Crab Rangoon Bites

Two weeks ago my little cousin turned 18. So...maybe not so little anymore, but I guess I'll have to deal with that. She had a family barbecue to celebrate yesterday, so I decided to make some appetizers to bring. After taking our cheerleading team pictures and running some errands, I needed something quick enough to make. I decided on these, because they were quick and easy, and I knew most of the family would eat them. I have to apologize before hand for forgetting to take more pictures. I got one at the start, but never took any of them after they had baked.

I thought these came out pretty good. They aren't as good as the filling of an actual crab Rangoon, but that's okay. I think the imitation crab stands out quite a bit, but it's far cheaper than real crab, and I put more in than called for, because in an actual Rangoon there's never enough crab. Check out the link to the original recipe if you're unsure of how to fold these. I forgot to take pictures of the process. Sorry again!

Crab Rangoon Bites
from Krista's Kitchen

2 cans seamless crescent roll dough
6 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used whipped)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 green onions, chopped
1.5 cups crabmeat, chopped
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Roll dough out into a neat rectangle. Cut it into 24 squares.
3. Combine all ingredients. Place a spoonful of mix onto each square. Pull two opposite corners in to meet in the middle and seal.
4. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, until dough is cooked and browned.

One Pot Chili Mac

Why is it almost 90 degrees out? It's going to be October in 3 days.

I'm behind on posting a few recipes, so I'm going to try and catch up as I make my favorite spaghetti sauce and do far too many loads of laundry. And then, wedding things.

I can't believe I'm under the two week mark. Thirteen days. Where did the last year go?

Friday I decided to make a chili mac that could feed us until today, and I knew I needed to make my sauce again, because I can't seem to go more than three weeks without having it. I may have a problem. The chili mac was good, but I wouldn't call it mac and cheese, like the original posting. When I think of mac and cheese, I think of creamy, cheesy, goodness. This was more like a chop suey type of dish. It was great, but it doesn't deserve the title of mac and cheese.

One Pot Chili Mac
adapted from Damn Delicious

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 onion, diced

1 lb. ground beef

4 cups chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

3/4 cup canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 cup canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tsp. chili powder

1.5 tsp. cumin

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

10 oz. pasta (any kind, I used medium shells)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

 

1. In a dutch oven (or large deep skillet), add the oil, garlic, onions, and ground beef. Brown the beef and crumble until mostly cooked through. Drain.

2. Add the broth, tomatoes, beans, chili powder and cumin. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer.

3. Stir and pasta and bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat; simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13-15 minutes.

4. Stir in 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Top with remaining cup of cheese, cover, and let the cheese melt, about 2 minutes. Serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

It's a well-known fact that I love me some Chinese food. It's also a well-known fact that Dan does not. So, when we get to order it, I get pretty excited. Most places have one of two kinds of sweet and sour chicken. The first is chicken fingers with a side of that super thick, get everything near it sticky, red sweet and sour sauce with the cherries and pineapple in it. The other is the pieces of chicken mixed into a sauce, usually with peppers and pineapple mixed in. Both are good, but this post isn't about Chinese takeout. It's about the sweet and sour chicken I made last Wednesday that was BEYOND better than takeout. It's a little time intensive with a decent list of ingredients, but so worth it! It's super fresh and since it uses chicken breasts, you don't have to worry about any of the weird dark funky chunks of chicken that I often find in takeout.

Do other people worry about that like I do?

I didn't post this sooner because I got busy, and I got a little lazy, and then my weekend was busy with my final meeting with the florist, a hair appointment, and my Bachelorette party last night. Hence, why this post comes in today at 8:30 at night, because I spent most of my day in recovery, carb-loading. Thankfully, my mom is awesome, and delivered me some lasagna from her lunch at Carabba's. I'm sure you're all wondering how the party was. It was great, more than great, and that's all I'll share. My girls did a great job organizing everything and fun was had by all.

I wish I still had some of this chicken left. Hangovers tend to make me a bottomless pit, and I've eaten most of what's substantial in the house (and what my mom brought me!). Dan worked all day and is at hockey, so I've had to fend for myself. I know, I know, no one should have any sympathy since my complaint is brought on from a night of partying, but come on, I don't tend to have many of these types of days. Let's just bring on the recipe so I can go back to doing a whole lot of nothing, well, except for watching Criminal Minds.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
from Carlsbad Cravings

Chicken breading:
3-4 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
1/2 cup flour
3 eggs
1 and 1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Sweet and sour sauce:
1/2 cup pineapple juice from chunks can below
1 cup red wine vinegar
1.5 cups sugar
6 tbsp. ketchup
1 small onion diced
2 tbsp. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flaks
1/2 tsp. ginger powder

