sadly

i am deleting my blog. i just don't have the time to keep it updated. Thanks for all you readers....

Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms

This is delicious. It reminds me of Chicken Marsala. I served it over buttered spaghetti noodles and a side of steamed broccoli. I found the recipe on All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS:
4 skinless, boneless chicken
breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms,
sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS:
1.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute the chicken until it is nicely browned on one side (about 3 minutes).
2.
Add the garlic. Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the mushrooms over them. Continue frying, shaking the skillet and stirring the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
3.
Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter and cover with foil. Set aside. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat for about 7 minutes. Swirl in the butter or margarine and discard the bay leaf. Pour this mushroom sauce mixture over the chicken and serve.

My changes:
1. I didn't dredge the chicken in flour, i don't like the slimy texture to chicken that has been floured and then cooked in a sauce. To still get the same effect (thickening) of the flour, i mixed the 2 tbl of flour into the chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, along with the ground thyme. i made a slurry of sorts. Then i poured the whole thing in when it said to add to the stock. it worked wonderful.

2. I was a bit leary of the vinegar taste, so i only used 1/8 of a cup of the Balsamic vinegar and filled in the rest with chicken stock. it was perfect this way, imo.

3. I used an aged balsamic vinegar.

4. I didn't have fresh mushrooms, so i used two small cans of sliced mushrooms. Worked wonderfully.

My family really enjoyed this. I think it would go great with alfredo pasta.

Popovers

This is one of our favorite breakfasts! They are so yummy, you eat them slathered in butter and topped with honey!!! It is sinful it is so good!

That one end got a bit too brown for my taste and they do fall once they are out of the oven for a few minutes, because the insides are hollow! they create the perfect spot to stuff all the butter and honey into :)

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk3 eggs

2 T sugar

½ tsp vanilla

In a blender, beat all ingredients until smooth. Pour into WELL-greased and floured muffin tins, filling cups 3/4 full.Bake at 425* for 10-12 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Serve with butter and honey (When you turn the popover upside down, there will be a small hole --most of the time-- I stuff the butter and honey through this hole so it gets all warm and melted inside). These are so light and fluffy, you can literally eat half a dozen of them in one sitting!

No Bake Peanut Butter Balls

This is sooo yummy and such a nice change from rice krispy treats

in a sauce pan, mix together:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup

Bring to a boil until sugar dissolves and then boil for one minute longer.

Add to mixture:

1 cup peanut butter
2 cups rice krispies

Mix well and drop by spoonfuls on to wax paper.

You can add 1 cup of butterscotch chips or you can dribble chocolate or almond bark (melted, of course) on the tops.

Cream Cheese Icing

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter
1 box powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
pecans

Cream this all together and add the pecans last. Yummy!!!

White Icing

I don't use white icing much, as i prefer cream cheese icing, but that doesn't go with all cakes. Here is my white icing recipe:

2 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter (can use Crisco, but i hate that BLECK feeling on my tongue!)
2-3 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla

cream together to desired consistency.

Wacky Cake

This is my all time favorite chocolate cake. it is moist, it is yummy, it stays moist forever! Also, it is easy on the pocketbook as it calls for no eggs and no milk, which when it is those last few days until pay day and you may or may not have run out of both of those things, you can still make this yummy dessert.

Sift together:

3 cups flour
6 Tbs cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp soda

Add in:

2 cups cold water
3/4 cup oil
2 Tbs vinegar
2 tsp vanilla

Stir well, it will be on the "runny" side, but that is what you want. You will see bubbles forming from the vinegar mixing with the soda. ( i love that part!)

Pour into a well greased and floured 9 x 13 cake pan (or you can do a layer cake with this)

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you use a glass pan or a dark, nonstick pan, lower the temperature by 25 degrees.

Frost with this frosting.

Chocolate Cake Icing

This is my favorite Chocolate Cake icing recipe. I use it the most on my Wacky Cake recipe.

2 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup butter, softened
2-3 Tbl milk (more or less)

Cream this all together until smooth, adding more milk or powdered sugar to get the desired consistency.

First Day of Summer Break - Homemade Ice Cream

We had a blast!! Dh and i got the grill and smoker ready for a weekend of cooking out. We spent the day filling up the pool (started last night), grocery shopping and cleaning the house. Tonight, we cooked some bbq pork steak, baked beans, sour cream potatoes and onions and green beans out on the grill. it was sooooo yummy!

