The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2011-09-19T11:46:00.004-04:00

Time for this weeks menu!

We'll be having:

Mexican Penne. This is one of the easiest dishes I make and since I have to run to the grocery store today I want something simple to make when I get home!

Porcupine Meatballs - I clipped this out of a magaizine or newspaper years ago and have never found a better recipe for this dish, will blog it soon!

Chicken Alfredo - weight watchers style! I use laughing cow cheese to make some seriously awesome low cal alfredo sauce, check it out!

Puerto Rican Chicken - we use turkey bacon and low fat cheese, this recipe is wonderful!!!

Enchiladas!! Every Friday during football season! (because my stepson hates them and he won't be home to complain!) I am going to try the turkey and black bean enchiladas from skinnytaste this week.

Fiesta Salad OR leftovers, depending on how my fridge looks at the end of the week.

Spaghetti Sunday (a constant for us!)

Head on over to OrgJunkie to see a ton more menus!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Easy Side Potatoes

2011-09-16T10:28:00.001-04:00

Today I'd like to share a recipe for a side dish that I love for many reasons; it is easy, I always have the ingredients on hand, and it tastes delicious!

I serve these up when I make steaks, london broil, grilled chicken, even fish, it goes with just about everything.

Here is what you need to get started:

2 cans sliced potatoes, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Also olive oil and butter.

To get started, I always drain and pat dry the canned potatoes:

You can skip the drying, but in that case I would rinse them through a colander. They have kind of a funny taste if you don't.

Next, slice the onion and heat a large pan with olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic, I usually use a large spoonful of minced garlic, but you can add however much you choose, you can even skip it all together and this still turns out delicious:

Cook for about 4-5 minutes, until onions become tender and then add potatoes:

You can add as much salt and pepper here as you like, I love potatoes with my pepper so I obviously add a ton, it is all a matter of preference, no measuring.

Mix everything well and cover and cook on medium-low for around 15 minutes. Then comes the butter. I know many of us are on diets. This isn't really a diet dish (obviously) because the butter is necessary, I don't know how to explain in technical terms what it does, but leaving it out is a mistake, trust me.

So add about a tablespoon of butter in chunks to the top of the potatoes:

I also added more pepper (because I can!). Cover again and cook on medium-low for around another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can cook it on medium-high if you'd like to make it go faster but you need to keep a good eye on your potatoes so they don't burn.

Ideally you want your potatoes to look like the brown ones in this picture:

But it doesn't have to be perfect! Kids will love this (if you don't use too much pepper), just set some ketchup on the table for them.

Grab a few cans of potatoes to keep in the pantry for a night when you have no idea what to serve with your chicken, you'll thank yourself because I'm sure you have all the other ingredients already!

I am linking up with Feasting in Fellowship Friday, Food on Fridays, and Foodie Friday. Check out these awesome blogs to find even more wonderful recipes.

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Steak Layered Dinner

2011-09-15T13:35:00.005-04:00

Today is Slow Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom! Check her blog out for some awesome recipe ideas!

Although I'm a day late, it was also What's on the Menu Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie, and of course Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT Family. There are already a ton of great recipes and ideas on both of those sites from yesterday, check them out!

This is almost crockpot gourmet! I mean, who knew you could have steak, shrimp, potatoes, and corn on the cob out of a slow cooker!? The greatest thing about it was it's simplicity and the ability to sub ingredients for whatever you are in the mood for.

I found this recipe in Stephanie O'Dea's cookbook or you can find it online here. I also used a steak marinade recipe from All Recipes.

Here is what you need:

Steak (I used 1.5lb sirloin), potatoes, corn on the cob, steak seasoning, salt, pepper, worcestershire, italian dressing, bbq sauce, garlic, olive oil, and butter. I also added some unplanned shrimp later!

First, you need to get your potatoes ready for the crockpot clean them up and peel off any nasty bits and then:

Grab some tinfoil to wrap the potatoes, drizzle a little bit of olive oil, and sprinkle sea salt, then wrap them up and set aside.

Next, get your corn ready:

Using some tinfoil, set the corn in and rub with butter, salt and pepper, then roll up and set aside.

Next, prepare the steak:

This is really a matter of preference. I sprinkled my steak with montreal steak seasoning, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. Add the steak to the bottom of your crockpot.

Next, mix your marinade together. For this I used 1/2 cup worcestershire, 1 cup italian dressing, 1 cup bbq sauce, and a spoonful of minced garlic. Once mixed, pour on top of steak:

Add potatoes and corn on top:

And if you want to, you can add shrimp too! I bought a bag of Gorton's grilled shrimp:

Just take it out of the freezer, wrap it in tinfoil, and add it to the top of the crockpot:

I should mention that I didn't think to do this until about 2 hours before it was time to eat, and that was plenty of time for my shrimp to heat up (they are already cooked after all!)

I cooked this meal on low for 5 hours and then switched it to high when I added shrimp for the last 2 hours. You could cook it on low all day for 8 hours, or on high for 5-6 hours.

The finished product was a surf n turf dinner!

The one thing I will say about this, don't expect the steak to be like a usual steak. It was more like a roast, very well done and peeling apart. It was still good! And since it was raining outside (no covered patio!) the grill wasn't an option, so when you are having a steak craving and don't want to use your grill, this might be a good thing to try out!

Here is a printable version for you! Let me know if you want to try it!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Salisbury Steak From a Packet!!

2011-09-15T12:58:00.004-04:00

Today is the Ultimate Recipe Swap over at Life as Mom! She's asked for recipes that use 5 ingredients or less, and I thought I would highlight an old recipe that never fails me!!

This is my all time favorite dinner, no joke. Which is also why I am linking up with It's a Keeper which is being guest hosted over at B & the boy!! I could probably live off of this meal and nothing else! It's funny to realize that now, because growing up my mom made it about once a week and I got so sick of it that I never wanted to eat it! To go straight to the recipe, click here!

The great thing about this recipe is that it takes so little to make something so tasty! Here is what you need:

Hamburger, green pepper, onion, and Brown Gravy Packets! I use two, you could use more, if you aren't making a lot of meat you'd only need one, but try it with two first, because the gravy tastes so good after it's cooked that you will be licking the pan!

So as you can see, the first step is to make the hamburger patties and then brown them. After they are browned on both sides (not cooked through) go ahead and take them out and use some paper towels to sop up the grease. I suppose this is optional, but I like to get as much of the grease off as possible. This beef is 93 percent lean, but it still looks super greasy to me:

Once you've got an acceptable amount of grease soaked up, go ahead and throw these guys back in the pan. I should note that you want a deep pan with plenty of room for the gravy and onions and peppers.

Speaking of the onions and peppers, go ahead and slice (not dice) them up like so:

Next, dump your packets into a measuring cup that will hold 2 cups of water:

Add the 2 cups of water, mix it up good with a fork, and then dump it in the pan with your hamburger:

Then add the onions and peppers:

And add some salt and pepper. Again, I don't use measurements, but I have a not so secret love affair with pepper, I go a little easier on the salt though:

Now you simply give it a good mix around and cover it. It needs to cook for about an hour on low (simmering). I flip the burgers every 15 minutes or so. On Sunday when we made this we had gone to the late mass at church and didn't get home until almost 7, so I didn't let it cook the whole time, only around 45 minutes. This is okay, but it just gets more flavorful the longer you cook it, plus the gravy will thicken more if it has more time. Here it is at around 30 minutes:

Mmmmm...

To round out this meal, you DEFINITELY need to serve it with mashed potatoes and corn. You will see why later, but just trust me on this.

When you've got about 10 minutes remaining on the cook time, go ahead and whip up some instant potatoes and throw the corn in the microwave for a few minutes. To save myself dishes I use a tupperware dish that will fit my leftovers when all is said and done because there is never enough corn left to save.

Then, serve it up, here is my stepsons plate:

He had seconds, and thirds too I believe.

And this is why this meal needs mashed potatoes and corn.... this is how I eat my salisbury steak:

And that is also how my stepson eats his now too! I don't eat the onions or peppers because, as I've mentioned before I was a spoiled only child and I didn't like them so my momma didn't make me eat them, I still don't until this day. BUT the flavor they give the gravy is unbelievable!!

Here is a simple printable version. Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

American Chop Suey

2011-09-13T09:38:00.003-04:00

This recipe is a great standby for me because I always have all of the ingredients on hand and it always goes over really well with my boys.

Here is what you need:

1lb ground turkey (or beef)
Small chopped onion
Chopped medium bell pepper
Sprinkle garlic powder
Sprinkle paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of cheese
1 can tomato poaste
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes (15oz)
2 cups cooked macaroni

And here's what you do with all of it:

1. Gather all of your ingredients

2. Chop your onions and bell peppers. I LOVE buying frozen bell pepper strips because this way I always have them on hand, they are just as good as fresh, and I can get more flavor variety. In this recipe I grab a handful of green, yellow and red and throw them in my mini food processor with the onion.

3. Brown and drain your meat, add onions and bell peppers as well as spices. I don't really measure on the spices I just sprinkle them right over the meat as it's cooking. I suppose it's probably around a teaspoon each except for the salt (which I usually leave out because of the garlic salt) and pepper which I just sprinkle a few taps of.

4. Add the meat mixture to your crock pot and pour on the tomato paste and the diced/crushed tomatoes. You can used diced or crushed, I've had it both ways - I do prefer the diced, but I was out when I made this. The recipe really is versatile that way which is why I love it! And don't forget your crock pot liner - this one isn't fun to clean up without it.

5. Add a cup of cheese. Save the rest to top it when it's ready to serve.

6. Mix it all together and cook on low for 5-6 hours, longer if you need to, I've had it in there for up to 8 hours once and it didn't seem to hurt anything.

When you get home and you're ready to serve this, just boil your noodles, drain and add them right in to the sauce and dish it up. The boys really like extra cheese on top, but I don't add it to mine (who needs those extra calories!). Sorry I didn't get to take a picture of the completed plate - it was gone too fast!

I am linking up with: Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday! Thanks to all of these wonderful bloggers for hosting these - in my opinion there is no better way to find new recipes than to scroll through these at the end of the day!!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Back to Blogging - Menu Plan Monday

2011-09-12T08:00:00.005-04:00

Well, it's been awhile! I took a long break from blogging but I am hoping to get back into the swing of things and what better way than to start off the week with our Menu Plan!

This week we'll be having:

Salmon Burgers and some kind of pasta salad

Salisbury Steak - but I am going to try a recipe for mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes!

Stuffed Shells

My Momma's Chili - because it's starting to feel cold!

Enchiladas (my favorite!)

Asian Turkey Meatballs from Skinnytaste

Spaghetti - a lot like the crockpot version here, but I am going to use ground beef and little something else

It is great to get back to blogging, I hope to catch up with all of your blogs and find some great new recipes! Head on over to http://orgjunkie.com to see even more menus!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2010-03-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

I've been making this recipe for over a year now and it is by far my favorite sweet n sour chicken recipe - it beats out Wanchai Ferry and any packet you may buy (trust me I've tried quite a few varieties) and it is super easy!! I am linking up (a day late!) with the Tuesday Lineup of Bloggers: Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Tuesdays at the Table! Thanks to all of you for hosting!

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Cut up chicken (this is about 1.5lbs), 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 egg white. All you'll need to do here is mix the cornstarch and egg white (also can add a little salt here but I always forget) and pour it over the chicken, mix it in well and then let the mix rest for 15 minutes.

Next, gather the rest of the ingredients:

Ketchup (1/4 cup), ginger (1 tsp), cooking oil, vinegar (1/4 cup), brown sugar (2 TBS), pineapple (recipe calls for 10 oz jar but I always just use a full jar and munch on the extra while cooking), some frozen bell pepper strips (I just grab a handful or two) and the chicken mixture.

While the chicken is resting (it's tired), go ahead and mix the 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup pineapple juice with the 2 TBS brown sugar:

Congratulations, you just made sweet and sour sauce. Didn't know it was that easy did you? Me either, but now that you know you can make it all the time!!! I actually made this twice last night, once for the recipe and then as you'll see later more for egg roll dipping sauce.

Since I know that didn't take you 15 minutes, let's continue gathering so that when cooking begins we have it all nice and ready to go. Grab a paper plate or paper towel and put your bell peppers, pineapple (however much you want of either of these, honestly), and get the ginger ready as well:

Now you are ready to cook this, and quick too I might add. Unless you forgot about your rice, and then you'll be sorry, we've had this discussion before!!! Get the rice on (before you even mess with the chicken, rice takes forever for me!!)

