Chicken/Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

Ok so this post is REALLY old but the recipe was so good that I just had to publish it

Bren and I aren't huge meatloaf fans but when I saw this recipe I thought hey I'll give it a try. The picture made it look really good too, so that helps :)


BEST MEATLOAF EVER! Let me tell you! Bren was really sceptic when I told him it was meatloaf. He started asking questions like "it doesnt have big onions in it" or "how much garlic is in there". But being the trooper he is ate it and love it! He told me this is the BEST meatloaf he has ever had! You can imagine how happy that made me!! This recipe will DEFINITELY be making more appearances on my table! I got the recipe from a blog I came across on stumbleupon.com here is the link to the blog!

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf
original Joelen recipe

1 lb ground chicken (ground turkey can be substituted)

1 egg

1/4 breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 small onion, grated

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup pasta sauce (homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

minced parsley for garnish


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. To not over handle the mixture otherwise it will get tough. Place the mixture in the greased loaf pan and form into a loaf. Top the meatloaf with pasta sauce.
Place filled loaf pan on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese. Place the meatloaf back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Remove the meatloaf from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving/slicing. Garnish with parsley if desired.


I have a new phone so the picture I took is not with me right now but here is the picture from the blog, true talk, it looks that good in real life! 

Ok so I know I have been on a month long hiatus but I'm coming back and will be starting strong! Seriously guys, words of encouragement will keep me going! 

Easy Chili Rellenos Caserole and Skillet Fiesta Chicken & Rice

Ok so I know I have been slacking for the past few days but I'm back and more encouraged :) 

I will only be doing two recipes tonight (dinner from tonight and Sunday) full menus will begin appearing on Sunday again.

Sunday's meal was the Skillet Fiesta Chicken & Rice from my Campbells 1-2-3 Dinners, yes this was the night I sliced my finger. =/ 

I love this recipe I've made it multiple times and it is easy and good!!! 

The Recipe:  Skillet Fiesta Chicken & Rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about one pound)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Tomato Soup
1 3/4 Cup water
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1 ounce)

1. In medium skillet over medium high heat, heat oil. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until browned. Set Chicken aside. Pour off fat.

2. Add soup, water and chili powder. Heat to a boil

3. Stir in rice. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle chicken with additional chili powder and cheese. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until chicken and rice are done. Stir rice mixture.

So I do make some changes to this recipe. I dont have chili powder so I use a very small amount of cayenne pepper. (or i did before the baby started eating food). Now we just sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of our plates but there is no spice for the baby. I either cook the chicken in butter or olive oil. I also use the birdseye steam in bag rice. I just throw the frozen rice into the mixture and it comes out perfect every time!! 

Tonight's dinner was the chili rellenos casserole I got this recipe from my step mom way back when Bren and I first got married. Bren and I posted it on my sister in law's recipe blog shortly after we had it for the first time :) its a good one! 

The Recipe: Easy Chili Rellenos Casserole

2 (7 ounce) cans whole green chili peppers, drained.
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded.
8 ounces Longhorn or Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 eggs beaten
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce.

Preheat oven to 350º F (175ºC). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Lay half the chilies evenly in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and cover with remaining chilies. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and flour, and pour over the top of the chilies.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, pour tomato sauce evenly over the top, and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Jack and Cheddar cheese, and serve.

This one is SUPER easy, the only changes I made were- I used diced green chilies because walmart had run out of the whole kind. I bout three cans of those (though I wish I would have bought 4). I honestly think I liked it better with the diced green chilies. I dunno why :). I also changed the all purpose flour for whole wheat. But thats about it :) 

Pictures of dinner tonight below :)  

Thanks again for checking back and sticking with me!! I have a few new recipes I am excited to try out this week! 

Until tomorrow!

Date Night!!!

So we had a last minute date night :) Bren had to go to the aquarium for extra credit so we made a family/date night out of it :) Fish and Food!! We went to McGraths Fish House and had yummy clam chowder and all you can eat shrimp! It was delicious and delectable! Now back to the real world. No menu today (because I still havent decided on one. So lame I know I'm a slacker). This week/ last weekend was kinda a crazy/sad weekend.

