Cheesy Kielbasa, Broccoli, and Rice Skillet

Another recipe I made a few weeks ago and have yet to post. I was going to post this earlier, but I got sidetracked with cheerleading business, which is soon to take over my life once the season starts in a month. Trying to gather up some volunteer coaches and get them certified is more work than you think...

Anyways, I love easy dishes where you can pretty much throw everything in a pan and give it a few stirs and have dinner ready in about 20 minutes. This was easy, flavorful, and inexpensive. That checks off all the boxes for a busy and budget-conscious family!

Cheesy Kielbasa Broccoli, and Rice Skillet
From Mom on Time Out

1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 Kielbasa (I used a pork and turkey one), sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add Kielbasa and brown for 3-4 minutes per side.
2. Remove with a slotted spoon and add onion and pepper and saute until translucent. Add rice to the pan and stir for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes.
4. Without disturbing the rice, add the broccoli on top of the rice, recover and cook another 5-7 minutes.
5. Stir in Kielbasa and 1 cup of cheese to combine.
6. Top with remaining cheese, recover, and let cook 2 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Tacos

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. June was a pretty busy month here in our home. To begin, Baby P was sick for about 2 weeks, so Hubby and I spent most of our time comforting her and eating small meals whenever we could, like soup sandwiches, and mac and cheese. No impressive recipes there. Then, school was ending on June 17th, so I had a lot going on at work as I prepared for the summer, which I have off to spend time with P. Now, with summer underway, and Baby P back to normal (minus fighting sleep something fierce....) I'm hoping to get back into trying some new recipes.

This recipe is from about 2 weeks ago and it was great! Leftovers don't end up so great with this recipe, as the taco shells get soggy and reheating them makes them even soggier. I recommend this for when you know they will all be eaten right after you make them. I adapted it slightly by using a rotisserie chicken for convenience and using the Sweet n' Smoky rub we love to use to season the chicken rather than just using paprika and pepper.  My preparation is listed below. If you want to use chicken breasts, just click the link for the original recipe and follow that. I topped mine with lettuce and blue cheese dressing to help cut some of the heat since I'm a wuss when it comes to hot foods.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Tacos
Adapted from Gal on a Mission

2-2.5 cups cooked shredded chicken
2.5 tsp. Sweet n' Smoky rub seasoning (or seasonings of your choice)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
8-10 taco shells
Shredded cheese of your choice

Taco toppings of your choice (I used blue cheese dressing and shredded lettuce)

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a medium saucepan, over medium-high heat, combine the cream cheese, butter and hot sauce and stir. Heat until cream cheese is melted and everything is smooth.
3. Mix the seasoning with the chicken to coat the pieces, then add the seasoned chicken to the pan of hot sauce. Stir to combine.
4. Arrange taco shells upright in a 9x13 baking dish and evenly distribute chicken amongst the shells. Top with shredded cheese.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.

Banana Bread Truffles

I stumbled across a Pinterest post about different types of banana bread the other day. This was perfect because I had 4 browning bananas sitting on my counter. I love flavored banana breads. I know, banana is a flavor, but it's not fancy enough for me. When I use up old bananas I make things like:

Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie Cupcakes

Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie

Kahlua Caramelized Banana S'More Bread

Red Velvet Banana Bread

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Banana Blondie Cake

I like banana stuff...

Plain old banana bread is great, but it's better when you add more to it. So, in this list of type of banana bread were cookies, bars, banana bread in a jar etc. When I saw the truffles I knew it was something easy enough to make so I took a stab at it.

They are easy to make, but I've ever really made truffles before. My chocolate was really thick which made it hard to roll the banana bread in, and made for a thick chocolate shell. I'll have to work on that. Other than that issue, they're pretty good. I don't think I'll be going into the truffle/candy business anytime soon however.

You can take any banana bread recipe you have and whip it up. I'll include my super simple one I used yesterday from Martha Stewart.

