5 in 1

I've kinda been slacking on posting this week & for that, I apologize.  We did have a pretty good line up for dinner this week though.  Monday was Pork Roast (my first pork roast, I might add) & it was phenomenal, as shown in my last post.  

Tuesday we had my own derivative of Crispy Baked Chicken Strips & Baked Potato Rounds (Chris thought these potatoes were great and demands them again soon). 

Wednesday we had Oven Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Roasted Parmesan Potatoes (Chris absolutely LOVED these too.....he obviously loves a good potato...but who doesn't?!?).  I also made my first attempt at Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies....I've tried twice now and have still been unsuccessful following the recipe to a T.  Oh well.....maybe I'll try again and the third time will be the charm.

Then on Saturday my favorite little man, Kaydon, came to stay the night.  

Here he is doing "acrobatics" with Uncle Chris

For dinner we had Herb Crusted Pork Chops with Kraft's Home Baked Mac & Cheese.  I'd like to add that Kaydon never even knew he liked pork chops until he ate them at my house.   

So.....ON TO THE FOOD!  :)

CRISPY BAKED CHICKEN STRIPS

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

2 cups Italian Style Bread Crumbs

1 tbsp Onion Powder

1 tsp Sage

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp Rosemary

1 tbsp Ground Cumin

dash of salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 cup Spicy Brown Mustard

Directions:

I combined all of the spices & bread crumbs in 1 bowl & put the mustard in a separate bowl.  

Next, I coated the chicken strips VERY WELL in the mustard.....

....before dredging in the bread crumb mixture.  If you look hard enough, I think you can see a strip in there.

Then place the tenders in a baking pan coated in olive oil & cook at 400 degrees for 30 mins.

BAKED POTATO ROUNDS

Ingredients:

3 russet potatoes, sliced with the handy, dandy slicer 

- it only took cutting my finger ONCE to go buy one

1/4 cup melted butter

salt & pepper to taste

2 tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 cup Fake Bacon Bits (it's all I had on hand)

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream to serve with potatoes

Directions:

Brush both sides of potato slices with butter & season with the salt, pepper & garlic then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 mins turning halfway through.  When the potatoes are ready, top with Bacon & Cheese & cook for about 5 additional mins or until the cheese has melted. 

Both of Tuesday's final products -

OVEN BAKED GARLIC PARMESAN CHICKEN

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts

2 tsp Minced Garlic

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/2 tsp All-Purpose Seasoning

1/4 cup Plain Bread Crumbs

1/4 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Combine Garlic, Olive Oil & Seasoning in small skillet & heat until garlic is browned.

Cut small slits diagonally down the length of each Chicken Breast

Place the Chicken Breasts in a bowl, pour the warmed Garlic, Oil & Seasoning over the top & set aside to marinate for a bit.

At this point, I started prepping my potatoes to be cooked so that my chicken could marinate.  

Mix the Bread Crumbs & Parmesan Cheese together in a bowl & coat each breast with the mixture.  Then place the chicken in a baking dish coated in non stick cooking spray.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes & then cook under the broiler for 5 mins to brown the tops.

ROASTED PARMESAN POTATOES

Ingredients:

3 Russet Potatoes

Butter

All-Purpose Season Salt

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and poke holes all around with a fork.  Cook in the microwave for 3 1/2 mins, flip over and cook for another 3 1/2 mins.  Cut each potato in half and then slice squares into each half ensuring you DO NOT cut through the skin.

Season each half with Butter, Parmesan Cheese & Season Salt and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

Broil until golden brown and VOILA!

I'm not gonna lie.....these were pretty dang good.  Definitely a must try for anyone that loves potatoes.

Both of Wednesday's final products -

HERB CRUSTED PORK CHOPS

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Pork Chops

Spicy Brown Mustard (I just squirted a line down each side of the chops and spread it around)

1/2 cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs

1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1 tbsp Parsley

1/8 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp Pepper

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:

Rub Mustard over both sides of the pork chops

Combine Bread Crumbs & Seasonings in a bowl & dredge pork chops in the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a foil lined baking sheet in the oven to warm.  While the oven is preheating, swirl the olive oil around to coat a skillet & heat over med-high heat.  Brown both sides of the chops.