So get the oil hot in your pan or wok, and pour the chicken mixture in:

Do not touch it, please. Just let it brown. I always mess with it, but I am trying desperately hard not to so that you can see the correct way to do things and not my way of doing things! ;)

Now, if you want a dipping sauce for egg rolls, or for picky eaters, go ahead and throw the extra sweet and sour mixture you made in a small pot, turn the heat on med-low and add some cornstarch, whisk it together and it'll thicken while you make dinner:

Now if you've left the chicken alone it should be nice and brown on one side and you can flip it now without feeling guilty. I almost waited long enough this time, but most of the time I don't bother (I'm too impatient!!):

Once chicken is browned on both sides, remove it to a plate or bowl and keep the pan hot:

Add just a little oil if the pan needs it and then add the fruit and veggies as well as the ginger (which you had sitting out ready and waiting to make this that much easier on you):

Take a nice big whiff, this smells SO WONDERFUL!!! After frying for about a minute, pour in the sweet and sour mixture you made earlier and bring to a boil:

Once it's boiling add the chicken back in:

And don't forget about the extra sauce you were making, mine got a little out of control but still turned out okay!

Continue cooking the chicken until it's cooked through and everything is nice and hot, and then serve it on top of rice with egg rolls:

This is my very favorite "Asian-y" meal, my boys love Asian food, and I do enjoy it, but this is so yummy. I think it's the pineapple. And it sure pales in comparison to the fried up chunks you get from the China take out place down the street!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2010-03-01T07:49:00.002-05:00

Here's our menu for this week, remember to check out OrgJunkie to see even more!!

Monday: Swiss Steak in the Crock.

Tuesday: Sweet n Sour Chicken (I'll post this one sometime during the week)

Wednesday: Hungarian Goulash in the Crock.

Thursday: Wanchai Ferry (probably Cashew Chicken)

Friday: Something fishy...

Saturday: Steak Layered Dinner in the Crock (from Stephanie O'Dea's cookbook!)

Sunday: Honey Balsamic Chicken w/potatoes and green beans.

And totally off food topics - do any of you feel like you are addicted to couponing or am I all alone out there? I feel like I need a support group or something!! I've just recently started seriously getting into it instead of just using whatever coupons I have and we've been saving a ton of money. I've also started getting into Walgreens and CVS and honestly I feel like I've just robbed the store when I walk out with all that stuff for so little money!!! Here is the website I use to organize my trips, what about you??

Love and Luck to you!!

The Packet Queen

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf in the Crockpot

2010-02-25T18:27:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I've had a post but this turned out SO WONDERFUL that I just had to share it with everyone.... I've tried meatloaf again, and I've finally found success!! So exciting, this is only the 3rd meatloaf recipe I've ever tried and it's a keeper. It's also probably very bad for you, even with my edits. :)

For this recipe I basically combined the crockpot meatloaf and potatoes recipe I found over at Melissa's blog way back at the beginning of December and a Paula Dean recipe I had been dying to try.

Here is what you'll need:

For Meatloaf:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used 93% lean)
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used a bag of bacon crumbles – they had a light version)
1 (8-ounce) package grated sharp reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6-10 saltines crushed – depending on how much beef you use (I used 10 - whole wheat)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used olive oil light)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 (3-ounce) can French fried onions (I couldn’t find the can for some reason, but did find that big bag in the salad dressing aisle)

For potatoes:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 red potatoes, cut into 1 to 1-1/2” chunks
Garlic seasoning and/or seasoning salt/pepper/chives to sprinkle on potatoes

First, combine oil and potatoes in crock pot, toss to coat. Spread on the bottom of the crock and sprinkle with seasonings and pepper:

Next, in a small bowl, combine the ketchup and mustard:

Then in a large bowl, combine remaining meatloaf ingredients, except the onions - save those for later:

Then you'll add a little bit of the ketchup/mustard mixture to the meat mixture (1/4 cup or so), I also added my cheese last because I forgot to grab it before:

Okay, if it weren't for Melissa's blog, I'd have no idea where to go from here, so her note said that to make the meatloaf easier to remove you need to take two long pieces of foil and fold them into strips, then place them across each other over the potatoes and set the meatloaf on top. This will make your life easier later because you can use the foil as handles to remove when the meatloaf is done.

After you have your strips in place, form an oval/circular loaf, depending on what fits in your crock, and place on top of the foil:

Then spread with what's left of the ketchup/mustard mixture. (I ended up adding a smiley face of ketchup later on, wish I had used more ketchup altogether, or at least had some ready at the table!):

Now for cooking: cover and cook on high for 1 hour and then reduce heat to Low and continue to cook for 6-7 hours.

I opened my crockpot lid about 7 hours later to find this:

Looking good!! Especially those potatoes, let's get a close up:

Those are bad for you. All that grease has been dripping down on them all day long, and they are very very bad for you.

In the last 30 minutes of cooking sprinkle the top of the meat with the French fried onions and let them warm up:

When time is up – use tinfoil handles to remove meat to plate. Cut like a pie. Serve with the deliciously seasoned potatoes (they soak up all the drippings from the meat (SO NOT good for you but SO YUMMY).

NOTE: You can do corn on the cob in the crock if you have room for it. It only needs about 2 hours though – wrap it in tinfoil with butter and salt and pepper and set it on the sides of the meat if there is room and let it cook for 2 hours. I didn’t have any room so I just steamed mine.

Here is how the meatloaf looks on the inside if your curious:

Trust me when I say that this didn't last very long at all with my boys.

I've missed blogging, I'll try and get back into it, I've got some more great recipes I've been sitting on. We'll see!! Linking up with Crockpot Wednesday, The Ultimate Recipe Swap, Cooking Thursday, and Works for Me Wednesday (because making meatloaf in the crockpot works for me!!!)

Let me know if you try this!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Crockpot Spaghetti

2010-02-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

I needed a super fast and easy crockpot meal the other morning and I just grabbed what I had on hand to make this meal. It turned out to be Delicious. (yes with a capital D). I got this idea from Stephanie O’Dea’s cookbook – which I won not too long ago at Dining with Debbie’s Crockpot Wednesdays!! Thank you Debbie, I LOVE this cookbook; in fact I have just about every other page marked to try.

For my sauce this is what I had on hand:

A large can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings, a jar of spaghetti sauce, a can of tomato paste, some minced garlic, basil and oregano.

Then, since I didn’t have time to brown ground beef and dice onions I decided instead to use chicken and sausage:

I only threw one in there for the picture but I squeezed 5 of them out of their casings and directly into the sauce. The chicken breast tenders were just thrown in frozen.

I threw everything in – didn’t measure the seasonings, just sprinkled on and about a spoonful of garlic and mixed it all together:

Then I went about my super busy day.

And when we got home past 7, we were starving, and the smell coming from the crockpot was driving us wild. I opened it up to take a peak:

It looked good! But you can’t tell from this picture that it was very watery. So I turned it on high and left the lid off while I went about getting the noodles and garlic bread on. Meanwhile, hubby googled “watery spaghetti sauce” (I guess?) and found that if you added about 1/4 cup of mashed potato flakes to the sauce it would thicken up. I figured it couldn’t hurt – and it didn’t!! So I used a little more than 1/4. I swear I didn’t even slightly notice a difference in taste. Very nice little trick!!

By then the boys were sitting at the table, forks in hand, pounding on the table like 2 year olds for their dinner.

You are waiting for me to say that I’m joking right?

Keep waiting.

So finally, after THE LONGEST TIME TO BOIL NOODLES EVER (apparently) I served this up!! And it was beautiful. And delicious. And wonderful. And WOW I can’t believe I just threw together a bunch of things and walked away, this was some of the best spaghetti ever!!

Let me know if you try this!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Our Menu for the Week

2010-02-01T08:58:00.001-05:00

Monday - American Chop Suey in the crockpot.

Tuesday - Ranch Teriyaki Chicken from the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow cookbook!

Wednesday - Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. But I think I'm going to make it in the crockpot.

Thursday - Another Wanchai Ferry meal!! (You can't tell we love these can you?)

Friday - Puerto Rican Chicken with black beans and rice. This looks incredible and I know we're going to love it!

Saturday - Never did make the Italian Crockpot Chicken so that's back on the menu this week..

Sunday - Pesto Pasta w/chicken - I found a packet for pesto that looks delicious, so I'll be testing it out this week!

Also on the site this week I should get around to posting the Sweet n Sour chicken I made ages ago so check back if your interested!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Crab Cakes

2010-01-19T08:45:00.003-05:00

Joining up with Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, and Slightly Indulgent Tuesday today!! This is one of the many recipes I have been meaning to post, cooked way back in 2009!!

Hubby has a close to Christmas birthday. According to him this is a travesty. And he has threatened to move his birthday to July Fourth if it isn’t celebrated properly and separately from Christmas!!! I can’t say that I blame him. So when I asked him if he’d like to go out for his birthday dinner or have me cook, he jumped on the idea of me cooking. Because he knows I make awesome crab cakes!

And they are so simple that anyone can make them. It isn’t exactly a “packet” but it’s a can – the recipe is right on the back of the can, and I’ll reproduce it for you here. This time I grabbed a can of Phillip’s Lump Crab Meat so I used their recipe, but I have used other brands before and they always turn out yummy and are always easy.

Here is what I needed:

Parsley, mayo, egg, butter, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, seafood seasoning, yellow mustard, lemon juice, ground mustard, and of course lump crab meat. I have all of this on hand except the crab meat!

And I’m not kidding when I say these are easy. You simply mix all the ingredients together except the crab:

I followed the amounts on the link, except I only used about half of the mustard it called for and I used about a teaspoon of ground white pepper. In case you don’t like clicking links (I feel the same way) here is the list with my tweaks:

½ tsp. Old Bay Seasoning

1 egg

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. ground white pepper

1 Tbsp. mayonnaise

½ tsp. lemon juice

½ tsp. mustard

1 ½ tsp. melted butter

½ tsp. parsley flakes

¼ c. breadcrumbs

After mixing it all together, I opened up the crab and delighted in the big huge chunks of crab meat:

I love crab. LOVE it. When I was 4, my parents and their friends had bought a bunch of shelled crab meat, I mean around 5lbs of it. They left me inside to watch a cute little princess movie while they were socializing outside, out of earshot…

I ate every last bite of crab.

They were a little angry.

But it was all their fault! Honestly.

Anyway, fold the crab into the mixture:

And then form the patties:

At this point you can add the patties to the fridge until you are ready to cook. I did these around lunchtime to save myself time.

When you're ready to cook them add some olive oil to a pan, heat it up, and add the patties:

Cook on medium-high heat for around 5-7 minutes on each side:

AND Voila!!

Crab cakes, a nice big sirloin, and a baked potato!

Hubby loved his birthday dinner!!! And it was so unrelated to Christmas that it might as well have been July!!! (except for those Christmas placemats we were eating on…)

Let me know if you try these!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Korean Roast Chicken Thighs - Crockpot Style!

2010-01-18T21:45:00.004-05:00

I am linking this recipe up with Cooking Thursday at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom, check them both out for some great recipes!!

I've seen the link for this recipe on many menu plans since I started blogging so it's been on my to-try list for awhile now. It's something that I know my boys would love so I was hoping to adapt it to a crockpot meal so they can have yet another yummy recipe on the nights I'm away at school. (Sometimes they even save me some!)

My plan of attack for changing this recipe to crockpot was basically... nothing!! I just gathered the ingredients:

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

3 TBS honey
2 TBS sesame oil (recipe calls for 3 but that seemed like too much for me - a little goes a LONG way with sesame oil)
1/2 cup freeze dried chives
3 TBS minced garlic (I used a ton more than what the recipe calls for)
2 TBS ground ginger (again a ton more than the recipe!)
Some black pepper to sprinkle
And Chicken Thighs - the recipe says to leave skin on - I did not - peeled them right off and I didn't regret it!

For the next step I mixed all ingredients but chicken in the crockpot:

Looking promising so far... so I added the chicken and turned them to coat a bit:

Then I covered and cooked on low for 6 hours. The smells were amazingly wonderful!!!

After 6 hours this is what my chicken looked like:

Smells good... check! Looks good... check!! Now will it taste good??

You know it will!

But first, it needs rice. And look - Hubby got me a brand new rice cooker for Christmas:

Quite an upgrade from his bachelor days one we'd been using - and it has all these fun little functions - like porridge - who knew you could make that in a rice cooker!! I didn't, but I made it and it does in fact work!

Anyway I put the rice on before I left for class- because get this - it has a delay timer too! (Perfect!).

And here is the finished product:

It was very very good!!

So if you've been wanting to try this or if you are looking for a new crockpot recipe, give this a try, it's definitely unique and really yummy! Or make it like the recipe says if you want and throw it in the oven - but now at least we know it works both ways!

Here is a printable version of my recipe. Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-18T10:31:00.006-05:00

I've been a very lazy blogger the past few weeks. I've cooked and photographed over 14 recipes and I haven't posted a single one. Shame on me!! So I am going to get back into the swing of things starting this week. Starting with planning my weekly menu... so here it goes:
Today: I've wanted to try the Korean Roast Chicken Thighs recipe for awhile now, but I definitely want it to make it in the Crockpot - so check back to see how it turns out!!

