Sweet and Sour Chicken

I had green and red peppers, and even a fresh pineapple that need to be eaten, so I tweaked our menu a bit and decided to make sweet and sour chicken with white rice and egg rolls.  The egg rolls were some I had previously made, froze and then reheated tonight.  The dish I made was adapted from a recipe I found on Food Network.  The picture they posted showed a typical red sauce that you normally find at an Asian restaurant, but the sauce that I ended up with was nothing like that at all.  However, it was very delicious and had such a good flavor.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

*note: As written, this recipe Serves 2-4.  If you have a large family like I do, you will need to double!
PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 4 teaspoons water
• 1 cup pineapple cut into chunks with 1/2 cup reserved juice
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper

How to make it!

In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper and ginger and add to pan. Brown chicken and remove to plate.  Next add the onion, red and green peppers and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in pineapple chunks, juice, sugar, vinegar and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until sauce begins to reduce.  Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring the liquid to a simmer.  Stir in chicken and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve over white rice with a side of egg rolls and enjoy!

Sauteing veggies and pineapple

A delicious dinner !

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Red Velvet Chip Cookies!

Tonight I am baking Red Velvet Chip Cookies for my boys' teachers, friends and of course for my own little Valentines.  I wanted a red cookie, something festive, something a little unique and of course something ridiculously delicious!  I stumbled upon this cookie recipe posted by Sweet Dreaming and knew this was the cookie I had been looking for.  I just finished my first batch, and not only are they a beautiful red cookie, they are moist and absolutely delicious!  I am so pleased with how these turned out, I wanted to immediately share with all of you, just in time for your own Valentine's Day celebrations!  Happy Heart Day dear friends!  Much love!

What you need:

1 box Red Velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until a dough forms.  Dough will be thick!  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Let cookies stand on pan for about 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies.

the dough...

Roll them into balls...

Yumtastic!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Red Velvet Chip Cookies!

The Eats for the Week!

Menu Board by Oh So Chichi!

Today, I have done nothing.  There is snow on the ground, it is cold outside, and I have become a permanent fixture on my sofa surrounded by the comforts of my blanket and pillow.  We all need a movie marathon day every now and then, don't you think?  After many hours of debate, I finally came to the conclusion that I should at least find my lap top and plan our meals while I lay here, as I am assuming my family will want to eat this week. They're pretty demanding like that.

Above is a cute menu board created by Oh So Chichi!  Isn't this the cutest thing!  Go here to be taken to the tutorial and learn how to create this menu board for your own home!

Breakfasts and lunches will be fairly basic this week and everything I need for those meal I already have in the pantry, so meal planning this week will consist only of dinners. Yes, is seems as if my laziness is going to be a week long event!

Dinners this week:
Penne with roasted asparagus, red lobster biscuits, spicy roasted cauliflower
Beef with Broccoli , white steamed rice, sauteed mushrooms
BBQ drumsticks, steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, garlic potatoes
Game night foods: Chicken wings, queso and chips, crescent wrapped lil smokies, carrot sticks
Spaghetti, asparagus, garlic bread
Green salad tossed with roasted chicken breast, carrots, red peppers and tomatoes
Valentine's Dinner Out 

The Eats for the Week!

Caramel Apple Bites

Since the hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie tonight, I thought I would do a little dessert for the boys to have after their dinner of baked pork chops, roasted asparagus and steamed carrots. Now that I realize how delish their dinner sounds I may be second guessing going out to dinner...roasted asparagus, yum! I had an apple that looked a little bruised, so after slicing it I dipped each piece into some melted caramel and made my sweet darlings some Caramel Apple Bites! Cute, easier to eat and a lot less messy than an entire Caramel Apple!

Caramel Apple Bites

Freezing Brussels Sprouts

Plunging into water.

