Ragu Bolognese

This is bound to become a new favorite in this house!
Ragu Bolognese
1 pound of hamburger (very lean 95%)
Brown in large deep skillet
Season well with Italian seasonings (oregano etc but I just used pizza seasoning and salt)
Add 2/3 cup of white wine and simmer until wine is evaporated
Add chopped veggies
* 2 stalks of celery
* 2 carrots
* 1/2 red bell pepper
* 1/2 yellow bell pepper
* 1 medium onion

Simmer for 10 minutes or so with lid on until the veggies are getting tender
Cook up 8 ounces of whole wheat pasta, broken into 3 inch pieces.
Add:
* 1 zucchini diced up
* 1 can of mushrooms
* 1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes in juice
* 1/2 of a 16 oz can of tomato sauce

Simmer until thickened, another 5-7 minutes
Add:
2/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Cooked and drained pasta
Simmer another 5 minutes

This made 6 very large servings and for anyone doing Weight Watchers, this figures out to only 7 points per 2 cup serving!

We enjoyed this with a green salad with Italian dressing.  And the leftovers for lunch were great too!

Back to food!

With all the excitement of our last month I have to admit that I have not been doing a ton of cooking!  Imagine that!

Once we got home it seemed like we had very little time to regroup before we were on our way to Nebraska with Uncle LeRoy.  Now we are home for a while though and I am going to get back to posting some recipes.

One meal we made that made for good leftovers was
White Chicken Chili

4-6 Chicken breasts, baked and chopped up
2 cans of chick peas
2 cans of white kidney beans
2 small cans of diced green chilies
2 cups of brown rice, precooked
4-6 cups of chicken broth (more if you like it more soupy)
3-4T of powdered milk
Rinse and drain beans -
Mix it all together and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Top the soup with some diced cilantro, green onions and sour cream.
I threw the chicken breasts in the oven while Conner was making breakfast.  We had chicken breasts with raw veggies for lunch and then the rest went into the soup for dinner.

Another meal that we threw together quickly was
Beef and Barley Soup
2 round steaks chopped and browned in Olive oil with 1 large onion. 
5-6 carrots
5-6 stalks of celery
10 cups of Beef broth
1 cup of red wine
1/2 cup barley
1/2 cup split green peas
Simmer for 2-4 hours and serve with crusty bread.
This was better the 2nd time around!
I don't have a picture of this one to show you though.

An always easy standby is this one.

To bake the whole chicken I squeeze a lemon on the outside of it, rub some garlic into it, put the squeezed lemon in the cavity with an onion and bake breast down until the temperature in the breast is 165. 
The green beans are just canned beans with dehydrated onions and salt/pepper
The pasta just cooked pasta with some canned tomato sauce. 
And of course we cannot forget the ranch dip!

Then the leftover baked chicken makes for great Ceasar salads the next day!

ROAD TRIP

On the 11th of January we left for an 11 day road trip with the boys and that was a wonderful privilege.  We traveled over 3000 miles in 10 days!  It was a flurry of activity that took us from Colorado Springs to Moab the first day, through snow and ice! 

Day two took us to Arches National Park and on to Las Vegas where we visited with Micheal and Judy for a couple days.

Day three was fun times with the one of the cutest babies in the family!

And Downtown Las Vegas too....

Day 5 was Hoover Dam and homemade Sushi for lunch!

Day 6 was on to Death Valley

Day 7 we saw the Salton Sea and Joshua Tree National Park

The Salton Sea is a science project.  We studied about it a few years ago and have always been interested in seeing it. It is called the accidental sea as it was an inland salt water sea.  However, the salinity continued to increase to such a level that most of the fish died.  Then agricultural runoff with phosphates caused algae bloom which steals the oxygen from the water so the fish (of which only tilapia still live there) die in huge numbers each cycle.  Those fish then wash up on the shore of the sea and rot, causing a terrible smell.  The beach, which looks like white sand, is actually fragments of fish bones!  

Here is a link to a video documentary about the sea if you are interested.  This is a science video.

Salton Sea Documentary

Another history channel link

Day 8 and 9 - SAN DIEGO!

We spent 2 days at the tide pools at the Cabrillo National Monument.  This was the highlight of our trip.  The pools are fascinating and beautiful.  We all could spend hours there!  And we did!

The ocean was amazing smashing against the rocks as the tide came in!

