Momma's Christmas Wish List

Since I'm doing so much more baking, cooking and experimenting here's what would make my life easier. 

Dear Santa::

I've been a good girl this year and I'm requesting a stand mixer (red would be cool but I'm not picky),

a family size food processor

cake decorating tips, 

 

yup, a book.  Even with the age of the internet and book readers...  I'd like a book.

 

 

a cake decorating stand (sure would make things easier)

 

and a dutch oven

 

Recipe-Honey Pork Chops

  Copied and pasted from a friend's facebook.  Don't know where her original recipe came from.

 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 1 tablespoon glaze)

Ingredients: (I've been doubling everything but the meat, lately)

¼ cup honey
 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
 ½  teaspoon ground ginger
 ¼  teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1/8  teaspoon ground cloves
 Cooking spray
4-(4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about ½ inch thick)
 ½ teaspoon salt
 ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

-Preparation:Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl.
-Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned.(This is what I do different from the recipe.  After the chops are browned, I remove them from the pan, add sliced onions and saute them till they are really soft, then continue with the rest of the recipe)   Reduce heat to medium-low; add honey mixture. Cook 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once.

Menu-September 22

Honey Pork Chops/stuffing/baby carrots (from a friend's FB page.  Follow the jump to her recipe)
Chicken Enchilladas/Spanish Rice and red beans (Jimmy's recipe, will post when I find it-remind me if you want it)
Home made tomato sauce/noodles/garlic toast/zucchini (I'll shred some zucchini and hide it in the sauce)
Buffalo Chicken Fingers/onion rings/corn (using Anchor Bar medium sauce) (Jimmy will make a coating and fry them)
Chicken Parm/noodles
Home made pizza dough/pepperoni and hot sausage (I'm not making the pizza from this recipe.  Just the dough)
-----------------------------------
Breakfast menu:
sausage, egg and cheese cups
oatmeal breakfast bars (cookies for Sonyea's sake)
Dr Seuss' Pink Yink Ink Drink

Review-Ratatouille

Tonight's dinner was Ratatouille.  I made a bunch of changes though.  I forgot the mustard.  Oops.  It wasn't "soupy" enough for me so I added a beef cube with 4 cups of water.  I didn't want it too "beefy" tasting.  I needed to use or throw out a pound of hamburger so I browned that up and tossed it into the pot. 

I used the entire eggplant because I didn't want to throw half of it out.  I used 2 zucchini because I had to use it or throw it out.  I used a can of petite diced tomatoes because I remember the last time I followed the recipe there wasn't enough for my liking.  When I cooked the zucchini I put in 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar because I had it.  Didn't really add anything to the recipe that I noticed though.

I think this turned out to be more like veggie soup.  Sonyea ate half a bowl without too much trouble and Zia didn't touch it.  (I wonder if it's teeth again? She hardly touched her lunch.)

There's a million and 2 recipes on the web for ratatouille.  Go find one that works for you and your family and try it.  I picked this one because it's so super easy.  You can't taste the difference between the zucchini and the eggplant.  I will make this again. 

Review-Double Chocolate Mint Brownies

I found these by accident and finally got to make them today.   I had Sonyea help me.  She's so good at cracking the eggs into a bowl so I can fish out the shells.  I got smart by having her do them into a different bowl after trying to fish shells out of a white cake mix once.  Of course, our favorite part about baking is licking the spoons and the bowls.  You should have seen the chocolate mustache and beard she had. 

After our evening out we finally got around to making the frosting so we could eat it.  I don't know what I did wrong but I mixed the ingredients together for the mint layer and it was not a frosting at all, it was still powdery.  I added about a tablespoon of water and mixed.  It was better, then I added a tablespoon or so of milk and it was perfect.  Oh and I accidentally used a full teaspoon of mint extract instead of 1/2.  Jimmy and I and Zia really really really liked it.  Sonyea didn't much care for the frosting though.  OH and I used a ton of food coloring instead of 3-4 drops.  I like my colors to be vibrant and out there! 

Layered them out and poured on the milk chocolate chips (I didn't buy the minis though) and shared some with the girls.   

Review-Lemon Pepper chicken

So it turns out the Lemon Pepper chicken seasoning I had was old and clumpy and I didn't want to use it.  So I made my own.   Cut the chicken up into large chunks and marinaded it in some olive oil (just poured some on), lemon juice from the bottle and sprinkled pepper onto it.  I was afraid it was going to be too much lemon juice and too much pepper.  Jimmy cooked it all up and the girls scarfed it down, ate every last piece.  I thought it was kinda bland.  Tried my hand at some home made dinner rolls and they were kinda bland and heavy so I'm going to try a different recipe.  Pioneer Woman's this time.  Also added some corn and mac-n-cheese.  This dinner was a huge hit with the girls probably because it was simple and not too different.   Here's where I got the idea for this dinner.

Review-Slow Cooker Applesauce Chicken

All I have to say is Oh So Easy and Oh So YummY!!!!!  I really really loved this!!  I wish I had made more.  I want more.  The only problem with this recipe is that it's like eating Chinese Food.  You are hungry an hour later.  Zia ate a little bit of rice, Sonyea tasted two bites and spit them out.  Jimmy said "it's alright."  I loved it.  I hate applesauce!!  I hate the texture alone but when you added it to this oh, yummo!

When I made the rice, I used 1.5 cups applejuice and 0.5 cup water.  Gave the white rice a nice flavor.  I did not make it with squash, I opened a can of baby carrots and stuck it in the crockpot because Sonyea says she loves carrots.  She didn't touch them.  I don't know what to do with this kid lately.