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.

Chicken and Asparagus

I saw this recipe some time ago on allrecipes.com. I modified it a tad. Overall it came out pretty good and Matt liked it. I personally was not feeling the mayo in this, and will probably sub it out for sour cream or something if I make it again. And if you aren't into kinda mushy asparagus, then this dish might not be for you. We served it with a couple of biscuits.

Chicken and Asparagus
Feeds: 3-4

1 bunch fresh asparagus, snapped (see below)
4 THINLY sliced chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease a 9x9 baking dish and cover the bottom completely with as much asparagus as you can fit.
3. Lay chicken breasts in a single layer over asparagus, salt and pepper to taste.
4. In a bowl, mix the mayo, soup, and paprika then pour over chicken, covering completely.
5. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes (until chicken is fully cooked). Remove and sprinkle cheese over top. Put back in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is all melted.
6. Remove from the oven and let stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

**Fancy Schmancy Tip: I never knew how much of the asparagus stalk to use... but then I heard this little tip. Just hold both ends and bend. The stalk will snap in the proper place. Discard the stump and voila! Tender fresh asparagus.

Baked Tortellini

This is a recipe that I make from time to time. It doesn't take a lot of prep and it is a whole lot better than throwing plain noodles on a plate with boring sauce.

Baked Tortellini
Serves: 4-6

1. Get some water boiling on the stove and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mince up about a stick to a stick and a half of pepperoni (about 4 ounces), a handful of onion, and a handful of red & green peppers. I didn't really measure (see picture).
3. When water is boiling, cook a +/- 19 ounce bag of frozen cheese tortellini according to the directions (about 3 minutes). Drain the pasta when done but.....
4. Put the same pot back on the hot burner and toss in the onion, peppers, pepperoni and add a clove or more of minced garlic. Cook for a couple minutes to soften up the veggies.
5. Still in the same pot, dump the pasta back in and pour in 3/4 of a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (We like Prego roasted red pepper & garlic). Then stir in a big handful of shredded mozzarella or italian cheese blend.
6. Dump the mixture into a 9x9 baking pan. Pour the remaining sauce over top and cover generously with more shredded cheese. Sprinkle some pinches of italian seasoning over top.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Don't forget to pop in your favorite garlic bread!
8. Make sure you let this cool for a couple minutes otherwise you will have a sloppy hot mess when you try and serve it. Or the lava hot sauce will burn your mouth!!!! =)

Garlic Cheese Dip

Well we needed something to go with the awesome pretzel crackers that Matt's mom brought over, so I whipped this up. It was pretty good!

Garlic Cheese Dip
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 Cheese flavor (similar to this, usually found by the croutons at the store)
-3-4 Tablespoons of tomato sauce (this is not spaghetti sauce!)
-1 Tablespoon (or more) dried italian seasonings

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

Grilling Madness!

Alright so I know I haven't updated in awhile but I am coming back in style! Matt's parents, sister, and her husband all came down to our house to go to a Tiger's game on Saturday. We knew we didn't want a huge meal, but still wanted to grill and have some snacks. This is what I came up with (below). Then served it with a boxed pasta salad (our favorite.... Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad in "classic" flavor). It was delicious and easy. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. (By the way, the Tiger's won 5 to 3)

Grilling Tip

Exhibit A

Ok I have no idea who ever invented the "let's put everything alternating on one skewer because it looks pretty".... but they are an idiot. I am sure many of you know this already but it is much better to group your foods (veggies, potatoes, meats) on seperate skewers so that you can ensure everything cooks properly and isn't under or overdone. Yes it is possible that some meats (like shrimp) will grill at the same rate as some veggies, but it is much easier to cook it all seperately. Avoid the temptation of the beautiful alternating skewers!! Save yourself...!!!!!!

Chicken Skewers

Mmm I love chicken on the grill! This is just from stuff I always have laying around the house. This is marinated, so plan ahead!

Chicken Skewers
Serves: 4

1. In a large ziploc bag, dump about 1/3 bottle of your favorite italian dressing, about 1/4 cup of soy sauce, about 1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce (yes more soy sauce), 1 clove minced garlic, and about 6 dashes of cayenne pepper (or more if you are like me).

2. Toss in 4 thinly sliced chicken breasts cut into about 4 pieces each. It is ok if they seem large, they will be folded over on the skewer... I am lazy and I like the Tyson 'trimmed and ready' chicken. Marinate for a couple of hours. It is not a good idea to do it for a long time because the chicken is thin and will actually start to 'cook' in the marinade and will make it kinda tough. So this isn't an overnighter.

3. Take a hunk of chicken and fold in half and place on the skewer. Repeat as necessary with gaps for proper cooking.

4. Grill on a 350 degree/ medium heat grill for about 8 minutes. Yay chicken!

Potato Skewers

How can any meal be complete without potatoes!? This was pretty easy and they turned out great! Another recipe I just made up. I marinated these, so plan ahead before you grill.


Potato Skewers
Serves: 4-6


1. Wash and cut in half (or quarter if they are larger) about 10 small (about golf ball sized) redskin potatoes.

2. In a large ziploc bag, pour in a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, a tablespoon of white vinegar, a palmful of dried dill weed, a half palmful of dried thyme, and some salt and pepper. Toss in the potatos and marinate for a couple hours before grilling.

3. Remove from the bag and place on skewers with a little gap in between.

4. Grill on a 350 degree/ medium heat grill for about 15 minutes. Mmmm potatoes.

Veggie Skewers

This isn't really a recipe but I guess I will include it.


Veggie Skewers
Serves: 4-6

1. Wash a red pepper and green pepper and cut into 1"x1" hunks.

2. Cut a vidalia onion into hunks, I try and leave the layers together for easier and more stable skewering.

3. Place on skewers with gaps in between for proper cooking.

4. Drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.

5. Grill on a 350 degree/ medium heat grill for about 8-10 minutes.