Sweet Smoothies!!!!

Okay so after seeing all the hype about the McDonald's Smoothies, trying one, deciding it was good but too expensive I have decided to go into the the Smoothie making business. Okay well not really a business (unless you guys really want to pay me to make your smoothies). I have, however, been playing around with different combos in my head. So hear is my basic smoothie making recipe....1/4 cup liquid (any liquid), 1/2 cup frozen fruit (slightly thawed), fresh fruit (if I have it on hand), and 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt. Oh and some truvia to make it a bit sweeter. So far I have had a Blueberry, pomegranate, banana smoothie and a mixed berry smoothie made with orange juice. Rest assured there will be more combos to come. If I think about it I will start writing down my combos and taking pictures. Hmmm a gallery of smoothies....YUM

August Menus

Been awhile right! Anywho here are Augusts Menus...

1. Mexican Lasagna, Spanish rice
2. Pork roast, potatoes, carrots
3. Shrimp Scampi
4. Curried Chicken, rice
5. Ham, Mac and Cheese, corn
6. Pork cube steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli
7. Pepperoni chicken, roasted potatoes, peas
8. Cheesy shells
9. Beef over rice, broccoli
10. Spaghetti, meatballs, salad
11. Salmon cakes, Mac and Cheese, Lima beans
12. TV Dinners (I have a meeting, haha)
13. Roasted chicken and veggies
14. Enchiladas, rice, peas
15. Rubens, waffle fries
16. Lemon chicken, rice, broccoli
17. Tacos, Spanish rice, corn
18. Beef roast, masted potatoes, roasted veggies
19. Peanut butter chicken, rice, peas
20. Chicken cigars, french fries
21. Roasted chicken and veggies
22. Chimichangas, rice, corn
23. Grilled chicken, sesame noodles, broccoli
24. Breakfast
25. Chicken burgers, fries
26. Tuna casserole
27. Orange chicken
28. Dine out
29. Pork chops, rice side, squash
30. Make your own pizza, veggies
31. Chicken stir fry.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins---Recipe of the Week.

It's not quite the peek season for strawberries yet and well the ones that are available are not the best. Until you can get those oh so juicy, sweet strawberries of early Summer this is a wonderful way of getting some use for those strawberries that are lest than perfect.

Ingredients

2 Cups AP flour
3/4 cup + 3 tablespoon sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled cut up
1 cup chopped strawberries
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter milk
1 egg
3 oz cream cheese cut into 12 cubes


First things first. Line cupcakes pans with twelve cupcake papers.


Next add the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl and stir to combine.



Chop up the strawberries. I prefer a small dice.



You will need 1 cup.


Cut up your cold butter while you have the cutting board and knife out.



Cut it in half.


Then in half again.



Then dice it.

Add it to the flour mixture.


Cut the butter in with a pastry blender or two knives. I don't have a pastry blender so I used the two knife method.



The goal is to get the super cold butter all cut into the flour. You shouldn't see any clumps bigger than a pea.



Once that is done add the strawberries and gently stir. Adding the strawberries in before the wet will coat them in flour and prevent them from sinking to the bottom of your muffins.



Next whisk the buttermilk and egg together.


Add to the flour and strawberries.


Stir until just combined. The mixture WILL be LUMPY!! It will be way lumpy this is OKAY. If you over stir the mixture you will have tough yucky muffins. Trust me!


Divide batter evenly between 12 muffin tins. I found that 1/4 cup batter in each was just about right.

Cut your cream cheese into 12 cubes and roll in sugar.

Put one cube of cream cheese into each muffin, but not all the way down in.


Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Let cool about 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Store these muffins (once fully cooled of course) in the refrigerator. I find they are the tastiest if you microwave them for about 15 seconds after they are refrigerated.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins

2 Cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoon sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
1 Cup chopped strawberries
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 egg
1 (3oz) pkg. cream cheese cut into 12 cubes

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners. Combine flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in medium bowl. With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in strawberries.

