No Chef Required

Granola Baby

2010-02-03T00:27:00.003-05:00

Tonight I was just in the mood for a easy snack so I made Granola.. and ya know what I didn't take a single picture which in not like me but maybe next time.

I put foil on a cookie sheet. I brushed it with Oil. Then I started my mixture.

I started with cereal.. I grabbed G's

Fiber One Honey something,

some Natural stuff in a purple box.. and

Cheerios.

I then added

Raisins and Craisins

Shredded Coconut

Pecans

Sesame Seeds

Poppy Seeds and

a few Butterscotch chips

Then drizzled with Honey

a couple of spoonfuls of Apple Butter

and some Peanut Butter.

I also sprinkled with Raw Sugar and Sea Salt

I baked for a few mintes to let everything melt toghther and then cooled.

It turned out really really good. It's not a dry granola it is a little sticky but is so yummy it doen't matter. Great for Yogurt.

Next time I may try some Oats, Maple Syrup, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, flax seed and other things.. May even try to dry it up a bit and make it into a bar...I'll let ya know.

G was afraid I was taking it all to work cause he even liked it. ..

Breakfast Bagels and more

2010-01-30T08:03:00.007-05:00

Well this morning it's cold. I was supposed to get to -2 degrees...yikes.. Welcome to Ohio. I know it get's colder in other parts of the land but Ohio.?. I don't like it. I am a 76-80 degree girl myself and -2 is no where close. So as I lay in bed at 6 am thinking about the day.. Dance competition and a motocross race on different ends of the tri state and what am I really thinking about.. What in the world I am going to feed 5 kids ? and fast.. Actually due to the cold D decided not to race and then we founnd out the I-75 is shut down due to snow..or so we hear so we scratch the race and so now we just concentrate on dance.
So moving on to the breakfast thingy.. I go to the kitchen and look around. We could have the normal eggs, sausage and eggs but I'm thinkin something warm, sticky and yummy.. First I was thinking Bread Pudding which I made before and showed over here at my old blog... As the World Flops But then I get a wave of inspiration and came up with something different. I made a bread pudding {kind of} with Raisin Bagels and the a French Toast casserole out of Sweet Hawaiian Rolls. They both are good.. I still am craving Chocolate Chips.. I should have stuck to my plan.

Raisin Bagel
First I tore up Raisin Bagels
Mixed Eggs, Milk, some extra raisins and Vanilla together
Then I mixed all above together in casserole pan and sprinkled with Sugar

Easy..huh?

Now for the French Toast
I tore up King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and placed them in a casserole. I then drizzled Maple Syrup on the rolls.
I mixed Eggs, Milk, Vanilla together and poured over the rolls. I then used my shaker of cinnamon sugar over the top.

I baked both on 450 for about 15 minutes for the egg to cook.

There ya have it.. easy breakfast and fast..

The kids are raving about it as we speak...

Now Offffff to dance...

Chicken Bacon Spinach Roll

2010-01-28T09:05:00.007-05:00

Chicken Bacon Spinach RollI bought this pack of chicken breasts and wanted to make this chicken soup recipe but then realized I didn't have any Cream of Chicken soup..which is odd cause I always have a can or 5 in the pantry. So I came up with THIS CONCOCTION and it really turned out good. Warm, hearty and semi simple. Don't let scare ya..it could have been easier but let me explain. First let me list the items needed.

Chicken

(fresh, frozen, canned, chicken strips, breaded chicken strips)

I used a pack of fresh.

Crescentls

(you could use pizza crust)

Bacon

(I used precooked bacon but you could you the other messy kind)

Spinach

(I used fresh Organic from the Salad department, you could use frozen)

Cream Cheese

everything else I show below is optional

Okay let's get started.First boil, brown or fry your chicken.

But before this, preheat your oven to directions on Crescent Roll package.

If using frozen strips or tenders I would warm them a bit.

Soften your cream cheese.

Cook or microwave your bacon.

Rinse and cut your spinach or if using frozen thaw and squeeze.

Mix all the above items in a bowl. This is the extra stuff you can add if you desire. I brown my chicken with Marjoram..that's my spice of choice next to chives and cilantro.

I add a spoonful of

Protein powder,

Fiber, Minced Dry Onions

and Dry Mustard.

You can add any or all of this.

With the onions I just used Dry onions but you could use real onion, green onions, chives ..it's your choice.

I add protein and fiber to what I can..

it's not going to hurt to have a little extra in your diet.

