Five on Friday

It's Friday! This has been the longest short week of the year... I know, I know. The year has barely begun. Let's join April for Five on Friday.

one | Inauguration

We watched the Inauguration in class today. Some students grumbled, some were happy for the break. But a common theme that we discussed was the fact that even though we might not be happy with the outcome of this most recent election, it's important to not wish failure upon our new president. I was impressed with most students' maturity in response to a new president that they didn't vote for. I hope this is a reflection of who they'll continue to be as adults.

two | supper

A friend posted a photo to her IG story of their supper this week. Sweet potato zoodle pad thai. Uhm. Can you say, "Yum"?? She shared the recipe with me and I'm so excited to try it tonight. We may even add some chicken for a little more protein.

Here's the link from Chelsea's Choices. Check out my snap story if you want to see any updates.

three | Lewis

He's starting to become mobile! I laid him down the other day by his blue cow...and he shimmied his way over and fell asleep on the floor. He cracks me up.

four | family

We spent our long MLK weekend in Iowa with Kyle's sister and her family. It was nice to be away from home and spending time with people we don't see often enough. Lewis had a great time with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. And then the drive home didn't go so well. He slept for 2.5 (ish) hours and then screamed most of the way home. Oi.

five | LLR

Time for some clothes talk. I hosted a LuLaRoe party this last week and it was so fun! It was an online party, so it was even easier to shop because you could browse from your couch in your sweats. My friend, Ashley, is a LLR retailer and she's awesome! She made the party so much fun and she was so personable for my friends to shop with. Go check her out on Facebook. Her weekly parties are on Wednesdays!

And if you host a party, you have the chance to win some free clothes!

Go check out other Five on Friday posts and have a great weekend!

Five on Friday

Joining A.Liz Adventures for Five on Friday!

one | Lewis is 4 months old today

See a post about him coming up soon.


two | Holiday Cookie Exchange

We are going to a cookie exchange tomorrow. I'm thinking we'll make the same cookies that Josh and I made 3 years ago.

three | Bridal Shower

One of my cousins is getting married this month and I offered to host a bridal shower for her. And it's tomorrow. And Kyle's not too happy that I waited until the last minute to clean the house again. Sorry, sleepy! So that's on my agenda for tonight. But I'm thinking the menu is going to be:

Coffee Cake
Egg Bake
Coffee
Juice

Sound like an okay plan? I sure hope so.

four | AUBREY

She's coming to visit! It's been months since I've seen her...my birthday weekend to be exact. And I'm excited to spend time with her again. Finally.


five | Supper tonight.

I have no clue what to make. Any suggestions?? Please help! I'm thinking this, this, or this.

Unless you have any suggestions?

Freezer Meals: Part III

Welcome back! Here's another round of freezer meals for you. The two recipes today are both new and old to us.

First, wild rice & chicken casserole.

Ingredients:

• 3 c uncooked wild rice
• 6 1/2 c water
• garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste
• 4-5 c diced, baked chicken
• 1 tub fresh mushrooms, quartered
• 3 cans cream of mushroom soup
• cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Put uncooked wild rice in slow cooker with water and seasonings. Cook on high until done (approx 2-3 hours). If you're planning to be gone, turn on low for approx 4 hours or until done.

 

2. Mix diced chicken, cooked wild rice, mushrooms, & cream of mushroom soup in large bowl.

 

2b. If lacking in liquid, add sour cream and milk as needed.

3. Separate into pans and lightly sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 min or until bubbly.


Second, Mexican stuffed shells.

I found this recipe here.

We modified it a little and added a little more ground beef and extra taco seasoning. I'm excited to try this one out...it looks reeaaalllll tasty!

Let me know if you try these and happy cooking.

Happy Tuesday!

 

Freezer Meals: Part II

So I left you last week with this post about our two favorite meals we made for freezer meals. Today I'll be sharing three more of the recipes we used. 

First, one of our favorite meals to make...but it's a little time consuming...chicken pot pie.

Ingredients:•1 whole chicken (thawed)
•1 bundle of celery, 4 large carrots, 1 white onion (all chopped)
•1 bay leaf
•water

•2-4 garlic cloves, diced

•1 1/2 white onion chopped

•3-4 carrots, sliced

•frozen corn or beans as desired

•2 sticks of butter

•1 c flour

•4-8 c chicken stock (as made in step 1)

•Bisquick biscuits (12 per pan)

Directions:

Step 1
1. Put whole, thawed chicken into large stock pot

2. Add celery, carrots, onion, & bay leaf to stock pot. Season as desired. I usually add salt, pepper, oregano, and some sage.

