An Afternoon Sprinkle

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the Domain to run a few errands and get a little exercise.  I bought a new pair of tennis shoes to replace the shoes that I had worn out during my walks with Lola.  Next, we headed to the newer part of the Domain to hit Sephora so I could exchange some makeup.  It was quite walk between the different parts of the Domain and we worked up a little bit of an appetite and it was coffee o’clock, so we decided to get a snack at Sprinkles.  This was the first time we had seen it open, so we definitely wanted to give it a try.  I am pretty picky when it comes to cupcakes and honestly don’t care for most cupcakes from bakeries.  There were lots of delicious sounding cupcakes, ice cream, shakes, and coffee drinks to browse.  Eventually, I settled on a pumpkin cupcake with a vanilla latte and Mike picked a dark chocolate banana cupcake with an americano.  Our cupcakes and drinks arrived quickly and we enjoyed them outside.  The cupcakes were moist, flavorful, and appropriately sized.  The pumpkin cupcake had a cinnamon cream cheese that paired nicely with the cake.  The banana cupcake had a rich dark chocolate frosting.  Both cupcakes were topped with the signature Sprinkles logo.  The coffees were good, too.  Sitting outside gave us excellent people watching.  There is such a wide variety of interesting people at the Domain and we got to see the whole array during our snack.  We definitely enjoyed our snack and look forward to trying more flavors or even trying out the cupcake ATM. 

Dream Dinners: Loaded Pulled Pork Bites and Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Last night was another delicious dinner night, thanks to Dream Dinners.  I made the Loaded Pulled Pork Bites with a side of Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes.  This was a unique meal in that it was not prethawed in the fridge.  I preheated the oven to 375 and let the biscuits sit out of the freezer for about 20-30 minutes on my prepared baking sheet.  Meanwhile, I ran the pulled pork under warm water to loosen it up.  I put the pork in a medium pot and simmered over medium heat about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Once the biscuits had thawed, I flattened them into circles and topped them with pulled pork and cheddar cheese.  I put the baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes to bake.  While the pork bites were cooking, I put the potatoes in a sauce pan and cooked them over medium heat, stirring often.  The potatoes and pork bites were both done at about the same time, thanks to good planning on my part.  The meal was very simple, but also delicious.  The pork bites were well cooked and had great flavor.  The biscuits were fluffy and tender and the pork was slightly spicy that paired great with the cheese.  The potatoes had cheese, bacon, and scallions and tasted just like twice baked potatoes.  They were amazing.  We will definitely be repeating both of these items next time they are available. 

Dream Dinners: Homemade Turkey Parmesan Meatballs with Cavatappi

Even though its the beginning of October, I still have a few September Dream Dinners meals left.  One of those meals that I made last night was the Homemade Turkey Parmesan Meatballs with Cavatappi.  All the turkey meatball/meatloaf meals have been fairly tasty and I had high hopes for this meal, too.  I started by filling a pot with water and bringing it to a boil.  I added the pasta and cooked it about 10 minutes, drained it and set it aside.   Meanwhile, I prepared a sheet pan and preheated the broiler.  I mixed together ground turkey and the seasoning and formed 12 golf ball sized meatballs.   I put the meatballs on the sheet pan and cooked them for 6 minutes.  I flipped them and cooked them another 7 minutes.  Next, I heated up some marinara in a pan over medium heat.  When the meatballs were done cooking, I added them to the sauce and cooked it for about 5 minutes.  I added the meatballs and sauce to the pasta and topped it with parmesan cheese blend.  I added a side salad and dinner was ready to be served.  This was a solid meal.  The meatballs were well seasoned and cooked to perfection.  The marinara and Cavatappi were a great addition to the meatballs.  Overall, this was a very tasty meal.  I look forward to trying more delicious Dream Dinners meals. 

Dream Dinners: Tuscan Steaks

On Monday, I was still feeling crummy, but I had another Dream Dinners meal to the rescue.  I had super easy to make Tuscan Steaks, which I paired with a baked potato and side salad.  I spread the Tuscan rub on both sides of the steaks and let them rest for 10 minutes.   I heated up my grill pan over medium heat and I cooked the steaks for about 4 minutes on each side, letting them rest for 5 minutes.  The steaks were perfectly cooked for us.  They were cooked on the outside with a bit of pink in the center, without being dry or tough.  The seasoning was nice and gave the steak a great flavor.  We’ve been really pleased with the quality of the Dream Dinners steaks and these did not disappoint.  I can’t wait to try next month’s selections. 

