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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Long time, no blog!

Well kids, it's been a while. 

I had a specific request today so here goes!

Porcupines

1 lb ground beef
1 pkg beef rice-a-roni
1 egg
2 1/2c water

Combine raw beef, rice and egg with your hands and squish it around until its uniform.  Form into 1 1/2" meat balls.  Brown on all sides in a large lidded skillet.  When brown, combine seasoning from rice-a-roni and water, add to skillet of browned meatballs.  Cover and let simmer about 20 min, or until all water has been absorbed.  Turn half way through so all your rice gets tender.


Taadaa!

My mom always said they looked like little porcupines.

i was born to cook.

BTW  My 2 yr old loves these, don't be scared.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Deep thoughts on brownies

So, my husband is the ultimate brownie lover. The more chocolate the better.

For valentine's day, we went to breakfast as a family and he worked late. Today, February 15th, I am making up for his work late schedule.

Deep dish brownies

3/4c flour
1/2c cocoa
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp baking powder
1 1/2c sugar
1 1/2tsp vanilla
3/4c butter, melted
3 eggs

I combined all in my handy dandy kitchenaid mixer and let it mix on low for 3 minutes.

Bake in a greased square pan at 350 for 40min.
We added some heart shaped Dove chocolates on top before baking to add some love :-)

i was born to cook

Deer Backstrap Crock Pot Roast

Well, I've spent the last few weeks transitioning into a new, blessed journey.  I am a happy SAHM and a domestice goddess.  I am striving to keep warm meals on the table for my little family while staying SUPER busy with my crew.  I cannot express exactly how thankful I am to be at home with my girl, but God continues to take care of our family and He provides abundantly.

So, I had little inspiration this morning and am doing my best to use up all the meat and random side dish items in our freezers and pantry.  I started this process with a pantry clean-out!  I found a few things that needed to be trashed and a few more to use up quickly.  In our freezer, we are blessed to have TONS of meat from this past hunting season.  Someone gave us the majority of a deer; my husband processed it and it's been hanging out in the big freezer. 


2 lbs frozen backstrap
1 pkg brown gravy mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2c water or beef broth (I don't generally keep broths in my house so I go with water!)
S & P

I placed the frozen backstrap in my crockpot, mixed the rest of the ingredients and poured over. 
Feel free to add more liquid and throw in carrots, potatoes, or celery for a traditional roast and tater type dish.  I will be making scalloped potatoes (from the pantry!) and steamed broccoli as our sides. 

It's in the crockpot now, if it turns out terrible, I'll be sure to update!!

i was born to cook, and to be a mother

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A few days of grace.

So, most days I push myself to have a hot meal ready for my little family.  I did really good last week and prepared meals 4/6 days. 
Lasagna
Chicken Spaghetti
(not from scratch) Rice-a-roni with "beef"
Sauteed chicken with veggies

And, now that I've got a nice sinus infection, I'm giving myself a few days of grace.  We will be eating frozen taquitos, corn dogs and anything else that requires little to no prep.

Look for tomorrows recipe:
LASAGNA!!!! yum.

i was born to cook.  and take naps :)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Swedish Meatballs and Sour Cream Brown Gravy

So, I'm not a fan of frozen meatballs and gravy.  It just doesn't do anything for my taste buds!  That being said, this week, I set out to buy groceries for a full 2 week menu.  We are currently working through a stash of ground pork and ground deer meat so I tried to use them as best I could.
I decided on the following meals:
Swedish Meatballs
Grilled stuffed burrtios
Tacos
Shepherd's Pie
Smothered Crock Pot Pork Chops
Salmon Packets
Lasagna
Porcupines
Grilled marinated Chicken Breasts
Chicken Spaghetti
King ranch Chicken

So let me start with the first!

Swedish Meatballs with Sour Cream Brown Gravy
This wasn't a complete success, so the items in bold are what I would do when I make them again.
I didn't add the onion for the sake of laziness and time.  I used the onion powder instead.  Definitely take the extra 5 min, if you've got it.


1 Lb of ground pork sausage or beef (or a combination of the two)
2 slices fresh bread
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 medium onion, diced small
3 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp allspice
S & P
2 egg yolks
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 300 - spray cooking spray lightly on a flat sheet pan/cake pan/whatever you've got!
In a small bowl, pour milk over bread and let sit to soften
Melt butter in a small sautee pan, add onions and sweat until clear/soft.Combine ground meat, mushy bread, bread crumbs, flour, spices, cooked onion, egg yolks and stir/mush/mix until all items are consistant.
Form into 1 1/2" meatballs
Sautee on medium browning each sideTransfer to greased pan and bake 30-45 min or until internal temp is 165+

Sour Cream Brown Gravy

No detailed recipe here - I prepared a brown gravy (from a package) and added 1/4c. of sour cream and wisked until smooth!


I served over No Yolk noodles and even baby A thought they were great!! 
semi-success!

i was born to cook

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

King Ranch Chicken - My version at least.

Well, it's not exactly "King Ranch Chicken" like they serve in lots of restaurants, but it's close to it, and its definitely comfort food.

1 - 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of rotel (choose your hotness)
1/2c milk or water (milk will yeild a higher fat and yummyness)
S & P to your liking
1/2 bag of tortilla chips (or more, depending on how much crunch you want)
1 1/2 cups cheddar or mexican blend shredded cheese

Preheat your oven to 325
Boil, bake, pan fry - heat your chicken until its fully cooked!
Fill the bottom of a 13x9 pan with tortilla chips (crushed or not, whatever)
Pull/shred/slice/dice the chicken (remove any fat or otherwise yuckyness - I pull mine because I like the consistancy
In a large bowl combine your chicken, 3 canned items, chicken, milk, and salk and pepper.
Pour over the tortilla chips.
Cover with cheese and bake for approx 40 min. 

If you're worried about your cheese getting too brown, cover with foil for the first 20 min.






Disclaimer: 
If you need it in about 30m, use canned chicken and bake 350 for 30m.
I use 98% fat free cream soups because I can't stand the thought of full fat soups... do what you want!
No pictures this time, I made it last night :)

i was born to cook.



Starting up again :)

Well, after the birth of our sweet one and a whole year of mommyhood, I've decided to start blogging again!

If there are any recipes that you know that I make, I would be glad to post the recipe!  Comment with your request!

If you are new to my cooking style; here's the low-down. 
I will cook just about anything that looks yummy, no matter the time, effort, or skill level involved.  Most of my meals take 1 hour or less from prep to dinner table, but sometimes I throw in a super long recipe!  Some of my meals come from my sweet mama and some from internet or TV inspiration. 
I have decided to include pictures of prep and final product for those who need the extra help.
Thanks for the interest!

i was born to cook