Joy in the Kitchen!

This is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to cook bone in chicken that I've come across in all my years of cooking!  Though the price of chicken has gone up a fair bit in the past few years, it is still an economical main dish.  Even more-so if you watch for chicken to come on sale, or I can sometimes find 10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters at the grocery store for quite a bit less per pound.  If you don't mind separating the thigh and the drumstick yourself, you can save quite a bit more.  If you prefer, you could leave the leg quarter intact and it will bake up just as well.   I love recipes like this that come from trusted friends and family.  A year ago or so, I was asked to help bake some of this chicken for a fundraiser to help restore an old two-room schoolhouse that is near my home.  The school house is so fun to see and contemplate all the children who learned together in that one room with one teacher for all ages.  The ...

  We've just finished with our latest snowstorm.  I really wanted to say that was our LAST of the season snowstorm, but it's still March and we had a snowstorm in May last year!   The BEST part of winter for me, is that it's Soup Season!  I LOVE soup! (… and chowder! Soup and Chowder will be used interchangeably in this post!)  I could eat it several times a week.   A delicious bowl of steaming soup just soothes all of the rough, cold, places in your soul.    Lately I've needed a generous portion of soul soothing!  Corn Chowder is one of my childhood favorites.  My Mom had a recipe I've never seen anywhere else. The only thickener used is saltine crackers crushed and soaked in milk.  Perhaps it was a depression era recipe as it is very basic and thrifty!  Recently, I wanted a soup that also used chicken (more protein) and I've had a bunch of veggies on hand that need used.  This Creamy Chicken Corn Chowder was ...

  Easter is nearly upon us!  One of our favorite traditions is dying and decorating eggs.  Finding a way to use up those eggs in a timely manner is a challenge for me!  Years ago I came across a similar recipe in a magazine and though I've lost that recipe, I still make up my own version of it nearly every year.   The addition of cottage cheese helps mellow out the heaviness of the eggs, and shredded cheddar cheese adds some fun flavor.   Often we just spread the mixture on slices of bread, but I love a good crusty roll for mine. Enjoy! Humpty Dumpty Egg Salad Sandwiches 4 hard boiled eggs , peeled and diced 1/3  cup celery , finely chopped 1/2 cup cottage cheese 2-3 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1/4 cup mayonnaise  1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese salt and pepper to taste Bread of your choice lettuce leaves, optional Gently mix all of the ingredients except the bread.  Spread the bread with butter if you'd like and spread with a th...

Lentil and Burger Bake We've been finding new ways to eat healthier which includes using beans and legumes more often.  My Mom used to make this lentil dish once in a while and I've always loved it.   I love the peppery, earthy flavor of lentils!   They cook up quicker than dry beans as well, you can cook them on the stovetop for 40-50 minutes or in the instant pot for around 8-10 minutes.  Sometimes I just love my Instant Pot for things like that! When I'm reading recipe blogs I don't enjoy having to sort through so much chatter to find the recipe, so on to the important part!   Ranch Style Lentil and Burger Bake 1 lb. lean hamburger (I like 93/7 but use what you can find) 1 T. olive or vegetable oil 1 pkg. dry onion soup mix OR 1 T. beef bouillon and 1/2 C. fresh, diced onion 4 C. cooked lentils 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 tsp. vinegar 1 C. water Brown burger in oil, stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour into a casserole dish or 9x13 pan and bake a...

When I was growing up, most of the time Mom fixed meals using foods we grew in the garden and meat we had raised.  Most meals were meat and potato meals.  Usually four items on our plates at dinner:  Meat, potatoes, vegetable, and some sort of salad. Most always a dessert accompanied that, often though it was a bowl of home canned fruit.  Once in a great while, Mom would make a casserole or dinner using ingredients we had to buy such as cheese, pasta, or rice.  It was such a treat to have a meal out of the norm.  One of the dishes Mom would occasionally make for Sunday dinner was Chicken and Rice.  So easy to put together and throw in the oven to cook while you do other things.  This dish is such a comfort food for me!  Creamy, warm, delicious!  I'm not sure where she got the recipe, but the original name was Busy Day Chicken.   I buy whole chickens and cut them up into 10 pieces for this, or sometimes I buy chicken l...

Tamale pie is a great recipe to stretch meat and fill hungry tummies.  It is simple to make and uses ingredients I usually  have on hand.  When I had several teenagers at home I made this casserole quite a bit. If you like your meals a bit spicier, you might enjoy some green chili's in the filling or mixed into the cornbread topping! Tamale Pie Filling: 1 lb hamburger (I prefer 90/10) 1 medium onion, diced 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 3 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. salt. pepper to taste 1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes  1 15 oz. can of black olives, sliced 1 cup frozen corn or 1 15 oz. can corn, drained Brown hamburger and onion until onion is translucent.  Add the remaining ingredients and warm through.  Place in a greased 9x13 pan or other casserole dish. Topping: 1 C. yellow corn meal 1 C. flour 1 T. sugar 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 1 1/2 C. milk 1/3 C. oil 1 egg Mix all together until ...

