Happy Thanksgiving...and leftovers!

I hope everyone had a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving! We did! Now we are eating the mountain of leftovers. Here are my attempts at being creative with them so far.


The beautiful bird:


The BEST turkey sandwich ever:


No kidding. This was sooo good. Toasted wheat bread, turkey breast, smokey onion mustard(from Target, Archer Farms brand), a slice of jellied cranberry sauce and sharp cheddar cheese. On the second go round we added bacon.

Turkey Soup:


Turkey, rice, carrots, celery, onions, spices and herbs. Very comforting on a cold day in.

An Old Standby...

at our house anyway is Salsa Swiss Steak. Its comforting and not too bad on the calories and it can be thrown in the crockpot. As much as I love to cook sometimes my days escape, so when I know I'm going to have an exceptionally crazy day I'm not at all ashamed to use the ol' crockpot to save dinner!

Salsa Swiss Steak
( I can't for the life of me remember where I originally found this recipe or I would give credit where credit is due.)

4 pieces of lean round steak
1 can of reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chunky salsa
1 bell pepper
1 onion

Place round steak in crockpot and season with salt and pepper. Cut bell pepper and onion into rings and layer on top of steak. In a bowl, mix together soup and salsa. Spread on top of peppers and onions. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

**Excellent served over mashed taters or rice.

Meal Plan Monday(except on Tuesday)

Monday- chicken casserole
Tuesday- Salsa Swiss Steak, mashed taters and carrots
Wednesday- grilled chicken salads
Thursday- Chicken Empanadas
Friday- homemade pizza
Saturday- Dinner at my Family's Ocktoberfest

My Take on Leftovers

I try to get creative when I have leftovers, so it doesn't seem so boring. I love taking things like a roast and stretching into three different meals. Roast one night, stroganoff another, vegetable beef soup the next. You get the idea. Anyway, this time I threw together some stuff and it came out exceptionally well.

Beef Curry Bake
Leftover meatloaf, crumbled up
leftover rice pilaf with mushrooms and almonds
leftover steamed string beans
1 tomato diced
1/2 cup of sour cream
2 T curry paste
Mix all up well and bake in a greased casserole dish at 350 for 30 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

This turned out very well. I even had someone tell me to enter it into a recipe contest they thought it tasted so good. Talk about making you feel good about your cooking. I basically used my normal lasagna recipe, except for the sauce I mixed together 2 cups of spaghetti sauce and 2 cups of alfredo sauce and 1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot to make my own buffalo sauce. When alternating the layers I also sprinkled in crumbled blue cheese in the layers. Hubby doesn't like blue cheese and still thought it was tasty.

Salad Chinois

I got this recipe from a Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee cookbook. As much as I like making stuff from scratch, let's face it, I'm a busy mom and sometimes I need something quick. Her ideas are great for just that and for the most part they are usually pretty healthy to boot.



Salad Chinois
2/3 cup mayo ( I used lite)
2 T soy sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar(my addition)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 10oz can of chunk chicken breast
2 cups of coleslaw mix(cabbage and carrots)
1 can of chow mein vegetables, drained
1 bag of prepared green salad( I left out and really didn't miss it)
1 can of mandarin orange segments
1 can of crunchy chow mein noodles( I just sprinkled on top)

Mix all together except chow mein noodles. Sprinkle them on top before serving.

Pork & Sauerkraut

This is so good. One of my favorite fall dishes.
I just kinda made it up so don't really have a set recipe for it.

Basically, I brown some pork chops on both sides in a little olive oil in a Dutch Oven. Remove chops and add cut up apples, garlic and onion and brown. Throw in some sauerkraut, a pinch of cinnamon, black pepper and some caraway seeds. Put chops bake in and slow cook in the oven at 200 degrees for about an hour. Delish!

Weekly Meal Plan

I'm trying to get back into planning my meals for the week so I thought I would start posting it here. I also got the idea from Organizing Junkie.

Monday- Twisted Taco Packets
Tuesday- Chef Salads
Wednesday- Beef Stroganoff(using leftover roast from Sunday)
Thursday- Salmon Patties
Friday- dinner out with playgroup mommas

Corn Salad

I forgot to take a picture of this one, but it is easy and good. I got the recipe from a friend of mine after she brought it to a potluck.

