Porcupine Balls

In some ways I hate posting recipes. I find it really hard to figure out exact measurements when it comes to recipes. I cook more intuitively. Which is not to say I am a good cook it just means I throw in whatever sounds good. Guess what happens half the time? You guessed it! It doesn't work. I throw in one too many weird ingredients and it ruins the whole thing. But alas I continue doing it. I love the tossing and tasting experimenting of cooking. It feels freeing and grown-up. Ha! Yes you read that right, I said grown up. I throw caution to the wind with ever teaspoon of celery seed and dash of soy sauce I toss in. I do it like I have experience. It brings me joy.

So here is a recipe for porcupine balls that is really meant as a guideline. 

Porcupine Balls

2 pounds ground meat

1 cup instant rice

1 tsp celery seed

1 egg

1 onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 tbsp parsley

1 12 ounce can tomato sauce

1 small can crushed tomatoes

Mix meat, rice, celery seed, egg, onion, garlic and parsley until completely combined. Make into even sized balls. Cook in large sauce pan or electric skillet turning to brown each side. Once brown add 1 cup water, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Simmer 25 minutes or until rice is fully cooked. Then enjoy!

This boy loved them! I also sprinkled some garlic seasoning and italian seasoning over them will they were simmering. I used half ground turkey and half ground beef to add some richness. Next time I make them I am going to make half with brown gravy and half with tomato sauce just to please our varying palates. Lola does not groove on tomatoes. We served them with crock pot mashed potatoes and green beans. YUM! 

PS!! Don't forget to enter our giveaway for a 50 dollar Amazon gift card!  

Pantry Bag Meal-Round 2

 

So here is another idea for our pantry bag meals. If you don't remember, these are the meals for those who don't have a freezer or freezer space but still want some ready to go dinners set aside for times when time is tight. 

You can check out the first post here... 

Let me introduce you to 

Mexican chicken Soup. 

(I found it on pinterest of course)

It is SO good and guess what? It took ONLY 8 minutes to get it hot and ready to eat!! 

That is awesome!

 PLUS...only 160 cals per 1 cup measure serving!! 

Holy COW! 

Is this real life?? :)

Gather these ingredients in your bag for the pantry

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can garbonzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (15 oz) can sweet corn, drained

1 (12.5 oz) can chicken breast, drained

1 (10.75 oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 (10 oz) can mild enchilada sauce

1 (14 oz) can chicken broth

1 (1 oz) packet taco seasoning

Write or attach these instructions to your pantry bag

Instruction Open and pour all ingredients into a large soup pot. Heat through. Serve with tortilla chips and cheese if desired.  

ENJOY!

Emily

Black Bean and Yam Enchiladas-A great recipe for meatless monday!

I found this recipe from the wonderful shrinking kitchen! She has super duper, healthy recipes and you should totally check her blog out! Click here!! we love Black Bean Enchiladas at our house! Especially the homemade enchilada sauce! Wonderful and no stuff I can't pronounce in it! Yay! Totally meatless too. Sweet! 

Here's the recipe!!

Black Bean and Yam Enchiladas

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons chili powder
4 tablespoons flour
2 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce
3 cups lower sodium chicken broth 
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1/ t2easpoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
3 cups of the enchilada sauce
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups yam, cooked and mashed
2 15 ounce can black beans, drained
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
18 small corn tortillas

To make the Enchilada Sauce
In a large sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add chili powder and flour whisking constantly to combine. Mixture will be a thick paste (roux).
Slowly add in a small amount of tomato sauce whisking until the roux has dissolved.  Once the roux is combined, add the rest of the tomato sauce and chicken broth. Whisk to combine.
Add in the rest of the spices, stir to combine.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and use in your enchilada recipe, or cool and divide into containers for storage.

For the Casserole
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the onions, saute until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
Remove the onions from heat and throw in the beans and the yam. Mix well.
Measure out 3 cups of the enchilada sauce you just made. Set the rest aside - it freezes well. Save it for your next batch!
In a 9x13 baking dish, lay out six of the corn tortillas. You may need to tear one up - you just want to make sure you're covering the bottom of the dish.
Spoon some of the enchilada sauce onto the tortillas and spread around.
Dot 1/2 of the bean/yam mixture over the tortillas and sauce, then spread as evenly as possible.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese over the bean/yam mixture.
Repeat the layers EXCEPT the cheese.
To finish, do the final layer of tortillas, then pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top.
Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbly.
Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
PS only 239 calories per serving!!