Tuesday: Coupons for Wanchai Ferry are back on smartsource (or coupons.com - I always get them confused) so I grabbed 4 boxes this weekend - I believe we'll be having the Spicy Garlic Chicken this week - to see another Wanchai Ferry meal that I've made, check out Cashew Chicken!

Wednesday: I'm going to try a twist on Mexican Penne. I got the idea from this recipe that I have made before but didn't go over so well with the boys, so I am going to make it and omit the cream cheese. Then about a half hour before it's ready, Hubby can boil some penne, add it to the pot, stir real well, and top with cheese. Once the cheese melts I believe we'll have Mexican Penne in the crockpot!! Side note - I haven't yet decided if I'll stick with the chicken or use ground beef or turkey. We'll see how much of a hurry I am in!

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie casserole. I'm really in the mood for this so I'm hoping it turns out good it's a brand new recipe for me!

Friday: An all time favorite - Salisbury Steak. Check it out - it is simple and delicious. I also made recently a cubed steak recipe that was remarkably similar. If you follow the directions, but add green pepper and onion you've got a great dinner and super tender cubed steaks!

Saturday: Crockpot Italian Chicken. Sounds so easy and so seriously yummy. I can't wait to see how it turns out!!

Sunday: Good old fashioned spaghetti with salad and bread sticks!

Remember, you can check out hundreds of other menu plan ideas over at OrgJunkie!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Crockpot Potato Chowder

2009-12-30T09:22:00.001-05:00

It's Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining With Debbie! I am going to be using my Crockpot all this week to test out some new recipes. School starts back again in a few weeks and I'll have night class 3 nights in a row - so my crockpot is going to be working hard!! Very thankful for the recipes I know I can find over on Debbie's website!

The weather has finally turned cold around here and I was in the mood for something to warm us up, and what better than a steaming hot, creamy bowl of potato chowder?? I don’t know why this popped into my head, I’ve never made it before and I thought the recipe looked a little boring… so I decided to make a few changes!! And now we have a new meal in the regular rotation (well, at least the winter rotation)!

Here is what you need:

Potatoes – however many and whatever kind you feel like, chicken broth – around 2 cups, chives – I used freeze dried, a little less than half a regular size onion, some chicken – I used around 6 frozen tenders, a can of cream of chicken, and your crockpot (this is hubby’s from his bachelor days, I’ve had it all this time and never bothered to use it, it’s not bad at all!) Also, at the last minute I sprinkled in a few spices - pepper, celery salt, and thyme.

I forgot to add 3 things in the picture because they are later additions: cream cheese, bacon, and shredded cheese (we used sharp cheddar).

First, chop up your potatoes:

You can see I added in some red, I had 4 of them rolling around my veggie drawer in the fridge and they looked lonely, so I figured it couldn’t hurt anything to chop them up with the other potatoes. After they were all chopped I added them to the crockpot - I had already added the frozen chicken strips and the chicken broth:

You can't tell there's chicken broth in there because it's frozen solid. I had to cut it out of the packaging. That was interesting.

Anyway, go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients pictured - the cream of chicken, the onion (diced up very nicely), and give a good heavy sprinkle of the freeze dried chives - or a few chopped up green onions.

Cover and cook on low for around 6 hours - I stirred this about once every hour, because I was waiting to see how long it took my chicken broth to thaw (around 2 hours or so):

After 6 hours, and about an hour before we wanted to eat, I took out the chicken strips and shredded them:

And then I added it back into the pot and also added some cream cheese. The original recipe I had said to add an 8oz block of it... I had sent hubby to the store to pick up a package of cream cheese - 1/3 less fat. He came home with one of these super large containers:

So instead of measuring I just stuck a spoon in and took out about 6 big spoonfuls to add to the chowder. Mix it all up and cover it, the cream cheese won't take long to melt so you could probably eat whenever it's done melting, but I let it go about an hour:

Now, you can't forget about the bacon, it's essential!! We used turkey bacon:

I microwaved 5 slices for about a minute, cut them into little pieces and threw it in the crockpot for that last hour of cooking.

Finally, have whatever kind of cheese you are in the mood for shredded and ready to go on top of your chowder, along with some chives too! Fill up a bowl, and don't be shy because it's delicious, add the shredded cheese and sprinkle with chives:

I served this with a crusty bread on the side and there was just enough for lunch for two of us the next day! It was delicious and I will definitely be making it again soon!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Bean and Sausage Soup

2009-12-22T11:49:00.003-05:00

It's Crockpot Wednesday again over at Dining with Debbie!!

I wasn't planning on posting this one, but after my boys ate it on day 2, I changed my mind. You see I really wasn't very impressed with it at all the night we had it, this is largely due to a few mishaps of my own. But, the leftovers, according to both boys, were absolutely delicious. So, it's on the keeper list, but we'll definitely be changing it up a bit!!

Here is what I used:

1 can each of black beans, pinto beans, and rotel tomatoes, thyme, spicy turkey sausage, 1 onion, 4 carrots, 3 stalks celery, and chicken broth - a lot of it, I think I used 52 oz, there is a smaller container behind that big one!!!

Now, here is what I think you actually need:

Only keep 1 carrot and 1 celery and throw them in the food processor with the onion - this way you get their flavor but you don't have to really notice it in the soup, because these veggies just don't seem right for this soup - BUT the flavor was great the next day, so I wouldn't cut them out completely like I originally wanted to do.
Add minute rice - about a cup is what I ended up adding - 5-10 minutes before serving.
Use about half the amount of chicken broth - really just enough to cover everything up, this was way too much broth - but I think that's because it's a WW recipe and they want to fill you up on liquid.. that just doesn't go over well in our house!

Back to assembling the soup though, chop up your veggies, or take my advice and throw them in a food processor which is exactly what I'll be doing next time:

And then throw all ingredients into the crockpot. I didn't measure the thyme, just gave a good sprinkle, and I drained both cans of beans. Also, for the sausage, instead of cutting it up, I just squeezed them out of the casings in big chunks that broke up while cooking (messy but easier):

This was at about 10 in the morning... I put the crockpot on low and walked away. I didn't have any plans to check back on it... some of you may start to guess where this is going...

The crockpot wasn't on.

Yep. That's my life.

The switch where I plugged it in wasn't working for one reason or another and I didn't realize til about, oh... 4 in the afternoon. So it'd been sitting there all day. Crap!

LUCKILY for me, my crockpot can go on my stove top. All was not lost!! So I put it on the stove top and brought it to a boil:

And I kept it at a low boil for about 2 hours, stirring it frequently.

In the last 5 minutes or so I added the minute rice:

And then my almost disaster was complete!!

So, the changes I suggested probably pack on a few more of those WW points, but I think those little tweaks really made this into a keeper! Also, I'm sure that if it had cooked all day in the slow cooker everything would have tasted much better the first night, and that's probably why it tasted so much better on the second night - so this is all my fault for not checking on my crockpot!!

Anyway, a big thanks to Chubbie Chica for the recipe, sorry if it seems like I mutilated it, but really it was a great meal, I just messed it up royally!!!

Let me know if try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Back to Planning Menus!

2009-12-13T20:16:00.002-05:00

I'm back to normal life now that finals are over!! I've missed my blog and it is in some serious need of attention so I should have some great new recipes up this week, here's a peek at our menu for the week:

Sunday: Salisbury Steak! Classic favorite here!

Monday: Kielbasa Bean Soup. I found this recipe over at Crockpot Wednesday a week or so ago and I'm exicited to try it!

Tuesday: Kung Pao Chicken, this is by far the best packet meal ever.

Wednesday: Crockpot Meatloaf. Also found this one over at Crockpot Wednesday!!

Thursday: Christmas Eve Fare!! My stepson heads out of state to his mother's on Friday so we are celebrating Christmas a bit early here. Growing up, my Christmas Eve consisted of tons of finger foods for dinner! I'll be posting some yummy recipes! Some are already on the site: Cream Cheese dip and Chili dip.

Friday: Mom's Pot Roast - not a packet but something kind of similar, check back!

Saturday: Homemade Pizza (maybe Homemade Cheese too!)

Sunday: Spaghetti, salad and breadsticks.

And next week I'll be making all the meals my stepson doesn't really care for and I miss having! See you again next week menu planners!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Mexican Penne

2009-12-01T20:18:00.002-05:00

You know what works for me? Making meals ahead when I know life will be crazy!

For those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you may have noticed I've been MIA for awhile now... I'm in the midst of finals (law school) and haven't found much time to sleep let alone blog, but I am taking a break tonight from the insanity to introduce you all to my favorite make-ahead (or make right now!) meal!

I made this about a week and a half ago, I knew I'd be too busy to cook (I haven't cooked since last Wednesday!) and I knew my boys would be hungry, so I made a few easy to throw together meals and threw them in the freezer, this is their second favorite - Shepherd's Pie being their first!

This recipe is for one casserole, but I made it into two because otherwise there are too many leftovers.

So here is what you need:

Hamburger, Penne, Salsa, Black Beans, Corn (I used fiesta corn with peppers in it), taco seasoning, and cheese. Don't you love when there are so few ingredients?!?

And okay, I was going to do a post about the taco seasoning, because I've made a bit of a big deal about it on my site before, but really, it is so super easy and the person that created it should get all the credit, so I won't steal her thunder. Have you ever heard of Kittencal? If you browse RecipeZaar at all you may have! I've tried several of her recipes and she is a genius, so when I saw her recipe for taco packet seasoning I made it immediately, and I've never looked back! So without further babbling here is the link: Kittencal's Taco Seasoning. Please make it, you'll thank yourself, and you'll save some money in the long run on packets! (This is blasphemy I suppose on the Packet Queen website!)

Next step is to brown the meat, drain the grease and then add your taco seasoning, I used about 2 TBS:

Mix it well and then add your salsa:

I don't have measurements for you here, the recipe I used said to use 2 16oz jars, but as you saw earlier I had a huge jug of salsa, and I just dumped it in until it looked right, you can always add more if it doesn't look like enough after you mix it together.

Go ahead and drain your cans of corn and black beans and throw them into the mix:

And your cooked pasta (we use protein penne) and mix it all up:

I start eating it right about now, I've convinced myself it's to make sure there is enough salsa, but really it is just delicious!

Next, go ahead and get a casserole dish out and dump in half of the mix and cover it with cheese:

The recipe says to add the second half and then cover that with cheese as well, but I knew that our leftovers wouldn't be used so I decided to save the other half for this week. But since I wanted to have a second layer of cheese I added just a little bit of pasta and another coating of cheese:

Then I baked it at 350 for around 35-40 minutes, while it was baking I added the other half of the pasta to a labeled freezer bag (so the boys could handle it themselves):

Then the finished product came out of the oven:

Yummy! Here is my stepson's first helping:

And let me tell you, he is CRAZY for not adding a huge dollop of sour cream to this because it is just begging for it! So if you are sane, add sour cream!

And here is what was left after my boys had devoured it and I returned home from my last night class of the semester (did I mention I have THREE night classes next semester! ugh):

I had half for a late dinner and the rest for lunch the next day, and let me tell you, I did add sour cream and it was DELICIOUS. (But okay, if you don't add sour cream for whatever reason it is still good!)

Please let me know if this sounds good enough to make, I could use a little happiness in my dreary study world!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Shepherd's Pie

2009-11-20T15:47:00.068-05:00

I first started making this about 4 months ago and it quickly became a regular! This is easily my stepson's favorite meal that I cook! The great thing about it is I can make it earlier in the morning and stick it in the fridge for later, or in this case, double it and freeze one for next week (finals are looming, I will not be cooking!)

So here is what you need, keep in mind I doubled this, so if you are only making one - cut it in half:

Enough mashed potatoes to cover (for me this means two full boxes of the betty crocker instant - one box per casserole), 3 cups beef stock, 2 smallish onions, minced garlic, thyme, pepper, 3-4 celery stalks, 2.5 pounds beef, 2 cans corn, 2 cans carrots (or peas and carrots, whatever you have), and flour.

To get started, go ahead and put the beef in a huge pan that is going to be able to fit all of these ingredients:

While the beef is browning, dice up your onion and celery, or make them mushy like me, and open and drain your canned veggies:

When the beef done browning, drain it and then add your veggies:

Mix it up well and sprinkle on your spices, I use equal amounts of pepper and thyme, and then throw in a scoop of garlic while I'm at it - just eyeball it, it's not a science! (btw: Do Not Use Salt.)