Ouch

Cut my finger pretty good. Bren finised cooking dinner for me. Sweet guy! Typing hurts sooo I will do my Sunday post tomorrow. Soo sorry =(

When All Else Fails... Make Up A New Recipe

 EPIC FAIL =(

Not gonna lie... I'm pretty bummed right now. I was SUPER excited for my first Sweet Saturday and found an AMAZING recipe that I couldn't wait to try out! I came across this awesome website, Stumble Upon and I LOVE it! I have already printed of a few recipes that I cant wait to try out! This was one of them...

The plan was to make Samoas, you know, the girl scout cookie that everyone loves! I was so excited when I found the recipe! If you dont know about StumbleUpon.com you need to check it out, it basically goes off of your interests and directs you to different websites and blogs.
 The Recipe is from Once Upon A Plate: This is the actual recipe in whole from the blog-

Please NOTE:  

I don't want you to be disappointed.

If you are of the 'slice and bake' cookie mind, making these cookies might not be for you.   

This type of cookie does take time and a bit of effort.  Some may call them tedious to make ... I call them WORTH it. 

But that's just me.   :)  

You decide.

Cookies ~ Homemade Samoas

(also known as Caramel de-Lites)

Makes about 3 1/2 to 4 dozen

The cookies involve four steps: 

1. Make the cookie Base

2. Top with Caramel-Coconut mixture

3. Dip bottom of cookies in melted chocolate

4. Drizzle tops with melted chocolate

The Cookie (base):

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

up to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, next, the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk only as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (you may not need any at all). The dough should come together into a soft, pliable ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough seems sticky.

It's easiest to roll the dough out in 2 or 3 batches (between pieces of wax (or parchment) paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or a little thinner) using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined (or on silicone mat) baking sheet and make a hole in the center. I used the small end of a large round piping tip. Nicole comments that you can use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat until the dough is used up (it's okay to re-roll, this dough is shortbread-like and very forgiving.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are very lightly golden brown around the edges.

Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, to allow them to firm up slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping:

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-ounces good-quality chewy caramels

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons milk

8 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips will do)

(If you prefer milk chocolate, by all means use that.)

My notes: The caramel-coconut mixture is quite sweet, so I used Bittersweet chocolate to balance the sweetness bit.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F)

Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Watch carefully, especially near the end of toasting time; the coconut toasts very quickly once it begins to become golden.

Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 teaspoons per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it begins to firm up, to make it soft and spreadable once again.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. (I melted mine stovetop using double boiler method.) Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper (I used silicone baking mats instead). Transfer all remaining chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate. (Melt a bit of additional chocolate, if there is not quite enough for each cookie.)

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

I printed of the recipe, went to the store to buy all of the ingredients, and got home and started. It started off so easy! The cookies are a breeze to make. The trouble started and ended with the caramel. I burnt it. Sadly I didn't have enough caramel to try again so that part was hosed. 
 Picture of my beautiful (insert sarcasm here) caramel coconut mix below. 

 

Looks pretty doesnt it! ... OR more like someone took a crap in my mixing bowl.

So here I have 2 dozen naked shortbread style cookies and no topping for them. Then LIGHT BULB I realized hey I still have the chocolate and most of my toasted coconut. So I decided rather then waste money and a TON of time spent I would just dip the cookies in the chocolate and sprinkle the coconut on top of half of them (in case any of my primary kids have a coconut allergy.) I bought two different types of chocolate chips, semi-sweet and dark chocolate. So I dipped them in the semi-sweet, and pipped the dark on top.. Not sure if it made any difference. Honestly I'm not sure if they're any good. They're still cooling right now and I'm just too tired and too bummed to try them out. Hopefully my primary kids like them.

Pictures of my new Fail Cookies... Yeah... thats a good name for them :)

with coconut

without coconut

Will I try it again? Probably, but for now I will probably stick to easier recipes until I get the hang of being in the kitchen.

Soo needless to say dinner tonight didn't happen. My sweet (and starving by that time) husband offered to run to Costa Vida to get some dinner. He brought back my favorite dish Mango Chicken Salad (one day I will get that mango salsa recipe). Such a sweet husband.

