Hot Italian Chicken Sandwiches

I discovered a yummy, portable meal last night that I'll likely use again several times this summer.  And keep in mind for ball game evenings next spring!!

The kids were clamoring to get to the pool when we got home from swimming lessons yesterday at 4:30pm, but the baby needed a quick nap, so I told them we could head down there as soon as he woke up. 
It was too early for dinner right then, but waiting until after swimming would leave us famished. I didn't really have any lunch meat or snacky meal stuff to take with us. I did, however, have a big loaf of french bread that I had planned and forgotten to use when we grilled steaks the other night. Inspiration hit and I quickly pan-broiled some chicken with some italian seasoning. I cut the loaf of bread into fourths and then sliced them open, laying them out on a baking sheet.  I sliced the chicken breasts and laid them out on one side of each bread half, topping it with shredded mozzarella and bacon bits. It was already yum!  Next I threw them in the oven under the broiler till the cheese got bubbly and the bread just got toasty.  I took them out, spread a little mayo on the empty side of the now piping hot toasty bread and added a few thinly sliced tomatoes.  Then I just closed up the sandwich, wrapped it in foil, and threw it in the pool bag and we were ready to go just as the baby woke up from his quick early evening catnap. :) We also brought along some chips and apple slices to munch with our sandwiches. 
Ryan met us down at the pool after he got home from work and we had the perfect little poolside picnic, with still hot and melty, really really yummy sandwiches. 

Hot Italian Chicken Sandwiches
Half-Whole loaf of french bread, sub rolls, deli rolls, etc
2 Chicken breasts
Italian seasoning
Shredded Mozzerella
Bacon bits
Sliced tomatoes
Mayonnaise

Pan-broil or grill chicken breasts, seasoned with Italian seasoning.
Put sliced chicken, cheese and bacon bits on one half of each sandwich and put under broiler just until melted and toasty.
Add mayo and tomatoes and enjoy. Or wrap in foil to enjoy later!

(Adults loved it, Savannah loved it, Sawyer took one bite and jumped back in the pool.)

Creamy Oatmeal with Apples

We (minus Sawyer) really like oatmeal around here.
As long as it's got a little flavor to it.

I like this version because it's done in the crock pot and I don't have to stand over a stove for the time it takes to cook the whole grain steel cut oats we like. I can just dump it all in and an hour or two later a warm, hearty, creamy, steamy breakfast (or snow day lunch) is ready for me.





Creamy Apple Oatmeal
2 cups oats
4 cups milk
4 tbsp (1/3 cup) brown sugar
2 tbsp vanilla
1 large chopped apple

Combine everything in crock pot and cook on high for 1.5 to 2 hours or low for 3-4 hours to desired consistency.
I top with a sprinkle of cinnamon in my bowl.
YUM!



Gong Show note: Sawyer picks around the oats and eats all the apples and Savannah picks around the apples eating just the oats.
Of course.

Lemony Pork and Veggies

Well, it's been awhile.
I do have a few goodies I want to get caught up on and record here. Good dinners, yummy scones and sweet desserts.

First up, one of my old favorites that was resurrected (twice) in the past week. Everyone who's had this has loved this dish, I used to make it often for dinner guests. I was looking for an easy portable meal to make for friends last week and remembered this one. I made it for us again as well, because I couldn't resist! This pork just melts in your mouth and the slight lemony juice is just perfect on everything.
>I also always make my favorite beer bread along with this dinner!!

Lemony Pork & Veggies
2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 16 oz package peeled baby carrots*
8 oz parsnips, cut into 1/2 inch slices*
2 medium shallots, sliced thin
1 lemon, quartered
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil**
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 1/3 cups quick cooking couscous***

-In your slow cooker, place carrots, parsnips*, shallots, lemon quarters and basil**.

-Trim excess fat from pork and cut into 1-inch pieces. Combine flour and pepper in plastic ziplock bag and add the pork, closing and shaking to coat.
In large skillet brown half of the mean in 1 tbsp of the oil about 5 min, turning to brown evenly. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining pork in remaining 1 tbsp oil.
Place pork on top of vegetables in slow cooker.













-Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3 1/2-4 hours.


-Discard lemon pieces. Use slotted spoon to remove pork and vegetables to a serving dish, cover dish to keep warm, reserving 1 3/4 cups of the cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Be sure cooker is turned on high and stir couscous into liquid. Cover and cook for 5 minutes more. Fluff couscous with a fork.***

Serve pork and vegetables over couscous.

