Discouraged

I've been a little discouraged lately.  Everything I try, they don't like.  Everything I love, they ask me to never make again.  Someone shared this lovely meme with me and I found it quite appropriate.  I'll just leave it here for awhile. 

Crispy Ranch Chicken

Two "eh" and one "no way".  At least he was nice about it and actually smiled for a picture.  Personally, I really enjoyed it.  I think it was a little too adventurous on the texture for them.  They picked and nibbled at it, but they all scraped off the cornflake crust. 

I made a couple changes to this one.  First, I didn't use 3 pounds of chicken pieces (bone-in) like it called for.  I used 2 pounds of chicken breasts cut into smaller portions.  Second, I didn't use salad dressing.  I felt like it was too runny.  I used one of those ranch "veggie dip" packets and added sour cream per the instructions.  It was much thicker and creamier.  I don't know if it drastically changed the taste of it, but I thought it was super delicious.  Even Billy ate it and he claims to HATE sour cream.  He had no idea that's what was in it.  Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.


Crispy Ranch Chicken - Makes 6 Servings

1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups ranch salad dressing
3 pounds chicken pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine cornflakes, rosemary, salt and pepper in medium bowl
3. Pour salad dressing in separate medium bowl. 
4. Dip chicken pieces in salad dressing, coating well.  Dredge coated chicken in crumb mixture.
5. Place chicken in prepared baking dish.  Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cooked through.

Chicken Cacciatore

This was a success!  On so many levels.  Not only did the kids actually eat this one and enjoy it, but I had no clue what I was doing and made it all up off the top of my head.  I'd heard of chicken cacciatore and even saw a few "easy" recipes about just using a can of your favorite marinara sauce, but I did a from scratch version without using a recipe from online.  *pats self on back*

Since I just threw it together, I don't have a recipe.  It's just chicken, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic, onion and oregano.  I just started adding it all together until it looked/tasted right.  Then I poured it over the noodles I had on hand (corkscrews in this case).  Topped with some freshly shredded parmesan cheese, it was DELICIOUS!

 

Ben & Jerry's

Today I failed as a mother.  I failed at my one task in the afternoons that I absolutely cannot neglect - picking them up from school.  The worst part is that I didn't even have that panic moment of rushing out the door with no shoes on to drive the couple blocks to pick them up.  Nope.  I didn't even realize that I had forgotten to pick them until Brayden was ringing the doorbell.  They all three fussed at me and shamed me for not meeting them at the crosswalk like I promised.  The silver lining is that now I know all three of them know how to safely and quickly get home by themselves if the need ever arises.  Mommy forgetting is not a need though.  That's just a fail.

In an attempt to salvage any "Mommy of the Year" points I may have lost, I decided that ice cream for dinner would be a good idea.  Not only would I hopefully be forgiven of my mommy fail, but rack up a few extra points.  Who let's their kids have ice cream for dinner?  Mom's with a guilty conscious, that's who! 

Go to the store, pick our your flavor of choice, go home and eat it straight out of the carton.  Dinner done! 

Wanna know the funniest part?  Gabe is taking a bite of my ice cream just for the sake of me getting a picture.  He didn't want ice cream.  That child quite literally just won't eat anything!

Cheesy Chicken Noodles

This one went over surprisingly well - taste wise.  Unfortunately, I overcooked the noodles and burnt the broccoli, so that's why I got mixed reviews.  The taste of the meal itself was pretty good though.  Gabe picked out all of the chicken and ate it.  He still insisted on giving me a big fat thumbs down though.  He sure is lucky that I'm not very sensitive about my cooking.
 
I don't have an exact recipe for this.  My sister sent me a link to one she tried, but she said it was kind of bland and the reviews were just so-so.  I didn't have all the ingredients necessary for the recipe, so I just threw some random stuff into it.  I guess you could say that this is my first attempt at making something completely on my own.  I'm sure it's nothing unique and is probably in a cookbook somewhere, but I had to pat myself on the back for being creative on my own.  I'm pleased to report that it turned out AMAZINGLY delicious.  It was a really easy meal.