We spent 2 days at the tide pools.  We also visited our favorite little crepe place in San Diego and our favorite beach at Imperial Beach

The evening of the 9th day we headed back east.  We sent to Casa Grande that first night then the next day on to Pat and Harold Halbig's house in Los Lunas.  We had 2 relaxing days there then stopped to see Aunt Barbara and Uncle Harold Lerwick on the way home on day 11.

Day 11 - Almost home...we can see the mountains!

This trip was the perfect way for a home schooling family to expand our boundaries and learn more things about areas we had never been! 

Travel, Travel and more Travel!

Well....it has been a while since I updated this!  But...in my defense...I have been a little busy!

For Christmas and New Years we went to Nebraska and South Dakota and had a very nice time with lots of social get-togethers! 

We got to spend time with Laura, have a sing with the friends, read stories to the little ones, visit with grandma and grandpa, survived the stomach flu on the way home....it was all good except that last part!

Then January 6 I got to accompany a dear friend to CA to visit a boarding school and stay at Pebble Beach.  I had never gone down 17 mile drive before...and it isn't even 17 miles!  It was absolutely beautiful.  The company was great and the scenery very worth the trip. 

The Ocean from 17 mile drive.

 The Monterey Bay Aquarium was amazing!  So many beautiful things.

 The jellyfish were beautiful.

Then after getting home from Monterey we had the wonderful privilege of seeing a very special "life-long" friend and spending time with her and her kids.  We had dinner at our house then went to the zoo the next day.  It was a perfect time to spend with wonderful people!  The kids all had fun together and Michelle and I got to spend a lot of time talking!  It was perfect that we didn't have any of that uncomfortable "too much time has passed" feeling.  It was just like we were 12 years old again, giggling in my bedroom after Scottsbluff Special Meeting!

The grizzly bear put on quite a show for us!

The kids did a little climbing around too.

Backing up....This was from the day after the salmon

I forgot to put in a recipe that worked out pretty well and was really simple.  It is one that I got from Pinterest and we enjoyed it, though the kids thought it wasn't their absolute favorite.  I liked it because it was so easy!




This is a really simple recipe and of course I didn't follow it exactly.

1 package of stuffing
1 cup of water
Mix and moisten.

Take 4 pieces of tin foil and lay them out on the counter.  Spray with Pam.  Divide the moistened stuffing between them and kind of squish it down.  Then place a chicken breast over top of each blob of stuffing. 

Here is where the broccoli stems that I didn't use the other night in the roasted broccoli come in.  You cut off the outside tough part and then dice the stems, along with one head to get 4 cups of broccoli.  Divide the 4 cups between the 4 packets.

Cook 4 pieces of bacon till crispy and break one on top of each packet.

Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheese and a drizzle of ranch dressing.  Draw up the sides of the tin foil and tent it leaving just a bit of space for air to circulate before folding the sides in tightly.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the interior temperature of the chicken is at least 165.

Unwrap - be careful that the steam doesn't burn you - and slide onto a plate to serve. 

These can be made at breakfast time and stuck in the fridge until dinner but be sure your chicken is defrosted before assembling or you will have a soggy mess.

Here is the link for the real recipe from Pinterest.

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/194728/foil-pack-chicken-and-broccoli-dinner-15

Easy lasagna-ish dinner

Yesterday I was very lucky to have a very old (or maybe I should say long-time) friend come visit with her kids.  We aren't old so she cannot be an old friend right?  We had a wonderful afternoon of visiting and the kids had a great time playing together.  Then we had dinner together and it was a pretty easy meal that went together quickly.

Easy lasagna type thing -
2 pounds of hamburger browned
2/3 of a package of small pasta shells cooked and drained
Spaghetti sauce of your choice, enough to make it good and moist but not runny.  I used about 2/3 of a large jar of Prego from Costco.

Filling - 2 cups of Ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup of powdered Parmesan
1-2T Italian seasoning
Mix together

Put half of the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 dish.  Spread filling in and then top with the other half of the meat mixture.  Top with Mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the center is baked and fairly firm.  This would freeze well too.  Just put it into 2 pans and eat one and put the other in the freezer before baking it.  Pull it out in the morning and let it thaw on the counter all day then bake for dinner.

We served with garlic bread and salad.

Desert was my easy brownies.

Brownies
1 box of cake mix (use chocolate or white but if you use white put in about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder)
3 eggs
1/3 cup of oil
Candy pieces!  I used about 1/2 bag mini M&Ms and 1/2 bag of the Kraft Caramel balls
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until firm in the center but not dried out on the edge.

These are the brownies I make for convention.  They are easy and they come out of the pan perfectly.  Of course, with the candy they are a big hit with the kids!

