Menu 35

I hope you all had a great Christmas break! This week I chose Menu 35. It has a crockpot philly cheese-steak sandwich and oven baked fries!
Hope it is a good one!

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #26

Since we were having this menu for our dinner that night, I prepared the Overnight Caramel French Toast dish that morning.  I followed the directions except omitted the pecans.  Very easy to do which I liked! I also prepped some of the veggies for the Souffle so things would go quicker that night. When Ashley got here we started cooking the French toast and then she started fixing the Egg Souffle. We used fresh mushrooms and just sautéed them.  I didn't have the size of pan it called for, so we had to make do.  It did take quite a bit longer for the dish to cook, so I wonder if the size of dish we used was some of the problem.  Next Ashley fixed the Strawberry Sunrise Drink.  Very easy since I bought the pineapple ready to go. To round out the meal we added some Thanksgiving ham.  We liked everything.  The drink was real good, but if I fix it again I would cut back on the banana.  We thought the Caramel French Toast had a similar taste to pecan pie, which for some of us was a good thing.  Very rich, so you can't eat too much.  The Egg Souffle had really good flavors, just wish that it hadn't taken so long to cook!  All in all it was a good menu.

Jacki's Menu 23

We had this meal with my parents and we enjoyed it!  Starting off with the Three Cheese Mushroom and Spinach Calzone.  I made my own pizza crust using The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  We all thought it was good but not outstanding. I think some sausage would be a good addition. I am looking forward to the Rutter review with the chicken added. We also decided maybe some marinara sauce on the side for dipping would be tasty. I sautéed the mushrooms and spinach but then there was a bunch of liquid in the bowl so I squeezed it out with paper towels. I was afraid it would make the calzone all soggy. The assembly was much easier than individual calzones. Easy recipe to change the ingredients around.

Next up is the Oven-Roasted Parmesan Broccoli. I used 6 cups of broccoli cut up but only 1/4 cup of the olive oil and 1/2 tsp garlic salt. It was way too strong. I can't imagine that much oil and garlic salt with only 2 cups of the broccoli!  Next time I will use less oil and garlic salt. I do like the flavor the roasting gives it. Everyone really liked the Berry Cheesecake Pudding. Easy and straight forward recipe. It would be a good one to take to a potluck. These were all fun recipes to make.

This week: Menu 23

This looks yummy. I think we maybe adding chicken to the calzone. The guys will like it better. They want thier protien. Lol.

Jacki's Menu 15

I just made this meal today and as usual we had my parents over for the taste testing. I loved the soup. A couple of tasters thought it was just a tad spicey for their preference. I followed the recipe as directed except I only added part of the taco seasoning packet and I used frozen corn instead of canned. Such an easy recipe! Just open cans and dump. I served it with chopped avocado, grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.  Plenty for leftovers too. The Homemade Breadsticks were tasty also and easy. I cooked mine just a smidgen too long but they were still good.  The Fudgy Brownies were good too and again, easy to make.  I halved the recipe and put it in an 8 x 8 inch pan so I guessed on the cooking time. I cooked them for 25 minutes but 22 would have been better. I recommend taking them out before the toothpick comes out clean for a moister brownie.  We had the brownies with vanilla ice cream. This was a fun and easy menu to make. I would use these three recipes again. I apologize for my pictures being so big but I am using Blogger to post from my iPad and I don't know how to make them smaller!

Tarin's Menu 15

I did the whole menu for dinner tonight.

We LOVED the Taco Soup, it definitely makes a big batch which was great because then I'm set with lunch for tomorrow. I wouldn't change anything about this recipe.

The bread sticks were just as delicious and really easy to make, I cooked them for about 17 minutes.

Now the brownies were easy to make and I think they turned out the way they were supposed to, but honestly for me they weren't worth the calories. But it might be just because I don't really like fudge brownies or frosting on my brownies. 

Leslee's Menu 26

I made the breakfast meal last night and it was very good! I didn't let the french bread soak for the amount of time they said..probably only 2 hrs. It still worked out fine though. The carmel sauce was divine! I could have just drunken that up:)
The eggs were pretty straigtht forward. I only added onions and red peppers to mine. These were good and an easy way to make eggs for everyone (although they did have to cook along time). My kids were very excited about the smoothie! I used frozen bananas and strawberries so I just omitted the ice cubes.
All in all it was a fun meal. A bit of a sugar overload but delicious none the less!

New Recipes--Menu #15

Hi everyone!

