I like to watch 19 kids and counting. A couple of episodes ago they were filming Josh and Anna and Anna made something she called Chicken-etti. I tried to pay attention to what she said was in it but of course I forgot. I knew it was something I could make and we would like. I went to their site the other night and they had it listed! Yay! So in case you would like to make it also I'll repost it here:
Recipe for The Famous "CHICKEN-ETTI"
1 can of Rotel
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup of Milk
1/2 block of Velveeta Cheese
1 package of Spaghetti Noodles
3 Chicken Breasts
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
Cook Chicken Breasts thoroughly, then slice into strips. Combine first four ingredients in bowl. Heat in microwave and stir until desired consistency is reached, milk may be more/less depending on whether you want sticky or runny sauce. Boil Spaghetti noodles and drain. Pour noodles in 9x13" pan, add cheese sauce and mix thoroughly. Top with Mozzarella cheese and Chicken Strips. Place in oven at 350 until cheese melts. Serve and Enjoy!!!
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Zucchini Bread
Remember when I froze zucchini and had no idea what I was doing?
I finally made some bread a while back. I made a recipe I found on another blog and it was wonderful! I left out the raisins. Yuck. :)
I used the zucchini that I froze w/ the juice and everything worked just fine. I did notice the lady in that blog skinned the zucchini before using it. I didn't. IDK if it makes much of a difference. I will probably skin them next time.
I finally made some bread a while back. I made a recipe I found on another blog and it was wonderful! I left out the raisins. Yuck. :)
I used the zucchini that I froze w/ the juice and everything worked just fine. I did notice the lady in that blog skinned the zucchini before using it. I didn't. IDK if it makes much of a difference. I will probably skin them next time.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Making baby food
Making baby food is really a simple task that can save you a lot of money in the long run.
A tub of baby food is about $.63/each and you go through one a day in the beginning, and 3 a day eventually. Lauren will be eating 1 a day. If you figure that I did a batch of sweet potatoes for $3.00 (lasts 2 weeks) and I would have paid about $8.75 for this in the store, I saved about $6. Once she is eating 3 times a day obviously this will save us $18 every couple of weeks... or about $40 a month!
**Side note - this is the first time I've ever boughten sweet potatoes or squash. I bought them regular price and have no idea if what I paid is a good deal for them or not.**
Another great thing about making your own baby food is that you can have a much greater variety. Think avacados, zucchini, mango, eggplant, etc.
So here we go:
Cut squash in half.
Scoop out seeds.
Handy Pampered Chef Core and More in action!
Scrub sweet potatoes, poke with fork and wrap in foil.
Stick in oven at 350. Walk away for about an hour.
Squash cut side down in with some water in the pan.
When you pull the sweet potatoes out of the oven, cut them open to cool so that you can pick them up and simply let the skins slide off. Make sure that you keep the foil under them as they are very sticky and I hear it takes a lot of work to get this off your pans.
I used an immersion blender first
and then blended to get that super thin runny consistency for baby's "1st" step foods.
Thin with water, breast milk or formula as needed.
Pour into ice cube trays.
Each cube is approximately 1 oz.
Freeze and then pop out of trays for easier storage in zip lock baggies!
I got 35 oz. from 3.5 sweet potatoes and 30 oz. from 2 butternut squash.
A great resource is WholesomeBabyFood.com.
A tub of baby food is about $.63/each and you go through one a day in the beginning, and 3 a day eventually. Lauren will be eating 1 a day. If you figure that I did a batch of sweet potatoes for $3.00 (lasts 2 weeks) and I would have paid about $8.75 for this in the store, I saved about $6. Once she is eating 3 times a day obviously this will save us $18 every couple of weeks... or about $40 a month!
**Side note - this is the first time I've ever boughten sweet potatoes or squash. I bought them regular price and have no idea if what I paid is a good deal for them or not.**
Another great thing about making your own baby food is that you can have a much greater variety. Think avacados, zucchini, mango, eggplant, etc.
So here we go:
Cut squash in half.
Scoop out seeds.
Handy Pampered Chef Core and More in action!
