Making every little bit count!

In this hellish economy, you just have to make the most of everything you buy, especially when it comes to food! I am not a fan of cheap pre-packaged foods, nor am I a fan of wasting food. So, I thought I would share how I make 1 Costco rotisserie chicken into at least 4 meals to feed a family of four.

Meal 1: Chicken Pastini
Begin by boiling the water and starting your noodles (I use about 3/4 of a 12 oz. package, enough to fill a decent sized oval baking dish) preferably curly noodles or even bow-tie. Start tearing into that chicken and use about one half of ONE breast and alot of dark meat from one side of the chicken, cube into small pieces. Saute red bell peppers, onions and garlic, (mushrooms are good too) in a large pan, then once they're tender add the chicken, one 14 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes (with juice), about 1/2 - 1 small can of tomato sauce, salt and pepper to taste and some fresh or dried parsley to taste. Once the noodles are done, mix pasta with the chicken and veggie sauce. Mix in about 1/2-1 cup mozzarella cheese. Put into a baking dish (about 2.8 L), sprinkle with bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and dot with a little butter. Bake for about 20-30 min. on 400*.

Serve with broccoli or a salad, YUM! This dish feeds my family one dinner and usually has enough left over for hubby to take to work the next day!

Meal 2: Chicken and black bean quesadillas
Chop up the rest of the first chicken breast and a bit of the dark meat. Lay out about 4-6 tortillas, sprinkle with cheddar or monterey jack, or both, open one can of black beans, drain and rinse, and put a couple of spoonfuls of beans over the cheese, add some chicken, and a little more cheese (if you're feeling spunky a little Rotel is good too). Fold in half and bake in a 425* oven for a couple of minutes, until the cheese is melty and tortillas are lightly crispy. Serve with salsa or fresh guacamole!



Meal 3: Chicken Salad
Use about 1/2 of the SECOND chicken breast, chop into small pieces. Add chopped celery, onion (green onions are super yummy, but regular onions work just fine), apple, halved grapes, slivered almonds and chopped cilantro (VERY important ingredient, makes the dish so fresh and luscious!). Add a yogurt to desired consistency. If you like, you can add a bit, just a bit, of Miracle Whip to give it a little kick, but it's not necessary. Serve on iceburg lettuce cups, or fresh bread or wheat crackers! The nice thing about this recipe is it is so full of other ingredients you really don't need to use that much of your chicken, yet it is completely satisfying!



Meal 4: Sante Fe Chicken Skillet
Pick the rest of the meat off the chicken, cut into cubes. Saute thinly sliced or small cubed potatoes, green bell pepper, onion and Hatch green chile (if you have it) in olive oil cook until tender. (If you're using HOT green chiles like I do, cut them up and leave them to the side to add later if your kids are whimpies like mine!) Add the chicken to saute, just to get hot, remove it all to a plate and keep in a warm oven. Start frying eggs. We like ours over medium. Add a bit of the potato and chicken mixture to a plate, put a fried egg on top, then sprinkle with cheddar or monterey jack cheese. Cut up the egg, so the yolk runs over the rest of the goods, add a bit of Tabasco and ENJOY!



Now, if you're really industrious, toss the carcass into water and boil it to get broth! Then it could lead to at least a portion of meal #5! So there you have it, 4+ meals from one Costco rotisserie chicken! Cheers!

What's on the menu? Soup for the soul!

When you're sick, all you want for dinner is something hot, soothing and EASY to make! I'm normally a fan of chicken soup in these instances, but after a week of sick kids and being cooped up in the house, my chicken supply was depleted, so I opted for a hearty beef soup. All I can say is it really hit the spot! Enjoy!



Trina's Makeshift Whatever You Have in the Fridge Beef Soup

1-lb. lean ground beef
1 small onion-chopped
1 stalk of celery-chopped
2 med. carrots-sliced
Handful of mushrooms-sliced
2 cloves garlic-chopped
salt and pepper
1-32 oz. container of beef broth
water
1-14 1/2 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/2-3/4 cup of barley (rice would be great too, but barley and beef just work well together)

Brown ground beef with onion and garlic, add celery, carrots and mushrooms then saute for a few minutes. Add beef broth and diced tomatoes, if the soup is really thick, add some water to thin in out, salt and pepper to taste. Get it boiling and add barley, cook per directions on the package.

I served it with a fresh loaf of wheat bread and it really did make us all feel ALOT better! In my book, soup equals love! :)

A special birthday dinner!

