Tag: chicken

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

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It’s hard to be creative about food when you can’t swallow anything and just getting dressed requires a nap. The featured picture was my essential meals for a couple of days. Smoothies, soups, and tea for days! Not that you could tell I have even been drinking tea. My stash is still quite large. More tea parties should be in my future, I guess.

I did manage to make some dinners and actually take pictures too! Fancy’s dog friend Moose, came with his owner for a visit and we had French Onion soup.

Both dogs were pretty well-behaved. Fancy didn’t try to jump on Moose at all! The soup was good. I used half beef and half chicken broth. One of our food shows once said all beef broth would make it too salty. I’ve also used all veggie broth to make it vegetarian. All of the versions seem to come out delicious. Katy helped make the salad, as I was trying to limit my germ exposure.

Mac and cheese was also on the menu. My throat is better, but softer meals seemed to help.

This was pretty much all cheddar. Made with a roux to start, it came out nice and melty. I baked this too. I added mushrooms and red pepper.

Turkey lettuce wraps helped us get some extra veggies in. 

I’ve made them enough not to use a recipe. I used soy sauce, hoisin, oyster sauce, sesame oil to cook the turkey, and sweet chili sauce. They were a nice quick dinner.

Last night we had chicken stir fry. I used a bag of marinated chicken and veggies I had made for freezer meals. I just sliced it up and added bok choy and mushrooms. The sauce needed to be a little thicker, but it worked.

I might set side a smaller amount to use in stir fry next time. This was  two packs of boneless skinless leg meat from Costco. Originally, it would have been baked and served with rice, but I was home and wanted something different. It turned out pretty good.

This morning, I was in a baking mood and made this Cinnamon Coffee Cake from Pillsbury’s Best Muffins and Quick Breads. 

It’s delicious! It has a cinnamon sugar glaze poured over the top. Just sweet enough, not overpowering. I did cheat and add cinnamon to the batter too. It only called for it in the glaze and I was concerned it wouldn’t be enough. I don’t regret it, even though the Husband teased me for it. Sometimes you just know what a recipe needs. 🙂

I’m in a baking mood today, so I might try a shortbread with lemon thyme (from my garden!) and a new chocolate chip recipe for the Husband. He’s been working hard and should probably have some cookies.

I’ll post a garden update soon. Other than the squirrels eating my marigolds, things seem to be growing well. 🙂

If I can get the dog off my lap, I’ll be baking up a storm shortly. Have a great, relaxing weekend!

Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

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Hello! I hope your weekend is going better than mine. I started to get sick yesterday and it’s much worse today. I’ve slept for a lot of today. Fancy has been napping with me. She’s a good dog. 🙂 I’m hoping it’s just a cold, but my throat hurts a lot, so if it is worse tomorrow, I’ll go get checked out. I’ve been hydrating and taking it easy.

We had some friends over for dinner last night and grilled for the first time this summer. It was very good.

We had grilled boneless/skinless chicken thighs in gyro seasoning that a family friend gave us. Salad, pita breads, and hummus were also present. We had sweet potatoes too. We’ll definitely be grilling more.

The Husband made his own dinner tonight! Seared pork chops with apples and a pasta side. He seasoned them with the Chophouse seasoning from The Pepper Palace.

The Husband was very proud of himself for learning how to sear them and finishing them off in the oven. We may have cooking lessons on Saturday nights. 🙂

I had potato salad, which I made yesterday for lunch.

It was pretty good. I had a craving for it, but the Husband doesn’t enjoy it. I made it for my sewing lunch.

I made Blueberry Muffins from Gordon Ramsey’s In The Heat Of The Kitchen.

They were a little dense. Not sure why as I actually followed the recipe. My parents enjoyed them for breakfast while they were here.

Speaking of my parents, they really need to come visit more often. My mother went into low kitchen orbit and we had 2 loaves of french bread, a lasagna, and two loves of nissu in the kitchen. It was beautiful. I didn’t have to make anything for craft night at all.

