What's for Dinner?

It's a question that I ask myself every day...What's for dinner?? I wish I was one of those super-duper meal planners who could churn out our menu several weeks in advance, but I'm a little more spontaneous when it comes to dinner. Truth be told, I'm often driven by my moods, taste buds or what I've seen most recently on Pinterest! This year though, I have tried to plan at least a day or two in advance (baby steps!) & keep a mental inventory of what we have on hand that needs to be used up. I recently purchased some lean ground beef at a good price because I thought we were out. I cooked it up one night when I was cooking something else for dinner & packaged it in 1 pound bags. When I went to put it in the freezer, turns out that I already had 3 one-pound bags of cooked ground beef waiting to be used. (So much for that mental inventory!) So, I moved dishes with ground beef to the head of my mental menu list!
I was putting something away this morning in the cabinet where I keep my crock pot & it occurred to me that I should dust that puppy off & use it for dinner tonight. The temps are already in the 80s here, so it is nice to keep the oven off if possible. (I'm thinking now that this post should be subtitled: A study into the way Melanie's brain works!)
A couple of hours later, I got around to searching "ground beef crock pot" on Pinterest. It yielded this yummy looking Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except for the Ranch Style Beans. A quick Internet search provided the info that Ranch Style Beans are pinto beans with extra seasonings. I had pintos on hand & decided I could wing the seasonings.
A huge plus, this crock pot recipe cooks in 2 to 2 1/2 hours on LOW! So it's essentially a quick cooking slow-cooker recipe. This is absolutely perfect for me since, despite my best efforts, there are still many days when I'm first asking myself the What's for Dinner? question mid-to-late afternoon...long past the slow-cooker time frame window. As it was, the recipe was perfect for today...the kids played outside all afternoon & I was in & out...In folding laundry & Out settling disputes or In picking up toys & Out sweeping out the garage...so even with a plan in mind, I didn't end up starting on our dinner until almost 5:00pm! Ordinarily, that would be waaaay too late for a crock pot dinner, but this one worked perfectly!

I guess you were wondering if I would ever get to it. So without further ado, here is my adaptation of the Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe...it is really a lot like a Mexican lasagna.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, browned & drained
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones seasoned with garlic & oregano, but the chili seasoned would be good, too.)
1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 package (approx 8 oz.) Madras Lentils (I buy these at Costco & use them for everything from chili to tacos)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
Cumin
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Chili powder
2 cups (8 oz) colby jack and/or cheddar cheese, shredded
5 large (burrito grande) flour tortillas
1 can (15 oz) red enchilada sauce

**If you are cooking your ground beef, you can add in diced onions or green pepper if you like. Since I needed to use up some frozen ground beef, I just thawed it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.

Mix together the ground beef, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, minced garlic & Madras lentils. (I actually had made a package of the lentils a couple of nights ago to use as chili on hot dogs. I was the only one to use it, so I had almost a whole package left over. When I was getting something out of the fridge, I noticed the container & it was the perfect addition to the recipe!)

Stir in seasonings (cumin, onion powder, garlic powder & chili powder) to taste...I probably added about 1 tsp of each (probably a little less chili powder because my family isn't big on spicy dishes.)

Line bottom of crock pot with one large flour tortilla (The large burrito grande size fit my round crockpot perfectly, but you could easily use two smaller ones, overlapping.)

Spoon 1/4 of meat mixture on top of tortilla. Top with 1/4 shredded cheese.

Repeat layers 3 more times, ending with the ground beef mixture sprinkled with cheese on top.

Pour can of enchilada sauce over the top. (I also sprinkled a little more shredded cheese on top.)

Cook on low for 2-2.5 hours. (Since I started so late, I cooked it on high for about an hour & then switched to low...it worked out well because my husband came home over an hour later than normal, so it was fine to keep warm on low.)

We served it over jasmine rice, with a side of corn & it was a delicious meal! Finished it off with yogurt & fruit parfaits, sprinkled with granola.