3. Add water to stock pot and fill until chicken is just covered.

4. Simmer most of the day until chicken is done.
(I started mine at 9:15am and pulled it around 3:30pm)

Step 2

1. While chicken is cooking, dice, slice, and chop your veggies for the final product.

2. Melt 1 stick of butter in large stock pot or dutch oven. Add garlic and simmer.

3. Add veggies (NOT corn or beans) and saute until softened...but not mushy.

4. Pull veggies out and place in a separate bowl until later. Leave as much butter at the bottom as possible.

Step 3

1. Remove chicken from stove & separate the meat from the carcass. Place meat in a bowl.

2. Strain liquid and veggies. Discard the veggies and any extras in your liquid. Keep liquid!!

3. This liquid is your chicken stock...save for gravy.

4. Shred chicken.

Step 4

1. Start roux for gravy. Melt second stick of butter with the drippings from sauteed veggies.

2. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste and whisk til smooth.

3. Add chicken stock until thinned.

4. Simmer and stir until thickened...this will be your gravy.

5. Add veggies (sauteed AND corn/beans) and meat to the gravy. Mix well.

6. Split gravy/veggie/meat combo into 2-3 pans.

7. Mix up Bisquick biscuits to bake on top of the pot pie. *

*There are two options for the biscuit portion...you can bake the whole thing with the biscuit dough on top. Then let it cool completely before freezing. OR you can bake drop biscuits first and add to the top of your pot pie. Then cool before freezing.*

Reheat at 325-350 degrees F until pot pie is bubbly. Don't let the biscuits burn!

Like I said above, this is our most complicated recipe that we tried...don't be discouraged! It looks hard, but the most difficult part is cutting up the veggies and shredding the chicken. 

Second, we made burgers.

You can find the recipe for burgers here. The best part about the burgers is that you can add more or less seasoning and they'll still be great! We bought 6 lbs of ground beef for burgers and made approximately 1/4 lb burgers...some were a little smaller, or we had a little more than 6 lbs...because we ended up with 26 patties to throw in the freezer.

The key here, make patties, freeze by the lb (approx), and separate with wax paper and freeze in ziploc bags. We fit 3 (ish) lbs in each ziploc.


Third, we made Baked Ziti.

Now, you can make ziti however you want. As long as you have ziti/penne noodles, you're good to go. But we followed this recipe.

I've never tried this recipe, so do your own trial and error, okay?

One thing I'll add here, is that the veggies we used were zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, onion, & garlic. You can really use any roasted veggies that you'd like.

I also added chicken, because I know my husband and I know myself...we love protein.

I should've added more sauce, but we will just make 

sure to have some on hand when we bake it.

I'll have a few more recipes for you sometime next week, as long as baby doesn't show up! Stop on by and see what's new!

Happy Thursday!

Freezer Meals: Part I

So since today's our anniversary, I've actually written this out a little ahead of time. But let's just pretend, shall we?

You may remember me posting this on Saturday. Our friend Anna graciously decided to give up the better part of her Saturday to help me meal prep for #babyentzel. And like I had hoped, we got all seven of those meals prepped! Seven! That's so much cooking!

So, here's the thing. I could just rehash the entire day for you, but I'll spare you the gory boring details.

Instead, I'll share two recipes at a time with you. Only two because that gets to be obnoxious...really. And I don't want you thinking I'm obnoxious.

The first two meals I'm going to share with you are two of our absolute favorites.

First, mac and cheese. 
Okay, okay. I know you're thinking..."wow, she really just made a few boxes of Kraft and threw 'em in the freezer...". But that's not the case at all! This mac and cheese is delicious and I found it in one of our Taste of Home cookbooks that we got from our wedding.

I've modified the original recipe, because even though we love cream and butter in the Entzel house, we don't need that much cream or butter.

Ingredients:

•1 package (16 oz) pasta (elbow, mini shells, spirals, it's really your choice)
•16 oz 4% cottage cheese
•1/2 c butter, cubed (You don't have to cube it...it just melts faster)
•1/2 c all-purpose flour
•1 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp white pepper (yes, you do need white pepper...the flavor is so much better!)
•1/4 tsp garlic powder
•2 c half and half
•2 c milk (I use 1% because it doesn't make me feel like my arteries are clogging quite as fast)
•4 c shredded cheddar cheese


Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to directions on package, or until al dente.
2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in large sauce pan. (If doubling the recipe, make the roux in a stockpot/dutch oven) Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder until smooth. Gradually add milk and cream. Bring to a boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Add 3-3 1/2 c cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and white sauce to pasta and toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 9x13 pan.
4. Sprinkle the top with remaining cheese and bread crumbs (if desired).
5. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 20-25 min or until bubbly.

