Sweet Treat

I have been craving something sweet, but I am trying to be "good" about what I eat.  I recently found a recipe on Butter With A Side of Bread.  It's called Raspberry Vanilla Jello Salad.



Arin, Taylor and myself decided to make it to go with our dinner Tuesday night.  I could probably eat an entire bowl of it.  It's simple and delicious!  Here's the recipe (thanks to Nellie from Butter with a side of bread):
1 box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding -- I used vanilla sugar free, but I think the cheesecake flavor would be awesome!
32 oz. container vanilla yogurt  -- I used honey greek yogurt
8 oz. container Cool Whip (thawed)
1 pkg. frozen raspberries
This made a big bowl!  All 5 of us had some and there is enough for us all to have more, so if you don't want leftovers, use 1/2 of everything listed (so a small pkg of pudding instead of the large box).   This will make an awesome treat on a hot summer day!  Be creative, use peach yogurt with raspberries or peaches and vanilla pudding or vanilla pudding and strawberries. The sky is the limit on this one!! 

Skillet Lasagna & Sloppy Joe

I have to tell you... I wasn't sure about the skillet lasagna.  You see, I really like good old layered lasagna.  I was concerned with it all in the skillet it would be more like ziti or something...I'm really not sure.  I really liked it!  I used this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe:  http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/07/simple-and-meaty-skillet-lasagna.html

Now, as usual, I can't just follow the recipe, so here's my list of modifications:
Instead of using all canned tomatoes, I used 1-14.5 oz petite dices tomates and 1-32 ounce can of spaghetti sauce, plus water (about 1 cup or so) and no tomato sauce.
I forgot to buy parmesan cheese, so I just added extra mozzarella, but would've used parm if I had it.
Instead of a mix of beef & pork, I used sweet italian chicken sausage.
And I was too lazy to even break up noodles so I used rotini pasta.
It looked really "pretty" when I was done with it, but again, I forgot to take a picture.  I'll get the hang of this eventually.  Adrianna makes fun of me the few times I have remembered to take pictures...
Definitely will repeat this recipe, it only took about 30 minutes start to finish!


I love a good 'n saucy sloppy crow joe!  I rarely make our sloppy joes with beef anymore, in fact, I don't remember the last time I did - now I use ground turkey.  I have my own sauce recipe that I like to use, the measurements are approximate:
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 - 2 tsp. yellow mustard
3/4 - 1 cup. ketchup
3 tsp. brown sugar
1 lbs ground turkey

Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet, breaking up as you cook it.  When turkey is almost done, add in the onion and bell pepper.  I like this tender-crisp, so I saute it for about 3-5 minutes.  Add the rest of your ingredients then simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  One of the nice things about using the ground turkey is there is never enough fat that the meat has to be drained!  You'll notice there's liquid from the onion and green pepper, but once you've simmered the mixture it turns into a nice sauce.

Yum!!

Cupcakes

We celebrated my grandmother's 100th birthday with an open house.

 Everyone brought different treats to share.  Lucky for us there were lots of tasty things to try!  My contribution was Black Forest Cupcakes.  For those of you not familiar with Black Forest Cake, it's well know in the German community (as well as others).  I figured cupcakes would be easier to serve than having to cut a cake, so I modified.  I took the easy route and used a devils food cake mix and prepared the cupcakes as instructed on the box.  After the cupcakes had cooled, I used my handy Pampered Chef Core & More to lift a small portion of the middle of the cupcake.  Using canned cherry pie filling, I would re-lift the middle portion of the cupcake and drop in 1 cherry.  Then I replaced the cake portion.  I used cool whip to frost the cupcakes, sprinkled them with shredded chocolate and an additional cherry.  I had great plans to take pictures along the way, but was more focused on getting done.  We got so busy that we actually forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  The picture below was "accidentally" taken, but it gives you an idea.  From what I heard, they were tasty - sadly, I didn't even try one.  Cupcakes are definitely a hot commodity lately, so have you boarded the cupcake band wagon??  or do you prefer the standard cake?

