Baked Potato Soup and Grilled Cheese

What's on the menu tonight?  It was going to be leftover Hideaway Pizza that we ordered WAY too much of last night....but then Kenwood and I ate it for lunch instead :)  Since I have a sick little boy today, my grocery shopping will have to get done tonight when Dillon gets home from work to watch my munchkin! So, an easy dinner tonight is definitely what needs to happen!  I got this Baked Potato Soup recipe from one of the mom's in my Bible Study--Thanks Alli Black!  I am soooo looking forward to this comfort food tonight--its rainy and cold out!  We'll be having this along side some good 'ol classic grilled cheeses :)

- 1 bag Ore Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes (Regular Flavor- Cut Russet Potatoes--In freezer section near fries)

- 1/4 cup real bacon bits or crumbled bacon (I am going to use microwave bacon...not feeling very "Martha Stewart" tonight)

- 2 to 3 cups milk (more or less milk depending on how thick or thin you like it)

- 3 tablespoons light butter or margerine

- Shredded cheese

- sliced green onions (about 5) --I'll also be leaving these out due to a few "no onions" tastebuds in my house

- salt and pepper

1. Cook potatoes for 10 minutes in microwave as directed on bag

2. Dump cooked potatoes into a large bowl and add bacon bits, milk and butter, salt and pepper to taste. Mash with a potato masher or fork and stir thoroughly. 

3. Cook another 3-4 minutes in microwave adding more milk if necessary to thin out soup, stirring when necessary.

4. Top with shredded cheese and green onions. (a little sour cream is good too)

Adventures in Cooking: Pork Chops and Scalloped Potatoes

Well, hello there.  It's been awhile since I've talked to you!  As you all know, my adventures in cooking have begun.  It was always a little hard for me to believe that cooking at home was actually cheaper than eating out.  I mean, you have to buy ALL the ingredients for every single meal.  However, I have been pleasantly surprised.  After 3 weeks of cooking on a regular basis (at least 4-5 nights a week), my grocery bill was literally cut in half for the week.  Reason being, now that I have most of the mundane ingredients for cooking in general, I didn't have to buy seasoning, spices, oil, etc.  And this family of 3 literally has good food for every meal for the next week for under $50!!! YAHHOOOOOO Here is a VERY easy recipe I tried on Monday.  It was delicious!

Pork Chops & Scalloped Potatoes:

2 Pork Chops
2 Potatoes
2 cups Milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese

PreHeat oven to 350 degrees. Season pork chops with salt & pepper as desired.  I used Lawry's Salt and Pepper generously coating the chops.  Cut potatoes in slices and layer on the bottom of a casserole dish, then pour in milk over potatoes, then cover with shredded cheese.  Lay pork chops on top of potato/milk/cheese mixture and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

After baking, BROIL on HI for 3 minutes, flip the chop, and BROIL on HI for 3 more minutes. Pork chops should be cooked to an internal temperature of 155 degrees.

YUMMY!!!

Cooking Adventures

Something about my new kitchen has made cooking a breeze.  Yes, cooking, which I've never really had a knack for and quite frankly never really liked at all.  It's amazing to me the blissfulness of having a GAS stove.  I've always heard how wonderful it was, but since I was obviously never a "cook" persay, I really didn't give a hoot. Though I still won't deem myself a "cook" for a quite awhile, I will say that having a gas stove is one of the luxuries in life that I will never go without from this point on.  Here is a sneak peek at my little helper:

Kenwood has also been a big helper in this "cooking" mama learning process.....he completely UN-organized my spice rack the other night, but hey, it kept him busy for a good 20 minutes.  Un-organize away my little angel :)

What's on the menu tonight?  Enchilada's! Yummy.  This is a recipe from Dillon's mom, it's one of his favorites.

Enchilada Sauce:

1 8oz can tomato sauce
1/4 can water
4 T vinegar
8T sugar

Heat on stove until desired temperature is reached.

Enchiladas:

12 Corn Tortillas
1 LB Ground Beef
1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook beef on stove until brown.  Spoon into corn tortilla and add cheese.  Roll tortilla and place into casserole dish.  Continue process until all are rolled and ready.

Place casserole dish in oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and tortillas are golden.

Top with Enchilada Sauce to your preference. -- I serve my sauce on the side because some people want ALOT and some people want not so much.

Easy Breezy Cheeze-It Chicken

One of the major changes we knew we would encounter when we moved was the convenience of all the fast food joints around us.  Thankfully, it is a change that will be for the better!  With that said, I'd mentioned earlier that I was going to have to start cooking.  So, tonight is the first night we will have our first home cooked meal in our new house! What's on the menu? Something easy of course!!!!


Cheeze-It Chicken

Chicken breast, any size, skinned (as much as desired)
butter, melted
1 box of Cheez It crackers

Salt the desired number of pieces of chicken and leave overnight, (makes chicken tender). Melt butter and finely crush the crackers. Dip pieces in melted butter and then roll the pieces in the crushed crackers. Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

We will be serving the Chicken with:

Loaded Baked Potatoes

Steamed Asparagus 

What a wonderful little holiday with my family! We went to the mall today for lunch, got Kenwood some new shoes for school, and got Dillon an extremely awesome "lake trash" swim suit--think neon yellow and zebra print. I am so lucky to have a husband that is not "too cool" to do fun stuff like wear crazy swim suits :)

We then proceeded to our "crib scouting" for Olivia. Leave it to us to fall in love with a set that we can't live without! We'll likely get it for her, but we'll be waiting until we move (and make sure she's still a girl at the next ultrasound!!! Ahhhhhhh)

We are gearing up to watch the Boise State v Virginia Tech game tonight. We should be nice and stuffed for some serious tv watching! What's on the menu tonight?

1) 2 filets grilled by my dearest husband. Marinated in some yummy Daddy Hinkles!
2) baked potatoes
3) corn on the cob, fresh from the shuck
4) fresh French bread loaded with butter (and parmesan cheese on my pieces!)

Bring on the pregnancy weight-I'm seriously eating like a mad woman these days. Slow 'er down Cara!