All Homemade Dinner - Chicken Zita

I loved this meal. It was as homemade as one could get. I am always so proud of the new foods I cook, and we are usually so hungry, that I forget to take a bigger picture of the dish before we dig in. I usually just remember to take a picture before I take my first bite. :) I was pretty proud of this meal. The potatoes have some yummy seasoning on it. (I'm a potato-lovin' gal from Idaho.) The bread you see, is homemade. I no longer purchase store bread. I can't remember the last time I did. It was one of the best decisions ever. I taught myself how to make bread (I cheat and use a bread machine. Still working on making it without one.). I've perfected my bread recipe. My white bread makes perfect sandwiches, garlic bread and anything else that store bought bread is used for - but it's better. There are not preservatives in it and it's fresh. Can life get better?!! 

The zita, was fun to make. I used the penne noodles and cooked them. I also cooked some frozen (no canned chicken for me!) I had mozzarella cheese on hand. Oh ya! And the spaghetti sauce I used in this was from home bottled tomatoes with spaghetti seasoning. This also had cream cheese in it. This was another hit. Trevor loved it. :) 

Again, most of this stuff is stuff I keep on hand, except the mozzarella. But I've found that I've been purchasing it more for different meals. Maybe it'll become a normal item in my kitchen. What I also love about homemade meals, is there is usually enough for leftovers for lunch the next day. It breaks up the sandwich routine which I get in. It gives variety to our lunches. And, when dinner is so good, we get it a second time for lunch. :) 

- SamiMae

Beef Enchiladas and Ramblings...

I'm all about taking a nice dish, making, but on the cheap. I feel this was kind of one of those. I made homemade beef enchiladas for the first time. (Oh, I also love trying to cook new things, on my own. :) 

This was an awesome meal, which I had so much fun making. I made home made tortillas! Yes, home made tortillas. They are generally smaller than the large plate sized ones you can purchase. The small size made these perfect portions. I cooked up some shredded beef that I had and added some spices as well as cream cheese in it to give it a creamy texture. Then I  put some beef and cheese in a tortilla and rolled it up. I have some natural enchilada sauce that I love to purchase (I stock up when it comes on sale for $1!) It was red enchilada sauce, which I hadn't tried before. I poured some in the bottom of the pan, placed my enchiladas in the pan, topped with the rest of the sauce and more cheese and olives. If I had green onions that would have been even better!

This was quickly a hit with Trevor! He's requested it twice since. What's even greater about this dish, I made it all out of my food storage. Or, I should say, my giant food stock. I can make this meal any time I want, because I keep a stock of everything! How great is that?! That's what I strive to do. Keep a stock of all very usable food and make all my meals from it. Very rarely do I pick something up from the store for a specific dish. I'm pretty proud of the work I've one. 

Yummy Apples!!!

Last Saturday, I went up to Logan with my aunt and uncle and their kids. We went to an orchard and picked our own apples! It was a blast. It was a neat environment. There were so many trees and so many different kinds of apples. So, I ended up coming home with a big bag of apples! I had green apples and red apples. I only had so much energy and I wasn't in the mood to can, and I had just gotten my new kitchen toy - a dehydrator! So, I dehydrated all my apples instead.

In a house of only my husband and me, these sure did go fast! I did 2 batches of apples, in total 12 trays. These were super fast because I also got an "apple corer, peeler, slicer". I can't imagine what I would have done without it! So, I peeled, sliced and cored my apples then gave them a bath in citrus acid water. After 10 minutes or so, I put them on the trays, sprinkled some cinnamon on top and left them to dry and a few hours later - these bad boys. :) The small bag are all that's left of my green apples. The bigger bag are my red apples. This was super fun and easy. The second time I did it, Trevor helped! He took time off of homework to spend time in the kitchen with me. I love it when he does that. :)

These have made for a great snack. Now I know what to do next time I have apples that I know we won't be able to eat before they go bad. I'll just dehydrate them!

Alfredo Chicken Pasta Bake

Today, I accomplished quite a bit. I managed to do 7 loads of laundry, (hauled down 3 flights of stairs to the laundry mat and back up). I turned in my most difficult task for my hardest accounting class, read another 2 chapters in the Hobbit and made a fabulous dinner!

This doesn't sound like much, and I promise I'm not lazy. Being preggers does make you more tired, and normal things go a bit slower, but I'm trying to focus my attention onto getting my degree. I'm pushing 18 months worth of work into 6 months.

After spending so much time in front of the computer screen or in front of a book, I decided some time in the kitchen would do me good. I must say, I outdid myself this time. Dinner was fantastic. I spent the day periodically thinking about what I wanted to do. After searching up some ideas on Pinterest I came up with my own Alfredo chicken pasta bake. It was delicious!

I already had some Ragu Alfredo sauce from lunch. I cooked some noodles. Next I pan fryed a chicken breast. Once the noodles were done, I poured in the sauce, tore up the chicken and added it in and mixed it all together. Then I put it into a 8x8 dish. (It's small because it's only Trevor and I eating). I topped it with mozzarella cheese and bacon bits. I put it in the oven to melt the cheese for about 20 minutes.

