Pizza/ German Chocolate Cake/ Pizza Skillet Casserole

Well, the anniversary of the day I came into this world was alright. We had pizza [Digorno] and German Chocolate Cake [actually a simply a chocolate cake mix with the Coconut Pecan Frosting out of a tub]. Nothing real impressive. He didn't complain.

Here are Recipes for Dinner tonight and Good recipes for the German chocolate Cake and the Frosting [both of which are excellent].

Pizza Skillet Casserole

5 cups egg noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 package McCormick* Italian Style Spaghetti Sauce Mix
1 cup water
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook egg noodles as directed on package. Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium heat. Drain fat. Add tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce mix and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in cooked egg noodles. Top with cheese; cover. Cook on low 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Start to finish: 30 minutes

German Chocolate Cake

1 package sweet chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 teaspoon soda
2 1/2 cup sifted caked flour
1 cup buttermilk
4 egg whites

Melt chocolate in boiling water. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla to chocolate mixture. Add chocolate mixture to the batter. Sift together salt, and flour, add alternately with butter milk to chocolate batter, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Pour into 3 8- or 9-inch greased pans, lightly lined on the bottom with paper. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool. Frost with Coconut Pecan Frosting.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 pound margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup pecans

Combine evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, margarine and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes. Add coconut and pecans. Beat until frosting is cool and thick enough to spread on cake.
Yield: enough to frost 1 cake.

Chili And Crackers

Well, dinner went well. It was good. Mostly this week has been old favorites, Thursday will be a try a new one, day. There's be a change of plans, we are going to my mother's for my birthday. So Wednesday we won't be cooking. I'm going to instead make that recipe on Thursday and not make the Chicken Jambalaya.

Tonight:

Chili And Crackers

This is easy enough to make, just heat or make our chili and eat it with crackers as you desire. lol.

Meat Loaf Stuffed Peppers/ Lasagna For Two/ Hot Dogs

Well, the weekend went well. No complaints, and no requests for anything different. The new recipes are on Wednesday and Thursday. We will really see what's up then.

The weekend's recipes are:

Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers

1 pound hamburger
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 medium onion
salt and pepper
seasoned salt
1/2 row crackers
garlic powder
1/8 cup celery
celery salt
4 bell peppers
8 ounces tomato sauce

Boil peppers for 2 minutes, cool in ice water. Saute celery and onion in butter until tender. Combine all ingredients, except peppers, mixing well. Stuff into peppers. Bake at 350* for approximately 50 minutes.

Lasagna For Two
Note: If you need the original full recipe just let me know and I will post it for you. It was just simply too much for the two of us to eat by ourselves.

7 1/2 lasagna noodle
3/4 pound Italian sausage, or ground beef
20 ounces pasta sauce
7 1/2 fluid ounces ricotta cheese
4 fluid ounces pesto sauce, optional
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Lay flat on foil to cool. In a large skillet, brown meat; drain. Stir in pasta sauce, mix well. In a 3 quart dish layer 1/3 meat sauce, 5 pasta pieces overlapping slightly, 1/2 ricotta, 1/2 pesto, and 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. End with remaining pasta and sauce. Top with Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Servings: 2

And Hot Dogs are pretty much easy enough for everyone to enjoy.

Shopping Day 9-21-2007

Well, dinner last night went well. It was all good, other than trying to eat in the middle of washing clothes. Lol.

This Week:

Tonight:
BLT's

Saturday the 22nd:
Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers

Sunday the 23rd:
Lasagna For Two

Monday the 24th:
Hot Dogs

Tuesday the 25th:
Chili And Crackers

Wednesday the 26th:
(Happy Birthday to Me)
Pizza Skillet Casserole

Thursday the 27th:
Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Well that's the menu for the week. Just about everyone knows how to make BLT's, so no recipe for them today. Besides he's cooking. Grin....

Enchiladas / Hamburgers

I have been ill so I did not post yesterday. The Mickie Stew was very good. I have not had it for quite some time and it was as good as I remembered. He liked it.

Last night we had Beef Enchiladas. They were delicious, and between us we ate the whole pan. Not bad for a sick person I must say. But, I've been looking forward to these for the whole week.

Tonight we are having hamburgers. [He's cooking]

Enchilada Sauce:

2 cups chicken broth
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin [the original only called for 1 tsp.]
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon sugar
5 tablespoons cold water [I added 3 more of chicken broth to create a pouring consistency]
5 tablespoons white flour

Combine all ingredients, except flour and water. Boil for 3 minutes, whisking often. Combine flour and water [and chicken broth]. Very slowly pour into sauce while whisking. [the original just didn't look like it would pour right, so I thinned it a little to make it pour slowly.] Cook 1 minutes, whisking constantly. Take off heat.