I have to admit, my birthday was very mellow, but overall, very enjoyable! Big Daddy offered to make french toast for breakfast, which was very tasty! Then we lounged around and watched Rocky movies, they must have been having a marathon, and I was done after Rocky II. I blogged and farted around on the computer and just did a whole lot of nothing until after lunch. Once the Piggy was down for a nap I ran a couple of errands, the most pertinent being the waxing of the eyebrows! I felt I owed it to myself to get those bad boys dealt with as I was to a point that plucking was sheer torture! So I sucked it up and paid the $15 and now I have beautiful shapely brows again, hooray! Then it was home to get dressed for a nice dinner out!

I chose a place called Habana. They have two locations, one on 6th St. and one on S. Congress (next to The Great Outdoors), we chose the south location, parking is ALOT easier! We were amazed when we arrived at how few people were there, not so great for the restaurant, but great for us! Habana has an amazing assortment of traditional Cuban food (or at least so I'm told as I've not been to Cuba, so really, how the hell would I know?). They are also known for a drink, called the Comandante, which is Gold Rum, infused for 2 weeks with fresh pineapple (cue Homer Simpson drooling with droopy eyes). A drink so tasty, yet so powerful they have a limit of 2 per patron! Needless to say, I started out with one of those! I hear they also make amazing mojitos, but I'm not a big fan of mint, so there you have it. For our entrees, Big Daddy and I both opted for the Bistec de Pollo Empanizada, which is a chicken breast that they beat until it's flat as a pancake, breaded in Cuban cracker meal and done kind of like a chicken-fried chicken, however it isn't hardly greasy and the chicken is SO tender. We got ours with the Congris, which is a white rice with black beans, and pineapple salsa! Tender... juicy... sweet... and spicy, hot chicken with cold pineapple, enough to make your taste buds stand up and salute! It's ALOT of food, but plenty to take home for leftovers! The Monkey Man chose empanadas, he had 3 choices, beef, 3-cheese, or spinach and mushroom. He pondered and considered the spinach, but in the end stated, "What can I say, I'm a meat boy!" and he chose the beef!

The kids split the empanada and Big Daddy and I shared our ENORMOUS pieces of chicken and everyone ate with wild abandon! Then the time came... dessert! In all honesty, dessert is why I chose this specific restaurant. They have the most luscious, decadent Tres Leches Cake that has ever graced my mouth! And the pieces are huge! One piece was plenty to satiate all four of us! Such a heavy cake, all weighted down with cream and milk and topped with a light, fluffy, creamy icing, dusted lightly with cinnamon! (Once again, cue Homer Simpson drooling!) It is really on the verge of being so completely sinful that I should blush just thinking about it! And as if that weren't enough, since it was my birthday, the cake was on the house! I LOVE this place!

So... it was a wonderful meal, spent with my awesome little family and I really couldn't have asked for anything nicer. Now, as for you all, if you are in the mood for something different and are feeling a bit adventurous, you should really try this place. The food is awesome, the drinks are great, totally kid friendly, warm and helpful staff, they have vegetarian offerings and it's a family-owned Austin business, always good to support the locals!

Good morning!

I seem to have this weird thing going on with my breakfast items these days. First I had a happy face pancake, now this! So needless to say, I felt as though I would have a good morning! If nothing else at least it made me smile!

Making rum balls!

You know how it goes, you come across photos that were taken weeks ago and think, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" And so it comes that I should throw out a quick entry regarding the making of rum balls. We do this every year for the big White Elephant Party. We have now become pros at rolling chocolate into little balls and dusting them with assorted sugars, nuts, etc... The Monkey Man thought we looked gross and decided to take a picture of Mommy and Daddy looking like we had, well, poo on our hands! Gotta love the 6 y.o. sense of humor!

Have a nice day!

Some people take stock in reading cards or tea leaves, personally, I take a look at my Thursday morning pancake! And today, I'm thinkin' it said to have a nice day! What do you think?

OK, NOW it's December!

Holy shit folks, it got cold! Remember my last post about warm, sunny breezes? Yeah, not so much anymore. How about frigid, bone-chilling wind and freezing temps?! It is times like these I absolutely abhor all of the big windows in my house! Normally I keep the blinds open to let in all that lovely natural light, but I have been keeping the blinds closed and living in a cave for 2 days! The cold that emanates from the windows is awful! I hereby declare that from now until spring I shall be baking at least one loaf of bread, or cookies or pies so I can either 1) keep the house warm from the heat coming off the stove, or 2) gain about 20 pounds of fat to insulate my skinny, little ass so I don't freeze to death! I suppose it's a good thing I don't live in Minnesota!

