Food, food, food!!

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have had nights of leftovers. But here are some recipes we have tried:

One night I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. So I made these fish cakes, fried rice, and a baked potato. I doubled the fish cake recipe so that I have 20 fish cakes in the freezer for later. The fish cakes will be a great meal for Lent Fridays! I was able to use the wok I received for Christmas for the fried rice. I have used this same recipe and added mixed veggies before. I believe I warmed some mixed frozen veggies in the microwave to soften them, then put them with the rice. The baked potato is the kind you toss in the microwave. It speaks for itself!

Another night, I made chicken tenders. I didn't think to take a picture before we ate them all. I served them with steamed broccoli. Very yummy! It does take a while to prep the tenders, which is a slight downfall. But if you have someone to help dip, it goes faster. And the mustard sauce is awesome!

I made this taco lasagna the night before last. It is Shawn's favorite meals, and he would have it every week, even every night of the week, if he could. I very much enjoy it, but I don't think we need it that often!! Again, no picture of mine sorry. (picture courtesy of tasteofhome.com)

Tonight I made hamburgers. I used 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb ground deer meat, added an egg, 1/4 cup worchestershire, onions and bell peppers, garlic, bread crumbs, and seasonings. It was enough for 6 patties tonight and 6 for the freezer.

For dessert I made this easy king cake. It is so good! Being in Arkansas, I do miss good king cakes from south Louisiana, and I'm not willing to pay $50 to get one shipped up here. So I found this recipe last year and enjoyed it then. This is my first of the year, and I guarantee it's not the last! And no, the baby is not in the cake. ;-)

Secrets...

I have a secret. But I'm not ready to tell. I'm sure you will figure it out soon enough. But hush now! No one knows. :)

Biscuit treat and "Chocolate Chubbies"

So Saturday morning, I woke up at 6 to go to the grocery store. I like going that early because 1. No one else is there and 2. I can get back and not have missed Jeanne's morning. And, like predicted, as I am walking up the stairs with the groceries, I hear her coming out of her room saying, "Mommy I hungry."

So I fixed her some oatmeal, or "oatmilk" as she calls it, while I made this biscuit breakfast, otherwise called "Christmas Morning Treat." I very much enjoyed explaining to Jeanne the directions and measurements. As I was measuring 1/2 cup of syrup, I explained the 1 over 2. I then had a flashback to a morning when I was young and was at a good friend's house. We were trying to make blueberry muffins, but I misunderstood the fraction. We put WAY to much milk in the batter and did not get muffins. It was terrible!! That is such a great memory and story. I look forward to Jeanne having her own friend stories like that. My only change from the recipe is that I used Grands Jr. biscuits because they were cheaper. I used the brand name because I had a coupon that made them cheaper than the store brand. (I remembered to take a picture after I served my plate. Better late than never!"

Saturday afternoon, I made these "Chocolate Chubbies." As I read through some of the comments at the bottom, I was appalled at some peoples' nerve! This blogger was nice enough to share a recipe on her blog, and commenters were so rude. I didn't feel like making an account just to share my opinion of the commenters. I figured it was best I hold my tongue anyway. I burnt the bottoms of the first batch. Boo!

That night we ate at Copelands and I had the King Cake Cheesecake. It was fantabulous!! Of course we did eat the Spinach Artichoke Dip as an appetizer first. Then I ate the Crab Cake Shrimp Alfredo. So good! I then asked for the cheesecake and our waitress said she didn't think they had it yet. I said, "No, no. I called yesterday and was told y'all did have them. That's why we came." Sure enough, they had it. And it was a happy day!

Spaghetti!

So last night (Sunday night) I made a pot of spaghetti sauce for tonight (Monday). I made a double recipe so we could put some in the freezer. I don't have a written down recipe for this, but I can tell you how I did it.

I browned 1 lb of deer ground meat and 1 lb of ground beef. I seasoned the meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and basil. I can't tell you how much I put. I just added the seasonings. I then added 1 cup of sliced mushrooms and a 14.5 can of Italian diced tomatoes to the meat and cooked them down. After the mushrooms were tender, I added 2 cans of 29 oz tomato sauce and a small can of tomato paste. Again this was to make a double recipe. I cooked that on medium low for an hour. I added more of each of the seasonings and at least a tablespoon of sugar. The sugar helps to cut the acidity taste of the tomato sauce. I also threw in a sprinkle of paprika, parsley, and cracked peppercorn till I was pleased with it.

And it was good!! We ate it with a good mixed salad.  Shawn ate seconds, as  did I. Jeanne loves pasta, so of course she ate it up!

Oatmeal bake

Jeanne loves oatmeal. So on Sunday, I made this oatmeal bake. It was really good! I think I will add more sugar next time. I like oatmeal sweeter. Of course, I didn't add the chocolate chips because I used them all in the cookies yesterday. That may have helped with the sweetness. I did add some maple syrup for the second piece I tried.

Then that evening, we had a mule deer rice and gravy. I wish I could give you a recipe, but this is Shawn's from scratch cooking, with "a little of this" and "a lot of that." Basically, you brown whatever seasoned meat you want. When you think it is brown enough, brown it longer. This makes for a dark, more flavorful gravy. We usually brown any meat for almost an hour. Don't have the heat too high, or it will burn your meat.