Dream Dinners: Chicken Enchiladas

Another day, another delicious Dream Dinners meal.  This time, I had already tried the Chicken Enchiladas as an appetizer, so I knew they’d be tasty.  Mike and I always love Chicken Enchiladas, so I knew these would be a big hit.  These were super easy to make and they did not disappoint when it came to taste.  I put the pan of enchiladas on a baking sheet and covered with foil, cooking for 30 minutes.  After the initial bake, I uncovered the enchiladas, I added the salsa/sour cream mix and shredded cheese and baked another 15 minutes.  While it was cooking, I made some corn using corn, lime zest, lime juice, butter, and cayenne pepper.  In 15 minutes, we were ready to eat.  The enchiladas were warm and gooey, just how I like them!  This was a super easy, tasty meal that I can’t wait to make again! 

Dream Dinners: Cola and Lime Pork Tenderloin with Oven Roasted Broccoli

I’ve been really lucky to have a bunch of Dream Dinners meals in the freezer this week while I’ve been sick.   I have been able to make meals for us that have been tasty, healthy, and not much effort overall.  Despite not having much appetite, the cola and lime pork tenderloin sounded really yummy.  I prepped my pan and preheated the oven.  Meanwhile, I mixed the glaze ingredients and poured them into a small sauce pan.  I brought it to a boil and simmered it for about 15 minutes while whisking occcasionally.  I put my tenderloin on the prepared pan and covered it with half the glaze.  I baked it for 15 minutes.  After the initial bake, I added the rest of the glaze and baked it for 20 more minutes.  While it was baking, I prepared the broccoli and made a side of pasta for us, too.  I pulled the tenderloin out and let it rest 5 minutes.  Mike sliced it up and we were ready to eat.  The pork was tasty and cooked well, but didn’t seem to retain much of the flavor from the glaze.  Once again, I had a bit of a problem with the glaze burning a bit on the pan during the cooking process.  I need to figure out the best technique for avoiding that.  Overall, this was good, but not my favorite meal ever. 

Dream Dinners: Turkey Taco Ancho Burgers and Mac and Cheese Wedges

This week, Mike and I have both been suffering from allergies or colds, so I was really glad that I’ve had plenty of Dream Dinners meals to make.  I was so glad I didn’t have to think about meal planning or making elaborate meals.  I could just follow the directions and know that I’d have a great meal on the table without too much work.  I got the oven preheated for the mac and cheese wedges.  Meanwhile, I started on the burgers.  I mixed the ground turkey with with the seasoning mix and formed it into 3 patties.  I cooked the burgers in a skillet for about 7 minutes on each side.  While the burgers were cooking, I put the mac and cheese wedges in for about 15 minutes.  Once the burgers had finished, I placed a piece of cheese on each patty.  I toasted the buns for a few minutes and we were ready to eat.  The burgers were delicious.  I loved the taco seasoning and tortilla chips that were used as seasoning.    I had much more success pan frying my turkey burgers vs. using the grill pan, so this may be my new method for making burgers.  I liked the mac and cheese wedges, but they weren’t quite as crispy as I would have liked them to be.  I would try them again and cook them a little bit longer.  Overall, it was another successful Dream Dinners meal. 

Dream Dinners: Sherry Cream Chicken

Mike is coming down with a bit of a cold, so I needed a warm meal for him that screamed “fall.”  The Sherry Cream Chicken from Dream Dinners was a perfect meal.  I started by making a side of rice and green beans to accompany the chicken.  While the rice and beans were cooking, I got started on the chicken.  First, I browned the chicken for 4 minutes on each side.  I removed it from the pan and set it aside.  I poured the sherry mix in the skillet and brought it to a boil, letting it simmer about 4 minutes.  Next, I added in the onions and Alfredo sauce mixture, stirred, and added the chicken back in.  I cooked it covered for about 12 minutes until the chicken was fully cooked.  Finally, I stirred in the cheese mixture and we were ready to serve.  There was plenty of sauce for the chicken and to use to top the rice.  The green beans paired nicely with the flavors of the chicken and sauce.   The chicken was tender and the sauce was tasty.  It was the perfect beginning of fall meal. 

