Pantry Revisited

Do you LOVE milk?  I never have.  Even as a child.  I know I need calcium for my skinny bones so I continue on my quest to find a milk that I enjoy. I've tried Almond Milk, and Soy Milk.  This week I tried Coconut Milk.  I have always loved the taste of the milk as it flows from a fresh coconut so I thought I would try it.  I am now obsessed with my new coconut milk.  It is so tasty and smooth.  If any of you have any pros or cons, I would love to hear from you.   I have not tried cooking / baking with it yet.  I also have not tried putting chocolate syrup in it, but I'm sure I will this weekend!!  Hmm. . . I'm thinking a glass of it would be great right now with this piece of pound cake I am eating. Here are some advantages I found online that I thought I would share with you.  Since I am trying to GAIN weight, I was not happy to see "aids in weight loss" on the list, however some of you will be happy to see ...

Years ago, and I do mean years ago, my ex-mother-in-law made a fabulous chicken casserole.  I made that casserole many, many times for my family as the kids were growing up.  While looking for a cake recipe last week, I ran across the casserole recipe and decided I needed to make that again.  It is very easy to make and just fabulous.  Delicious enough for a company main dish, or just for your family on a weeknight.  Chandler and I ate way too much of this last night and I am looking forward to having leftovers for my lunch today!  Definitely need to put this on my monthly dinner rotation. Chicken and Yellow Rice Casserole Boil three chicken breasts until done.  Shred meat and put in the bottom of 9 x 13 buttered casserole. Cook one package of yellow rice, one onion chopped, four stalks of celery chopped.   Spread one can of cream of mushroom soup over chicken, then top with cooked rice mixture.  Top all with buttered breadcrumbs and...

So for Valentine's this year we decided to cook together.  Now my DH is not a cook at all.  He barely knows how to open a can and heat it up.  But he was game for this.  So we started out Saturday morning making our grocery list.  I gave him one item to prepare - a side dish.  "Aren't you going to tell me what to cook," he asked.   I told him no that was part of the fun - the surprise of it all.  So I gave him a cookbook and he chose cauliflower.  Strange. . . I know, but it was delicious.  I chose to make a chicken dish I had seen on Rachel Ray's show last week and for dessert, some Nutella pastries. Here is the cauliflower dish.  For me, it would have been better without the dijon mustard.   He did an excellent job of preparing it.  And he opened a bottle of pink champagne we had in the fridge for like four years.  I wondered if you could keep it that long, but it seemed to taste okay still.  It was so cold ...

Every year around Valentine's I get a hankering for strawberry cake.  The best one I have made is from Paula Deen's collection.   As you can see from the photo however, my frosting is a bit runny.  I can attribute this to the fact that I "tried" to cut back on the amount of confectioner's sugar the recipe called for in an effort to be a tad healthier.  In this case, the recipe was correct and I needed to use all seven cups of sugar.  The cake itself is moist and delicious and the strawberry smell coming from your oven is divine!  Paula makes hers as a layer cake but I made mine a sheet cake just because it is easier and quicker to do a sheet cake.  Since this type of frosting is just too sweet for me, I have decided the next time I make this cake I will put a whipped cream topping on it. You can find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/simply-delicious-strawberry-cake-recipe/index.html

I have never loved pancakes.  Even as a child.  I think now it was because I had not had the "perfect" pancake.  I've tried many recipes - all too thick and chewy for me.  The ones made with biscuit mix are the worst.  You know how it is.  You take a bite and chew and the bite just gets bigger and bigger in your mouth.  It seems like you will never get it chewed up and swallowed!  Too much work and too little flavor. I learned several years ago how to make melt in your mouth pancakes and I love them!  For the last two Saturday mornings, I have been in a mood for pancakes. These are easy to make from scratch and I promise you will not be disappointed.  They are light and flavorful.  Always a big hit at my house. The secret is in the eggs. Double this recipe for four people, but for just us two, this is the recipe I use: 1 cup s.r. flour 1 T. sugar 3 T. melted margarine 2 eggs 1 cup milk Mix dry ingredients...

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!  I hope you all ate your ham, blackeyed peas, and greens for your new year's day meal.  I did.  I had delicious collards, hopping john, corn casserole and a delicious glazed ham.  I plan to have success in 2013 by eating the right things.  LOL I meant to post this before Christmas.  I had read an "easy" way to cut up butternut squash and I wanted to try it.  Well there is no easy way in my opinion, but the secret is having a VERY sharp knife.  Then it isn't so bad and the outcome is worth the effort.  I simply cut up the squash into cubes, placed in a roasting pan, drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled a little brown sugar on top and baked for about a half hour or so until tender.  They were a delicious accompaniment to my smoked turkey that I served that night.  Here it is before baking. Trust me - it was delicious and healthy too!

Hello Blog.  I've missed you! I've been suffering from a bad back for the last three weeks which has really put a damper on my Christmas shopping, baking, decorating, etc.  I am getting better daily and thanks to all of you who have checked on me!! Since my DH has been so sweet and helping me so much lately, I am making him a full blown dinner tonight complete with Christmas cookies. My sweet mom made teacakes when we were growing up.  They are a little softer I think than sugar cookies.  She made homemade chocolate syrup to pour over them and it was a fabulous dessert.  These are not fancy because I did not take the time to decorate them today.  Just a good cookie.  I discovered also today that making sugar cookies at Christmas by yourself is not nearly as much fun as it was when the kids were little and it was a half day adventure with decorating and baking! These are super easy to make and super easy dough to work with! Teacakes 4 ...