Sneaking in the Veggies

I am not a vegetable person. In fact, growing up I would cut my green beans into pieces that I could swallow whole to avoid tasting them while I chewed. Obviously, my parents made us kids eat them before we could leave the table. Now that I have a child I want to make sure he has a nutritious, well-balanced diet. I have been hiding spinach in things like fruit smoothies and lasagna, so when my sister-in-law, Heather, pinned Veggie Packed Pizza Rolls I was intruiged.

I made them this weekend and they were delish! It was a simple recipe involving a jar of store bought spaghetti sauce, 2 cups of vegetables and a blender. I did not make my own pizza dough, though to cut down on time and out of laziness. I also added turkey pepperoni. Jack loved them! Ty and I enjoyed them too.

Once I combined the vegetables with the jarred spaghetti sauce I had a lot of sauce. I have a full jar leftover and plan to use it on this easy, weeknight recipe that we enjoy.

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Does anyone else sneak vegetables into their dishes? I'm open to suggestions on other ways to add vegetables to our meals!

State Fair

We took Jack to the state fair last week. (We really packed in some events over the course of 10 days: a visit to the pumpkin patch (post coming), the fair, a work trip, and a football game!)

Yeehaw!

We tried some new food (fried bacon and roasted corn) and an old favorite (corn dog). The thing I was the most excited about trying was pineapple whip. It was delicious and Jack loved it!

 

Even before the fair I had pinned a couple of pineapple whip recipes. I just knew I was going to love it. After reading through several I decided to combine a few. This is definitely a much healthier version than some of the recipes I came across. The pineapple whip at the fair was too sweet. Coming from someone with a sweet tooth that says a lot. I wanted something a little lighter.

Pineapple Whip

ingredients:
3 cups frozen pineapple
(1) 5.3 ounce package vanilla greek yogurt*
Vanilla soy milk as needed for consistency 
2 generous teaspoons of honey

(The recipes I found called for almond milk. Jack is drinking soy milk, and I decided it would work just fine. I have no idea what almond milk tastes like. I would think regular milk would taste just fine. You just need some liquid to balance out the other two ingredients being so thick.)

directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse. It took some stopping and stirring to help the blender move along, but it got the job done. 

This made two pretty big (in my opinion) servings for Ty and I. 
I had planned to share with Jack, but the whole honey thing stopped me. Why are there so many food rules for babies??? He got a mini popsicle instead. Then, threw the biggest tantrum to date because we wouldn't give him another. He is so mistreated. :)


*I was not a fan of greek yogurt until I tried this one. It is not as tart as other brands. If you think you don't like greek yogurt, try this one!

dinner parties

Ty's schedule has been great the past two months and we have had a couple of groups of people over for dinner. (He will start his second year of residency in July and the schedule for the rest of the year is not pretty. It will definitely take some adjusting, especially with the new addition of baby Jack.) I digress...
We have been in our new house since November and love having people come over to see it. We had two new, young couples over from church. It was nice getting to know them better. We also had the new surgery interns and their spouses over for dinner. 
These dinners were scheduled in advance, and I didn't know that I was going to be feeling quite so bad at this point in my pregnancy. Luckily, both evenings turned out perfectly and I felt mostly normal. It was kind of depressing to cook all that food and not be able to eat much of it, because there was literally no space in my stomach due to all the smashing from Jack. :)

Cooking during the summer can be tricky as we didn't want to heat up the house with the oven, so I thought I would share our menus. I'm always looking for easy, summer meals.

• Grilled Pork Chops; we love this recipe and it is soooo easy.
• Sweet Strawberry Salad
• Strawberry Basil Lemonade

• Corn on the Cob with chili lime butter; Chili Lime Butter: melt butter, add in lime juice and chili powder. brush on corn. I just guesstimate how much of each every time.
• Balsamic Vegetable Skewers
• 
  Source: whenharrymetsalad.com via Lindsey on Pinterest
•  
• S'mores bars (made the day before to avoid heating up the house when people arrive.)

Ty grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the interns. I love grilled food during the summer. I'm sure part of that revolves around the fact that I'm not the one standing out there in the heat. :) 
I was feeling worse this week, so I kept things simple with Buffalo Chicken Dip, chocolate chip cookies, and brownie batter dip served with mini graham crackers. 

