Party food!

Wow I am so far behind! It is so easy to get busy and not have time for posts! I have cooked many things...but have not had time to post them. I will cook them all again so you will get the recipe eventually :)

So this is what has been going on....

1. Got a WAY better job
2. Quit Michael's.... :)
3. I cooked dinner for my Dad, Grandmom and Uncle
4. Had our housewarming party

So let's start with the first one...I got a job at a private nursery school, and I am loving it! I have only been there for two days now but it has been great so far. I will be working M-F 7:30 - 12:30 as a lead teacher for kids from about 2 - 3 y/o. I will have 5 kids in my class, and 2 of them are boys that don't come everyday. I am so excited to get my class and get started. I have to make a lesson plan for each day. It is going to be so much fun! The kids that are in my class are so cute! I have this one little girl that I'm already in love with. I can't wait to get to know them better. The other teachers are great too. My class will start on November 2nd...so I'll keep ya updated with how that goes.

With the new job I had to quit Michael's...I just stopped going. I should have called but I just didn't want to have that converstaion. Oh well...just can't show my face around there for the next few months.

It was so nice to have my Grandmother, Dad and Uncle over so I could cook them dinner. I felt like such an adult! We had a great night. I will def. be cooking that again because it was so good! So you will get that recipe soon enough! :)

Our housewarming party was amazing! We had so many friends and family come. It was so nice to have people over and show off our new house. We are so in love with it and so glad we finally got to share it with the ones we love. It turned out so well!! So that is why this blog is going to have the recipes that I had at the party. I wish I had taken pictures..but I didn't. So no pictures this time sorry! I'll try and remember to keep up with that!

Fruit Dip

8 oz marshmellow fluff
8 oz cream cheese

Mix together with a hand mixer and enjoy! We had apples, grapes and pineapples with it, and I know strawberries are great with it too!

Amazing sausage dip

1 lb. breakfast sausage
8 oz cream cheese
1 can Rotel

Brown breakfast sausage in pan. Then put sausage, cream cheese and rotel in crock pot and wait for the cheese to melt. It's great with chips!

Veggie Curry Dip

1 cup mayo
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix together and enjoy with some veggies!

easy do nothing day = easy do nothing pizza night

I did nothing today! It was actually quit nice! I did spend a little bit of time in my scrapbook room where I made a frame for David's office. It turned out very nice I think. I tried to make these cake balls....was A LOT more work than it looked!! They are SO GOOD....but not worth the time. I'll give you the recipe though if you ever have the time and want to try it out. I will try it out again...one day.

Cake Balls

1 box cake mix
1 can frosting
package melting chocolate

Make the cake as directed. When done take out of the oven and crumble into a large bowl while it is still warm. Then mix in the whole can of frosting and blend the two together well. Put into the fridge for at least 2 hours. Take out and use a melon baller to make the cake into balls. Melt the chocolate (following the directions) and then dip the balls into the chocolate. Let cool in fridge....then eat the greatness that is cake balls.

They are REALLY REALLY good....just very time consuming! Because it's a lot of cake and if you don't have a melon baller....it's a lot more work.

Pizza

1 package refrigerated pizza dough
1 can mushrooms
shredded cheese
peperoni
1 jar pizza sauce


Unroll the pizza dough and spread the sauce on top. Then place the peperoni and mushrooms on top and then the cheese. Cook as the directions say.

This is the cheapest easiest meal to make! And David loves it! I make it for him when ever I don't feel like really cooking.

The pizza dough is $1.50 (I buy walmart brand), the sauce is $1 a jar and you only use 1/2 a jar so you get two uses out of it...sometimes 3...the can of mushrooms is less than $.50 and I buy the large back of graded cheese (like 8 cups for $6 so I'm not sure the price of cheese per pizza). But I think the total to make the pizza is maybe $4! AMAZING!!