D likes to drink protein shakes but informed my that he doesn't care for the taste of this soy, whey kind.. I said "no problem" I would just use it in recipes and he said.."You do that?" I told him I put where I can.. meatloaf, macaroni/cheese, cheese ball.. etc. He was shocked. They know I hide stuff in smoothies but they have no idea when I put it in over stuff.

After mixing all your secret things spread Crescent Rolls flat in casserole pan. Spread your mixture and pull up the sides of Crescent rolls to cover.

Bake until Crescent Rolls are brown and flaky.
After I add my mixture I had some left over. I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips and tried it out as a dip.. Yummo. Then I started thinking..
I could have added dry Hidden Valley Ranch mix or a squirt of Ranch salad dressing. I could have tried Bleu Cheese dressing but then I would be the only one eating it. This would be great as a dip for parties or gatherings..Then I thought maybe I would put the dressing on the side and dip it.. but I found that it turned out okay on it's own

Now my cooking {not Baking} but cooking.. if it's too dry add wet, if it's too wet add dry. My was a little dry so I added a spoonful of sour cream instead of using another bar of Cream cheese.

I think it turned out great for throwing it together. Sometimes I have no idea what to slam together and other times {usually when I'm in bed} I come up with these concoctions

So there ya go.... Chicken Bacon Spinach Roll. Now you try it with your own twist of mixes and let me know what you come up with.

Oh, by the way. Baxter and Emma danced around the kitchen while I cooked say "whatcha cooking mom..huh? huh? whatcha cookin'"

Macy layed on the couch and wanted no part of this mess. She's gonna be a good little dog.

Baxter tried out my concoction and approved.. Now let's see what the kids say.

Hoagie Boagies

2009-10-30T02:48:00.007-04:00

are what we're making tOnIGhT....

Here are a few of the items needed.

The main ingredients are {JTM} Steak Hoagie Patties and {Aunt Millie's} Hoagie buns. Everything else is made to order.. just the way my family likes it. First brown the hoagie patties in the oven.

I really should not show my partially seasoned Pampered Chef stone baking pan.. but I love it.. I have two and that's all I use. They look really bad but I wouldn't use anything else. Okay now that I got my public service annoucement out of the way and feel better explaining why my pans looks nasty I will move on.. Then place the buns and hoagie patties on parchment paper on foil.. If you don't add the parchment paper then you have a cheesy foil mess. I know... it happened to me the first time I made them.
after this add your favorite ingredients..
Pizza sauce or mushroom gravy
Onions
Cheese (I used bag shredded but you can use whatever is in the ole' frig)
Pickles
Bacon and whatever else you can dream up.then with a toothpick label your creations. This one was pizza and pickle and they all had cheese so I didn't add that.. Okay, here is the hard part.. Ya know I don't time anything so again I don't know how long to cook.. Just think..everything we put in there is already cooked so all we are doing is warming, melting the cheese together.. I would say maybe 10 minutes and waaaalaaaa.. You have great steak hoagies made to order and kid approved.
Oh and I have to say if I haven't said it before..

I

lOVe

tHis

BACON!!!!

It is a regular staple in my pantry.. I use this for everything. I don't think I will ever cook real bacon again.. Okay, that's not true but this is so easy I will continue to use this for most of my cooking.

PSssss..SSSS.... I like mine with mushroom gravy, onion and cheese or pizza, pickle, cheese and onion.. How do you like your hoagies..? I will get it ready.

Chicken Skillet

2009-09-15T22:00:00.002-04:00

This is what I was going after.. I did buy the plain diced potatoes cause the family don't like the peppers.

Simple and easy..my style. Chicken, Bacon {precooked- the only way to go in my world, Love this stuff..I don't care how much it cost} Diced Hash Browns and cheese.. I browned chicken thenthrew in the hash browns while the chicken sat and watched for a moment. I added my special spices which I don't even know what's in anymore and some onion flakes. Top with cheese and let it melt. I think next time I might throw it in the oven and brown the cheese a bit..

But let me say.. this was awesome. I was warm, comfy, and just a feel good meal. It would be great for brunch. I think I may add some chives or green onion next time to spice it up a bit but it was gooood... I am going the freeze the leftovers for another day. I will have to make this on a cold winter day.. Oh, I think I need another bite..just a small one.

I have another recipe coming..it was awesome too.. stay tuned. I am on a roll tonight. Maybe this will make up for last night since I didn't cook.

