foodies

We decided at the end of last year, that food is our hobby ;)  It's something we both enjoy- the eating. Mmmm.  Chris can make anything taste good.  Really, it's disgusting.  I don't think we've ever thrown out something he has made.  Me...well my track record isn't as glowing.  But you won't get any better unless you practice.  I think it's making a difference.  I'm much less afraid to follow a recipe now than I was a year ago.  And there are even some things I can make without looking at the recipe anymore.  So I'm getting there! Of course I have a long way to go and some very large (or rather small- size 5) shoes to fill to get up to my Grammy's and Chris' Grandma's level of expertise. So on that topic, and to follow Lizzy's no take out month, I'm going to post our weekly menus and pictures of the food I made.  I'll even go so far as to rate how I did a-la Miz Rice ;)

our week.  aka: my awesomely fabulous list making skills in action- not! haha!

 Costco ran out of the fish we buy so I had to substitute Combination Fried Rice.  It really is the best fried rice I've ever made and I have to say, I'm getting pretty good at it.  We use brown rice- it's healthy too!  We don't do the shrimp because I can't find any good stuff here.  Personally, I'd leave out the steak.  I might even leave out the chicken.  And it's topped with Sriracha sauce.  It's my Frank's Hot Sauce- I'd put that "stuff" on anything.  We like spicy :)  I give this one a solid A.  With a wok, I could probably bump it up to an A+. It's a 2 pot mess meal but only to make the rice, so it passes in my book.  Chase was loving it, but only if I'd serve it to him with chopsticks.

 The Chicken and Wild Rice soup.  I followed the first commenters' advice and sauteed some onion, garlic, and carrots in a little olive oil and added that to the broth.  I also added frozen peas and tofu.  I only added one chicken breast.  And I substituted the heavy cream for whole milk and only used 6T butter.  I don't think it makes it as thick as it's supposed to be, but it does make it slightly better for you!  I'd give this one a solid B+, but it gets downgraded to a B because it's takes 3 pans to make.  I'm tempted to add more veggies to it next time.  And remember to saute the carrots first, before I add the rice into the broth.

Sloppy Joes.  I was going to actually steam some veggies, but we had purchased a bag of fried okra to test out- it's one of the only veggies T will eat- so we broke out the frier, that we bought last year just for the purpose of making sweet potato fries, and fried up some veggies ;)  They were a solid C.  Taste was ok, they weren't mushy but certainly weren't crispy either, but if I was served these in a restaurant, I'd never order them again.  The sloppy joe itself though, that was a good B+.  Potato rolls are the way to go.  Small enough that you don't end up with 1/2cup of Joe on your plate/in your lap when you try to take a bite.  I skipped the steak seasoning and used Season All and some pepper- because that's what we had.  Chase enjoyed it.  And excuse my plate- I had cut up one Joe for the boys to share off my plate so it looks super messy without me even touching my food.  Sorry!


I forgot to take a picture of the Chicken Pot Pie.  It's really good and so easy to make.  My cousin gave me the recipe and now we have it every two weeks!
ingredients:
-2 refrigerated pie shells (think pillsbury- they come rolled up)
-1 to 2 chicken breasts
-2 cans cream of potato soup
-1 can Veg-All (mixed veggies)
-1/2 cup milk
-1/2t thyme, marjoram, or rosemary
-1/2t black pepper


Preheat oven to 350.  Cook chicken breast and dice.  Drain Veg-All.  In a bowl, mix all ingredients together except the crusts.  Put bottom crust into a suitable pyrex or other glass baking dish.  Pour ingredients into crust and top with second pie crust.  Smush the edges of the crusts together.  Cut slits into top.  You can brush top with a beaten egg to get golden brown goodness.  Cook in oven for 45min-1hr.
I usually add more seasoning than it calls for and only do one chicken breast.  If you are doubling the recipe and are mixing the filling together in one bowl, only add 3/4cup of milk.


I also forgot to take a picture of the Tuna Melts.  They are also super easy to make :)
ingredients:
-1 family sized package of tuna in water
-2 large spoonfulls of mayo (more if you like it that way)
-1/2 sweet onion
-3 cloves garlic (I buy the already minced stuff in the jar and just do a small spoonful)
-2 large spoonfulls of dill relish (we did the Wickles relish this time and did 3 spoonfulls)
-salt and pepper to taste


-provalone cheese slices
-hoagie rolls/ kaizer rolls/ whatever you're into


Flake the tuna into a bowl.  Mix all other ingredients into tuna.  Cut rolls in half and toast with slices of cheese.  Top one half of roll with tuna and top with remaining half.  Enjoy.  It's that easy.  It was a solid A this time.  We had apple slices with them.  Great warm lunch.


We came down with a bit of cabin fever because of the snow and thus ran out to Zaxby's for dinner one night and tonight we had leftover soup.  I'll update on Monday with the rest of the food we made :)   Mmmmmm, food.