Yum Sushi and Friday Night fun!

Happy Friday night everyone!  I had a great day off - got a ton of cleaning done and some other random stuff...I didn't sit around like I wanted to (at least for a bit), but now I can hopefully do some of that over the weekend:)

Amazing huh!  Well, I didn't make it, but I did order sushi tonight while the husband was out:)  I meant to take a picture of my own crazy maki before I ate it all up, but I forgot...oops!  Next time!  Learning to make sushi is definitely something I'd like to do someday - does anyone know how/has anyone ever tried or taken a class?

Since I didn't cook today (but don't worry, I will be the next 2 days:)), let's have a fun Friday.  How about a survey; get to know CheyCanCook a little better, and then hopefully some of you will copy and paste it so I can get to know you :)  I promise, this foolishness is only for tonight:)  I hope you all enjoyed whatever you made or had out tonight:)  Tomorrow I'll be comin' atcha with an appetizer and a dessert!!

1. What time did you get up this morning?
8:45 - day off!

2. How do you like your steak?
medium well

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Inglorious Bastards - great movie, once you get past the grossness!  I cant wait to see Up in the Air and Lovely Bones

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Way too many - Dancing with the Stars, One Tree Hill, 90210 (old and new), Make it or Break it, The Middle, Modern Family, Cougartown, SYTYCD, I used to love J&K Plus 8...Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, so many more...Oh The Good Wife!

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
either somewhere with 75 degree weather a good amount of the time or in the caribbean

6. What did you have for breakfast?
Special K Vanilla Almond Cereal

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
chocolate;) no no, I'd say Asian

8. What foods do you dislike?
salad dressing, mayonnaise, green spices (I'm getting better!), sour cream

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
depends on my mood - my own cooking, La Cantina, Chateau, any Chinese/Sushi Place, Mamma Lisa's Pizza, and TGI Friday's;)

10. Favorite dressing?
none - I like my salad dry:)

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
08 Hyundai Sonata

12. What are your favorite clothes?
comfy clothes!! 

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Back to Paris, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, all 50 states, South Africa, Morocco, you get it;)

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
1/2 full

15. Where would you want to retire?
somewhere warm - near the ocean

16. Favorite time of day?
When I first lay down in the bed and stretch out at night and whatever time it's time to get out of work:); Also when the husband gets home

17. Where were you born?
MA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
baseball, gymnastics, figure skating - anything during the Olympics!

19. Favorite spice to use -
Cinnamon - you can use it in so much!

20. Favorite type of sushi -
Crazy Maki - it's tempura shrimp, salmon, tuna, avocado, and cucumber!

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
everyone!

22. Bird watcher?
not really

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
night

24. Pets?
nope

25. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share?
I don't think so - I guess I just am excited to tell people I have a blog:)

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
sports broadcaster

27. What is your best childhood memory?
reservoir, bday parties, and disney

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
bunny person

29. Are you married?
happily:)

30. Always wear your seat belt?
yes

31. Been in a car accident?
a couple, none of which were my fault

32. Any pet peeves?
many! people who don't use directionals, pretty much any driver in framingham, people that cause drama, people who dont follow thru

33. Favorite pizza topping?
buffalo chicken or chicken and carmelized onion

34. Favorite Flower?
tulip

35. Favorite ice cream?
pistacio, choc chip cookie dough, maple walnut, or this coconut almond one at the farm in sherborn!

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
wendy's!

37. How many times did you fail your drivers test?
none

38. From whom did you get your last email?
my mom:)

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
all of wrentham outlets!

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
Booked a vacation on a random Sunday...not that spontaneous I guess...I don't know...

41. Like your job?
most of the time, just wish I could do it at home;)

42. Broccoli?
love it

43. What was your favorite vacation?
cruise 07, disney growing up, and Dominican honeymoon:) oh and hyannis 08! what isn't a good vaca?!?   I can't wait for our next one in February!