This happened to be the main course but I had some amazing potatoes to go with it. I love marinade mixes that you can buy at the store in little packets. I have quite a stash of them. I happened to have a roasted potato mix that I hadn't used before. It turned out to be amazing! I cut up my potatoes into slices and put the mix over them and baked them for about an hour.

I also enjoy making bread. So I happened to have some of my homemade sandwich bread that I turned into garlic  bread to eat. Dinner was perfect, tasty, and for the most part - pretty healthy. It was good for me to spend time in the kitchen. It has been a while since I've cooked something this big in a while. I probably spent an hour and a half in the kitchen because there was quite a bit involved, but it was worth it! What's even better, is there was enough left over for both Trevor and I to have lunch tomorrow!

Ingredient for this dinner:

- Chicken

- noodles

- Parmesan cheese

- Alfredo sauce

     Optional: garlic salt, minced onion, bacon

Potatoes and seasoning

Bread with garlic salt and parsley 

Side salad.

To make the Pasta:
1. Get water on stove and heating.
2. Put chicken breast on the stove and cook in pan with some oil. Be sure to keep the lid on while cooking, it splatters and is hot! I sprinkled salt and pepper on my chicken.
3. Put noodles in boiling water and cook. Noodles will probably be done before the chicken, especially if the chicken was frozen. Drain noodles and put  back in pot.
3. Put Alfredo sauce in with noodles. I added some minced onion and garlic salt. Stir.
4. Once chicken is white all the way through, Shred it up and add it to the noodles.
5. Put the noodle mixture in a greased pan.
6. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bacon.
7. Bake in oven for 20 minutes.

To make Potatoes:
Potatoes
Seasonings
(Usually) Oil

I like to cut my potatoes up and put oil and a mix over them. I will often do this first and get my potatoes in the oven as soon as possible because they take an hour to cook, usually. I did this and by the time I had everything else ready and the noodle mixture cooked, the potatoes were done!



What I love about this meal, is it didn't require anything crazy. I love being able to make dinner from things I already have or usually have. I also like to alter the recipes to work for whatever I have. This recipe is really easy to make to any size. If you need to feed a bigger crowd, cook more noodles and another chicken breast and put it in a bigger pan. I look for versatility in my recipes. I'm usually cooking for just 2, which most recipes are for a family. So this was particularly nice. I enjoyed my time in the kitchen. It did me good today.

Now, off to fold laundry!

- Sami

My First Canning Project - Peaches and Pears

This week, my awesome aunt bought me a water bath for canning. So, of course I had to give it a test run. I made sure to get all my homework done (which is most important), so I could spend the time necessary to do some canning. I went to the Provo market and picked up some peaches and pears. I then went to target to pick up some jars. Then the adventure began.

About 2-3 years ago, my mom got me the Ball canning book, it has over 400 recipes in it. I found my peaches and pears recipes in there and gave it a shot. I was careful to follow all the directions and the results were perfect! All my jars sealed! It was a ton of work. I did it all by myself. I can't imagine doing a bigger batch without help. Most of the time spent was me pealing or blanching and pealing the fruit. Once that was done, relatively little time was spent doing a heat-process on the fruit before putting them in the jars. My recipes required me to heat the fruit up in a syrup before putting them in the jars. The syrup was tasty! It ended up getting all over the handles and my hands before the night was over. :) I sure enjoyed my time doing it. I was careful to not over do it, physically. It's been awesome to see the "fruits" of my labor. :) I got 6 cans out of it. 3 peaches, 3 pears. 

It's a great skill to have. I can't wait for my next project!

Before....

After!!!

- Sami

Bean Chimichangas and Spanish Rice

Monday I finally got a rice cooker! I'd been wanting one for so long and I finally got one. It's a cute little guy, perfect for just Trevor and I. Well, I wanted to break in my new kitchen toy and needed a main dish to go with my rice. So, I happened upon this recipe for bean chimichangas. YUM! Fast and easy. You can view the original recipe here. This was an excellent easy recipe. I had Trevor in the kitchen to help me and we made these in probably about 20 minutes.

Crappy picture I know, but Trevor and I had both eaten a whole chimichanga before I realized I hadn't taken a picture. I was torn. I didn't want to stop eating these for long enough to get a good picture. I know food is like an art on other blogs, but here - I'm realistic. My food doesn't often turn out pretty, but it sure does turn out tasty. Anyway, I combined our plates quickly, snapped a picture and then went back to eating. 

If you're aiming for healthy, this might not be the best meal, but it sure is good comfort food. And really, if you take out the half block of Velveeta, it's really pretty healthy. 

Ingredients: 

Tortillas

1/2 can of Rotel

1 can refried beans

1/2 brick of Velveeta. 

Egg whites. (we used 1 egg and still had plenty)

Cheese (If the Velveeta isn't enough for you :)

1-2 tbsp of veggie oil

1. Warm beans, Rotel and Velveeta in a pot. Make sure the Velveeta is all mixed in. 

2. Warm up a pan on the stove with a little bit of oil. We are going to flash fry the chimis. (This was a new technique that I hadn't tried before. Took a little getting use to, my stove is tends to be extra hot, so I burned the first two). 