Corn Salad
1 package of frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup of mayo
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of crushed chili cheese fritos

Mix together the first four ingredients and chill in fridge for an hour or more. Top with fritos before serving.

Stuffed Rainbow Trout

I made this with my daddy years ago. Jason, my hubby, doesn't really like fish so much, unless its fried and I love it. So, when he went out of town last weekend I treated myself to this. It was as good as I remembered from years ago.

4 rainbow trout, butterflied and deboned
2 medium green peppers, chopped
1 cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup of butter
20 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 cups herb seasoned croutons
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme

salt for trout


Heat oven to 350. Cook and stir(in butter) green pepper and mushrooms about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cherry tomatoes, croutons, lemon juice, salt, pepper and thyme. Lightly salt the cavity of each trout, fill with 1/2 cup of stuffing. Place remaining stuffing in a greased baking dish. Arrange stuffed trout on top. Wrap tails in buttered aluminum foil. Bake until trout flakes easily with a fork, about 30-35 minutes. Remove foil from tails. Garnish with lemon slices.

Farmers Market

I am just loving the farmers market this summer. I can go every Saturday and get my fruits and veggies for the week for about $15.00. Plus, I know where its all coming from, it tastes way better and I'm supporting the local farmers.


Here is a recipe I made using some yellow squash from the market. It was so good. We've already fixed it twice in two weeks.

Skillet Squash

4 slices of bacon
2 medium yellow squash, thinly sliced
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 serrano chiles, chopped (optional)
1 dash of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Add the squash, onion, garlic and jalapeno to the skillet. Fry in the bacon drippings until tender, but still firm, stirring frequently. Crumble bacon into the skillet, and season with soy sauce, salt and pepper. Stir, to blend in seasonings, and serve.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons

I love these! They are also good half dipped in chocolate.

1 bag of coconut
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all together well. Drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 12-13 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. We did. Just chilled at home. We had good intentions of grilling ribs outside, but due to the rain, we had to throw them under the broiler. They were still delish.



BBQ Rib Goodness!


Pasta Salad throw together!


Wild Cherry Chocolate Cookies




Wild Cherry Chocolate Cookies
( I got this idea from the Vicarious Foodie, but adapted to my own version of chocolate cookies instead of oatmeal)

one Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1/2 cup of melted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
Wild Cherry M&M's

Mix sugar cookie mix, butter and egg together well until dough forms. Add in cocoa powder. Add M&M's and mix lightly. Drop by the spoonful onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

Cheeseburger Pie

This is a family favorite around here.

Cheeseburger Pie

2 cups cooked rice
1 lb hamburger
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped fine
6 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 can tomato sauce
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tbsp of fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
2 tsp of worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp bouillon granules


Brown hamburger and drain. Add onions, green pepper and garlic. Saute until softened. Pour in tomato sauce, chili powder, sugar, mustard, worcestershire and bouillon granules. Bring to a boil and reduce to low and simmer about 10-15 minutes. Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish. Add cooked rice and 4 oz of the cheddar. Mix well. Top with remaining 2oz of cheddar. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

We ate with sliced whole grain bread and avocados drizzled with lime juice.

Broccoli Salad

Definitely a keeper!!

Broccoli Salad

2 heads of fresh broccoli
1 cup chopped red onion
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup of regular or golden raisins
3/4 cup of sliced almonds or sunflower seeds
1 cup mayo
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

Cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Mix broccoli, onion, bacon, raisins and nuts or seeds in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together mayo, sugar and vinegar. Stir mayo mixture in with broccoli mixture and combine well. Can be served immediately, but even better if chilled in fridge overnight.

**I used the almonds this time but have had it with the sunflower seeds as well. Both versions are great!

Happy 2.5 Birthday Simon!

Yeah I know I'm silly. But my son's birthday falls in two days after Christmas and having a birthday that falls two days before Christmas myself I know too well what its like for it to get kinda dismissed. I would never forget my son's birthday, but his half birthday also falls exactly one day before my mothers birthday. And after losing her to cancer in October of 2006 this gives me a way to honor her as well. So Happy Birthday Mom and Simon!!! I love you both!

Here is my turtle cake I made for Simon. Definitely not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Caramel Apple Salad

So simple, yet so good. Nuff said.






