What's For Dinner?

We make chicken at our house A LOT!

Chicken and rice, chicken and baked potatoes, chicken on a salad, chicken quesadillas or chicken sandwiches for lunch. 

We use the same recipe for all of the above, which makes things easy.

I like easy.

and of course, I like what I like.

I start with Balsamic Vinegar and Olive oil. Depending on how much marinade you want to make, just put in double the olive oil to the vinegar. So, if you use 1/4 cup vinegar, use 1/2 cup olive oil. I put these together in a bowl.

Next, I add about 1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan salt. (any salt will do, that's just what we like)
I don't measure the other spices, (but it's about 1/4 tsp each), I add garlic powder, basil and Trader Joe's 21 Season Salute, which is a combination of spices.

I  add the spices until it looks right. In this bowl, I used less of the oil and vinegar because I'm only cooking 8 chicken tenders. You can use this "recipe" for salad dressing, as well.

Add the chicken to either a bowl, or the marinade mixture to the chicken in a Ziploc bag. Marinate for 15 to 30 minutes.

We haven't gotten around to getting a grill at our new house, so we cook the chicken in a cast iron pan. I think it tastes just as good. 
If you're using a cast iron pan, set the burner on medium heat and let the pan warm up. I let the pan heat up until the handle is almost too hot to touch at about 1" from the pan ( on the handle).The chicken should sizzle a bit when you put it in the pan, but the pan is too hot if it smokes.

For these small chicken tenders, I cook them 4- 5 minutes on each side. You will have to cook them longer if the pieces of chicken are larger or if the chicken still has the bones in it. They're done when there's no pink in the middle.

When they turn a golden brown and not pink in the middle,  they're done!

If we cook enough for 2 nights, we have either chicken and rice and a vegetable the first night, and the next night we make either chicken quesadillas or a big salad with chicken on top. During the Winter, I use the leftovers to make chicken stew. Grilled or pan fried chicken also makes great chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day.

There you have it, our tasty (and easy) chicken recipe. 

What's your go to recipe that you make a lot and your family loves?

Pam

Super Easy Side Dish

Many of you ladies (and gents) seem to be so fabulous in the kitchen when it comes to cooking.

Y'all seem to LOVE cooking and are INTERESTED in making new and exciting things.

I didn't get that gene.

Cooking is a chore for me and takes too long and there's too much clean up. 

My idea of cooking is pulling a Trader Joe's chicken pot pie out of the refrigerator and popping it in the oven at 375 for 25 minutes. No cooking, no cleaning and they are delicious...even Mr. Fanatic (who used to be a chef thinks so).

When we are going to a party or other get together and we're suppose to bring food, my first reaction is to FREEZE.

Seriously.

Is there a name for a phobia like that?

Pinterest has been a big help. 

I look at the pretty pictures and pin them to my Yum board.

Then I usually send them to Mr. F to make them for me...

I know

LAME

So a few weeks ago, I come across this gorgeous picture titled Parmesan Baked Potato Halves  and click on the link that takes me to  Favorite Family Recipes. Click on the link to see the photo.

 Looks yummy, don't you think?

My criteria for a good and easy recipe is  that it can't have any weird ingredients in it. By weird, I mean ingredients that I don't like... and there are many. 

And did I say the recipe has to be easy? 

If it's complicated, it gets sent immediately to Mr. F.

But this recipe was super easy and doesn't take up your time and you can pretty much pop them in the oven, set the timer and forget about them until the timer goes off.

Here's a pic of how mine came out the very first time I made them

*sticks out chest proudly*

Ok, so shut up already and tell me the recipe, I hear you saying...

Well, here it is:

• 6 small potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half (if the potatoes are too large, then cut a 1/4" to 1/2" slice out of the center.
• 1/4 cup butter
• grated parmesan cheese-(I used Romano)
• garlic powder
• other seasonings you like (I used Basil)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 

Melt butter and pour into a sheet pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Sprinkle the Romano or Parmesan cheese on the butter and do the same with the garlic powder and other seasonings. Put the potato halves face down on the butter and seasonings.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve with sour cream  or ketchup for dipping.

They were a hit and all three of us liked them. While we were eating them, I said, "Wouldn't they be good with some bacon on them?" Mr. F and daughter also added that green onions would be good.

All  you adventurous cooks can keep reading...the rest of you just skip to the comment section and leave me a note saying how crazy you think I am ; )

So the next day I went to Trader Joe's. This was the reason I went to Trader Joe's to Chase The Blues Away.

Since the recipe was super easy, I thought I'd try to add  a few things and to improvise a little.

I was out of potatoes and sour cream. I had this bacon, cheese dip mix and added a little to the sour cream.

I fried up 2 pounds of bacon I had in the fridge that had to be fried up before it went bad(doesn't have nitrates or nitrites, so it doesn't last forever like the kind that does) I then take all the bacon and freeze it and use it as I need it. Ya know bacon makes everything taste better and I like to get the frying all done at once.