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Husband

45. What are you listening to right now?
My First Place

46. What is your favorite color?
blue and red

47. How many tattoos do you have?
just one

48.  Favorite cooking tool -
crockpot!

49.  Worse thing about cooking -
The cleanup!  I try to do some of the dishes as I go along/things are cooking so that way the husband doesn't have so many to do:)

50. Coffee Drinker?
blueberry iced coffee (rarely) - I'm more of a tea or hot chocolate person:)

I hope you all enjoy my silly little post.  Back to normal tomorrow....after my mani/pedi/hair appt I'm treating myself to - thanks to the husband for the gift card!

I wish I could just eat nachos for dinner, but I'll make a nacho chicken bake instead:)

Happy Thursday, everyone!  Remember, it's my Friday this week, so I'm in an especially good mood:)  That will all change once I go and play Bejeweled and can't get over 150,000, but anyways...

Tonight!  Worked late, and was supposed to make Chicken Whatchamacallit from www.cookingfororzo.com, but on the way home, I started craving Mexican-type food.  We were supposed to have the chili cornbread casserole from theweatherincascadia.blogspot.com tomorrow night, but the husband is going out, and I don't want to make such a big meal for myself (Wendy's anyone?  maybe sushi:)), so the Whatchamacallit got bumped and tonight became Mexican night!  I had obviously defrosted boneless chicken breast, so I had to think of what I had that I could make Mexican-style.  So easy!  Nacho Chicken Bake!  Pretty much the simplest meal to ever make, and so yummy!  I've made it before, but the husband didn't remember it, and he was loving it!

You will need:

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast or more, whatever suits your needs - cut into small pieces, about half the size of your palm each
• salsa or taco sauce
  
• sour cream
• nacho chips
• any kind of shredded cheese - I used Kraft Natural Monterey Jack and Cheddar
• anything else you may like!  I used avocado
  

Really, that is all you need, and everything is stuff that alot of us have on-hand all the time!

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut chicken pieces, if you bought them in larger pieces, into the half palm sized pieces and place on a foil-covered baking sheet.  Cover with as much salsa, then sour cream, then nacho chips (or broken up) as you'd like!

Oh, and excuse our mail in the background;)  Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how big you really cut your chicken pieces (mine were palm sized and I took them out at 17 minutes, just when the nachos were really starting to brown).  Add shredded cheese on top of the nachos and place back in the oven.

Bake for an additional 11 minutes or so, until the cheese has melted to your liking, and double checking to make sure the chicken is completely cooked through (I like to cut the biggest piece to check, or you can use a meat thermometer and make sure it reads 165 or more).

 

I then topped mine with avocado, which perfected it for me!  We paired this with a nice Spanish rice mixed with cherry tomatoes and enjoyed a nice meal together while watching Seinfeld and Jeopardy:)  More than you needed to know, okay;)

Like I said, this is a perfect in-the-pinch meal when you want to deviate from your "plan."  I rarely deviate from my menu plan, but was so happy tonight with the outcome of this!  How can you not want to eat this!

I don't mean my husband's leg, I  mean his plate full of good food!

I hope some of you will try this out - cheap, quick, yummy, and again full of places you can add your own touches.

I hope you all have a great night and I'll talk with you tomorrow  - I don't know what I'll be sharing yet, but it will be something:)  Wish me luck in Bejeweled;) 

Did someone say sausage?

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Tomorrow is my Friday (I think...right now I'm taking the day off Friday, but now I'm thinking maybe I won't...but then I think of all the things I could get done...it's appealing;)  But then oh the work Monday that will be waiting...what to do, what to do!

Anyways, sausage!  Over the weekend when I was perusing recipes I came across this good lookin' recipe http://fruitychicken.com/?p=222.  I had to try it!  It was alittle vague for me, and I had to convert of course, but I was up to the challenge of figuring this out, and also being able to pick out the flaws at the end so the next time could be even better!

You will need:

• macaroni and cheese, made as the box says
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 cup milk
• 4 tbsp flour
• salt, pepper, and nutmeg, all just a little shake
  
• 1-2 lbs of any kind of sausage you like, uncooked - I used hot italian links, and cut them into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen carrots
• any shredded cheese you would like, about 2 cups total

Okay, so I was very scared to make this!  Kim's photo on her website of this looks exactly how I would like mine to look - a little browned/blackened, but still soft, runny, and warm!  I kinda just went with what I felt I should be doing.