So that’s this past week. We’re having French Onion soup tomorrow with some garlic bread made from my Mom’s bread. Sorry for the short post! My cold meds are making me quite sleepy.

Have a great Sunday!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

Somehow this week, I got two pictures. 2. Granted, I wasn’t home too much for dinner, so that’s why. I did take the great picture of my hamburger buns though. The buns are from Small Breads by Bernard Clayton. I have used the book bere, but this may be a new section.

We had hamburgers with Chophouse Seasoning from The Pepper Palace in San Francisco. It was spicy and delicious.

Toasted homemade buns, mushrooms and onions, and garlic butter carrots accompanied the meal. There’s cheese on the burger too.

We used the leftover buns for pulled chicken sandwiches on Tuesday. My lovely mother was in town after antiquing her way across the state, so she got to enjoy some too. No pictures, because I wasn’t home until late. The recipe was from Natasha’s Kitchen. https://natashaskitchen.com/slow-cooker-bbq-chicken-recipe/

I did have some when I came home and it would make a good freezer recipe.

The Husband had pork chops with the Chophouse Seasoning and said it was spicy and he would have liked it seared first. He’s going to learn how to sear things soon. 🙂

My Mom was headed back home yesterday, so she stayed with us again. We had homemade pepperoni pizza, but I got distracted and forgot pictures. A certain dog wouldn’t stop jumping on the couch and forcibly cuddling Mom. She’s a terribly vicious, you know, even if she is scared of the wind rustling her poop bags…

Tonight we were going go have pot roast, but were having such a good time at a friend’s birthday party, that we stayed until after dinner. I’m going to make it for lunch tomorrow. 🙂 We’ll have some excellent leftovers.

I’ve acquired several new cookbooks. My parents gave me two and I found some at the book sales, and I found a “Book of Festive Tarts” at the thrift store with my Mom.

My dad got me this one for Christmas and I think it got put in a “safe place.” You know the one where everything goes to never be found again?

So I finally got it and it fits in well for the blog theme. I’m excited to try some of the recipes.

They also gave me this pretty one called The Virgina Housewife. 

It has super old recipes and cooking tips. Some are slightly horrifying, especially when talking about killing chickens and pigs. It’s pretty cool. I’ve not had a chance to go all the way through it, but it seems useful.

So that’s my roundup for the week. We’re having the Husband’s parents over for Mother’s Day dinner tomorrow and I really need to clear the table. It’s been taken over by sewing things.

Wish me luck!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

The weather here cannot make up its mind about what to do. All our snow melted in a day after getting several inches and now it’s freezing again. We’re supposed to get 4-6 inches by tomorrow. Fancy has spent most of the last couple of days curled up on the bed, or by the heating vent. She’s currently keeping my feet warm with occasional breaks to bark at the neighbors.

We had a good amount of variety in our meals this week. For dinner tonight, it will be “clean out the fridge.” I think all we have left is the chicken divan though, so that will be easy to finish off.

We had a pre-seasoned boneless lamb leg on Sunday, with mashed potatoes and fancy carrots from a Food Network magazine.

I consulted a couple of different recipes for the lamb, mainly just for tempature. It turned out really good. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/herb-roasted-lamb-recipe-1943577.html?soc=itksocialsharedefault%7Cios%7Ct Herb-Roasted Lamb By Ina Garten

I think this is the one I finally settled on. The link is being weird and linking back to the app instead of the webpage, so if it gives you trouble, search the Food Network site.

The lamb was delicious! We will definitely be doing this again. The Husband was super happy with it. I liked it. It masked the lamb gameyness and had a bit of a kick to it.

The carrots were from Food Network April 2015, Herbed Green Beans and Carrots. I only used carrots and I used a cranberry-pear white balsamic vinegar. I did reduce the sugar a little in the recipe. I julienned the carrots, feeling very fancy while cutting them.

