Monday Dinner-First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for my daughter Samira, she is starting the 5th grade so I wanted to make sure that she had a great dinner to start the year off right. I have been trying really hard to start this school year off right since I am a stay at home parent now.

I decided that I was going to use a great recipe that I saw on the Food Network from Valerie Bertinelli, I changed it a bit but for the most part this is a winner in my book.

Monday August 15, 2016
Chicken Legs with Red Bean and Brown Rice

I left out the sausage and had to Macgyver some chicken stock but it was still awesome. I pride myself on making the best of what I have in my shelves since I am on a tight budget these days. I know my husband always wants a protein with our meal so I had some leg quarters of chicken that I got on sale at the market. I just seasoned them up with a chicken seasoning I got at Mi Pueblo super market. I seared it on the skin side and then covered it after I flipped it over and let it cook on low for about 25 minutes. Half way through I based it with butter, and that really made it delish.

Sunday Night Dinner-Chicken Fried Pork Chops with Wild Rice

I have decided that my new adventures in cooking need to be documented so that I will remember all the wonderful, and maybe not so wonderful dinner that I make for my family. Lets hope I dont poison them or myself and I improve on the way.

Sunday August 14, 2016
Chicken Fried Pork Chops with Wild Rice and broccoli.

I am a huge fan of not using a million dishes, so last night was one of those dinners I felt was a huge success, not just for the taste but the easy clean up. I would love to say that I really slaved over this dinner, but I didnt...just boxed rice and I used a batter for chicken in a package. Now this is my first entry so you will have to bear with me, since I didnt take pics of anything but the final product. I am going to edit it this to add the rice name and batter mix. I was able to make the rice and the last 8 minutes throw the fresh broccoli on top to give it wonderful flavor. The entire family loved it, so in my mind this will be a great fall/winter dinner.

Quick weeknight meal

So I hate cooking sometimes especially during the week. Recently I have been letting the culinary juices flow and trying some premade stuff together that you normally would think of. So I made Chinese General Taos chicken with popcorn chicken and frozen broccoli. Then I added post stickers to the side and boom all done! 

Pumpkin Pie Bites

I decided to try this recipe from the one that I saw on Pinterest. I made a few adjustments for my taste. I took out the cream cheese and added more sugar. 3/4 of cup of sugar instead of 1/2 cup. The pumpkin is a bit runny, but after the baking process it all firms up and tastes really good. The batter could make up to 48 pumpkins bites, so that would be 4 ready made pie crust instead of the called for 2. I also did use the pumpkin cookie cutter but will opt not to use it the next time that I  make them. A few more tweeks and they will be perfect for the holidays. Will keep you posted on what I change.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts
1/2 cup sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter

Optional
1/2 cup chocolate morsels
vegetable oil
re-sealable plastic bags

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Use cookie cutter to cut 12 pumpkin shapes from each pie crust. You will need to roll the dough thinner than it comes out of the box.
Press dough shapes into a 24 cup mini muffin tray. (Make 12 at a time, alternating cups to make sure pie crusts don’t overlap each other.)
Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edges of each pie.
Mix, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.
Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Remove pies to cool and repeat with second pie crust. Place the muffin tray in the freezer to cool it quickly for re-use.

Makes 24 pies. Keep refrigerated.

To decorate, melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave on medium. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Add a little vegetable oil to make the chocolate more fluid. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and cut the corner off. Drizzle or draw faces on pies.

Note: The cutter I used was 3 3/4 inches wide, but if you don’t have one, don’t worry. Just use a round cutter around that size or slightly smaller to cut circle shapes out of the dough. Then make stems with the scraps. Press each stem over the edge and down the side of the dough before filling.

Pumpkin pie spice is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.

Enjoy!

Cupcakin it these days...

So recently I have been baking a ton of cupcakes to try out some recipes that I have found of the Internet being that I told my friend that I would bake cupcakes for her daughters birthday party this weekend. Here are a few observations that I have made in trying all these different recipes for the cup cakes. 1.) if the batter is stiff the cupcake is going to turn out dry, not matter what. 2.) believe them when they say have everything at room temp when you are baking...it really does just turn out better. 3.) the more liquidy the batter is the lighter and fluffier the cupcakes come out. I am still on the search for the perfect vanilla cupcake but I found my chocolate cupcake. I am hoping to impress the guests at the part so that I can generate a little bitty business for the birthday parties around town. I love to bake and have been kicking around the idea of going to pastry school, only thing is that I have to work in order to keep my family fed...bummer huh? LOL, will be back soon with pics and recipes.

Swiss and Bacon Dip

I got this Recipe off the food network website (Rachel Ray) and made it for a Super Bowl party that I went to, it was SO good and every one loved it! Had to share this awesome dip that doesn't disappoint. Make sure to serve it hot, cuz it can be a bit hard to get out once it cools down.

Ingredients

• 8 slices center cut bacon, chopped
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 rounded teaspoons prepared Dijon style mustard
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, available on dairy aisle
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup smoked almonds, coarsely chopped
• Baby carrots and a selection of spiced flat breads, cocktail sizedpumpernickel or rye breads, or sliced whole grain baguettes, for dipping

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Brown bacon in nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Drain crisp bacon bits on paper towels.

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, Dijon, Swiss and scallions with cooked bacon. Transfer to a shallow small casserole or baking dish and bake until golden and bubbly at edges, 15 to 18 minutes. Top with chopped smoked almonds. Place dip on a platter and surround warm casserole with breads and carrots for dipping.

Variation: Swiss and Bacon Dip with Horseradish - Stir in 2 rounded teaspoons prepared horseradish when combining cheese and bacon.

Chili in my crock pot.

So here is the documentation that I am an awesome self taught home cook! Lol, its been a bumpy road getting here but it's never had a dull moment. On to the Chili...
I used ground pork which I sauteed in a pan with a touch of oil and some onions. While that was cooking I put 2 cans of tomato sauce in the crock pot along with some raw onion and some of my home made salsa. Then I added the spices, lots and lots of Chili powder, granulated garlic, onion powder, fresh garlic, and of course s & p. Added my pork with onions and some kidney beans that I had soaked over night. Set the crock pot for 5 1/2 hours and made some corn bread to go with it. When it was all finished I topped it with some medium cheddar cheese and served it over rice. Spicy and very yummy. Have you ever noticed that no matter what you put it in it, Chili always looks the same?? LOL just a random thought.