Yummy Rolls

I borrowed this recipe from my mom, who got it from somebody else, who apparently also got it from somebody else. So I'm not sure where exactly it orginated. But here you go, they are pretty yummy rolls.

2 Yeast Cakes or 4 Teaspoons Yeast
2 Cups Luke Warm Water
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Sugar
6 Beaten Eggs
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
8 Cups Flour

Mix yeast with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of luke warm water. Add melted butter, remaining sugar and beaten eggs. Mix well. Sift in flour and salt. Mix well. let rise at least 2 hours. Stir down and put in fridge overnight.

Separate dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each ball of dough into a large circle. Brush with butter and cut like a pie into 16 pieces. Roll up starting with wide end. Place on buttered cookie sheet, making sure the tail end is next to the pan. let rise 4-5 hours and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Here is what mine looked like on the pans. I did rolls because of what we were using them for.





This is what they looked like after I baked them all.






I ran out of pans because I didn't think I was going to need all the dough and then we did. Enjoy. They are pretty tasty!

Frozen Potatoes

I don't have any pictures, but I've been experimenting with an idea for awhile. I absolutely DETEST throwing potatoes away because I am always using them and I always seem to be throwing them away just to need them the next day. I also hate, almost as badly, paying $1.99 for a 5 lb bag of potatoes when the 10 lb bags are on sale for $1.99. So, I decided that I could peel, dice, and freeze potatoes to be used later. My first experiment turned out okay, but the potatoes started browning before they completely froze and tasted a little funny. The shredded potatoes were nearly a disaster because they had all browned before the freezer got to them. I googled for a solution, and came up with this. I peeled them, diced them or put them through the Salad Shooter, then dunked them in a bowl of cool water mixed with a spoonful of cream of tarter. It worked like a charm! The potatoes are not brown at all, and taste like I just diced them. The shredded ones look pretty too, but we haven't eaten any of those yet. So now I buy the biggest bag of potatoes that are on sale, quart sized bags from Costco, then spend an hour or so freezing potatoes and don't have to worry about it for a few weeks. We have a lot of roasts, so I left some of the potatoes in bigger chunks and just drop a frozen bag in with a frozen roast and dinner is done by the time I get home. Ta-da!

Breakfast on the Run Idea

Libbi has decided that breakfast at school is not what she wants. Usually she compromises for cereal. Occasionally she can talk her dad into breakfast at McDonalds. Well, since it's becoming more frequent, as well as expensive, I decided it couldn't be that hard to make. So yesterday we went on an adventure to make our own fruit and yogurt parfaits.

This is what we came home with:



All Natural Vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, oat and honey granola cereal, frozen raspberries, frozen blackberries and disposable cups with lids. I also got some snack size plastic baggies for granola and berries. This morning we took the lids off of our yogurt cups and the frozen berries had defrosted and we had runny pink yogurt juice. So tonight when we put our yogurt in our cups, we put a small amount of berries in another baggie that we can add in the morning. The thing I liked about this is that Libbi doesn't usually eat all of her yogurt, so this way I can give her exactly what she's going to eat without wasting a whole cup of yogurt. Try it...maybe it will work for you.

Chicken Taco Rice

1 cut up chicken breast or some chicken fillets
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 to 1 package taco seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1 medium green pepper diced
1 can corn-drained
1 cup minute rice

Sour cream
grated cheese
frito or tortilla chips

Makes 4 adult servings

Cut chicken up and cook in a little oil til browned. Add taco seasoning, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add pepper and corn. Return to a full boil for about 2 minutes. Add rice and remove from heat, let sit 5-10 minutes then fluff with fork.
Add as much cheese and sour cream as you like and eat with chips.

We love this dish without sour cream and only 1/2 package of seasoning but if you like it spicier use more seasoning.

Chili Cheese Casserole

A bag of Tortilla Chips, crushed
2 cans of your favorite Chili
2 cups of grated Cheese
1 can of sliced olives (optional)

Start by putting a layer of crushed chips on the bottom of your casserole dish (We save the crumbs and small chips from previous bags). Then, a few spoonfuls of chili topped with cheese and olives. Continue layering with rest of ingredients. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until chili is bubbling and cheese is melted.

My kids favorite! Super easy and great for using up those small corn chips in the bottom of the bag no one will eat cause they can't hold the salsa! Also, a great way to dress up chili.

Steak Stir Fry

I'm always looking for things to make cubed steak into. I don't particularly like cubed steak, I think it's tough and there's not a lot of things to do with it. Since we have Daddy's cows we have a lot of it though, so I've been experimenting. Here's one that turned out really well:

Cubed Steak (ours comes in packages of four)
Olive Oil
Assorted vegetables (I bought some "stir fry" veggies at Costco and don't particularly like them, fresh is better but the frozen are okay) I usually use a red pepper, pea pods, onion, broccoli, carrots, and water chesnuts
Season All for the steak
Kikkoman Stir Fry sauce (I used to make my own, this is better and easier)
Rice

Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of a wok and heat on medium. Cut the steak into thin strips and add to the oil. Let it cook while you cut up the veggies, stirring every once in awhile so it doesn't burn. Cook steak until it's no longer pink, you can drain some of the juice off of it if you want. I did and I probably drained more than I should have. Add the vegetables and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. When you think it's done add the sauce and let it simmer for a little while. The sauce is really strong, I thought it was too strong but Nancy and Dennis liked it. Probably wouldn't have been as strong if I hadn't drained off all the juice from the meat. Serve over rice. I forgot to make the rice when we had it, so we just ate the meat and veggies, but it turned out okay.