Next add flour:

I used 6 TBS, mix it up and then pour in the 3 cups of beef broth:

Then you want to let it simmer on high, stirring and letting it thicken up. At some point I was getting impatient and threw in about a TBS or so of cornstarch to help speed up the process:

And that did the trick! Once it's thick enough for you (you definitely don't want it to be too soupy, but remember it's going to bake too so it doesn't have to be perfect!) you just dump it into your prepared casserole dishes. I lined the one going into the freezer with enough tinfoil to cover it up after it was done, and sprayed both of them with my friend Pam:

Add equal parts of the meat mixture into each dish:

And now make your mashed potatoes, or you could have made them before, but I think they are easier to spread when they are hot, so I turn the water on while the meat is finishing up, and then mix it up at this stage. Once you've mixed up your instant, or if you are really handy, made your own from scratch, put spoonful's on top of each casserole:

And then use a spoon to smooth it out:

You could get fancy here, but I don't, the boys really wouldn't appreciate it!!

Here is the one going in the freezer:

Just flip the tinfoil over to cover and pop it in the freezer:

Mine was in the freezer for about 5 hours, and then I took it out of the freezer and out of it's dish, wrapped it with some more tinfoil and threw it back in to free up my dish.

When you are ready to cook, just preheat the oven to 350 and sprinkle with cheese:

And let it cook for around 35-45 minutes.

Here is the finished product:

And my stepson's first out of 4 (yes, 4!) servings:

I don't know where he puts it all!!

If I remember I'll try and post a picture when I bake the one out of the freezer, I'm not sure if I'll thaw it first or just throw it in frozen, if anyone has any opinions on that be sure to let me know!

Be sure to check out Freezer Food Friday, Food on Fridays, and Foodie Friday, you will be glad you did!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Cream Cheese Ranch Chicken

2009-11-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

Ranch is a big hit around here, so anything with a ranch packet added in automatically makes the try list! This is the second time I've made this meal, and the second time I've said, why oh why didn't I buy low sodium broth/cream of chicken!??! Be warned, you should definitely go low sodium on this, but we got past the saltiness because this is really yummy!

Here is what you need:

Boneless skinless chicken, paprika, oregano, parsley, ranch packet, butter, cream cheese, chicken broth, garlic, and cream of chicken.

First, I mix up the cream of chicken, chicken broth, and melted butter:

I used the full can of cream of chicken, 2 TBS of melted butter, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Remember my warning though, get low sodium! Also, the recipe calls for a much different sequence of events, basically to cook the chicken with the seasonings and butter and then add everything else later - but I just don't see the point in that, it turns out great this way, and is much easier!

Next, I added in the cream cheese and the spices:

I used half a package of cream cheese, a TBS of minced garlic, the full ranch packet, and then sprinkled with oregano, parsley, and paprika, then mixed well. The original recipe calls for the garlic to be sautéed in the melted butter - if you have time for that all the more power to you, but I had all of 10 minutes to throw this together, same as last time and it still turns out wonderful!

Then I added in some frozen chicken strips:

I added just under a pound, you can really stretch your chicken with this since you are going to shred it later and serve it all over noodles.

Then I turned my crockpot to low and didn't check back for another 5-6 hours, this is what I found:

Definitely could use some stirring! But that's okay, nothing was burned/ruined! So I took out the chicken pieces and shredded them up:

Then added it back to the Crockpot for about another hour:

At this point, I left for class, hubby made the egg noodles and prepared his plate for a photo:

Didn't he do a good job!?!? This is a delicious meal, and if you make it the way I make it it is incredibly simple and takes 10 minutes to throw together! Give it a try and let me know if you do!

I found the original recipe on RecipeZaar, check it out to see the differences if you'd like! To have a printable version of my recipe, click here.

Don't forget to check out Crockpot Wednesday at Dining with Debbie and also Slow Cooker Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, you'll find tons of great recipes for your Crockpot!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

This Week's Menu

2009-11-16T08:47:00.002-05:00

It's time to plan out the weekly menu again and you can check out a bunch more ideas over at OrgJunkie!

Here's our menu this week:

Monday: Cream Cheese Ranch Chicken. This will only take you about 10-15 minutes to throw together and is great over egg noodles, which is exactly how we eat it!

Tuesday: Sweet n Sour Chicken. This is by far the very best recipe I've found for this, plus it's easy and it doesn't even use a packet!

Wednesday: Shepard's pie - my own creation, check back later this week because this is a serious keeper!

Thursday: Either the Taco Lasagna we didn't eat last week (went out for Vet's day) or Mexican Penne.

Friday: Finally getting around to making Alison's Pepper Steak!! Very excited to try it!

Saturday: Pizza and probably some homemade cheese on top of it too!

Sunday: Mom's pot roast with yummy gravy - check back next week to see this one!

Looking forward to seeing all of your menu plans!! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love and luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Alfredo Sauce with Penne & Chicken

2009-11-13T13:34:00.002-05:00

This meal makes me think of my best friend because it was something we often cooked together whenever we wanted to stay in and hang out instead of dress up and go out, it was simple, delicious, and fun to make together.

Of course, we always used jarred Alfredo sauce, back when I didn't care about calories (oh how I miss those days).

But then I stumbled across a fellow blogger after seeing one of her comments on a post of mine, I was browsing through her recipes and found a recipe for Weight Watchers Alfredo Sauce - I nearly jumped off my seat! I decided to make it as soon as I could to see if it was really as good as she said it was!

It was delicious!! In case you are wondering, the recipe comes from Arlene at The Food of Love, go check her blog out, she has tons of amazing recipes!

I doubled Arlene's recipe so here is what I used:

Light butter, parmesan cheese, skim milk, laughing cow cheese. Arlene had used the french onion flavor, but this was all my grocery store had, so I figured I'd try it anyway (so glad I did!).

I measured out double the ingredients and added them to a pot:

2 cups milk, 12 cheese wedges, 2 TBS butter, and 2 TBS parm. I turned the heat to high and whisked away until it was boiling:

Once it was boiling, I turned it to simmer and kept an eye on it, whisking frequently.

Then, I got my chicken ready. I cut it into small chunks and got my all time favorite seasoning out, along with some protein penne pasta:

Have you used this seasoning before? It makes everything taste so good!! This was our real trick to making the jarred Alfredo sauce good, adding a little heat to it:

Thank you best friend, because if I didn't have this spice, I would be very deprived!

Anyway, because I really wanted to taste the Alfredo sauce as it was, I just sprinkled a little bit to season up my chicken:

I fried this up in just a little bit of olive oil while the sauce was simmering, I also had my noodles boiling at this point as well.

Once it's all done and ready, I added the sauce and noodles in with the chicken:

Then mixed it up well:

And it was dinner time!!

I served this up with a little garlic bread, and my stepson added some more seasoning to his, and some tomatoes too:

I didn't think it needed any extras - it was delicious! All three of us had two bowls, so I'm very glad that I doubled it!! Plus there was just enough for lunch today too! If you reheat it though add a little milk so it doesn't dry up in the microwave!

Thank you Arlene for this wonderful keeper! And thank you best friend for making this meal with me on our many great nights together!

I am linking over to Foodie Friday on Designs by Gollum - check it to see all sorts of wonderful food!

Please remember to say a prayer for Baby Lilly, I know she is a fighter just like her momma and she'll hopefully be going home soon!!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Curry From a Packet

2009-11-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

The first meal hubby ever cooked for me was a curry stew, I had never had curry before and it was so wonderful that it became a regular meal on the menu plan! I normally use a packet called Vermont Curry- Mild... I actually have 3 of them in my pantry, but I've had a Hawaiian Curry packet in my pantry for a long time and I figured it was time to try it.

Here it is:

Can you tell by how wrinkly it is that it's been rolling around in my packet bag for quite some time?

Since I've never made this before, I just followed the directions on the packet, so here is what you need:

Flour, chicken (or whatever meat you feel like), potatoes, onion, carrots, celery.

First, salt and pepper the chicken and add it to a bag of flour to coat:

Add it to a pot with hot olive oil:

While it is browning, chop up your veggies. I only had two carrots left, so I added some extra potato and celery, and made my trademark onion mush, also with some celery blended in:

After the veggies are done, the meat should be done as well, here is what mine looked like after about 5-7 minutes:

Add in the veggies:

Mix it up and cover with water:

Now, boil for 30 minutes, no cover, stirring frequently. After 30 minutes it should have thickened up a bit:

At this point, take the packet and mix it with 1 1/2 cups of water (and if you are going to serve this with biscuits get those in the oven):

Add the packet mixture to the pot:

Stir it in and let it cook for another 10 minutes, I let it go about 15 because I was waiting on my biscuits and it didn't hurt anything!

Here is the final product:

The verdict? It was good! My stepson had 3 bowls, hubby had 2, and I had just one. I do think that the Vermont Curry packets turn out with more flavor, this one was very mild, so it might be a good place to start if you haven't yet tried curry, or if you have picky eaters! If I see the packet on sale again I'll most likely pick it up!

Let me know if you try it!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Crockpot Beef Stew

2009-11-11T09:14:00.007-05:00

It's Crock Pot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie, and Slow Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom!

I didn't have any crockpot meals planned, but I did have beef stew on the menu... I've never made it in the crockpot, but I figured why not give it a try?

It turned out great, better than usual!! Click here for the printable version.

Here is what I used:

Carrots, Potatoes, Corn, Celery, Onion, Water, Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Flour, 2lbs Stew Meat and of course a Packet! This one is McCormick Beef Stew - it is by far my favorite!!

First, prepare the meat to be seared, to do this, get a big plastic bag and put enough flour in it to coat, add salt, pepper, and paprika:

Shake it around to mix, then add the beef to coat it:

Then add olive oil to the crockpot, if you don't have a crockpot that can go on the stove, use a pan for this step, or if you decide to not use the crockpot, use the pot you are going to cook it in. Get the oil very hot and add the beef in, don't worry about getting a little extra flour in with it, it'll make the stew thicker (and we like it that way!):

I used to be a real perfectionist about this step, I would only add a little bit of beef at a time and get it all perfectly seared. That took too long and made a big mess, so I finally gave up the perfectionist behavior and now I just add it all at once, it works out fine, here it is after about 5 minutes:

That's good enough for me, so now add enough water to cover it, take it off the stove and put it in the crockpot base and then mix your packet in:

Mix it all together and add salt and pepper to taste:

I chopped up all my veggies while my beef was searing, so they are all ready to go. As usual I made my trademark onion mush, and I added a stalk of the celery to it as well (I'm not a big fan of crunching into celery either), so I add that in first:

Then add the carrots, potatoes, celery, and corn:

My crockpot was getting pretty full right about now, I used too many potatoes, next time I'll cut it down to about 4 instead. So I mixed it all in and added a little more water:

Then I covered it, set the crockpot to low, and let it cook for around 7 hours, stirring when I thought about it. I probably should have stirred it a bit more as some did end up sticking to the bottom, but it wasn't enough to ruin the meal so I wasn't too worried about it.

7 hours later, I popped some refrigerated biscuits into the oven and served up dinner:

It turned out delicious, nice and thick gravy and the meat was very tender, much better then when I cook it on the stove top. I love my crockpot!!!

Here's the printable version for you! Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Pizza

2009-11-10T11:02:00.003-05:00

If you went ahead and made your homemade cheese, you should definitely treat yourself by using it to top a homemade pizza! And if you have store bought cheese, that's okay too!

I've experimented with many different crusts, and I still do, but this has been the favorite that I make when I'm not in the mood for experiments. I found it here. There is also a good recipe for a chunky sauce on that page so take a look! Basically, I follow the directions, but I don't use semolina flour, I add molasses, and I use more yeast.

So, here is what you need:

Yeast, Molasses, Bread Flour, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt, & Hot Water.

I use my food processor to make this. I've made pizza by hand and with a mixer, but the processor does everything I need it to do, quickly and with very little mess, so that is what I'm sticking with.

The first thing you need to do after you have your dough hook in the food processor is to add the yeast and sugar to the bowl:

I add around 2 TBS of yeast, and 2 TSP of sugar.

Then grab some really good water (I am very picky about my water - so if you don't have good water, use a bottle of spring water - think Mellow Mushroom!) Measure out 1 1/2 cups and microwave it until it is hot, my water normally goes for about 45 seconds before it is hot enough. As the recipe on the site says, most recipes tell you to just use warm water, and I was hesitant at first to use hot, but it works out just fine, so add it to the bowl, pulse 2-3 times, then walk away to measure out your dry ingredients and let this get all nice and bubbly, like so:

Next, add in the dry ingredients:

I used 3 cups of bread flour and 1/2 cup of wheat flour, as well as a TSP of salt and some molasses. If I had to guess on the molasses it's probably around a TBS, measuring it is too messy so I just dump a little in and it seems to work out alright each time!

Next. turn the processor on and let it do the work for you. Here is a peek down the tube while it is running:

Basically just leave it on until everything is mixed together, you won't need to knead it either, so that is especially why I love the food processor.