Instead of butter, I used olive oil and of course, romano cheese.

This time, I used Yukon Gold potatoes, instead of Russet, but the Russet's were actually better.

So this time the potatoes had bacon and green onions (which I'm growing in the garden) and Mr. F. dipped them in spiced sour cream.

Either way, they were delicious.

You've got to try these tonight. Don't worry if you don't have bacon, green onions or even the sour cream. The potatoes were so good  and super easy to make without them.

My kind of cooking.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Pam

Chasing The Blues Away

So yesterday I wrote about our gray, drizzly skies and how sunless days make me melancholy.

I had to get do something to chase those blues away.

I wasn't going to let a little drizzle keep me in my pj's all day and keep me from getting out of the house.

So where did I go?

Shopping, of course.

But it wasn't to the mall or even HomeGoods. lol. We're only a little more than halfway through January and going to the mall or HomeGoods would blow my budget.

I went and bought myself some flowers at Trader Joe's... 

No I didn't blow my budget because they were only $4.99

For the whole bouquet you see here.

 Yup, gotta love Trader Joe's. That place always cheers me up, especially when I can buy myself a bunch of flowers for $4.99

Plus, we needed some milk and chicken and a whole bunch of other stuff...

Couldn't resist buying this pretty bottle of White Balsamic Vinegar for $2.29. It's pretty enough to sit on the counter. I also bought some Dukkah, which I haven't tried before. Evidently Dukkah is just a fancy name for herbs you put in some olive oil(and maybe some balsamic vinegar)and dip some crusty bread in it. 

Says so right on the back of the label.

I also stocked up on some Sipping Chocolate because they only carry it seasonally. I really love this stuff and put a 1/2 of a teaspoon in my whey protein shake in the morning. Bought enough to last me until next November when they start carrying it again. Wish I could do that with their seasonal homemade tamales.

mmm, tamales.

The week before last, Mr. Fanatic & I stopped by TJ's and while we were shopping, he noticed they carried french vanilla ice cream and that it was a FULL HALF GALLON. Remember when all ice cream containers were a full half gallon? Ice cream packages have gotten pretty small. TJ's french vanilla is really creamy, is only 24 carbs  per serving and isn't made with High Fructose Corn Syrup, which I'm trying to avoid. Ya know they put HFCS in just about everything. Just remember sugar IS NOT sugar.

Anyway, by the time I got home and put my flowers in some water, I had completely forgotten about my gray sky blues.

And I didn't even blow my budget!

Tomorrow I'm going to share a super easy and yummy recipe I made with the potatoes I bought at Trader Joe's.

Saw the recipe on Pinterest.

Hope you are having a sunny day...more rain here, but I have my flowers to cheer me up.  

Pam

PS: Thanks for all the comments on yesterday's post. They definitely were the icing on the cake.

BTW, Trader Joe's did  not compensate me in any way for this post. I'm just a Trader Joe's fanatic. lol. I really am. Before we had a TJ's here in Charlotte, we once planned a long weekend trip in a city where there was a Trader Joe's...and we would take an extra suitcase with us for TJ's stuff when we flew to SoCal. When we were in Chicago visiting Mr. F's mom, we would always bring a bunch of TJ's goodies back home with us.  Before you think I'm crazy...on the day that the local TJ's opened in August of 2006, there were about 150 people waiting in line for the store to open a couple of hours before and we were all swapping stories about how we all got our Trader Joe's "fix". We weren't the only ones planning vacations around visiting a TJ's.

Yummy Peach Cobbler

A few days ago, a friend of ours gave us a whole bagful of peaches from a well known peach stand. Ya'll know it's peach season here in the South don't you? They are so sweet and juicy and oh, so tasty!

Our daughter asked her daddy to make her a peach cobbler... and so he did.

I found a great recipe on Pinterest. Here's the link from One Hungry Mama.

Mr. Fanatic cut up the peaches and I measured out all the ingredients. It came out really well.

Right after I served myself up some and put whipped cream on it, our daughter came home with some vanilla ice cream. The combination is a classic.

 The peach cobbler tasted even better the next day!

Now back to my low(er) carb diet!

What are you making this weekend?

Please share!

Pam

No Knead Bread

Y'all know I don't like to cook and don't have the creative cooking gene or even an inclination to buy a cookbook.  Even so,  I still love pinning yummy food I find on Pinterest.

I am constantly pinning things I would love for Mr. Fanatic to make (he used to be a chef) and I find these wonderful recipes for yummy things and send them to him via Facebook. 

Mr. F isn't at all like me in regards to cooking; he loves trying new things.

I sent him a link for these awesome no knead roll I found on I Lived On Wisteria Lane

Look at how perfect they came out...they were soooo good. I think these are my favorite.

 Mr. F  says the no knead Artisan Bread is still his favorite. If you missed the post, you can find it HERE. 

As if making bread isn't enough, Mr. F made these awesome cream puffs awhile back for our youngest daughter. I think he used a recipe from the Joy of Cooking and improvised with the filling. Mmm, makes me hungry just looking at them.

