Corn Chowder

1/2 lb. bacon, cut up

1/2 c. diced onion

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

2 T. flour

3 c. milk (or if you want it soupier 4 cups is fine too)

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 can (3.75 oz) cream style corn

1 can (16 oz) tiny whole potatoes, drained and diced

Cook bacon in soup pot until crisp. Drain fat, reserving 3 T in pot. Set bacon aside.

Cook onion and celery in bacon fat over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.

Stir in pepper, corn and potatoes. Heat until hot. Stir in bacon. Enjoy!

This makes a great freezer meal too!

August's Menu

Here you go Lynne. I only planned three weeks of meals last month and I haven't done September yet, but here's what I have. Hope it gives you some inspiration.

M - Chicken Spaghetti

T - Chicken Sandwiches

W - Soup night. I have to confess that in an effort to save money on the grocery budget, soup night is often Ramen night. Drop in an egg/canned meat and add some frozen veggies and you've got an alright super cheap meal.

Th - Orange Chicken

F - Hamburgers

S - Potluck family picnic... I took Pasta Salad

Su - Mac n Cheese

M - Lasagna with salad

T - Leftovers

W - Creamy Ham n Mac

Th - Soup night

F - Tuna Casserole

S - Taquitos from freezer

Su - Mac n Cheese

M - Biscuits and Gravy

T -Chicken Enchiladas

W - Corn Chowder

Th - Soup Night

F - Pizza

S - Fish

Su - Fettuccine Alfredo

Kettle Corn

Another great recipe from Our Best Bites...I got this one out of their cookbook. :)

3 T canola or vegetable oil
1/3 C popcorn kernels
3 T granulated sugar
kosher salt

1. Place a large stock pot on the stove top. Set heat to medium-high. Add oil. While your oil is heating (it won’t take long), measure out your popcorn into a small bowl. Add sugar to the kernels. When it’s time to cook, everything moves very quickly, so it’s important to have it all ready to go.

Wait until you see your oil smoke. This is one little trick that a lot of people overlook, but it’s important. The smoke is very faint, but if you just stare at the pot (it helps to get down parallel to it), you’ll see little billows of smoke coming up. That’s your cue! Pour popcorn kernels and sugar into the pot.

Immediately stir using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, scraping sugar from bottom of pan. This step should only take about 10 seconds. Cover pot with lid. You will need to shake the pot with your hands and you’ll want to make sure the lid stays on, so I get a dish towel and drape it over the top.

Hold the pot by the handles in a way that you’re securing the lid on as well. Shake the pan side to side in all directions and up and down a few times. Do this every 20 seconds or so. It will keep the sugar from burning on the bottom and help the kernels to be evenly coated.

After a few minutes you should start hearing the pops. (If it doesn’t start popping after a few minutes, crack the lid to let some of the pressure out. Chances are when you put the lid back on, it will pop away). Continue the shaking every 20 second or so until you can tell almost everything is popped. Remove the lid and stir immediately.

Sprinkle Kosher salt to taste and then keep stirring. You can eat it warm right out of the pan (Disclaimer: caramelized sugar it HOT so don’t eat it right away.) or let it cool completely. It’s great either way!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadillas

Made these the other night and thought that, though you don't really need a recipe, it might just spark something on a night when you're stuck and don't know what to make.

1 pound of cooked chicken (though I used a Costco can of chicken)

1/2 package of bacon cooked to crispy

package of tortillas

1-2 cups of shredded cheese

2 tablespoons of ranch

Take a tortilla and put a layer of chicken on it. Crumble a strip of bacon over the chicken. Drip some ranch over it and put a layer of cheese. Top with another tortilla and either bake in oven, put in a skillet on the stove or on a greased grill rack.

Serve with lettuce, tomatoe, guacamole and salsa. Enjoy!

Other things I think are good with this...black beans and corn

Crock-Pot Chicken with Black Beans

I saw this on a blog this evening and thought it looked simple and yummy. Think I'll try it this week.

Ingredients:

4-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 (15 1/2 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz) can corn, drained
1 (15 oz) jar salsa, any kind
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

Direction:

Take 4-5 FROZEN boneless chicken breasts and put into crock pot. Add black beans, salsa and corn.

Keep in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. (My crockpot is always super hot, so I actually just put it on “Keep Warm” and leave the chicken in for 6-7 hours)

Add package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.

Dinner This Week

Since we're going to Idaho next week, my mission is to save as much grocery money as possible for gas/etc. and eat what's in the cupboards. So this week may be interesting...

Sun - Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches
Mon - Taco salad
Tues - Chicken enchiladas and refried beans (I found a recipe to make the beans in the crock pot)
Wed - Homemade chili (all they way from dried beans)
Thurs - Probably some kind of pasta
Fri - OG or RR (A girl can't cook on her birthday, right?)
Sat - Porcupine meatballs from the freezer

Next week we'll be having leftovers and it'll really start the mystery dinners....

Cashew Chicken

Courtesy of the lovely Brenda Milton

Marinate Chicken at least 30 minutes prior to cooking.
2 Chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/3c water
Mix the above ingredients, pour over chicken and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Served with rice - begin cooking rice while preparing

2 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
2 inches of ginger root - peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp dry white wine or cooking sherry
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 medium onion - chopped
1-2c carrots - chopped
1-2c celery - chopped
Handful of snow peas
1 can water chestnuts - sliced
1 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4c chicken broth or water
3 green onions - sliced
1/2c cashews
1c chow mein noodles - crispy

Put oil, salt and ginger root in a hot skillet or wok. Cook 2 minutes and remove ginger root. Drain chicken and add to skillet. Brown chicken, add sherry/wine, soy sauce and onion/ Stir fry 1 minute, add carrots and stir fry 1 minute, add celery and stir fry 1 minute, add snow peas and stir fry 1 minute, add 1/4c broth or water, cover, turn heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Add water chestnuts and then thicken with cornstarch and remaining broth or water. Put on a platter and top with green onions and cashews. Serve with rice and crispy chow mein noodles.

Serves 4

BBQ Pork-on-a-stick

Got this from my friend Katrina Stewart back in college. It stinks up the fridge, but is worth it! Feeds a crowd well ;)

Slice 8-10 lbs of pork butt into thin slices

Marinade overnight:

1 Tbs pepper

1 thinly sliced fresh lemon

3 Tbs. Worchestershire

3/4 c sugar

2 c soy sauce

5 cloves finely minced garlic

Grill on skewers. just before cooked, generously dab with BBQ sauce:

3/4 c ketchup

1 tsp worchestire

dash of tobasco

1 1/4c sugar

1/4 c melted butter

Stire over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved and sauce is well-blended.

Donut Muffins

These are my new favorite thing. Like a snickerdoodle all wrapped up in a muffin. I didn't have nutmeg so I sprinkled some cinnamon into the batter which tasted great. Also, maybe my muffin tins are small, but I made 12 instead of 10 easily. I think they'd be super fun as mini-muffins. Enjoy!

3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking power
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
Divide batter evenly into 10 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.
When muffins are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 muffins.

Taco Seasoning

I got this recipe from here. Another great help if you run out or if you're making a huge batch of taco meat. :)

1/4 cup chili powder

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Mix all the ingredients above in a small bowl. Keep fresh in an air tight container for up to 6 months.

Double or triple recipe as needed.

To use: substitute 2 rounded Tablespoons for 1 packet of taco seasoning.

**You can also kick up the heat a notch by adding in 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes!!**