Broccoli Salad

I know everyone is Oklahoma probably has a Broccoli Salad recipe. This is how my Momma makes it so this is how I believe it should be done. Now all this can be adjusted to your liking. If you are a fan of some facebook page called Ilovebacon.com then you should probably add a little extra. Or if you don't care for red onion just add a little or none at all. It ain't rocket science folks. Try this salad. My family thinks it's a lovely treat and I have never taken it to a pot luck where I wasn't asked for the recipe.

Salad

1 bunch of broccoli diced
5 pieces of cooked bacon
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup red onion

Dressing

1 1/2 cups of mayo
1/2 cup of sugar
2 TBS. vinegar

Menu Plan Monday

We are heading to the lake this week for a little mini-vacation so not much of a menu plan in place. Also, I probably (um, make that hopefully) won't be doing a ton of cooking while we are away so my blog might be lacking for a few days. I will get back on track next week.
Monday- chicken fettuccinei (using some leftover chicken so this will be easy)
Tuesday-burritos
The rest of the week we will be gone.

My Day Friday

We have been busy working on our garden this week. We have plenty of potatoes now so that is a lovely treat. I miss my friend Julie who moved away. She would come over last summer and help me dig them out of the ground. Great help for me and a great learning experience for her. I think of her each time I am out there digging and just laugh about the conversations we would have during those times of me showing her how to be "country".

Meredith watches "her" tomato each day and lectures me about not picking it until it turns red. Last year she never could leave them alone long enough for even one to turn red.

Benjamon is not that interested in the garden so I don't have to worry that he may pick anything. As you can see his patience is wearing thin and he waits to be pushed on the swing while I am snapping photos.



That's about all that is going on with me and the mini Reids. I'll leave you with a photo of a Mandevilla that is in bloom on my back porch. Did I mention I love the spring?



Oh...and here is tiny Elvis sporting one of his sisters hand me down nightgowns and what appears to be showing some gang signs with his hands. I try to keep them out of baby gangs but it looks like he's gone behind my back and joined one.

LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIE BARS

These cookies are the best lemon bar/cookie I have ever eaten. My friend Donna gave me an assortment of cookies last Christmas and this was in the box. I was pregnant at the time which makes me obsess over all things lemon. If you like lemon you should make these cookies. Perfect for a shower or tea (or for sitting down to eat a 9X13 of lemon cookies one hot afternoon). I, of course, would know nothing about such things.

Dough:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 teas. baking powder
1/4 teas. salt

Beat butter and sugar in bowl until light and fluffy. In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Mix both together well. Press dough into 13x9x2” pan refrigerate 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.

Just before dough is finished, make topping:

Topping:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. grated lemon peel

Pour mixture over baked dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.
This recipe is linked to the Grocery Cart Challenge. and Colleen's Kitchen and Mom Trends.

Chicken Spaghetti

Sorry for the lack of photo. I forgot to take one but think you will enjoy this recipe if you try it so I am posting without.

6 chicken breasts
1/2 cup picante sauce
1 small can green chilies
2 cans cream of chicken (cream of mushroom or sour cream)
1 small can sliced black olives (optional)
1/2 medium sauteed onion (optional)
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. ground pepper
2 cups grated cheese (whatever you like; I use Colby/jack)

Boil chicken then boil the spaghetti in the broth ( I don't do this. I cook my chicken in the crock pot and just boil the spaghetti with a few bouillon cubes in the water). Mix all other ingredients, including chicken. Drain spaghetti, saving 1 cup of broth. Add spaghetti to other mixture and mix well, using extra broth (if needed) to make a creamy consistency, (should not be too soupy). This recipe will make tow large casseroles; diving the mixture into two greased 9 X 13 pans. You can make these ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until bubbly.
**This recipe is easily halved. I make only one dish all the time.

Making Cookies Friendly

Cookies used to be mean to me. I would bake up a giant batch and they would sit on my counter calling out to me, haunting me until every one was gone. Those cookies would not be happy until I had eaten every one of them. Now when I make cookies I just cook enough for us to eat that day. So say I want to only eat two cookies (um, that is a lie) then I would just cook two. I take my small scoop and scoop the rest of the cookies into balls and freeze them as shown in the photo and then put them in an air tight container. This way when I want to do cookies I always have some on hand to heat up. Or if I want to eat a big ball of frozen cookie dough that works too.
This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks today for all things in bloom this spring at the Reid house.......

