Stack-ups

Stack-ups

1 can of refried beans, or make your own about 2 cups
4 Flour tortillas
1 can of green chiles, chopped or one bunch of green onions, chopped (both are optional, for my kids I leave it out)
1-2 cups of grated cheddar
Spray a 9" cake pan with Pam.  Spread refried beans on one tortilla.  Top with at least a 1/3 cup of cheese, 1/3 of the green onions or chiles if using.  Repeat two more times.  Top with plain tortilla.
Bake in oven at 400 degrees, until golden brown on top, tortilla should be crisp.  Turn upside down on a cutting board, cut in six pieces like pie.  Serve with Salsa, Guacomole, and Tortilla Chips.
This is a really quick meal.  Make as many as you need to feed your family.  One pan feeds  two people around here, usually.  You can also leave the beans out and just do cheese if you like.  Jerry and I like fresh tomatoes from the garden sliced and on them.  Make them your own.

How to make your own refried beans... Take about 2 cups of cooked and seasoned pintos.  Heat, mashing with a potato masher occasionally.  Add a sprinkle of garlic salt and chili powder.  Stir.  Cook until hot and semi-smashed.

What's for Breakfast?

Sausage Cheese Muffins

2 cups flour, 1/2 of it whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp Baking Powder
6 Tbsp Butter
1/2 lb. sausage, crumbled, browned, and drained
1 cup grated cheese, (we use cheddar)
1 3/4 -2 cups milk
Spray muffin tins with Pam or grease lightly.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together the dry ingredients.  With a pastry blender or fork add butter.  Chop butter in small slices before adding to make it easier to mix.  Butter should be chilled.  When it is crumbly, add the sausage and cheese.  Mix well.  Add the milk.  Mix only until combined.  The mixture should be gloppy, but not runny.  Fill muffin tins half full.  Any empty tins (unfilled in the tray, because you ran out of dough)  fill halfway with water.  This makes them bake evenly.  Don't over mix after adding the milk.  Over mixing makes the muffins tough.  Bake until golden brown on top.  Delicious!  Makes approximately 18 muffins.

Ranch Style Chicken, Rosemary Oven roasted Potatoes, Vermont Cheddar Bread and Broccoli

Yum!  Although I will make a few changes to the recipes in this menu the next time I fix them.  They were all good.  They require a little planning ahead, which is not my normal way of fixing everyday meals.  As we go along I will tell you what I would do different.  I encourage you to make changes to suit your families tastes.
Ranch Style Chicken:  To fix this in an hour or so you need to do part of it the night before.
The recipe is from Pioneer Woman Cooks (find it here:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/01/ranch-style-chicken/ )  Thaw your chicken and fix the marinade, pound the chicken to the thinness described in the recipe, place in the marinade, refrigerate, overnight.  (Now, what I did was follow the recipe, plus added a clove of minced garlic.  I would marinate it longer, overnight and add more garlic when fixing it again.  Also I think a little more crushed red pepper)  The next day when ready to cook, follow the directions given.  Cook your bacon in the oven.  (Next time I will crumble the bacon and add a little more cheese.  Be sure to use Sharp or Super Sharp Cheese.  Why?  The presentation is nice if you follow the instructions, but it is hard to eat.  If the bacon were crumbled on top of the chicken then you could easily spread the cheese on without it falling off and it would be easier to cut.  The cheese, it really needs the Super sharpness of the cheese.)
Rosemary Oven Roasted Potatoes:  This is my recipe, however it needs some work.  Let's get started with what I did.  Peel and cut up several potatoes in approximately one inch cubes.  Toss in olive oil, chopped fresh Rosemary, one clove of minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Place baking sheet in oven at 400 degrees and let it get hot.  Place potatoes on the baking sheet after it is good and hot and return to oven, stirring once or twice.   (Next time I will use melted butter instead of olive oil, a lot more Rosemary and garlic and more salt.  The butter will make them brown nicely.  Rosemary seems to sap the saltiness, so don't skimp on the salt.  I just flat didn't use enough garlic.)
3-4 peeled and chopped potatoes
3 Tbsps chopped Fresh Rosemary
3 cloves Garlic, minced
4-6 tbsp of melted butter
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper.
Roast in oven at 400 degrees, turning once or twice until tender and nicely browned.
The Vermont Cheddar Bread is from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" on page 106-107
Just follow the directions, mix it up the night before (it serious takes 5 minutes to mix)
Refrigerate.  Next day finish shaping the bread.  Let rise, bake as directed.
(I would add more cheese.)  To make this meal in about an hour, do the overnight things the night before (obviously, I know)

Ranch Style Chicken

Vermont Cheddar Bread

Then start the bread first.  It takes 5 minutes from you but needs time to rise, then bake.  Then do the potatoes and put in the oven.  Get the broccoli ready to put on but don't start yet.  Then start the chicken.  Don't forget to turn the Broccoli on about 10 minutes before the chicken is done.

