Laziest Roast Ever

This was yummy and beyond easy. There was a sale on boneless shoulder chuck roast, so I picked up a 1.67 pound hunk-o-meat. The recipe is based on that and may need some adjusting if you have a bigger crockpot and a bigger chunk of meat.

Lazy Sunday Roast
Serves: 3

1. Lightly spray your crock pot with Pam.
2. Dump in a 16 oz bag of frozen stew veggies, a cup of frozen diced onion, and a cup of frozen corn kernels. Put the chunk of meat on top of the veggies.
3. Sprinkle on a packet of Lipton soup mix "savory herb with garlic" and top with a can of cream of mushroom soup.
4. Cook for 6 hours on high or all day on low.
5. Serve with bisquits and some fruit.

**Now this is simply the laziest way to do this. If you wanna be all fancy, you can cut up your own fresh veggies like carrots and potatoes. Today just wasn't one of those fancy kinda days.

Crunchy Shrimp

Matt loved these. I served them with garlic & butter flavored rice packet from Lipton and some cut up apples. It went really well together and Matt basically scarfed it up! Yay!

Crunchy Shrimp
Serves: 2

1. Get the rice going and immediately start on everything else.
2. I used the medium/large sized frozen shrimp THAWED that come like 55 to a bag with the tails still on. I had about half a bag left.
3. Put out 2 paper plates and 1 small bowl. On the first plate mix the following (adjustments may be made for the amount of shrimp you have to do):
-3 tablespoons of flour
-3 tsp cayenne pepper
-2 tsp black pepper
-3 tsp garlic salt
In the bowl, beat 2 eggs. On the second plate dump some Panko bread crumbs. Now you have an assembly line!
4. Heat up some veggie oil in a large skillet. Do not use olive oil for this. You want enough oil so it just about covers the entire bottom of the pan thinly.
5. Take a shrimp, dunk it in the flour mixture, then the egg, then the panko. Carefully put in the skillet. Repeat as necessary.
6. Fry each side about 2-3 minutes til golden brown.
7. Now your rice should be done. Serve together. No dipping sauce needed. YUM!

Umm Asian crockpot?

Alright so I wasn't the biggest fan of this one I have to admit. But I will post it in case someone wants to take a crack at improving it. I guess it wasn't the exact flavor I was looking for. If I ever attempt it again I might try using a the jarred brown sauce gravy instead of the Hoisin sauce. Maybe. It just wasn't spicy enough for us. I don't really know what I didn't like about it.

Asian Mess
Serves: 2

1. Lightly spray your crockpot with Pam.
2. Throw in 2 medium sized frozen chicken breasts.
3. In a small bowl mix the following ingredients then dump over chicken:
--1/2 cup prepared Hoisin Sauce
--1/4 cup honey
--4-5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
--1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated
--1 tablespoon sesame oil
--1/2 cup soy sauce

4. Cook over low until you get home from work. Then dump in a drained can of La Choy stir fry veggies and a can of drained can of water chesnuts. Cook over low until hot. Serve with rice and an egg roll.

Mmmac & Cheese

I took Molly's mac & cheese and spiced it up. It was deeelicious. I made the whole recipe so we could have leftovers for lunch. To reheat I just add a bit of milk so it doesn't dry out. mmmm. I like to use the largest pan I have so that it is a thinner casserole and there is more surface area for the crumbs and for it to get crunchier.

Mmmac & Cheese
Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
3 cups of milk
3 tbsp of flour
1/2 cup of italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 pound of cooked elbow macaroni
1 large chunk (16 oz?) of sharp cheddar (cubed)
1 medium chunk (8 oz?) of swiss (cubed)
3 tsp smoked paprika
3 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp black pepper

Instructions: Melt the stick of butter and add the flour to make a paste. Then add the cheese and milk and stir. Add paprika and peppers, stir. Add more milk or flour to get the consistency you like. Pour the cheese over the cooked macaroni in a casserole pan. Top it with the bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Then enjoy!