We also had chicken divan. I accidentally mixed the cheese in and forgot the bread crumbs, so it was a little bit different. I also didn’t measure and under seasoned it. It still tasted alright though.

I made another muffin recipe. Blood Orange Pomegranate Muffins from Food Network, Jan/Feb 2018. 

They browned up a bit more than I was expecting. They have two full sticks of butter in them… The pomegranate arils were supposed to go on top, but I accidentally mixed them in. I didn’t make the glaze. I typically don’t like it. These were good. Slightly over baked, I think. They also made a full 24, when the recipe only said it would make 18. I’m not sure what size muffins they thought I was making…

I had chocolate chip banana waffles for breakfast one night. It had been a rough day, so they were a nice treat. https://hilahcooking.com/chocolate-chip-waffles/

I had them with butter and lingonberry jam. Mmm… I would make these again. The Husband was out for the night, so I didn’t have to share. I would make these again. I reduced the sugar a little and would do so again. The chocolate chips and jam made these sweet enough.

Last night I used the lamb to make a lamb stew, loosely based off a recipe in A Taste of Lebanon by Mary Salloum.

It was spicy from the lamb seasoning and warming from the cinnamon. We had cheese biscuits with it. We ate most of it last night. I would make this again if we have leftover lamb.

In other news, I started an Instagram account for the blog, with the same name- Notso50shousewife. If you have an account, feel free to follow along.

Stay tuned on Monday for my monthly review! I’m starting pretty strong on sewing projects this year.

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

I really have to remember to take pictures of all my recipes, not just the new ones. This week, we had spaghetti and lasagna and I only got the spaghetti photographed. I ate separately from the Husband most nights, so that’s probably why.

This spaghetti was made on the stove and it cooked for about 6 hours. There was a little too much acid in it and I ran out of tomatoes. I used a can of tomato paste and one can of sauce with two cans of diced tomatoes.

We had lasagna on Monday. The Husband baked it and I ate some when I got home late. No pictures, because I kept forgetting. It had fresh mozzarella, Boursin cheese, and Parm in it.

We also had mac and cheese later in the week. I made it in the morning and the Husband baked it when he got home. It doesn’t photograph well, especially as leftovers, so no picture. No fancy cheeses for this one, except I added a tiny bit of cream cheese for extra creamy texture. We were out of milk, so the roux was chicken broth based instead. I find it’s not as creamy that way, hence the cream cheese. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but it was decent.

We also had caramelized onion bacon pizza. I had a scary moment where I thought bacon might have to come out of my diet, but it turned out to be the dairy instead. I haven’t had any problems since, so I think bacon is still in! We fell on it like starving wolves, so no pictures. I used the thin crust pizza recipe from a Food Network magazine, I think October 2015?

So now for a new recipe, this time with pictures!

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken from The Recipe Critic.

https://therecipecritic.com/2016/09/sheet-pan-teriyaki-chicken-with-vegetables/

I think I ate sautéed spinach with it. I have a picture of the spinach and I remember eating it, but it seems like a very long time ago…

The chicken was good, the veggies were an absolute salt bomb. Blech. Next time, they will not be seasoned, just have the glaze. I’m going to make this up as a freezer meal and it will be a good one to keep around. The spinach was good, just olive oil, garlic, s + p.

Tonight we tried out a recipe from Peking Table Top Cooking by Linda Lew, Anges Lee, and Elizabeth Brotherton. We used the Chimney Soup recipe from the Firepot chapter.

This is the end noodle soup with the extra bits. It was hard to take a picture of the hotpot and the bits, we were eating them too fast! The Husband said it almost reached the level of the duck and requested the 3 ingredient marinade on all the meats. 🙂 Seriously, this magic marinade was 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 T sherry, and 1 T of cornstarch. The recipe called for Chinese rice wine or ginger juice and I had neither, so subbed sherry. It’s in a lot of the other marinade. I was happy that he liked it so much though.