I didn't take any pictures of this either because I was busy talking! :)

And the meal was made so much better with the chatter of kids and visiting with someone I have been friends with my ENTIRE life!  It is so great to get together with someone and the years just fall away like they never passed!  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Michelle's sisters and Jona had been there too!  Then it would have really been like old times!

Stuffed chicken

We liked the ginger/onion Salmon so much that I decided to give it a shot with chicken breasts.  That day I basically put together all the meals for the day while I was making breakfast.  I was getting ready to go to California so I had a lot to do that day and knew Kevin and the boys would be on their own.

I made our typical bacon and eggs for breakfast with some toast.  At the same time I sliced some tomato, onion, lettuce for hamburgers.  I pulled out a few patties from the freezer and some buns and they grilled their own burgers for lunch.  Conner made some baked beans with canned Van De Kamps but fixed up the way grandma does with some ketchup, mustard and brown sugar.

Then for dinner I took 4 chicken breasts, filleted them open almost in half.  Then I stuffed them with the same mixture that I had made previously for the salmon.  1/2 of a medium onion diced small, 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1T ginger finely chopped, 1T garlic, 2 T oil.  I spread that in the chicken breasts and closed them up then put them in a shallow dish and poured the marinate over the top.  The marinate is 2T honey, 2T soy sauce, 2T lime juice.   They marinated all day then we grilled them.  They were good but the flavors are definitely better with salmon.  To accompany it I took the left over Quinoa (about 3 cups) and mixed it with 2T olive oil, 1 cup diced tomato and 1 cup diced cucumber to make a salad like the Couscous salad that mom makes.  I added 2T Greek seasoning and a bit of green onion as well.  We had coleslaw as well. 

I didn't take any pictures of these meals though because I forgot!

BEST SALMON I HAVE EVER EATEN!

This afternoon I had to run to Hobby Lobby (AGAIN) to get more yarn (AGAIN)...and when I left I told Keenan to look up a recipe somewhere for a delicious salmon dish since we had a huge salmon fillet out on the counter thawing.  Well, he found a good idea but of course I didn't follow the recipe, it just gave me an idea....Imagine that!

Grilled Stuffed Salmon

4 salmon fillets or a whole large salmon fillet

Cut partially through

Stuff with:

1/3 of a medium onion chopped very fine

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1tsp of minced ginger paste

2T olive oil

What doesn't fit inside the salmon spread on top

Salt and pepper the tops of the salmon and place in a grill pan or fish basket

Make glaze of:

2T soy sauce

2T lime juice

2T honey

Spoon over the top, grill for 5 minutes, spoon rest of glaze over top and grill 5 more minutes

Baked Broccoli and onions

Take the rest of the onion and slice and separate

Cut up 2 heads of broccoli (save the stems for soup later on)

Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice and spray with Pam

Bake on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so

We also served this with Quinoa

4 cups of water

2 cups of Quinoa

1T chicken broth base

Boil for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed

 

I won't lie, this is not an "easy" meal, but it went together quite quickly and we enjoyed it a LOT!

Hawaiian Haystacks

For special meeting I got the wild idea to make some nostalgic food!  And unfortunately I forgot to take pictures so here is a stock photo off the Internet.  This is a really basic meal that works up great for a crowd and the leftovers are excellent!



The base is Brown Rice cooked.  I did mine in the crock pot and it was great.  5 cups of water and 2 cups of rice and 1T chicken base.  Low for 4 hours. 

On top of that is a gravy.  All I did was boil some chicken breasts with rib meat until they fell off the bone but you could use leftover chicken or turkey.  Shred the meat.  Put in crock pot with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, one can of mushrooms, and one can of water.  Simmer for 3-4 hours.  Thicken with cornstarch and water if it is too thin.

While this is going on then dice up bowls of the following:
Green onions
Green Peppers
Sugar Snap Peas
Celery
Tomatoes
Pineapple (canned)
Also use:
Slivered almonds
Crispy chow mien noodles
Marchino Cherries
Coconut

To serve up, this works great cafeteria style too -
A scoop or rice topped with chicken gravy.  Then layer with whatever toppings you want.  Put the Marchino cherries on top.  :)

Then we served it with a salad with:
Romaine lettuce
Diced Tomatoes
Chopped cilantro
Green onions
Sugar snap peas
Mandarin Oranges
Topped with a sesame ginger dressing and toasted sesame seeds.

This is the dressing that we get from Costco and love on the salad.

A yummy dinner and most of the prep was done ahead of time.