Garlic and Rosemary Chicken

So to whip up a quick meal last night I thawed out some chicken (via the microwave) threw some edamame in after to steam up, followed by some corn.

Since this is supposed to be a recipe post, ingredients:

Chicken breasts (I use boneless, skinless)
Peanut Oil
Flour
Rosemary
Garlic Salt

Put flour in a bowl for the chicken. Fill a large frying pan with peanut oil (about halfway). Heat on medium to medium-high. Toss in rosemary and garlic salt. Enough rosemary to sparingly cover the oil, and garlic salt to taste.Let “saute” (fry?) for about five minutes. your kitchen should smell of both prior to entry of chicken.

Dry chicken breasts off and dip in flour (sorry hands were to messy to get a post-flour pre-pan picture). Place in frying pan. Let brown on each side (about 5-7 minutes depending on thickness of chicken breasts). Test with meat thermometer to ensure that the breasts are cooked through.

Serve with edamame (tossed some garlic salt on them, too) and corn. I will say that my seven year old said “The chicken is good, but eh.” Such a  critic.

Us adults love the light crispiness without there really being a batter. Guess I should just get McDonalds for him every night now, huh? Can’t win every chicken dinner…he still loves my mini chicken pot pies, so yay.

Chicken Baja Tacos

 

Remember how I said I made some super easy, but extremely tasty Chicken Baja Tacos? Check here for a reminder.

Well, hubby REALLY liked them, and requested them Friday night. I had my first softball game (hence the outfit), and we didn’t eat until after. So quick was necessary.

Instructions: (You might want those huh?)

Gather all ingredients: canned chicken (we were really hungry so we used four cans and still have left overs), fresh cilantro, lime juice, feta cheese, and tortillas. If you want some spice use Tabasco(like) sauce. Remember to take lots of pictures till your seven year old gives you that smile above. It’s the “I’m only smiling cause you said to, now take the darn picture” Smile. Love you too hooter!

Drain chicken and pour into large mixing bowl. Pour some lime juice in (no measuring here probably around a tablespoon worth). Pinch of cilantro and mix into chicken. Do this, till it looks about evenly mixed (more for spicier). We use a wooden spoon to break the chunks of chicken up to make it more shredded. You can use any type of chicken here, so if you want to cook some chicken and use it, that works too.

After the cilantro, start crumbling some feta cheese in. Not too much, just some to be mixed in. Put the entire bowl into microwave. I’d try it for 30 second intervals until the meat is heated through. Start warming up tortillas however you choose. We do them on the stove and make them puffy. Explain once again to your two year old that food needs time to cook.

Spoon chicken mix into the middle of the tortilla, add more feta and now’s the time for Tabasco sauce. Try not to eat too many! They’re addictive!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! And a “tutorial”

So it’s here! For those that decorate for today and make a special meal, kudos to you! I’m lucky if I remember to put green on, lol!

So I did pack Kinzey a special treat for her today. And I’ll even tell you how, in case you want to throw something special in with lunch (or breakfast) today.

You only need cheerios (any plain kind), green food coloring, and if you want to add sprinkles those, too (I did).

Pour your cheerios into a bowl or cheerio holder as pictured. Then sprinkle five or six drops on top and add sprinkles now, if desired. Shake or stir depending on your container.

Open and tada!

Ask your two year old what color they are. Hopefully, they’ll light up like Kinzey did and say “GREEN!”

 

And just because this post was kind of crappy…here’s a cute pic of the family being lazy:

Menu Plan for the week of Jan 23-29

Another week of menu's for the Nonstop. family!

Sunday: Shrimp Gumbo
Monday: Mexican Stuffed Shells
Tuesday: Hamburger & Fries
Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner
Thursday: Turkey Spaghetti and Salad
Friday: Pulled Pork Tacos
Saturday: Date Night

Can't wait for Friday! Those are awesome!

Holiday Food

I know you've all been dying to know what I made for the holidays. Not much. I made broccoli and cheese casserole:

Ingredients: 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, a block of cheese, one white onion, celery, 10 oz of frozen broccoli, three cups of rice, six cups of water and one stick of butter, .

Cube the cheese.

Mix together both cans of cream of chicken soup.

Make your rice according to package directions. We used white rice but you could use long grain.

Steam your broccoli (or pop it in the oven).

Mix together cooked rice and broccoli/

Bring butter, and cream of chicken to a simmer. Slowly melt each cube of cheese in ONE AT A TIME. This takes FOREVER.

Add cream of chicken and cheese mixture to broccoli and rice. Season to taste. I used pepper and salt.

I also added some shredded cheese on top.

Cover with foil and it's ready to take anywhere that has an oven available. 360 degrees for about 40 minutes.

 I wasn't the only one to cook though. Aaron made Rice Krispie Treats.

Two boxes of rice krispie cereal, two bags of mini marshmallows, and some margarine.

Turned into this. I don't know the recipe because he likes to make it, so I let him.

I still get to cover it with foil though. Grr.

 And my son and I decorated cookie snowmen!

These are just sugar cookies that were baked too closely together. We covered them with white icing.

Decorated with red and green icing for the eyes, mouth, scarf, and buttons. Cut an orange tootsie roll diagonally to make two "carrot" noses (people thought it was real carrots!)

Cut a big marshmallow in strips and rolled in cinnamon to make the "branches" for arms.

The kids loved these, all the adults didn't want to mess them up!

So that's the run down of what I made for the holidays (excluding a fruit salad and a green bean casserole). Do you have any I made those but better tips? Let me know!