LOVES!!

Emily

Fancy Puff Pastry Deconstructed Chicken Pot Pie-Great for Entertaining!!

This is really a cool concept! The first time I saw this idea was at the Lion House Pantry. Unfortunately I have no idea what their recipe is but I really love how mine turns out! This is just my recipe for chicken pot pie filling and a great puff pastry square! It is great for serving at a party too! So much less complicated! 

Fancy Puff Pastry Deconstructed 

Chicken Pot Pie

Makes enough for 12 squares

2 sheets of puff pastry thawed

2lbs of chicken breast cooked and diced

1 Cup of sliced carrots

1 C peas

1 C sliced celery

2 potatoes peeled and diced

1 onion diced

1/3 C butter

1/3 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp thyme

2 C chicken broth

1 C milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a pan with parchment paper. Cut your puff pastry sheets into 12 squares and place on the parchment. Place the carrots celery and potato in a sauce pan and cover just barely with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for approx 15 min or until the veggies are fork tender.Drain. Meanwhile, melt the butter in another sauce pan and onion and saute until the onion is translucent.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and thyme. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat. Mix milk mixture and veggies together.  Add the peas and the chicken. Allow to heat through. Place the puff pastry in the preheated oven and cook until the pastries are golden and puffed. 15-20 min approx. 

 Once the pastry squares have rested about 5 min. place one in an individual serving dish and ladle the chicken pot pie mix over the top with the desired amount of "gravy". Enjoy!! 

PS wouldn't it be cool if we cut the pastries out in fun shapes too!

Loves,

Emily

Reuben Fries

We love French Fries! We love Reuben Sandwiches! Unfortunately we are avoiding gluten in our house. (well kinda) How can we possibly eat Reuben Sandwiches without bread? Over french fries of course!! 

Ingredients
1 32 Oz bag of frozen french fries
1 C thousand island dressing
1 C drained sauerkraut
1 lb of corned beef diced (more or less depending on taste and desire)
8 oz grated Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or whatever your fries dictate)
Spray a 9x13 pan with non stick spray
Place the fries in the bottom of the pan
Cover the fries with the thousand island dressing
Cover the dressing with the kraut
Cover the kraut with the corned beef
cover the corned beef with the swiss cheese
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the fries are cooked through and the cheese is melted.

ENJOY!!

Getting Organized for Christmas-5 Things I have started on

I don't know if I have mentioned it before but I love Christmas!! I am that lady that bugs everyone else talking and planning etc long before the rest of the world believes I should be. Sorry not sorry. :) I love everything about it! I like to focus on Christ's birth and I have no problems with the big man in the red suit.  In  fact, I believe they go hand in hand. What I do not like is the stress and unhappiness that comes when I am unprepared and unorganized. Luckily for me there are ways to ease these problems. I want to share some of the things I do to make things easier and less stressful.

1. I joined smarty pig. Smarty pig is a savings club that will withdraw my decided amount on the days I ask it too with out me having to think about it.  It is a life saver!! It allows me to save enough that the expense doesn't become a focus.  You can read more about it here...

2. I plan  to stalk up the freezer for those busy days and nights when there just isn't time or maybe desire to slave over a hot stove making dinner. Another added benefit is the fact that theses meals are "prepaid" if you will and can free up a little extra cash for all that little expenses we sometimes forget about. Not to mention the savings of not going to the fast food joint down the street too.

 PS Be watching for posts with some freezer meal ideas and recipes and freezer meals for those who don't have a bunch of freezer space coming soon

3. I have a definite budget already written  and I do my best to include everything we may possibly need to spend money on. Not just gifts. Think decor updates, fun activities, parties we may be throwing, charity giving, etc. You get the drift. Jason and I always base each category on a percentage of our wages. Better years we have more to spend.  Leaner years we will pull our belts in. 

4. I try to come to a decision on neighbor gifts, handmade gifts and our Christmas card list and get to work on them ASAP. Anything not finished by Thanksgiving will be set aside for another time. (read go gentle on the handmade items and only go for those things I know I can finish in time) I refuse  to relive those Christmases where I have been behind the 8 ball sweating and stressing on Christmas Eve trying to finish all my projects.  I feel like at some point it needs to be the moms holiday too and I should relax and enjoy. Besides, when the mom is stressed no one can really enjoy their time either.

