Chicken sausage and fixins

My dinner

Once again comes the daily dilemma of what to make for dinner? I was going through my deep freeze to see how much chicken I had and I came across my Johnsonville chicken sausages.  I had bought seven of them, because they were on sale and I had a coupon!  Knowing that my kids love them, I pulled them out to make for dinner.  Now granted, I am not a huge fan of sausage, but these chicken sausages are so yummy!  Sometimes they can be pricey, so I watch for a sale!

Tonight, I made 3 cheese Italian style and apple! They are our favorite flavors!

A side of chicken rice

And I made some steamed veggies! My kids love carrots and broccoli.  

Today, I went the 99 Cent Only store and they had a ton of produce! I got some asparagus, two artichokes, fingerling potatoes (I've never tried those) and a seedless watermelon!   I love asparagus and so this time, I cut off more of the stalk and then stuck them in the steam basket with the other veggies! They turned out so yummy, that I ate them all! ;)  My kids don't really like them, so they got their carrots and broccoli! 

What I love about this dinner, is that it is so quick and easy!  I was able to whip it up in around a half an hour! Nice! 

Tuna boats

I was trying to figure out something for dinner tonight. I had asked Shianne if she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, or a grilled meat and cheese sandwich or a grilled tuna sandwich and then I had an idea! Tuna boats! My mom used to make them all the time when I was a kid and I loved them!

All you need are 3 ingredients: tuna, English muffins and cheese!  And a toaster oven does all the work! 

First, I toasted the English muffins in the toaster

Second, I put a layer of tuna salad on them (I mixed tuna, some mustard, mayo and some pickle relish together)

Third, put a slice of cheese on top - I folded the cheese in, so it wouldn't melt everywhere!

Then, I put them in the toaster oven, set on toast, until the cheese gets all nice and melted! 

Voila! Dinner is done! 

Tuna boats totally remind me of when I was a kid! I love them! I don't know why I have never made them for my kids before!  It's an easy and quick dinner and they were a big hit!

Sun catchers!

 Melted Bead Sun Catchers

I saw this really cool idea on Pinterest and I just had to try it! I thought that it would be a fun craft project for the kids and I to do!  I bought a 2 bags of 450 pony beads at the Dollar Tree.  I poured both bags out into a pan and had the kids start to sort out the colors that they wanted. Well, Jacob, being only 3, got bored pretty easily.  I started working on his.  I have an old jar of beads that I have had since I was a kid and I pulled out some clear regular beads to mix into the pony beads.  Shianne and I sat and straightened out the pony beads, pulled out the colors that we didn't want and then sorta made a pattern.  I used regular red, yellow and orange beads on the border of Jacob's and then just filled it in, so that the bottom of the pan was full.  I had taken all the pinks and purples out of Jacob's and given them to Shianne to use.  I helped her straighten out her beads and I put clear beads on the edge of hers and made a pattern in the middle.

Jacob's mix! 

Shianne's mix!

Now, you take these and put them in the oven, at 400 degrees, for 20 minutes.  I had read on the site where I got the idea, that it can get pretty stinky in the house, with the melting plastic and all, so have your house open and fans blowing.  But it also said that you can do it in a toaster oven OUTSIDE, so that is what I opted to do. I started inside, but as soon as it started to stink, which it was pretty nasty, I put the toaster oven outside.  Worked out perfectly!  I kept checking them and I ended up letting them bake for around 30 minutes, so that they were completely melted and flat!   You let cool and then they pop right out of the pan and don't even leave any residue! Wow! I was a little worried about using my pans, but it worked out pretty well!

 This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven

My little toaster oven doing all the work, outside! 

Jacob and his! 

Shianne and hers!

Now, theirs turned out so pretty, I decided to do one myself! We had used up all the pony beads, but I had these regular beads in my bead jar. I just put beads in there, until the bottom of the pan was full. 

This is how mine turned out!  The funny thing was, that there was this one bead, at the top in the middle, that didn't melt for some reason! Well, there is my hole for the string!

Mine

 They turned out so pretty! 

 This was an easy project to do! I just highly recommend that you do it outside!  Now, the rest is going to be up to Daddy!  You take a tool and drill a hole in it, so you can hang them to be your pretty sun catchers!   Next time, I have to get more beads, I am going to make them in muffin tins, so I can hang some little ones together on a dowel!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin pancakes
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions 
1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2.Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

My cute kitchen helper!

The ingredients

Shianne loves to help me in the kitchen!

The batter - the picture doesn't even do it justice! The color was so pretty!

The first ones in the pan! 

And flip!

Scrumptious!!!!  I topped them with bananas and it was so good! 

 

I think I won't be eating lunch today! ;)

 

Pork tenderloin

I bought this at Albertsons today. I didn't know what to make for dinner and I saw this on sale. My kids love honey mustard, so I figured it would be a big hit! 

I put it in the toaster oven for 45 minutes and voila, it was done!  I made steamed veggies and Ranch mashed potatoes to go with it.  Easy peasy dinner!

Smelled so good!

