friday favs {winter uniform}

Every winter, I pretty much wear the same thing but this year since I swore off the FUG UGGs and leggings (!!!)...I had to step it up a knotch. Also, my beloved military-grade red peacoat finally gave out.  I got it at the Salvation Army about 5 years ago for $10 so I probably shouldn't be too disappointed.  Then I complained about my feet being frozen one too many times so Mike took me to Cabela's where SOREL and I were finally united in forever matrimony. Thankfully, my husband values good footwear. And a happy wife.

So, here are my favs this winter....

sorel joan of artic in black

old navy black puffer (no longer available)

old navy flirt skinny jean in rinse

february: month of meals

if you do nothing else this month, at least enjoy some hot cocoa.

I'm back to my monthly meal plan.  Albeit, a few days late.  I really like having a plan every month and doing one giant trip.  I still have to run to the store every week or so for things like milk and fresh fruit, but the monthly thing works for us.  I should say that Mike runs to the store with me which helps a lot when it comes to bagging the groceries and unloading the car.  Also, he can pick out all the snacks he wants.  This month the groceries will run us about $400 dollars with all of our shopping done at Aldi and Fareway. (Have you checked out Aldi's new organic line? The salsa is amazing.  Try it!) So here is our meal plan for the month, including snacks that I like to make and keep in the fridge...

{Dinner}
Black Eyed Peas with Leeks and Chicken Sausages
Fish BLTs with Fries
Spanish Meatloaf with Roasted Veggies and Cheesy Sweet Potatoes
Stuffed Steak with Warm Wilted Kale and Roasted Potato Salad (date night IN)
Crockpot Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs
Pan Roasted Flounder with Chopped Winter Salad
Magic Macaroni & Cheese
Pasta Carbonara with Peas
Crockpot Paella
Crockpot Venison Greek Wraps
Steak with Mushroom Sauce and Cauliflower Puree (Valentine's Day)
Crockpot Chili
Crockpot Stuffed Peppers
Crockpot Maple and Mustard Pot Roast with Roasted Veggies and Grits
Mustard Glazed Salmon with Lentils
Crockpot BBQ Chicken Pulled Sammies with Coleslaw (I dump BBQ sauce and chicken in the crockpot)
Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Mango Dipping Sauce and Salad
Runza Casserole
Hendrix's Great Grandma's Meatballs (similiar to DALS' porcupine meatballs)
Mongolian Tofu Stirfry

{Snacks | Big Batch Salads}
Country Pate'
Cold Noodle Salad
Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad
Dark Chocolate & Trail Mix Bites
.....
On Fridays, we have Family Movie Night which means we usually make pizza or get take-out so I don't include those on my meal plan. I let the boys decide the day of what they want, but I always have pizza dough or frozen pizzas in the fridge.  A lot of these recipes are new to me so I am anxious to give them a try.  Hope this month gives you time to sit with your family and share a meal.

mom's chicken and rice casserole revisted

To say that my mother wasn't much of a cook when I was growing up would be an understatement. She only made a few dishes and they were as follows...
  Shit On A Shingle (boil in the bag chipped beef poured on toast)
  Beef Stew (a can of UNDRAINED Veg-All mixed with ground beef)
  Hot Beef Sandwiches (can of brown gravy poured on toast-no beef or potatoes)
  Chicken and Rice Casserole (made off the Campbell's soup can)
She served Twinkies as breakfast or mixed cereals in one bowl.  Nothing like thinking you scored Fruit Loops for breakfast only to find soggy Corn Flakes four bites in.  The only fresh vegetable we ever had was potatoes.  Boiled.  You could smash it yourself at the table with butter. We always had bananas, though.  Or fruit cocktail. HA!
Her chicken and rice casserole was the only thing edible.  Most nights we just had TV dinners (Kid Cuisine, anyone??) or ate out.  We were regulars at Grandmother's and Julio's.  HOWEVER, despite this...I still crave that damn chicken and rice casserole.  Especially the one's she made where, just to be crazy, she added slices of American cheese.  The casserole wasn't even cooked properly half of the time.  Often, the Minute rice managed to be under-cooked, even though, it had spent a hour in the oven. I'm sure my brother does not crave it since she insisted on making it with Cream of Mushroom even though my brother abhors mushrooms.  He still does.
That all being said, I have never successfully recreated that culinary abomination. I have followed the directions on the back of the can, looked it up on All Recipes, everything.  She must of been doing something nuts. Or it as simple as, sometimes you cannot recreate the tastes of childhood.
On A Chef's Life, Vivian Howard made chicken and rice with her mother and admitted to her mother and viewers that her mom's was better.  Vivian is an extraordinary executive chef at Chef and The Farmer in North Carolina.  So I suppose if she has a hard time recreating her mother's dishes, so would I.
Recreating OTHER people's childhood dishes seems to be much easier.  Mike grew up eating these meatballs that had macaroni in them.  They were made in a sweet tomato sauce.  They are very similar to the DALS porcupine meatballs.  I finally made them.  They were delicious and just as Mike remembered them. so there you go.
I wonder what dishes my children will remember and crave when they fly the coop?  Will it be my Magic Macaroni & Cheese? Or Pasta with Bacon & Peas (pasta carbonara)? Who knows.  The point is all children remember something their mom or dad made them when they were growing up.  No matter how much or little their parents cooked.  Or how well.
.....
This Mom's Chicken and Rice Casserole 
{I had a fierce craving last week...so I made my own version.}
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
1 can of cream of chicken
3 c. cooked rice
2 heads of broccoli, cut
Shredded Cheddar
Cook chicken in cream of chicken soup in Crockpot on high for 3 hours.  Remove chicken and chop up.  Put back in crockpot, add cooked rice, cheese, and broccoli.  Combine well.  Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