Transfer the pork chops to the warmed baking sheet and cook for about 10 mins.  

Saturday's final product(s) - 

Kraft's Home Baked Mac & Cheese is definitely an easy favorite in this household!  

Welp, that's all of the homemade goodness we had this week.  I promise I won't slack so much from now on....of course, who doesn't like a post with 5 recipes in one though?!?  :)

Until next time.....

- Samantha

My first Pork Roast

Welp....since dinner for tonight is cooking, I may as well post my AWESOME pork roast I made in the crockpot yesterday for dinner.  

I have to say, I really outdid myself with this one.

It was a Sage Rubbed Pork Roast in Apple Gravy that I found in the comments section here and some good ol' fashioned baked potatoes.  :)  

Everyone knows how to make baked potatoes so I will not be posting the recipe for those.

SAGE RUBBED PORK ROAST IN APPLE GRAVY

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp sage

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 1/2 lb pork roast (aka pork butt) (& that weight is just a guess)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups apple juice

Directions:

  Combine spices in a bowl. 

Rub both sides of the pork roast with the olive oil and the combined spices. 

Place in crockpot with 2 cups of Apple Juice.

  

I left the crockpot on Low for 4 1/2 hours then when I got home, switched it to high while the baked potatoes baked for 1 hour 20 mins.  

Remove from crockpot and shred with 2 forks and VOILA!  You've then got a full plate of fantastic, flavorful Pork Roast.  :)

While Chris made himself a BBQ sandwich, I made myself a BBQ Baked potato with shredded cheese & butter (YUM)

And after I was done with that, I proceeded to make myself a foldover BBQ sandwich.  I love foldover sandwiches.  :)

Needless to say, Chris & I knocked out the entire roast by ourselves last night.  :)  We did work!

That's all I have for tonight.  Will post tonight's dinner shortly (or tomorrow). I may not have the motivation tonight.  ;)

Until next time....

-Samantha

Dinner for 1!

So I was home alone last night and originally thought, "YES!  Rest night for Sammy!"  Not so much.  Once I got home from work, I realized I had a weekly chore to do.  While doing my weekly chore, I decided that just because Chris wasn't home, doesn't mean I can't make myself a good dinner & so I took to Pinterest.  :)

Last night's menu consisted of Honey Mustard Chicken Strips & Chili Cream Cheese Dip.

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN STRIPS (my own variation, of course)

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, cut into strips

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup honey

1/8 cup spicy brown mustard

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

a dash of pepper

1 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Combine mayo, spicy brown mustard, honey, garlic powder, paprika & pepper in a bowl.  Stir until evenly combined.  Divide the sauce in half and refrigerate until ready to use.  Half will be used for the marinade and half will be used to dip.  Place the chicken strips in the portion being used as marinade and stir to coat.  Refrigerate for 30 mins (or overnight, if you plan better than I do). 

 

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top.  Spray the rack with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour the bread crumbs onto a plate & dip the chicken strips into the crumbs, covering completely.  Do not shake excess marinade off of the strips before doing so.  Flip them over a few times & press the bread crumbs into the strips & then place the strips on the wire rack.  Discard the leftover marinade.  I do not advise attempting to use this as extra dipping sauce.  Believe it or not, some people just need to be told.  

Bake the strip until the read crumbs are golden brown (about 25 minutes).  AND THEN SERVE WITH THE FANTASTIC DIPPING SAUCE THAT WAS CREATED IN THE BEGINNING!  :)

CHILI CREAM CHEESE DIP

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 can of chili

Directions:

Warm both ingredients in a pot on the stove until blended.  Serve with Tortilla chips.

EASY PEASY!!!  

And the final products together -

YUM!  Those strips were AMAZING!  The marinade made it seem like they just melted in your mouth.  So.dang.good.  :)

Until next time.........

-Samantha

Dinner & Bday tribute to Leeloo

Welp....dinner tonight was a SUCCESS!  Plenty of leftovers for Chris to take to work on Monday  :)  I have to say, I'm getting kinda good at this whole crockpot thing.  That makes me really happy because it's really easy.

