Finding Balance

Priorities…finding the time to do it all now that I am a part time worker has become a challenge for me.  I have been absolutely blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time raising my mini meringues for the last 7 ½ years.  During that time I also have gained a new hobby of recipe collecting and with this blog I have taken the time to thin out that collection.  I’ve tried many and those that are delicious I share, those that are not up to our par we discard but to try them along the way has been a joy.  I had high hopes on Sunday to try out 3 new recipes for a good ‘ol fashioned family dinner…we ended up trying one.  Like many working mothers you find that the time to run to the store, cook, serve and pirouette along the way turns into order a pizza, put on comfy clothes and play a spirit crushing game of Sorry with your children.  I won’t even discuss the many games of Old Maid….but how does that dang card find the “oldest” player every time…CONSPIRACY!!!!  Back on topic we grilled steaks and this delicious herb potato recipe.  I was thrilled to even use fresh herbs from my garden.  I’ve had herbs in my garden for the last few years but have never used them, crazy huh? Now that I have I am going to do it more often, don’t be surprised to see more using-herbs-from-my-garden-type recipes here!  “)

Grilled Potatoes with Garlic & Rosemary

4 tablespoons olive oil

9 garlic cloves, minced

1 tspn fresh chopped rosemary

Kosher salt

2 lbs baby potatoes, halved and skewered

Disposable 13x9 roasting pan

2 tbsps chopped fresh chives

Heat the olive oil, garlic, rosemary and salt in a skillet over medium heat until sizzling about 3 minutes. Place the potatoes in a single layer on a large microwave safe plate and poke each potato several times.  Oil and sprinkle liberally with salt.  Microwave 8 minutes. Stirring halfway through.   Reduce the heat of the garlic sauce to medium low and continue to cook until he garlic is light blond, about 3 minutes.  Transfer the potatoes to a bowl, add the herb mixture and toss to coat and season with salt and pepper.  Place the potatoes on the hotter side of the grill on a grill pan, cook, turning once until grill marks appear.  About 4 min.  Move to a cooler side of oven and cover with the aluminum roasting pan.  Cook 5 to 8 minutes more.  Remove the potatoes and place into bowl and add chives and toss until combined.  Serve immediately.

This recipe was adapted from the America's Test Kitchen recipe.  

Sunday is Funday!

Cake Batter Pancakes

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1 ½ cups pancake mix

1 tspn vanilla

Sprinkles!!!!

1 ½ cups water or more to make the mixture pancake batter consistency not too thick, not too thin J

Mix together and cook on the griddle!  My mini meringues ate them plain but there is a “frosting” you can make to top them off with!

“Frosting”

1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tablespoon milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, assorted sprinkles.  Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

This recipe came from a food blog that I subscribe too.  She makes creative and yummy stuff. Her recipe is a little different than mine but that is because she made her pancakes from scratch and I took the lazy approach and used the Kreutz mix we had in the cupboard.  We will make them again for sure and next time even "frost" them.  Click on the link to check out her food blog!  http://www.howsweeteats.com/

Tonight for supper we made a wonderful chicken dish that comes from my family’s collection of recipes.  When I was growing up we always loved having meals at my Aunt Karen’s, she is a fantastic cook.  I hope I become the kind of cook she is, the kind where everyone loves what she makes and talks about it for a long time after.  She makes a delicious turkey that she sets out buffet style for holidays or some of her sons graduations, or the Special “K” aren Bars we had at the lake or the Coke Beans that are so amazing we have been known to have them for breakfast!  I also must dedicate this meal tonight to Miss Julie Snow, my awesome neighbor that floated me a couple cans of cream of chicken soup tonight since when I went to my cupboard I only found split pea….um who in the world bought that and put it in my cupboard???  My cupboard fairy has a twisted sense of humor.  Enjoy the recipe and thanks again Aunt Karen & Miss Julie!

Sour Cream Chicken

Shred one or two packages of dried beef on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.  Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts on top of the beef.  Cover the chicken with sliced of bacon.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees to start cooking the bacon.  In a bowl combine 2 cans cream of chicken soup and 1 large container sour cream.  Pour over the chicken and reduce the heat to 300 degrees.  Bake 2 hours.

I didn’t have any bacon in the fridge but did have a package of bacon bits in the cupboard so I used that instead, and I kept the oven temp at 350 and baked for only 1 hour.

We served this with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side.  This recipe makes extra sauce (you know us…we love the sauce) which is great on the mashed potatoes!

Sorry no photos were available to show you what it looks like, the meringues dug in before I could even remove the pot holders!  ")

Perfect Night!

What a perfect night for grilling!  We went to the store to get the ingredients for our meal and my mini meringues convinced me to get a watermelon too.  Instead of cubing it or cutting it into slices we used a melon baller and low and behold it worked!  I've had that gadget for years and never used it until now, makes me want to ball all my fruit.

Bacon Sliders

 2 pounds ground beef

1 tspn Lawery's Seasoned Salt

1 tspn pepper

1 tspn Lemon Pepper seasoning

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Bacon

slices of cheese Cheddar, Jack, Etc.

Slider buns

Combine meat with all seasoning ingredients. Knead with hands to combine. Form into small-to-medium sized balls. Cut slices of bacon in half. Wrap one half around ball of hamburger, pulling slightly to keep taut. Smooth to secure seam. Repeat with other half of bacon, ending seam in the same place. Place patties, bacon seam side down, on a baking pan with a drip tray sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Press gently on each patty to flatten as much as you can without squeezing meat out of the edges. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes to firm. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bacon is cooked to your specifications. Remove from oven and lay cheese on each patty. Serve on a roll with your choice of toppings/condiments.

We grilled ours!

Onion Stings

1/2 cup flour

1 tspn paprika

1 tspn garlic salt

1 tspn pepper

2 onions, sliced thin

vegetable oil for frying

Mix the flour, paprika, garlic salt and pepper in a gallon size plastic bag.  Add onions and shake to coat.  Heat the oil on medium high heat.  Add the coated onion strings and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.  Sprinkle generously with salt. They are onion strings after all!  Serve alone or on top of the bacon sliders!