Cinnamon Bread

OK, I have no idea where this recipe came from, but I found it on my Facebook wall, shared by a friend who also had no clue where it came from. It is SOOOO good! It makes 2 loaves and one was gone by bedtime. The other one lasted a little longer. Because we were all asleep part of the time!

Hubby said I must always have a loaf of this made up LOL go for it, dude!

I've made it twice, following the recipe exactly. Well. Sorry of. I think I may have accidentally added an extra 1/2 cup of flour the last time. The batter was thicker than in the pictures. The first time, the bread was more of a cake texture, but more bread-like the last time. Next time, I'm going to purposefully ads an extra 1/2 cup of flour and see what happens. Also going to double the cinnamon. It's good as-is, but we'll really like cinnamon, so...

Cinnamon Bread

2 C. Buttermilk
2 C. Sugar
4 C. Flour
1 C. Butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 t. Baking soda

2/3 C. Sugar
2 t. Cinnamon

Heat oven to 350.

Cream together 2 C. Sugar and butter. Add eggs, milk, flour, and baking soda. Mix well.

In a small bowl, combine 2/3 C. Sugar and cinnamon.

Grease 2 loaf pans. Fill each pan with 1/4 of the batter (1/2 of the batter, total). Set aside 1/4 of the cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 equally over the batter in the pans. Top with the remaining batter, split equally between the pans. Split the remaining cinnamon sugar between the pans, sprinkling on top of the batter

Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Fried Rice

So hubby wanted something to take to work for lunch and nothing sounded good.  Veggie fried rice? He loves rice, so...
I make a lot, so feel free to halve it.

Vegetable Fried Rice

4-5 cups cooked rice, leftover is fine.
1 C. Frozen peas, thawed
3 eggs, beaten
1 large onion, chopped (we love onion)
1/2 t. Garlic powder
1/2 C. Soy sauce
1/4 C. Vegetable oil

Scramble eggs, remove from skillet and set aside. Add a drizzle of the oil, then add the onions. Cook, stirring, until soft.  Add peas and cook until heated through.  Add rice and eggs. Stir to combine.  Add remaining oil, soy sauce, and garlic powder, stirring, until well mixed and heated through.

Taco Cornbread Bake

I was hesitant about making this, even with the changes, but I'm glad I did!  Everyone loved it.  For me, anyway, it has just the right amount of zip.  I like spicy foods, but sometimes you don't want to need a gallon of water with your dinner!  And you can alter the amount of zip by the kind of salsa you use.  We always get medium, but you can go hotter or cooler.  If that's not hot enough, add a can of diced green chili peppers.

I really thought it would be bland, but the salsa does the job.  This can be halved, if you don't live with eating machines like I do.  Of course, I forgot to get a picture till it was almost gone...*sigh*  I'll get my head out of my butt one day, I swear!

Taco Cornbread Bake

2 pounds ground beef
1t. dry oregano
1 1/2 C. salsa
2 16 oz cans tomato sauce
2 cans corn, drained
2 boxes cornbread mix and the ingredients to make them
2 C. shredded cheddar

Heat oven to 375.
Brown beef with oregano.  Drain.  Add salsa, tomato sauce, corn, and 1 C. cheese.
Pour into a 9 x 13" baking pan.
Mix cornbread mix with required ingredients.  Pour over meat mixture and spread evenly.  Top with remaining cheese.
Bake 25-30 minutes.  Allow to rest at least 10 minutes before serving.

Road Trip

As I believe I posted earlier, my oldest son was recently discharged from the Army. He had been stationed in Hawaii and they had to ship his car.  It arrived just outside St. Louis last Friday and he has been driving me batshit ever since. We weren't able to get him down there until today. So, in 4 hours, my husband, my oldest son, and I will head out on a 350 mile trip and my youngest will stay here with the zoo.  If it were just the cats, we could leave them for the day, but not the dogs.

So, anyway, here I am, not sleeping.  Hubby will be driving most of the way down so I can sleep and drive back. Will post pictures if I get any decent ones.

