Jacki and Leslee’s Meals

Well we have been cooking over here but have gotten a little behind in posting about the recipes we have been making.  My mom was here for a while in December and we made all these together.

First up are the sugar cookies.  Summer and my mom made these one day while I was out of town.  My mom said they turned out great and made a delicious sugar cookie although maybe there was a bit too much flour in them. 

Next was the Spinach and Feta Pasta.  I made a few little changes with this, leaving out the mushrooms and substituting parmesan for the feta.  It was really tasty and easy to cook up.  I also added some chicken to bulk it up a bit.  We thought it tasted a lot like Chicken Catactori.

The Pineapple Bacon Burgers with Sweet Potato fries was another really good meal.  This wasn’t something super new but everyone enjoyed it.  We cooked both the burgers and the pineapple on the grill and also added some pepper jack cheese.  We cooked the sweet potato fries in the microwave for a few minutes to start the cooking process before putting them in the oven. 

The last meal we made was the Pineapple-Ginger Steak with Stuffed Blue Cheese Potatoes.  We used Skirt Steak instead of flank and only marinated it for a few hours but it was nice and flavorful! The potatoes with pretty easy to make and were a big hit! We didn’t have any blue cheese so we substituted some feta cheese, which worked just fine. We liked these so much we decided to make them again for Christmas Dinner! Another delicious meal!!

New Recipes

Pineapple bacon burgers p. 130
Baked sweet potato fries p. 180
Easy Pretzel Turtles p. 255

I have a ton of pictures I need to post! Hopefully I will get around to that SOON.

New Recipes for the week of 12/11.

Sorry for my tardiness on getting these up!

Pineapple-Ginger Flank Steak - pg 136
Stuffed Blue Cheese Potatoes - pg 183

Leslee’s Chicken and Dumplings and Green Beans

I made these recipes a few weeks ago.  I made the chicken and dumplings using the stovetop method.  I only ended up using 4 cups of liquid instead of the 6 so it ended up a little thicker but that was okay.  I was excited to have a reason to try out the new Gluten Free Bisquick mix to make the dumplings with.  Sean and I both really liked this dish and it is perfect for winter.  I wanted to make the Caramelized Green Beans that night too even though I didn’t have the bacon.  Even without the bacon they were really good! My kids both surprisingly loved them! We will have to make these again.

 

New recipes for week of 11/4

I chose a quick and healthy meal and a not so healthy dessert ;)
Spinach and Feta Pasta pg. 172
Sugar Cookies pg. 208
With a busy holiday month, this recipe is a one dish meal and I like to make sugar cookies at Christmas time :)
Hope both recipes taste great!!

Review of the Green Beans and Chicken Dumplings

 

We had both the chicken and dumplings and the green beans this week. Both of them were well liked by our family. For the chicken and dumplings I used some homemade chicken broth I had in the freezer and also used canned chicken so it was easy. I did it all in the crockpot, even the dumpling part so it was pretty easy. The green beans were so good. My husband actually made most of it and did a very good job. He doesn't cook much but he did a great job of following the directions (with a few pointers). These were so delicious. We used frozen green beans and boiled them for a few minutes first. I think he cooked it to perfection because everything was just carmelized without being burnt. I was impressed since there were so many ingredients in there are burn easily. Suprisingly, even he said that you could use about half of the bacon the recipe calls for and still have it taste good. We ate it all and forgot to take a picture.

Jacki’s Chicken & Dumplings, Caramelized Green Beans

On Tuesday night I fixed the Chicken and Dumplings and then last night I fixed the caramelized green beans hence the separate pictures below.  We were not big fans of the Chicken and Dumplings.  The flavor was very good but I prefer a thicker, creamier sauce part.  The dumplings were good.  I added a bit more of the vegetables than what was called for.    I cooked it in a crockpot but I think it would be better to cook it on the stove. 

The Caramelized Green Beans were quite tasty but a lot of work for green beans – easier just to steam them.  I used fresh green beans and cooked them in the boiling water for one minute as called for but then I ended up needing to cook them a lot longer in the pan with the onions etc.  I would recommend cooking them a little longer in the water – my onions and garlic ended up quite done as a result.  It was fun to try something different with a vegetable.

I have not had a chance to try the gingerbread cookies yet but they are a perfect choice for this time of year. 

Jacki’s Chicken Cacciatore

I finally made this on Monday night when we had some dinner guests and everyone liked it.  It definitely needed some salt even though I added what was called for (I used regular salt not Kosher so I added just a bit less than what was listed).  I think I must have accidentally grabbed some No Salt Tomato Paste at the store and used it.  I followed the recipe as directed except I left the chicken pieces bigger than bite sized.  I cooked it in the crockpot and the chicken was tender and flavorful.  Excellent leftovers.  I forgot to take a picture on the first night we had it and then I forgot again when I had it for lunch on Tuesday but I finally remembered to take a picture yesterday!