I did spice up the broth with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and ginger.

Mom would have frowned at us though. We pretty much ate standing at the stove, until we had the noodle soup. We couldn’t figure out managing the fondue pot and extension cord on the table and managing Fancy at the same time. She was extra interested, as she got some little pieces of steak that wouldn’t work for the dinner when the Husband cut the steak. He did an excellent job, we had very little waste and perfect strips of meat. We’re trying to figure out if he could do this with pork too. I’m sure he could.

Next week I have all late nights except for Monday, due to some emergency appointments. I really need to start keeping to my hours, or just accept the fact that I probably won’t be home before 8 most nights. That’s a terrible thought though, so I need to figure out something else.

This week includes probably another Instant Pot dinner, possibly pot roast, ice cream, and fancy muffins. It should be fun, assuming I can work it all in.

Possibly also biscuits for Fancy. She’s been super-duper snuggly today and I think misses us. She’s not eating when we aren’t both here and it’s gotten worse. She won’t drink water either. We’re trying to train her to specific meal times. Currently, we have to hide tiny pieces of treats in her bowl in the mornings to get her to eat even a few mouthfuls. Then she eats too fast in the evenings and gets very bad, stinky, gas. Like, clear the room bad. Here she is all mad that I told on her…

Hopefully she will learn that she can eat and she’s safe, even if our schedules change. Wish us luck!

Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

I blinked and the week was done! I only got two cookie recipes done this week. We had a lot of snow and my night commutes got very long.

I made up a recipe and we had chicken divan, which is the Husband’s favorite meal. He had his work holiday parties this week too and one of the prizes was an Instant Pot. I’m going to have to dig out the Food Network magazine with the Instant Pot recipes in it. I know it’s the hot gift this year (no pun intended) so it’ll be fun to try it out. It’s basically a pressure cooker, so anyone have any good recipes?

Here are the recipes!

1- Honey Sugar Cookies from Food Network December 2017. 

I found my Christmas cookie cutters! I have a just a few, which is fine. I don’t often make cut outs. This dough was easy to use though. I haven’t made the icing for them yet and I got meringue powder specifically for it. The second batch will have icing. I was empowered by the recipe which just had cut out circles with icing and peppermint candies. That’s my kind of cookie decorating.

2- Mexican Hot Chocolate Crinkles from FN December 2017. 

These need more cinnamon, in my opinion, but they are nice and tender and taste good. These might be made for the party as something different to try

3- Crockpot Taco Soup, recipe by me.

No pictures and it was loosely based on a recipe given to us for our wedding. Here is what I did.

1lb ground beef, browned. I can diced green chilis,  1 can tomatoes, 3ish cups beef broth, half a cup of frozen corn, cumin, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, and chipotle chili powder. All the spices were to taste.

I put it all in the crockpot and cooked it for 8 hours. We had it with fritos and cheese. It was decent for a quick dinner. The Husband doesn’t like beans, otherwise I would have added black beans.

I have no idea which cookie to make next. I have a bunch of recipes including peppermint truffles, walnut cardamom crescents, and chewy coffee crinkles. I might go to bed early tonight though. I am exhausted. Baking cookies while tired is not good. I forget things like sugar or baking powder.

Tomorrow is my long distance baking day with my Mom, wearing our matching shirts. I may be baking with a friend as well, assuming I’m feeling okay. Hopefully an early night will help.

Recipe Roundup and Bread Experiments
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup and Bread Experiments

LSiehLeave a comment

I have one recipe this week. I think I’m losing my way a little. I know I’ve said this before too, so I apologize for repeating myself.

