What's for Supper Saturday?

Pinterest is one of my favorite websites of all times--and I know I'm not alone in thinking that, HA! I get LOTS of recipes from pinning, and I have to say, MOST of them have been hits. This was for dinner a couple of weeks ago, everything was super simple: The chicken breasts were dijon mustard, maple syrup, red wine vineagar, S&P and rosemary. Sprinkle with S&P, mix the mustard, syrup and vinegar, pour over the chicken and bake, when done sprinkle with rosemary. The taters: boil baby reds until almost done. Brush a baking sheet with olive oil, put the taters on the baking sheet and smash them down a bit brush with olive oil, sprinkle with cracked pepper, kosher salt and rosemary, pop in the oven to crisp them up a bit! Then I just made some glazed carrots to go along with. It was a darn yummy meal if I do say so myself =)

What's for Supper Saturday...

Except it's Sunday--HA! This one is SUPER simple to make, I pull it out quite a bit when pork chops are on sale =) Golden Mushroom Pork Chops is what it's called:

6 pork chops (I buy 2 pkgs so sometimes its 8 chops, which is fine) I trim any fat
seasoned salt
pepper
2 cans golden cream of mushroom soup
sliced fresh mushrooms (I use a whole blue container)
Rinse and pat dry the chops (IMPORTANT, don't skip this!), lay in a 9x13 pan, sprinkle the pepper and seasoned salt. Mix the sliced mushrooms and cans of soup in a bowl (will be very thick) I "glop" a spoonful on each chop. Cover with foil, bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes. Wonderful with smashed taters!!!

Trying to make lunchtime FUN!!

Beckett takes a lunch to school on the days he goes (he's never been subjected to the yuck the school calls "lunch"), but Paxton got a taste of it by mistake a while back and now he likes to do a school lunch instead of a home lunch, which I am not thrilled about. (Let me explain the mistake: one day they were lining up for lunch and he got in the school lunch line b/c he wasn't paying attention and had that instead of his home lunch and that's what he likes to do now).
I think school lunch is over-priced and disgusting. They rotate about 6 different items around disguised as something different--chicken tenders, chicken patties, chicken nuggets: all pieces of something supposedly resembling a chicken product. You get the idea. I try to make Beckett's lunches at least a little interesting--he likes to blog-hop with me as we peek at some VERY creative bento blogs. I've incorporated some of the things we've seen, but by NO MEANS have not accquired the accessories that are out there! There are a TON, trust me!
He liked the idea of the Goodbyn, and likes to help me pack it, but it won't fit into his Cars lunchbox, so sometimes he prefers the zip-loc divided containers that I have. The egg molds I think are so cool!!! You boil the eggs and before they cool you peel them and pop them in the molds. Drop them into icy water and they take on the shape of the car or fish. Hopefully he'll find hard-boiled eggs something to love =)
With any luck, Paxton will get excited by the lunches as well and swing back the other way for mid-day school nutrition!

Got Bento?

or something along those lines! In the course of my blog-hopping, I've come across some wonderful ones where the Momma's post the daily lunches of their kiddos. Not just any ol' lunches mind you. These are based on the Japanese style of lunch-packing where everything is packed in a neat/fun container, all visible to the child at once, readily available to dive right into. No opening up little packages/zip-loc baggies of the lunch components, possibly never getting to the healthy items that you tucked in there.
There are TONS of containers designed just for this trend, some Mom's get VERY creative when they put these together--me, not so much, HA! I just use some Ziploc brand containers I got at Walmart and I usually pack mine and Beckett's lunches this way.
Tomorrow Beckett requested a ham sandwich (he has kids with peanut allergies in his class and since they eat IN the classroom, they are asked not to bring the ol' standby of PB&J), some potato chips (which I do put in a baggie so they don't get soggy), yogurt (before I put the lid on, I place a square of waxed paper over this section so it doesn't spill into the other sections), I chose some animal crackers and a string cheese for him and he'll get milk once he's at school.
I use these too--it's MUCH cheaper than running to the deli at lunch, plus it's too flipping cold in WI to go out it you don't have to, AND I usually study at lunch so having it with me gives me more study time. I'm having a chicken breast sammy on a sandwich round, underneath is an already peeled orange in a baggie, some Pepperidge Farms pretzel crisps and animal crackers for me too.
Do a google search for Bento and you'll be amazed at the talent/creativity of lots of Mom's out there!!!

