Grilled Chicken Alfredo

Served some grilled chicken Alfredo to my family for dinner tonight; it's my boys' favorite!  However, it struck me by surprise when my DH not only had one serving of the pasta, but went back for more!  He has not been one to "like" my Alfredo.  It made me laugh inside & smile for sure!  This is all what's left for tomorrow's snack.

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup shredded cheese (I used jack/cheddar)

1 cup milk

garlic powder to taste

16 oz cooked pasta

1 lb grilled chicken

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt the butter over med-med high heat.  Add your heavy cream and cheese, and bring to a low boil until thick.  Gradually, add the milk to thin it out some.  Season with garlic powder.  Toss with pasta and grilled chicken.  Sauce will thicken as it stands.

Rich Chocolate Ice Cream

Last summer I bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker.  I had only made a simple vanilla recipe, but tonight, I wanted to try a chocolate recipe.  It's definitely very rich, almost like a Dutch chocolate flavor.  The recipe is adapted from Cuisinart's recipe book.  It tastes really good with a dollop of peanut butter~!  It yields about 5 cups, 10 1/2 cup servings.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
dash of salt
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
In a blender, combine the cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar, salt, milk, heavy cream, and vanilla.  I used my Vitamix blender, & it only took less than 10 seconds before the mixture got super thick, like the consistency of pudding.  (I like this method better than mixing it together with a mixer, as the powder will go all over the place! :( )

Let sit in fridge for about an hour before spooning into Cuisinart's frozen freezer bowl, following the directions from the manufacturer.  It should be done about 15-20 minutes.  If you can wait and want a firmer texture, place ice cream in a freezer safe container with a lid for about 2 hours.  Enjoy!

Thousand Island Dressing

Putting aside ranch dressing for salad, my husband's favorite salad dressing growing up is Thousand Island.  But, shoot!  After 19 years of marriage, I've never really bought it at the store...I always bought ranch.  Recently, I bought some Thousand Island dressing.  And, uh-oh, we are almost out.  So, my husband challenged me to find a recipe for it.  This recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com.  What do you think?

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbs sweet pickle relish
dash of garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

Flavored Lit'l Smokies/Meatballs

Another one of my childhood favorite appetizers are Lit'l Smokies.  Haven't made them in years, since I used to wait tables on holiday night parties.  But since my family is starting our celebrating early (like all day) on New Year's Eve, I thought I'd share this recipe with ya'll.  It's really good with meatballs, too!  My family loves this special treat....I think they are on a "protein-high!" lol  It's a hit with company or special events, too.

Since I'm making both today, the sauce only had to be made once.  The original recipe called for chili sauce, but I saved over $2-$3 by making my own recipe with ingredients already on hand.   The chili sauce recipe is adapted from Food.com.

Ingredients:
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar homemade
4 tbs vinegar
3 dashes allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
3 lbs of smokies ( I used beef)
2-3 lbs of meatballs

You can either make this over the stove or in a crockpot.

Since my tomato sauce is stored frozen in quart size bags, because I portion the big cans from Costco, I heated it up in the separately from the smokies...but you don't have to...I just like to heat up the sauce with the spices before tossing it in the meat.

So, in a medium bowl, mix together the tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, allspice, & cinnamon, stirring well.  You can heat it up before adding it to the meat, but don't have to...I like the flavor of it...tastes just like the bottle @ the store!  (YES!!!)

Either in a crockpot or in a large pot on the stove, heat together the homemade chili sauce, cranberry sauce, and meat.  The jellied cranberry sauce will "melt" once warmed.  Once heated thoroughly , serve.

Homemade Pancake Syrup

Several years ago, I realized what was needed to make my own syrup for pancakes.  Even though it's been a while since I last made a batch, it melted the hearts of my boys all the same, "Mmmmmmm."

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp maple extract

In a medium size bowl, boil the water.  It must be really hot, or it won't work.  Pour in the sugar, and stir until clear, about 2 minutes (reminds me of making Jello!)  Then, add the maple extract & stir until well combined.  Serve over your favorite pancakes or waffles.

Pancake Recipe

BBQ Chicken Pizza

As hesitant as DH was to me making this pizza, I.loved.it!  I think my favorite part of it was the cilantro added as a garnish on the BBQ Chicken Pizza.  (I love cilantro in the first place...just was not sure how it would be with BBQ.)  I really didn't want to open up a jar of marinara for the pizzas made tonight, but ended up anyways for variety---just in case not everyone in the family liked it.  However, there were only a couple slices of this for leftovers.  The recipe is adapted from Food.com.