*when I very first used this recipe, I couldn't find parsnips and instead came across a bag of prewashed and prepped mixed green beans and thin carrot sticks together. I used this and it was awesome. So now that's my go-to and if I can't find that bag in the veggie section at the store (not all stores carry it) I just grab a bag of green beans and then cut a few big carrots into matchsticks to add to it.

**I rarely have fresh basil on hand. Obviously dried basil flakes sub fine... I just sprinkle a bunch in over the veggies.

***I prepared this once as directed with the couscous and didn't really care for it. I normally just throw some brown rice in my rice cooker to be done at the same time as the pork and veggies and it goes wonderfully together. Serve the meat and veggies over the rice and drizzle with the cooking liquid.

Pepperoni Pasta Salad

I'm not a fan of pasta salads. I love me some pasta, but I like it warm and usually creamy or cheesy or something of that sort. :)
But I tried a recipe I'd been eying on the back of our mini pepperoni* bag and I have to admit I'm a fan. This would be a perfect idea for pasta salad for a potluck or barbeque, as there is no mayo or anything that you have to worry about sitting out.

*we got this huge bag of the cutest tiny bitesized pepperoni at Costco... it's Hormel and they are so yummy -do you think the size makes them more appealing??- and we were all in love with them. They're perfect for making your own mini-pizzas, or for salads, or like here- for pasta salads. Sadly, Costco isn't currently carrying them and I can't find them anywhere in stores or online.

This exact recipe isn't on the Hormel website either, so I thought I'd jot it down in case I ever come across these precious mini's again. Obviously, it would work just as well with regular pepperoni cut into quarters or snipped into smalled bites...

8 ounces rotini (spiral-shaped) pasta (I used half regular and half whole wheat), cooked and drained
1 cup Pepperoni Mini's
4 ounces provolone cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes (I just used the shredded mozerella I had in the fridge... about a cup)
1 medium tomato, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small can sliced ripe olives, drained
3/4 cup prepared Italian salad dressing
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients except for the dressing and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Add Italian dressing and toss to coat. Refrigerate salad for 1-2 hours before serving. Stir well before serving and toss with Parmesan cheese.

I mostly made this to use up the last of our pepperoni, and I thought the kids would like it. They like pasta, cheese, olives, they love those little pepperonis, and (Savannah at least) like tomatoes and peppers. Turns out, I loved it as well! I picked around the bell peppers and olives, Sawyer picked around everything, but it was a hit with Ryan and Savannah. We steamed some brocolli to go with it, as well as some slices of french bread. What a great summer meal to keep in mind!!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I don't know what this soup kick is that I'm on... if you were to ask me I don't even really like soup.
I do think I like it more when I make it from scratch though... YUM!

Here's another good one. I originally had low hopes for this one. I am not a fan of cauliflower. I only made it because my neighbor recommended the recipe and we had two heads of cauliflower from our produce co-op. I wasn't planning on eating those two heads of cauliflower myself, so why not give it a whirl.
Well, it shocked me, but it turns out I like cauliflower soup! This version anyway. It's really got great flavor and it was super simple to make:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup
(from Epicurious)

2 heads cauliflower
3 garlic cloves
2 shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Cut cauliflower into 1-inch flowerets (about 10 cups). In a large baking pan toss cauliflower, garlic, and shallots with oil to coat and roast in middle of oven about 30 minutes, or until golden.

In a 4-quart kettle simmer broth, water, roasted cauliflower mixture, and herbs 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is very tender. Discard bay leaf and in a blender puree soup in batches until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), transferring to a bowl. Return soup to kettle and stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste. Heat soup over moderate heat until just heated through.

*****

I didn't have shallots, so I used some red onion instead. I wasn't entirely sure from the recipe how to roast the veggies, so after cutting the cauliflower, I just chunked up the onion real big and left the garlic cloves whole and tossed it all on the pan. Also, I roasted them longer than 30 minutes, as per reviews on the recipe... I think I did 45min+... they were quite blackened. I also skipped adding the water and used Half&Half instead of the heavy cream, and only just over 1 cup instead of 2. It was plenty creamy even that way.