For the past few weeks I have been ordering a basket of veggies and fruits for $15.00 from bountiful baskets, and about a week and a half ago I had a freezer day and frozen some of those veggies.  For the next few days I will be sharing my home freezing successes.  I was nervous at first, because I really didn't know what I was doing, but once I got my home freezing book out and started doing it, it was really easy and actually kind of fun!

This is what I received this week in my bountiful basket!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts!

Brussels Spouts actually freeze very well!  To prepare them for the freezer you first have to wash them and trim off any outer leaves and stems that remain.  I sorted them into small, medium and large sizes.  After sorting then you water blanch small sprouts for three minutes, medium sprouts for four minutes and then large sprouts for five minutes.  If you choose to steam blanch your sprouts, small ones should be blanched for four minutes, medium-sized for five minutes and large sprouts for six minutes.  Immediately following blanching, plunge into ice water until completely cooled and then drain thoroughly.  After they are thoroughly dried, you can transfer to freezer bags or containers and place in the freezer.  

My sprouts before the blanching process.

Freezing Q&A:

Why the ice water plunge?

This was a question I had when I first started reading up on freezing veggies.  Little did I know how important this step actually is.  If you don't cool down your vegetables as soon as they emerge from the boiling water or steam, they will get soggy.  So, it is very important not to skip this step!

The sprouts ready to be put in the freezer!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts

FOOD! FOOTBALL! FUN!

Earlier today on my sister blog, Mocha Mornings I posted some fun ideas and tips about how to make your Superbowl party a bash to remember.  Now, onto the food!  No matter what our differences may be, all those seem to disappear one Sunday out of the year when we all put up a united front, dig into some hot wings and pop open a Bud Lite.

My favorite part of the Superbowl, besides the commercials and the game of course, is the food!  Here are some Ridiculously Delicious Game Day Foods that are sure to be a crowd pleaser.  Let's Chow Down!

Crispy Broiled Wings

The Football Foodie shares a recipe for the delicious wings that are cooked in the oven, but crispy as if they were fried.  They are dry wings, which make it easier for snacking and crispy without the messiness of cooking with oil.  Yum!  I can't wait!

Man-tested Game Day Dip

Man Tested Recipes brings us a Superbowl Dip that has been man tested, so you know it is good!  Cheese, beef, sausage, beans, and salsa.  How can you go wrong with that?  Needless to say, this is also on our Game Day Menu!

Baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries

Playing with Sugar has a fabulous recipe for oven baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries.  If you are having several guests over you will need to double or triple this recipe because I promise they won't last long.

CrockPot Chili

You can never go wrong with a big pot of soup or chili for your guests to munch on.  This Crock Pot Chili is a recipe from my collection and by cooking it in the CrockPot you can prepared earlier in the day and it will be ready to enjoy by the time your party goers arrive!

Stadium Brownies

Betty Crocker tempts us with these amazing brownies that are topped with butter, marshmallows, popcorn and peanuts.  It might be wise to have a copy of this recipe on hand, because you are sure to be asked for it a hundred times!

Bacon Wrapped Li'l Smokes

These Bacon-Wrapped Li'l Smokies in a Brown Sugar and Maple Glaze are found at Tasty Kitchen.  Although not the healthiest snack food to serve, it is sure to be one of the most delicious.  My mouth is watering already!

Taco Pizza

Taco Pizza anyone?  Real Mom Kitchen has a recipe that is out of this world.  Sure to be a hit and so much better than the frozen kind!

Or course it is never a bad idea to whip up some party mix and have a raw veggie spread ready for your guests to munch on throughout the game.  These foods are sure to be a hit at your Game Day Bash.  Remember to take some time to enjoy these goodies yourself, after all, you're the one that spent the day in the hot kitchen!

FOOD! FOOTBALL! FUN!

What we have cooking up this week!

Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board 

Another week?  Already?  Time just seems to go by so quickly these days, and I wish things would slow down, just a little.  My boys are growing up before my eyes and at least one day out of the week I find myself in tears at the thoughts of the oldest almost being through his freshman year of high school and before we know it he will be going away to college, with our second son not far behind him.   This makes me incredibly sad.  However, I am hopeful that they will always remember mama's good cookin' and come home every now and then to visit me.