Here is where I would show you a picture of the finished product...but this was also where life intervened...As I mentioned, Jeff was really late getting home this evening...and the kids played outside all afternoon, which is a great thing, until it is time to stop playing & clean-up & come inside for dinner...Usually Jeff helps get everyone inside & cleaned up for dinner, but I was trying to do that & finish up the side dishes. (Another reason I was thankful to have a crockpot dinner tonight, no worries that it would burn!) I finally got everyone inside & was over-seeing a couple of the kids setting the table. Drew kept pulling out toys & making messes & screaming when one of the bigger kids would try to clean them up (at my direction.) Lucy was in her high chair waiting for some dinner, but beginning to get impatient. Chaos was the word of the moment. I had taken the lid off of the crock pot to let the dish cool a bit. The kids were needing the next things for setting the table so I reached up to get some glasses down...someone was fussing & I turned to say something to one of the kids & another glass fell off of the shelf, hit my Kitchenaid stand mixer, exploded into a million-bazillion little pieces (I love IKEA, but their glasses are made of thin, cheap glass that splinters like the dickens!) A huge chunk of glass landed right smack in the middle of the crock pot! Arrrggggh! 

I was cleaning broken glass off of the counter when Jeff got home. Of course the first words out of the kids' mouths' were, "Mommy broke a glass & it landed in our dinner!!!" Everyone wanted to see, everyone wanted to ask questions. After a few tense moments, we decided the top layer of the food could be removed & the rest eaten. There was no way to tell if there might be tiny specks of glass in the top layer, but everything below was fine. So we scooped off all of the enchilada sauce, and all that meat & cheesy goodness on the top! Oh, I hate to waste food, but there was just no reason to risk ingesting glass. Regardless, the dish was still quite delicious & enjoyed by kids & parents, alike. It will go on my short list to make again sometime soon, only next time we hope to enjoy the top layer along with the rest of it!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

There is something about winter that makes me like cooking more. Even when "winter" is temps in the 50s & 60s. Actually, that's even better because it's like the best of both worlds...my kids can play outside while I work on dinner. Well, they come & go, in & out & in & out...but they are at least outside for some of the time & I can keep an eye on them through my kitchen window. But I digress, this post isn't about my kids, it is about dinner! {But in this story the children are away...anyone know what book that is??}

I love to purchase the rotisserie chicken at Costco because for $5 I can get at least two meals out of it, three if I take the time to make soup. I made chicken pot pie from half a chicken last week & I needed to use the rest. So tonight something involving chicken was on the menu.

Are you like me these days? Since the advent of Pinterest I love searching for & pinning new recipes to try. Often I will use the Pinterest app on my phone to simply pull a recipe up instead of printing out a copy. Tonight, however, I actually already had yummy recipes for the menu of Poppyseed Chicken & Sweet Potato Casserole. While I was cooking dinner, I decided I should type up these recipes so that I can pin them to my own recipe boards...kind of like a virtual recipe box!

So here are my recipes in case you are interested...the Poppyseed Chicken is always a BIG winner in our house. Tonight several of my kids asked for seconds, thirds & even fourths! Actually, Sophie asked for 5ths, but the dish was practically licked clean by that point. We rarely have a night with no left-overs, but Jeff will have to pick something else to take for lunch tomorrow. 

I hope that your family might enjoy it as much as ours. And when you are using precooked chicken, it is a snap to put together & pop in the oven.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

Here it is about 5 minutes after we sat down to eat dinner...sorry, I forgot to snap a photo before it was devoured.

Approx. 5 cups diced cooked chicken (I used half of a rotisserie chicken)

8 oz sour cream

1 can cream chicken soup

1 can cream celery soup

onion powder, garlic powder, ground pepper (to taste)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1-2 sleeves crushed Ritz crackers

1/2 cup butter, melted

1-2 Tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread diced chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. 

