Fall Comfort!

One thing I love about Fall is, it means that I can make comfort food again! I LOVE making all the things that Grandma made as we grew up...with the exception of Hamburger Stew!

Today was a perfect fall day! It was sunny, crisp and you could smell fall in the air. So I thought Meatloaf! I never really cared for Meatloaf, until a couple of years ago. I think it's because I changed the recipe that Grandma used to make. Hers always was kinda dry.

So to start with I take 1 package of Ground Beef, and mix it with 1/2 a chopped onion., 1 box of Stove Top Stuffing (either Chicken or Turkey) and a probably 1/4 cup of BBQ Sauce. Although tonight I didn't use BBQ Sauce, I used a Dutch Ketchup that I grew up eating with my Dad. I mix everything together by hand, and put it in a casserole dish. That's it, then I put it in the oven at 350 for about 40-60min, depending on how big the package of ground beef is. Tonight was 40 min cause it was a small package.

Then about 10 min before the Meatloaf is done, I mix 1 can of Tomato Soup with 3/4 can of Milk, and pour it over top. Again tonight I didn't have Tomato Soup so I opted for Mushroom Soup...sooooooooooooo good! I think I might use Mushroom soup more often. I then put it back in the oven for about 10 min, or until it's starting to bubble and go a bit brown.

Viola! A Yummy, easy Fall Comfort Food Dinner!

I like having the soup on top becuase I like putting on the mashed potatoes. Tonight we had rice, because I uesed the last potaotes last night. We also had peas and cream corn! But enjoy anyway you want!

Easy Chicken Stir-Fry

A big thing with me is being able to make fast, easy dinners for my family. Each of us is a big Chicken fan. So anytime I make a dinner involving chicken it's a good thing. Everyone will eat it! One big hit in our house is Teryaki Chicken Stir-Fry. I used to make the sauce from scratch, but have learn that in a house where we have 2 toddlers; time is of the essance!

For this recipe I usually start with 3 frozen chicken breasts, (sometimes they are thawed, it just depends on when I remember I am making this for dinner), and pop them in the microwave on defrost for 4 min. This usually thaws them enough so I can cut through them and make them in to bite size pieces. I start cutting and dropping into our stove-top wok, that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Once the chicken is in the Wok, I let it brown. This usually takes about 8 or so min on a med/high heat. While the Chicken is browning, I add a variety of spices/sauces. It depends on what type of stir-fry I am making. Tonight I added prepared crushed garlic, and some onion salt to the Chicken for flavor. I also added a cap full of soy sauce.

Once the Chicken is browned, I add the bag of Fajita Mixed Frozen Veggies (red, green & yellow peppers and pieces of onions) You can use any kind of frozen veggies you like. I just happened to have this bag in my freezer.

I then mixed the veggies and Chicken together. On top of this I added the bag of Farkay Chow Mein Noodles, and about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water. Turn heat down to medium. The steam from the water and the frozen veggies thawing will make the noodles soft. Stir a couple of times to prevent things from sticking to the bottom of the Wok, and from burning.

Once the noodles are soft, I add the VH Teryaki Sauce. This is excellent stuff! It's nice and thick and coats everything. It also gives the Stir-Fry a nice kick. Not to much, that my kids can't or won't eat it...it's just right! Once the VH Sauce is heated through....ENJOY!

You can use any number of sauces with this stir-fry. There was one that I saw, a Mild Chili Sauce that I might try.....maybe on our next shopping trip!

My Version of Chip Chicken and My Favorit Salad (a version of it)

Ok, so I love to cook. Even better I LOVE TO EAT, this would be why I am always searching for new recipes to try. This would also be the reason why I have joined Weight Watchers....lol. So now I am committed to finding Healthy Recipes that I can feed my family and maintain and continue my wegith loss.

I "borrowed" this recipe from my cousin Dale. I saw it on her blog and HAD TO TRY IT! I am definatley not dissappointed!

I started with 4 chicken breasts. (Dale used 2, but I have more people to feed..lol) and cut them in to bite size pieces. I then placed the chicken into a "milk bath". While Dale used Buttermilk, I just used the regular 2% milk that was in my fridge..I don't care much for Buttermilk!

I then dredged the Chicken through a bowl full of a crushed bag of Old Dutch BBQ Chips. I have to pause here for a minute and tell a little story that I remembered while I was crushing the bag of the chips. I was standing there pounding away on the chips and rembered as kids that the 4 of us cousins (Dale, Myriah, Melissa and I) would ALWAYS crush the bags of chips that we would buy. For some reason we thought that by crushing the chips we would have more...lol.....ahh the thoughts of a child....lol

I then placed the chicken pieces on a foil covered cookie sheet and into the oven at 425F for 25 min. The only reason that I chose this setting for the oven was becuase both the French Fries that I made for the boys and my Sweet Potatoe Fries needed to be cooked at this temperature for that long. It worked! Everything came out cooked perfectly!
The fries were nice and crispy (thanks to McCain) and my new favorite Sweet Potato Fries were great!

While the Chicken and the French Fries were in the oven, I made my version of my favorite salad. A local Pub (The Barley Mill) makes this Spinach Salad that has; baby spinach leaves, roasted pecan pieces, red onion slices and feta cheese in it! IT"S TO DIE FOR!!! I have it everytime we go to the pub!

Normally I make it just as it is in the restaurant and use whatever salad dressing I have in the fridge. Tonight though I changed it up a bit. I for some reason grabbed a Baby Spinach Salad KIT, not just baby spinah leaves. So in to the bowl went Baby Spinach leaves and the walnuts and dried cranberries from the kit. I then added the red onion slices and peacn pieces ( I didn't roast them). I also forgot to get Feta Cheese....lol...so I cubed up some Marbled Cheddar Cheese. While I prefer the Feta because it gives a bit of a salty taste to the salad, the cheddar was fine. To compensate for the lack of Feta Cheese, I used Kraft Greek, Feta & Oregano salad dressing. HOWEVER; Hillside Estate Winery makes a Garlic Vinagarette dressing that is sold at the Wine Shop here in town. I think this dressing would be FABULOUS on top of the salad!.

I really enjoyed dinner tonight! I LOVED the Chip Chicken, and even thought about a couple of other flavors of chips (like; Doritos Sweet Chili Heat or the Cool Ranch) that would be great on the chicken. I can never eat enough of the salad, I could eat it everyday!

Thanks Dale for the great inspiration for tonights dinner! It was awesome!