Easter Weekend 4/2011

I will be taking photos of the holiday/birthday(mine) festivities! and all the amazing food as well. stay tuned!

Peanut Butter and M&M Cookies

These are very easy to make..
And will be gone as fast as you can make them.


Preheat Oven to 325

2 cups of sugar
2 cups of Peanut Butter
2 teaspoons  of baking soda
2 eggs
2 bags of M&M's (King Size)

Mix Sugar , Peanut Butter, Baking Soda , and eggs until well blended.
add M&M's, Mix well.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.

cook 10-12 minutes, depending on your oven, and  enjoy!

Wrapped and Stuffed Chicken

Bacon Wrapped and Cream Cheese stuffed Chicken

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 package Flavored Cream cheese ( Chive or Garden Veggie)
6 -8 slices of Thick Cut bacon
salt
pepper
dash of paprika
Garlic powder
Onion flakes
toothpicks (to hold it together)


Preheat oven to 400, Spray a non stick into the pan you will be using. pound the chicken breast until it is about  1/2 inch thick or so.
use about a teaspoon of cream cheese in each flattened breast, smooth and then roll up.
Use a slice of bacon and wrap it around the roll., insert toothpick , place in pan.

season the rolls and put in oven for 45-55 mins, depending on your oven.

My family loved these tonight.

Turkey , Inexpensive and Delish

In the quest for eating more healthy, my family has cut back on the ground beef and has started substituting ground turkey , in many dishes.

So far  it has been Turkey Taco, Turkey Spaghetti, Turkey Chili, Turkey breakfast sausage, and Turkey bacon.

Now do not get me wrong, I love my meats. A nice thick juicy steak would be wonderful right about now, but.. The amounts of weight gained as of recently, and the fact our diets have been hearty, we need to find the alternative, but make sure it is tasteful and edible.

As someone who loves food, loves to cook it, eat it and share it.. I have found numerous recipes for dishes all over the internet.

And of course I watch many a show on the food channels offered by my local cable company.During the duration of say a show like "Chopped" I watch as the contestants make dishes from some of the most challenging  foods, and then slowly I pick apart  how I
 can change it to fit my own needs.

I found a great link this morning, that I am going to share in this blog, It just happened to pop up on one of the widgets I have on my i Google homepage. I love the site itself because you can pick a main ingredient and come up with many variations.
Ground Turkey Recipes

Thanks for reading.

Roast ; It's whats for Dinner

Roast ala Yum

My family loves beef, in just about any form.
Hamburgers, Meatloaf, ground, Slab o' , Ribs, you name it.Tonight on the menu is roast.
I like this meal, very little  prep, and healthy!

I started with  a couple of handfuls of baby carrots, 1 onion, and 5 large potatos.
I like using the red, but you can use any that suit your taste.

The roast itself was a rump roast I purchased at  my local butcher.
MidState Meat
Great cuts of beef , and their sausage is mouthwatering.. (but let's leave that for another time.)
I seasoned the beef with my usual mix of garlic powder, onion powder, Midstate Meat "House Spice"
A pinch of rosemary. and parsley, and put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pan, to mix with the beef juices. Preheat the oven, to 375, for 10 minutes.
Slide the roast in, and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours.  Yum!

Before the oven (1)

before the oven  (all spiced up)

Chili and Bread

The past few days , the aroma coming from the kitchen has been spice and bread.. Saturday night was Chili night, Jay and I usually tag team to make a crock pot of it.

The recipe starts with 1 lb of ground Turkey  and 1 lb of ground beef.
Cook down and discard grease .
Add to that 2 large cans of Red kidney beans (drained), or if you prefer, cook your own (about a one pound bag)
1 can of petite diced tomato I usually use the bigger can , as we like to have hearty chili (do not drain tomato.)
1 large can of tomato sauce .
1 cup of chopped onion

the rest of this is recipe, is season to taste..
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Cumin

Chili Powder
Paprika

Red chili flakes
Salt
Pepper
Cook for about 3 hours, on low setting, stirring about 2times an hour, to make sure there is not any sticking.

Usually, I use my bread maker and whip up a batch of fresh bread  as well, they go together great.

here is the recipe I use for that: Easy Bread Machine Bread

My Chef-ly Inspiration

I am sure everyone has heard of, or have  seen many of the names I am going to mention here.
I am a fan of many  a chef, and many a food/cooking star.

First please let me start off with a woman whom I have followed for a while, Paula Deen.
Paula Deen
This lady of the south has been more inspiration to me in the kitchen , over the past few years.
I have tried various times to make her wonderful food, I do say tried, because my first attempt was with a biscut recipe of hers. It didn't go well, the poor things ended up being flat golden brown frisbees.
A friend of mine had my family over for a cookout one evening, and she had attempted to make "Not your Mama's Banana Pudding"however she had modified Ms. Deens'  recipe  to make it a sugar free dessert, as my significant other is diabetic. it looked wonderful, down to the vanilla wafers on top. It tasted divine.

This Lady and her Sons, are very much a top inspiration in my book.

Jamie Oliver is another of my favorites,  I was introduced to this man first when I worked in a bookstore.
Jamie Oliver
 I have always loved to try new things, and all the rage at the time was someone that was refered to as the "naked chef" I took a look at one of his books and thought this is great food.
over the last few years, I have noted his presence more often, and then came his show  Food Reveloution .
I watched it  after being sent the link by a friend, who knew of my fangirl status for this amazing guy.
I watched every episode, and signed the petition.
Jamies-Food-Revolution Petition

The last  show I watched  just happened to be his road trip across the US.

Absolutely Amazing.





The remaining person on this list I would like to mention is Cat Cora, the first female Iron Chef.

Cat Cora



All three of the mentioned have greatly influenced the way I cook, and inspired me to press on with enjoying what I do, for my family.
Thanks for reading