Chicken Fried Rice

So today was my first day at Michael's. It was alright...didn't really do much. Watched like 6 videos for 4 hours and then practiced on the cash register. That part was quite easy...like riding a bike, just takes a little bit to remember it all but I did. Though their registers are very different from the WD. But it was a good day. I go back on Friday and Saturday. But I also got a job interview a a preschool on Friday morning. I would love to have that job b/c it's #1 at a school, and #2 Monday-Friday so I don't have to worry about the next 5 weekends that are coming up and all my plans. So we will see....but my hopes are high!

For dinner tonight we had my famous chicken fried rice. I've cooked this for my husband several times because it is one of his favorite dishes and a few other people. I've only had one person that made some negative comments about it, but other than that everyone seems to love it and asks for the recipe to make it themselves! So I hope you enjoy it as much as we do around here!

Chicken Fried Rice

3 pieces chicken
2 cups rice
1 tablespoon EVOO
1/2 cup onion (I don't do this b/c I don't like them)
1/4 cup peas and carrots (I usually do 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
1 egg
soy sauce

1. cook rice
2. cook chicken and cut up into small pieces while the rice is cooking
3. saute veggies w/ evoo
4. scramble egg in pan with veggies
5. add rice & saute for about 5 min
6. add soy sauce (I add way more than 2 tablespoons....so just do it for your taste I don't know the measurement)

Sauce

1 1/2 cup mayo (you have to use the real stuff...miracle whip makes it not taste good)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
dash cayenne pepper

mix all together....it taste better if you make it the day before. But I usually forget so I make it and put it in the freezer while the food is cooking so that it can get cold fast and mix the flavors faster :)

Mushroom Chicken Cordon Bleu

So I didn't post yesterday because David cooked us some hamburgers. I do have a great recipe for hamburgers I'll have to do that sometime and post if for ya'll. But that's not what we had last night :). Yesterday was such a productive day! We got the office and my scrapbook room finished. Well I still have 1 big box in my scrapbook room to unpack but for the most part it is finished. It was so nice to get that finished yesterday! We also got the garage all cleaned out so now I can park my car in there. That is so exciting.

Today I did nothing! Well I guess not nothing I did finish making our housewarming invitations and I did cook dinner tonight. So here is the recipe for my chicken cordon bleu

Mushroom Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 pieces of chicken

1 small can mushrooms

8 slices provolone cheese

12 slices (thin slices) of ham

bread crumbs

1. You need to put the chicken in a zip lock back and use something to smash them out some. I put a towel over the bag and used the side of a hammer to smash them to get them nice and thin and flat.

2. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on the bottom of the pan you are going to cook in (I always cook this in a 9x13 glass pan). Take a piece of chicken and lay it on the bread crumbs then put the ham, 1 piece of cheese and mushrooms on top of the chicken and roll it up. Doing this will keep the bread crumbs on the outside of the chicken and the ham, cheese and mushrooms on the inside of the chicken. Then I put a few mushrooms on top of the rolled up chicken. Repeat with the rest of the chicken. I usually use a toothpick to hold the chicken together but I didn't have any today and it still worked fine.

3. Bake @ 350 for 25 min. Then take out and put the last 4 pieces of cheese on top of the chicken and cook another 5 min for cheese to melt.

** This is the first time that I've made this with provolone cheese and it has worked the best, and you also don't have to use the mushrooms. This is the first time I've used the mushrooms and they turned out great, but if you don't like mushrooms then leave them out. We love mushrooms around here.

You will see the side I added tonight....it was a very simple package of broccoli fettucine that I cooked following the directions and then I added a bag of microwave steamed broccoli. We really like broccoli around here too so it was really good but if you don't like broccoli then don't add it.

