Healthy Berry Smoothies!

Smoothies:

1/2 cup frozen berries of your choice

1/2 frozen or fresh banana

Scoop of Yogurt

Pinch of Spinach if you'd like to add some vitamins

1/2 tray of ice cubes

1 cup milk

Sugar to taste

Throw it all into a blender and pulse it on high until it's well blended. 

There is not chemistry to a smoothie so be creative! Add and subtract what you like or don't like.  We like to add a little yogurt and spinach just for their extra nutritional value. We used to think people who did that were crazy hippies but we've since learned that you can't taste it and it's good for you!

Black Bean Hummus

Black Bean Hummus:

1 can black beans (rinse)

3 cloves garlic

1/8 cup onions

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1 pinch black pepper

1 pinch seasoned or plain salt

1/2 T Olive Oil

Rinse your black beans and place them in a food processor (a blender may work just as well). Peel your garlic cloves and toss them in as well. Chop up your onions and add them in and sprinkle in your seasonings.  Pour in oil. Blend until your Hummus is smooth. It'll look like a think paste or dip. 

You can spread this on a tortilla for quesadillas or eat with crackers, pitta bread or even veggies!

Black Bean Quesadillas are great with a spread of this dip, cheddar cheese, and avocado all on a flour tortilla! You can microwave them for a soft treat or grill them if you like them crispy! Dip in some home made salsa and enjoy! 

Teriyaki Chicken

Teriyaki Chicken Ingredients:

Frozen or Fresh chicken tenders or breasts

Yoshida's Teriyaki Sauce

Garlic

This is so easy you won't believe it! Simply pull out your crock pot, plug it in. Place your chicken (enough for your family) in the crock pot. Pour in your Yoshida's Sauce just enough to make sure all chicken's are at least half way in the sauce (they will all shrink and be submerged in the sauce). You can throw in some garlic powder or cloves if you like but it's good just the way it is.

Cook it on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3 hours.

When your finished you have a few options. You can eat it with rice, mashed potatoes or on Chicken Burgers!


Chicken Burgers are great with pineapple rings on top, red onions, lettuce and a little mayo on the bun!

Crab Alfredo

I got back into my food rut and I'm trying to climb back out! It's hard not to get into those silly ruts.

Tonight I decided to go with a crab dish. I haven't made one yet and thought it would a nice change. Unfortunatly, I went with imitation crab. In the past, I have had imitation crab in salads and whatnot and have loved it. I learned tonight though, it's best to go with real crab when heating it.

Other than the texture of the imitaion crab this meal was amazingly tasty and I'll make it again for sure!

3 T butter
2 T flour
2 cloves garlic (next time I'll use three)
3.5 cups of milk (about)
2 oz cream cheese
2 t black peper
pinch of curry powder
pinch of oregano
pinch of fresh basil leaves
3/4 box of medium size pasta shells

I did the basic white sauce. Melting the butter, adding the garlic then the flour. Then I added in my milk and seasonings. Started my noodles since my water was now boiling in the other pot. Just before my white sauce started to boil I threw in the cream cheese and stired it until it was melted. Finally I added in the crab meat. After about a minute I dished it up and we both enjoyed our new fancy crab dish!!

3 months without a repeat meal

When my husband and I were married, I went about a month without repeating a meal. I was excited and decided to go on 2 months. Then three. Finally, I HAD to repeat some of the meals because they were just so good and I wanted to eat them again. Sadly, I wasn't blogging at the time and did not keep track of all those meals. I'm pretty upset that I can't remember what 75% of them were. Here is a list of what I remember though:

This is a list of all the things I remember making...




Pork chops in cream of chicken soup with rice

Sweet and sour meat balls and rice

Fajitas

Beef enchiladas

Creamy chicken enchiladas

Beef Tacos

Chipoltle chicken tacos

Smoky Sweet Potato Stoup

Potato Soup

Chicken and Cheese Crescent Chimichangas (Eric's Favorite!)