Dream Dinners: Philly Cheesesteaks with Salt and Pepper Fries

Sometimes your brain is just tired, and that happened to me this Friday when I made Philly Cheesteaks with Salt and Pepper Fries.  I totally forgot to take a picture of our meal.  Lola and I had a long week without Mike and we were so excited when he came home.  Mike loves Philly Cheesesteaks so I was eager to try out this recipe for him to see if it was up to his standards.  I started by preheating the oven to 425.  I put the fries on a baking sheet and popped them in the oven for 30 minutes.  I let them cook a bit before starting on my cheesesteaks.  I added olive oil to a pan and sautéed my veggies for about 5-6 minutes.  I added in the beef and sautéed it for about 7 minutes, until it was fully cooked.  I poured off the excess liquid.  Next, I removed the pan from the heat, added in my white American cheese and folded it into the beef.  I put the buns under the broiler for about 2 minutes to toast them.  I added the beef to the toasted buns, served them with a side of fries and we were ready to go.  This meal was really tasty.  The cheesesteaks had great flavor and were warm and ooey gooey with cheese.  The fries were crispy and well seasoned.  We agreed that these were some of our favorite Dream Dinners fries.  This meal was a big hit and met Mike’s expectations for a delicious cheesteak.  We look forward to making these again and will definitely purchase another set if there are leftovers at work. 

Dream Dinners: Thai Peanut Chicken

We had a busy weekend, so we decided Sunday would be a lazy day.  However, we needed to eat.  I pulled out Thai Peanut Chicken with Jasmine Rice to defrost on Saturday and we we ready to go.  I started by combining the rice and water, bringing it to a boil, and cooking it for about 20 minutes.  In a pan heated to medium high heat, I added my chicken and cooked it about 5 minutes.  Then, I added the crushed peanuts and cooked another 3 minutes.  Finally, I added the Thai peanut sauce to the chicken and let it simmer 7 minutes.  We served the chicken over jasmine rice.  We created another fast, easy meal.  Mike really liked this dish and immediately gave it 5 stars.  I am taking a little bit longer to warm up.  We both thought it tasted a bit like curry, which was a plus for Mike and an uncertain for me.  I would probably make it again in the future because Mike liked it so much, but its not something I would want to eat all the time. 

Pin a Day: One Pot Creamy Risotto with Lemon Pepper Chicken

Fall means warm and hearty meals.  It's time for me to start embracing that in my cooking with hopes that the weather may start to follow suit.  On Friday, I tried this One Pot Creamy Risotto with Lemon Pepper Chicken.   While it was pretty tasty, it was also a little bit of a fail, as I apparently forgot to buy or assumed I already had some pretty important ingredients.  I did not have lemon pepper seasoning or parmesan cheese, so I had to make due with what I had.  Also, for the amount of effort this dish took, despite only using one pot, Mike felt that my old standard chicken and rice casserole was better.  I started by preheating the oven to 350 and seasoning my chicken with poultry seasoning.  I heated up some oil in my Le Creuset pot and cooked the chicken thighs for about 4 minutes on each side.  I set the chicken aside and wiped out the pot.  Next, I added butter, onion and garlic to the pot and cooked for a few minutes until the onions were translucent.  I added in the arborio rice and cooked it for about 2 minutes.  I didn't have white wine for cooking, so I used some water and cooked it another few minutes until it was soaked up.  Then, I added in chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper, stirred and topped with the chicken thighs.  I put the lid on and put the pot in the oven.  I made sure to use my cast iron, as it can go from stovetop to oven, unlike many other pots.  I let the dish cook for 20 minutes covered, uncovered it and let it cook another 10 minutes.  I pulled it out of the oven, removed the chicken, added in milk and a little bit of leftover parmesan from another meal, added the chicken back and we were ready to serve.  The flavor of the chicken and rice was pretty tasty, but maybe a little bland without the lemon pepper and very much parmesan cheese.  It was nice to try another one pot dish, but I have a feeling that I will not be repeating this any time soon.

Dream Dinners: Layered Ravioli Bake

While the month of September seems to be quickly coming to an end, I am a little behind on making my Dream Dinners meals.  We've had a busy month and it promises to stay busy.  This week, we made the Layered Ravioli Bake and it did not disappoint.  I completely thawed the ravioli bake in the fridge.  To start the recipe, I preheated the oven to 350, took the lid off the ravioli, placed it on a baking sheet, covered it with foil and cooked for 40 minutes.  After the initial bake, I removed the foil and cooked it for another 20 minutes until it was golden and bubbly.  Meanwhile, I made a salad and sliced some bread.  This was delicious!  It was cheese ravioli layered with mozzerella cheese, marinara, and sausage crumbles.  We definitely enjoyed it and Mike enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.  Dream Dinners has a really tasty marinara sauce and we will be sure to choose more pasta dishes in the future.

