Oven Beef Stew & Thankfulness

Ok, I've been quite lax in keeping up with this thing, haven't I? Probably 'cause I haven't made anything new and exciting!

Today is the Friday after Thanksgiving. I, for one, am thankful that I'm NOT shopping today! UGH..can't imagine fighting those crowds!

My sister and her husband and 2 kids are here visiting for the holiday. I'm very thankful for that. We have a great time visiting and laughing. Today is the day that we'll have our big Thanksgiving dinner. Our friend Dan will also be joining us again this year. We will miss our dear friends Kent and Mary Beth and their kids at our dinner this year! I'm thankful for email and phones, so that we can keep in touch while so far apart!

This year's appetizers include Hot and Spicy Cranberry dip, sausage, cheese and crackers, salsa and chips and veggies and dip. The main dinner is the usual...Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie. MMMMM. I'm thankful for great food to eat! And for the ability to cook it!

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who got up at 7 or so this morning to go down to church to get the turkeys reheating for me. I got to sleep an extra hour or so because of that. He's the light of my life...Thankful doesn't even begin to describe it!

I'm thankful for 4 healthy kids. Each one of them is unique and special to me in their own way. God has blessed me more than words can say.

I'm also thankful for the many, many friends I've been blessed with...both in real life friends and the huge online community of friends I have. They keep me sane in an often crazy world!

OK....on to the recipe. When Sue Ann and Bill travel on Thanksgiving day, they don't feel like eating a huge meal, so we save it for Friday. Last night, I made my favorite stew...

Oven Beef Stew

Chop a couple of onions and put in bottom of a pan (I use my big roaster (that holds 3 sticky chickens, LOL). Put all the stew meat on top of the onion. Mix a couple tablespoons of flour, couple shakes of paperika and some pepper (to taste) together. Sprinkle over the beef. Sprinkle about 1/4 or so cup of Soy sauce over the floured meat.

Cover tightly and cook about an hour. Stir.

Add chunked potatoes and (baby) carrots. (last night I added 3 bags of baby carrots, and 20 potatoes, to my 4 onions and 3 big roasts chopped up).

Cover and bake an hour. Remove cover, stir and bake another 30 minutes or so. ( I don't always take the cover off...I just keep it on, as it is really thick already.

My FAVORITE!

Chicken Enchillada Casserole (YAY--my computer's back!)

OK, so it's been since JULY since I've had my computer in a reliable, usable way. I finally got it back yesterday. It SEEMS to be working ok...sort of. The power cord still isn't staying connected all the time. I'm sure I'll have to take it back in again before too long. UGH.

I've been teaching almost full time as a sub! A day at the elementary, a day at the middle school, then 4 days for one person, and 2 days for another...one day I was 4 different people throughout the course of the day!!! That was an exhausting day.

Caleb made this recipe last night for supper. It is a family favorite ;)

CHICKEN ENCHILLADA CASSEROLE

3 chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
tortillas

Cube and cook chicken breasts. (Sprinkle with taco seasoning in the last little bit for added flavor if desired). Mix sour cream, cream of chicken soup, chicken and cheese. Place a layer of tortillas on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 (or lasagna size) pan. Spoon a layer of chicken/cheese mix on top. Repeat layers, ending with sauce. Sprinkle with additonal shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

VERY tasty!

Breakfast Egg Muffin sandwiches & Sunday

Well our Sunday was a rainy, gloomy, dreary day. Ron (of course!) had a a wonderful message at church today about how "Jesus has the words of Eternal Life". Bible class was a "getting to know you" day of coffee and donuts, and we'll kick off the lessons next week when Ron will have services at West Union at 8:00 am (YUCK!) so he will be around for classes at St. Paul's. YAY!

The rain was a motivator for a nice long nap this afternoon, and then Ron and I went to Adult instruction class at church. A good class, and the last one with this group of people. We've enjoyed having this class with them!

Breakfast meals are definitely a hit around here. Making eggs this "new" way worked beautifully! I've got some in the freezer as well, for one day this week.

Meat, Egg and Cheese "Mc"Muffins

12 English muffins
12 eggs
12 slices cheese
12 Sausage patties

Scramble eggs and add salt and pepper to taste. Add a splash of milk, as desired. Pour onto a cookie sheet with sides. Bake in a 350* oven for 10-12 minutes. Slice with pizza cutter or knift. OR spray a muffin top pan thoroughly with PAM. Fill each hole completely with egg. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until cooked.

