Motherhood and Beyond » Cooking

Taco Soup

Jenny — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:24:10 +0000

Today I made Taco Soup. I was curious to see if Ellie liked it and to my suprise she did pretty good with it. She even at the black beans!

1 cut up chicken (I buy a rotisserie chicken and cut it up the night before to save time)
5-6 cups of Chicken stock
1/2 green pepper
1/2 onion
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 can Rotel
1 can Cream corn
1 can Petite diced tomatoes
2 cans black bean drained
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pks. Ranch dressing mix

Pour a small amount of stock in the pot and cook the onions and green peppers to soften a little. When that is done, pour in all the rest. Let it come to a boil and then turn down until ready to eat. I like to cook it for several hours. I think the flavors combine and taste better. We serve it with cheese and saltines! This makes plenty of soup to eat on for several days. We usually freeze some of it for later. Enjoy!

2 Steps and Food

Jenny — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:37:30 +0000

Eliana has taken her first two steps! This was exciting as it is for any new mom and dad. You could see the little light in her eyes and the hesitation all at once. She just fell into my lap and giggled as I laughed with her. It was much fun.

We have also taken new strides in eating. She is starting to eat more adult food. This has been frustrating for me at times because I feel like I waste more than she eats. The other night I made Pizzagna and had no expectations of her eating it. She gobbled it up. I fixed Cheeseburger Chili Mac and Cheese (I know heartburn) and she ate that like crazy. I was thrilled by all of this. She has also enjoyed Baked Cavatelli with Italian Sausage and Eggplant. I am just glad she is eating. The good thing is these recipes make enough to have leftovers!

Flat Iron Steak

Jenny — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:52:27 +0000

A while ago I was in Kroger looking for a good piece of meat to cook. I really like London Broils but they were not on sale. I also wanted something I could do in the oven and not the grill. Craig was coming back from a trip and I did not want him to have to grill it. I asked the Meat guy and he suggested Flat Iron Steak. I had never heard of it before and since it was on sale for $2.99 a pound I decided to give it a try. I did some research on how to cook this. I can’t remember where I found the info but here it is…Thanks to whoever gave this information…I did not marinate it. All I did was sprinkle Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides and wrapped with Saran Wrap for about two hours beforehand.

1 flat iron steak 1-1.5 pounds

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Set broiler to high. Move top oven rack to about 4 inches below broiler. Cook for 6 minutes on one side. Then flip and cook an additional 6-7 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes. Make sure temperature of meat is 140 degrees.

That is it! EASY and DELICIOUS! A piece of meat any woman can do!

Lemonade Ice Cream Pie

Jenny — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:07:18 +0000

Here is a recipe from my mom. We have fixed it and enjoyed it. Since we always have Country Time Lemonade on hand it is easy to do…

1/3 Cup Country Time Lemonade mix

1/2 Cup cold water

2 Cups Vanilla Ice Cream

1 8oz. Cool Whip

1 Graham cracker pie crust

Stir together lemonade mix and water to dissolve. Add ice cream and blend on LOW until well blended. STIR in thawed cool whip. Allow to freeze in mixing bowl for about 40 minutes and then pour into crust. This will allow it to have a little height on the pie.

Eat and Enjoy!!!

A great website

Jenny — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:27:24 +0000

Katherine has told me about a great website, www.momsbudget.com. One thing I have really wanted to do more of is freezing meals instead of making just half a recipe. This site gives great tips on freezer friendly recipes and what foods you can freeze. There is tons of stuff on this site as well. Check it out.

Cooking with Eliana

Jenny — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:26:51 +0000

I let Eliana have her first cooking experience. I was making Katie’s Candy of which I had not made in years until a few weeks ago and again yesterday. I am sure by the name of the dessert you have know idea what is except for Katie. It is basically peanut butter bars with chocolate on top. DELICIOUS if you are having a chocolate craving as I was. So I put Eliana in her high chair and pulled her into the kitchen with me. I had to crumble graham crackers. I put the crackers in a bag and gave them to her for her the “play” with. I showed her how to squish them up as to which she started laughing and grabbing them. I let her play with the bag but before I knew it she was trying to eat the bag. (I wish she would eat more than just the bag and toys!) Anyway, she got a kick out of hitting them and me helping her crumble them. Okay, so she did not really help. But I firmly believe she is learning and hopefully she will enjoy being in the kitchen. Some days, I love to be in the kitchen, other days…not so much!

A cookie disaster

Jenny — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:42:07 +0000

So I have had many cooking disasters and cookIE disasters. But this weekends was a failure…at least the first time. Craig had asked me to bake cookies for his BSF Fellowship for tonight. I was glad to do it and had some time to do it. I waited until the weekend so they would be fresh. As usual he wanted Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies. Which are great cookies. So Saturday night after Eliana went to bed I decided to go ahead and mix up the mix and refridgerate it over night to save on time. Sunday afternoon after lunch I pull it out and let it sit for a little bit to warm up while our oven preheats. (Another story in itself.) So in goes the first batch…what happened? These looked awful. They were brown and greasy and just gross looking. Okay, lets try another. okay, another. After 4 dozen cookies in the trash I decide to start completely over. So off to Wal-mart I go (the only place I can find the Andes Chips). I get home and Craig and I whip up more cookies. Luckily these turned out okay. I am not sure what happened. Craig thinks it is because I let it sit over night. I think it is because I may have mismeasured my flour. If you want the recipe, let me know. They seem to be a hit at our tailgate.

Craig, I hope your guys enjoy the cookies. Please bring some back home!