When it looks like it has all come together, go ahead and scoop it all out, it will be a little sticky but thats okay because the olive oil will help you out. Add around a TBS of it to a bowl:

Then add the dough and roll it around to coat it in the oil:

Now, cover it with a cloth and stick it in a warm place to rise. I use my microwave for this by propping a little bit of the cloth outside the microwave door so it won't close all the way and the light stays on to keep it nice and warm! I used to use my oven and the light in there, but I need my oven to bake chicken and to get the pizza stone warming, so that's out!

Here is the dough after rising for an hour:

Give it a good punch:

And then, throw some flour down on a clean surface and tear the dough in half - each half will make one pizza. Take the half you are working with and sprinkle it with flour so it is easy to work with, then roll it out:

Place it on the pizza pan you are using and pierce it all over with a fork:

My stepson doesn't like his crust on the pizza stone, so I use a pizza pan for this one, but you'll see with the grown up pizza how I make using the stone a little easier for me...

Add the toppings you'd like, for this one first pizza sauce & then cheese:

Then more cheese and turkey pepperoni... half of the crust is stuffed with cheese sticks too:

Throw it in a very hot oven - 450 to 500 degrees and cook it until it looks done.

Now for the grown up pizza, I use a pizza screen to put it on the stone, have you seen pizza screens before? Here is the one I bought. I had so much trouble getting the pizza from the peel to the stone that I had given up on my stone, but the screen is basically like a very thin pizza pan, so I can make the pizza and not have to worry about wiggling it onto the stone, I just set it on there, real pizza saver!

Anyway, roll it out like before then set it on the screen and poke some holes in it with a fork:

This is going to be a Buffalo Chicken pizza. First, add wing sauce, we use Frank's Red Hot Chicken wing sauce:

I would have liked more but we were all out, this worked out okay though.

Then add chicken:

While the dough was rising, I cooked frozen chicken tenders (3 of them) for 30 minutes in a little of the hot sauce and sprinkled them with parsley, then when they were done I let them cool while everything else was getting ready and ripped them up with my hands while adding them to the pizza.

Next, add the chunks of the Homemade Cheese you made a little bit ago!

I used all of it, minus the pieces hubby and I kept munching on, it is so good!!!

My stone has now been in the oven for around an hour and 15 minutes, I first put it in while I was cooking the chicken at 400 degrees, and after the chicken was done I turned it up to 500:

I had just taken the pepperoni out of the oven and moved it up to the top rack, so now all I have to do is set my pizza screen on top of the stone:

This one cooks until the crust is brown and the cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, here is the pepperoni:

Notice how there is very little grease compared to regular pepperoni!

And take a good look at the pretty crust you made:

Yummy!

I use my scissors to cut it up. I may be weird but it works better than anything else:

Your other should be about done after 10-15 minutes, take it and slice it up too:

I should have let it cook a little longer, the crust could use a bit more browning and wasn't as crunchy/chewy as I normally like, but we were starving, so I took off our pieces and threw it back in the oven for a bit to cook it a little longer.

I served both of these up with homemade ranch - from a packet! I use the Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch packet and mix it in with olive oil mayo, skim milk, and low fat sour cream, and it is delicious, way better than anything in a bottle!

Let me know if you have a favorite dough recipe of your own!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Homemade Cheese!!!

2009-11-09T09:18:00.005-05:00

Making my own cheese Works For Me!!

Have you ever made your own cheese? I bet you would if you knew how easy it was and I bet you’d jump for joy if you knew it only took 30 minutes!

Over a year ago hubby urged me to find the perfect pizza crust. Many, many attempts later, I’ve found one that we deem perfect, and we eat pizza pretty much weekly now. But about a month ago, he said, “hey honey, since we make our own dough and our own sauce, I think we should make our own cheese too.” I just laughed, and said, “okay honey, you get right on that.”

And he did.

A week later, he had this shipped to the house:

You can buy this here. It costs 25 dollars and you can make 30 batches with it! This kit makes mozzarella and ricotta. The company has a variety of kits though and you can get one for cream cheese, sour cream, and aged cheeses too! Once you have the kit, all you need to pick up is a gallon of milk and seriously good water. We have a reverse osmosis system, but if you aren’t sure about your water you might want to pick some up, the water can’t have any chlorine in it or this won’t turn out well at all!!

Anyway, I saw the kit, but I was still skeptical… so I told hubby that this was his little project. And he proceeded to read through the directions, go buy a gallon of milk, and then he made cheese. Hubby made cheese (all by himself!!)! From the time he opened the box until the finished product was around an hour. I was in SHOCK! And let me tell you, it is GOOD. No, it’s better than good, if you make it you have to do a blind taste test between it and some store brand mozzarella and you will be able to tell the difference in a huge, MAJOR way. Did I say it was good? YUM!!!

We made this last night to go on top of our pizza, I took a lot of pictures, so sit back and enjoy the cheesemaking process!

Here is what is in the kit:

Cheese salt, citric acid, rennet tabs, directions, thermometer, and a cheesecloth (not pictured because I can’t find it!)

First step:

Divide a rennet tab into 4 pieces, take one piece and dissolve it in 1/4 cup of water, wrap the other three pieces up and put it, along with the rest of the tabs back in the freezer (they store for a very very long time).

Dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons of citric acid into one cup water.

Next, get a pot out (it needs to be stainless steel or non-aluminum or non-cast iron) and pour your milk in (make sure you get the right kind - it can't be "ultra-pasteurized"):

The heat doesn't need to be on yet. While you are pouring the milk in you will also be stirring in the citric acid vigorously. Once it's all mixed up you turn the heat on and keep stirring while you monitor the temperature, you want to get it to 90 degrees:

Once it's hit 90, remove it from heat and stir in the rennet mixture for about 30 seconds, using what the book calls an "up and down motion" and then cover it:

Now it needs to sit for 5 minutes. During this time the curd will form, if after the 5 minutes it doesn't look very hard or still looks too milky it's okay to let it set a few more minutes, we ended up letting it sit for around 7 minutes total.

Next, it is time to cut the curd. You'll need a long knife that will reach the bottom of your pot. Slice it into a checkerboard style:

Then place the pot back on the burner and turn the heat back on. Slowly move the curds around while heating it up to 105 degrees:

Here is a close up of what it looks like at this stage:

Once you hit 105 turn the heat off and take it off the burner and continue stirring for 2-5 minutes. The book says the longer you stir the firmer your cheese and I wanted it to be pretty firm so I went for the whole 5 minutes.

Then you will need to separate the curd from the whey. We do this by scooping out the big pieces with a slotted spoon:

And then placing it in a strainer with what should have/could have been a cheesecloth to keep the small curds from slipping away, instead I used my microwave cover because it is a very fine mesh and it worked just fine:

Once you've got all the big pieces out, dump the rest of what's left in and let it drain off:

You may need to use your hands to help drain it off, just get as much of the whey out as you can and then transfer to a microwave safe bowl:

There is still some whey so I used my hand to gently press the cheese to drain it a little more.

Now I believe the instructions say that gloves are optional. They are not optional. You will seriously hurt your hands if you don't use them, so get yourself some gloves to work with the cheese in these last few steps.

Pop the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute, take it out and using gloves drain off more of the whey. Then you are going to add your salt. We added a full TBS but I will probably cut that in half next time:

Fold the salt into the curds and form it into a ball. Pop it into the microwave for another 30 seconds. Drain it again and the take it's temperature, it needs to be 135 degrees to stretch it. Ours needed about 10 more seconds.

Once it's reached 135 you are going to stretch it! This is the fun (but incredibly hot) part!

The book says that the more you play with it the firmer it gets, so I kept playing with it:

YUM, I started taking bites at around this stage:

Then form it into whatever shape you want! Cheese sticks, mini balls, a large ball, etc. Here is our finished cheese:

And here I am stealing yet another piece (it's a wonder any was left for the pizza!):

And as a little tease for the pizza dough recipe I will be posting soon, here it is on our buffalo chicken pizza later that night:

Yummy!!

All in all, this is the best mozzerella cheese I've ever had and I'm not just saying that because I made it! It really is simple to do and only takes 30 minutes, so why don't you ask for a kit for Christmas and make it for yourself!?!? If you want to see other ideas on things you can do yourself, check out A Soft Place to Land for DIY day!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-08T20:19:00.048-05:00

This morning I did my menu plan for the next 3 weeks and went and did the grocery shopping for all of it, hubby and I make a day out of it, always stopping at our favorite lunch spot and splitting a yummy sandwich before we head into the commissary (so our bellies are full and we can avoid temptation!). For the next 3 weeks I'll send him to the store about 2 times to pick up some veggies and milk, but I won't have to go back for 3 more weeks - this makes me very happy!! Anyway, here is this weeks menu:

Sunday - The Homemade Cheese on the Homemade Pizza Crust I bragged about last week - I was too tired to make it Saturday but we had it tonight!

Monday - Chili from a packet!

Tuesday - Curry from a packet!

Wednesday - Taco Lasagna. I used to use a packet for this, but if you've read my FAQ section on the side you'll see I've discovered a wonderful way to make my own that is nearly identical, I'll fill you in soon!

Thursday - the WW Alfredo Sauce I found over on The Food of Love. With some chicken spiced up with Everglades Heat, yum!!

Friday - Potato Soup - I've found several recipes but I haven't narrowed it down yet, here is one that is near the top of the list: Crockpot Potato Chowder

Saturday - Steak and Potatoes

Sunday - Spaghetti, Salad, and Garlic Bread.

Looking forward to seeing all of the other wonderful menu plans over at Org Junkie!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Fiesta Salad

2009-11-05T19:24:00.002-05:00

This is such an easy, cheap, and fun meal I always end up asking myself why I don't make it more often. Probably because I try to wait until I have some leftover tortilla chips instead of buying a whole bag of them, we never seem to eat them when I do it that way and then they go stale!!

Here is what you need to get started:

1 pound of meat (I normally use hamburger, but I was all out - the turkey turned out great, plus I had bought around 4 of these with a coupon about a month ago so they were about half the normal price!) and your old friend the Chili Packet (to see other recipes that have used this click here and here!)

Brown the meat:

I found this handy little chopper tool in the clearance corner at the commissary, I love it, chops all the meat up perfectly!

When the meat is browned and the grease is drained, add the packet along with a cup of water and mix it all in, let it simmer for a few minutes while you chop up the lettuce and tomato:

I am a messy tomato chopper, the juice always flies everywhere, but I am normally in a hurry so I suppose that's why.

Here is the fiesta meat all ready to go after I've chopped up the veggies:

Next you'll just need to assemble the other goodies you will be putting on your salad:

Salsa, sour cream, and Mexican cheese (if you have more time I suggest shredding your own, it saves a lot of money, but I try to always have one of these around for when I'm rushing.)

You'll also need tortilla chips. I had about a quarter of a bag left in my pantry, so I just smushed the bag a few times to get them just right:

As you can see, there is a real science to this. (ha!) But if you have a full bag, just grab a big handful for each plate you are serving and throw them in a plastic bag to crush, it is quicker and easier than using your hands, plus your hands don't get all greasy.When you’ve got everything ready to go, it’s time to assemble the salad.

First, put a decent amount of lettuce on the plate:

Then, add the meat:

Then cheese (so it melts!):

Then tomatoes:

And finally, top with crushed chips:

This is my stepson’s plate so no sour cream or salsa get added OR ELSE! But I add a nice healthy dollop of sour cream and a few spoonfuls of salsa to the grown up plates!

Then just serve it up and watch it disappear. I even got a big hug from my stepson after dinner with a “thanks for dinner!!” (This is an unusual occurrence, so I’m assuming his tummy was very happy!)

If you want to see other delicious and inexpensive meals check out The $5 Dinner Challenge! I don't know where this meal falls on the price scale, but we always have these ingredients on hand (I am guilty of not being able to survive without sour cream!), and I will use the lettuce and tomato again later in the week so all in all it is a cheap meal in this house!

Here is the printable version. Let me know how it turns out!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Kung Pau Chicken

2009-11-03T21:50:00.000-05:00

I've blogged before about my boys obsession with Asian food, but this recipe just drives them wild. If you think the singing and dancing at the mention of Cashew Chicken was a little wacky, you'd love to see them go nuts when I mention Kung Pau!

And the best part? It keeps me from going nuts, because it takes all of 10 minutes to make. You know why. Say it with me: PACKET!!!!

Here is your very best friend in the whole wide world, the packet:

You can find this in the Asian aisle of most stores. We've found it at Winn Dixie, the commissary, and also at Big Lots! (I have to admit that I love Big Lots - there are so many great finds, especially if you like scrapbooking and finding really interesting cooking ingredients - it's also where I found my olive oil with red peppers that I like to use to spice things up! And to combine the two topics, I found a scrapbook specifically for cooking that has a magnetic front to hold your recipes while you are cooking - for 2 bucks!!!) Okay, off my Big Lots rant. (Wait, did I mention that if you sign up for their email you get 20% off whole purchases every now and then, thats when we go.) (I promise I don't work for or get paid by Big Lots to mention all of this!)