Assemble sandwiches without adding cheese. Wrap sandwiches and put them in a larger freezer bag. Label and freeze.

To Serve:Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Microwave on high for one minute. Add a slice of cheese. Microwave on high for 20 seconds.

Ramblings

What a week it has been here at our home! Caleb is doing AWESOME at Cross Country this year. He had two meets, and has earned his FIRST ribbon for coming in 8th in the JV meet...but first for his JV team! He's proud of himself, and glad he chose to run cross country rather than play football this year. I wonder "who's child is this, who WILLINGLY runs 5-6 miles a day?" In my mind, that's insane! But, he loves it, and I'm so glad he's found something that he enjoys. Ron and I are proud of him!

Cameron is playing football, and will have his first game this week. He can't wait! Rachel (6th grade) is pretty much over her middle school jitters and well on her way to sailing through middle school. Ethan was disappointed to discover that his first day of flag football was cancelled today, due to the high school game being played at 1:00 today (after being postponed due to lightening last night).

Ron and I worked at a tournament at the golf course today. Lots of work, but we got to visit with people that we don't often get to socialize with, so it was fun!

Everyone is excited about Sunday School starting tomorrow. Summertime Sunday's are nice and laid back, but we are all ready for that extra time in the Word!

Ham and Scalloped potatoes were on the menu this week and were a huge hit! Peeled, sliced potatoes, cubed ham, cream of chicken soup and sour cream, all layered in the crock pot. EVERYONE wanted seconds of that one :)

My laptop is in the shop AGAIN, due to power supply issues...ugh...hope it is fixed for good this time!

The End of Summer

I always get melancholy over Labor Day weekend. I just love summertime so very much. I love everything about it. Sleeping in, hot sunny summer days, swimming pools, somewhat less hectic schedule, vacation. And I really don't enjoy what is coming up next...the dreaded winter...with all it's ice, snow and cold. AACK...gives me the chills just thinking about it!

Cold season hit our family this past week. I was sick, sick, sick, and Cameron missed 2 days of school already this year! We're both finally on the mend, and praying that no one else in the family gets hit with it! It was a nasty bug!

As I said in my last blog...there wasn't much new and exciting in the kitchen this week. The cinnabon rolls were the extent of the excitement...well...that and the Monkey Bread this morning. That is just a loaf of bread dough (made in the bread machine, of course), broken into little bite sized balls and put in a bundt pan, and layered with a mixture of a package of pudding mix (butterscotch is GREAT!), 1 c. brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or so...mmmmm.

Other than that we had BLT's a couple times this week (thanks to the bags, buckets and boxes of tomatoes that keep mysteriously appearing on our kitchen table). Homemade salsa with nachos. Lunchmeat. BBQ chicken. Nothing exciting, but we ate lots and enjoyed every bite.

Next week looks to be busy with volunteering and subbing, cross country, football, piano and paper routes.

Summer ends, but life goes on.

No time to cook?

Well...it seems that it's going to be one of those days (weeks?) where dinner is just thrown together at the last minute. Nothing fancy, nothing new, probably not exciting either. Plain old, plain old. Like spaghetti. Or goulash. or Mac and Cheese? Who knows.

What's REALLY funny, is that these plain old, plain old dinners, are the ones that often excite the kids the most! Maybe I should quit trying new things, and just stick to plain old, plain old. No....that would be too boring for me!

Tonight, I'll settle for plain and boring. But watch out later...there's BOUND to be something new and interesting to cook!

I subbed all day today, and looking at my schedule, I see that it's all day, every day this week! Well...that'll help build that emergency fund back up, won't it? It'll be great after a long, dry summer with no paychecks!

Cinabon Rolls (bread machine)

oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy! We all can't WAIT to wake up in the morning (which is quite unusual for this household...we're NOT morning people! ) My friend Lee just sent me this recipe today, and I had to try it. I'm gonna get a mom of the year award tomorrow morning (well...that is IF they bake up as nicely as they are rising, LOL.

I made kind of a mess with the filling, though. Learned a lesson. It says to microwave the filling to make it more spreadable. BUT...I had already used spreadable margarine. So it all basically melted, and all oozed out as I was rolling it up. Lesson learned? Don't nuke soft spread margarine when you are using it for a cinnamon roll filling :)

Ron kinda wonders why I've turned over a new leaf...making breakfast for the kids each day. I'm so not a morning person, that they usually have to fend for themselves.

