Spanish Rice

This was my first time making Spanish rice. It was definitely not perfect, but it wasn't bad...as Nick would say, it was white girl rice. I will work on it though...

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup uncooked white rice
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 medium diced onion
• garlic, cumin, cilantro, salt, pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter

Combine all ingredients in a large-ish sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce to medium low heat and cover...cook for 20 minutes or until rice is soft. Do not uncover to stir until rice is done. Once it is done cooking, mix it up and serve.

Cheers!

Chicken Fajitas

Being a So Cal native, but living in Louisiana I am really missing Mexican food. We went out one night to what we were told was the best Mexican food in town...it was okay...but not by So Cal standards. So right now I think my best best is to rely on my own versions. My cooking is still very white though...I need to brush up on my skills when I go home to visit...spend some time with my BF3 (who is Mexican).

I was really craving some good fajitas and these really hit the spot for me! This is my original recipe. I also made some Spanish rice to go with the meal...it turned out okay for a first try but next time I am going to make a few changes. I'll post the rice recipe in a separate post.

Ingredients:

• 1lbThin sliced chicken breast, cubed
• 1 large onion, diced (I used a sweet onion)
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• garlic, pepper, cumin, cilantro, salt, Worcestershire sauce

Spray a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, and a splash of lemon juice, garlic, pepper, cumin, cilantro and salt and cook until onion is browned. Add in bell pepper and  chicken and splash with a little Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Make sure to stir and flip chicken. Make sure chicken is cooked all the way through...cooks in about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with warm tortillas and your favorite toppings...salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocado, guacamole, etc.

Cheers!
CC

Did you try this? Make changes? Tell me your thoughts!

Bacon Wrapped Baked Potato

One of my all time favorite foods...the potato. There are a billion things you can do with a potato, and baked potatoes are one of my very favorite ways to make this delicious food. This recipe is a combination of something I saw on Pinterest and some potatoes made by Nick's step-dad. They turned out delicious!

Ingredients

• Large baking potato
• 4 onion slices (I used sweet onion)
• 4 slices thin maple bacon
• butter
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, Mrs Dash and olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash potato really well (scrub the skin). Make 4 deep slices in the potato. Stuff butter, spices and an onion slice in each potato slice. Spray a little olive oil on a piece of tin foil. Wrap the potato with the bacon slices, then place on foil and wrap tight. Cook in oven for 3 hours. TIP Put the potato on the upper oven rack, then place a cookie sheet on the lower rack so that the drippings don't mess the oven.

Top with your favorite toppings...sour cream, cheese, salsa....

Cheers!
CC

Did you make this? Tell me what you thought...and if you made changes :)

Garlic Honey Pork Chops

This is a pretty simple recipe for pork chops and tasty! They are even better if you let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

The original recipe came from Pinterest, but I made a couple changes. Here is the original :) Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 2 pork loin chops
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (i use the lower sodium kind)
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• splash of Worcestershire sauce

Mix honey, soy sauce, and   Worcestershire sauce using a fork as a whisk. Mix in garlic and pour over chops. Poke chops several times with a fork. Let marinate in the fridge for a few hours. Preheat oven to 375. Place chops and half the mixture in a baking dish and cook for 20-25 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chops). Always check to ensure meat is cooked through. Halfway between your cook time, pour the rest of the mixture over the chops.

Cheers! CC

Ideas for Left Over Ham

We bought a Honey Baked Ham for our Easter dinner. We intentionally got one that was a little bigger than what we needed so that we would have left overs and so that we could make one of Nick's favorite things...Split Pea soup.




Ham Sammies

• Hawaiian rolls
• Swiss Cheese
• Ham
• Honey Dijon Mustard

Mac and Cheese with Ham

• Make Mac and Cheese as directed on the box
• Stir in Ham pieces
• Add some veggies as a side dish

Baked Potato with Ham

• Preheat oven to 400
• Wash potato and poke several times with a fork
• Microwave potato 6 minutes (10 minutes for 2)
• Place potato on foil and smother with butter, sprinkle with garlic, season salt, onion powder
• Wrap tight with foil and place in oven for 15 minutes
• Top with ham, butter, sour cream, veggies, cheese...whatever sounds good!

Split Pea Soup  (click for recipe)

Split Pea Soup with Ham

For Easter we ordered a bone in half ham from Honey Baked Ham. It was delicious of course and I had fun coming up with a few ways to use the left overs. But...the bone was for a specific purpose...Nick's favorite Split Pea Soup. This recipe makes a ton of soup...we froze half of it so we can enjoy it later.

When saving the ham bone, make sure you leave some meat on it. We left the back part that is not already sliced. and any meat not pulled off the bone. We also used an 8 pound ham...so you need to adjust the recipe depending on the size of your ham.

Ingredients:

• Ham bone with some of the ham still attached
• 2 pounds split peas
• 14 cups water
• 2 tablespoons flour
• pepper, garlic, onion powder to taste

Place ham in a large pot. Rinse and drain split peas. Add peas to the pot and add water. Make sure the ham is covered by water. You can add 2 more cups if needed, but any more than that and you should add another pound of peas (use between 6-8 cups of water per pound of peas). Throw in the spices (a few dashes don't add salt because the ham is already really salty).

Cover and cook to a boil on Medium heat. Once boiling, stir and reduce heat to low. Cook for 4 hours stirring from time to time. After 4 hours, remove ham meat from bone and cut up any large pieces. You should be able to do this with ease since meat will be tender.  Slowly whisk in 1 tablespoon of flour at a time making sure there are no clumps. The flour will thicken up the sauce just a bit. Remove from heat and serve.

Cheers!
CC

Easter Menu Update

Here's what I ended up making for Easter dinner. I didn't get very many pictures because I was so hungry I forgot!

Appetizer

• Cheesy Bacon Ranch Bread Pulls
• Edible Arrangements Fruit Basket my mom sent :)

Dinner

• Honey Baked Ham (already made and super delicious) ...I'll be making Split Pea Soup this weekend with the left over Ham Hock. Stay tuned for that!
•  Candied Yams 
• Caramelized Onions and Green Beans 
• Mashed Potatoes 
• Baked Carrots (recipe I will post later)

Dessert

• Cupcakes (see below for directions)

For the cupcakes, I just used somethings I had around the house. My store had a sale on cake mix and frosting, so I stocked up while the price was low. I used the Duncan Hines Butter Cake mix (follow batter instructions) and placed frozen candy in the middle then baked as directed. I froze Reese's, Milkyway, and Snickers small pieces. Then frosted the cupcakes with chocolate frosting and added some spring colored sprinkles. Simple and they were really good!