Thanks again for checking back! I'll let you know tomorrow how my primary kids liked them. Don't forget tomorrow is Sneak Peak Sunday! (or Sunday Sample... Which sounds better to you?) But honestly guys, I'm feeling pretty darn discouraged right now... I dont like to fail at things... This is why surfing doesn't happen for me. I need some words of encouragement.

Until Tomorrow

Dont Judge Me..

I really want this skirt! And I didnt win the first give away... so now I'm entering another one for a different blog... same skirt.. Here's the new blog,  picture in the post below!



Sweet Saturday will happen later today! I'm excited!!!! ... Still haven't decided what to make... too many choices!

Fun Fact Friday!!!

Good morning everyone!! I've got a secret... I LOVE Fridays... Whats that you say? Everyone loves Fridays? Well, this is why I love Fridays, not only is it fun fact day, but its also the beginning of my 3 day weekend every week! So I love Fridays because they are like a first Saturday for me!

So today is my first Fun Fact Friday! And I've gotta tell you it's fun looking up random culinary facts, it was hard choosing just one for today! But here it is! Ladies, this ones for you!!

Chocolate contains phenyl ethylamine (PEA), a natural substance that is reputed to stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love. 

Short but sweet. No wonder we all love chocolate so much!!

Well as I said last night, I have 2 birthday parties to go to tonight one for a good friend of mine who also happens to be an AMAZING photographer!! Check out her blog here, her facebook here, or her website here! Happy Birthday Stephanie!!! Her birthday party is garden party themed and I am super excited!
The other birthday party is for James, who might as well be my brother. He's been hangin around the family for years (cant seem to get rid of him!! Just kidding :) The only downside, the parties are pretty much at the same time James's is at 6 and Stephanie's is at 7. It will be a crazy night for me! Oh and the fact that I wont be cooking (aw shucks...) But really though, this blog has given me so much incentive to cook every night! Two things I'm normally a slacker at doing, I have been doing every day for nearly a week!! You're impressed right!! WELL there has been food that I have cooked, served every night, cause we've had two left over nights. It's amazing how much money you really do save when cooking! I always thought it was a bunch of bull when you're only cooking for 2, but really!! You do save a ton!


Well before I go I wanted to blog about a blog I have recently discovered. Its a fashion blog, which usually I dont follow so well. There are so many fashion blogs now and some are great! And some I seriously only read because I am so baffled by how bad the person's style is... Ok... Theres only one of those and I assure you its not one of my followers blogs. But seriously the style is so frumpy in some of the blogs. But this one I am new to and I found it through a give a way one of my friends blogged/facebooked about. It was my first give away I have ever entered and now I am sold forever on her blog! I love her style, I love her blog. And the skirt up for give away is SO cute! The give away ends today so click here to enter!
Seriously though! Look how cute this skirt is!

You want it now don't you! I know I do!!! Follow Cori at La Vie Petite!

Thanks for checking back! And sorry that this wasn't so much about food but hey! A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to win right!!! Dont forget tomorrow is Sweet Saturday!!
Until tomorrow!

Whole Wheat Mac n' Cheese!!

Soo today was super fun for me! I decided to make my mother in law's mac and cheese. And the recipe makes a LOT. I thought... Maybe I should cut the recipe in half... Then I thought nah I'd rather entertain so I invited my awesome sister in law and her cute family over for dinner and it was a blast! I was going to take pictures BUT I couldn't find my camera sorry!


The recipe:

Homemade Mac & Cheese: 

3 cups elbow mac
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
3 cups shredded cheese
1 tsp salt

Boil mac in salted water until tender
While mac is cooking make the sauce.
Mix all ingredients except cheese. When the sauce gets
thick, mix in two of the three cups of cheese (save the
last for the top). Bake @ 375ºF for 25-30 Min.


So this recipe was fun and I will definitely do this one again! I bought whole wheat macaroni on purpose on Monday (because its healthier and tastes the same) but when I started cooking I realized the only type of flour I had was whole wheat flour. I had already made plans for my sister in law and her family to come over and there was NO way I was going to the store again. So I just thought what the heck it's healthier so I'll just substitute it and hope it turns out. And oh boy did it turn out! It was so good and Bren told me he likes it a whole lot better then the white flour mac and cheese! SCORE! It looks a little darker than the normal recipe does but it tastes so good! I'm not sure what type of cheese my mother in law uses but I went with Tillamook medium cheddar. But really the only changes I made to this recipe were the substitutions for whole wheat.
I can't say I did the whole recipe, my sister in law Kiera brought over squash and zucchini for the side and it was delicious! She sliced it and fried it in a pan on the stove with butter and that's it. It was so good!

