What’s New for Dinner? Italian Breadsticks

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week.  There are several reasons for this:

• Meal planning can get a bit tedious.  We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again.  We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
• Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.
  

And Finally,

To show  you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

Oh woe is ME! It has been so long since I posted something new for dinner! In the past month and a half I have been moving the SuperFamily into our new home…what a chore!! I am set up now… at least in my kitchen…so I’m back to experimenting with new eats for us!

This week I made some Italian Breadsticks to go with our pasta dinner. I’ve been wanting to try this for quite some time but never quite had the guts. There is a great recipe in The Five Dollar Dinner Mom Cookbook and since I have had great success with Erin’s recipes I thought I would give it a go.

The Ingredients

• white flour
• wheat flour
• yeast
• flaxseed (I didn’t use any because mine was … well…too old)
• salt
• olive oil
• sugar
• Dried Italian Seasoning
• Grated Parmesan

The Directions

• The first step is to use the seasonings, yeast, sugar and some flour to make a “spongy dough”.I find this to be a little more trying than it should be sometimes.  I seem to not get the water temperature correct and then you either burn off the yeast or it has failure to thrive or something like that.

If you’ve never worked with yeast bread before, it can be a little stressful wondering what this stage is supposed to look like so I thought I’d put these pics up.  Not pretty…but you get the idea of what “spongy dough” should look like.

• When the dough is “Spongy” you add the rest of the flour and stir it together with a wooden spoon.
• When the dough is thick enough, knead it by hand for 6-8 min. I used my Kitchen Aid instead of kneading by hand.  6-8 minutes of kneading stiff dough and my hands would have been out of commission for the entire next day!

• The next several steps require you to work quickly…something I have never quite gotten the hang of.  Dividing the dough into 4 medium balls, then each one of those balls down into muffin sized balls.
• Each ball gets rolled out into skinny, long pieces.

• Twist two pieces together and place them on a greased baking sheet.
• When all dough has been formed, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
• Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes.

Erin also gives directions for using her recipe in a bread machine.

The Results:

I was slightly disappointed in these breadsticks, I believe it was mostly user error. I may have kneaded the dough too long using the bread hook.  Generally  you can knead bread in the Kitchen Aid for 5-6 minutes and that is just about perfect; my dough was very stiff and hard to work with.  I can’t decide if it was the whole wheat or if I over worked the dough.

In addition to over working the dough, I stopped to take pictures and in general goofed around took too long so half of the breadsticks were rising while I was still making the rest of them.

They tasted good and the texture was, for the most part, nice and even.

What I Would Change:

Even though it’s not the healthiest thing… I think I would go all white flour…or cut back on the ratio of white to wheat flours.  I would also like to try this kneading the dough by hand to see if there is a difference; being able to feel the dough as you are working with it can make all the difference in how it turns out.

Be sure to head on over to CouponGeek and see what my friend Jaycie whipped up this week… I’m TOTALLY going to try it some day; Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta and Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad…um, YUM!

Want to see some of my other culinary adventures?  Check out other recipes in my What’s New For Dinner adventure!

What’s New For Dinner? Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week.  There are several reasons for this:

• Meal planning can get a bit tedious.  We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again.  We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
• Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.

And Finally,

• To show  you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

I missed a week.  Then I thought I would post twice this week, as I have two new recipes we’ve tried.  I was all proud of myself…when I realized it was FRIDAY and it was time for THIS week’s post.  #superflawed

This week’s new recipe wasn’t actually a new dinner …. it was a new breakfast! I really like to have nice sit down breakfasts on the weekends when we are all together.  It is a good start to our day and a chance to sort of map out our day.  We have a favorite Baked Blueberry Oatmeal recipe that I make frequently, so when a recipe for Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal came across my Twitter Stream touted as “A Giant Oatmeal Cookie You can Cover in Milk”…. I jumped.  You can check out the original recipe I got from Cheryl at Tidy Mom; but here is how it went down at our house:

The Ingredients:

• quick cooking oats
• brown sugar
• white sugar
• milk
• melted butter
• egg
• baking powder
• salt
• vanilla
• Peanut Butter
• Raisins *This was a SuperFamily addition*

The Directions:

Cheryl says just to mix it all together in a bowl… I’m sort of stuck on the “dry ingredients/wet ingredients then mix” theory … so I did it that way.  I added the peanut butter at the end and then the raisins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes in a greased 9 x 13 and voila! Breakfast!