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Beef Lo Mein

Tuna Pasta Bake

Chicken Devan

Tuna and cheese braid

Steak and potatoes

Chili

Nachos

Vegi Stir Fry

Kielbasa and potato skillet

Phad Thai

Stuffed Pasta Shells

Pot Roast

Chicken Salad Roll ups

Chicken Bundles

home made Chicken BBQ pizza
 
And those were the greatest 3 months of dinners we've had!

How to cook a turkey

In honor of this Thanksgiving week, I'd like to turn my thoughts to turkey! As a young, newly wed I did some research last November in hopes to make the best turkey ever! This is what I learned about cooking a turkey.

Turkey Prep:

• 
  
  Thaw it in a refrigerator for 2-4 days while it is still packaged in it's plastic. Also place in a pan to keep leaking juices from contaminating other foods. (always store meats on the bottem shelf).
  
  
  
• 
  
  You can also thaw it by placing it in cold water. Change the water ever 30 minutes as to prevent bactirial growth and food born illnessses.
  
  
  
• 
  
  clean out the turkey, most come with a bag of the giblets... heart and all that. Yum! I throw these away. Some people cook them into the stuffing.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Place turkey breast down! (most people place it breast side up) Doing this allows the juices to stay in the meatyest area of the turkey!
  
  
  
• 
  
  Sprinkle seasonings (seasoned salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder...) over the entire turkey skin after brushing canola oil over the turkey skin.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Cut an onion into quarters. Place it inside the turkey to release moisture and add flavor from the inside out! You can also do this with oranges.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Cover with tin foil or with a plastac turkey bag (you can buy these at the store and no, they won't melt in the oven). Covering it keeps the juices in and keeps the turkey moist.
  
  
  

Cooking the Turkey!

• 
  
  I found this awesome and easy to use calculator on Butterball's website. On the right side is a calculator to determine how long to cook a turkey at x weight and how long to thaw it too, if you need help with that.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It is common to baste your turkey. I was shocked to hear that it actually does not help keep the turkey moist as you loose so much of the steam when you open the bag or foil to baste it. You also cool the oven down in the process which in turn slows down the cooking process.
  
  
  
• 
  
  You will know its done when it reaches 165 degrees.
  
  
  

** Cooking stuffing inside your turkey is a bad idea. The stuffing develops bacteria and can cause food poisoning. Just cook the stuffing on its own to be safe!**

Once your turkey has reached 165 degrees go ahead and pull it out of the oven careful not to burn or drop the heavy load! Now, one of the most important stpes in keeping it juicy is to let the turkey sit and rest for about 30 minutes. Many or most people just dig right in which releases all those juices. Letting it cool a bit allows those juices to soak into the meat and stay rather than spilling onto the pan, leaving dry turkey meat.

Now the very most important part is to go enjoy it! Look forward to some good turkey recipes these next few weeks! I've got some good ones!!!

December Dinner Calendar

Tuesday December 1: Spicy Tilipia Tacos
Wednesday December 2: Small roast with veggies
Thursday December 3: Chicken pot pie
Friday December 4: Eat out to an Asian place
Saturday December 5: Eat them left overs!
Sunday December 6: Eat at the in-laws
Monday December 7: Home made chili and cornbread
T December 8:  Chicken quesadillas and home made Spanish rice!
W December 9: Corned beef
Th December 10: Creamy chicken pizza
F December 11: Eat out at a Mexican place!
S December 12: Eat them leftovers!
Sun December 13: Eat at the in laws
M December 14: Zero Point soup and rolls
T December 15: Chipotle Chicken tacos
W December 16: Pork chops cooked in cream of chicken soup with rice
Th December 17:  Biscuits and gravy
F December 18: Eat out to an American place
S December 19: Eat them leftovers
Sun December 20: Eat at the in laws
M December 21: Tomato basil and grilled cheese sandwiches
T December 22: Beef tacos
W December 23: Yoshidas Chicken in a crock pot served with rice
Th December 24: Ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole
F December 25: Left overs or eat at the in laws
S December 26: Eat them leftovers!
Sun December 27: eat at the in-laws
M December 28: Ham & Potato soup
T December 29: Creamy chicken enchiladas
W December 30: ????
Th December 31: Make you own croissant pizzas