Lasagna Soup...sort of...

Not really sure what's up with the weather. Was in the 70s for most of Friday and then dropped like 20 degrees for no reason. Do I blame Mother Nature or Tom Skilling? I suppose on the positive I should thank either one of them for putting me in a soup making mode. When I was scouring the internet for recipes in my attempts to try new cooking, I ran across one for Lasagna Soup.

A Farmgirl's Dabbles was one of the soups I came across. Rest assure that the link is to the recipe and not some adult film site. Anyway if you can get past all the pictures. As per my typical habits I altered the recipe a bit. First off I did manage to add Sazon. I substituted the Italian sausage with Meijer's Sun dried Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella chicken sausage. I was looking for just chicken Italian sausage but didn't find it and came across that type. It was 60 calories less per sausage so figured it was okay. Ms. Dabbles was talking about 2 cups of Mozzarella- I ended up using just 1/2 a cup of that for the cheese mixture. Also the types of pasta it asked for, Mafalda or Fusilli, were not an option at Meijer. I ended up going with with Tri-color Farfalle as it was only a dollar for the box. Fairly certain that pasta is all the same outside of the way its cut/shaped. Please Italian friends don't slap me.

chopped up chicken Italian sausage

Pasta combination.

Cheese combination

Clean finish product

Finished product after adding and mixing in the cheese.

Came out pretty  good but not really sure why its considered a soup. Not sure if I skipped out on something but I'm thinking 6 cups of chicken broth would amount to something similar to what the Dabbles had on her blog. Not in the least. Maybe I'll just rename it to the Lasagna Bowl? Thinking there's room for improvement with it so with no doubt try to add to it in the future.

I think Karen outdid me in the home-cooking department this week with her asparagus stuffed chicken breast. Definitely won in the making folks pee smell worst competition with her use of asparagus. Karen ad-lib included adding pesto, mozzarella, and topping with Italian bread crumbs. She also included some fresh basil from a plant I had recently purchased. I will say I thought her all "mumble mumble F N Shariff...mumble mumble" while she was flattening the chicken breast with a mallet. Just kidding you know she was saying that loud and clear. LOL

Karen's Asparagus Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken with a side of Apples

I thought it came out fantastic to be honest and not biased. I ate that up like the former fat kid I am. Even though it didn't need it, I did think it would be interesting to see how it would go with some sort of sauce/dressing. Will have to try it out next time when Karen doesn't have a mallet in her vicinity.

#HomeCooking,

Reef

Spaghetti is Delicious...A Biased Story

Decided to try making a new (on my part) version of spaghetti today.  Pretty sure I've blogged about it before but I had a disdain for spaghetti for the longest time. I have always blamed my sister for always cooking giant pots of spaghetti that we would have to eat for like a week. Just kidding probably not her fault as much as me always finding it bland. Kind of changed my perspective a bit after I had tried making my own sauce last time and enjoyed it.

I was searching on the internet for new recipes and came across a garlic and herb spaghetti. Seemed like it would be awesome as I love garlic but reading through the ingredients saw it called for Herbes de Provence. Being an amateur I had no idea what that was and looked that up. Basically its a mixture of essential of French herbs. Did see a herb that Karen was allergic to in that mixture so decided to scratch that item and wing it.

For the mushrooms I used two packages of mushrooms as Jewel had a good sale going and they were cheap. Funny enough Karen gives me grief over how I clean them. She typically just runs them under the sink but I've always taken wet paper towels and wiped them down individually. I believe I learned that from Rachel Ray many years ago when she had a TV show. She might still have a TV show for all I know. Anyway she had pointed out that doing that reduces/eliminates them getting waterlogged. Personally I think Karen might just be jealous of my love for Rachel Ray's cookware. I was going to say Rachel Ray but then realized I've never used any of her recipes.

Properly cleaned sliced mushrooms

So melted 2 Tbsp of butter then threw in 2 cloves of garlic and the mushrooms. Cooked them until the mushrooms were fully cooked- I'd say about 10 minutes and then set that aside to wait for the other items. Spaghetti noodles were cooked as specified by the box instruction. Well really more time than the box indicates as they are usually wrong. Pretty much once it hits the time range I try it to see if its ready.