Okay. Next, gather the ingredients you need to throw this beautiful meal together:

The packet, cut up chicken (around 1lb), a carrot, water chestnuts, and chives. The recipe calls for sliced green onions, but I always use the freeze dried Chives because I like them, try it out you'll be pleasantly surprised.

And do you know what I forgot? PEANUTS! You must have peanuts, preferably lightly salted:

The recipe calls for 1/3 a cup (but if you throw in more no one will track you down).

Next, you just throw some olive oil in a pan, get it nice and hot, and throw in the chicken to cook it up for around 3-4 minutes:

WAIT! Did you put your rice on? Oops, I didn't. That means that my chicken will be done, long long before my rice! Make sure you get that rice on, you want to eat this with rice. And egg rolls, get those in the oven too while you are thinking about it!

So since you are more organized than me and your rice started cooking 10 minutes before you put the chicken on, you will proceed to the next step without worry. Go ahead and get your veggies ready to stir in. You need to peel and slice up one carrot, thin long strips, open and drain out the water chestnuts, measure out your peanuts, and if you are cutting up the green onions do that now too:

Once they are all ready and the chicken looks done for the most part, dump them in:

As for my dried chives, I just sprinkle them on, heavily. I really like them. This cooks around 2-3 minutes to soften up the veggies, and then you are going to invite your beautiful friend to join in the mix:

Pour in the packet mix and stir it up to coat, turn to simmer and let it cook just another 2 minutes or so and it's done. Unfortunately, I had to wait on my rice, and didn't turn my heat down low enough and burned it just a little tiny bit, but I didn't tell anyone, and I don't think they noticed, here it is all together in the pan (post-burn):

Here it is ready to go with rice and egg rolls, as usual this is my insatiable stepson's plate:

Do you see how wonderfuly easy cooking can be with a packet? Let me know if you make this, or if you need help finding the packet!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Shoyu Chicken

2009-11-03T11:27:00.005-05:00

I found this recipe about a year and a half ago and I make it at the very least monthly in our house. We were living in my apartment at the time and Hubby asked me if I had ever had Shoyu Chicken... I didn't even know what it was. He said it was something he had pretty frequently when he lived in Hawaii (12 years!! no fair!)

So I looked up a recipe online, mainly I was looking for something very simple and a recipe where I wouldn't have to run to the store, it was 10 in the morning and we were going to be looking at houses all day!

I found this recipe on RecipeZaar, and I had everything we needed to make it, so I threw it in the Crockpot and we went on our merry way to go find our dream house. (Nope, we didn't find it that day, but we eventually did).

I really haven't changed much of anything from the original recipe! It is good as is, but read on to see how I make it and how it turns out.

Here is what you need:

Skinless chicken thighs (trust me, take the skin off, otherwise it is too greasy), vinegar, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and your CrockPot!

Measure everything out and dump it in the pan, here are my measurements:

3/4 cup brown sugar - don't use splenda brown sugar, I've tried this and my stepson was not a fan, he said it was way too sweet
1/2 cup vinegar
3/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce (you can use regular, but this just makes it a tad bit healthier right?
A huge, gigantic scoop of ginger (recipe calls for a teaspoon, I use an overflowing tablespoon). I buy my ginger in these handy little jars, because I've tried using fresh before and it just defeats the purpose of "easy"! :)
A huge, gigantic scoop of garlic (see above)
3/4 cup of water (recipe calls for more, but then there is just too much liquid, plus you can just use the same measuring cup as you did with the brown sugar and soy sauce!)

Mix all of that together right in your crockpot:

See all of those chunks, those are ginger. I love ginger, a lot.

Next, get your skinless chicken thighs and put them in there:

I used 9, that was how many was in my bag and if I had used any less than that then there wouldn't have been any left for me when I got home from school last night!

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. The recipe says to stir - I'm not home so I don't stir, I seriously doubt its necessary. Here is the chicken after cooking for about 5 1/2 hours:

I didn't get all of the fat off of the chicken thighs so you can see some of it has sort of flaked off, but that's okay, it is still going to be delicious (and I didn't have that kind of time!)

When you are about ready for dinner go ahead and heat up some rice and veggies:

Once the rice and veggies are done, serve it up. If I had been home when this was ready I may have thickened it up with some cornstarch, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, and either way, there are never any leftovers. I just prefer it a little thicker because as you've seen with my Salisbury Steak, I like to mix everything together and it comes together easier if it's a little thicker. To do this, I just turn the heat to high, mix about a TBS of cornstarch with about 1/4 cup water and stir it in with a fork and let it cook on high for an extra 15-20 minutes or so.

But I wasn't home, and my gracious boys decided to leave me some dinner when I got home at 9:

No veggies leftover, and only 2 of the 9 thighs left.

I don't know if you really understand just how good this is, it just falls right off the bone and it is so sweet and so yummy, you can seriously eat it with your fingers. Look, I started peeling mine up with my fingers and eating it while standing in front of the crockpot:

This is a tried and true recipe for us, I hope you like it! It's Crockpot Wednesday tomorrow, so don't forget to head over to Dining With Debbie and Slow Cooking Thursday to see even more wonderful Crockpot Meals!!

Here is the printable version. Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-01T20:27:00.007-05:00

This week the weather has finally cooled down!!! Very exciting news around here, it was in the 80's all last week!! So beef stew from last week was moved to this weekend. I have links for two of these recipes, so check them out, they are all favorites here!!

Monday - Shoyu Chicken. This goes over so well with my boys that I actually make it more often than my menu calls for, I always have a bag of frozen chicken thighs (3 dollars! I just have to peel the skin off myself, no big deal) and the rest of these ingredients are ones I always have on hand, so whenever something comes up and I can't cook what I've planned, I just throw this in the crockpot. It falls off the bone and goes wonderful with rice.

My modifications to this recipe are very few, but I do add a little cornstarch to water and thicken it up towards the end, and when I throw it all together, I don't mix separately in a bowl - who needs the extra dishes, I just mix it up in the crockpot and then throw the chicken in, never hurts!
Check out how I make it here: Shoyu Chicken

Tuesday - Kung Pau Chicken! Yum, this is a packet recipe I will introduce this week on the site. I just gave the packet to the neighbor across the street from me this past week (she had mentioned how much her husband loves kung pau, but she doesn't know how to make it), she raved about it! So check back.. (link is up now!)

Wednesday - Farmhouse Chicken. This is a great one dish meal that I've made a few altercations to, I will probably go into detail later on in the week, but just off the top of my head:

Use low sodium stuffing mix
Use a 1/4 of a real onion instead of the powder
Mix up the cream of soups - I think I use chicken and celery
Omit salt!

Thursday - The Fiesta Salad I was supposed to make last week (doctor's visit got in the way of that!)

Friday - Some new recipe I find on one of your lovely blogs - any ideas for something casual, with little prep, and around 5 main ingredients (don't worry about spices/etc) would be appreciated!!

Saturday - Pizza! But with a little homemade twist - I've teased about my dough before but hopefully I will get the recipe on here soon - but now I am going to tease about my homemade mozzarella cheese! Hubby and I are going to make it on Tuesday night so look for the post later in the week on how to make your own cheese - it only takes 30 minutes!!

Sunday - Beef Stew from a packet... finally. I have been waiting for the cooler weather and it is here!!

Looking forward to browsing your menus over at OrgJunkie!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Wanchai Orange Chicken... boo!

2009-10-30T16:13:00.001-04:00

I suppose everyone has an off night when it comes to cooking - a night where just nothing comes out the way you wanted or expected it to, whether it be a new recipe that didn't turn out right, or a quick and easy meal you thought you'd try to save some time. I've fallen into the latter category this week!

Since hubby was out of town and it was just me and my stepson I thought I'd try the frozen Wanchai Ferry kits for two. I used my coupon for 1.50 off and grabbed the Orange Chicken variety. I can't hide my disappointment. Which is really shocking, because the box kits off the shelf by the same company are so good and such a big hit with all of us here, like Cashew Chicken for example.

I'll admit right now, it wasn't that it didn't taste good - it did!! But there just wasn't enough of it for me and the growing teen of the house. Let me show you what I mean...

Here is the photo I took before I opened the bag, imagine if you will how happy I was to try this delightful sounding meal:

Now, imagine my smile turning upside down when I saw the contents of the box:

Okay, I don't think you are getting the whole picture, so let's take a good look at that chicken again:

Not a whole lot is it? Anyway, I carry on, maybe when it all comes together it'll be enough?

So, to follow directions, I add some oil to pan and dump the chicken in:

Seriously? It just doesn't look like enough chicken to feed a hungry 5 year old let alone two people.

But let's keep going, shall we? Remove chicken and add veggies and sauce w/some water to the pan:

Okay, to be honest, this isn't all the veggies - we don't like baby corns, so they got left out:

Poor, sad, left out baby corns.

After the veggies have cooked for a bit, add the chicken back in and throw the rice in the microwave:

I also used the microwave this time for the new box of egg rolls I mentioned when I made the Cashew Chicken, it says they "microwave crispy". Disappointment all around tonight, my stepson asked me to please never microwave them again - they were soggy and not crispy at all!

So here is stepsons dinner:

Looks pretty good right? It was, it got very good reviews. However, you see that plate right there above? That's all of it. I stole two pieces of the chicken just to try it, and gave the rest, rice and veggies included, to him. And yes, he was still hungry later.

Here's my dinner:

Had a coupon for this too, it wasn't bad, but the meatballs were kinda off tasting so I just didn't eat them.

Hubby when are you coming home, I need to cook nice big meals again!!

Don't try this unless the person you are sharing it with isn't going to eat very much!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Cream Cheese Party Dip

2009-10-28T13:23:00.008-04:00

This has been around in my family for quite some time. I can't tell you how many times my mom and I have been asked to write out the recipe on the spot after someone tried it!

I made this for my best friend's baby shower (doubled it even) and it disappeared, I did the same thing for a casual potluck wedding party and even though I ran out of crackers, people were scooping it up on to veggies, chips, and whatever else they could find. And just recently I made it for Girls Night In with the neighbors!

Around my house, this was classic Christmas Eve fare. I grew up having a love hate/relationship with it because while it tastes unbelievable, I have a strong aversion to crunching into onions. So, I used to sit there and pick all the onions out of it and then spread it on my crackers. Now, I just throw my onion in the food processor and turn it super mushy, problem solved!!

So here is what you need:

A package of cream cheese, dried beef (this will be down the aisle that has Spam/tuna/etc), an onion, a splash of milk, and a splash of Worcestershire.

First, put the cream cheese in a big enough bowl to mix everything, and then you will need to rip up the dried beef. This also comes in a smaller container, which I normally would use for this amount of cream cheese, but I had this one in my pantry so it's what I'm using. Word of caution, do NOT stick your nose into the jar and take a big whiff, because you might run far far away from this recipe, and that would be a huge mistake! Just avert your nose and do the dirty work. I threw mine in the mini food processor and pulsed it around a bit then add it to the cream cheese:

You can see I've already chopped up my onions and thrown them in there too. Nice and mushy, just the way I like them.

Next, add the milk and the Worcestershire and add a dash of each into the mix. Don't add too much, just a little bit to help mix everything together. More Worcestershire than milk. Mix it all together with your hands:

** I tried to get measurements specifically for this post while making this - I messed up!!! I used 1/2 TBS of milk and 1 TBS of Worcestershire = WAY too much! So just stick with a "dash" of each, and don't add a lot, remember you can always add more if things aren't coming together, but you don't want it to be soupy like mine. I luckily had a little extra cream cheese in the fridge and scooped some of that in there to make up for the soupiness:

I added around two scoops that size in order to make up for my mistake!

Once you are done mixing, go ahead and cover it and stick it in the fridge, either overnight or for the better part of the day - this is essential because it lets all the flavors blend together, if you don't do this it won't taste right, I promise. Here it is right before I stuck it in the fridge:

Then shape it into a ball, prop it on a dip platter, and add some Ritz Crackers. Be sure to buy at least two boxes of crackers if you are going to have a lot of people. Since it will probably be only around 10 neighbors at the party, one box should do it for me.

This is one recipe I couldn't live with out - quick to throw together, very few ingredients, most I always have on hand, and always a huge hit! Make it for your next party and you'll see what I mean!

Here's the printable version! Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Menu Plan Monday

2009-10-26T07:22:00.000-04:00

This week isn't going to be very interesting in the cooking department. Hubby is headed off for a conference on the other side of the continent and with him gone, frozen pizzas/meals will come into play! Especially with my night classes, it is just a bit easier to throw on a pizza instead of expecting the 13 year old of the house to operate the crockpot and remember to turn it off, and so on and so on... Excuses, excuses. Frozen pizzas were on sale this week anyway, and there were tons of coupons, so without further ado, my menu for the week:

Monday - Frozen Pizza! California Pizza Kitchen thin crust bbq chicken - yum!

