This is my one year anniversary of participating in Foodie Pen Pals. Shania, who lived in New Jersey, sent me my first box. I remember worrying about her last October because she was in the path of Superstorm Sandy. Luckily she was fine. She sent me magnets which is funny because Katie, my partner this month, also sent me magnets.
This time I sent to and received from Katie who lives close to Chicago. For information about what I sent her, please visit her blog.
Here is what she sent me:
The note written by Katie
Spicy Moroccan Sauce – Haven’t decided what to make with it just yet. The place it’s manufactured is actually 45 minutes from me.
Tea
Chocolate and magnets
I keep almonds in my desk drawer at work to eat for energy.
The boys are in Cub Scouts. We had their annual Halloween party last Thursday. Someone made this boo mix for some of the snacks being served. Oh, my goodness, I could not stop eating it. I even took one of the last two cups of it and ate some on the way home and the remainder the next day. I did not let any be wasted.
Today I found the recipe so I decided to make some of the snack mix for the boys and my lunches. Both boys tried some after I made it. They both loved it so each of them has 5 snack size bags of the mix for their lunches. Then our friend stopped by the house and tried it. He also gave it a thumbs up!
A couple of days ago, Tiffany from Eat at Home posted a recipe for cranberry orange oatmeal cooked in the slow cooker. I’ve attempted to make oatmeal in the slow cooker and it did not turn out pretty. Most of it was wasted.
This recipe turned out great because I found a different way to cook the oatmeal in the slow cooker that did not burn or dry out the oatmeal. The result was creamy oatmeal that I did not have to add any liquid to it when I heated it up the next day!!!!!! 🙂
This week’s a strange week. I’ve only got to cook dinner 3 times this week – Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. So my method for planning those 3 days is this: Go to my freezer. Open it up. What do I have that I need to eat up or cook up. So it’s no real plan for this week.
Monday – Hoison chicken with rice and veggie
Tuesday – Open up the freezer and find something to cook up or eat up
Wednesday – ZooClues at the Columbus Zoo – Buffet style dinner – Hubby and I; boys are spending the night at the grandparents so they are having a rare treat – Kids’ Cuisines for dinner
Thursday – Open up the freezer and find something to cook up or eat up
Friday – Chick Fil A (profits are going towards a mission of our youth group)
Saturday – Hubby is eating at a bonfire, the boys and I are going to be at the zoo for Boo at the Zoo
My husband loves getting food from the Chinese food restaurants in our local mall’s food court. So I decided to recreate one of the dishes he might purchase there. This dish was healthier than what you get at the food court.
When it was cooking in the oven, he thought it was a sweet and sour dish. So he was super excited for dinner last night.
The only issue with the dinner was super lemony but it’s an easy fix. If you really love a lemon flavor, add the lemon zest and additional lemon juice.
Lemon ChickenLemon Chicken
Lemon Chicken
Stars of the recipe:
1 lb. thinly cut chicken breast, chicken breasts pounded thinly, or chicken thighs pounded thin (If you are going to pound out the chicken, place wax paper on a cutting board and then the chicken. Place another piece of wax paper on top of the chicken. Using a heavy skillet, pound the chicken until it’s about a 1/2 inch thick. Hint: An inch is from the tip of your thumb to the knuckle. So a 1/2 inch would be to the end of your thumbnail.)
1/4 c, lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 c, bread crumbs or panko
Optional: 1 Tbsp. lemon zest and additional lemon juice
8 x 8 square dish sprayed with cooking spray
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl big enough to dredge the chicken in, place the lemon juice. In another bowl big enough to dredge the chicken in, place the bread crumbs or panko.
First dredge the chicken in lemon juice and then dredge the chicken in the bread crumbs or panko.
Place in the cooking dish.
Continue with the remainder of the chicken pieces. If you want it really lemony, top with more lemon juice and lemon zest.
With chocolate cats ready to be dunkedWith chocolate cats ready to be dunkedWith chocolate cats ready to be dunked
I love chocolate chip cookies. Actually I like most cookies. You might say cookies are my weakness! I mean dessert weakness. This dip reminds me of a chocolate chip cookie . Best of all you, you don’t have to bake cookies to get the deliciousness. 🙂
Now the question is, what should I dip into this yumminess! I’ve been dipping chocolate cat cookies from Trader Joe’s. Tomorrow I’m going to try dipping my sliced apples in the dip. That sounds absolutely divine.
Side note: Have you ever had someone obsessed with your food choices. I eat in my classroom and have a limited time to eat. Today I was running late getting to eat because I had to print some papers and then talk to two other teachers. I was finishing my lunch when my four students came in for social studies. They were intrigued with what I was eating. They would have been shocked to find out what was in the dip. (My students have seen my lunches many times. Fortunately most of the time it’s something fairly healthy. This way I can be a good role model for them. One is concerned that I don’t eat a lot of meat. I eat meat but it depends on my mood whether I eat a lot meat or not.)
Mmm! Comfort food makes you feel good inside. Pot roast is one of those foods. As I was coming up with this week’s menu, I decided pot roast should be one of our dinners. The interesting thing was we had pot roast for our dinner at my in-laws last night. The difference was how we prepared the roast. The side dishes were different also.
I’ve made this recipe for over 10 years. It is super easy and delicious. After we have roast for dinner, another night during the week I make a hash (minus eggs) with the left over roast. Yum!
Even though I like making baked potatoes cooked in the slow cooker, I’m not a fan of potatoes cooked with the roast. We had buttered noodles with our roast.
Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
In the crockpot
Pot roast
Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Stars of the recipe:
roast (size depends on the needs of your family)
30 oz. can of tomato sauce
optional: russet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks, onions cut into chunks, carrots peeled and cut into strips
Steps:
Place roast into the bottom of the slow cooker.
If placing vegetables, place them on top of the roast.
Pour tomato sauce over the roast.
Cook for 3 to 5 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.
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