New Recipe: Number 14 ~ Frozen Yogurt Drops

It was Spring Break and having one kiddo with a broken leg, I tried to find a few things to make our days a little fun. This was a simple thing I found on Pinterest. It's not exactly cooking but it was a new thing so here it is. I know...we did this on Spring Break. If you haven't noticed, I haven't really found the time to blog. I'm back (I think).

I used a yogurt drink but any flavored yogurt would work.

I put some yogurt drink in a zip baggie and snipped on corner (very small snip). Then I just pipped some yogurt on a baking pan lined with wax paper. I stuck it in our deep freezer for about 15 minutes.

Viola, a wonderful frozen snack and the kids thought it was fun. We discovered the smaller drops are better. You can just suck on them. The big ones are like taking a huge bite of ice cream and can be very cold and very overwhelming. We'll definitely be doing this again. It was just too easy!

New Recipe: Number 13 ~ Corn Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls

We celebrated St. Patty's day at my parents' house, therefore I had a corn beef brisket in my fridge and needed a fun recipe to make it. When I asked my hubby if I should throw it in the freezer or make it (so we would have corn beef twice in one week) the Irish in him leapt out and said, "Make it."

Corn Beef & Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients Roll:
-Corn Beef
-Cabbage
-Onions
-Egg Roll Wrappers
-Egg (beaten for egg wash, can substitute water).

If you've never purchased Egg Roll Wrappers before, you can find them in a couple different places in the store, but always in a cooler section. They will either be near the produce or the yogurt but is almost always be the tofu. Most Egg Roll Wrappers are made of tofu.

Cook Corn Beef:
Cook the corn beef in the crock pot on low for about 6 hours. Pull the corn beef from the crock pot and let is rest on a cutting board for about 15 minutes. Shred corn beef and put into a dish and refrigerate (for about an hour till the meat is cool).

Sautee Onions & Cabbage:
Sautee about one sliced white onion in a frying pan with a little butter (butter not oil...very important). After the onion becomes clear, add in sliced cabbage (try to make the onion and cabbage slices about the same width). Add some more butter (at this point I think I used a total of 4 tbsp). Saute onions and cabbage until cabbage shrinks down stirring to make sure all the cabbage gets cooked evenly. When the cabbage is all withered down, stop stirring regularly and allow the onions and cabbage to caramelize. Allow the onions and cabbage to remain in the same place in the pan for 5-10 minutes before moving things around and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. Continue to do this until the cabbage and the onions brown and may even blacken in some areas (though you do not want it all black). Remove from heat and place in a dish and refrigerate for at least one hour (I try to put it in around the same time as the corn beef so they will both be ready to use at the same time.)

After both the cabbage and onion mixture and the corn beef have cooled, it's time to roll.

Rolling egg rolls may seem hard, but it's really quite easy. Lay down an egg roll like a diamond with points up and down and side to side.

Place Corn Beef in the bottom 1/3 of the Roll. 

Place Cabbage on top of beef.

Fold up bottom corner.

Roll part way.

Fold in one side to the center.

Fold other side to the center.

Egg wash the top and fold over the middle.

Viola...beautiful rolls.

 After the rolls are complete, I used my deep fryer set at 375˚ and fried until golden brown (or fry them in a frying pan turning them often to ensure every side gets crispy). They can also be baked in the oven at 350˚ for about 15 minutes with egg wash on the entire roll but they do not get very crispy this way.

Served over sauteed cabbage & onions...and believe it or not ~ soy sauce.

How to: Do a Dinner Co-op

60 Dinners on my Table!

I joined a dinner co-op created by a friend of mine. This is just the information on how we operate our co-op. There are many ways to do it but this seems to work for us.