Tuesday - Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken - from the freezer section, haven't tried this yet, will let you know how it turns out

Wednesday - Frozen Pizza!! I am getting a little embarrassed. Some plain old Tony's multiserve is the plan.

Thursday - Fiesta Salad... and guess what, it's from a packet! Look for a post on it later this week!

Friday - Steak Sandwiches to welcome Hubby home - I use Pioneer Woman's recipe, but I cut out the butter and add a few things of my own, and serve it up with french fries and green beans.

Saturday - BBQ chicken, potato salad, and veggies. We normally have pizza on Saturday nights, but with all the pizza in my menu already I think we'll be sick of it by then, so I'm using my old standby, I always always always have everything I need to make this, frozen chicken breasts in the freezer, a variety of BBQsauces, and some potatoes so that I can make whatever floats my boat.

Sunday - Stew from a packet. Hopefully it cools down a bit outside before I make this, the weather just isn't cooperating with me! But, this is delicious and probably my second favorite packet recipe of all time, come back next week to see the post!

I'm going to head on over to OrgJunkie and see what's on everyone else's menu for the week!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Nachos

2009-10-23T17:28:00.003-04:00

You can't go wrong with these nachos!! My family and I used to eat at this tiny little Mexican restaurant on the corner, we started going right when they opened, they served everything on paper plates and had plastic silverware, but the food.... oh my! I've never been able to find anything like it again.

Before they closed down, my mom begged the owner to tell her how to make the shredded beef he used in his Nachos, Chimichangas, and Burritos. He laughed and told her, "just throw it in a slow cooker with some salsa and jalapeños all day, it'll fall apart!"

And so she did. And now I do too! And soon, I bet you will as well.

So here is what you need:

A nice big roast (I use the long kind opposed to the seriously fat and short kind, it has way less fat on it and falls apart much easier - I know my technical jargon here is astounding!) some salsa, some jalapeños and your Crock Pot.

My roast is frozen solid here, and normally that would be fine - but it wouldn't fit in my pot, so I had to microwave it a bit to get it to bend in there. Frozen is fine though! I used to always sear the beef first, but I stopped, and I can't tell the difference, it makes my life easier.

Go ahead and plop your roast in, dump the salsa on top, I used the rest of what I had which was about 2/3 of a jar, and throw in as many jalapeños with their lovely flavorful juices as you can handle. If you can't handle them, throw just a few in anyway, the roast will love you for it!

Go ahead and turn your Crock Pot on, this really should cook allllllll day long on low, I didn't get this on til about 10 because I am a bum and we were out of coffee, so I cooked it on high for the first few hours, then turned it down to low after lunch. All in all, I cooked this around 7 hours and it turned out beautifully. Of course this doesn't look so beautiful:

But THIS does:

And so does this:

YUM! Wait, it gets better! I shred my beef my breaking this big ole piece of meat into chunks and letting them cool:

And then scrubbing my hands and peeling it all up into nice beautiful shreds like this:

I dare you to do this without taking a few bites. I took around 9 bites. My tenth bite went to my baby:

Yeah, she loves me.

Here it is all shredded, and you can see on the plate, very little fat on this!

Now that you've got that done, you'll need to get all the other goodies for the Nachos ready. Here's what we use:

Refried beans (fat free!), salsa, cheese, chips, tomatoes, lettuce (I had to show you my lettuce knife, I'm sure this isn't new, but I just picked it up not too long ago and it really does keep the lettuce from getting brown when you cut it!) and some sour cream.

To make the beans a little easier to dollop onto the chips, I throw them in a bowl with some salsa and cheese:

Mix it all up and nuke it for around a minute.

Now to make this easy to clean up, I roll out tinfoil for each persons nachos, that way when it comes out of the oven, I just grab the tinfoil and throw it on the table, real high class, but super easy clean up at the end of the night, just roll it up and throw it away! Plus no pans to clean up unless you are messy like me and sprinkle cheese like a madwoman.

To assemble, just lay out however many chips, plop a decent amount of beans down, and scatter the beef all over top:

Then add cheese:

You can add onions and more jalapeños if you are feeling dangerous too!

Bake them for about 10 minutes at 350. My cheese didn't melt really well because it was low fat:

And then serve them up with all those delicious toppings!!

Here is my stepsons, he doesn't like sour cream (I can't eat it without loads of it!):

And hubby was in the mood for something a little lighter so he had a couple of tacos:

You can also fry up some chimichangas, or add some BBQ sauce to the meat and make sandwiches (the boys use Korean BBQ sauce - little too spicy, even for me!). I love making a taco salad with this, using a ranch/sour cream mixture with salsa and tons of beef! Anyway you eat it, it's delicious! Just ask my baby girl:

She says, "PLEASE can I have more???" And I, of course, said yes.

If you want to see some other great ideas for using your slow cooker, check out Slow Cooking Thursday!

Here is a printable version without all my mumbo jumbo! Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Meatloaf?

2009-10-22T10:59:00.002-04:00

I'd really like to enjoy meatloaf. Really, I would. I just don't. When my mom used to make meatloaf as a child, I would have hot dogs or a frozen dinner instead, I hated it and refused to eat it. (And I was an incredibly spoiled only child).

So, I haven't tried a bite of meatloaf since I was probably 8 or 9 years old. My old college roommates loved it, and on nights when they cooked it, they reinforced my spoiled nature by making me a chicken breast instead. But, I ate meatloaf last night.

You see, I've only made meatloaf once before, it was my mom's simple recipe, and I prepared it in the early afternoon, stuck it in the fridge and told the boys to go ahead and pop it in the oven for an hour when they wanted dinner, and I headed off to class.

When I arrived home around 9, it was all gone (pretty decent considering I was told it was "plain"). So I arrived at the brilliant conclusion that I should make more meatloaf, since it seems to go over so well, and is relatively simple to make right?

Kind of.

The recipe I tried last night was from a friend my mom works with, she claims it is her "secret" meatloaf and that it is the only kind her husband will eat. I have been on the quest to find this secret meatloaf recipe, but apparently there are quite a few!

You see, my stepson has a preference for the topping, and he doesn't know the ingredients, so basically I'm just fumbling around trying to make him the meatloaf he's looking for. This one wasn't it, but it wasn't bad either. It wasn't devoured, even with the three of us eating there were two good size slices left. BUT, I ate it. That really says something!

Unless of course, you factor in that I forgot to start dinner until almost 7pm and who knew meatloaf took so darn long to cook? Must have slipped my mind. So by the time dinner got on the table at around 8:15, I was too tired to find something else for me to eat, and just gave in to the meatloaf (did I mention I took a "sick day" last night and skipped class, I was feeling dangerous).

It was okay. The boys really liked it, so I'm sure it was better than okay, which is why I'll go ahead and post the recipe.

For this meatloaf, you will need:

Salt, pepper, 6 slices bread, 1 cup milk, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp marjoram, 1 onion (finely diced), 1 egg, 1/2 stalk of celery, 1/4 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp ground mustard, 1 bottle of chili sauce, and 1lb ground beef (I used 1.5).

And sadly, I forgot all about:

Worcestershire sauce!! You'll need a TBS of it.

First, I threw the bread into my mini processor and turned it into crumbs, and then I minced up my onion and celery the same way (I love my mini processor!) then add it to the meat in your mixing bowl:

This recipe actually called for celery salt and sage, but I did not have either, neither did my wonderful neighbors! So, I substituted the thyme, marjoram, and a little bit of ground up celery.

Then measure out your spices (I sure do wish I had a packet for this, the next time I make meatloaf I am going to find a packet - if anyone has any recommendations please let me know!) and dump them in:

I don't measure salt and pepper, I just sprinkle it on until it looks right... I tend to use a lot more pepper (I like meat with my pepper) and less salt, especially since this already has garlic salt in it.

After that, dump in the milk, crack open the egg, add the Worcestershire, and mix it all together. With your hands. I think this is the root of my problem when it comes to meatloaf, it looks seriously disgusting. And it feels even worse. Just look:

Sorry.

Then dump it into your loaf pan:

I just have a bread pan, no special meatloaf pan, but after tonight, the first time I've actually seen how the meatloaf turns out, I am demanding one for Christmas. Are you reading this honey? I want this one, or something similar. And really honey, it should be a gift for you, because I don't even like meatloaf very much! Anyway, mine was very greasy, and I would have loved to have a pan that allowed that grease to drain off.

Next, dump that bottle of chili sauce on top of the loaf, I didn't use the whole bottle, but nearly did, and after tasting it, I could have used the whole bottle and it wouldn't have hurt anything - it was actually really good!!!

Now, bake it for around 1 hour at 350, mine needed an extra 20 minutes or so.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, dinner was running seriously late last night, so in the meantime, I tossed a quick salad with some carrots, tomatoes, cheese, croutons, and plain old iceberg lettuce and threw some Italian dressing on top and fed that to the boys to hold them over.

When the meatloaf had about 10 minutes left to cook, I whipped up some instant potatoes and canned corn:

And once dinner was done, I was in such a rush to get it on the table I didn't get a picture of the final product. But my stepson graciously let me take a picture of his plate, after he had a bite:

So, my first real experience with meatloaf wasn't all bad. If I do use this recipe again (I probably will, after I try a few others, and find a packet!) I will use some breadcrumbs instead of bread because it was a little mushy and hubby said it is "firmer" with breadcrumbs. If anyone has any meatloaf recipes they want to share, please let me know, I am specifically looking for something that uses honey and ketchup (this is what my stepson wants!).

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Cashew Chicken

2009-10-21T08:43:00.018-04:00

So, have I mentioned we love Asian food at our house?? Funny thing is, I used to hate trying new things, the only thing I would get from a chinese take out was those fried up little chicken pieces with sweet n sour. And now I eat something different every week - heck I even MAKE it!

With a little help though! Thanks to the packets I've found (and will be telling you more about soon) I'm able to cook up some seriously delicious food that gets raved about. Last night my boys (hubby and stepson) were actually dancing around the house singing "we're having cashew chicken!!" (over and over and over again). The dog joined in on the singing. It was insane. It was hilarious. It is definitely a good life!

This is the third Wanchai Ferry kit we've tried, and while all of them have been good, this one takes the cake, not only for taste but because it is seriously easy and gets to the table faster than I can load a dishwasher (maybe I'm a little slow in that area..)

So here is the box, which contains quite a few packets:

You can find it in most grocery stores. Unfortunately, they can run pretty high in price... Last week hubby was sick and no one wanted to drive all the way to the commissary on base, so I headed to the Winn Dixie on the corner. I had a coupon for this and so I thought it wouldn't be much of a difference. I was wrong! At Winn Dixie it was around 5 dollars! My coupon was for $1.10, so even with that it was a little much... but once you've tried it I think you'll agree that it is worth it to splurge on these every once and awhile (when the budget allows).

So here is what is in the box and the things you will need on hand:

The box comes with a cup of rice, a bag of cashews, the sauce mix, and flavored cornstarch to coat the chicken. You will need to have about a pound of chicken cut into small pieces, whatever veggies you want to serve with dinner, cooking oil, and some water. Do you see my cooking oil back there? YUM, it is olive oil with red chilies - it gives everything just a little extra kick, I use it with this meal, but regular olive oil or cooking oil would be fine too!

I also like to serve this up with egg rolls to round out the meal - we buy huge bags of mini ones normally, but this box was on sale so we are testing them out:

They are definitely different than our usuals, really crispy, but I don't know if I like the sauce it comes with.. I am on the fence, but we have to work our way through the whole box before I have to decide what to get next. And I didn't microwave them - I think it's easier to just throw them in the oven for 10-12 minutes - it helps me time everything else.

So here's how to get started on this meal... you want to get your rice cooking first, it takes around 15-20 minutes, and dinner does NOT take that long so if you don't get it started around 10 minutes before you will have dinner done and be waiting on rice! (Yep, I've found this out the hard way). If you happen to have a rice cooker, go ahead and pull it out, if not the directions are on the box for stove top. Most rice cookers have a steamer attachment and that's where I do my veggies, put them on the same time as the rice.

I have a confession to make. When I first opened hubby's box of kitchen supplies, I looked at this ugly rice maker, shook my head a few times, and shoved it back in the box. I didn't like rice anyway and I didn't make meals that required rice, so it was hidden away for quite some time. BUT NOW, I love it, it's convenient, easy to use, the steamer makes getting veggies on the table that much easier (no more excuses), and it's probably my second favorite appliance (next to my Crock Pot!). This is a cheap one you can probably pick up at Walmart for all of 10 dollars. If you don't have one, put it on your Christmas list!