We also made our first batch of homemade ice cream of the summer. We all decided we wanted Banana Nut ice cream so that is what it was. I have the makings for some strawberry after we eat all the Banana Nut all gone. Oh My, it was heavenly!

Here is my basic recipe for homemade ice cream. After you get this mixed up, you just add whatever you want to it:

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 pint of heavy whipping cream ( can use half and half, but i prefer the heavy whipping cream)
2 tsp vanilla
enough milk to add to the fill line.

Beat the eggs and add in the sugar. add in the sweetened condensed milk, heavy whipping cream and vanilla and mix well.

This is your basic ice cream mix. You pour it into the ice cream container and add enough milk to just come below the fill line.

for other flavors, you just add what you want BEFORE you add in the milk. Tonight, i added in 4 large super ripe bananas sliced up small and about 2 cups of chopped pecans and walnuts. Delicious ice cream!!! unbeatable!!!

This weekend is going to be laid back and relaxed. No traveling, no errands, no nuthin' but hanging out at the house, cooking out in the pool and if the water warms up for us old folk, hanging out in the pool!

We have some ribs with their rub on them waiting to be smoked tomorrow along with a chicken. This will be our first time smoking. i will try to get some pics. i picked up some batteries for my camera today, so i am back in the picture taking mode.

We also got some really good cajun sausage to cook out along with some hamburgers and such. we plan on cooking all suppers this holiday weekend out on the grill and/or the smoker.

For the rest of the week, we will be eating :

italian sausage rolls with marinara dipping sauce
spaghetti and meatballs, bread and salad
skillet chicken breasts, veggie, something else
chicken casserole, salad
ham steaks, veggie and potatoes.

Hope ya'll have a great holiday weekend!!!

Menu for the week of May 5 - 10

we had quite a busy schedule last week and there were a few times we didn't eat at home (wedding rehersal dinner, wedding night, g'pa's b-day celebration) so i have quite a few rollover meals. here they are in no particular order, i thaw out whatever sounds good that morning and i try to plan meals with leftovers also.

Poppy seed chicken (with baggie found with two chicken breasts shredded up in freezer)
broccoli

hawaiian meatballs
baked beans
homemade hot rollscorn

steak
baked potato
cauliflower

chicken quesadillas (from leftover chicken from the Roasted Sticky Chicken)
rice
beans

beans
mexican cornbread
fried potatoes

Italian pinto beans
crusty french bread

Also, while looking in my fridge in the garage, i came upon a frozen turkey breast, so i will incorporate that into next week's menu.

Potatoes in a Tire

Whodathunkit? Check out My Cup Runneth Over for the idea and how-to's. i think i will show this to dh when he gets home.


I think this might be on the agenda for next year's garden.


I do remember playing in the backyard of my Great-Granny's house when i was a kid and she had a huge tractor tire back there. I wonder if that is what she used it for, back when her health was better?

i started a garden

This is a big feat for me! we did a garden about 7 years ago, but we didn't do the right way, we did it the lazy, unplanned, spur of the moment way and needless to say, it didn't turn out :) we tilled it but we didn't take off the sod first, just tilled the grass back into the dirt......so yeah, we grew a great crop of grass!


This year, we are in our new house and we don't have the finances yet to landscape the yard and i have this small patch of dirt in the front, between the front walkway up to the porch and the driveway, it is like a curved triangle. Let me see if i have a picture. Aha, here we go:

It is actually bigger than it looks here, weird camera angle or something. Dh and i both love homegrown tomatoes and i love bell peppers and they have gotten outageous expensive lately. So, we planted both of those here in this garden area along with some basil (good for tomatoes) and italian parsley (love to use this!!) and of course marigold's!

I was just out weeding the "garden", and i noticed that one tomato plant has a bud on it, and one of my pepper plants has a bud that has bloomed with about four more almost ready!!! See, this is why i am not the greatest of the gardener...1), i hate to weed when it gets out of control. 2) i don't like to sweat and here in Oklahoma it gets HOT in the summer and 3) i am IMPATIENT! i planted this garden on April 21 and i want my tomatoes and peppers NOW :)

I will take pictures of my "garden" as soon as i get my camera back from my dad...oh wait. it is HIS camera, not mine :)

Also, i got so much great advise from my dh's grandparent's, who live about 2 miles from us. They have had gardens all their lives and are a fountain of knowledge when it comes to this. But, their health is not what it used to be and even though grandpa loves to be outdoors there isn't much he can do. he tries to mow the yard and makes himself very sick. I guess my asking all my questions and wanting advise from them both gave them a hankerin' for a garden of their own again but said the only thing stopping them was the stooping over and bending down; they can't do that any more. So, my hubby got to planning and thinking on this a while.