Cheesy Chicken Noodles - crockpot recipe

2 - large chicken breasts cubed
8 oz velveeta
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4 oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of egg noodles

Combine all ingredients (except the noodles) into the crockpot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve over cooked noodles.

Serves 6

No-bread sandwiches

I don't really know what to call these.  They were a success though!  Two thumbs up and Gabe's typical "I didn't hate it, but I won't admit that I like it" sideways thumb.  It was a pinterest idea.  In fact, the image of the food is the actual image from pinterest.  We ate them so quickly though that I forgot to snap a photo of our finished product.  They almost looked exactly like the though.  I did get some good pictures of Brayden and Alyssa helping.  They liked peeling them.  I cut them in half and scooped out the centers.  It was easy and fun.


I don't really have a recipe.  Just buy some cucumbers, cut them into manageable pieces, peel them (unless you like the skin), slice them in half and hollow out the centers.  Then you stuff them with whatever you want.  We had turkey and ham, cheese and miracle whip.  They were really delicious and surprisingly filling.

Sloppy Joes

This one went pretty well!  Three thumbs up.  Well, two thumbs up and one "I hate you for making me do this" thumb.  Gabe fought it and tried to insist that he didn't like it, but he ate the whole thing.  He just didn't want to admit that he liked something that he normally hates (he won't touch them at school).  It's not their favorite by any means, but they definitely approve of this being added into our menu from time-to-time.  It's sloppy joes though!  EVERYONE loves sloppy joes!

No real recipe for this one.  I just browned some turkey meat, added diced tomatoes, onion, tomato sauce/paste and package of sloppy joe mix.  Voila.  Easy dinner. 

The entire time I was making these, I could not get a certain song out of my head.  So in honor of sloppy joe night at the Hollis household, I simply must link "Lunchlady Land".  Because we had "sloppy joes, slop, sloppy joes!"

Adam Sandler - Lunchlady Land

Bayou Chicken

 This was a no go.  Which really bums me out because I thought it was super delicious.  Alyssa and Brayden were very generous with their mediocre review.  Both of them nibbled and picked through it to meet their 7-bite quota, but Gabe hated it so much that he resorted to fake puke noises and making himself cry for sympathy.  Which only makes me feel angry, not sympathy.  lol  So this one, unfortunately, will not be added to our rotation of meals.  I want to try again later though, because I REALLY liked it. 

The only thing I changed in the recipe is that I used dark chicken meat instead of white chicken meat.  It calls for chicken breasts but I used thighs.  Not sure how much that changes up the flavor, but it was delicious.  Once again, I forgot to get things ready in a timely manner, so I didn't actually cook this in the crockpot the way it suggests.  I cooked the chicken on the stove first, cut it up and then put it all in the crockpot together.  I just put it on high for about an hour to really cook everything through and through.  It worked just fine.  This is one of the easier meals I've made thus far and is probably one of my faves.  Especially when I pulled out my favorite hot sauce to add to my bowl.  Really easy, really fast (in reference to prep time) and super delicious for such a simple dish. I just wish the kids had liked it.

Bayou Chicken - crockpot recipe

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed.
14-1/2 oz can chicken broth
14-1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
10-3/4 oz can tomato soup
1/2 lb smoked pork sausage, sliced
1/2 c cooked ham, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
hot sauce to taste
cooked rice

Combine all ingredients (except rice) in a slow cooker; stir.  Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours.  Serve over cooked rice. 

Serves 6 to 8.

This recipe from "101 Slow-Cooker Recipes" by Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks.

Chicken Fajitas!

This dish had a little something for everyone and was generally accepted.  Gabe and Alyssa went with an "eh" review.  Alyssa ate just the tortilla and cheese and Gabe ate his with just chicken and cheese.  So even though they didn't eat actual chicken fajitas, there were enough variables that they could figure out a way to eat it that suited them.  Brayden gave two very enthusiastic thumbs up and LOVED everything about the fajitas.  He even had a second helping! 