2. Whisk buttermilk and egg in small bowl until blended. Gently stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until combined. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Dip cream cheese pieces in 2 tablespoons of the sugar; place in center of each muffin. Press cream cheese until level with batter. (Do not cover the cream cheese with the batter). Sprinkle muffins with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light brown and toothpick inserted off-center comes out clean (do not put toothpick in cream cheese). Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan; server warm or at room temperature. Store in refrigerator.

This week....

Look out for these new posts this week. I will be posting step by step instructions for the strawberries and cream muffins as well as how to make your own taco meat (no more of that salt packed taco seasoning packs) and I hope to have May's menus up before the end of the week as well. I am looking for some new summer menu ideas so if anyone has any ideas let me know.

Happy Eating.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins----Review

Alex found a recipe in one of my cooking magazines that he wanted to try. Strawberries and Cream Muffins. I took at look at the recipe and it didn't seem so hard so we made sure we had all the stuff one hand. As it turns out these are really tasty muffins. The cream part is a tiny block of cream cheese pushed into the batter before you bake it. The only problem I had was that he muffins wouldn't stay together. I really think this was because the fresh strawberries compromised the stability of the muffin. Next time we will cut them in smaller pieces to see if that helps. Very tasty though.

Patitsio Review

Tonight we tried something new....Patitsio. Patitsio is a Greek dish. It is a baked pasta dish with both red sauce and bechamel. Basically the bottom layer is a spiced tomato meat sauce and pasta. The top layer is a thick bechamel sauce with Parmesan added in it. All I can say is YUM!! I was a little worried because one of the spices in the meat sauce is cinnamon. A lot of cinnamon. I was sure it was going to be overpowering, but it really wasn't. There was a nice warm after tone to it, but it was perfect. This will definitely be added to our menus...though it may be added to the Winter ones as it has to cook for an hour in the oven.

April Menus

1. Salmon Cakes, Mac & Cheese, Broccoli
2. Pork chops, stuffing, peas
3. Shake and bake chicken, carrots, rice side
4. EASTER
5. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans (fish for Matt)
6. Bacon wrapped turkey, roasted potatoes, cauliflower
7. Beef over noodles, carrots, (fish for Matt)
8. Sloppy's (Sloppy Joes), curly fries
9. Omelets, fried potatoes
10. Pastitsio, salad
11. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots
12. Shrimp Scampi, garlic bread
13. Chimichangas, rice side
14. pork roast, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut
15. Curried chicken
16. Rubens and fries
17. Fried rice, broccoli
18. Chicken cigars, mac and cheese, peas
19. Lasagna, garlic bread
20. Ham, cheesy potatoes, peas
21. Lemon Chicken, rice
22. Pizza, corn
23. Tacos, rice side, corn
24. Orange chicken, rice
25. Crabby patties, fries
26. Chicken Kiev, broccoli, rice side
27. Garlic chicken and bow tie pasta
28. Mini corn dogs, mac and cheese, corn
29. Lemon Ginger Chicken, broccoli, rice
30. Sandwiches, pasta salad

All items in bold are new to our family and will be followed with a review (that is if I remember to do it). I would like to start the recipe's of the week again. Anyone have a special request as to what you would like to see step by step.

Happy Eating.

March Menus

1. Chimichangas, rice, corn
2. Crabby Patties, Fries
3. Chicken Kiev, stuffing, peas
4. Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli
5. Crab legs, shrimp, rice pilaf
6. Roasted chicken, roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes
7. Taco's, rice
8. Chicken Pot Pie
9. Eggs Benedict
10. Ham, cheesy potatoes, califlour
11. Pizza, corn
12. Chicken cigars, fries
13. Pork roast, sourkraut, mashed potatoes
14. Orange chicken, peas, rice
15. Roast beef, potatoes, carrots
16. Pork chops, fried potatoes, califlour
17. Chicken curry
18. Lemon chicken, rice
19. Chicken cor don bleu, rice, broccoli
20. Pancakes, sausage
21. Pork fried rice, broccoli
22. Peanut butter chicken, rice, corn
23. Mexican Lasanga
24. Potato soup
25. Cuban's, Fries
26. Shephards pie
27. Pepperoni chicken, roasted potatoes, peas
28. Chicken stuffed with broccoli and cheese, rice, corn
29. Steak, mashed potatoes, peas
30. Breaded clams, shrimp, mac and cheese, broccoli
31. Kid's choice.

