The Amazing miracle of Grilled Cheese sandwiches

Tonight, we kicked it old school. We...okay *I* did not go grocery shopping today so it was slim pickens in our kitchen.

After searching for an hour for the plug on the electric skillet, I got started on the masterpieces that are Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Ingredients

Butter

American Cheese slices

Bread

I even took pictures for you all tonight!

Step 1. Get Bread, and butter....butter one side of 2 pieces of bread.

Step 2. Open American cheese slices and place TWO slices of cheese on unbuttered side of bread.

Step 3. Place on skillet and place 2nd piece of bread down, butter up.

Step 4. Cook for a few minutes on the first side, then with a handy spatula flip.

Step 5. Cook on 2nd side for same amount of time, then perfection arrives.

step 6. Take a tasty bite.

(Thanks to my husband for modeling how to take a bite)

The verdict? Success! Who doesnt love melted cheese between two delicious slices of bread.

Spread the news.

Paula Deen is a rockstar, or is it Wayne?

Waynes Beef Macaroni and Cheese 

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon each dried basil, cumin, and dried oregano
Salt and pepper
3 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 lb lean ground beef
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 cup chopped onion
2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb box elbow macaroni
2-3 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions

Cook the macaroni according to package directions; drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a skillet; add the peppers, onion, and garlic, and saute until soft. Add the ground beef and saute until browned. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the basil, cumin, and oregano. In a large bowl, combine the macaroni and the beef mixture. Spread this mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Top with the cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

Im not sure who this "Wayne" character is, but this recipe is fantastic. Again, at first I was a little scared of this recipe...I find it weird when people put things like green peppers in ground beef with tomatos, but mmmmm. 

EVERY single person at the dinner table, 6 and 3 included had SECONDS!!!! Thats right, the impossible to please Princess Penelope had TWO plates of food. I would kiss Paula deen right now if I could.

The 6 year old loved it, and complimented his way through dinner. My husband and I gobbled it up as well. I recommend this one to every struggling mom out there. Feed it to your kids!!

Sigh....another fail.

However this time, NO ONE ate it to determine it was a big fat FAIL.

I tried a recipe called from http://cookingoncloverlane.blogspot.com/

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I cut mine in half or quarters)

2 TBS butter

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 onion finely chopped

2 packages of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Place the chicken, butter, soup and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with just enough water to cover.

Cover and cook for 5-6 hours on High.  About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker.  Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Something went terribly wrong....it was supposed to look like this....

However, it looked like this....

Hard to tell from the pictures I got but mine was basically chicken floating in yellow water, there was no thickness to the sauce at all. OOPS! Just looking at it made me sick so into the sink it went.

Now we have bowtie noodles and butter, with Parmesan cheese coming up for 2nd dinner.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

Last night I made Pan Fried Pork Chops. Another recipe from the Pioneer woman.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/simple-pan-fried-pork-chops/

Theres the recipe, I also made the potatos she suggested, DELICIOUS!

The 6 year old loved the Potato's and the 3 year old loved the pork chops....so I guess this was a success?

Sometimes I think I can guess whether they will like the food or not, I would have guessed the 3 year old wouldnt have liked any of it. I was shocked when she started devouring the pork. The 6 year old didnt hate the pork chops, he ate maybe 2 bites, then devoured all his potatos.

My husband and I really liked this meal, it was manly and GOOOOOOD.

PB&J French Toast

Tonights dinner came out of Rachael Ray's yum-o cookbook. (yes I gave her another chance) This recipe didn't have tons of shallots in it so I deemed it safe.

Peanut Butter and Jelly French Toast

Ingredients:

8 slices whole grain bread

4tbs peanut butter, creamy or crunchy

4tbs Jelly

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2tsps pure vanilla extract

4tbs butter (1/2 stick)

1/2 cup pure maple syrup, warm.

Instructions:

 Spread 4 slices of the bread with peanut butter and the other 4 with jelly to make four PB&J sandwiches. Beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla together in a bowl.

Place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 2tbs of the butter. When the butter is almost melted, dunk two of the sammies into the egg batter and let the excess drip off. Place in the pan. Fry the sandwiches until golden brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining 2 sanwiches. Cut the french toast sandwiches into 4 sticks apiece and serve with warm maple syrup.

Serves 4.

Browning the sandwiches

 

One Side all done!

  

The finished product.

This smelt REALLY good when it was cooking. I figured you cant really go wrong with PB&J sandwiches and peanut butter warm is just delicious.

Unfortunately 3 year old gave it the immediate upon entry "YUCK" and then spit it out. She of course then walked around the house for 5 minutes proclaiming its nastiness. So this recipe got a big fat FAIL from her.

The 6 year old gobbled the whole thing up,and gave it plenty of compliments along the way, he even stole a stick from 3's plate. So all in all its a good recipe, I thought it was pretty good. The 3 year old just wants to make sure this blog goes on for a long time.

Penne-Wise Pumpkin pasta FAIL.

Out of my Rachael Ray cookbook today I came across this recipe. Yes the name is a bit strange, kind of makes you want to run from the recipe...always trust your instincts.
I decided to make it anyway, I thought maybe my kids are a little weird and will like this dish?

Here is the recipe from the Rachael Ray Yum-O book.
For a picture click here http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipes/rachael-ray-30-minute-meals/Penne-Wise-Pumpkin-Pasta

Ingredients

Salt

1 pound whole-wheat penne pasta

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 shallots, finely chopped

3 to 4 garlic cloves, grated.

2 cups chicken stock

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup cream

1 teaspoon hot sauce

2 pinches of ground cinnamon

Freshly ground black pepper

7 to 8 fresh sage leaves

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat for the pasta. Add salt and the pasta and cook al dente, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, twice around the pan, over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic to the pan and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock, pumpkin, and cream, then season the sauce with thte hot sauce, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Reduce the head to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes longer to thicken. Add a little of the reserved pasta water if needed to thin out the sauce a bit. Stir in the sage, then toss in the drained pasta and grated cheese.

When cooking I found the combination of ingredients a little strange, hot sauce and pumpkin? okay, I went on and it started to smell really good. Once finish the final product looked quite appetizing.

Now for the final test, "Dinners ready!" the three year old is the first to the table, she takes one look at her plate and says "This is beesgusting" Okay little girl, just try it! She took one tiny bite and the look of disgust radiated from her eyes....she proceeded to take off running yelling "Thats beesgusting! beesgusting dinner! eeeewww!!!" definite FAIL in her eyes.  Next comes the 6 year old who is usually a giant pasta lover. He ate a noodle and said it was good, took a second bite and here comes the look of disgust again. "What is this orange stuff? its nasty!" spits it into the trash can and says "Dont ever try this one again mom."

For second dinner we had microwave chicken nuggets, goldfish crackers and ketchup....sigh. The three year old only ate the ketchup.

The quest continues....