Cordon Crockpot

I had a bunch of stuff laying around the house and I figured... ehh I bet if I threw them all together it would taste good.... and man did it! I was pretty happy with this randomness. Matt isn't a huge ham fan, but he still liked it.

Cordon Crockpot
Serves: 3-4

1. Lightly spray oil in your crockpot. Place 2 medium sized frozen chicken breasts in. Sprinkle on about 5-6 oz of julienne or diced ham chunks- which does not mean deli slices (I am lazy and buy the pre cut up stuff by the deli meats). Dump on a can of cream of chicken soup and a few splashes of chicken broth. I am sure milk could be used if you don't want to open up a container of broth.

2. Cover and cook on low all day.

3. When you get home, break up the chicken so its all shredded. Throw in about 4 oz cubed swiss cheese and a few cranks on your pepper grinder. Stir. Recover and cook for another hour or until the cheese is all melty and delish.

4. Serve. We had it with green beans, bisquits, and pineapple.

Grown up Sloppy Joes

Not just meat, manwich and a bun........ these have a little more to them. They were pretty tasty and Matt went back for seconds, so it was a success!

Grown up Sloppy Joes
Serves: 3

1. In a skillet brown up about 3/4 pound of ground whatever (we had chuck leftover so that'll work). Throw in a handful each of diced sweet onion, red pepper, and green pepper. Drain and put back on the burner.

2. Bust out a handy packet of sloppy joe seasoning (found in the seasoning section by the gravy and dressing packets). Throw that in with the amount of tomato paste and water it recommends (laugh in the packets face that it asks for 1 pound of meat). Simmer according to packet directions.

3. Toast a bun and put on a slice of pepper jack cheese and a fat slice of red onion. Top with the meat. Enjoy!

Pizza Blobs (haha)

Ok so these are nothing fancy, but I just got home from grocery shopping and I needed to make something quick that didn't require a lot of brainpower.

Pizza Blobs
Serves: 2-3

1. Preheat the oven to 25 degrees less that what it says on your tube of pizza crust dough.
2. Open a tube of pizza crust dough (by the crescent rolls at the store) and cut into 3 or 4 rectangles. On a cookie sheet, lay them out so half hangs off the pan. Slightly flatten the part on the pan so you have room for toppings.
3. Mound up your toppings on half of each rectangle. We used diced green and red peppers, onion, pepperoni, mushrooms, pineapple, and minced garlic. Add some shredded mozzarella cheese.
4. Fold over the crust and pinch the seams together. It doesn't need to be pretty.
5. Bake about as long as it says to on the tube. Probably around 15 minutes.
6. Take out of the oven and rub a stick of butter all over the top crust and sprinkle on some parm, mozz, and italian seasonings. Pop back in the oven for about 2 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, dump some prepared pizza sauce on a plate and microwave until steaming hot (like 45 seconds). Remove blobs from the oven and place one on top of the sauce and serve.

BroccoCheese Chicken

It's crockpot time!! This is another quick and easy one. It wasn't phenomenal, but it was tasty and so welcoming to come home to. I think next time I will use some velveeta or cheese soup to thicken it up.

BroccoCheese Chicken
Serves: 2

1. In a lightly oil sprayed crockpot, place 2 medium to large frozen chicken breasts.
2. In a bowl combine the following: 1 can broccoli cheese condensed soup, 1 cup milk, 1/2 sweet onion (diced), 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour over the chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low all day while at work. Do not stir it, it will break the chicken up.
4. When you get home, boil some water and cook up about 3 handfuls of medium egg noodles. Drain.
5. Serve chicken and sauce over noodles.

Grown up Hamburger Helper

I found this recipe in my Rachel Ray cookbook and adapted it. I cut the recipe in half because apparently RR cooks for an army in her house. This was pretty good and much better than that boxed crap. And it really didn't take much more time or effort.