You know me, I always try to add a salad to my dinner! So, salad with honey mustard dressing, steamed veggies, honey mustard pork tenderloin and Ranch mashed potatoes! It was super yummy!

And for dessert, my daughter helped me make some chocolate fudge pudding!

2 new recipes!

Today was a good day! First off, the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS! I think it barely got to 80 degrees today. There were beautiful clouds everywhere.  They had forecasted a 30% chance of rain, but it never did where I live.  It was so nice, that I walked to pick up my daughter from school!   Then, my kids and I met a friend and her two kids at the library. The kids played for a bit and my friend and I got to sit and talk!  After the library, we came home for a little while and then went and picked up my mom from work.  She came over and got to hang out with the kids and I.    My dad finished his job and then joined us for dinner. 

I tried a new dinner recipe and a new dessert recipe!  Both were really yummy and I am so pleased!

Slow-cooker chicken enchiladas
Ingredients:
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen works fine!)
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 (4 oz) can green chilis
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/4 cup water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese (any cheese would work- use your favorite)
1 can enchilada sauce (you can use red or green)
green onions, chopped
olives, sliced
tortillas (I usually get about 12 good-sized enchiladas)

Directions:
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken breasts inside slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, onion, green chilis, lime juice, and water on top of chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
Once it is finished baking, shred chicken with 2 forks (it should come apart really easy).
Mix together cream of chicken soup and sour cream.
Stir half of the soup mixture in with the shredded chicken. Spread the other half of the soup mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 pan (or two 9x9" pans).
Place a scoop of the chicken mixture on a tortilla. Sprinkle on a little bit of cheese and roll up. Place seam-side down in the pan.
Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
Pour enchilada sauce over the top and cover with remaining cheese. Top with green onions and olives.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

In the crock pot it goes: 6 frozen chicken breasts, 1 packet of taco seasoning, 1 small onion, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, 1 can of green chilis, some water and a huge squirt of lemon juice, because I didn't have any lime.  I set it on high for 4.5 hours.

Here's what it looks like after a while. The juices from the chicken and the water and lemon juice were making a nice juicy, yummy smelling chicken!

When it was done, I pulled the chicken out of the crock pot and shredded it with 2 forks.  It was so tender!  I took the cream of mushroom soup and sour cream and mixed those together. I added a little over half to the chicken.  I didn't want to waste the juice (seasonings, water and lemon juice) in the crock pot, so I added that to the chicken/soup/sour cream mix too.  It made it super moist and even more juicy! 

I had taken the rest of the cream of chicken and sour cream mix and spread it on the bottom of the pan, per the recipe.  I then took a wheat tortilla and put a good sized portion of chicken in it and added some cheese, then rolled it up and put it in the pan, continuing until the pan was full. I had more chicken left, so I pulled out an 8x8 pan and filled that one up too. That pan had enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan instead.

This is the 9x13 pan, with 8 enchiladas in it.

Both pans full!

I poured the enchilada sauce over the top of both pans and then covered them in cheese!  I put them in the oven for about 30 minutes.

All done and ready to eat!

Spanish rice and refried beans     

Yummy!  These were a big hit with the whole family! My parents really liked them and they eat Mexican food all the time, so I was really glad that they enjoyed them!

And for dessert, I tried out another new recipe that I found on Pinterest.  With fall finally here, I am so excited to start baking.  And I have been wanting to try some new things with pumpkin! Fitting for this time of year! 

Pumpkin gooey butter cake

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
Recipe from Paula Deen

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make the cake, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Pat the mixture into a lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan.
Prepare filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

The cake mixed and put as the bottom layer

The pumpkin mixed all together and then put on top of the yellow cake mix

All done! 

 

It was super yummy, but very very sweet! I think that I won't make it with so much powdered sugar next time.  It was supposed to be gooey in the middle, but after 40 minutes of being in the oven, it was almost like jello in the middle.  So I left it in the oven for more time. Unfortunately, the bottom burned slightly, so I was upset about that.  But oh well, if you eat it without the burnt bottom, it is good! ;)

Mummy dogs

I was on Pinterest trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I thought, well, the kids haven't had mummy dogs since last year! I won't eat them, because I'm not a big fan of hot dogs, but the kids gobble them up! So, that's what's for dinner tonight. I love it, because they are SO simple to make. 

If you want the actual link for the recipe, here it is. 
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/crescent-mummy-dogs/d52a57d7-ab8a-4a1c-8dae-f9f90d03b912

Every since we had these at a Halloween party a few years ago, my kids love them!  You are supposed to cut the crescent rolls into strips, but that is too  much work for me! LOL!  So even though there are no strips of "mummy wrap" on them, we still call them mummy dogs! 

3 simple ingredients: hot dogs, crescent rolls and cheese

Slice the hot dogs down the middle, but not all the way through

Add some cheese

Wrap the crescent roll around the hot dog. I usually put the widest piece over the cheese part

All ready to go in the oven

Put them in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Almost done!

All done, the cheese sorta melted everywhere

And my dinner is a big salad with the leftover Ranch chicken from the other night! Yum!