Sloppy Joes

2009-09-15T14:00:00.004-04:00

The other night I was wanting Manwich Sloppy Joes so I made them but I did something a little different that I found over at Jane's. They were good, I had left overs so I froze them. Which I might just go grab one for a quick 2pm breakfast.. Yes, 2 pm is my morning. 10pm is my lunch and 4am is my dinner.. Welcome to my world. I don't remember what cheese I put on them.. I have tons of cheese in my fridge all the time, so I just grabbed one.. maybe a colby...I don't know. I may try this with an egg, cheese maybe some ham or bacon mix..I might cut the biscuits up first. I'll let ya know. I had broccoli in the frig and I needed to do something with it so I make cheese Rice a Roni and added broccoli.. I froze that too. The kids will eat it when they come up from school.

Ya know while my pictures uploaded I did grab one of these out of the freezer.. let me say, it's better the second time around.. oh, yummo. I am so hungry when I wake up I almost can't see straight til I get something in my stomach. These are easy, pop in the wave for a minute and cute little snack - does a body good.

Leftovers

2009-09-14T17:48:00.005-04:00

I am not a leftover person. I throw so much stuff away cause I just can't bring myself to eat leftovers. Now somethings are better the next day but usually I am grossed out...or within the 2...3..4 day I don't want that same gourmet meal again... Did ya catch the gourmet part..? yeah right. Anyways, I have started freezing left overs and with the stuffed peppers I even made more to freeze for after school snacks or a loner meal.. Which is tonight, I am home alone tonight and I wanted peppers. Now when was it that I made them, a few weeks ago? If I would have left them in the fridge I would have dumped them over the fence to the critters a week ago but instead I froze them and tonight I had a nice gourmet stuffed pepper meal without the work...which I love the most. They actually taste the same or even better then the day I made them and I didn't have to pay 3.59 to buy the Stouffers version. Yeah me.. So here's my questions-

Do you freeze food?
What kind of food do you freeze?
And any tips?

Love to hear from you, Cathy

Oh my, when I hit publish my recipe for stuffed peppers came up. It was August 25th.. Almost, almost a month ago.. I didn't realize it had been that long. I do think I will have stuffed peppers in the freezer all the time.. Little monster ate some last night too... it's a good thing.

Oh,, nevermind.. when I looked at the pictures again I said,, that's not when I made them. I did make them on August 25th and we ate them and froze them and ate them. I just recently made the big batch but I don't know what day it was on.. We keep this up and we may be sick of stuffed peppers by Halloween.

STUFFED PEPPERS

2009-08-25T01:00:00.007-04:00

Today I made Stuffed Peppers without the stuffed part. I have always only eaten the bits of peppers mixed with the rice and hamburger and left the whole pepper. So today I cut up the whole pepper. First boil the peppers til tender.

Brown hamburger. I use Uncle Bens boil in a bag rice.. it's so easy. Mix Rice, hamburger, and rice, peppers together with some salt and pepper. Then pour tomato juice over and mix.

Then I top with whatever shredded cheese I have and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned a little bit.

Then serve.. kid approved..

Actually little monster said it would be good without the peppers all together. What would ya call that? Tomato, rice, hamburger casserole? Think about it and throw me names.

VEGGIES AND MORE

2009-08-24T08:00:00.004-04:00

Tonight I made Vegetable beef soup. First I threw a roast in the crock pot. After it had cooked a while I started the soup part. I would have used the broth from the roast but G wanted beef and noodles.. He's not a veggie person. This is what I put in it today.

Beef, Beef stock, a couple of beef cubes.
Carrots, potatoes and onion.
A can of corn, peas and green beans. (with juice)
Can of diced tomatoes (with juice) and tomato juice.
Then I cooked lentils and barley by the directions and then threw them in.
I also added flower shaped pastas and of course some fiber powder..
Salt, Pepper, garlic powder, parsley, Mrs. Dash and just a tab bit of sugar..I think that's it. I had a bunch left over so I'm gonna freeze it for a cool fall night.
So tell me, what do you put in your vegetable beef soup?

SNACK TIME

2009-08-23T19:54:00.002-04:00

It's back to school time and I filled up the snack basket. Chips, granola bars, fruit roll-ups, fruit gushers. {my favorite} I always try to have a few snacks in the basket.. D and 3 others came in tonight and went straight for the basket. Let me say- the more you put in it the more they eat so we watch it so they don't overload. I got this idea years ago when D was in the hospital with mono. We got a basket from my work and from his dad's work. It was the best thing to have a quick bag of chips and not have to leave the room and pay $1.50 for it. I would recommend this over flowers anyday. Do you have a snack basket? What do you put in it?