3. On a tortilla, put some of the bean mixture into it. I found that it naturally wanted to go flat, like a soup on the tortilla. So this part was a slight challenge. 

4. Baste a little bit of the egg whites around the edge of the tortilla. This acts as a sealant. Then fold up the tortilla in a burrito like style.  Top and bottom, then left and right side. 

5. Flash fry these in the pan on the stove. I only left mine on there for about 30 seconds on each side. But my stove has 2 heat options. High or off. There is no medium or low. 

6. Next, move them to a pan and let them back in the oven for about 12 minutes at 350. 

How easy right! What's awesome, is we had leftover bean/Velveeta mixture. Last night we put it on top of our baked potatoes. Wow. YUM! This was an excellent dinner. It had a bit of a kick to it, so be cautious with the Rotel, it holds a lot of heat! I also made some quick Spanish rice to go with it. You can view the original recipe here.

I just put all these ingredients in the rice cooker, gave it a stir and pressed start!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of long grain rice. 

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1 can of Rotel tomatoes (I only put in a few spoonfuls and it was really spicy!)

2 tbsp of melted butter

1 tsp of cumin

Enjoy!

-SamiMae

Homemade Snow Cone Syrup

Trevor and I have this tradition that whenever we watch a movie together, we air pop popcorn and make snow cones. So, this means that we go through a lot of popcorn and syrup. We are continually refilling our ice cube trays. We probably do this at least once a week, depending on how crazy life gets. It's become something we look forward to. In the last little bit, we've run out of our store bought snow cone syrup, which is pretty pricey. 

So, after a bit of researching, If figured out how to make it for about 25 cents. I usually buy sugar in bulk so I already have that on hand. It's about $0.25 for a packet of Koolaid mix. It's really super easy. Just prepare it a bit earlier in the day, so it has time to chill in the fridge. 

Ingredients:

- 2 C sugar

- 1 C water

- 1 Kool-aid packet of your choice. 

1. Boil water and sugar until they come to a rapid boil. 

2. Boil for 60 seconds. 

3. Take off heat, poor in 1 packet. Stir and let cool.

4. After it's cooled slightly, funnel into a bottle and store in fridge. We reused the snow cone bottles that we had. 

We've done cherry (seen above), and a mixed berry flavor. They have been really tasty so far! :) Super easy to make. It probably takes about 5-7 minutes altogether. I make this during the day, let it cool and then come evening, we are ready for a movie! 

- SamiMae

Black Bean Pitas! YUMMY!

This was a meal that was very surprising how good it was! I was unsure when I was putting everything together, but this could have made it into the top 10 for spring meals. Trevor was even impressed. We just happened to have everything on hand too!

Ingredients:

• Pita bread
• Black beans
• Corn
• Romaine lettuce
• Bacon
• Celery (optional, I thought it was ok)
• Sugar
• Olive Oil
• Mayonnaise
• Vinegar
• Pepper 
• Onion

This came together in less than 15 minutes. It's eaten cold. I'm sure if you let it sit and let the flavors blend it could be good, but keep the bacon out until you eat to prevent it from getting soggy.

1. Cook some bacon. We did about 4 strips.

2. While Trev cooked the bacon, I drained a can of black beans and a can of corn and put into a bowl.

3. I cut up a little bit of green pepper (you want something sweet), onion and celery. I went easy on it. I cut everything small. Maybe 2-3 teaspoons worth of each. Add into bowl with beans and corn.

4. Add in 2 tablespoon mayo

5. Add teaspoon of sugar and olive oil and vinegar. 

6. Go off of taste, if you don't like it, mix it up. We added in a bit more sugar. 

7. Add bacon and mix it up. 

8. Get a pita bread, layer some romaine lettuce on it and put a few good scoops of the bean mixture on top and enjoy!

This was a surprising mixture. I found a recipe that I based it off of. You can view it here. I was really worried about it, but then the flavors worked together great. I loved the raw veggie flavor. The onion and peppers were quite wonderful. The sugar helped give it more of a dessert feel than a pita full of veggies. We ate the whole thing! 

- SamiMae

BLTs - A wonder!

I don't have pictures, but I made real BLTs this week. No bread, just bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. It was amazing....I'd never had it before.

I added a bit of mayo to the romaine lettuce, right on the lettuce, topped it with tomatoes and a strip of bacon on top. I am so doing that again! Remember this dinner!

- SamiMae

Beef Haystacks

A few weeks ago I made a meal that was quite tasty. I love haystacks of any kind. This was no exception! I have some great beef in my freezer that I try to use whenever I can. It's already cooked and frozen. So, for this recipe I just took out some beef, and warmed it up. This dinner came together pretty quick.

Ingredients:

- Beef

- Lipton's Onion Soup mix

- Veggies of choice ( we chose peas)

- Rice

- Haystack toppings: cheese, pineapple, green onions, sour cream...etc.

1. Heat/cook beef. I added 1 can of beef broth as well. 

2. Add in half a package of Lipton's Onion soup mix. 

3. Once this is warm, take the beef out, temporarily. I learned that you don't want the beef to boil in the mixture because it'll make the beef tough.

4. Add some cornstarch to the mixture. Make sure to have already combined it with cold water to activate it. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. 