Asian Grilled Chicken Salad

I know, this is going to sound like the dumbest thing....it's not really a recipe, but it was the perfect light summer dinner!

What you will need:

3-4 Large Chicken Breast or 6-7 Frozen Chicken Tenders
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Cup Coke or Sprite, but I like Coke better.
1 teaspoon of Lime Juice, but this is optional.

Let Chicken marinate in the soy sauce and coke at least over night. The longer the better. Before putting the chicken breast on the grill, cut into strips so they cook a little faster. Once they are finished cooking, cut into bite size pieces.

We bought an Asian Salad Mix that had crunchy noodles, sliced almonds and dried pineapple chunks. I also bought a bottle of the Asian Salad dressing from Kraft and a can of mandarian oranges.

Mix it all together and there you have an Asian Chicken Salad. I know it sounds so simple and it is, but this blog is about dinner ideas as much as sharing recipes and that one was perfect for the hot weather we had been having. Since Kyle isn't a chicken guy, he opted for steak...I don't know why?!

The good thing about this recipe for chicken is that it's good for warm chicken or cold chicken leftovers. We have also paired this type of chicken with rice and that works also. We have tried to "grill" this chicken on our George Foreman grill and it works, but it's not as tasty as if you grill it on an actual grill.

Chicken and Rice

This recipe is super easy and super good! It can make a little or a lot.

Ingredients:

Any chicken pieces with skin still on- I like to use legs and thighs

*1 or 2 cups uncooked rice

*1 or 2 cans cream chicken soup

*1 or 2 cans water

1 package onion soup mix

*For smaller amounts use 1 or each for more use 2 or each, just make sure to use even amounts, don't use 1 can water but 2 cups rice.

Mix soup, water, and soup mix in a deep baking pan. Add rice and then add chicken. Cover with Foil and bake as little or long as you want.

At 350 bake 1-2 hrs

At 325 bake 1 1/2 to 2 hrs

At 300 bake 2-3 hrs

At 250 bake 3-4 hrs

Sweet and Sour Chicken

A long time ago, I was reading my cousin Melissa's blog and she had posted a recipe for sweet and sour chicken. So I tried it and it's yummy. We made it for dinner last night.


So Here's the Recipe:
3-4 Chicken Breasts, I like to cut mine while they are still frozen into chunks and let them soak in 1 cup of soy sauce and 1 cup of coke for a couple of hours.
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Red Onion
1 can of Pineapple Chunks
Chopped up Carrots....as many as your family likes
Snow Peas.....as many as your family likes

I like to cook my chicken seperately from the veggies, because veggies cook more quickly. I always drain the excess fluid off the chicken and then cook veggies in the same pan.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Pineapple Juice
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup White Vinegar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3 TB Cornstarch
2 TB Soy Sauce

Drain Pineapple juice into pan, add ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch. Stir sauce with a wire whisk until it is smooth and clear when you pull the whisk up.

Once your sauce is clear and think and smooth, add sauce in small amounts to the veggies, pineapple chunks and chicken, until everything is evenly coated with sauce. You can serve over rice or oriental noodles.

Chicken Enchilada's

This recipe is borrowed from my roommate Ashley. I hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing it but its very easy and a favorite at our house. One day I will make them and put the picture up. Until then, just trust me these are yummy!

3-4 Chicken Breasts, cooked. We like ours in the crock pot for a couple of hours with about a cup of water and some southwest fajita seasoning. Shred or cube cooked chicken.
12 Flour Tortilla's

In a Large Sauce Pan combine:

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of Milk as directed by chicken soup directions
1 Regular 8 oz container of Sour Cream
1 can Green Chilies
1 cup+ Cheese, I love a mix of sharp and mild chedder and lots of it.
Cubed or Shredded Chicken

In a Cassorole Baking Dish:

Place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish so the enchilada's don't stick to the bottom. In a tortilla, place about 2 Large Tablespoons of sauce evenly and roll up. Repeat until the dish is full. Poor sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas and top with lots of cheese. I can usually get two baking pans out of one pan of sauce.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Little Pizzas

Use canned biscuits for dough. Squish the biscuits as flat as you would like them and place on a cookie sheet. Spread with pizza sauce and toppings. Bake according to biscuit directions. So easy Bailey makes her own now!

Creamy Italian Chicken

This was easy:
4 Large Chicken Breast
1 Bottle of Italian Dressing
1 8 oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
Noodles or rice

Place chicken breasts in crock pot with italian dressing for 5 hours on low or 3 hours on high. Once cooked, remove chicken and shred. Before adding chicken back into the crock pot, add cream of chicken soup and package of cream cheese and mix until smooth. Add Chicken back into the mix and let it cook for about another hour. We put ours over bowtie or butterfly (as Libbi calls them) noodles, but you could put it over rice also. It's super yummy!

Cookie Dough Brownies

Jen and I used to make the cookie dough part of these when we were in college as the perfect movie snack.



I know there is an actual recipe for the brownies, but I made a box of brownies making them cakelike instead of fudge like.

Topping:

1/2 cup Butter
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup White Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Milk
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1 cup flour
Chocolate Chips

Cream butter and suggars, beat milk and vanilla in. Add flour until dough like. Fold in chocolate chips.

Add topping to the top of cool brownies. Refidgerate until served.

Enjoy!

The Begining

So.....here it is, our blog to share recipes and fun parenting tips. We wanted a place to quickly reference and have a couple of new ideas for dinner. We will try to keep these quick and easy and tailored to small kids. We are all moms of kids under 5 who are picky eaters. If you have a recipe to share, leave us a comment and we'll add it in. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!