Author: Suz

Categories
Food

Pepper Jack Chicken

I subscribed to Mable’s Meals over the summer for free thanks to some blog post with the discount coupon. It’s a weekly email with about a week’s worth of meals. There tend to be a lot of pork/beef meals which I don’t eat/cook, but recently the author’s husband became a vegetarian so I’ve noticed more & more vegetarian friendly recipes. 🙂 While they usually look good & easy, this is the first recipe I’ve made. But I’m tried of our normal go-to meals so we’re trying new things this week. I’m actually planning to make shrimp tacos (frozen fried shrimp, tortillas, pepper jack/cheddar cheese, lettuce, ranch dressing, & pico de gallo salsa) from this same weeks meal plan tomorrow night.

We served this with sweet potato fries. I think they worked fine but could also be great with green veggies or corn as the recipe recommends. Our only complaint: the rice was really dry/crunchy/hard. I think I might add some water to the rice mixture or add more cheese next time. Any other suggestions?Pepper Jack Chicken
Ingredients
boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 6 small breasts)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 c instant brown rice
pepper jack cheese (recipe calls for 1 pkg of sliced; I used about 1 c of shredded colby jack)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
In 9×13 dish, mix together the soup & the rice and spread across the bottom of the dish.
Top rice with the chicken breasts.
Cover with aluminum foil & bake for 35 mins.
Remove from oven & add layer of cheese over entire dish. Bake uncovered add’l 15 minutes or until cheese melted & bubbly. Enjoy!

Categories
Food

Sweet Potato Fries

Thanks to The Pursuit of Happiness, I found this recipe for spicy sweet potato fries today in my google reader box. It came in perfect time because we had three sweet potatoes (thanks to Alethea!) that needed to be eaten. Hopefully they will go great with the chicken casserole we’re having tonight (I’ll blog about that in a minute). She didn’t list exact amounts which yall know makes me nervous, but I’m feeling brave! I’ll list what I did/use. Feel free to check out Lisa’s post to see exactly what she did.

photo before & after cooking. the before photo includes all the ingredients used. {ignore our ugly hand-me-down toaster oven please.}

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
sweet potatoes (I had two small sweet potatoes & one skinny purple sweet potato)
extra virgin olive oil
garlic salt
ground white pepper
ground (cayenne) roasted red pepper

Directions
Wash & thinly slice potatoes.
Pour potato strips into a large bowl. Lightly coat with olive oil.
Mix spices in a small bowl. Lightly dust strips. {To do this I poured it over the potatoes & then shook up the bowl.}
Line baking sheet with foil & spread potatoes onto pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until soft & golden brown.

Categories
Food

Oatmeal Raspberry Scones

As I mentioned in the post below, I bought a large pint of raspberries yesterday. I love scones, so I searched for some raspberry scone recipes yesterday. I thought Martha’s sounded good, but a little intense. Then I found Annie’s Eats version which also included oatmeal. I thought they sounded great & pretty easy. And they are! I made them a little different, so I’m posting how I did them.

Oatmeal Raspberry Scones
Ingredients
1 large egg
1/2 c cold buttermilk (I used 1/2 tbsp distilled white vinegar & 1/2 c skim milk)
2/3 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose flour
1 1/3 c oats
1/3 sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of nutmeg (I sprinkled a little in)
10 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
about 1 c fresh raspberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

Combine egg & buttermilk in measuring cup. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt & nutmeg in large mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut it into the dry mixture. I used a knife then a fork to do this until it mixed & was crumbly.

Pour the egg mixture into the dry and mix with a fork until just incorporated. Gently fold in the berries. I used my hands at this point to combine. It becomes a sticky dough which I flattened into one hand. I then cut it like a pizza to make 8 triangle scones. Put on baking sheet.


Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Place on cooling rack and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Categories
Everything Else Food

Farm to Fork

In case y’all didn’t know, I work for a Farm based company. Most of the time, that doesn’t mean anything different than most private owned companies. Today though, work hosted a Farm to Fork day. When it was announced I was like, WTH is Farm to Fork?! Well they invited a bunch of local farmers to bring their goods or information about their goods as well as a couple organizations that promote CSAs & NC’s 10% campaign (eat 10% local). Also a fun incentive was free lunch (which included NC State ice cream!) & us being able to wear jeans!

My work friends & I went down around 1030 (it opened at 930) this morning. There was a local bakery there featuring cookies & croissants~ those went really quick! I came home with a large pint of raspberries that were picked yesterday as well as a half dozen apples all for $7. I plan to make raspberry scones & another loaf of this apple bread this weekend. I got some fresh hot apple cider for $1 (it was really cold in that room). They had some guys who have a grass-fed free range beef farm. I don’t eat beef or pork but have told the husband that I *might* if the beef is raised like that. So we’ll see.

Oh the other deal, 7-8′ Christmas trees for $28 that will be delivered to work. I think that was super popular & a great deal (they also had gorgeous wreaths starting at $20). I passed since they’re being delivered the Monday before Thanksgiving & we’ll be out of town and I couldn’t get up with Jason to see if he’d be into that idea. I really hope work does it again in the spring; I’d love to get spring fruits & veggies!

Categories
Family/Travel

Charlotte Trip

As I mentioned at the bottom of my last post, I was in Charlotte last weekend through Monday visiting my grandparents. I enjoyed the visits with them both and saw a great improvement in Papa’s post-surgery recovery over the three days. He was up walking & off most of the medicine by the time I left Monday afternoon!

I was busy though! I planned my days so I could have meals with Ma (who eats much better when there’s someone there) then be with Papa midmorning, midafternoon & in the evening. We figured out that OT & PT was around 1030 & 2 so it worked out pretty perfect.

I was also able to squeeze in lunch with my good friend B Monday afternoon! I’m so glad she was able to get away from work so that we could catch up for a little bit! We went to Charlotte Cafe which was right in between the nursing home & the hospital and also close to her work. Thanks for joining me B & for the photo! Hope to see you again soon!


As for an update on Papa, he actually being moved right now out of the hospital and into the PT area of the same nursing home that my Ma lives. It’s also within their retirement community so it’ll be great for friends to be able to visit. I can’t wait to go down there again soon to see how well he’s doing then!