Homemaker Archives - Page 37 of 42

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

June 29, 2011 by Jules 9 Comments

Are you finding a trend? Original recipe, tweaked, kid-friendly...

2 tbs butter/marg. melted
2 tbs milk
1 tbs chopped chives or parsley (I use parsley flakes)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic pwd
2 cups cornflakes cereal= 1 cup crushed (I pre-crush and store in pantries)
3 tbs chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp paprika
6 boneless, skinless chx breast halves (1 3/4lbs) (I pre-cube and refrigerate after baking an entire bag)
2 tbs butter/margarine, melted

(original receipt found on page 291 of the Betty Crocker's Cookbook- The BIG RED Cookbook)

My tweaked version:

If serving/not freezing: Heat oven to 425'. Grease an 8x8ish glass casserole dish
Melt butter, stir in seasonings, add cereal, then add cubed/chopped chx, mix everything! If you mixed in a separate bowl (which I recommend so the stuff slopped up the sides doesn't burn and look gross when you're serving it), scoop everything into your casserole dish and freeze for later or bake for 20-30 min. (from freezer double baking time).

Love this meal! The tweaked version was an accident: I didn't read the recipe close enough when making it for the second time and added everything together before I remembered they were supposed to be in separate dished and i should be doing a coating method. Couldn't go back so I baked it like it was and everyone ate it up and for my preschooler and toddler it ended up being easier than trying to cut up their meat for them after served.

Comment and let me know if you try this recipe or if you have a "tweaked" favorite recipe of your own!

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking Tagged With: betty crocker, chicken, crushed cerial, easy, kid friendly

Birthdays: To Be Surprised or Not To Be Surprised?

June 28, 2011 by Jules 1 Comment

Sopping wet hair. Barely dressed for school. Ushered into the dinning room to eat a wholesome breakfast of adorable smiley face birthday cake accompanied by gifts wrapped in smiley face paper. Ugg! Camera snapping shots of the unprepared, make-upless high schooler during this 'party'. That evening, after a birthday full of school, she is greeted at home by her high school boyfriend, and a few girl friends for yet another surprise birthday party complete with Veggie Tale gift wrap and cake to be followed by a long-awaited trip to the 1st football game of the year.

When I was growing up, I never knew what kind of cake I was going to have for my birthday, what thoughtful gift my family had picked out for me based on random conversations before that day, or on some years, if and when there would be a celebration. My mom, especially, LOVED surprising me!

Years down the road that same Veggie Tale love'n girl has children of her own with the love of her life who grew up in a state miles away and in a totally different family (duh, other wise gross!). We are learning to melt and mold one another's family traditions and make some new ones of our own for our beautifully growing family.

Birthdays...?

Our eldest has just turned 3. As a youth pastoring family we skillfully planned her arrival to come in the middle of the annual mega summer camp, Super Summer AR. bahahaha Poor girl. Out of necessity, one of our yearly traditions has been to travel to see daddy at camp for Father's Day and then again for Maggie's birthday. We eat cupcakes in the cafeteria with our students and the past couple years we also celebrate with a dear family of friends who live in the same town the camp is hosted. The second part of her birthday tradition has been to have a party on the 4th of July weekend so family is able to be off work and able to come celebrate with us.

The past 2 years I've snuck around, according to my family custom, trying to hide cupcakes, cakes, decorations, gifts, and simple plans from our birthday girl (not hard seeing as she was only 1 and 2 years old). This years I went out on a limb and let my quickly maturing 3-year-old help make and decorate her own birthday cupcakes as well as point-blank ask her what 'kind' of party she'd like to have. She often helps me in the kitchen but icing in a new-found skill of hers. She has also changed her mind once over the past month but we have settled on...maybe you guessed it- Veggie Tales. YEP; Train up a child!

I haven't decided which tradition we'll stick with in years to come but both have their pros and cons. Whacha think?