one pot wonder | black beans and kielbasa

This is one of those recipes that I don't make enough. It is always a winner and calls on ingredients I always have in my house. Luckily, my people like beans so I incorporate those cheap suckers into any meal I can. I came across this in an Everyday Food magazine years ago and have been making a variation ever since. This will take you about 35 minutes from start to finish so it's a perfect weeknight pantry meal.
....
Black Beans and Kielbasa
Olive Oil
1 lb of beef or turkey kielbasa, cut up
3 carrots, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
2 (15.5 oz) cans of black beans, drained & rinsed
2 C chicken broth
Small handful of chopped parsley
Plain Greek yogurt, for serving
In Dutch oven, heat oil and add carrots and onion. Cook until onions are soft. Add sausage and brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Pour beans and broth into mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and enjoy.

chocolate chip blueberry breakfast quinoa | pinterest test

Is breakfast a tough one in your house, too? It is in mine. Mostly, because it calls on me to provide for my children before consuming an entire pot of coffee.  I'm always trolling Pinterest to find simple breakfast recipes that are filling and add some variety to our usual scrambled eggs. I found this breakfast quinoa a few weeks ago. This is a go-to breakfast for us, now.  I was a little skeptical about blueberries and chocolate together, but I am now a believer.  I have to double the recipe from what How Sweet Eats shows to feed all fours of us.  I have also used just regular ol' butter and milk, too.  Almond milk is super great, too. Either way, give it a go! Chocolate chips make mornings better.
.....
Chocolate Chip Blueberry Breakfast Quinoa
1 C blueberries
1 1/2 cup + more for drizzling of milk, your choice
1 C quinoa, uncooked
1/2 C mini chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Generous pinch of salt
4 teaspoons vanilla (adjust if using flavored milk)
1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
In saucepan, heat butter or oil.  Add dry quinoa and coat with oil or butter. Toast quinoa for a few minutes or until you smell it. Add milk, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, & simmer for 15 minutes. Just as you would if prepping plain quinoa. Fluff with fork. Divide into bowls, to with chocolate chips and blueberries, drizzle milk, and enjoy!

slowcooker lentil & sausage stew | pinterest test

perfect baby eating perfect baby food. :)

I came across this recipe on Pinterest last weekend.  I had all the ingredients, so I decided to give it a whirl.  It came out delicious and everyone liked it.  Especially Violet Alice.  Lentils are the perfect baby food. I added garlic and used the entire package (16 oz.) of Italian sausage. This does not and could not cook all day, unless you have a crockpot with a timer.  So save this for a day you can be home to throw it together later in the afternoon.
.....
Slowcooker Lentil and Sausage Stew
1 package of Italian sausage, cut up
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 c. of beef broth
1 can (14.5 oz.0 of diced tomatoes
3 carrots, chopped
1 c. of lentils
2 large handfuls of spinach
Combine everything but the spinach in the crockpot.  Cook on high for 3 hrs or low for 5 hours.  A 1/2 before done, add spinach.  Cook until spinach is wilted and lentils are tender.  Enjoy! (We ate ours with cornbread. Delicious!)

oven stew + skillet cookie

Me and Mike's anniversary was on Monday. We celebrated on Saturday night by having a delicious dinner at Lot 2 and checking out some the breweries in Benson. On Monday, I decided to make a Guinness Beef Stew for dinner. Beef Stew was one of the dishes we served at our wedding. Then I discovered we had drank all the Guinness. Whoops! So I decided to use red wine and try a few techniques out. I saw on an America's Test Kitchen episode where they made a stew in the oven and added the veggies later in the cooking time. Adding the veggies later prevents mushy veggies. They also omitted the browning of the meat.  Cooking in the oven imparts a roasted flavor. It combines a stew with the cooking technique of short ribs or pot roast, meaning you assemble it, stick in the oven and forget it. Perhaps you all heard of making a stew in the oven, but I have not. This is my kind of cooking.
Later in the afternoon, I had a massive craving for chocolate. But I had no butter softened or really all that much chocolate to bake with.  I recalled seeing a skillet cookie somewhere, but couldn't find the one I wanted. So I sort of made one up. It was so, so good. Mike thinks we should only make cookies this way. You make it and bake it inn the skillet. No soft butter needed. No dishes.
....
Oven Stew
1 Chuck Roast, cut into cubes, salt & peppered
1 onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive Oil
3/4 C of good red wine
4 C beef broth
1 heaping teaspoon of Italian seasoning
4 carrots, cut into chunks
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 container of mushrooms, 8 oz
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In dutch oven, heat olive oil and saute onion until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in seasoning. Cook 30 seconds. Pour in wine and scrape bits off of bottom of pan. Cook about 2 minutes. Pour in broth and add beef. Stick in oven with lid ajar. Cook about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add veggies and cook for another hour or so. Until veggies are tender and meet is fork tender. Enjoy.

Skillet Cookie
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 t of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of chocolate chip
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an 8" oven safe skillet (I used cast iron), melt butter. Stir in sugars and vanilla. Remove from heat. When warm and not hot to the touch, add egg. Carefully, mix in dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter will be thick and somewhat difficult to work with, but stick with it. Spread evenly in pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden. Serve warm. Enjoy.