He went out and looked over the lumbar we have left over from the house. he built them a raised bed, up on cement blocks that hits grandpa at his waist. it has drainage and we lined the bottom with a bunch of rocks and the we used our dirt pile (top soil) to fill in the bed along with 10 backs of store bought top soil an 8 bags of manure. this raised bed is 16 inches deep and is 10 x 4. We didn't tell granpa or grandma what we were doing, we just took it over to them one night and oh my, it was the greatest! dh went and set it up after grandpa picked where he wanted it and then we went to work filling it. it took two pickup loads of our dirt and then we all got in there and mixed in the bags of stuff. I tell you what, it was like watching a little boy in a sand box; grandpa was just like that. his eyes were just gleaming and he was so amazed. words just can't express how wonderful it was for him. he was planning on what he was gonna plant right then and there, while working his hands through the soil.....tomatoes, peppers, okra for sure they decided.

We have decided that we will make some for ourselves next year. I am thinking this will be great for us as it the weeds won't be near as bad as in a garden on the ground where grass and such can get blown into it easier.

we took some pictures with grandma's camera but they aren't developed yet. as soon as they are, i will post some on here.

This week's menus

In no particular order, i am making:

fetticini alfredo with sliced chicken (using up two miscellanous chicken breasts found in freezer)
garlic toast (homemade)

Poppy seed chicken (with baggie found with two chicken breasts shredded up in freezer)
broccoli

hawaiian meatballs
baked beans
homemade hot rolls
corn

steak
baked potato
cauliflower

roasted sticky chicken
broccoli and cauliflower mix, steamed with garlic butter sauce
baked potato

chicken quesadillas
rice
beans

beans
mexican cornbread
fried potatoes

Italian pinto beans
crusty french bread

Onion Cheese Bread

Onion Cheese Bread

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 cup finely diced onion - can use any type, red, white or yellow. The white or yellow "looks" more appetizing.

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cups biscuit mix

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar

1/2 teaspoon onion salt

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives or parsley leaves or italian seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until tender, about 7 minutes.

In a large bowl, add the milk and egg to the biscuit mix, stirring just until the mix is moistened. Fold in the onions and 1/2 cup of the cheese.

Spoon the dough into a greased 8-inch round cake pan (or cast iron skillet, i always, always use my skillet if i can). Mix the onion salt into the melted butter and drizzle the mixture over the dough. Sprinkle the bread with chives or parsley and bake for 15 minutes.

Top the bread with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake until the bread is cooked through and the cheese top golden, about 5 minutes longer, and you get the bread shown at the top. It is yummy!

Bacon Ranch Potatoes

These are my husband's almost favorite way to eat potatoes. it is very yummy! This is just a guide, not a real recipe. If you don't like the Ranch flavor (not strong in this dish, it is just that extra little 'sumpin') feel free to leave it out and just use sour cream only.

grease a baking dish and preheat oven to 375

peel and slice as many potatoes as you need for your family. I think i used about 8 or 9 smallish ones. Slice in 1/4 inch slices, or thereabouts.

Dice up as much onion as you like. i used about half of a red onion, but you can use white, yellow also, i have used it all, whatever i have on hand. sprinkle onion over the sliced potatoes.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Pat on lots of butter, for this sized dish, i used a half stick of butter.

Cover with foil and bake until fork tender, usually at least an hour, depending on how "thick" you have it in the pan. So, if you need it to cook faster, use a bigger pan and make the layer thinner.

When fork tender, here is where the fun starts. You plop in a big scoop of sour cream, at least 1/2 cup, if not 3/4 of a cup. and then squirt all over the top some Ranch dressing, again, at least a half cup. Sprinkle over it all 1 cup of shredded cheese (can use more) and 3/4 of a bottle of Baco's bacon bits. Take a big spoon and stir up the entire thing. The potatoes will break apart into slightly smaller peices, which is what you want, but don't stir so hard that it turns to mashed potatoes, use a light hand when stirring this up. When it is well mixed, taste test it....does it need more Ranch for flavor, more salt, more pepper? now is the time to get it to taste perfect! Smooth out of the top and sprinkle all over the top more cheese, covering the entire top. Sprinking on the remaining bacon bits left in the bottle and for looks you can either sprinkle on some italian seasoning or do like i did, and go out to your italian parsley plant and sprinkle fresh chopped parsley on top.