• We have 2 groups 
• a large family group (servings are 6-8 people) 
• a small family group (servings are 4-6 people)
• There are 12 participants, 6 in each group
• Our group meets once a month for 3 months
• A small commitment works well so people are not overwhelmed if they discover it doesn't work for their family
• We meet one time before the rotations begin to fill out likes/dislikes/allergy information to be shared
• We have three rotations: Beef, Chicken & Vegetarian (or non-meat)
• We only make the main dish
• Each month, each participant is assigned one of the rotations 
• by the end of the 3 months they will have prepared one beef, one chicken and one non-meat dish
• Each participant, each month makes 5 meals & comes home with 5 different meal
• Participants can make 5 identical meals to share or not just as long as they follow their meal assignment (meat, chicken, non-meat)
• Our group decided to purchase Glad Ovenware large sized pans (just smaller than an 9x13)
• They are technically disposable but can be used over and over
• This saves the hassle of returning dishes to the correct person
• It also makes it easier than having to store or purchase 5 baking pans
• These are more reusable than the thin tin pans used for catering (which are truly disposable)
• Because we come home with 5 meals, most of the participants freeze their meals to bring
• Each month we have someone volunteer to host at their home for exchange
• We plan to meet for an hour if you'd like to hang out (a bit of a social time as well)
• You can just drop off your meals if you don't have time
• The people assigned to the Vegetarian meal that month, bring a dessert to share at the exchange
• Normally that would be 4 desserts to share with 12 women
• We only ended up with 2 at the first one and that was plenty
• The host provides coffee/tea 
• I volunteered to host the 1st month
• It was amazing to see my dinning table full of dinners!

Ladies chatting & visiting with coffee around the table.

At the last minute our group was short two people. We corrected this by having two of the participants be in both groups. I was one of them and the other is my friend that has a family of 10, half of them are adults! Therefore, I make 10 meals each month and come home with 10 meals! I love it!

I have a family of 6 and my hubby eats more than most because he works physically hard for a living 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week. Some of the "small family" meals need to be stretched but a salad, some pasta or potatoes seems to make them work for us.

This is my first time participating in this dinner co-op. I used to belong to one that we assembled meals together and all pitched the same amount of money. It took far more coordinating. This seems much easier and I hope it works for us over the next few months because I would love to do it again. It definitely saves me time and we thought it many not save us money, but cooking in bulk is a money saver!

Pros:

• I don't have to cook every evening
• I don't have to plan a meal
• Cooking in bulk does save money
• Making 10 meals in an assembly line was far easier than if I was making 10 different dishes for my family
• Right after this, we needed to save a lot of money quickly and having 10 meals in my freezer reduced the stress of the need to save

Cons:

• I did invest in the Glad Ovenware which was about $2.50 a piece
• Though it's not a lot of money, it wouldn't have been something I would have purchased
• I do prefer it this way because I don't have to worry about my dishes getting back to me
• One has already cracked to the point that it will need to be replaced
• I do not get to choose dinner
• I don't usually cook for an entire day
• Not everything is fitting for my family's tastes
• My family has been very gracious and though there have been a few they didn't love, they knew it was a huge blessing to me and finished everything on their plates
• I don't think this would work for a family that is terribly picky or has lots of allergies

New Recipe: Number 12 ~ Taco Bread Bake

I joined a co-op dinner group. It makes my life so much easier. I made this recipe for the group & for us. I found it at this Fabulessly Frugal blog when I was searching for good freezer meals. I'll share how we do our co-op tomorrow.


I, of course, tweaked the original recipe to my likes. We made ours a little different then the 10 meals I made for the co-op. This is the recipe to make just one dinner. I simply multiplied it by 10 to do for the co-op.

Taco Bread Bake

Ingredients for the Family:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 white onion
• 1 tbsp Garlic Garlic (Tastefully Simple)
• Spices: onion powder, chili powder, cumin & Fiesta Mix (Tastefully Simple)
• 1 can of Rotel 
• Cheese (for this Irish broad, we can only agree on a nice Irish cheddar which may not make sense in a Mexican dish...but that's us!)
• Loaf of bread dough
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• Egg (beaten for an egg wash)
• Cookie Sheet

Directions:

Brown ground beef with onions, Garlic Garlic & spice mixture (I use spice to taste). Mix can of Rotel into the meat. Roll out bread dough and spread meat mixture in the middle third.