Pin a Day: Eggroll in a Bowl

I hadn't made any new recipes in a while, so I put two new recipes on the menu for this week.  Last night, I made the first of the two, Eggroll in a Bowl.   It was tasty, fairly healthy, and super easy to make. It also cooked pretty quickly, so it was a great choice for a week night.  I started by browning sausage in a skillet.  While the sausage was browning, I made a sauce mixture of soy sauce, minced garlic, and ginger.  I also cut up a bunch of green onions.  Once the sausage was completely brown, I drained the grease and added in the coleslaw mix and sauce.  I cooked it for 5 minutes, until the coleslaw had wilted.  Dinner was ready to serve.  We put generous helpings in bowls and enjoyed.  It really tasted like the insides of an eggroll served up in a bowl.  I liked it a lot and Mike would have preferred actual eggrolls.  This meal probably only took about 15-20 minutes to make, so its a perfect meal on a night where you don't have much time, but don't feel like eating out or eating leftovers.

Dream Dinner: Crispy French Onion Chicken with Bacon Ranch Green Beans

Last night's dinner was so yummy!  I mad Crispy French Onion Chicken with Bacon Ranch Green Beans from Dream Dinners and added some rosemary Italian bread and a pumpkin beer.  The meal was simple to make, but packed a big flavor punch.  I started by preheating the oven to 350 and lining a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  I melted the butter/sauce mix in a small saucepan.  I made three small piles of french fried onions on the pan.  I dipped the chicken breasts in the sauce mixture and placed each breast on each pile of onions.  Next, I covered each chicken breast with more french fried onions. I put the chicken in the oven for 25 minutes to bake.  When there was about 10 minutes left on the chicken, I added bacon to a medium skillet and cooked it for a few minutes.  I added in the butter ranch mix and green beans and cooked them about 5 minutes until they had heated up.  Meanwhile, I put my half loaf of rosemary Italian bread in the oven to heat up and poured a couple of brews.  The meal was so tasty!  The green beans had great flavor, but the chicken was amazing.  It was cooked to perfection and the french fried onions made for some of the best breading on a chicken that we've ever tried.  The meal was simple, but super tasty.  I've already been thinking of ways I can duplicate it on my own.  We will definitely choose this meal next time its available on the Dream Dinners menu.

Dream Dinners: Chicken Bolognese over Linguine

On Friday, I finally finished up the last of my Dream Dinners meals for August.  I made my September meals on that same day, so I was glad that the freezer was empty and ready for new meals.  This sounded like a great Italian meal that would work no matter what season the weather chooses.  I heated up a medium skillet and added the seasoned chicken, cooking it until it was no longer pink.  I added the veggies and sauce to the chicken in the skillet and brought it to a boil, covering and simmering it for about 40 minutes.  While the bolognese was simmering, I brought a pot of water to boil and boiled my linguine for 8 minutes.  I also threw a loaf of rosemary Italian bread in the oven to heat up.  When the everything was done cooking, we served the bolognese over the linguine and topped it with the cheese mixture.  We really enjoyed this meal.  The sauce had great flavor and the noodles were well cooked.  This is a meal that we would definitely be happy to repeat and made us a ton of leftovers, so we will be enjoying it for lunches, too. 

Dream Dinners: Lemon Feta Turkey Sliders with Rosemary Shoestring Fries

It's been busy at our house.  We hosted our dear friends, Ashley, Jason, Mildred and Ethan for the past week as they waited for their home to have water, power, and access by car.  We spent a lot of time running around and going out for dinner, so I was happy on Thursday to have a Dream Dinners meal left from my August stash.  I had been told that the Lemon Feta Turkey Sliders were yummy so I was eager to try them out.  I started by preheating the oven for the fries and getting them on a baking sheet.  I let them bake about 25 minutes at 425.  While the fries were cooking, I got to work on the sliders.  I heated up my grill pan on the stovetop and got to work.  I placed the turkey mixture in a mixing bowl and combined until well blended.  I carefully folded in the feta cheese and formed the mix into 6 small patties.  I grilled the burgers for about 6-7 minutes on each side.  The burgers fell apart a little bit and definitely stuck to my grill pan, leaving quite a mess for Mike to clean up.  While the burgers and fries were finishing, I toasted the buns in the oven for a few minutes.  Some of the buns got a little over cooked, but they weren't totally burnt.  We topped each burger wit the garlic and chive mayo and were ready to eat.  Everything tasted yummy!  We loved the Rosemary fries with their perfect seasoning and crispness.  The burgers were good too, despite being a pain to cook.  Our overall take away from this meal was that we really liked the fries, but weren't sure if the burgers were worth the hassle.  Ground turkey can be difficult to work with and this meal lived up to those standards.  We would definitely eat the fries again, but are torn on the burgers.  I might try cooking them more like mini meatloaves or broiling them next time instead. 

