Crescent Wreath: Chicken Coop!

 
I love it when we don't have a lot of groceries in the house. (We really need to go to the store soon...) It forces us to improvise meals. Sometimes it's lame, but occasionally we get a winner! Bryan asked if we could figure something out with the crescent rolls. His idea was a Parmesan chicken style meal. I did a little recipe hunting but didn't have any solid luck so when I got home from work it became a matter of digging things out of the cabinet and taking it from there.

First of all, the chicken was not thawed. I forgot to have him pull it out of the fridge this afternoon. Fail :(

Quick solution: Boil the chicken! WIN!

No joke, this is the first time I have EVER boiled chicken. 

Boiled chicken is fantastic!

While the chicken was boiling I gathered my thoughts and this is what I came up with:

Plus mozzarella cheese... can't forget the cheese!

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (or approximately 1 regular package)

2 cans original Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

1/4 a can Hunt's tomato, basil, garlic & oregano sauce

1/8 C Parmesan and Romano cheese

1/8 C seasoned Italian bread crumbs

2 tbsp Olive oil (I substituted about 1/2 tbsp with my Tastefully Simple Balsamic & Basil dipping oil for added flavor)

About 1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese

(Each crescent roll is approximately 200 calories, give or take a few)

I came up with a quick name... Chicken Coop. No idea why but it sounds cute. I realize chicken coops are kind of funky. Embrace the name and give it a shot ;)

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If you have a pizza stone that will cook this beautifully. If not, a cookie sheet will do.

Boil your chicken for approximately 30 minutes. In a small prep bowl mix Parmesan and bread crumbs. 

Preheat your oven to 375 (as directed on the crescent roll packaging)

Once chicken is done place in a large skillet. Use a spatula or your hands, whichever, and break/shred the chicken apart. Once you get it broken in to 1/2 to 1 inch pieces drizzle Olive oil over the chicken and add the Parmesan and bread crumb mixture. Toss to evenly coat with mixture and heat on Medium for about 10 minutes.

While chicken is heating in skillet lay out your crescent rolls in a "wreath" pattern around the pizza stone. You'll probably have some pieces leftover from the last can. Keep those to the side once you have completed one circle to add to the middle once you've finished up making the outside part.

Spread chicken around the wreath evenly on each crescent roll.

Using a small spoon scoop out the tomato sauce and lay it over each bunch of chicken then sprinkle mozzarella over top.




Fold the crescent rolls over the yummy mixture!

Add the remaining crescent rolls (if you had any) to the center and repeat the above steps. Place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.




  When the crescent rolls begin to brown pull the stone out and sprinkle a little cheese on on top. Place back in the and broil on low for about a minute. Keep a close eye on it when you broil or you will very quickly have a burnt dinner!




  Scoop a few pieces on to your plate and enjoy the awesomeness you just made :)

 ~Lisa~

 

Mom's Cheesy Meatloaf

One of the meals you were always sure to find in our house growing up was mom's meatloaf. We loved it! Well, I hear my sister actually hated it but that's her loss ;)

My husband L-O-V-E-S my meatloaf. He will always be sure to let me know if I've gone too long without making it.

I have learned, however, not all meatloaves are created equal! What?? You mean not everybody makes their meatloaf like MY mom did?! Apparently not. And when I share my meatloaf recipe with others they seem to be dumbfounded by its simplicity and the fact it has cheese in it.

I remember as a kid my dad would eat it with ketchup on the side for dipping... to each their own!

I'm not a huge recipe sharing person but this is one I definitely would like to add to my blog. I hope you love it as much as my husband does!

Yields 6 servings.

Ingredients:

2 lb ground beef, preferably with a 20% fat content

2 eggs

3/4C milk

1C oatmeal

2C sharp or mild cheddar cheese.

I think mom always used sharp but I use whichever I have on hand. We once used the little cheese cubes as an added cheesy bonus which was a HUGE hit... worth a shot to toss some of those in if they are on hand ;)

Optional Ingredient:

Mushrooms

Mom always had mushrooms in her meatloaf and I learned to pick them out. We don't like mushrooms so they are a no-go in our house.

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

- Be sure to have everything pulled out and ready so you aren't contaminating the containers your ingredients are stored in. Use prep bowls or measuring cups. Or your husband if he is on hand ;) You may need to add to your mixture and having raw meaty hands will make the process more difficult.