Roll out dough...use flour to keep it from sticking.

Meat mixed with Rotel

Cover with cheese. Cut each side into 8-10 strips and then fold them over each other (best to just look at the picture). 

Sides sliced to be braided on top.

Braided on top,

Sprinkle with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes and Egg wash. 

Red pepper flakes & egg wash.

Bake 350˚ for 25-30 minutes (just long enough to cook the dough being the meat is cooked.

Beautifully baked!

To Freeze:

After assembling (omitting egg wash until right before cooking), wrap in plastic wrap and then tin foil and freeze. To prepare after freezing, allow it to thaw completely, apply egg wash and then cook as directed above at 350˚ for 25-30 minute.

When I made this for our co-op, I altered the ingredients a bit. Our co-op rules are no spice and we also fill out sheets for allergies, likes & dislikes.

Ingredients for the co-op (10 dinners):

• 5 cans of refried beans
• 9 lbs ground beef
• Taco Seasoning (used my big container from Sam's Club & followed directions for the amount of meat)
• 10 can of Mexican Tomatoes
• 2 large bags of Mexican Shredded Cheese from Sam's Club
• 10 Loaves of bread dough
• Glad Ovenware large container

Refried Beans

Ground Beef

Mexican tomatoes (forgot the cheese picture)

Wrapped ready for freezing.

I did not do the braid for this large amount. I assembled by spreading about 1/2 a can of bean on the bottom, then meat and tomatoes and then covered with cheese (sorry, no picture of the cheese). I folded the sides over, wrapped in plastic wrap, flipped it so the seam was on the bottom and then put them in Glad Ovenware large sized dishes. I froze these prior to bringing them to co-op. 

The instructions included: thaw completely, remove plastic wrap, brush with an egg wash or melted butter and bake at 350˚ for 25-30 minutes (or until golden brown).

New Recipe: Number 11 ~ Ground Beef & Sliced Potato Hot Dish

 Okay, I'm from the Midwest and I now I just gave that away by using the words Hot Dish instead of Casserole. I think the first time I said Hot Dish out here in CO, my friend looked at me and said, "What's a Hot Dish?" Of course, my response was it a Hot Dish. Well that cleared it up. Hot Dish is what Midwesterners call Casseroles...okay is that clear?

"Hot Dish"

Anyway...on to the new recipe, so I was struggling with what to cook for dinner one night and did a FB shout out for the mama's out there to suggest a dinner that used ground beef and potatoes. Just as I feared, the very first response was shepherd's pie. Not to say that shepherd's pie isn't good, it just isn't something my family likes. I have a hardy Irish brood (well and a bit Asian) over here and they wouldn't touch an English dish with a 10 foot pole. I used to work at a wonderful little English tea room and luncheonette and learned to cook several standard English dishes. Each time I've tried to make them, my family has revolted. My husband says "his people" fought long and hard to not be English and he certainly wasn't going to start now...whatever that means because his family though they may be Irish have lived in America for generations. Okay, off track again...the recipe.

I didn't find a great suggestion in time and jumped on Pinterest (evil sometimes). If you need an invite, email me, it's a wonderful site to store recipes, organizational tips and all kinds of inspiring nonsense. I found a link to this recipe, "Hamburger Potato Casserole" on Allrecipes.com looked it over and then created my own version and doubled it because we have a big family (plus I was hoping for leftovers because I was going in for dental surgery the next day).

Ingredients:
-1-2 lbs of ground beef (depending on how meaty you want it, I only used 1 lb)
-6-8 potatoes peeled and sliced thin (I used my food processor)
-6 cloves of garlic minced
-2 tbps Onion Onion (Link to order from Tastefully Simple)
-2 tbps Bacon Bacon (Link to order from Tastefully Simple)
-2 cans of green beans
-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
-2 cans of milk
-Parmasen cheese

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

Brown the ground beef with minced garlic and Onion Onion seasoning. Salt and pepper meat to taste.