Ingredients:

pizza dough or homemade

1/4 - 1/2 cup honey BBQ sauce

1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

cooked chicken thinly sliced

cilantro chopped (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, or as prescribed on the packaging for the pizza dough.  Coat the pizza pan with a layer of canola oil, and spread the dough in the pan.  Smear the sauce on the dough and layer the pizza with the cheese and chicken.  (The chicken I used was cooked in a sweet BBQ sauce.)  Sprinkle additional cheese over the chicken, if preferred.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  When pizza is done, remove from oven, and sprinkle the pizza with cilantro as a garnish, if preferred.  

...Since I don't have a pizza pan, I used a 9x13 pan.  Once the pizza was done baking, I was able to transfer it to a cookie sheet to cut and serve easier.

...If you are using plain chicken, toss lightly in some BBQ sauce before placing on pizza.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

Normally, my DH has always made the homemade pizza in our house.  But, I just found this recipe earlier this week.  He thought it tasted really good and "homemade," far better than the french bread pizza I made earlier this week.   Either way, it's a win-win!  The recipe is adapted from Salad in a Jar.  There were very little leftovers with my family of six; bummer!

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 pkg)

Directions:
In the bread machine, add the ingredients in order, and select the dough cycle option.  Once the dough has completed rising, punch it down to get rid of any air bubbles.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and spray 2 9x13 pans or pizza pans with some canola oil. (I don't have a pizza pan; the 9x13 pan worked wonderfully.)

When ready, pull the dough out of the machine, and separate into two sections.  Roll out the dough to the desired shape.  If the dough is too elastic, let it rest a minute, and relax.  Place in desired pan, and spray dough with some more of the canola oil.  Then, apply a thin layer of sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes, or more if too much sauce was applied to dough.  ( I checked mine at 10 minutes to check for doneness.)  Slice with a pizza cutter and serve.  (I did not have a problem taking the pizza out of the 9x13 pan and placing on a cookie sheet for easier cutting.)

Homemade Nesquik

Seriously, it's almost midnight, and I found a new recipe to share with y'all.  Funny how you can be on a hunt for something, and you find yourself on a rabbit trail looking up something else!  So, in the midst of trying to find a recipe for something chocolaty, I came across the recipe for Homemade Nesquik, thanks to Sugar Bananas.

What I originally wanted to try has the ingredient for this chocolate powder, but shoot!  I haven't bought any Nesquik in years!  I thought that surely there's a recipe online for a chocolate powder for an easy way to make chocolate milk!  shhhh!  My four boys don't know about it yet!  Uh-oh!  I can see milk being added to my grocery list for later this week!

Good thing that I have a stash of cocoa powder in my pantry!  I have a feeling my oldest will be making this quite a bit on his own, without me knowing it! lol  Therefore, I'll be making a larger batch of this recipe in the nearer future!  Meanwhile, here is a smaller batch for you to try yourself.  Sounds too easy!  (It is!) Now, you can save more money on your groceries, and your kids will love the taste! ....I've already had two glasses tonight! :o

Ingredients:
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
dash of salt

Combine ingredients & shake in a covered container.  Use 2 heaping teaspoons (depending on chocolate preference) for an individual serving (8 oz) of milk.  But, to dissolve the powder the best, add just a bit of hot water and stir.  Then, fill the rest of the glass with milk.

Green Weed Killer

These pesky weeds have lost in the attack on my yard!  lol These prickly weeds are very intimidating with their sharp thorns on the leaves.  But, their roots are not very grounded and are very easily pulled with the right tool.  So, what's the secret?  Simply grab a plastic grocery bag, wad it up, & pull at the base of the weed, kinda like picking up doggie doo-doo on the yard.  Pretty easy, huh?!  Now, I won't be afraid to yank these suckers out of the ground!!! ...Just wish I knew about this a long time ago! lol

My boys were soo jealous of my large successful bag, they wanted to pull weeds!  The night air was really cool when I pulled the weeds, a nice change from the smokey air from the Waldo Canyon Fires  on the westside of Colorado Springs, CO.  The fires are over 50% contained, burned over 17,000 acres, threatened thousands of homes, claimed two lives, and burned 346 homes to the ground.  I am happy to say that our local food pantry has received over a million pounds of food from donations since the fires started June 23, 2012.  Thank you for all the prayers and support to get the fires contained.  Our firefighters and others from across the country have tirelessly devoted to putting out the fires, working over 12, 16, or 24 hour shifts and even sleeping in sleeping bags on concrete or in tents on the ground!

