I'm here and what I've been/am up to!

I know when my parents start telling me "your last blog was about beef stew earlier this week" that I am mucho behind!  I apologize for sure - I wasn't sleeping well so I was feeling sick again, then we did our tree thing - bought a tree, decorated it, all while watching Christmas Vacation, then I had my yearly shop til we drop Christmas shopping extravaganza with my brother, and then we celebrated my dad's bday!   WOAH!  Busy! 

Here is what I've been up to - sorry for what may be a long long post!

I don't even remember which night at this point, but one night I made ribs, just store-bought, already bbq'd up ribs, as it was a busy night for us - made some corn muffins, french fries, corn, and honey glazed carrots to go along with it for a pretty quick and easy meal, but one that leaves you full and smiling from the finger lickin!

Thursday night - new recipe!  Made Thai Chicken Crescent Pot Sticker Sandwiches from the Pillsbury emails/recipes I subscribe to.  At first I was very .... let's just say I was wondering why I chose to make this recipe.  It came out better, and tasted better, than I thought it would for sure.  It's not something I would eat often, but it was a nice change:)

You will need:

• 2 tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream ***I freaked out over this, I don't like EITHER, but knew it was needed, so I used sour cream***
• 1 tbsp peanut butter - I used chunky style
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce (I used a few more splashes)
• 1 cup cooked chicken breast
• 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots ***I didn't use these because the husband isn't a fan of carrots - next time I definitely WOULD use them, though, as that crunch is needed***
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 can, 8 oz, Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
• dipping sauce if wanted - Pillsbury suggested mango chutney, but I just made a sauce of apricot preserves, about 1/2 cup, lime juice, and a pinch of ground mustard and melted it all together over low heat on the stove

Heat oven to 375.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.  In a large bowl,  mix sour cream, peanut butter, curry powder, ginger, garlic powder, and soy sauce.  Add chicken, carrots, and cheese - mix well. 

Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into 4 rectangles.  Place on cookie sheet.  Firmly press the perforations to seal.  

Spoon the chicken mixture onto each rectangle.  Bring the 4 corners up over the filling on each one and press edges to seal shut.

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Dip into dipping sauce, add sour cream on top, or just eat as is:) 

Like I said, better than I thought, had a nice bite to them because of the curry powder, but it's something I'd eat every week.  A nice change though:)

So that leads me to today, as Friday night = enchiladas and last night dinner at my parents' for my dad's bday.  This is what I'm cookin' up, and working on today (and add laundry and cleaning the kitchen, I already did those, but didn't take photos)

A nice cherry cobbler in the crockpot

Yup, a Thanksmas dinner for just the 2 of us :)

And yes, that is a pile of scrapbooking/card stuff I'm working on for the holidays - I hope to get to this because this, besides blogging, is fun and relaxing!


Happy Sunday, everyone!  I'll be back with more pics from our feast tonight - fingers crossed.  I'll leave you with this:

I never thought I would like this, but I did!

Cheycancook doesn't like:

mayonnaise
"green things" like green spices in pasta
salad dressing!

I know, I'm sure you're thinking, how can someone hate these everyday items?  I just never acquired a taste...the green thing "thing" is getting better, and now it looks like I'm working on the salad dressing thing.  Just not on my lettuce;)

So on Monday's as I've mentioned I like to make easy meals, if I can, because I'm tired from the long day at work and just want to re-lax!  So the week before, when I was making up my menu, I went thru my Kraft magazine recipes and found Sweet and Spicy Chicken Stir Fry.  I had never tried this specific recipe before, so there was that hint of uh oh and then the I can do it and it will be great!  It was a decent amount of prep work, but the end result was well worth it - ask my husband, he had 3 helpings!

You will need:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 tbsp oil
3 cups chopped mixed veggies of your choice - I used fresh pea pods, red and green pepper, and mushrooms, and a can (drained) of sliced water chestnuts. 
1 clove garlic, minced (I like to just buy the jarred minced garlic in the produce section)
1/4 cup Catalina salad dressing
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper - of course I used more - I'm sure you know why at this point:)

Cook the chicken in the hot oil in a large pan over high heat for 3 minutes

Add veggies and garlic, cooking for 5-6 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned, and stirring frequently. 

