Cashew Chicken Stew

So I read a Crock Pot recipe for Cashew Chicken that I thought sounded good. But when I started to actually make it, it just wasn't right. So I made it up as I went and it ended up really tasty!! 2 cans of golden mushroom soup 1 can water 1 jar of Trader Joe's Chinese Five Spice 3 lb chicken I assembled the above in my Crock Pot. The chicken was partially defrosted- just enough to easily get it out of the packaging and cut it into tenders. I cooked this on high for 2 hours. Then I added: 1 can sliced water chestnuts (drained) 1 can baby corn (drained) 1/2 bag of frozen carrots I cooked this a bit longer on high but needed the chicken to cook faster since it was just about dinner time. So I transferred it all to a large, deep skillet and simmered it on the stove until the chicken was done. Serve over rice (I used brown rice) and sprinkle cashew pieces on top! This is one of the few dishes that I ate as prepared. I normally add stuff to mine that my family doesn't eat- pepper, sour cream, garlic salt, garlic powder, or other spices and such. But this is so flavorful all on its own! It was delish!!

Garlic Parmesan Artichoke Dip

OMG. This stuff is insanely good. I went to a Tastefully Simple party a while back and bought this stuff called "Garlic, Garlic." It's used to make a chip dip and you can use it to season stuff, too. It's, obviously, heavy on the garlic. I had found this other recipe for some kind of spicy artichoke dip and got to thinking about it and came up with the following renovated version: 1 cup mayo 1/2 c parmesan cheese (use the good shredded stuff and not the sprinkly dry stuff) 1 c crushed ritz crackers 1/2 ts worcestershire sauce 1/2 ts Garlic Garlic (just use garlic powder if you don't do the Tastefully Simple thing) 2 14-oz cans of artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped Preheat oven to 350. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Blend together all ingredients except the artichokes. Fold in artichokes. Spread into casserole dish. Cover. Bake 20 mins. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, hawaiian bread, or whatever you love to dip! It's seriously yummy and addictive. I'm in trouble because I am the only person in my house who will eat it (kids are in bed and Jeff doesn't eat artichokes).

Liz's Canned Chili

I am all about simple, easy, and less work when it comes to cooking. I don't do complicated.

Once upon a time, I found a great recipe for a knock off of Wendy's chili. It was good but involved a lot of cutting and chopping and such. So I adjusted it to make it easy. And now I'm going to share it with you! It's a little late to make it for the Super Bowl... but it's dang good chili anytime! Mine's in the Crock Pot right now.

Ingredients:

3 lb ground sirloin
frozen onion
minced garlic
seasoning - salt/pepper, etc
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
2 cans Red Gold tomato sauce
2 cans Red Gold petite diced tomatoes
1 can Red Gold roasted garlic and onion tomatoes
1 can Red Gold chili ready with onions tomatoes
2(ish) tb chili powder
1(ish) ts cumin
1 1/2 c water

In a large skillet, add onion and garlic. I love both so I use a lot of each and I never measure. Get those started up and add your ground sirloin. Sprinkle on seasoning halfway through browning. I use a local seasoning called Shoup's that I get from our State Fair. It has a lot of stuff in it but the main seasonings in it are garlic, salt, and pepper. In a crock pot or large soup pot, open all those cans, drain the kidney beans, dump everything in. I do mine in the Crock Pot- easier but not as fast as on the stove. Add chili powder and cumin, mix well. Drain the meat. Add drained meat to the tomato mixture, stir well. Add in 1 1/2 c water. Cook it. I do mine in the Crock Pot on high for 2-3 hours. You can simmer on the stove for an hour. Basically cook until everything is hot and bubbly and well melded and such. Serve with... sour cream, cheese, fritos, crackers, etc.

BEST HOLIDAY EVER

Who knew??

Do you have any idea what today is??

I didn't know but I sure plan to CELEBRATE!!

It is the best and most fantastic holiday that ever could be. I might even have to rank this above Christmas. Because while Christmas and Thanksgiving generally include this... today is all about this!

It is...

NATIONAL PIE DAY!!

This means that I have work to do this weekend!! I'm thinking that I need to come up with an entire day's menu of pies. A quiche of some sort for breakfast. A spaghetti pie for lunch. A mexican layered pie for dinner. Or chicken pot pie! And lots of the classics in between... pecan, lemon meringue, chocolate cream, key lime, cherry, apple, blueberry...

So I will be celebrating this most fantastic of holidays a little late. But with some planning and some prep work tonight, I really think I could make a day of pies!!

What's your favorite pie? Savory, sweet, fruity? Got any great recipes to share?

How to Make Banana Blueberry Muffins

I know it's been almost a week since Teagan and I actually made our Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins. Now you get to find out exactly how we made them! First, get an almost-four year old to put the papers in the muffin tin. This has been Teagan's expertise in the kitchen since she was 2. She's gifted that way. Next, assemble your ingredients and find a cute kid to stand next to them. Ingredients: 1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) 1/4 cup wheat germ 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar 2 large eggs 2 ripe bananas, (when mashed, about 3/4 cup) 1/3 cup reduced-fat (2 percent) milk (I used whole because that's what we buy) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup frozen blueberries Preheat your oven to 375. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together butter and sugars.

It will look like this.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. In yet another bowl, mash up your banana. I use frozen bananas. Whenever I have banana on the counter that starts getting too brown for the people in my family to eat, I toss it in the freezer. Frozen bananas are great for baking. And for making baby food (sidebar- I made all of the food that both of my babies ate. Neither ever ate a jar of food, at least not from my hands! I didn't set out that way but it ended up being so stinkin' easy that I just kept going with it and suddenly... no more purees, just table food. I think making my own baby food made the transition to table food easier.).

Add your milk and vanilla to the mashed banana.

" With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. "

I forgot to take a picture of the frozen blueberries in the batter. Or even of the batter after all of that alternating of flour and banana mash... so skip right ahead to...

Fold blueberries into batter. (Fold them because they are delicate and if you just stir them, the berries and juices will just take over the batter and everything will be bluish-purple. If you don't know how to "fold," think of it like laying the blueberries on top in a strip and then tucking them into bed for the night. You just ease batter up and over, up and over and the blueberries will incorporate into the batter gently.)

Fill up those muffin cups! The recipe makes 12 so fill them pretty full.

"Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; transfer muffins to a rack to cool 10 minutes more. "

While waiting for those muffins, try on your big sister's winter coat. You will feel all special and stuff.

YUMMY! MUFFINS!

Look at that blueberry goodness!!

You want to run out and make some right now, don't you??

A Yummy Dinner

No pictures but I wanted to share the deliciousness that was dinner. And it was insanely easy. 2 flatbreads (Target, Archer Farms brand- I used the Asiago and Parmesan) sauce (we had a jar of red and a jar of white) toppings We made 2 pizzas. One was red sauce (plain old Ragu spaghetti sauce) with pepperoni (placed carefully by Teagan and completely covering the sauce. Drowning in cheese- a mozzerella and parmesan mix. The other was heaven. Christy stayed for dinner and she and I were both head over heels with this one. Alfredo sauce (again, Ragu). Fresh baby spinach. Sliced mushrooms. Oodles of shredded mozz and parm. All that goodness sitting on that Asiago and Parmesan flatbread... Lordy. And the night cap... a glass of sangria wine and some of those from scratch chocolate chip cookies I made last night. Aaaaaaaaaah. (And for those interested, I just put the flatbread on a cookie sheet, loaded on the toppings, baked at 350 for 7 minutes, rotated the cookie sheet, baked another 7 minutes.)