Finally!

So this past Tuesday, we FINALLY decided to pick our lazy behinds up from the ground and do something that actually takes, dare I say... Effort?

So as it is Tuesday morning, and we have yet to pick out a meal plan, the topic of "what are we going to cook" comes up. Oops. We still haven't done that yet?

Hello Ellie Krieger on foodnetwork.com, I know it's been a while, lets get better acquainted. Oh, what's that? Chicken Parmesan is on your home page? Ok, well, it was nice seeing you, but I've gotta run. Let's keep in touch tho ^_^

So there it was. Dinner Plan. Ahhhh ahhh ahhh

So I'm honestly not sure how Chicken Parmesan is normally made, but I heard that you fry the chicken? Who knows, well, probably you, but I don't so... moving forward. But this time they had us bread it in 3 little "stations" and then bake them for 15 minutes.

Pull them out and then coat with marinara sauce and mozzerella cheese and pop it back in for another 10 minutes.

Just to complete the meal, we added pasta, and just stuck the chicken on top when it was finished.

Yumm-O! 

This was definitely a keeper recipe, and I'm sure we will make it again in the future!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/chicken-parmesan-recipe/index.html

Because other things were more important....

So this past Tuesday, we just were not feelin' it. Is that bad? I mean, we only really cook one day a week, and we didn't even want to put forth an effort to do that.

So I have compiled a list of reasons, aka. excuses, for being lazy.

1. Kristin and I still had an entire weeks worth of laundry to do, and had to pack that night, which I didn't end up doing until 5:45am the next morning due to reason two
2. Psychology test promptly at 8am the next morning
3. Lack of will power
4. I know that #3 was lame, but I felt like 2 reasons was pretty wimpy
5. I have no more reasons

Ok, so we weren't totally lame, we at least make SOMETHING (if you can call it that).
We fried Tyson chicken nuggets and fries... yay?
Such an extravagant meal you see...
But, what did make it better, was the fact that we finished once Kyle got off work, and I got him to bring us sauce back from Chick-fil-A. woot-woot.
Major cool points for him, and if he has even read this far, then he gets double cool points. ;)

Something Funky

Yes, I am aware. It is WAY past due for an update. So I will do you the courtesy of doing a "two-for".

So last week was something that I can't really put a label on. It was like noodle/tomato wedge pasta? Idk. But all I know is that once it was "done" we were both like. Um??? how do we eat this, so we put it in a pan, put tonz of cheese in it and sprinkled it with crushed Ritz crackers :) Thus making this our first "experimental" recipe.
Kinda pathetic I know.

Well, it may not have been such a winner of a recipe, but we did something that we had never done before.

Our entire meal was done in GOOD TIME! like-woah!

AND

We have proof, and NO we did not change the times on the clocks.

Secondly. Tonight we cooked what may have been the best meal so far.

It was:
Country Style Chicken
Baked Mac'n'cheese
Peas

You know, Publix is absolutely awesome, with their little "Apron's" lady who is always conveniently there to give us nummy food. She inspired us and when we finished, it tasted exactly like it was supposed to (potentially even better).

Everyone in the house liked it. And the sauce was so simple. You just saute peppers, tomatoes, and onions, then add vegetable seasoning, and then water and gravy mix until smooth.

The chicken was my favorite part tho.

For my 18th birthday, my mom sent me everything I would possibly need to make New Orleans Beignets. Included in my huge gift was my own personal electric skillet :) :) :) and I got to use it to fry the chicken, which turned out really good. It felt like I was working at Chick-fil-A, but in our own kitchen.

Ta-Dah!

Simple Salad

So as I posted last week, there has been a significant lack of nutrients in our Tasty Tuesday adventures, so what better than SALAD to make everyone feel better (and less guilty about eating desert)!

But you see, this is not just a boring salad, with just grass and other colorful things that mostly farm animals consume. It had something more to our liking. Something with a kick... Buffalo Chicken! woot woot

Sounds like a good way to enjoy some tasty greens and leave those extra inches off the old waist.