- Mix all ingredients together by hand in a large mixing bowl. You can whisk the eggs before if you wish or just be sure to break them up well once you begin glooping it all together.

- If your meatloaf feels really sticky and dry, add a little more milk. If it seems way too moist (to where it can't hold a form), add more oatmeal. I think it's better if you start out too dry and add milk so it wouldn't hurt to experiment with your 3/4C by not adding it all initially then just taking it from there.

- Grab your glob of meat and form it in to a loaf in a 9x13 glass Pyrex pan.

 - Place in oven and cook approximately 30 minutes. At this point your meatloaf should be browned. It's still not done yet!

- Slide out your oven rack and cut your meatloaf in to individual pieces with a spatula. I do this out of habit and believe it helps to cook the meatloaf evenly through.

Be careful, grease is gathering at the bottom of your pan and may pop when you start messing with the meatloaf in the following step. That's why I suggested a 20% fat content meat to help cut back on the grease.

- Place the meatloaf back in the oven to finish cooking, approximately 10 - 15 minutes longer.

- Once the meatload has cooked completely (since you cut it in to individual pieces it should be easy to check!!) you can add some extra cheese to the top and let it melt for a minute or two longer in the oven.

- Remove meatloaf from the oven.

Serve & Enjoy!

~Lisa~

 

Homemade VS Storebought: Dishwasher Detergent

Let me start by sharing the evolution of our kitchen:

Almost exactly 1yr ago my husband and I did a kitchen remodel. When we moved in our kitchen was pretty hideous. I survived with it that way for 2 years and we finally got the chance last year for me to have my "starter home dream kitchen."

Here's a little before and after of the old vs. the new. You can also find many more photos in my posts about the remodel: Home Improvement (before photos & plans) & Home Improvement: Kitchen Finished Result

 In all of this the absolute best thing I could ever have possibly done was get a new dishwasher (I was able to keep my husband :p). In fact, I went nearly $200 over my dishwasher budget for that purdy white dishwasher. The original dishwasher had the plastic peeling from the racks, it was kind of a site for sore eyes with scratches on the front. Its cleaning ability was in the toilet, it was loud... not pleasant at all. Anyway, we are very very very happy with the new one because we actually get clean dishes the first time!! 

(If you are interested, it's the Maytag JetClean Plus)

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OK! On to the real point of the post... Our detergent of choice are the Finish Powerball Tabs. It has been that way even with the old dishwasher. We tried many brands and types and this one manges to do the absolute best job for us. We started out using Jetdry in the new dishwasher as well because we have very hard water in our area (but we don't use our water softener.... whhy?!). Now we just use vinegar, about 1/4 cup or whatever we dump in the bottom of the machine. Works great and is way cheaper than Jetdry.

Recently I got the idea to try homemade dishwasher detergent. I was beginning to hear similar rave reviews to those who make their own laundry detergent (which I do). I thought, why not?! Let's do this! So I did.

I got the instructions from a blog post written by Lady With The Red Rocker: DIY Dishwasher Detergent

I doubled the citric acid as instructed for hard water folks, used kosher salt, and the vinegar in every load.

NOT happy with it :(

We used it for about 2 weeks and just when I was beginning to realize I hated it, my husband told me he hated it. The dishes were coming out cloudy and half clean. Took me waaaayy back to the awful old dishwasher days! We knew our wonderful new dishwasher could clean so much better, so we put the homemade stuff away and went back to our Powerball Tabs... ahhh! Success again :) Beautifully clean and spotless dishes!!!

I love that I love my homemade laundry detergent, hate that I can't love the homemade dishwasher detergent. I'd prefer to save money on this but for us it's just a no-go. This is my review and I hope you find it helpful. Give it a try though... you never know if it will work for you, and it's cheap so it won't break the bank, plus it could make an emergency back-up in the event you run out of the good stuff and can't get to the store (or there isn't a sale yet!).

Simple Baked Chicken w/ Veggies

The other night I was at a loss over what to cook for dinner. The fridge is kind of bare right now, haven't gone grocery shopping and we used up a lot of our cheese (bummer, we love cheese). So off the top of my head I made a super easy baked chicken meal! This is no gourmet meal or fancy feast but it was delicious for a last minute dinner.