Edited 1/24/12

Grown up Hamburger Helper
Serves: 3-4
Calories:  Approx 625 per 1/4 recipe


Ingredients:
-2 cups pasta (I used elbow macaroni. Cavatappi or penne would work too)  Mini Penne
-1/2 pound ground beef
-2 big tablespoons of grated onion
-2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

-2 tablespoons butter
-1 1/2 tablespoons flour  2 Tb
-1/2 cup chicken stock  1 cup
-1 cup of half and half
-1/2 tablespoon dijon mustard  2 Tb
-1 1/4 cup shredded colby jack cheese  1.5 cups Kraft Triple Cheddar

Garnish:
-chopped dill pickles
-diced tomatoes or salsa

1. Boil a pot of water and add the pasta, cook per the box. Don't drain until the rest is ready.

2. In a large skillet brown the meat. Add the onion and worcestershire then some salt and pepper. When fully cooked, remove to a paper plate and get rid of the grease.

3. In the same skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for a minute. Whisk in the half and half and the chicken stock. Bring to a bubble and cook for a few minutes until it thickens up. Stir in the dijon. Add the cheese and keep stirring until all melted into gooey goodness. More salt and pepper.

4. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce skillet along with the meat. Serve with the dill pickles and tomatoes/salsa if you wish.

Matt wants to add that he sprinkled on his most favorite ingredient in the world and it made the dish unbelievable. What is this secret ingredient that makes everything better? A Little Caesars spice pak of course!

Onion and Garlic Pasta

Ok so this isn't the prettiest picture, but I promise it was very yummy. We will definitely be making this again. It is a spin off of something I found on Allrecipes.

Onion and Garlic Pasta
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
-2 and 1 tablespoons of unsalted butter
-1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
-3 cloves of fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
-2/3 cup chicken broth
-1 heaping tablespoon of dried italian seasoning
-8 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles
-1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper

1. In a large skillet over low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the onions and brown for about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook about 2 minutes until fragrant. Mix in the broth and seasoning and increase the heat to medium. Cook about 8 minutes or until the sauce has reduced a bit.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti. Drain. Add to the sauce skillet. Stir in the extra tablespoon of butter and parmesan. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

3. Serve! If the pasta is too dry, add a little bit of olive oil or a splash of broth. Don't let the sauce reduce so much next time.

Cookie Dough Dip

This came from my friend Jill. Makes a fabulous snacky appetizer! I really like the variation I came up with, but the party was split 50/50 on which was their fave.

Cookie Dough Dip
Serves: a party

1. Take a 8 oz block of (reduced fat) cream cheese and a stick of butter out to soften.

2. In a stand mixer (or a hand mixer and bowl) beat together the following:
-cream cheese and butter
-3/4 cup powdered sugar
-1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (not that imitation crap)

3. Stir in 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips. Chill and serve with graham cracker sticks (or graham crackers or vanilla wafers).

VARIATION:
Do everything above but add 1/4 cup of peanut butter in step #2. Then change the chocolate chips to 1 cup of peanut butter chips.

GBC!

(Sorry for the 'half eaten' picture...) I went to a Thanksgiving party and hosted my parents for the big turkey day itself. Both times I had to make my delicious new version of green bean casserole (GBC). It is hard to improve on such a classic comfort food, but I really like the minor additions. Hope you do too!

GBC
Serves: 6-8

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together the following:
-2 cans french style green beans, drained
-1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
-8 oz. Velveeta, cubed
-About a 1/2 cup of milk
-1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
-1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
-salt and pepper

2. Transfer to a baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes. (I like to use a dish that has more surface area for the French's onions)

3. Remove from the oven and top with lots of French's french fried onions. Bake additional 5 minutes. Mmmmm.

Ice Cream Sammiches

Ummm yum? Ok so this isn't really a RECIPE... more of a make it like this and enjoy post =) Use my Nom Cookie Recipe for fabulous chocolate chip cookies to use for these sammiches. I used Schwans Cinnamon ice cream for this.

