A Happy 4th of July Menu.

Okay, so it’s not the 4th YET but plans are being made, groceries are getting bought and recipes are being searched for.  To help you in your ‘Best 4th Ever’ quest, I’m sharing my menu and a few tips and tricks.

1. Appetizers – I like to keep the appetizers simple.  There’s enough to do, don’t you think?  A simple veggie tray, chips and salsa,  pretzels and pub cheese.  Done and done.
2. Main Dish(es) – We keep it traditional in this house.  Hot dogs, hamburgers (made with a burger press), brats (boiled in beer first).  The usual. This year, however, I’m going to twist it a little with toppings.  For the burgers, I am going to make spicy mayo (mayo w/a little Tabasco),  saute mushrooms, saute onions, make guacamole and fry up some bacon.  For the hot dogs and brats, I am going to saute peppers and serve with fun cheeses and rolls.  Think of it as the sundae bar for a BBQ. 🙂
3. Sides – Corn on the cob.  Check out this You Tube video on how to shuck corn.   Super easy.   A new pasta salad I found, Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes and Basil.  This recipe is by one of my fave cooks, Ree Drummond (a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman).  I also found a recipe by Robert Irvine called, Bacon-and-Egg Potato Salad.  Need I say more.  The title says it all.  I canNOT wait to try this.   Plus it doesn’t look complicated.  Bonus.   We will serve easy stuff too… chips, fruit salad, etc…
4. Desserts –   By request of my five-year old, I will be making Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and it actually turned out just liked it looked.   I am also going to make traditional chocolate chip cookies.  My favorite choco chip cookie recipe ever is on the back of a package of Trader Joe’s chocolate chips.  Trader Joes’ Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  For some reason this only has three stars.  Wrong. wrong. wrong.  These are amazing.  So says me!  I do sprinkle with a little sea salt before cooking.  Delish!

I think that’s it!  So hungry for this stuff now!  Share with everyone what you will be cooking this 4th.

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone.

Happy BBQ’ing!!

Happy National Pie Day!

Happy National Pie Day everyone!!!

Check out this pie recipe from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman).   Click on ‘Best Pie Ever’ to get to the recipe.

Fun Fact:  You put the pecans on the bottom and they rise to the top while baking.

Best Pie Ever!

Clearly too late in the day to celebrate now BUT you could celebrate on Saturday!

Happy baking!

P.S. If you don’t follow The Pioneer Woman, you should. 🙂

Menu Plan 13.0

Week 13:

Sunday – Chicken Fried Steak

Monday – Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken.

Tuesday – Trader Joe’s General Tsoa Stir Fry Sauce

Wednesday – Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Thursday – Spicy Bean and Cheese Burrito.

Saturday – Baked Shrimp and Feta.

Sunday –Chicken Fried Steak w/Gravy – I found this recipe in the November edition of Food Network Magazine. It is a recipe from one of my most fave chefs, Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman) so I knew that I HAD to try it!  I love that it is true comfort food.  Especially when served with mashed potatoes and steamed corn.  Yum!  ** Don’t skip the tenderizing step! It seems like an easy thing to skip over but don’t.  This will prevent the meat from getting too tough.  Also, make sure that you are using your silicone whisk when making the gravy directly in the pan.  🙂

Monday–  Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken. This recipe is a classic recipe from AllRecipes.  I haven’t made this recipe in a while but it is a tried and true recipe that I always seem to come back to.   With the lemon and garlic, it has a fresh light taste.   Especially for a slow cooker recipe, which in my opinion, generally tend to be heavier.  Remember to use fresh lemon juice (not bottled!).  It makes a big difference.  Substituting bottled lemon juice can leave a fake lemon taste. 

Tuesday–  General Tsao Chicken –  This is such an easy weeknight meal.  I cut up 3 chicken breasts into pieces and cook in the wok with olive oil until no longer pink.  Dump an entire bottle of Trader Joe’s General Tsao sauce.  Add red, orange and yellow peppers (1/2 of each pepper) cut into skinny strips, cook until tender, add jasmine rice (already cooked). Voila.  Easy, delicious AND cheap.

Wednesday– Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup – I love love love tomato basil soup.  This is such a fantastic recipe (I found this recipe on a great site called Today’s Mama).  My initial pull to try it was that it was a slow cooker recipe.  I am always on a quest for good slow cooker recipes. I love to serve Tomato Basil soup with croutons on top and sometimes I will add rice for a twist.  Delish!

Thursday– Spicy Bean and Cheese Burrito – I found this recipe last month in Rachel Ray’s magazine.  This is a fantastic mid-week recipe!  It’s quick.  It’s easy.  The added bonus is that it gives you a little break from meat.   I do not change anything about this recipe.  Perfect as is.  🙂

Friday– Take a break, will ya?  Order in.

Saturday–  Baked Shrimp and Feta – This recipe by Rachel Ray had me at feta.  Seriously.  If the recipe title has the word ‘feta’ in it, I either have tried or will try it.   This recipe is so simple to make.  Serve with angel hair pasta and a salad.  

