Month: March 2012

Cheddar bay biscuits

Posted on by traci

I made these for our family dinner this week. We were having lasagna and I wanted to serve something garlicky that was not garlic bread. I immediately thought of these biscuits. I had made them before and remember loving them.

The final verdict from the adults was they loved them. Score!

They are my kind of recipe because it’s quick and simple. It requires very few ingredients. Finally the taste is remarkable.

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Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Stars of the recipe:

  • 2 c. of Bisquick or baking mix
  • 2/3 c. milk
  • 1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick)
  • 2 Tbsp. garlic powder (or to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp. dried parsley (or to taste)

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. Mix Bisquick and milk until moist. Add a little bit of milk at a time if needed.
  3. Fold in cheddar cheese.
  4. Drop heaping tablespoons of mix onto a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
  5. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
  6. While biscuits are baking, melt butter in microwave. (I do a minute at a time until melted.). Stir in garlic and parsley.
  7. Once the biscuits are out of the oven, brush on the butter mixture.
  8. Let biscuits cool.
  9. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Menu planning week of March 26

Posted on by traci

Last week I didn’t post a menu. I did menu planning though.

This weeks a crazy week. I’m staying late one day, have a doctor’s appointment another day, and am doing something another evening. Needless to say I’ve got to make sure everything is ready for Hubby so he can get the boys and himself fed.

Monday – spaghetti, applesauce, salad, cheddar bay biscuits

Tuesday – pork roast, stuffing, veggies

Wednesday – Panko crusted chicken, rice, veggies

Thursday – crockpot creamy bratwurst soup, cornbread, salad

Friday – tacos

Saturday – short cut beef stroganoff, egg noodles

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Posted on by traci

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I found this recipe in Erin Chase’s $5 Dinner Cookbook and have been using it for the past year or so. Today I was making lasagna for dinner and decided to make the sauce for it.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
$5 Dinners

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 – 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes or 2 – 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
  • 2 tsp. or to taste Italian seasoning
  • 2 Tbsp. of olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. beef granules
  • 1 Tbsp. minced garlic

Steps:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan.
  2. Bring up to a rolling boil. (You don’t want a full boil because you don’t want spaghetti sauce everywhere.)
  3. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
  4. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Note: You may add 1 Tbsp. of white sugar or a shredded carrot to cut back on the acidity of the tomatoes or to add sweetness to the sauce.

Printable Recipe

Bacon cheeseburger soup

Posted on by traci

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Yum! This soup is so good. Last weekend I was checking out meals matter. I hadn’t been on that site in forever. Anyway I found this recipe in my personal cookbook on that site. I decided it would be a good dinner. So I put it on our meal plan.

Both the Imaginative One and hubby loved it! It was also easy to make especially if you have already browned hamburger in the freezer.

Oh and the flavors will remind you of a cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, and pickle.

Bacon cheeseburger soup
Cooking During Stolen Moments

Stars of the recipe:

  •  5 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
  • a sm. onion, cut into small pieces
  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 slice of bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
  • 1-2 Tbsp. Ketchup
  • 1-2 Tbsp. mustard
  • 1-2 Tbsp. pickle relish

Steps:

  1. Brown ground beef and then drain. (Or use frozen browned ground beef from freezer).
  2. Add veggies and ground beef into big stockpot. Pour chicken stock over veggies and ground beef.
  3. Bring chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat and them let simmer until carrots and potatoes are cooked and soft. About 15 minutes.
  4. Take off the heat. Add milk and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.
  5. Add mustard, relish, ketchup, and bacon. Stir.
  6. Serve.

Printable Recipe

Baked Cinnamon Doughnuts

Posted on by traci

Last fall, I bought doughnut pan with plans to make homemade doughnuts often.  I made a few batches and the pan ended up in my oven drawer sitting there all lonely.

Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I decided I needed to do something green related for a treat.  I decided doughnuts would be a great idea.  I could put green sprinkles on them to honor the day.  (The boys think St. Paddy’s Day is the best holiday ever.  They have been talking about the day for months.)  So putting green sprinkles on the doughnuts would be awesome!  After making them, I pulled them out of the pan.  The Wee One thinks the Leprechaun in our house did it.  He also thinks the Leprechaun ate one of the mini doughnut.

I went to King Arthur’s flour for the recipe.  This recipe is easy and delicious!!!!!!!!

Baked Cinnamon Doughnuts

 King Arthur Flour

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, to taste*
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 & 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease doughnut pans.
  2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars until smooth.
  3.  Add the eggs, beating to combine.
  4. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.
  5. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
  6. Spoon the batter into the lightly greased doughnut pans, filling the wells to about 1/4″ shy of the rim.
  7. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles.
  8. Bake the doughnuts for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and wait 5 to 7 minutes before turning them out of the pans onto a rack. Enjoy warm; or cool completely, and store airtight.  (If using mini doughnuts, bake them for 7 minutes.)

Menu Planning Monday – March 12, 2012

Posted on by traci

I keep saying I need to write a book on the some things I have encountered as a teacher.  Some are endearing while others are just CRAZY.  Friday was one of those CRAZY days.  The third grade teachers were all at an inservice and I was left behind.  The saying while the cat is out, the mice will play rang true ALL day long.

Anyway, the other day a student asked me if I was 22 years old.  My ego was inflated as I said “Yes!” with a lot of enthusiasm.  A minute later, another student pumped up, “You look too old to be 22 years old.  My ego deflated.
Another student piped up, “You are 30 years old.”  My ego was inflated once again.  But then it was deflated when another student blurted out my real age.  How they knew my real age, I don’t know.

Monday  – Mexican spaghetti, green beans, and biscuits

Tuesday – chicken fried rice, egg rolls

Wednesday – macaroni and cheese, peas, and biscuits

Thursday – ham potato pie, mixed veggies

Friday – lemon garlic fish, rice pilaf, spinach

Saturday – Italian beef sandwiches, chips, raw veggies, cole slaw

Sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel dip

Posted on by traci

Yummy! Three ingredients that sound strange together come together in ooey, gooey deliciousness goodness. We had a family game night scheduled for my church. I decided to make a recipe from a while ago and a new recipe. I have Stephanie O’Dea’s slow cooker cookbook. This one of the recipes in it.

Sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel dip

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Stars of the recipe:

  • Pound of breakfast sausage
  • 8 oz. block of cream cheese
  •  1-10 oz. can of Rotel

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Steps:

  1. Brown sausage and then drain.
  2. Place browned sausage, Rotel, and cream cheese in a 1.5 or 2 qrt. Crockpot.
  3. Cook on high for 45 minutes or low for 90 minutes.
  4. Enjoy with tortilla chips.

 

Printable Recipe

Favorite Book Series – The Sister’s Grimm

Posted on by traci

Back in August 2010, I was going to do a series about my favorite books or series.  I only did one post and then didn’t do any others.  Both the Imaginative One and I have read this series.  This is one of his favorite series and loves to read me exerpts from the books all of the time.

Imagine your favorite fairy tale characters were real and lived in a town called Ferryport Landing,  New York.

Your mother and father have disappeared without a trace and for a year and a half you have lived in foster care moving from one home to another with your sister.  Suddenly a long lost grandma of yours is claiming to be your relative.  But wait your mother and father have told you that she has died.  Is this a trick?

For Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, this is exactly what happens to them.  They are transported to Ferryport Landing.  There they discover their family is relatives of the Grimm Brothers who not only wrote fairy tales but also knew the characters personally.  They brought them over from Europe to the United States.  The ancestors of the Grimm Brothers have become fairy tale detectives.

These stories will engage you as you discover a secret organization known as The Scarlet Hand, how Sabrina and Daphne react to being in the town full of fairy tale characters, and their adventures as fairy tale detectives.  As the series continues, you will discover more evil plots by the Scarlet Hand.  You will become sucked into the town of Ferryport Landing and into the lives of Sabrina and Daphne. 

Michael Buckley’s website