Lemonade Pie

Garrett's favorite dessert is Lemon Icebox Pie. Reese and I usually bake something on Mondays to enjoy all week. Usually we make what we like or what is easy for him. Usually it is nothing Garrett really enjoys.

This week, I decided to make something that I knew Garrett would love.

I searched online for a recipe but almost everything was way whackadoo (yes, that's a word!) and something I didn't want to try. Then, I stumbled upon this one and decided we'd try this version.

Ingredients:

(If this ain't a plug for WalMart, I don't know what is?!)

-Graham cracker crust

-frozen juice of choice (we did lemonade - i want to try limade, pink lemonade, and maybe some others too!)

-1 tub of coolwhip

-1 can of eagle brand

First things first.....get you a helper! I've obviously snagged up the cutest one, so you'll have to make do with whoever is left!

Take the lid off the coolwhip and IMMEDIATELY be nagged by said cute helper to eat it....I gave him the lid to lick. That lasted all of 2 seconds and he wanted something else!

Pour eagle brand, coolwhip, and lemonade in bowl to mix.

Mix until blended well.

I would advise against using the whole can of juice. I'd say between 1/2 a can and 3/4 a can. We did 3/4 and it took a bit longer to set up. Ours was also thawed 100%.

Pour into pie crust.

Cover and set in the freezer for at LEAST 3 hours....the longer you can wait, the better!

I should mention that Garrett ate this as his dinner at 6pm. At 7pm he had one leftover slice of pizza from BJ's (that place is like Heaven on Earth!). At 9 pm he had about 1/2 of the rest of the pie!

So glad I found something Garrett loves. I liked it, it was super good - but when I say that it made it 2 days in our freezer, that is a stretch! It was cheap, easy, and good. This is something I will mix in with his nightly icecream treats...

Super Easy Beef Tips

Several months ago, a friend posted on Facebook about making beef tips. I thought it sounded yummy so I thought I'd give it a try and asked her for the recipe.

I went to the store and got the ingredients only to find that on the night I was going to make them I didn't have all the ingredients like I thought.

So, I scoured my cookbooks in search of a simple recipe for them that I might have all the ingredients for and found something SUPER DELISH!

Ingredients

-Beef Tips / Stew Meat

-1 can cream of mushroom soup

-1 can of french onion soup

-rice, noodles or even mashed potatoes

Start by mixing your two soups together

Next, place your meat in the bottom of a dish.

Pour the soup mixture over the meat, cover with foil, bake on 300 degrees for 3 hours!


See, I told you....easy as pie and even more delish!

I like mine served over rice. Garrett likes his served over egg noodles. We usually switch back and forth unless I am feeling super generous and make us each our favorite! I've even served them over mashed potatoes and they are super delish that way too!

This is a new staple in our house.....it's too easy and delish not to!

Rustic Chicken Pizza

Another new recipe at our house that is a new favorite!!!

RUSTIC CHICKEN PIZZA!!!

Ingredients

chicken cut into bit size pieces (you can use rotisserie chicken or I just usually pan cook some breasts with a little seasoning)

2 roma tomatoes

1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

ranch dressing

parmesean cheese

mozzerella cheese

refrigerated pizza dough (by the cookies and biscuits)

Roll our your pizza dough onto a cookie sheet (We like the rectangle cookie sheets. The round ones are a little bit too small).

Cook it for about 6 minutes on 375 degrees. You are wanting it to start to not be so gooey.

When you bring it out of the oven, cover the crust in a mixture of ranch dressing and parmesean cheese. This is basically your pizza sauce - so use as much or as little as you like.

Put on spinach, chicken, cheese, and top with tomato slices.

Put it back in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

And then.........

ENJOY!!!!

Garrett's new favorite....

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

Ingredients:

chicken breasts (I like to butterfly them so they aren't so thick)

Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Dressing

Basil (I used dried)

Shredded Mozzerella cheese

butter

Spaghetti noodles

3-5 Roma tomatoes

Directions:

Marinate chicken in about 1/4 cup of the dressing for up to 3 hours.

Sear in pan on stove. I personally like these to be about 3-5 minutes away from being done...I pretty much cook them all the way through. Just flip them back and forth and make sure you pour the excess dressing from your marinating bowl in the pan with them.