Natalie's Picadillo

So as you can see I didn't post anything on Friday or Saturday night! On Friday night once David got home I didn't want to cook anymore. So we went out to eat. Then on Saturday I wasn't home so again there was no cooking. So on to Sunday...today...it has been a great relaxing day! I slept until 1...I didn't get home last night until 1:15 in the morning and my mind was just going and going that I didn't fall asleep until 2. Though that still doesn't mean I should have slept 11 hours...but I did and it was GREAT! Once I got out of bed I went and laid on the couch with David and we watched TV for the next several hours. Somewhere in there he watched the cowboys lose and so I watched Bridezillas....those ladies are crazy! I just love that show!

Oh wait...I did wake up at 8:30 to the sound of banging like someone was hammering. I walk through the whole house and can't find David. So I go into the garage and the attic ladder is down. He is up in the attic banging around. So I ask him what he is doing....when all I want to say is "What the hell are you doing at 8:30 in the f*ing morning" haha but I was nice....he goes...I think we have either mice or birds because I keep hearing a noise in the fireplace. Which I did hear the other day also...but to me it was the sound of wind blowing and the metal hitting. So he asks me to come sit in the living room and let him know if I hear the noise while he is banging. Of course I don't hear the noise while he keeps banging for another 10 min or so. He comes back into the room and I go back to bed. I believe it was just the wind...he does not. But the noise has not happened since. :)

Anyways.....back to the day. Finally I got up off the couch and did the dishes which took an hour....that's what happens when you let it slide. Two loads in the dishwasher! Then David mopped all the tile. After that we finally moved the desk in from the garage to the office and he started to get that room put together! I'm so excited about all the rooms being finished! While he was unpacking I went and cooked dinner. So now we are at that time where I give you the recipe :) I hope you enjoy it!

Natalie's Picadillo

1 lb ground beef

1 bell pepper

1 can rotel

1 can black beans

1 cup (about) of salsa

1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

Cut up the bell pepper. Put the pepper, rotel, beans, salsa and beef all in a pan and brown the meat. Cook the rice as normal with 3 cups of water.

Put the rice on your plate and the picadillo on top!

It's that easy and that great! Here is a picture of David's plate from tonight! I hope you like it!

new plan....

So since I'm cooking every night and am pretty much a housewife at the moment...I thought I would start sharing what I'm doing each day and what I cooked for dinner that night and the recipe. I feel like it's so hard to be creative and not repeat the same dish over and over....so I am hoping this will help me to be more creative.

So yesterday I was put in charge of finding a photographer for my friend for her wedding. She had some issues with who was going to do it in the first place and I told her to stop stressing I will get it done! And I did! I went on craigslist (which is now one of my favorite web sites!) and wallah found her a photographer! That's how I found mine for my wedding....so I know it will be great! She just can't blame me if she doesn't like the pictures!! haha

Once that was finished I had other things around the house to do....I didn't do any of it! I did pay all the bills. Which there weren't many this week because this is David's extra check. It went to paying for my car and phone. Then I went to walmart to buy groceries and to Sam's. I just love Sam's! I think...no I know if I had the money I would buy all my groceries there. That store is just amazing. They have so much great stuff...you just gotta love the buying in bulk. I only bought toilet paper and grapes yesterday though.

So for dinner last night I asked David if he wanted me to make pizza or enchiladas. He chose pizza, which was a good thing because I forgot to buy corn tortillas at WalMart. So I decided to do pizza a bit different last night....

Mexican Pizza

1 lb ground meat
1 can refried beans
1 can rotel
2 cups shredded cheese
1 packet taco seasoning
1 package refrigerated pizza dough

1. Cook the ground meat as the taco seasoning packet says.
2. Unroll the pizza dough on a pan and spread the beans onto the dough. (Next time I make this I think I'm going to try black beans and see how it turns out)
3. Drain the can of rotel and then spread it onto of the beans.
4. Spread the meat on next and then cover with the cheese.

Cook in the over following the directions of the pizza dough.

David loved it. He loves when I make pizza, and last night he told me this was the best pizza I've made yet. I only used 1/2 the can of beans and he said next time it needs more...I had to agree with him on that. But it was good.

So that was my day yesterday. I hope to be productive tonight after dinner and post about today. :)