For the meat I simply used a meat mixture using Mexican herb blend herbs. You could probably use taco meat. 2 pounds.

To soften the corn tortillas you either dip them into the hot sauce; but it's thick and you will have to drain some off of the tortilla. Or you an dip them in and out of hot oil until the are soft but not fried.

Put a thin layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the saucepan. Fill and roll corn tortillas and place seam side down in pan. Once all meat mixture is used and enchiladas are made, pour sauce over the top, then cover with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.


Hamburgers [His way]

His hamburgers are really simple. They are small though and you may want to use more meat. This however is just about right for the two of us.

1 pound hamburger
seasoned salt

Sprinkle hamburger with seasoned salt [he uses a lot]. Form into 4 patties, and fry in skillet as normal.

Mickie Stew 1

Wow, this weekend got away from me. Well, Friday night we had breakfast for Dinner. It went well as always. He likes it. And We ate good that night. Monday night we had another one of his favorites, Pizza Casserole. He love this, and I could make it for him all of the time if I wanted. It is I have to confess very good.

Tonight we are having Mickie Stew 1.

This was my mothers Brian child when I was a very young girl. The beauty of Mickie Stew is that you can do just about any thing with it. It is only limited by your imagination and pantry. You can add just about anything to it. A few can goods, and a little ground beef and viola. You have a meal.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (15oz) can cut green beans
1 (15oz) can new potatoes, quartered

Brown beef and drain fat. Add onion and cook until tender. Add beans and potatoes and their liquids to meat and cook until liquids have almost evaporated.

Breakfast

Dinner last night went well. It should have anyway, it was par his request. He'd said some thing about them the week before. I however was extremely hungry and made a pig of my self. They were good though.

Dinner Tonight:

Breakfast

Bacon
Eggs
Hash browns
Biscuits or Pancakes

Freddie's Hash browns:

potatoes, grated
flour
salt and pepper
eggs

Grate peeled potatoes, rinse and drain. Add flour, salt, pepper, and eggs. Form into patties and fry in deep fat until crisp.


Griddle Cakes:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Combine egg, milk, and melted butter, and add to dry ingredients all at once, beating with a spoon or wire whisk until smooth. Drop batter from a tablespoon onto a hot griddle, spreading each cake with the back of a spoon into a circle. The griddle should be greased or not, according to the manufacturer's directions. Cook on one side until puffed, full of bubbles, and cooked on the edges. Then turn and cook on the other side. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Notes:
APPLE GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes adding 1/ 2 cup cinnamon to the dry ingredients and 1 cup finely chopped pared apples to the batter before cooking.
BLUEBERRY GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, adding 1/ 2 cup washed and dried blueberries to the batter before cooking.
BUCKWHEAT GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, substituting 1 cup unsifted buckwheat flour for the flour and reducing the sugar.
CORN GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, substituting 1/ 2 cup yellow or white corn meal for 1/ 2 cup of the flour.
RICE GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, substituting 1/ 2 cup cooled, cooked rice for 1/ 4 cup of the flour. Add the rice to the egg and milk mixture before combining with the dry ingredients.
SOUR MILK GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, substituting 1/ 2 tsp baking soda for 2 tsp of the baking powder and 3/ 4 cup + 2 tbsp sour milk or butter milk for the milk.
WHOLEWHEAT GRIDDLE CAKES: Make griddle cakes, substituting unsifted whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour, and adding 1 tbsp more milk.

Source:
"Good House Keeping Cookbook"


Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons shortening
2/3 cup milk (approximately, or
1/3 cup evaporated milk and 1/3 cup water)

Sift the dry ingredients together; then cut in the shortening, using two knives in crisscross fashion or a pastry blender, until the mixture is the consistency of course cornmeal. Add enough of the milk, while stirring with a fork, to make a soft dough that can be easily handled. Turn onto a lightly floured board, and knead lightly about 1/2 min. Then foll or pat into a sheet about 1/2" to 1" thick. Cut into rounds of desired size with a floured cutter, and place on a greased or oiled baking pan. Place about 1" apart if you like a crusty biscuit. Place closer together, roll out and cut as above. Bake in hot oven of 450* F. for 12-15 min. Serve hot. Makes 19 2" biscuits, 1/2" thick.