5. Add back in the meat and add in any veggies you'd like.

6. Top on rice with haystack toppings. We like pineapple, cheese, green onions and sour cream. Of course, I really love sour cream, it's weird - I know. 

This was really good. The beef flavor was amazing. Be sure to salt and pepper it to taste. So, yes, I do add sour cream to mine. I love the flavor and it makes it creamy. :) Anyway, this was another easy and cheap dinner for us.

- SamiMae

Zucchini Pizzas

I made this dinner a few weeks ago and just haven't been able to blog about it yet. I've seen a lot on Pinterest about doing meals with zucchini. I managed to find a small one at Smith's and decided to give it a try.

1. Cut the zucchini in nice thicker slices maybe  1/4th to 1/2 inch. Baste in olive oil and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. 

2. Put a little pizza sauce, or tomato sauce with seasonings (which is what I do), then top with a little cheese. 

3. Broil until cheese is melted or personal preference.

I didn't think these little guys would be filling, Trevor was super sceptical at first. But I think I cooked 2 zucchinis and they filled us both up! Quite tasty. They remind me of pizza pockets - but much healthier! 

- SamiMae

Pita Pizzas

I got this great idea off of pinterest to make pizzas on pitas. So, at Costco a few days ago, I got some yummy pita bread. This little pizza, which was quite tasty and filling had:

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Cheese
• Green Onion 
• BBQ sauce

This would have been great with veggies too! Just pop it in the oven until the cheese is melted. It's great for a night when I really don't want to cook!

- SamiMae

Egg in the Hole

A few days ago we had egg in the hole. I haven't had this breakfast in a long time. It's nice to break away from the cereal. I got some apples from Costco last week and we've been enjoying them. :)

-SamiMae

Lion House Dinner Rolls

Yesterday I attempted making the Lion House Dinner rolls. We had these at our wedding breakfast and oh boy...they are so good. I could die eating them. You can't stop with one roll. So, I tried to make them at home. I have the Lion House recipe book (Trevor got it for me for Christmas. :) And He wanted me to give it a shot.

The dough was unlike anything I had ever made before. It was more liquidity than my other breads. The recipe had me whip the bread at a higher speed. It just had a super smooth texture and boy, did it rise FAST and it got LARGE. Overall, the bread was good. Little work on the technique, and flavor. I was most disappointing in the flavor...there wasn't any. I think it's because I used shortening instead of butter (the recipe said I could use it.) I didn't have any butter to use or that would have been my first choice. Overall, it turned out pretty good!

The inside texture was good too! Light and fluffy - just missing the flavor. I'll get it though. :)

See how big that got! It didn't rise more than an hour, and that's WAY more than double in size!

The batch was suppose to make 18 rolls. I got more. (There was a second pan)

Final results.  Don't those look yummy! They are super soft and fluffy inside.

We've been making Trevor's lunches on these. He's has some sandwich shots for lunch. :)

- SamiMae

Yummy Salad

Sunday night, we had a bit of extra lettuce, apple and avocado. I whipped up some chicken to top it with. So, I turned it into a salad. I wish I had a cucumber, red onion, and cherry tomatoes. It was tasty even without that stuff though.. I put a bit of raspberry vinaigrette on it  and it was quite tasty. 

- SamiMae

Balsalmic Potatoes

Today I gave something new a try. I attempted some balsamic potatoes. They turned out pretty tasty, except they didn't get cooked at first, then I had to put some water in to steam them, at near the end the balsamic was all dried up. But, I REALLY this this dish has potential. It was tasty and good, but I know I can improve it for next time. 

Ingredients: 

- Potatoes

- Green onions (I got to use some from my container garden!)

- Minced Garlic

- Salt/pepper

- Balsamic vinegar

- Veggie oil

- Rosemary

-Thyme

1.  Start by cutting up your potatoes, green onions and garlic. Put in a pan with a little bit of oil and cook, covered, for a few minutes. This is to heat them up pretty well and cook the garlic. After a few minutes add in the rosemary and thyme. Give it a good sprinkle. 

2. Transfer potatoes to a pan which will then be put in the oven at either 350 or 400. Pour a little balsamic on it. I used 3 russet potatoes and used just under 1/4th a cup of balsamic. It might be best to put in a little bit of water. It helps to steam the potatoes and help them cook. If you don't put in a little water, you might get what I got, dry crusted potatoes. The balsamic was all cooked up and the leftovers were seasoning on the potatoes. 

3. Pop in the oven and cook until soft and enjoy

In the pan. 

With thyme and rosemary added.

This is what they would have looked like had they been steamed. At this point they were suppose to be done, but were still crunchy and needed some water added to it. 

I'm going to give this recipe another shot and maybe they'll be more moist!

- SamiMae

Haystacks with Veggies

So last night as I was thinking of what to cook, I found a recipe that had broccoli in it and looked really good. But after looking at the ingredients, I realized its just haystacks with broccoli in it. lol.

But, I still made it. It was tasty. I added some garlic and onion seasonings in it to give it a bit more flare.

- SamiMae

Broccoli and Cheese Sandwiches

Lunch can be boring, with the same old turkey or ham sandwich. A few days  ago, I mixed it up a bit with some broccoli and cheese sandwiches. These little guys come together really fast and taste, oh so yummy!

