Grilled Glazed Drummies

We ran out of charcoal so I had to do these in the oven.  They were okay.  Not great, but good.  I think they would have been a lot better had they been grilled so we'll try it again sometime. 

Grilled Glazed Drummies

1 cup ketchup

1/3 cup soy sauce

4 tsp honey

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3 lbs. fresh or frozen chicken drummetes, thawed

In small bowl, combine the first five ingredients.  Pour 1 cup marinade into a large resealable plastic bag.  Add the chicken; seal bag and turn to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade for basting.

Drain chicken and discard marinade.  Grill, covered, over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until juices run clear, turning and basting occasionally with reserved marinade.

Grandma Fuemmeler's Mac n Chees

This is my grandma Fuemmeler's macaroni and cheese but I can never get it quite the same as hers.  It did turn out good, very creamy and tasty, just not the same flavor as Grandma's.  I'll keep experiementing though.

I don't really have any measurements.  Last night I used about 9 oz of pasta, 1/4 lb velveeta, a small handful of shredded cheddar and a shake or two of salt and pepper.  Probably 1/3 cup of milk.  It's pretty easy to figure out though so just add a little and see, then you can always add more milk or cheese as needed.

Mac n Cheese

some type of noodle...preferably the small shell ones
milk
velveeta
salt
pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain; add milk and velveeta and stir until melted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Zucchini Muffins

This is my mother-in-law's recipe and it's fantastic!  It has lots of zucchini so it's a great way to use up the tons of zucchini you're getting from your garden.  Plus it's a veggie and my kids love these!  This can also be made as a loaf instead of muffins and I'm sure they would freeze just fine. 

Zucchini Muffins

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon

Sift all the above together in a bowl.

Beat 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, 2 1/4 cups sugar, 3 tsp vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and beat well.  Stir in 2 cups grated zucchini and 1 cup nuts if desired.  Pour batter into 2 loaf pans (or 24 muffin cups).  Bake loaves for 40-60 minutes at 350 degrees or muffins for 20 minutes.

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Cheesy Muffins

This was a Pioneer Woman recipe I found through someone else's blog.  (Sorry that I can't remember which one!)  They were pretty good.  I had 8 leftover so I'm trying the freezing method with these, hence the picture of them already to go to the freezer since I forgot to take one earlier.

Cheesy Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 Tb sugar
1 Tb baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups colby jack cheese, shredded (I used about 2 cups of cheddar)
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter

Whisk together dry ingredients then stir in cheese.  Whisk together wet ingredients.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ones and stir together until just moistened.  Pour into greased muffin tins (makes 12 muffins) or into 1 loaf pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes (a bit longer if making a loaf...closer to 30 minutes.)

Twice Baked Potatoes

This is my grandma's recipe, although I've never gotten mine to taste as good as hers.  They take some time but again, you can freeze them.  Well, I think!  I haven't had them frozen before but I don't see why you can't so this time I made 8 huge potatoes and froze half of them.  We haven't had the ones from the freezer yet so I'm not sure if they'll be any good.

Twice Baked Potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil

8 baking potatoes

2/3 cup shredded cheddar

1 1/3 egg, beaten (don't ask me how to get 1/3 of an egg!  Just use one or two)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/3 cup sliced green onion

2/3 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In small bowl, combine oil, salt, and pepper.  Rub potato skins with oil.  Bake 50 to 60 minutes.  When done, slice skin off top.  Scoop flesh into large bowl, reserving skins.  Add cheese, egg, butter, and half green onion.  Mash potatoes while adding milk.  Spoon into skins and top with remaining onion.  Bake 15 minute.

Hungry Jack Casserole

This is one of our family's go-to meals that is tasty and easy to prepare.  It also freezes well and I almost always double it to stash away for a later meal.




Hungry Jack Casserole

1 lb ground beef
3/4 cup barbeque sauce
16 oz can baked beans
little diced onion
1 can dinner biscuits

Brown beef with onion in skillet.  Drain.  Add beans and bbq sauce.  Heat on medium until bubbly; stir occasionally.  Cut dinner biscuits in half.  Transfer to casserole dish.  Place rolls flat side down around edge.  Cook 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until rolls are brown.

**NOTE:  I do not cook this with the biscuits on top.  I find that they never done underneath and you are eating dough.  So I cook the biscuits seperately and then serve this over them when it's ready.