My Eggscellent Contribution

We were so lucky to have been invited to spend Thanksgiving with friends! I was asked to bring a side of some sort and a dessert item. I opted to make my famous crumbly crust apple pie (yum!) and some deviled eggs. I know, most people probably think there is nothing special about deviled eggs, but you have obviously not had MY deviled eggs! I am the deviled egg Master! The secret is white wine vinegar and fresh herbs! They were immediately ravaged by the dinner guests and were gone long before the meal was served! Good thing I took a quick picture of them in all their glory before I left the house! Now tell me that isn't a lovely plate of eggs! It was the least I could do though considering what a lovely meal we were able to partake in! Good friends and good food, life is good!

How I plan to deal with my tomato worm problem...

Fried Green Tomato Worms

3 tablespoons olive oil
16 tomato hornworms
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
Salt and pepper to taste
White cornmeal
In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Then lightly fry the hornworms, about 4 minutes, taking care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Season tomato rounds with salt and pepper, then coat with cornmeal on both sides.

In a large skillet, fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides

Top each round with 2 fried tomato hornworms.

Garnish the paired hornworms with a single basil leaf.

Flaunting my skills!

We celebrated the Piglet's 2nd birthday last night. Just a few friends and family and one of her little friends. We had a wonderful time, hanging outside, drinking beer and enjoying some good food! But the highlight of the night was cupcakes! Big Daddy and I made up the cutest batch of "McDuff-cakes" which were fashioned after her favorite book character, a little West Highland White Terrier named McDuff! Check out the mad skills hubby and I have! How the hell are we gonna top these bad boys next year!?!

Chicken in a Pot!

It has been awhile since I have posted anything "foodie". In fact, I don't think I have ever posted food stuff on this blog, but since I let my other go by the wayside, I decided why not? This is the everything blog now! I was desperate for a meal idea as we are getting to the bottom of the freezer in the meat department. I had a whole chicken and decided to figure something out. Usually I only keep whole chickens in the house for Green Chile Enchiladas, but since the kids can't handle those, I don't make them often. I didn't want to mess with this chicken much and I didn't want to tend the oven and heat up the house, so I thought about the Crock-Pot. Now I know alot of people have issues with Crock-Pots. I don't understand why, granted I don't use them daily, I do make some really wonderful stuff in Crock-Pots, roasts, stews, spare ribs, hell even lasagna sauce on occasion. I've never done a whole chicken, but found directions of how long I would need to cook the little bird, but decided to experiment with the preparation.

I sliced up some celery, onions, and carrots, then I plopped the little chicky-poo down in the pot. I sprinkled with salt and pepper, then whipped up a rub with butter, crushed garlic, fresh thyme and parsley (from my herb garden, yea!) then I smeared it all over the skin and under the skin of the chicken. I added some vegetable stock and a bay leaf to the pot. Now it is happily simmering in its little pot, making the house smell AMAZING. I am actually looking forward to my little chicken dinner tonight! I may buy more whole chickens from now on! I'm still deciding whether to make new potatoes or some sort of rice. Emeril has a recipe for Cheesy Rice Pilaf that looks yummy! We'll see. I'll report tomorrow on the outcome! And... Crock-Pots do rule!

And the adventure begins...

I don't remember if I've mentioned that we are going on a camping trip this weekend to Dinosaur Valley State Park. We have spent weeks getting all the essentials together, you know, buying sleeping bags and lanterns, borrowing a cookstove, making sure we have proper utensils to stab and incinerate marshmallows! This will be our first camping trip since kids have been in the picture and I can tell you already, there is SO MUCH CRAP TO THINK OF! Am I packing enough food and water, do I have some things for them to do, will they be warm enough (temps are supposed to get into the mid-40's at night), do they have little water shoes to go wading in the creek (after all that's where the best dino prints are), do we have enough beer to keep us sane?!? So I am excited and worried and stressed all at the same time! I'm sure once we get the car all packed and I know all this stuff will actually fit into my car, I'll be fine. But for today, I will be in the kitchen prepping food. All of my fellow campers (this is a group camping event with my homeschooler group) tell me I need to be packing Pop-Tarts and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the whole trip. This just goes against every fiber of my being. Just because I'm camping and out in nature does not mean I can't enjoy a decent meal with my family for 3 days! So I have my menu planned as such:

Eggs and sausage for breakfast Sat. and Sun.
Grilled pork tenderloin and potato salad for dinner one night
Brats and potato salad the next night
Lunches consisting of chicken tortellini pesto salad for one day
Chicken salad with apples, grapes and cilantro for the next day
Healthy snacks of fruit and homemade pumpkin bread
Fresh loaf of pumpernickel to have along with dinners and breakfast

Yes, I admit it, I am a TOTAL food snob! And I refuse to pump my kids full of processed, boxed foods all weekend. All my other friends think I'm loony, but how many do you think will end up at my campsite wondering what smells so good?!? I will have a full report and hopefully some photos to post on Monday. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

What happens when you don't read labels!