Weekly Meal Plan Sun Feb 24

We did pretty good last week following our meal plan with the exception of Friday.  Instead of pizza on Friday we ended up going out.  We had so much leftover that I didn't cook the roast planned for Thursday, but that's what's nice about it being in the freezer - I'll just move it to another time.  Here's our list for this week, hopefully it will inspire your weekly menu:

Sunday - Skillet Lasagna
Monday - Sauerkraut & Ribs
Tuesday - Turkey Sloppy Joes
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Hawaiian Crepes (Take me to the Islands!! and out of this weather)
Friday - Papa Murphy's
Saturday - Crockpot Picadillo

I haven't been to the store except for the balsamic vinegar (and bread) on Wed.   John is going to get some milk and hamburger buns (for our Tuesday meal), hopefully he won't get extras. :)  Happy Cooking to you all!!

Budgets

After my shopping trip Monday, I decided I'm going to keep track of what I'm spending at the grocery store.  One of my new goals is to try and limit my grocery store trips.  I think for us, this is going to be VERY difficult.  It seems to me that when I was a kid, my mom didn't run to the story every week like I seem to do (or more often).  I don't know if I have no self discipline, poor planning skills or what, but we'll see how this goes.  Taylor and I planned our menus for the next two weeks (we'll share our next one again on Sunday).  By doing this, I knew what I needed at the store and then planned for that little bit of  'extra stuff' that always seems to get in my cart.  You know, the sale items you missed in the ad or the 'oh, I forgot to put that on my list' stuff.  Yes, there's always the 'that just sounds good right now' purchases too.  I'll let you know how I do after the next couple of weeks (if you read my post Wed, you know I'm not off to a great start).  I gave John the "We are not running to the store for extras and if we do run out of milk or bread then that's ALL that we are buying" lecture.  I think he really enjoyed it! :)  So, I'm curious, how many of you have a monthly food budget?  Can you stick to it?  Please tell me your not one of those crazy couponers that can feed a family of 6 on a budget of $250.  If you are, we really should must talk!  My goal is $500, that's just food.  I couldn't tell you what I usually spend (hence the not a great budgeter concept), but I would guess it's more than that...totally a hunch though. 

Here's a good article on cutting your food budget in half:
http://money.msn.com/shopping-deals/c_article.aspx?cp-documentid=250281833)
Here's another great article on when to buy what:
http://www.livingrichlyonabudget.com/grocery-sale-cycles-when-do-things-go-on-sale
One of my favorite go-to-sites:
http://freebies2deals.com/
And lastly, I've used this one off and on for years, but it'll depend on where you're located as to how much it'll help:
http://www.grocerysmarts.com/

Happy Budgeting!!

Mediterranean Pasta Toss

I got this recipe from http://shrinkingkitchen.com/.  This website is great!  They do menu plans each week.  The menu plan includes a shopping list and they try to maintian a good variety of foods while still keeping it healthy!  I have used several of their recipes and love to see what they are posting!


Here's the link to the recipe:
Mediterranean Pasta Toss

I added spinach and probably about a 1/2 cup of Balsamic vinegar instead of the 1/3.  Everyone loved it!  Apparently I didn't plan too well (big surprise) and had to run by the store to get more vinegar, which then led me to buy some fresh roasted garlic bread (love Harmons fresh bread)!  This is why I have to avoid the "extra" trips to the store.  I always buy extra!!  I think this would be really good with grilled shrimp or chicken added. 

Enjoy!!

Amazing Hawaiian Chicken Chili

Well, after a long day of work and then running to the grocery store... I did not want to cook dinner!  Lucky for me - John did!! Yeah!  The 'Amazing Hawaiian Chicken Chili' was tasty! 

