Chicken Tenders w/Cream Gravy

I just copied and pasted this recipe from SoTastySoYummy. This meal was really good - the gravy was the best part and it was really easy. I have always been intimidated by trying to make gravy but this turned out perfect for my first time. The only thing I would do different next time is to tenderize the chicken strips/breasts beforehand - they were a little tough, but that is nothing a little beat of beating a mallet won't fix. :) The macaroni and green beans were from a box and a can, so no recipe for those.

Chicken Tenders
2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1/3 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
oil for frying

Place the flour in one shallow dish, the egg in another and the breadcrumbs in a third. Salt and pepper the flour. Toss the chicken strips first in the flour, then the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. Heat approximately 1/2 inch oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Fry the chicken tenders, about 5 to 7 minutes on each side. Drain on a paper towel.

Cream Gravy
2 tablespoons of the oil from frying the chicken tenders
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream

Remove all but two tablespoons of the oil from the frying pan used to fry the chicken. Whisk in flour until well blended; cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbly. Gradually add milk and cream; boil until thick and smooth, whisking constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hamburger Bun Pizza!

I saw this idea on another food blog somewhere and I loved it.  When I was making our meal plan last week one of the items was Chopped Beef Sandwiches so I thought it would also be the perfect time to try these mini pizzas out.  This is a great way to use up leftover hamburger buns, because when you have to buy them in a pack of 8 you always have leftovers, right?  It was also super fun because my little man got to help me make them!  We had a great time doing this and then watching them bake in the oven.  He always wants to help cook in the evenings so this was the perfect opportunity - my little boy is getting so big!

My helper!

Ingredients:
Hamburger Buns (I used HEB BakeShop and they were yummo!)
Tomato Sauce/Pizza Sauce (I had a jar of pizza sauce in my pantry from who knows when)
Pizza Blend/Mozzarella Cheese (ask my hubby, our cheese drawer is always overflowing)
Pepperoni (or whatever toppings you like)

Directions:
- Spread tomato sauce on the buns.  If you don't have a handy dandy jar of pizza sauce in your pantry, mix a small can of tomato sauce with some italian seasoning, a little bit of olive oil and some parmesan cheese.  It is delicious and this is what we use on homemade pizza.
- Top buns with cheese and toppings.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, then turn the broiler on high and let them crisp/brown for 2 minutes.  Enjoy!

Ready to eat!  Gee, I wonder which placesetting is mine? :)

A close up - these were so yummy!  A salad would be good too, but I didn't have any of the green stuff in my fridge last night.

Balsamic Spinach, Tomato & Pepper Pasta

Ingredients:
- Box of bowtie pasta (you can use ziti, rotini, anything you want)
- Light Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing
- 2 cans diced italian tomatoes
- 2 bell peppers (red & yellow)
- spinach leaves

Directions:
- Prepare the pasta as directed on the box.
- While the pasta is cooking slice up the peppers.
- Toss the peppers in a skillet w/a little bit of olive oil, kosher salt, and italian seasoning.
- Add some of the balsamic dressing (I didn't measure but used about 1/3 cup)
- Next add the tomatoes, then a little more dressing (about another 1/3 or 1/4 cup).
- Let it simmer a few minutes, then add the spinach - I used the entire 6 oz bag and it was just right.  If you are an especially big spinach lover, buy a bigger bag!
- Stir it all around until the spinach wilts, then toss with your cooked pasta, top with some parmesan cheese and dinner is served.

This was a nice light and summery meal that I will definitely be making again.  I am not normally a huge fan of balsamic vinaigrette (to tangy/vinegary for me) but it worked well in this dish.  All 3 of us cleaned our plates and I am excited to take my leftovers to work tomorrow - that's how you know it was a pretty tasty meal! 

Homemade Pop Tarts

Colin loves pop tarts. Anytime he sees the silver wrapper he drops whatever he is doing and says, "eat".  It's really cute but I don't want my little monster to eat pop tarts all the time, even I do buy the pop tarts with no icing.  So I made some of my own.  This was the second or third time I have made them and Colin at two of them. When I asked if it was yummy, he said "nummy", which means that I am the best cook ever, at least to Colin.  These are easy and a tasty treat for breakfast every now and then.  These are fun too because you can use whatever filling you want - so far we have only tried strawberry and apple (I used canned apple pie filling) but the possibilities are endless!

