Cacciatore Chicken

Cacciatore Chicken

While my husband is still out of town with his sick son, mom and I are left on the home front to wait on his return.  My stepson has started his chemo treatments and is feeling the effects of it.  If you find it within yourself, please say a prayer for him.

Tonight, as I continue to clean out our pantry, I made Chicken Cacciatore for dinner.  Mom wasn't sure about it but said it smelled good while it was slow cooking all day in the crockpot.  It was served with spaghetti noodles and Parmesan cheese. 

Everything in the recipe was already on hand, there was absolutely nothing that I needed to buy to make this.  I did finish off the chicken we had in the freezer, less one piece. We are nearing the end of this month and I am sad to say that I have not stuck to the menu as planned, but I have done very little shopping for groceries.  I did buy some milk, eggs, coffee creamer, yogurt, things like this that perish quickly.  I also bought another bag of frozen chicken breast to make sure that I had enough for all of the recipes and I still have not opened it.  I am beginning to edit my list of items on hand to reflect what has been used this past month and I will start planning next month's menu of dinners.  I don't plan for breakfast and lunches as mom and I are home most days and usually eat eggs and either leftovers or sandwiches.  So far I have a short list of items to purchase for next month to add to dishes that I want to make and only one dish is a repeat from one I made this month and that's because mom specifically asked for it.

Chicken Cacciatore

4-6 pieces of chicken
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp Oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil (or 1/8 cup dried basil)

On the plate:
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese
Pasta of your choice

I like to mix everything in the crockpot before placing in the chicken, then work the chicken pieces into the tomato mixture making sure to cover each piece with the sauce.  Cook it on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 

Serves 4. 

I did not shred the chicken until it was on my plate, however, if you are trying to stretch this out a bit further, shred the chicken before serving and mix everything one last time before serving.

Taco and Rice

Taco and Rice

Saturday night I made tacos for dinner and they just didn't seem to be 'enough' so I tweaked them up a bit to stretch it out some and make it a more filling meal.

It is currently just mom and I as my husband is still overseas with his son as he starts his treatments for leukemia.  I wish that I had more updated info to share but so far he's only had one treatment because he's been so sick.

We served this with some tortilla chips and a Colby Jack shredded cheese, I added some sliced jalapeno's to mine for some extra spice.

Taco and Rice

1 lb ground beef
1 pkt taco seasoning (I used mild because mom can't handle the heat)
1 cup of water
1 can of refried beans (I use vegetarian)
1 jar of salsa (I used diced tomato with chili)

Brown the ground beef and drain, mic in the taco seasoning and water stirring to mix well, then add in the salsa and refried beans.  Allow to simmer for 15 minutes to absorb all the flavors, serve with tortilla and cheese.

I added 1 extra cup of water and a cup of Instant Rice to stretch the meal a bit further and allow it to be eaten with or without the tortilla chips and still be filling.

Green Bean Okazu

Green Bean Okazu

A friend of mine told me about this dish that she likes called Green Bean Okazu.  it sounded interesting but I was skeptical because of the sugar in it. I just couldn't fathom sugar with green beans and beef tasting good.  Anyways, about a month later I decided to try it and put it on my menu.  Boy was I surprised when it tasted pretty good (with the help of a little extra soy sauce).  Even my mom liked it.

Green Bean Okazu

It's great served over rice, or alone.
Makes 4 servings.

1 pound ground beef
2 cans of green beans (I used French Style)
1 cup water or beef broth (I used broth)
1/4 cup white sugar (or 1/4 cup Splenda)
1/4 cup soy sauce (I preferred 1/2 cup)
5 chopped green onions, optional
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered, optional
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, optional

Directions

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly brown; drain excess fat.

Stir in green beans and about 1 cup water or broth. Cover, and cook until beans are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Season with sugar and soy sauce, add green onions, tomatoes and sesame oil, if using and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.

As you can tell, I added rice with mine to make it stretch a little further.  I used 1 Cup of Instant Rice and used 2 cups of broth instead of one, adding them together.  I did not have the optional ingredients, so they were not used.

Enjoy!
 

Life Changes and Goulash

Life Changes and Goulash

As usual life gets in the way and messes up the best laid plans.  I usually don't make plans because they never work out as expected.  On Thursday, January 16, I had a few doctors appointments to attend to myself and my husband arranged to take his day off to travel to them with me.  While in the middle of my first appointment he started receiving messages from his brother letting him know that his oldest son (12) was very ill and had already been in the hospital for a week (if not a few days longer). this upset my husband terribly, as any could imagine, and any plans that we had after my second appointment went out the window.

