Mexican Baked Penne

You should definitely make this.  I am also "borrowing" her photo because I am too lazy to take my own photos.  Click the link for the original recipe, my modifications are below (like cutting the recipe in half because I am not cooking for an army).



Mexican Baked Penne
Serves:  6
Approx 410 calories per serving

1/4 pound Garden Delight Radiatore Pasta from Ronzoni
12 oz ground beef
1 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz frozen veggies (onion and 3 pepper blend from Kroger)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 jars salsa - 16 oz of Chi Chis Thick and Chunky Hot Salsa
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
1.5 cups shredded cheese, I used 'casserole' blend and pepper jack

Preheat oven to 350*.  Boil pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, saute garlic, onions, and peppers in the olive oil over medium~high heat in a large non~stick skillet.  Season ground beef with salt and pepper and add to pan.  Add spices and additional salt and pepper to taste.  Cook ground beef until browned.  Drain and add to a large bowl.  Add the beans, salsa and pasta. Stir to combine.

Spray a 9×13″ (I think mine is a little smaller than this) baking dish with non~stick cooking spray.  Pour half the pasta mixture into the pan.  Top with 1/2 of the cheese cheese.  Cover with remaining pasta.  Then top with remaining cheese.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is golden.

I topped with some green onions and sour cream... I think it definitely made the dish.

CMC 3

This year's cider mill crawl was a huge success... the weather was gorgeous, the donuts and cider were awesome, and the company was so much fun.

If you missed out on previous cider mill blog posts, here is some background:
CMC 1
CMC 2

Because we have already mostly covered the southwestern metro Detroit area mills, we headed to the northwestern area.  Next year, east bound!  Check out a few pictures from the day here, but if we are friends on Facebook I will upload a bunch more when I am done blogging.

 Place settings with judging card

 Bags for this year's crawl... resuable totes from JoAnn's with little apple trees!

 Jacki and Katie enjoying the first taste of the day at Spicer's in Fenton

 Jill is very excited about the cider at Spicer's

 While Steph and I are stoked about the donuts at Spicer's!

 Second stop, Parshallville Grist mill in Parshallville just down the road from Spicer's

 Very tasty... Steph had to grab a bowl of caramel apple slices too mmmmm

 Jacki is impressed at Parshallville's selection of apples

 Hanging out at Diehl's in Holly... Katie is excited because she just caught a bee under a cup

 Slightly less excited faces at Long's in Commerce... something broke in their barn and it was closed inside.

 Back to my house for tasting and judging

 Katie had to leave early, but here is the rest of the cider mill gang

 After all that sugar and carbs, we had a light dinner of wraps, veggies, fruit, and salad

Thanks girls for another awesome crawl!  I cannot wait until next year for CMC4!

And now, for the results!!!!

Overall Experience:
1st-  Parshallville
2nd- Spicer's
3rd-  Diehl's
4th-  Long's

Best Donut:
1st-  Spicer's
2nd-  Parshallville
3rd-  Long's
4th-  Diehl's

Best Cider:
1st-  Spicer's
2nd-  Parshallville
3rd-  Long's
4th-  Diehl's

OVERALL RANKING (120 points possible)

1st-  Spicer's with 106 points  WINNER!

2nd-  Parshallville with 100 points
3rd-  Long's with 81.5 points
4th-  Diehl's with 62 points


Here are my thoughts:
Spicer's - It was very busy and seemed like there was a ton to do there.  Parking sucked and the line for donuts was confusing.  But... the cider and donuts were seriously amazing and would probably beat out any of the previous year's winners.

Parshallville Grist-  Adorable.  It was pretty empty but the other customers said that wasn't usually the case.  No activities to do here, but a very nice store area.  The cider and donuts were very close to Spicer's, so it is worth the visit.

Diehl's-  Not very impressive.  The cider was like apple juice and while the donuts were flaming hot, they were just ok.  There is a large parking area with tables and play areas but it is in the middle of nowhere.

