Pamela Faith

I didn’t have enough to do so I’ve created a Facebook group for women who aren’t motivated enough to cook until their family is starved enough to make their own feed the children video for late night television. It’s basically a club for us women who’s always being asked, “What’s for supper?”. I make out a list of the meals we’ll be eating the next 7 to 10 days, but I do many repeat meals. I admit that I play with recipes every now and then, but I usually stick to the easiest and fastest.

Whenever we receive food from outside sources, you can hear my family making the oohs and aahs like they’ve never eaten before. My kids have begged to eat at the neighbor’s many times.  I think possibly I need to adjust my cooking style and at least give them a new flavor twice a month. Tonight I cooked pinto beans, fried chopped potatoes, macaroni, and cornbread. I admit that we have this about 2-3 times a week.

What’s For Dinner is going to be a fun way to get back in the apron and try again. It works like this…I assign you 2 cooking buddies. You pass a recipe to one of your buddies for them to cook. They must post a picture of the finished product on Facebook for the rest of us to see and learn from (whether it be what to do or not to do). While that cooking buddy is busy working on the recipe you’ve chosen for them, you’ll be working on the recipe that your other cooking buddy has assigned to you. The coolest part is that at any time you need a different recipe for whatever reason, just send a request to your buddy and let them know you don’t think that one is right for you or your family.

Our goal is to work on fixing 2 new dishes a month with your buddies. I will change up buddies after 2 rounds unless you specify otherwise. It’s a great way to meet other mommies and have fun cooking at the same time. We will also be hosting a group recipe. Once a month the group administrators will post a recipe for everyone to try and post pictures of. You don’t have to do the cooking buddy to do the monthly recipe. Heck you don’t have to do anything but sit and watch the rest of us play in the kitchen.

I’m thinking about working on something that will allow everyone to post their plans for breakfast or supper if they want to that is. It might help the rest of us decide what we want for the family meal in our own home. I hope to see some of you join us.

I cooked this on Thursday night. It tasted wonderful. The seasonings were so stout that we had to open the kitchen window though. It also came through the breastmilk. Baby had garlic breath. The chicken is beneath all the seasonings. (Picture was what it looked like before I put it in the oven.)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 2 tablespoons dried rosemary, crushed
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 whole roasting chicken (5 to 6 pounds)
• 6 small red potatoes, halved
• 6 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 medium onions, quartered

Directions

• In a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in the seasonings. Place chicken breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan; tie drumsticks together with kitchen string. Spoon half of the butter mixture over chicken. Place the potatoes, carrots and onions around chicken. Drizzle remaining butter mixture over vegetables.
• Cover and bake at 350° for 1-1/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 30-60 minutes longer or a meat thermometer reaches 180° and vegetables are tender, basting occasionally.
• Cover with foil and let stand for 10-15 minutes before carving. Serve with vegetables. Yield: 9 servings.

See this recipe online…click here.

I made plans on cooking the chili again, but things almost flopped. My Sweetie and Princess went to the grocery store this past Saturday and bought the beans and tomatoes, but I forgot to put the chili seasoning on my list. I discovered not having the seasoning after I had opened the kidney beans and tomatoes poured into a pan. So I did what anyone does in the year 2010 – I Googled how to make your own chili.  So now my new recipe goes like this:

Hamburger Meat, Kidney Beans, Diced Tomatoes, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Chili Powder. My Sweetie added Tobasco Sauce in his own bowl. I don’t do hot sauce. Remarkably the chili turned out just as good as the other night. I’m glad that I figured out the alternative, because it felt more homemade.

I made chili for the first time. What I mean to say is I learned how to cook it without opening a can of Hormel Chili With Beans which happens to be my favorite chili my family hates.

It’s still not technically “home made”, but it’s a step up from pouring the Hormel Chili into a bowl and sticking it into the microwave. Here is how I made the chili and it was a great hit with the family.

You will need:

1 packet of French’s Original Chili-O Seasoning Mix

2 cans of Diced Tomatoes (undrained)

2 cans of Kidney Beans (undrained)

1 pound of ground beef

This is definitely going toward my  “Expand my cooking abilities (goal is to learn 12 new recipes)” New Year Resolutions for 2010.

Ingredients:
7 oz Martha White Blueberry Muffin Mix
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 Egg

Mix everything together. Spray frying pan with Pam Spray. Heat on medium. Pour small amounts of mix (to whatever size pancake you like). Brown both sides.

Tastes so yummy.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of white sugar or Splenda
• 1 cup of corn syrup
• ¼ cup of butter
• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 6 cups of corn flakes

Directions:

1. Mix sugar & syrup in pan. Bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Add butter & peanut butter. Melt.
4. Pour over cornflakes.
5. Mix together well.
6. Spoon onto wax paper.

1 – 8oz cream cheese
1/3 cup of sugar
1 – 80z tub of cool whip
1 – 6oz graham pie crust

Beat cream cheese and sugar together in large bowl with fork until well blended, add the sugar a little at a time to keep from making it lumpy. Slowly stir in cool whip. Spoon mixture into crust. Refrigerate covered for 3 hours or until it becomes firm (set).

S'more without the marshmallows

My daughter, Sarah, was busy in the kitchen the other night and invented her own type of s’more. She took graham crackers and broke them into small bite size pieces. She placed them in the bottom of this glass.  Sarah used a Boston Creme Pie flavored Jello Pudding to pour over the crackers.  She then sprayed cool whip on the top and smoothed it with a spoon. Lastly, she sprinkled some sugar free chocolate chips on the top.

She made one for her brother and one for herself.  The kids loved the taste and it wasn’t that bad of a dessert for them. It looked pretty. Sarah ran out of ingredients, so Travis and I have to wait until the next time.

Ingredients:
Graham Crackers
Boston Creme Pie Jello Pudding
Canned Whipped Cream
Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

I found this recipe on Recipezaar.com. I have made this a few times and my family loves it.  We love the sauce, so I always make triple the amount.

1. Combine sauce ingredients and stir until smooth.
2. Grill chicken in vegetable oil and cut into thin slices.
3. Preheat skillet over medium heat.
4. One at a time, lay tortilla into hot skillet and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of each shredded cheese and 1/2 cheese slice on one side of the tortilla.
5. Arrange about 1/4 cup chicken slices over tortilla on the same half covered with cheese.
6. On the empty side, spread about one tablespoon of sauce.
7. Fold over, and press gently with spatula.
8. Cook until cheese is melted and slice each into 4 pieces.

*** We omit the jalapeño peppers. If you decide to use the peppers, please wear gloves.  I had a bad experience cutting these up once and I wouldn’t want anyone to ever be hurt like I was.  The juice from the peppers soak down into your skin and you will feel like you are on fire. Well, at least some people have this reaction.