I'm so sorry for getting this up late (thanks for the reminder Aunt Jacki!) We were out in the middle of no-where Northwestern Colorado where I was on my very first elk hunt. Don't worry, I got one :)

But for this week since things are getting busy, crazy, speeding out of control I chose Menu 15, mainly for the slow cooker recipe (who am I kidding it's really for the Fudgy Brownies!) I hope you all enjoy!

Jacki's Menu 26

Today I made the breakfast menu and it was so good. My parents have breakfast every Sunday after church so this worked out well to make today. We had to cook it in my Mom's oven because I had an oven fire disaster in my oven yesterday attempting to cook Yorkshire Pudding for our ward Christmas party! I still need to clean it. And yes, I am still mad about it. Whatever happened to ham, potatoes and rolls for dinner?  Anyway, this meal was delicious and we agreed it would make a nice breakfast for Christmas morning.  I made the Overnight Caramel French Toast last night and put it in the fridge until this afternoon. It was really easy to make and tasted really good. I served some fresh whipped cream to go along with it. It did seem to take longer to cook than the recipe said though. The Egg Soufflé was easy to pull together. I used canned mushrooms to make it faster and medium cheddar instead of Colby Jack. It was more of a crustless quiche instead of a soufflé though.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Strawberry Sunrise Drink but it was ok. We had some bacon to round out the meal. Fun meal to try!

Menu 26... Breakfast Foods

Let's try out menu 26 this week which is a collection of breakfast foods!

Rutter Kitchen- Menu # 6

Ashley, Dana and I were all able to get together to cook this menu.  I bought a couple of rotisserie chickens from the store and got the meat pulled off and chopped up and then into the marinade that morning.  That evening we started our cooking.  Dana baked the yellow cake following the boxes directions and then mixed the ingredients to pour over the cake after it was done baking.  It smelled so good!  I couldn't find cream of coconut in the store, so after some researching on line by Dana and me, we used a can of coconut milk and she put it in the fridge for most of the day to separate the liquid from the solids.  She then poured off the liquids and used what was left for the cream of coconut.  That worked just great.  She went ahead and mixed up the cream and powdered sugar and we stored it in the fridge till we were ready to eat the cake.  While Dana was fixing the cake, I started on the enchiladas and got the meat drained and some of the other stuff organized.  Dana and Ashley assembled the enchiladas and got them baking.  We doubled our recipe, so that people could have leftovers to take home.  It was pretty easy to fix.  While the enchiladas were baking, Ashley assembled the Easy Mexican Salsa Rice and started it cooking in the microwave.  I  agree with Jacki on that it took a lot longer to cook than what the recipe said.  We finally put a lid on the dish and kept cooking it till it was done ;(

 We used a package of enchilada sauce and some really liked it, but I found it just a bit too strong.  I'd like to try it with something milder.  I also like Leslee's idea of cooking it in the crockpot.  After eating our dinner, Ashley put the rest of the ingredients on the cake.  It was delicious! Now for our reviews of the recipes.  We all tried the Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas, but found them too sweet.  I must have added too much honey since I haven't seen anybody's review saying they found them too sweet.  I did measure out the honey, so I find that strange.  I ended up having to give our dogs the leftovers ;(  We liked the rice once we got it cooked and the cake was delicious:)  These were fun recipes to try.  Good menu pick Jacki!

Leslee's #6 and #33

I have a few recipes to catch up on here. First up is the oven-fried chicken. I did use less butter in the pan since some of you said it called for a little much. I swapped out a gluten free flour for the regular flour which probably didn't make it quite as crispy but my chicken definitely didn't come out as crispy as their picture! It was still very good and we liked the spices on it. I served it with mashed potatoes because someone over here has an aversion to macaroni salad, I will have to make the salad for myself when he isn't home:)

 

Next up was the Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas. I used corn tortillas instead of flour which I am sure didn't make too big of a difference. All the Green Enchilada sauce has wheat in it and I wasn't up for making my own, so I just used salsa verde instead. It actually ended up very good.  For the rice I just added everything to the rice cooker and let it run its course. My family thought it was a delicious meal!

 

I need to get caught up on a few of the desserts, but I did make the chocolate cake! We were babysitting a few of our little friends one Saturday and I thought it would be a fun addition to dinner. They were all good helpers and enjoyed helping me mix everything up. I made this gluten free as well by substituting a gluten free flour blend. It turned out well. We just used a can of frosting and it was delicious! My kids asked for it everyday after school until it was gone!  There is something about making a chocolate cake from scratch!