Anyways, the weekend flew by in a daze of him working and planning and preparing for an emergency flight over seas to be with his son.  He left out on Monday morning en-route to the airport via bus and arrived in his homeland Tuesday evening, letting me know that he was safely there on Wednesday after he was able to acquire a phone card.  His son is being tested for Leukemia and was being moved to another area to prepare for surgery on Thursday.  With the language barrier, translating Arabic to English, medical terms, is hard on my husband as he wants to focus on being there for his son.  So for a while it will just be my mom and I while he remains overseas with his son to see what the next step in his treatment will be.  Please, if you are a praying person, pray for them during this time of need.

On to the Goulash.  On Saturday, I prepared a delicious goulash since we had not stuck to our menu for the week and had very little leftovers from the Cilantro Lime Chicken, which hubby ate for lunch  before work on Sunday.  This was a very simple recipe.  I used 2 cans of mixed vegetables-drained, 2 cans of tomato soup, a chopped onion, a mix of seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, water and ground beef.

It was that simple! I served it over some mashed potatoes and called it a night.  Everyone loved it, even my husband, who finished it off on Monday morning for breakfast.

Recipe

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cans of vegetables,drained
• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
• 1 cup water
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 instant mashed potatoes

Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add mixed vegetables, soup, water, onion, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Prepare the instant potatoes per package instructions and serve.

 

Life Happens and Crockpot Cilantro Lime Chicken

Life Happens!

Don't you just love it when life happens and plans fall apart?  This week things happened to change our plans.  Mom had a medical procedure that for 2 days she couldn't eat, so this changed our menu for the beginning of the week, the day of her procedure the menu was also changed because the plan was to have white chicken chili and I just couldn't see her first meal after a clear liquid diet being chili of any kind. so we had a pasta that had been in the freezer.  Then on Thursday I had a couple of visits with doctors myself, one an hour away, so my husband and I ate out on the way home, since dinner was to be leftover white chicken chili.

God willing next week we can use this weeks menu and just make everything that had been planned for this week, with the exception of the Cilantro Lime Chicken, which I will make for dinner tonight, which is very simple because I have this prepared in the freezer ready to go.

I adapted this recipe from Jamerrill Stewart at Large Family Table to feed 2 people.  I will serve this tonight with some minute rice.

Ingredients

You will need the following total ingredients to make two large family freezer meals:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup lime juice
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
salt/pepper as desired

If preparing ahead of time as a freezer meal place everything into a quart or gallon sized freezer bag. Since I prepared this as a freezer meal for 2, the gallon sized was much larger than needed.

Set out the night before to defrost in the refrigerator.

Cook in the crockpot for 4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low.

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and Cakes

On Wednesday we baked cake, lots and lots of cake!  January 9th is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.  My family and I like to take goodies around to the local law enforcement in memory of my stepdad Deputy Clifford E. Dicker who was killed in 1994 by a 15 year old boy.

We usually take cookies and/or fudge of various types and deliver them to the surrounding offices.

Fudge 

Cookies

This year, we decided to take them cakes instead.  I found a wonderful recipe for a fruit bread that we turned into a delicious applesauce spice cake for 9 cakes and tweaked it to make 3 more with mandarin oranges, pineapple and coconut.

To make the applesauce spice cakes we followed her recipe exactly using applesauce and then added in 5 tsp of pumpkin spice, I also added in some cranberries for 3 cakes and English walnuts to all of them.

For the Mandarin/Pineapple/Coconut Cakes we followed the recipe exactly but changed out the 5 cups of applesauce to a mixture of 5 cups of canned mandarin oranges and pineapple that had been drained and pulsed in the food processor, then added in a bag of unsweetened coconut.  The only thing I think I would do differently with this cake would be to do the oranges and pineapple earlier and allow it to drain after pulsing it to get out some more of the liquid and it was a very heavy cake, but it sure was delicious.

We delivered to a total of 8 local law enforcement offices that included state, county and town offices and were thanked by each one of them for remembering them on this day of appreciation.

Crockpot Chili Beans and Omelette with Cheese

Chili Beans and Omelette with Cheese

On Day 2 of my Pantry Challenge I made a Crockpot full of Chili Beans for dinner.  Nothing special, just used the leftover pinto beans from day 1 along with 2 cans of kidney beans (thought I had a bag of dried beans but didn't) 1 can of chili hot beans, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste along with a packet of chili seasoning mix. We browned up 1 pound of ground beef and put it in, turned it on high and let if cook for 4 hours, served it with some shredded cheese we had on hand and a sleeve of crackers.