Stir in remaining ingredients and cook an additional 2 minutes or until chicken is cooked thru and veggies are to your liking.

I served this over white rice and enjoyed:)   Hope you do too!

***On another note, there's some crazy weather coming way tomorrow, including snow, sleet, and ice.  I know the rest of the U.S. has been experiencing this too, so be safe out there!***

It was a chicken kind of week

With the economic times and all, I'm trying to be more thrifty at the grocery store, which is hard, but a fun challenge. So this week instead of buying 2 different packages of chicken, one package of breast meat for the pot pie, and a package of boneless thighs for this chicken and vegetable stew I'm going to talk about below, I bought just a package of thighs (thighs are cheaper and usually come in bigger packages than breasts, like 2 lbs - I can't wait for the day we can have a 2nd freezer and I can buy the 3lb+ packages of meat and save that way!)...but anyways, back to the chicken. I used thighs in the pot pie and was very happy AND then doubly happy because we used the rest of the thighs the next night - I present, the first time I've ever made this chicken and veg stew thing;) And bonus - I got to use my dutch oven, which I definitely don't get to use often enough:)

What you'll need:

olive oil
flour
as much chicken as you think your family will need - I used 1 lb thighs for 2 adults
one white onion
one or two zucchini
as many baby carrots as you would like
any other veggies you may like - example - artichoke, olives, yellow squash, all depending on the season and what is fresh at your local market
28 oz can any kind of stewed or diced tomatoes
saltines

Easy = Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and cover in flour; at the same time, heat 2 tbsp oil in the dutch oven at medium high heat. Add chicken, baby carrots, and cut up onion and cook until chicken is browned all all sides, stirring pretty continuously. Then add the cut up zucchini and 28 oz can of diced/stewed tomatoes - smells so yummy at this point! Add salt and pepper too if you'd like at any point:) Cover the dutch oven and cook on medium to medium low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked thru and veggies are nice and tender.

I honestly wasn't crazy about the stewed tomatoes - I think I'd rather use tomato juice and cut up some tomatoes and do that part that way - husband loved it and he said it was a perfect meal for while he was down and out with a cold:)

Tomorrow, my famous fajitas;) Sizzle! For now, enjoy the rest of your Saturday/Saturday night where ever you are! A nice meal out for this lady, some DVR'd shows, SNL, and of course Bejeweled! Anyone else obsessed with that game???

I'm not slacking, I'm here!

Sorry for the lapse the last couple of days - I've just been creative in other ways (scrapbooking) and reading - almost done with Gone with the Wind and I love it!

This entry is not about food good ole Scarlett had served to her at Tara, it's about chicken pot pie! With the cooler weather coming, and a cold going around here at home and work, it was the perfect comfort food:)

You will need:

2 cups of cooked chicken, seasoned if you would like with salt and pepper or any other spices
2 pie crusts (I just use the ready-made roll out ones)
2 10 oz cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup of chicken broth
16 oz of your favorite canned or frozen veggies - I used some frozen butternut squash, corn, and carrots and a can of sliced potatoes in this one...sometimes I use peas, broccoli, all depending on our moods:); I also estimate the 16 oz, going a little over won't hurt, as long as it all fits in the size of your casserole dish:)

Really simple - using a casserole dish, pie dish, whatever you would like, as long as it's something around 8-9", roll out one of the pie crusts. And oh yes, preheat the oven to 400:) Combine all other ingredients in a bowl, stir them up, and then pour into that pie crust. Cover this mixture with the other pie crust, and bake for 35 minutes, or until the top crust is the color you like - we like it a little crispy, so I cooked it the full 35 minutes.

So yummy, so warm, and so comforting when you have a little cold:) Enjoy!

Crockpot Sunday, but this week it's on Saturday:)

So tonight my parents and brother are coming over to have dinner with the husband and I, and probably for some cribbage or some other game they want to teach me. Usually I do a crockpot meal every Sunday, but this weekend it will be Saturday, just for them:)

One of our fave crockpot meals is chicken cacciatore. I find anything chicken comes out best in the crockpot b/c it stays so moist. So, I'm off to get that started as it takes about 9 hours to cook on low; I'll post the full recipe and pics later or tomorrow. Enjoy your Saturday, and post your fave crockpot meals!