Dinner wrap up

Wednesday and Thursday were long days at work. One day we ate cereal and all went to bed early. I can't remember what we had the other night, but I was in bed by 7:30 both nights.

Now for the wrap. Remember last week when I got cabbage in my bountiful basket. I thought of making egg rolls. Well we never made them until tonight. The hunny is busy frying away after I wrapped them all up. We used this egg roll recipe (Steamykitchen.com "my-mothers-famous-chinese-egg-rolls")

However, we didn't buy the fancy egg roll wraps that she talks about we just used the regular old wrappers you buy in the produce section. We also used up some almost turning veggies in ours and some beautiful red peppers that we got in our basket today.

The filling tasted so good, I can't wait to eat them.

Tomorrow is my baby's 3rd birthday. I will be making a dinosaur track cake. Hopefully it will turn out like I want it to.

Soup weather is upon us

The soup is on! It rained on and off all day with a couple spots of snow. I love having a nice bowl of warm soup when the weather is yucky.

Tonight we had chicken noodle.

2 cans of chicken broth
about 1 can of water
1 can of cooked chicken breast (or any cooked chicken)
veggies from the bottom of the fridge(tonight celery, onion, and carrots) I also like the starchiness of potatoes, but we were out.
about 1/2 box mini bowtie pasta.

heat broth, water, and veggies until boiling, add pasta. Cook until al dente. Throw in a sprinkle of greek seasoning (I told you we use it a lot) Done!

Greek seasoning in explaination. The one I use is Cavender's. It is a well rounded spice. It has major hints of sage, onion, and parsley.

Halloween night- 5 minute chili

As my family returned cold and hungry from trick-or-treating. I had the moment of panic. "What are we going to have for dinner. "

Chili was the perfect answer it was nice and hot to ward of the chills of the night. Hearty enough to ward off sick tummies from too many sweets, and I can cook it in 5 minutes.

5 minute chili

1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can red beans with liquids
1 can diced tomatoes with liquids
about 4 tablespoons chili powder.

Heat until hot and bubbly, top with cheese! Yummy and quick!

Bountiful Basket- Makes Saturday mornings awesome.

I love Bountiful Baskets. You get a huge amount of produce for $15. This is just my shout out for them today.

We received
6 bananas
1 carton strawberries
5 apples
4 kiwi
1 bag grapes (kinda blackish in color)
2 pomegranates

1 bag of green beans (approx. 1.5 lb.)
2 english cucumbers
2 heads of cabbage- not sure what to do with this maybe egg rolls
1 big head romaine
6 tomatoes
3 avocado

Get your basket at bountifulbasket.org

'Twas the Saturday before Halloween

So of course we carved our pumpkins today. I will upload pictures as soon as I find the camera cable.

My favorite part of carving pumpkins. The seeds of course. I love pumpkins seeds.

We made two kinds Cinnamon Sugar and Spicy.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Heat oven to 350 degrees

First wash off most of the pumpkin strings, some makes them taste good.
Put them in a single layer on a sheet pan.

*Follow here for cinnamon-

Sprinkle on a generous layer of cinnamon sugar.

Cook on bottom rack for quickest time. It took about 20-30 minutes for ours, but pumpkins seeds vary in water content. They should be crispy and not too sticky.

*Follow here for spicy-

Sprinkle a skimpy layer of a cajun type seasoning, and we also mixed in a bit of greek seasoning (it it my favorite, we use it a lot)

Cook about 15-25 minutes, this one cooked faster for some reason. I am not sure if it is because the sugar makes it sticky and that has to get hot enough to be not sticky, or possibly because they dried longer while the others were in the oven.

Mystery Friday

I have no idea what my family ate. I did not cook for them. I worked until 10pm on report cards. Next week parent teacher conferences and crock pots.

I ate a one of my favorite places to eat Zuppas. I had a Nuts about Berries salad, and a delicious sandwich with avocado turkey and tomato.

Thursday- Spaghetti

No cute story, no recipe just spaghetti. Maybe it is a spelling lesson. Without looking spell spaghetti. Did I do it, umm. . .  no I used spell check.

Just spaghetti with jarred sauce.

What to make on "one of those days"

So today was one of those days when I didn't pull out meat ahead of time, the veggies are running low and I almost went the box-a-roni, or frozen nuggets.

The bug fell asleep in the car on the way home from school and will sleep all night. The bot was at grandma's and ate before coming home. This is so one of those nights, when quick and easy is required.

So as I thought of all of you out there in cyber-space and not wanting to let you down. I thought of something to make.

Smoothies or AKA banana shakes.

When ever the bananas are getting brown, we throw them in the freezer, skin and all. Nothing else- just in they go, into the cold abyss.

We peeled off the skin and stuck 2 of those bad boys in the magic bullet with some frozen peaches, a dollop of milk and a few spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt and Voila dinner.