But for now, my house remains chaotic, loud and full of hungry, growing boys, which brings us to this week's menu.  What do you have cooking this week?

Oh, and I almost forgot!  The picture I posted above came from the blog Make and Takes.  She has a great tutorial on how you can make this very cute Wipe Off Menu Board for yourself!

Breakfast:
Grapefruit
Hot oatmeal with fresh blueberries
Cold cereal
Toast with Apple Butter and banana
Bagel with Nutella and oranges
Waffles with apple slices

Lunch:
Left overs
Deli Meat Sandwich with mixed fruit and pretzels
Mac and Cheese with fruit snacks
Healthy  Choice for mom
Cheese and crackers with orange slices
Soup with crackers

Dinner:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Roast with carrots and potatoes with a side of spicy roasted cauliflower
Homemade chicken and dumplins, cream biscuits and fresh green bean stir-fry
Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice, homemade egg rolls
Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green salad
Kielbasa & Cabbage, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus

What we have cooking up this week!

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Yesterday, as I was getting my meals planned for the week, I realized I had failed to blog a very delicious Broccoli and Cheese Soup that my family absolutely loves.  I have some broccoli that I need to use that I got from Bountiful Baskets last week, which is how this soup landed its way onto our current menu.  This soup is a delicious blend of broccoli and cheese, and topped with some croutons, you will definitely find yourself going back for seconds!

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
WHAT IT TAKES:
1 LB Velveeta Cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup milk
16 oz of frozen broccoli (thawed).  *you can also use fresh broccoli

OPTIONAL TOPPING:  Croutons

IT DOESN'T GET MUCH EASIER THAN THIS:
Mix all of the ingredients into the CrockPot.  Cook on low for 2 1/2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.  If soup seems too thick, you can add a little more milk to thin. Spoon into your favorite soup bowl, top with croutons if desired, and enjoy!

 

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

25 pounds of carrots!

If you read by blog earlier this week, you will recall my joy over discovering Bountiful Baskets, www.bountifulbaskets.org, and that I also mentioned ordering 25 lbs of carrots for only $8.50, to be picked up today. Wow, let me just say that 25 lbs of carrots is a lot of carrots! I am so pleased with today's basket. For $15.00 I got a bag of red potatoes, 3 onions 4 green peppers, one red pepper, a package of blueberries, a head of cabbage, a bag of green beans, a bundle of asparagus, a stock of romaine lettuce, 2 grapefruit 8 oranges, 6 apples and 3 tomatoes. I am so pleased with this food co-op and can't wait to plan this week's meals! Now to start peeling and freezing some carrots!

25 pounds of carrots!

Game Day Glazed BBQ Meatballs

With the weekend just hours away, I wanted to share a quick, yummy and perfect Game Day food.  If your home is anything like ours, Friday night, Saturday, and most all day Sunday is centered around ESPN.  This Saturday is a huge Game Day in our home as our Murray State Racers, who are 20-0 and the only undefeated Division I college basketball team in the nation, are playing, as well as our #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats!  Needless to say, our house will be loud and rowdy for most of the day, and nothing goes better with basketball and rowdy boys than Game Day Foods!

Printable Version
To make these meatballs you will need:
1 cup of a classic BBQ sauce.  (we prefer Jack Daniels sauce, but any will work)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup molasses or honey
36 frozen meatballs, unthawed

Combine the BBQ sauce, Worcestershire and honey in a large skillet.  Heat to a boil.  Stir in meatballs. Simmer, covered, about 10 min, until meatballs are heated through.  Stir often.  Serve meatballs warm with party picks and enjoy your game!

TIP: This recipe can easily be doubled and can also be heated in a slow cooker.

LET'S GO RACERS!

LET'S GO CATS! BIG BLUE NATION #1.

MSU photo credit

UK photo credit

Game Day Glazed BBQ Meatballs