feeling a little lunchy: recipes

Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

feeling a little soupy {cheeseburger chowder recipe}

A few years ago, a woman I worked with brought some of her leftover soup in to work and ate it for lunch. It smelled so fantastic I had to get the recipe. She says it won a state fair contest somewhere but I had been unable to locate the recipe online anywhere. She gave me a photo copy of the recipe. I did a little sleuthing last night and found it on the Food Network site. To see that recipe, click HERE.

You really can't go wrong with this recipe! It freezes well, and is a family favorite in our house.

Cheeseburger Chowder

You may want to cut in half...it makes a lot of soup.

1 ½ lbs ground beef (I use half beef and half turkey)

3/4 cup chopped onion

4 tbsp butter, divided

2 cloves garlic minced

1 cup diced carrots

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

3-4 cups chicken broth

4 cups peeled diced or shredded potatoes

1/4 cup flour

2 small cans evaporated milk

2 cups cubed or shredded cheese

salt & pepper to taste

1/4 cup sour cream (I used 1/2 cup)

Garnish: chopped dill pickle & chopped tomatoes (the pickle really makes it!)

Brown the ground beef, drain & set aside.

sauté onion & 1 tbsp butter until tender. Add garlic, carrots, basil and parsley. Saute about 3 minutes. Add broth, beef & potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & cover, simmer for 15-20 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, melt 3 tbsp butter in a small skillet. Add flour & cook,

stirring for 3-5 minutes. Gradually add evaporated milk, stirring constantly for 6-8

minutes. (It thickens quite a bit). Gradually stir the sauce into the soup, bring to a boil &

cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, salt & pepper. Continue to stir until

cheese melts. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream. Add garnish.

Using my Cuisinart food processor, I shredded the potatoes and carrots, but dicing them works as well. I was just being ultra lazy today and wanted to play with the machine a little. I've had it for a couple of years and have just started to realize how useful it is.

I like to use the immersion blender to make it smooth and chop up all the bits of ground beef.

Nice and smooth.

It's got a crap ton of cheese in it.

Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT skip the pickles for garnishing. Unless you just don't like pickles, but you'll be missing out for sure.

Enjoy.

feeling a little like making the easiest Christmas cookie recipe ever

I'm sure this cookie has been made somewhere before and probably a long time ago, but the recipe was verbally passed to me from my mother in law...that's how easy it is. She's amazing in the kichen and if you'd like to make a much more involved cookie, check out this post I did last year for Fruit Cake Cookies.

This recipe is the best no bake, not a lot of fuss, most delicious cookie ever. They're truly the easiest cookies you'll ever make. It's so easy, that my 10 year old wild child made the whole thing. I just took pictures.

Items needed:

Peanut butter or a peanut butter alternative like WowButter

Keebler Town House crackers

Vanilla Bark Coating also known as candy coating

Sprinkles (optional)

Parchment paper to place cookies on to cool.

First, make sandwiches by spreading your peanut butter or WowButter between two crackers. Try not to have the butter seeping out the sides of the sandwiches too much. It will end up melting in your candy coating and making a mess. One box of crackers yielded about 60 sandwiches for us. We made half of them with peanut butter and half with WowButter. If you're making these for people with allergies to peanuts, you'll really want to make sure you don't cross contaminate anything.

Second, melt your candy coating as per the directions on the package. I've done this in the microwave before, but honestly, it burns very easily so using the stove top may be safer since you can actually feel the lumps melting while you stir. The coating stays well melted for a long time after it's removed from the stove. It can also be reheated if needed. Make sure you melt it on a low setting so it doesn't burn.

Dip the cracker sandwiches, one at a time, in the coating with two forks. Make sure to turn them over a few times to get an even coating. Hold them over the pan to drip off the excess candy. Place them on the parchment paper to cool. They take a while to cool, but you'll want to add your sprinkles while they're still melty. You can make five or ten, do the sprinkles, then go make more. Or if you prefer more simple, just leave them plain.