Strawberry Pastry (Pop Tart)


Ingredients:
- 1 prepared pie crust ( I used Pillsbury - by the cookie dough at the grocery store)
- Strawberry jam 
- 1 egg white
- sugar for sprinkling


Directions:
- Unroll pie crust and trim to cut four squares of pastry.  Or you can cut the whole crust into four triangles - like a turnover.  If you choose to cut into squares, you will have leftover dough (squares of dough from a round  crust = leftover dough).  Just roll the leftover dough out again and you can get two more small squares.
- Spread dough with strawberry jam
- Fold dough over and use a fork to crimp the edges
- Brush the pastry crust with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.  I like to use the raw sugar (Luke uses the brown packets in his coffee) but plain white sugar is fine too.
- Bake as directed on the package - normally at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

*Note: make sure not to overfill your pastry because it will spill out and the jam/filling will get on everything else.  See my picture above as an example!  :)

Eggplant Parmesan

Luke requested a special lunch on Father's Day and this is what he wanted.  The picture is pretty terrible, but I had to use the Iphone because all 3 of us were hungry and didn't want to wait until the regular camera could be found.  This isn't much of a recipe, but it's one of our favorites.  The first time I had this dish was at Luke's house when we were in high school and then we made it pretty often in college.  It's funny how when you first start making a dish it takes a long time and seems really complicated - it is actually easy and pretty quick!  Enough chatter, here is the recipe.

Eggplant Parmesan
Serves 4 (at least)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized eggplant, sliced into 1/4" slices 
• Oil for frying (I used canola but you can use veggie)
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 cup flour (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and italian seasoning)
• Shredded parmesan cheese
• Creamy tomato sauce (see below)
• 1 package cooked spaghetti or angel hair pasta

Directions:

• Fill a skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom.
• Soak the slices of eggplant in a bowl of lightly salted water.  This sounds weird but it really did taste even better after I did this.  I only soaked mine for 10 minutes, then laid the eggplant on paper towels to dry.
• Fill one pie pan with whisked eggs and one pie pan with seasoned flour (using the salt, pepper, garlic, & italian seasoning to taste).
• Dredge eggplant slices in eggs, then in flour mixture.
• Fry over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side...until they are nice and brown.
• Serve on top of spaghetti noodles.  I layered the eggplant slices like a lasagna - eggplant, creamy tomato sauce, parmesan cheese - I did this with 3 pieces of eggplant and topped again with parmesan cheese.

To make the creamy tomato sauce, I emptied two cans of tomato sauce into the saucepan.  I used a little salt, pepper, garlic, italian seasoning and heated through.  Once it's nice and hot, add heavy whipping cream - I used probably about 1/3 cup of cream.  You can use however much you want - it really makes a difference and is especially delicious with eggplant.  

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich

This isn't really a recipe either but it was so good.  A few months ago we went to Waffle House for breakfast and I got a toasted sandwich.  I have tried a couple of times to recreate it at home but it was never just right.  I finally got it on Saturday morning!  This is more camping food that was planned for our trip - also a crummy picture but I was hungry and ready to eat!

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 slices bacon
2 slices bread
2 slices american cheese


Directions:
- Cook the bacon over medium heat in a skillet or on a griddle.
- Fry the egg in the same pan you used to cook the bacon.
- While the egg is frying, toast the 2 pieces of bread.
- Assemble the sandwich: toast, cheese, bacon, egg, cheese, toast
- Put the entire sandwich back in the skillet/griddle and toast for a couple extra minutes on each side.

*I used a griddle so I cooked most everything at the same time = super quick and delicious breakfast.

Campfire Meal

On Friday night we were supposed to go camping.  On Thursday night Luke loaded up all of the equipment and the ice chest full of food.  On Friday morning he decided we were all too tired to go camping (he was right) but we made our campfire meal for dinner anyway.  It's not much of a recipe but it was actually pretty tasty and if you were eating it around a campfire I think it would taste even better.

Ingredients:
1 large can baked beans (we used bush's baked beans)
4 hot dogs, sliced
Half a medium onion, diced
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions: Mix all ingredients and heat thoroughly - about 30 minutes.  We didn't actually measure the ketchup, mustard or brown sugar - just added to the pot and estimated.  All 3 of us liked this meal and if you are looking for super easy recipes to use while camping....you should try it!