Ham!

I had invited my parents over for dinner on Friday night. I wanted to make a ham, just because that sounded yummy! Fresh & Easy had half hams on sale for $0.88 a pound! So, I picked up this beaut!   

I had planned on making this in the crock pot. I picked a slightly bigger one, because it was going to be feeding six of us.

As you can see, there was no way it was going to fit into the crock pot. I figured I could just trim the edges and fit it in. I had done this before and it  worked! Well, I was wrong!   So, Plan B it was. Into the oven it was going to go!

I didn't take a lot of pictures, because I was busy making dinner.  I took the ham and put it in a baking dish. I poured the juice from a can of chunk pineapple over the top of it and then put the pineapple chunks all around the ham. I took brown sugar and rubbed it all over the top of the ham. I covered the ham with foil and put it into the oven at around 400 degrees.  After an hour and a half, we took it out and I took an injectable marinade needle, sucked up the pineapple juices and injected it a bunch of times in the ham. I let it cook for about another half hour. 

cornbread

 

the ham and all it's yummy juices! 

I made some cornbread, corn and baked potatoes to go with it.  I also made some simple salads with tomatoes, avocado and strawberries! Dinner was a hit! The ham turned out so juicy and delish! The kids gobbled it up and my mom said it was the best ham she had ever had and she makes a mean ham! ;)  Thanks, Mom! 

The last time I had made ham in my crock pot, I was able to make three meals from the one ham. I made the ham, and then chicken cordon bleu in the crock pot with the ham and also 15 bean soup with some of the ham and the ham hock.  My dad was nice enough to trim all the ham for me and I put the ham hock in the freezer for another time. I am looking forward to leftovers and having a ham sandwich for lunch today! Maybe chicken cordon bleu will be on the menu again! ;)

So so yummy!

Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken

I have been slacking on posting. Sorry! Last week, I just didn't feel like cooking. But now, I am back!  

Last night, I tried out a new Pinterest recipe. I have been wanting to try this one for a while, but when I mentioned it to the hubs, he didn't sound very enthused about it! ;)  So I have been waiting to try it out, but last night, I decided to finally do it! 

Crock Pot Ranch Pesto Chicken
Here is the actual link to the recipe.  I modified it just a bit! 
Pesto Ranch Crock Pot Chicken Thighs


First of all, I used chicken breasts, instead of chicken thighs, because that is what I always have on hand.

3 frozen chicken breasts
1 packet of Ranch (or 3 TBSP of the mix)
1 jar of pesto sauce (says 6 ounces, but my jar was 8.8)
1/2 cup chicken broth (I ended up using almost the whole can)

most of the ingredients

Put your chicken in the crock pot and pour the pesto on top of it

...then sprinkle the Ranch on top of that.  Then pour the chicken broth over everything!

Set the crock pot on high for 3 hours. I ended up adding another 30 minutes, because my chicken breasts were thick and I wanted to make sure they were done!

 

This is what it looked like when it was almost done! It smelled so good! 

I made these veggies and also some Ranch mashed potatoes for our sides.  I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't eat the green beans, because they used to not like them, but they gobbled them up! They loved them! I am so glad that my kids love veggies so much!

For the kid's plates, I cut up the chicken and poured some of the pesto sauce over the top of it! 

I made a salad to go with mine!

Another score for a new recipe! It was delish!!!!!  The kids really liked it and my hubbins did too! It was so easy to make and super tasty! And with the extra sauce, you can put it over your mashed potatoes and any veggies you make! Finger licking good! ;)

Cheddar Jack & Bacon chicken

My sweet friend, Monique, gave us two of these. I had tried some of the flavors when they first came out, but hadn't made any of them since. As usual, I was trying to come up with something to make for dinner and Eric suggested this.  I made this February 6th.

I took 4 chicken breasts out of the freezer and let them defrost. Then I cut them in half and put them in the mix.