Ice Cream Sammich
Serves: 1 per person

1. Set out some ice cream to soften.
2. Scoop and pack into a 1/3 cup measuring cup. Stick into freezer if needed to firm up.
3. Place 2 small cookies upside down on a piece of plastic wrap. Run a knife around the edge of the measuring cup to loosen the ice cream and plop down onto one cookie. Top with the other cookie.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer. Enjoy.

MY BIRTHDAY!

Matt wishes me a Happy Birthday!

Molly & Carl's Gibson wishes me a Happy Birthday

Lindsay & Keith's Kodi wishes me a Happy Birthday

Well my 27th birthday was yesterday. We went to Hunan Garden at 10 Mile and Telegraph in Southfield. It has kind of been our spot for many years. It is quiet, the staff is super nice, and the food is great. Matt had his Almond Boneless Chicken and I had the Szechuan Chicken... both amazing as always. I love going there because you get chips thingies and sauce, tea, entree, white or fried rice, eggroll, soup, and a little scoop of ice cream with your fortune cookie for about $10 each. Can't beat that!

Dill Dip

I have been eating and making this ever since I can remember. It has always been a favorite in our family and something really easy to take to parties. It goes great with veggies and chips. But carrots are the perfect match. I like to make it with low fat/no fat ingredients, but of course it tastes better with the super fatty stuff.... but my way you get to eat a lot more!



Dill Dip
Serves: a party

1. In a medium bowl combine the following:
*1 cup (8 oz) fat free sour cream
*1 cup (8 oz) low fat mayo (NOT miracle whip)
*3 tablespoons dried dill weed (not seed)
*3 tablespoons dried parsley
*3 tablespoons dried minced onion (not chopped)
*3 teaspoons seasoning blend (look here)
*3 teaspoons Accent (look here)

2. Transfer to your seving dish and refrigerate a few hours or even better overnight.

3. Serve with veggies or whatever you want. Keep it cool. (see below)

Fancy Schmancy Tip: I am sure most of you understand this, but it is something to consider when bringing a dish to pass like this. Get a slightly bigger container than your serving bowl and fill it halfway with crush ice. Set the dip bowl on top. That way it can sit out for longer and still be safe to eat. Just something to consider.

Chicken Pot Pies

Mmmm... I have been planning on trying something like this for awhile, I just couldnt decide how I wanted to do it. I am far to lazy to try anything complicated on a work night and these were sooo easy and yummy. We will definitely do this again.

Chicken Pot Pies
Serves: 2

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg (or whatever it says on the crescent roll package).

2. In a pan, heat some EVOO and cook up a half pound of chicken (I used tenderloins). Make sure to salt and pepper them well. Remove from the pan and using the same pan add about 3/4 of a 16 oz package of frozen stew veggies (carrots, onions, celery, potatoes) and cook them until nearly done (as in heated thru). Meanwhile, dice up the cooked chicken. If there are any large pieces of veggies, make sure to chop them into bite sized pieces.

3. Lightly spray three 4" mini pie pans with Pam or similar. Unroll a sheet of crescent roll dough. It now comes in a baking sheet with no seams!!! Take a pizza cutter and cut it into 6 squares. Take one square and lay it in the bottom of each pan and press down lightly and up the edges. It doesn't need to cover the whole pan.

4. Combine the chicken and veggies in a bowl. Add about a half can of cream of chicken soup, a couple splashes of milk, some minced garlic, parsley, and some montreal steak seasoning. Divide mixture into the 3 pans.

5. Cover each with a remaining square of dough and lightly press down to seal. Poke a couple holes in the top. Place the pans on a cookie sheet and into the oven.

6. Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until they look golden brown and delish.

7. Eat carefully because they are hot! We had them with Stouffers Harvest Apples. YUM.

Personal Lasagnas

One of Matt's favorites, he named this recipe. We like them better than regular lasagna and we can make these without a week's worth of leftovers. Sorry, this is another one of those no-measuring recipes.

Personal Lasagnas
Serves: 4

1. Boil 9 lasagna noodles (in case one breaks) per the package directions. Drain and cool a little before handling. Preheat oven to 350 deg.

