AWARDS

Hey ya'll! (yeah that's the southern roots coming out). I was just given some fab awards from NANA (You should check her out if you haven't already-love love love her blog!!) And I would like to give a HUGE thanks to her for thinking I'm cool enough to deserve these!



So now I would like to pass these on:

You guys rock and I wanted you to know it!

MaryBeth at Dunking Cookin
Stephanie at Fun Foods on a Budget
Megan at Megan's Munchies
Tanya at Sunday Baker

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

BBQ Sloppy Joes and BBQ Seasoned Rings

There are some days when you don't care about calorie counts or anything but comfort foods and stuff that's probably not to great for you. Well that was me tonight. My daughter is pretty sick and I didn't want to have to fuss over anything fancy or time consuming. So it was my sloppy joes and since I was craving onion rings I made those too. Oh yummy!! This really hit the spot and it allowed me more time to keep and eye on my daughter as well as the boys (who I don't want getting sick). I hope you enjoy them too!

BBQ & Cilantro Sloppy Joes
1/2 bottle traditional BBQ sauce
1 pound hamburger, cooked and drained
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1/2C shredded cheddar cheese

Once hamburger is cooked add BBQ sauce and heat through. Once heated add cilantro and cheese and stir until melted. Place on hamburger buns and you can serve as is or for extra punch and vitamins you can top it with spinach. I was the only one who did that, and it was good!!!

BBQ Spiced Onion Rings
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 C buttermilk
4 tbsp bbq spice (you can find this in the spice isle in the grocery store)
2C flour

Place sliced onions and buttermilk in plastic baggie and place in fridge for a couple of hours. This will help soften the onion rings as well as flavor them. When ready to cook, mix the flour and bbq spice together and dredge rings in that and fry until golden brown.

I didn't add any extra salt or anything to these when they came out of the oil The spice in the flour added enough, but you can also add more or less depending on your taste.

I hope you enjoy these!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!

Super Bowl (GO STEELERS) Snacks

I'm so excited for the Super Bowl this Sunday!!!

Even though we live in AZ we are die hard Steelers fans. We've received a lot of grief about that. But that's ok. It's all a part of the fun!!!

So here's a recipe that would be super yummy to munch on during the game. My mom used to make these little appetizers all the time while I was growing up. They aren't fancy, yet they pack a HUGE punch of flavor. I really love them and anytime we had company I would always ask her to make them. Oh and did I mention that they are really easy??

Cheesy Sausage Balls
3 cups bisquick mix
1 pound sausage (I like mild but I bet the spicey would be super in this!)
4 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 C milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and shape the mixture into balls. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool and eat. These are good by themselves or you could have a dipping sauce of your choice. My mom always had these without sauce.

sorry, not my picture, found it online.


HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicken Chow Mein

Today is going to be an unusually yucky day. One of those days where all you want to do is wrap up in a blanket and watch tv or read a good book. Just yucky. The sky is a nasty looking color and we are in wait mode for the rain that may or may not come. So in light of the atmosphere right now I felt like posting what we had for dinner last night. It was so good and yummy. I've mentioned before that I like Asian food. Well I found a recipe the other day that I wanted to tweak and try. So here's what I came up with. The whole family enjoyed it and the husband said it was worthy of a contest or something. Not that I think i'll be entering it in anything, but I gladly took the compliment.

Chicken Chow Mein
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut up
1/2 pound thins spaghetti or vermicelli (or rice noodles if you have those-I used spaghetti)
1 zucchini thinly sliced
1 1/2 carrots thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves
2tbsp sesame oil
2tbsp veg oil
1tbsp soy sauce
black pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder (more if you like it spicy)
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tomato, diced
2-3 green onions sliced

In a plastic baggie, combine chicken pieces, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic cloves, and seasonings. Marinate for about 1 1/2 hours. Longer is you'd like but that's how long I marinated it.

