Hamburger Soup

Sticking pretty fair and true to my 2009 goals thus far, though it has only been three days so I can't really boast.

Tried a new recipe on the 2nd! Hamburger Soup, a recipe I got from Chubba Gurl blogger, Shweetpotato! Uber delicious!

I did tweak the recipe a bit to fit what I had on hand and what I forgot to pick up from the store. I used a cup of frozen veggies (pea, carrots, green beans) instead of the carrots and celery...and I used diced tomatoes instead of whole...just personal pref. Was very good - a definite add to our collection of things to make! Makes my mouth water now!

One of My New Year's Resolutions: Cook More!

Feeling a tad bah-humbug after my last post, so hoping to lighten up things a bit with some recipes. Wohoo!

Lately, I've found myself starting to want to cook more and more - and not just frozen pizzas and hamburger helpers of the past. I think it all started when Sarah told me about Kraft's free magazine, Food & Family - I signed myself up and pretty much tore through the first magazine I got this fall. The pages are all wrinkly from constant use! Kraft's recipes were pretty easy and just the thing to ease me into cooking.

Our favorite Food & Family recipes so far are:
Tater-Topped Casserole
Pork Chops with Apples & Stuffing
Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake
Marvelous Mini Meatloaves (American-Style)

Favorite Non-Kraft Recipes:
Easy Shepherd's Pie - I substituted a can of Creamy Mushroom Soup for the Beef Broth
Biscuits & Gravy - Recipe was the on the box of baking mix I picked up at Kroger - can't find the exact recipe online...

Here's what we're going to try this week!
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas


What are your favorite EASY recipes? I would love to try them!

Easy Peasy Peach Crisp

I am all about recipes where I actually have all the ingredients in my cupboard. I had to finally do something with the great many peaches I recently acquired of a bus friend - they were all going to spoil so quickly so I looked up this great recipe for peach (or apple) crisp.

1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter
10 med. peaches or apples

In mixing bowl combine oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Peel and core peaches or apples; slice and put into a baking dish. Sprinkle oat mixture on top of fruit and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

From Cooks.com

And WOW is it good! I may not be able to make a great dinner but at least I can whip up a marvelous dessert!

Yummy New Recipe: Grilled Corn with Lemon - Lime Sauce Recipe

Image from RecipeTips.com

A delicious recipe from RecipeTips.com we tried tonight to spice up our sweet corn. We eat it so often in the summer that it gets old - but this recipe did the trick and hit the spot! We left off the parsley as we didn't have any in the house - but it was amazing none-the-less!


Container: grill
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serving Description: 1 ear of corn
Servings: 6 (Original Servings: 6)
Enter desired servings:

Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 pinch salt
- 6 ears fresh sweet corn

Directions

* Pre-heat the grill to medium high heat.
* In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lemon juice, butter, cheese and parsley.
* Husk corn and remove all silks.
* Brush corn with butter mixture and grill, turning occasionally, for 10-12 minutes.
* Continue to brush on butter while grilling.
* Drizzle on remaining butter when corn is finished and serve.

Heart Shaped Pancakes

With my husband working nights I wanted to do something special for him for the few hours I had with him Saturday morning - so I made pancakes - but not just any pancakes - heart shaped pancakes! I used valentines day cookie cutters and it worked fairly well - but there might be a better way to go about making shaped pancakes.

I could have used:

A heart shaped pan - but that would cost me $71

Nestle had the same idea I did - but theirs looks better

Good Without Gluten did it the same way but sprayed the cookie cutters with Pam - ah ha! (and their recipe sounds tons better than plain old out-of-box pancake mix I used

Amazon has actual pancake molds with little handles so you don't burn your fingers trying to get pancakes out of the cutter like I did

Peanut Butter & Julie just hand pipes hers without a mold - ha! mine would look like blobs if I didn't have the extra help of the molds

Sur La Table has a whole heart shaped griddle!

Putting Our Oven to Good Use

Matthew and I don't always take advantage of our great new oven - but there comes the occasional day that we do. This Saturday was one of those days. Having exhausted our routine list of meals (spaghetti, Wanchai Ferry Chinese Dinner Kits, tacos, tomato soup and grilled cheese, chili, meatball sandwiches, etc) - we started getting antsy and being recently inspired to make a few dishes - we got our pots, pans and bowls out to whip up a few great things to get us through the week.

We made:

1. Chex Mix

2. A large batch of Breakfast Burritos for breakfast throughout the week.

3. Lemonade with Sliced Lemons

And tomorrow we will make:

4. Chicken Caesear Pita's inspired by a lunch we had recently at Chili's

5. Shepard's Chicken & Rice for our evening group at church

Phew - lots of cooking!

Eating at home is important to us - because of finances for one, health second and because we get to spend more time together.

Here is a great link to a meal planning template from futuregirl.com!
Hubby and I plan our meals out in advance to help us shop for upcoming week - this is a great template to keep it fun!