Long's-  This is a little hard to judge because the barn was under repair so we could only buy donuts and cider from the stand in the parking lot.  The cinnamon sugar was coarser than the other places so it was crunchy.  These donuts actually held up the best over the couple days following the crawl.  I would have loved to have had them fresh and hot.

Definitely try this at home!!  Grab a few friends and head out to a couple places and do your own judging!  Here are a few tips:
1.  I highly recommend light meals before/after.
2.  Don't eat more than 1/4 donut of each kind at each mill if you are doing a tasting later as well.  It is hard, but limit yourself.
3.  Bring napkins because most places don't have them.  They usually have small cups for the cider.
4.  Throw a cooler in the car if you want to keep your cider cold.  Also, throw in some water because you will need something after all the cider.
5.  Three mills is really what you should be doing, we added a fourth because it made sense geographically.  But when you get to that fourth mill, you are a little sugared up and need a break.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your own crawls!!

Salsa Chicken Tacos

 

So my random return to the food blog world is a fail in the picture department.  Sorry, you will just have to trust me that this is delicious.  I make it as often as I can but realized I never blogged it... at least I don't think so.  Either way, it deserves a quick post.

Salsa Chicken Tacos

Serves: 4ish

-3 frozen chicken breasts
-3/4-1 jar salsa (I like Pace thick and chunky- hot)
-1 cup frozen corn kernels
-1/2 block cream cheese
-1 cup canned (rinsed) black beans
-shredded cheese
-10 pk taco sized tortillas
-rice (plain white instant... 1 cup water/1 cup rice)

In a crockpot, throw in the frozen chicken and dump salsa over top.  Cook on low for about 6 hours.

Break up chicken in the crock, throw in the corn, cream cheese, and beans and stir.  Turn up to high and cook for about 30 minutes.  Stir to make sure it is all mixed up and hot.

Spoon into tortilla shells.  Top with cheese if you want.  We usually add some plain rice to the shell first because it can be kinda juicy and the rice will soak it up.

TA DA!  Difficult right?  Well it is ridiculously awesome so you should go make it (looking at you Pete).  It even works great as a dip... just add more salsa to make it thinner and scoop with chips.

Steak and Potato Salad

Matt insisted I blog this so we remember to make it in the future........Adapted from the Family Circle cookbook.

1 lb red-skin potatoes (3-4 large), cut into 8 pieces each
4 strips bacon
1 small red onion, chopped
1 lb steak, cut into strips
salt
steak seasoning
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1/2 tsp cold water
baby spinach
Crumbled gorgonzola cheese

In a very large pan (I think it is a deep 12" pan), boil some water and throw in potatoes with salt.  Boil for about 15 minutes and drain, set aside.

In the same pan, cook the bacon until crisp, set aside to drain on paper towel.  In the bacon grease, throw in the onion for a minute over medium then add steak strips, season with steak seasoning, for about 2 minutes.  Remove and set aside.

Dump in the honey and vinegar, cook over medium for 2 minutes then add the corn starch solution for a minute.  Add the potatoes, steak, onion, crumbled bacon and stir to coat/warm up everything.

Spoon over a bed of fresh spinach.  Add cheese crumbles to taste.

Serves 4.  Per serving (approx): 450 calories; 15 g fat.

Cider Mill Crawl 2010

If you don't know what a cider mill crawl is... check out last year's post:  http://lovestonom.blogspot.com/2009/10/cider-mill-crawl.html

For more pictures of this year's crawl, check out Molly's blog post: http://myhappycasa.blogspot.com/2010/09/2nd-annual-cider-mill-prep-recap.html

Cider Mill #1:
Plymouth Orchards-  This was last year's winner so we decided to keep it in the rotation and add 2 other local mills.  I like this place.  It has a nice store, large seating area inside, hayrides, animal farm, cut outs to stick your head thru, and delicious donut and cider.

