Easy Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas and Sweet Rice

I had a sudden craving for mexican food tonight, so I decided to make some quesadillas, beans and rice. When ever we eat at Bajio, I always get their sweet rice. It is so good. So I decided to try making it. It turned out really good. So here's the recipe for the rice and quesadillas. The meal took about 15 minutes total from start to finish.

Quesadillas for two:

3 chicken breasts

2-3 c. shredded colby, pepper, or monterey jack cheese

2 flour tortillas

Boil and shred chicken breasts. Lay the tortillas flat on a cookie sheet (if desired brush the bottom of the tortillas with butter or margarine.) Sprinkle each with about one cup of cheese. spread shredded chicken over cheese on half of each tortilla. Broil on High for 2-3 minutes (or until cheese is melted). Remove from oven and fold each tortilla in half. Sprinkle with desired toppings (tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, cheese, lettuce, green onions, onions, olives, guacamole, etc.)

Instant Sweet Rice

1 1/4 c. water

1 chicken boullion cube

2 1/2 tsp. white sugar

1 tsp. dehidrated onion

1 tsp. cilantro

1c. instant rice

Put first 5 ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. (Make sure boullion cube is completely dissolved.) Remove from heat and add rice. Cover and let stand for 5-7 minutes.

Enough Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the only recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I ever use. It is my mom's recipe. I can't take credit.

2 sticks margarine or butter

3/4 c. shortening

2 c. brown sugar

1 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 Tb. hot water

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

6 c. flour

2 c. chocolate chips

1 c. nuts (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together first 7 ingredients. Blend in dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. (Makes 9 dozen)

I made these today. I split the dough in half and put chocolate chips in one half and butterscotch chips in the other. (the white blur in the top of the bowl is my daughter helping to stir the chocolate chips into the dough)

finished product

It's a soup day!

Today is definitely a soup day. I can't believe it dropped thirty degrees between yesterday and today. Anyway since I'm freezing and very much in the mood for some soup, here are some of my favorite soup recipes.

Baked Potato Soup

(I can't take any credit for this recipe or the picture. I found them here. http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/baked-potato-soup.html)

But it is my very favorite soup ever and I always use this recipe. When I make it I either bake the potatoes in the microwave, or I cut them up when they are raw and boil them. It doesn't change the flavor, just the amount of time it takes to have the soup ready to eat. All the time spent no matter how you make it, will be well worth it. Put it in a bread bowl and it's to die for! Hope you enjoy it.

Holly's Amazingly Famous Taco Soup

My sister Holly makes a killer taco soup. It is seriously soooo good. She gave me permission to post the recipe on here.

1 lb. browned hamburger seasoned with taco seasoning, or chilli powder and cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 diced onion sauted
1 qt. bottled tomatoes (pureed with juice)
1 can corn with juice (16 oz.)
1 can chilli (16 oz.)
1 can diced stewed tomatoes
1 can chillies (4 oz.)
sugar to taste (until it isn't bitter)

Cook meat. Add onion and saute with meat. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, stir occasionally. Serve with tortilla, chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, and or any other taco ingredients.

Clam Chowder

This recipe is my mom's. It is way better in my opinion than any other clam chowder in the world. It makes a lot, so I always half it for just me and my little family.

2 (6-oz.) cans minced clams

1 c. chopped onions (or 1 Tbs dehidrated onion)

1 c. diced celery (or 1/2 tsp. celery salt)

3 c. diced potatoes

1 c. diced carrots

1/2 c. butter or margarine

1/2 c. flour

1 qt. milk

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. sugar

Drain clam juice into a large pot. Add onions, celery, potatoes, and enough water to cover. Cook until vegetables are tender. Mash a little with a potato masher. Mix butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, and sugar in blender until smooth. Add white sauce and 1/2 of the clams to the cooked veggies in the pot. Boil until it thickens and add the remaining clams.

If you don't like clam chowder, it is a delicious creamy potato chowder if you omit the clams. Will doesn't like onions or celery, so I use dehidrated onions and celery salt to keep those flavors. He doesn't seem to mind and I don't notice too much of a difference. Throw some oister crackers on top and you are good to go!

Vegetable Beef Soup

I always have leftover roast after sunday dinner, so I try to find recipes that I can use the leftover meat and even potatoes and carrots. this is one that I made up just by throwing stuff together. It isn't really hard, and doesn't take long, and you can pretty much throw in whatever veggies you want with the meat and it tastes great.

1c. cubed, or shredded roast beef

1c. cubed potatoes

1c. chopped carrots

1/2 c. chopped onions

1 qt. water

3-4 boullion cubes (or to taste)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Throw it all in until the veggies are cooked tender, and serve. I find it the easiest to throw everything into a crockpot in the morning and let it cook for four to eight hours just in time to be done for dinner. But it can be cooked over the stove in about a half hour also. You can add green beans, peas, corn, mixed veggies, broccoli, zucchini, etc. just whatever you have that you want to throw in. It all tastes great.