So as I said earlier in the post, I couldn't find my camera so I didnt get a chance to take a picture of the meal BUT I did find it while I was doing the dishes so I got a picture of the left overs! YAY. No pictures of the side (because we ate all of it) but I do have one of the main dish!

Picture below!

And I just have to post one picture of my little princess. Or should I say trouble?

nothin' but trouble!

Well folks that's all for this evening! Thanks again for checking back! Don't forget tomorrow is Fun Fact Friday!!! A little heads up, I have two birthday parties to go to tomorrow so cooking wont happen. But I'll blog about the food that is served and hopefully it will give me ideas for future meals!

Until tomorrow!!

Not the most exciting of posts

Sorry everyone but today will be yet another boring post. Due to a large amount of homework and studying for finals next week, my husband has requested that tonight be a leftovers night. (which is fine by me, we have so many chicken bundles left over from last night!) SO while you are reading this sad excuse of a post... I will be enjoying my delicious left over chicken bundles! MMM!!! (its so hard for me to say chicken bundles without mmm behind it!)


On a more fun note, I just got back from the chiropractor (had a nasty case of torticollis three months ago. Not sure what torticollis is? Click here to find out.)  and found out that my whole body is crooked! Yay (insert sarcasm here)!! This would probably be the result of my second bout with this fun (sarcasm again) health condition.

Sooo due to my lack of an exciting meal ( I was going to try that mac n cheese out tonight) I will post a fun cooking tip!

* Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds and double the juice you get
      before squeezing.

who knew! Well thanks for checking back. I promise I will have something a bit more exciting tomorrow! 

Until Tomorrow!  

MMM Chicken Bundles!!!

Heck yes guys I'm on a roll!! So far I have blogged every day since I set this blog up! Wooo keep up the encouragement it really is helping! Today I cooked one of my favorite recipes of all time! Seriously, if you love chicken and cream cheese, you HAVE to try this one!!! 

The recipe: Chicken Bundles ---- Cookin With the Crazy Lady, by Trish Jenkin (former chef at the Manti House Inn).

6 oz. cream cheese
4 tbsp butter
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
2/3 chopped mushroom
1/2 cup chopped celery

2 pkgs crescent rolls
4 tbsp butter (melted)
seasoned bread crumbs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk

Cream together cream cheese, butter and pepper. Stir in chicken, mushrooms and celery. Separate crescent rolls into triangles. Roll each one slightly with a rolling bin to make them a little larger. Put a heaping spoonful into the center of each roll and roll them into bundles. Seal any openings. Dip each roll into melted butter and then roll them in bread crumbs. Bake on a cookie sheet at 375ºF for about 20 minutes. Heat soup and milk together and serve as gravy for the bundles.

I keep this one pretty simple. I'm not a huge fan of celery and Bren isn't a huge fan of mushrooms so we leave those out. The thing I love about this recipe is you can do just about anything with it. Sometimes we mix in bacon, sometimes its just the cream cheese, butter and chicken. We've also toyed with the idea of mixing ham in with the chicken and making it a new twist on chicken cordon bleu. Tonight I cooked my chicken in butter (mmmmm butter) and Texas Roadhouse seasoning (you can buy this at any Texas Roadhouse). Really any way you cook the chicken it will be fine. I also put a sprinkle of the Texas Roadhouse seasoning and dried thyme in with the cream cheese mix. 

Over all it was awesome, it was a great revival of a recipe and a perfect time to make it! As posted in my Sunday post, this was a very common meal for Bren and I our first year of marriage. I will more than likely be making this a lot more often then I have recently. Although I will probably cut the recipe in half from here on out. 8 bundles is just more than we can eat... But they do make great leftovers... Hmmm.

Pictures of dinner posted below!

Right out of the oven

The finished product! MMM!!

As always, thanks for checking back!
Until Tomorrow!!!