Baked Potatoes

Dinner last night was alright. I bought a different beef stew to go with the Grilled cheese. It was Progresio Beef Barley Stew, it was ok. Otherwise it went well.

Dinner tonight:

Baked Potatoes.

Baked potatoes really are a versitle food. Kind of like Pizza you can put just about anything you want on them. I personally am a plain potato eater [tho not as plain as my Bro.]; I like butter, sour cream, cheese, and real bacon bits [don't bother with the imitation yuck], sometimes I like chives or green onions on mine. Other than that well, I don't put much more on them. Hubby likes the immiatation bacon bits [cringe], and usually put jalapenos on his as well. So dinner tonight will go well.

Shopping Day [9-14-2007]

Well, today's shopping day. I've got a list made up of dinner menues. And I'm going to Start a weekly list of them. So everytime He says "can we have this?" I'll see when I can make that for him and write it down. I'm making a point to try at least one new recipe a week; no more though. Just one. If he likes it fine, if he doesn't that's fine too. I've been very blessed in the fact that I've only bombed once or twice. For the most part he likes what I'm fixing. There have been several that was ok, just don't fix 'em a lots though.

The Menu this Week:

Today:
Grilled Cheese, and soup. [Yes, the plain old soup and sandwich]

15th:
Baked Potatoes. [Yes, we can and do make a meal out of Baked potatoes occasionally. He's requested this one.]

16th:
Breakfast: consisting of Bacon, eggs, hash browns and maybe biscuits.

17th:
Pizza Casserole [I could fix this every day almost and he'd never complain.]

18th:
Mickie Stew 1 [This is one of my mother's recipes. He's liked all the others that I've made for him so far. there are currently 12 Mickie Stews]

19th:
Beef Enchiladas

20th:
Hamburgers [He could eat a lot of these as well.]

I will post the recipes on the appropriate day do stay tuned.

Well, dinner went well. He liked all, except the cabbage. But that is OK. It was napa cabbage or bok choy instead of the head cabbage everyone is used to. I used that because it was leftover from the won tons I made a few nights ago. It has only a very light cabbage flavor after it's cooked, so it was ok; I didn't much care for it cooked this way either. Oh, well.

Dinner tonight:

Indoor Barbecued Chicken

Again this is an adaptation of my mother's recipe. She would just simply pour barbecue sauce over the top of some chicken and bake at 300 degrees until they were done. This would turn out O.K. it would often be burned on top though. What I do is dilute the Barbecue sauce down a little bit with water, and baste it periodically during the baking. This prevents it from being burned and keeps the chicken moist as well. This is good, but he doesn't like chicken. He'll eat it though.

Picky Smicky!

I'm creating this blog to chronicle life with a picky eater. The only thing worse than a child who's a picky eater is a Hubby who is! At least with a kid you might be able to get them to try it and when they do they might learn to like it. But when the picky one is an adult they've already tried it and simply don't like it! He doesn't like this, he doesn't like that; so on and so forth. When we first got married I told him, you like next to nothing... you cook. Funny thing about it is he did. Now that I've got a little better handle on what he likes and dislikes, I'm trying to cook more. So this blog is a record of what he likes and dislikes and the recipes to share.

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Tonight's menu:

Pinto Beans
Cabbage
Corn Bread
Rice
Cake

Pinto Beans:
My recipe is a simple southern way of cooking beans. Boil them in water until almost tender and add a little ham, a ham hock, or salt pork. Then you cook until they are fairly mushy.

Believe it or not for some one who says he doesn't like beans he sure wants these a lot and eats a lot of them.

Cabbage:
Again a simple southern way of cooking. Chop or tear into pieces, and boil in water until tender. We always add a little bit of something like in the beans for flavor. Salt pork tonight.

Corn bread:
He told me when we first got married that he didn't like corn bread. But he really likes this recipe. It's an adaptation of my mother's recipe, I don't quite like as much cornmeal as is used in typical cornbread recipes, so I simply adjusted the proportions of cornmeal and flour. Also I use undiluted evaporated milk in place of milk. It gives the cornbread a lighter texture and flavor. It just turns out better.

Amanda's Cornbread
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cup evaporated milk, undiluted
5 teaspoons oil

Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, milk, and oil; mix until no lumps remain. Pour into an 8-inch square or 9-inch round pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cake:
I've got a spice cake mix sitting over in the cabinet and I'm gonna make that for dessert. He says he doesn't like frosting and from what I've seen he doesn't have very much of a sweet tooth. So I may or may not frost it.

Well, that's dinner tonight. I hope you like the recipes.