Ingredients:

- Bread

- Cheese (Shredded cheddar or Velveeta)

- Broccoli

- Butter

- Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put desired amount of broccoli on baking sheet, drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the broccoli, maybe some salt, and pop it in the oven. Let it cook for about 8 minutes. We want the broccoli soft. 

2. Slice bread and butter one side with butter. Remove broccoli from oven.

3. Put bread, face down, in a skillet, put cheese on top, the broccoli, then a second layer of cheese, then the top slice of bread. This way the cheese holds the broccoli in place. 

4. Cook on low, and cover. I've burned mine each time, because the heat is too high and the cheese doesn't melt fast enough. 

5. Turn over and cook on the other side. Be sure to watch it. You want it under cooked before you want it over cooked. Burnt bread is nasty. lol

I make mine on homemade bread. It's oh so delicious. I'd recommend sprinkling some salt on it before you put the top slice of bread on, so it'll help  bring out flavors. It's a pretty mild dish, but creamy. I've used Velveeta once or twice. Ohh....I was passed out on the couch shortly afterwards, but it was so yummy. :) 

I like to serve mine with a veggie, like carrots as well. It makes for a quick fast lunch. :) 

- SamiMae

Cilantro Ramen Noodles

I have quite a bit of cilantro and need to figure out how to use it up before it goes bad. Last night I made the Cilantro, Lime and Garlic Chicken but wanted a side dish. I was tired of rice or pasta noodles. So after a while of Pinteresting, I found this recipe. I changed mine up quite a bit, but got the idea from the Noble Pig blog.

I gotta say, I was worried, but it turned out pretty good!

Ingredients:
- 2 packages of Ramen noodles (any flavor, we don't use the packets).
- Mr. Yoshida's seasoning
- Peas
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions
- Vegetable oil
- Cilantro

1. Gather ingredients. Cut up green onions and cilantro ahead of time.

2. Cook the Ramen in boiling water for about 3 minutes

3. Drain Ramen and rinse it with cold water.

4. Leave Ramen in strainer, temporarily.

5. Use a LITTLE bit of oil to saute the green onions and warm the peas up. I used a bit to much and mine was a little oily, I had to drain some of it out. 

6. (Optional), I would recommend draining this oil out after it's sauteed. The Mr. Yoshida's has quite a bit of oil already in it. 

7. Pour in noodles, and some Mr. Yoshida's. I sprinkled some sesame seeds in there, just for a bit of flair. 

8. Stir and Enjoy!

This could have been great with broccoli or snap peas instead or in addition. I found it a little difficult to mix everything together. The peas didn't want to mix in with the noodles, so I just dished it out on top. 

In the pan, about ready!

Ta-Da! Dinner is done! 

- SamiMae

Cilantro, Lime and Garlic Chicken

So, I bought some cilantro this week and wanted to try to use most of it. So, I gave this idea a shot! It was risky and I didn't know if it'd taste good, but it worked!


Ingredients:
- Chicken
- Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Garlic
- Lime
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Vegetable Oil



It's super easy. :)

1. Put a little bit of oil in a pan and spread it around the pan. Start heating it up while you put your chicken in (I used frozen chicken breasts).

2. Sprinkle some cumin and chili powder on it. I went really light with mine, afterwards, I realized I could have put some more on.

3. Sprinkle on the garlic and green onions as well. These become sauteed in the pan with the chicken.

4. Squeeze 1/4th a lime on it. I went easy, you can customize how you'd like.

5. Cover and let cook for a while.

6. Just before it's completely cooked, turn chicken over to cook the other side.

7. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro on top, cover. Turn off heat and let the chicken sit for about 7 minutes so it can absorb the seasonings.

Pretty simple ingredients

Green onions, garlic, cumin and chili powder

Final product. YUM!

I served this with the Cilantro Ramen Noodles. The Cilantro in the meal wasn't overpowering at all.

It's pretty easy. You really can't screw this up. Adjust the spices to whatever you prefer. I went easy because I'm still learning the strength of some of my spices.


- SamiMae

Spanish Rice

I did it! I figured out how to make Spanish rice with our left over white rice! Sometimes dinners will leave us with leftover white rice, often times from haystacks, etc. I hate to see the cooked white rice go bad. Last time I tried the Spanish rice, it didn't turn out well, but this time. WOW!

I've discovered the magic of Rotel. A little goes a long way with this stuff. But this gave it the kick it needed and the flavor punch to the taste buds! Give it a try.

Ingredients:
- Rotel
- Corn
- Rice
- Tomato sauce

1. Combine cooked rice and rotel in a pan. Go easy on the Rotel, add it in slow and add more if you'd like more heat. Ours had a kick on the back end that you had to watch out for. ;)
2. Add in corn
3. Add in a can of tomato sauce. I used just an 8 ounce can. This helps tone down the Rotel. I also found that the longer it cooked the more mild it became.
4. Salt or pepper to taste, if desired.

Sorry for my crummy picture, the easiest camera I have is on my phone. 