Stick the pan back in the oven now to melt the cheese and slightly brown.......

Grandma E's hot rolls

Makes 24 rolls 400 degrees

1 pkg yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup water with 1 tsp sugar to proof.

I have this neato handy-dandy spoon that is a yeast spoon, one scoop equals 2 1/4 tsp....no measuring!

here is the yeast mixture proofed and bubbly.

In a large bowl, beat one egg, set aside. (didn't get a pic)

in saucepan, scald:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp salt

Let cool until warm.

I put mine in the freezer to hurry up the process...about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Dump yeast mixture into beaten egg, stir. Dump in cooled milk mixture to yeast/egg mixture. stir. I did it backwards, here are the pics:

Slowly add in 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups flour (how much flour will depend on how humid the air is).

Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.

When it is smooth and elastic

Place into a bowl with 1 tbl oil, turn to coat dough.

cover with a damp towel and let rise until double.

punch down and shape into rolls. i roll two ball sized peices and put into muffin pan, i like how it looks and breaks apart for buttering.

Okay, so i only got 23 rolls out of this batch, some are bigger than others :)

Cover and let rise a second time. These rose nicely.

When you take them out of the oven, immediately brush them with melted butter or a mixture of honey and butter. it is delicious!

You can roll into larger sized balls and place into a greased 9x13 pan or even shape into loaves and bake in loaf pans (two).

I always make these when i make homemade chicken and dumplin's. these get made every year at Thanksgiving also and sometimes, when dh is wanting it, i will make two loaves of this bread and he will eat it with butter or toast it and put PB on it.

Garlic-Herb Crusty French Bread

I made this bread to go with our lima bean soup tonight and it was out of this world! I just used my regular crusty french bread/pizza dough recipe and added in the herbs and spices. It came out great! Here are some pics.

Recipe:

2 1/4 tsp yeast
1-1/2 Cups warm water, divided
1 Tbl honey
2 tsp salt
1 Tbl olive oil
4 Cups all-purpose flour (can use half whole wheat, yummy)
1 tsp granulated garlic (this is to make it garlic-herb bread)
1 tsp italian seasoning (this is to make it garlic-herb bread)
Cornmeal (optional)

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water with 1 tsp sugar, let it proof. Add honey, salt, oil and remaining water; stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until you can knead it. Knead for 6-10 minutes or until it is elastic and smooth. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise n a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Punch down. Divide in half; let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into a 10" x 8" rectangle. Roll up from a long side; pinch edge to seal.Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle tips with cornmeal. With a very sharp knife, make 5 diagonal cuts across the top of each loaf, about 1/4" deep. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 400* for 20 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

You do not need the cornmeal if you use a W pan.

Here is the dough, oiled and ready to rise.

Here it is risen:

Here it is punched down, shaped and ready for second rise:

It has doubled and ready to bake!

Finished results! It was a BIG HIT! The entire family ate every piece of it! Dh i think ate 3/4 of one entire loaf. I put four slices in a baggie to go with his lunch tomorrow. You can see in this picture that after i took it from the oven and ran to get my camera, some little bread thief had been by.......my family loves homemade bread. this is such a great savory bread. You gotta try it! It went great with the Lima Bean soup!

My menus for this week

I am not really doing a formal menu, but i will post what i have done so far, we are eating from our freezer this week, so it might ecclectic :) I got stressed yesterday and so i spent lots of time in the kitchen, cooking and baking from scratch. it is my stress outlet....at least my family benefits from that :)

Sunday - my version of Chicken Tetrazzini with broccoli and mushrooms. I seasoned the chicken with a new seasoning i just got. it was lovely and yummy! If you get the chance, go get some Herbs De Provinc seasoning. I found it at Reasor's. Smells wonderful when cooking and tastes even better!

Monday - Beans, cornbread and hot spanish rice (out of potatoes).