The Results:

This is not the same consistency as the baked oatmeal that we are used to and I think this threw everyone off…including me.  As I’ve never had ANY other baked oatmeal…I don’t know which is right; assuming, of course I couldn’t have done anything wrong…but after we got over ourselves adjusted to the difference….we loved it!  The consistency here was very soft, almost cakey.  When we poured the milk over it, it got even softer.  The blueberry oatmeal is much firmer.

*Hint* When pouring milk over a warm, baked item like this for breakfast….consider warming the milk first.  Just sayin’.

Clearly, SuperBaby enjoyed this breakfast...he snuck back for more.

What I Would Change:

• I would add cinnamon.  More like oatmeal raisin cookies.  Maybe.  Or maybe I did.  I can’t remember, and that is so sad.

I will try the recipe next time with old fashioned rolled oats instead of quick cooking; I think that might help it be a little firmer.

Be sure to stop on over at CouponGeek and see how Jaycie’s experiment turned out this week!

Want to see more of my culinary challenges adventures? Check out other recipes From My Kitchen or ask yourself “What’s New For Dinner?” this week! Be sure to check back on Sunday when I post my weekly menu (and link one up yourself!) to see what I’ve decided to try out on the family next week!

What’s New For Dinner? Mini Taco Cups

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week. There are several reasons for this:

• Meal planning can get a bit tedious. We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again. We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
• Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.
  

And Finally,

• To show you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

We eat a lot of Mexican food; Enchiladas, Taco Salad, Black Beans and Rice, Quesadillas. It occurred to me when I saw this recipe at Hoosier Homemade that I’ve never made actual tacos for my kids. I can only imagine what a mess that would be! This recipe for Mini Taco Cups seemed like the perfect solution. Designed as an appetizer, it is the perfect size for little hands and mouths.

The Ingredients:

• Ground Beef (we use venison)
• Taco Seasoning
• Tostitos “Scoops” tortilla chips
• Refriend Beans (I used fat free to make myself feel better)
• Shredded Cheese
• Any assortment of toppings you want!

The Directions:

• Brown the meat and add taco seasoning per package directions.
• Set the Tostitos “Scoops” in mini muffin tins.

• Put a little bit of refried beans in the bottom of each scoop.
• Layer with a small amount of prepared taco meat.

• Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes.

• You could continue here and add toppings to each little tiny taco cup… or you could set out your toppings a la Taco Bar.

This seemed easier to me; I thought the kids would enjoy putting their own toppings on and it would keep them involved and in control of how they want to eat their taco cups!

The Results:

Voila! Mini Taco Cups!

I was absolutely right, each one of the kid wanted theirs done up a different way…and they all liked “decorating” their own food for dinner.

SuperDad and I both liked these, too. Baking them in the oven to melt everything together also softened up the chips so they didn’t completely break apart when you bit into them.

What I Would Change:

Nothing! We liked these just the way they were.

Be sure to stop on over at CouponGeek and see how Jaycie’s experiment with crock pot beef stew went. Want to see more of my culinary challenges adventures? Check out other recipes From My Kitchen or ask yourself “What’s New For Dinner?” this week! Be sure to check back on Sunday when I post my weekly menu (and link one up yourself!) to see what I’ve decided to try out on the family next week!

What’s New for Dinner? Crock Pot French Dip Sammies

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week.  There are several reasons for this:

1. Meal planning can get a bit tedious.  We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again.  We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
2. Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.                          And finally,
   
3. To show  you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

Pot Roast is a common occurrence around here.  I have a standby recipe I got from Weight Watchers about 3 – 4 years ago.  It works really well with venison and SuperDad is “don’t change a thing” happy with the results.