Jacki's Menu #6

Today we had the meal of menu #6 and everything was very good.  The Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas were easy to prepare especially since I used a rotisserie chicken.  They tasted really good. I followed the recipe as written. You could easily sub the heavy cream with half and half though. Some of the enchiladas stuck to the bottom a bit so I made a note to spray the pan next time. Good solid recipe.  The Easy Mexican Salsa Rice was very easy to prepare but mine took a lot longer to cook than the 8 to 9 minutes it stated and I needed more water. I would also add a bit less of the enchilada/taco seasoning mix. Good side for the enchiladas. I also made the Zesty Guacamole from a couple of weeks ago since I wasn't able to make it then. Very tasty. I added a lot less diced red onions than the recipe called for though. And, last but not least was the Piña Colada Cake. So good! But, it still doesn't beat that One Bowl Chocolate Cake. Now that is what dreams are made of! The recipe was easy enough. I think next time I would only use just a little of the pineapple juice. Maybe a tablespoon or two. It was fun to make and try and very rich.

My Mom rounded out the meal with some green beans and tomato and cucumber slices. The Menu made for a very tasty meal!

New Menu for Nov. 16th.

I think Menu 6 sounds really good!  Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas, Easy Mexican Salsa Rice, and Piña Colada Cake.  I plan on making the Zesty Guacamole to go along with it since I missed out a couple of weeks ago on it.

Jacki's Meal 33

I enjoyed this meal today with my parents and we all liked it.  I thought it was funny that the recipe for the Macaroni Salad served 12 and the recipe for the chicken was for 2 to 3 people :) I made the BBQ Macaroni Salad first and it was fairly time consuming. But we all liked it. I agree with Audrey that a few less diced red peppers and red onions would be good.  I followed the recipe as written.  The Oven-Fried Chicken had a really good flavor I thought. I agree also that less butter would be better and might make the chicken a little crispier.  I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and they worked out great - very tender and moist.  I am having a hard time getting my cookies from the recipes in this book to turn out. I think it is the altitude. (Couldn't be me:) I added a little more flour but I needed to add a little more because they were quite flat. For the last sheet of cookies I added more flour and they turned out much better. I agree the butterscotch chips made them very sweet. I enjoyed making and tasting all of these recipes!

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #33

We started out by trimming up the chicken breasts and cutting them into strips.  I then put them into ziplock bags with the buttermilk.  I did that the morning of our cooking night.  I also pre cooked the macaroni, so that would make it a little quicker to put the salad together.  That night, Dana mixed up the cookie dough and she followed the recipe except she used butter flavored Crisco in place of the butter.  She said that it was pretty simple to put together.  She then set that aside to bake later.  Ashley & Dana started on the Oven-Fried Chicken.  They each mixed up the seasoning mix (We tripled the recipe) and then prepared the baking dishes and got the pans with the chicken in the oven.  Very simple, but I do think that you could use less butter and use some canola oil in its place.  I also thought that they might have specified the size of the chicken strip that you should cut to go with the cooking time.  It was not a real problem, but I think that it would have been a help.  Next we worked on the BBQ Macaroni Salad.  I had prepped the veggies and Ashley got all of the ingredients mixed up in the bowl.  We only used about half the amount of red pepper and onions and we also used sharp cheddar cheese instead of the Colby jack cheese.  After the chicken was finished we baked a batch of the cookies.  We liked the chicken, its very similar to a recipe that I already fix.  Our guys do prefer the thighs, but the gals liked the chicken breast :)  The pasta salad was different since it had the barbecue sauce and the shredded carrots in it.  Some liked it and some didn't.  I would prefer no barbecue sauce in it myself and no carrots, but I liked the rest of the ingredients.  The cookie dough was a big hit! We actually liked that better than the cookies, though the cookies were very good ;) It's a good recipe for those who are not big on chocolate.  I think that I would have preferred regular chocolate chips in place of the butterscotch as the butterscotch are really sweet.  This was a fun menu to try and I think we'll fix these again, but might make a few changes.  Good menu pick Kelsey :)  

Rutter Kitchen-Menu #31

It was my turn to pick for this weeks menu and since I love taco's, this was a great menu to try.  I also wanted a simple menu :)  I baked the cake first and it was so simple.  It is certainly not a low fat or calorie dessert! Once it cooled, Ashley frosted it with our canned frosting and then topped it with the sprinkles.  Next we fixed the taco's.  We followed the recipe except cut back on the onions and used our own spice combo that we liked.  We used the rest of the suggested recipe ingredients.  So simple to do.  While the tacos were baking, Ashley finished up the guacamole.  The store didn't have good avocados, so I had just bought a pkg. of plain prepared guacamole.  Ashley then just added the other ingredients and that worked out fine.  Fresh avocados do taste better in my opinion.  We liked how simple the recipe was.  We set out the usual toppings that were suggested for the taco's plus picante sauce and tortillas chips for the guacamole.  Everything tasted really good.  I think that we would fix these recipe's again.  The guys do prefer our regular taco's that we fix by frying up the shells and the taco meat minus the beans ;)  The cake was fantastic! Everyone that tried it thought it was so good.  