This competes with the Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice. Quite frankly, this has more flavor, I think. Once the Rotel and corn are added in, it gains quite a bit of bulk. You don't need a lot of rice to make a nice large side dish. :) 

- SamiMae

Second time Guacamole (Rotel included!)

Update on my guacamole making skills, I found a magical secret to making tasty guac. Are you ready? Mix in some Rotel with it. Yes, that's right. Rotel. (Save most of it for Spanish rice.) This batch of guacamole was SOOOO TASTY. It had quite a bit of heat to it. Rotel includes the pepper seeds in it, so that's where the heat is.

Ingredients:
- Avacado
- Rotel
- Minced onion
- Salt
- Lemon/lime juice.

1. Mash up avocado
2. Add a tiny bit of Rotel. A little goes a long ways! Learned that the hard way.
3. Add minced onion, salt and lemon/lime juice to flavor.
4. Let sit for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let the mixture mix, the more the flavors will combine. I let it sit in the fridge 15 minutes while I finished up dinner, and it did wonders!

It's super easy to make tasty guacamole! Avocados around here are only .99 cents. That's all this cost me! Everything else I keep on hand!


- SamiMae

Homemade Bean and Chicken Burritos!

Today I had the hardest time trying to figure out what I wanted to make for dinner. I cruised Pinterest for quite a while and gathered a few ideas. Finally, I decided to make homemade bean and chicken burritos.These burritos were delicious because - the tortillas were homemade, the inside was kept simple.

Some times, things are better and tastier when kept simple. This dish was one of those. I've been perfecting my tortilla making, so they were soft and flexible and oh so flavorful, way better than store bought. Even though there is no extra seasoning involve in this stupidly simple dish, it had a LOT of flavor. You can spice it up however you like with any extra spices or keep it mellow.

You'll laugh when you hear the inside mixture. A drained can of pinto beans, and a drained can of chicken. Ya, that's it. Nothing else. I drained both cans, put them together in a pot on the stove and warmed them up. Wrapped up inside a tortilla with a little bit of cheese, sour cream and salsa if you like, these things were AMAZING. Better than any frozen bean burrito and belly filling delicious for homemade.

I also made homemade guacamole again, (which was EVEN better than before.), and Spanish rice. (Super easy, see recipe here)


Ingredients: 
- Can of chicken (or cooked chicken breasts)
- Drained pinto beans
- Tortillas
- Cheese
- Sour cream (optional)
- Salsa (optional)

1. Make/ warm tortillas
2. Drain chicken and pinto beans. Warm up on stove.
3. Load it all up and dig in. :)

Doesn't get better than that. Homemade, healthy, fast, simple, cheap. Altogether this meal cost me probably less than $5 and it'll get us both lunch tomorrow as well! :) Trevor and I ate way to much! So tasty!

It's to easy not to try it!

- SamiMae

Fast Asian Broccoli and Beef

I LOVE Asian food. So whenever I can cook something slightly Asian, I will. I've had some frozen broccoli that I've wanted to use for the last little while and so I did! This recipe is super simple, stupidly simple. You don't need any fancy Asian seasoning to make this yummy dish.

Ingredients: 

- Beef

- Broccoli

- Garlic (I minced mine, 2 cloves)

- Mr. Yoshida's marinade

Use what beef you have on hand. I had some frozen beef that I had cooked a few weeks back. I used my wok to heat it up. Meanwhile I minced 2 cloves of garlic. After the meat was warmed up, I sliced it into bite sized pieces. I put the meat back in the wok, put in the garlic, broccoli and a fair amount of Mr. Yoshida's marinade. This stuff is amazing. If you don't have some, get it! :) 

I quickly made some 5 minute rice to put my yummy meaty mixture on top of and dinner was finished. It took me maybe 30 minutes from start to finish. I love fast and simple meals, especially when I already have everything on hand. Mr. Yoshida's is made from soy sauce but has sugar added to give it a sweet and sour flavor. It's heavenly.

Hint: The best part of this dish is all the leftover seasonings that left in the pan. Be the last one to dish up and you'll have the most flavorful dish! :) 

Happy Eating! 

- SamiMae 

BBQ Chicken Tin Foil Dinner

This was another original. Not to complex by any means though. It was quite tasty, completely healthy (other than the BBQ sauce), and I had everything on hand. It's similar to my favorite BBQ pineapple quesadillas .

Ingredients:
- Chicken tenderloins
- Pineapple
- Green or red bell pepper
- Green chilis (I used a tiny bit from a can, optional)
- BBQ sauce
- Onion (Optional)

- Tin Foil.

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Put chicken on tinfoil, top with pineapple, green chilies, about 3 slices of green pepper, a few slices of onion. Top with BBQ sauce. Wrap it up.
3. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour.

Pretty customizable. Use whatever you have at home!

In the last 10-15 minutes this had to cook, I prepared an super easy and quick stir fry. I LOVE stir frys 

Stir fry: 

I cut up 1 zucchini and 1 squash. You can add in peppers or other veggies like broccoli. I cooked them in a bit of canola oil and topped with Mrs. Dash seasoning. Quick, simple. Tasty. Healthy.

