At Home My Way

Move over Hamburger Helper!   Ditching the box over here with Skillet Spanish Rice Dinner! RECIPES AT THE TOP - CHIT CHAT AT THE BOTTOM! Skillet Spanish Rice Dinner  (with Ground Beef) (PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE) Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef  (totally optional) (can sub w/ drained/rinsed beans like pinto, kidney, black beans) 1/2 - 1 chopped onion (could be replaced with 1 teaspoon onion powder) 1/2 - 1 chopped bell pepper (any color is fine - or leave it out if you don't like fresh pepper) 1 cup uncooked (long grain) white rice  1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (undrained) (salsa or rotel would also be good substitutes) 1 8-oz can tomato sauce 1 1/2 cups water + 1 beef (or chicken) bullion cube (or replace with 1 1/2 cups beef or chicken broth) (I used the 8 oz tomato sauce can to "measure" my water so as not to dirty another dish.) 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 Tablespoon chili powder (or taco seasoning would work fine) Salt/Pepper to taste Instructions: USING a medium...

  Recipes at the Top:     Chit Chat at the Bottom   Garlic Scapes:  Stir-Fry w/ Simple Homemade Stir-Fry  Sauce Printable Recipe (one page view) HERE   Ingredients: ·          1 pound cubed chicken, pork, or steak (meat is optional) (I didn’t use any meat.) ·          vegetable oil (I used olive oil) (used for stir frying any meat and the for stir-frying the vegetables separately) ·           6 cups chopped vegetables (use any but below are some good options, including GARLIC SCAPES): garlic scapes, harvested early just after they curl into a loop, washed, blossoms trimmed off and cut into 2-4 inch lengths (as big as you might for fresh green beans or asparagus) – or you can actually use asparagus or fresh green beans if garlic scapes are not available for this dish mushrooms (if canned, drained; if fresh – sliced) bell pepper, o...

Doug and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary this week.  You might ask, "What on earth do I care about this lady's anniversary?" LOL.   PARMESAN CHICKEN TIME! I have made Parmesan Chicken, various ways, throughout our marriage - on our anniversary.  By now, I wouldn't want to have an anniversary without my homemade Parmesan Chicken.  (Eating out is overrated LOL.)  We have lots of good memories of me successfully (and unsuccessfully) learning to make this really good meal! Funny how as time passes you learn to roll with the punches. As a newlywed with NO STOVE, I made this meal using a microwave.  Sounds gross to me now, but we loved it.  But then, at 18 and 20 years old, we didn't know much better LOL. As time passed, I made this recipe in the oven, slaving over the stove putting "love" into it as it baked and bubbled in the oven on lazy weekends at home. Next, I found myself working 30 minutes away from home. Commuting and being...

I work with a bunch of young lawyers in my office who are about the age of my older daughter.  They are most always a complete joy to work around.  I'm not a fan of working outside my home and I often PROTEST to my family loudly my dislike for working LOL, but the people I work with are the best! I have worked a very long time- just about 30 years long to be exact!  It seems like times are a changing.  Used to, everyone ate out for lunch.  They ate fast food, grocery store take-out, and some even went to sit down restaurants and diners.  Lately, LOTS of my friends at work bring lunch from home, even these young men lawyers!  Gotta love that! I am always intrigued by the cooking skills of these young men.  They are making their moms and dads proud, obviously!  My husband, who just turned 50, would NEVER be bringing his own cooking for lunch, nor would it be anything close to the delicious and well balanced meals, heavy on vegetables, t...

I tried a recipe that I found on Pinterest that really caught my attention.  It is called One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta .  I had to try it.  I'll share the link HERE because this blogger has an actual recipe on that blog post.  I am SO GLAD I saw this pin.  It's fantastic!  Impressive to say the least!  And the pictures just reel you in.  Mmmmm!    I'm just going to tell you how I did it since I love the method to making this dish.  I never thought of cooking the pasta AND the vegetables together in one pot!  Talk about a "duh" moment!   I LOVE recipes that I can make my own.  I especially love when I can use whatever I have on hand in my garden or in my pantry to come up with something delicious to eat.  This is one of those kind of recipes.  You can use whatever vegetables you have and whatever kind of pasta you have, and have something really, really delicious! Basically you cook the chopped ...