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan 12.0

The weekly menu plan is back….. at long last!

Week 12:

Sunday – Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

Monday – Holiday Fiesta Quesadillas

Tuesday – Beef Tips

Wednesday – TJ Madarin Chicken

Thursday – Easy Marinated Shrimp

Saturday – Pretzel Coated Chicken Breasts

Sunday –Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings.  If you have not made this before and you have a slow cooker, you HAVE to try this.  It is a perfect cold weather easy dinner.  Notes: 1. I use chicken broth in place of water. and 2. I cut the biscuits into smaller pieces (4 to 6 pcs. per biscuit), otherwise they come out a bit doughier than we like.  

Monday–  Holiday Fiesta Quesadillas.  This recipe by Ree Drummond looks amazing.  I have not made this recipe yet, but I will be making this next Monday.  I will post feedback on the recipe afterwards on my Facebook page.  www.Facebook.com/MincedReviews.

Tuesday– Beef Tips.  This recipe from All Recipes is a great mid-week recipe.  We try not to each much red meat, so I only make this occasionally.  The only thing that I change is that I omit the tsp of salt.  This recipe has enough salt as is.  Serve with egg noodles.

Wednesday– Mandarin Orange Chicken.  Not every night can be a ‘made from scratch’ night.  We (the boys included) love Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken.  I steam rice in the rice cooker, heat the chicken in the oven and once in awhile we will also make the Trader Joe’s egg rolls to go with it.

Thursday– Marinated Grilled Shrimp.  This is such a fantastic easy meal.  Now that it’s colder, I use my grill pan on the stove.  The results are nearly the same as using an outdoor grill.  Serve with angel hair pasta (w/olive oil and garlic salt), garlic bread and a salad.  Easy.  Easy. Dinner.

Friday– Fun Friday!  Go out to dinner.  Eat frozen pizza.  Just take it easy.  It’s the end of the week, you deserve a break!!

Saturday–  Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breasts.  This recipe is a Rachel Ray recipe that I have adapted.  This is such a great variation of a typical bread crumb coated chicken breast.  A couple of notes:  1.  I did not use thyme in the pretzel crumb mixture (just didn’t have any on hand and I didn’t miss it). 2. I used olive oil to fry in vs. vegetable oil.  I get that oil is oil but I just prefer olive oil because it seems so much better for you. Who knows? 3. I don’t make the cheddar mustard sauce.  If you have the time, I say have at it.  I had honey mustard sauce on hand so we just used that and saved a little time.  I have made this a few times.  We love it!  For a fun variation, I used the pumpernickel pretzels from Trader Joes the second time that I made it.  Serve with mashed potatoes and corn.  Yummy comfort food with a twist! 🙂

The link below is to a printable grocery list that you can check off what you need and add what I’ve left off the list.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!

Holiday Cooking 3.0 (Side Dishes!)

Happy ‘almost’  Thanksgiving!  The count down to Thanksgiving continues.  Today’s blog is focused on the often pushed to the side but NEVER overlooked side dish.  Raise your hand if you could eat a whole plate of sides and ditch the Turkey… I’m typing with one hand now. 🙂   Here are a few of my favorite side dishes.  I love these recipes because they comfort, they aren’t complex and remind me of a traditional Thanksgiving filled with familiarity.  I just don’t like to venture to outside the norm on this day of all days.

Cheesy Potatoes.

Yummy Sweet Potatoes.

Creamed Spinach.

Stuffing.

Mashed Potatoes.

Scalloped Corn.

1. Scalloped Corn – I love a simple recipe sometimes.  I am a proponent of mixing complex recipes with the more simple recipes so that I’m not losing my mind doing twelve things at once.  This recipe from allrecipes has very few ingredients, very little prep time and is always a crowd pleaser.   ***Note-I do leave out the sugar.  This recipe just doesn’t need it.  Especially if you are using a boxed corn bread such as Jiffy.  In my opinion, there is enough sugar already in boxed corn bread.
2. Mashed Potatoes – Ok, so we all know how to make mashed potatoes, right??  Well, there are mashed potatoes and there are MASHED POTATOES.  This recipe from the Pioneer Woman is crazy good.  Sooooo unhealthy .. I mean filled with the yummiest of ingredients.  Wow.  Really.  All I can say is wow.
3. Stuffing –  This recipe from cooks.com is one of my favorites because I love a stuffing recipe that includes sausage and yummy fall spices like sage and thyme.    This takes a bit of prep work but is worth every second!
4. Creamed Spinach – This recipe makes me feel like maybe I’m getting something green and healthy on Thanksgiving.  Although it is doused in so much creaminess that I’m sure it’s being canceled out but let’s not talk about that. 🙂
5. Sweet Potato Casserole – This allrecipe recipe is so decadent that every time I eat it, I question if it should be a side dish or a dessert.  It is truly like eating a yummy dessert.  I ALWAYS go back for second helpings of this and there is never any left after everyone has gone home.  I don’t make any changes to this recipe.
6. Cheesy Potatoes – This is the ultimate in comfort food.   This recipe was given to me by my bestie. Crazy easy.  I do heat the potatoes in the microwave for about 10 minutes before mixing with the other ingredients and if you really want to get crazy, top the casserole with corn flakes to add a little crunch.

