Yummo & Then Some!

I made this beautiful braised chicken last week using a recipe by Anne Burrell of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. She has quickly become my absolute favorite chef to watch on Food Network...her recipes have such depth and yumminess!!

Brad and I realized awhile back that while he is content to get in the kitchen and just throw stuff together...I am much happier when I have a recipe & a plan to follow! Her recipes do not disappoint! I was very pleased with the outcome and Brad said he thinks it's the best thing I've ever cooked...I was quite happy with that observation ;) So if you need some dinnertime inspiration...give this one a try...it won't disappoint - I promise!

disclaimer - ALL mushrooms were omitted from the recipe as mushrooms are one thing I just cannot handle - but it was extremely lovely, nonetheless!

Yummy Yummy Meatballs

My Aunt Marian introduced all of us to this ultra easy, super delicious recipe awhile back and I couldn't resist passing it along! I'll include the recipe for the meatballs themselves, though I have to confess that I keep a bag of frozen meatballs (italian style) at the ready in my freezer at all times - have I mentioned that Sam's is one of my favorite places to shop? I can say that I did make the meatballs from scratch once and it is a very yummy recipe....it's just by the time you cover them with all of this sauce goodness, I don't think you can tell much of a difference with the premade ones...and for me, the beauty of this recipe is the ability to throw it together in no time flat!


Meatballs - mix together and roll into small balls:

• 1 c bread crumbs
• 2 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 3 eggs
• 1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

Sauce:

• 1 can whole cranberry sauce (not the gel stuff!)
• 1 (15-20oz) can sauerkraut
• 1 bottle chili sauce (condiment aisle near the ketchup & cocktail sauce)
  
• 1 empty chili bottle of water
• 1/2 c brown sugar

When mixing the sauce, I find it easiest to start with the chili sauce, water & brown sugar - mix til dissolved. Then add the cranberry sauce, mix it in thoroughly. I use a whisk up until this point. Mix the sauerkraut in last - you don't have to follow this order, but I find it makes it much easier to get the sauce truly homogenized!


Spread meatballs (I use them frozen, straight from the freezer) to cover lasagna pan - I think it's a 10x14.


Cover with the sauce. Bake at 350 degress for 2-2 1/2 hours. You can also use a crockpot, but I find the oven to be much nicer. It makes a much thicker, richer sauce.

So when you need a quick, go-to recipe - give this one a try! Even if sauerkraut or cranberries aren't your thing...try it anyway - once the sauce comes together, you really can't distinguish any of the individual ingredients. Goes great with mashed potatoes! Enjoy!

Toffee Popcorn - A Great Christmas Gift

Several years ago at Christmas, when the budget was *really* tight, we decided to make toffee popcorn to give as gifts...and what a hit it turned out to be! We made the popcorn and then packaged it in ziploc bags decorated with stickers...it's actually been requested by several family members in years since! It's a fairly simple recipe, and I wanted to pass it along - hope you'll enjoy as much as we have!

Ingredients:

• 1 c sugar
• 1 c butter, softened
• 1/3 c water
• popped popcorn (about the equivalent of 2 bags of microwave popcorn)

My husband typically pops the popcorn while I work on the toffee part of the recipe - I recommend dumping the popcorn into one bowl after popping and then transferring by hand to another to ensure that you can eliminate as many unpopped/partially popped kernels as possible. We've used both microwave & air pop popcorn, and both work fine, though my husband was a bigger fan of microwave in this application.

Bring butter and water to a boil over medium heat. Add sugar and stir constantly. I've tried using a candy thermometer with this recipe, but find that keeping a close eye on the mixture is the best method (at least for me!) The candy will boil & thicken and then begin to darken in color and reduce in volume. You're looking for a nice caramel color - if you let it go too long, it will burn. Once your toffee has reached a pretty caramel color, remove it from the heat and pour over the popcorn. Use 2 spoons to toss & mix the popcorn to achieve good coverage. Before the popcorn begins to set, spread it on wax paper to cool.

Be careful at this point - I have burned many a tastebud in my impatience to taste the finished product! And be careful who you invite into the kitchen while you're working...on more than one occasion, we've had...ahem..."spectators" who've eaten at a rate almost equal to our ability to cook the toffee!

For an even more delectable treat, melt chocolate chips in a ziploc bag in the microwave, snip off a corner and drizzle over the toffee popcorn - super delish!

For other great holiday food gift ideas, head on over to Vintage Mommy and check out the other links to delectable holiday goodies - I know there are several I already have on my list to try!

WFMW - Delish Apple Tart

A few weeks ago we were flipping through an issue of Kraft Food & Family and stumbled on this recipe...we thought it looked super yummy, so a few days later we gave it a try, and man are we hooked! Super simple, ingredients I typically have on hand (except maybe the pie crust - until now!) - one of those desserts that's nice to have up your sleeve in case you unexpectedly have company or need to take a dessert somewhere. This has become a quick & easy go-to dessert for us...in fact we took a few to Thanksgiving & it got rave reviews...wouldn't be surprised to see it make a guest appearance at Christmas either! Hope you'll enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (1/2 of 15-oz. pkg.)
• 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 red and/or green apples (1-1/4 lb.), thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
• 1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (optional)
  

I used 1/3 less fat philly and it worked super great too - I also used my Pampered Chef apple peeler-corer-slicer & it makes the bulk of the "work" to make this recipe just disappear - I know it's a kitchen gadget, but I highly recommend it! We left the skins on, and just used it to core & slice the apples and it worked wonderfully!

Directions:

HEAT oven to 450ºF. Line 9-inch pie plate with crust. Carefully spread cream cheese in 6-inch circle in center.