Source: crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

I posted this last year about some of our favorite summer meals, and I'm making Chicken and Summer Vegetables Tostadas, another summer favorite, courtesy of Kate from Elefantitas Alegres for tonight's dinner.

jumbled thoughts

• Thank you all so, so, so much for your kind words and your congratulations on our exciting news! Each and everyone of them made my day.
• Several people have asked how Chesley is doing...She had a successful surgery and is now recovering at her parents' house. She will be there until February and while it will be a slow recovery, she is in good spirits! I can't wait for her to be back in the same town as me.
• We got snow last night! Nothing major and it didn't stick. I love how people (Ty & I) turn into little kids when it snows. There is something so exciting about it!
• I have made quite a few recipes that I have found on Pinterest lately. All of these recipes will be making it into our rotation.
  

Here are a few of the recent hits!

Roasted Parmesan Green Beans

Source: skinnytaste.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Bacon, Egg, Avocado and Tomato Salad
(I had no idea it was so difficult to boil an egg! This recipe is definitely worth trying to figure that part out. Make this and make it soon. Delish!)

Source: Uploaded by user via Lindsey on Pinterest

Baked Chicken Taquitos

Source: tulsadetails.blogspot.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Chipotle Chicken Cups
I had never cooked with wonton wrappers before and I had no idea what I was missing out on. It was so easy and very good!

Source: reduceheatandsimmer.blogspot.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

Another Skinny Taste recipe--love that site.
Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice

Source: skinnytaste.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

sweets for my sweet

My title should really say sweets for me. I have the worst sweet tooth. Ty will eat them, but he can stop at one chocolate, cupcake, etc. I'm always wanting more.

chocolates from a little chocolate shop downtown

above: champagne chocolates and italian hazlenut
below: sea salted caramels and peanut butter chocolates


I was in the mood to bake something the other day, but it was too hot to use the oven. I remembered those yummy peanut butter chocolates pictured above and decided to make my own. I found several recipes online and combined them into this one.


I only had so much chocolate chips and powdered sugar on hand and I didn't want to make a million peanut butter cups, so I halved the recipe and then halved it again. So if you don't want to make a ton, then use this recipe. I think it made 12-15 cups. I made three large ones, because I ran out of mini liners.

ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar, do it to taste
1/2 tbsp butter
1 cup chocolate chips
PAM
mini cupcake liners

Empty the peanut butter into a bowl and stir in the powdered sugar. Mix in the softened butter and set aside. The powdered sugar and butter make the peanut butter incredibly smooth and tasty!

Melt the chocolate in the microwave with a small dollop of crisco. The crisco helps melt the chocolate smoothly. Arrange the cupcake liners in a mini muffin pan or on a baking sheet and spray them with PAM.

Spoon the melted chocolate into the cupcake liners and coat the bottom and sides of the liners the best you can. Set the extra chocolate aside. Place the tray into the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes. Pipe or spoon the peanut butter mixture into the cooled chocolate cups.

Spoon the remaining chocolate on top of the peanut butter and place the tray back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to completely set. Then eat just one and place the rest back in the fridge, because you have amazing willpower.

cupcakes from a local cupcakery, kupcakz

The top right one is a peach cake with bourbon infused frosting. Yum, yum.

Now that I've developed a muffin top from all the sweets and Ty has somehow managed to lose weight, I've switched to these:

sooooo good.

Pinnable Me Friday: dessert!

Pinterest has become my go to place for inspiration. There are so many pretty and inspiring things to look at on there. I have been on a s'mores kick lately and when I saw these cookie bars on pinterest I couldn't resist making them.

Source: lovinfromtheoven.com on Pinterest

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
* 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
* 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with Pam and preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Next, beat in the egg and the vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour, crushed graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

4. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place the Hershey's bar over the dough in a single layer. Spread the marshmallow creme over the chocolate. I would recommend spraying the measuring cup and spoon with Pam to prevent sticking. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the creme. This can be tricky and is best done in small pieces, like shingles.

5. Bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned. It is important to let the bars cool completely before cutting.

6. The bars are delicious microwaved for a few seconds before eating. Or at room temperature. You can't really go wrong. :)

The original recipe came from Lovin' From the Oven.

I bought a couple of these cute treat boxes at Target and took the s'mores to my in-laws' house last weekend.




pinnable me was started by paw prints & pastry bags.

Christmas goodies

One of the best things about blogging is getting great ideas from y'all. I have found several fun recipes from blogs and I thought I would share some with you!
I have already made or will be making these Christmas treats.

I have tasted these recipes and they are delish. Hopefully, mine will turn out just as good!
Bacon Wrapped Pineapple
Bruschetta

Great small Christmas presents:
Cinnamon Honey Butter
Chesley and I made this last year and packaged them up real cute.