Caramel Apple Salad

8oz cream cheese, softened
7 oz marshmallow fluff
5-6 granny smith apples
1 bag of mini snickers

Mix together cream cheese and marshmallow fluff well in a large bowl. Cut apples into bite size chunks. Unwrap snickers and cut into fourths. Toss cream cheese/fluff mixture with apples and snickers. Chill & Serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup is good for the soul(and the sick)

I was yucky sick this past week and where generally I'm not above eating some Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup with Stars, this time I wanted chicken noodle soup like momma used to make.




Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup.

-2 chicken breasts, pulled and shredded from a store bought rotisserie chicken, skin removed
-8 cups of water
-8 tsp of chicken bouillon granules
-2 carrots, finely chopped
-2 celery stalks, finely chopped
-1/2 an onion, finely chopped
-1 tsp of garlic
-1 tsp of dill
-1 tsp of parsley
-1/2 tsp of black pepper
-3 cups of egg noodles

Put water and bouillon in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil and stir until bouillon is dissolved. Reduce to a simmer and add everything except noodles. Simmer for 20 minutes. Return to a boil, add noodles, reduce to simmer and cook 15 minutes.

This soup made me smile.

Diva Pasta- Rattlesnake Pasta

Okay, I swear we really do eat more things than pasta. That just seems to be all the new things I have been trying lately or I forget to take pictures....

Anyway, I have had this recipe stored up for a long time to try. It is my version of Rattlesnake Pasta that I had at J. Alexander's, which I loved. Well, I loved mine as well. I did use shrimp instead of chicken like I had at J's.




Rattlesnake Pasta

8 T butter
1 c heavy cream
12 T parmesen cheese
2 T flour
1 pinch of ground cayenne pepper
s&p to taste
1/4 c finely chopped jalapeno peppers
3 T minced garlic
1 lb medium shrimp
4 cups penne pasta, cooked & tossed in 2 T olive oil

Combine butter, cream, parmesan, flour, salt, pepper & cayenne. Heat slowly until thickened. Add the jalapeno, garlic and shrimp. Simmer until shrimp are cooked through. Serve over pasta.

P.S.- I didn't make that bread. I bought it at The Fresh Market. And it was fab. Kalamata olives, garlic, sun dried tomatoes...

Diva Pasta

BLT Pasta

penne pasta, cooked
4oz cream cheese
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 bag of fresh spinach leaves
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup of cooked bacon, crumbled
1 tsp italian seasoning
a couple turns of fresh ground pepper

Cook cream cheese, milk, italian seasoning and pepper on low until creamy. Stir in spinach, tomatoes and bacon. Toss with pasta.

This was just okay...I think it was just missing something. Maybe some dry ranch seasoning thrown in would jazz it up.

Stuffed Peppers

My boss gave me two big bags of green bell peppers and I needed to do something with them before they went bad on me, so I decided to make a batch of my stuffed peppers. I love them, they are low in fat, high in fiber and one green pepper contains more vitamin C than an orange.

Stuffed Bell Peppers
1 lb ground turkey breast
11 green bell peppers
4 cups cooked rice
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
a sprinkling of salt

Cut off tops of green peppers and remove seeds and veins. Set 10 aside and chop the remaining one up for filling and set aside. Boil a large pot of water and cook peppers for 3 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the insides with salt and turn upside down onto a towel to drain. Meanwhile, cook turkey and drain off fat. Add onion, garlic and reserved chopped pepper and saute. Add in all of the remaining ingredients and mix well. Place upright peppers in a greased casserole dish and fill with mixture. Cook at 375 for 35 minutes. These can also be frozen by individually wrapping peppers in plastic wrap and then putting in freezer bags.

Happy Mothers Day!

Mothers Day for me is bittersweet since I lost my mom a little over a year ago, but I do my best to make it good for me and my boy. This year the inlaws cooked a big Mothers Day dinner for everyone. Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, salads, ice cream cake. I mean the works. I was told I didn't have to bring anything but I just can't go empty handed to things like that, so I made my famous spinach dip.

Diva Dip as follows:

Amy's Spinach Dip
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup of sour cream
2 Tbsp mayo
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
1 envelope of dry ranch dressing mix
1 can of water chestnuts, chopped
a couple turns of fresh ground black pepper

Mix all together well and chill.

