Everyday Food for Busy People
I don’t often make my own jams and jellies, but I do like to use them in recipes. They’re a quick and easy way to bring fruit flavor to baked goods.
I like to use them in salad dressings too. My favorite packed lunch is salad with a simple vinaigrette dressing made with strawberry or raspberry jam.
Here are a few of my recipes using jam and jelly: [Read more...]
Caramel and pineapple are a surprisingly good combination. The tropical sweetness of the pineapple balances the sugary goodness of the caramel.
This dessert was served to us at a gathering a few months ago. There are only two ingredients and it involves a bit of dangerous cooking.
It takes 3-4 hours of boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk to turn it into caramel. But you must make sure that the can stays completely submerged during the boiling time or you risk the can exploding. Sugary sweet magic happens during all that boiling. When you open the can, it’s full of marvelous caramel!
Chill the caramel and then you can slice it. The slices are wonderful on top of pineapple rings.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
If you print the menu today (or even if you don’t), I’d love for you to leave a comment. I’m curious how often you use the menus or if this is your first time printing one, etc.
Every week, the menu gets downloaded a couple hundred times. I’m just curious who’s doing the downloading 
This week’s menu is below. If you make the Zesty Chicken in the slow cooker before the Mandarin Chicken Rice Bake, you’ll have chicken to use for that casserole.
As always, you get 6 dinners and 1 dessert. Serving suggestions are included in bold on the recipes and in curly brackets on the grocery list.
Grilled Fish Sandwiches with Homemade Tartar Sauce, Ranch Veggie Salad, french fries
Italian Sausage Enchiladas, salad, chips and salsa
Loaded Baked Potatoes with Homemade Cheese Sauce, salad
Italian Chicken Melts, Pasta Soup, salad
Mandarin Chicken Rice Bake, steamed green veggie
Zesty Chicken in the Slow Cooker with couscous, steamed green veggie
Animal crackers and English Breakfast tea with International Delight Southern Pecan creamer has been my snack of choice this week. We’ve been talking about favorite snacks in the Coffee Talk community. Pop over and join us!
Lots of sunshine goodness was shared in this week’s Ingredient Spotlight: Oranges & Orange Juice. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Blueberry Orange Bread from Hoosier Homemade sounds like a perfect snack with coffee or tea.
These orange bbq chicken kabobs sound like a marvelous way to chase the winter blues, from The Sweets Life.
Cranberry Orange Snack Mix would make a yummy munch with coffee or tea, from Grandma Loy’s Kitchen.
Good for you Orange Creamsicle Smoothie from The Better Baker is a snack with no guilt. She’s got some weight loss tips listed in that post too.
Cranberry Orange Scones? Yes, please! From The Galley Kitchen
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Disclosure: I am compensated for my role as Community Leader for the International Delight Coffee Talk Community.
Ziploc Brand has a new promotion going on called The Great American FreshOver Project. They are also giving one of my readers a prize pack that includes assorted Ziploc products, cooking utensils,and Rachel Ray’ Look + Cook cookbook. The prize is worth $100!
The giveaway info, including how to enter is near the bottom of this post. First, here’s how you can get started on The Great American FreshOver Project:
Best of all, by participating in this program, you can help others! As a part of the FreshOver mission, Ziploc Brand will be donating to Rachael Ray’s non-profit organization – Yum-O! Fans can support the cause by “pledging” to start their families FreshOver project and download Rachael’s exclusive FreshOver Recipe Guide on Facebook.com/Ziploc.
To enter the giveaway:
Just leave a comment here telling me the last thing you used a Ziploc bag for.
Winners will be chosen Monday at 9am and announced on the Eat at Home Facebook page.
Have a cut of beef in your freezer that you need to fix for dinner? Not in the mood for a recipe? No problem!
Here are some ideas to get you started. No recipe required.
These ideas are for roasts or other cuts. If you’ve got a nice steak, you’ll want to choose a different cooking method.
