Dinner...

I'm not great at sharing recipes around here because so much of my cooking is  'a little of this a sprinkle of that.'

hard to share, ya know?

 

but, I'm going to share this one, which is probably my 5th favorite meal I make. I'm not an awesome cook, but I am capable at blending flavors and coming up with yummy.

 

Creamy Chicken Pasta
{I just made that up since I've never had a name for it ;)}:

 

3 generous cups of cooked and chopped chicken {I use the left overs from baking whole chickens}

 

a box of spaghetti pasta {we like barilla plus, not as healthy as whole wheat, but picky palates here}

 

2 1/2 cups of shredded colby jack cheese. keep the 1/2 cup reserved.

 

a cup or so of homemade 'cream of' soup {just say no to cream of crap in a can! If you don't know how to do this it's easy-peasy.  Just melt 2 Tbsp of butta in a saucepan-if you want to add fresh pressed garlic-yum!, add about 2 Tbsp of flour until combined.  add about a cup of milk, stir, stir, stir over med. heat until thick and bubbly!}

 

2 cups of chicken broth {once again, this should be homemade-found in this post}

1/2 cup sour cream

1 small white onion finely chopped

EITHER a tiny can of green chilies or a 1/2 bell pepper chopped fine.


a sprinkle of cumin

salt & pepper


mix all up in a 9x13.
sprinkle with reserved cheese.
bake @ 350 til melty good{or, about 1/2 hr.}
 this makes enough for my small army plus.


*******
the only way to make this dinner taste better is to serve with roasted brussel sprouts.
YUM!!!
they have to be one of my favorite foods ever.
they can run a little bitter at times, but if you do a quick steam before roasting it lessens it a bit.
I must tell you a secret.
On two occasions I have made an entire dish of brussel sprouts for dinner and eaten the.whole.entire.thing. before anyone knew.
then I had to rush to add another veggie, and couldn't take a bite of the rest of dinner I was so stuffed.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts:

2lb of brussel sprouts, end removed and sliced in half
a few cloves of garlic roughly chopped
a slice or 2 of bacon, chopped with your kitchen shears into tiny pieces
coarse kosher or sea salt
pepper
evoo

mix all up on a cookie sheet with enough evoo to cover it all and cook at 350 for about 20 min.

enjoy!



the bounty...

what a blessing having a garden is!

i posted during the prep part of what it looked like before

here.

 

now???

 

 

 amazing , huh?
my hubby is a rock star gardener!
my favorite are the pole beans climbing up, almost magical.
and there is a ton you can't see from these pictures, the perimeter beds for one.


and then of course,
what to do with all this bounty?!

zuchinni muffins:  {with the cutest mixers to boot}

 

tomatoes:

 

dinner!:

this is a tomato tart.

and YUM!

i don't even like tomatoes but this was sooo good.

i made the recipe up as i went 

 

 

 tomato tart:

phyllo dough, about 8 sheets, brushed with melted butter and crushed garlic each layer

 

once the phyllo is stacked,

put sliced tomatoes and sliced zucchini haphazardly on.

add fresh basil and rosemary.

and some kosher salt and pepper.

sprinkle with parm cheese and smoked gouda {i really think the gouda sent it up 5 notches}.

sprinkle with evoo and bake til brown and melty!

 

{i tried to get this pic without showing my nasty pan.  but now i am pointing it out and telling you!  that's so me!}

 

and this next one is one of my easy peasy go-to meals on a hard day!

 

 

pasta-sausage:

sausage {i like adielle's chicken with sun dried tomato and mozzarella}

cooked bow tie pasta

cut up zucchini {or mushrooms}

 

stir fry meat and veggies with a little butter,

add in pasta and herbs

sprinkle with fresh tomatoes or parm.

 

 

i used fresh garden bounty in 2 dishes!

well, the phyllo wasn't garden fresh.

or the pasta.

or the cheese.

and i didn't churn the butter.

whatever-

an almost garden meal.

 

pop culture , a recipe and baby pictures...

none of which are related, in case that wasn't obvious...;)

so i had the privilege of taking my new niece's newborn photos recently and wanted to share.

that's what you'll see throughout this post.

what you will read however, is about my lack of pop culture awareness.

are you ready?...

i'm ashamed to say (because it sounds as if i should be?) that i'm still sort of unclear who steve jobs was.

i mean, i googled and figured out he was a computer creator.

that's about where my knowledge ends with him.

i also googled another pop culture thing that has slightly less relevance...

you see when i read (somewhere ?)  that Carmen Electra was marrying Rob Patterson,

i pictured edward from Twilght.

i thought to myself "as little as i know about these 2 souls walking around, that just seems a very odd couple."

ya, edward would be robert pattinson.

rob patterson is, apparently, some musician for Korn (i think, not looking back to make sure!), that by wikipedia standards looked much more like who i would picture carmen electra with.

