SuperBowl Sunday!

When I was a kid we had a pretty rigid menu of things my Mom would cook each week.  I swear we ate mashed potatoes 5 nights a week!  To this day, I am not a fan of mashed potatoes .. don't get me wrong, I will eat them .. just don't make them but once a week or less.   I remember things my Mother made that I absolutely loved such as cream puffs (eclair type goodies), lemon meringue pie, pickles ...   I do remember many things I was "made" to eat, because that's what was for dinner ... Liver was one of those things acckk! 

Saturday nights were hot dogs and beans night ... and in the warm weather, when my step dad's father would be around (he lived just outside of Chicago from mid September to April) the Lawrence Welk show would follow dinner ..  I hated Saturday nights, not because of dinner .. but because I couldn't watch what I wanted.

Baked beans is one of my favorite foods.  Up until a few years ago, I only ate the canned ones.  I had never had homemade.  I bought myself one of those fancy cast iron dutch ovens with the intent to make my own ..   I searched the internet until I found this gem ...

Durgin Park Restaraunt Boston Baked Beans


This recipe ROCKS and is well worth the effort.  I always double the batch and add cocktail franks during the last hour.  My only tweak ?  I used bacon instead of salt pork.

I hadn't made them yet this winter, so I figured SuperBowl Sunday was the perfect time!  Go Patriots!!

This picture is before the addition of the cocktail franks ...

This is after ... Oh yeah baby!!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Some like it hot ...

All my life I've never been much for sweets or desserts.  Don't get me wrong, I occasionally will get a hankering for something sweet but not very often. Anyone who knows me well can attest to this.  As far as snacking goes, I'd rather have something spicy, cheesy, crunchy, or salty.  I'm a real fan of jalapenos or anything with buffalo sauce on it.  I've also converted Grumpy Gus (aka my husband) to be able to handle a little more heat than he used to.  With that being said, you probably won't find many dessert, cookie, cake or pie recipes here.

One of my all time favorite recipe sites is Allrecipes.com.  I spend alot of time here. About 2 or 3 years ago I stumbled across what might be my favorite appetizer/snack recipe.  I'm good for a batch about every 4 weeks. Its been quite a while since I've made it.  I put this together the other night and brought it to a friends house when we got together for cards & cocktails.  I've often thought of making this a bit thicker with other cheeses and stuffing boneless chicken breasts with it.  One of these days I'll try it.


The recipe that follows includes tweaks I have done over the years.  Feel free to use whatever versions of cream cheese and mayonnaise you prefer, such as low fat, fat free or whatever.  If you'd rather use fresh jalapenos, you can do that too.  I use the jarred because I can get a 24 oz. jar of sliced ones for about $2.  Let me know if you try it and what you think!


Jalapeno Popper Dip

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 cup mayonnaise 1 (4 ounce) can chopped  green chilies, drained

1/8 to 1/4 cup jarred Jalapenos, chopped well (I eyeball it, use more or less depending on your tastes. 3/4 cup parmesan cheese

	Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles, jalapeno peppers and 1/2 the parmesan cheese.  Spread into a baking dish ( 4"x 8" glass pan works well) Top with remaining parmesan cheese.  Add a light layer of bread crumbs or finely crushed ritz crackers to the top.
	Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Serve with tortilla chips, crusty bread pieces or crackers.

Cold days = cooking days

I'm not quite sure what it is about a cold weekend day that makes me want to cook.  Some of these days it's nothing for me to cook 3 or 4 different things.  Not too long ago I had a cooking frenzy that ended up in 4 meals of stuffed peppers, 6 meals of sauce w/meatballs, and 5 meals/6 lunch portions of sloppy joe.  We had stuffed peppers that night for dinner and everything else was packaged up for the freezer.  It makes for quick dinners on nights I don't get home until almost 6:00 pm.  I'll alternate those meals with others for about 3 months.

Today is one of those days.  It's pretty cold outside and it's snowing a bit.   Pantry Vegetable soup, Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Italian Pasta Salad (requested by Son #3).  I'm not a huge fan of Pasta Salad in the winter, but he asked me yesterday if I would make some.  I'll share about the soup today, and save the others for another time.  I haven't made a Vegetable soup in a while and today I'm going to wing it with what I have on hand with the exception of some escarole I bought yesterday.  Last weekend I made a vegetable broth from some veggie scraps I didn't want to throw away.  I froze it and thawed last night for use today.  Visit allrecipes.com to learn how to make your own vegetable broth or use canned.

Pantry Vegetable soup

64 oz vegetable broth                                                    6 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 - 14.5 oz cans low sodium beef broth                        2-3 stalks celery, sliced
28 oz can stewed tomatoes, chopped                            1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
1 envelope dry onion soup mix                                     whole small head escarole, chopped  or 1 pkg
1 TBSP italian seasoning                                                         frozen chopped spinach
1/2 TBSP marjoram   
1 tsp worcestershire sauce                                             1/2 red pepper, diced
pepper (easy though, escarole is a slight                       3/4 cup frozen peas
               bit peppery in itself)
1 TSBP chopped garlic                                                  - other vegetables as desired or
16 oz can pinto beans                                                                    switch out for others

In a large pan or dutch oven combine all ingredients except pinto beans and simmer for several hours or until vegetables are tender.  Add pinto beans and simmer for 30 minutes.
Serve in bowls, sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired.   Goes great with crusty bread or fresh baked biscuits.         

winner, winner chicken dinner

Working full time puts a damper on my culinary choices for meals due to thought, prep and cooking times. Some days I wish it were as easy as pushing a button like the Jetsons or I could wave a magic wand and dinner would be ready to eat.  2-3 days per week I don't get home till close to 6:00 pm and it's no fun to be trying to think of something everyone will love when you are starving!!!

I took out some boneless chicken breasts this morning.. with no inspiration in sight.  All day long I pondered, in between customers .. what the heck am I making for dinner?  Normally I have a plan the night before, but today I didn't.  I stayed up too late and my brain was to tired to think about dinner for tomorrow.

So tonight, it's something easy and brainless!  One of my go-to quick recipes that I enjoy quite a bit.  I can't take credit for this gem, but I can tell you it's a winner!!


FRENCH'S CRUNCY ONION CHICKEN

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 oz.)FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions
2 tbsp.all-purpose flour
4 (5 oz.)boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.

Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet.

Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

Before ....

                                                                         After ...

Look at all that crunchy, oniony goodness!!   To add a little variation to your table, you can easily switch out the egg dipping and use mayonnaise, honey mustard or your favorite bbq sauce!   If you are a buffalo LOVER like me .. you could always drizzle on some Franks Red Hot when it's on your plate!!!

Try it some night when you are strapped for ideas or time! Soooo good!!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I'm not quite sure where I am going with this blog, so bear with me.  I am a frequent flyer over on facebook and often update my status with my latest dinner creations, appetizers to bring to my friends house or weekend cooking frenzies.  I figured I needed to put all that somewhere else, so here it is!

I'm going to be honest and let you know upfront, I get alot of my recipes and ideas from the internet.  I have some cookbooks that I got when I was first married or handed down from my Mom, but since I discovered the wealth of recipes on the internet those books have ALOT of dust on them!  I will give credit where credit is due if I've "borrowed" a recipe or if it's my own creation.

I work full time and don't always have time for a fancy meal.  I try to plan ahead and do alot of cooking ahead of time so all I have to do is thaw and go!   Stay tuned ....