For the sauce I started with melting 2 Tbsp of butter again and adding 2 cloves of garlic. Cooked that for a couple minutes. Then I added basil and 2 Tbsp of flour to make a roux. After that thickened up a bit added 2 cups of heavy cream.  Mostly because we don't use milk here and that was leftover from making the tomato soup a bit ago. Shouldn't let things go to waste. I also decided to add my much beloved Sazón to the chagrin of Karen. Let that cook til it started to thicken up (not euphemism for anything) and then added the mushrooms and spaghetti to it.

Fancy new whisk to avoid damaging cookware

It's all about the sauce

Finished product

I mean not the most complicated recipe/experimentation but this came out really awesome. Topped it off with some Parmesan cheese and hit the spot. Outside of the mushrooms Lily loved it- which really isn't saying much as I don't think I've met a kid who doesn't like spaghetti. Definitely wrote down what I did to make this again at some point. 

#FoodieAdventure,

Reef

A Plethora of New

Seems like the month has been flying by pretty quickly with work, art, and what not. Been kind of a blur food wise with a lot of repeat offenders/choices. Definitely need to get my foodie adventure trips going again and hit up some places. I still have a list but will have to revisit it/have fun finding new places. Also need to explore new recipes as well. So I'm open to suggestions. That being said I did manage to come across a bunch of new things in the last couple of weeks.

First off while at Meijer near the lunchmeat/lunchable area saw these on sale. I mean kind of hit a couple of pros for buying it: New, chicken on a stick, Sriracha, 23g of Protein, and altogether 150 calories for two skewers. Figured the worst that could happen I'd be out $2 (sale price) so why not go for it.

Expresco ProSticks Sweet Sriracha Style Grilled Chicken Skewers

Who doesn't love a skewer?

Not sure if I had low expectations but this was actually pretty tasty. Definitely more sweet than spicy flavor wise. Not really sure if it was spicy at all to be honest with you. Still was worth the buy and would get them again. Also bought the Mediterranean version and Lily liked it in her lunch! Checking out there website this might just be exclusive to Meijer and some grocery store called Food Lion (which is in North Carolina). Definitely worth trying it if you come across them.

I have no idea why I bought this next item. (Insert shifty eyes here) Pace Ready Meals is a microwaveable "meal". Simple enough- put the bag in the microwave and cook for 60 seconds. Per the package and website: It is made with all white meat chicken, real cheese, rice mixed with corn, green peppers, pinto beans, and Jalapenos. Why would any think it would be anything but awesome?

Pace Ready Meals Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla

I don't even know what I'm looking at

Now might not be the worst thing I've ever eaten but look wise it might be. Honestly I don't really recall any other flavor outside of pinto beans. As you can see from the picture- don't really see much else outside of rice and beans. Definitely a bad decision... unless of course some zombie apocalypse occurs and food is hard to come by.

I'm not a big fan of Hostess Sno Balls but this seemed fairly interesting. Things that helped it's cause the word NEW! and the fact that each one was 130 calories. I was easily persuaded. 

Sno balls on a stick...

Handling my Sno Ball...

You know how you get items that you think are suppose to taste like the product they're based on and then when you try it it doesn't? This did not have that problem. It legit tasted like an ice cream version of a Sno Ball. It was pretty uncanny. You know its good/decent when Karen likes it...then again she likes Steak n Shake so...just saying...#nojudgezone.

Ended up going to Arby's the other day as it had been a while and I was craving their curly fries. Not going to lie, I think they might lace them with some sort of narcotics. Definitely doesn't hurt the theory when you go into the restaurant and seems like drug deals are a common business in them. Serious don't think I've been in a nice Arby's ever in life. They might also be the Walmart of fast food service as there never seems to be someone ready to take your order. That being said curly fries are addictive so the price I'm willing to pay.

Arby's Fire-Roasted Philly

So above was a first time menu item for me. The Arby's Fire-Roasted Philly. It looked good and sounded appealing cause I do enjoy a good Philly cheese steak. I mean you add fire roasted red and yellow peppers and a garlic aioli? Count me in. What I actually got? (see below)

Sandwich made with love...

In case you're wondering I didn't order it plain. Some reason I think there might have been like 1 pepper slice Julienne cut to about about 4 pieces (?). I mean there was some garlic aioli on there too. Maybe a drop or two which was like watered down. I ate it cause I paid for it. Luckily the curly fries were good as always so disregarded this disaster. 

Lily wanted to be part of the blog and said take a picture of my sandwich. So I present:

Lily's Roast Beef 'n Cheese Slider

So overall was 2 for 4 in the success rate of new food items last couple of weeks. Definitely need to improve upon that. But as the saying goes can't don't knock it til you try it. 