Dream Dinners: Savory Grilled Chicken with Sesame Honey Butter and Roasted Broccoli

Last night we had another delicious and pretty nutritious Dream Dinners meal.  I started by preheating the oven to 425 and preparing a pan to roast the broccoli.  I cooked the broccoli for 8 minutes, added the butter/seasoning mix, and cooked it another 9 minutes.   Meanwhile, I heated up my grill pan on the stove.  I cooked the chicken breasts for about 8 minutes on each side, as they were still a little frozen when I pulled them out of the fridge.  We paired the chicken and broccoli with some leftover rice noodles and topped it with the sesame honey butter.  Everything was so tasty!  The seasonings were all very flavorful and the chicken was tender and perfectly cooked.  We really enjoyed this and the fact that it was pretty healthy.  Mike liked it so much that it was his top choice to take to work for lunch today.  I can't wait to eat the last few meals for this month and to make next month's meals.

Pin a Day: Slow Cooker Thai Chicken with Peanut Sauce

This past weekend was cool and wet, so we ended it with a delicious crock pot meal.  We love Asian foods so this Slow Cooker Thai Chicken with Peanut Sauce sounded perfect.   I put some chicken in the crockpot.  Next, I made a sauce of coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, honey, garlic,  and red pepper flakes.   I covered the chicken with the sauce and turned the crock pot on low for about 6 hours. I checked it about halfway through and turned the chicken over.  After 6 hours, I shredded the chicken and put it back in to soak up the sauce.   During this time, I chopped up some peanuts, sliced some scallions, and got the water boiling for some rice noodles.  Once the noodles, had cooked, we were ready to serve.  This was aa really tasty dish.  There was a ton of great flavor without being too spicy or sweet.  I think in the future, I might consider adding some broccoli or carrots so that it had some vegetables in it. I also liked that this meal made enough for leftovers for a few lunches.  This will definitely be a meal we make again in the future.

Dream Dinners: Canadian Bacon Stuffed French Bread

Friday was a busy day for me.  I went to work in the morning and had to do a little bit of Harvey prep in the afternoon.  I ate lunch and we ran to get gas, a new bed for Lola (which she has already started eating!), and some groceries.  We were almost done at the grocery store when it started pouring.   We brought in our food, dried off, and hunkered down for a weekend of rain.  The best part of our Friday was dinner.  We had another Dream Dinners fan favorite, which is definitely becoming a favorite of ours.  I love sandwiches, so I figured I would like this.  Making the sandwich in the store was fun, too.  It consisted of french bread, cream cheese mix, Canadian bacon, sausage, and Swiss cheese.  I heated up the oven to 350 and baked it for 35 minutes.  At that point, I opened up the foil and baked it another 10 minutes.  I let the sandwich sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.  This dinner was delightful.  The bread was so tasty and the toppings were perfect.  We will definitely be ordering this meal again in the future and hope to try replicating with our own ingredients.

Dream Dinners: Outlaw Chicken Marinara

On Thursday, we tried a new Dream Dinners meal.  This Outlaw Chicken Marinara sounded a lot like Chicken Parmesan, so I was pretty excited to try it.  This dish was assembled with breaded chicken, ricotta cheese, marinara sauce, mozzerella cheese, and seasonings.  I heated up my oven to 375, covered the dish with foil and cooked it for 30 minutes.  I took off the foil and baked it 10 more minutes uncovered.  Finally, I broiled it for about 5 minutes to brown the cheese.  We let it sit a little bit and served it with some fresh cut strawberries and salad.  The flavor and seasoning were pretty yummy on this dish, but it just wasn't our favorite.  It wasn't terrible, just ok.  Most of our Dream Dinners dishes have been so delicious, so ok was a bit of a disappointment.  Mike said that the leftovers were not great.  Next time this dish appears, we will not be ordering it, but given how great all the other meals have been, one disappointment isn't too bad.