In a baking dish, pour a little dressing and make sure it coats the bottom of the pan (nothing excessive here folks, just a bit)

Place chicken in pan. Squirt a tad bit more dressing on each piece of chicken. Sprinkle with basil. Top with diced tomatoes. Cover with mozzerella cheese.

Here is what they look like going into the oven.

Cook for about 15 minutes on about 350 - you are mainly just melting the cheese here and waiting on your pasta to boil.

Cook some spaghetti. Also in another suace pan put some butter to melt (you could just as easily use the microwave here). Add some basil once the butter melts.

Drain your spaghetti and pour on the buttery goodness.

Pull out your chicken.......ah, your kitchen will smell like Heaven!

Here is Garrett's plate...

He likes me to save him some tomatoes for the top of the spaghetti as well as some fresh grated parmesean.....

This meal never disappoints either of my boys!!!!!

Can't you tell????

On a side note - I know it seems like I said "use dressing, pour dressing" quite a few times.....Don't use the whole bottle. I can make this dish 4 times with one bottle of dressing......

It's also really great on salad too!

A fun way to do leftovers!

We were out and about this weekend and we ate out way more that usual, so I had an abunance of leftover meat...We had some left over brisket that I cooked on Thursday and leftover chicken I cooked on Friday. What to do? What to do?

MAKE QUESADILLAS!!!

We had brisket and cheese quesadillas and chicken, bacon, ranch quasadillas.

I used my cast iron skillet that was Mom's, my great, great grandmothers (we called her Mom). Let me tell you, if you don't have one of these, get one. It is amazing. I don't have to worry about using plastic or wooden utensils. It can be put into the oven and take a beating....I'd love to have all cast iron cookware, honestly, it's that great!

Ok....I grilled up some onions, peppers, and japalenos. I also cooked 3 pieces of bacon. I put a little butter in the bottom of the skillet and put the tortillas down. Threw on some meat, onions and peppers, and cheese. For the chicken, bacon, ranch I added bacon and a little ranch dressing...

Let it cook up a bit - get the tortilla nice and hot.

Please excuse the pictures. We have no natural light in our kitchen and I used my phone...

Put the tortillas together and let the cheese melt it together.....

Put it on your plate and cut it up......and ENJOY!

Garrett and I both talked about how it was a creative idea at leftovers because neither of us felt as we were eating leftovers. Plus, who usually eats brisket quesadillas?

Try it...it might just become our leftover staple!

Happy Birthday America!

"...God Blessed AMERICA, My HOME SWEET HOME!"

We headed out to the Freedom Fest in downtown Houston for the 4th.

There was a street carnival of sorts, carnival food, booths, stages with singing and acting, rides, but most importantly a free concert with Little Big Town and Pat Green.

We went and it was fun to indoctrinate Reese into some of the things Garrett and I used to enjoy when we were just dating...

On the 5th, we made Flag cupcakes at Reese's request.

I love how Reese eats as much when we are cooking as what he is making....

TACO SALAD

I so get into that recipe rut of fixing the same 8 meals over and over and over and over.

When we got moved, I decided that I would search high and low for some new things to cook.

I didn't get this from a recipe, but I figured that it would be pretty easy and good, and definatly something different...

TACO SALAD...

green leaf lettuce torn into bite size bits

chopped tomatoes

chopped onions (for Garrett ONLY!)

shredded cheese
homemade salsa (yum and super easy!)

1 lb lean ground beef

one can corn (drained)
one can black beans (drained)
taco seasoning

Cook and drain beef. Add taco season packet as per directions. Add corn and black beans. Cook until thickened. Arrange on your plate and have at it!

Now, you might have noticed a little something green on top of our salads...Well, that is where the recipe idea came to be...I saw a recipe for a "Cilantro Lime Dressing" and it was "mexicany" so I decided it would be good on top of a taco salad.....

Let me tell you.....

AHHH-MAY-ZING!

This could so easily be a sauce you put on top of a plain chicken breast, use it to dip just about anything in....so so so good.

Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 cup of Buttermilk Ranch (I made my own)

1 cup of cilantro

1/2 japaleno with seeds

2 tablespoons of honey

lime juice to taste

I blended in a blender and it was super good!

Note: As I started mixing, it was like SUPER green and I was worried. So I ended up putting all of the homemade ranch in the blender to hopefully offset the green look. In the end, I am glad I did...So I'd say, go with 1/2 of the cilantro if you are only going to do the 1 cup of dressing as the recipe calls for.

It was a hit! Super good and will definately make again!