Cinnabon's for the Bread Machine

Ingredients:
This recipe uses a bread machine.
Dough 2 pound ingredient

1 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
4 Tbsp. melted butter
4 Tbsp. water
1/2 box instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz. box) (1/3 c. of bulk vanilla pudding mix)
4 c. bread flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2-1/2 t. bread machine yeast


Filling
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. chopped walnuts, opt
1/4 c. raisins opt.


Preparation:
Place all ingredients in your machine in order recommended by your machine’s manufacturer. Place the pan in your machine. Select the dough cycle and press start. When cycle is finished, remove the dough, knead enough to punch down and roll to 17X10. Combine first three filling ingredients and mix well. Heat in microwave 10 sec. to make it spreadable--uummmm....maybe not! This made a MESS! Spread over rolled out dough with rubber spatula. Get as close to the edges as possible. Sprinkle nuts or raisins over dough. Starting with widest end, roll the dough into tight log. Cut into 1/2-1” slices. Place in a lightly greased baking dish with sides. Put in warm draft free place and allow them to raise until double. (I turn my oven on warm and place them inside. When the temperature light goes off, turn off the oven. I let them rise 20-30 minutes this way. Take out to heat oven to baking temp.) Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. When the rolls are done top with frosting of your choice.(We like vanilla cake icing...mmmmmm) Note: For a real treat replace raisins in the filling with chopped dried cherries, blueberries or strawberries. When doing this use frosting 1 or 2 and add a Tbsp. of matching fruit jam.
Yield: A full 9x13 pan.

Cowboy Beans and Rice

Tonight is my golf night, but there's NO food in the house for Ron to just throw something together like he often does when it's my night out with the gals. SO...I told him I'd make another one of our kids' favorites...Cowboy Beans and rice (he'll have to make the rice when he gets home :) This is one of those "no recipe, throw together" kind of meals, but I'll give estimates.

Cowboy Beans and Rice

2 pounds ground beef/turkey
3-4 T. minced onion
3/4 - 1 c. ketchup
1 squirt mustard
1/4-1/2 c. brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it...this could be omited)
1/4 or a bit more BBQ sauce
Tobasco or other "hot" sauce as you like it
rice to serve your family

Brown the ground meat, with the onion in it. When it's brown, add ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, BBQ and other seasonings as desired (make it your own, LOL). Cook and stir together til hot all the way through.

Serve over cooked rice. Or serve with rice in a flour tortilla.

This is another one of those recipes that I have a hard time making enough of, so that we can all have seconds and maybe even left overs!

OOOH, YUM!

That's the name of the recipe I made for supper tonight. OOOH, Yum! Ethan requested it. It's his favorite. He said "This time, Mom, would you make enough so that I can have seconds?" HA...that's a chore when I'm feeding four hungry kids!

So...here's the recipe.

OOOH Yum!

1 pound ground beef
4 T. soy sauce
4 pkgs Ramen noodles (beef or oriental)
1 package frozen broccoli (up to 2 pkgs.)

Brown the ground beef. Sprinkle with the seasoning packets from 3 (or all 4) of the noodle packages. Add the soy sauce and stir to blend. Add the broccoli to the beef, and cook til done. While the broccoli is cooking, cook the ramen noodles. Drain. Stir into the broccoli and beef.

OOOH YUM!

Golden Pork Chops

A new family favorite! Since I lost 10 years worth of recipes when my hard drive crashed, my friend Lee recommended that I start posting favorite recipes on a blog...so that I can recover them if such a crisis should occur again. So...I'll try that and see how it works.

So, in my quest for recipes that please the family, I hit on a winner first time up! There wasn't enough rice, so I need to remember to make more than 1 1/2 cups to serve our family.

Here's the recipe:

Golden Pork Chops

• 6 pork chops
• seasoned salt (I also added garlic pepper)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can mushrooms OR 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Rinse pork chops, pat dry and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the onion, mushrooms and soup. Mix together well and sponn over the chops.
4. Cover and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for 15 more minutes. (Note: Time could be less or more depending on the thickness of the chops.) Pork chops are done when their internal temperature has reached 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

MMMMMMMM, yummy.