What you'll need:

~ 1lb Boneless skinless chicken breast halves

~ 1 pkg of frozen stew veggies (Kroger brand, I don't have the packaging anymore but for the stove-top it called for 2 cups of water. I think it only comes in one size bag anyway but just in case...)

~ 1 can chicken broth + 1 can water

~ Olive oil

~ Pepper

~ (I also used Tastefully Simple brand Seasoned Salt but that's optional of course... you can use any seasonings you prefer on your chicken!)

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Season chicken with pepper and whatever other seasonings you'd like. I didn't really measure out the olive oil but I'm thinking about 2tbsp for 2 pieces of chicken is what I did. Rub the chicken on both sides with the oil. HINT: A good way to do it is just dump a little oil in your hand and start rubbing. If you need more, use more. Place chicken in your oven dish. 

Now let's do the veggies: Pour 1 14oz can of chicken broth + a can of water in to a stock pot. Bring to a boil, follow package directions of veggies (cooks for approx 25 minutes)

Back to the chicken: I opted to cover my with foil because I wanted to make sure it stayed juicy and didn't dry out. Cook for about 15 minutes, remove foil, place back in oven and continue to cook another 10-15 minutes or until done.

Add any other seasonings you'd like or even a little butter.

Serve and enjoy!

**This was a big hit for us which amazed me given it's spontaneity and easiness! The broth adds flavor to the veggies but by halfing with the water it is not too overwhelming. Covering the chicken with foil early on allowed the chicken to "roast" and then uncovering it for the last bit made the outside crisp up just a tiny bit.**

Home Improvement: Kitchen Finished Result

I just realized I never came back and posted the finished results of our kitchen makeover! 

I won't go in to much detail about what I did since I spotlighted most of the plans in the Home Improvement post, so here are finished photos for you to enjoy! Hubby and I did almost everything on our own except cutting and installing the counter tops, and the rewiring of the dishwasher. 

What you see when you enter the kitchen:

Sink area... new dishwasher and freshly painted cabinets with new hardware!

New sink and faucet:

Inside wall that the table is on. That is the pot rack I made from a shelf that my Papaw made years ago. Just added hooks!

Back door area. New mini pantry thing we bought to replace the big ugly plastic shelf:

I don't have a photo of it, but we were able to get the dishwasher actually wired to the house instead of having to move a plug around! How exciting! No more ugly plug above the counter, and we don't have to worry about one below it either. 

 My favorite parts are the new dishwasher, deep sink, brighter lighting fixture (It was impossible to see anything with the old tiny bedroom-style fan and light), my pot rack, and the extra little chunk of cabinet and counter space to the right of the stove. It was one crazy week to get this kitchen done, and we were flat wore out, but it was SO worth the final product! 

Bryan said the worst part was the plumbing. We had a terrible time getting the pipes to fit one badly threaded sink drain but thankfully he was able to get it to work without having to return and wait for a new drain. Oil-rubbed bronze drains are very hard to find! 

I love that man of mine! I couldn't ask for more than what the Lord has already given us in our beautiful new kitchen!

Be Inspired!

#8 Most viewed post of 2011
2011 In Review - 2012 So Much To Do!  

Home Improvement

**Here is a link to the finished result!!**
Which also made #8 on the most viewed posts of 2011!! 
2011 In Review - 2012 So Much To Do!

This year Bryan and I are going to tackle the task of redoing our kitchen! In general, the kitchen is not in bad shape, but it has some outdated things that really need some updating.

Here are some of the changes we will do:

- New countertops

- New sink, faucet and drains/strainers

- Fresh paint on cabinets

- New hardware on cabinets

- New dishwasher

- New backsplash

- Trim around underside of cabinets and hide gaps around appliances

- New lighting fixture and add undercabinet lighting.

There are several other little things we will be tweaking and updating along the way but that is the basic jist of it all. I took some photos of the kitchen in its current state. It's not cleared out because we don't plan to start the process for another 2 or 3 weeks, but I wanted to go ahead and begin documenting it as-is to help compare it to the final product!