Meal planning has been out the window and my schedule has turned into late nights almost every night. That should be a little more under control in a bit. Fridays are going to be off my schedule after tonight. I need to go back to dance and have a night in. My Monday nights will be earlier too when I am able to switch to just one center, probably only until 6:00 pm. The Husband will be happy to see me, I think. 🙂

My one new recipe was Jerk Chicken, which was a freezer recipe from Sweet Peas and Saffron. https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/7-chicken-marinade-recipes-freezer-friendly/

I got home late and haven’t tried it yet, but the Husband said it was good. He had it with rice and we had applesauce or strawberries as sides.

We also had spaghetti and lasagna this week. The Husband pointed out that I change how I make those each time. He’s right, it changes with what I have in the fridge. The spaghetti had celery and less mushrooms than usual this time.

I used some of my flamingo pasta for lunch one day with the spaghetti sauce. It made my lunch more fun for sure.

The lasagna had fresh mozzarella instead of ricotta and didn’t have any shredded parm. It also had a mix of shredded mozzarella and provolone. The Meijer brand, I think.

I also made bread, well, attempted to make bread with my Dad’s method. It did not go well.

The spoon in the first picture was made by my Dad for our wedding. I love it too much to use it. I just gaze at it. I have very distinct memories of watching both my parents make bread, but I associate it more with my Dad. We had a huge bread bowl that would hold enough dough for three or four loaves. My brothers and I would fight over who got the end piece with butter… Mmm… He sent me his method written out, but I forgot to see if I could post it. I’ll ask him and post later maybe.

This, kids, is what happens when your yeast dies a horrible death…

I didn’t use enough yeast and it got too cold. It didn’t rise even after being in a warm oven. Our house is freezing. We’re playing the “See how long you can go without turning on the heat” game. I’m perpetually cold, no matter what, so just add hoodies and socks. Fancy snuggles more, but she doesn’t seem to mind as much as me.

Poor bread. It tastes good, but it’s pretty sad. I’ve made bread before lots of times, but always with measurements. My Dad has been making bread for many years, so he knows all the tricks. I’ll have to study his methods a little more. For now, I might stick to recipes.

Speaking of recipes, I was overcome at Costco and now we have 5 dozen eggs… This week we will have the crustless quiche, homemade ice cream, and I will have egg salad for lunch. Possibly also chef’s salad and I’ll have to bake something. Many things… They are good until the end of the month, so I’ve got time. We’ve also got our Elevensies/Lord of the Rings Party coming up, so it should be okay. If you have any other ideas, let me know!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go cuddle this cold puppy and find more egg and party recipes. I’m behind on planning.

Recipe Roundup- Leftover Edition
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup- Leftover Edition

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This week was a week of one recipe and two leftover recipes. I had a few freezer dinners and chili at work. It was “Hell Week” for the Husband’s play and he was gone until late all week. Fancy and I missed him a lot! His group performed “The Laramie Project.” It was so powerful! I’m not sure if I’m ready to blog about it, because it brought a lot of stuff up. Maybe I’ll tackle it all in a future post.

Fancy did get a new toy over last weekend, from the Husband’s uncle to distract her from the Husband being gone for so long. Poor little pig didn’t even know what was coming for him…

She’ll get one of her treat bones today with some homemade treats in it. It’s raining and she won’t go out except to use the bathroom. She’s going stir crazy though, so if anyone has a need for slightly crazy puppy cuddles, let me know. 🙂

I just made a chocolate applesauce cake today, so I’ll start with that recipe and end with the leftover recipes.

1- Chocolate Applesauce Cake from Taste of Home. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-applesauce-cake

I was trying to recreate a chocolate applesauce cake my Mom makes, but this was not the right recipe. It’s delicious and moist, but not dark chocolaty enough. She said another name for it was “Chocolate Tea Bread” maybe, so I might look that up. I used my homemade applesauce for it. I wanted this cake since I made the applesauce, so I am happy with it. 🙂

2-Slow Cooker French Onion Chicken from Pillsbury. https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/slow-cooker-french-onion-chicken/ec69f51d-b79d-4ac0-8619-693a35167a87

First off, I didn’t make this in the crock pot. I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes, maybe? I also used boneless thighs and drumsticks instead of chicken breasts. I ran out of time for the crockpot.