Preheat oven to 425.  In a small pot, melt the stick of butter,  When melted and boiling a bit, add 4 tbsp of flour and stir; then add cup of milk and stir.  This is going to be a sauce inside the Sausage Bake, so make the sauce as thick or runny as you like - more flour for thickening, less flour/more milk for runny:)

While I was making the sauce I also prepared the mac and cheese box and cut up the sausage into bite sized pieces.  Once the sauce had a consistency that I was happy with, I add the shakes of salt, pepper, and nutmeg...and of course I added good ole CRP :)  I let this sit off to the side.

When the mac and cheese was done, and the sausage cut up, I combined those in a large bowl, added the frozen peas and carrots, and then added the butter/flour/milk/seasonings sauce.  I mixed it all up then poured it into a 9x13 baking pan.  I then poured a mixture of mozzarella, monterey jack, and sharp cheddar shredded cheese over the combined casserole.

 

Kim's recipe called for baking this 20-30 minutes.  Mine was closer to 50 minutes.  I have to admit, I started to get alittle annoyed, not at Kim of course, but at me....Kim had used pre-cooked sausage, but I decided to use uncooked sausage so everything would cook together, minus the mac and cheese.  When you get home from work at 6, and start dinner at 6:30, eating at 7:52 is not optimal. 

It tasted awesome, and I would definitely make it again for sure!  My fave part was definitely the sauce, and actually the taste of the peas with the spicyness of the sausage, mixed with the big cheese flavor, worked better than I thought they would together! 

 

I think I may try different versions, for example this recipe but with hotdogs, or chicken with the mac and cheese, with broccoli and rice pilaf.  Endless possibilities!

Cheycancook is quite sleepy tonight so I am out:)  I hope you all have a great evening, and maybe some of you also enjoyed the same shows I did tonight - The Middle, Modern Family, and Cougartown;)

Tomorrow - another new recipe that I came across last weekend that has me shaking in my booties!  Let me know what you think of the above recipe and any other versions you can think of that would work:)  Talk to you tomorrow bloggies!

Mini meatloaves to drool over! And pair some onion soup roasted potatoes with it!

Hi everyone!  Hope your week is treating you well so far!  So far so good here, work, dinner, online, errands, Wii, read, sleep, repeat...throw in alittle Jeopardy and Rich Bride Poor Bride so far and that's my week:)

Tonight I'm making (literally making right now - they are in the oven hehe) one of our faves - Mini Turkey Meatloaves from Martha Stewart.  What I like about this recipe is that there is alot of personal touches you can put into it, like what kind of mustard you use, or what kind of cheese you use.  What makes me nervous is them baking - you have to watch them very carefully (I guess I'm not doing this very well if I'm on here!) so they don't dry out.  Out of about 12 times, I've only had them come out a bit dry once, so I'll take it; no one's perfect;)

Another thing I love about this recipe is the ingredients - the only thing you most likely wouldn't have around the kitchen is ground turkey, and maybe the white cheddar cheese - everything else you most likely already have!  Gotta love that!  It's not Wednesday, but this is "wicked" cheap, so I'm going to post the breakdown at the bottom of cost.

What you'll need:

• 2 sweet potatoes and 2 red bliss potatoes 
• 1 onion soup mix packet
• 1/3 cup olive oil

For the potatoes - preheat oven to 450.  Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and place into a 9x13 baking pan.  Pour onion soup mix and 1/3 oil over the potatoes.  I say DON'T mix the ingredients at this point - if the onion soup mix and oil end up all on the bottom of the baking dish, the little soup pieces will just burn up and cause a mess of a cleanup after, and it won't be as flavorful.

Bake potato mixture for about 35-40 minutes - when a fork can go through them, they are done:)  If you want to mix the ingredients, do so about halfway through.  This is what the potatoes, and meatloaves, look like about 1/2 way through:

Now for the good stuff!  You will need:

• 2 tbsp mustard (Martha recommends honey mustard, I used regular yellow mustard tonight, but have used dijon and horseradish mustard in the past)
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper

Mix the mustard and ketchup together in a small bowl and set aside.  If you haven't already preheated the oven to 450 because you're making a different side, preheat oven to 450 now.  Mix together ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/2 cup of the cheese, and salt and pepper.  I find it works best to mix it by hand, so get your sleeves up!  Keep in mind, if the turkey has come out of your fridge just before you start, it's very brr chilly cold on your hands, so let it sit at room temperature for a bit for your hands' sake:)  Form turkey mixture into mini, egg shapes loaves (depending on the size, this recipe should garner you 4-6 loaves) and place on an ungreased baking sheet. 