Scrub sweet potatoes, poke with fork and wrap in foil.
Stick in oven at 350. Walk away for about an hour.
Squash cut side down in with some water in the pan.
When you pull the sweet potatoes out of the oven, cut them open to cool so that you can pick them up and simply let the skins slide off. Make sure that you keep the foil under them as they are very sticky and I hear it takes a lot of work to get this off your pans.
I used an immersion blender first
and then blended to get that super thin runny consistency for baby's "1st" step foods.
Thin with water, breast milk or formula as needed.
Pour into ice cube trays.
Each cube is approximately 1 oz.
Freeze and then pop out of trays for easier storage in zip lock baggies!
I got 35 oz. from 3.5 sweet potatoes and 30 oz. from 2 butternut squash.
A great resource is WholesomeBabyFood.com.
Friday, October 30, 2009
MSPI Diet
After I posted last I talked to our pediatrician and she put Lauren on a stronger reflux medicine - Prevacid. She said that this new medicine could take 2 weeks to make a difference and to go ahead and get her started on that. She said that ideally we wouldn't want me to change my diet at the same time we are switching her medicine because we wouldn't know what made the difference if she got better but that if I felt the change was needed we could go ahead and do it and add in a little milk later to see if it bothers her. If so, we know she does have a milk allergy. Adam thought there was more wrong with her than just the reflux so on Thursday I went to the grocery store and started my new diet.
Here are some things that I've learned.
-Hy-Vee has dietitians on staff. They can help you shop the store at no cost. I called ahead and when I got there she had printed off a list of information for me including all the ingredients I had to watch for and some of the products in the store that I could have. She then took me around and pointed out some of those things and helped me read the labels. She was very helpful.
-Health food stores aren't just for people who eat all organically or are Vegans or stuff like that - they are really great for people with food allergies. Most stores have a "Health Mart" like Hy-Vee or an isle with heath foods in them.
-There are brands out there dedicated to helping people with food allergies.
-All labels are required to have allergy information on them. After all the ingredients it will say Contains: Wheat, Milk, Soy, etc. However, this is a fairly new law so something that has a really long shelf life may not say it on the packaging since it could have been manufactured before the law was passed.
-There are many different types of milk that aren't from animals. Rice milk, almond milk, coconut milk - to name a few.
-There are many crazy and unnecessary ingredients in many products once you start reading labels. I can't have caramel coloring. Who cares if your product is caramel colored? Just to make it more appetizing? IDK but I sure wish A-1 didn't put caramel coloring in.
-Many ingredients are greatly different in one product from one brand to another.
-It's crazy how much stuff milk is in - but yet there are still so many different foods you can have. You just have to find the brand w/o the milk in it!
-Many labels say natural flavorings. This is the bane of my existence. Most things probably won't have milk or soy in them but since you never know, you can't have anything that says natural flavorings. Could be butter flavoring. Could mean a presence of soy. So many things I want probably have no milk or soy in them but say natural flavorings so I can't have them! UGH. Just tell me what it is already.
-Some labels list all ingredients and they are all fine...but then at the end they say "May contain soy". What? Another UGH.
-I'm amazed at how little I miss the presence of cheese in some things. A taco w/o cheese really doesn't taste a ton different.
That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more to add later.
AND, I went to the Dr. today and my blood pressure was 118/63. Woo Hoo! And I didn't even take medicine today (and haven't been that great at it some days lately) so I don't have to worry about medicine anymore.
Here are some things that I've learned.
-Hy-Vee has dietitians on staff. They can help you shop the store at no cost. I called ahead and when I got there she had printed off a list of information for me including all the ingredients I had to watch for and some of the products in the store that I could have. She then took me around and pointed out some of those things and helped me read the labels. She was very helpful.
-Health food stores aren't just for people who eat all organically or are Vegans or stuff like that - they are really great for people with food allergies. Most stores have a "Health Mart" like Hy-Vee or an isle with heath foods in them.
-There are brands out there dedicated to helping people with food allergies.
