Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we followed our mentors from Cache Valley.  We all bought our own turkey,  and then made one side dish to accompany it,  and a pie.  A few of us (not me) went a little further by adding in treats and appetizers.  I wondered what we would do with 4 pies,  but we figured it out.  At least that's what my scale is saying.  It was a very yummy week.

New site

Don't you just love it when people share? Jenny shared this site with me and now I'm going to share with you. A wonderful woman shares her recipies and food memories and. I'm really grateful. This week i'm using one of her recipes she made to honor her mom. Check it out. Www.abountifulkitchen.com.

Chicken and Dumplings

This was great, easy and comforting.
Here is what I did.
In my slow cooker I layered
1. medium sized whole red potatoes
2. 1 quartered onion
3 Frozen chicken breast
4 carrots, ( celery and leeks would be good too.)

Then I mixed
1 can cream of chicken
about 1/2 can of broth
some poultry seasoning 1 tsp maybe
2 teaspoons about of Susie Q seasoning
and dumped it over the chicken.
I cooked it on medium low for about 5 hours.  If the chicken is thawed then cut the potatoes in half and it should cook faster.

Dumplings
These were so good and light!
1 C Flour
3/4 C cake flour (softaskilk)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
3/4 t salt
3 T shortening
I mixed these in my kitchenaid with the cake paddle untill it was crumby (just go slow!)
Add 1 large egg
3/4 C butter milk.
about 40 minutes before serving, turn it up to high, and twenty minutes before serving use a big spoon to shape a dumpling and place it ON TOP of a piece of chicken or potato. If you just put it on the sauce it will just disintigrate.



They don't brown so just give a little toothpick test.
For dinner trade I kept the wet and dry ingredients separate becuase I didn't know how it would react.

What a fun week of food!

Thanks Heidi for making us our APRIL FOOLS DINNER, I totally fooled my kids, they thought I was so cool to make "cake for dinner," they were only frowning for a minute until they tasted it, then they were in heaven.

Mer made AWESOME boneless barbeque pork ribs (I love crockpot meals!), sweet potatoes with an ingenious idea to make cinnamon- sugar- butter YUM! And for an april fools dessert "cake pie" she got the recipe out of a amish book she is reading, it had no choice but to be good!

Katie went wild with two different options of homemade pizza! BBQ chicken or Ranch Chicken pizza's, with extra dough to make bread sticks, not to mention cookie dough truffles! Thank you Thank you!!!

I made EASTER BRUNCH, hashbrown/egg/ham quiche (is that how you spell it?) Cinnamon rolls and butcher cut bacon, a little tip, go to your butcher and get your bacon it is the same price and sooooo much better! Don't forget the OJ.

HAPPY EASTER everyone and thanks for helping me make such cute memories with my family, I certainly don't think I would have the energy or time to do all of that on my own. I LOVE DINNER TRADE!!!

super mom

My kids laughed and laughed tonight over thier "cake" dinners.  They really enjoyed the whole concotion and  they loved that it was in a cake pan.

Last night when I tucked Tommy in I asked him what the best part of his day was  he said  "Dinner with you... youre' the bestest!"   So thanks for the pizzas Katie,  they loved it.

Fudge and Strawberry Crustos

Jason told me this is now his favorite dessert, Jen's concoction of crustos, strawberries, and hot fudge (Nacho style). Maybe that's why he likes it so much. His dream is to fill our chocolate fountain with nacho cheese. No wonder I didn't weigh-in at my Biggest Loser contest this last week. My family has never eaten so good, thanks to Heidi, Mer, and Jen. It's awesome!

Our meals this week!

We had a GREAT week of food!

For St. Patty's Heidi did our meal with marinated pork chops, twice baked potatoes, asparagus and green cupcakes, thanks Heidi, my family inhaled those potatoes!

Katie did crockpot meatballs, garlic bread, green jigglers rice and green beans

Merilee made chicken broccoli casserole, garlic butter rolls and salad

Jenny did creamy chicken enchiladas, corn, salad and a dessert of "crustos" from Taco time, sliced strawberries on the top, drizzled in homemade hot fudge, like a bowl of nachos.

It was a great week, can't wait to hear what you Logan girls did! Hope you all had a good week.

Everything looks so good!

I'm so excited to eat this week.
Katie,  I think I kept my side dishes!  Are you missing the sides for my meal?  It was salad and rice,  the crackers for the casserole crumbs and rolls.

I just thought I would share our wonderful meals for the week.

Jen - Ham with a yummy sauce, funeral potatoes, rolls, green beans

Mer - crockpot round steak, potatoes, cauliflower, key lime pie

Katie - whole herbed chicken, cauliflower, bread, baked beans

Heidi - Cafe rio salad with the fixin's, oatmeal cake

Another week of fun meals and what Daxton refers to as "a whole dinner". Apparently, for the past 15 years he has only been partially fed. Have a good week everyone.