Okay- really my hunny made this while I was sword fighting with my son. He was the good guy. We traded which good guy he was throughout the fight, but watch out he has a mean overhead slash.

Tuesday- Adventure is out there

Tonight we are having "Choose Your Own Adventure" night. A throw-back to my childhood. Sounds much better than leftover night too. Everybody gets to pick their favorite, and the fridge gets cleaned out seems win-win to me. Unlike those books.

One day you find yourself at the store contemplating dinner. You can buy a boxed dinner and be done with it, or you can grab that gorgeous looking spinach and a packet of chicken and cook your family a proper dinner.

What do you choose?
a) boxed dinner- Hey we have all had those days. (go to Dinner Drive-by for ideas for tomorrow)
b) making dinner the new fashioned way (smart cooking) (GO TO  Dinner Drive-by for ideas)

See what did I say win-win.

I am learning to repurpose leftovers, but when that fails you need adventure night.

Meal wrap up: Sat-Monday

Saturday-

Dinner- German Omelet: It didn't set up like it was supposed to, but it was delicious still the same. My hunny even liked it and he doesn't like eggs that much.

GERMAN OMELET from cooks.com

·     1/4 c. butter

·     2 c. diced, uncooked potatoes

·     1/4 c. finely chopped onions

·     1 c. diced ham

·     1/4 c. chopped parsley

·     6 eggs

·     3/4 tsp. salt

·     Dash pepper

·     2 tbsp. cream

·     1/2 c. shredded Jack or cheddar cheese

Melt butter in large skillet. Add potatoes and onions. Cover and cook over medium heat until browned, about 20 minutes. Add ham and cook until it is a light brown. Sprinkle with parsley and reduce heat. Beat eggs, salt, pepper and cream and pour over ham and potatoes. Cover and cook until eggs are almost set. Sprinkle cheese over top and cover until cheese is melted. Slice into wedges and serve.

Sunday- Breakfast was homemade buttermilk biscuits made from Emeril Lagasse's recipe. We had some buttermilk to use up. We also has raspberry jam.

Buttermilk Biscuits
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse,

Ingredients

•   1 1/4 cups self-rising flour

•   3/4 cup cake flour

•   3/4 teaspoon baking powder

•   1/8 teaspoon baking soda

•   1 tablespoon sugar

•   1/2 teaspoon salt

•   4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons, melted, divided

•   1 1/4 cups buttermilk

•   1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Sift the self-rising flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work the 4 tablespoons cold butter into the flour until the pieces are pea size. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and, with your hands or a rubber spatula, stir just until the milk and flour come together to form a dough. Sprinkle some of the all-purpose flour on a work surface and place the dough on top of the flour. Using your hands, press the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick disk about 8-inches in diameter. Using a 3-inch round cutter dusted with flour, cut out dough rounds. Be sure to press straight down when cutting the dough (a twisting motion will prevent the dough from rising). You will need to reform the scraps of dough to make 8 biscuits. Do this by pushing the scrap pieces together and pressing them into a 1/2-inch-thick disk.

Place the biscuits on a small sheet pan and brush the tops with the 2 tablespoons melted butter. Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool briefly.

Lunch- Some left over biscuits and ham to make sandwiches.

Dinner- Veggie Cheese Soup- This soup uses approximations and makes a ton!

Veggie Cheese Soup
1 head cauliflower
2 smaller heads broccoli
6 carrots
~8 cups of water - enough to cover veggies in large pan
~6 cups milk separated (2 cups/ 4cups)
1/2 flour
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese.


Cut veggies to bite size pieces. Steam/boil vegetables in water until fork tender. Take the 2 cups of milk and mix in flour until smooth in a small bowl. Add 4 cups of milk to pan with veggies and water. Immediately pour in the milk-flour mixture stirring until well mixed. Cook until boiling stirring very frequently. When the soup boils, it is as thick as it will be. If you want it thicker add a bit more milk with more flour, if it too thick add more milk. Then stir in the cheese and enjoy.


Monday- Used some of the leftover soup to make chicken casserole and rice pudding

Chicken Veggie Casserole
about 3 cups cooked rice
about 2-3 cups of leftover soup
1 can of chicken breast
about 1 cup grated cheddar cheese


Mix rice, soup, and chicken in a 9x9 casserole pan, top with cheese.


Heat until warm in middle. We microwaved this for about 10 minutes, but I usually put it in the oven for about 30 minutes.


Rice pudding
about 3 cups cooked rice
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 - 3 cups milk
1 cup raisins
1 heavy sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg


Mix rice, milk, and pudding. Stir well. Cook until hot and bubbly and thicken, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, soak raisins in hot water changing water twice. This cleans and plumps the raisins. Stir in raisins and spices. Enjoy.


I will soon start taking pictures to break up all this text.