This is what you see when you first walk in to the kitchen from the hallway. The new counter will be extended by about 2 1/2 or so inches next to the stove in order to make the stove centered under the microwave/cabinet area. You can see in the picture it is too far to the left. In that gap which will be around 3 inches we are going to make a she;f area to slip cookie sheets/cutting boards in to.

Sink/back splash area. Wall paper backing has to be removed and then we will adhere tin tiles.

Back doors and pantry. The pantry will be gone when the kitchen is done to open up the room more.We will put a small storage chest there (already ordered, can't wait to get it!!) and probably move that big unit to the outside closet so I can still store canned goods and 'overstock' items. Ordered new curtains for the french doors also.

Laundry closet doors.We will change hardware to match the rest of the kitchen. Hoping we can fix the height issue with the right door also.

Left side of dishwasher meets cabinet. Obviously the built-in dishwasher was nothing they did in 1978 so the previous homeowners very poorly sawed the cabinet out to fit the dishwasher. Once the new dishwasher is put in a small piece of trim will hide that booboo.

Dishwasher plug. Our hope is to get it rewired to under the counter so it isn't visible.

Base of cabinets. We'll add trim to hide that mess.

Underside of cabinets that hang over the stove. There is a spot like that on both sides of the microwave that will be covered up.

It is currently a slow work in progress and a waiting game until we can go at it and buy all the big stuff to start to remodel. I hope we can have it 100% completed by mid March.

Bananas Foster

(Sorry about photo quality.. all I had was my cell phone camera!)
Last week Bryan found a great, simple recipe for Bananas Foster and I love it so much I want to share!

You will need:

2 bananas

1tbsp of cinnamon

5-6oz of caramel

Vanilla ice cream

Pour the caramel in to a small pot/sauce pan on the stove.

Add the cinnamon and mix it well while heating on med. to med. high. 

Cut your bananas up in to 1/2 in or so slices. 

Once the caramel and cinnamon is mixed well and heated add the bananas to your pan and mix it in. 

Cook until bananas are tender. 

Remove from heat. 

Scoop your ice cream in to a bowl and pour the Bananas Foster over your ice cream and enjoy!!!

Homemade Fruit-Swirled Pancakes!

 (Sorry about photo quality! All I had was my cell phone camera!)

I just linked this post up at my friend's blog for her Warming Up Winter linky party!

I'm not often creative on my own but once in a while I get a little experimental and wow, I actually came up with something awesome! I'm sure it has been done before and for all I know everybody else does it and I'm way behind in the game but just in case you haven't done it here is my idea for fruit-swirled pancakes :)

First, you need a great pancake mix. I don't ever buy store-bought mix anymore. Of course with coupons and sales I could probably get it for super cheap but why when I could make a healthier recipe on my own at home:

Homemade Pancake Mix

4 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour 
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

This creates a mix that you can store up to 6 months and use when needed. I have done it the above way up until tonight when I made more mix I decided to do 3 cups white flour and 3 cups wheat flour. I don't think it will make a difference but we will see! What I do is label a gallon zip-lock bag and write in permanent marker on the bag the additional ingredients needed to make the mix in to the gooey pancake makin' stuff:

1 cup mix
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

For me, that amount never works. Why is it that the recipe boxes always say they make a gajillion pancakes and they only end up making about 4?! So I just double the recipe for my family and whatever is leftover gets made and then frozen for later :)

So, mix up your pancake mix and pick out your favorite jelly! I experimented with Tastefully Simple brand Rhubarb Strawberry spread. It's the absolute best spread ever and now I'm down to my last drop and can't wait for payday so I can order more! Anyway, if you have a couple of measuring cups that would be great. I used a 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup. Scoop out your pancake mix using the 1/4 cup and pour it over in to the bigger measuring cup. Take about 1/2tbsp-1tbsp (depending on your taste) of the spread and drop it in to the pancake mix which is now in the 3/4 cup (or larger than 1/4 cup).

I take the same fork I mixed the pancake batch together with and lightly swirl the spread in to the mix. Don't swirl it in completely or it will mess with the consistency of the mix and won't really cook right. You just want it swirled a bit throughout.

Pour the mix over on to your griddle/pan and cook as usual! It adds an extra step to the process of pancake making but for me, it's totally worth it. It really makes a great taste and my hubby and toddler absolutely love it so it's a keeper for us!!