Cookies!!

5/15/13

I am always trying to find cookie recipes that don't involve chocolate or tons of sugar.  I finally found one.  I made a total of 36 cookies and they were gone by dinner time the next day!  Love this recipe. The only thing that I may do differently next time is using lemon yogurt vs. plain yogurt.  Other than that they were quite tasty.  P.S.  They definitely do not look like the original picture but they were still good to eat.  Actually I was told several times that they looked like biscuits!!  :-)

Here is the pic and the recipe:

Greek Yogurt Blueberry Cookies

http://www.lafujimama.com/2012/09/blueberry-yogurt-cookies/

Dinner Time

5/15/13

Made three dinners since the first post.  I liked two of them but the third...definitely going to tweak the recipe to my liking.

Cream Cheese Spaghetti Bake

This recipe was okay.  I would change several things.  First - this recipe calls for a full block (8oz) of cream cheese.  I will not be doing that next time.  Maybe half.  Also - when the recipe says "lay a thin layer of sauce mixture in the bottom of the pan" - make sure it is a THIN layer.  I used too much to coat the bottom of the dish and didn't have enough to cover the top of the spaghetti.  Other than that it turned out pretty good.

Recipe:  http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/11/baked-cream-cheese-spaghetti-casserole.html

Next is Mongolian Beef

The picture doesn't do it justice!  I love this recipe.  I usually use 2 lbs. of beef because my family devours it!  Very quick and simple recipe.  Of course, I always have plenty of rice on hand thanks to my rice cooker.  If you don't own a rice cooker no worries - you can by the quick cook rice at the store.  You know, the one that you boil in a bag....the gross kind.  :-)  Just kidding.  Just trust me when I say that the boil in a bag is not as good as fresh rice from the cooker.
Anyways, here is the recipe:  http://www.food.com/recipe/p-f-changs-mongolian-beef-66121

Last Easy Pad Thai

This was my least favorite out of all the recipes that I have made so far.  It was very dry and did not have any flavor to it.  None.  Whatsoever.  No amount of salt was going to help this dish out.  Definitely would change the recipe up.  I would add more sriracha sauce, more soy sauce, and less lime juice.

Maybe you'll have better luck:  http://browniesfordinner.com/2010/05/11/easy-pad-thai/

Food Day

5/15/13

It's been a while since my first post.  I have some new recipes to share.  My coworkers and I love food - the topic of food, thinking about food, the smell of food, and eating the food.  Okay....maybe that's just me but we still have a "food day" about once a month at work.  On Thursday 5/9 we had one of these days and I made two things:  macaroni salad and Snickers cake.  Both were pretty big hits.  Here are the recipes and my thoughts about them.

Macaroni Salad 

This received great reviews.  I was a little worried because the recipe didn't use a lot of mayonnaise.  The recipe calls for vinegar but since I don't like vinegar I didn't use it.  Also, I didn't add much salt since I tend to over salt a lot of foods.  

Here is the recipe for the salad:  

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/06/the-best-macaroni-salad-ever/ 

The next recipe that I made for food day was the Snickers Cake.  See: 

Snickers Cake

This received great reviews.  One of the comments was that it was a little moist.  This is actually a "poke cake" so there may have been too much liquid.  (For those of you that don't know what a Poke Cake is here is the quick explanation:  Bake the cake, while the cake is still hot poke holes throughout the cake w/a straw, let cake cool, and pour the liquid over the cake so that the holes fill up w/liquid)  I think that Nick ate about 75% of this cake.  Every time he wanted a snack he asked for a piece of the cake.  He also asked for me to make it again AND soon.  Overall, this was a huge hit!! 

Recipe:  http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/05/snickers-cake.html

Until next time!!

   

Kick Off Party!!

4/22/2013

Hello all. 

First know this:  I am horrible at grammar and can't spell worth a lick.  So I apologize ahead of time for any mistakes here on out. 

Since there is so much hype around Pinterest I figured I would blog about it.  I make desserts and recipes from the site so I might as well let everybody I know how the results turn out.  I'll try to remember to take pictures each time I make anything from the site.

This past week I made two recipes:  Chicken Ranch Tacos and Doritos Chicken Casserole. 

Here are the results:
 
Chicken Ranch Tacos

 

They turned out pretty good.  The recipe called for 3 cups of cooked chicken.  I have two growing boys so I actually used a packet of Tyson Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts.  It also says to use hard taco shells but I used soft tortilla shells, instead.  The only thing I would change next time is to use a little less of the taco seasoning.  Otherwise, it was pretty tasty. 

 

 

 

 Doritos Chicken Casserole

Jeff and Nick enjoyed this.  I was teased by a coworker for not sharing so I took some to her the next day.  She seemed to like it. Nick said that it tasted a little like the Doritos Loco Taco.  I don't like regular Doritos so I didn't eat the casserole. 

 

 

Crock Pot Potato Soup

 

Sorry - I forgot to take the picture of the potato soup.  No worries though, it wasn't very good. Jeff liked it (but I don't think he would ever tell me that he didn't like something I fixed) and my mom ate two bowls of it....and TRUST ME she has no problems telling me how to make food better.  :-)  The recipe that I used called for diced potatoes, cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, and 1/2 & 1/2.  Simmer in a crock pot on low for 6 hours.  I will have to try a different recipe for potato soup next time.