BUT

Of course we had to be kinda bad, we made cheddar biscuits from scratch to go on the side.
Dip them in some honey butter (which, I might add, is the greatest creation on this planet) and it's 10x better.

Now I know that this is a lot more simple than the normal Tuesday evening, but this week at our church (Calvary Chapel) we held our mid-week services on Tuesday due to a special visit from Chuck Smith.

A Little History:

In 1965, Pastor Chuck Smith began his ministry at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Only twenty-five people attended. What began as a small chapel has now grown into a church that seats over 2000 and is filled almost nightly. From the beginning, Pastor Chuck welcomed all, young and old, without judgment, placing his emphasis on the teaching of the Word of God. His simple, yet sound, biblical approach draws 25,000 people weekly.

With a sincere concern for the lost, Pastor Chuck made room in his heart and his home for a generation of hippies and surfers; generating a movement of the Holy Spirit that spread from the West Coast to the East Coast, bringing thousands of young people to Jesus Christ. Included among this generation of new believers were Greg Laurie, Mike MacIntosh, Raul Ries, and Skip Heitzig, as well as hundreds of others who now have ministries of their own.

Although we got to hear the band that was greatly associated with the Calvary Chapel movement, I (along with others) were disappointed that Pastor Chuck didn't actually teach :( But, it was a pretty cool experience altogether, and for anyone interested, there are podcasts out there of teachings from Pastor Chuck.

That is all for this week though. I'm sure we will have more "complex" dishes on the menu for next week. But until then...

Bon Appetit

Let's Get Shnazzy!

So I am well aware of the fact that it is neither Tuesday or Wednesday night, and it is indeed much later that I am posting this but, I must be honest. The creative juices that I feel I need in order to write intriguing posts, was depleted. It has taken up until about now, which it is almost 12am Saturday/Sunday, to regain the will to write. :(
As pathetic as that may be, it is true. But I guess better late than never!

Ok. So what's on the menu for Tuesday, October 26, 2010 you might ask?

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Broccoli-Stuffing Casserole
Cream Cheese twice baked Mashed Potatoes

So, instead of telling you HOW to make them, which a website (allrecipes.com) can simply do, I will just share with you how it went down in our kitchen. Sound good?

It is 12:50 and my last class of the day has ended. HURRAY! time to go home and get the shopping list made. We have tonz of time, dinner could potentially be on the table at a reasonable hour, which has yet to happen.

And a new discovery has been made.... COUPONS! Who doesn't like those?

So between dawdling, finding coupons, and other mindless time killers, dinner still wasn't served till late. Sorry. But let's just say, it was worth the wait. I don't even like ham (which I saved $0.55 on from said coupons) and the cordon-bleu was delicious.

2: Casserole, ehh, it was pretty good, I mean, who doesn't like fresh broccoli. Except for the fact that the recipe called for dry stuffing mix, which we thought was a little odd. Ended up tasting pretty good if you don't mind the crunch, but a quick solution which we found was to put the easy, delicious, wine-free, cordon-bleu sauce right on it. Mmmm... Yummy

3: Take my advice, don't even bother putting the mashed potatoes back in the over, it makes them just.. Hotter?... Wooh :/  just eat it as soon as it's ready. Problem. Solved. Although they were still pretty good I must admit.

I have decided to get readers input on next week. As of now we have yet to pick out a meal for next week and time is drawing closer. I was blessed to have absolutely no homework this week/weekend, but I must assume that this will come to an end very shortly. So please, please, please, if you have a recipe or link to a recipe that you would suggest, feel free to do so.
Also, lastly (I promise) I have noticed that there is a lack of fruits and veggies, basically anything healthy, in our meals, so if you have any veggie recipes, send those first. Ok, thanx, byeeee ^_^

Recipe Links:

• http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Cordon-Bleu-II/Detail.aspx
• http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broccoli-and-Stuffing-Casserole/Detail.aspx
• http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000257790

Breakfast for Dinner

What's for dinner? ..... Breakfast for Dinner!!! yay

No one can EVER go wrong with good old fashioned breakfast for dinner. It's an all-time favorite, and if you don't like it, well, you might need to go to the hospital and get that checked out, because there is something wrong with you.

