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.