Where Are You?

To all my wonderful followers,

I apologize for the abandonment. As you likely know, we were pregnant and it was a trying period for cooking and eating. Then on the 26th of May we fund out we lost our baby. We had surgery on the 27th then kept busy with Memorial Day, a garage sale, our anniversary and a 2 week long trip to NE where there was not Internet. You can only spend so long at the library with 4 little boys. I have a whole stack of recipes and an album full of pictures to blog though so worry you not, they will soon come rolling in!

Kandi's Jumbalaya w/ Tortilla Soup

This was a total "I don't want that again, so I am just going to throw some stuff together" item. It was a Wednesday, Mexican night and I have been in that nothing sounds good first trimester mode for a while now. I decided burritos sounded too thick, we had just had ole's and cheese and gauc with chips and apple grande's so I was determined to find something different. A great substitute for Mexican night is always Cajun.

Then I remembered all the Cajun mini meals I had gotten from the frozen section to try and how they'd been wasted ....and my frustration level with food in its entirety rose.

I had found these Zantarans frozen meals that looked yummy and decided to try them out. now....when we go to the register at Wal Mart (I switched back to a checker from self check out a while back deciding that I just didn't have the speed or nich for the grocery clerk business), I always unload my cart by the sections it is organized into, frozen, dry goods, dairy, canned goods, meats, breads and produce, then all non food. Any good cashier will follow this same system when bagging your groceries and it saves you when you get home and go to put it all away. You don't want to forget that block of cheese between your 2 boxes of mac and cheese you shoved into the cupboard.
Well this time the cashier seen the Zantarans and figured it was rice (despite the frozen feel of it) and placed the frozen meals next to the actual rice. When we got home I was in a hurry to put stuff away so we could eat the Papa John's pizza we picked up on the way out the door (our WalMart is awesome like that and has Papa Johns instead of McNasty's). I did the same darn thing! Grabbed the frozen Zantaran's out of the bag with the Zataran's rice and stuck them in the pantry. A couple days later we found this watery stuff all over the pantry shelf and could not place it. Finally it was traced back to the frozen meals who's seal had finally broke and begun to leak. BUMMER! At least they hadn't started to smell yet.

Anyhow, so I decided to take the Zantaran's rice box and prepare it then throw in sausage and mix a bunch of beans together and some veggies and call it Jumbalaya.

Ingredients:
1 box Zantaran's rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c celery diced
1 onion diced
1 peper diced
1 can green chilies
1 pkg long roll sausage (I used chedderworst as it was there)
1T cumin
2T Worcestershire





Directions:
In pot prepare rice according to package. Meanwhile in skillet fry sausage with peppers, onions & celery with cumin and Worcestershire. When rice is no longer crunchy add tomatoes (undrained) and green chillies. Finally mix skillet ingredients in. Serve with Tabasco. Viola! Jumbalaya al la Kandi.



I served this with Tortilla Soup. It just wasn't my night, however, as I thought I had seen a can of enchilada sauce in the pantry and it turned out to be chili beans! Apparently the tops of the cans are similar. So after sending Wayne to the store, and him getting all the way to the register and realizing he didn't have his wallet, then asking all the neighbors if they had a can, I decided to make it from scratch!




Enchilada Sauce:

When all else fails, go to AllRecipes.com for any ingredient or meal.
Here is the recipe for Red Enchilada Sauce:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/red-enchilada-sauce/Detail.aspx

Tortilla Soup:

Gayle's Recipe (Mother-In-Law)

Ramen Noodle Salad

This one came from my mother-in-law. It is another one of those that upon looking at it I thought they were crazy, but then I realized I was the crazy one for never having had it before.

I feel I may have missed exposure to some pretty yummy stuff growing up as my family consists of some of the pickiest folk I have met yet. They do not eat seafood, not even shrimp or walleye or bass. They don't eat many vegetables, we are talking potatoes and corn (which lets face it, are really starches), then they eat raw carrots and occationally some peppers and onions in their omlets, cheese balls or breakfast burritos, but only if they are cooked fully. They turn their nose at spinache artichoke dip and my dad will eat a lb of gizzards with me but not the others.


