Found a new website/app for recipes!

A friend of mine suggested ziplist as an app for my phone. I'm always on the hunt for awesome recipes and I am in love with this site. It actually takes you to other people's sites. Which is even better for me because it shortens my ever growing list of websites to choose from. Here are a few recipes I have found, tried and loved!

http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/09/chicken-ranch-pasta.html

I used half milk half sour cream because I'm not a fan of all milk sauces. The total time was about 45min but I had to defrost chicken and bacon. Hubby hasn't tried it yet but I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it. Claire and Korey dived right in!

http://faithfulprovisions.com/2010/04/30/slow-cooker-chicken-tacos/

This one was soooooo simple and I had everything for it. I make my own taco seasoning mix (seriously, there's no need to buy it, you probably have everything on hand for it). For an added side I made my mac and cheese but added salsa to it. Matt put the chicken on his rice and still killed it. Which worked for me, I only had four flour tortillas.

http://www.framedcooks.com/2012/03/beef-stroganoff-casserole.html

Made this one last night and hubby was impressed! He said it was just like hamburger helper. A lot less salt too! I usually have ground turkey on hand so that's what we had. This recipe calls for cheddar cheese on the top. I used two bread pans and made one with cheddar and one with mozzarella. I liked the mozzarella one better, turned out creamier.

These are just some of the recipes I have found and I've been using the site for two weeks now.
Enjoy!

Erin

Deviled Eggs, with a kick!

To start off, I hate deviled eggs. Eww, yuck, gross. Now, it wasn't a fair statement because I knew they had mayonnaise in them and I'm not a fan. So for the first time ever around Fourth of July I tried one. My sister got a book on them and had three or four different kinds. I went nuts over this one. I did find out I don't like regular deviled eggs though.

Couldn't tell you what the official name is of them but they are yummy!

6          Eggs
4 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp salsa
1 tsp    chili powder

Mix them up as usual and put a sliced jalapeno on top. It's not crazy spicy but there is a nice mild kick. Try them because they are delicious!

Orange Chicken with Fried Rice

When this Orange Chicken recipe was first made by my husband it was funky. The breading failed when it was combined with the sauce. The flavor was there and was the only reason I tried making it again. Took a couple of tries because I kept screwing up. I thought I would just wing it when I had my kids pulling me in different directions. Don't recommend doing that. That's why people write recipes. When I finally focused and did it right it turned out amazing! My daughter loves lemon chicken and she went crazy over this one. Trent, well, he wants plain chicken....or oatmeal. To make the orange peel easy to work with I just shaved some off with a veggie peeler. So if you want to make the orange chicken, don't do the breading part. Or, if you know how to do the breading, explain it to me!
Now this Fried Rice recipe.....can you say "holycrapthatisamazing!"? I suck at preparing for ahead of time and this one you takes a bit of planning. You must you COLD rice. Doesn't fry well when you combine everything together. It's an easy recipe to add whatever random veggies you have lying around. We aren't veggie fans here but if I cut them small enough no one cares that much. I do suggest to grab some sesame seed oil. It adds that yummy Asian flavor and smell. I bought some of the stuff for a recipe awhile back and loved the smell. I also did two eggs in this instead of one. Couldn't really find the egg before.
I made these separately then added them together one night. I was sad I didn't double the batch because I was ready to eat Matt's. I was a good wifey so kudos to me.
Enjoy!

Erin

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asian-orange-chicken/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chinese-chicken-fried-rice-ii/detail.aspx

Veggie Burgers

Nope, not a vegetarian but I had my first veggie burger Sunday at this amazing restaurant and fell in love. So of course, I had to make one myself! Mine wasn't as good but I'm going to cook it in the oven next time. On the grill would be best but I don't have a grill. The flavor was there but the texture was mushy. Kids hated them and Matt wouldn't even try one. I'll try them again and if they are still mushy I'll just make them for me. It was a super cheap recipe that kept me full.

I did go with the other reviewers and added corn. Had some frozen in the freezer along with a pepper and onion mix so that's what I did. If you beat me to making them let me know if cooking them differently helps the texture!


http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-black-bean-veggie-burgers/detail.aspx

Crazy Life

Yes, I know, I haven't posted in a million years. It's what has kept me sane these past two months of being off work. Why was I off work? I had a baby! I know, I'm awesome.

So let me tell you of some goodies I have found. There's a Cheesy Ranch Potato Bake that is to die for. I added bacon the second time I made it and it was even better! A potato soup that has everything for a good base (that's yummy just by itself) but if you dress it up with bacon, cheese, broccoli or anything that sounds good, it will be good. Crazy fluffy pancakes that have you add 2Tbsp of vinegar to a 2/3c milk and it does wonders. I've bought myself an electric skillet and it makes breakfast so much faster. And I have found by freezing the pancakes I can pop them in the toaster and be okay with them. I ran out of vanilla so I added almond to the pancakes instead, can you say YUM!? Won't make them any other way now.
Let's see, what else? Oh! Six Can Tortilla Soup! Love it! Take a can of black beans, corn (can or frozen....fresh even?) two cans of chicken broth and a chicken breast (cooked and shreaded or use canned chicken but that's just gross to me). Add cumin and chili powder and heat through. So easy, cheap and yummy!
A friend of mine posted a chocolate cake recipe that I went crazy for. I found a yummy white cake recipe that's oh so good. And I have learned that halving the white sugar in sweet things and and adding brown sugar makes things softer. And using butter instead of oil will make things like cake stay softer longer. Who knew?
So that's some newbies I have found and all of them (except the chocolate cake) are from Allrecipes. Look for the one with the most reviews.
Erin

Beer Can Chicken

I just realized that I said I was going to post my beer can chicken recipe. Yep, I completely forgot.

This was the bestest chicken recipe EVER! It turned out so juicy and with so much flavor. I have had it before a few years back at my sister's. I guess it usually is done on the grill. I live in an apartment where they don't allow grills (yes, very sad) so I had to find something. The is an oven recipe and talk about simple! It wasn't even hard to get the can in the chicken. Thinking about it, it is complicated to get it out. You need like five hands. Budget wise it's nice two. I can usually find a small chicken, I think around 6lbs-ish, for under five bucks. I am also able to use the 'hot out of the oven' chicken for a meal then shred it for another recipe.

So go for it, get your hands dirty and thank me later!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Beer-Can-Chicken/Detail.aspx

Plum-Side Down Cakes

YUM! I found this recipe in a cookbook my aunt got me. It's mainly for kids and having them cook with you. Claire likes to cook with me but usually doesn't eat it. I was happy to find that in this recipe I only needed one thing, the fruit! I might try canned next time to make it 'cupboard ready'. However, I did like the idea that this was 100% fresh. You can use any fruit with it. Next time I will lessen the amount of fruit in the bottom of the pans. They fell apart while trying to remove. Other than that, simple, easy and oh so tasty! Enjoy!


2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
3 plums, sliced
2 Tbsp shortening
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin it with nonstick cooking spray.
Melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Spoon in muffin tins.
Arrange the fruit slices in the bottom of each cup.
Beat the shortening and sugar until fluffy.
Beat in the egg until well combined.
In another bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the dry ingredients and milk to the shortening mixture. Beat until smooth.
Spoon batter over the fruit.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes.

Makes 6 servings