Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I found this recipe on recipe zaar along with many of the recipes I do. Most of you have probably heard of this website, if not I highly recommend it. I can't say the ratings are fool proof, because I have tried many that are 5 star that aren't really 5 star in my book, and visa versa. I guess it's just a difference in taste buds. Speaking of which I have had no feed back on any of these recipes and I know some of you have tried them!:) I really want your opinions good or bad. So if you have tried any of them please write back and let me know what you thought!...Awkward... I am also trying to be better about taking pictures because I know it helps in deciding to make it or not. Anyway.. these meatballs turned out really yummy..even Parker enjoyed them, so they are definitely kid friendly:D. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.











Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1 t. worcestershire
3 T bread crumbs
oregano
1 egg lightly beaten
salt and pepper
garlic powder

Sauce
1 T veg. oil
small onion minced
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 T. white vinegar
1 t. lemon juice
1 c. ketchup
2 T. soy sauce

Mix egg with seasonings and bread crumbs (don't worry about it being perfect, honestly there was a couple things I didn't have enough of and they still turned out great.) Add ground beef and mix thoroughly, just like meat loaf. If your grossed out with hamburger, or just don't feel like getting it all over you like me, I used a fork to mix it and it turned out fine. Shape into 1 inch balls. Again if your grossed out with the hamburger an ice cream scoop helps, but you still have to round them a little bit. The next part I changed from the original, I chose to bake the meatballs instead of frying them. I feel it's much easier and they cook more evenly. So bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.
Then for the sauce, start with sauteing the onions in veg oil until translucent. Then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. Then for my convenience I chose to stick the meatballs and sauce in the crock pot and cooked them on low for 4-5 hours. Otherwise you can combine the meatballs with the sauce and let them simmer for 1 hour. Serve over rice or noodles..soo yummy!

Braided Chicken Crescent

Before you look at all the pictures and assume this is a hard recipe let me tell you it's actually super easy and turns out looking and tasting really good. The original of this recipe had a lot of crazy things in it that didn't seem appealing to me at all; like mayo, craisins, dill, and almonds. The combination of these just didn't appeal to me and my family's taste buds so I came up with this recipe. I hope you enjoy the changes!

2 c. chicken, cooked and diced
1 c. finely chopped broccoli
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 c. minced onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 1/2-2 cans cream of chicken
2 pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white beaten

Unroll crescent rolls on a greased baking sheet into a large rectangle, pinching seems to form single sheet of dough. Combine first 6 ingredients. Add only enough cream of chicken to make moist, not soupy. Spread chicken down the center of crescents length wise. On longest sides cut one inch strips towards the middle and chicken mixture. Fold strips over chicken mixture alternating strips from each side. Brush with egg white. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes of until browned on top. Ok so I know that probably sounded like jibberish so I hope these pictures help the confusion.

Crescent rolls in one long sheet

Chicken mixture poured down the center-I went a little crazy on the broccoli so it's kind of piled on there

Sides cut in 1 inch strips and braided over chicken mixture

Voila! Yes I realize half of it is gone my husband had to go to work, but you get the point.

Fried Rice

So some people consider fried rice as just a side, but for me I make it for a main dish fairly regularly, usually to use up left over ham. The recipe I did last night was not my usual recipe, it called for sausage instead and few other things I don't typically cook with. Honestly I liked the change, but Frank thought it tasted funny. It had bean sprouts in it which I think gave off kind of a different flavor. I think next time I might use my usual recipe and just try sausage instead of ham for a change. So instead of giving the recipe I did last night I'll give you my usual Ham Fried Rice recipe.

1 c. minced carrots
2-3 T. cooking oil
2-3 eggs scrambled
3 c. rice, cooked and cold- I have used warm rice it just tends to want to clump together a little but it's really not a big deal
1 c. ham, cubed
1 small can sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1 c. frozen petite peas
3-4 T. soy sauce


Saute carrots until cooked to your liking (I leave them a little crunchy.) Add ham, eggs, and then cook on medium high heat until eggs are completely cooked. Add remaining ingredients and cook until completely cooked through. This is kind of a no fail recipe. I think I kind of do it a little different every time so really just do whatever works for you, add whatever you have or like. If you check out ourbestbites.com she has a good fried rice recipe but with some different chicken recipes you can do with it instead of ham.

Chicken Ole

It's been awhile since I've posted. I took a short vacation on cooking after having my wisdom teeth removed last Thursday. It really wasn't too bad, I lucked out only having two upper wisdom teeth which are the easiest to recover from, so here I am back to posting new recipes. I actually kind of made up what I made tonight. I combined two different recipes and decided I like the original better..shocker, but you don't know until you try it right? Mostly it's called I have a sick kid who I didn't feel like dragging to the store so you make do with what you got on days like that. Anyway so I'll give you the original recipe that I liked better and once again it's a crock pot recipe. I didn't realize I had so many crock pot recipes until I started this blog. I kind of went through a faze of all crock pot cooking when Parker was younger because it was all I could manage to do. Anyway without further babbling here's the recipe for Chicken Ole.