I changed a thing.  Or two.

A couple of weeks ago Candy Tai from Mommypalooza and KCMetroMoms posted a yummy recipe for French Dip Sammies in her Facebook Notes.  I can’t link to it…but I’m giving her some serious street credit   It is very similar to my recipe…but knocks out my two least favorite parts of the preparation…and uses…. THE CROCKPOT!  YEAH!

The Ingredients:

• 3-4 lbs. beef brisket (I used venison roast … and made 7lbs so I’d have some to freeze)
• Italian Seasoning
• 1 Onion
• 1 Can Beef Broth
• 1 Packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix (I used regular Onion Soup Mix because it was in my cabinet)
• Hoagie Rolls
• Provolone Cheese (We used Mozzarella because, again, I had it on hand)

The Directions:

• Spray your crock pot with cooking spray.
• Wash and pat dry your brisket or roast.
• Rub Italian Seasoning over all sides of the roast.
• Put it in the crock pot fatty side down (especially important if you are using brisket)

**Tip: If you don’t have a crock pot, get one.  If you can only get one and you aren’t sure what to get… I personally think a 6quart pot is the way to go.  I have THIS ONE and love it.  I’ve been able to adapt any recipes for smaller pots with a quick google search.  I haven’t burned anything in it (yet) and I’ve been using it for 5 years now!

• Cut up the onion into wedges and lay it on the roast.
• Mix the onion soup mix and the beef broth together with a whisk and pour over the roast.
• Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 3-4. (Low is best for this kind of meat…makes it nice and tender…and smells YUMMA in your house all day!)
• Serve it on sliced hoagie rolls with cheese and a dipping bowl of juice.

The Results:

This says it all!  SuperBaby was so inspired by the roast that he put all of his recent learning together in a string of events that involved:

• Going to his room to get the step stool his sister uses to reach her clothes.
• Carrying the step stool out to the kitchen (I didn’t know he could manage this)
• Climbing up on it, standing on his tip toes and trying desperately to pull the roast off the counter.

SuperBoy ate the sandwich as it was intended…dip and all and was very…. enthusiastic.  SuperGirl is not a fan of bread so she just ate the roast and the cheese….and then some roast….and then some roast.  I really liked the flavor although I’m not sure it is as intense as the roast I usually make.  The meat was tender and almost fell apart… perfect.

SuperDad asked a lot of questions “What did you do differently…how did you cook it…” I think he wasn’t as enthusiastic as the kids….but as I’ve seen him leftovers two times already he must not of thought it was too shabby!

What I Would Change:

Not much, really.  I think I will look back at my other recipe and try to meld the two together a little more closely.  One thing that is in the other is balsamic vinegar… I think that should be included.

Want to see more of my culinary adventures? Check out other What’s New For Dinner? recipes HERE.

What’s New For Dinner? Potato Leek Soup

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week.  There are several reasons for this:

1. Meal planning can get a bit tedious.  We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again.  We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
2. Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.                          And finally,
   
3. To show  you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

I’ve read several recipes for potato leek soup over the years but I’ve always shied away from making it myself.  I have a great vegetable soup that uses leeks…but that is about it.  So this week: Chunky Leek and Potato Soup; courtesy of Parents.com (again).

The Ingredients:

• Butter
• Shallots
• Potatoes
• Leeks
• Salt
• Pepper
• Water
• Cilantro or Parsley for Garnish

Yup…that’s it.  VERY healthy…and I didn’t even plan it that way!!

The Directions:

Chop up your veggies.  I started with the leeks,

Then the shallots;

And finally the potatoes;

Put them all in a stock pot with some melted butter and cook for about 7 -8 minutes until they start to soften.

Add water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer for about 20 minutes until all the veggies are tender.  Take about half out and put it through the blender, return it to the stock pot and voila!  Chunky Leek and Potato Soup.

*Tip*
When you are cutting up strong ingredients like onions, leeks, garlic, etc. and potatoes are on your roster; save the potatoes for last, they help to remove the smell of the others from your hands.

