving bowl.  

Before I poured the fluffy goodness out into a bowl I added a couple pats of real butter and shook it up to melt and coat.  It worked beautifully!  Real butter popcorn tastes so much better than the fake stuff. 

Now there were quite a few unpopped kernels but you get that with any popcorn and there weren't enough to make it non cost effective. This happens when the kernels get too dried out.  You can remedy this by keeping your kernels in an air tight container and adding a teaspoon or two of water to them.

I vow never to buy the gross, cancer causing, synthetic flavored, has to use the word butter in parenthesis stuff again!

Menu Monday!

I always make a menu for at least a week every week.  This week I've actually challenged myself to make a menu for the whole pay period, which for us is two weeks.  Over the years I've found that having a menu solves so many problems:

• the What's For Dinner issue- I think my husband and I spent the first year of our marriage dealing with this one.  With a menu all we have to do is look at it and we know exactly what is for dinner.
• the What Can I Make With This problem- when there is either an empty or overflowing pantry starring you in the face it can be really overwhelming.  
• the No Money For The Tummy quandary- if I go to the grocery store without a plan all I come home with is ice cream, chips, wine and an empty wallet.  Not a bad combo, I admit; however, when you have a family to feed every night its not exactly a good thing.
• the No Time For That problem- some things take longer to cook than others and knowing what I need to get the job done is on hand gives me more time.  And more time is ALWAYS good.

Most of my menus follow what I call the Protein Formula.  No one wants to eat chicken for dinner every night so mixing it up is essential.  Also, since meat is usually the most expensive part of the meal it allows me to make up the cost with side dishes depending on just how pricey the protein is.  I never have the same protein the same way two nights in a row.  For example, if I make chicken one night I will make beef the next, or if I make hamburgers one night I will have steak the next.  Having ground beef or chicken two nights in a row is boring and tends to lead to no one wanting to have leftovers for lunch. 

Here is my menu for the next two weeks just to give you an idea.

Monday- Beef Stroganoff with peas

Tuesday- Dijon Tarragon Chicken with rice, carrots and broccoli

Wednesday- Sloppy Joes with BBQ beans and cole slaw

Thursday- Italian Breaded Pork Chops with asparagus and corn

Friday- Kiel Basa and cabbage with red potatoes

Saturday- Mystery night... maybe leftovers or eat out

Sunday- Lasagna with salad

Monday- Bourbon Chicken with rice, broccoli and carrots

Tuesday- Tuna casserole with peas

Wednesday- Jambalaya (sausage and shrimp) with corn bread

Thursday- Beefy Cheesy Pasta, aka home made hamburger helper with salad

Friday- Breaded fish, mac-n-cheese and lima beans

Saturday- Pork Roast with spicy sweet potatoes and corn

And this is the recipe for tonight's dinner, Beef Stroganoff.  It's quick, easy and contains absolutely no cream of crap soup like most recipes for this done on the cheap.

Beef Stroganoff
(feeds 6)

1 lb lean ground beef

1lb wide egg noodles

1/3 cup dried mushrooms

1 small onion, chopped

1 T garlic, chopped

1 T paprika

1 T black pepper

2 t dried mustard

1/2 to 1 cup fat free half and half or milk

1 to 2 cups low fat sour cream
(these are determined on how creamy or saucy you like it)

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  While this is being done break up the dried mushrooms and put in a small bowl.  Brown and drain the ground beef along with the onion and garlic and return to pan.  Once the water is boiling add enough water to cover the mushrooms to rehydrate.  Then add a handful of salt to the pot and add the noodles.  Cook until just tender. Drain the mushrooms and add them along with the spices, half and half and sour cream to ground beef.  Stir to combine over medium heat.  Drain noodles and you can combine it all or serve with the sauce poured over.

Canned Pie

I had some local, organic peaches that had to be used soon but I'm not one to sit down and get covered in sticky peach juice.  I like the taste, I don't like the mess.  So I decided to make some cobbleresque pie.  My pies generally have a bottom crust and the top is a mix of oats, brown sugar and butter.  I don't really know where I came up with this except to say I'm not real crazy about pie crust.

I've also learned in the past few years that if you can bake it, you can can it.  Mason jars are awesome to bake in and if you put the lids and rings on when they are straight out of the oven they seal air tight.  Even if a couple don't seal, the jars are freezeable so none have to be wasted.  You just have to remember to let them cool completely before putting in the freezer so they don't shatter; however, they are making jars specially made for the freezer that can go straight into the oven.  Pretty cool.