What's for Supper Saturday

Yes, I know this wasn't on the "plan" for tonight, but I didn't get to the store before the sales changed, so a did a switcharoo!!
BBQ pulled pork, this one is SUPER easy:
Place pork roast it a crock pot, size not really a factor! Sprinkle as liberally as you wish with garlic powder, top with BBQ sauce--I use an entire bottle! Cook on low "all day", shred with 2 forks and serve on buns =)
It looks yummier than the picture lets on--I think it's the blackness of this crock pot!!

Menu Planning Monday

This week is an abbreviated version =) The kids are on Spring Break this week and on Friday we're going to the Dells for a fun weekend away--which translates to no cook-y for me on 3 days--HA!!
Once again, I'll be linking up to where hundreds (yes, really--hundreds) of other bloggers post their menus for the week!!

Monday: (I'm on SB too, so no class for me--I have to cook!!) BBQ pork in the crock pot that I'll shred for sammies, french fries
Tuesday: Goulash, corn, biscuits
Wednesday: Ham Steak, juliene potatoes, beans
Thursday: Chicken--I'll probably do it on the grill, rice, veggie

Best of all, I pulled all the meat from the freezer so Kurt can be happy about that =)

What's for Supper Saturday

This one is Easy Peasy, Squeezies!! Three ingredients, one pan, one hour--YUM!

Bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or whole cut up chicken
garlic salt
brown sugar

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Lay chix in, skin side up. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Press brown sugar onto the "exposed" chicken facing up--I used lots =) Bake at 375 degrees for one hour--if the chicken is getting a little too brown for your liking, cover it with foil for the last 10-15 minutes.

I usually do NOT eat the skin portion of chicken, and I had to stop myself from knocking Kurt over to get his, it's THAT good Folks!!!

Menu Planning Monday

You know my drill by now!! I have to say that I LOVE this New Year's resolution--I LOVE not spending my drive home from work wondering WHAT I'm going to make for dinner, I LOVE not having to resort to accepting dinner through the driver's side car window (much to the little boys disappointment--HA!) and I love the $$ savings that this creates. I go through the local grocery stores flyer and plan around what's on sale, or pull out of the freezer items that I previously bought on sale. Because I'm cheap (or Kurt will say "frugal" or "thrifty", but cheap works for me!!) Head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie's blog too--I'm telling you, TONS of ideas over there!!
Last week we tried 3 new recipes: 2 were definate hits (one is in the oven right now!). This week I'm falling back on a couple of favorites that I haven't made in a while--in fact, looking back on past posts, I have had VERY few repeats for the entire year, another benefit of meal planning, variety!! I am trying a couple of new things too, I'll let you know what we think =)

Monday: Class, no cooking for me!!
Tuesday: Tara's Chicken Tortellini, crusty bread
Wednesday: Kielbasa and cabbage, mashed potatoes
Thursday: Burgers on buns, fries, baked beans
Friday: Fish fillets, mac & cheese, peas
Saturday: Rosemary roasted pork tenderloin, roasted taters, veggie
Sunday: Incredible chicken breasts, rice, veggie

Just a note: 9 times out of 10 a "new" recipe that I do will come from allrecipes.com, so if I don't get the recipe posted here, chances are you'll find it there!!

What's for Supper Saturday

This was one of my new recipes I tried this week--super simple and it was a hit as well =)

Cranberry-Pineapple Chicken

Boneless, skinless chix breastss (I used 8)
1 can crushed pineapple
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
cinnamon

Place breasts in a 9x13 pan. Mix pineapple and cranberry sauce together, spoon over the chicken. Sprinkle with cinnamon and cover with foil. Bake for 30" at 375 degrees, remove the foil and continue baking until the chicken is done. That's it!! Enjoy =)

Hello Luh-vah!!