Here's the recipe:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 Tbl butter, divided
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large roasted red pepper, chopped (we used jarred roasted red pepper)
1 - 6oz. can tomato paste
3 Tbl chili powder
1 Tbl Ancho chile powder (didn't have this so we used chipotle powder)
1 Tbl ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbl vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sugar
1 - 20 oz. can pineapple chunks
1 - 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
1 - 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 - 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained (I wouldn't drain this).
1 - 24 oz jar chipotle salsa


1.  Place chicken and BBQ sauce in a gallon-sized zip top bag and allow to marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
2.  Melt 1 Tbl of butter in a large skillet placed over high heat, and add the chicken.  Cook the chicken until it is browned and almost cooked through.  Remove chicken from skillet and chop into 1 inch pieces, place in the crock of a slow cooker.
3.  Heat the remaining 1 Tbl butter in the skillet over medium-high heat, add diced onion, garlic and roasted red pepper; cook and stir until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in tomato paste, chili powders, cumin, ginger, vanilla and sugar.  Cook, stirring until blended, about 2 minutes.  Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker.
4.  Drain the canned pineappe and reserve the fruit.  Stir the pineapple juice, kidney beans, black beans, tomatoes and chipotle salsa into the ingredients in the slow cooker and set the heat to hight.  Allow the chili to cook on high until it begins to bubble, about 20 minutes.  Turn the slow cooker to low and cook for 1 hour.
5.  Stir the reserved pineapple into the chili and continue to cook until the pineapple is warm, about 15 minutes. 

Note:  The original owner of this recipe is unknown, John got it at a chili cook-off at work. 
I enjoyed the smoky/spice flavor of the chili, but it needed a little more "juice" in my opinion.  John only added a 16 oz jar of salsa, so we shorted ourselves a bit on the liquid there. It was still really good.  Arin suggested using it as a "sloppy hawaiian" sandwich.  Taylor thought it was a little too spicy...she needed bread and crackers to get through her bowl. Definitely unique and I something I would make again!
Questions???

Sunday Dinner

Here's our meal tonight:

I usually make the coleslaw from scratch. 

Tammy's Coleslaw:
1/2 head of green cabbage (shred/chop finely)
red cabbage, optional
carrots, shredded, optional

Sauce:
3/4 cup mayo
1/4 tsp. salt
pepper, to taste
2 Tbl. sugar
2-3 Tbl. white vinegar

Whisk together then pour over cabbage mixture and combine.  Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Also, in my personal opinion, homemade hamburgers are the best.  The pre-made patties are great (especially if you are serving a large group or are in a hurry), but making your own just gives them that much more flavor!  Tonight, I was lazy and just added worchestire sauce, garlic salt and onion powder.  Get creative though, I've heard cream, BBQ sauce, steak sauce, onions, etc.  It was great to use the grill (or at least John used it)!  It just lets me know that summer is that much closer!!  We always have an array of toppings for the burgers... pepper-jack and cheddar cheeses, sauteed mushrooms, jalapenos, tomatoes, pickles - Delish!!

Planning is KEY!

For those of you that know me you know that I love being in the kitchen.  I enjoy cooking, baking, etc.  Since we keep a pretty crazy schedule around here, I really have to plan.  I have a lot of people ask me, "How do you do it?".  Well, it really comes down to that....having a plan, sticking to the plan (which isn't always easy) and keeping everyone happy.  I thought it might be fun to document and see how well, we really can stick to a plan.  I've never been really great with budgeting. Don't get me wrong, I do ok, but not with a strick budget.  I'm going to attempt limiting my grocery trips and see how we do.  It might be tough for me and the family, but we'll see!  So, here's this weeks menu plan:

Sunday - Hamburgers with coleslaw
Monday - Hawaiian Chicken Chili (a recipe John's been hoping to try)
Tuesday - leftover night
Wednesday - Mediterranean Pasta Toss, thanks to Shrinking Kitchen (see blog list)
Thursday - Roast with mashed potatoes and green beens
Friday - Papa Murphy's (gotta have some pizza!)
Saturday - OUT! (Especially since it's going to be a busy day.)

I'll try and post some pictures and updates as the week goes.  So what are your dinner plans for the week?