Menu Plan for the week of Jan 16-22

So I usually write down a meal plan. Right now I have written down from now to Jan 30th. (If you say my weekly calendar it would make sense to stop on a Sunday, it's an academic calendar from Five Star)

I don't always stick to it. Trying more in 2011 right? I think if I put it down here we will be more accountable. Plus it might give me a reason to post a recipe IF someone asks for it after seeing here.

Sunday: Lemon Garlic Shrimp & Grits
Monday: Chicken Taco Bake
Tuesday: Italian Baked Chicken & Pastina
Wednesday: Zucchini Stew
Thursday: Shrimp and Corn Chowder
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Date Night

Let me explain our schedule a bit so you can see where I'm planning longer meals, etc. Sundays I am home all day with the kids. The kids love to help make dinner. So besides trying to make a great Sunday dinner for the entire family, I also need something the kids will be able to help with. Monday's are the beginning of the week here and I am at work all day. It's usually a long one. I try to make this easy so that if I need Aaron to start it he can. We also have game night on Monday's and company comes over, so it needs to be something more than just our family can eat. Tuesday's and Thursday's I'm home most of the day (sans errands or minor work meetings) I'm mostly at home. So I try to find something I haven't tried before and make that, that way if it messes up, I usually know by six and can pull out some leftovers or a box of mac n cheese. Wednesday's are similar to Mondays. Friday's, Aaron has what he and his guy friends call Woo Night. Which means I'll have a bunch of hungry guys over, where I can either unload all my leftovers, throw something quick together. We also can pick something up. Saturday will always be date night in my mind. The only thing this means is "I don't want to plan anything AND I'm NOT cooking." So we could also rename it to fend for yourself. The weekends are always so busy that if I tried to plan something it would spoil while it was thawing out. So nope, not gonna try. This will adapt in the fall and when we have sports practices etc. But for now this is how I plan my meals. We go grocery shopping once a week (I try for one every other week, just depends on how fast certain things get gone). I don't plan breakfasts or lunches. If we have leftovers those are Aaron's lunches the next day and I eat lean cuisines. The kids buy or eat whatever I toss to them on the way out the door.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

So my husband and I were watching the food network, and it was one where tailgater's battle to see who is the best. I think this one was in Louisiana. We saw one of the guys take chicken wrap it in bacon with jalapeno slices then I think he wrapped that in some other kind of meat (not sure, it's been since Novemberish). Well, hubby got inspired and made one of the best things ever. 


Gather all ingredients. Toothpicks, One box of cream cheese, bacon (your choice of type), boneless skinless chicken breasts, and any seasonings (we only added hot shot a combination of red and black pepper).

 


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 


Remove any excess fat from chicken.



   

Stretch the chicken out as much as you can.



Cut a rectangle from the cream cheese and place in center of chicken.

 



Season to taste.



Sorry no picture on this one. Take two slices of bacon create an x and put the chicken in the middle. Bring all four corners of bacon together and (this will wrap the chicken up as pictures above in casserole dish) secure with toothpicks. Then place a tablespoon of margarine and put it in between the pieces of chicken (not necessary).

Yum.

If you make mashed potatoes with this (like I do) you can use the sauce in the pan as gravy.



Back until chicken is done (165 degrees). Then let family devour.

Italian Chicken Rice Casserole

So this past week, we weren't able to meal plan. Our pantries are pretty bare because, well, we haven't gone grocery shopping in a few weeks (since before Christmas) (we did go today). So Tuesday night I'm looking in there and grab a bunch of stuff. This stuff to be exact:

Rice (one cup), garlic (one teaspoon), canned chicken (two cans), chicken bouillon (one), bread crumbs (spread on top), season with Italian seasoning, cover with shredded cheese (I used sharp). Combine in a casserole dish with two cups of water.

Put in the oven at 325 degrees for about thirty minutes or until rice is cooked.

Take cute pictures of your helper.

Ooh and Aaw over how cute she is and remember how cute bubba was in the same thing.

Tell her she is a great cook!

Check on the rice and when it is done sprinkle some more bread crumbs on top and put back in the oven under the broiled for oh less than a minute (when they turn brown).

Serve to family. Husband cleans plate and responds with "Do it again."

Pumpkin Carving!

We didn't carve pumpkins last year so this was Kinzey's first time. She loved the end result but was hesitant to stick her hands in the pumpkin guts! Once she did she loved that she was helping! Houston had fun using the hammer to push the pegs and stars in and was so proud of his creation! He also loved wearing glow in the dark vampire teeth all night! I'm proud of Aaron's! It's so good! His grim reaper and gravestones look perfect! Instead of candles (real or fake) we used orange string lights and put them inside for some extra glow!

I also sorted out the seeds and with some butter, salt, and a 350 degree oven for twnety minutes (flipping once) made some awesome seeds. I haven't had them since I was pregnant and craved them!

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

These were amazing and took maybe thirty minutes all together.

Ingrediants:
One Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Cups of Cooked Chicken (however you want or canned)
6 Tablespoons of Cream Cheese (can be lowfat, I used whipped my favorite!)
1 Can of Biscuits (We buy Kroger brand big flaky with butter)

Gather Ingredients, set oven to 350. In a mixing bowl stir together the first four ingredients. I use a wooden spoon. If you're using regular cream cheese you may want to let it sit out a bit to soften before mixing.

I use a cookie sheet with aluminum foil on it. No sprays. Take each biscuit and peel it in half (since I used the flaky kind it makes this part easier)

Make sure you spread the biscuits or even roll them out a bit. the more space you have the more you can fill them up.  My first few were a bit too small.

They kept getting bigger, lol. But the last ones were the best size. After all are full, place the tray inside of the oven. Bake about ten minutes but watch the bottom of the biscuits so they don't burn!

Some will ooze but that's okay!

Picky eaters love this! I served it with a vinaigrette salad.

Linking up with these parties!