Yes, I am that dork. I am SO in love with my seal-a-meal!!! Part of the new-organized-meal-planning-maniac me is SO glad I asked for and received (thanks Chad--my BIL!) this little beauty for Xmas. He gets pulled out after each trip to the grocery store (yup, everyone so far!) I can buy sale meats or bigger packages and divide them into smaller portions and freeze them in these heavy-duty bags so they STAY fresh in the deep freeze--which is great for me, because sometimes I forget what's down there and it gets buried HA!
This bad boy goes on my highly-recommended, thumbs up list =)

What's for Supper Saturday

So when I did my menu planning for the week, I knew chicken breasts were happening on Saturday, but wasn't sure what I'd do with them. My go-to solution is to check out allrecipes.com and see what I can find--HA! This one caught my eye, so supper it became! I've listed the ingredients as they were meant to be, but truth be told--I'm a huge "eye-baller" (for COOKING anyway, BAKING I do things right!). It was very moist and I do believe I'd turn to this one again =)
Chicken Breasts with Herb Basting Sauce
3 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs minced onion
1 crushed clove of garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbs parsley
4 bone-in chicken breasts, skin on

Mix the olive oil and spices together. Toss breasts in this to coat. Place breasts skin side up in 9x13 pan and cover. Place in pre-heated 425 degree oven. Bake 35-45 minutes, basting occasionally with juices. I took the foil off for the last 20 minutes to brown the chicken up nicely.
You could make the same basting sauce and toss it over some potatoes to roast along with the chicken--we had rice as a side though =)

Menu Planning Monday

Yes, yes--it's that time again! I'm actually still up and will get this post linked before I'm number 400+, yup, THAT'S how many other blogs regularly link up, so you really want to head over to Laura's blog: and see the other great menus! For us this week:
Monday: I have class, no cooking for me
Tuesday: Chicken in the crockpot, veggies and taters are in there too.
Wednesday: Tacos, Spanish Rice, corn muffins
Thursday: Ham primavera (leftover ham from last week!), crusty bread
Friday: Turkey Legs in the crock pot, stuffing, veggie
Saturday: BBQ spareribs, coleslaw, baked beans
Sunday: Still undecided!!!

Menu Planning Monday

Wow, Monday's come around super fast for SO many reasons now--HA! Kurt is going to be gone for a couple of days this week, that accounts for a few "lazy" meals. I haven't fully decided WHAT I'm going to do on a particular day or two, but having the meat ready to go (thawed!) is the biggest part, right?! As usual, I'm linking up with and I see that I will be link #461, so seriously--you NEED to pop over there to see the other great menus that are happening in blogland this week! For us:
Monday: I have class, the boys mooch at Grandma's!
Tuesday: Chix nuggets and fries
Wednesday: Possibly Hamburger Helper--copout or what?!
Thursday: Ham, potatoes, beans
Friday: Chicken Fried cube steaks, pasta side, veggie
Saturday: Beef Roast in the crock pot with taters and carrots
Sunday: Chicken prepared somehow--still deciding!

What's for Supper Saturday

A few weeks ago in my very first Meal Planning venture, Pepsi chicken was on the menu. I had several requests for the recipe and here it finally is!! Enjoy =)
One whole chicken, cut up (I actually used bone-in breasts this time)
1 C ketchup
2 Tbls worchestershire sauce
garlic salt
1 12-oz can of cola (PEPSI in this house)
Mix all ingredients except the chicken. Place chicken in a large skillet and pour sauce over the top. Simmer on stove for 45-60 minutes until the chicken is done. I always serve over rice, but pasta would work too!!
PS, yes I know the chicken got away from me a bit--watch a little closer than this as time ticks down!!

Menu Planning Monday

It must be Monday!!!! Once again, I am linking up with HERE with LOTS of other bloggers, so GO for tons of menu ideas. Up for this week is:
Monday: My night class starts, so MIL feeds the boys =0
Tuesday: Burgers/buns, fries, baked beans
Wednesday: "Papa Special" ie: beef tips/gravy over egg noodles, green beans
Thursday: Rotissere chicken in the crock pot, potatoes, veggie
Friday: Broiled pork chops, shell pasta/tomato soup, peas
Saturday: Taco salad
Sunday: Beef roast, mashed taters, veggie

What's for Supper Saturday

So as part of the "new me--menu planner extraordinaire", I'm attempting to try a few new recipes along the way. This was one of them =) It's called Cornbread Casserole and I made coleslaw to go along with it. My family gave it a thumbs up and it is pretty simple to do, so you can pull this one off on a busy weeknight even! Here you go:
1-1.5 # ground beef (I buy big packages when they are on sale and break them into smaller packages, so my portions are hardly ever exact)
1 chopped onion
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 pkg of taco seasoning
3/4 C water
1 can of whole kernal corn--drained
1 pkg of cornbread mix--like Jiffy
Brown the beef, onion and seasonings, drain. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add taco seasoning and water, bring to boil then simmer 5 minutes while the mixture thickens. Pour this into a baking dish, layer the corn on top. Prepare the cornbread according to package and spread over the casserole. Bake for 20" in a 400 degree oven until the cornbread is brown. ENJOY!!