Once it's marinated, place ingredients in a large skillet or wok. Cook until meat is no longer pink and sauce is bubbly. Meanwhile, cook pasta just until done about 4 minutes..
Once chicken and sauce are cooked and bubbly, add veggies and cook until crisp tender. Then add pasta and let it finish cooking in the sauce until al dente.
Top with tomatoes and green onions.
Serve and enjoy!



Hope your day is good and you are enjoying good weather!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!

Chocolate Strawberry Oat Bars

There comes a time in everyone's day when all you want is something sweet. I've been really good at watching what I eat, getting rid of all the junk food in the house and just trying to be good. Well Sunday I broke down and HAD to have something sweet. So I made these and they are sssooooo good. Just enough chocolate that it's really satisfying yet, oaty enough so I don't feel ridiculously guilty for eating one every now and then. I hope you enjoy them too!!!!!!

Chocolate Strawberry Oat Bars
2C quick cooking oats
2C all purpose flour
1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 C butter, softened
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1C strawberry jam

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust and topping, mix together butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Add oats, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix until crumbly in texture.

Divide mixture in half and press into prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Dollop jam over crust and spread without breaking up the crust too much. Top with chocolate chips and allow to melt slightly. Then top with the rest of the crust mixture by sprinkling it on top of chips and jam. Bake again for another 20 min or until topping is golden brown.

There comes a time when all i want is comfort food. Now folks have differing ideas on what comfort food is. Like when I asked the husband what his idea of comfort food was (which surprised me that he had never heard that expression, WHAT????) he said that for him it would be pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Well I can go with the mashed potatoes, but not by them selves and certainly not with sauerkraut...(not one of my favorite things AT ALL!!!!). So I made the final decision and tuna noodle casserole won out. Hey I also have to feed the monkeys and they aren't that fond of sauerkraut either.. So I looked for something that would be a little different and once I again, I turned to the Crockpot Lady. She has a great recipe for making this in the crockpot.

Crockpot Tune Noodles
2 cans tuna in water, drained
1 pound pasta (I used shell pasta-I would NOT use egg noodles)
10oz frozen mixed veggies
2 cans cream of whatever you prefer soup
2 C milk
1C shredded cheddar cheese
1C crushed tortilla chips

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray.

Add the dry noodles into the crock, and mix in the soup, milk, cheese, and drained tuna.

Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours. This will cook fast so make sure you watch it. Mine was done in 2 1/2 hours on low.

30 minutes before serving time, stir in frozen peas, and make sure the crunchy pasta on top gets moved to the bottom of the crock. Top with chips and extra cheese, if desired.

This was good, It was a bit startchy and I think I would personally add another can of tuna and some salt. It was kind of bland, but the overall affect was so good and comforting that I really couldn't pass it up. It's even good as leftovers (which is what I had for lunch today after church).

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Indonesian Chicken

A long time ago I dated a guy who was Indonesian. While visiting him once his mom (who was British and not at all Indonesian) made this glorious dish. I've been trying to find one similar to it ever since. And that's been about 10 years now...(boy how times flies!) So when I was looking through this website, I found one that looked like it would come close. So I figured why not try it and see how it would go.

Indonesian Chicken in the Crock Pot
Chicken pieces-enough for 4 people
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I omitted this since I don't like spicy food)
1/3 C pnut butter (I used crunchy)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
brown rice

Add peanut butter to crock pot and turn on to melt. Once it's started to melt add other sauce ingredients. Add extra to taste (I think I added extra soy sauce and sesame oil). Stir to combine and let it melt together.

Add chicken (mine was frozen and it worked out ok-no need to thaw unless you just want too). Stir to coat the chicken and cover and cook for 6-9 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. The longer this cooks and/or sits the better it is.

Keep an eye on the crock pot and stir every so often so the peanut butter doesn't burn.

Serve over rice and enjoy.

I really loved this dish and it reminded me of the one that was made so many years ago. So thanks for posting it Crockpot lady!! I appreciate it!
I may try it next time with a little less peanut butter, but otherwise it was yummy!!!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!