Menu 7/23

Friday - Fish Tacos, fruit, rice
Saturday - Breakfast Night:  plain and pecan waffles, blackberries
Sunday - Twice Baked Potatoes (doubled for freezer), garlic noodles, green beans, blueberry muffins
Monday - Butternut Squash Pasta, cheesy muffins, fruit
Tuesday - Chicken Legs, garlic french bread, asparagus (all grilled)
Wednesday - Hungry Jack Casserole (doubled for freezer), biscuits, corn on the cob
Thursday - Leftovers...cleaning out fridge before leaving for vacation
Friday - Leftovers/Eat Out
Saturday - Leftovers/ Eat Out

Feta Basil Burgers

I made these a little differently than the recipe said because I didn't have any sun dried tomatoes, but you could add them in.

I personally haven't tried these yet either.  I just made them today to stick in the freezer for the week when we get back from vacation so that we have some food ready to go.  I'll try to remember to post if they're good or not but they sure look and smell good!

I need some ideas for toppings for these burgers though so if you think of something please leave a comment!!  I don't think the traditional ketchup, mustard, onion, pickles would be good.

Feta Basil Burgers

1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup julienne sun dried tomatoes, oil packed, drained

In large bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well incorporated.  Make a large ball of the meat and divide into fourths.  Make 4 quarter pound hamburger balls and mold into patties.  Cook on hot grill for 3 minutes on each side or until hambrugers are cooked to desired doneness. 

FREEZING DIRECTIONS:

You can make up these hamburgers and freeze them using sheets of waxed paper to divide them and then place in freezer bags.  To serve:  Thaw.  Cook on hot grill for 3 minutes on each side or until hambrugers are cooked to desired doneness.

Nutty Pecan Waffes

I'm not a big breakfast person usually, but every once in awhile I feel like real breakfast food. I do breakfast nights often and usually only make plain waffles or pancakes, which I'm not that excited about and usually end up eating something else. But then I found this recipe, and was excited for breakfast night! And this didn't disappoint.

Nutty Pecan Waffles

3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tb baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda

3 eggs, seperated
2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 2/3 cups finely chopped pecans

Preheat waffle iron. In large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and baking soda. In seperate bowl, beat together egg yolks and milk. Add milk mixture, butter and oil to flour; stir gently to combine. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks have formed (I skipped this part and just threw them in...turned out fine); fold into batter.

Pour mix onto hot waffle iron and sprinkle generously with chopped pecans. (I mixed the pecans into the batter.) Cook until golden brown.

I got 14 waffles from this.

Pepperoni and Meatball Calzones

I made these before if you remember with Ham and Cheese and they turned out so good we decided to try something else.  So I did pepperoni pizza ones with spaghett sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese.  Then I did meatball ones with spaghetti sauce, mozzarella, and meatballs.  We ended up with 8 of each so I froze 8 and we baked 8 for this night.  To see the recipe click here.

Raspberry Scones

These only turned out okay and I'm not sure why.  I've never made scones before so maybe the batter was supposed to be as runny as it was but it didn't hold together to even cut them out.  So I just did like drop biscuits and they turned out okay.  The flavor was good, they just looked weird.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tb granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup low fat milk, plus 2 tsp divided
3 Tb canola oil
1 egg
3/4 cup fresh raspberries (I used frozen)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees and spray baking sheet.  Mix flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Combine 1/2 cup milk, oil, and egg then pour liquid mixture into dry mixture.  Add berries.

Smear flour on cutting board and turn dough onto it.  Pat into an 8 inch circle.  Score into 8 wedges, cutting halfway.  Bake 20 minutes; finish cutting wedges and place on wire rack.

Mix powdered sugar and 2 tsp milk.  Drizzle over scones.  Serve.

Homemade Crackers

These are supposed to be like wheat thins, which I think they would have been close with a few changes.

I suggest not using as much oil as it calls for.  They tasted quite oily to me and I think you could use a little less and just add water to get the consistency right.

I also suggest using whole flax seed.  I just had the ground flax seed so that's what I used but I think it would make it more like a store bought cracker if you did whole seed.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
3 Tb flax seeds
3 Tb honey
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the whole wheat flour, wheat germ, flax seeds, and paprika.  Add the oil, water, honey, and vanilla and mix until smooth.  This is much easier if you use your hands.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease baking sheet (which wasn't needed with the full amount of oil).  Divide the dough into 8 balls.  Take one ball and roll as thin as possible.  The thinner you get them the more crunchy they'll be.  Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.

Put in oven for 5-10 minutes.  I tried 8 but they were still pretty chewy so I did 10 and they came out almost perfect.  You'll know when they're done when the edges are very lightly browned.  Once cool, store in air tight container.