In a pan with oil on medium heat, lightly cook the potatoes with the Bacon Bacon. They don't need to be cooked all the way but I like to cook them a little for texture it gives them. If you put them in raw, you will just need to cook the "Hot Dish" longer.

Potatoes to be sliced in the food processor

In a medium bowl, mixing the cream of mushroom soup and the milk.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Layer the potatoes, meat, beans, soup and cheese. I made 2 full layers, starting with some soup on the bottom (to prevent sticking) and ending with the rest of the soup on top with a nice layer of cheese.

Layered yumminess

Cook for 30-40 minutes if you precooked the potatoes. Cook for 60-75 minutes if the potatoes are raw (or until the potatoes are tender).

In the oven

Dinner is served.

New Recipe: Number 10 ~ Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

I just have to start this post by saying...I LOVE PINTEREST! If you haven't check this site you, you absolutely need to do so. You'll need to be invited, so if you need an invite, email me.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was fabulous. We had it for dinner, yes, I said dinner. Cinnamon Rolls make great dinner!

Link to inspiration blog post: Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring
*Her pictures are so much more fabulous

Ingredients:
2 Pillsbury Grands buttermild biscuits
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 c pancake syrup (I used Aunt Jemima Lite Butter)
1/2 c packed brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 375˚. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside (it almost looks like caramel). In another bowl, combine brown sugar & cinnamon. Pour about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan and then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top of that. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges to form a ring. (Inspiration recipe only used 1 1/2 cans of biscuits but I used 2 so they were very closely overlapped). Top with the remaining syrup and brown sugar mixtures. Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Ready to stick in the oven.

Cream Cheese Frosting makes is so wonderful.

Crock Pot: Day 14 ~ Chicken & Green Chiles over rice

So I was perusing Facebook the other day and a friend posted that she was going to throw something in the crock pot. Someone responding asking her what she was making on that snowy day. She replied with a recipe and then I snagged it, modified it to the way I cook and voila...new recipe.

Chicken & Green Chiles over Rice

Ingredients:
2 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 c of Chicken broth
10 Garlic cloves pressed
1 Onion chopped
1 can of Green Chiles
2 boneless, skinless Chicken breast
Salt & Pepper to taste
Flour & Milk (to thicken)

Cast of Characters

Put all the ingredients in the crock pot (except for flour & milk) on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

30 minutes prior to serving, remove chicken breast and put it on a cutting board. Whisk equal parts milk & flour (I did 4 tbsp of each) until smooth. Pour slowly and stir into crock pot. Shred chicken and return it to the crock pot to cook for the final 30 minutes.

After the chicken is shredded 

Serve over rice.

Dinner

Crock Pot: Day 13 ~ Beef Stroganoff

I got inspiration for this recipe, Beef Stroganoff, from the Tastefully Simple website. I've never made beef stroganoff. Though I love cooking, this is just one thing I've never made our family. This is a new recipe as well as a crock pot delight.


Ingredients:
-6 Garlic Cloves minced
-1 Tbsp. Tastefully Simple Spinach & Herb Dip Mix
-2 lbs. cubed beef stew meat
-1 Chopped medium onion
-1 Package sliced mushrooms
-2 c beef broth
-2 Tbsp. Flour
-2 Tbsp. cold water
-8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese spread
-Prepared hot egg noodles

Cast of Characters

Combine garlic, Spinach & Herb Dip Mix, beef stew meat, onion, mushrooms and beef broth in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 


Combine flour and cold water; stir until smooth. Whisk mixture into crock pot until thickened about 30 mins to an hour before serving. 


Add cream cheese 30 minutes before serving and stir until blended. 


Serve over hot noodles.

Yum

Okay, so the kids and I loved this...hubby not so much (which explains why I've never made it). So though it's a great recipe, I'll probably won't put it into our regular rotation...

Crock Pot: Day 12 ~ Salmon & Green Beans

I found this recipe idea from the blog Crock Pot 365.

