Week 40- Cheater Chicken Pot “Pie”
When you read how easy this recipe is you’ll know why it’s called Cheater Chicken Pot “Pie”… it’s so easy and it’s not really a pie. I guess I should’ve called it a casserole. Oh well.
I used those mixed veggies that you steam in the bag, and microwaved them for half the required time before I stirred them into the casserole dish. I’m not sure that it really mattered, but I wanted to get the veggies a little more cooked. It took the biscuits about 10-12 minutes to turn golden.
I used the 9X13 casserole dish because I wanted to keep each serving size kind of small/ low calorie, you could probably squeeze this thing into a 9inch pie plate or square casserole.
This dish got thumbs up from both of us. It’s going to be perfect for those winter days when I want something warm AND quick.
Week 41- Cornbread Chili Bake
There’s no recipe for this week because I messed around with this Cornbread Chili Bake from A Kitchen Addiction, and I didn’t like the way my version turned out. Go check out the original one… I think IT looks delish.
I did learn 2 things when I made this…1) I don’t like black beans and 2) I really don’t like the Jiffy brand corn bread mix.
When I try this again, I’m going to use my favorite homemade cornbread recipe and make a few other tweeks. OR, I could try the original version.
Hubs ate his servings, but didn’t ask me to save the leftovers, so I def need to make another attempt.
Week 42- Slow Cooker Veggie Beef Soup
This recipe is another one from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It’s a winner. I changed up the cut of meat, and the amount of potatoes & veggies. When I first put it in the pot I realized that it’s a little chunky to be a soup, but it’s too brothy/ thin to be a stew. I think that’s just because I changed up the ingredients… after all I was only supposed to use 2 medium sized potatoes, not 24 oz of baby Golds. Ha! I left the skins on them, and cut some of the bigger ones in half.
This soup is def going into my rotation. I liked it well enough, and Hubs even reheated some for lunch the next day. WIN.
Week 43- Lasagna
I adapted this recipe from All Recipes. I’ve been dying to try a lasagna for a while, and the cooler weather is the perfect excuse! Honestly though, it’s a little complicated for me. I mean there’s noodle to boil meaty stuff to combine, and cheese to spread. It was kind of a lot of work. Not that it didn’t taste great or anything. It was pretty awesome. However, I had a few problems…
First- I didn’t have a pot big enough to cook the noodles in, so I broke them in half and cooked them that way. Have you ever seen those no boil lasagna noodles? I probably should have used those, but they kinda weird me out. That might make me sound a bit strange, huh?
Then there’s the whole time issue. It just took me a bit longer to prepare then I like to spend.
Finally, unless you’re feeding an army, this is waaaaaay too much food! I ended up putting half of it in the freezer. Hopefully it’ll be just as good reheated.
Overall it got 2 thumbs up. Hubs ate seconds.
Week 44- Garlic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower
Alright. I have a confession. I didn’t plan on making anything new this week. I had no freaking idea what I wanted to make. I looked through blogs and my cook books all week and not one single thing jumped out at me.
so, sad with the knowledge of my failure to think of something “new” I went to the grocery store for my weekly shopping. Then… it happened. Cauliflower was on sale AND I just happen to remember glancing at a roasted cauliflower recipe on Picky Palate.
I reduced the amount of oil and salt (I used table salt instead of kosher). I also added the parmesan. ‘Cause what goes better with garlic than parmesan? Nothing.
My head of cauliflower was pretty small so I only ended up cooking it for 15 minutes before I turned the broiler on. The open flame of the broiler totally freaked me out! Is that silly? I’m still getting used to using a gas oven…
This got 2 thumbs up. Between the two of us we ate Every. Last. Piece. I get the feeling that I’ll be making this a lot.
That’s all for my New To Me Cooking Challenge for October.
Happy Making!
-Hey Waitress!!
I made chocolate roll out cookies this Sunday. And I was super duper excited. I have these cute Bat and Cat cookie cutter I got on sale at Michael’s a while ago, and I REALLY wanted to use them.
I frosted them with a dark chocolate and Grand Marnier frosting, but I didn’t like the way it tasted. Also it didn’t spread well, and looks kinda ugly, so I didn’t include the recipe.
The cookie is delish, the frosting… not so much.
As I was eating one (or 2, or 3) I realized that this would make the perfect homemade Oreo! Now, I’m all excited to try homemade Oreo cookies!
So… because I’m unable to do something “simple” I made my favorite sugar cookies too. Sadly, I’m still not a decorator.
Oh well, I’m going to sneak some of the candy that I’m supposed to be saving for the costumed kids on Thursday… and another cookie.
Happy Halloween!
Happy Baking!
-Hey Waitress!!
Heeeey! So I just realized that I haven’t posted recipes for the past 2 weeks. I’m so excited because the holiday season is here (kind of), and I have weeks and weeks of excuses to bake excessively! YAY!
Last week I attempted to decorate some cute Mummy, Bat, and Ghost cupcakes. Sadly… I didn’t take any “How To” pictures so I didn’t post them. But I’m making more next week so I’ll take some pictures and post them (hopefully)
This Sunday I wanted to make cute tombstone brownies… they were going to be little fondant tombstones, and grass, with Oreo crumbs for dirt”.
It didn’t happen. Last minute I decided to add some cut up candy bars to my favorite brownie batter. Unfortunately, those chunks all melted, and my brownies caved in. Bastards.
So… fastforward to Monday morning. I have a pile of brownies and a pantry full of baking supplies. Lucky for me, in that pantry I happen to have a can of frosting, Halloween Oreos, and a plethora of funsized candy bars. An idea was born! Truffles!
I crumbled up the brownies then added about ¾ of the frosting, chunks of 16 candy bars, and crushed Oreos. Then I shaped them into balls. Then I chilled them for an hour and dipped half in (melted) white candy melts, and half in (melted) milk chocolate. I added some Halloween candies that I bought on sale at Michaels, and wrapped some gummy worms around a few.
I win!
They came out awesome! It wasn’t what I really wanted, but they’re def yummy! It’s totally possible these might happen again.
Happy Baking!
-Hey Waitress!!
Oh. Em. Gee. Really, that’s all I can say.
I adapted this recipe from SmittenKitchen’s homemade PopTart recipe.
I used a round biscuit cutter because I couldn’t get the dough to roll out into a rectangle. I’m a little challenged when it comes to dough rolling. I also added the (Empire variety) apple slices and reduced the amount of filling.
I didn’t get my edges sealed quite enough on some of the pies, so the filling leaked out a little. I also didn’t make the holes big enough, so my pies got a little more puffy then I wanted.
I’m not sure how long I actually baked these for, because I forgot to write it down. I think it was closer to the 15 minute mark.
Other than those few small things… these are so yummy! They’re also going to be the last apple recipe for the year, I’m all apple-ed out. 😉
Happy Baking!
-Hey Waitress!!
Click here to make THIS recipe!
Unremarkable 