 

So we got back last night, after stopping to pick up dog food, and man was it nice!  Had a snack and when hubby started playing a video game, I went upstairs to call my SIL.  She had asked me online to call when we got home, so I did.  Of course I caught her mid grocery shopping, and she said she'd call back.  Crap!  I left my current book in the car and everything else I haven't read was downstairs.  So, I figured I'd check Facebook and email. 

 

Then hubby's alarm was going off at 5am.  Grrrr, he forgot to reset it!  Wait, what???  Oh.  I guess I fell asleep! 

 

So, here it is 7:30 am, and my head is telling me that the bath and breakfast was nice and all, but I really wasn't done sleeping.  Think I'll go catch a nap after I finish here. 

 

  

This was somewhere along the way, still in Iowa.  Just thought it was a pretty scene on a beautiful day.  LOL It was sometime before 10am, because that's when the windows went up and the a/c went on!  It was already 88 by then! 

 

 

This was in the afternoon, on the way back, somewhere in Missouri.  Sill a lovely day...just hotter than hell!  Was around 95 with a heat index around 100. 

 

 

 This was the sky over Crawford, IA on the way back, about 7pm.  A few minutes later, it started to rain.  HUGE drops, but it only lasted a few seconds, paused, then a little heavier for maybe 30 seconds, then it was done.

 

 

 

And, finally, about 9pm, almost home. 

Spicy Bowties and Sausage

It was a busy day today, so for dinner, I wanted something quick that I had all the ingredients for.   Didn't do too bad!  The sauce wasn't too heavy and it had just enough spice.
Think this is going to be a short entry because I'm just too pooped to pop.

Spicy Bowties with Sausage

1 pound. Italian sausage
1 small onion,  chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz. Bowtie pasta, cooked and drained
2 cans (14.5 oz each) stewed tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 C. Heavy cream
1 T red pepper flakes

In a large skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic until sausage is no longer pink.  Drain
Add pepper flakes, tomatoes, and cream.  Heat. to boiling, reduce to medium and simmer until thickened. Pour over pasta and toss to coat.

Crispy Baked Chicken

That'll teach me.  Planning dinner without checking the forecast. Baking chicken when it's 90 and humid is not a good idea!  Still...dinner was pretty good!
Nothing fancy, but there's nothing left, so I guess it hit the spot.  I made green beans and fried potatoes with it.

Baked Crispy Chicken

4 chicken legs
4 chicken thighs
1 C. Bread crumbs
1 T. Oregano
1 T. Basil
1 t. Garlic
1 T. Onion powder
1T. Paprika
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese
6 pieces skinless chicken

Heat oven to 350.
Combine everything except chicken in s large zipper bag an shake to mix. Add chicken a piece at a time and shake to coat.
Arrange chicken on a baking sheet.
For bone-in bake 45-55 minutes, for boneless, 30-40 minutes.

Dinner for 4, less than $10

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to feed us without breaking the bank, especially since our oldest came home.  Who'd have thought one more mouth would raise the food bill so much!
So tonight I really didn't feel like cooking, but we'd already had pizza this week, so...*sigh* guess I was cooking. It's been hot today and my husband works in the heat, which is draining, so I knew he wasn't going to want to stop by the store, and I certainly didn't want to, so that left what I had on hand.
OK, I can do this. Here's what I came up with. There are a lot of similar recipes out there, but, here it is.  After eating it, I think it would be good with rice, too, as long as you used cooked rice. Using uncooked would take too long, and I know I never have any luck with that...there's always so much that doesn't cook either at all or not completely, and if ruins dinner.

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

1 large or 2 small chicken breast halves (or thighs), cooked and shredded
1 box stuffing mix
1 stick butter, melted
1 can cream soup (whatever flavor you like)
1 C. Water
Salt and pepper to taste (and any other seasoning you like)

Heat oven to 350.
Mix butter and stuffing mix and set aside.
Whisk water and soup together and set aside
Spray a 8x8" pan with nonstick spray.
Remove 1/4 C. Stuffing and set aside.
Spread half the stuffing on bottom of pan. Top with half the chicken, then half the soup. Repeat. Sprinkle reserved stuffing on top.
Bake 30 minutes.

If you use rice, I would think about 3 cups would do, and I personally, would season it with salt, pepper, and maybe poultry seasoning, and cook it in. Chicken broth.