B's Favorite

Who doesn't like to try new recipes and it's even better when someone enjoys your cooking. I am lucky and maybe a little mis-informed when I try a new recipe. You see B likes almost anything I put in front of him. It's great and boost my ego when I ask him if he likes it and he give me an enthusiastic YES. But also he doesn't tell me if it is just OK. I think there was only one thing he didn't like and I would never do again (I tried to make chili on my own and threw in everything including an entire bag of rice, it was no bueno).


But this recipe is one of B's favorites and the easiest, and I seriously mean easiest, thing I make. From my aunt here is her recipe for stroganoff. I like to call it...


Three Ingredient Stroganoff


What you need


Meat or chicken, your choice (meatballs or ground meat or turkey is what we usually use)
  cooked, it's nice to throw the meatballs or chicken into the crock pot and let them cook during the day


Now your three ingredients
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 container of Sour Cream
1 packet of French Onion Soup Mix (the dried seasoning)

Mix together with meat, heat and serve over noodles.
Seriously that easy. We really like using meatballs with it.

i had some mushrooms to use so i threw some into my meat as well

Enjoy!

Floral It Is

Love me some funky pants.  I may have an addition to any type of pant other than jeans or khaki (I actually don't like khaki pants, but for work I do have a few, rarely worn)

I bought these pants a while ago from H&M and wore them out to eat with my in-laws. Since they have been sitting in my closet but I have a feeling they will make their way our this summer quite a few times!

Peppers and Rice

Bell peppers have become a favorite of mine (as far as veggies are concerned) so when they are on sale I like to buy in bulk. That's where this recipe comes in handy. 


From my mother...
Stuffed Peppers
1 lb hamburger
1 can tomato soup
1 can of water
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cup instant rice (cooked)
4 bell peppers (or as many as you want) tops cut off and gutted
optional (yeah right, you know you'll use it) cheese


Brown meat, mix with rice and rest of ingredients. Spoon into peppers.


My way...
1 box of Spanish or Mexican rice cooked according to directions
1 lb of turkey or ground beef, browned
4 bell peppers 
Cheese (of course)


Mix rice and cooked meat together, spoon into bell peppers. Top with cheese


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

*you can also broil this, but the peppers can get mushy so you will need to watch them closely. 

Pretty in Pink

These pants have been a bit of a controversy... I bought them thinking they were pink but my coworker told me they were "red", I thought about the "actual" red pants I bought for work and decided that they were more pink then red.  B then said he liked my "red" pants. I corrected him by interrupting him and correcting him by saying they were pink. Then when out for a dinner date with a friend she said that I had cute "red" pants. I guess I don't care if they are red or pink, I love them!



night outfit with new boots and jacket



I've been pushing this post out for about a month, actually two. But I really like the outfit and now that I'm looking at it again I might have to wear it to work since it's been the perfect spring weather!

A Good Kind of Garbage...

Sometimes garbage can be a good thing. I know, I didn't think it would be possible either until I came across this little pile of deliciousness...


Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread


What you need:
 2 boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp. olive oil
1 pizza dough (I used store bought and let it sit out for during the day to rise)
8 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese 
3 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of Franks Wing Sauce
1/3 cup of ranch or blue cheese dressing (I use the yogurt ranch dressing)

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 425

Heat Olive Oil heat in pan and cut chicken up into bits and cook through. Once cooked add 1/4 cup of the wing sauce to coat the chicken. 

 In the meantime, spread out the dough and cover with your choice of sauce. I used the wing sauce and the Yogurt Ranch, mix together and pour onto bread. 

Next add the cheese, you can use whatever you want but I used shredded cheese. 

 Add the chicken to the top and roll up. It's not easy but don't worry (they don't call this garbage plate for nothing), make sure to tuck the ends under.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling. 

 And Wallah! There you have it! A beautiful and large lump of goodness. If I were to name this it would be the "5 pound calzone". 

ps. for those of you who don't know me my hubs is a big guy so i may have used more chicken than my "garbage" could hold. i'm sure if you keep to the recipe more it probably won't "overflow" like mine did (or weigh 5 pounds)

mini pies

I enjoy to cook and bake. I just don't like to do it if it has a lot of ingredients. I like simplicity. Right now I am obsessed with making shredded chicken in the crock pot, it's fast, it's easy and it's helpful to make a healthy meal. Although tacos are amazing, having them every night is getting a little sickening so I decided to try something new with my shredded chicken crock pot.

What you need:
chicken-cooked in crock pot, I usually add a little water to keep the chicken from sticking to the pot.
1 can cream of chicken
1 can peas (not my fav but I had to use them)
Mix all together and warm
meanwhile, take a container of...
Pillsbury Crescent dough

I use this stuff all the time. I buy them when they are on sale and keep them on hand

spread out into the muffin pan (grease it) and fill with the chicken mixture. I had some leftover scraps so I topped the chicken mixture with them to look cute;)

before baked and topped, but you can see how i spread the dough into the pan. you just have to cut the  dough into squares and place it on the bottom. it will spread out when it cooks and come out of the pan easy. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Final Product!  Seriously the easiest this I have ever made and it made me think you could probably put whatever you want in there....mine reminds me of home and a little midwest-y.

Just Like Pita Pit

OK maybe not just like it but pretty damn close

The day my Taste Of Home comes in the mail is one of my favorite days. I love paging through and finding so many recipes that I can do with almost anything I already have in my house. It's so much funner to cook when you have what you need right there. 

Here's a little pita recipe I tried the other night, a new big hit in the Schmidt household. 

1 lb of ground beef (I used turkey meat)

1 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeeze dry

Onions, chopped (I don't use, ew!)

1 can sliced ripe olives, drained

2 tsp, lemon-pepper seasoning, divided

1 large tomato or cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 c. (8oz) fat-free plain yogurt (I usually have plain Greek Yogurt on hand)

1/2 c. reduced-fat mayo

pita bread or salad cups as I found them to be called

Romaine Lettuce

Feta Cheese

I had most of this on hand so only had to pick up the feta, lemon-pepper seasoning, pita bread and the frozen spinach. I'm sure you could sub fresh spinach for frozen and probably chicken for the meat. I also accidentally grabbed goat cheese instead of feta and then forgot to use it, so FYI it's good with no cheese!

Now the best part, only TWO steps. 

1. Cook the meat. Add the spinach, onions, olives and 1 tsp (or to your tasting) lemon-pepper and heat through. Toss in tomatoes and set aside. 

2. Combine the mayo, yogurt and 1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning. Line pitas with the romaine lettuce, add beef mixture and top with feta. Use yogurt sauce for dipping.

Easy as ordering from Pita Pit! 

Sundance

Friday night I had a girls night out at the infamous Sundance Film Festival up in Park City. We had an amazing dinner and good laughs. Now, I wasn't able to meet any celebs, but it was still quite an experience.