I'm Back

Will was home all summer and I didn't have as much time to blog and stuff during the day cause I got to hang out with him and Grace instead. So when he goes back to school, I will be able to blog better. I'd rather have him home, but hey, someone has to do something productive around here. School starts on the 24th of Aug. See you then.

Easy Chicken Caesar Salad

This meal seriously only took me 15 minutes. I took 3 smallish chicken breasts and seasoned them with garlic powder, and lemon pepper and cooked them in a frying pan on the burner about 5 minutes on both sides (frozen). Then while it was cooking I put together some lettuce, croutons, parmesan, shredded cheese, and a little caesar salad dressing. Then I just cut the chicken in cubes and added it to the salad. It was delicious, very inexpensive, and sooooo easy. Did I mention delicious?

The Best Beefy Melty Cheesy Enchiladas Ever

This is a great way to use leftover roast from Sunday dinner. We always have a lot of leftover roast since it's just the three of us and grace doesn't eat much. So I like to come up with yummy dinners that I can use the leftover meat in. This one is one of my favorites. It is pretty easy and doesn't take long since the meat is already cooked.

Sweet Enchilada Sauce:

1 can tomato sauce or paste

1 Tbs. bbq sauce

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 Tbs dehidrated onions

1 tsp. cilantro

1/2 tsp. vinegar

combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Mix till smoothish bring to a boil over midium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer till you are ready to use.

Meat:

4-5 c. cooked shredded roast beef

1/4 c. salsa

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 Tbs. bbq sauce

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 tsp. cilantro

combine and mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan bring to boil. Remove from heat and spoon mixture equallyish into 6-8 small flour tortilla shells and sprinkle with abount 1/4 c. shredded cheese (I like colby jack best) each, roll them up and place them in a greased casserole dish. Pour sauce over top and sprinkle with shredded cheese. cover with foil and Bake in oven at 400 for about 15 minutes then eat and enjoy!!!

Total prep and cook time is about a half hour tops! Its great. Enjoy!!!

Broccolli Alfredo Pasta

I made this for the first time a few weeks ago when my sister Holly came to my house to visit. I didn't have chicken, but I had alfredo and pasta and a bag of frozen broccolli. Tonight I made it again, but I used fresh broccolli because I had a bundle in the fridge that I needed to use before it went bad since it has been there for a week. So, here is a fantastic, very fast, very easy, delicious meal for any night of the week.

1/2 box of any kind of pasta (I used Rotini)

1 jar of alfredo sauce

1/2 bag frozen broccolli, or a bundle of fresh broccolli

Bring some water to a boil in a sauce pot. Add pasta and boil for about 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile in another pot put broccolli and just enough water to cover about half of it. Boil till the broccolli is tender. (It took me about 8 minutes with the fresh broccolli and some salt) Drain whatever water remains, add alfredo sauce and heat to desired temperature to serve over pasta. When pasta is finished, just drain, rinse and serve with the broccolli alfredo sauce.

I also sprinkled mozerella and parmesan cheeses on top. It was delicious.

The 2 Step Breadsticks:

1. I take 4-12 Rhodes frozen dough rolls, out of the freezer and put them on a plate sprayed with cooking spray. Then I cover them with plastic wrap, also sprayed. Then I let them thaw and rise for about 4-5 hours on the plate.

2. When they are done rising, I roll them till they are about 9 inches long, move them to a cookie sheet, spread melted butter with parmesan and garlic salt, and if you want, parsley, and or italian seasoning on them and bake them for 8-10 minutes at 350.

Summer Meals

I am looking forward so much to eating summer foods now that it is getting warmer. Tonight I made some hamburgers. They were very good with all the toppings. I didn't take a picture, but they were pretty for the few seconds they lasted. Hamburgers are one of my favorite summer foods. I also love BLT's, sloppy joes, bbq beef/pork/chicken sandwiches, all kinds of salads, and things. If you have any good recipies for yummy summer dishes, feel free to share. I will share my favorites too.

Sweet and Sour Barbeque Shish Kabobs

For dinner tonight we had these. They were SO good. I started yesterday by making the marinade and cutting all the veggies and meat. I took a recipe that I got from my sister Jill for teriyaki flavored shishkabobs and adapted it to sweet and sour BBQ flavored. Even though it takes some planning and preparing a head of time, let me tell you it is soooo worth it. Will gave it a 10 out of 10. That is hard to do. Okay here is the recipe.