Tonight's menu consisted of Crockpot Chicken Parmesan (which, again, I obtained from here) & Penne Pasta with Garlicky Breadcrumbs.  This was my own variation of a recipe I acquired from here.  Delish.  I attempted an Asiago Garlic Bread but, of course, burned it.  I haven't quite mastered baking bread in a gas oven.  With time............right?  We can only hope.  :)

Recipes for the SUCCESSFUL noms are below!

CROCKPOT CHICKEN PARMESAN

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast halves

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 t Italian seasoning

1/4 t black pepper

1/4 t salt

1 T Olive oil

1 slightly beaten egg

4 thick cut strips of mozzarella cheese

1 jar marinara sauce, blended

Directions:

Spread the olive oil in the bottom of the crockpot.  I swirled it around to cover the entire bottom of the stoneware.  Beat the egg with a fork in a small bowl.  Mix the bread crumbs, seasonings & Parmesan cheese in another small bowl.

  I set up an "assembly line" next to my crockpot & dipped each piece of chicken in the egg, then in the breadcrumb mixture (making sure to press the cheese/breadcrumbs into the chicken) 

& then set them each in the bottom of the crockpot  

Place a slice of Mozzarella cheese on each piece of chicken.  I broke each of my strips in half to be sure the cheese would completely melt over each piece  

If you have a significant other like mine, this would be when you blend the marinara sauce just to be sure there are no chunks in it.  I liquefied for about a minute or so.

Cover the chicken completely with the entire jar (or blenderful...however you want to refer to it) of marinara.  {{No need to worry,  those are only water spots on my crockpot.  Anyone that lives in TX and doesn't have a water softener built into their home HAS to know about the annoying water spots that get on EVERYTHING.}}  :)

 Cover & cook on low for 4 hours.  After the 4 hours was up, I interrupted my reading time to get up, switch the crockpot to Keep Warm & start on my Pasta. 

PENNE PASTA WITH GARLICKY BREADCRUMBS

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Plain breadcrumbs

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz penne pasta

1/4 cup parsley

2 t lemon juice

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

*told you I love Great Value brand*

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on packaging.  This pasta was cooked in boiling water for about 13 mins to get to the softness we like.  All stoves heat differently so my suggestion is checking it every couple mins when you get to about the 11 min mark.  And don't forget to STIR REGULARLY!  I was trying to do 2 other things at the same time and kept having to remind myself to STIR THE PASTA.

While the pasta's boiling, heat 1 1/2 T olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Swirl skillet to ensure you cover the entire bottom.  Add garlic & cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Thank goodness this was only for 30 seconds as I'm not really sure how things would have turned out trying to stir both pasta & garlic at the same time.  I have visions of one or the other falling to the floor....that would be just my luck.

Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.  When the 5 minute mark is up, return skillet to heat & stir in the breadcrumbs.  The breadcrumbs I used only took about a minute to brown.  

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and toss it in a large bowl.  Add 2 t of oil, the breadcrumb/garlic mixture, parsley, lemon juice, salt & pepper & mix well.  This took tossing in the bowl and also stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure the pasta was evenly coated....and still, it wasn't quite evenly coated.

And now, the final product  ::drum roll please::  :)

On our fancy paper plates {{don't hate}}  :)

Not so bad for only my third meal in the crockpot.  

On a side note though, in 30 minutes my baby girl, Leeloo, will be 1 year old (or 7 in dog years) ::tear:: Oh, how they grow up so fast...and she's still the crazy dawggie.  

Here's a pic of her the day we brought her home.  She was just a precious little ball of fluffiness!

I still go back through my Leeloo FB album on occassion and get teary eyed looking at all of her pics.  

I did take an awesome video of her chasing the rain earlier today....she likes to run and jump through the air trying to chomp at the rain drops....my video froze up though when I went back & watched it and it's really just not of the appropriate quality to post on YouTube or my blog.  I love that little girl more than ever and can't wait to give her all of her NEW TOYS tomorrow! 

Until next time.......

-Samantha