I have found I rather like all of these things and many more. One such item is cabbage. I have always loved a good runza and created my own recipe when I moved 3 hours away from the closest Runza Resaurant then a few hours further. I have never been a large fan of coleslaw but Wayne holds it in his top 10, so I did find one Kraft brand claw mix I can tollerate. This recipe however, is my favorite side dish for cabbage....



Ingredients:
1 package shredded cabbage or cole slaw mix (1lb)
1 cup slivered almonds
2 packages Ramen Noodles (uncooked)

Dressing:
1 package Ramen Seasoning
3T sugar
3T vinegar
1/2 cup oil


Directions:
Place cabbage in large mixing or serving bowl.
Mix dressing ingredients and poor over cabbage. Toss until well coated. Just before serving add crunched Ramen and almonds, toss again.


It is a yummy picnic treat too!

Mom's Chocolate Banana Parfait

One of the things I remember my mom making for dessert or snack when I was little was warm chocolate pudding, the kind you cook and serve right away. Then slices of bananas on top. I got a hankering for that snack the other day and when I spotted the whip cream spray can from the last birthday party in the fridge, it was parfait time.

I thought for sure this would be a winner for my picky Zach. He loves chocolate pudding, bananas are his all time fav, and who doesn't like whipped cream?

Well his resistance to the idea of new foods instead of animal crackers, peanut-butter sandwiches or graham crackers came out full fledge and he began his tantrum. It wasn't until Luke went to steal it after devouring his own, that Zach wailed and dove for it. He then licked it clean and keeps asking for it every time he sees bananas int he cupboard (they are usually gone within a day or two of buying them bulk).





Lukie loved it sooooo much that it was absolutely ALL over him!

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich, fruit salad & pine nut hummus w/ relishes

A classmate and old friend, Heather Lambert McQuillan featured this sandwich on her blog and we decided to give it a try...yum! It was an instant approval from Wayne as it had Tabasco in the ingredients. I did not add it into the sauce, however as the boys wouldn't eat it then, but put it directly on Wayne and I's sandwiches and we added some creamy jalapeno sauce by Taco Bell. We used extra large deli tea rolls as buns and it was delicious!

Here is the link to the recipe at Heather's blog:
http://mrsmcquillanmastersmeals.blogspot.com/2011/02/marlboro-mans-favorite-sandwich-with.html

I served this sandwich with a contrasting fruit and vegetable arrangement. The 2 fresh fruits we had gotten this time at Sam's Club were cantaloupe and kiwi, which even offered contrasting colors. One was not quite ripe though and I wish I would have had the camera ready for everyone's faces, including my own, as we bit into an unexpected bitter slice of it. 

I also had been dying to get some Roasted Pine Nut Hummus after trying it on sample day at Sam's last month. Wal-Mart ended up having a small tub of it which was not near enough and rest assured it is on next month's bulk buy list for Sam's. This is another one of those items I was never exposed to when I was little and upon my first taste of a different flavored hummus had vowed never to torture my taste buds with it again, however while starving and grabbing every sample in sight at Sam's a couple weekends ago, I seen baked tortilla wedges with a pinkish orange colored guacamole looking dip and immediately went for it popping it in my mouth before reading what it actually was.

Good thing, turns out I LOVE IT! For those of you less experienced eaters, that is what it was similar too, the texture of guacamole and a taste similar to a mild salsa. I didn't get the baked tortilla wedges (though they were to die for with it) and dipped everything from veggies to tortillas to crackers to chips in it. My favorite next to the tortilla wedges was baked veggie crackers. MMmmmm.

Ranch Ramen

A dorm room creation that stayed!

One night in the dorms we were hungry and had a little bit of left over ground burger, some sauces and some ramen of course! The creation that became was actually pretty decent and has remained on our menu as a side dish. I ditched the ground burger (which that night had made it a meal) and added parmesan cheese instead. We like to eat it with steak as a side dish that takes less time than the medium rare steaks we spend all of 10 minutes on.

