This past week has been one of those crazy ones, so finding the time to sit down and blog has been a challenge! So, to make sure I found time today, I am blogging before breakfast. You know how food supposedly stimulates the brain? Yeah, this could be an interesting entry.
There’s only ten days left in my name contest, so keep on submitting names! You can enter as many times as you want to! I’ll announce the winner on Friday, August 14.
Because things have been so crazy lately, I’ll confess that I haven’t been a good wife in the area of Dinner Prep. The last three nights we’ve had frozen pizza, frozen taquitos and mini corn dogs. And while all of those choices are super healthy (especially when combined with the desserts of choice: Nutter Butters and Oreos), I’m feeling like maybe I should try cooking tonight.
My mother tried to warn me about this part of marriage, but I don’t think I paid enough attention to it. I love to cook, so before we got married, I thought coming up with an idea for dinner every night would be fun. And it was fun. For about the first 100 meals.
Now we’re reaching close to around 500 meals and Mom, I apologize. You were right. It is exhausting coming up with something to eat every night! Not even counting then having to go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients and make it. And I only have one other person to cook for! Moms have become my heroes.
So, I’m going to start racking my brain for dinner ideas. If you guys have some, please leave a comment! 🙂
In an attempt to keep things fair, I’m going to post one of my favorite chocolate recipes since I posted a lemon recipe last time. 🙂 This is Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread and oh. my. gosh. It is the bestest bread on the planet! I’ve been known to eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. It’s that amazing.
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
2 cups canned pumpkin (16 oz.)
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking power
2 tsp. baking soda
Mix wet ingredients, then add dry ingredients. Stir well. Mix in 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).
Let it cool before removing it from the pan. When you do remove it, empty loaf on a wire rack to cool more. And even though it’s hard, try to not cut into it until it’s cool (I never last this long). It does cut better when it’s cooler though. If you don’t mind a mess, I say, dig in!
Okay, now I’m seeing that not eating breakfast has prompted this blog toward food thoughts… 🙂
If you like chicken, try this:
Put 1.5-2lbs chicken breast in crock pot, season with s&p. Mix together 1 can cr.of mushroom soup & 1 cup chicken broth (I just use bouillon), pour over the top of chicken. Cook for 6-8hrs on Low or 4hrs on High. That's the really simple version, it's even better with 8oz sliced mushrooms mixed in with the soup, and mix in some sour cream in the last 1/2hr. Goes great with mashed potato or rice. I know it seems like a lot for 2, but it is great leftovers, or the next nights meal. 😉
Oh, and that Pumpkin Bread – one of my all time favorite recipes! Not sure I've had any complaints when I've made it, and yeah, I eat it all day when it's made too. 🙂
i've always loved when my mom would buy ribs from safeway or another store and just cook them, it's easy and delicious!
I love that you're posting recipes! Both of those sound great!! And they're unique.. not something that everyone will end up bringing to a summer barbeque!
My family loves tex-mex. It is super easy to switch up ingredients (that you might already have on hand!) to make a great casserole!
Start with taco-seasoned chicken or beef. Add any combination of green pepper, olives, corn, canned tomatoes, salsa, black beans, refried beans… there are so many options!!!
You can layer your ingredients with flour (or soft corn) tortillas, or you could put fritos over the top. Another option is to unroll a tube of crescent rolls and bake that on top of your casserole. Very tasty!
Even though it's a little bit late for this now, I thought you still might want this recipe:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/252/Crescent_Taco_Pie20884.shtml
Just paste the link into your URL engine, and it's right there.
It's a really yummy taco pie!
YOUR BIGGEST FAN EVER,
Sarah, from NC
Hey girl!
Don't kick yourself too hard for not preparing a meal every night. After 2 years of marriage myself, I've definately felt that way too!! I think these first few years are hard in that area since you haven't established a set routine of things you like to cook; we're still in that experiment period I guess. But some things I've found super helpful are the internet for sure. Sometimes all I do is type in an ingredient I have in the house and need to use up and I have found some pretty amazing dinners. Also, I read recepie blogs a lot to get quick and easy dinner ideas. You can check out some of my past blog posts for some good recepies too: http://www.awaitingthegreatercity.blogspot.com
And a favorite of my husband's is to have chicken brests in the house and just try new marinades every time we have chicken that way you can mix up your side dishes to go with the marinade flavor and it doesn't seem like you've had chicken once a week. 😀 Last night we did Buffalo marinade with our chicken (grilled), fresh cut green beans from the garden, and rolls.
Anyway, just wanted to send a note of encouragement. We're in this together! 😀
In Christ,
Christina
Erynn,
Hey there – I just finished your first two Lauren books and have ordered the third one to consume. Your books make me happy and smile – such perfect reading to accompany a wonderful summer. It's a kick finding your blog and recognizing your look at real life matches so much of Lauren's in the book (which I know you eluded to).
Loved the confession about going for the lemon bars vs. the chocolate – that just made my twin sister (visiting today) and I laugh out loud.
Thanks for the smiles…….you are a great writer!
God Bless,
Stephanie
Do you have a grill? I have a super-tasty, easy and quick recipe for grilled porkchops.
Peachy Mustard Pork Chops
ingredients:
4 pork chops (boneless or bone-in, doesn't matter)
1/4 cup peach preserves
1/3 cup honey mustard
2 Tbsp lemon juice
directions:
Wisk together preserves, mustard, and lemon juice until combined. Set your grill to medium-hot and brush the surface with a little oil (I use a folded up paper towel dipped in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and rub using tongs). Sear one side of the chops, then turn over and baste with the glaze. Repeat, basting a total of 2-3 times per side. Cook until just done, about 8-10 minutes for a 3/4" thick chop.
Discard any leftover basting sauce.
I made this last week for the first time and it turned out delicious! Moist, tangy with just the right amount of sweetness. Hope you enjoy it!
And thanks so much for the pumpkin bread recipe! I love pumpkin bread, but I'd never thought to add chocolate chips. I'm definitely going to try it out!
Keep writing, Erynn! :o)
mmm, that sounds delicious!! one really quick, super easy kind of cookies my mom and i enjoy making are reeses chocolate chip cookies. you need a muffin pan, chocolate chip cookie dough, and mini reeses cups. you can make the chocolate chip cookies by hand, or you can buy the pilsbury nuggets, and you place one nugget in each muffin "hole" in the pan. you cook the cookies like normal, and then within a few minutes of taking them out of the oven, you push the reeses peanut butter cup in the middle! the end product is a delicious chocolate chip cookie surrounding a melty peanut butter cup. glorious!
Glad to know you were listening… 🙂
Don't feel bad at all about easy, simple meals. I'm sure if you think hard enough you'll remember tons and tons of times growing up when I chose easy instead of nutritious. Jon's a happy camper and will eat most anything. You are a lucky girl.
I'm a proud Momma…you are a great wife!
I love you!
Mom
So I don't have a recipe to share, but I have a great idea. Do 30 meals. My mother in law did this for when Kyle was born and it's been great! Pick a weekend get a friend and plan out your meals for the month. You can do like 4 of each thing because you might not want lasagna twice in a week but a few times a month works. Do everything that is freezable then all you have to worry about getting fresh is the sides like salad or something for that week. It's awesome!
Also, just wanted to share that allrecipes.com is a wonderful resource for finding new ideas for meals or baked goods!