2. Meanwhile, in a pan brown 1/2 pound ground round or whatever with a fat handful each of onion, green pepper, and roasted red pepper (or fresh). Make sure you throw some minced garlic and montreal steak seasoning in there. Oh and drain the fat...eww.

3. In a bowl, mix the meat/veggies with the following: 3 big scoops of cottage cheese (drain it if it appears watery), a couple of fat handfuls of shredded mozzarella, a bunch of italian seasoning, and a handful of seasoned bread crumbs.

4. Lay out each lasagna noodle flat. Spoon about 2 scoops of the meat filling onto each noodle and spread out. Roll each noodle up (about 3 flops over) and place in a 9x13 baking pan (yes this is messy). Repeat until you have 8 little packets. (see pictures above).

5. Place a half slice of provolone directly on top of each noodle. Dump a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce over the whole thing, make sure you cover it all. Sprinkle on handfuls of shredded mozz and top with sprinkles of italian seasoning.

6. Cover the pan with foil and pop in the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until you are too hungry to wait anymore.

6.5 (optional) Take the 9th kinda cold noodle and insert it into the emptied sauce jar and wiggle around so you get a little sauce on it. Insert in your mouth. hehe yum.

7. Remove the lasagna and let sit for a couple minutes. Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Silicone Baking Mat

Yay for wedding presents! My fabulous friend Julie got us a silicone baking mat (silpat). If you haven't used one, you should. They are awesome for doughs, pastries, cookies etc. This is the one I have from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Buffalo Chicken Calzone

Another recipe stolen from Lindsay! Of course, she stole it from somewhere else haha. We liked the flavor of this but made some big changes and if we make it again, will make some more changes. I noted everything in red.

Buffalo Chicken Calzone

Serves: 2-4

* 1 lb ground chicken

* Chicken seasoning to taste (omitted)
* Ground pepper to taste
* 6 oz. reduced fat cream cheese (we used fat free, we would use 8 oz.)
* 3/4 cup hot wing sauce (we used Louisiana's, we would reduce to 1/2 cup)
* Frozen onion/celery mix to taste (omitted, replaced with handfuls of diced red peppers, green peppers, and red onion)
* 1 handful shredded mozzarella cheese or to taste
* 1 handful shredded cheddar cheese or to taste (we used colby jack)
* 1 refrigerated pizza dough (we used a Betty Crocker packet of DIY pizza dough)
* Ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing for dipping

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put jelly roll pan or pizza stone in oven to warm.

2. Brown chicken and frozen onions/celery (peppers). The chicken was so lean I added a bit of olive oil while browning. Drain fat and add poultry seasoning, ground pepper and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese melts. Add wing sauce. Simmer until sauce is slightly reduced. Remove from heat.

3. On a piece of parchment paper, roll out pizza dough. (I used a silpat baking sheet)

4. Sprinkle cheese over dough, then spread slightly cooled chicken mixture over half (long ways) of the dough. Sprinkle on raw diced red onion. Roll the dough long ways and seal the dough at the seam. Helpful hint: rather than trying to pull the dough from the parchment as you roll it, lift the parchment long ways so that the entire piece of dough rolls at once without breaking. (I put a few slices in the dough and braided it. The dough recipe was BARELY big enough to contain everything.)

5. Cut slices on top of the dough with a knife so steam can escape. Spray lightly with olive oil, or brush dough with an egg wash.

6. Put calzone with parchment on the hot jelly roll pan and bake for 17-20 minutes, or until brown. (We left it on the silpat and slid it onto a cookie sheet)

7. Once out of the oven, let calzone rest for a few minutes and slice into generous diagonal pieces. Serve with dipping sauce.

Laughing Cow Chicken

This is a really easy recipe I borrowed from Lindsay. We liked it and will probably make it again. I found the cheese in the specialty gourmet cheese area. It comes in a circular container and in many flavors. Served it with applesauce and mashed redskin potatoes.