I love how you can see the cheese in the forms - yum!

Spread the ketchup and mustard mixture on each loaf, and then cover with rest of  cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until loaves are cooked through.  Enjoy!

 

Now, tonight I had 2 lbs of ground turkey, so I doubled the recipe.  Because I made larger loaves tonight as well, I garnered 8 loaves out of 2 lbs.  Sometimes, I'll make smaller loaves and it gives me 12.  No matter what, you want to make the loaves to be the same size so they cook evenly.  Also, because I made them a little larger, then took about 30 minutes to cook through instead of 15-20 minutes.  Again, it's all about watching them to make sure they don't overcook and dry out.  The husband made sure to tell me the one time they were a little dry;)

Here's the husband's plate - well his first helping - always a good sign when he goes back for more:)

Cost:

My favorite part!

2 lbs ground turkey - $5.00 - always a great price!
white cheddar shredded cheese (natural) - $2.75 (I had a coupon)
...and, well, I had the rest of the ingredients!  If you had to buy the breadcrumbs and potatoes, you would add about $5.00 more = $12.75 for a meal plenty big enough for a family of 4!  WOW!  Thank you Martha for a cheap but extremely tasteful recipe!  

So I'm stuffed!  Are you stuffed after your dinner tonight?  I hope so, in a good way:)  I'm off to Michael's to get some glue for scrapbooking (and when I mean some, I mean like 8 - I go through them like hotcakes) and to Target to just browse...I feel like browsing.  Then hopefully I'll come home, play some Wii, catch up on some of my fave blogs like this one, continue reading Scarlett, and get some good sleep.  Every morning I wake up saying "I'm going to bed at 10pm tonight!"....it never happens, I have too much I want to do!

Have a great night, everyone, and see you tomorrow for a new recipe I have yet to try!  Eek!

Everyone cooks cranberry pork loin in their pj's right?

I should be fast asleep, but I promised I'd be here tonight...so, here I am:)  A little blogging before Scarlett and bed...after mucho scrapbooking and Wii :)  To see some of my scrapbooking pics, friend me on Facebook, or become a fan of CheyCanCook :)

I was so so excited to try the cranberry pork loin recipe tonight from this site I read every single day!  The recipes are phenomenal, and I love the writing style and photos.  Turned out to be the perfect night for it as it was STILL SNOWING!  It was perfect keep-warm comfort food:)

You will need:

• 1 lb - 1.5 lb pork loin, boneless - mine was 1 lb
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 tsp butter
• 1 garlic clove minced, or a tbsp of the minced kind you can buy in the produce section
• 1/3 tsp dried thyme (I used a bit more)
• 1 cup whole cranberry sauce (I used an entire 16 oz can)
• 3/4 cranberry juice - I used cran apple
• 1.5 tbsp ketchup
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• walnuts or any type nuts, if desired
  

I am getting better and better at not only memorizing recipes (yay!) but also adding when I think more needs to be added and taking away when I think something/amount needs to be taken away (double yay!).  I'm beginning to trust my cooking instincts a lot more, which I'm very proud of, since I used to always stick to a recipe by the book!

Preheat oven to 425.  Pat roast dry and then season with salt and pepper.  Score fat on top of loin in 1/2 inch intervals and place the pork, fat side up, if there is one, in a baking dish.  Roast for 20 minutes.

While this is baking, combine the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of cran juice.  Bring the combination to a low boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes. 

 

While this is simmering, mix the cornstarch and leftover over cran juice.

Slowly pour into the simmering sauce while stirring.

 

 

Continue to cook and stir until thickened - this entire process will take the 20 minutes it is taking the loin to start cooking.