Banana Bread Truffles
 From Inquiring Chef

Banana bread:
3 ripe bananas mashed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 bags milk chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl, mix together the banana, sugar, egg and butter. In a different bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the flour to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Place into a greased 9x5 dish and bake for 55 minutes at 325 degrees. Let cool completely.

2. When the bread is cooled, slice off the edges that touched the pan that are crustier. We're talking like just a little sliver off the edges. Then crumble up the banana bread into a bowl so it's all small crumbs.

3. Add the cream cheese and mix until fully combined and creamy. Roll the mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour to overnight. I let mine chill for 5 hours.

4. Melt one bag of chocolate chips in the microwave at 30 second increments until melted and stir until completely smooth.

5. Dip the banana balls into the chocolate to coat and use two forks to help let the extra chocolate drip off and place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Chill in the refrigerator until set and enjoy!

My truffles aren't pretty whatsoever. I need some practice on how to make good truffles. But, they do have that homemade with love look, and that's perfectly fine with me. Plus, they taste amazing which is all that matters. I know this, because I've eaten about 6 of them......

Honey Glazed Bacon Wrapped Pork

We love pork tenderloin in this house. We were eating it once a week for a couple of months not long ago. I know, I know. Not the healthiest choice, but it's affordable and delicious!

This recipe is definitely not healthy. It's pork on pork goodness. I don't usually wrap our pork in bacon. I usually cook ours using my Maple-Dijon Pork recipe. I used a similar method with this recipe, but a different flavor and it's wrapped in bacon. The key is searing your pork first before putting it into the over. Searing it gives it a nice crisp edge and really holds in those juices. It comes out perfect every time, never dry!

When I made this, the tenderloin I picked up was on sale, it was 2 one and a half-pound tenderloins in the package. So I used both of them. One package of bacon was enough for both tenderloins, so it worked out perfectly. Cooking times vary according to the size of your tenderloin, so I recommend going by the package directions rather than always following the recipe directions. Even though there are a few steps in this recipe, it's simple and impressive. When you tell your husband you're making bacon wrapped pork for dinner you're pretty much a superstar.

Honey Glazed Bacon Wrapped Pork
From Recipe Tin Eats

1 lb. pork tenderloin
1 package of bacon, thin or regular cut, long enough to wrap around pork.
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 tbsp. honey

1. Preheat oven to 390. Lay bacon pieces (enough to cover length of pork) next to each other on a clean surface, slightly overlapping.
2. Season pork with salt and pepper. Brown each side of the pork in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat in the oil.
3. Place pork on top of bacon and roll the bacon over the pork to cover it. Place it seam side down back into the pan.
4. Brush the pork with honey and place into the oven to cook. Mine took about 50 minutes for my two pieces. Feel free to baste it a few times with the juices while it cooks.
5. Remove from oven and let rest a few minutes before slicing.

SoCo Cherry Bombs

This recipe should have posted a month ago...or any time earlier this week since I've been home on vacation all week, but I haven't spent much time on the computer. I've spent most of time with the baby, enjoying all of our precious moments together. I've also spent half my vacation week (and the end of last week) being sick and recovering from being sick. I had some awful viral infection that had me feverish and with an extreme sore throat for 4 days, and then cold symptoms, and now just a lingering ticklish cough with an on/off stuffy nose. Great way to spend a vacation....

Anyways, if you're looking for something fun for a party or gathering, and by fun I mean tasty and has booze in it, these are the way to go. I've made cherries soaked in many things before (flavored vodkas are great) as well as Southern Comfort. My favorite is Southern Comfort. These are soaked overnight in SoCo and then dipped in melted white chocolate and sprinkles, because why not? It adds a fun and tasty touch.