Cider Mill #2:
Wiard's-  This was easily our least favorite place.  However, this is the only one of the 3 that offered pasteurized cider for the preggos and their plain donuts were very cakey.  Plus they had a DIY caramel apple bar!  But the store was a maze and we had to walk like a million miles from the parking lot.  Plus you had to pay for all the added activities on the grounds.

Cider Mill #3:
Apple Charlie's:  Their freshly fried plain donuts are super delicious.  Nice crunch outside and warm and fluffy on the inside.  They had lots of crazy animals on their farm (like an ostrich) and they had face painting and tons of other food like hot dogs.  Parking was annoying and it was very busy with children everywhere.

Here are the results:
We voted 1-5 for the overall experience of the mill, then 1-10 each for donuts and cider for a potential score of 25 points.  There were 5 people voting so a perfect score would be 125.

Overall score:  Apple Charlie's 104, Plymouth 103, Wiard's 83
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's, new champion by 1 point!

Donut score:  Apple Charlie's 46, Plymouth 41, Wiard's 34
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's

Cider score:  Apple Charlie's 43, Plymouth 41, Wiard's 34
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's

Experience score:  Apple Charlie's 15, Plymouth 22, Wiard's 17

WINNER:  Plymouth

Mmmm first taste at Plymouth

Molly and Katie....

....sampling the goodies

Cute group shot... Monica, Stephanie, Me, Molly, Katie

Yes it is sideways.... Baby H's first trip to a cider mill! haha

Molly thinks tractors are the best.

Katie laughing with a mouthful of donut at Wiard's

Group shot at Wiard's (missing me)

I made little shopping bags for us....yes I am a dork.

Molly was fascinated with the donut maker at Apple Charlie's

Molly's tablescape.... isn't she awesome at this?

We had salad for lunch.... last year we had lunch then did the crawl then had dinner then did the donut tasting.... BAD IDEA

Awwww so cute!

I think I still prefer Plymouth Orchard and Cider Mill in all 3 categories, but majority rules!  I can't wait until next year's crawl!!!  We were already planning for next year while scarfing down the donuts this year =)  Thanks girls for making this year's crawl super fun!!!  Love you all.

It is that time of year again...

You all were super amazing last year and submitted your votes... and Simplicity placed in the top 5 of WDIV's Vote 4 the Best Contest.  Thank you soooo much for your support.

But it is that time of year where we need your help again.... we have once again been nominated for Best Wedding Planner in Detroit and we would love to have your continued support!

If you could take 2 minutes to vote for us we would be super excited.  If you voted last year, you can still use the same log in information.  THANKS!!!!!!!!!!! 

http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/simplicity/biz/334808

Remember to check out/become a follower of our blog!  www.simplicitydoc.com

Cajun Pasta and Shrimp

(sorry no pictures) This was pretty darn tasty and we will definitely make it again.  Matt rejected my idea of Jambalaya for dinner last week so I snuck the flavors into our standard shrimp pasta we make sometimes.  Evil delicious genius.

Cajun Pasta and Shrimp
Serves: 2

-2/3 box linguine
-about 18 shrimp (the 36-40/lb size), tails removed
-1 tablespoon butter
-1 garlic clove minced
-2 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons flour
-3/4 cup diced green pepper (I used frozen)
-3/4 cup diced onion (again, frozen)
-1/2-3/4 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
-2 cups half and half
-1.5 tablespoons cajun seasoning (I used 1 T but it wasn't enough)

1.  Add 1 tablespoon butter to a 10" skillet and melt, add the garlic and the shrimp.  Cook just until done and remove to a plate and dump out any liquid.
2.  Start boiling a pot of water and cook the pasta according to the box.
3.  Add the other 2 tablespoons to the skillet and melt, add the flour and cook over medium until it thickens.  Add the onions and green peppers.  Cook until done.  Add the tomatoes.  Add the half and half and the seasoning.  Bring to a bubble and simmer over medium until thickened (about 10 minutes).
4.  Throw the shrimp back into the sauce to warm up.  Serve over pasta.