  

This was a picture that I took Tuesday night as the fires crossed over the ridge, heading down towards the city, burning homes.  It was a very scary and emotional night watching the fires burn my city, destroying homes.  My husband knows of a few of his friends who lost their homes from this merciless fire.  There will be no fireworks celebrated this year from the high fire danger.

Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls

(Look at my friend's photo using this recipe!  ((((gush!!!))) I love it!  To make her's, she use the whole recipe for the crescent rolls, & then cut into 1/2" sections, yielding 2 cake pans of yummy delicious cinnamon rolls!  Check out her blog, Simplify Mommyhood.)

After making another batch of dough from the homemade crescent rolls recipe yesterday, I was stuck with what to do with them!  I ended up making two batches of the Cinnamon Bars for a Cinco de Mayo celebration at my kid's school earlier this week with a batch of the dough, but I was originally planning to make 4 batches of the bars.  I felt like all I did last week was cook Mexican and did not want to make anything today!  But, when I saw this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats, I was instantly motivated to get back into the kitchen to "wow" my family!  She was right about making more than one batch of these suckers!  ...wow... they are sooo good!

The recipe was so awesome and quick!  I loved giving my untouched mini muffin pans something to do with this recipe!  The dough from the homemade crescent rolls could easily make 4 batches (about 48) miniature cinnamon roll bites.  I only made about 36 rolls.  I will use the other 1/4 loaf of dough for something else...maybe more cinnamon roll bites tomorrow????! 

Ingredients:

1/4 homemade crescent roll dough or 1 tube of refrigerated crescent rolls

2 tbs melted butter
1-2 tbs brown sugar
cinnamon/sugar mixture (1/4 cup sugar + 2 tsp cinnamon)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray your miniature muffin pans with a nonstick cooking spray.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 9"x13".  Smear the butter over the dough (including the edges), sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon/sugar mixture over the butter.  Gently roll the dough up.  With kitchen shears, cut the dough into about 1/2" segments and place into the muffin pan.  This should yield you about 12 miniature cinnamon roll bites.

Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.  Let cool on a plate and drizzle with your favorite icing.

Homemade Velveeta Sauce

In the grocery stores, Velveeta has gone up in price, anyone else notice?  Growing up, Velveeta was a staple in my house in the '80's.  I was curious, yet skeptical, if two ingredients would give me the same flavor and consistency as Velveeta would.  

The recipe is adapted from Listen to the Mrs.  I love how quick and easy this is to put together, as well as being frugal!  Great substitute to make for any recipe calling for Velveeta!  It's even good for like Cheez Whiz!  Thinking of my mom's Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole right about now.... Or is anyone in the mood for some queso with this and some Rotel?!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream

10 slices processed American cheese

Heat the cream and cheese together, stirring until cheese is melted and thick in a saucepan.  Or heat ingredients together in a bowl in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  Stir until nice and creamy.

When the cheese has cooled, it should "harden" just like the Velveeta does.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

Something that my Dear Husband has been craving lately are boneless buffalo wings.  After spending money for multiple packages at the grocery stores, it was time for me to figure out how to make my own!  While the ones at the stores have been too hot for him, he was delighted that the ones I made tasted mild!


Watching all the fry cooks at Applebee's make the boneless wings, it seemed pretty easy to make; I just needed to find a recipe.  Very grateful that he likes these.  I'll be making another batch, I'm sure!  The recipe is adapted from Franks Red Hot.

Ingredients:
cooked boneless chicken fingers (homemade)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup hot wing sauce

In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.  Then, stir in the wing sauce.  In a larger bowl, add the chicken you wish to coat, about 10 pieces at a time.  Pour a small amount of sauce on the chicken and gently toss until all is coated.  Continue coating the desired chicken in batches.  Enjoy!