On Day 3 We had leftover chili beans served over a cheese omelette and a side of buttered toast.  My mom was very skeptical of trying this because she loves omelettes but had never had one smothered in chili.  She loved it!  My husband had never tried chili beans before and didn't want to try them last night but wasn't given much choice when his plate was presented to him already covered with the chili.  He ate it and never complained, even eating the chili beans that had fallen off the omelette once it was finished.

As you can tell, I don't skimp on portion sizes.  I'm used to feeding 2 boys and a picky girl, but they could never tell anyone that they were hungry because they weren't offered enough to eat.

I was out from home of Day 4, so I didn't prepare dinner, we instead had burgers from Wendy's, I will work those dinners in on a future night or menu.  Days 5/6 were left over days so we finished off the chili beans by having the omelette again (see, I told you they liked it) and then just a bowl of chili beans with cheese.

Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans

Hi everyone, here is my recipe for the Pinto Beans made in the Pressure Cooker.  These are so good and just the right texture for us.

First off, look over your beans and remove any broken or discolored ones.

 

 

Then wash and place in the pressure cooker
 along with 5 1/2-6 cups of water or broth.  I used some homemade turkey broth that I made and froze.

Place the lid on the pressure cooker, making sure to lock it and turn the knob to pressure, not steam or venting.

Set the pressure cooker to high pressure, the time to 45 minutes and press start.

Allow to release the steam naturally before removing the lid.  I served ours with cornbread but you can serve with any other side of your choice.

Enjoy your beans!

Electric Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans

1 lb of dried pinto beans

5 1/2 cups of water or broth

Salt and pepper to taste

high pressure for 45 minutes, making sure it is set to pressure, allow a natural release.

Enjoy!

My Pantry Challenge Menu

Hi everyone, as part of my Pantry Challenge, this is the menu that I came up with to use up what I have on hand.  I had to make a change already due to unforeseen circumstances on Monday, so I am making the Pinto Beans tonight and will push the fried rice out to another day, maybe one day on a weekend.

I will try, as time permits, to make a post each evening showing what I made, with a recipe.  I also want to let you all know that what we do not eat, I plan to put in ziploc bags or containers and freeze to make an easy meal in the future.

Crock Potting Made Simple: Pantry Challenge

Join me as I clean out the Pantry in a Pantry Challenge!



Crock Potting Made Simple: Hi everyone,  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I...: Hi everyone,  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am presently doing a Pantry Challenge to use up what's on hand so nothing goes to was...

What's In My Pantry for the Pantry Challenge

Hi everyone,  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am presently doing a Pantry Challenge to use up what's on hand so nothing goes to waste.  I welcome you to join me in this if you want, this is a good way to keep your food rotated so nothing goes out of date.  There's nothing worse than making a pot of Pinto Beans and grabbing the cornmeal out to make some cornbread and finding out after you've made your bowl that it's gone bad.

I'm going to embarrass myself by publishing my list of what's on hand, it's a very long list and I have far more of some things than I should but you know how it goes, things get moved, pushed back on the shelf or put in a place where it's normally not at so you miss it and buy more.

Here goes nothing!

Fridge Freezer downstairs
2 pk homemade turkey broth
2 pk Turkey Bacon
3 pk of sandwich meat
1 2lb pk ground beef
1 pk Halal cube steak
2 pk cube steak
1 pk steak-3 steaks
1 pk molokia
4 pk stew beef
1 container Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
1 pk Falafel

Deep Freezer downstairs
4 bags of walnuts
2 bags Navy Beans-dried
1 bag Pinto Beans-dried
1 bag Yellow Split Peas-dried
1 Sirloin
1 Chicken Breast
3 bags Broccoli
10 1lb rolls of Halal Ground Beef
3 Apple Spice Cakes
4 Bags of Bagels
2 bags of Bread rolls
2 pks California Medley Veg
1 pk TatorTots
2 pk Pita Bread
2 pk Tortilla
1 Turkey Breast
1 pk diced pepper
1 pk each Hamburger and Hot dog Buns
8 Chocolate Easter Bunny's
1 pk Hamburger steak 3 pc
5 thin Steaks
1 pk Waffle Fries
2 pk Yellow Squash

Kitchen Freezer
1 roll Halal Ground Beef
1 Beef Hot dog
1 pc Broccoli/Cheese Stuffed Chicken
2 pk Chicken Kabob-4 Kabob's
1 pk Toaster Strudel-4 Strudel's
1 pk Steamed Corn
1 bowl Maashy
2 pk Cilantro Lime Chicken-freezer meals
1 California Medley
1 Cauliflower Riced
1 ziploc with 3 servings of ziti
1 Sandwich Thin
1 whole Chicken
4 pc Chicken Breast
1/4 bag Pizza Rolls-Cheese
1/4 bag Chicken Nuggets
1/2 pk Salad Shrimp
Box Mozzarella Sticks
6 Hamburger Patties
1/4 bag Tatortots
1 Chimichanga
1 bag Meatballs-Vegan
2 pks Sugar Cookies
2lb Deer Meat Ground~~Anyone want this?
1 pk each Hamburger and Hot dog Buns
1/8 bag Cranberries
1 Browned Stew Beef
1 pk Pie Crust-2 crusts
1 bag Chicken Fajita
1 bag Roasting Veg
1 Roasted Turkey Breast
1 pk Cheese Ravioli
3/4 Garlic Bread

Phew, and that's just in the freezers!

