Mommy plus Five

For dinner tonight I made some Chicken-n-Dumplings, and a different spin on the ingredients with Chicken Dumpling Biscuits.

Ingredients as follows...

Chicken Breast
Chicken Broth
Carrots
Potatoes
Celery
Green Onion
Frozen Peas
Bisquick
1 can of Biscuits
Salt n Pepper
Lemon Pepper
Curry Powder

...and of course, Jalapeños
 Chop up all your produce, and cut chicken into bite size pieces.
Coat a pot with oil, saute chicken, garlic and a sprinkling of curry powder until brown.

Add your carrots, potatoes, onion and celery until slightly browned.

Pour in enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables, also add frozen peas, then cook until vegetables are tender.
 In a separate bowl, mix Bisquick, salt, pepper and lemon pepper.

Pour in enough evaporated milk until the Bisquick forms a soft dough.
Once your vegetables are tender, drop in spoonfuls of your dough into the boiling pot of chicken goodness.

Cook uncovered for about 10 minutes, then cover and simmer an additional 10 minutes.
For the Chicken Dumpling Biscuits...

Open a can of ready to cook biscuits.  I prefer the flaky variety.

Roll out each round, and tuck into little cups of a muffin pan.

Pour in your chicken and dumpling mixture from above.  I added some freshly diced Jalapeños into half of them.
You can top the little cups with more biscuit dough, or leave them open.

Then bake in a 350° Fahrenheit oven until the biscuits are brown.  About 12 - 15 minutes.


Bon Appètit!

Chicken-n-Dumplings
 Chicken Dumpling Biscuits

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

Jalapeños (always!)
Step number one...put some pinto beans to cook.  These will take a couple of hours, so you want to start them early.  A simple pinto bean recipe click *HERE*

Coat a large skillet with oil, add your chicken, salt, lemon pepper and garlic and brown to sear in the juices.
In a separate pot, coat with oil and add two cups of white rice.  They key here is to brown the rice...not burn it.  Add Salt and Pepper, stirring constantly.  Toast it up!
Once the rice is brown, add your produce.  Chopped carrots, celery, green onion, yellow onion and garlic.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

Tuck your browned chicken into the pot of rice.
Cover with two cups of water  (or chicken broth) per cup of rice.

For this recipe it would be 3.5 cups of water or chicken broth and 1/2 cup of tomato sauce for for a total of 4 cups of liquid for two cups of rice.

I square of vegetable bullion.

Sliced Green Pepper rings.

1/2 to 1 cup of chopped Cilantro  (I add a lot of cilantro because the boys love it!)

Bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover.

Cook 20 - 25 minutes, until the rice is tender and liquid is evaporated.
In another pot, cook up some bacon.

Add garlic and green onion.
Pour in your cooked pinto beans, some chopped cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.

Adding a little beer and freshly chopped tomato adds some great flavor too.

Heat up some corn tortillas, serve and enjoy!

Bon Appètit!


 For desert, blueberry newtons, dark sweet cherries, strawberries and watermelon.  :)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

Tonight was a simple "meat and potatoes" night.

Steamed carrots and broccoli

Grilled ground beef patties with onion slices

Mashed Potatoes

I suppose the only thing out of the ordinary about this meal is my mashed potatoes.  After I boil the potatoes, and mash with butter, evaporated milk, salt and pepper, I also add pickled jalapeño juice and shredded Colby cheddar cheese for an extra kick.
 La Costeña pickled jalapeño juice is "muy bueno!"  (What can I say, we are a family who loves jalapeños!)

Bon Appètit!


Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

Tonight for dinner it was Roast Beef mama style.

My ingredient as follows...

Roast Beef
Tomatillo Sauce
Corn Tortillas
Onion
Green Pepper
Garlic
Potatoes
Carrot
Cilantro
Jalapeño
Tomatoes
Avocado
 Salt and pepper the roast beef, and sear all sides of your roast in a hot cast iron skillet.  Locks in the juices.