So you start up your rice and veggies, wait about 5 minutes or so (you can chop up your chicken in this time - I use scissors, it makes me happy) and if you are making egg rolls get the oven preheated and have them ready to go:

Once you throw the egg rolls into the oven, go ahead and get your pan out and put the oil in to heat it up, nice and hot.

Next, you dump the cornstarch packet onto the chicken, stir it around to coat, and then dump the chicken in the pan to fry up until it's cooked. The package says this takes about 7 minutes, but I cut my chicken really small so really it only took me about 5. The important thing here is that when you first spread your chicken out on the pan, to not touch it for the first few minutes, let it get nice and brown, then flip it. I find that with their cornstarch mix my chicken pieces all end up sticking together, so after they've browned on one side it's almost like flipping a pancake. After browning both sides I break up the chicken and let it cook for another minute (I have a serious fear of undercooking my chicken).

Then, add 1/2 cup of water and the packet containing the sauce, let it heat up and simmer. You are supposed to wait to add the cashews until you are ready to serve, but I add them in at the same time as the sauce. I also break them up a bit because I like getting a little bite of cashew with each fork full!

From there, I am just waiting on the egg rolls and the rice. If they still aren't done (mine weren't - I've got to work on my timing) just turn the chicken to low to keep it warm.

(I had planned to take pictures of cooking this meal, but my camera died. I used to have a camera with batteries but last Christmas I got a great camera, but it has a charger... I never remember to charge it, so while I was cooking this up, my camera was charging!)

Once everything is done, set it all out on a plate and dinner is served!!

This is my stepson's plate (his first plate I should say) so it looks like a lot - my plate was about half of this and I was full, and hubby's was somewhere in the middle - we still had enough for a huge second helping for the growing teenager (even though we could have probably used a little more rice).

This delicious meal took all of about 20 minutes, half of which was spent waiting! And I can't say it enough - it is a HUGE hit!! I guarantee you China Wok down the street can't compare!

Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplins

2009-10-20T10:45:00.003-04:00

I just recently discovered Crockpot Wednesday's over at Dining with Debbie! I love to use my Crock Pot and since I have class at night on Mon and Wed it is pretty much the only way my family gets a home cooked dinner. Yesterday I made this delicious meal and you can read how to make it for yourself below or you can click here to skip my rambling and go to the printable version.

This meal does not use a packet, but it does use cans! Cans are kind of similar to packets right? Just open them, dump them in, and toss them (into your recycling bin - unless you are trying to hide the cream of mushroom evidence from a very picky 13 year old who HATES mushrooms, in which case you wrap it in dirty paper towels and put it at the bottom of the trash can - the Earth will forgive me).

So here's what you need for this meal...

Boneless Skinless chicken (breasts or tenders), pepper, seasoning salt, cumin, parsley, 1 can each: cream of chicken, celery, & the dreaded mushroom, can of corn, can of peas and carrots (or just carrots if you don't want to push it), 1/2 of an onion (chopped or thrown in the food processor) and a refrigerated can of biscuits.

This is a two step crockpot meal - so while I normally just dump everything in and wait until dinner... this one requires an additional step, but it's definitely worth it!!!!

FIRST you should have these on hand:

Unfortunately, I am fresh out and forgot to grab more, which means extra clean up for me :(. But if you have them, I would definitely use them with this recipe.

Next, you are going to throw your chicken into the crockpot. I use around 1lb, but you can vary this based on your needs, word to the wise, this doesn't make for very good leftovers because in the microwave the dumplings turn into crunchy chewy yuckiness unfortunately, so don't plan on making more than your family will eat. I use chicken tenders (the full bag costs us around 6 dollars and usually makes 3 meals) and throw them in still frozen:

From here, you are going to add a little flavor, throw on some pepper, some cumin, some seasoning salt, and some parsley. Just a little of each, no measuring required, here is what mine looked like after being sprinkled:

As you can see, no real rhyme or reason. Next, open up the 3 soups and dump them in along with your chopped onion:

Next, drain the veggie cans and drop them into the pot as well:

And finally, take one of your soup cans and fill it with water and dump it in there as well. I had a picture of this but it looked so unappetizing I couldn't bring myself to post it, so here it is after stirring everything together:

This cooks on high around 4 hours.

NOW, for the second step to this delicious dinner! You are going to take the chicken out and shred it up into chunks. You could do this in the pot I suppose, but I think it's easier this way. You could have also done this at the beginning with thawed chicken, but the chicken isn't as moist if you do that! Here is my chicken being shredded:

Next, take the package of biscuits and pop them open, put them on a clean surface and pepper both sides of them like so:

And then rip them into pieces and throw them in, you can stir them in as you go and they will seem a little gooey, but that's fine, just get them in there! You don't need to be exact on size, as you can see:

Cook this on high for another 2 hours and you've got dinner! (I noticed that it kind of sticks to the sides since I am not using my liners, so I really recommend using them!!)

I am linking below to the original recipe I adapted this from, I tried it the original way, and then I tried adding just cream of celery, then I tried chicken broth, and different seasonings, serving veggies on the side and mixing them in!! I've tried this many ways, and THIS way has by far gotten the best reviews by dh and ds, so this is the way I make it!! But on that note, without the original recipe I'd be nowhere, so I must give credit where credit is due, thank you very much to Janiece Mason over at All Recipes for giving me the inspiration for this meal!!!

Here is the simplied recipe without all of my rambling and photos:

And here is an easy printable version!

Let me know how it turns out!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

My First Menu Plan Monday!

2009-10-19T07:20:00.007-04:00

I read so many great recipes and menu plans from the links I find on the Menu Plan Monday blog!! I have been lurking for the past few months, but I'm ready to join in the fun, finally. I normally plan my menus out for a month, some people call me crazy but it takes less work to sit down for an hour once a month and hash it all out then to stress about it every week. But for this blog I'll tone it down and just go week by week.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always stick to this plan, but I do try!

Monday - Chicken and Dumplins. I make this in the Crockpot from a recipe I found at All Recipes and tweaked it to our liking - using refrigerated biscuits as the dumplings is super yummy and turns out great.

Tuesday - Wanchai Ferry Dinner Kit - Cashew Chicken. I had a coupon for this again this week from coupons.com so this kit only cost around 1.50 and it is a huge hit. I always throw some frozen mini egg rolls in the oven as an appetizer to go with this.

Tuesday is always Asian night in our house - however, up until about 3 months ago I had no idea how to make anything in this category. Since both my hubby and stepson love Asian food I had to find a way - these kits along with some other wonderful packets make wonderful dinners that are super easy and tastier than anything you get at Chinese takeout!

Wednesday - Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with corn. I'm trying a new meatloaf recipe this week, the one from my mom didn't go over so well (too "plain") so this one is topped with Chili sauce. I don't eat meatloaf so I can't tell you how it turns out, but I'll report my findings!

Thursday - Shredded Beef Nachos. HUGE favorite here, cook the roast in salsa all day then shred it up and put it on top of chips with beans and cheese, plus all other yummy toppings.

Friday - Fish Fry & French Fries. I've been saying I'll make this every Friday for 3 weeks now. I keep ordering out, going out, or having leftovers! I am determined to make it this week.

Saturday - Homemade Pizza - Buffalo Chicken, Pepperoni, and Ham & Pineapple. I have been on the quest for the perfect homemade dough for the better part of a year and I think I finally have what I'm looking for, hopefully I'll be able to blog this recipe when I make it on Saturday!

Sunday - Salisbury Steak. This will definitely be a blogpost soon, but until then, I have it posted on RecipeZaar.

There are tons more weekly menu plans over at Organizing Junkie, go check them out!

Hope everyone has a great week - I will be visiting your sites to see what you've got cooking in your kitchens!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

What To Do With Your Leftover Chili

2009-10-18T13:00:00.004-04:00

Two options are at the top of my head for the leftover chili...

First:

Chili Appetizer Dip

I'm not taking pictures of this one because, well I'm not making it. If I make it, I'll eat it, and I don't have any parties to take it to, so for this you will have to use your imagination!

Here is what you need:

Package of cream cheese (1/3 less fat is FINE, can't tell the difference if you ask me)

1-2 cups of leftover chili (or canned chili - beans and meat)

Mexican blend shredded cheese - or whatever kind of cheese you have really

Bag of tortilla chips

And here are the very simple steps:

1. Get an oven-safe dish - a clear casserole or pie dish is normally what I use - what size you use depends on how much you want to make... you can easily double this up or cut it in half.

2. Take your cream cheese and spread it on the bottom of the dish - around 1/2 inch thick.

3. Pour the chili over top the cream cheese - however much you think looks right (I promise this is not an exact science, whatever looks tastiest - I normally do it thick enough to where I can't see the cream cheese and maybe an inch thick if you want some guidelines)

4. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the chili.

5. Throw it in the oven - 400 degrees for around 10-15 minutes (basically until it warms up and the cheese melts), and don't worry if you are taking it somewhere and can't warm it back up, it will still get devoured even after it's cooled off, so no worries.

6. Set it out with a bag of chips and watch it disappear. :)

Click here for the Printable Recipe!

AND second:

Chili Dogs!

My darling SS woke up at 12:30 this afternoon and had 3 chili dogs for breakfast (I guess it's brunch at this hour!) This photo is of his second dog - you can see by the messy plate that you better have plenty of napkins on hand.

To make these, grill up your hot dogs (we use turkey) and your buns, top them with cheese, and top that with piping hot chili to melt the cheese... and prepare to make a mess!

Let me how it turns out!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen

Chili Made EASY!

2009-10-17T18:01:00.010-04:00

For the first recipe, one of my favorite meals... Chili!!!

This is so easy and so good you will smack yourself for not making it sooner. You can print this out minus my comments and pictures here.

Here is our friend the packet:

I use McCormick because thats what my momma used, so while you can try elsewhere, I've had the best luck with them.

And here are the other things you'll need to go with your new best friend:

Large can of tomato juice, two cans chili beans (one big spicy, one small regular), small onion chopped up real nice, and 1lb ground up turkey/beef (in these times, you should really look for these turkey rolls in your freezer section - we pay 99 cents for a pound, and honestly in a meal like this you won't be able to tell the difference).

The steps are easy and will take you under 15 minutes your first try, your second try you'll probably need even less time.

So here we go!

1. Brown the meat and drain the grease (word to new cookers - do yourself a favor and do not drain the grease down the sink - your pipes will thank you)

2. Next your going to add your chopped onions (a huge shortcut to this is to buy them prechopped - most grocery stores carry them like this, but way more expensive) - IMO the easiest way to deal with onions is throw them in one of the handy little food processors that are under 10 bucks at most stores and grind them to a mush, thats why this onion looks so mushy.

3. Keep the heat around med low... and then... here comes our star... walking down the red carpet ready to win her umpteenth award!!! Rip her open and dump her in alongside your mushy onions.

4. Stir it around until its all mixed together, then grab your can opener. Open up the beans and use the hole poker part to poke a hole in each side of the tomato juice, dump them all in there and stir it all together.

5. You're done cooking. Can you believe how easy that was? No measuring spoons or cups, no crazy searching through your spice drawer/rack looking for just the right taste... you've already got it covered. Now walk away and go watch some tv or read a book! You'll want to let it simmer on the lowest setting for about 3 hours (you can do it in 2 if you want, but the longer she cooks the yummier she'll be). Stir it around once every half hour or so. It is very very important to keep it on the lowest possible setting, otherwise you will need to stir it much more frequently or it'll burn to the bottom. Just figure out what works best for you!

Now when you go to serve this, it's very versatile, hubby loves it over a big bowl of rice, I must have it in a big bowl with a big spoon and buttered saltine crackers, and as with every chili you always want to have some extra onion and some shredded cheese for toppers. A nice crusty bread on the side doesn't hurt either, or how about some corn bread? It also makes great leftovers - chili cheese hot dogs for one and there is this excellent little party dip that you can throw together in all of 5 minutes... I'll be sharing this one with you soon!

Another thing with this, since it is so fast to put together and needs little attention once you've got it on... you've guessed it already haven't you?? It's a great to throw in your crock pot. Don't quote me on this but I'd put it on low for around 6-8 hours, so throw it in before you go to work (after cooking/draining meat!), get home before your family and serve it up in pretty little dishes and act like you slaved over it for hours so they'll clean up after you (this is assuming they don't know how the crock pot works I guess...) Not that there is much to clean up, but guilt them into mopping the floors or something... after ALL that work you just did you need a break... :)

I am adding a link to The Five Dollar Dinner Challenge because I'm nearly positive this meal can be done for under five bucks - especially if you use the package of ground turkey I recomended looking for!! Visit the site to check out even more frugal and healthy meals!!

Also be sure to see what I did with the Leftovers!

Here is the printable version! Let me know how it turns out!!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen