Birthday Dinner

I asked my son if he wanted to go out to dinner for his birthday or did he want me to fix him a home cooked meal of his choice.  Being a bachelor, he eats out a lot or just eats frozen dinners.  He chose to have a home cooked meal.  He wanted that "chicken and ham stuff that I fix."  WOO HOO!  That's easy enough!  The next day I took leftovers to school for lunch and was asked to post the recipe on the blog.  So here you go!

Chicken Breasts with Ham and Cheese

2/3 cup Bisquick baking mix

4-6 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless

2 Tb.oil

2 Tb. butter

4-6 slices of sandwich ham

1 small can of sliced mushrooms, drained (reserve the liquid)

¼ cup chicken broth

1 cup shredded mozzarella

Coat chicken in Bisquick.  Heat oil and butter in a pan until hot.  Cook the chicken over medium heat until brown (about 6 minutes on each side).  Arrange cooked chicken in a glass dish sprayed with Pam.  Lay ham on top of chicken, arrange mushrooms on top of the ham, and sprinkle the cheese on top.  Pour mushroom liquid and chicken broth in pan and cook for 30 seconds over medium heat.  Pour liquid over the cheese.  Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 7 minutes.

I Hit A Home Run!

My son came over for dinner tonight and I wanted to prepare a dessert that was a little different from the kind of thing I usually fix.  So I came up with Peanut Butter Brownie Pizza.  It was good.  Even my son liked it and he's not a big fan of desserts.  I feel like I struck a home run with this one!

 

 Peanut Butter Brownie Pizza

 1 pkg. of brownie mix

¾ cup peanut butter

1 can of chocolate icing

Reese's Pieces, optional

Prepare brownie mix by the directions on the box.  Add ¼ cup of peanut butter to the mix.  Spread batter onto a pizza pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 28 – 30 minutes.  Let cool.  Mix icing with ½ cup of peanut butter and spread on top of brownie pizza. Sprinkle Reese's Pieces on top if you'd like.  Cut into 12 pieces and enjoy.

What Should We Have For Dinner?

I got up this morning trying to decide what to fix for dinner.  I hate deciding what to cook for dinner.  Sometimes I feel like I'm making the same things over and over.  I wish there was a dinner fairy that would tell me what my family would want to eat by dinner time.  It would be really nice if that dinner fairy would do the shopping, cooking, and cleaning too.  Oh well, back to reality.  I went through my freezer to see if anything appealed to me.  I found half a pork tenderloin that told me I should cook it.  I cut some of it up into cubes to make a Cashew pork Stir-fry.  The rest was cut into boneless pork chops for dinner tomorrow night.  I also made some fried rice to go with the stir-fry.  I already have the fried rice recipe on the blog.  There will also be enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Cashew Pork Stir-fry

¾ pounds of boneless lean pork, cut into cubes

1 Tb. stir-fry sauce

2 Tb. oil

2 stalks of celery cut into ½” pieces

1 onion, sliced

1 green or red pepper, ½” pieces

8 oz. fresh whole mushrooms cut into quarters

2 tomatoes, cut into small pieces

¼ cup more stir-fry sauce

½ cup cashews

Heat 1 Tb. of oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add pork and 2 Tb. stir-fry sauce.  Cook for 3-4 minutes or until no longer pink.  Add celery, onion, pepper, and cashews.  Cook for 3 more minutes.  Add mushrooms, tomatoes, and ¼ cup stir-fry sauce.  Cook until mushrooms are completely cooked.  Serve with rice or over rice.

Pumpkin Pie

According to my son, my grandmother always made the best pumpkin pie ever.  I don't eat pumpkin pie so I'm not the best judge of a good one or a bad one.  Several years ago I thought I would give making a pumpkin pie a try.  My grandmother told me how she made hers and I followed her directions.  She told me it was so easy that there was no way to mess it up.  Famous last words.  I proudly presented the pie to my son to get his opinion.  He took a couple of bites and told me I should, "leave the pumpkin pie making to Grandma." Well, that pie went straight into the trash can.  For a number of years I took my son's advice and let Grandma make the pumpkin pies.  Then one day I found a recipe called Perfect Pumpkin Pie.  I thought I'd give it a try and if it wasn't any good, I'd give up the quest.  This one passed the test.  So, in case you are like me and the pumpkin pies you have made in the past stink, there is hope.  Try this pie recipe and see how you like it.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

1  15oz. can of pumpkin

1  14oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

1  9 inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt until smooth.  Pour into crust and bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 35 – 40 minutes until knife inserted 1” from the crust comes out clean.  Cool. Refrigerate leftovers.

BIG NEWS!!

YES!  I have BIG NEWS!  Today I went grocery shopping and came home to record how much I had spent and saved with coupons.  I have now passed the $1000.00 mark in coupon savings!  I have saved $1014.07 in coupons so far this year.  I have spent $2463.70 on groceries.  The groceries also include pet food and cleaning supplies.  That averages out to approximately $62 a week spent on groceries and that's for 3 meals a day.  Couponing is definitely worth the trouble!  After you learn how to do it, it's really no trouble at all.  Join me for my next couponing class at Meadowcreek Elementary on October 17th at 4:30 to learn how you can do this too.  Let me know if you like to come for the class and I'll send you the information!