Meal Planning- Easier said than done

Since the Spratties started eating dinner with us my cooking has changed and has become more tedious than it was before.  It is a constant battle to plan out meals enough ahead of time and make sure that I laid out the meat or have all the right ingredients and make sure that the meal isn't too complicated so I can get it made before they need to go to bed (and maybe have a few minutes to spend with that after I get home from work).  I also noticed we were spending WAY too much money on eating out.  So...along came meal planning.  I started a meal planning binder with my go to favorites (some of which are on this blog) and then hit Pinterest at least once a month to find new favorites (or mostly duds...but hey, I try).  Since I have been completely absent on this blog since having babies I decided to post my weekly meal plans on here- if someone has an interest in anything I'm cooking I can make the effort to "blog" that particular night.  So...here goes.

Chicken & Asparagus Penne
Sloppy Joes (with Coleslaw and Homemade Chips)
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice
Meat Loaf (with Black Eyed Peas and Okra )
Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin (with Salad and Green Beans)
Oven baked Crispy Parm Chicken (with squash and sweet potatoes)
Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls (with salad and peas)
Chuck Roast (with carrots, mushrooms and potatoes)




Extras this week include yogurt covered blueberries for snacks and a breakfast casserole. 

So Cheers! Here is to cooking at home this week!

Wow- What a bad blogger I am

I'm currently putting together my very first meal planning binder and decided to grab some recipes off of the blog.  I realized that while I have taken pictures for some stuff I have not posted anything in almost two years.  I guess pregnancy and twins does that to a cooking blog.

I won't go as far as saying "I'm back"- but it is my hope to start adding more things on here again. 

Happy New Year Y'All!!

Pork Chop Casserole

I LOVED this dish as a kid.  I have no idea where my Mom got the recipe, but it wasn't one we had frequently.  She always served it with french style green beans.  I was sad this week when I went to make it and I only had regular cut green beans-  but it was still yummy. 

As with most of the things I cook- I have tweaked how I cook the dish.  In this case I used chicken broth and beef bouillon and added mushrooms (they were about to go bad and I needed to use them).  I didn't notice much of a difference with the chicken broth vs pure beef bouillon or beef broth- so whatever you have available should work great.  The mushrooms were just a nice added veggie. 

I started out by warming three cups of chicken broth (with a beef bullion cube thrown in) and a half of stick of butter. Mom never uses the butter- but I think it helps with the rice (particularly when you re-heat).

The beef bullion cube hasn't dissolved yet- nor the butter melted. 

While the the broth warms and butter melts I started searing the pork chops.  I used bone in pork chops and they were fairly thin sliced.  If you have thin sliced pork chops this a great dish to use them in because the broth and baking keeps them moist and doesn't dry them out like cooking on a grill would.  I used a little bit of olive oil in the pan as I seared the chops since mine did not have a lot of fat on them.  I seasoned my pork chops with Nature's Seasoning (r)- but use whatever you personally like to season meat with. 

After searing each side I placed the chops in a 9x13ish baking dish.  I had six chops so I just placed the last two on top of other pork chops and they cooked fine. 

 
While the pork chops were searing I rough cut mushrooms and onions.  The original recipe (pictured below) called for a half of an onion- but I like onion so I used a whole onion and a whole package of fresh mushrooms.  I also used 2 cloves of garlic- because I put garlic in EVERYTHING. 

I sauteed the mushrooms, garlic and onions in the same pan I used to sear the pork chops- so I didn't loose any flavor.  Wish I could figure out how to not get my shadow in every picture!!!   

I had to add a little more olive oil when I was sauteing my veggie mixture because my pork chops were so lean- but you can decide what you need to use based on your chops. 

After the veggies are al dente add the broth mixture to the veggies and stir.  Make sure to scrape the bottoms to get all the pork bits up.  YUM. 

Sprinkle two cups of regular rice over your pork chops in the baking dish.  Next pour the broth/veggie mixture over that rice and pork chops.  Cover in tin foil and then bake at 350 for about an hour. 

This is what the mixture looks like after you pour the broth/veggies over it.  Again, my shadow haunts the picture.   

The "original" recipe- as published by the Sisters of Sigma Phi Alpha in 1999. 

When you take the casserole out of the oven- be careful when you remove the tin foil- steam will usually rush to escape.  There should be no broth or liquid left.  If there is- just put it back into the oven until all the liquid is gone.

Pork Chop and Rice Casserole-  and my shadow. 

Pork Chop and Rice Casserole

4-6 pork chops (bone in or no bone)
1/2 Cup- 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
1/2 Cup of Butter
3 Cups of Beef Bouillon (or chicken broth/beef broth)
2 Cups of uncooked rice
Salt and Pepper to Taste (or other seasonings)
3-4 cloves of chopped garlic
1 package of mushrooms- chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350.  In a large saucepan slowly heat beef bouillon/chicken broth mixture with 1/2 stick of butter, till butter is completely melted.  In a large skillet, sear seasoned pork chops on both side (but do not cook).  Remove and place in a baking dish (9x13).  Use any grease from the pork chops to saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic till tender.  You may need to add olive oil if you did not have enough grease left over from the pork chops.  Sprinkle rice over pork chops.  Once the veggie mixture is done, add broth/butter mixture.  Stir to ensure all the good pork bits are incorporated off the bottom of the skillet.  Next pour the broth/veggie mixture over the rice and pork chops.  Cover in tin foil and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the liquid is completely absorbed. 

Squash Casserole

One of my favorite "veggie" dishes growing up was squash casserole.  But really, how could it not be? Cheese, butter, ritz crackers and some squash and onions thrown in.  What made squash casserole extra special to me was that it was always with squash from Granny's garden. 