In a bowl mix sour cream & both cans of condensed soup. Add in about 1/2 Tablespoon of poppy seeds. Season with onion powder, garlic powder & ground pepper to taste. Pour mixture over the chicken.

Sprinkle shredded cheddar over the sauce mixture in dish.

 

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, melted butter & remaining poppy seeds. Sprinkle over the chicken & sauce. 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until top is brown & sauce is bubbly. ENJOY!

It is hearty enough to be served as a main dish & is also great over rice or pasta. 

Next, is my trusty recipe for sweet potato casserole. When we were first married, this was always on the holiday menus...and then it finally dawned on me that I should be making it year round. This is another recipe that comes together quickly & tastes SO good. I almost think it is like eating dessert for dinner!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3 T butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

(To get mashed sweet potatoes, I peel 3-4 fresh sweet potatoes & chop them into chunks. I place them in a microwave safe dish with a little water & cover. I microwave 6-8 minutes or until soft. Then I mash them with a masher or pastry blender.)

Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, milk, butter & vanilla thoroughly. Pour into greased casserole. (This makes a lot, so it also works well to pour into two dishes & freeze one!)

 

In another bowl, mix topping ingredients & spread over potato mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden & bubbly! The top gets all carmelized & delicious, yum-O! 

Buried

It was bound to happen, after 31 days+ of blogging so diligently & regularly, two weeks have gone by since my last post! During that time our yard has changed from a dazzling show of colors to bare trees & a ground that is covered with leaves.

And just like our yard has been buried in leaves, it seems I was buried in things other than blogging. I did not mean to take a break, but I guess without the pressure of a goal (like blogging every day for a month) I more often chose rest over blogging!

And life got a little crazy with sick kids & Drew's badly burned foot & school parties gearing up for the holidays...and I have lots of pictures to share with you at a later date!

Oh & lots more thankful posts, too...although I will be completely honest & tell you that we have not kept up with our Thankfulness list every single day, but we have talked each day about giving thanks & being thankful for all that we have!

Here are some pictures I took one afternoon about a week ago to show that I was thankful for the amazing view out of my kitchen window.

The leaves have been amazing this fall & their vibrant colors have often filled my heart with such awe & gratitude to God for conceiving this yearly display of splendor!

I am happy to report that in that 2 weeks time, good health has been restored to our household & Drew's 2nd degree burn on his foot has healed amazingly well, praise God!

So I just wanted to check-in to let you guys know that I'm still here, we are still plodding along & I promise that I will be back on the blogging track soon!

I will leave you with a couple of quick pictures of the adorable Pilgrim Hat cookies that I made to take to Sophie's class tomorrow for their Thanksgiving Learning centers!

They are super easy to make, fun & delicious, too! You can find the instructions here at Family Fun's great website.

Soup's On!

All that talk of soup (or rather no soup!) in yesterday's post, combined with my lovely friend Kim's post on a delicious soup recipe she made up this week...well, when it came time to cook dinner this evening, soup was the only choice! I used Kim's yummy recipe as a starting off point & tweaked it a bit for our family. And now I'm copying her idea to share my "made it up myself" recipe on my blog! Thanks, Kim!!
(Okay, now I'm sad that I didn't think to take a picture, but we had the normal chaos this afternoon while I was preparing dinner & then some added drama when Darcy bit her tongue while eating a piece of celery...it bled & bled...for at least a good 30 minutes while she was applying pressure with a washcloth...I was beginning to think we were going to need to go to the Urgent Care, but it finally stopped. Praise God!)
Anyway, back to the soup...the house smelled SO wonderful all afternoon as it was simmering & it tasted fantastic! I love to make soups & this one is definitely now in my top 3! Jeff & the kids gobbled it up & there was lots of laughter & merriment around the table (instead of complaints about the food) always a sign of a great meal!
So here is what I did...I'm sorry if some of the measurements are vague!