This was a favorite. Quick and easy. It was perfect for a weeknight. I love meals that I can put in the oven and continue on doing my own thing. The BBQ sauce is pretty liquidy after it comes out, but the chicken was so moist! I'm making this again. 

- SamiMae

First Time Guacamole

Earlier this week, I bought an avocado. The first one in my entire 6 month marriage! I didn't know quite what to do with it, until tonight. I made guacamole! YUM! I found a recipe on Pinterest, so I could see what it called for, because I had no idea what is in guacamole. I found this recipe. I did mine quite a bit different, because I didn't have a lot of it, but it was a start!

Ingredients:

- 1 avocado

- Lemon juice

- Garlic powder

- Diced tomatoes (leftovers from last night, yes, I got creative)

- Diced onion (I actually used frozen!) 

- Salt

Pretty simple to make. Cut up avocado and mix in all the ingredients! Use a fork. Go off of taste, but remember that after it sits for a while, the flavors will absorb and it'll taste better. I can't wait to taste mine tomorrow. :) Even the 10-15 minutes that it sat while Trevor and I finished making dinner, was enough for it to start absorbing the flavors. I was quite impressed. It was pretty good. :)

I didn't have any lime, only lemon. I had cilantro, but was to lazy to see what parts of it were good to use. (It was 9 pm when we were making dinner). I even used frozen onions, just a bit though, and they were diced, so they thawed pretty quick. 

I gotta say, for my first time, it was pretty good! I think I will SO be making this again! 

- SamiMae

Leftover Success - Bean and Rice Burritos

So, dinner tonight gave me a challenge. I had leftover rice, beans, corn and diced tomatoes. I also had an avocado that I needed to use soon. After a few minutes on Pinterest, I came up with the idea to do rice and bean burritos. I made guacamole for our chips and salsa I already have. We made up some homemade tortillas and BAM! Dinner!

The rice gave me a bit of a challenge. I've never made mexican rice before, and I wanted to keep it simple. Many recipes said use tomato paste. I was thinking about using tomato sauce, but went with the paste instead. Well, I should have had about another cup of rice to even things out. It was very...pasty. But, I think we recovered.

For the beans, this was pretty good. I sauteed some diced onion, red peppers and minced garlic in some canola oil. Then I added by leftover black beans and cooked those. After it was all warm. I added it to the rice. With a bit of cumin and some taco seasonings - hey, it was edible! Hahaha, Trevor actually, really liked it. This recipe just wasn't up to my normal level of creativity and awesomeness that most of my other meals are. I had quite a few set ingredients that I had to use, and I had to make it all work. Overall, at the end, it wasn't so bad. :)

Trevor made some homemade tortillas. We are getting pretty good at those homemade tortillas, they sure are better than store bought! That's for sure. While he was making the tortillas, I whipped up some guacamole.

This was interesting, because I had never made it before. I remembered from cooking in the kitchen with my mom, that it takes a little while to absorb the flavors of the things that's in it. Because at first, I added a ton of stuff, and it still tasted like avocado! See how I made the guacamole here!

Not too bad, eh?!

Ingredients:
- Rice
- Black Beans
- Corn
- Cumin
- Taco seasoning (optional)
- Diced Onion
- Red bell pepper (diced)
- Tomato Paste


1. Warm rice up, (or cook it), put in tomato paste, cumin, and tomato seasoning.
2. Saute onions, red bell pepper and 2 gloves of garlic (minced) together. After onions are cooked, add in black beans and corn.
3. Once rice is cooked/warmed, add in bean mixture.
4. Serve on tortillas as a burrito. (Ours were more like tacos, because they were so stuffed!
5. Top with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, salsa, whatever is your favorite!


What I love about this recipe, is how simple it is. This recipe is more like an idea. You can do anything you want with it, and customize it to your crowd. There is only Trevor and I so, we generally cook and prepare less. This was all natural really. Nothing was pre-made. Only the beans and corn came from a can. Everything else was natural. How awesome huh?! AND - it was meat free and very filling. :) Way to have an awesome meal on a tight budget.

This is one I think I'll make again. :) We used all leftovers from the night before, and all the leftovers got used! Success!

- SamiMae

Stuffed Bell Peppers

So, last night I made stuffed bell peppers. Secretly, growing up I never liked them. But I wanted to give them another try. I've learned the only way to like things, is to eat them. :) This was pretty tasty. I was able to eat about half the pepper, and then I was done, but the insides were really good! These were simple to make. They can be time consuming depending on how you choose to make them. This was another recipe I made from Pinterest. But, I made mine quite a bit different. You can view the original recipe here.

Ingredients:
- Bell Peppers
- Cumin
- Salt
- Diced tomatoes
- Black beans
- Corn
- Rice
- Meat (I used ground beef.)
- Cheese
- Green onions (optional)


1. Clean out peppers, remove seeds and veins. Let them dry
2. Start cooking rice. I used brown rice, no instant stuff. So, that took a while to cook.
3. Cook meat, add in cumin, salt, tomatoes, black beans, and corn.
4. Add rice to meat mixture after it's cooked. Season to taste if you feel it needs more.
5. Next comes the stuffing. Stuff each pepper full of the yummy meat mixture!
6. Cook peppers in the oven for about 30-45 minutes at 350, depending on your preference. Mine was about 35 minutes. Top with cheese and green onions.