If you want to spice it up (because it is actually pretty mild) add some cayenne pepper or Franks Red Hot Sauce.  Yum.

Marshmallow Cakes

So I have baked oreos and raw cookie dough into cupcakes, I started wondering what else I could do.  I had this bag of marshmallows ... I have no idea why I bought them since I don't really ever use them.  Well.... that led me to thinking about baking mallows into cakes.  My friends were split 50/50 on whether or not this could be done.  My friend Stephanie decided to be my mallow sous chef and see if we could try a whole bunch of combinations to see if it would work.

We tried mini muffin cups, regular sized, and texas sized.  We tried whole mallows, cut up ones, and marshmallow fluff.  Plus we tried putting them inside the batter, on top of the batter, during the last half of baking, after baking.................. pretty much anything we could think of.   We even tried squishing a mini cake between two grahams frosted with fluff.

The verdict?  If you encase the mallow in batter, it mostly bakes away into the batter.  If you put it on top and bake it, it blows up all huge and then loses all its air and deflates after you take it out.  The best solution was a full sized marshmallow placed into the regular sized cupcake halfway thru baking.  This yielded a slightly browned mallow while still holding most of its shape.

The biggest problem, surprisingly, is we couldn't get the right chocolate flavor to make it taste smore-y.  We used a devil's food cake with chocolate pudding to make it more dense.... it just wasn't a strong enough chocolate flavor.  I stuck with a box cake mix and canned frosting just to make it easy and concentrate on techniques of stuffing the mallow inside.  We also tried putting chocolate chips inside the cakes to get more chocolate flavor.  Then for the graham taste we tried straight graham crackers.  Then we tried the recipe for a graham cracker topping we found on top of the box.

I still haven't tried all the different combinations yet, but overall the ones we did taste just weren't DELICIOUS.  So get the real marshmallow taste you really need to put the fluff on after the fact, and then it is just a cupcake frosted with fluff.... boring.  It might be tastier if I had one of those little creme brulee torch thingies to get some color on the fluff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken and Rice Soup

For once Matt requested soup for dinner.  I wasn't going to waste this opportunity since it rarely presents itself.  I had seen something similar to this but I expanded on it.  Perfect way to warm up!  Definitely hearty enough to have for dinner.  (sorry the picture sucks... my friend "borrowed" my kitchen light a year ago and hasn't returned it.... so the lighting in my house is really bad!)

Chicken and Rice Soup
Serves: 2+

Ingredients:
-Olive oil
-1 chicken breast cut into bite sized chunks
-salt and pepper
-1 tablespoon butter
-1/2 cup diced onion
-2 cloves minced garlic
-1 tablespoon flour
-1 tablespoon dried parsley
-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
-1 bay leaf
-1 can chicken broth
-1 1/2 cups of milk or half and half
-1 cup water
-1 cup instant rice (uncooked)
-1/2 small can sliced carrots (or fresh sliced if you aren't the lazy type)
-1 stalk celery sliced
-1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place chicken in the pot, season with salt and pepper, and cook 5 minutes, until juices run clear. Remove chicken, and set aside.

2.  Reduce heat to medium-low. Melt butter in the pot. Stir in onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes. Stir in flour, and cook until lightly browned.

3.  Throw the chicken back in along with the broth, milk, thyme, parsley, Old Bay, carrots, celery and bay leaf.  Simmer 15 minutes. Then start step 4.

4.  In a Pyrex container, put the water in the microwave and heat to boiling (like 3-5 minutes).  Dump in the rice and stir.  Cover with foil and set aside for 5 minutes.  Fluff and dump into the soup.  Let it all mingle for a few minutes then serve.