Laughing Cow Chicken
Serves: 2

Ingredients
* 2 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally 3/4 of the way through (so you can stuff the inside)
* 2 wedges Laughing Cow light cheese (one per breast) (we used garlic herb flavor)
* Italian seasoning to taste
* 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs (we used seasoned)
* Handful grated parmesan cheese
* Cooking spray

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Open each chicken breast up and spread one wedge of Laughing Cow inside the middle. Sprinkle italian seasoning inside to taste. Fold chicken back over to original shape.
3. Mix together bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in a shallow dish. Spray each chicken breast with cooking spray and then dip in bread crumb mixture to coat. Place on baking sheet.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Beef Stew

Now I am not a huge beef eater, but I do like to throw some red meat into the mix every now and then because it makes Matt happy. This is an easy recipe that smells amazing when you come home from work.

Beef Stew
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients
*1-1 1/2 pounds of stew meat
*1/4 cup all purpose flour
*1 teaspoon salt
*2 teaspoons black pepper
*2 clove garlic, minced
*2 bay leaves
*2+ teaspoons paprika
*2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
*1 medium onion, chopped
*1-2 cans beef broth  (depending on how you like your stew)
*3 large redskin potatoes, chopped
*2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
*1-2 stalk celery, sliced

Directions
1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and pepper. Pour over meat and stir to coat. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, worcestershire, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.

2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

3. If the stew is not thick enough for your liking about 30 minutes before serving, scoop out a ladleful of juice into a cup. Add about 1 tablespoon of corn starch and stir to dissolve. Mix into the stew. Wait about 5-10 minutes. If it is still too thin for you, repeat with the cornstarch until you are happy. Remove the bayleaves before serving. Enjoy!

Return of da dip

Matt had a craving for pretzels and dip, so we tried this one again with some modifications. We think it turned out too salty (from the packet) but overall very good.

Garlic Cheese Dip Part 2

Serves: A family

1. In a medium bowl, mix together:
-1 block softened cream cheese (regular, light, or fat free)
-1 packet Good Seasonings Salad Dressing mix in the Garlic Herb flavor
-3-4 Tablespoons of tomato sauce (this is not spaghetti sauce!)
-1 Tablespoon (or more) dried italian seasonings
-3+ teaspoons of dried cheese topping (like you use for popcorn), found in the spice aisle

2. Serve with pretzels, crackers, probably even veggies. Make sure to keep it cool.

New Plates!!

Yay for finally opening and using fun stuff from our wedding! We picked out Corelle's "Simple Lines" collection and thanks to my mom, Matt's aunt, and my friend Molly.... we got all our dishes. Plus we got lots of cool bakeware and matching stuff from other family and friends. I guess we owe you all a meal on our fabulous new stuff!

By the way, that's the spaghetti we eat every week. No recipe so you won't ever see me blog about it. It is made from 1/3 pound meat with seasonings put into a can of ... Chef Boyardee spaghetti sauce! Matt has been eating it since he was little and it can be hard to find. We like it because it is exactly the right amount of sauce for two. =)

Cheezed up Chicken and Rice

This is a combo of two recipes. I had everything on hand and we needed a quick easy meal. It wasn't the best thing I ever ate but it was good.... and easy.

Cheezed up Chicken and Rice

Serves: 4

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. In a 9x13 pan, mix 3/4 cup uncooked regular long grain white rice and 1 1/3 cups water.
3. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a shallow dish. In another dish mix 3/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, palmful of dried parsley and oregano, generous shakes of salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of paprika.
4. Dip a chicken breast into the butter and then into the bread crumbs. Place in the pan over the rice. Repeat with 3 more breasts.
5. Pop into the oven for about 35 minutes. Then take out, top with handfuls of colby jack cheese and put back into the oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked all the way through.

6. Serve!

Peas and Carrots

Eat your veggies!! You know you want to. We had ours with roast beef and mashed potatoes (nope, didn't make those haha).