Ryan and I were both really impressed with this soup. Savannah tried a decent amount too. She actually said it was too sweet. (?!)
We served it with cornbread and veggies and dip. We're thinking next time (and I do foresee making this again... Not sure if I'd buy cauliflower just for it, but next time we get a head or two from our co-op, I'm looking forward to this soup!) we'd try adding some sausage or cubed ham or something meatier to the soup to make it more of a filling main course.

overflowing

We had a busy week, followed by houseguests all weekend and I made a TON of food. Good food! I tried a few new recipes and they were all soooo good! I also made a few old regulars that we love and I realized that for some reason or not, they are not on this blog. I want to finally get them on here so I have access to them when I'm not at home. That's one of my favorite perks of this blog... I can get to all my favorite recipes wherever I am! That, and I don't have to email or write down recipes for people anymore... I can just direct them over here!

So. I have lots of recipes to get up on here and get caught up.
First I have to get these granola bars out of the way:
I've made these up quite a few times this winter, twice in the past week actually! The kids (usually) like them and since we no longer buy granola bars from the store (the peanut allergy) they've been happy to have granola bars again! These are a great filling snack or breakfast and you can doctor them up however you like. Thanks to Kim for the recipe!

Homemade Granola Bars
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I usually use a bit less)
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350*. Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands (this is why Sawyer LOVES to make this recipe!).
Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges.

Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

I always use a smaller pan... 7x11 or even 7x9x2... it makes for softer, chewier bars.
You can add whatever you like... I was out of raisins earlier this week so I just made them plain. I've also done plain with chocolate chips for a treat. This past weekend I did raisins and dried apples. Yum!

These were tried by four different people in and out of our house this past week and all gave rave reviews... they really are about the yummiest granola bars I ever expect to have!

Mmmm... fried food

I made an awesome impromptu dinner last night, if I do say so myself. We were off on our "menu plan" and I had nothing prepared or in mind. We did however, have an old(er) single piece of steak in the freezer and a ton of giant onions sitting in the pantry. Onions that are just begging to be made into onion rings. So I searched the internet for some good ideas and a great onion ring recipe. Boy did I luck out and find a great one!

First I thawed the steak, cubed it up and coated them to make steak "bites".
Here's how:
I mixed up 1 egg and a quarter cup of milk in a small bowl and let the steak bites soak for a mintue while I combined 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp of steak seasoning, some extra garlic powder and a little bit of cayenne in a gallon ziplock bag. I took the steak from the egg dip and put the pieces in the bag, sealed it up and shook to coat them all. Ryan fried them in the deep fryer. You can of course, just fry these in oil on the stove. The FryDaddy is sooo easy though! I think they fried for about 5 minutes in two batches.

Meanwhile, I went to work on the onion rings. I used this recipe and here's my low fuss process...
Put the 1 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt into a ziplock bag. I made nice big thick slices from our giant onion and threw them in the bag to coat. Then you fished them out and put them aside on a plate while you add 1 egg and 1 cup of milk to the ziplock bag. Seal it up and mash it all around good, mixing the milk/egg and flour mixture till it's a smooth batter. Then put the onions back in and work around with your hands to coat. Remove the onion rings and place on a rack over the sink or a baking pan and let the excess batter drip off of the rings. Put about a cup of breadcrumbs (I only had italian seasoned breadcrumbs handy) in a shallow dish and when the onion rings have stopped dripping, place them one at a time in the bread crumbs to coat. Then fry 'em up, just about a minute and a half on each side.

These are sooo good. Very simple flavor, but they are really so good! I might play around with it a bit next time because I have a Garlic Parmesan seasoning I thought may be really good with these, but honestly they are perfectly good on their own. I'm excited for this summer, because I'm predicting these will be a huge hit at our barbeques this summer.
I'm thinking I can make up a good batch somewhat ahead of time, have them battered and coated and ready to just have Ryan man the fryer when we're ready to eat!

Anyway, we enjoyed these steak bites, fabulous onion rings and a great big salad last night for dinner. Sawyer scarfed down the onion rings; I think he probably had close to a dozen rings! He loved 'em! I did too. I had to make myself stop. Luckily I only made one onion. Mind you, it was a HUGE onion, but at least the pile didn't go on and on like it could have, had I sliced up another. Try them!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Easy crock pot comfort food recipe.
I got this from a crockpot cookbook I have, from the section of five ingredient dinners. I've tweaked it quite a bit to make it feel more "homemade"...

original ingredient list:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup
1 10 oz package frozen mixed vegetables
1 tsp seasoned pepper or garlic pepper seasoning
1 1/2 cups dry egg noodles

my recipe:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
I skip the frozen veggies and slice/chop up onion, carrots and celery
I also add way more than 1 tsp of seasonings.... usually salt, pepper and garlic powder. Plenty of it.

Stir 5 cups of water into the cans of soup in your slow cooker. Whisk until smooth.
Stir in chicken, vegetables and seasoned pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hrs or high for 3-4 (lower for longer is preferred for soup!).
Stir in noodles for last 20-30 minutes of cooking (if using low setting, turn to high-heat setting). Cook until noodles are tender.

Like most soups, this is much much better days after preparing!

The kids like this too!

Maple Jack Pork Chops

Another new recipe this week. And it earned another permanent place in my cookbook!
How could it not, with an easy 5 ingredients, less than five hour cook time (in the crock pot), and one of those lovely just throw it all together and truly forget about it until dinnertime.

I especially like these 'half-day' crockpot recipes... quite often I forget or get a late start on getting a meal in the crock pot first thing in the morning. But then I'm always around at noon or early afternoon, and thats the kids' downtime in their rooms, which means I should always have time to prep a meal!

Anyway. These pork chops. Melt in your mouth. Mmmm, Mmmm. Really.

Want to try them?
All you need is a crockpot, a few pork chops, an onion, some dijon mustard and this:

Yes, really.

Maple Jack Pork Chops
(from Recipezaar)

4 thick-cut pork loin chops
1 sweet onion peeled and sliced
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup Jack Daniels whiskey
2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Place onion slices in the bottom of your slow cooker. In small bowl, whisk together the syrup, whiskey and mustard. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and then dip each chop into syrup mixture and place in slow cooker on top of the onions. Pour remaining syrup mixture over the pork chops. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours.

Berry Banana Mini-Muffins

Made these muffins last night in an ongoing effort to get Sawyer to eat something substantial for breakfast...
both kids gobbled down four of these mini muffins this morning!

They have a great fruity flavor and are so moist and tender. And it helps that I know there's antioxidants and fiber in every bite!!

Berry Banana Mini-Muffins
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup freshly shredded carrot
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup frozen wild blueberries

Lightly coat 48 mini-muffin cups with no-stick cooking spray (you can also make regular sized muffins, just bake about 5 minutes longer than called for); preheat oven to 400*.
In medium bowl combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In second medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, carrot, buttermilk, honey and oil.
Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Pour in egg mixture and stir just until moistened. Batter will be lumpy.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 2/3 of the way.
Bake about 10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in muffin pans for 5 minutes.
Makes 4 dozen mini-muffins.
Yum!

Meatballs

I decided to try something different today with the meatballs than I normally do. I usually just make a quick brown gravy and we eat the meatballs with mashed potatoes.
Last minute-try something new kind of recipe. Simple:

30 frozen meatballs
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp onion powder

I simmered it all together in a pan over med heat for about 20 minutes. Then served over egg noodles.
We also had some honey sweet peas and crescent rolls.
Sawyer: ate only a roll
Savannah: ate everything but the noodles (she's not a pasta fan)... and had seconds on the meatballs!
Ryan: didn't really say one way or the other, but ate lots.
Heather: meh. I really liked the flavor on the meatballs, but the sauce by itself on the noodles I thought was kind of bland.

mmm, mmm good

It was such a soup kind of day!
It was trying hard to snow much of the day today... just the tiniest little flurries flying around in the gray sky... cold, cold wind, the kind that stings your skin...
It was great to stay in all afternoon and smell homemade soup simmering away.

We had Swistle's Soup for dinner. It's a super simple throw together soup that you don't have to cook all day... I just liked the feeling/smell of it simmering on the stove all day so we left it there.
Here's the recipe.
I had grabbed a fresh loaf of Sweet Wheat bread from the bakery on the corner too, and it was a great meal.
The kids both ate everything on their plates (cheese cubes, peaches and the bread) and while Sawyer (of course) totally gonged the soup, Savannah actually ate a good bit of hers.
I love this soup!

Tuna Noodle

Tonight we had a quick meal of Cheesy Tuna Noodle, peas and apple slices.
Savannah ate everything (she's on a roll lately!!) and Sawyer ate nothing. Ryan had two bowlfulls even though he always tells me this is not one of his faves. I, on the other hand, who usually scarfs it down, only picked at it tonight. Role reversal I guess. I only used one can of both tuna and soup tonight to the two boxes of macaroni. I think I like two cans better.