New Year's Eve

Cake Pops!  These are so fun!  And so delicious!  Will have to try them again.
We are also having White Lightning Chili and New Year's Eve Pizza, Cheese Balls, and assorted snack type foods. 

Calamity!!

Warning:  Not intended for those on "Low Cholesterol" diets.  You have been warned!

Ingredients:
1 pound Bacon
1 large onion
8 to 12 eggs
2 to 4 potatoes or Frozen French Fries about 1/2 a bag
Grated Cheddar about 1 cup or more if you really like things cheesy
The range in ingredients is because Jerry likes more eggs, and I like more fries, onions, cheese, and other stuff, especially bacon. 

Fry 1 pound of bacon
I fry mine in the oven on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees.  It stays flat, and I don't have to turn it that way.  Wonderful.  With the way my family eats bacon, this is indeed wonderful.  They can go through 2 pounds in five minutes.  Not kidding.
Drain on paper towels and set aside.  Post a guard, or you won't have any left for the Calamity!
French Fries:  You can use frozen fries, steak fries are what the recipe originally called for.  However, at my house we do ever thing the hard way and from scratch.  But feel free to use frozen, Real potatoes and freshly fried are so much better.
Peel and slice 2 to 4 potatoes like french fries.  Fry in a cast iron skillet.
Drain on paper towels and set aside and allow to cool.
In a bowl scramble 8 to 12 eggs.  Salt and pepper.
Chop a large onion.
Place some bacon grease in a large skillet, heat it until hot.  Place french fries (even the frozen ones) and the onions in the bacon grease and cook until the onions are clear. 
Pour scrambled eggs over the onions and fries and cook until done.  Crumble bacon over the top, stir in.  Add grated cheddar and stir until melted.
Serve immediately.
Also good cooked over a campfire.

Breakfast for Supper

Menu
Waffles
Bacon
Omelettes
Fruit

First place one pound of bacon on a baking sheet, the slices can touch but not overlap.  Put it in the oven at 400 degrees.  Cook until desired doneness.  I like mine crispy, all but burned.
Now plug in your waffle iron.  Mix the waffles.
Waffles  (from Joy of Cooking)
Mix together
2 cups flour
2 tsp Double acting Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp of sugar, plus a little extra if you like them sweet
Beat well
3 eggs
Add:
7 tbsp melted butter (use real butter, not that plastic stuff)
1 1/2 - 2 cups of milk
A splash of vanilla
Mix well.
Pour into hot waffle iron.
Remove when crisp and reheat waffle iron and repeat.

Omellettes
Crack 2-3 eggs per person into a bowl.
Beat well, until frothy.  Beat, beat, beat, take out your frustrations.
Heat a skillet with a little bacon grease from the bacon.
Use a small skillet.
Pour enough eggs into the hot skillet enough to cover the pan and not too thick.
Salt and pepper.
As the eggs begin to firm and are not quite done on top, turn them over in one piece.
Add cheese, crumbled bacon or leftover ham, onions, tomatoes, whatever floats your boat.  Fold half of the eggs over on top of the other.  Turn over if necessary to finish cooking.

Drain bacon on paper towels. 
Heat syrup in the microwave or a pan of boiling water. 
Slice fresh oranges, apples (core them), and bananas in half.
Yummy.  Breakfast for supper.

Chicken Parmigiano

This is super easy.  It is a Rachel Ray recipe, from her book 30 Minute Meals The Original. The recipe is called Zesty Chicken Cutlets Parmigiana and Quick Marinara Sauce, on page 128. As such I can't give the exact recipe here.  Here is what I do.  I don't exactly follow the recipe anyway. 
Bread chicken in bread crumbs, salt (don't under salt), pepper, red pepper, Flat Leaf Parsley, and Parmigiana cheese.
In a skillet (actually, I use a griddle) spread a little olive oil and two cloves of garlic, minced.  Heat the oil until the garlic "speaks."  Remove the garlic.  Add breaded chicken breasts, brown on each side.  Spray a baking dish with Pam.  Place the chicken pieces in the baking dish and cover with sauce.  My kids don't like the sauce on their chicken so I omit this part for them and just bake the chicken with the cheese on top.  (Sauce follows)  Slice fresh Mozzarella cheese and place on top of each chicken piece.  Bake until chicken is done. 
Sauce
In a sauce pan drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Add two garlic cloves, minced and a sprinkle of red pepper.  Heat until garlic speaks.  Add a large can of tomatoes.  Add the following (fresh if you have them on hand, it really is better that way, but I only had parsley, dried works) Basil, Oregano, and Flat Leaf Parsley.  Add a little salt.
Heat on simmer while the rest of dinner is cooking.

Boil a large pot of water (surely I don't have to explain) for pasta.
Cook Pasta until al dente. Drain. Toss with remaining sauce.

Warm in the oven a loaf of Italian Bread.

Delicious.