Monday of Madness!!

Today's blog post will be short and sweet!

Today was one of the more fussy days for my sweet little 9 month old Anna. Pair that with grocery shopping and you're set for a FUN evening! Shopping tonight was an adventure (thank goodness I only have to do that once a week!) But I am very excited for the next few nights and the meals I will be preparing! Tonight was left over night (probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't)! Left over chicken and stir fry made my life a little easier!

Well duty calls and the baby is crying for her Mommy. I'm sorry this blog post wasn't the most exciting of them all but hey at least I have a picture of our shopping adventures today at Walmart!

yes her arm is sticking in between the bars... couldn't get her to stop

Thanks for checking back! I promise tomorrow's post will be much more exciting and actually have something to do with food!
Until Tomorrow!

Sunday Sample!!

Ok followers!! (all 4 of you!) Today is my first official day on the blog! Yesterday was more of a test run! So far so good!

Just a brief overview of how its going to work.  Every Sunday I will post my menu for the week. I will write the full recipe on Sunday. When I cook the meal, I will write the changes I make to each recipe. I will pick 4 recipes to make throughout the week. I wont decided the day's I'm going to cook them for the simple fact the sometimes you plan a meal in advance and when the day comes to cook it, it no longer sounds appealing. I have left two days for left overs, and one day for date night of course! Monday will be my shopping day. I have also decided to do Fun Fact Friday's, where I will give a random culinary fact. This will be a fun way for me to expand my knowledge in the kitchen and pass that on to everyone else! I will also be doing a Sweet Saturday, I am a primary teacher for the CTR 4 and well we all know how much kids LOVE treats, so I'm going to spoil my class a little and give me something extra to blog about! One more goal is to try at least one new recipe a week.

If anyone has any fun ideas that you think would add to my blog leave a comment, or email me at chantalmcrae@gmail.com. Same thing goes for any special requests or things you would like me to try! I am open to any and all ideas to make this blog an exciting experience for both myself and my readers!

disclaimer: 70% (probably more) of the time I have no idea what I am doing! There will be fails and flops, and I may not do things the way a culinary professional might do them. Also, healthy foods will be common, but I can't guarantee my recipes will be low in fat. There may also be mistakes in my writing, spelling, and grammar. Hey its life, and I'm not perfect! :)

Now that we got that all out of the way lets move on to the fun stuff!

My menu for the week:

Homemade Mac & Cheese:  This recipe is Bren's mom's homemade mac & cheese. I haven't tried this recipe before so this will be my new recipe for the week! I'm excited (and I hope I dont screw it up!).

3 cups elbow mac
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
3 cups shredded cheese
1 tsp salt

Boil mac in salted water until tender
While mac is cooking make the sauce.
Mix all ingredients except cheese. When the sauce gets
thick, mix in two of the three cups of cheese (save the
last for the top). Bake @ 375ºF for 25-30 Min.


Chicken Bundles: This one is out of my Cookin With the Crazy Lady, cookbook by Trish Jenkin (former chef at the Manti House Inn). This is one of my favorite recipes and was a common meal our first year of marriage. Its been a while since I've made it so I figured what better recipe to start this blog with!

6 oz. cream cheese
4 tbsp butter
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
2/3 chopped mushroom
1/2 cup chopped celery

2 pkgs crescent rolls
4 tbsp butter (melted)
seasoned bread crumbs
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk

Cream together cream cheese, butter and pepper. Stir in chicken, mushrooms and celery. Separate crescent rolls into triangles. Roll each one slightly with a rolling bin to make them a little larger. Put a heaping spoonful into the center of each roll and roll them into bundles. Seal any openings. Dip each roll into melted butter and then roll them in bread crumbs. Bake on a cookie sheet at 375ºF for about 20 minutes. Heat soup and milk together and serve as gravy for the bundles.


Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri:  This is Bren's choice, and he will be making this one (but never fear I will still blog about it). This recipe came from the Men's Health Magazine. Bren makes this one just for the simple fact that its on his BBQ (and his BBQ is his baby. Plus he's much better at BBQing then I am). This is a common appearance on our table as well.