TOSS apples with sugar and flour; spoon over cream cheese. Fold crust partially over apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. (we tossed the apple slices, sugar & flour & a tsp of cinnamon into a gallon ziploc and tossed them around that way - in subsequent bakings, I've also found that starting in one spot on the crust, and folding up about 3 or so inches, and then working my way around in one direction, until I get back to the starting point works better than just trying to fold the crust up with no plan!)

BAKE 25 min., covering loosely with foil for the last 5 min. Cool. Serve with COOL WHIP. Refrigerate leftovers.

Give this one a try and let me know what you think! For more great WFMW ideas, head on over to RocksinmyDryer!

Blueberry Cake - Afternoon Delight

A few Saturdays ago, our church had a big Saturday baptism event (602 baptized at 2 campuses) - before the actual baptism started, we did a tailgate to celebrate people publicly professing their faith in Christ. One of the ladies we tailgated with brought the most wonderfully delicious blueberry cake and was kind enough to share the recipe. We have enjoyed it immensely, so I thought I would pass it on here! Walker (who won't hardly eat vegetables or fruit) will wolf this down, blueberries and all, with no problem. We don't let him eat a lot of sweets, but I figure a cake with real fruit in it has got to be better than just plain cake! Hope you'll enjoy!

Blueberry Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 block cream cheese

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together with mixer - after blended well, fold in 2 cans of drained, rinsed blueberries. (Make sure that you use blueberries in juice, not the pie filling type.) I actually used frozen blueberries, and they worked fine too. Grease bundt pan before filling with batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes until browned. Cake will be moist (and delicious)!

WFMW - The Five-Ingredients-or-Less Edition

Chicken Rolls

2 -3 pkgs crescent rolls
3-4 chicken breasts
8 oz. cream cheese (I often use 1/3 fat)
1/4 c. milk

• Boil chicken breasts (if you have leftover cooked chicken already from the grill or rotisserie, no problem - just needs to be cooked chicken!)
• Mix cream cheese, milk & cooked chicken together.
• Unroll crescent roll triangles & place a spoonful of chicken mixture on crescent roll & roll up. (I usually end up needing 3 packages of crescent rolls - it just depends on how big you make the rolls.
• Cook for 20 mins @ 350.

If you want, you can heat up 1 can of cream of chicken soup +1 can of water to make a gravy. We sometimes do & sometimes don't. When it comes to the crescent rolls, I typically am a generic shopper and usually use generic, however one week when making these, the real deal crescents were on sale, and man they were SO MUCH BETTER! Spring for those if you at all can! It's well worth it, I promise!

Easy Apple Dip

• 1/2 -1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 medium apple - grated (I usually just grate as much of the apple as I can - we like Gala or something similar, but any apple will work)
• 1 8oz. cream cheese - softened (1/3 fat, no fat 0r regular all work fine)
• Sugar to taste (usually less than 1/4 c - just depends on how sweet your apple is)

Mix everything together in a bowl, adding sugar last to taste. If I'm shredding my own cheese, shred it first on a box grater and then shred the apple - the apple juice will help you get any excess cheese off of the grater. I also typically shred my apple directly into the bowl I mix it in so taht I don't lose any of the apple juices - they make it easier to mix everything up. If your cream cheese isn't softened, it takes a little longer to mix it up, but it will reach a nice creamy consistency. Serve with Ritz crackers - this dip has always been a big hit for me!

Now for other great WFMW Five Ingredients or Less recipes, head on over & see Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer!

Chicken/Veggie Stirfry with Lomein

Brad loves Chinese food - in fact, can't hardly get enough of it. We've noticed recently that while Walker is picky about some things, he seems to inhale Chinese food, veggies and all. We've tried a few stirfrys before, usually without much success. This past week we decided to try again and feel like we found a recipe with LOTS of potential. Now keep in mind...this is one of those recipes that you probably want to adjust to your tastes and play with over time...I know we certainly will!

Ingredients:

Sunbird Stirfry Packet – mix according to directions
Welpac chow mein stirfry noodles – prepare according to package directions
1/2 can baby corn (we thought a whole can was just too much)
1-2 carrots sliced thinly on bias
3 chicken breasts thinly sliced on bias (if you can cut them while they're still partially frozen it's much easier to get a thin slice!)
4 handfuls shredded cabbage (remember that cabbage really shrinks down)
½ package of fresh snow peas
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
Small head of broccoli cut into florets
Soy sauce – SanJ
Sesame seeds
Sesame oil
Canola oil

Heat oil in wide-mouthed chef’s pan or wok. Add chicken & stirfry – our chicken was still partially frozen when we added it, so it added a lot of liquid to the pan while cooking. (We decided that next time we should cut the chicken earlier in the day while it was still partially frozen and then allow it to thaw in the fridge and drain or pat it dry before adding it to the pan to forgo the additional moisture.) Once the chicken was cooked we added the carrots, peppers & snow peas…definitely wait to add the snow peas if you make this recipe! They ended up a little on the soggy side L. Feel free to drizzle in a little sesame oil for added flavor. Sprinkle in sesame seeds. Once the carrots have cooked a few minutes, add broccoli, baby corn, cabbage and snow peas. When broccoli is crisp-tender add the stirfry packet (already prepared according to packet directions) – Brad said next time he would also add some additional soy sauce at this point. Add the stirfry noodles, give everything a good toss/stir to get it all coated and transfer to a serving platter. Enjoy!

This is the brand of soy sauce that our favorite Thai restaurant uses.

I'm pretty sure we found this seasoning packet at Wal-Mart.

Noodles definitely came from Wal-Mart. They were also quite yummy plain.

Walker was downing noodles, baby corn & carrots like there was no tomorrow. We fed him leftovers the next day and he cleaned his plate - woo hoo!