Billy also ate this one without complaint.  I was pleasantly surprised when he piled on the peppers and onions. 

This was an easy meal for me to make.  Not much skill necessary.  There is lots of prep work though with cooking the chicken, cutting it up, slicing all the peppers and onions, and then sauteing them too.  Worth it though.  YUMMY!

The full recipe is located here: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_fajitas/

Bad/Busy Couple Days

Big giant FAIL for me for the last two days on the homemade dinner front.  On Tuesday I suddenly decided that I was super woman and could be mom to all three kids, nurse to a sick husband and a floor installer all at the same time.  Needless to say, I really wore myself out.  Dinner did not get cooked that night.  We headed over to Wendy's for some burgers and fries.  The upside is that the floors are installed and look fantastic, my husband is feeling much better and all three kids are as happy and healthy as ever.  I'll take that big, shiny, gold star now. 

On Wednesday - well, I have no good excuse.  We went shopping all day long and when I got home, I suddenly didn't feel very well and laid down for a quick nap.  My husband was kind enough to wake me up at around 6:30 in the evening to let me know he was ordering pizza.  Oops, again. 

I should have posted pictures of the kids in front of Wendy's and one with them holding a pizza box.  They would have giant grins on their faces and enthusiastic THUMBS UP across the board.  lol  I'll skip it though.  Eating out two nights in a row is far from a good idea and I think we all have a bit of an upset stomach.  Ugh.  Back on track though!  Tonight's meal is hopefully a winner.

Provincial Chicken

This one got mixed reviews.  Alyssa liked it, but skipped the chicken.  Brayden was polite and ate all the noodles, but was getting as much of the sauce off as he could and he also skipped the chicken.  Gabe choked down seven bites (that's how many bites they have to try before they can decide if they like it or not), but just didn't like it.  Billy was another mediocre review.  He ate it and said it wasn't bad, but smiled and hesitantly told me that I can keep it OFF of our dinner menu in the future. 

Day three was interesting for me.  I actually *gasp* used some cooking skills of my own rather than faithfully following the cookbook.  And I didn't ruin it nor burn the house down.  I'm making progress.  The changes were minimal though. I didn't do this as a crockpot recipe as suggested for two reasons: 1 - I wanted this for lunch and didn't get up early enough to let it simmer for 6 to 8 hours and 2 - pulling the chicken out of that soupy mixture to cut it up into small pieces sounded SUPER messy.  I'm not a fan of messy.  So I couldn't come up with any logical reason why I couldn't just pan sear the chicken, cut it up, then make the sauce on the stove top same as directed.  It worked!  It's just that the chicken didn't get to marinate in the sauce like it would have if I did it in the crockpot.  The other change was that I didn't have bowtie pasta.  I used ziti instead.  Shoot me.  It was still equally as delicious.  

I also want to add that the "servings" seemed a little off to me.  We're a family of 5 and we all had a full serving and there are enough leftovers that we could probably all have another serving.  I don't know what I'm going to do with all these leftovers. 




Provincial Chicken - Crockpot recipe

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
2 zucchini, diced
10-3/4 oz can of cream of chicken soup


2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dried, minced onion
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
cooked bowtie pasta

In a slow cooker, combine chicken, tomatoes, zucchini, soup, vinegar, onion and herbs.  Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours.  Remove chicken, cut into bite-size pieces and return to slow cooker.  Stir in cheese and sour cream; cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes.  To serve, spoon over cooked pasta. 

Serves 6.