That's it. You're done. Well, you'll have to wait about 45 minutes for them to be cool enough to box up. Although, a warm candy coated peanut butter cracker is rather fantastic too. I almost prefer the WowButter ones to the traditional peanut butter. The WowButter has this great toasty flavor to it, combine that with the salt of the crackers and the uber sweet of the candy...it might just be the perfect cookie.

Now, my girls went a little overboard and whipped out my Wilton gel food colorings...they painted the twelve days of Christmas on their cookies...and a few scenes from The Hunger Games. They're still delicious!

feeling a little fishy

I made a quick and easy fish florentine bake for dinner. While it was absolutely delicious, I'm quickly learning that as I get older, there are some things I used to thoroughly enjoy to eat that are now causing some allergy symptoms. I've been avoiding shellfish for about 8 years now, since I was stuck for three extra days down in Florida hugging the toilet. Tuna and other fish had not caused any problems until I ate this meal. My sinuses got all stuffy and my throat swelled a little. Not enough to cause it to be hard to breathe, but enough to make me realize that I MUST go get tested for allergies so I know exactly what to avoid. Regardless, I'm sharing this great recipe with you. It was simple and delicious and I might make it again...with chicken.

Easy Fish Florentine Bake

2 pounds of fish filets (I used frozen flounder, didn't even thaw it.)

Salt and pepper or even some Old Bay would be great

1 box thawed chopped spinach

2 cups Bisquick

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese (optional)

Set oven to 350. Arrange fish filets in a greased baking dish. Season with salt and pepper or Old Bay. Spread the chopped spinach over the top of the filets. In a separate bowl, use a fork to whisk the bisquick, milk, eggs and parmesean cheese together. Pour mixture over top of spinach and fish. Bake for about 40 minutes until the bisquick is golden brown.

feeling a little easy and cheesy

Thanks to my friend Corey over at Family Fresh Meals for this impossibly easy and quick prep meal. As soon as I saw it posted on her Facebook page, I knew I had to make it.

I modified the recipe a little, swapping out the jarred sauce and canned broth for some I had made and frozen previously. I love making stock for this very reason! Every time we eat chicken, I make stock, freeze it in ice cube trays, then store it in a big gallon bag. One ice cube is about one ounce. Having it frozen in cubes makes it easier to thaw, easier to measure and keeps it from going bad. Making stock is super easy, too. If you're having chicken, whether it be homemade roasted chicken or even a rotisserie chicken you picked up at the grocery store...make some crockpot stock. Take all the bones and put them in the crockpot, put a few tablespoons of vinegar in there, fill the crock to the top with water. Then set on high and let it simmer for 12 or more hours...I've let it go for as long as 18-20 hours before. Add more water to accommodate for evaporation. Strain out the bones and let cool in the refrigerator. Once it's cool, there will be a layer of congealed fat on top, spoon that off. Then transfer to ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, put in a ziplock bag and label it with the date you made it. I find I use it rather quickly, but I'd suppose the stock would be good for about 6 months in the freezer.

CLICK HERE for Easy Cheesy Tortellini Bake Recipe from Family Fresh Meals

CLICK HERE TO PIN THE RECIPE FOR LATER

I used Buittoni Herb Chicken Tortellini, Hunts Basil, Garlic and Oregano Diced Tomatoes, Kraft Seven Seas Viva Italian dressing and Sargento 6 Cheese Italian shredded cheese. I found that the cheese didn't melt like I wanted it to, so I added another 1/2 cup of cheese and stuck it back in the oven under the broiler for a couple minutes to make it bubbly and a little brown. I kept a watchful eye on it while it broiled so it wouldn't burn. Served with a salad and some garlic bread. Delicious!

feeling a little freaky {Pumpkin Spice Latte Bread Recipe}

It's that time of year again...Halloween! Who doesn't love a bit of scary mixed with all you can eat candy? It wouldn't be a holiday of the Bento Bloggers and Friends didn't do a blog hop...so here it is in all it's fearsome glory! Click the button below to head on over to One Crafty Thing when you're done eyeballing my lunch.