Diva Pasta

I'm a big fan of the website www.allrecipes.com so I tend to try alot of stuff on that site. I love it because it is made up of all these recipes that are others tried and true favorites. I like that you can save everything in your own recipe box and that you can give recipes ratings, reviews and post your own photos of them. I decided to try this one mainly because I thought it sounded good and got excellent reviews and another chic made it up so it just seemed appropriate as a diva dish. I followed the recipe to a T and thought it was pretty decent, but I will definitely jazz it up a little next go round. Here is the recipe in its original form.

Brooklyn Girl's Penne Arriabiata

INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
* 6 cloves garlic, sliced
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil
* 1/2 cup tomato sauce
* 1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
* 1 (12 ounce) package dried penne pasta
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups bread crumbs
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 1 pound thin chicken breast cutlets


1. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, and saute for a few minutes. Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, and saute for another minute. Pour in the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, and add the basil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne pasta, and cook for 8 minutes, or until tender. Drain.
3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs with a fork. Place bread crumbs in a separate bowl. Stir the garlic powder, salt and pepper into the bread crumbs. Dip chicken cutlets into the egg, then press into the bread crumbs until completely coated.
4. Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken for about 5 minutes per side, or until the coating is a nice dark brown color.
5. Remove chicken, and cut into slices. Toss the chicken slices into the sauce, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked penne, simmer for a few more minutes to soak up the flavor, then serve.

Granola Bars

Simon, my son, goes through granola bars like crazy, so I decided to take a hand at making my own so that at least I know exactly what is in them. Less preservatives and way cheaper seeing as how a thing of oats is so much cheaper. Plus stuff from scratch always tastes so much better. I think its because you can taste the love in them.

These came out very tasty. The little guy loves them. They are a bit crumblier than I would like them, but I'm gradually perfecting that. I also made a smores version with mini marshmallows but I forgot to take a picture of those.

National Pigs in the Blanket Day

Yesterday was National Pigs in a Blanket Day. So, I decided to make my own jazzed up version of this starting with making my own turkey apple sausages. I went in search for some instruction on this and found this recipe.

Wickedly Perfect Turkey Apple Sausages
Ingredients
2 teaspoons of oil
1 onion-small diced
2 apples-small diced (Fuji or Gala)
2 pounds of ground turkey
1 egg-beaten
3 slices of white bread-ground in a food processor
¼ cup of heavy cream
2 teaspoons of sage-chopped
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of fennel seed
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
Fill a large roasting pan with about 4-5 inches of water and bring to a boil on your stove. Place oil in a sauté pan with onion and apples and cook until tender (about 10 minutes) and place in a large bowl.
Combine all remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix.
Place two large pieces (approx. 18″ inches) of aluminum foil on your counter and spoon out the sausage mixture, dividing equally between the two sheets of foil and shape into a slender sausage-like form (14 inches long by 2 inches wide). Next, pull one end of the foil above the mixture and using a straight edge such as a cookie sheet, tuck the mixture so that you remove any air and twist each end to secure and create a very tight casing for your sausage.
Poach the foil wrapped sausage in the water for about 15 minutes. Let the sausage cool, remove the foil and then grill or pan sauté.


I followed this recipe as is going with the pan saute method in the end. Then I rolled them up in crescent rolls, slipped in a little slice of mozzarella, put an egg wash on the tops of the crescent rolls and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Popped in the oven and viola!

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day today, my kiddo and I whipped up a "dirt cake". He had alot of fun making it and actually didn't even leave me with much clean up. He was on a bit of a sugar high afterwards from all the oreos and gummi worms though. LOL I did make this as a reduced fat version using fat free products and you could not tell a bit. The crunch of the cookies combined with the creaminess of the pudding mixture made for a quite thrilling after dinner dessert.

What did you do today to celebrate Planet Earth?




"Dirt Cake"
1/4 cup softened butter
8oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 boxes of chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 container of Cool Whip
1 package of Oreos, crushed
Gummi worms to garnish

Mix butter, cream, cheese, sugar and vanilla on low until well blended. Mix in pudding mixes and milk a half a cup at a time until well blended. Fold in Cool Whip. Layer cookies, then pudding, then cookies, then pudding and finally top with cookies. Garnish with Gummi Worms.