Cabinets-this list is extensive because it's in several different places but I will try to condense it down as much as possible.

5 jars Prego Cheese Sauce
3 Pasta Sauce
2 Veg Broth
1 Chicken Broth
1 Chicken Broth-can
2 Enchilada Sauce
1 Sloppy Joe
4 Water Chestnut
1 Apple butter-homemade
3 Sugar Free Jelly
1 Frenches Fried Onions
2 Mustard
1 Spicy Mustard
8 Tuna
3 Chicken
1 Hotdog Chili
5 Candy Cane-full boxes
1 Cheddar Cheese
1 Spaghetti o's
1 Ravioli
1 Bisquick
2 boxes and 1 sleeve crackers
1/4 box Quick Grits
2 Boxes Confectioners Sugar
1 1/2 box Bread Crumbs
2 Brownie Mix
12 Muffin Mixes
4 Pks Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
1 Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
1 Corn Bread Mix

Fruit
2 Pineapple
4 Mandarin Orange
2 Peach Cups
1 Fruit Cocktail
1 bag Coconut

Vegetables
8 Corn
6 Green Bean
2 Peas
2 Carrots
2 Mixed Veg
2 Creamed Corn
6 Potato
1 Sauerkraut
1 Mushroom
1 Beets
1 Spinach
4 1/2 instant potato-Butter
1 Instant Potato-Roasted Garlic
1 Okra with Tomato
1 Au gratin Potato

Soups
2 Tomato
5 Chicken Noodle
6 Cream of Onion
5 Cream of Chicken
1 French Onion
1 Butternut Squash
1 Potato Soup Mix

Tomato
8 Diced
4 Paste
2 Sauce
1 Crushed
1 Mexican Salsa tomato Sauce

Beans
3 Pinto
6 Kidney
1 Chili
1 Butter
1 Black
2 Fava
3 Refried
1 Chili Fixin's
1 Great Northern Bean-Dried
1 Pinto Bean-Dried
1 Black Bean-Dried

Milk
1 Evaporated
3 Condensed

Dinner Kits
1 Chicken and Biscuits
1Chicken Helper
1 Hamburger Helper
1 Chili
1 Chicken and Rice
3 Ramen
1 Ramen Lunch

Pasta/Rice
10 Macaroni and Cheese
1 Rotini
4 Boxes Spaghetti
1 Bowtie
1/2 Elbow
3 Bags Rice
2 1/2 Boxes Instant Rice
1 Chicken and Ric
2 Creamy Garlic Shells
1 Chicken Pasta
Uncle Bens Instant Rice-Chicken

Seasoning Mix
1 Ranch
3 chili
5 Taco
3 Boxes, 1 Pk Onion Soup
1 Meatloaf
1 Knorr Veg

Welcome back

Hi everyone.  It's been a while since I last posted, i'm so sorry about that.  I had some life changes going on, moving, traveling, moving again, children moving out/in/out again, my father's passing, traveling again, being homeless and finally getting a home and remodeling.  Phew, that's a lot, but i'm back now and hoping to get this going again.

To update everyone on a major change, my hubby is now in the States with me and we are almost ready to move into our newly remodeled home.  It's a single wide, mobile home, but it's been remodeled to update it with new flooring, new heat and a new layout.  Best of all, it was given to us.  We are hoping to get the last of the flooring put down, paint the walls and get moved in by the end of the January.

We are now empty-nesters, our oldest children, ages 27, 24 and 24, have all been on their own for almost 2 years now and our other children, ages 13,12 and 5, live with their mother in Egypt. I am thankful that none of our children were caught up in all of the drama involved with traveling and coming back homeless.

I will hopefully get back on track with crock potting, pressure cooking and just cooking in general once we are settled in and I have my own kitchen to work with.  For now we are living with my mom and presently doing a pantry clean out to use up what's on hand so that nothing goes to waste.  I will make a post about that shortly.

Happy cooking everyone!

Jennifer

When hubby made it to America!