How's a girl supposed to keep off the 25 pounds she lost last year?

That's all for now...If you would like to follow me on Pinterest you can find me HERE.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Pam

How To Make The Best Quick & Tasty Snack

I'm going to let you in a little secret of mine.... It's the best tasting snack or quick dinner out there...

Or, at least it is for our family!

Today I'm going to show you how to make a Chicken Club Quesadilla...

Doesn't that look good?

Make sure you always have the following things in your house...

Ranch dressing(chipotle ranch is REALLY good on these), cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and...

...pre-cooked grilled chicken strips(no breading). 

I happened to have Trader Joe's chicken strips, but the next time you grill chicken, just grill a couple of extra chicken breasts, slice them up and freeze them in a ziplock.  Do the same with bacon. I have a baggie in the freezer with cooked and chopped up bacon bits that I cooked up the last time we had bacon.

Since your chicken and bacon are frozen, heat those up on the griddle or frying pan first.

Then put your tortilla on the griddle and add cheese, chicken and bacon.

When the cheese is almost melted, add tomatoes.

When the tortilla starts to brown, pull it off the griddle and add shredded lettuce and ranch dressing.

Then fold it over and you're done! You can cut this up in three pieces, as long as you don't put too much in the tortilla like I did. I was making this one for Mr. Fanatic and he likes his in one piece.

Of course, Mr. F. likes to have a good bottle of beer with his Chicken Club Quesadilla and just had to show it off.

The next time you're at the grocery store be sure to pick up the necessary items you need to make these because they are SOOOOOOOO GOOD!

Hope you have a great day!

Pam

Yummy Potatoes

Hey everyone! Do you like potatoes?
I don't know about you, but they are really one of my favorite foods to eat.

So,  as you can imagine, that when  friend of ours brought over some wonderful potatoes from their garden, I was really happy! We are growing potatoes in our garden this year, but they won't be ready for about another week. I hope ours are as good as these!

I saw a wonderful photo on Pinterest the other day and I knew just what to do with those potatoes!

First, slice the potatoes.

Then the recipe I used calls for garlic to be added to melted butter and then to coat the potatoes with it. I would substitute olive oil for the butter because I like the taste better.

Once the potatoes are coated, then coat them with seasoned bread crumbs.

Place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Yum!

I served the potatoes with a Italian style turkey burger with marinara sauce on top and broccoli.

Looking at this is making me hungry!

Would love to know what your favorite way to eat or make potatoes is!

Pam

Cheesy Super Easy Garlic Artisan Bread

Remember the super easy no knead Artisan Bread I told you about awhile back?

Mr. F was going to bake some bread, so my youngest daughter suggested that he add some cheese and garlic to it. He took her suggestion and also baked it in a loaf pan instead of on a sheet pan. 
This loaf was about 2/3's of the batch and to the regular easy recipe he added about a cup of cheddar cheese and about 2 teaspoons of  garlic powder. (I would use a little less next time) He also baked it 30 minutes instead of 25.

It turned out so pretty and yummy!

 Click on the link above for the recipe.
I hope you try it because it is soooooo good!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Pam

One Of My "Go To" Dinners

You all know I don't like to cook much... I especially detest having to think of something at the last minute, when there's nothing in the refrigerator and no time to thaw something out. I do have a repertoire of about 10 things I can make well and don't mind making it because everyone loves it.


Do you have a "go to" dinner (not diner, lol!) that's easy to make ahead of time? That's just what I made on Friday since I knew we were going to be exhausted on Saturday because we had yard work planned.

Shredded beef can be cooked in a crock-pot the day before and there's hardly anything to it. I knew I wanted leftovers so I cut up over 5 pounds of  sirloin roast and put it in the crock-pot. The roast was on sale for $2.49 a pound...cheaper than ground beef!

Once you cut up the beef, you cover it with water, add salt, garlic powder and some other seasonings you like, put the lid on and put the temp on high. That's it!

Let it cook until the meat falls apart.

When it's done, I break apart the meat while it's still warm and put it in the meat juice and put it in the refrigerator until the next day.

You can also shred the cheese & make some sour cream dip the day before. I love Hidden Valley Spicy ranch dip mixed with some sour cream. Yum!  A can of beans and some homemade guacamole top it all off. Heat your tortillas when you are ready to eat! The meat can be frozen if you have leftovers.

Here's how I make my guacamole: 

mash up 1 or 2 ripe Haas avocados

add enough sour cream/or sour cream fiesta dip) to make the avocados creamy ( I used 1 heaping teaspoon with  2 avocados)

season to taste with a little salt & garlic powder

Mix all together.

I rarely have cilantro, which is traditionally put in guacamole, but if I have any, I put some in too. Sometimes I add a some diced tomatoes and if you like onions, add some of those too!

 Hope you get a chance to make this some time.
Happy Spring to everyone!!!

Pam