Easy Guacamole

I just recently started eating guacamole after discovering how good it was at Chipotle.  My sister gave me this recipe and it was so yummy it was gone in two days...and I'm the only one that eats it!  The hardest part of this is mashing up the acacados!

I didn't really measure anything and I think some of this depends on your taste anyway so alter it to your liking.

2 avacados
1 lime (or 2 if there isn't much juice in the first one)
minced garlic
shake of garlic powder
chopped cilantro
green onion
dash of salt
salsa

Mash the avacados in a bowl.  Mix in everything else.  Eat with chips.

This post is linked to I'm Lovin' It.

I'll Be Back Soon!

Sorry for the time lapse! We were on vacation for a week, then my Grandma passed away. Once I get through this weekend I'll be back and hopefully cooking. For a week anyway then we're off on vacation again!

Cilantro Lime Rice

I originally made this recipe to go with our burritos and I chose this one because the place where I found it said it was like Chipotle's rice. Well, it's not! But it's not bad with my burriots either. I also suggest doubling this recipe if you're feeding more than two people because it doesn't make very much.
Cilantro Lime Rice

1 tsp oil
2 Tb fresh cilantro, chopped
2/3 cup white basamati rice
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime, juiced (or two or three)

In a saucepan, heat oil until hot.
Add rice and stir for 1 minute, you are basically frying the rice. NOTE: Pretty much stir constantly or it will burn.
Add lime juice, stir for 1 minute more.
Add water and salt, bring to a boil.
Cover and turn down to simmer until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 18-20 minutes. Do not overcook or it gets mushy. (Mine was ready in 14 minutes. Just watch it.)
Add in the cilantro, stir, and serve.

NOTE: I burned my first batch of rice tonight and decided to throw it out since I was worried that the entire batch would have that burnt taste. Thus, I was out of limes. Instead I used some lemon juice and I have to say that the rice I made tonight tasted the best it's ever tasted out of the three times I've made this. Maybe I just like lemon better, who knows! But I think it's because I never use enough lime juice. Might need more than one lime.

Burritos

One of our new favorites I've made a few times now. A light, healthy dinner at that.

Burritos

Cilantro Lime Rice: recipe on other post under Sides category
shredded or cubed cooked and seasoned chicken: I seasoned using cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and pepper
black beans, drained and rinsed (I used frozen, cooked, dried beans)
tomato
onion
salsa
cilantro
shredded cheese
whole wheat tortillas

Layer on desired ingredients, roll up, and enjoy!

Kid wanted his plate pictured as well! Cheese roll and brown rice with parmesan for the picky kids.

Sweet Potato Zucchini Bread

I got this recipe from a friend and it became one of our new favorite breads. And a great way to get some veggies into my very picky son! I used some frozen shredded zucchini I had put away from our garden and some mashed sweet potato that I had in the freezer. I doubled the recipe and usually get four loaves out of that which freeze great.

Sweet Potato Zucchini Bread

2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar (can use part brown and part white)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I do half oil half applesauce)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini (or more)
1 1/2 cup grated peeled sweet potato (or more)
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted, optional

350 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan (I use two.) Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla to blend in large bowl. Mix in zucchini and sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir well.
Transfer batter to prepared pan(s). Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. (Set your timer for 45 minutes and start checking depending on how many loaves you do. Mine are usually done in about an hour or just under.) Cool bread in pan for 15 minutes. Cut around bread to loosen. Turn out on rack and cool completely.

If freezing I just wrap each loaf in some plastic wrap and stick in a freezer bag. It keeps for at least a few months and tastes just as fresh when it comes out.

This post is linked to I'm Lovin' It

Menu 7/2 to 7/7

What a crazy summer it's been! But I plan ahead so I'm usually pretty good about following my menus since I know what's coming up. I have one repeat from last week since we decided last night at the last moment to go out to eat.

Friday - Burritos, fruit
Saturday - BBQ honey mustard chicken, bacon wrapped shrimp, bacon rach potato salad
Sunday - Tortellini Tuna Salad/Pizza, Italian breadsticks
Monday - Meatball Sub Casserole, corn on the cob, fruit
Tuesday - Family visiting: roast, cheesy potatoes, 7 layer salad, maybe rolls
Wednesday - son has gymnastics right at dinnertime so most likely eating out
Thursday - the kids and I are headed out of town so not sure. Hubby is on his own!

Watch for Upcoming Recipes!!