Meal 13

Tonight's meal is a mixture.  Some of us are having GRITS!  Some of us are having leftover lasagna.  I'm determined to do 2 things this winter. Get my kids introduced to grits & oatmeal in a way that they 'like'.

They used to like oatmeal when they were smaller, but they lost they appetite for it somewhere along the way.  Grits however, is something they've never developed a taste for.  We honestly haven't fixed them much as they've been growing up.  But before we had kids, Tony & I ate them quite a bit.

We just prepare the instant grits according to package directions & then while they are still good and hot, we load them up with bacon & cheeeeeeesse!  They are yummy.  Tony loves them too with just butter, salt & pepper.  I LOVE them with gravy & shrimp too, had them one time that way on the Outer Banks & fell in love with that version. 

That's the thing about grits, you really can't go wrong with them....just add what you like.

Meal 12

Meal 12 is actually our first BIG breakfast on a snow day.  Biscuits, eggs, fresh sausage, gravy & jam.  Tony & I worked together this morning on this breakfast.  He's the most consistent gravy maker between us. 

The most marvelous part of this breakfast was the farm fresh sausage.  Our neighbor picked some up for us this week at a local processor.  It's unlike anything you can buy in a store.  And, here's the thing, I actually don't even like sausage.

It was a great start to our snow day with the kids at home!

Meal 11 - Lasagna

Lasagna is baking in the oven right now.  My kids BEG for this & everytime I make it I wonder why I don't make it more??  It's not that difficult.  I've honestly never looked at a lasagna recipe, what I do has become a morphed version of what I used to see my mom do when I was growing up & what has seemed to make sense to me along the way.  Here goes...

I start with a jar of home-canned tomatoes....get them to simmering with some italian spices.  I don't actually know what's in the "italian spice" jar.  It's from one of those fancy spice racks, which was a Christmas gift from Tony one year.  He likes to shop for me in the Kohl's kitchen department.  And, surprisingly even though it doesn't initially sound very romantic, it is to me.

Okay, so the sauce is simmering, I start browning the hamburger (from our own cow)...and some extra hamburger which will be frozen for another meal down the road.  While all that is going on the stove, I mix up a carton of cottage cheese, some parmesan cheese, an egg (farm fresh, thanks Ann!), and some parsley flakes in a bowl. Today I actually used a bunch of Pizza Hut parmesan/romano packets that we had left over from one night that I DIDN'T cook!

I add the browned beef to my tomatoes & start layering it all together in a 9x13 cake pan....noodles, sauce, cheese, cheese....noodles, sauce, cheese!!

I DO NOT boil my lasagna noodles before I layer them & the second layer of cheese I mentioned is just shredded mozzerella (about 2 cups in all.)

Meal 11 is baking - 289 to go!!

Meal 10

Woo-hoo!!  Finally in double digits on the meal count!  Tonight we're having beef stroganoff & it smells yummy from it's "one-skillet."  I found this recipe while researching back in December.  I was specifically looking for one-dish recipes & found this on foodtv.com courtesy of Emeril Lagasse.  I think it's fun to watch him cook.  The link below will take you straight to the recipe.

The link actually contains two recipes, one to the stroganoff & one for the "essence" seasoning that Emeril cooks with alot.  I also use this essence seasoning for jambalaya that I make occasionally....so I had it mixed up already.  The jambalaya is actually an Emeril recipe too.

So happy cooking, we're going to go enjoy this stroganoff & some family convo time around the table!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/beef-stroganoff-hamburger-dinner-in-a-skillet-recipe/index.html

Ten meals down & 290 to go!

Actual Chicken Spaghetti Recipe!!

A friend resent this to me the other day, so I thought I'd post the actual recipe.  It's a little different than the way I did it the other day.  I used a large covered skillet last time & this is more of a casserole approach.  Both turn out great, it just depends on what works for you at the time.

Ingredients:
1 small box of velveeta cheese
2/3 stick of margarine (or butter)
½ green pepper
1 small onion
1 can Rotel tomatoes
small can of mushrooms (or a handful of fresh ones sliced)
1 tablespoon mustard (I forgot this when I made it last week)
8-10 ounces of spaghetti – cooked and drained

2 cups chicken – (I grilled extra chicken one day for supper and chopped it in cubes the next day and used it. A friend sometimes boils chicken and pulls it apart. You can use canned chicken). Put more or less if you like.

Preheat oven to 350°
Melt velveeta cheese and margarine in microwave.
Chop up green pepper and onion and a couple of tablespoons of water and microwave it for a little while (a minute or two) to make them soft. If you use fresh mushrooms, add them to this and microwave them also. Drain and add to mixture of cheese.
Then add Rotel tomatoes, canned mushrooms, and mustard. Lastly, add spaghetti and chicken in a big casserole dish and bake it at 350° for about 30-45 minutes.

Thanks for sending this Lucindy!!

Meal 9

Tonight's meal was "scrambled omelettes"....basically scrambled eggs with lots of yummy vegetables, and topped with melted cheese.  I started by sauteeing onion & green pepper for awhile, then added the mushrooms & finally eggs. Biscuits (pillsbury frozen) with Aunt Gerties home-made blackberry jelly rounded out the meal.  It smells awesome in this house & everybody got some vegetables, protein & dairy into their diet!!

9 meals down, 291 to go!!

Meal 8???

Tonight there were only 3 of us home for supper.  We ate leftovers.  Does that count as a meal????  Here are my thoughts....I didn't prepare a meal tonight, but we did all eat supper at home.  Therefore it was an 8th meal at home.  And, it is better to use leftovers than to let thme waste, right??