Ingredients:

2 packages Ramen Noodles (we use chicken flavor)
1 seasoning packet from Ramen (2 is too salty)
dash or two (1-2T) Worcestershire sauce
dash or two (1-2T) Soy Sauce
2t parmesan cheese
1 cup ranch

Fully cook Ramen, drain, add the rest, stir and serve!

Breakfast Bake Off!

Before conceiving our next child I decided to attempt to be prepared this time, though I have learned you can never be fully prepared as you never know what exactly will unfold. The idea behind the thinking here was while on current medication which causes some pretty stout nausea and before I do get pregnant with the next baby, I needed to have serving sized protein rich breakfasts baked and stocked up. Often I will wake up feeling ill and unable to cook breakfast. I can pour a bowl of cereal or butter some toast for the boys but anything with any kind of protein like I need to keep my blood sugar stable will be out the window at this point, then my day gets off to a rocky start which likely will result in some sort of blood sugar fiasco at some point in the day.

Tracy and I each went on a search for easy bake, convenient sized breakfast options to make and freeze, then later microwave. There were so may to choose from! I would suggest to anyone taking a day to bake and stock for our whole family. It gives your kids a balanced breakfast full of protein to start their day out right.

Below are the ones we chose, and we were done in a couple of hours and multitasked during the process!



Idaho Sunrise:

24oz bag shredded hashbrowns
salt and pepper to taste
2 T oil
1 c shredded cheese, devided
Handful of each:
Real Bacon Bits
Diced Ham
Parsley
Ground sausage, browned


The directions for this didn't print with the rest of the recipe but here is what we did:

Place hashbrowns in each muffin tin about 1/3 full, making a well in the center of each.
Bake at 425* for 15-18 minutes.
Mix all other ingredients, except half of cheese. Fill each muffin tin to 2/3 of the way full after hashbrowns are done. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the tops. Bake an additional 20+ minutes until firm.

I neglected to label which muffin was which, but they all looked rather similar. 

Big Ol' Texas Biscuit Baked Eggs

1 tube texas style refridgerated biscuit dough (the big 'uns, though I used the small cheap ones and they worked fine)
8 eggs
1/2 cup real bacon bits (the brand real, not actual cooked and crumbled bacon)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
grated, diced scallions ( I did sausage instead)
Salt & Pepper to taste


Lightly spray a standard sized muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.
Open the tube of biscuits & press one biscuit round into the muffin tin.
To make sure there is room for the eggs, make sure you make a deep well in your dough by pressing the biscuit all the way up the sides of each muffin cup.
Crack an egg into each biscuit, top with bacon bits, cheddar and scallions (or sausage)
Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Bake in preheated oven 400* for 13-15 minutes.
To ensure the center of your egg stays soft-cooked, remove from the oven as soon as the edges of the biscuit start to brown.

Cheesy Egg Bake

Vegetable cooking spray
6 eggs beaten
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (Tracy & I both NEVER use salt in anything)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 cup milk
1 cup cottage cheese
4 oz cream cheese cubed
1 cup cheddar cheese cubed (we used shredded)

Preheat oven to 350*
Spray 9x9 w/ vegetable spray

In large, beat the eggs until frothy. Whisk in flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, seasoning, milk, and cottage cheese. Stir in cubed cheeses. Pour into greased 9x9 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until puffed, golden and set.

We think there was an air bubble while baking that caused the seasonings to separate  like Moses and the Red Sea.

Meaty Egg Bake

This is a Wayne creation mocking our Brother-In-Law Mark's recipe he made for the entire Tonsager family upon meeting us all the first time. YUM. His still remains the best, though we came up with our own tasty combo that even Tiff (my picky sis) liked last Easter.