Crispy Chicken Fingers

A few years ago, I became so disgusted with the over-priced frozen chicken fingers at the grocery stores.  Out of desperation, I decided to make my own, like at the restaurants.  To save money and make the chicken last longer, I serve these "precious beauties" on a bun and fill up the tummies for my four "baby birds!" lol  However, my Dear Husband loves to sample all the chicken pieces while I'm at the stove making these!  It makes me feel good to see him approve of "What's For Dinner?"  I also love that I know what the ingredients are in these!  It is a little time-consuming to make them, but sooo worth the wait!  My Dear Husband loves to eat these dipped into honey mustard!

Ingredients:
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, tenders, or bites
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs
1 cup water or milk (add more as needed)
shortening


Directions:
In a large skillet, melt the shortening on medium heat.

In a mixing bowl, add the flour, Italian seasoning, chili powder, garlic salt, and pepper.  Mix well the ingredients.  In another bowl, add the eggs and milk or water and whisk well together.  Add more milk or water as needed.

My fingers get real "gummy" in this next phase...

A few pieces at a time, dip the flour into the flour, then the egg wash, and back into the flour mixture.  Once the oil is hot, but not too hot, place the floured chicken into the skillet.  The chicken should start frying immediately.  Fry the meat for about 7-10 minutes at a time, until golden brown.  I usually flip the meat over after about 3-4 minutes.  (You may need to adjust the temperature of the oil, be careful not to burn it.)  Continue cooking the rest of the chicken in batches.

When done, place let cool on a plate with paper towels.  Enjoy!

Homemade Peanut Butter Bars

Courtesy of BAKERLADY's post, I found these am-a-zing peanut butter bars!  My Dear Husband raved about how good they tasted!  ("Are you going to blog about these?!!!")  YAY!!!  They are very rich-tasting, in my opinion, but soooo good!  Quickly, I was able to put these together.  These remind me of Buckeyes, only easier!  I'm all for doing bars over individual balls of peanut butter and chocolate!  :) (My mom thinks I cheat by doing bars!)

Ingredients:
2 sticks melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Melt the butter in the microwave for about a minute.  Then, add the powdered sugar, mashing together as good as possible.  Then, mash-in the graham cracker crumbs and the 1 cup of the peanut butter, one at a time; it will be pretty stiff to stir together.  (Tasted good, but not too good lookin'. lol)

Spray a 9x13 pan with a nonstick cooking spray.  Press down evenly the graham cracker/peanut butter dough.

In another bowl, melt the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter in the microwave for 1 minute.  Keep stirring until all the chocolate chips are melted, and is nice & creamy.

Pour over pressed crust the melted chocolate, covering the whole crust.  Refrigerate until hardened, about an hour.  Cut into bars.

Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

Well, it's that time of the year with Girl Scouts selling their cookies.  Either stock up to enjoy them for the rest of the year, or try these cookies to make in your own kitchen when your stock runs low.  The results are remarkable!  It's a nice recipe to impress others with, that you actually made Thin Mints!  I will either have to make another batch or stop eating them before my boys get home from school!  (I'm sure they would like another baggie of these cookies in their lunches tomorrow!)  The recipe is adapted from Bev Loves Food.

This recipe does have a box cake mix in it.  I am still on the look-out for a "make your own" recipe for the Devil's Food cake mix to save more money.   Meanwhile, here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 box Devil's Food cake mix

2 eggs

4 tbs water

4 tbs veg oil

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Chocolate Coating

6 squares of chocolate candy quick coat or chocolate almond bark 

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:

Mix the cake mix together with the eggs, water, oil, and cocoa powder.  It should be a little moist, able to hold a shape.  Then, let sit for about 20 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Drop the dough onto the paper, that is about the size of a quarter.  If it's a little larger, that's okay, just adjust the cooking time by a minute. 

Coat the back of a spatula with vegetable oil, and smash the dough-ball as thin as you can get it.  You may have to carefully peel off the dough off the back of the spatula and place on the parchment paper.  (The thinner, the better.)

Bake in oven for about 4 minutes.  Remove and flatten each cookie again, to ensure a crispy thin cookie.  Bake for about 2-3 more minutes.  Careful to not over-bake.  Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.   These remind me of bagel chips, only chocolate.

For the chocolate coating, I like to melt the chocolate in a Rubbermaid plastic container to reuse later, as the chocolate flakes or peels off, unlike using a glass bowl.  Carefully, melt in the chocolate in 30-second increments (without burning the chocolate), stirring after each segment in the microwave.  Then, stir in the peppermint extract.   Reheat the chocolate as needed, as it dries quickly.  Also, make more as needed to coat the cookies.  

