Ode to the pizza cutter

Dear Pizza Cutter,

It's been a great 4.5 years.  

You were a good friend.  

All those wonderful pizza's, quesadilla's, and the like. 

I have enjoyed every moment.  

.....................................

But another cutter has entered my life.  

I can't help it.  

I'm weak.

"KA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I hope we can still be friends!

Take care!
Love, Erin

Asian night with the Bobs

I wish I could say it was 100% homemade, but there were a few things out of a box.  Oh, well.  

Course 1 - Potstickers.  

Ling Ling brand chicken potstickers.  I found the best way to cook these is to put about 1/4 cup water in a large frying pan and a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of vegetable/olive oil, for cooking 8-10 potstickers.  Put the pan on medium-high heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and let the potstickers steam for about 8-10 minutes (depending on how frozen they are).  Take the lid off, let the steam evaporate and lightly brown with the oil in the pan.  

Dipping sauce - 1 teaspoon minced garlic, two tablespoons reduced sodium tamari, a few splashes of mirin, a quick sprinkle of ground ginger and a few shakes of crushed red pepper.

Main course - teriyaki chicken.

Brown rice in the slow cooker.  

Bite size chicken marinated in a mix of reduced sodium tamari, brown sugar, minced garlic.  Heat a mix of sesame oil and vegetable oil over medium high heat and add the chicken and enough marinade to half-cover.  Cook until browned on one side (brown sugar should help it carmelize a little), then stir around and continue to cook until chicken is fully cooked through and marinade remnants have reduced down to a nice coat over the chicken.  Serve over brown rice.

Side dishes (probably for later in the week)

Thin mein noodles (10 oz) boiled, drained and mixed with one bottle House of Tsang Peanut Sauce.

I also made an extra batch of rice (about 4 cups cooked) to make fried rice tomorrow.  That will contain green onions, diced carrots, a mix of soy and sesame oil (for stir-frying), and pork.

Pork for fried rice - cut boneless pork loin into small pieces (about quarter size)  and toss with about 1/4-1/2 cup reduced sodium tamari, a few splashes of mirin, a few loose crumbles of brown sugar, a healthy drizzle of sesame oil and chili oil.  Marinate for about an hour.  Heat a large pan over medium high heat, and cook like the chicken above.  

There'll be more adventure later - with homemade wontons and egg rolls, but not tonight.

One of the next things to make again will be this sweet and sour chicken from Brown Eyed Baker.

January (& hopefully longer) freezer cooking

Holidays are over, back to a normal routine, thankfully. 

Starting some hardcore cooking for the freezer tonight.

Pork loin in the slow cooker for BBQ pulled pork.
Cheeseburger soup simmering on the stovetop.
Homemade enchilada sauce thawing and taco-seasoned turkey cooking for ground turkey/bean enchiladas. 

Later in the week - creamy chicken & rice, chicken/potato/spinach stew, chicken parmesan, Italian pork with a bacon-infused red sauce. 

All of these will be finished and pre-packed into portion-controlled (and freezer hogging) Gladware containers.

In addition, we have about two and a half pounds of ground turkey that we should be able to get about 10 quarter-pound turkey burgers stored away.  Old-school Tupperware burger stackers are amazing!

Links and recipes coming soon.  Stay tuned!

Grampy Brownies

I'm NERVOUS!

Today is the day.

I have put it off long enough.

I am attempting my Grandfather's "world famous" brownie recipe for the FIRST time!

Have I mentioned I'm nervous?!

This is a big moment.

I need to relax and just do it.

I am not sure if I will end up sharing the recipe but I will share the end results.

Here are 2 ingredients though:

I didn't say it was a healthy recipe!  (It also includes 8...count them....8 eggs!  YIKES!)

I am going to follow the recipe exactly this first time around, then I will see if I can make them in a way so as to not clog any arteries.

Wish me luck!

Freezer cooking for November

Well folks, Dr. Bob and I have been busy this past weekend prepping our freezer for the coming month.

All last week I was scouring recipe blogs looking for yummy new recipes to try.

I really liked all the recipes we made last month, but it gets old after a while.  You can find all those yummy recipes here and here.

This month we are attempting to make more of a variety (without running out of freezer containers...proving harder than we thought!)

Too make this cooking weekend possible, we did the bulk of our basic shopping at Aldi, meat shopping at Kroger, and 2 quick back-up trips to Publix and a different Kroger (ask Bob about that story, you should get a giggle!).  We ended up spending $182.48 and we got this:

So far we have made:

~ 34 turkey meatballs

~ 7 turkey burgers

~ BBQ chicken calzone (leftover BBQ chicken in the freezer for later use). Dough recipe can be found here.

~ Sloppy turkey joes - in the freezer to be used later

~ 7 or 8 individual containers of turkey chili.  I will have Dr. Bob write up this recipe some time soon.  Sooo good!

~ 4 individual containers of Corny Chicken Bake

~ 8 individual containers of a Creamy Southwestern Chicken Soup.  Basic recipe can be found here but we made some modifications:
              added diced jalapeno to onions while sauteeing, and added about 2 tsp cumin, 1 tbsp paprika, 2 
              tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp cayenne pepper.  Chicken was cooked with garlic, cumin, paprika, 
              cayenne, salt and pepper.  Added a can of black beans with the potatoes.  During the final 
              boil/cook, added about 3/4 cup shredded cheese.  Note: increased all measures (in initial recipe; 
              what's written here was as used) by 50%, to use the full 12 ounce can of evaporated milk

~ 6 individual containers of Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (Good guess Leslie!) (And thanks for the recipe Susan!)

~ 3 turkey and feta quesadilla's (more to be made this week)

~ 6 individual containers of a Deconstructed Burrito Bake: Rice mixed with salsa, can of refried beans, some taco seasoned turkey chili and cheddar cheese- layered in that order and then baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

~ Teriyaki seasoned chicken - this will be packed with fried rice eventually.  (Our rice cooker died yesterday so we purchased a new one today and have yet to make the rice due to football...ugh!)

~ Cheesy chicken paired with Cheesy potatoes

Still to come:
~ Pierogie lasagna
~ Fried Rice
~ Cheeseburger soup
~ Baked pumpkin ice cream glazed donuts

Here's everything ready for the freezer....look at all those containers.

That's over 40 meals ready to go for this month.  I am so excited about all of the above!  We have been taste testing it all and I can't wait to dig in!

Luckily I found more recipes than we could possibly make this month so we already have a list going for next month.

Any recommendations or suggestions to add to our list??


How was your Halloween?  Did you dress up?

BOO!  Happy Halloween Everyone!

What is it about kids looking like food?!

So cute!

What are you and/or your little ones dressing up as??

And the winner is...

... Leslie!!!

Currently in the oven - the newly named "Leslie Varney Buffalo Chicken Lasagna"!