The Results:

Everyone ate the soup except for SuperBaby … but he is being food-tempermental this week anyway.  I’m not sure everyone was enthusiastic about it…but they all ate it without complaining so it is hard to tell.  I liked it a lot.  I was nervous about this one but really pleased with the results.  I had leftovers a few days later and with some extra salt and pepper it was MUCH better than the first day.

What I Would Change:

I didn’t add nearly enough salt and pepper.  I’m notorious for not adding enough…mainly because I’m afraid of adding too much.  Because the base of this soup is water I think it is really important to flavor it well with the salt and pepper.

That’s it!  Be sure to check out Jaycie’s adventure with Tilapia over at CouponGeek.  If you are interested in seeing more of my adventurous culinary side you can see other What’s New For Dinner posts HERE.

What’s New For Dinner? Slow Cooker Southwestern Chicken Chili

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New for Dinner?” Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have made a commitment to each other and to you, our readers, to try ONE new thing in our meal planning each week.  There are several reasons for this:

1. Meal planning can get a bit tedious.  We find ourselves making the same dinners over and over again.  We are forcing ourselves to get creative and step outside of the lines.
2. Hopefully this will inspire you, the reader, to try something new that you haven’t done before.                          And finally,
   
3. To show  you that adding new recipes or tricks to your culinary routine does not have to be expensive or time consuming…you can have your dinner and eat it too!

Week number 2 was a success!  In more ways than one: not only did we ALL like the chili I made…but I made it following a loose recipe and throwing in my own ingredients as I went along.  This is a huge step for my very Type A “Must Follow Directions” personality.

Here we go

The Ingredients:

• 14oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 14oz. can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• “Some” frozen corn … I just dumped in about half a bag
• 14oz can Mexican Style Stewed Tomatoes
• 140z can chili ready diced tomatoes
• 1/3 jar of salsa
• 7oz can chopped chilies
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• Half red bell pepper, chopped
• “Some” chicken broth
• 3 chicken breasts
• “Some” Southwestern BBQ Sauce
• 1/2c. -ish wild rice

The Directions:

I layered these in the crock pot starting at the top of the list and working my way down.

I laid the chicken breasts on top of everything else and basted some of the BBQ sauce on top of each one for extra flavoring.

I added a little bit of chicken broth to make sure that the chicken wouldn’t dry out while it was cooking.

The original recipe I looked at said to use frozen chicken breasts and to cook on high for 4 hours.  I thought I was so prepared when I took the chicken out to thaw the night before…. oh well.  I decided to cut the cooking time down a little and proceed.  Turns out that I needed the full 4 hours anyway…and probably could have used a little more.  I’m going to say “Cook on High for 5 hours”.

I added the wild rice with about 45 minutes to go.  In retrospect I will either omit or add it at the beginning.

When it is done, shred up the chicken and mix in with the other ingredients.

Serve it up with a little sour cream and some Mexican style cheese and your are good to go!

The Results:

Everyone at the homestead seemed to like it.  I was afraid it would be a little to spicy… maybe have no flavor but lots of spicy but everyone seemed to like it.  The rice was a little crunchy … it didn’t get to cook long enough.  This made enough for the entire family AND we have enough for another meal.  Interesting idea is to drain off the remaining liquid (although there isn’t much) and serve it in tortillas next time…maybe with some enchilada sauce.

What I Would Change:

I would add some green peppers for color…or zucchini…depending on what you have.  I didn’t have either so I skipped it this time.

Omit the rice unless you have a lot of excess liquid and you want the rice to bulk it up and absorb the liquid.

I would have cooked it a little bit longer…. the meat didn’t fall apart like I would have liked it to… I’m lazy It hurts my hands to shred up chicken.

Be sure to check out Jaycie’s culinary adventure this week in her What’s New for Dinner? post at Coupon Geek.

Interested in some of my other voyages into the unknown?  Other “What’s New for Dinner?” posts can be found HERE.

