Staying in on a snowy Sunday

We are in the middle of a mini snow storm.  It’s cold, windy and snowy out.  Yesterday I ran errands and got a few things for the week.  I am not a big fan of grocery shopping, so I tend to only really go on a big shopping trip every 2-3 months.  When I do that, I stock up.  And I mean stock up.  I spend about $400 to stock up my pantry and freezer and pick up fresh items every week or other week.

So, yesterday I needed to get some stuff for a potluck at work this week (I am making crock pot lasagna…more on that this week) and some items for this week.  I wanted to make some queso so needed a few things.

After I got home, what I had in mind for dinner quickly went out the window, and I ended up making one of my favorite salads.  It’s a version of Cabbage Crunch Salad–and it was so yummy.

I know it’s not a great picture but here’s how you make it:

cabbage–sometimes I use broccoli-slaw (precut)

1 carrot, grated

1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped

craisons

slivered almonds

uncooked ramon noodles, broken up

The dressing is:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 packet of chicken ramon noodle flavoring

Today, I made some homemade refried beans (you can find the recipe by clicking here), and some queso dip.  The queso is super easy…just take a block of velveeta cheese, a can of rotel, and some browned ground beef and mix it in a crock pot.  Let it melt together and it’s perfect for a dip or for a snack or for dinner.

So that’s what I did today.  Check out the blog later this week for crock pot lasagna!

Keep Simply Delighting!

 

Simple Sundays!

I love Sundays.  It truly is my favorite day of the week.  Worship, family time, football, afternoon naps, time to do whatever you please…that’s what Sundays are for.

Today, among doing other things, I spent my Sunday doing several loads of laundry, running to the store, cutting some fabric (see tomorrow’s post), and making homemade vegetable soup for this week’s main meal.  It’s not what we had for dinner tonight, but it’s what’s for lunch and dinner at least a couple days this week.

I forgot to take a picture of the soup, sorry.

I had lots and lots of frozen vegetables from my parents’ garden and my brother’s garden.  Also, I had several bags of frozen vegetables that I wanted to use up that were taking precious space in my freezer.   So…here’s the recipe:

Homemade Veggie Soup

3 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes (I put my kitchen shears inside the open can and chop them up more)

2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce

1 10,75 oz can of tomato soup

1 lb of ground sirloin, browned

2 cups frozen corn

2 cups frozen (or fresh) chopped carrots

2 cups of green beans

I also added 2 2/3 cups of frozen mixed veggies and 2 cups of frozen green beans I had just hanging out in the freezer open.

Various spices, such as Italian seasoning, minced onion, garlic powder and salt and pepper.

You can also add a couple peeled, diced potatoes, but I just forgot.

Keep Simply Delighting!

Vegetable Pizza

This recipe is great for hot summer days that call for a refreshing, light healthy snack or dinner.  It is also great to take to a party or family picnic.

To make the crust:

Mix 1 package of active dry yeast, 1 1/4 cups of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 cup of warm water (110-115 degrees) with an electric mixer to combine well.  Continue to add 2 cups of flour at small increments until you can no longer beat with an electric mixer (for me, I added about 3/4 cup of flour until my mixer could no longer do it).

Spread remaining flour on clean surface and turn dough out on surface to knead.  As you knead, try to incorporate as much of the remaining flour as possible.  Knead about 6-8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Form dough into a ball, cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Spread dough out on a greased pan.  Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 30-45 minutes.  After it has doubled, bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

If you don’t have the time to make your own crust, you can use the ready-made pizza crusts or a package of crescent rolls that are found in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.  If using crescent rolls, roll them out flat and piece the dough together to create one piece of dough.

While the dough is baking, prepare the veggies to top the pizza.

I used julianned carrots, and simply snipped them into small pieces with my kitchen shears until I had 1 1/2 cups.

Next, finely dice 1 green pepper and 1 cup of mushrooms.

Finely dice 1/2 of an English cucumber and quarter 8-10 grape tomatoes. 

After the crust cools, spread a pint of dill dip or ranch dip over the crust. 

Mix the chopped veggies together and spread over the entire pizza.

Top with your favorite cheese–cojack, cheddar or mozzarella.  Keep chilled. 

So good!

Bacon Wrapped Pork Medallions

Dinner tonight was bacon wrapped pork mediallions, roasted asparagus and a garden salad.  Too bad you couldn’t make it over to eat.  Enjoy! 

The garden salad.  I always make a big bowl of salad and keep in a Tupperware bowl.  I love salad, and this way, I don’t have to make it night after night, and it’s quick and healthy and filling when I am pressed for time!  It has romaine lettuce, button mushrooms, an english cucumber, green pepper, grape tomatoes, and colby jack cheese. 

Asparagus.  I keep my raw asparagus in this cool Tupperware container (no I am not obsessed with Tupperware) that helps keep it crisp.  I always trim the woody stalks off the ends.   

The ends of the asparagus that can be frozen and used for soup (such as cream of asparagus). 

To roast the asparagus, I sprayed it with cooking spray and added salt and pepper, and gave it a toss with tongs.  Olive oil could be used instead of the cooking spray.  You can roast any veggie by doing this. 

The bacon wrapped pork medallions.  I bought these from my meat market already marinated.  They are 6 oz medallions, each were $1.99.  All they are in a piece of pork tenderloin wrapped in two strips of bacon.  You could make them at home, but after it’s all said and done, probably not for $1.99 each.

I baked both the medallions and asparagus at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

It was amazingly good!  I also reheated in the microwave the left over potatoes and carrots from the night I made pot roast.  Like I always say, waste not, want not!

Easy Pot Roast

This is an easy, quick dinner that can be put in the crock pot.  It doesn’t need a lot of babysitting–allowing for other projects (or a nap)!

I purchased a top sirloin roast from my local meat market; it was about 2 1/2 lbs.  When I got home, I cut the roast in half with my kitchen shears to create two meals (I cook for one person most of the time).  I put the frozen roast, right out of the freezer into the crock pot, added a packet of dry onion soup mix, pepper and a pinch of salt (not a lot because the onion mix can be salty) and about 1 cup of water.  It cooked on high for about 3 hours.

This is what it looked like after 3 hours.

I added 4 potatoes…I leave the skin on and just cut them in big hunks.

I also added baby carrots and about 6 or 7 button mushrooms that I quartered.

Add the potatoes, carrots and mushrooms and cook on high for about 60-90 minutes.

Yum!

Potatoes, carrots and mushrooms…more yum!

Another bonus is 2 cups of beef broth that can be frozen and used for a future meal!