Enjoy Each Bite

Last night, I made a dinner that was slightly random that turned out great. I had some left over Italian sausage, some zucchini from my garden  and a desire to use them. I was getting my olive oil out to start cooking the sausage and zucchini together on the stove and I saw a box of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing Mix that I purchased around Thanksgiving time. I thought, "Hmmm, it's not Thanksgiving, but that sounds good." and so I made it and we ate it with our fried zucchini and sausage. It was great. The only thing I would change next time is less garlic salt on the zucchini, since the sausage and stuffing have plenty of salt going on already. 

As I was searching recipes for potato salad, I found lots of ideas of yummy ingredients to include. I ended up combining a bunch of recipes and made a delicious and loaded potato salad with lots of great flavors. Here's what's in Loaded Potato Salad: 6-8 potatoes, diced bite size (I used yellow potatoes and left the skins on) 1 cup mayonnaise (I use olive oil MAYO) 2-3 T Dijon mustard 1/4 cup white onion, diced small 2 stalks celery, cut thin 1/4 cup bacon bits 4-5 boiled eggs, sliced 2 T Sweet Pickle Relish Seasonings to taste (salt, garlic salt, pepper, Natures Seasoning blend) Boil diced potatoes for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and allow to cool slightly before adding other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients and stir well. Cool in refrigerator before serving.

I love chili. I even love the canned kind, like Dennisons or Stagg brands. But, my husband reacts poorly to the greasy canned chili, so I like to make my own sometimes for Taco Salad (as our family calls it) or to eat with corn bread or any bread. I like no-spice chili. I am not a spicy type. :) This time, I soaked and cooked my dried pinto beans. It's so easy, but takes some preparing ahead for the meal. I used about 3 cups of dried beans (They grow a LOT after being soaked) Soak the beans overnight, drain, rinse and then cover with water and cook in the crock pot on high for 4-6 hours until they are tender. Drain and return beans to crock pot. Then add these ingredients to make the beans into chili: 1 lb cooked ground beef (I like 93/7, very lean) 4 Tb Chili Powder 1 Tb Basil 2 Tb minced Garlic 1/2-1 white onion, diced 2 cans diced stewed tomatoes (I like the garlic and onion seasoned ones) 1 small can of Tomato Sauce Salt and Pepper to taste Cook on High in the cro...

I asked my husband what one of his favorite Christmas time treats is and he surprised me when he said peanut brittle. I don't recall ever having peanut brittle and I never thought of it as being that awesome of a treat. Christmas came and went and my intentions on making some peanut brittle for him never turned into action. So, New Years Eve, I decided it was my turn to try out candy making with my new candy thermometer and all. I followed this recipe and tried to do everything with precision. It turned out good and he likes it so that's all that matters. :) PEANUT BRITTLE Ingredients 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup water 1 cup peanuts (I used dry roasted) 2 tablespoons butter, softened (I used Smart Balance) 1 teaspoon baking soda Directions Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set c...

This is my new favorite chex mix recipe. It turned out delicious...just the perfect amount of sweet and still a bit healthy. The recipe came from the back of the Honey Nut Chex cereal box and I made a few alterations to work with the ingredients that I had and wanted to include. In a large microwaveable bowl mix together: 6 cups Honey Nut Chex 1 cup dried banana chips 1-2 cups almonds (I used sliced almonds) In a small microwaveable bowl, combine and heat uncovered for 1-2 minutes or until boiling: 1/4 cup Butter or Margarine (I used Smart Balance Light) 1/4 cup Honey 1/4 cup Brown sugar 1 tsp Ginger Pour Honey mixture over cereal mixture and stir until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered for 4 minutes, stirring and scraping the sides every minute. Add: 1 cup flaked coconut 1/2 cup cranberries or raisins Microwave for an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread out onto wax paper and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container. After mine cooled, I...

I baked our Halloween pumpkins and they were delicious in a few different forms. First, we ate the pumpkin for dinner with butter/Smart Balance and a little salt. Then, I pureed the remaining pumpkin and made pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes  (using almond milk) within the following days. It was really easy to bake and mash them.  Here are my pumpkins before baking. One was from the 99 cent store and one was from my grandma's garden in Utah. I cut them in half, cleaned out the seeds and strings and baked them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 1 hour on a cookie sheet. I covered them in aluminum foil.  Here they are after baking. Find more on how to bake pumpkins here . 

I've made a wonderful discovery! Purchasing raw shrimp by the pound is a very cost effective and DELICIOUS way to have shrimp for dinner! The flavor is incredible compared to frozen cooked shrimp that costs usually around $5-$7/lb. At Sprouts, I have seen their easy-peal raw shrimp go as low as $3.99/lb. It is previously frozen, because we live in AZ, and our source for shrimp is not near enough to have it fresh. So, here's how I cook raw shrimp: First, I pull of the tail, legs and shell which is really quite easy and fast. I heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan and then throw in all the shrimp once it is all shell/tail-free. Then, I sprinkle on a little garlic salt and toss all the shrimp so each one gets a healthy dose of the olive oil. Then, on medium heat, cook it and watch the magic happen! Well, I think it's cool because what other type of meat turns PINK as it cooks! Pretty fun and I'm easily entertained. It cooks really fast, like within 5 minutes. Sti...