Thankful for the beautiful flowers that are coming alive.



Even more thankful for the food that we will get to enjoy soon.



Mostly thankful for the sweet things that are blooming around here!

Menu Plan Monday

Last weeks plan didn't go as planned. We had a few home improvement projects going so a few nights we did leftovers and sandwiches. Here is this weeks plan. Starting next week hopefully I will be more organized and add breakfast and lunch and dinner side dishes to this.

Monday-Beef Enchiladas
Tuesday-Chicken Spaghetti
Wednesday-Chili Buns
Thursday-Chicken Fried Rice
Friday-Ham

Indian Tacos

I used to love going to any kind of festival where food is served so I could happily pay my six bucks for an Indian Taco. Then one day I was talking to Mommie Dearest and said I really wanted an Indian Taco. She responded, "why don't you just make some." I told her I didn't know how and I got my hiney in my car and went on down to her house so she could enlighten me. It is super easy and super cheap. You can make a lot of Indian tacos for the price of one. And even better you can make it to your liking. Do you want a small Indian Taco with less meat and more sour cream or would you like a giant taco. The kind that will shame you into eating it in the closet? Either way whip one up at home and save some cash. Here's how.

1. purchase fry bread mix. Yes! They sell it at the grocery store. It's next to the flour, corn meal, etc. and it looks like this.



Just follow the directions on the package. It is really simple and is very tasty.
Then make your meat sauce. Here is what I do.

Take one pound of hamburger meat and brown in the skillet. Then add one can of pinto beans and one packet of taco seasoning along with the 3/4 cups of water suggested on the packet. Let it simmer down. Top you taco with this meat sauce, lettuce, onions, tomato, salsa, cheese, sour cream. Whatever you like really. And there you have it. One delicious Indian Taco.
This post is linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge. AND Tasty Tuesday

Grocery Cart Review

I have been super lazy about clipping my coupons lately. Yesterday I decided that I needed to get back on top of things and make sure I stayed within my grocery budget this month. Now that the baby is following a little bit more of a predictable schedule I had more time to sit and clip my coupons. I got these deals from Simply Saving Savvy. I use that site and Coupon Princess to get my local deals. Here is what I got. All of these things are things we eat and I would purchase. You do not have to buy a bunch of stuff you won't eat. Most of these are snack type things but I did get a pork roast to serve for dinner within this purchase.

pretzels
2 packages of yogurt
shredded cheese
2 Edy's fruit bars
muffin mix
2 chocolate milk
Salad dressing
snack crackers
Seasoned pork roast
egg noodles
tic tacs
ALL THIS FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF $2.48

Wyatt Austin Reid

May I proudly present the newest addition to our family. Wyatt Austin Reid. Born March 24th. This picture was taken when he was six weeks old. He is seven weeks today. I keep posting pictures of the big kids without this little guy. He still likes to sleep a lot but I am sure it won't be long before he will be participating in the action photos.

Sweet Babies

Don't ask me why we call these little balls of fried goodness sweet babies. Jamons grandma (Mama) makes these and I think she calls them sweet puppies (like hush puppies) anyway at this house they shall be called Sweet Babies per Meredith Reid. They taste like a funnel cake to me.
Take a can of cheap biscuits (the little kind)
Heat up some oil either in a fryer or a skillet and break the biscuits into small pieces. I pinch one biscuit into four parts. Then drop them in the oil, turning them frequently and take them out when done. Then you can either sprinkle with powdered sugar or make a glaze.
The glaze is 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and about 3-4 T. of milk. Then you just stir it until it turns to glaze and pour it over the biscuits. I do this before so I can pour it on the hot biscuits.
There you go. Cheap, easy (slightly white trash) dessert. Yum.