This is super easy to do! Here are mine this year.

My favorites:
Peppermint Bark
White chocolate covered popcorn

A new one I tried this past weekend in my gingerbread cakelet pan:
Salted Fudge Brownies

I'm a HUGE fan of sea salted chocolates, so I thought this sounded delish. I'm not a huge fan of homemade brownies. I think the next time I make this I will just make brownies out of the box and then add the sea salt.

What are you guys making this year?

Chili's--a copycat recipe

My mom bought me this cookbook for Christmas last year.

My favorite recipe from it is Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup. LOVE it. I love everything from Chili's, so of course I was excited to see this recipe in the cookbook.

I will warn you there are a lot of ingredients, but it is worth it. I promise. It also makes a TON. I freeze several containers of it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder
3 cups diced yellow onions
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups masa harina*
4 quarts water
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
8 oz Velveeta, cubed
3 lbs cooked chicken breast, shredded (I use a rotisserie chicken.)

Toppings:
Shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla strips (I buy a bag of these in the salad dressing aisle.)
pico de gallo (I buy this already prepared from the grocery store--saves time.)

Directions:
1. Add the oil, bouillon powder, onions, cumin, chili powder, garlic, and cayenne pepper to a large pot. Saute until the onions are soft and clear, about 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the masa harina with 1 quart of the water. Stir until all the lumps have dissolved. Add to the sauteed onions and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the remaining 3 quarts water to the pot. Add the tomatoes and return to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the cheese and stir until it melts. Add the chicken; heat and serve.

4. Garnish with shredded cheese, tortilla strips, and pico.

(serves 16 to 20)

*Masa harina can be found in the hispanic food aisle. The kind I bought looks like this:

summer veggies

I hate that it feels like summer is over. The stores are full of fall clothes and while I can't wait to buy new clothes or for the weather to get cool, I realize that we have two solid months of HOT weather. So, part of me feels like this post is kinda late, but that is just silly! Enough jibber jabber.

The last time I was home my mom had this big box of corn from my great uncle's farm. Yum, yum!

I took several ears home with me and was telling her about this yummy butter recipe I had found in a Cooking Light cookbook. I thought I would share it with you all in case you have a big box of corn in your house or maybe just a few ears.

Chili-Lime Corn on the Cob
Ingredients:
4 ears shucked corn
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp grated lime rind (I just used lime juice--I realize its not quite the same thing, but close enough.)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place corn in a microwave-safe dish; cover dish with wax paper. Microwave at high for 7 min or until tender.
2. Place butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 15 seconds or until butter melts.
3. Stir in chili powder, lime rind, salt and pepper.
4. Brush butter mixture evenly over cooked corn.

If you have a kitchen full of other veggies or just want to take advantage of all the fresh goodness, then you must make this:

Chicken & Summer Vegetable Tostadas

picture from Cooking Light

I found this recipe on Kate's blog. She adapted it from Cooking Light and it is oh so good!
It has become a regular in my rotation.

I bring my lunch to work almost every day. I discovered the best pre-made salad at Target.

It can be found in the deli coolers and is Archer Farms. The salad contains strawberries, blueberries, grilled chicken and goat cheese with poppy seed dressing.
Target was out of it last weekend and I thought I was going to cry. It is that good.

CSN & a yummy recipe

I will be doing a review of a CSN store product in the upcoming weeks and I'm so excited! They have absolutely everything on their site and a lot of the items have free shipping. I love websites that offer free shipping!

Now onto the recipe that you must make ASAP! (I'm the oldest child, hence the bossiness.)

Steak Fajitas

Not just any steak fajitas, the best steak fajitas.


Rachel from In No Simple Language has started a regular post entitled Menu Monday. She and her husband cook the most amazing meals, and yes I did say and her husband. He plans and cooks 2-3 meals a week. What a lucky woman!

She posted this fajita recipe a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't wait to try it.

Fajita Ingredients:
1 lb of steak flank
3 plum tomatoes
big bunch of cilantro
1 lime
2 small white onion
1 avocado
pinch of sea salt
flour tortillas
2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Marinade Ingredients:
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2 limes, juiced
4-5 cloves garlic minced

Begin by marinating your steak. I marinated mine the night before and it was soooo good and it made cooking the recipe the next day so easy and quick.