One Crafty Thing

This lunch contains an awesome recipe for Crock Pot Pumpkin bread from Wanna Bite blog. I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course. It's moist and delicious and I don't think I will ever make pumpkin bread any other way now. If you're feeling a little adventurous, try dumping in two packets of Starbucks VIA instant coffee for a Pumpkin Spice Latte Bread...I use Italian Roast. It's delicious (and caffeinated to boot!)

Here's the recipe for the kids without the coffee:

Crockpot Pumpkin Bread

PIN HERE: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/86483255315312813/

Ingredients

½ cup of oil
½ cup of sugar
½ cup of packed brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1½ cup of flour (sifted)
¼ tsp. of salt
½ tsp. of cinnamon
½ tsp. of nutmeg
1 tsp. of baking soda

Instructions

Blend the oil and both of the sugars into a large bowl.
Then, stir in the beaten eggs and canned pumpkin. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Pour the batter into a greased or oiled bread pan. (I used a canola oil spray that worked just fine.
Now add two cups of water to your crockpot and place the pan into a crock pot.
Cover the top of the crockpot with eight-ten paper towels. This is to trap condensation and keep the bread from becoming mushy.
Place the crock pot lid on top of the crockpot (I tried to make sure the paper towels were trapped around the lid so they didn’t slip) and bake on high 2½ to 3 hours.

Since I have two very different children at two different stages in life, I had to make a lunch without all the Halloween flair for the 7th grader. She gets the same lunch, no fun and not tomatoes because she doesn't like tomatoes.

And here's some close ups of the fun lunch: I got the skeleton flair at Publix and the witch and hand on Amazon. Check out the links below to get some of your own.

If you are interested in any of the products I use, click the affiliate links below, please! Anytime you purchase through one of my links, regardless of what you purchase, I get a small percentage of the sale. It's how lunchy gets paid! Thanks!

feeling like being honest with you, dear reader.

I am. I am lazy. Sometimes I think I may do all this blogging stuff just so I don't have to fold laundry. Or clean out my car. Or unload the dishwasher. Or feed the dog. Please don't tell the Hubs. Don't tell him that I spray Lysol around just before he gets home, either. He thinks I've been cleaning...(insert evil snicker here).

If you're lazy, I mean awesome, like I am...this is the lunch for you. I made spaghetti for dinner last night and we had a lot of leftover noodles, but no more sauce. How about a lazy mom leftover makeover? Take the noodles, squeeze on the ranch dressing, chop up some cold cuts, chuck in some frozen peas and top with grated parmesean cheese. A Babybel cheese, sugar snap peas with a side of ranch and some crunchy mini toast slices adorn their lunches. I say lazy, they say "YUM!"

This is a ten minutes or less lunch for sure. And I made two lunches in that little time. Takes longer to clean up the kitchen. Which I still have to do...but I'd rather force you to have more words to read. Check out some more lazy, I mean quick, lunches over at Bentos on the Bayou 15 Minute Fridays. Each Friday there's a post that bloggers can link their quick lunches to...tons of awesome ideas.

I swear...EasyLunchboxes and PlanetBox make these lazy lunches look spectacular. Here's the same lunch as above in a PlanetBox Shuttle:

feeling a little little

What a challenge!! My friend Karen over at I Wish I Had An Adipose has challenged people to make a recipe that fits on a teeny, tiny post it note. She's got a weekly link up called Stick to It Sundays. I made this recipe, adapted from My Recipe Magic...

Hope Karen won't disqualify me...the last step wouldn't fit. It's refrigerate. Gah!

Creamy Ranch Pasta Salad

1 lb mini shell pasta

1 crown chopped broccoli

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 package pepperoni (quartered)

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 cup + Ranch Dressing

Cook pasta, rinse w/ cold water.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Add more ranch if needed. Salt and pepper to taste. (Refrigerate)

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