Peas and Carrots
Serves: 4

1. Bring a medium/large saucepan of salted water to a boil.
2. Add 2 cups of sliced carrots. I like to use leftover cut up carrot sticks or whole baby matchstick carrots. Boil for 7 minutes.
3. Add 1/2 pound of snow peas (trim off the tips first). Boil for 3 minutes.
4. Drain and set aside veggies.
5. In the same pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Then add 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch to thicken. Return veggies to the pan and stir in 2 tablespoons honey. Cook over medium heat until heated thru.
6. Eat 'em!

Post Honeymoon Recovery Potion

You know you laughed at the title... Otherwise known as Chicken Soup. Matt and I returned from our amazing Jamaican honeymoon to crappy Michigan weather and we both caught colds!! So the only thing I have made from scratch as a wife is this soup. It is super easy and fast, but oh so good. So hopefully you have the chance to make this because you want to, not because you are sick.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Feeds: 3-4

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
1 small chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 box chicken broth
2 chicken boullion cubes
2 cups water
2 full cups wide egg noodles

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken chunks, onion, and garlic salt and cook until chicken is done. Add the celery and carrots, basil, oregano, and pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes or so.

2. Add the boullion cubes, water, and broth. Crank up to high heat and bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, add the egg noodles and reduce to medium/ medium-low heat, but continue to simmer for about 20 minutes.

4. Serve with saltines or crescent rolls... or whatever will make you feel better!


Tips: I like to use kitchen scissors to cube up chicken breasts, so much easier! Also, I am lazy and like to buy the pre-cut into sticks carrots and celery that come in a container by the salad at the store. I have also used a small can of sliced carrots, just add them during the simmering part so they don't get too mushy. Hope that helps!

Hello my lovelies!!!!

I'm back... and married!!! Thank you for your patience over the last couple weeks. Hopefully I can get around to cooking and blogging more.... since ordering pizza doesn't really count. Let me know if you have any requests... I'll take new ideas any way I can get them. If you want to see some pretty sweet teaser pics from our fabulous photographer... go here.

Apology

Sorry for neglecting my blog! The wedding is getting very close now and I really haven't been cooking much... mostly just premade junk. A few of the entries below are pretty lame, but they are everyday meals that are easy and we enjoy them. Hopefully it will help you remember a few lost favorites. In three weeks the wedding and honeymoon will be over (booo!) and it will be back to the real world... and the kitchen.

Molly's German Apple Pancake

This looked so good I had to steal it from Molly! I am so sick of the eggs and meat breakfast, I wanted to make something different... so here it is. Matt actually enjoyed this despite the fact that it is sweet. I was even able to snap a picture of the pancake still almost fully puffed up before it deflated. That is one of the great things about German pancakes... they are so light and they get all huge and puffy and look really cool... kind of like a souffle. So thanks Molly, we really enjoyed this one =)

Molly's German Apple Pancake
copied from Molly

Apple Filling:
1 small Granny Smith apple
2 tsp butter or margarine
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (I used 1 1/2)

Pancake:
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
2 tsp butter or margarine (melted)
Powdered sugar or warm maple syrup (optional)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray small oval baker (I don't have a fancy dish like that, so I used a glass pie pan) with nonstick cooking spray. For apple filling, peel, core and slice apple into thin quarters. Melt butter in small saute pan over medium heat. Add apple, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook 20 minutes or until apple is very tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. (Why would you do that!? The liquid syrup is the best part! My apples were tender around 10 minutes... I stopped there) Meanwhile, for pancake, combine flour, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Then whisk together eggs, milk and melted butter in a small mixing bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; whisk until dry ingredients are moistened. (Batter will still be slightly lumpy.) (I just did everything in one bowl at one time) Pour batter into baker. Spoon apple mixture evenly over batter. Bake (on the middle rack!) 20-23 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven; sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into wedges and serve with maple syrup, if desired.

Yield: 2 servings

My Notes: As noted above. Also, we did not use maple syrup, it did not need it at all. But a dash or five of powdered sugar never hurt anyone. Make sure there is not a rack above the middle one that you are baking on. The pancake should puff up a top and you don't want it to hit the rack above it!