#AdventuresContinue,

Reef

Mushroom and Swiss for Snow

First of all, who knew that I liked roasted cauliflower? I didn't!!! So I was reading that buzzfeed thing the other day with all of the sheetpan dinners and I saw this one for a Cauliflower Mushroom Sheet Pan. (Not the official name). 

Basically, you roast some Cauliflower with olive oil, salt and pepper. Repeat with mushrooms. Repeat with bread. Put on one pan, top with cheese of choice. BOOM. 

I used baby bellas and some other random mushrooms. I used some hotdog buns for the bread that were slightly stale, I also put some garlic powder on the bread. I used Swiss because I didn't feel like spending a gazillion dollars or greyure and I forgot and left my Munster cheese at work. Oooops. 

 

I think I forgot to take photos of the mushrooms. Here they are with the bread! 

 

All put together...isn't that pretty? 

 

So much cheese. I love cheese. YUMMO. 

 

 

Anyway. No kids have tasted this and also no Jeremy. So just for me. Mmmmmmm 

Perfect this for this snowy night. 

 

Another new delicious thing in the crock pot

This weekend we also tried Italian Beef in the crockpot. We used a beef roast, because Jeremy got one on sale last week. It took us all week to decide that this is what we should make. AND IT WAS WORTH IT.
OMG. So basically, (I used this recipe) beef into crockpot with beef broth, pepperoncini's, oregano, basil, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and italian seasoning packets. Then throw in some bay leaves and YUMMO. Now. I did PUT IN THE WHOLE JAR of pepperoncini's because WHY NOT or as Reef says YOLO, but it did up the spice level a tad. Though, the recipe calls for 3/4 jar WHICH TO ME IS THE SAME. I AM JUST SAYING.
Anyways. We cooked the meat to tenderness and got some hoagie rolls and ate them with munster and mild giardiniera

 We also got sucked into garlic bread. I actually had my sandwich ON garlic bread, because again, go big or go home.

 Don't mind that random bag. I'm moving and everything is kind of a disaster.

. MMMM. All in all, a perfect thing to eat after an afternoon of roller blading at the roller rink. Yes, shut up I DO ROLLER BLADE. And I only fell after I tried to help my kid and he took me down with him. IT WAS GOOD TIMES I TELL YOU.

Jamaican Me Hungry-IM SO SORRY

JK no I'm actually not sorry. But I am excited to tell you about this jamaican sheet pan recipe I made the other night. It was SUPER EASY and pretty simple and FAST. Now, I know what you are thinking, WHAT ARE THESE SHEET PAN RECIPES BUZZFEED KEEPS YELLING AT ME ABOUT? (no? is it just me?) It's just what I used to call "roasting" in the oven.
SO. For this recipe I used boneless skinless thighs, cause that's what I had (also, that's what I prefer), and I also used Jamaican Jerk seasoning of which I purchased at Walmart or Aldi or Woodmans. It's Spice Classics brand, which, SPOILER ALERT, are all owned by McCormick. (Never buy McCormick if those other choices are available. Because all same. ) At any rate, I just took some olive oil and coated my chicken and covered it with the jerk seasoning. Then I did the same with some red potatoes, as well as some bell peppers, red onions, and zucchini. Lastly, you throw in some mango when it's all finished.
And let me tell you. WORTH IT. So delicious. So easy. Hardest part was chopping the veggies, which for me WAS SUPER QUICK BECAUSE ME. HAHAHAHA! The recipe I used is found here.

Weekend Foodie Adventure

As folks typically do on Facebook, there was one recipe/idea video that I kept seeing posted over and over again. Disclaimer could also just be sponsored ads for all I know but someone really should take the credit. So thank you (insert your name here) for showing the video of Avocado Strawberry Ice Cream. It seemed interesting to me and with nothing really going on this weekend decided to give it a shot.

I think the interesting/problematic part was finding full fat coconut milk. I mean it's coconut so full fat doesn't really seem like a real thing. I googled it and basically you only find organic and unsweetened style coconut. That being said it I ended up picking up some So Delicious Coconut milk. To me it seems like it would just be watery so decided to do 2 1/2 cups of that and add a 1/2 cup of heavy cream (left over from the tomato soup). Thought that would compensate better. As you can see from the video- pretty simple to make otherwise.

Mutant strawberry

Blended goodness being mixed

Finished product

So lessons learned: Probably should have stored it in popsicle form as this froze terribly. Not sure if I should have found the elusive full fat coconut milk or just substituted more heavy cream. That being said flavor wise it turned out pretty good. Definitely will have to attempt to get the right combination next time.