INGREDIENTS:

8-12 old bread heels shredded
Diced ham (good sized handful)
Ground sausage (1/4 - 1/2 lb), browned
Linked breakfast sausage sliced (once I used cheddar Lil' SMokies and they were awesome in it)
diced green onion (1-2)
2 very large handfuls of shredded cheese (we use whatever kind is on hand, they are all yummy)
8-12 eggs beat with 1 cup milk
garlic powder (1tsp)
poultry seasoning or seasonal all salt (1tsp)
Pepper to taste
(we add green or bell pepper mix, diced)

Shred bread into greased 9x13 pan. Add meats, cheese, & onions, toss mixture until evenly dispersed. Beat eggs, milk and seasonings together. Pour over mixture. Make sure it looks soupy, add more eggs and milk if needed.  Bake at 400* for 45 minutes. (some people mix ahead the night before and let soak in fridge overnight, it does add flavor and soften texture,  kinda like mine chunky so I usually don't).

Quiche




 Tracy made her version, it looked like lots of eggs and milk and cheese and sausage and tasted awesome. Here is an all recipes version:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Quiche/Detail.aspx



















Scrambled Egg Muffins

(*Make your scrambled egg muffins with the same ingredient proportions you would use to make scrambled eggs)

6-8 eggs
1/4 lb sausage (we also added bacon bits)
1/2 - 1 onion, chopped
1/2 - 1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
Mushrooms (YUK!)
green onions
any other fav. veggie
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350*
in a skillet saute our sausage and vegetables until sausage is cooked. 
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the sautéed mixture to the eggs, stir well to combine. 
Generously coat muffin pan with cooking spray or butter. Divide the egg mixture among the muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Top each "muffin" with shredded cheese.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are golden. 











Breakfast mini Pizzas

Honestly for this I took the 2 leftover bicuits and spread them in the bottom of 2 small round glass baking dishes and poured the leftover muffin egg, milk and cheese mix over the two then added the last of the onions and meats on top and more cheese, viola! 


When we make a pig pan though, we use a refrigerated piza crust and spread over a well sprayed small baking sheet.


We then BAKE THAT at 350* for 5 minutes. Then to te top of the crust evenly add:


scrambled eggs, sausage, diced ham, real bacon bits, shredded cheese, pepper to the top.


Next prepare:
1 package of country gravy, sausage flavored (like what you use for biscuits and gravy).
Pour or spoon drop accross the top.
Add some more shredded cheese to the top.


Bake additional 15-20 minutes. YUM!

The Bread Man...

We go through bread like mad with a family of 5. I love me some 9 grain $5 a loaf bread but long ago had to give it up for the $.89 white bread. I was discussing our issues with the cost of bread with my in-laws one weekend in Gillette and my S-I-L said they had purchased a bread machine and can make a loaf in it for cheaper than she can buy it over there.  though, hmmmmm, fresh bread would be awesome with fresh preserves from the garden!

When I went on a pants recon the next week at the Salvation Army (we have 2 months left before shorts season, I just needed a couple pairs for Andy to stretch through because guaranteed he would need a new size come fall and Zach usually can't wear his hand-me-downs), I seen a Breadman Bread Machine there....awesome. Knowing that it would likely be a phase we would go whole heartedly at for a while then loose interest and go back to the store, I decided this second hand cheaper one was the perfect way to try it out.

Thus far we have found a quick simple daily recipe for our morning toast as well as yummy dessert versions such as chocolate zucchini bread, banana bread and a whole book full I have had in the cupboard. We throw our daily toast loaf ingredients in the machine before we go to bed or alongside supper and then it is ready for us come morning to slice, butter and serve. You can also make your pizza dough and pastry crust doughs in there as well, just to name a couple.