**Standard Disclaimer** I have horrible lighting in my kitchen that looks yellow when I take pictures.  I have only my iPhone or CoolPix camera to take pictures on.  I’m saving my  money and my SwagBucks to get a SuperCamer (Nikon D3100) and learn how to take real and pretty pictures of food and other stuff…. like my kids.  Stay tuned.

What’s New For Dinner? : Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken and Artichokes

This year, my friend Jaycie at CouponGeek and I have vowed to trying one new recipe each week … all.year.long.  For me, this also means posting my weekly menus; more of an attempt at getting myself organized than anything else… but also to share some recipe ideas with you.  Sometimes we just need a little help getting inspired and out of our “same ol’, same ol’ ” routines….and we need a little kick to remember that being innovative in the kitchen doesn’t mean blowing the budget OR slaving away in the kitchen for hours at a time.

I get a lot of email newsletters…one I’ve discovered is worth the time it takes me to poke around is Parents.com.  We are SuperBusy in the SuperHousehold these days … packing and sorting and de-cluttering… so I’m trying to keep dinners as simple as possible.  Slow cooker is top of my list for new recipes right now!!  This week Parents.com sent out a letter with a yummy looking recipe for Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken and Artichokes you can see the full recipe there.

The ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs I found a super duper sale at Target on Gold N Plump chicken last week… I ended up paying $0.47 for the entire 2# I needed for this recipe
• Frozen artichokes 2/$4 at Dillons
• Onion
• Garlic
• Chicken broth
• Seasonings (pepper, salt, Greek seasons)
• Grape Tomatoes This was my big splurge for this recipe
• Zucchini
• Whole Wheat Couscous I bought the exact amount I needed in bulk and saved some money that way

**TIP**When I buy chicken I always take it out of the package, trim it and freeze it single layer in a Ziplock.  This saves so much time when it comes time to preparing a meal.  When it isn’t in the strofoam packaging it defrosts much more quickly and I don’t have to get my hands all “chicken-y” but once in a while.

The Directions:

There is no “pre-cooking” involved in this recipe… just throw your ingredients in the pot and call it good; my absolute favorite way to go on busy days.

The first step is just to get the chicken, garlic, onion, artichokes and seasonings in the pot and cover with the broth.

I was going to post a picture here…but there is just NOTHING pretty about raw chicken…no matter what angle you shoot from…so use your imaginations.

Cook for 3 hours on high then add more artichoke hearts, tomatoes and zucchini.  I have to tell you, it was really nice to have the bright colors of the veggies cross my cutting board in the middle of January… I didn’t realize how much I don’t use produce like this in the winter.

Now see? Aren’t they pretty?  Bright colors in my normally brown and white winter cooking wonderland.

Cook for another 15 minutes and voila!  You are done! (Well, almost)

You take everything out with a slotted spoon then dump in the couscous and let it set for about 5 minutes.

NOW it’s done.

The Results:

My kids are pretty adventurous when it comes to food.  We can normally convince them to at least try things.  They like fish, okra…all kinds of non-essential kid foods….but I wasn’t sure they would go for this.  They did!  SuperBoy approached the table saying “EEEWWW! GROSS! What IS this?”  But when he realized it was chicken…and tomatoes … he was willing to give the rest a try…and he liked it.  They all liked it.  SuperBaby, who we’ve been struggling with to eat veggies, shoveled in the artichokes and the zucchini…as well as his favorite food: meat.

SuperDad and I both liked this as well…we were waiting on company who arrived a little late…so dinner went on the table fast (which is why I have no finished pics!) and the meat cooked a little too long; the only result being it was super SUPER tender and falling apart…still yummy.

Things I would change:

I would actually add MORE veggies..the green and red ones…to enhance the overall color of the meal.  Make sure to serve a nice green salad or something similar to brighten up the plate.

More Greek Seasoning.  A LOT more….like maybe three times as much.  Or maybe I just need fresh seasoning… maybe there is a happy medium there…regardless; we needed a little more flavor.

Now.  Be sure to head on over and check out Jaycie’s adventure with Breaded Beef and Roasted Vegetables.