I found that it was really good with ranch. That's how I was able to eat the pepper! I love peppers in dishes, but to eat one whole or raw or even cooked can be a challenge. But, nonetheless, this was a tasty dish! Trevor ate the whole thing! For being in a pepper, it was pretty mild on heat and taste. Give it a shot!

We only cooked two peppers, and had quite a bit of leftover rice stuffing mix, so we put it in the pan with the 2 peppers to cook to eat later. (We actually used the leftovers tonight for dinner. :) Along with our stuffed peppers, we had a salad and my yummy homemade bread.

- SamiMae

Homemade Sandwich Bread *** Updated

How many of us want to buy bread when it's over $3 a loaf? Not me! So, I've found a recipe that has SUPER delicious and is sturdy enough to have our all our favorites spread onto it. My favorite is Nutella. Peanut butter and Nutella to be exact. (It's like a giant Reece's peanut butter cup, but better!)

I've made three batches of this now and each time it's gotten better and better. The flavor is always tasty, and it's fluffy. I've also improved my technique. I found this recipe on Pinterest. I also followed her link to learn a bit more on the technique. I've gone into more depth to explain the steps and what I've learned. This recipe is amazing, I'm never buying store bought bread again! (Click here for original recipe.)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons of yeast
- 1 cup of milk (Whole or 2% are best, I think.)
- 2 tablespoons of white sugar
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- 2 table spoons of butter
- 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 cups of flour

Instructions:
1. In your mix master, put in yeast and warm water. I like to do yeast first, because that way I know all the yeast is activated by the water. Let it sit for 5 minutes

2. Meanwhile, melt butter. Measure out milk, and set aside sugar and salt.

3. After the 5 minutes is up, pour in sugar and salt. (These help the yeast). Then pour in the butter. I like to then turn on the mix master while I slowly pour in milk. You don't want the butter to solidify again. (This did happen to me once, not the best thing). Right now, I'm using my whisk like attachment.

4. Turn on mix master and pour in 3 cups of flour. Do it gradually. I found it took me 3 cups of flour before the dough clumped together. We will be mixing the dough for about 8-10 minutes. During this time, keep adding in flour. Do what's best for you. Climate and elevation can have an effect on bread. You want your dough to be sticky, but manageable. If you pull the dough out and it sticks to your entire hand, better add a bit more flour. I speak from experience. I try to add in as little flour as possible. But, go with your gut feeling.

5. After you've mixed your dough, and have it in a nice ball, put it in a bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking oil. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm area.

6. After it's risen, dump the dough onto a cutting board, or counter top with a bit of flour nearby. Cut the dough into 2. (I used a pizza cutter, that way my two balls were more even sized). Form dough gently into a ball and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

7. After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, it's time to form the dough into our loafs. It is important that you do this. I didn't do it on my first batch and my loaves were tiny.
     A. With the palm of your hand, gently push the dough into a rectangle or square. There will be little bubbles in the dough. Don't purposely try to pop them all. :) I believe that these help your dough rise.
     B. After the dough is in a square/rectangle, fold in thirds. Yes, fold this hot dog style.
     C. Next, pinch the edges together so it creates a seam.

8. Gently put dough into a greased bread tin. (I use stone cookware. I only have 1 bread tin, but I have similar shaped casserole dishes. I find that these work better then the bread tin.)

9. Cover the dough and let it rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. The dough doesn't rise very much once it's in the oven. So, make sure you let it get nice and big. I usually let it sit for an hour. Sometime during the second rise, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

10. After it's risen, you can slash the top of it, from one end to the next, very gently with a knife. The original author of this recipe claims it helps. I haven't found much of a difference personally. Your choice!

11. When you go to put your loafs in, turn the oven down to 375 and pop them in! Let the dough cook for about 30-45 minutes, depending on your preference. Mine is usually 35 minutes. Once the dough is pulled out, dump it out of the tins and tap the top and bottom. It should sound hollow. Now, let the bread cool. I know we all are looking forward to that warm slice of bread, but give it a few minutes. Do this because, first, you'll burn yourself. And second, you'll squish and deflate the bread. I speak from experience. The bread will get a dough like feeling at the bottom of the loaf if you try to cut into it to early, plus it'll separate the top of the bread from the bottom when you cut it. I'd recommend maybe 15 minutes to cool down.

12. Enjoy your tasty bread!

First attempt, the red dish is my stone cookware.

See, this loaf did really good, the other one didn't rise very much. 

One came out prettier than the other. The bigger one (left) is the one from the red dish.

Kinda sad looking loafs, but ohhhh sooo tasty! I cut into it too early, see my loaf is squished and has a doughy texture on the bottom of the loaf because it was compacted.

Third attempt. Much, much better. 

(Third attempt). SEE how large it is! I also can slice the bread pretty thin, which is nice! This bread is sturdy enough for thinner slices. See how full it is? :) With each attempt they get better. 

I've been enjoying having fresh homemade bread. With more practice, I'm totally independent from the grocery store and their pricey breads!  No preservatives, no prepackaged or processed bread. Homemade, fresh, warm delicious bread from now on!

- SamiMae