Here is the simple recipe we have been using for our daily loaf for toast:

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place water, sugar, salt, oil, bread flour and yeast into pan of bread machine.
2. Bake on White Bread setting . Cool on wire racks before slicing. allrecipes.com 

Porcupine Meatballs

My mom used to make these for us growing up. Her recipe has remained my most successful over the years and it is the easiest one I have came across as well. My boys prefer to call it "red soup with meat in it" as the like their meatballs mashed and added to a healthy portion of the soup.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground burger, uncooked
1 cup of rice, cooked (I steam minute rice in my Pampered Chef Vegetable Steamer)
2-3 cans tomato soup (at my house, you may get away with 1-2 cans)
tomato soup can full of milk or water per can soup
1 t Basil
pepper, garlic  onion powder to taste ( t each)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400* Mix all ingredients other than soup together. Form 2" meatballs out of meat, rice and seasoning mixture. Place in 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until burger is no longer pink. Meanwhile, mix soup and water or milk together in pot. Add basil and simmer until warm all the way through.  **** Some people add the soup on top of the meatballs in the baking dish. I do not like it that way. I prefer to leave the soup in a pot and let people spoon on how much they want, and I think it tastes better that way too.

Served with corn casserole, another favorite side dish is cheesy potatoes!

Mindy's Corn Casserole

My Aunt Mindy used to bring this yummy corn casserole dish to our holiday meals. No one would get seconds because everyone would clear it out the first round around the table. One year we decided to call and get the recipe so we could maybe have more than half a serving. It was an instant hit for our menu.

When our Andy Borah moved in with us in 2006 in Spearfish, he was soooo picky you would have thought him 5 instead of 25. He would take my swiss steak, scrape it clean then add ketchup! He would take my pork chops and gravy and rinse them then add ketchup! He would not eat chinese, or mexican or many of my italian items. He liked hamburgers, steak and spaghetti, typical bachelor! One night when making our favorite pork chops and gravy with a side of corn casserole, Borah bypassed the pork chops entirely and opted to try the corn casserole. Next thing I knew the pan was EMPTY!!!!!

SCORE! Finally something Andy Borah will eat. Every time he has came to visit since moving out, I have made a point to make it for him. I have given him the recipe a few times but the man doesn't cook so it is no good. Eventually his daughter will be old enough to cook and she can keep ahold of it but for now it is a special item he only gets when he visits us.

It is also a dish I have never seen a kid turn their nose at. Even the pickiest Zach will eat it! It is a potluck fav that is quick and easy and I have many of times gotten calls for the recipe after the fact. Try it out!



Ingredients:

1 box corn muffin mix (Jiffy is best)
1 can cream corn
1 can corn, drained
1 cup sour cream
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400* (I do 450*)  Mix and blend all ingredients well. Spray a 9x9 pan thoroughly. Pour ingredients in the pan and throw it in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until firm the whole way through and top is golden (sometimes older ovens will not get the very middle done and you will need to stick it in the microwave for a few minutes- always good to use glass baking dish just in case this step s needed). DONE!

I like to serve it with pork chops and gravy, cheesy chicken crescents and porcupine meatballs (above) but the possibilities are endless as it goes with EVERYTHING.

Onion Bake

Onion Bake

Last week while it was nice out and spring looked to be in the air I decided I wanted something besides the same ol’ same ol’ potatoes, corn and lettuce comfort sides which got me through the winter. I hate to admit, but we are not the best vegetable eaters. We like fresh veggies and even some frozen ones but far fewer canned ones. I went on a great AllRecipes and Cook.com search for new side dish inspirations.

Allrecipes is one of our favorite places to get recipes. We even registered with them so we could save the ones we like in an online recipe box, try them out, then print them for the book if they are “keepers” before we forget which was which.

This was one of the “KEEPERS”……

The link below will take you to the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Onion-Bake/Detail.aspx

Excel –erated Menu and Grocery Planning

 A couple of months ago I started a huge project of converting all my recipes to digital and importing them into a program I downloaded for excel. It is time consuming to set up but the payoff is huge and I highly recommend it to everyone. 

I have always had to be organized enough to have a menu laid out and a grocery list from that menu, as any good consumer would, however as schedules got more crazy, the family became larger and the diets more needy, it became clear that the menu and shopping list would need to be more specific and in depth.

