Poppy Seed Chicken

This is one of my favorite meals.  It's the first meal I made for Justin when we started dating.  I love to make it for others because I feel like it's a dish most everyone likes.  Mine is a little different than most, the recipe I used called for cream of chicken, but one time when I made it I only had cream of mushroom so I used that instead and like it better!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Chicken, cooked and cut into pieces (I usually boil it in chicken broth)
• 1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 2 teaspoons Poppy Seeds
• One tube of Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers
• 1/2 Stick of Butter

Directions:

     Preheat oven to 350.  Combine Chicken, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Sour Cream, and Poppy Seeds.  Mix well and pour into a 9" x 9" pan.  Melt Butter.  Crush crackers in a bowl.  Combine butter and crackers, then spread on top of the chicken mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes.  I usually serve it over rice.

Here's how it looked on my plate:

     It tastes better than it looks... maybe one day I'll learn how to make my food like it does in the magazines and take good pictures of it.  Let me know if you make it.  I hope you enjoy!

E:  9
A:  9
T:  9

HH:  9

Ravioli Bake

This ravioli dish made me reminiscence about the days of summer as a kid. Before we were old enough to get a job, my brother and I would enjoy the summer vacation immensely. He would memorize his baseball card collection and I would organize my closet. Fun, huh? We thought so. At lunch, Galan would "make a sandwich". He would grab a slice of turkey meat out of the refrigerator, eat it, grab a slice of cheese, eat it, grab a pickle, and eat it. Tasty lunch complete. My meal usually consisted of heating up a can of Chef Boyardee Raviolis. Galan hovered around and finished what I couldn't eat. I haven't visited Chef Boyardee in a very long time and I don't see a reunion happening in the near future.

This Ravioli Bake was so easy to make and I'm confident you can find similar ingredients at your local grocery store. In 30 minutes, we were enjoying Italian food!

Ingredients:

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (we used Basil flavored)

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (I added a little parmesan cheese)

olive oil cooking spray

baby spinach leaves

2 packages of Beef Ravioli

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Add a thin layer of spaghetti sauce to the bottom of the pan. Cook ravioli in a large saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. Spread half the ravioli into the pan. Spread half the remaining sauce over the ravioli. Add the spinach leaves. Add the remainder of the ravioli, then cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown and is melted. And just like that, dinner is ready!

E: 10

A: 9 - I couldn't give it a perfect 10, but it was close

T: 10

HH: 10

Chicken Enchiladas

My Mom makes these enchiladas, so I was sure to get the recipe when I started cooking. I usually double the recipe, invite some friends over, and enjoy a good Mexican meal. I know I keep talking about Mexican food, but I'm pretty passionate about it. Living in Mississippi meant I've made fun of the Mexican food we ate in Clinton and/or the Jackson area with friends. Eliott is funny when it comes to looking at the menus in Mexican restaurants, "Isn't this all the same... enchilada, burrito, taco?" All I know is, he loves my Mom's chicken enchiladas. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 large sour cream

1 lb. chicken (2-3 chicken breasts)

2 cans cream of chicken

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 small can green chilis

1 dozen flour tortillas

1 lb. grated cheese

fajita seasoning for chicken

fresh cilantro

Boil chicken or cook with fajita seasoning depending upon what's in your spice cabinet. After it's cooled, cut up into bite size pieces or shred; either works. Combine everything but tortillas and cilantro and stir in a large bowl. Line 9x13 pan with the mixture. Spoon the mixture into the flour tortillas. Roll the tortilla up and place in the 9x13 pan. Place remaining mixture on top. Sometimes I can do another 8x8 pan of enchiladas depending on how much mixture I use for the 9x13 pan. Cook for 20 minutes or until it bubbles at 350. Throw some cilantro on top for extra flavor. Serve this with some guacamole and/or salsa and chips. Enjoy amigos!

Jordan & Jessica Wood's Guacamole Recipe:

2 avocados

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/2 of a small jalapeno, minced

2 tbsp lime juice

fresh cilantro

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all these ingredients and try not to eat the guacamole before the meal!

E: 9

A: 8 - I had to do some research on coriander and cilantro

T: 8 - this is not a 30 minute meal unless you cook the chicken beforehand

HH: 10 - extremely happy

Baked Apples

I guess this dessert made me feel a little bit healthier because it has apples in it. The bad news is... we made all 4 and... ate all 4. You have to get your serving of fruit, right?