Good grief.  I need to get the gym quick.  I need to bank about 3,000 calories for Thursday.  Is that possible?  🙂

Stay tuned!  Tomorrow’s blog… Desserts!!

Holiday Cooking 1.0 (Appetizers)

Happy ‘almost’  Thanksgiving!  As with the Halloween recipes that I posted last month, I am continuing my quest for a tasty Holiday season for all of you.  Today we are going to start at the beginning…. Appetizers.

Individual Seven-Layer Dips

Caprese Appetizer

Mini Florentine Cups

Goat Cheese with Fresh Dill

Fruit Salsa

Jalepeno Popper Dip

1. Jalepeno Popper Dip– This recipe is soooo good, easy and can be made ahead of time.  Need I say more? Well, sort of…  **note I put this in my mini-crockpot to keep warm and have served with pita chips and tortilla chips.  Both were equally good.  Well, any chip/cracker will really just end up serving as a vehicle for this amazing little dip.  They don’t matter.  Just the dip. 🙂
2. Fruit Salsa – This recipe is one of the top apps on All Recipes.  Every single time that I have made this, someone has asked me for the recipe.  It is always a hit.  It is a fresh, lighter than most other appetizers, recipe.  You could tailor this recipe to fit whatever fruits are in season but I don’t usually deviate too much from the recipe.  Also, this recipe does call for making your own cinnamon tortilla chips.  It’s simply not worth the effort for me personally.  I buy Stacy’s Cinnamon Pita Chips and they work perfectly.  (**note- more often than not, Stacy’s pita chips are somewhere in or near the produce section.  They are rarely in the chip aisle)
3. Goat Cheese with Fresh Dill – Two steps.  Done and done.  I adore goat cheese.  I especially adore this recipe by The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.  I love this recipe because you really need to balance easy and complex appetizers so that you aren’t going crazy trying to do too much.  This for sure falls into the ‘easy’ category.
4. Mini Florentine Cups – This is a simple, cheap recipe from Kraft.  I made this years ago and it’s always a hit.
5. Caprese Appetizer – Love, love, love Carprese in general.  Love the portability of these.  You and your guests (note that I said ‘you’, you need to enjoy your yummy appetizers too!).  Again, another easy recipe that you don’t have to spend a ton of time on but looks like you did.  🙂
6. Individual Seven-Layer Dips – I haven’t made these yet but saw them on Pinterest and thought they were brilliant!

Menu Plan 9.0

Week 9:

Saturday – Chicken Fried Steak

Thursday – Chicken Fried Rice

Wednesday – Tuna Casserole

Monday – Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Sunday – Forty Garlic Chicken

Sunday – Forty Garlic Chicken, this is a recipe from week one but I MUST make it again.  We all love it so much!  Henry asked me to make it so make it I shall. 🙂 Remember to serve with fresh french bread and make sure you allow plenty of time to cook this. It takes a couple of hours to cook but it is AMAZING. Reminder – refer to my garlic blog for garlic peeling tips. It’s essential for this recipe.

Monday–  Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.   This is such a great way to start the week.  You can throw everything in the crock pot the night before and put it on before you leave for the day on Monday.  Serve on buns with sweet potato fries on the side and maybe a little cole slaw.

Tuesday– Spaghetti with turkey meatballs.  Ok, so with soccer practices on Tuesday nights it is becoming difficult to cook EVERY night.  Today has to be an easy night.  I usually keep Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs in the freezer, throw them in a sauce pan and cover with a jar of sauce.  Simmer for about 20 minutes or until meatballs are heated through.  Serve over spaghetti, throw some garlic bread in. Done. 

Wednesday– Tuna Casserole.   Serve with biscuits.  You can certainly make your own, but during the week, it’s refrigerated biscuits for us! 🙂

Thursday– Chicken Fried Rice.  Such a quick easy meal.  I typically use this dish as an opportunity to unload the veggies in the fridge that are on the verge of biting the dust.  I love to add diced cucumber for a little crunch but will add zucchini, carrots, celery.  Again, I don’t really go shopping for this, I usually just open the veggie drawer and start slicing and dicing.

Friday–  Date Night!!!  or Leftover night.  Whatev.

Saturday– Chicken Fried Steak w/Gravy – If you haven’t heard of Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Women, you are missing out!  She is amaZing.  This is one of my favorite recipes from her.   Serve with Mashed Potatoes and a salad. Yum!! 

The link below is to a printable grocery list that you can check off what you need and add what I’ve left off the list.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!