Category: MISC

5 night dinner challenge Update & recipes

Today was a super easy! Lunch was Kraft ~ yes, even I use the box stuff now and then, but I ‘doctor’ it up good. I add 1 tablespoon of Frank’s hot sauce, 1/2 cup real shredded cheddar cheese and I had some left over grilled sausages that I sliced up. We loved a hearty comfort meal on such a cold day ~ it actually reached 8 degrees today.

Here’s my update for the 5 night dinner challenge hosted by Sommer Designs.

Dinner was Baked Crunchy Chicken and I made a surprise for hubby, grams old decadent brownies ~ I forgot how rich those are and now we have those leftover for tomorrow night. We ate the salad while everything was in the oven baking.

BAKED CRUNCHY CHICKEN
1 boneless chicken per person
1 slice thinly sliced provolone cheese
1 green onion per person, chopped
1/2 cup stove top stuffing per person
1 can cream of mushroom, celery or chicken soup (your choice)
1 Tablespoon butter per person

Spray baking dish lightly with PURE. Arrange chicken breasts in bottom, sprinkle green onions (I was out of onions so I used tomatoes tonight) over top of chicken breasts and then lay a piece of cheese over each chicken breast. Spoon soup over and around the chicken breasts. Melt butter and toss with stuffing mix. Layer stuffing mix on and around chicken. Bake at 35 degrees for 45 minutes.

After I get this in the oven, I start the brownies and then they’re finished just in time for dessert.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES (make 4 ramekins)
2 Tablespoons butter + 1 Tablespoon butter
1 ounce Baker’s Bittersweet Chocolate
1 ounce Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 1/4 ounce Baker’s sweet German chocolate
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour
1/8 scant teaspoon baking powder
1/8 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in microwave safe ramekin for 30 seconds, add the bittersweet & semi-sweet chocolate and microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir it smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix together the egg and sugar and beat on high with a hand mixer until slightly thick and turns a dull yellow. Lower speed and add chocolate mixture to egg mixture. By hand stir in the flour mixture until consistent in color. Spoon into ramekins and bake on cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until centers are set. Just after you put these in, prepare the topping. Melt the other tablespoon of butter and then add the German sweet chocolate and melt until you can stir smooth. Just after the brownies come out of the oven, pour the topping over.

WARNING: THESE ARE RICH & DECADENT!

Super Bowl Staples ~*~ HOT WINGS & home made 'BLEU' CHEESE dressing

What’s the SUPER BOWL without HOT WINGS and home made BLEU CHEESE dressing for dipping along with a good beer and few dozen other appetizers? Now I try to watch our fats and prepare balanced meals on a day to day basis, but let’s get real here people, this is the SUPER BOWL ~ it’s like Christmas or Thanksgiving. Do you even think twice on those days before you pop, well let’s be honest you’ll pop ANYTHING that looks good into your mouth on those days? Of course not, so why think about it today? Plus here’s the bonus, they’re technically baked so there good for you, right?

HOT WINGS

  • 2-3 dozen+ chicken wings ~ We prefer drumettes (with a little meat on them) to actual wings, but it’s your choice. Today I used what was in the freezer for picture sake, but next week it’ll be drumettes for sure!
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • hidden valley ranch dressing mix (DRY) OR Good Seasons Italian dressing mix (DRY)
  • 2 sticks butter+
  • Frank’s Hot Sauce
  • PURE
I also prefer to use an old cast iron frying pan (our is at least 3rd generation, dating back to hubby’s grandfather that we know for sure). I still believe this gives you the most even browning.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Wash and dry the chicken pieces.
  • Mix together the flour and seasonings in a plastic ziploc bag. Using a ziploc bag makes it easy to throw away the whole mess after dredging all the chicken pieces and it helps you coat every possible spot of the chicken pieces.
  • Add chicken a few pieces at a time and coat them well. Set chicken pieces aside.
  • While you’re doing this, have the butter melting in the pan. Start with 1 stick and add as necessary, but make sure you don’t run out dry.
  • Once all the chicken has been dredged start frying. After you have the pan full pepper the pieces again. Don’t turn the chicken until you can see blood. You only need to turn the chicken one time. Brown evenly and then set aside on paper towels until all pieces have been fried.
  • As the last batch is frying melt the other stick of butter in a 4 cup measure cup. To that add 1 cup of Frank’s hot sauce per stick of butter. Whisk them together well.
  • Spray a cookie sheet with PURE.
  • Dip each piece of chicken into the hot sauce mixture and put on cookie sheet.
  • After you’re all done and if you have hot sauce & butter mixture left, pour a little over the top of each wing.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Serve hot with my homemade Bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks if you’d like.