With 3 little BOYS and a husband whom is teaching or coaching 95% of the week leaving one day for family time a majority of the year, we do not like to spend our one day a week in a grocery store, nor is it any kind of easy with the 3 boys ALONE in a store trying to find your list and keep your sanity. Over the years I have gotten every kind of look from sympathy to pure annoyance of our presence to ‘why even try’.  Well you have to eat and therefore you have to shop for groceries.  You just need to be as efficient as possible about it.

This menu spreadsheet has multiple functions to make meal planning, recipe keeping and grocery lists all one simple easy motion!

To start with you can browse the preloaded recipes from common menu items. I personally prefer my own recipes so I deleted most of their versions and then added my own. There is a “list” function where you can type in all your meals under provided categories such as: meats, chicken, vegetables, fruits, desserts, ect. I redid mine to: Mexican, Italian, Poultry, Pork, sides, casseroles, ect.

Once you add all your meals you can go to the MENU, which looks like a calendar with drop down menus for main dishes and side dishes for each day. In the drop down menu you can chose from the items you added in the list.

Once you have all your meals in where you want, print the calendar and hang it on your menu board! Then begin your next task….RECIPES

Go to the section for recipes and type in your recipes for all menu items. Once these are in it will allow you to use your GROCERY LIST function as all the ingrediets from the meals you chose on your menu for the month will have each of their ingredients compiled to tell you how much of each you will need to buy for the entire month (or 2 weeks or whatever you put in). For instance; 5 cups of flour (do I have that much in my pantry or should I buy it?), 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, 2 cans enchilada sauce, ect. All ou then need to do is print it (or copy it in writing to list of your choice).

 

If you wanted to be really organized (I am trying), you could print off each months menu and grocery list and place them in page protectors in a binder and every month of the year you will have a ready to go menu and the grocery shopping list for that menu. DONE!

I love it.  I leave one night per month open for new recipes and there are even drop down menu options for OUT and PIZZA to fill the month as you please.

Here is the link to download the excel program through open office.com

Browse it and give it a try!

http://templates.services.openoffice.org/en/node/3315

Skinny Salsa Joes

 We were looking through the 5 Ingredients or Less cookbook by Gooseberry Patch – love these- for a new recipe that would be quick and different for our weekend lunch. Also, one we had all the ingredients for as it was nearly grocery day, we are talking one more day to stretch it. We came across this VERY EASY recipe with 5 ingredients or less ;-)

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef, browned

½ cup salsa

8oz can tomato sauce

1T packed brown sugar

Combine ingredients in saucepan, bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer 10-15 minutes

They were a nice alternative to toss up the ordinary menu. 

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches & Plugger Dip

What is Plugger Dip? From what I understood upon meeting the Tonsager family, it is their own creation, or that of their friends? I really can't remember and should double check with my in-laws, however I do know it looked and sounded revolting the first time I had seen it done. I decided what the heck and tried it. It is now our #1 side for any grilled or BBQ food. 

This is the leftovers & we were already out of cottage cheese. 

This simple dip can be done one of two ways; 

1 container cottage cheese

1-2 can pork and beans 

2 cans Pringles or baked lays

1. Mix cottage cheese and cold pork and beans together, use chips to dip (man's favorite)

or my favorite prep:

2. Warm Beans (I prefer Bush's Baked Beans) on stove; 

place serving size of each ingredient next to each other on your plate and use chips to gather a mixture of both cottage cheese and beans. 

I promise it is yummy and a very good protein boost!!!!

BBQ Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1 pork loin

2-3 c beef bullion broth

1 T minced onion

1/2t garlic

1/2 t season all salt

1-2 cups BBQ sauce of choice

Buns (I like onion or large tea rolls)

Directions:

Combine all but last 2 ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low for a minimum of 12 hours. (We do 24 hours.) Remove meat & add BBQ sauce. Serve on Buns.

***Tip*** cook baked beans with a tablespoon of brown sugar and some cut up raw bacon slices for added flavor. 

Mmmmm.