ONE LAST THING

5. I do my best to go with the flow...if something isn't going the way I planned, I do my very best to roll with the things that are working. I remember one Christmas Eve in particular that was chock full of  planned activities including a scavenger hunt, a full Christmas dinner with ham and all the trimmings and a movie with fast food lunch. It was too much and I ended up nearly in tears, feeling like I had failed until I noticed the happy faces on my kids who could care less if every little detail was done.  They were so excited to just be in the moment. Soaking in the giddy, little kid, Santa is coming feelings. I have since simplified my vision of the day and month, we have the dinner the Sunday before etc and I just eat up being with them. (we never did a scavenger hunt again on Christmas Eve BTW) I ask them what they want to do and love hearing what is important to them and what they would consider tradition. 

Bottom line: It is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Not the most stressful time of the year. We can do this! What do you do to get ready and organized?? We would love to hear!!

Loves 

Emily

Bean and cheese Burrito Sour Cream Enchilada Casserole! SO Easy!

This is one easy peasy casserole! It literally took me 11 minutes to get in the pan and cooking! Yes, I time myself. It took longer for the oven to preheat. Serious easiness here! It was actually requested by my now 17 year old son for his birthday dinner if that gives you any indication as to if it is as yummy as it sounds. Also for my gluten free friends and family I You can make it with corn chicken taquitos (please read the label to be sure if your brand is gluten free) and it is just as good if not better. I literally decided to try it while shopping for the ingredients for the bean burrito style and it was amazing! I think I like the taquito version better!!

Bean and Cheese Burrito Sour Cream enchilada Casserole

14 bean and cheese frozen burritos thawed (enough to cover the bottom of your pan)

1 family size cream of mushroom soup

16 oz sour cream

7oz green chilies

12.5 oz canned chicken un-drained(optional)

2 cups of cheese

Line the pan edge to edge with your burritos

Mix remaining ingredients except cheese together and pour over the burritos. Top with cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour in 350 degree oven. 

For the taquito version you will want to add a little sauce to the bottom of your pan first.

Homemade DIY breakfast chicken sausage. No nitrates or fillers and quick and easy!

My hubby isn't able to eat beef and will only eat pork once or twice a month and my son gets sick when he eats nitrates. Needless to say sausage could have very well have been a thing of the past. Which kinda sucked because I LOVE sausage!! Luckily I found a wonderful quick easy recipe to make my own chicken sausage (we even grind our own chicken) and it is rather tasty! You won't regret whipping up some of your own! Plus there are no fillers and we know exactly what is in our sausage, AND its much lower in fat AND No mystery meat here!!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN SAUSAGE

2lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs(ground in a food processor)

2 tsp sage

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 TBS brown sugar

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Mix together and cook as desired as patties or crumbles etc

Pretty easy eh? :)

Loves

Emily

Pinterest Buster Recipe!

 I love these pinterest busting posts! I am actually using my pins. What?! That is the point of it right? I love trying out new recipes. We need new fun recipes in our rotation. Luckily three out of four of us are pretty easy going and willing to try new things. Lola is in that picky stage of hating everything. I can't wait for this stage to end! It bums me out. Any suggestions? My guess is that it is a wait it out type of thing.  

So here is the picture of the Creamy Chicken and Rice from Natasha's Kitchen. That is a beauty! Here is my original pin and here is the link to the actual recipe. While you are there you should totally check out the rest of the website. Natasha has amazing recipes and beautiful photos.

Here is mine. Whomp! HA! It doesn't look appetizing but man oh man it is delicious. I loved it! Plus one out of two kids liked it. And quite frankly that is a huge success around here. The only changes I made to the recipe is that I used chicken breasts, brown rice and more chicken broth instead of white wine. The brown rice for sure changes the cooking time. It was worth it to me because I love brown rice. The nutty flavor is worth it. It adds a half hour to the cooking time. One major thing I love about this recipe is that it is a one pot meal. Less dishes= a happy mom!  

Have you tried any new recipes lately? Have you tried any recipes from Pinterest? Any success? Any failures?