Although, when I started this I thought we'd probably eat leftovers for lunch & I'd actually prepare 300 meals. 

Any thoughts out there??

Strawberry Fluff

A friend asked for this recipe - I ate it the first time in my grandmother's kitchen.  Those are some great memories. 

1 bar angel food cake
1 large container cool whip
8 oz package of cream cheese
1 cup sugar
fresh strawberries
1 package of strawberry glaze

Pinch cake into chunks - add 1/2 container cool whip - mix & press into bottom of large dish or pan.  Mix together cream cheese - sugar - remaining 1/2 container of coolr whip with electric mixer.  Spread this on top of the first layer.  Cap & cut your strawberries - mix with glaze - spread on top as your final layer.  Refrigerate for awhile allowing everything to set together.

Hope you enjoy.

Meal 7

Tonight's meal was chicken spaghetti & Paula Deen rolls!!  The chicken spaghetti starts with sauteeing onion, green peppers & mushrooms in a little butter...I probably used 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add 8 to 16 oz of cheese and a can of rotel.  A tablespoon of prepared mustard.  Some salt & pepper to taste.  Tonight I used some leftover grilled chicken, from a great meal at our church this weekend.  All I had to do was chunk it up on our carving board.

The rolls were spectacularly easy, but fattening!  2 sticks of melted butter, 8 oz of sour cream & 2 cups of self-rising flour.  Mix together, drop in ungreased muffin tins & bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.  Thanks Paula Deen!!

Now, that is 7 meals down, 293 meals to go & 348 days left in the year!

Meal 6

Hope you all enjoyed the last blog.  I was personally devastated that they all did so well without me for a few days....and no, in case you were wondering, there was not a teaspoon full of strawberry fluff left here when I got home!!

It's almost 11:30 p.m. right now & I've just put chicken in the crockpot to cook overnight.  This is the "first" stage.  In the morning I will add to the crockpot everything it takes to make tortilla soup to have it ready for us anytime we can eat tomorrow night.  This will be meal number 6.

Yep, we're 13 days into the year & I'm just starting on meal 6....the math is NOT looking good!

The next few days are going to be crazy here, so we might actually make this meal last a couple of days....so my countdown question is, do left-overs count as another meal??  Like could this be meal 6 & 7 or is that cheating??

294 to go.

daddys meal #1

This week when momma was at Chrysalis my daddy cooked some deer roast with potatos, carrots, and celery! It was mmm DELISH! He used my brothers 4 point deer meat to make it. Ergo my little bubs deer was a winner!

This is what Waynes deer looked like after it was cooked!

This is Waynes 4 point buck!

And sinse me and my sis are doing 52 deserts to go with my mommas 300 meals, we made our daddy strawberry fluff! This is a wonderful, light, but tastey desert! And we recieved and A+ for out cooking!

Mine and Jamilyns fluff!

P.S you need to get cooking better mom because so far, daddy is doing better than you! Haha!

-Dara Wright

Meal 5

Homemade pizza & salads.  2 bought pizza crust mixes.  Canned tomatoes from the garden with a few dried italian spices....simmering for about 30 minutes on the stove.  Chopped up deer summer sausage to use as a topping.

This came from our daughter's 8 point buck that she killed last fall on our farm.  Cheese & mushrooms wrap up the pizza prep.  Salads with fresh boiled farm eggs (thanks again Ann!) and homemade thousand island. 

Meal 4

Tonight is omelettes for two.

Fresh eggs from our neighbor, thanks Ann!

Freshly grated parmesan.

Green peppers from last summer's garden.

Ham, cheddar cheese & spinach from the store.

Purchased frozen biscuits &

Aunt Gertie's wild blackberry jam - a Christmas gift.

Wow!!

296 meals to go.

Meal 3 - prep time

This was the scene at tortilla soup making time. Wayne got a work out opening all those cans...

Dara talked her way thru the cilantro chopping.  Cilantro is NOT for everyone, but after you aquire the taste, it's wonderful!

297 meals to go.

Meal 3

Tonight we will have Aunt Carla's Amazing Tortilla Soup!  I know it's great so I'm posting the recipe, this is QUICK & makes ALOT.
Ready?
2 cans - cream of mushroom
2 cans - cream of celery
2 cans - cream of chicken
2 cans - cheddar cheese soup
2 cans - chicken broth (30 oz total)
1 - 15 oz can of diced tomatos
1 cup of medium picante sauce
4.5 oz can of green chiles
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup choppe cilantro (this is an aquired taste!)
4 cooked chicken breasts

Chop fresh stuff, cook & dice or shred chicken, dump cans, measure dry ingredients & mix all together. 
Simmer for awhile....ladle, dollop with sour cream or sprinkle some cheese, it's awesome.

Meal 2

Tony was so excited about these potato pancakes tonight!! He said that his mom used to fix them all the time when he was growing up.  It was the first time I used this recipe & I didn't love it so I'm not gonna' share it.  We also had chopped steak patties & salads.

298 meals to go!

1 Meal Down!!

This blog is simple...I've given my husband 300 meals for Christmas & am blogging to make sure I get it done! 

Our lives our crazy, wild & wonderful...(See Jadaway Living Blog)...which means we are NEVER home.  Last year we estimate that we spent a small fortune eating out & in drive-thrus!!

So, 300 meals may not sound like much to some of you die-hard "cook every night at home" type of people, but to me it's  a HUGE goal.

1st meal was January 1st - just dinner for two - actually our wedding anniversary - baked potatos, spinach salads with homemade 1000 island & crumbled freshly fried bacon & bread.  Yummy & simple.

299 to go!