Still on a strawberry kick- I ran into the next item while picking up some items. Not sure when's the last time I had Krispy Kreme but with the words "Limited Time" on the packaging I had to give these a try.

Krispy Kreme Strawberry Mini Crullers

There were pretty tasty which means calorie wise up there. I will say they were very strawberry flavored which was surprising as I thought it was going to be just the glaze. Thankfully they went the extra mile and hooked it up. Definitely would get these again...if they still have them around.

As previously noted some folks are allergic to seafood- I'd say mildly. Maybe she just doesn't like the smell/taste of seafood and just faking it? Just kidding she really is so pretty much try to limit the exposure. So got abandoned today so had to figure out dinner options. Was scoping out the freezer and totally forgot I bought these fish sticks. Seems like the perfect scenario.

Gorton's got you covered for all your fish needs

Fairly certain I love this McDonald's Halloween Plate as I use it for everything

I'm guessing by the packaging I bought these because of "NEW!" combined with healthy aspects listed. My money would probably mostly be on the "NEW!". I ended up cooking these up in the air fryer which cut the cook time in half. #ThanksAirFryer #GreatInvestment. They were just how you'd imagine frozen fish sticks to be but healthier and enjoyable. If you like fish sticks and trying to be healthy, give them a shot.

#ThatsAllIGot,

Reef

Cold Weather Means Home Cooking

So trying to get back into a cooking route as last month or so been kind of crazy and more venturing out for dinner/meals. That being said already cooked twice so that's a good start. I'm guilty of buying stuff in the store and totally forgetting about it. So believe it or not I've never made fried rice before. Karen always has and it's good so really no reason to attempt it. I saw the recipe for Skinny Taste's cauliflower fried rice and that lead to wanting to make fried rice. I had already bought the cauliflower but needed the vegetables. Being lazy I grabbed a frozen pack of stir fry vegetables from the Freezer section without looking. Get home and realized it was a pack that included rice. in addition to that it was a microwave steamable.

What laziness will get you when you're just going for vegetables

So already had rice in it in addition to being 60 calories a serving (by itself) so figured why waste the cauliflower. Couple of things to gripe about before I get into the outcome. 1) Don't have it located in with just frozen vegetable. Maybe next to frozen meals? 2) Package indicated a serving was 3/4 cup and that it contained 3 servings. I don't know how the packaging plants measure out their product but if there were 2 1/4 cups of Stir-fry vegetables in there then I'll be damn. Some reason frozen vegetables all seem to have this issue of saying there's a certain amount when really there isn't. But I digress...

Pretty much lazy man's version of fried rice- I microwaved the bag per the instructions of 6 minutes. Once that was done I threw it in a wok with some butter- minus the bag for you weirdos out there. Added two eggs, my homemade teriyaki sauce and stirred it up still the eggs fully cooked. I think the whole process took less than 10 minutes. Some where out there Chef Gordon Ramsey is calling me a f*cking donkey.

Donkey's Fried Rice

All that being said this actually came out tasting pretty good. I know it it was cause Karen mentioned it more than once and said I should make it again. In case you're new to this blog, Karen is a very picky eater so you have to at the very least think man he made some decent food for a f*cking donkey.

Was having some crappy weather yesterday- tornado sirens, rain, windy, etc. Luckily no tornadoes touched down here. Fairly certain didn't see any hail either so lucked out there as well. That being said we had a record breaking January and February in Illinois were no measurable amount of snow was recorded. Sure enough March 1st hits and Mother Nature was like nope let there be snow! We'll see if anything happens but one thing for sure is that its pretty cold. That being said I wanted to make soup. Figured why not go for something I've never made before and decided to go for tomato soup as I would like some grilled cheese at some point.

Chopped up onions in butter

Added diced tomatoes to the mix

Finished product

Got the recipe from Food Network: Best Tomato Soup Ever. I mean title alone kind of meant it should be tried/tested. Never watched the show The Pioneer Woman but have seen her wares for sale (not a code for anything) at Walmart. Have no clue what makes her a pioneer woman but one thing for sure is she knows how to put together a tomato soup. Only variations I made were not adding sherry or parsley, using Adobo instead of salt and pepper, and adding a packet of Sazon (my addiction).  I think Chef Gordon Ramsay would be proud of me on this one. 

#FNDonkey,

Reef