After the meat is browned, remove it and add onions and bell peppers (we used the frozen seasoning blend).  Cook these this translucent. Stir often so they don't burn. Next is the tricky part. We have just recently started adding a little bit of flour and stirring it well till golden. This can go bad fast, so you can't leave the room. The flour helps to make the gravy thicker. Don't add too much, then you will have a stew. Then you add water to make the gravy. Put the meat back in and add enough meat to almost cover it. Cover the pot and let it cook. Check it every 30 minutes to turn the meat over and make sure the water isn't gone. Add seasonings to the gravy. Cook it for a few hours, until the meat is fork tender. Meaning, a fork will easily pull it apart. If the gravy isn't thick enough for you, at this point you can leave the cover off and boil off the water.  Add more seasoning to taste. It was quite wonderful. I made potato salad and green beans for side dishes. Sorry I don't have a picture for you!


When Jeanne woke up from her nap yesterday, she trudged down the hall pointing to her backside. I thought she had an accident , when she was actually showing me she had put on 6 pairs of pants on top of the pants she already had on! Such a silly goose. Then today, I pulled her hair up in a bun so she could eat breakfast. She then put her hand on her neck and exclaimed, "I lost my tail!!"! She cracks me up!

Black bean soup

My daughter cracks me up. I am amazed at what all she is learning and absorbing. She tells me after school each day, "Momma I played with my Berkley." Berkley is her class mate. We are dealing with temper tantrums. It is harder than I thought not to just give in. But husband and I are working on that. I am quite satisfied in how we are raising her. She is just a doll. 

She is potty trained for day time hours. She wears her "big girl panties" during the day, and hardly ever has an accident. We will shoot for wearing panties at night starting this weekend. Good thing she has extra sheets for her bed. 

Tonight I made this black bean soup. It was delicious! But I like bean soups already. Next time (and tips for you readers) I will only puree 2/3 of the pot to have some substance to the soup. Oh and of course I forgot to take a picture! 

Pepper Jelly Salmon and Spicy Romano Chicken

I didn't get to post yesterday, but here are my recipe plugs:


For breakfast yesterday, I made this blueberry breakfast cake. Shawn and I loved it. Jeanne didn't care for it, but she doesn't like blueberries and old me after she picked them out that the cake was dirty! She is something else! It took a little bit to prep. I used white whole-wheat flour.
(Photo courtesy of www.alexandracooks.com)

For lunch yesterday I made Pepper Jelly Salmon. I love spicy food. This went well with steamed broccoli. I thought I had bought enough salmon, but only had two filets, so I also did two chicken breasts. They came out good, but not as good as the salmon. If I did the chicken again, I would maybe marinate it longer make small slices in the top of the chicken to soak in the marinade.  (Photo courtesy of www.fortmillscliving.com)

For dinner last night we had the Sesame Ginger Chicken in yesterday's post about the monthly meal planner. Shawn like it more than I did. I served that with some fried rice.

Tonight, for dinner I made Spicy Romano Chicken. Did I mention I love spicy food? This came out so good. It is similar to The.Baroness.Von.Korf at Life, Love, and Etouffe's Bowties with Sausage recipe. I thought about adding the Italian sausage to the Romano Chicken after I started, so it was too late to run to the store. Defintely not the healthiest recipe, but I had two bowls and packed some for lunch tomorrow because it was that good. I lost count of how many bowls Shawn had. :-)
(Photo courtesy of www.bosssanders.com)

I am going to try to remember to take pictures of my results before I eat them! Tomorrow is going to be leftovers.

Recipe plug

First off, Merry Christmas and happy New Year! I hope these last few weeks have been special to all of you!


So I thought since I love to try new recipes and ideas I find in magazines, Pinterest, online, etc, I would post them here also. (FYI the pictures come from the websites)

Today I tried several new things. First I made these homemade fruit snacks. They are awesome! I will say that next time, I may try it with orange juice because the lemon juice did make them a little tart. But if Jeanne likes them, they are great in my book. No food coloring, minimal sugar, super easy to make and cheap!
(Picture courtesy of thankyourbody.com)



For myself, I made these cinnamon apples. They tasted so good! I made them to share with my husband, and ate them all! I only added a teaspoon of sugar, and I think I will add more next time. Also, I will slice mine a little smaller than what is shown in the picture so they can be a hint softer. But such a great snack! Especially for someone who isn't the biggest fan of apples.
(Picture courtesy of salad-in-a-jar.com)






I think my biggest plug for today is this monthly meal planner. I spent $250 at the grocery store buying the ingredients for the recipes (I doubled several of the recipes) and made 9 meals for the crock-pot (put the ingredients in a ziploc in the freezer), 2 cassaroles, 2 side dishes, 12 breakfast burritos, and 20 lunch burritos! I didn't have to buy groceries (except for milk, toilet paper, and soda) for a few weeks. It was well worth the 3 hour prep time. Now I have meals in the freezer I can just put in the crock-pot in the morning, and not have to worry about not spending time with Jeanne after work. The burritos are great when I am running behind in the morning or need lunch (if we ate all the leftovers). So check out the sites and gather some ideas for yourself!