Mix-ins:
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks
1 cup carrots, sliced thin (did not use)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Start by preparing the sauce. In a saucepan, combine all of the ingredients and stir. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and let simmer while you prepare everything else. After 20 minutes, remove from heat.
3. Place the flour in a large Ziplock bag. Add the chicken chunks and shake to coat. Get rid of the excess flour.
4. Whisk the eggs together and place in a shallow dish. In a separate bowl whisk together the cornstarch, garlic powder, salt, pepper, ginger powder and onion powder.
5. Place chicken chunks into egg and coat, letting the excess drip off. Place the chicken chunks back into the Ziplock bag and add the cornstarch mix. Shake to coat chicken.
6. In a large skillet, heat any kind of oil, enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Get it nice and hot, and in batches, add chicken and brown for about 3 minutes. Place browned chicken in the baking dish.
7. Place peppers and pineapple into the sauce and stir. Pour over the chicken in the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.
8. Serve over rice.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream

Yesterday was a busy day. It was Open House night at the school, so I had work, then a meeting after work, then I ran home to eat a little dinner, and went back for open house. Monday night, after practice, I made myself make time to bake. I figured it was long overdue, and since we had a work meeting and Open House, a little treat for my co-workers would be nice. With fall creeping around the corner, pumpkin was a great choice. I had debated not breaking into the pumpkin just yet, but let's get serious, pumpkin coffee came back to Dunkin Donuts in August...

August!

August is still summer. Flavors should be berries or beachy cocktails, like the drinks I had while on vacation at the beach in August when pumpkin returned. Don't get me wrong, pumpkin is my favorite coffee from Dunks, but August is just too soon. However, September isn't, especially when temps are in the 40s when I wake up.

Now that I have some open time today, I can write this post and make a home-cooked meal. Last night tomato soup (from a can) was okay, but I want a real meal tonight. For the cupcakes, I used vanilla bean paste instead of regular extract.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes wit Cinnamon Buttercream
from Macaroni and Cheesecake

For the cake:
2.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each of nutmeg, cloves and ginger
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1.5 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 (15 oz). can pure pumpkin
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1-3 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, oil, buttermilk, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla until fully incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in flour in small amounts until just incorporated. Gently stir in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
4. Scoop evenly into cupcake liners and bake for 18-23 minutes. Let cool.
5. For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy.
6. Add in the powdered sugar, 2 cups at a time, mixing in between.
7. Add one tablespoon of milk and the vanilla. Beat until incorporated. Add cinnamon and beat again until evenly dispersed. If you want your frosting softer, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time (I ended up doing 3).
8. Frost and serve!

Beefy Pepperoni Bake

Cheerleading from 6-8 kinda kills my dinner schedule. Making dinner at 4 so I can eat a little bit before practice takes up my time before practice, and then I'm hungry when I get home, which makes me eat more than I normally would for a normal dinner meal. Tomorrow I don't have cheer, but I have Back to School Night....I'd much rather have cheer.

Yesterday, after my busy day, I knew I needed to make something for dinner, because I didn't want to rely on freezer food, and I also needed leftovers for lunch. Thankfully, I had something quick to make so I could have some time to sit and relax before more work, cheer, and wedding planning.

Right now, I'm using my "free" time to write this post before I plan out tonight's cheer practice.

So, I definitely walked away from this post 6 hours ago. It is now 10:30 at night. So much for using my "free" time for this post. Now I'm using my getting ready for bed time for this. That's OK, I used my time after practice to bake! That recipe will come tomorrow...

Beefy Pepperoni Bake
adapted from All Recipes

16 oz. rotini pasta
1 lb. ground beef
4 oz. pepperoni, chopped
1 (24 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.
2. Cook pasta according to box directions for al dente.
3. In the meantime, brown the ground beef in a large deep skillet. Drain.
4. Add the chopped pepperoni, pasta and sauce and stir to combine. Pour into the casserole dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake 30 minutes.

Chicken Fried Turkey Cutlets

This is a few days late, but better late than never, right?

My brain is a fog of seating arrangement and cheerleading competition routine ideas. Seating arrangements is easily the worst part of wedding planning. Last week and this weekend was a lot of waiting for final RSVPs to come in and then hunting down those who didn't send them back. Then I spent a solid 4 hours yesterday finding a dress for my bachelorette, shoes, a dress for the rehearsal dinner, wedding shoes, and jewelry for the rehearsal dinner. It was also my "baby" cousin's 18th birthday, so I got her a gift as well in my shopping adventures. Today we had our first home Pop Warner football game (only 40 minutes behind schedule!) and then it was seating arrangement time. Is it bad to say I kind of just want the wedding to be here already so I  don't have to plan or choose anything else for a long, long time?

Anyways, I made dinner tonight (that's a whole other post), and realized I never posted this from earlier this week. This was pretty good. It was nice and simple to make, and quick enough. I had to change the gravy a little bit. I needed 2 times the amount of flour mix and I even added in a tablespoon of cornstarch as well to thicken it up. I also added about a 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce to give a little more of a saltiness to it, the coffee flavor was too overwhelming and bitter. Once the Worcestershire sauce was added it was much better.

