Peahater's Ranch Strips

I had both of my sister's staying with me for a weekend this September.  Peahater you have met before. Hotsauce is my middle sister and she is named such because she puts hotsauce on everything!!   Anyways, while they were here I told them they were going to make their own dinner.  I took them to our local walmart and said to pick up whatever looked good and I would give them ideas of what they could make with it.  Peahater thought chicken and ranch sounded good.  I remembered seeing a commerical about ranch burgers and thought I could make that work for her.  The first picture is her cutting the chicken into strips, something that was very new to her.  The second picture is strips on the pan, and the third picture is of her meal.  She had carrots and strawberries with her strips.  She liked them alot and so did Meatlover.  I think they were quick and simple to make even though  Peahater made a big mess.  She was not a fan of the dredging process.  Her fingers got all crusty!!

Chicken Ranch Strips

Frozen chicken breasts

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip

bread crumbs

1 beaten egg

flour

Cut partially thawed chicken breast into 1 in strips.  Dip each strip into flour, egg, and breadcrumbs seasoned with ranch packet.  Put on a cookie sheet and bake until chicken is fully cooked and crumbs are golden brown.  

Not Your Boring Tuna Salad

Ok guys...I am so sorry about not posting..I couldn't seem to  get my memory cards to work on my laptop and I got a little caught up in school work.  Here  on 8/19/2011  I made Meatlover a tuna salad. He said it was good and would eat it again.   It has been awhile so lets see if I remember the recipe as I made it myself. 

Tuna Salad

1 can tuna

enough plain yogurt to stick it all together

1/4 granny smith apple diced

sunflower seeds

season to taste

 

Egg Hash

So first off you may look at this picture and go man..her stove is gross..and it is..I need to clean! Anyways, This is a new idea for me and its simple. All I did was grate up some potato and add a beaten egg. Then I pan fried in EVOO until golden. It was so good and filling..Although some cheese and broccoli would have made it AMAZING!

Rachael Ray Recipe ala Veggie (me)

I was watching Rachael Ray the other day while sick and she was making Honey Mustard Chicken. I was inspired and said, Hey I can do that! So on Saturday morning I did. My recipe is a little different then hers though as I didn't have parsnips I just used potatoes. I also substituted soy sauce for Worcestershire. I'm not sure if they are at all close but it still worked. My family all tried it and said the chicken needed to simmer longer with sauce and that the veggies needed some more time on the heat to soften up more. Over all it was a big hit and something I may alter to be more veggie friendly..why not!

Meatlover in the Kitchen

A few days ago I managed to get Meatlover into the Kitchen. I decided he would help me make his supper, breaded chicken breast. Above you can see Meatlover cutting the breasts into halves. (We later learned that 3rds would have worked better) He then dipped the pieces into flour; egg; and finally a mixture of plain bread crumbs, lemon pepper seasoning, black pepper, Valencia orange peel, chipotle chili powder, and chopped parsley.


We then took the meat and cooked in in a good layer of EVOO. It ended up with a nice crust on it. Unfortunately because the meat was so thick it took too long to cook which caused the crust to kind of fall off of the meat. We also made up so yummy corn on the cob for us to eat with our meal ( I had a Boca burger). It was good but I cant wait till later this summer so we can have some of the nice juicy corn!! YUMM!! Below is the final picture of the chicken.

Apple Bread

So I made this today, it sounded like it could be amazing. I used Jiffy apple cinnamon muffin mix and then I added thin sliced apples and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Doesn't that sound YUMMY? Well it was good but just sorta blah. You live you learn, you add more apples! :)

He ate this..I had cereal

New recipe people..OH YEAH!! This time its potstickers. I almost forgot to take a picture so the one above is of just one of them just seconds before he ate it. It took me so long to cook it and figure out the recipe, I made it myself, that I just ate cereal. I was too tired to make my own. So do u want the recipe? Well here you go.

Potstickers
(exact measurements not needed)
Pork sausage, precooked
Red onion, grated
Carrot, grated
Egg roll wrappers
Egg
Beef Stock
Oil
Soy sauce
First mix sausage, onion, and carrot together in a bowl. Then add just enough egg to kind of make it all stick together. Place a spoonful on the wrapper and wrap according to package directions. Add a thin layer of oil to a pan and place potstickers in the pan so they don't touch. When the wrapper is golden brown on both sides add about half an inch of stock to the pan and cover with lid. When the liquid is all boiled out remove from pan. Serve warm with soy sauce.

I burnt...water!?!?

So I really wanted pasta a few days ago for dinner. I put on a pot of water and sat down to watch TV. A few minutes later I smelled SMOKE!! I was confused because I mean how do you burn WATER?!?! But never the less I did. Meatlover says it was actually the calcium build up in the pan from our hard water that was burning but whatever. So instead I decided I would use the oven to cook me some pasta. That is how I ended up with this concoction. I took inspiration from no boil lasagne. It is pasta, egg, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce. The noodles seemed to cook okish..but it was no where near amazing. Oh well..it worked for the day.

Pizza Pockets

Last night for supper I felt like making something new. This is my attempt at making a calzone/ pizza pocket type of thing. It was very good and more filling then my normal 4 slices of pizza. Mine were just cheese but Meatlover had some honey ham in his although he says pepperoni would have been better. I think I may try spinach in mine next time. This was my first time making this and I just made it up so Ill post the recipe below if you would like to try it.

Pizza Pockets
(Makes 4 pockets)

INGREDIENTS:
1 Refrigerated pizza dough in a tube
1 can pizza sauce
grated mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder/salt
Pizza Toppings (Any you would like)
Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:
Start by unfolding pizza dough and cutting it into 4 even rectangles. Then take one piece and roll it out until it is about 5 by 7 inches. Some may be a little bigger or smaller. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray (I used olive oil spray) and place your dough on it. Place sauce, cheese, and toppings on half the dough but careful not to go all the way to the ends. Fold over the dough and use a fork to seal the ends. Take your fork and stab small holes into the top for the steam to escape. Then add parmesan, mozzarella, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder/salt to the top of each pocket. Bake at 450 for about 10mins or until golden brown.