12 oz flank, skirt, or sirloin steak
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh full leaf parsley
1 bunch scallions
3 tbsp red-wine vinegar

2 tbsp water
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried red-pepper flakes
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. To make the chimichurri sauce, mix the vinegar, water, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, and black pepper. Whisk in the oil. When everything's blended, whisk in the parsley.
2. Preheat a grill or grill pan on high. Season the steak with salt and pepper and place it on the hot grill. For medium rare, cook it 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 140ºF. Trim the roots from the scallions and add the entire bunch to the grill. Just after you've flipped the steak. Cook the scallions until they're lightly charred, about 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Drizzle the steak with the chimichurri, and serve it with the grilled scallions.

Eat with a scoop of pinto beans or black beans and hot corn or tortillas. Makes 2 servings.



Skillet Fiesta Chicken & Rice: This recipe is from my Campbells 1-2-4 Dinners. I make this one often. Not only is it good, but its quick and easy.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbells Tomato Soup
1 1/3 cups uncooked instant rice
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1 ounce)

1. In medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until browned. Set chicken aside. Pour off fat.
2. Add soup, water and chili powder. Heat to a boil.
3. Stir in rice. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle chicken with additional chili powder and cheese. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until chicken and rice are dine. Stir rice mixture. Makes 4 servings.

Dinner tonight was simple and quick. I didn't have much to make so I had to hunt around my kitchen for something. We ended up having Birdseye Oriental Stir Fry (freezer section), with chicken.

Bren and I LOVE chicken so you will see it on this blog often!

I cubed and cooked the chicken in peanut oil in my wok. I sprinkled a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and salt and pepper for a little flavoring. The stir fry has its own sauce so I didn't want to take away from that.
After the chicken was cooked I threw the stir fry in and followed the directions on the package.

Over all it was pretty good, probably not my favorite meal but quick and easy (which I like). My only complaints were: there were way too many carrots in there. I like carrots, but they brought it to a whole new level. I ended up taking half the carrots out and there were still a ton left. Also the water chestnuts. Honestly, does anyone like water chestnuts? They seem like a waste of space and a sorry excuse for food.

here is a picture of the final product.

Thanks for checking back! Hope you are as excited about my new blog as I am!!

Until Tomorrow!

Day 1 Saturday- Healthy Request Chicken Mozzarella.

Check it out! My first day with this blog and I've already cooked something! Dinner tonight came from my Campbells 1-2-3 Dinner recipe book. I had noo idea what to cook and the meals in this book are pretty basic made from staples usually kept in every pantry. So naturally this was the first place I looked. My choice for dinner tonight was based solely on a meal I knew I had all the ingredients for (so I wouldn't have to go shopping thank goodness!) 

The Recipe:
 Healthy Request Chicken Mozzarella

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Healthy Request Tomato Soup
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning or dried oregano leaves, crushed.
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (1 ounce)
4 cups hot cooked corkscrew macaroni (about 3 cups uncooked), cooked without salt.

1: Place chicken in 2-quart shallow baking dish.
2: Mix soup, Italian seasoning and garlic powder.
Spoon over chicken and bake at 400ºF. for 20 minutes
or until chicken is no longer pink
3. Sprinkle cheese over chicken. Remove chicken.
Stir sauce. Serve with macaroni

In truth I actually really liked this recipe. It was the first time I had tried it and it was pretty good. And it was SUPER easy! Which wins major points in my book! Of course I made a few of my own changes to it. Straight Campbells soup is pretty bland. So I added a full teaspoon of Italian seasoning in stead of half. I stuck to the book measurement of garlic powder (i dont like to have too much garlic it can be over-powering and tends to give you bad breath if you have too much). But looking back I probably would have added maybe a little bit more garlic powder. I also added a tiny bit of dried cilantro and parsley (dried as well). Not sure if that added to the taste because I didn't put very much, but over all it tasted pretty good. One last thing I added was a pinch of onion powder. I probably would have added a little more of that as well. I also substituted the plain mozzarella for shredded Italian blend cheese, as well as the cork screw macaroni for wheat spaghetti (not may favorite but its all we had).