The other day I needed a dinner that I could make ahead and leave in the oven.  I combined a couple of recipes to come up with this.  It was a hit with our entire family. I like to buy full boneless pork loins at Sam's Club and then cut them into chops or leave the size we need for a roast.  The price is usually cheapest that way and I'm all about cutting our food budget.  I keep everything in this recipe on hand (aside from the French's Fried Onions) so it is something I could throw together  spur of the moment. Creamy Pork Chops and Potatoes 6-8 pork loin chops (boneless or bone-in) 6 LARGE  russet potatoes , peeled and sliced 2 10 oz. cans condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk 3/4 C. water 3 T. onion soup base (1 package of Lipton onion soup is a little over 2 T. so just use that if you'd rather not have a package open.  I buy mine in bulk so it's easier for measuring) 1/4 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp. salt French's fr...

My family doesn't generally love brown rice.  They really enjoyed it in this dish though.  I started out to do a skillet dinner, but I took a little time to put it all in a pan and melt the cheese in the oven.  Next time I'm going to try just mixing it in and letting it melt in the skillet rather than sprinkling it on top. This was a tasty dinner and full of healthy ingredients.   My family requested it again! Brown Rice and Broccoli with Chicken 1 1/2 C. brown rice 3 1/4 C.chicken broth or water with 3 tsp. chicken boullion  Place in medium pan, bring to a boil and cook for 40 minutes.  Remove from heat. While the rice is cooking, saute the following in 1 T. of olive oil: 2 chicken breast, diced 1 C. onion, diced 1 C. mushrooms, sliced 2 C. broccoli florets (fresh or frozen is fine) When the rice is done, place it on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan .  Spread chicken and vegetables over rice.  Drizzle a couple of tablespoon...

We've just finished Spud Harvest in our area.  All the potatoes are dug and the kids are back to school.  During potato harvest, I called my cousin who's family farms the land behind my Dad's house to see if I could buy some from her.  She let us come and pick potatoes off of the conveyor belt as they went into the cellar.  I took pictures of that last year and you can see those HERE .   We bought about 300 lbs of potatoes.  If the winter is cooperative, I'll have usable potatoes through April.  I love storing potatoes with the dirt still on!  They keep so much better with dirt on and in a gunny sack in a cool, dry area, than they do from the store in those nasty plastic bags.  But you use what you can get, right?  These potatoes are Russet Burbanks.  The BEST in my opinion. (and at my house my opinion is what counts! ) Now that Spud Harvest is finished, there is no better way to celebrate than to eat the harvest! ...

Summer is coming!!!  It's time to start thinking cool meals for warm summer days!  Salads are always a hit in our home and my teenage girls especially love pasta salad.  This delicious pasta salad is packed with flavor and pretty simple to assemble.  It travels well in a cooler to those summer potluck holiday meals.  Perfect! Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad 1 12-16 oz. package of shell pasta (Large or small), cooked until tender and drained. 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked, cooled, and diced (We like it grilled best but boiled is great too!) 2 C. Ranch Dressing thinned w/ a little milk - appx 1/4 cup. 4-6 slices of bacon, fried until crispy and crumbled (I like to use 6 slices of precooked bacon) 1 C. celery, sliced 1 avocado, peeled and cut into chunks and sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning. 1 can black olives, sliced Green onion, Optional Mix all of the above ingredients together saving a few pieces of avoca...

Pretzel Dogs are a fun twist to using hot dogs for an easy meal!   Add a fresh fruit and vegetable tray and you've got a filling meal!  This is a perfect recipe to work with your kids in the kitchen!   Our family really loves the soft pretzels and pretzel bites we've been making.  Dipped in cheese sauce or just by themselves, once a batch comes out of the oven it hardly has a chance to cool before it's gone. These Pretzel Dogs use that easy Soft Pretzel recipe.   Enjoy! Pretzel Dogs 1 batch of Soft Pretzels dough  (Recipe HERE )  prepared up to the point of shaping the pretzels. 8 bun length hot dogs, patted dry with a paper towel. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.  Roll one piece of the dough into a long snake-like strand about 12 inches long.  Flatten the roll with your fingers.  Place the end of one hot dog at the end of the dough strip and roll at an angle until hot dog is...

Zippy Pizza Rolls! My 12 year old daughter has been requesting pizza a lot lately.  Today I made bread and decided to combine that with a pizza type dish to satisfy her craving.     I generally make 4 loaves of bread in a batch.  Today I saved half of that dough for the pizza rolls.   I keep shredded mozzarella and pepperoni in the freezer so every thing I needed was right on hand!  I love being able to keep a stocked pantry and freezer!  I can't tell you how much money that has saved me over the years! The bread recipe I used is found HERE .  You could use your own favorite recipe or frozen bread dough that is thawed and ready to work with.   You'll notice at the bottom of my recipe I have the ingredients for just 2 loaves.  That size will fit in a regular sized Kitchen-Aid mixer. Zippy Pizza Roll 2 loaves worth of bread dough 1 can spaghetti sauce small package of pepperoni sliced 2-3 C. shredded mozzarella ...