It was good. I liked the garlic and always like caramelized onions. I had it with green beans and a homemade herbed french bread roll. I forgot to oil the mini cast iron, so the bottom of it got stuck. It still tasted delicious though.

So I made a lot more chicken than I needed by accident and had to come up with a few things to do with it. I have no pictures of these ideas, but can give you the measurements from what I remember.

3- Chicken Salad, recipe by me.

I chopped up a couple of pieces of the chicken, added a few tablespoons of chopped celery, and about a 1/8 cup mayo. Also, salt, pepper, and I accidentally dumped at least a tablespoon of dried tarragon in the container. It was delicious! I was going to eat it with crackers, but they had gone stale in my snack drawer at work. Apparently my face was absolutely hilarious because my client burst out laughing in the middle of her sentence. 🙂 I ate it by itself after that.

4- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup, recipe by me.

I chopped up the rest of the chicken, a small onion, a garden jalapeño, and two cloves of garlic. I added them to a box of chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of diced green chilis, and a can of tomato paste. Spices were cumin, garlic powder, a little turmeric, oregano, and salt and pepper. I let it cook overnight and promptly had it for breakfast on Friday. It’s delicious and spicy! It’s helping the Husband’s cold, we think.

I did learn that the massive jalapeños are probably massive in heat level, not necessarily size. I know this because I rubbed my eyes at 4:30 AM and cried for a very long time. I had cut one (only one!) up, washed my hands multiple times and went to bed. Apparently it was extremely potent. I think I might need gloves to make the salsa. Yikes! Not a good way to wake up for sure.

My work schedule is crazy as usual. I decided to move to one counseling center full-time, instead of part-time at two centers, so while this will eventually make it better, right now it’s not the easiest. I’m attempting to tell clients I’m leaving, but both last Friday and Monday, I had three no shows or cancellations each day. It makes it hard to move things along for sure. My plan is to be full-time at only one center by January. Hopefully I can have a couple of earlier nights  during the week to actually cook things again.

Speaking of cooking, I should go make dinner for me. I’m going to make a grilled cheese with the herb bread. I’ve used it before and it was delicious!

Have a great weekend! May it be filled with naps!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

Fancy, the Husband, and I are tuckered out. We went on a grand adventure today to our college’s homecoming. We took Fancy with us and discovered that she can be in the car with just the car harness belted in and not in her crate for about 2 hours. We had the crate with us in case, but it’s nice to know that we can do that.

We all had a great time! It was a little weird being back on campus and realizing I graduated 10 years ago. Gosh, I’m getting old.

Some things we discovered during the parade: Fancy does not like drums, is unsure of bagpipes, and would very, very much like to eat the cheerleaders’ pom-poms. She’s currently snoring on her blanket after meeting several new dogs and a very many new people. She was quite the attention getter and is now an honorary Phi Mu Alpha (The Husband’s fraternity) house dog. 🙂

Because it was homecoming, I made one of our college’s famous foods, Highland Chicken. It figures, the only school spirit I have comes out in food… Of course, I improved it a little.

1- Highland Chicken, recipe by me. Absolutely no measurements, sorry!

Saute mushrooms and onions in olive oil until tender. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Add half a brick of cream cheese. Cook until melted. Roll out puff pastry and cut into 6 squares. Divide mixture between puff pastries, twist corners into center. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

It was good and brought back a bunch of good college memories. 🙂

We used left over chicken from the next recipe to make the Highland Chicken.

2- Roast Chicken With Herb Butter from In the Heat of the Kitchen by Gordon Ramsey. Section: Poultry and Game Birds. 

I was brave and popped the legs off as suggested and roasted them separately. I didn’t get this one too badly  off, although I forgot to make carrots to go with it and we had salad instead.

3- Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing from The Comfort of Cooking. http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/02/old-fashioned-bread-stuffing.html

This was good. A little dry for the Husband. I normally don’t like stuffing, but it was good.

4- BBQ Beef Ribs, by me!

I threw some boneless beef ribs and homemade BBQ sauce in the crockpot with some garlic cloves and cooked it for 7 hours. We had it twice. The picture is from the second time when we had mashed potatoes and carrots. The Husband had it with a salad the first time.

We managed to have a few new recipes in the past week, even being busy. The Husband starts being at play rehearsals more this month to figure out the production side of things, so our meal schedule may be a bit crazy.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Fancy is currently making this face at me to try to get me to play. 🙂 Stay tuned for my monthly report tomorrow!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup · Uncategorized

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

Fancy was very excited this week, she got two new dog treat recipes made for her! Sadly, the vet thinks she may be allergic to chicken and if that’s the case, she can’t have one of them. We’re keeping her off chicken for a few weeks to see if it helps her ears and feet heal. I’m finding other recipes for her though.

1- Apple Crunch Pupcakes by Lola Bakes. http://blog.candiquik.com/apple-crunch-pupcakes/#more-6534

The pupcakes ended up being a trip. I used coconut flour and had to call a friend in a panic because the mixture wouldn’t stop expanding. I think I will not use coconut flour again. Fancy loves them, she won’t even let me get the paper off of them normally before she starts licking them. This is good because with the expansion of the flour it made 24 big cupcakes and two pans of minis. I froze them, as they started condensing a lot in the containers.

Here’s what the flour looked like in the bowl:

And a mini pupcake:

2- Mushroom Stroganoff Tortellini from Food Network Magazine, Oct. 2017, V. 10, N. 8

I saw this recipe when I got the magazine and the picture made me say “yum!” I used cheese tortellini instead of beef, since it was what we had. We always have the Kirkland/Costco brand tortellini on hand for quick dinner. One set will generally get us four separate meals and it keeps very well.

It was a little rich for me, but it tasted good. The Husband liked it a lot and said we could definitely make it again.

3- Vegetarian Chili, loosely based on this recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/72508/the-best-vegetarian-chili-in-the-world/

I read the recipe, sort of, and then threw everything into a pot and cooked it for a few hours before work. Meat has been causing me issues lately. I haven’t wanted to cook or eat it, so this was a good option for lunch. I am the only one eating it too, so I am going to freeze it for lunches later. I used pinto beans instead of garbanzo beans. I also used a home-grown jalepeno. It was lovely and had just the right hint of spice.

4- Chicken Sausage with Spaetzle from Food Network Magazine, Oct. 2016, V.9, N.8. 

First off, this was in the weekday dinners section and I have no idea how they thought making spaetzle was a weekday thing. We didn’t eat until 8:30 the night I made this. Second thing, if I am going to make spaetzle again, I need a different colander with bigger holes. Also, three more arms, so I can rotate when they get tired. I have actually always wanted to try making spaetzle, so I was excited to do it, but man were my arms tired.

It tasted good though and I had a craving for chicken sausage, so was happy with it. It was relatively easy too, just awkward when trying to hold the colander and smoosh it through.

5-Freezer Cafe Rio Chicken from Freezer Meals by Juliana Sweeney. 

I don’t have a picture, as we ate this on different days. This meal saved my behind this week when I forgot to take anything out for dinner. It thaws for an hour before cooking and that’s it. It was surprisingly good. I thought it might be weird as it had Italian dressing and ranch seasoning, but it was actually good. We had it with rice.

My friend, Kayla, got us this book and it has been great! I have had a much easier time prepping dinners and using the crockpot more because of it. Tomorrow, I will be prepping more of them to freeze as I am almost out.

I’m pleased with my meal prep and execution this week. Sometimes it’s hard to feel like cooking after work, but I do get a lot of benefits out of it.

Any suggestions on techniques or recipes I should try? I’m trying to be more adventurous lately. I have to top the duck!