Instead of waiting to add the cheese after the chicken was cooked. I added a little bit to the sauce. Though I wish I would have had some Parmesan (the kind in the green can) to mix in. I think that would have added a little more flavor to the sauce. I did sprinkle some on top after the timer beeped on the oven. I turned the oven off and kept the chicken in there to melt the cheese on top. (note: I cooked the chicken for 30 min instead of 20 because I'm paranoid to under cook my chicken and the chicken breast I used were pretty thick)

After I drained the pasta I removed the chicken from the pan (as requested in the recipe) and mixed the pasta with the sauce left over. There isn't a ton of sauce left but it was the perfect amount if you mix the noodles with it before you serve it. I then put the chicken back on top (just because it looked nice that way) I would have served it with some vegies but the only ones we had just didn't seem like they would go well with this dish.

Bren liked it and Anna LOVED it. She couldn't get enough of it. It was her first experience with spaghetti and I think it was a hit.  This is definitely a recipe I will use again. 

Pictures below! 

The finished product

MMMM!! Anna LOVED her spaghetti

Thanks for checking back! I've been thinking of some fun idea's to do with this new blog and maybe if I get enough followers I just might do a give away once my blog is a little bit more established! 

Until Tomorrow!

The Beginning

I know what you're thinking right now. "WHAT! Chantal is really starting another blog? She never updates the one she already has!!"

But it is true, I am starting a new blog. The reason being? I HATE cooking, I hate everything about it. The preparation, the time spent, the cooking its self, and most of all the SHOPPING! Oh how I hate shopping of every kind, grocery shopping as at the top of my hate list. For dinner at my house we usually go out to eat, Bren cooks, or its fend for yourself. Occasionally I will cook. But it's not often

I was recently awakened by a comment Bren made about one of his co-workers offering to bring him dinner every night (she is appalled by "this generation's women and their lack of homemaking") At first I was extremely offended and mad even. Mad that Bren had brought up the fact that I don't cook very often and mad that she had the nerve to tell Bren that she would be cooking for him. Then I was mad at myself, after all, I am the wife here. I am the one slacking on my duties at home and in the kitchen. My excuses are weak at best "but I HATE cooking", or "I work so when I get home I'm too tired to cook", or "we never have food in the house so I CAN'T cook anything."

So I will be blogging about my journey to being a better cook and actually cooking. I am hoping that I will be able to stick to this one. I have a few goals here, first off to actually cook and hopefully I will eventually like it, second I am hoping to be better at blogging, and third I would love to have a following. Maybe if I get enough followers I will actually blog.

My inspiration is from several other sources. One of them is the movie Julie and Julia, if she can blog about cooking, so can I. Also from one of my favorite blogs Kari was in my ward in Rexburg and she is amazing at blogging and I LOVE following her blog. As well as Jordana, a friend of mine from high school. I am a recent convert to her blog. And I cant forget Jess, a friend I used to work with. There is something about the simplicity to Jordana's blog, the intricacy of Kari's blog, and the fun in Jess's blog that just draws my attention to them. They are all fantastic at captivating my attention and I am constantly finding myself coming back to their blogs for more. 


Here is the plan. Every Sunday I am going to write out a menu for the week and post it on this blog. Monday after work I will go and buy all of the groceries needed for each meal. Now I am debating as to whether or not I should post every night after dinner or if I should do a recap on Saturday. What are your thoughts? 

I will be using recipe books, because of my lack of creativity. The books that will most likely appear in my blog and on my table will be Cookin' With the CRAZY lady by Trish Jenkin (former chef of the Manti House Inn) and the Campbells 123 Dinners. As well as Recipes found online If you have any recipes you love and aren't too crazy or any books that you live by please post them in the comments! 

I will of course have nights that I don't cook, say Bren wants to cook something or BBQ and of course our weekly date night. I will probably still blog about these nights. Pictures of the meals may or may not happen. What are your thoughts on pictures? Note- my child will more than likely make appearances on this blog, she is the STAR of my other blog.

This is where I need YOUR help. I am TERRIBLE at keeping to my goals, don't believe me? Check out my other blog my posts are few and far in between. Hopefully I will be able to be a little bit better a blogging on both of these blogs. I need your encouragement please please comment. Post your own ideas, recipes, tricks, anything! 

Well I think this post has gone on long enough. Welcome and tomorrow I will get into the good stuff!