Tuesday (stressed day and no, NOT from taxes, LOL)- Homemade chicken and dumplin's with homemade hot rolls (Grandma E's recipe, will post pics and tutorial for that when camera quits acting wonky), and some strawberry shortcake. (will post recipe tonight - keep forgetting). I can't believe i made 23 rolls and all but 3 were eaten last night!

Wednesday - Lima Bean Soup with homemade crusty french bread. We have made this recipe many times and it is so yummy! Hint, make it up earlier in the day and let it set for a while to thicken up (that is, if you don't like soupy soup :) ) We are using leftover ham from Christmas in this dish.

Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Shortcake

I made this at the end of March, when the really good strawberries were in the stores. It was SO YUMMY!

Now, in my family, we just can't stand that yucky spongy mess of grossness that they sell in a package of 4. We have always made this dish with pie crust laid flat on a cookie sheet sprinkled with sugar and baked. It was much better....but this recipe was off the roof good! Real, homemade with love, shortcakes! It was so easy to make and so yummy!

My son decided since he helped me cut the strawberries, he had to get the first dessert :) We ran out of strawberries before we ran out of shortcakes, so we ate the shortcakes like cookies!

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday
BBQ pork steak
Mashed potatoes
Rolls
Blackeyed peas
(mashed cauliflower for me)

Monday
Monteray Chicken
Baked potatoes
SB mashed potatoes for me
Broccoli and cheese
Salad

Tuesday
Chili

Wednesday
Chicken Picatta
Asparagus
Broccoli and cauliflower
Salad

Thursday
Ham steaks
Mashed potatoes
SB cauliflower
Ranch beans
Salad

Friday
Taco Salad

Saturday
Keilbasa
Ranch beans
Salad
Broccoli and cheese

Breakfast:
Eggs and broccoli omlet
Sausage and egg
V-8 juice
Canadian bacon
pancakes and cereal and oatmeal for kids.

Lunch:
Lunch meat rollups
SB fajitas

it has been a while since i was able to particate in MPM.
Lettuce BLTs

Vegetable Quiche Cups to go - SBD recipe

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup liquid egg substitute ( or eggs)
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheese
1/4 cup diced bell peppers
1/4 cup diced onions
3 drops hot sauce, optional.

thaw and drain spinach. line a 12 inch muffin tin with papers, spray with Pam. combine all ingredients and fill cups. Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

These can be frozen and reheated. any combination of veggies and cheese can be used.

Weber's Kick'N Chicken Seasoning

My new favorite all purpose meat seasoning!!!! I have used it so far on most of my meats, like the hamburger, chicken, and pork steaks. It is really yummy. It smells soo yummy cooking. here is what it looks like. If you don't have some already, go run to the store and pick you up a bottle, it is worth the extra trip!

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

from Maggie at Hillbilly Housewife

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup Biscuit Mix
3 medium eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt (need waaaaaaay more in my opinion)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded cheese

Get out a 10" iron skillet. Cook the hamburger and onion in it over medium heat. Break the meat up into smallish pieces with a fork and cook it until there is no more pink showing. Drain off the fat if necessary. While the meat is cooking get out a medium sized bowl. In it combine the milk, biscuit mix, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix very well with a whisk, or you can combine it in a blender. (it is thin). You want it pretty smooth. When the meat is well cooked and drained, pour the batter over it in the hot skillet. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake the dish at 400° for about 35 minutes, longer if need be. It should be puffed up and brown on top when it is done. Remove the pan from the oven and cut it into 8 wedges.

My variations: ---- i only added about double the salt and i could have added a bit more, i salted, peppered and garlic'd my meat and then i also added the 1/2 tsp of salt....could have used at least 3/4 tsp, in my opinion.

I only cooked mine for about 25 minutes.

I used a Colby/Jack blend.

This is my plate.....it was good, a tad bit on the plain side but dear husband loved it...i think he got all the way up to Thirds :)............that empty spot on my plate is where i placed my salad.....yummy!

Now, just as i was putting up this post, i had intended for this leftover peice below to be part of dh's lunch...but i decided to reheat up about half of it...........boy, it is BETTER after being in the fridge for a few hours...now it was Really good!

