Homemade Pie Crust

I have a new mission in life, make as much as I can from scratch and teach my daughter how to cook the same way. I know so many things are so easy to run to the store and buy, but why when I can make it and I know exactly what is in it.

Today I made pie crust dough from scratch, I have done it before but forgotten how.

We are going to the Tobacco Festival on Saturday and I need to take a dessert so I wanted to make mini pop-able pie for people to enjoy. Today, I used the recipe I found on Martha Stewart's website to make my crust. It was so simple. I used my Kitchen Aide Mixer instead of a food Processor.

I cut my dough for the mini pie crust using a biscuit cutter and placed them in mini muffin cups. I baked them on 350 for about 5 mins. Tomorrow I am going to fill them with fudge pie filling. I am super excited about this and can't wait to taste test.

Chicken Rotini

My husband named tonights dinner. I just make it and he names, is the deal.

Tonight we had rotini noodles topped with chicken, diced tomatoes, and cheese. So easy to make.

I took my thawed chicken breast and browned them in olive oil (20 minutes), during the last 3 minutes I placed a few pieces of green pepper( my husbands grandmother gave me ajar of diced green peppers from her garden.), and minced onion to cook up a little. When that was finished I poured a can of diced tomatoes onto of my chicken, peppers and onions, then I seasoned with basil, 1 bay leaf, and oregano, and a dash of salt. I allowed it to simmer on low for about 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile while this was cooking, I cooked the rotini noodles, at the end of them cooking before draining a topped with a little butter for flavor.

When all was done I placed the noodles in shallow bowl with a piece of chicken on top with the tomatoes. We put a little shredded cheese on top to finish it off.

My husband really liked this dinner because a little after dinner he came through the house saying, "Dinner was great, I want that again" Rating, "DO AGAINER"

Lasagna..well, almost

My husband has been asking for me to make Lasagna for sometime. Finally, decided last night would be the night to please his taste buds and make his dreams come true. Well, I spoke to soon when I talked to him early in the day telling him what he was having for dinner. I didn't have everything I needed like I thought I did. Oh well, I made DO!!

Here is how I made this ALMOST LASAGNA!!!

FIrst, soak your Lasagna noodles for about 20 minutes or so...I did them in the pyrex dish I was going to cook in and for the time it took me to brown the meat.

Brown a pound of ground beef

In a mixing bowl place a can of Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, and a few spices...Basil..etc.. Currently, we are having to leave out onion in foods since I am breastfeeding sweet Lola!

Place a layer of noodles on the bottom of pyrex dish (make sure you have removed the water)

Here's where I messed up by speaking to soon. I would have placed a layer of cottage cheese but since I didn't have any I used Sour Cream.

On top of the sour cream pour some of the tomato mixture, some of the meat and then place some cheese.

Continue the layers till there is no more.

I baked on 385 for 45 mins. It was so crisp and golden when I took it out the oven.

I was a little nervous about sharing it with my husband but his rating was "do againer". Our friend Katherine was over and she said she loved it. Wahoo, I can make a meal when I don't have all the needed ingredients!

So here are the ingredients

Lasagna noodles

Ground Beef

Diced Tomatoes

Tomato Sauce

Spices

Sour Cream

Cheese

Bake at 385 for 45 mins

All time favorite...Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight I decided to take a break from being creative and I made Breakfast for Dinner...

I like to make all my foods from scratch so I started by making my biscuit dough this morning so it would be firm and need less flour this evening for the biscuits. They turned out so good, just like Nanny used to make for me when I was a kid.

I know my husband likes gravy so I called my mom and ask for a recipe. So simple to make and I will be making it for sure again.

So for dinner tonight we had biscuits, gravy, bacon and sausage. Very yummy and easy to make.

Chicken Cordon....

A few nights ago I decided I wanted to spice up our Chicken and make something interesting with it and something my husband had never had (or so I hoped). I really like bacon, chicken and ham and figured I could combine all them into a meal. Here is what I created and how I made it. (I need to start taking pictures of these meals)

5 pieces of Chicken Breast thawed

Deli Ham

Strips of Bacon

Cream of Chicken soup

Cheese

I placed my chicken on a plastic cutting board, put ham on top of each one, placed shredded cheese on each one, rolled my chicken up and wrapped bacon around it. I put the chicken in a medium size pyrex baking dish.

I placed Cream of Chicken soup onto of it all. I did this so they would not dry out but after talking to my mom she said I could have left this out.

Bake on 400 for 30-45 minutes.

My husband's rating on this..Do Againer! Success!!

This was one of the yummiest meals we have ever had. I can't wait to make it again.

Tater Tot Casserole

I saw a picture of a Tater Tot Casserole the other day and thought that would be a great dinner to try. Today I went on the search for a recipe to use in my new dinner adventure. I found several but I am not one to follow a recipe unless I am making a pie, cake, brownies......

So here is what I put in my casserole and how I made it.

1 lb of ground beef

1/2 bag of Tater Tots

1 Can of Cream of Chicken

Ketchup ( to taste)

Worcestershire (not to much, but to taste)

Shredded Cheese

Brown the beef and drain

In a large bowl place the Cream of Chicken soup, Ketchup, Worcestershire, and beef. Mix all together, lastly add Tater Tots and mix.

Place in oven for 30 minutes at 350.

5 minutes before removing place cheese on top so it will melt.

My husband said this a "do againer" His way of telling me he really liked the meal.