So this week was indeed breakfast for dinner, but it wasn't just your eggs and toast. We made :

Orange-Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Sausage Pigs in a Blanket
Homemade Hash-browns

Hashbrowns:

• shredded potatoes
• oil
• salt and pepper
• garlic and onion powder

simply shred your potatoes, pour oil in a pan, and once your potatoes are cooking --> flatten them into a patty. Flip and cook opposite sides

Sausage Pigs in a Blanket:

• Crescent Rolls
• Fully Cooked Sausage Links

Cut crescent rolls in half and proceed to make pigs in a blanket. Cook according to crescent rolls instructions.

Orange-Chocolate Chip Pancakes:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Mix together all dry ingredients (excluding chocolate and zest) in one bowl

In bigger, separate bowl, all the liquid ingredients

Sift them together, then add zest and let it sit for about 10mins.

*I found it useful to wait to put the chocolate chips in while I was cooking them, otherwise they will all just fall to the bottom of the bowl (in my experience)

I put honey-butter on my pancakes, and left the syrup for the sausages.

Milk on the side.

Amazing!

Bruschetta Fresca & Coca-Cola Cupcakes

So it's week 3 and here are a few little things that we have learned :

1. Read the ENTIRE recipe before starting
2. Double check the pantry before going to the grocery store
3. Always use less ginger
4. It's usually a good idea to bring a recipe to the grocery store, so that when you're buying ingredients that you won't be using very often, you only get what you need. This can eliminate wasting money on something that will go bad
5. Just because you found it on the internet, doesn't mean that it will taste good.

Now I gave you all a hint last week of what this meal would be, and here it is.... Bruschetta Fresca..

So the bruschetta alone wouldn't be enough to fill everyone up, so we had to make some chicken alfredo to go with it, but the exciting part is the bruschetta anyway

Things you'll need:

1 bakery baguette

8oz. fresh mozzarella cheese

4-6 fresh basil leaves

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Step 1

Preheat the oven on broil 

Cut the baguette into 1/2in. thick slices 

Broil on each side for 1min

Step 2

Cut cheese into small cubes

Combine in medium bowl : garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. 

Stir in cheese, tomatoes, salt, and pepper

Serve with basil leaves on top... 

Ok, now the exciting part (or so we thought)

Coca-Cola Cupcakes... that sounds, well, simply put. AmAzInG!

Well, apparently, Kristin and I are cursed. You see, whenever we cook, we're only allowed to make one delicious thing at a time. Two? are you crazy?

and yes... we followed the recipe exactly, and they were still horrible. They were a horrible texture, horrible taste, horrible frosting. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible I tell you, just simply horrible.
This about sums up our third adventure. We got tonz of laughs out of it, and at the end of the day, we sat down with a glass of coke instead of our coke cupcakes, it was ok tho. We enjoyed the process, and it just made us want to eat more of the bruschetta, and when all was said and done, we hade acquired yet another "dirty recipe".

Now

Because I am so nice, I will enlighten you with what I have brewing in my brain. (haha. pardon the pun) Halloween is coming up, and I'm not the person that gets all into dressing up and trick or treating, but I do think some of the decorations are adorable... Not a fan of the creepy stuff. With this being said, I have taken on the self-inflicted task of baking Halloween Cupcakes...

Since you asked nicely, I will share with you some of my ideas that I have been tossing around. 

You will not know what they are made of tho, you are only allowed to look.

So I have narrowed it down to 3:

So, tell me what you think! If you were to be consuming a hand made cupcake by your truly, which one would you want it to be?