Recipe from "101 Slow-cooker recipes" by Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks

Bacon & Chicken Skewers

This one was a success!  Three thumbs up!  Actually, FOUR thumbs up.  My picky eater husband also really loved this one.  This particular meal as a bit time consuming.  The recipe (see below) is enough for two servings.  I didn't realize that until after I made it.  I really need to learn to pay attention to that first.  So I tripled it and it made plenty.  Again with the leftovers.  The time consuming part was threading the chicken and bacon onto each skewer.  I hate tedious jobs and that was definitely a tedious job.  And yucky.  I hate touching raw bacon/chicken.  The end result is well worth it though.  I paired this with basil and sea salt roasted potatoes and some green beans.  The kids didn't particularly like the potatoes, but everything else was a real hit. 

Even our eldest picky eater, who typically hates meat, gobbled this up.


Bacon & Chicken Skewers:

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon pepper
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts - cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound bacon slices

Combine lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and lemon pepper in large resealable food storage bag.  Mix well.  Remove 1/4 cup marinade and set aside.  Add chicken to bag; seal; marinate at least 30 minutes.  Soak wood skewers in water for 20 minutes (so they won't burn).

Alternately thread chicken and bacon onto skewers.  Discard marinade. 

Grill skewers, turning occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center and bacon is crisp.  Brush several times with reserved marinade. 

Makes TWO servings

Recipe from "Down Home Cooking" cookbook.

Hawaiian Kielbasa Over White Rice

One out of three.  Those aren't great odds.  Even sweet little Brayden was being generous with his thumbs up.  He ate one more small nibble after this photo and that was it.  This recipe was NOT a success with the kids.  Momma loved it though if that counts for anything (have I mentioned that I am not a picky eater at all?)!  I chose this meal specifically for this evening because Billy had to work.  I knew it would have gotten an enthusiastic thumbs down from him.  Two rejections was enough for me for one day.  This recipe is GREAT if you're going to a potluck, because the recipe serves 10+.  It's lucky that I like is so much, because there are plenty of leftovers to last.

Hawaiian Kielbasa - Crockpot Recipe

3 lbs Keilbasa, sliced into bite-sized chunks
15 1/4 oz can crushed pineapple
18 oz bottle barbecue sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Mix well.  Cover and cook on low setting for about 2 hours, until warmed through, or on high setting for about 30 minutes.

Servings - 10 to 15  (PLENTY of leftovers or great for a party)

This recipe was found in "101 Slow-Cooker Recipes" - Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks.

They Won't Eat Anything

I have four very picky eaters.  We've lived a life of quick, easy dinners.  I'm not the best cook and have almost always been a working wife/mother, while daddy works hard/often and just doesn't have the time/energy to cook like he wants to.  Now that I'm officially a stay-at-home mom though, I've decided that our health (and my sanity) have got to become a priority.  Those boxed, easy, quick meals just aren't good for us - nor are they any fun to cook.  If I'm gonna be in charge of cooking the majority of the meals, I want to take some pride and joy in doing it!  Problem is I didn't just magically discover my long-lost cooking skills when I stopped working outside the home.  Nope.  I still can't cook and I still have four picky eaters to cater to.

The eldest picky eater is my darling husband, Billy.  He's just not a fan of much of anything.  He likes pasta and he likes red meat.  Oh, and catfish.  He'll eat catfish until he explodes.  The other three picky eaters are our wonderful children; Gabe, Alyssa and Brayden.  Although their level of "pickiness" varies greatly between them.  Gabe is definitely our most pickiest.  He's practically a vegetarian.  There are very few meats that he likes.  Turkey bologna is about it on a consistent basis.  Alyssa is our slightly less picky eater.  She's also a veggie lover, but tolerates our meat choices.  It can be a battle though.  Then there's Brayden.  Maybe I shouldn't even include him in our picky eater list, because truth be told, he's actually a really easy going kid.  He'll try anything once..... twice, three times!  He's such a people pleaser, he'll scarf something down just to be polite. 

I can't say for certain how long this blog will go on, but for now, I have a two week plan.  I've created a 14-day meal plan with all kinds of things we've never had before.  Some will be a hit and some will be a complete disaster.  I guess we'll see how it goes.......