And that's it for the mac n cheese. It's a pretty simple recipe, but if you've not made a roux before, it might take a little practice.

I doubled this recipe and we ended up with

three 9x13 disposable pans!

 

 

Second, chicken tetrazzini.

This is another favorite in the Entzel house. It seems to have quite a few steps, but when two of us were working on a double batch together, we had it done in no time!

This is also taken from a cookbook from our wedding...it's a local church cookbook, so you know it'll be good.

Ingredients:

 

•1/2 pkg thin spaghetti/angel hair

•1/4 c butter

•1 med onion, chopped

• 1/2 med green pepper, chopped

•2 1/2 c cooked, diced chicken

•1 can cream of chicken soup

•1/2 c milk

•1 c sour cream

•1 tsp basil

•1 carton mushrooms, diced

•1 c shredded cheddar cheese

•Parmesan cheese

 

Directions: 

1. Break spaghetti into 1 inch pieces, cook according to package instructions & drain
2. Saute onion, green pepper, & mushrooms in butter
3. Mix all ingredients together (except cheese)
4. Place in buttered 2 qt casserole dish
5. Sprinkle cheddar and Parmesan over top
6. Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 min or until hot and bubbly

For our freezer meals, I made 2 whole packages of angel hair pasta, 1 1/2 onions, 1 med green pepper, 1 large can of cream of chicken soup, approx 2 1/2 c milk, and 1 1/2-2 c sour cream.

Here's what we got:

Three pans for this one too!

 

Overall, these two recipes went pretty quickly. They're definitely doable for an evening meal when you get home from work too. Once you've got the steps down, it's much easier to get these meals made quickly. 

As always, if you try a recipe and you love it or modify it, please let me know! And I suppose you can tell me if you hate it too. Maybe just give me some suggestions on how to modify it?

Anyway, we're celebrating our anniversary today by babysitting in the morning, working on some school things, going to the doctor, and hopefully going on a date.

See you tomorrow with our plan for day 2 of meal prep!

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

What we're cooking

It's warming up again around these parts and I'm SO thankful for our grill. I don't know what it is about the spring, maybe it's the sunshine or the fact that we've been cooped up in the house all winter, but we love cooking outside whenever we have the chance.

Our grill is a Stok and we absolutely love it! It comes with inserts that can be changed out. Usually the only switching we do is for the pizza stone that came with it.

That being said, we've been cooking on the grill and when it was cooler we were still cooking inside. But here are a few recipes we've been loving and/or looking forward to using again now that it's nicer.

1 | Burgers (pretty standard)

I know burgers on the grill are pretty standard, but we love to spice them up a little. Yesterday we grilled burgers and tonight we are as well.

1 lb ground beef 80%-93% (if we use the leaner beef, we usually add an egg or some sausage to it)
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp black pepper (freshly ground is our preference)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T dried chopped onion
Red pepper flakes (opt)
*I also love sprinkling some cajun seasoning on my burger, especially with pepperjack cheese and fresh jalepenos*

Mix the sage, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chopped onion, and pepper flakes into the beef. Form into 1/3 lb patties and grill approx 3-4 min per side. *longer if you want them more well done*

Top with cheese of choice.

2 | Chicken Curry

2-3 chicken breasts (diced & fried)
3-4 c water
1/4 c curry powder
1 can coconut milk
1/8 c coconut (opt)
thicken with cornstarch
fruit & veggies of choice

Fry the chicken and then add water and curry powder. Once curry powder is dissolved, add coconut milk & coconut and thicken with cornstarch. Simmer until thickened.

Serve over rice and top with fruit & veggies of your choice.

Kyle and I recently watched the show Cooked on Netflix. It's a fascinating four-part series that looks at all of the elements of cooking fire, water, air, & earth. The water segment followed pot cooking in India and one of the meals the women were making was curry. Thus, our strong desire to cook curry this weekend.

The recipe that I have is a recipe given to my mom from one of her friends who has been a missionary to Africa. So it's more of an African curry than an Indian curry.

When we make curry, we tend to only top it with fruits instead of veggies. Our favorites are: mandarin oranges, pineapple, bananas, peanuts, & coconut. Last night we ended up adding blueberries to that mixture and they were tasty!