I was doing a mad dash through the grocery store the other day. Just trying to get some of the staples to last us through the 3-day holiday (I DESPISE grocery shopping on weekends, especially holiday weekends!). Anyway, I grabbed a bottle of apple juice for the kids. I normally dilute the kids' juice, saves money and lessens the sugar impact on their teeth! When I got home the Monkey Man asked for something to drink, so I grabbed the new juice, poored it in the cup, diluted as usual and handed it to him. He got an awful stinky face and said it tasted yucky. So I grabbed it and tasted it to see what the problem was and it really did taste yucky! So I grabbed the juice and realized it was NOT our Mott's Apple Juice, it was the Mott's for Tots with 40% less sugar. So this may sound appealing, right? 40% less sugar, how can that be bad? Well, the reason it has 40% less sugar is because it has 40% less juice and 40% MORE water! What a dupe! I checked my receipt and sure as shit, I paid the same price for the diluted juice as I would have for the regular juice! It's just funny how the labeling makes it seem like you're getting such a great deal! Ooooo! 40% less sugar! What a crock! I will make absolutely sure that I grab the appropriate juice next time but with me diluting it with my OWN water, I'll make at least 60% more juice with 40% less sugar (and in turn buy less plastic bottles reducing my eco-footprint, ha-Ha!)

What's on the menu?

I'm a little late in posting this, but hey, better late than never, right? We always host the yearly Superbowl party and I always serve up something yummy and warm. I generally do some sort of soup or stew because I can make alot, it keeps well on the stove so people can eat when they want, and it really sticks to the ribs! This year I prepared my awesome and completely tasty Green Chile Stew (poor girl's version)! This recipe is great with stew meat or tender pork, but when you're poor or have ALOT of people to feed, it is just as tasty and alot cheaper to use ground beef. And for those of you who are not familiar with the difference, when I say "chile", I do not mean a red meat sauce that may or may not contain beans like Hormel or Wolf brand chili, I am talking about the actual peppers, green chiles, Hatch green chiles are probably the most famous. The recipe is simple and very satisfying, enjoy!




Green Chile Stew

Meat--1 lb ground beef, stew meat, diced pork (whichever you prefer)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cup or more (depending on how spicy you want it) of green chiles
1 can corn or equivalent frozen
4 diced potatoes
2 cups cooked pinto beans
salt, pepper, dried oregano
3-5 dried red peppers (preferably chipotles)
1 tbsp Crisco (if using stew meat or pork)

Brown meat, add and saute garlic and green chiles. Add water like a regular stew. Add the rest of the ingredients and let cook until done and potatoes are tender. Serve with tortillas.

I may hate Valentine's Day, but I LOVE strawberries!

The Monkey Man and I spent the morning making chocolate dipped strawberries to take to the hubby and his co-workers. Last year I had a partner in crime, but she moved to Minnesota and is up there freezing her tail off as we speak (and most likely cursing). We did 3 different kinds this year, milk chocolate, white chocolate and my fave, dark chocolate. I think they turned out quite lovely, even if I do say so myself!

Hooray for me!

The hubby informed me last night that his recording session was canceled, so what does that mean for me??? It means I get to go on my Mom's Night Out, Woo-hoo! I'm going to Red Robin to meet up with loads of other fun, yet over-worked, over-tired mamas and I'm gonna get a California Chicken Burger and a tall iced tea, to be followed with some sort of decadent, completely ridiculous dessert! Why? BECAUSE I CAN!!!! I get to have a night out! I get to have a night out! Come one people, let's get a little rhumba here... I get to have a night out!

Seriously folks, can you tell this doesn't happen that often?

Worst combination ever...

So we had the family at Chick-Fil-A the other night for a quick dinner. Yep, Mama was just too tired to cook, mostly since the kitchen was trashed from painting. It's hard to cook when your counters are covered with outlet covers and books from bookshelves and all that kind of stuff. Anyway... we were eating and trying to get our son to finish up. My hubby, the guy who dips his fries into BBQ sauce, was trying to get my son to dip his fries into his honey mustard, then he was trying to get him to dip his fruit into the honey mustard. My son, being a pretty smart kid was having none of this, so hubby thought he'd prove his point and grabbed an apple from the fruitcup. He then took that apple and dipped it into his BBQ sauce and popped it in his mouth! Although he maintained a very calm look on his face and he chewed and swallowed the entire thing, he informed us after he cleared his palate that apples in BBQ sauce is quite possibly the most disgusting taste combination on the planet! He looked a little green for awhile afterwards! So note to reader, no matter how tempting it might be, DO NOT DIP APPLES IN BBQ SAUCE!!

