Saturday, September 13, 2008

Beer Can Chicken

Ingredients:
1 can beer
1 whole chicken
rosemary
garlic salt
pepper
oil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash out chicken and remove any innards/giblets and discard.
Place chicken "butt" down with beer can inside it.
Rub with rosemary, garlic salt and pepper.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until internal temp is 170 degrees in breast and 180 degrees in thighs.
Check every 20-30 minutes to make sure it isn't getting dry. If it is getting dry, brush with oil.
Enjoy!!!

*** We had this tonight, but we baked it for 45 mins or so like this and then we layed the chicken in a large baking pan (like the kind you cook turkey in) and poured the beer around it and let it cook 45 more minutes with the top on and it was fall off the bone delicious. ***

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:
Large can green beans
2 small or one large can cream of mushroom soup
bacon bits
fried onions

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix green beans, soup, bacon bits and 1 cup fried onions.
Bake 40 minutes.
Top with more fried onions and bake 5 more minutes.
Enjoy!!!

Sweet Potato Souflee

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
3 large sweet potatoes
cinnamon
vanilla
milk
1 egg
marshmallows

Instructions:
Boil sweet potatoes for 30 minutes or until tender.
Soak in cold water for 10 minutes or until cool to touch.
Preheat to 350 degrees.
Remove skin.
In medium/large bowl, mix sweet potatoes, sugar, a dash of vanilla, a couple dashes cinnamon, a couple tablespoons milk, and egg with a hand mixer/blender.
Put in baking dish.
Bake 35 minutes.
Put marshmallows on top and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows are melted.
Enjoy.

Squash Caserole

I love this recipe!!!!

Ingredients:
3 large yellow squash
1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt
pepper
a couple tablespoons diced onion
crackers
cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Chop squash into "coins" or half coins (I do half coins so it will be easier for the kiddos to eat).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Boil squash for 6-8 minutes until tender and drain.
Mix squash, soup, salt, pepper and onions.
Bake for 35 minutes.
Add crushed crackers and cheese to top.
Bake for another 5-10 mins until cheese is melted.
Enjoy!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Super Easy and Cheap Thin Crust Pizza

Ingredients:
flour tortillas (I used soft taco size for my daughter and burrito size for my husband and myself)
low moisture part skim motzarella shredded
toppings
pizza sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put tortillas on cookie sheet.
Spread pizza sauce on tortillas.
Put on toppings and cheese.
Bake for 5-8 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Use pizza cutter to cut.
Enjoy!!! 

A few variations:

Pizza Quesadillas -- put cheese and toppings in tortilla, then cook in skillet until cheese is melted and use pizza sauce as a dip. 

English Muffin or bagel Pizzas -- use english muffins/bagels instead of tortillas; follow all other directions for pizza above. 

Super cheap chicken pot pie

Ingredients:
2 flat pie crusts (sold in packs of 2 in the refridgerated section of the grocery store)
1 small can of cream of celery soup
2 small cans of mixed veggies
1 boneless skinless chicken breast

Directions:
Boil chicken about 30 minutes or until internal temp is at least 165 degrees and chop into bite sized pieces (I chop mine finely since I have a 1 year old who loves chicken pot pie)
While chicken is boiling, take pie crusts out of the fridge and let them thaw according to package instructions, usually 15-30 mins.
In a large bowl, mix chopped chicken, veggies, and soup.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lay bottom crust in glass pie pan as per instructions on crust packaging, trim excess crust.
Fill with chicken, veggie and soup mixture.
Moisten edge of bottom crust and add top crust, trimming excess, then flute the 2 crusts together and make 3 venting holes in top crust.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top crust is browned.
Enjoy. :)

Intro

I was introduced to this site by my sister, whose blog is "pregnant in the kitchen" on here; however, her blog is all about saving money with coupons and sales, etc (which she is great at) so I think she should have named hers "pregnant in the pantry". . . but that's just my opinion. My blog is geared towards cooking. I've never been much of a chef but staying home with 2 kiddos and one en route tends to put a damper on the wallet if you know what I mean, so I am trying to do a lot more cooking period and more cooking from scratch specifically. I am always looking for new recipes to use with fresh produce or venison, but being pregnant makes me way past picky and forgetful. I am always losing my recipes and I hate that. So I am going to be posting my favorite recipes here for those of you who are interested in good, cheap cooking.