This particular squash casserole I made is extra special.  After talking with my Granny on the way home from work she mentioned she had cooked some for my Aunt who recently had a stroke.  Since she had sent some frozen squash home with us at Christmas I decided to go home and make some for us.  When I got home I discovered that our freezer was out- so it was a lucky find and $240 later we didn't lose any food. 

The first step is to cut cheese into small squares.  I used about a half (maybe a little more) of Velveeta.  A trick I learned somewhere is to use dental floss to easily cut through cheese like this.  However the only kind I had was mint and didn't think it would blend in the dish well.  

After you have your cheese cut, boil your squash (I used a quart bag- or about 8 sml/med squash if using fresh) and onions.  I used a whole onion - but you can use less if desired.  I boiled the mixture for twenty minutes.  

A trick I learned on Pintrest- place a wooden spoon over the boiling pot to keep it from boiling over.  It worked!

While your squash is boiling- squish up your Ritz crackers.  I used one of the small packages this time.  

Once the squash is boiled, drain and put in a baking dish.  (Size depends on how thick you want the casserole- I used a 9x9)  Add your cheese and a 1/2 stick of butter.  Mix thoroughly and sprinkle the top with the crackers.  Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  

Squash Casserole

- 1 package of frozen squash

- 1 yellow onion

- Velveeta Cheese (to taste)

- Pinch of salt

- 1/2 stick of butter

- 1 package of Ritz crackers

*Boil squash and chopped onions for 20 minutes (salt if desired)

* Drain thoroughly

* Add diced cheese and butter

* Mix until evenly combined

* Sprinkle with crackers

* Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until brown

Glorified Chicken

This week I did something I've never done before- cooked dinner on the first night of session!  That's a big deal for me.  It is rare for me to have time to cook during session and for whatever reason I was wanting this...

I am pretty sure this is not an "old family" recipe- but my Mom used to cook this for us and for whatever reason, the chicken seemed special. 

I promised not to "healthy" up the recipes- but I am trying to lose 30 lbs this session so I added some veggies that my Mom NEVER added to the dish.  I will admit that I really liked it- so did my father-in-law. 

 Drizzle olive oil in a deep skillet and heat. 

Season the chicken with garlic salt and your preferred seasoning- my Mom always used Nature's Seasoning 

 I decided to use frozen spinach this time- honestly- it did not change the flavor one bit.  We couldn't even taste the spinach- so I guess that was free vitamins.  Below I demonstrate how I use paper towels to squeeze out the water from the thawed spinach.

 Brown the chicken on both sides- do not worry about cooking the chicken thoroughly- just get both sides good and brown.  Higher heat and a good skillet helps achieve the pretty color. 

 Since I wanted to add veggies (and this saved me from making a salad too) I took the chicken breasts out (once browned, not cooked) and added more olive oil.  I then sauteed the veggies till cooked through. 

 After the veggies are cooked (or if you don't want to use veggies the chicken is browned) add back the chicken and then add the magic ingredient- Cream of Chicken Soup!  Yes- I know, cream of anything is considered the bane of real cooking- but there is a reason why it is so popular and used so frequently.  It is an easy way to make a sauce or add flavor to a dish.  If you are worried about fat, sodium, etc- buy the variety that addresses that concern.  I used 2 cans for this dish.

Once you add the Cream of Chicken soup cover the skillet and reduce to medium-low heat for 25-30 minutes. 

 Serve over rice and enjoy!! 

Glorified Chicken

- 3 to 5 chicken breasts or thighs

- Garlic Salt

- Nature's Seasonings

- 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup

- Veggies as desired

- Olive oil 

New Year's Traditions

In the South on the first day of the new year it is crucial to do several things to ensure "good luck" for the rest of the year.  First, have all Christmas decorations down and second, eat a meal consisting of black eye peas, greens, a pork product and corn bread.  If you hail from "low country" you add rice to the mixture- often in the form of hoppin johns.  But my family is from Tennessee and Kentucky and rice wasn't something that was cooked that often. 



Corn bread (cooked in a cast iron of course) Boston Butt, black eyed peas and collard greens. 

Future posts will have extensive photography of what I cook, and how I cooked it- but thanks to a bad back I was lucky that I could even cook this!

Granny's Corn Bread
- Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Put Crisco (r) shortening in the skillet and place skillet into oven.  
- In a separate bowl, mix 2 parts cornmeal (not the yellow kind) to one part White Lily self rising flour.
- Add enough milk to completely mix the flour and meal and have a thin consistency (think gravy).
- Remove cast iron from oven and pour the flour/meal mixture into the skillet. 
- Return to oven and bake until done (usually around 25 minutes for a medium size skillet). 

My Southern Family Cooks

So many of the best memories in my life revolve around food- and while I realize that is probably true for many people- I like to think that food is more than the body's building blocks (and yes, I am pretty sure that thought is part of the reason I'm overweight).  Growing up in the South means lots of things- but for me it meant family dinners every night and rarely crossing a restaurant's front door.  It means recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation and traditions that revolve around food. 

This Christmas Jim and I went to Tennessee to visit my family and I realized that my grandparents are getting old (sorry Granny).  Since some of the best memories with my Granny involve cooking- I wanted to do something to honor her and her generation. When setting a nice table, and serving good food was considered normal- not a rarity.

I hope you enjoy this blog- where I plan to document my family's recipes and I promise not to make them "diet friendly".

My Southern Granny- Maylene Floyd- with my Papa on their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Y'all come back now- ya here!!!