Home made “BLEU” CHEESE DRESSING

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup large curd cottage cheese
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 4 ounces bleu cheese crumbles (sometimes I use Gorgonzola for a bit of change or when I accidentally pick up the wrong container at the grocery store and we like it just as well)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • I put it all in my food processor and pulse until it’s well mixed. Chill for 24-48 hours before serving.

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE FOR MOUTH WATERING VIEW.

~*~Kitchen Gadgets~*~

Okay, I admit it, I got sucked in like the rest the world with Pampered Chef and their cooking parties. I’ll also admit much of it has long since found its way onto Ebay or into the rummage sale pile. Now there are a few pieces I can’t live without:
  • Mini Whip ~this is probably my most favorite ~ it helps get a smoother and creamier whip
  • Batter Bowls ~ there just awesome sizes and perfect for everything
  • Chopper ~ onions take no time at all ~ I did try my sis-in-laws OXO brand when I was there at Thanksgiving and have to admit they improved the design and my next one will be an OXO
  • Stoneware ~ baked dips, cinnamon rolls, meat loafs never tasted so good and once they’re properly seasoned, the clean-up is a snap.
  • Scrapers ~ they made these for their stoneware pieces and easy clean-up, but since I don’t need them for those (mine are really well seasoned) I use them on my cast iron pans. Both the stoneware and cast iron should not have soap used on them to prevent changing your flavor base.
  • Prep bowls ~ they’re good for everything from getting all the ingredients ready for a meal (which is their actual purpose) to individual Jell-O servings and beyond.

~*~THURSDAY THIRTEEN ~1st Edition~*~

Thirteen things I want to accomplish this year
1. Finish painting downstairs
2. Finish painting upstairs
3. Finish all handmade Christmas gifts (before Christmas)
4. Finish all quilts that are currently started
5. Finish writing my cook book
6. Finish backyard landscaping
7. Finish cleaning out the barn
8. Actually have a rummage sale with all the boxes of stuff I want to clean out of the barn
9. Finish scrap booking old pages
10. Scrap book as we go to prevent putting this on another list in the future
11. Learn to knit
12. Kitchen Cabinets
13. Linenecloset

~*~RANDOM QUOTES~*~

I’ve written several newsletters for various non-profit organizations. I always tried to weave some words of encouragement or a quote that would leave a positive impact into the context to fit with their content. My last entry reminded me that I had also done it with the cook book. I am going to try and do it here on the blog too to remind us all that this can be a nicer, kinder world if we help it along.

NEVER UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF
A KIND WORD OR DEED. ~ FRANK CRANE

~*~MENU PLAN MONDAY~*~


I found this site today and was truly amazed by the amount of participants for Menu Plan Monday hosted by I’m an Organizing Junkie. My hubby always tells me I’m the only one he knows who makes lists and lists of the lists to keep track of all the lists. For years I have planned the menus around the calender because of budget constraints. If a recipe calls for half an onion on Monday’s meal, you know I planned a meal on Tuesday that used the other half! Anyway, I’m so happy to see there are so many more of ‘me’ out there that are compulsive organizers. I already do Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy, so this will make a great addition to help keep me on track and hopefully I’ll find some great new recipes! I also found another challenge 5 Night Dinner Challenge over at Sommer Designs that coordinates well here.


So here goes:
Monday: Pulled Beef Sandwiches & Coleslaw
 Tuesday: Sauteed Chicken & Onions, Big Salad – hubby just nixed this one and requested Chicken Cacciatore instead – at least they both take the same chicken and onions
 Wednesday: Meatloaf & Twice Baked Potatoes
 Thursday: Crunchy Chicken Bake, steamed Broccoli
 Friday: Shrimp Pasta & Salad – hubby is putting a BIG kink in my menu this week ~ he drank the rest of the white wine I needed for this recipe so now we’re having spicy tuna noodle casserole
 Saturday: Pork & Noodles, Cucumber & Tomato salad
 Sunday: Beef Stew in Sourdough Bread Bowls

It’ll take me awhile to get caught up with posting recipes as I like to do those with pictures, but will make a concentrated effort this week to make that happen.

~*~Kitchen Angel~*~

I just have to show off this Kitchen Angel that my “niece” made for me since I spend so much time in the kitchen. I’d seen them before, but still think they are so adorable and so simple!

~*~Let it snow, let it snow~*~


The recent storms left us here in the North Woods covered with this funny white stuff called snow and lots of it. Personally I love it, and they are pretty good about keeping the roads clear here. Driving a 4×4 truck always makes it easier too! I didn’t have to go far to get these great pictures. I just opened the back door and shot them. The snow was so pristine and I was trying for a picture of that when both dogs made a beeline out into it and tracked it all up. I love seeing my well pump and especially the barn in the snow ~ always makes me feel so ‘Little House on the Prairie’. Whiskey loves the snow no matter how cold it gets, but she’s been ready to come in pretty quick this weekend with our high in the negatives!