3 | BBQ Chicken (again...standard)

1 chicken breast per person
Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy Sauce
1-2 c rice
asparagus

When we grill chicken, we tend to keep it pretty simple. One thawed chicken breast per person gets thrown on the grill for 4-5 min per side. After we flip it the first time, we add some FD's sauce to the already grilled side and continue cooking until done (internal temp of 165).

We usually serve it with a side of rice and asparagus. We coat the asparagus in olive oil and sprinkle with lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best) and some kosher salt. Bake in oven at 400 degrees, rotating every 5 min or so, until tender.

It's a super simple meal that we usually have everything on hand for.

4 | Salmon

I'm going to start this part off by saying I'm not a fish/seafood fan...BUT! I do love me a good piece of salmon. And when we first got our grill, we were stoked to find this recipe:

1 T packed brown sugar
1 T melted butter
1 T olive oil
1 T honey
1 T soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 large salmon fillet, skin on (divided into approx 8 parts)

Mix all ingredients except salmon. Place salmon in a container, cover with marinade, and let rest for 30-60 min.

Place salmon on grill, skin side down. Brush salmon with more marinade 2-3 times. Grill on Med heat 10-20 min.

When I grill mine, I usually put 2-3 salmon pieces in tin foil and cover with the marinade. Seriously. So. Good.

And while I could go on and on and on about all of the good food we've been eating or are planning to eat, I'll just go collect the drool and figure out what we're having to eat the rest of the week.

Happy Monday!

Five on Friday

As always, linking up with A. Liz Adventures for this week's Five on Friday. Go check it out!

In our house, we like to think we are fairly proficient at quite a few things: cooking, gardening, fixing things, meal planning... But in reality, we're just mediocre at most things. But this week, we actually were ahead of the game and did our meal plan for the week! So here are five meals that we I made this week (including tonight's recipe).

Most of these meals/recipes I have pinned on Pinterest, so if you're looking for some more inspiration...head on over.


one | one-pan chicken burrito bowls

We had our pastor and his family over for supper on Monday night, so we wanted something quick and not terribly involved. So I chose this meal. I had made it once or twice, but I don't think Kyle necessarily remembered it. After Monday, he decided that it should be in our rotation.

*The original recipe is linked to the title...what I have below is what I actually did...

prep time: 10-ish min          cook time: 20-ish min          total: roughly, 30 min

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite sized pieces
• 3 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of diced onion
• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 2 1/2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
• cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper
• freshly diced tomatoes
• diced green onions
• sour cream

Directions:

1. Saute onions in olive oil until they start to soften.
2. Season diced chicken with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.
3. Add chicken to pan and cook over medium high heat until chicken has started to brown.
4. Move chicken to one side of pan, in the other side of the pan add an additional tablespoon of olive oil and saute uncooked rice for about 2 minutes or just until some grains start to turn golden brown.
5. Stir in black beans, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin.
6. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low.
7. Cook about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.
8. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed (during or after cooking)
9. Sprinkle with cheese, recover and let set for 2-3 off heat to melt cheese.
10. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, green onions, & sour cream 

We love this recipe and it's going to be on our menu fairly regularly, I anticipate.

two | salad & soup

This one was super easy. Our sweet friend, Kaia, came over for supper and we decided on having a Chef's Salad with Cheesy Broccoli Soup.

The hardest part was cutting up all of the ingredients for the salad. The soup we got at Hugo's (on sale this week, 2 for $6!), so it was an easy decision.

Salad Ingredients:
-Romaine Lettuce
-Spinach
-2 carrots
-1/2 green pepper
-2/3 baked chicken breast
-1 hard boiled egg

Soup Ingredients:
-1 bag of soup
-8 cups of water

Start to finish, this probably took around 1 hour. The only reason it took an hour was so that the chicken would be cooked all the way through.

three | no knead artisan bread 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c hot water (100*)
1/2 T salt
3/4 T active dry yeast
3 c flour (and a little more for dusting)
parchment paper

Directions:
Pour hot water into med-lg mixing bowl and sprinkle salt in.
Then distribute yeast over the surface area of the water/salt combo. Let sit for 1-2 min.
Stir slowly and then add 3 c flour. Be sure that you use exactly 3 c. Mix well with rubber scraper.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, generously dust flour on parchment paper and release dough onto floured paper.
With floured hands, fold dough in half, sprinkle with flour and fold in half again.
Form dough into ball and replace on floured parchment paper, seam side down.
Let rise for 40 min.

After 30 min, preheat oven to 425*.
After another 10 min, using a serrated knife, make three slices in top of dough.
Then put 1 c water in oven safe container and place container on bottom rack in oven.
Then place dough in oven and bake for 20-25 min. Or until golden brown on top.