This recipe is what i would call a comfort food, simple, plain, easy and yet pretty tasty. I am thinking of some things i might add to it the next time around, maybe some mushrooms, some swiss cheese.....some spoonfulls of salsa maybe? just to jazz it up a bit.

i say, with just that leftover, the meal was a hit :)

Yummy Leftovers - Monterey Chicken

This stuff makes for great leftovers! I heated up the rice and the chicken and i ate it rolled up inside of a Romaine lettuce leaf, with the last bit of broccoli on the side. It was delicious. Pretty healthy too, though i cancelled out the healthiness of the meal with my dessert :(....oh, and the two mini Reeses's cups..........hey, i did drink 2 glass of water with lime juice....

sorry, no pics of my leftovers, i gobbled them up too soon!

Strawberry Cake (with real strawberries)

This is so yummy! Dh loves it! And, it is perfect for the month of February, pink cake for Valentine's Day. This would be totally cute if done in a two layer cake, with the layers shaped as a heart...

Strawberry Cake

1/2 cup hot water

1 small pkg strawberry Jello

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup fresh/frozen strawberries ***thaw and drain VERY well if using frozen.

1 pkg yellow cake mix

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour cake pan. Mix ingredients in order they are listed, except for the eggs. Mix them well in a stand mixer until very well mixed. Mix in one egg at a time and beat well. Pour into cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until done.

Icing:

1 box powdered sugar

1/2 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen *** if frozen, drain and thaw well, if not drained well, you will end up using a ton of powdered sugar

1/2 stick of melted butter

Mix well and add enough powdered sugar until nice and thick. Spread on cake. Enjoy!

Monterey Chicken

Yummo! This was a big hit tonight. It looked wonderful on the table (we all know we eat with our eyes first) and the taste totally was enormous! i will post the recipe and then add my "changes" at the bottom. the *** denotes where i have made changes.

Monterey Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 1 1/2 lbs. total

1/4 tsp. salt ***

1/8 tsp. pepper ***

1/3 cup bottled barbecue sauce - Head Country is the only BBQ sauce allowed in my home!

4-8 slices cooked bacon, according to your taste preference ***

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese - i used a monterey jack/colby blend.

4 scallions, trimmed and sliced

Heat oven to 350 º.Place chicken in a single layer in a greased baking dish.Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon on the barbecue sauce.Bake in oven for 25 minutes, or until all pink is gone.Top each breast half with 1 or 2 slices of cooked bacon. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake in oven 5 more minutes.Top each breast half with fresh scallions.

*** I used Weber Kick'n Chicken Grill Seasoning as an all purpose seasoning..tasty and pretty!

***I did not cook my bacon first. I just wrapped the breasts with one piece of bacon per breast, you could do more, i thought it was plenty. This added so much flavor, both to the chicken and most importanly, to the pan drippings/broth that was in the bottom of the dish.....that yummy goodness was heavenly with spooned up over the plain Jasmine rice i had made as a side dish....wow, that rice was almost as good, if not better, than the chicken itself!!! You can see the rice below on my plate with the yummy pan goodness on top of it!

**** you want to make sure you do NOT drown the breasts in the BBQ sauce. I just lighted brushed the tops of it well, not very much even drained down to the bottom. Just pretend you are basting the tops of the chicken in the sauce, don't drown it, as i think that would ruin the taste, because the end result you do not taste it and say "hmmm.. this is BBQ", it is a very subtle flavor.

Menu Plan Monday

Those with an * beside it is a new recipe and will be critiqued about on this site in the coming days.

Monday - Monterey Chicken*, rice and broccoli and cauliflower

Tuesday - Impossible Cheeseburger Pie*

Wednesday - Dorito Chicken*, rice

Thursday - Top of Stove Casserole

Friday - Steak Quesadillas, rice and beans

Saturday - Creamy Ranch Chicken on noodles, peas

for more great menu plans, head over to Laura's.

Indian Tacos - Tutorial with Pictures

Ok, lets begin with the ingredients for the first part. You need hamburger, anything from 1/4 of a pound all the way to a full 1 pound, your choice. Two or more cans of Ranch Style Beans, i ended up adding 3 cans, one of which had jalepenos in it. One onion, diced and divided, Chili Powder, Garlic, Pepper and Salt (of which i forgot to put in the picture!). IGNORE the can of diced tomatoes...it does NOT go in this dish, i had a brain shortage at the time of taking pictures.


Dice up your onion and reserve half for taco topping. The remaining half you will scramble up with your meat.

To your meat, you add your onions, salt, pepper, garlic, and about 2 tablespoons of Chili Powder. (you will taste the final concoction and add more if needed).