3-4 chicken breast, cooked and cubed (to be honest I only use 2 because I'm a tight wad like that but if you want lot's of chicken I would go with 3 or 4)
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 T grated onion
1 c cheese
1/2 jar Green Chili Salsa-just kind of eye it, it gives a little spice so if you want less spice use less
10-12 corn tortillas

Mix soups, onion, cheese and salsa. Spray bottom of crock pot. Start by layering using 3-4 tortillas torn into fourths, sprinkle half of chicken, then half of soup mixture. Repeat layers. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you don't half corn tortillas you can go for the more casserole option I did last night just using egg noodles instead of tortillas, I think it was just missing a little substance which probably would help if I used cheese. I thought about adding frozen corn but forgot or if your really daring maybe some black beans which I had none of. Also if you like sour cream try swapping out the cream of mushroom for sour cream instead. I also threw on buttered bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, 5 minutes uncovered.

Chicken Verde

This was kind of a fun recipe I just made. It was super easy to make and the thing I liked most is that you could serve it a few different ways. It's a spin on chile verde but with chicken so you can use it any way you would with the chile verde; tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, or just served over rice . It's a bit on the spicy side so if you don't handle heat or you have little kids it's probably not for you. For the rest of us who like our Mexican food this is a must try!

2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded ( just throw in crock pot frozen season if like low 5 hrs or boil with onion, red pepper, and 1 qt water and use left over water instead of chicken broth)
1 onion minced
1 red pepper minced
3-4 minced garlic cloves (I just buy the jar of already minced usually found in produce section)
1 T cumin
1 can green chilies
1 cup green salsa
2 cups chicken broth (I just make broth using chicken bouillon granules)

Saute onion and red pepper in a little butter or oil ( this is not necessary if you boiled with chicken) Add remaining ingredients and simmer on medium low heat for 1 hour with lid off. And it's as easy as that!

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins

I've been trying to save money buy making more of my food rather then just buy everything. One of the things I've been doing is making muffins for breakfast instead of buying cereal. I have been totally surprised at how much this has saved me. Cereal can be so expensive $3-4 a box, even though I know you can get some really good deals with coupons I always seem to like the expensive stuff that never goes on sale. Not to mention I just get bored of cereal every morning, and let's be honest, it gives me something to do that I enjoy. So if your like me and sick of cereal try these Carrot Cake Muffins that I found on Studio 5 from I Can't Believe It's Food Storage by Crystal Godfrey.

2 c. brown sugar
1 c. oil
3 eggs ( you can you powdered eggs here by just adding these in with the dry ingredients)
3 c. carrots finely grated (can also use food storage carrots just finely chopped)
1 c. crushed pineapple
2 t. vanilla
3 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
1 T. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. raisins soaked in water- optional
1 c. walnuts-optional

Mix oil and su gar. Add eggs, carrots, pineapple and vanilla. Mix well. In separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add raisins and walnuts. Combine with wet ingredients, do not over mix. To be honest this recipe was posted without a baking temperature and I guessed 375, but that seemed to be too hot as mine got slightly over cooked too fast, so I would assume it should be 350 15-20 minutes.

Grape Salad

Since you all hopefully know how to make spaghetti, I won't waste a post in saying that's what I had for dinner last night. I did on the other hand make this grape salad last Sunday, and to be honest I've only ever had a small bite of this salad last Summer, again the whole dairy thing for me:( It must have been good though because the whole bowl was gone in minutes and nobody could stop talking about how good it was.
This is one of those so called salads that are more like a dessert than a salad. These are a staple to a Sunday dinner at my in-laws. My mother-in-law is kind of like the queen of all jello, pudding, fruit salads. My family on the other hand would only see something like this if I happen to bring it over, and would then proceed to tell me "this is more like a dessert." Kind of funny the differences you notice in each others families after you get married. Sometimes I think I'm kind of the odd ball in my husbands family. I think they always worry what I'm going to come up with to bring to family get togethers, my husband included. I've always tried to be respectful of their differences so I think they've finally started to trust me to bring more than just a bag of chips:) My family on the other hand is where I try out all my new and sometimes different recipes. The only bad thing about this is that my family has no censor in telling me how they felt about it. They have no problem telling me how something didn't turn out or that I should have done it a different way. So whether your more like my in-laws who live on these salads, or your more like my family who thinks of this as a dessert, I say give it a try!

2 lbs red seedless grapes (I just used a bag from Walmart)
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Topping
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. pecans

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in grapes. Transfer to medium serving bowl. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over salad.