-All labels are required to have allergy information on them. After all the ingredients it will say Contains: Wheat, Milk, Soy, etc. However, this is a fairly new law so something that has a really long shelf life may not say it on the packaging since it could have been manufactured before the law was passed.
-There are many different types of milk that aren't from animals. Rice milk, almond milk, coconut milk - to name a few.
-There are many crazy and unnecessary ingredients in many products once you start reading labels. I can't have caramel coloring. Who cares if your product is caramel colored? Just to make it more appetizing? IDK but I sure wish A-1 didn't put caramel coloring in.
-Many ingredients are greatly different in one product from one brand to another.
-It's crazy how much stuff milk is in - but yet there are still so many different foods you can have. You just have to find the brand w/o the milk in it!
-Many labels say natural flavorings. This is the bane of my existence. Most things probably won't have milk or soy in them but since you never know, you can't have anything that says natural flavorings. Could be butter flavoring. Could mean a presence of soy. So many things I want probably have no milk or soy in them but say natural flavorings so I can't have them! UGH. Just tell me what it is already.
-Some labels list all ingredients and they are all fine...but then at the end they say "May contain soy". What? Another UGH.
-I'm amazed at how little I miss the presence of cheese in some things. A taco w/o cheese really doesn't taste a ton different.
That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more to add later.
AND, I went to the Dr. today and my blood pressure was 118/63. Woo Hoo! And I didn't even take medicine today (and haven't been that great at it some days lately) so I don't have to worry about medicine anymore.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Quick and Easy Runzas
Something that has always been a great thing for my family to have on hand has been Runzas. Runzas are something that will probably not be liked by all and a lot of people have probably never even heard of them.
Wikipedia on Runzas:
A runza (also called a bierock, fleischkuche or Kraut Pirok) is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, pork, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings. They are baked in various shapes such as a half-moon, rectangle, round (bun), square, or triangle. In Nebraska, the runza is usually baked in a rectangular shape. The bierocks of Kansas, on the other hand, are generally baked in the shape of a bun.
Both the bierock and the runza sandwich have German-Russian roots going back to the 18th century. The term bierock comes from the Russian word pirogi or pirozhki and is the name for any food consisting of a filling stuffed into dough. The recipe was passed down from one generation to the next, and was brought to the Americas, particularly to Argentina and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, the U.S. states of North and South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska by the Volga Germans.
There is a chain restaurant called Runza that is only in Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. It's one of those places that you must visit if you come here and if you are from here and move away, you have to have when you come back.
So two weeks away from the arrival of our baby, of course I'd turn to Runzas as a freezer staple for quick and easy meals after the baby is here. Now, as I said - this is my quick and easy version. And of course this can mean that the taste can suffer slightly. They're still great but not quite as good as Grandma would have made them :)
Runzas
Package of Rhodes Dinner Rolls
4 lbs hamburger
27 oz can of kraut plus an extra regular sized can
2lbs cheddar cheese (you'll probably use a little less)
Minced Onion
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Seasoned Salt
Salt
Pepper
If you were going to make them the way grandma would have, you would use her Basic Roll Recipe and use American Cheese instead of cheddar. The Rhodes rolls are obviously much less time consuming. You will see I used white rolls here but they have a whole grain roll that is to die for and works great for this also (for some reason I just picked up white at the store this time). American cheese will melt better and be a better consistency for your rolls but most of us keep cheddar cheese on hand more often than American and it's also cheaper.
I also must say that I sell Pampered Chef and I use a lot of their products to make Runza's that I feel make things easier/faster.
I use the Pampered Chef Micro cooker to cook my hamburger. I have the small one so I do one lb at a time. I put it in the microwave for two minutes. Then put it into the micro cooker and cut it up a little. 2 more minutes in the microwave. Chop it up with the Mix n Chop. 2 more minutes in microwave. Chop.
It'll look like this at this point:
2 more minutes and your hamburger will be done.
After your hamburger is done, add the rest of the ingredients to taste.
Stir until the cheese is nice and melted.
For your rolls, you can either take them out of the freezer early and let them thaw until pliable or I have taken them straight from freezer and microwaved for 5 seconds on both sides to get them de-thawed to the pliable stage.
Put down on some flour so it doesn't stick to the counter.
Roll out. I use the Pampered Chef Bakers Roller. It's the perfect size. Make sure you roll it pretty thin. They tend to want to spring back and you won't fit much stuffing in.
Add your meat. I use the Pampered Chef Medium scoop and add two scoopfuls. Then begin to pull the sides up around the filling.
Pinch all the sides together.
Line 'em up...
...and stick them in the oven.
Cook at 350 until golden brown.
This can make 36 Runzas give or take depending on how much stuffing you put in each one.
Usually when making Runzas it's easy to make Pigs in a Blankets also. Use your rolls like you would for Runzas but put a hot dog in the roll and wrap it up. Bake. Super easy and great for the freezer also!
Wikipedia on Runzas:
A runza (also called a bierock, fleischkuche or Kraut Pirok) is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, pork, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings. They are baked in various shapes such as a half-moon, rectangle, round (bun), square, or triangle. In Nebraska, the runza is usually baked in a rectangular shape. The bierocks of Kansas, on the other hand, are generally baked in the shape of a bun.
Both the bierock and the runza sandwich have German-Russian roots going back to the 18th century. The term bierock comes from the Russian word pirogi or pirozhki and is the name for any food consisting of a filling stuffed into dough. The recipe was passed down from one generation to the next, and was brought to the Americas, particularly to Argentina and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, the U.S. states of North and South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska by the Volga Germans.
There is a chain restaurant called Runza that is only in Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. It's one of those places that you must visit if you come here and if you are from here and move away, you have to have when you come back.
So two weeks away from the arrival of our baby, of course I'd turn to Runzas as a freezer staple for quick and easy meals after the baby is here. Now, as I said - this is my quick and easy version. And of course this can mean that the taste can suffer slightly. They're still great but not quite as good as Grandma would have made them :)
Runzas
Package of Rhodes Dinner Rolls
4 lbs hamburger
27 oz can of kraut plus an extra regular sized can
2lbs cheddar cheese (you'll probably use a little less)
Minced Onion
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Seasoned Salt
Salt
Pepper
If you were going to make them the way grandma would have, you would use her Basic Roll Recipe and use American Cheese instead of cheddar. The Rhodes rolls are obviously much less time consuming. You will see I used white rolls here but they have a whole grain roll that is to die for and works great for this also (for some reason I just picked up white at the store this time). American cheese will melt better and be a better consistency for your rolls but most of us keep cheddar cheese on hand more often than American and it's also cheaper.
I also must say that I sell Pampered Chef and I use a lot of their products to make Runza's that I feel make things easier/faster.
I use the Pampered Chef Micro cooker to cook my hamburger. I have the small one so I do one lb at a time. I put it in the microwave for two minutes. Then put it into the micro cooker and cut it up a little. 2 more minutes in the microwave. Chop it up with the Mix n Chop. 2 more minutes in microwave. Chop.
It'll look like this at this point:
2 more minutes and your hamburger will be done.
After your hamburger is done, add the rest of the ingredients to taste.
Stir until the cheese is nice and melted.
For your rolls, you can either take them out of the freezer early and let them thaw until pliable or I have taken them straight from freezer and microwaved for 5 seconds on both sides to get them de-thawed to the pliable stage.
Put down on some flour so it doesn't stick to the counter.
Roll out. I use the Pampered Chef Bakers Roller. It's the perfect size. Make sure you roll it pretty thin. They tend to want to spring back and you won't fit much stuffing in.
Add your meat. I use the Pampered Chef Medium scoop and add two scoopfuls. Then begin to pull the sides up around the filling.
Pinch all the sides together.
Line 'em up...
...and stick them in the oven.
Cook at 350 until golden brown.
This can make 36 Runzas give or take depending on how much stuffing you put in each one.
Usually when making Runzas it's easy to make Pigs in a Blankets also. Use your rolls like you would for Runzas but put a hot dog in the roll and wrap it up. Bake. Super easy and great for the freezer also!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)