St. Patrick's Day

We have done a few things for St. Patty's Day in the past- green food- jello, mashed potatoes, green rolls, pistachio torte, etc. There is actually a pretty good recipe for cornbeef and cabbage in the Mormon Celebrations cookbook that is cooked in the crockpot. It has red potatoes & carrots with it. You add the cabbage last, so it's not soggy, then melt a whole bunch of butter over the entire dish. Not too bad. We are up for new ideas if you have any.

Also- Mel does a funny tradition for St. Patty's Day that I started also. Leprechauns turn your milk green in the middle of the night. Then make a big deal about how kids can drink green milk, but if adults drink it their feet turn green (you have already colored the bottom of your feet green with a marker, then put socks on). Drink the milk, then let the kids check your feet. This is so funny, but the first year I did it, my 2 little ones cried and cried. They didn't like that idea. Hee hee.

St. Patricks Day

I hear there are some fun St. Patty's day ideas out there.  Care to share?

This weeks good Eatin'!

Hey All!

Our meals for this week were:

Merilee - chicken cordon-bleu, caesar salad, broccoli and rice

Katie - french dips (my kids died over last night!) chips and fruit with a lemonade fruit dip!

Heidi - Hamburgers with all the fixin's, chips and our Nana's famous potato salad

Jen - 4th of July marinade chicken, creamed carrots (the jury is still out on those!), corn, baked potatoes and strawberry pie

Hey Logan girls, how do you guys do St. Patrick's day? We "newbies" need to know! Mel I am excited you closed on your house congrats! Thanks Lisa for posting your dinner trades.

Our groups traded this week:

Cheri: Green eggs and ham, cheese potatoes, chocolate cupcakes (Dr. Seuss Birthday!)
Mel: Meal 1: Cinnamon french toast, hashbrowns, omlets, juice. Meal #2 Ham and potato soup, cinnamon rolls, root beer.
Lisa: Lasagna, carrot salad, texas toast.
Have a great week ladies!

meal planning

I'm trying to plan,  but I think I'm going to share  a stir-fry or chicken cordon blue  with salad and rice.... hmmm we'll see.

Dinner Trades this week

Mer,

Thanks for doing this, it is so cute! To add to this blog, Merilee has sent each of you an invite then, just follow the directions to the new post!

FYI

Our dinner trades this week were:

Heidi - Baked potato soup, with cheese, bacon & onions to add to it. YUMMY scones (please share recipe!!!), honey butter and salad

Katie - Meatloaf with rice, asparagus, good corn muffins!

Merilee - sweet pork tortillas with lots of stuff to add to them & chips and salsa

Jen - Old Fashion Beef Stroganoff, veggie medley with cheese sauce and blueberry/pineapple jello another looks bad tastes good recipe!

This recipie was on Studio 5 the other day. I don't know if it is a good one for food groups, but so yummy.

Avocado Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
2 large avocados, peeled, pitted, & diced
4 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
2 tablespoon minced red onion
1 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
¼ t. salt
6 egg roll wraps
Method:
Gently stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and salt. Distribute filling evenly onto center of each egg roll wrapper. Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up over the filling.
Fold side corners in and roll toward the top corner. Wet the edges of the top corner with a little water. Then fold top corner over and press to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
Continue by deep-frying the egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce.

Honey Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
3-4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup chopped cashews
2/3 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
2 green onions
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup olive oil

Method:
To make dipping sauce, use a blender or food processor to puree all listed ingredients except olive oil. Blend until well pureed. Then stream in olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use.

( I think this would be a great salad dressing, dip for tempura or shrimp and even a good marinde for chicken).

Best Bread, Fast

Hi, Jenny made this bread last week and it was so yummy. I could hardly bring myself to share with my family. Jenny got this from a woman named Claudine, so thanks to Claudine too!
5 1/2 Cups Hot water
2/3 c salad oil
2/3 c Gluten (can find it in a health food store, makes the better texture.)
1 T salt
1/2 C honey
8 C whole wheat flour
Mix everything in your mixer on high 1 minute to allow the gluten to form. Add 3 T saf yeast (best yeast ever). add 3-4 cups white flour one cup at a time untill the dough begins to pull away from the sides. Mix on high for 10 minutes. Add a little flour if it gets too sticky, but it is supposed to be sticky. Cover and allow to raise until double. Separate into 5 pieces and shape, place in greased bread pans, cover and allow to double. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and pans and cool on a rack. Brush with melted butter while still hot.

This goes really fast, maybe an hour to 90 minutes from start to finish! Enjoy.

About meal sharing

I'm new to the idea of sharing meals, and have actually turned down a few invitations to join food groups. I love cooking and really enjoy feeding my family and trying new things. I was afraid of food groups becuase I didn't want a freezer full of things that I wouldn't eat. (However I know a few women who love freezer meal groups). I have joined a group consisting of 4 of us and our rules are simple, prepare an entree and two side dishes. We do not plan menus or worry about duplication. Basically you plan and prep a meal, just making much more, and we turn it over on Tuesdays at noon. I love not having to chop vegies for a salad, or worrying about planning every meal. I still have 4 days I can make what I want, and 3 meals in my fridge that only require me to finish them off. Usually I only have to put it in the oven or crockpot and steam the veggies. We have loved it.
Share your recipies and food sharing ideas with us.