Menu Planning Monday

In my attempt to follow through on my getting organized/menu planning resolution, I'm trying something new. Each week http://http//orgjunkie.com/ hosts this McLinkey blog hop devoted solely to this topic. And let me tell you, try clicking on some of the links you'll find on this list--more than a few of these ladies are hardcore with the $$ saving ideas!! Hopefully I get this all figured out correctly and they won't kick me out my very first week participating! Here goes:

Monday: To Die For beef roast in the crockpot with taters and carrots

Tuesday: Crock Pot potato soup & grilled ham and cheese sammies

Wednesday: Pepsi chicken, rice & a veggie

Thursday: Scalloped potatoes and ham with rolls

Friday: Beef-Mac Italiano (with leftover roast) & corn

Saturday: Ravioli Bake, salad, garlic bread

Sunday: Ground Beef & Cornbread casserole, coleslaw

I don't plan meals for Breakfast--it's usually just cereal or bagels, nor do I plan lunches--Kurt & Beckett tend to work on leftovers!

What's for Supper Saturday

OK, technically I made this on Friday because I was told it's good luck to start the new year with pork and sauerkraut (please tell me if you've heard of this--and a little history would be good too), but I'm posting it on Saturday, so it counts, right?! SUPER easy and DELISH on top of it. OH, and it was all prepared in my new cookware that Kurt's aunt got me for Xmas =)

The pork was basically this: take a pork tenderloin, rub it with sage and garlic salt and place in a baking dish. Drain a can of sauerkraut, place half of it on the pork. Then cut an onion into chunks, place on the sauerkraut. Do the same with an apple then place the remaining sauerkraut over this. Finally sprinkle brown sugar over all. Put lid on the dish and bake at 325 degrees for 2-3 hours. With an hour left I slid in some potatoes to roast along side of the pork. I cut up some red potatoes into chunks and tossed with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Give this one a try!!

What's for Supper Saturday...

OK, to be technical, this was tonight's supper--but it WOULD have been Saturday night's if Arielle hadn't requested pizza burgers! Here is the EASY fried chicken recipe that I use when I want to top the Colonel--I do it up right with corn, biscuits, mashed potatoes (for the gravy you'll be making along with the chicken! Ready?

One whole cut up chicken

1/2 C milk

1 egg

1 C flour

pepper

garlic salt

paprika

1 C milk

1 C chicken broth

Mix the flour and seasonings in a big ziploc bag (I RARELY measure when I cook, ALWAYS when I bake!) Whisk egg and 1/2 milk together in a bowl. Rinse chicken pieces and drop into the flour mixture. Shake to coat, move to the milk mixture. Coat thoroughly and then put back into the ziploc bag and shake it to coat again. Meanwhile, heat about 3 cups of oil in a deep skillet and place chicken pieces into the hot oil. Brown quickly on all sides (turn CAREFULLY so you don't knock all of the coating off!!) then reduce heat and continue to cook chicken through, about 30 minutes.

Move the cooked chicken to paper towel on a wire rack to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil in the pan--save the crispy bits!! Add 2 tablespoons of the leftover flour mixture and whisk together. Turn up the heat and pour in the chicken broth and 1 C of milk. Stir constantly til it bubbles then reduce heat and cook for 5 more minutes--it'll thicken at this point.

Serve over the taters you cooked and mashed while the chicken did it's thing, bring out your other fixin's and dinner is served!!

What's for Supper Saturday...

Easy Peasy Chicken and Rice Bake. Super easy AND yummmy! I've made this several times as part of a meal for new parents, always a hit. You'll need:
One whole cut-up chicken (or you can use breasts)
2 C minute rice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans of water
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
melted butter

Pour 2 cups of the minute/instant rice in the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle the dry onion soup over top. Mix the 2 soups and 2 cans of water together and GENTLY pour over the rice. Lay your chicken pieces on top of this (I skin the big pieces first) and then brush them with a little melted butter.
Cover with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours, removing the foil for the last 30-60 minutes (I take it off for the last 30, but if you leave the skin on, you'll want to take it off for the last 60 minutes)