Chop up all tomatoes, cilantro, and 1 onion and mix in bowl. This will be your pico de gallo . Squeeze half a lime over it and sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until it's time to eat. ( I didn't make the pico de gallo, but wanted to include this from the original recipe in case others wanted to make it.)

Cut your other onion into strips. Brown in pan with olive oil. When they're brown, cover with foil to keep them warm.

Grill your steak to your liking. When it's done, let it cool for a few minutes, then cut in slices against the grain.

Slice your avocado.

Fill tortilla shells with 2-3 pieces of steak, pico de gallo, onions, a few slices of avocado, a few leaves of cilantro (if you didn't make the pico) and a squeeze of lime and eat!

Easy Peasy Pork Chops

I started a blog design site. It can be rather nerve wracking to put yourself out there, but I figured what the heck. I love having new hobbies & starting new ventures. You can check it out here.

Now for the good stuff...
These chops are my go to "company's comin'" meal.

Ingredients:
1 lb. pork chops
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 worcestershire
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. black pepper

Combine all ingredients and marinate. The original recipe said 12 hours. I have done anything from 20 minutes to 4 hours. It doesn't make a huge difference.

Then grill. It is really the only way to enjoy meat. I beg Ty to grill all year long. He doesn't always agree.

Books and Comfort Food

Ty bought me a series of books by Francine Rivers, called Mark of the Lion for my birthday.* One of my favorite books is Redeeming Love written by Rivers, so I was very excited to receive these. There are three books in this series and I am on the last book. They are full of history and center on Rome when it was at the height of its power. It took me a while to adjust to the first book, because it contained so much historical and background information. A little different than my vampire books and chick lit.

The last time we were in our hometown my MIL made a chicken and dumplings recipe from the January issue of Southern Living. I was a little hesitant when she told me this is what she was making. I had made chicken and dumplings last winter and it turned out awful. This recipe was so different than the one I tried and it was YUMMY. It definitely hit the spot.

I forgot to take a pic of my dish, so you will have to make do with an iPhone pic of my magazine.
Why is my magazine so wrinkled, you ask? Well, someone in my house might have spilled a thermos of coffee all over our coffee table and it wasn't me.

This is an easy version of the classic recipe.

1 (32 oz.) container low-sodium chicken broth
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 (10.2 oz.) can refrigerated jumbo buttermilk biscuits
2 carrots, diced
3 celery ribs, diced

1. Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; return to a low boil.

2. Place biscuits on a lightly flowered surface or on wax paper. Roll or pat each biscuit to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1/2-inch wide strips.

3. Drop strips, 1 at a time, into boiling broth mixture. Add carrots and celery. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent dumplings from sticking.

*My birthday was in November. I didn't want to cause confusion since I had blogged about two of my birthday presents two days in a row.

Holiday Goodies

{picture via google images}

Peppermint Bark

ingredients:

1 bag ghirardelli white chocolate chips

1 bag ghiradelli chocolate chips

1/2 cup crushed candy canes

directions:

1. melt chocolate chips. spread in an aluminum foil pan; freeze for 30 minutes or until hardened.

2. crush candy canes and set aside.

3. melt white chocolate chips; spread over hardened chocolate.

4. sprinkle candy cane pieces over melted white chocolate.

5. let chocolate harden then break into jagged pieces.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Gingerbread Brownies

I love this gingerbread cakelet pan from Williams-Sonoma. Instead of cake, I use brownie mix from a box. So easy and so cute.

I haven't done an update on W in a few days, because there hasn't been much change. She is still in a medically induced coma and the swelling in her brain keeps decreasing as long as she is not moved. (She has to be moved for scans, baths, etc.) Please continue to pray for her healing and for her family's strength. Ty got to see her today. The doctor he is rotating with worked with W at his main hospital. Dr. C does rounds at every hospital here in town and they stopped in to check on her today. Ty said she is looking good and her bruising is going away.

It's all about the packaging

If someone gave me butter for Christmas, I might be a tad disappointed. But if they gave me cinnamon honey butter in cute packaging I might be singing a different tune. At least, this is how I'm hoping people feel. I found this great idea on a blog that I read (can't remember which one)and it linked back to the original author. You can find the complete recipe here along with some amazing step by step pictures.

Chesley and I made these a couple of Saturdays ago.

Ty and I have eaten the butter on toast and we can testify to its yumminess!

{The original recipe author found her jars at Wal-Mart. My Wal-Mart didn't have any and I had to get a bigger size jar at a local grocery store. I used 8 oz. jars and using the exact recipe it filled 4 jars.}