My first attempt at gingerbread!

I have never made a true gingerbread house or even cookies for that matter. It seems like a huge pain in the buttocks if you ask me. However, my hubby had to go out of town on business and my little boy wanted to make gingerbread cookies to take to Daddy and his co-workers on his first day back at work. I lugged out my big, beautiful holiday cookbook and found several nice looking gingerbread recipes and off we went. I prepared the dough and let it hang out in the fridge overnight, then the next morning I rolled them and baked them. That way they would be fresh and yummy for everyone. Now although my son was at times a big help, I had to keep an eye on him like a hawk! He kept wanting to run his nose or lick his fingers, which the licking of the fingers thing isn't so bad if you are making the cookies to eat at home, but I figure the hubby's co-workers really don't need kid spit in their cookies (call me crazy)! I even had to throw away one entire portion of dough as the kiddo decided that he needed to sneeze all over it, UGH! He was relieved of his cookie cutting duties at that point and had to wait until decorating time. I wasn't really able to find a nice selection of candies for decorating, and I certainly was not about to pay $5 for a little thing of non-pareils, so we had to be satisfied with mini M&M's, Hershey Kissables, and red and green gumdrops. I made decorator frosting as well as the icing to pipe onto the cookies. This was my first attempt at ANY of that stuff. I'm not a frosting or icing kind of girl. In fact, as far as cookies go, I only make them if I can spoon them on the pan and be done with them! I applied all the frosting and icing and my son was in charge of candy and sprinkle application. And much to my surprise, they turned out cute, but most of all, the were REALLY tasty! The gingerbread was slightly crunchy on the outside, but beautifully soft on the inside and as much as I hate icing and frosting, when it is made from scratch, it is really quite tasty! So I guess we're hooked! I'm sure another batch will be made right before Christmas to share with family! Here are some photos of our little gingerbread masterpieces!

It's raining, it's pouring...

Well, so much for me mowing the front lawn today! It has been raining since early this morning. At first I was bummed, I am kind of sick of the rain. But the odd thing is after breakfast, I turned some lamps on around the house as it's pretty dark in here and the house seems very warm and cozy, somewhat comforting. If it wasn't so damn humid and hot, I'd start a fire and kick my feet up all day! But I have settled for the next best thing, sitting in front of the computer with a nice cup of hot English Breakfast Tea. I have one kiddo watching his favorite movie in the living room and one blissfully sleeping upstairs. I have the blinds open so I can see the rain and even with the movie playing in the background, I can hear the rain pattering outside. I hope it stays like this all day! After I'm done with this post, I'm gonna tidy the house up a bit for the weekend and then devote the rest of my day to rolling around in the floor, reading books, playing with my kids and possibly whipping out a batch of my AWESOME chocolate cookies!

Bummed!

So my hubby has been in Oregon for the past 3 days on business (he'll be back tomorrow, yea!). Anyway, we used to live in Oregon and I miss the crap out of it! Granted, he's in Bend and we lived in Portland, but still, he's in the Pacific NW (where my heart belongs) without me! I know it's business, but... NO FAIR, NO FAIR, NO FAIR!!!!! He called me on his first day there and was like, "Well Bend is pretty small, not many places to eat, guess I'll just have to eat at McMenamin's or Pizzacato!" If I could have, I would have reached through the phone and bitch-slapped him! So he got to have a nice pint (or two) of Terminator Stout at McMenamin's yesterday, not to mention the fact that he had lunch at the Deschutes Brewery where he had Black Butte Porter (holy shit that stuff is good!). So he is up there drinking great micro-brewed beer while I'm here trying to kick my coke habit! Maybe if I had Black Butte Porter to drink, I wouldn't want a coke so bad! I really need to get an Oregon fix soon! I keep hoping next year will be the magic year. The baby will be 2, the boy will be 6, and it would be an enjoyable trip for all! Then I will be swilling down stout with the best of them and eating luscious, juicy, Irish Dip Sandwiches followed by marionberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream! (Please picture Homer Simpson, head back, eyes rolling, tongue out and drooling, AAAAAggghhhhhhhhh!)