Since I was adding walnuts, I added them to the pan with about 5 minutes to go.  Take the pork out of the oven after the 20 minutes, spoon this mixture on top of and around it and continue to roast 20-25 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads an internal temperature of 145.  **NOTE - I checked mine and it was at 160 degrees, so I promptly removed it.  I let it sit 15 minutes before cutting it and even though the temp was higher than it should have been, it was still tender enough, and juicy enough, to cut with a butter knife.  

 

 

I served the sauce over my pork only, while the husband spooned his over his mashed potatoes and said it was excellent.  The sauce is the perfect combo and sweet and savory - I'm thinking even a few drops of hickory bbq sauce may be in order for next time:) 

 

 

Thanks again to Mom's Cafe Home Cooking!  I love finding recipes to try on other blogs, because I know how much time goes into making a blog useful and interesting:)  I hope some of you are able to do the same with mine:)

Now tomorrow is a busy one - crazy day at work always after a long weekend, grocery shopping, a couple other errands, thank you cards, etc etc = the easy pizza is tomorrow night.  I'll be back Tuesday with another awesome recipe for winter :)  Have a great rest of your Sunday/Monday everyone! 

PS - does everyone love the Wii or what??

 

 

 

Today I've been inspired to make...

I <3 our white board that I put up each week's menu on, and when the husband saw last night that only Sunday was filled in, he panicked!  I had to reassure him I would be feeding him, just with the snow I hadn't made it to the store yet (Monday after work I'm thinking)...he understood, and we continued on with playing the Wii;)  These are some of the meals I have found today and been inspired to make this week = posts you can look forward to!

* Coconut shrimp and dipping sauce from my Betty Crocker cookbook*
*Cornbread and chili casserole from www.theweatherincascadia.blogspot.com*
*A macaroni and sausage bake, with white sauce, from www.fruitychicken.com*
*Chicken whatchamacallit from www.cookingforzo.com*
*A fave of the husband's to please him, Martha Stewart's Mini Turkey Meatloaves - a fave of mine too!*
*Good ole pizza, I am craving it!*

I'll be back tonight with our cranberry pork loin dish - pictures and all!  Time to scrapbook!!!  Oh, and before I forget, here are some NYE pics...I am not quite the photographer, but my good ole orange digi hasn't done me wrong:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chimichangas Chimichangas, I love you!

Hello Sunday!  I finally allowed myself to have a "fun day"...all I've done is make tenderloin, monterey jack, red pepper, and onion omelets and sat on the couch with my trusty laptop that I love so much and looked up recipes - websites, blogs, some of my cookbooks, etc...ahh, I'm so relaxed!  After this blog, about 3 hours of scrapbooking will happen before I make a cranberry pork loin...oh I can't wait!  For now, I wanted to share with you the chimichangas I made a couple weeks back from this awesome site and some recipes that have inspired me today:)

You will need:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb of lean ground beef 
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• Dash of red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 can of chili beans, drained - my can came mixed in with enchilada sauce
• flour tortillas
• cheddar cheese
• guacamole
• sour cream
• salsa

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and break up the meat into crumbles, like you were making tacos. Add the onion as well as the seasonings then cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the drained can of chili beans to the beef mixture and stir until well combined. Set aside when the beef is cooked through completely.

Heat another skillet coated in cooking spray over medium heat. Heat the tortillas in paper towels in the microwave for 20 seconds so they are soft and pliable. Layer the tortilla with some cheese then some beef mixture. Fold in the sides and roll into a burrito, making sure the ends are closed. Place seam side down in the hot skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Serve with guacamole, salsa and sour cream.  ***Note, for me, I bought a guacamole/salsa/spicy mixture in the produce section at Stop and Shop instead of making/having separate guacamole and salsa because I was strapped on time.  Very good!***

**sweetened condensed milk was for fudge I was making, not this;)**

 

 

 

My husband and I really loved these!  We always tend to go towards tacos and enchiladas, but I think these will be up there from now.  Just 1 lb of ground beef made 8 of these, with leftover meat that we used on a taco salad later that week.  I think next time I would even leave some of the spicy enchilada sauce in the mixture, just for that cook and gooeyness. 

Enjoy, and thanks again to For the Love of Cooking for posting such a great recipe!!