Brazilian Black Beans

This recipe was one my neighbor friend Sara gave me. I liked this dish because it was made from things I normally have on hand and it was quick and easy. The juice and chicken broth really give the beans a lot of flavor. This was like nothing I have made before so it was nice for a change. I did double the recipe so that the whole family could eat it and we would have some leftover.

2 servings
Saute in 1 T olive oil in a skillet:
¼ c onion sliced
¼ poblano pepper, seeds removed, diced (I used bell pepper)
1 T. garlic minced

Stir in:
1 c canned black beans, drained, rinsed
¼ c chicken broth (water is also ok)
¼ fresh orange juice

Cook until liquid is nearly evaporated, 8-10 min

Off heat, add:
½ c mandarin oranges, drained
½ c cherry tomatoes, halved
Juice of ½ lime
Salt and pepper to taste

serve over rice.

Menu Plan Monday

Nothing exciting on the menu this week. I have a new muffin recipe to try so hopefully it will turn out good and I will have that to share.

M-Lasagna (I still have a frozen one my Mom bought after I had Wyatt)
T-tacos
W-Chicken Fried Rice
Th-Ham (frozen leftover from Easter)
F-Chicken and Cornbread Casserole
S-Black Bean Nachos
S- Grilled Salmon (courtesy of JR)

Green Beans with New Potatoes

I had bought some green beans to cook with my chicken this week. Then I was out in the garden planting a few jalapeño plants next to my potatoes when I accidentally dug up a potatoe. I knew the potatoes were small so I came in the house to not bother them and let them grow. I made it one hour before I found myself back out in the garden digging potatoes. But I couldn’t resist. They are so good in the green beans. If you don’t have any potatoes to add you can leave them out and just use the beans. Yes I do realize I have taken a perfectly healthy thing like a green bean and turned it into a totally fattening side dish. Try not to judge.

Ingredients

1 pound fresh green beans
4 pieces of bacon cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
small red potatoes
1/2 onion, cut into slivers
Ground black pepper

Directions

Remove the ends from the beans. Snap the beans in 2 pieces, place into a colander, wash, and set aside to drain.
Meanwhile, in a large cast iron Dutch oven, lightly brown the bacon and leave the grease in the pan. Toss the green beans into the pot, stirring them to coat well with the grease. Add the broth and cook over medium-low heat, covered tightly, for approximately 30 minutes, or until the beans are half done.
At the end of 30 minutes, add the potatoes and onion to the beans; add 1/4 cup more broth (or water), if needed. Cook, covered tightly, until the potatoes are tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes, periodically checking the pot to make sure a small amount of liquid remains. When the potatoes are tender, tilt the lid slightly, off to the side of the pot, and continue to cook until the green beans are wilted, approximately 15 minutes. When they are almost done if they seem a little dry put a little bit of butter on them.
This post is linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake

I saw this recipe in All You magazine and decided to try it out. I love all things lemon. This cake is so tasty. Very lemony flavor with a hint of blueberry. If you like lemon you must try it.

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups blueberries

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon buttermilk
2 to 4 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with melted butter, add a few tablespoons of flour and rotate pan to evenly coat, tapping out excess.

2. Sift 3 cups flour with baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, vanilla and buttermilk.

3. In a second large bowl, beat butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add about 1/4 of flour mixture, followed by 1/4 of buttermilk mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Repeat, alternating dry and liquid ingredients, until batter is thoroughly combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Transfer batter to pan, spreading evenly.

4. Bake until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold cake.

5. Make glaze: Mix confectioners' sugar, buttermilk and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Glaze should be pourable; if it's too thick, add lemon juice, 1 tsp. at a time, until it reaches desired consistency. Pour half of glaze over warm cake. Let cool for 1 hour, then pour remaining glaze over cake and serve.

Menu Plan Monday

Nothing really exciting on the menu this week. I am trying a new recipe that my neighbor Sara gave me and a new dessert recipe. I will let you know how those turn out. I didn't do so well following the budget when Wyatt was first born so hopefully this month we will get back on track.

M-Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
T- Tuna Turnovers (using Tuna instead of Salmon)
W- Brazilian Black Beans (Sara's recipe)
Th- Hot Dogs
F- Fried Chicken