Once the beef is seared, add chopped onions, chopped carrots, garlic and chopped potatoes.

Dissolve some beef and or vegetable bullion in one cup of water, and pour over the beef and veggies.

Cover with foil.

Place in a 376° oven, and "Forget about it!"  I cooked for 2 hours because Blake and I wanted to take a bike ride.  :)

One hour into the baking, pull it out of the oven, baste it, stick it back in there.
End of cooking time, remove the meat from the skillet and let rest a bit.  It is tired after all that cooking.

In the cleaned cast iron skillet, saute garlic, onion, green pepper and jalapeño.

Add the chopped roast beef, tomatillo sauce and stewed tomatoes.

Cook through.
 Bon Appètit!




Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

For dinner tonight I made some delicious Chicken Hobo Packets.  A dear friend of mine told me about these, so I was excited to try them.  Thank you Nancy!

The magic of cooking this way, is that you can add whatever ingredients your heart desires...or that you happen to have on hand.

My ingredients:

Chicken Breast and Chicken Thighs

Celery

Carrots

Potatoes (Sweet Potatoes are good too!)

Green Onion

Yellow Onion

Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Jalapeño Pepper

Garlic

Fresh Rosemary

Butter  (Lots-o-butter)

Salt and Pepper to taste.  (Lemon Pepper would be good)

You could even add some pineapple or orange slices if you like.

Make sure your ingredients are nice and fresh.

Chop your ingredients however you like and whatever size you like.  Salt and pepper your chicken.  Lay out sheets of aluminum foil or you could use parchment paper if you prefer.

Add your ingredients to your packets.  Stack em good!

I let the kids make their own packets so they could include the ingredients they like, and omit those they don't.

Wrap your packets into sealed little gifts.

Bake in a  375° degree oven
Bake Time - 1 hour 45 minutes.  Or as the boys said..."Way too long!"
Don't forget to make one big honking package for daddy.  For daddy I added fresh jalapeños, extra onions, and sprinkled his favorite Cayenne pepper on top.
What I love about this recipe is that you can "Pre-Prepare" your packets and refrigerate.  Great idea for camping.

Note:  Be careful when you open your packets as the steam is hot!

The boys added some post cooking Soy Sauce to their packets.  Teriyaki Sauce or BBQ sauce would be tasty too.  I thought mine was perfect as is.

I also prepared some steamed white rice as a side dish.  I am feeding boys, they eat a lot of food.  :)

Dinner is served.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,

Rattlesnake Bites!

Tonight I tried my skill at some "Rattlesnake" bites, and they were quite yummy.

Recipe is as follows....

• Prep: 25 min. Bake: 15 min.
• Yield: 24 Servings

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Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 3 tubes (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook beef and chilies over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the cream cheese, cumin and chili powder. Cool slightly.
• Separate crescent dough into 24 triangles. Place 1 tablespoon of beef mixture along the short end of each triangle; carefully roll up.
• Place point side down 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 2 dozen.

I added a few ingredients as follows...

My ingredient list....

 My ingredients photo being "photo-bombed" by my son Casey.  :)

Saute ground beef with garlic in a nice big honking cast iron skillet with salt, pepper and Cayenne pepper.  I did not add cumin as I am not a fan of cumin.

 Add some color.  Green pepper, shredded carrots, jalapeño, green onion.

 Cube some cream cheese....
 ...and stir it into the meat.

 Since boys love explosions....call one over to open the Crescent Roll tubes.  *Bam!*

 Place on cookie sheet, bake in 375° oven for 15 minutes.

 While the bites are in the oven, make some delicious dipping salsa.  Saute some garlic and diced jalapeños in a sauce pan with butter.  Yes, you read that right...mama loves butter!

Add a can of stewed tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, and fresh cilantro.  Salt and pepper to taste.


 Dinner is served!


Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love,