Now, pics of the process, of course! More of the VT party to come in a future post

just a few of our creations

~~~

What are your family customs you adhere to (maybe without even knowing it)? Do share; I love sifting through advise!
I avoided the endless Jesus jukes that where oh so readily available in this but those are welcome, too ;o)

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Parenting

Baked Ziti and Green Beans

June 16, 2011 by Jules 3 Comments

These 2 recipes were given to me when our Amazing church family provided an abundance of scrumdiddlyumptious meals after having my 3rd c-section this past January! The ziti takes a while but is WELL worth the time, makes 2 batches at a time, and freezes/reheats great! The green beans are quick and delicious! Both have become staples in our house!!!

*Baked Ziti

1 lb lean ground beef
2 tbl onion pwd
3 tbl garlic pwd
1 jar (28 oz) meatless spag. sauce
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes undrained (I used a 10 oz can with green peppers)
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
3/4 cut water
2 tbl parsley
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp basil
1-1/2 tsp oregano
1 lb uncooked ziti noodles
1 carton (15 oz) reduced -fat ricotta cheese
2 cups (8 oz) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup egg substitute (I used 1 large egg)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Brown beef with onions and garlic then stir in spag sauce, tomatoes, tom. paste, water, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, basil, and oregano. Cover and simmer for 3 hours stirring occasionally. Cook pasta according to box then drain. Combine cheeses, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl. In 2 greased baking dishes, layer meat sauce, pasta, and cheese evenly until gone. (I just mixed all together in a huge bowl until evenly coated and divided evenly in the dishes. Cover 1 for freezing and refrigerate or bake the other right then) Bake 1 hr @ 350' or until heated through. Makes 2 casseroles (~6 servings each).

**Green Beans

1 large 'family size' can of green beans (your desired cut)
1 cup sugar (more or less as desired)
1 tsp Tony's original seasoning

Cook on stove top until boiling slightly while stirring or nuke in microwave until heated well then stir well.

BONUS!

My kids chow down with no fuss!

*Ziti via Melting Pot pg 65 via Ms Terri Tucker
**Green Beans via Nicole Harrod

Do you have any fav dishes you'd like to share? Comment to share or leave a link!

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking Tagged With: bake, baked ziti, church family, green beans, sugar, tony's seasoning, yum, ziti

Chicken Casserole

June 9, 2011 by Jules 3 Comments

This is more than a staple at our house! My husband would eat this at leastevery other day. As a matter of fact, when I told him I was gonna start recipe posts on thuRsdays, he said, "so...when ya make'n Chicken Casserole!?!" The original recipe comes from Katie Williamson; THANK YOU, you helped me make a happy hubby! We first made this dish together to take to a friend who had just had surgery back in ~2008.

2 cups cooked chx
1 can chx noodle soup
1 cup mayo (we use miricle whip)
1 jar pomintos (we omit)
1 cup diced celary (we omit)
1 tbs minced onion (we use pwd)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups cooked rice
1 sleeve crushed crackers (we use Ritz)

Mix all (-crackers) in a bowl or just in the casserole dish you'll bake it in the top with crackers after in cass. dish, cook ~30 min or until bubbly @ 350' then EAT!

This works great with several of these things made a head. I like to cook an entire bag of boneless skinless chx breast for ~1 hr @350'. Then I dice all of it (why dice? faster meals with preKs) and refrigerate so they're ready for up coming meals (i.e. chx cass, mex chx, crunchy garlic chx- recipes coming soon). I also use my handy-dandy chopper to crush several sleeves of crackers at once. I put 1 sleeve of crushed crackers in a plastic bag in the pantry (labeled) for later. I also make big batches of rice to store left overs in fridge and use for lots of dishes later (i.e. chx cass, stir fry, breakfast rice- recipes coming soon)

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Filed Under: Baking and Cooking Tagged With: chicken casserole, crackers, fast, favorite, freezer, meals, yummy

Oster 3-in-1 Hand Blender

June 6, 2011 by Jules Leave a Comment

The Oster 3-in-1 Hand Blender is amazing and I use it at least 2 times a month. We originally bought this tool from Wal-Mart when looking for something cheap to make homemade baby food (uping the usage to more than 2x a week) for our 2nd child (after burning up our 1st one), ~2010. I now use this to chop/crush crackers, nuts, and cereal. I do big batches of these and store them in my pantry to make meal prep faster! It also assist in making baby food a snap!