Menu Mondays

We had some meat in the freezer, so we'll be using that this week...only 1 new recipe.

Sunday: Hopefully making some muffins to take into work tomorrow a.m...but only if there's time

Monday: steak, pasta, broccoli

Tuesday: pulled pork sandwiches, tater tots...maybe some coleslaw?

Wednesday: garlic shrimp pasta (we're making this one up as we go along, kids)

Thursday: leftover pulled pork

Friday: homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles

WC Spring Exchange!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Sara! I participated in the WC Spring Exchange, where foodies sign up to exchange 'care packages' with each other. It's conducted through Elfster, which means your assigned person can ask you questions and find out information about you anonymously, and you don't know who was assigned to send you a gift until you receive it!

Sara sent me an AWESOME care package:

- A ton of colorful, beautiful sprinkle options (I see cupcakes in my future so I can play with these!!)

- A cookbook from Washington state (I want to start collecting home-style cookbooks from all over the country...Sara sent me my first one from afar!)

- A super-handy packet of RealSimple recipe cards -- I can't wait to try some of them!

- And finally, a set of spatulas -- I don't know about you, but I seem to go through spatulas like crazy.

Thank you again Sara!

Saucy Baked Chicken

This recipe was quite tasty -- we enjoyed it immensely served over pasta tossed with olive oil.

We'll make this one again!

Saucy Baked Chicken

(Lauren's Kitchen)

4-6 chicken cutlets (I used 3 chicken breasts I had left in the freezer)
1 medium onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 TBSP all purpose flour
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

- Preheat oven to 450.Pour oil into a casserole dish.

- Add chicken, onion and mushrooms, turning to coat with oil.

- Bake 5 minutes; turn chicken over and stir vegetables.

- Bake an additional 5 minutes.

- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk flour into chicken broth.

- Add vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stirring well.

- When chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, add broth mixture to casserole dish, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes.

- Remove foil; stir vegetables and bake, uncovered, until sauce bubbles and is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

- Heat broiler. Turn chicken over. Place dish 6 inches from heat and broil until chicken just starts to turn golden, about 3-5 minutes.

- Serve immediately.

Cafe Rio Pork

*Ignore the pot it's in -- I had DH remove it from the crockpot early, and was just heating it up on the stovetop!

I've never been to Utah. I'd never even heard of Cafe Rio until I started reading LeighAnne's blog.

But she talked about how delicious their food was so often, that when she finally posted a recipe for the pork they serve at the restaurant, I decided I had to try it (and the fact that it was a crockpot meal with only 3 ingredients didn't hurt either!)

This pork is the most amazing and delicious pork I think I've ever eaten. It's good plain, on salads, in quesedillas, in tacos, in burritos, on nachos -- just about anything you can think of.

This pork is THAT good.

Now, admittedly, I'm not really a pork-in-my-mexican-food kind of girl. I know its relatively common in REAL mexican, but I tend to stick to chicken and beef in my kind.

No longer. Now, it's this pork or nothing!

I honestly can't wait to make it again!!

Cafe Rio Pork

(your home based mom)

1-2 lb. pork tenderloin (I used just a standard pork roast. Really, it doesn't matter what you use -- the crockpot will make the meat juicy and tender anyway)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups fresh salsa

Directions
- Mix sugar and salsa, pour over pork.

- Cook in crock pot for 8 hrs. on low.

- When done shred with two forks and return to juice in crock pot and allow liquid to absorb.

- Serve with tortillas and all the fixins!

Baked Corn Dogs

I thought these were a bit of a let-down, but I'm posting them anyway because I think they have potential -- just with a different corn bread covering.

I think I'd use the cornbread recipe I love, rather than this one. You'll probably have to lessen the amount of liquid in the cornbread recipe so it sticks to the hot dogs, but I found the recipe below to be a bit bland for my tastes.

It's still a fun idea, and I'd like to try making them again!

Baked Corn Dogs

(Laura's Home Cookin' - adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the hot dogs)
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 precooked turkey hot dogs (I used the real deal, old fashioned hot dogs in casing. mmm)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

- Spray a cooking sheet with cooking spray, set aside.

- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

- Make a hole in the center and then add milk, eggs, and oil. Mix well.
- Dust hot dogs with flour.

- Coat hot dogs with corn meal mixture (it helps to do this with popsicle sticks). Bake until golden, 20 minutes.

- Serve with ketchup if desired.

Rain-X Giveaway Winner!

The winner for my Rain-X giveaway is...

KRM!

Since you didn't leave contact information on my blog, please email me ASAP at enkeli224@yahoo.com.

The contest ends Friday, so I'll need your mailing address and the year, make, and model of the vehicle you want to put the blades on before then!

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Timestamp: 2009-03-26 01:34:44 UTC