Fajitas

Ryan makes this meal and I love it! He slices up some red and green peppers, some onion, and sautees them in some oil. Then he adds some sliced beef and browns that up. When the meat is done, he adds a packet of fajita seasoning mix, simmers for a minute and we're ready for fajitas!! Just dish it up in a tortilla with cheese, tomato, salsa, guacamole... whatever you like. I usually serve this with some spanish rice.

For the kids (my kids hate things combined like tacos and fajitas), I put it all in separate little piles on their plates. With corn chips and guacamole for Sawyer (he won't eat tortillas) instead of tortillas and cheese, a couple pieces of the seasoned beef cut into bites, a pile of raw sliced peppers, and some sliced peaches, and they were good to go. They actually both ate well... Sawyer ate everything but the peppers and Savannah finished off her whole plate!

Homemade Applesauce

*Edited to Add* Sawyer loved it! He ate a whole big bowl at dinner and asked for more.

I love homemade applesauce. I love anything baked with apples, but that's beside the point!

Here's my favorite Crockpot Applesauce recipe:
8-10 apples, peeled, quartered, cored, and sliced through food processor
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Put water and apples in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
Add brown sugar and cinnamon and cook for 30 minutes longer.
Simple as that.
Yummy.

Here's also another version I have sitting in my cookbook along side this one. I have never tried it because I love the basic version so much, but doesn't this sound good??...
Caramel Applesauce
31/2 lbs of Granny Smith Apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 jar of caramel topping sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Cook at on low for 8 hours.

catch up

or ketchup... which happens to be Sawyer's favorite food right now. Today he dipped not only his fishsticks, but his mixed vegetables (the peas carrots and corn) and his apples as well.

Okay, first here are a few meals we've had in the past week or two... and surprisingly my kids are actually eating!!

Tonight we had Creamy Cheesy Chicken Alfredo with honey butter peas and bread and butter.

Savannah loved it, can you tell? (note that is a cheese mustache, not a milk mustache!)
I loved it because it was THE simplest and best meal I've made in awhile.


Last week another successful dinner was a Garlic and Herb pork loin with asparagus and mandarin oranges. Once again, the kids both actually ate it!

And this past weekend we had the best meal the kids have eaten in I can't remember how long... Toasted Ravioli (I think that's a St. Louis thing, as I've never seen them outside of STL and Ryan was sooo excited to be back here and able to buy it!). The kids each had four or five raviolis on their plates and a dish of marinara sauce and they went to town! We had salad along with it and Sawyer actually at that for the first time!

Apparently my kids like food better in Missouri!

Steak, Steak and More Steak

I am so full.
Ryan grilled some steaks tonight, along with some asparagus and we had some nice fresh french bread and I am STUFFED! There's nothing better than a great steak.
Except maybe if kids actually eat it! Which one of mine did tonight!!! Savannah asked for seconds even, which is amazing. She ate all of (two helpings) her steak, all her asparagus, all of her apple slices and two pieces of bread. She even got chocolate pudding for dessert since she managed to finish a whole plate today!
Sawyer had a beef frank and some of his veggie sticks.

Yesterday I never got around to the lasagna rolls. It was definitely a lazy day. I whipped up a skillet instead, with eggs and ham and cheese along with some hashbrowns and toast. Savannah ate pretty well, but Sawyer wanted nothing to do with it.

Weekend Recap and next week's Menu

We ended up grilling some chicken on Saturday. Just some plain ol' barbequed drumsticks. I made up some butter and herb pasta and also served fresh veggies with dip. Mmmm... it was a great warm-evening meal. And surprise, surprise, Savannah actually ate it! She ate a ton of the chicken, only tried one noodle, but had a whole plateful of baby carrots. All Sawyer ate was a bunch of cucumber slices.
Today we had an Open House, so we did a fast lunch at McDonalds and then when we returned home after being gone for the entire afternoon, we just threw together miscellaneous stuff to eat.

Menu for 5/21-5/27
Monday: Lasagna Rolls
Tuesday: Steak on the Grill
Wednesday: Cheesy Tuna Nooldle
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Chicken Pot Pie
Saturday: Soup and Sandwiches
Sunday: Pot Roast