As for soaking the cherries, you can soak them as ling as you like. I did these for about 24 hours, but in the past I've soaked them for a week. Overnight gave a good kick of the SoCo, so if they were soaked for a week they would be extremely strong. It's up to you for the length of time they soak.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished, other than the one of my friend eating it. I dipped them in different colored sprinkles to make them fun. The original recipe used blue sprinkles as a fun 4th of July treat. I will definitely remember that for when the time comes! I used two small jars of cherries, but you can adjust the recipe to however many cherries you want. I used about a cup of chocolate chips as well, so you can always adjust that for more or less cherries. Also, I drained 3/4 of the cherry juice, not all of it. You can adjust that as well for how much of the booze you really want to soak in.

SoCo Cherry Bombs
Adapted from Frosting and a Smile

1 (or however many) jar of maraschino cherries, with the stems
1 bottle of Southern Comfort (or other alcohol of choice)
1 cup white chocolate chips
Sprinkles

1. Pour out the cherry juice from the jar and replace with alcohol. Replace the lid on the jar and let soak in the refrigerator for however long you'd like (at least 24 hours).
2. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Place the sprinkles in a shallow dish.
3. Dry off the cherries as you take them out of the jar and dip in the melted chocolate. Immediately dip into the sprinkles.
4. Place on a tray lined with waxed paper to set the chocolate.

That's pretty much it!

Sweet & Savory Chicken Bites

Time to continue my series of recipes from Hubby's birthday party. This one is an absolute keeper and I will definitely be making these again for pretty much any party I attend. They're quick, they're easy, they're tasty, they're wrapped in bacon! What's not to love? These came out of the oven, into a dish, and never made it to the food table. People in the kitchen had some, then on my walk (about 15 seconds or so) people were grabbing at them. That's always a good sign of a keeper recipe. I changed the recipe slightly by adding some of the Sweet & Smoky rub we love in with the brown sugar, making it a sweet and savory version. It was definitely the way to go!

Sweet & Savory Chicken Bacon Bites
Adapted from Jo Cooks

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
Salt and Pepper to taste
8-12 strips of bacon, cut in half the long way, then cut in half the short way (into 4 pieces)
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3 tbsp. chipotle seasoning or any other seasoning you might like

1. Combine brown sugar and seasoning into a shallow dish.
2. Season chicken chunks with salt and pepper and wrap each piece with a piece of bacon.
3. Roll in the sugar mix and place on cookie rack on a cookie pan. (You don't have to use the rack but it helps everything cook evenly all around.)
4. Bake for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked and bacon is nice and crispy.
5. Enjoy!

Easy Crock Pot Beef Queso Dip

It's April 6th.

We had a snow storm 2 days ago.

It was 70 degrees out last week.

I don't like this.


I'm sitting by my window, typing this, and it is just so gray and dreary out. Last week got the excitement of spring coming, and this week it was all swept away. We're having family portraits done in 2 weeks and the photographer said there's an extended forecast of snow!

Snow on April 17th!

The only plus side to cold weather is using it as an excuse to cook hearty meals. Meaning, it's cold, so I can cook heavier and unhealthier meals, because those are the cold-weather meals, right?

This recipe is another that got to test out my triple crock pot. The original recipe is spicier, but I omitted some of the heat because I prefer a milder dip. I left out the jalapenos, but I included them in the recipe below. I have to say, I do love Velveeta mac and cheesy, it's just so creamy and thick, but cubing up a block of processed Velveeta cheese? It grossed me out. It didn't stop me from eating the dip though...

This dip got a lot of compliments, and I didn't even get to taste test it until hours after I made it because I got so busy. I think it had the right amount of heat for me, though I'm sure most would have liked it a little spicier.

Easy Crock Pot Beef Queso Dip
From Brown Eyed Baker

1 lb. ground beef
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 large jalapeno, seeded and finely minced
2/3 cup water
2 tbsp. taco seasoning mix
32 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
2 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes

1. Brown the ground beef and onions in a skillet over medium heat. Drain the excess fat. Add the jalapeno, water and taco seasoning, turn up the heat a bit and cook, stirring, until liquid reduces.
2. Transfer beef to a crock pot. Add the cheese and tomatoes and stir to combine.
3. Cook on low for 1-2 hours until the cheese is melted.

Here's a not so great pic of it.