I made these in tiny 4 oz jelly  jars.  What I've noticed is that there is just enough there to make me want more.  My next batch will be in 8 oz jars and will be blackberry, maybe even some cherry too.  

You can use any pie recipe you like.  The only thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to fill it all the way to the top. Things tend to puff a little when baking so I recommend only filling to the bottom of the rings on the jar.  This should leave just enough room for the lid to seal after it's baked.

Can't you just imagine come those cold, dreary winter months opening up one of these.  Hmm, I think I just figured out Christmas presents for this year!

Back in my element

I was able to spend time today coming up with a menu for the week, doing the monthly Sam's run, making a loaf of bread, trying a new recipe and making an awesome dinner for my family.  These are the little things that I really enjoy but lately haven't had the time and energy at the same time to do it.
Tonight's dinner was blackened Tilapia, roasted potatoes with chive and steamed carrots.  I cook a lot, but really don't make fish very often.  Mostly because my favorite way to have fish is fried, but when I found this recipe it looked so good.  It was too.  I changed several things from the original recipe like not using lemon juice or celery salt and didn't use as much oil or serve on white bread with the remaining oil poured over.  Ewww.  This is what I did:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crush this in your had to release the oil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crush to release the oil
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
•  
• 5 Tilapia fillets
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

• In a small bowl mix all of the spices together.
• Coat both sides of the fish with the spice mixture, rubbing it in to the fish.
• Let sit at room temp for no more than 30 minutes, but at least 15 so that the spices soak in.
• In a heavy skillet, heat the oil until almost smoking and carefully add fish.

Cook on each side 2 - 3 minutes.  Be sure not to over cook, the fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.


Next time, I'm going to serve it over some Cajun seasoned rice.  Hey, that sounds like an awesome meal for Mardi Gras!

From a loaf to a ball

My meatloaf and meat ball recipe is exactly the same.  Why?  Because I'm lazy.  Because I make them in very large batches using similar ingredients.  Here is my recipe for both:

Meatloaf/Meatball Recipe
1 lb ground pork
3 lb lean ground beef
1 cup frozen tri-color pepper strips, chopped and thawed.  (Buying them this way is much cheaper than buying fresh peppers)
1 large onion, diced
1 cup quick oats
1 large egg
1 - 2 Tablespoons steak seasoning (I use McCormack's Montreal Steak)
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350.  In a VERY large bowl mix everything together.  If mixture is too wet add more oats.  If too dry, add another egg.  This should be able to hold its shape without falling apart or being too sticky.

Divide this into two.  Take one half and divide into two loaves.  Place a cookie rack in a large baking pan or use a broiler pan and place the two loaves onto this, be sure to spray whatever you use with non-stick spray.  Combine 2 Tablespoons mustard, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 Tablespoon chili powder and a pinch of cayenne.  Pour this on top of the loaves during the last 15 minutes of cooking time.  Bake until internal temperature is 165, about and hour.
With the remaining mixture, form into 1/4 cup balls.  I use a 1/4 cup cookie scoop because I'm lazy.  Place the balls into a mini muffin pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake for 30 minutes.  I usually do this when we are eating one of the meatloaves that have just come out.  When its time to use just toss them in your favorite spaghetti sauce.
Allow the extra meatloaf and the meatballs to cool completely then freeze.  Just let them thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat.
In the time it takes to make one meatloaf, you can make 2 meatloaves and 2 dozen meatballs.  This is enough for us to get two meatloaf dinners, along with leftovers for lunches for two days and meatballs enough for 3 to 4 spaghetti and meatball dinners or up to 8 meatball sandwiches.
This technique also works well when making lasagna.  I never make just one at a time because I'm lazy.

Dim sum good vittles

Ok, this one is really good and really easy.  We had it tonight for dinner and I could have eaten a lot more than I did.

Bourbon Chicken  (don't ask me why because unfortunately there isn't any bourbon it)

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces 
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 1 large broccoli crown, cut into bite-size pieces, stems removed 
• 1 -2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, or red wine or rice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 T corn starch
• 1/4 cup cold water

 


In oil, cook chicken until lightly browned and remove. Add remaining ingredients except for broccoli and carrots, heat over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved. Add chicken, broccoli and carrots and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Dissolve corn starch in cold water and add, cook until desired consistency.  Serve over rice.