Slow Baked Chicken and Potatoes

The first day of my menu, I had chosen this recipe called Slow Baked Chicken and Potatoes.  I'm not giving you the link yet because I am not giving it a great review.  I am giving you the recipe to try if you would like.

It was half good.  The chicken and bacon was delicious.  But, the potatoes were not done.  they were still crispy, and that was not the texture I was looking for.  We even tried cooking it an extra hour.

Now, I have not given up on this recipe.  I am going to try it again next month, but I am going to cook it all day in the slow cooker/crockpot instead of for just 2 hours in the oven.

And now, the recipe so you can try it if you want.  Just cook it longer so the potatoes are cooked.

Doesn't it look delicious????

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lb potatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 5 boneless skinless chicken breast
• 4-6 bacon slices, uncooked
• 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 300F. Grease an 11" cast iron skillet with olive oil. Set aside.
2. Scrub the potatoes.  Thinly slice the potatoes and onions. Mince the garlic and finely chop the thyme and rosemary.
3. In a large bowl combine the sliced potatoes, onions, minced garlic, fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper and arrange layers of the potatoes in the prepared skillet.
4. Place the chicken breasts on top of the potatoes and finish with pieces of roughly chopped bacon.
5. Pour the chicken stock in the skillet and season with salt and pepper.
6. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in the heated oven. Bake for 2 hours without opening the oven.
7. After two hours, open the oven and remove the aluminum foil.
8. Turn he broiler on and cook for few more minutes until the potatoes slices and chicken get a little brown color.

 ~Sherie~

Greek Theatre and a Recipe

Yesterday was our first official school day of the 2014-2015 school year!  We did our normal schedule, although I had an appointment right in the middle of the day, so even though we got it all complete, it was broken up into morning session and afternoon session.

Today was about the same.  You see when you own your own business, you have to meet clients when they are available.  So, today we did the morning session and afternoon session as well.  This actually seems to be working out pretty good.

On to what we are learning!  We are still studying Mystery of History Volume 1.  We are up to 478 - 399 BC when Greece was at its prime and they were not afraid of war, so they explored art, theatre, etc.  My boys actually understood this time period.  There are some time periods that at their young age, they have no idea what its all about. 

Anyway, we learned about how plays were sometimes played out by only 2 actors.  The actors would change their masks to show the change of characters and their moods.

Today, my boys created their own masks.  And here they are.

Yes, this one is upside down.  He wanted it that way.

And now for a recipe!

I wanted something today that was going to change up what our menu.  I am tired of the same ole same ole.  So, tonight I took a recipe and made it my own.  It's Super easy and was very good!

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
1/3 Cup Louisiana Hot Sauce
1/4 Cup Butter, melted
4 Chicken Breast, boneless, cut into strips

Directions:
Non-hot strips (for the boys)
Coat the chicken strips with the ranch dressing mix and place on a baking sheet covered in wrinkled up tin-foil.  Drizzle butter on chicken.  Bake for 40 minutes in an 350 degree oven.

Boneless Hot Wings

Mix the Ranch Dressing Mix with the hot sauce.  Then, coat the chicken strips with the mixture.  Place chicken on a baking sheet that has been covered with a wrinkled up piece of tin-foil.  Drizzle butter over chicken.  Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I ate mine on a bed of spring mix lettuce, with black olives, and ranch dressing. 

After this picture was taken, I added french fried onions to the salad.

Everybody loved it!  I hope you do too!!!!!

Pork Chops

I have had people ask me, how do you menu plan?  That has GOT to be so hard.  Well, here is my not so organized way of doing a menu plan.  I don't necessarily know the meal I will be cooking every night.  BUT, I do know the meat I am cooking. 

You see, I have a system of eating.  I don't like to have 2 beef dinners in a row, etc.  So, here is my list of meats:

Chicken
Beef
Pork
Fish/Shrimp

So, if we had a beef dinner last night, I know we will have pork tonight. 

I print out a blank calendar and start listing it out in order.  Then, on Sunday's I go to the freezer and see what I have left from last week.  So, I know how much meat I have to buy.  I do all of my grocery shopping on Sunday, hence me looking in the freezer.

And then I look on the calendar and I know that this week we will need 2 chicken dinners, beef dinners, 2 Pork dinners, and 1 fish or shrimp dinner.  So, if I have only 1 package of chicken left over, I know I have a boat load of meat I need to buy.  LOL!  I usually have more meat in the freezer, this is just an example.  Although, we are trying to buy better meat, like buffalo, natural chicken (not boosted up with hormones), etc.  We are using ground chicken now, instead of beef for tacos, chili, etc.  Nobody can taste the difference and its much better for you.