Ingredients:

4 Granny Smith apples

sugar

1/4 cup almonds, slivered and toasted

2 tbsp raisins

2 tbsp dried apricots, chopped

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp orange juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200⁰C or 392⁰F. You can thank me for converting it later.

Using an apple corer, remove the core from each apple.

Using a large sharp knife, cut the top off of each apple. Carefully remove the flesh from inside each apple, being careful not to damage the natural shape of the apple and leaving enough of the flesh next to the skins so the apples do not collapse.Dice the flesh removed from each apple and toss in a medium mixing bowl with the almonds, raisins, apricots, cinnamon and orange juice.

Carefully spoon the mixture into the center of each apple allowing it to overflow slightly out of the top and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the tops back over the apples, spooning a little of the stuffing mixture into the whole of each top, and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the apples into a small baking dish and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the apples have wilted slightly and the tops have turned light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving the warm apples.

We wish we would have done this - drizzle honey or add more sugar on top.

E: 8 - Eliott's got some mad knife skills.

A: 8 - We bought a trail mix that had almonds, raisins, and apricots mixed together.

T: 8

HH: 6 - We'll both admit, Apple Pie tastes better. Baked Apples is healthier, but it's not the same.

It's a Pound Cake

I've never really done much baking other than cookies, but it's something I would like to do well.  Justin's grandmother gave me a few of her cook books when we visited her in May and this is where I found the recipe for my first pound cake.  Here is the book:

It was a pretty simple recipe and tasted great!  I started making it one night and began mixing the butter and cream cheese before I realized it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to bake.  So, I put the mixture into a bowl in the fridge for a few days, but it still worked well.  Here's how it looked:

I was very excited to get it out of the pan!  It's very important to grease and flour your pan well when baking something like this.  I used olive oil and I don't think I used quite enough.  So, I looked up how to get a cake out of a bunt pan.  Most of the information I found talked about what you needed to do BEFORE baking... and well, it was just too late for that.  All I could find to do after baking was beat the pan with the handle of a knife.  So, that's what I did.  Justin laughed at me.  I also tried to pry it from the sides of the pan with the knife.  Finally, I flipped it over and shook it.  Justin thought I was being funny, so he started videoing me.  I thought he was about to take a picture, I didn't realize he was videoing until he was turning it off.  I realize I'm probably asking to be made fun of, but here it is anyway:

E:  8
A:  7 (it called for 6 eggs, that's a lot of eggs!)
T:  2

HH:  9  (He ate a piece every day for a week!)

Easy Cottage Pie

I'm on the other side of the world, therefore I'm in the midst of winter. I know, it's weird. My body is confused by the weather. I decided to make this warm meal on a cooler evening. This was the 3rd meal I chose from the Cole's Supermarket website this week.

I love to look through cookbooks or magazines. The images are so tantalizing. I think it's hilarious when I finish cooking and my creation looks nothing like the image. Here's an example:

Easy Cottage Pie - go here for the recipe and the picture-perfect pie

And here's mine...

It tasted delicious, so who cares what it looks like, right? We froze half of this one, so our freezer is filling up.

E: 7 - the sweet potatoes took some time peeling and slicing

A: 7

T: 7 - I'm learning to use a gas stove/oven for the first time (I love it!)

HH: 8 - reminded him of Shepherd's Pie

Healthy Brownies?

I found a recipe (if you can call it that) a few months ago for brownies that had fiber, and were not terrible for you.  It sounds gross, but I wanted to give it a try anyway.  All you need is a package of brownie mix and a can of black beans... yes, black beans.  Drain the can of black beans, rinse them until the water runs clear, fill the can with water to just cover the beans, then puree the beans and water.  You mix the pureed beans with the brownie mix and bake according to the what the box says.  (Don't add the eggs, butter, oil, or whatever else the mix calls for.)

They actually didn't taste that bad.  I think if I hadn't known what was in them I would have liked them better.  Justin doesn't really like chocolate, but liked them ok.  Our friend, Mark, was staying with us the night I made them, and he seemed to like them. I didn't tell him there were black beans in them until after he had eaten one, I recommend this if you make them.  He still ate more after he knew what was in them, so I guess that's a good sign.

Justin and Mark enjoying the bean brownies

E:  8
A:  7
T:  8

HH:  6 (he just doesn't like chocolate that much)