2 carrots & 2 stalks of celery, thinly chopped
*Saute the carrots & celery in a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large stock pot for several minutes
*Pour in 32 ounces of Chicken Broth AND 32 ounces of water, bring to a boil
*While the broth soup is coming to a boil, de-bone & cut-up half of a Costco rotisserie chicken
(Side Note: Have I ever told y'all how much I LOVE the $5.00 rotisserie chickens from Costco? I buy one on every trip. They are such a good size that I can get at least 2 meals from one chicken. They are great for casseroles, soups, enchiladas, chicken salad & more...anything that calls for precooked chicken. Love them!)
Anyway, back to the soup, again...
*Throw the chopped chicken into the broth. Stir in a little fresh ground black pepper & a small palm-full of poultry seasoning.
*Add in 1-2 pounds of frozen mixed vegetables
*Stir everything & simmer for an hour or so
*Add in one can of cream of celery soup & 2 soup cans of water, stir to combine
Now the soup was smelling heavenly & I think would have been a delicious chicken vegetable soup in its own right, but I have always wanted to try my hand at dumplings...the easy kind made from flour tortillas, SO...
*About 20-30 minutes or so before serving, cut about 6-8 flour tortillas into 1 or 2 inch strips.
*Place the tortilla pieces into the pot (they will cover the surface) & gently stir them around & "dunk" them a little to make sure all are in the liquid. Let them simmer on low for about 20 minutes. The tortillas will get nice & puffy & yummy!
*Pour in 1-2 cups of milk & stir, let the soup simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
*Remove from heat & enjoy!!! Bon Appetit!
Hearty, healthy, yummy...and a really easy way to enjoy home-made chicken & dumplings!
I'm already looking forward to a cool fall day when I can make this again...and next time I'll take a picture!
What are you cooking up this fall?

Snow Days and Other Stories...

So, as I'm sure the whole world is aware, what with 49 out of 50 states having some snow coverage, we have had some rather unusual winter weather conditions here in NC over the past week. The snow started falling in the wee hours of Monday morning and kept on coming all through the day! Watching a steady snowfall like that happily reminded me of our many years in the Windy City!

So here is a little look back at our rather unexpected looooong weekend.  We had some fun & spent the rest of the time attempting to stave off boredom!

Leading up to the snow we had a pretty low-key weekend which was needed & very nice.  Sophie was thrilled that it was her turn to bring home the Kindergarten class Bear for the weekend...

 Meet Bosley!

 Sophie & Bosley built a tower

 Drew playing with his Sing-a-ma-jig...all the kids got them for Christmas & they really are hilarious! (If you don't know what they are Google it!)

 Friday night was Movie Night! Bosley was happy to join in on the fun & snuggles. On the big screen...Alvin & the Chipmunks...we laughed & laughed! 

 Saturday was take-down & clean-up day!

 We took down the Christmas Tree & decorations...

 ...and had to do lots of cleaning up of all the needles left behind!

Bosley was a faithful helper! He didn't break a single ornament...which is more than I can say for the rest of us!

Saturday evening we had a lovely time enjoying dinner & fellowship at the home of some good friends. (Again, no pictures, BOO!) 

Then, Sunday passed with the normal flurry of church activities...

Oh look, here are Sophie & Bosley coloring in Sunday School!

While we were home between church services, there were frequent glances out the window to see if any flakes were yet falling. At church, or anywhere we went, everyone was talking about snow...would we really get it, when would it start, how much, would there be bad ice, will we lose power, will the kids miss school??? Living in the South, often there is lots of talk about snow...and very little actual snow...I generally don't believe it until I see it. Thank goodness, we were already stocked up on milk, eggs & bread because several of the local grocery stores ran completely out...I am not joking! Facebook status updates on Sunday evening were a flurry (pun intended ;-) of crazy grocery store stories, and people talking about wearing their PJs inside out to bed, sleeping with a spoon under their pillows & flushing ice cubes down the toilet...all proven ways to bring on the snow...right!