Coat the cookies in the chocolate mint coating and shake off excess with the cookie on a fork.  Let dry on wax paper.  

These were a little bigger than I would've liked, but they are good!  Enjoy!

Produce Cleaner

Growing up, to rinse our produce, was just a "rinse."  There was no soaking.  Never before, until recently, have I noticed how much dirt strawberries leave behind.  Even if you get the dirt off, you need something to kill the bacteria.  It will also prevent mold growth on your berries, making them last longer.

In a large bowl, sprinkle some baking soda, add a splash of vinegar, and fill the rest with water.  I let the produce soak for a bit and drain in the colander.  And that's it; it's ready to eat.  Now, I have some strawberries to go into some freezer bags for thick smoothies.

See the dirt?  Ewww. This is the remains from 9 lbs of strawberries...

Pesticide Removal

Prevent Moldy Berries

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Bars

After seeing so many recipes with crescent rolls online, I figured it was time for me to make a batch of the dough in my bread machine, as the tubed crescent rolls are overpriced for my grocery budget.  I have always loved these bars.  My mechanic at Aspen Auto Clinic get these goodies today, as they take care of my car.  I love that the dough recipe gives me 32 rolls, equivalent to 4 tubes at the grocery store; what a savings!  I have part of dinner worked out with the remaining dough. :)  The recipe for the Cinnamon Bars is adapted from The Recipe Link.  I also love that this recipe has half the cream cheese of other recipes; now I don't have to go buy more cream cheese, just to make this work.

Ingredients:
2 tubes crescent rolls (or 1/2 homemade dough)
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter melted
cinnamon and sugar mixture


Directions:
As stated earlier, I used the homemade dough.  It should be separated into half.  You will only use one of the two halves.  Just halve one of the halves for the crust and the top layer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with a nonstick cooking spray.

Smooth out dough to fit inside 9x13 pan.  It was pretty easy stretching it as for "pizza crust."

Whip together the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  Spread over the the dough evenly.

With the remaining dough, place over the cream cheese.  Pour the melted butter over the dough and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Bake in oven for about 25 minutes.  The toothpick should come clean when tested in the middle.  Cool before cutting.

Cinnamon Sugar Roll Bake

What I love about this recipe, is that I can whip it up in less than 1 hour and have my kids love it!  The recipe is adapted from Budget101.com.  I used this website so many times when I was in the process of getting out of debt on Dave Ramsey's plan, working the Baby Steps.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup Bisquick homemade
1 cup milk (or 1/2 milk + 1/2 water)
2/3 cup cinnamon sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup melted butter

Frosting:
2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the Bisquick and the milk, until a soft dough forms.  Spray a 9x9 pan with a nonstick cooking spray.  Evenly spread the dough in the pan.

Pour the butter over the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the butter as evenly as possible. (I thought the dish had a little bit too much butter, for my taste at 3/4 cup measured.)

Let bake in oven for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the frosting.  Pour over the dish, when you get it out of the oven.  Enjoy!

Green Onion Regrowth!

It really does work!  You really can regrow green onions!  Wow!  I saw this idea on Pinterest from Homemade Serenity, and thought I would give it a shot, with skepticism, of course.

Just take your green onions (chopping down to almost the white part, still leaving the green in tact) place in water and in a sunny area.  This is the growth shown after 24 hours.  The water is only covering the white part of the onion.  I gave it fresh water today.  

My cat, Max, just needs to stay away from these onions, so they can grow!  She loves to get into anything that is green and plant-like.  

Needless to say, I am very excited about being able to grow my own green onions!

Dryer Sheet Alternative

A couple years ago when I was researching frugal laundry techniques for my laundry service, I came across a dryer sheet alternative that I was skeptical to try.  But, I tried it anyways.  It is very unusual, yet practical.  It softens my towels and eliminates static cling.  Since February 2010, I have used this every load I put in the dryer; I do over 15 loads of laundry in a week!  (That's over 1,560 loads I've washed in two years.)  Hence, I have not used my dryer sheets in over two years; ACK!!!  I still have a full opened box of these dryer sheets... untouched.

Just take a clean patch of aluminum foil, wad it up, and reuse for every load in the dryer.

No perfumes...just gets the job done!