It's like shake and bake. You close the bag and shake the mix all on the chicken.

I put foil in my baking dish for easy cleanup! 

It's hard to tell from this picture, but there are 8 pieces of chicken in there! LOL!

I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

All done! Nice juicy, melt in your mouth chicken!

I made this as a side. I did not care for it, but the rest of the family liked it!

One of my kid's plates

 I made a nice salad to go with mine. This is super yummy! The chicken had great flavor! I will have to say that this is one of my new favorites!

Ranch house chicken

I have been so lax in posting on my blog. I am sorry! 

So, this recipe is super simple and that is something that I love! I made this on January 29th.  

smothered in yummy sauce!

Ranch house chicken
4 chicken breasts (I use frozen)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (I add one extra can of soup, to make extra gravy)
3 TBSP of Ranch power (which is equivalent to one packet)

Put 4 chicken breasts in the crock pot.  As you can see, mine are frozen and it works just as well!

the other ingredients + plus one more can of soup

I buy my Ranch powder at Sam's Club, because we use it a lot!

Pour the two cans of soup on top and then sprinkle the Ranch powder on top of that

Put the cover on, set it on high for 4 hours

After several hours, the chicken just breaks apart at a touch! So tender!

I made these steamed veggies and some mashed potatoes as sides. Pour the gravy sauce over the top of everything, and you are good to go! So delish!

the kid's plates    

This is a super easy dinner to make and always a hit with the family!

Easy pudding cookies

Easy Pudding Cookies

 Fixins

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 package (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

2 eggs

1 TSP baking soda

2 cups of flour

1 package (6 squares) BAKER'S White Chocolate, chopped

I have never made these with the Baker's chocolate. Honestly, that stuff is expensive, so I opted to use chips and it works just as well! The couple of times I have made these cookies before, I used white chocolate chips. Tonight, I made them with Reese's peanut butter chips and I think that they are my new favorite! Come on, who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter?!?  ;)

Make It

Heat oven to 350°F. 
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add dry pudding mix; beat until well blended. Add eggs and baking soda; mix well. Gradually beat in flour until well blended. Stir in chocolate. 

Drop tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets. 
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

2 sticks of butter and 1 cup packed brown sugar

 

Add 1 box of pudding

Add 2 eggs and 1 TSP baking soda

 

Add 2 cups flour

 

My handy helper, Shianne, holding that bag of yumminess! ;)  Like I said, this time, I used peanut butter chips

My new love, parchment paper is all set to go.

Put the cookies in the oven for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

All done! 

Divine!!!

 

These are the yummiest and easiest cookies to make!  And to top it off, they are delish!

Cupcake meatloaf

I saw this sauce at the store and thought that it would be good to try. I like meatloaf, but I haven't found the perfect recipe yet, so I am still trying!   

I took a 20 ounce package of ground turkey, 2 eggs, one thing of crackers and half the can of sauce and mixed them together.

I took my cooking paint brush and put some vegetable oil in each spot of the cupcake pan.  I had seen this on Pinterest and wanted to try it.

I filled each spot with a scoop of meatloaf mix.

Cupcake meatloaf

Next, I took the rest of the sauce and put it on top and then baked them for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.  What is nice, is because they are so small, they cook a lot faster!

I made some steamed veggies and mashed potatoes 

Aren't they cute?

Dinner is served!

The kids liked it, because they kept calling them cupcakes! LOL! Yeah, that's Mommy's trick of getting them to eat their dinner! But hey, it worked and they liked them!

Pinterest

Have I mentioned before I how much I LOVE Pinterest?  Well, just so you know, I LOVE Pinterest! ;)

I just celebrated one year of pinning on January 3rd!  

As of today, here are my Pinterest stats:
105 boards
5,279 pins
180 followers and
130 that I am following!

Ok, yes, I am addicted! I openly admit that! 

Here is my link if you want to follow me!
http://pinterest.com/heidi7877/