Ranch Cracker Mix

Here's an easy snack that kids can help make.  There's something about baking the crackers to crispy goodness in my own house and tasting it while it's still warm that makes me a happy girl.  We made this when we took out the camper for the weekend and it was the perfect thing to snack on while waiting for dinner to finish getting ready.

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat the oven to 250

Throw everything in a gallon zipper bag and shake it all around:

(feel free to continue with the hokey pokey during the shaking process)

1 bag oyster crackers
1 bag goldfish (we used the Great Value generic ones that are cute little owls)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons ranch dressing mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Our bag of owl crackers way one little handful shy of a full bag.

Yep - the little lady is holding some owls while pointing to the bag.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes - stirring halfway through

Be sure to let them cool completely before putting in a container to store or another ziploc bag.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is one of those comforting meals that when it's done right... it's amazing.  We are using a recipe from Ree Drumond in her Come and Get It cookbook on page 158.  We followed the idea pretty close.  I soooooooo wish my pictures did this meal justice.  It was really good and my husband cooked the chicken perfectly where it was still tender and juicy on the inside with the crispy panko crust.  

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat the oven to 425

4 boneless chicken breasts, sliced down the middle to make two thinner breasts and pounded out to tenderize until equal thickness so it will cook evenly.  (We did extra so some could be frozen to put on salads taken to work - if we were just doing the meal then 2 chicken breasts would have been great.)  

Get your dredge station ready:

#1

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

#2

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk (Recipe calls for whole milk. We used the 2% we keep on hand and it was great.)

#3

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Start with station #1 working you way to station #3.  There are people that suggest the dry hand / wet hand approach to keep your fingers from getting all messy.  I generally wash my hands a couple times instead of that.  

In a large pan you'll melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add in 1 tablespoon of EVOO.  Warm it up and then add in the first round of chicken.  Ree's recipe calls for 2-3 minutes per side.  Seems like we were close to 5 minutes per side.  She was using chicken tenders though and we are using chicken breasts.

Once the chicken was cooked we put in in the oven on top of some marinara sauce with Parmesan cheese mixed in with some fresh mozzarella cheese on top for maybe 10 minutes until the cheese melted and the marinara sauce was nice and bubbly.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Baked "Grilled" Chicken

We were going to grill chicken for dinner, so I got it ready like I normally would and put it in the fridge to hang out.  Then... my husband called and wouldn't be making it home for dinner.  He's the master griller in our house, so I decided to bake the chicken instead and see how it would come out.  I was really happy with it.  It's not the same charred BBQ sauce that you get on the grill, but it was really good.

Get the chicken ready to chill:
4 chicken thighs
4 chicken legs
2 tablespoons EVOO
2 tablespoons garlic and herb grilling seasoning
Season up the chicken like you are going to grill it and put it in the fridge for the afternoon so all the seasoning can do its magic.

When Mark called - I pulled the chicken out of the fridge and took the skin off the thighs since we were going to be baking instead of grilling.  I also took some BBQ sauce and mixed it in with the chicken to start hanging out.  This had another hour or so in the fridge before I started preheating the oven.

Preheat oven to 425

Baked for 20 minutes on a roasting rack so it could try and "crisp" up a little bit.  After the initial 20 minutes - I pulled it out and added more BBQ sauce on top.  I let it sit for just a minute so it would be easier to use a spoon or brush to coat the top well.

Bake another 15 minutes.  Bump the heat up to 475 and do another 10 minutes.  I'm somewhat paranoid about chicken not being cooked all the way.  This timing was great.  The top started to darken a little bit and the inside was still juicy and not dry.

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Taco Stuffed Zucchini

This is one of those recipes that really makes me love summer.  It's not looking like our zucchini survived this year in the garden, so I'm happy to see that the ones at the grocery store are starting to look at little bigger. 

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 425

Get a pot of water going and bring to a boil

Prep the zucchini:
2 zucchini - halved and seeded
I like to take a knife a make a couple lengthwise cuts from one side to the other.  This makes making room for the filling super easy.  It also helps to give me a guide, so I don't take too much out.

Cook together until the onions are tender:
3/4 pork sausage, cooked and drained
1/2 onion, diced
2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped

The zucchini goes for a swim in the boiling water for 5 minutes:
To help the cooking process along for the zucchini - I like to put them in some boiling water for a few minutes.  I did 5 this time and the knife cut right through it after it was done with baking.

Back to the sausage - we're going to tacofy it:
2 tablespoons of taco seasoning
1/2 cup water

Let this simmer together for a few minutes until there is no more liquid.  Then toss in:
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
Give the pot a couple good stirs and the cheese will be all melty and gooey delicious.

Stuff the zucchini:

Add some finely grated cheese to the top of each one:

Toss it into the oven for 15 minutes.

Switch the oven to a low broil and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Thai Peanut Sauce

I love playing with recipes of peanut sauce.  I especially like the ones that use things I usually already have sitting in my pantry.  This sauce is really good.  I used it to top the Thai pizzas that I posted just a little bit ago.  This recipe is from my February 12, 2017 post.  I decided to include it again with my updated pictures.

Let's Get Crafty!

1/2 cup peanut butter (I like to soften it to make it easier to blend by putting it in the microwave for 10 seconds)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (I've seen recipes with lime but I always have lots of lemon on hand)

4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon minced garlic (We like a lot of garlic - if you don't then this could easily be reduced to fit your taste buds)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh grated would be even better!)

Whisk together until smooth.

To make the Thai Pizzas - I doubled this recipe and put 1/2 of it in with the chicken to put on the top of the pizza. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Grilled Pizza

I've been wanting to make pizza on the grill for a long time and now that we have a new grill - it seemed like the perfect time.  My husband was on board until I started talking about it being a Thai pizza with cabbage on top with peanut sauce.  Mark and the kids opted for a cheese pizza.

The May/June 2018 issue of Eating Well included some tips for grilling pizza.  The best ones were making sure to give your grill enough time to get to medium high heat and not to be worried that the dough will sink between the spaces on the grill.  Another tip to help with sticking - use tongs dipped in oil to rub it on the grill where you will be laying the pizza.

We made pizza dough using Fleischmann's yeast specific for pizza crust.  It wasn't hard, but I would probably try to get some dough from a local pizza shop next time to make the process even easier.

Here's some diced grilled chicken mixed with some peanut sauce that was added to half the pizza.  For a recipe of my favorite peanut sauce - head to my blog for another recipe posted today. 

So... you'll notice this pizza is part cheese and part chicken and carrot for my Thai pizza.  It was supposed to be one of each, but we ran into a cheese melting shenanigan with the cheese pizza.  I was using fresh mozzarella and the crust was burned by time the cheese melted.  Makes sense that wouldn't work as well since the heat is coming from the bottom on the grill versus the top on the oven.  The picture below is using shredded cheese and that worked much better.

The dough itself grilled faster than I thought it would.  It was just a few minutes on each side and then we added our ingredients and closed the lid to let it finish.  We warmed up the toppings a little bit before adding them to help give it a leg up because I think that was part of the problem with the first pizza.  We had mostly cooked the crust and the pizza sauce and fresh mozzarella were both hitting it cold.

Hot off the grill.

Thanks for stopping by!