~*~Rummage Sale Find of the year~*~

When I was a poor college student, my folks had an antiques and collectibles store. Seems like I fell in love on a daily basis with a piece of furniture or some other special find. My dad always made a deal with me for the extra special pieces I wanted. My mom was working lots of hours in real estate while the market was booming and they needed help around the house (I didn’t live there anymore). All I had to do was show up once a week and clean the house, do the laundry and bake a batch of my chocolate chip cookies (the part my younger brother liked the most) for the prescribed amount of time for any particular piece. This is my most favorite piece. It is a cherry chest. It’s been through a lot, including the 1994 Northridge earthquake where I lived at the time and had to be refinished after due to lots of damage though it was one of the only things left standing after it was all over. It was moved twice after that before being moved cross country, probably back to the side of the country it originated from.

This past summer I was out visiting garage sale after garage sale. Each city or town back here has all of their rummage sales on the same weekend for the most part, so put on your walking shoes before you go! At one of the last ones I went to, I found this vanity that is an almost identical match for my chest (rounded curved edges and all) and it was only $35. Out on the west coast you couldn’t touch for under $300-$400. I was in heaven, as I had paid $500 for the chest back in the late ’80’s. They had the ugliest fabric on the bench and even uglier knobs on the drawers. So, for an additional $10 I fixed those and here we are. It’s hard to tell from the angle of the pictures, but they are really quite similar in color. You have to ignore the dust and clutter too ~ we have a bit of cabin fever going on here. I’m going to a massive start on Spring Cleaning this next week.

~*~Office Organization finally!!~*~

It has been a long 15 months (it feels more like 15 years some days) working on the house and the problems we inherited. For the new year I decided it was time to get organized even if the work isn’t yet completely done. During the construction we decided that my office/studio/craft & sewing room downstairs just wasn’t working on sooooooooooo many levels. So I bit the bullet and decided to move upstairs. Never mind that it meant changing furniture up and down, it also meant, that the upstairs room had to be painted first! I started trying to paint without completely emptying the room, but that didn’t work and we eventually had to move it all downstairs to the dining room for a few days before we could move what we needed upstairs.

It had the ugliest gray paneling and one of the previous owners had used an indelible blue ink pen to write on the walls where he was working. It took 5-6 coats of paint to cover those area alone. I eventually ran out of paint before I finished. I was able to pick up those white particle wood drawer units at a garage sale really cheap and they are working great for organizing all the craft items. I’ve since put labels on them so you don’t have to open every drawer until you find what you need. The biggest challenge is that I lost about 40 square feet in the move and added a bookcase to help with the organization. So, I’ll be honest here and let you know the desk area isn’t that clean still! The downstairs room used to be the Parlor when this house was built and has great french doors. It is going to make a great spare bedroom. It will give our guests more privacy and a better view.

~*~2 more cabinets 3 less totes~*~

We were able to get 2 more cabinets in and first coat finished. This also allowed me to get 3 more big totes off the floor. Right now, I’m just throwing all the totes out in the barn ad will figure it all out later. These are unfinished from Home Depot, but match 95% to the oak cabinets we were able to get from a cabinet guy going out of business and saving us thousands. Ironically to get them to match we’re having to stain them with a English Maple stain. These still need a second coat of stain and clear coat, but I’m beginning to fall in love with organization again!

~*~Cleaning House~*~

A friend of mine sent me this recently and I thought it was appropriate to post for the beginning of the year in lieu of my recent New Year’s resolution post.


Last Week I threw out worrying, it was getting old and in the way.
It kept me from being me; I couldn’t do things God’s way.
I threw out a book on MY PAST (Didn’t have time to read it anyway).
Replaced it with NEW GOALS, started reading it today.
I threw out hate and bad memories, (Remember how I treasured them so)?
Got me a NEW PHILOSOPHY too, threw out the one from long ago.
Brought in some new books too, called I CAN, I WILL, AND I MUST.
Threw out I might, I think and I ought.
WOW, you should have seen the dust.
I ran across an OLD FRIEND, I hadn’t talked to in a while.
His name is GOD the Father, and I really like His style.
He helped me to do some cleaning and added some things Himself.
Like PRAYER, HOPE, FAITH and LOVE, Yes… I placed them right on the shelf.
I picked up this special thing and placed it at the front door.
I FOUND IT- its called PEACE.
Nothing gets me down anymore.
Yes, I’ve got my house looking nice.
Looks good around the place.
For things like Worry and Trouble there just isn’t any space.
It’s good to do a little house cleaning, Get rid of the things on the shelf.
It sure makes things brighter; maybe you should TRY IT YOURSELF.
BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING TO SOMEONE ELSE!