Several years ago on the Frugal Families forum I'm a member of, someone posted a favorite crock pot recipe called Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken.   The thought of garlic and brown sugar was NOT my idea of a good mix!  I gave it a try though since it was getting such good reviews and I was totally wrong!  Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken is so delicious!   I love using my crock pot on busy days.  Monday's I get home from work about 15 minutes before our usual dinner time.  I'm tired and everyone is hungry!  Having a nice meal already cooked is a wonderful thing to come home to.  All you need to add on this recipe is rice.  Minute rice or rice precooked and reheated with a little water would be easy enough.  I'm only gone from 3:00 - 6:00 so I can put my rice in my rice cooker and it cooks and stays nice and warm until we're ready to eat.    I love eating Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken with quinoa in place of the rice but most of my ...

We had turkey for dinner on Sunday.  I know, it's not Thanksgiving, but I had an extra one in the freezer and it was nearing the end of it's freezer life!  Besides, one turkey on Sunday equals several meals for the week!  Monday we had Turkey Pasta Salad (which fed us Monday night and lunches for everyone on Tuesday), and tonight we finished that off with Southwest Turkey and Rice Casserole.    When I make this again I will add a bit more seasoning. Southwest Turkey and Rice Turkey (leftover, diced or shredded) 1 C. rice 1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup 1 1/2 cans broth from simmering the turkey OR water 1 can diced green chili's 3/4 C. diced onion 1 tsp. chili powder 1/2 tsp. salt dash black pepper Shredded cheese - Monterrey Jack, or cheddar  Grease a 9x13 baking dish.  Sprinkle the dry rice across the bottom evenly.  Sprinkle diced onion on top of the rice.  Spread diced/shredded turkey on top of the onio...

My husband is awesome.  Sometimes I forget that briefly and give him grief, but he really is awesome.  Here is the plate sized sugar cookie I made for him today using the sugar cookie recipe HERE .   I made smaller cookies for the kids - just lunch plate sized.  I love how soft this recipe turns out.  I used regular decorating icing recipe for these cookies but the rest I frosted with my favorite Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting because it tastes SO good!   Dave was thoughtful and cooked dinner.  Pineapple Chicken Stir-fry with a wild rice blend.  It was delicious!  Definitely a "cook-it-again" recipe! Happy Valentine's Day!

This recipe is out of a family cookbook on my husbands side of the family.  Aunt Jessie submitted it & she lived in Wisconsin at the time.  I'm not sure where the "Connecticut" part came from.  I like to think she got it from a friend who got it from a friend, because those are often the best sort of recipe! This casserole uses a nice amount of potatoes, making it a PERFECT dish for my Idaho-grown family!  We love it.  (Even Dave likes it and he prefers a "meat & potatoes" sort of meal)  Add a salad and vegetable and you've got a wonderful, filling, comforting meal. Connecticut Beef Supper 1 lb. hamburger 2 lg. onions, sliced 1 1/4 C. milk 1 C. sour cream 4 large potatoes, thinly sliced 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 C. shredded cheddar cheese 1 1/4 C. Wheaties cereal, crushed Brown hamburger in skillet; add onion and cook until onion is transparent.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour meat mixture into greased baking ...

This recipe got a thumbs up from my family!  I love when an experiment turns out!  I had some leftover chicken I needed to use but we all agree here that pepperoni and cheese with olives or ham and cheese would be terrific too.    I made my own dough but you could easily use frozen roll dough thawed for this.... you'd either need 2 portions of dough or make half sized bundles though. To start, I had a few pieces of leftover fried chicken I bought at the store a few days ago.  Not enough for each of us to have a piece, but too much to save just for someones lunch.  I tossed that in a small pan with about an inch of water and simmered it for about 15 minutes so it was heated & would debone easy.  Any cooked chicken would work.  You just need about  2 Cups.  The dough recipe is just a modification of my favorite pizza dough recipe.  I used my Kitchen-Aid mixer to mix the dough, but it could be mixed and kneaded by h...

Need a dessert that will dress up any occasion? How about a light main dish for a special luncheon? Cream Puffs fit the description perfectly!  They look as delicious as they taste and are really, really, easy to make. We like to eat large ones filled with a creamy chocolate filling, or we've made small ones to serve at wedding receptions. They make a delightful main dish by filling with a fresh chicken or seafood salad.  Any way you fill them, they are YUMMY! Today is our "Engagement Anniversary"!  Just a mere 28 years ago my husband proposed over a lovely Japanese dinner he cooked for us.  The proposal was hidden in fortune cookies he served at the end of dinner.... no wonder he was so insistent when I didn't take one the first time he offered them. LOL  I'd never enjoyed fortune cookies before like I did that evening. :)  No time for a special celebration dinner tonight, so chocolate filled cream puffs will be what makes our celebration special. No...