1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. vinegar
2 cloves garlic
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 bottle BBQ sauce (about 9 oz.)
1 can of chunk pineapple
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red onion
1 lb. mushrooms
3-4 cups raw chicken thawed and cubed
20 ish skewers
2 or 4 large ziplock baggies (depending on the quality. You don't want them to leak)

combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, BBQ sauce, and the juice from the can of pineapple in a bowl or pitcher. Chop the mushrooms, onions, and peppers into the shape and size you want. (Easy enough right?) Put the chicken in one ziplock and all the chopped onions, mushrooms, peppers, and pineapple in another. Add enough sauce to the chicken to cover it and the rest of the sauce to the veggies, (and fruit). Remove as much air from both bags as possible and seal. Double bag each so they don't leak if neccessary. Marinate in fridge for atleast 24 hours. Then put together the kabobs however you would like place on cookie sheets and bake in oven at 375 degrees F until edges are golden. Or on the grill if you prefer and have one. I don't, so I don't know what temperature or how long to cook them that way. If you try them on the grill let me know. Enjoy!

Creamy Italian Crockpot Chicken

I made this for dinner last night. I didn't know if it would turn out good or not, because I just threw a few things that I had together without a recipe. It turned out really good I thought. I made some instant rice and put in a couple tsp. of parsley. Okay here's the recipe for the chicken:
1/3 bottle of Italian dressing
3/4 c. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
4-5 chicken breasts
Throw everything in the crockpot on high for 4 hours serve and enjoy

Pretty easy right? Well, it was pretty good. Will even liked it a lot. Enough to eat it as leftovers for lunch. It was pretty good.

Mrs. Fields Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

I've been in a baking mood a lot today.

I found this recipe here:

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar

1 1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 c. butter or margarine, softened

3 large eggs

1 c. creamy peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Mix dry ingredients and set aside.
3. On medium speed, in large bowl, blend sugars; add butter, mix till grainy consistency. Add eggs, peanut butter and vanilla extract; beat till fluffy. On low speed, add flour mixture until barely mixed into butter mixture.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoonsful, 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Use a wet or flour coated fork to gently press a criscross pattern on top of each cookie.
5. Bake till the edges of the cookies are lightly browned, approximately 18 to 20 minutes. Remove to cool on a flat surface

This is how they turned out. They really are soft and chewy too. Very very yummy!

Cheesy Baked Lasagna

Last night for dinner we had lasagna. I have never made lasagna before and it surprised me how easy it is to make. It turned out so well. I was very proud of the finished product. Here is the recipe I used.

1 box lasagna pasta
1 30 oz. container of ricotta cheese
2 c. mozerella cheese separated into two 1 cup portions
1/4 c. parmesan
2 partially beaten eggs
1 tsp. dried basil
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

In a large pot bring to boil about 6-8 cups of water. Add pasta and boil for 8-10 minutes stirring gently every so often so the pasta doesn't stick together or to the pot. While the pasta cooks, mix the ricotta, 1 cup mozerella, parmesan, eggs, basil, parsley, garlic salt, salt, and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. When pasta is done boiling drain in a collander. In a 9x13 casserole dish pour a thin layer of the spaghetti sauce, just enough to cover the bottom. Then cover with a layer of the pasta, then cheese mixture on top of that, then repeat beginning with another layer of sauce, pasta, cheese, sauce, pasta, then sauce again, and sprinkle top with the remaining one cup of mozerella and sprinkle slightly with parmesan cheese. Bake in oven for 60 minutes at 450 degrees F. The whole process only took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. Easy and worth every second. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I'd love some feedback.

Menu Planning

I try to plan my menus weekly, but sometimes it helps to plan a couple weeks or a month at time tentatively especially if you know it is going to be a busy week/month. I have a list of main dishes that I choose from when planning my meals. When I think of something new I want to try, I add it to the list. Once I come up with my menu plan, I make a shopping list of the ingredients I will need for each meal. Most of the time during the school year I only plan a dinner meal, and just make sure I have food in the house for quick breakfasts and lunches. Here is an example of a menu plan that I made a while back.

Thurs: Taco Soup and Breadsticks
Fri: BLTs on homemade bread
Sat: Chicken noodle stir fry
Sun: Pot Roast and potatoes and rolls and jello
Mon: Biscuit Pot Pie
Tues: Spaghetti and Breadsticks
Wed: Chicken enchiladas
Thurs: Clam Chowder
Fri: chilli dogs
Sat: chicken alfredo
Sun: Pork Chops
Mon: Broccoli Cheese soup and soup bowls.

Welcome!!

I wanted to start this blog since I have always struggled with meal planning. I figured other people may need as much help as me and I wanted to share my ideas and allow others to do the same. I try to come up with a weekly menu of some kind and I will share that as well as pictures and recipes. Tell your friends, and family about my blog. I would love to share with them too. Feel free to comment and share recipes and ideas and comment on the recipes and ideas I share. Until next time, thanks for reading.