Sorry everyone....

Well I certainly haven't been posting like I had promised I would. What can I say? The Romney winter was a doozy this year. There were a few days when I worked way more than I was home and when I was home I did nothing but shower and sleep. HOWEVER.....now that spring is a mere two weeks away I should be able to start posting again. Look for the final installment of the Duck Chronicles as well as the March menus the next couple of days.

Happy Spring Everyone!!!

Febuary Menus

1. Chicken in balsamic cream sauce, noodles, broccoli
2. Ribs, corn, mashed potatoes
3. Beef roast, rice, peas
4. Chicken curry
5. Chicken breast, stuffing, cauliflower
6. Duck, roasted potatoes, carrots
7. Ham, cheesy potatoes, peas
8. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli
9. Pepperoni chicken, roasted potatoes, corn
10. pork chops, mashed potatoes, carrots
11. Shake and bake legs, mac and cheese, green beans
12. Seafood, rice side, carrots
13. Stuffed shells, garlic bread
14. Valentines Day
15. Peanut Butter Chicken, rice, broccoli
16. Potato Soup
17. Lemon chicken, rice, carrots
18. Eggs Benedict, fried potatoes
19. wings, fries, cauliflower
20. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas
21. Turkey and Barley soup
22. Enchiladas and rice
23. Quesadillas, rice side, corn
24. Chicken Curry
25. Cornish Game Hens, Rice Pilaf, broccoli
26. Pizza, corn
27. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots
28. Carbonara.

The Duck Chronicles---Part 2

I have been searching the internet and asking everyone I know how to go about cooking our lovely duck. Several cookbooks have stated that roasting a whole duck is more work than necessary. Hmm doesn't seem right to me. I have heard several people say to fill the cavity with something. Some say to pierce the skin and some say not too. After much research I think I have an idea of what I will do. I am going to roast it like a chicken, with a few differences. I figure it is best to stick with something I know. Stay tuned for more Duck Chronicles....

The Duck Chronicles---Part 1

I went grocery shopping today. As I was walking down the isle of frozen meats I was faced with a new and exciting prospect. DUCK!! Yes, quack quack! Matt has always commented on wanting to try duck. Well now is his chance. Duck is definitely a new ingredient for me. YIKES!! What will I do with his new piece of poultry? Will it taste okay? Will duck be a new treat for us? Stay tuned as we continue The Duck Chronicles!

January Menus

One of my goals for the new year is to blog more regularly. So lets get this blog started with the menus for January (even if they are a little late). The items in bold are new to our family and will be reviewed later on the blog.

1. Chicken Curry, Rice
2. Pizza Party
3. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas
4. Chimichangas, rice side, corn
5. Grilled chicken, sesame noodles, broccoli
6. Potato soup, peanut butter sandwhich
7. Lemon chicken, rice, Lima beans
8. Ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes
9. Ribs, carrots, cauliflower
10. Split pea soup, grilled cheese
11. Mexican lasanga
12. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, peas
13. Omelets, potatoes
14. Cube steak, mashed potatoes, corn
15. Satay chicken, rice, broccoli
16. Cheesy shells
17. Roasted chicken and veggies
18. Gen's chicken in a biscuit
19. Crabby patties, fries
20. Penne alla panna
21. Chicken cigars, fried potatoes, peas
22. Pizza, corn
23. Pork roast, veggies
24. Chicken legs, rice, corn
25. Stir Fry
26. Pork chops, fried potatoes, broccoli
27. Meatloaf, mac and cheese, peas
28. Matt's B-Day...haven't decided yet.
29. Shrimp Scampi
30. Peanut butter chicken, rice, peas
31. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Lima beans