Chicken Fried Turkey Cutlets with Redeye Gravy
adapted from Eating Well

4 turkey breast cutlets
1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tbsp. water
1 cup breadcrumbs (seasoned or not)
2 tbsp. canola oil, divided
2 slices bacon, chopped
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch if needed

1. Heat oven to 200 and place a baking sheet inside. In a shallow dish add the flour and poultry seasoning, setting aside 1 tablespoon of mix. In another shallow dish, combine the egg, egg white and water. In a third shallow dish, add the breadcrumbs.
2. Dredge the turkey cutlets through the flower, egg mix, and then the breadcrumbs, pressing to coat.
3. Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat, two at a time, for 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining turkey cutlets.
4. For the gravy, in the same pan you used for the cutlets, add the bacon and cook for 30 seconds to one minute until crispy. Add the tablespoon of flour mix and cook for one more minute, stirring. Add the coffee, broth, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2-4 minutes. If it doesn't thicken enough, take out a 1/4 cup of liquid and combine it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Add back to the pan and whisk to combine. Let cook another minute or so and it should thicken up.
5. Serve cutlets with gravy and sides.

Turkey Cutlet!

Blurry and not-so-appetizing looking gravy.

Three Packet Roast

And the whirlwind week continues.

Today was another day of slightly controlled chaos at school. Followed by a pretty good cheer practice with my girls. I was nervous at first to coach 11 year-olds after coaching high school, who work hard and get right to business, but my girls are great. We of course have those moments of typical 11 year-old silliness, but to see them perform their halftime routine and make some last minute changes pretty easily, made me proud.

It was nice to have a meal ready when I got home, knowing I didn't have to throw together a meal between lesson planning, cheer practice, and the feeling of exhaustion that I have this week. The only thing I had to do was make the gravy and slice the roast. This was good, but mine was a little over-cooked. I was home later than I thought, so it stayed in the crock pot longer than it should have. Stick to the 6 hour time slot as directed and yours should come out a little better than mine. The flavorings for the gravy are delicious. I would reduce the water you add to the crock pot. When the meat cooks you get quite a bit of juices, so I ended up with more liquid than needed for the gravy. You may not really need to add any water if you just want to use the juices.

Three Packet Roast
from Just a Pinch

3-4 pound bottom rump roast
3 red potatoes, cut into large cubes
5-6 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 medium onion, quartered
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet Italian dressing mix
1 packet brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water (if using)
2-3 tbsp. cornstarch

1. Put the chopped veggies in the bottom of the crock pot and place roast on top.
2. Sprinkle roast with all packets mixes. Add water.
3. Cook on low about 6 hours.
4. Drain liquid from the crock pot and place a small saucepan. Use a 1/4 cup of liquid to mix with cornstarch and then add to the saucepan. Bring to a boil then turn off heat.
5. Cut the roast against the grain and serve with veggies and gravy.

Chicken Schnitzel

It's back to school time.

That means that I'm making myself take a break from lesson planning to do this blog post. As it is every year, the first few days back to school is a whirlwind. It's even more so this year because I'm new at the school. So most of the questions my kids had for me today I couldn't quite answer. It didn't help their anxiety or mine. And, while schedules keep changing, I have all of my students in my room for most of the day until it's all straightened out, which means finding work/activities to fill that time. Needless to say, my eyes are burning and I have a slight headache after going through so many "Back to School" resources and ideas.

I suppose it didn't help that I spent me long weekend before school started camping instead of getting ready for this week, but I needed my last hoorah of the summer. I also crammed this week with extra activities, like my alterations fitting for my wedding gown today and a meeting with my wedding planner Thursday night. And all with cheerleading mixed in and our first game this weekend.

I was able to plan a couple of dinners for this week at least, and even with a busy night, I was able to make dinner. I'm glad I did. A nice home-cooked meal makes the stress of planning a little better. My usual on a busy night is something frozen or really easy like pasta, but I'm trying to get away from the "easy" (aka unhealthier) stuff. I modified the original recipe for this a little bit since my chicken hadn't defrosted quite enough. I decided to bake mine before throwing them on the skillet. The recipe below is with my modifications. I had to bake my chicken for 30 minutes, and they were just ever so slightly undercooked, so the skillet step finished them right up. The recipe was really good. I was hoping to be able to fully cook them in the skillet as was intended, but I was happy with the results. I served it with some garlic mashed potatoes and honey-butter carrots.

Chicken Schnitzel
adapted from My Recipes

4 thin chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup low-fat milk
1 cup panko-style breadcrumbs
1-2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Set up 3 shallow dishes. One to hold the flour, one to hold the egg and milk mixed together, and one to hold the breadcrumbs, parsley and garlic powder mixed together.
3. Dredge each chicken breast through the flour, then the egg mix, then the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess. Bake for 25-30 minutes (or shorter if your chicken isn't still frozen like mine!) and remove from oven.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet on medium heat, and cook the chicken 2 breasts at a time for 2 minutes per side, until fully cooked through and the outside is nice and browned.