(not that i care).

it was a sad waste of 5 minutes.

now, onto the recipe!

the reason i'm sharing this is because it is easy and a good Fall all in one dish!

corn bread pie:

first of all mix up your favorite cornbread recipe.

i use the Homesteader's Recipe found here .

set aside.

preheat oven 375.

get a cast iron pan (i use my 9 or 10 inch),

or, i suppose a square 9x9 pyrex would do.

cook hamburger or turkey burger (about 1/2 lb) in the cast iron skillet, drain off grease.

add in 2 cans of ranchero beans.

(i have put in my own cooked beans before, and it's okay, but not as good)

a cup of frozen corn or a can of drained corn.

and a can of diced green chilis.

pour corn bread mix over top.

cook at 375 until corn bread cooked through and browning on top.

enjoy!

blessings,

mandy

post in which i promise i don't feed my kids poop...

how's that for a lure, huh?

no , really.

i must explain.

i came on here to share a favorite and easy snack at our house,

but when i opened up my photos , well...



now you see my why my title had to clarify !

it's all because i splurged on the dark chocolate flavored peanut butter this time...

so here it is, the recipe for what we call fun bites.

(i actually named them something different.

fun, and then something else.

then i realized that it sounded sorta dirty and we had to change that up real quick like.

too bad i still slip sometimes and call them by their original name.)

 1. so, take a bowl and melt down a little peanut butter (or almond,  etc.)

2. toss in just about anything:chopped nuts, oats, coconut, flax seed, wheat germ,

 seeds (poppy, sesame, sunflower...), choc chips, etc.

3. add some honey or agave.

4.stir it all up and refrigerate for at least an hour.

5. scoop out and roll into little balls,

place in a baggie or container, and keep them in the frig.

6. anytime kids want a snack and you can't whip one up, yell  "go grab a fun bite or 2!"

seriously: the kids love these cause they're sweet.

 i love them because they are super easy to make since you basically use whatever you have on hand, and keep stocked in the frig, and they are fairly healthy!

  

 blessings,

mandy


linking up with:

http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/

Blog Addition...

i've added our families weekly menu on the side bar.

seems like a lot of moms i know are always saying they need new recipes and ideas,

feel free to ask for a recipe if something sounds good and i'll post it!

God Bless,

Mandy

A Recipe...

how many of you have spent hours making bread from scratch?

my hand is raised.

After you try this you'll never slave again.

Beer Bread.

1 bottle warm beer.

(the only time alcohol is in my house!)

I set it near my fireplace on cold days, out in the sun on hot to get it warm.

1/3 cup sugar.

3 cups self-rising flour.

that's it.

Mix the ingredients,

if you have a cast iron pan USE IT!!!!

if you don't -GET ONE!!!

I promise you'll love it and use it for everything!

I use my 8 in.

But if you are going to ignore me on that, I suppose any regular round 8-10 inch pan could work.

I suppose.

Butter the dish, pour in mixture,

bake @ 375 for about 35 min or until top is browning.

Serve with butter, jam, whatever.

Delicious!

I often serve this with soup, or ribs, or , well, whenever I get a hankerin'.

God Bless,

Mandy

Dinner Recipe

Okay, I've decided to share a recipe every now and again with all my fabulous blog readers

(all 2 of you!)

This recipe is for Glazed Chicken.

It is fabulous, one of those dishes where you'll be telling yourself "okay I'll just have one more piece" and before you know it you've eaten 1/2 the pan!

Sauce:

3 tbsp. soy sauce

3 Tbsp. water

1 cup of white sugar (hey I never said healthy!)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Other:

I use a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, defrosted and dried with a paper towel

flour for rolling

oil or real butter for frying

preheat oven 350

Heat oil in skillet (we use cast iron) till hot

Roll tenderloins in flour till well coated

fry up until nicely browned and yummily breaded
(you may need to have 2 pans going at the same time)

place tenderloins single layered in a glass pan
(I generally can squeeze them all in 9x13)

mix sauce well, spoon over chicken.

Cook in oven about 35 min or until sauce is sticky and thicker.

Spoon over rice.

YUM!!!!

The deal here is that someone has to actually try this and come back and tell me how yummy it is!

God Bless,

Mandy