Let rest on cooling rack until cool to the touch. And enjoy!

four | chicken tetrazzini

Ingredients:
½ pkg thin spaghetti
¼ c butter
1/2  med onion, chopped
2 ½ cooked, diced chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ c milk
1 c sour cream
1 tsp basil
1 can mushrooms
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
½ med green pepper 

Directions:

Break spaghetti into 1in pieces; cook & drain. Saute onion, gr. pepper, & mushrooms in margarine. Mix all ingredients except cheese; place in buttered 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and then Parmesan cheese over top. Bake at 300° for 30min or until hot and bubbly.

We love this one, but it takes a little longer. So if you're meal prepping for the whole week....this is a great one to make ahead of time. Just don't bake it until the night you want to eat it.

five | spinach & artichoke pizza 

I'm so excited to try this one tonight! Look out for an IG update. I'll let you know.

Ingredients:
1 loaf bread dough (Kelly's note: I use Fettings out of Finley, ND)
8 oz fresh spinach, divided
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp onion powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 oz provolone cheese (1 cup. I used deli slices and chopped)
2 oz shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
2 oz finely shredded parmesan cheese (slightly packed 1/2 cup)
6 - 8 canned artichoke hearts, drained well and quartered
Red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)

Head on over to Cooking Classy for the directions for this pizza.

*update (4/7): not my favorite pizza...I'll probably try it again and tweak some things. Maybe it was just the mood I was in.

And as always,

Happy Friday!

{Five on Friday} What I'm looking forward to...

...this weekend.

I'm looking forward to only a handful of things. That's why I decided to have my Five on Friday not be things that I'm currently loving...but things I'm looking forward to.

[one]

We are having friends over to our house tomorrow. For dinner. A turkey dinner. And yes, I do know it's not Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm thinking about making this one?

Or maybe this one

Or possibly even this one

minus the excessive greenery

Help a girl out...which one? I'll make gravy and twice backed mashed potatoes, if that sways your decision at all.

[two]

I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with these Friends. (see what I did there?)

[three]

In addition to friends, I'm planning to spend all of Sunday at my kitchen table (maybe the futon in the basement) with my grading spread out in front of me. I will.be.caught.up. no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. Hold me to that?

[four]

I think I'm going to start saving up for my next tattoo. So I'll start planning that out so that I can make that happen in the near-ish future. (hint: it's gonna be a family affair!)

[five]

Last, but certainly not least, I'm planning to spend some quality time with this guy:

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Since it's Friday, I'm linking up over at:

A. Liz Adventures

Hello! Happiness

The Good Life

North Carolina Charm

It's Friday and all I want to do...

...is think about food. Like seriously.

Kyle has rehearsal tonight and then we're having a guest over that we're hosting for tomorrow night's concert. So that means dinner needs to wait til they get home.

And I'm super excited to try this pizza recipe. I'm also making a standard pepperoni pizza in case our guest isn't a fan of non-traditional 'zas. (that's short for pizzas...)

So I thought that since I'm waiting, waiting, waiting to eat until my main squeeze gets home...I'd share our belated Valentine's Date.

the menu:
New York Strips
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Stuffed Artichokes
Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

*I've never cooked artichokes before

*We've found our new fav dry rub!

*Excited for dinner*

*Kyle brought me flowers at work!

We had a great dinner together and I'm looking forward to another good one tonight. 

Happy Friday! And if you're in the upper Midwest--stay warm!

Chicken Salad Recipe--Dinner tonight

We tend to have troubles at our house picking out meals for supper. Kyle is hungry all.of.the.time--his metabolism is better than mine...hello, love handles. So I've been searching for meals that are filling, but healthy too. Now...this one might not fall into the "filling" category for Kyle...but as long as we give him a can of soup, he should be good for the night until 7:30 tonight.

I made this for lunch with a friend over Christmas break and I faux followed someone's Pinterest recipe. But this is my variation.

Enjoy!

Chicken Salad Croissants

1/2 c lite mayo
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 c celery--sliced (we love celery at our house)
1/2 c grapes--halved
1/4 c dried cranberries (to taste)
*milk, whipping cream, heavy cream, half and half can be added if your salad needs some thinning

Seriously--that's all I did! We were so happy with these sandwiches. The next time I make them (on a weekend) I'm going to try my hand at making the croissants by myself! *instead of buying them from Target* Hah!

I'll post photos tonight when I'm finished. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Ooh...don't forget to try your own variations of this salad. Don't like cranberries? Try almonds. Don't like nuts, add some shredded cheese!