Product Holla!

Target has been carrying this line of food products for awhile now, but it seems to keep expanding more and more and I have to say that makes me happy. I had mostly just had the flavored nuts, trail mix type things, salsa, etc. But I recently noticed more box type meals and things. Being as everything else had been so tasty and reasonably priced, I decided to give this a go. It is prepared just like a Lipton noodle mix but so much tastier. I prepared just like the box said, but then towards the end threw in some extra sliced fresh mushrooms. I served this alongside some grilled steaks and steamed broccoli which made the finishing of a very tasty meal.

Just Dandy

Yes I will eat just about anything once...and here's proof. I recently was discussing homemade wine with a friend and remembered back in the day when I tried some Dandelion Wine, well that got me to thinking. You can make wine with them and eat the greens in salads and I also knew the little yellow flower tops were edible too, but how other than thrown in a salad could you go about fixing those. I did a little searching and it turns out you can fry those suckers. So, being the crazy one that I am...I did just that.


Ready for the pickin'


I concocted a little recipe that goes a little something like this:

Fried Dandelion Blossoms
about 15-20 dandelions
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of milk
salt
pepper
Old Bay Seasoning
** I added the Old Bay since the greens tend to be a bit bitter thinking maybe this might help cut some of that.






I battered em up, tossed them in the ole Fry Daddy and there you have it. I whipped up a little Roasted Garlic Aioli for dipping and tried those bad boys. To my surprise they were not at all bitter and tasted quite like fried cauliflower. Now I doubt I will be craving or fixing these often, but I can now say I tried them and that makes me feel "Just Dandy".

Okay, I lied.

Just yesterday I posted about my breakfast type dinner and how I like never eat actual breakfasts foods for breakfast. Well, what did I do today...I ate breakfast for breakfast. I couldn't help it. I woke up thinking about fresh doughnuts and pms wasn't helping the situation. Next thing I knew my car was driving to the local doughnut shop. I got there a little after the rush so some varieties were gone, but I still came home with a dozen doughy bites of goodness.

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image. On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex. You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time. Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

Breakfast....Its what's for dinner.

Or at least at my house tonight that is the case. I love breakfast foods. Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, french toast, pancakes, hashbrowns. All of it. Ironically though, I don't really like it for breakfast. For some reason I would rather wake up and eat a turkey sandwich or leftover spaghetti and meatballs. But for dinner bring on the breakfast foods. I know...that's weird. But that's me. So anyway, tonight was make your own omelet night. I prepared a slew of chopped up stuff, mixed up a bunch of eggs and let everyone make their own signature dish. The little one went with ham, eggs and cheese. The hubby got crazy throwing in green olives. I stayed pretty standard...ham, colbyjack cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and jalapenos. Served up with some toasted party rye slices which were of course smeared with butter and the roasted garlic I made below in honor of National Garlic Day. I think the chickens would be proud.

National Garlic Day!

April 19th is National Garlic Day!

National Garlic Day promotes the many uses of Garlic. And, there certainly are many uses. It's a vegetable. Its' a herb. It is used in recipes around the world. Garlic has been used medicinally for thousands of years. And, Garlic is believed to ward off evil spirits. About the only negative thing you can say about it, is that it can negatively affect an otherwise romantic evening.

I completely *heart* garlic in everything. Especially roasted in whole form and then smeared onto crusty bread.


To roast my garlic I generally make a aluminum foil pouch like thing, stick in the heads, drench with EVOO, sprinkle with kosher salt and cracked black pepper, sometimes a little oregano if the urge strikes me and roast at 325 for 1 hour.

Pucker up anyway honey!!!! Its time for some garlic infused kisses... :)

Avocado Shrimp Cocktail

My new cilantro product find not only has me dreaming of fish tacos, but guacamole and all other things avocado. This takes me back to the Avocado Shrimp Cocktail that I made this past New Years Eve. I want one. I want one now.

Avocado Shrimp Cocktail

10 large cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp, cut in chunks
1 large avocado, peeled and chunked
lime juice, fresh ground pepper and fresh cilantro to taste
2-3 Tablespoons of cocktail sauce