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!

Easiest Fruit Salad Ever...

We were going to a Labor Day potluck at a friend's house and needed a dish to pass. It sounded like they had most things taken care of but no fruit! This is a family favorite of mine and we even serve it at Thanksgiving. You can pretty much make it with whatever fruit you like and in whatever quantity you like. This is what I did THIS time...

Fruit Salad
Serves: a crowd

In a large bowl, combine your favorite fruits:
-1/2 container blueberries
-3/4 container sliced strawberries
-lots of green grapes
-lots of red grapes
-1 granny smith apple, peeled and chunked
-1 braeburn or fuji apple, peeled and chunked
-1 can pineapple chunks, very well drained
-1 small can mandarin oranges, very well drained

Add about 8 ounces of Cool Whip and blend gently. There should just be enough whipped topping to coat the fruit but not in big blobs. Keep refrigerated! Ta da!

**Notes:
1. Bananas will get mushy in this salad, so if you are not eating it immediately, I do not recommend using them.
2. Leftovers of this are great... however, the longer it sits, the more watery it will get!
3. Be sure to lick the lid of the Cool Whip container. What? That's the best!
4. Chocolate Cool Whip makes this fruit salad very interesting ;)

Spicy Chicken Sandwich

If you haven't guessed by now, we love spicy food and I pretty much start to salivate when I hear anything about Frank's Cayenne Sauces. This was easy and freaking delish. If you hate spicy food, you are reading the wrong blog!

Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Serves: 1 sandwich per person

1. In a skillet, heat some vegetable oil (just cover the bottom of the pan) over medium-high. Olive oil is not appropriate for this recipe.
2. In a large plastic baggy, throw in some italian seasoned bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
3. Take thinly sliced chicken breasts and toss them into the bag and make sure they are evenly coated. You really don't need to do anything to them first, the breasts should be moist enough to pick up just a little bit of the seasoned mix.
4. Place breasts into heated oil and cook about 3 minutes per side, or until chicken is fully cooked.
5. Meanwhile, slice up some red onions, cheese (we used pepperjack), and lettuce and toast a hamburger bun. Also, take a small plate and pour out some Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce.
6. After chicken is cooked, pat with a paper towel (careful not to burn yourself!). Place on the sauced plate and flip over to coat both sides heavily. Any remaining sauce feel free to dump right onto your sandwich... I know I did!
7. Assemble sandwich and grab a big glass of milk to go with it!

Semi-Club Sandwich

This is just plain quick and easy. We like to have our version of a club sandwich any time we have leftover bacon from breakfast the day or two before. Not much of a recipe, but hopefully it is something that you don't have too often but will now that you remember it exists! We had ours with leftover fruit salad and french fries.

Semi-Club Sandwich
Serves: 1 sandwich per person

1. Test your multi-tasking skills and do the following:
-Pop a hamburger bun into the toaster
-Slap some slices of ham, turkey, and bacon on a plate and throw them in the microwave
-Tear up some lettuce
-Slice up some red onion

2. Take the bun out, throw the meat on. Put a slice of cheese on while the meat is warm to make it melt. Put the lettuce and onion on top. Add mayo or other condiments as you see fit.
3. Nom it.

Cheater's Chicken

Ok to be honest, I read a lot of people's food blogs and roll my eyes. I wonder... do they seriously cook something that fancy every freaking night for dinner? If so, then call me jealous! This really doesn't count as a recipe, I just hope it helps out someone with a quick idea of something to whip up for dinner on a night where there just isn't the time for that fancy stuff.

Cheater's Chicken
Feeds: How much chicken do you have?

1. Throw a little oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Toss in some chicken breasts, tenderloins, etc. (I used thinly sliced breasts).
3. Salt and pepper to taste. I added a bunch of cayenne pepper! Mmm, my fave.
4. In this case, I cooked the chicken for 3 minutes each side.
5. Open up your favorite rice mix, make it according to the directions in the same pan as the chicken. I like to use Zatarain's low sodium Jambalaya. But any of the rice-a-roni's or similar work just fine.
6. Serve it with whatever is left in your fridge, call it dinner.