 Well, wonder of wonders...all the ice cube flushing & inside-out pajama sleeping just may have done something because on Monday morning we woke up to dazzling white...and it just kept coming!

 Finally, we got everyone all layered & suited up & we were ready to head outside! Zoe, too!

Bosley felt right at home in the snow!

 This snow was more of a wet snow than last time & since it was still coming down, it was a little stinging on your face. Pretty much right after I took this photo, Drew said "Up, up!" and I spent the rest of our time outside holding him...or listening to him cry "UP! UP! UP!" if I put him down so I could take a picture of one of the other kids!

 Our wonderful neighbors had some great sleds & this snow was good for sledding, so the bigger kids pretty much sledded the afternoon away!

 Here is Jack in his favorite pose, hand out in front of face so that I cannot take a picture!

 Down the hill!

 Darcy getting ready for a turn...

 ...and she's off! She was so light that she could go really far!

 Darcy dragging her sled back up the hill while Sophie is on the way down.

 Drew wondering why I put him down & getting ready to say "UP!"

 A snowy Sophie

 Sophie took a spin on the neighbor's rope swing...

 Jack had a good run from the neighbor's yard, down the hill & waaaay into our front yard! It's a long walk back though!

While lots of sledding was going on, Jeff was bringing logs up to the house & getting a nice fire going. The temps were also much colder this time & so the little kids only lasted outside an hour or so before wanting to come in to warm up...the older kids probably stayed out 2 hours, but then everyone was ready for heat!

The fire is great for warming up & for drying off clothes that got soaked in the snow!

 I had been busy in the kitchen preparing our first batch of Snow Cream! 

(Click here for the recipe!)   

Drew was a bit timid at first...

Jack dug right in!

Drew realized this was some good stuff!

I mean serious, finger-licking good!

Good to the last drop!

The very last drop!

"More pees"

And because Snow Days call for baking something, I also whipped up a batch of cranberry orange muffins from a mix we received as a Christmas gift (thanks Suzy!) The kids all thought they were DE-licious & all dozen were gone in a flash! Later on, we had a cozy dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches & then all snuggled up to pick up where we left off with "Polly & Diggory" which is how the kids refer to The Magician's Nephew...the first book in the wonderful Chronicles of Narnia series. 

The kids find the predicaments Diggory & Polly have gotten into to be quite funny!

Darcy being Darcy!

I love how the kids are glued to the book instead!

And so went our first Snow Day of 2011...

...and then, we had another!

Monday evening, the "Wintry Mix" (snow, ice. sleet) began to coat all of the snow (and roads) with a thick, slick layer of ice...the result was kids home from school again on Tuesday...and yet again on Wednesday! (And in some areas Thursday, too!) One of the main problems here is that it will often get warm enough in the day to start to melt the snow & ice, but then the temps will drop well below freezing at night & everything turns to ice again making the roads quite hazardous with invisible patches of "black ice." Looking out over our white lawn at night was like looking out over an ice skating rink, the yard glistened like wet glass in the glow of the street lamps. (And I failed to take a single picture!) So for our second snow day, we stayed inside all day...playing games, reading books, building towers...there was some TV watched & some Wii played...and so by Wednesday, we were all getting a little stir-crazy & in desperate need of getting out of the house! But I will save our 3rd Snow Day adventures for another post, as this one is quite long already...see, I'm trying to simulate that stir-crazy feeling...so stay tuned for more Snow Day fun!

(I have thanked the Lord many times that my kids were able to go back to school on Wednesday & allow us to *somewhat* get back to a normal routine! But we had fun while it lasted & I have a feeling we have not seen our last Snow Day this winter! Hopefully not...because in reading many friends' blogs, I have discovered that I am not a very good Snow Day Mom...and need to be more creative & crafty & fun...so I'm armed with all sorts of fun ideas for the next one a'la Jenny & Sarah...thanks girls!)