See how good brown it is getting? the onions are getting well cooked.

Now it is time to add the beans. Dump all three cans of beans in along with Two cans full of water to the pot. So, always one less can of water than you have of beans.

Now, here is the great thing...you can keep adding beans and beans and more beans and this dish is just great...just keep adding more seasoning also (mainly the chili powder). So expected company with this meal is not a problem! This is a great meal and you can really stretch your meat. i usually use only 1/4 of a pound, but this time it was about 2/3 of a pound. You don't have to use Ranch Style beans but you can cook your beans yourself, just make up a batch of good thick and seasoned pinto beans and you will be set! i prefer using the cans though, less thought and planning is needed for this meal that way :)

Let the beans and meat simmer away for a while, at least 30 minutes or so to get it nice and hot and flavors to blend. This is the time to check for seasoning. You don't was super water broth, but not real thick either, i would say on the thin side but not watery, kwim? you need the broth because it is the best part of the taco. that broth gets soaked up by the fry bread and is heavenly!!!

Now, on to the fry bread. You will need self rising flour (or you can make your own with regular flour, baking powder and salt), buttermilk (or soured sweet milk) and shortening or other type of oil to fry in. The honey is for the finished product....fry bread dipped in honey is a wonderful dessert, breakfast or snack, so i always make up extra fry bread to have for the next couple of days for exactly those things. it heats up great 20 seconds in the microwave!

Now, you want to get your oil/shortening on to be heating up while you mix up the dough. I used my smaller cast iron skillet this time because i didn't have enough shortening to fill up my cast iron dutch oven, which is what i prefer, because even though the oil only goes about 1 to 1.5 inches up the sides, the tall sides of the dutch oven really help contain the oil splatters. You can use whatever you feel comfy frying in, even an electric skillet if you want, or a fry daddy.

This here is the dough. i don't really measure, because it is just the self rising flour and the buttermilk. you add enough buttermilk to the flour to form a soft dough. it will be sticky so flour your hands. I stir it until it forms a ball (do not over mix!) and then i flour my hands and start making patties.

I make mine about 3/4 of an inch thick. i try to get them all made up and layered on a plate so i only have to get my hands real messy once :) Remember, don't over work the dough, you do NOT want gluten to form.

Now, it is time to check to make sure your oil is hot enough. If it is not hot enough, your dough will sink to the bottom and just lay there, soaking up the oil....gross! I always test my oil with the end of a wooden spoon. It should have bubbles coming from the end of the spoon if the oil is hot enough. See the bubbles? Or, you can be the boring type of a cook, and just drop a teeny tiny piece of the dough in and see how it cooks it. I prefer the spoon method :)

Now, carefuly drop in a dough patty. Careful, don't get burned! If i use my big cast iron dutch oven, i can usually cook about 3 or 4 of the dough patties, depending on how big i made them. you do not want them to touch. In this small skillet, i only did one, i didn't feel like cleaning up a big grease mess!

Keep an eye on it and turn those babies over when the edges start to get golden brown like this one.

Now, your kitchen is starting to smell really good! It usually takes about a minute or so on each side, though the second side usually cooks faster than the first side.

When it is done, take it out carefully avoiding to drop grease all over your stove, cause we all know what a pain that is too clean. Have them drain on a paper towel or even coffee filters work great in a pinch to catch up that grease.

Now, for the toppings: you will need grated cheese of your choice ( i prefer jack/colby blend), lettuce, the reserved diced onion, and salsa of your choice.

First, you pick your favorite peice of bread from the growing pile

You put it on your plate. At this point, you have a decision to make. You can either make your taco 'whole' but just putting the bread like above, or, you can choose to make eating this meal less messy, by tearing the bread into bite sized peices.....that is my choice. plus, it is more surface area to soak up that great broth!

Next, you layer on the meat/bean mixture...make sure you gets lots of that broth, you will end up using it!!

then, top with lettuce, cheese, diced onions and finally, the salsa!. There you have it, indian tacos! These babies taste SO much better than they look......the frybread is just unexplainable.....so yummy!

I have also made this with just the beans and no meat, which is a great way to have a meatless meal night. I would also think that those of you who grind your own wheat can make this, just use your hard wheat berries and just add in the necessary baking powder and salt to make it self rising. I hope some day to have my own grain mill! This can be a very healthy meal, minus the cooking oil :)

Enjoy!