Then, every day I go onto Pinterest and decide what I want to make out of the meat for that day.  Today, we are having pork chops, but I can't find a recipe that is meeting my craving.  So, I am just adding some spices to it and baking it.  I included 2 veggies (I need to get better at cooking these from scratch too, but one thing at a time).

 

(I added McCormick's Garlic and Herb seasoning to these pork chops)

 

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350.  Sprinkle a generous amount of seasoning on chops.  Bake for 45 minutes or until done.  (I know all the chefs bake their pork to a certain temp and call it done.  But, I don't play that game.  It is done when it comes out of the oven.  We've had salmonella in the house, I don't want to have it again!)

 

 

I hope you have a GREAT day!

Sherie

Baked Shrimp Poboys

(I am not a photographer!  This sandwich is goooooood!)

 

 

2 Lbs Shrimp (this is enough for my family of 5)

2 Tblsp Creole Seasoning

1/2 Cup Olive oil

1 Tblsp Honey

1 Tblsp Soy Sauce

 

Mix the Creole Seasoning, Olive oil, Honey, and Soy Sauce in a Ziploc bag.  Add Shrimp.  Coat completely and marinate for 30 minutes.  In the meantime, heat oven to 350.  After marinating, transfer shrimp and marinade to 9x13 baking dish.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until shrimp are cooked through.

 

Broil or toast bread.  Now, fill that delicious bread with shrimp and shredded lettuce.  (In my opinion, no dressing is necessary)

 

Enjoy!

Sherie



Oven Baked Fried Chicken

Oven Baked Fried Chicken

(Please over look the picture, I am not a professional.  But, this chicken is GOOD!)

 

 

In a large zippered bag, mix the following:  1 T Seasoned Salt, 3/4 tsp Pepper, 1 c. Flour, 2 tsp. Paprika.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 3 Tablespoons of  butter or margarine into the bottom of a a 9x13 pan. Place baking pan in the oven while it is heating up. Drench chicken (I cut up 5 pieces of chicken into tenders) pieces in milk.  Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix.  Place each piece of chicken in the pan. Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through.

Enjoy!
Sherie

Easy, Healthier Chicken Parmesan

Easy, Healthier Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
4 Chicken Breasts
Spaghetti Sauce
4 Cups Mozzarella Cheese (I said Heather, not completely healthy.  LOL!)
Bread Crumbs

Directions:

Cut Chicken into bite sized pieces. Spread Olive oil on bottom of 9x13 baking dish.  Place chicken pieces on top of oil.  Pour spaghetti sauce over chicken.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese on top of the chicken, sprinkle bread crumbs on cheese, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the bread crumbs.  Bake an additional 20 minutes or until the cheese is all melted and browning.

Enjoy!

Matthew 8: 26

And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?"  Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

 

Isn't it wonderful that our Lord can do this?

 

Easy Korean Beef

Thankfully, my husband started cooking this before I got home.  Not that it is hard.  I just got home late, so this made it quicker to get it done.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground hambuger meat
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Cloves Garlic
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Brown your hamburger meat and garlic in olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Drain any fat that might have cooked out of it.  Add your brown sugar and soy sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.  After this step, I took a portion of it out for my boys that do NOT like spicy stuff.  Then, add the red peper flakes, and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

Enjoy!

 

Matthew 13: 45-46

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Another POWERFUL verse.  He paid the ultimate price for our sins.  WOW!  Thank you Lord!

 

 

PIZZADILLAS

 

Have you ever had them?  Oh my goodness, they were delicious.  And OH so EASY!

 

As you know, I am trying to become vegetarian, but I still cook for my family that are carnivores.  LOL!  Well, this night, I was tired after a long day at the office and I just didn't know what in the world to fix.  I knew I didn't want to call out for pizza, yuck!  So, the next best thing was a Pizzadilla.  I pulled out the George Foreman press cooker and then got out all the ingredients and proceded to make them.  It took all of 20 minutes to get supper cooked.  And then my dear sweet hubby took care of anybody that wanted seconds.

 Ingredients:
Tortillas (I used spinach tortillas for mine, flour tortillas for everybody elses.
Pepperoni
Spaghetti sauce (you could use pizza sauce, but we had spaghetti sauce in the fridge that needed using up.)
Any other ingredients you may want.  I sauted onions, bell peppers, and black olives for mine.
Mozzerrella cheese

Directions:
Spread the sauce around the tortilla until almost at the edges.  Place your ingredients on half of the tortilla.  Fold over, and place on griddle.  cook until cheese melts and oozes out (YUMMY!).  Remove from griddle, cut and serve.

Enjoy!