All of these ideas can be done in the oven or slow cooker. The cooking time will depend on the cut of beef and how large the piece is. As a general rule, beef roast or a round steak weighing about 2-3 lbs. will take 6-7 hours on high in the slow cooker.
Before we get to the main point of today’s Ingredient Spotlight, we need to pause for a geeky food blogger moment. If you’ve got no interest in cameras, lenses and don’t want to hear what happens when a camera gets dropped on a tile floor, keep scrolling for the recipe links.
On Monday, one of my children, who shall remain nameless, accidentally knocked my camera off the counter and onto the tile floor. I was upstairs when it happened. Jim came up and told me about the incident, but he thought the camera was fine since it still took pictures.
Problem was, that the lens would not focus or zoom. At all. [Read more...]
Sometimes, when I sit down to write up a recipe post, I can’t find anything to say. This is one of those times.
Because, really, the beauty of this sandwich is that it’s so simple.
Grilled fish that cooks up quick on a George Foreman or other indoor grill.
Cajun seasoning kicks the flavor up a notch or three.
Homemade tartar sauce that is just mayo with a little sweet relish stirred in.
Put it on a bun, serve it with fries and carrot sticks or salad. It’s a little out of the ordinary, but casual and easy enough for a weeknight supper.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
You may have noticed that I’ve started using a different formatting for my recipes, including a way to save and print recipes. I’ve teamed up with Ziplist to add this feature.
Now you can save my recipes (and recipes from all over the web) to an online recipe box. You can even create a shopping list using Ziplist.
I’m still working to format all of my recipes for Ziplist. You may notice some of the older recipes haven’t been added yet. If you find one you really want to save, let me know and I’ll pop over and format it.
Now for the menu this week. As always, you get 6 dinners and 1 dessert. Serving suggestions are included in bold on the recipes and in curly brackets {} on the grocery list.
Here’s what’s on the menu this week:
Maple Apple Chicken in the Slow Cooker, baked sweet potatoes, favorite veggie
Bramble Beans, cornbread, salad
Broccoli Soup, Cheddar Muffins, salad
Ravioli with Pesto, Red Peppers and Grilled Chicken, salad
Tony’s Tilapia, steamed brown rice, favorite veggie
Cottage Pie, favorite veggie, rolls
This menu is part of Menu Plan Monday at The Organizing Junkie.
Jim gave me an iPhone for my birthday in September and I love it. He likes to make fun of me for buying apps. He’s never paid for an app in all the time he’s had his phone.
I have paid for quite a few. In my defense, they’ve all been cheap and I’ve used gift card money for them. And some of my most loved apps are free.
Here are 6 of my favorite apps:
Kindle - My favoritist app of all! It’s fantastic to always have my books with me. I’ve been able to read so much more since getting my Kindle and the app allows me to turn those unexpected waiting times into reading times. Perfect!
Cuptakes – See that cute background I have set as my lock screen? It’s part of the Cuptakes app. 99 cents of fun! They update each month with more backgrounds for the lock screen and home screen. I change it out every few days to give my phone a new look. *happiness*
Living Earth – A beautiful weather app with a world clock and forecasts for cities all over the world.
Craigslist – So much nicer and easier than browsing craigslist online. You can see the photo of the item, along with the description instead of having to click to see the photo. And you can email sellers from inside the app. Handy.
Hipstamatic – This camera app is so much fun. It’s also the app I’ve spent the most money on. $1.99 gets you started with several lenses, films and flashes. But there are more available and I’ve given in and purchased several times. Fun stuff!
1000 Gifts – This free app goes along with Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts. I’m only part way through the book, but it is excellent. The app is a way to collect and record your own 1000 gifts. 1000 things in your life to be thankful for.
Meagan has something to be thankful for! She winner of the eBook, Plan a Fabulous Party!
Here’s Meagan’s comment:
i am always throwing a party for something and loving every minute of it. i would love to be more organized!!! To save my sanity, I need this book!
Congratulations to Meagan!
You can still get the book for 1/2 price (just $2.50!) by using the code SUPERFABPARTY. The discount code is good through Jan. 22.
Connect