This was not a total success for us but we thought of ways to improve it.

Totally new recipe as well as a new technic. I've never tried to make fish in a crock pot. I did a lot of research online before I attempted this. I would not recommend this for those new to crock pot cooking.

Ingredients:

-Salmon
-Green Beans
Sauce:
-1/2 c Soy Sauce
-1/2 c Tastefully Simple Pomegranate Chipolte Sauce (link to purchase this item) *this is a new sauce for me to try.
-1/4 c Lemon Juice

I got this at Sam's Club

1 Package of fresh green beans also from Sam's Club

Place beans in the bottom of the crock. Place salmon on top of the beans. Pour sauce over the salmon and green beans.

I used 5 Salmon filets and had to layer them.

Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

All cooked up nicely.

I served this with garlic mashed potatoes that I seasoned with salt, pepper, Tastefully Simple Onion Onion and Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon.

Dinner was a hit!

I used frozen salmon. It really needed to be thawed before cooking so it took much longer for it to cook. When the salmon was finally cooked, the green beans weren't cooked enough for our family so I cooked them in the microwave with the sauce. (I never microwave food so this was a bit disappointing.)

The family loved this meal and I will make it again with a few changes. I will probably start the beans with the half of the sauce and cook them a couple hours longer on low before adding the thawed salmon and the other half of the sauce to the crock. It was fun trying something new in the crock pot.

Crock Pot: Day 11 ~ Chicken & Potatoes

Chicken & Potatoes

This is a new recipe but I just made it up. It turned out great. The chicken was really soft and tender and the potatoes had a great favor.

-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (this was enough for our family of 6)
-Potatoes (1 per person plus 1...for our family of 6 I used 7 potatoes)
-Salt
-Pepper
-Garlic Pepper
-Basil
-Thyme
-Rosemary
-Oregano
-Olive Oil

Cast of Characters

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of the crock pot, coating the sides and bottom. Slice the potatoes about 1/2 inch thick and toss into the crock pot. In a small bowl, mix a heaping tsp of each of the spices. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and toss 1/2 the spice mix over the potatoes & mix. Use the other 1/2 of the spice mix to toss over the Chicken. (My chicken breasts were frozen so I used a little oil to make the spices stick). Place Chicken on top of the potatoes.

Sliced Potatoes

 Turn crock pot on low for 5-6 hours. Occasionally check to make sure the potatoes are not sticking to the sides or bottom of the crock. Remove chicken and slice.

Hubby thought I should take a picture with his Irish beer being this was meat & potatoes.

Tonight we served this with green beans cooked with Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon (link to purchase this item) & a pad of butter as well as fresh homemade bread.

Yummmmmm

Crock Pot: Day 10 ~ Teriyaki Beef Stew

Okay this is a new recipe as well. It turned out great.

Ingredients:
-4-5 Celery Stalks (including the leafy tops)
-3 Carrots
-1 Onion
-8 Garlic Cloves
-1 package Sliced Mushrooms
-2 c Broccoli
-2 lbs Stew Meat
-1/4 c Flour
-Salt
-Pepper
-2 c Beef Broth
-3/4 c Teriyaki
-1 tbsp Sriracha (doesn't make is spicy just gives it a nice full flavor)
-Rice

Put the beef in the crock pot on low.

Beef in the Crock Pot

 In a small mixing bowl, mix flour, salt & pepper and then throw the mixture over the beef in the crock pot and stir it coating the beef.

Flour, salt & Pepper coating the beef

 Cut up the veggies (I cut them all on the bias...a diagonal cut) and throw them in the crock pot (with exception of the broccoli).

The Veggies

Stir the beef broth, teriyaki & sriracha together and pour over the beef and veggies. Cook for about 6 hours on low stir on occasion. 30 minutes before serving, throw the cut up broccoli florets in the crock pot. The nice thing about a crock pot is if hubby works late (like he did tonight) it will still be yummy at the 8 hour mark. Serve over rice!

So yummy!