New Menu for Week of Nov. 9th

Kelsey's choice for this week is Menu 33. Welcome Kelsey, so fun to have you join us!

Oven-Fried Chicken

BBQ Macaroni Salad

Oatmeal Scotchies

Jacki's Meal 31

Today we had the Oven Baked Tacos and One Bowl Chocolate Cake. So Good!! The store didn't have any avocados so couldn't make the guacamole. I will give it a try another time. My parents came over to enjoy the meal with us. Hooray we are finally in our house after 6 months of renovations!  Still a lot of work left to do though.  But, back to the food..... For the Oven Baked Tacos I followed the recipe except I used pinto beans instead of black beans. I thought the meat mixture was really good. I used the store bought crunchy taco shells but you could also fry your own corn tortillas and use those. Too much work for me. I really liked these - we all did.  We topped them with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, store bought guacamole, and sour cream.  The chocolate cake was absolutely wonderful. So moist and tasty. It said to cook for 33 to 38 minutes but I checked it at 30 and it was done. I used some prepared Betty Crocker chocolate frosting on it. (Now trans fat free, yea!) I will definitely make both of these recipes again.

Leslee's 36&31

Last week I finally tried out the Lasagna meal. I never make lasagna because it sounds like a lot of work, but really it wasn't bad at all! I think I just remember when my mom would have to boil the noodles then lay them all out, etc. Anyway this dish came together nice and quickly. I made it earlier in the day and it was all ready to put in the oven at dinner time. The garlic bread was a big hit, and also quite easy.

 

Last night I made the oven baked taco meal. I followed the directions and they turned out great. The bottoms got a little soggy but that might have been because I let them sit about 20 min before putting them in the oven. They were still good! All my kids really enjoyed them. Sean helped me make the guacamole and I think he just followed the recipe and it turned out delicious. We ended up just putting the guac on the tacos and it made a satisfying meal. I haven't had a good opportunity to make the cake yet but it looks delicious! 

 

11/2/14 pick- Menu #31

It was hard to choose a Menu as there are so many good ones!
Lets cook Menu #31
Oven-baked Tacos
Zesty Guacamole
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Happy cooking :)

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #36

It was just Ashley and me cooking this week.  I got things started with fixing the Baked Buffalo Wings that morning.  I did what the recipe called for and got them in the fridge for a couple of hours before we were ready to cook them.  They are so easy to fix and smelled great while they were cooking!  We thought that they had a very good flavor, so we will probably cook these again :)

Next was the Deep dish pizza.  I got the dough all ready and in the pans to rise.  I have a nice mixer so I just used the dough hook instead of kneading it by hand and that worked out great!  I doubled the recipe, so I used 4 cake pans and 2 pizza pans.  When Ashley got there we assembled the pizzas and it was so easy.  We really liked the pizza.  I will say that when I fix this again, I will probably just use the pizza pans as I like that thickness better.  Ashley mixed up the sauce & we thought the sauce was tasty and easy to make. 

While the pizza was cooking, we worked on the Wedge Salad.  Ashley mixed up the dressing and then we prepped the salad ingredients.  We then just set out all the salad fixings and let our group fix their salads like they wanted.  We all really liked the Wedge salad, so we will probably fix it again.  We all liked this menu the best so far :)

Nika and Jacki's Review of Meal # 36

We made tis meal last Sunday while I was visiting Nika and family. Actually Nika made it and I did the hard part of putting it in the oven:).  Everyone seemed to like it! I really liked the salad, especially the Blue Cheese Dressing. Max couldn't get enough of the wings and Nika and Sterling thought the pizza was good. Nika said the pizza dough seemed very dry when she mixed it up and didn't seem like it would fill three cake pans but after rising it did.  We decided the wings recipe could be used for drumsticks too. When we bought the wings they were $2.49/lb but drumsticks were .88 cents per lb! Overall another successful meal!