Shrimp Scampi

2009-08-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Okay gals - Today we are making scrimp scampi.. first I soak the frozen shrimp in cold water to thaw. The I throw in a big spoonful of butter in a hot skillet.

Add some Mrs. Dash, garlic powder and cook. I sent D and friend into the store the other day to get a few things. While in there I text him to get some Mrs. Dash. They brought out this little tiny bottle. I really need the industrial size but this will do til I can make it to the store. I actually will throw this bottle in our camping stuff so I have it.

Warm and add in shrimp.

And presto..shrimp scampi.

I made thin pasta and garlic bread. I poured a little bit of the butter sauce on the noodles..

Everyone thought it was out of this world.. yeah me... Thanks for visiting.

Simple Strawberry Shortcake

2009-08-22T00:00:00.002-04:00

The little monster has this thing for cooking. She is the family taste tester and always willing to help something in the kitchen. Her specialty this summer was shortcake. We just us the Bisquick recipe but I love it. We throw it in the oven and while it's still warm we sprinkle with raw sugar cane on top... Yummo. Here she made a double batch cause one batch won't last but 2 seconds. Everyone eats it. I made this for D one night after dinner, they all love it.. Shortcake, Whip Cream, strawberries and again raw sugar cane on top..Simple but gooooood... Enjoy- How do you make shortcake? Does you family love it?

The UN Uncrustable

2009-08-21T15:42:00.002-04:00

Well with the return of school fast approaching "YEAH" and in some places school already in session I decided to make of the kids and my favorite quick fixes. The kids love those Smuckers Uncrustables. I made these before on the Flops but thought I would show ya again..cause it's so darn complicated. Now this is real rocket science here...I will go slooowwwwww. Spread peanut butter and jelly or honey on two pieces of bread.. ya still with me? Then take a large cup and squish it on the edges. I tried a cookie cutter and it didn't seal it good enough. If ya get some peanut butter on the edges it makes like a bread glue.. yummm huh?

Sometimes I score the edge with a knife to make it a little cleaner looking. And there ya have it.. uncrustables in about 2.5 minutes at a fraction of the cost..

Store in a freezer bag in the freezer til ready to eat. They thaw in just a few minutes. Here I have a real uncrustable and mine are bigger.. Bigger is better, isn't that what they say?

Now sure you could label them with cute little tags but I didn't for this pictures. Sometimes if I am feeling really spiffy I mix some protein powder and fiber in with the peanut butter to give the kiddos an extra boost.

Thanks for visiting and next time the kids need a snack throw them a UN uncrustable.

Stay tuned for a little strawberry thing and shrimp scampi.

Asparagus

2009-08-20T02:15:00.000-04:00

The kids well the girls love asparagus and this is how I do it. I cut the thick ends off so they fit in the skillet.I place the asparagus in a zip loc bag and add Mrs. Dash, garlic powder, and canola or olive oil. I let them set soaking up the oil so they don't burn and all the good spices. Then I throw them in a skillet until tender. Yeah, that's how I do it. Simple and they love it.

The original Maid Rite

2009-08-17T10:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we picked up my parents and headed about 30 minutes North to Greenville, Ohio. I was born in Greenville and haven't been there in years. I have been craving these little things that they call Maid Rites. Outside you have a small little brick building that has been there for I would say over 80 years. There are about 8 booths, a bar and standing room. The bathroom is located in the white building you see next door. Along the side of the building is the famous Wall of Gum. Since my parents can remember everyone has stuck their gum on the wall. I don't know how this started but it is an odd sight. I guess the new owners want to clean it off and there are major protests from people probably older than the owners..

The great wall of gum goes on forever.. or at least as long as the building.

They have a nice little clean lot with a Drive Thur and a few picnic tables for your outside dining experience. Inside you get this. Simple little loose meat burger with pickles, onion and mustard. No trays, no fancy fries or salads.. just chips and sandwiches. You walk up to the counter order your sandwich, they hand them over with your drinks and you are on your way. They are a little different but something everyone needs once in a while.

Here is there website and recipe which used to be guarded by employees. I may try to make them and see if it's the same.. So if you are in the Greenville, Darke County, Ohio area you must make a stop and try them. Remember to chomp on your gum before you get there to add to the wall.