**If the soup is too thick for you, just add another 1/2 cup or so of water until you get it the way you like.

Shrimp Etoufee

Yum yum!!  I combined a few recipes I found to make this winner.  We will definitely be eating this again.  (I am pretty positive I remembered the recipe for this, but if something doesn't turn out right, please let me know so I can revise it)

Shrimp Etoufee
Serves: 2+
Calories:  1300 in recipe

Ingredients:

-about a pound of shrimp, tails removed
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon pepper
-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup butter
-1/4 cup butter
-1/4 cup flour
-1 cup diced onion
-1 cup sliced celery
-1 cup diced green pepper
-maybe some cornstarch
-1 1/2 cup water

Directions:
1.  In a large skillet, place 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour over medium heat.  Cook until it gets as brown as you can get it.  The longer the better without it burning or getting nasty.

2.  Throw in the onions and rest of the butter and cook for a few minutes.  Then throw in the celery and bell peppers for a couple more minutes.  The onions should be translucent and the celery and peppers should be softened but not mushy.

3.  Throw in the salt, pepper, and red pepper with the shrimp and water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.  If the mixture isn't thickened, take out some of the liquid and mix in a teaspoon or two of cornstarch, mix until dissolved, and then return to the skillet for a couple more minutes until it is as thickened as you like it.

4.  Serve with rice.  We used Zatarains yellow rice.

I'm back... kind of.

Yes, I am a terrible person.  I abandoned my food blog for over a month.  To tell you the truth, it was feeling a little like homework and I was getting annoyed.  I think I will start posting again, maybe just a couple things per month.  The biggest problem I am facing is that after trying all these new recipes over the past year, I keep making them!  So I have nothing new to blog when I am just making the same thing all the time.

My focus has also changed for the moment.  I am now making a lot more recipes that are super cheap and easy.  Now, this doesn't mean gourmet food... and I am betting most food bloggers don't post this kind of stuff.  Too bad.  So if you are gonna get all nuts on me about opening several canned foods to make a recipe... you should probably leave now.  But if you are looking for some cheap easy recipes to add to your weekly routine, you may want to stick around because I have a couple saved up.

Thanks for coming back.... I plan on posting one recipe today and hoarding the rest for later.

~*CONTEST!!*~

Simplicity Day of Coordination is having a contest!!!!  Check it out. 

Apple Crisp - 1

I love apple crisp, probably more than apple pie which is amazing. I plan on trying several apple crisp recipes in search of my favorite so I have labeled this one as apple crisp 1. This is a classic and super delicious. I cut the original recipe in half because I am the only one with a sweet tooth in this house and I didn't want to be a piggy and eat a huge pan (ok, well I WANTED to but I knew I shouldn't).



Apple Crisp 1
Serves: 6

5 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used Jonamac... select something tart for a good baking apple)
1/2 cup white sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).

2. Place the sliced apples in a 9x9 or 8x8 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and
ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

3. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes. Make sure you check it around 35 minutes to make sure the crust isn't burning.

**If you don't have one of those apple peeler/corer/slicer things, you should totally buy one. They work great!! BBB has them for $20 and Meijer has them this time of year for $20.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

I had a bunch of stuff to make macaroni and cheese but Matt has been pretty annoyed with all the baked mac I have been making. He wanted something a little different so I hopped on Allrecipes.com and found this one. It was pretty tasty and Matt is really into it. I miss the crunchy crust from the baked mac, but I will be making this one again.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese
Serves: 4 dinner portions

1/2 package spiral pasta (8 oz of whatever shape... I used shells)
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used colby jack, but I don't think it was strong enough so cheddar jack might be tasty)

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. In a 4-qt. slow cooker, combine the cream, soup and butter until smooth; stir in the cheese and pasta. Cover and cook on low for 2-1/2 hours or until cheese is melted.

I added an extra handful of cheese on top to make it all pretty and melty just before serving. I really only cooked it for about and hour and a half and it was ready. This is good for a potluck, just double everything =) I also threw in a teaspoon of black pepper.