Mariannes Motifs

Keurig K-Cups on Sale - 32 cents and free shipping

This may be the cheapest deal on K-Cups for the Keurig brewer.  If you do the subscribe and save you get 50 K-Cups for $15.91.  That is about .32 cents a cup for awesome

K-Cups for Keurig Brewers Pack of  50 for $18.72  Save even more with "subscribe and save."  Price drops to $15.91 with free shipping.  Can be canceled.

K-Cups on Sale

There are 5 varieties available with this deal, including

• Coffee People Jet Fuel
• Coffee People Donut Shop
• Coffeee People Wake Up Call
• Gloria Jean's Hazelnut (my personal favorite)
• Coffee People Black Tiger. (The Black Tiger is a bit more)

I want to also add Kurig, Kuerig, Coffee Pods, k Cups - in case someone does not know how to spell Keurig!

Crockpot Butter Chicken

Today's dinner is Indian Butter Chicken made in the crock pot.  I had a jar of Patak's Butter Chicken simmering sauce.  Made a pot of basmati rice, and cooked some southern style green beans.  I decided that since the meal was so easy (Defrost chicken, put in crock pot, pour sauce over, turn on) I could afford to take some time with the green beans.  So I chopped some onion and then cooked the green beans in sauteed onion and added a chicken bullion cube.

I also baked up some frozen Nan I had in the freezer.  Yummy.  The Butter Chicken came out fantastic - even 5 year old Ben liked it.  Adam didn't try it but he loves rice and green beans so he was happy.  Definite thumbs up and something I will make again.

Now that dinner is done early, we can sit out on the deck, enjoy our patio furniture and watch the birds and squirrels.

The kids are actually watching a movie tonight - Valiant.  They seem to be into it, which is more than I expected from a movie about a pigeon.  It probably has to do with the Lick'em sticks candy they got as a reward.

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Extremely Lazy Peach Cobbler

I just made my first ever peach cobbler.    I accidentally created my own recipe after I mistook a 1/3 cup measure for a 1/2 cup measure.  It came out completely perfect. 

I baked it in the ugly Pyrex green daisy bowl that failed to sell on Ebay.  I figure - if I am stuck with the thing I might as well get some use out of it.

Extremely Lazy Peach Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350

2/3 cup self rising flour (or 2/3 cup flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup for topping
2/3 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 can peach pie filling
Pinch Pumpkin pie spice

Melt butter in bottom of Pyrex bowl or 9x9 casserole.  Spoon pie filling into melted butter.

Mix flour and sugar in bowl and add milk.  Gently pour over peach filling.

Top with 1/4 cup of sugar and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice mix (or cinnamon). 

Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

For some reason I have been craving biscuits and sausage gravy this week.  I think it started when Jin accidentally bought me White Lily Self Rising flour.  I normally get all purpose flour but hey I can work with whatever.

On the package it clearly states that it is the best for biscuits and I guess that got into my subconscious.  Kroger has some sausage patties on sale for $2.50 cents so I went for it.

First I made some simple drop biscuits.  (Lazy - no rolling for me)  I melted the butter and then when it cooled, poured it in the milk.  I actually added some vinager to the milk to make it like buttermilk.   Basically it was 5 TBS butter, 1 cut of milk, and 2 cups of self rising flour.  Added one pinch of baking powder, and a bit of salt.  Mix, drop and bake at 400 degrees.

The for the sausage gravy I cooked up the sausage.  It was not very greasy at all, so I didn't remove any grease.  I crumbled up 2 of the sausages to flavor the gravy and put the rest aside.  The gravy was accomplished by making a roux out of the sausage grease and the butter, then adding milk and stirring until it was thickened.   Flavor with salt and pepper.

This is one of those meals where you need to take a diet pill, or cholesterol pill while you eat it.  Not exactly full of nutritional goodness.  Just greasy, starchy Southern yum.  Or as my niece would say in "LOLCAT" - nom nom.

Birthday Cake

I told the kids it was my birthday when I took them to camp and they were all like "Oh good, you get birthday cake."  So I decided to make myself some cake.

However, I needed something extremely easy because I am like that, you know.  Just the entire concept of baking cake is amazing to me, I don't need to push my luck with a complex recipe.

This one - Simple White Cake looked like it fit the bill.  6 ingredients, if you count the fact that I had self rising flour that hubby bought by mistake so I didn't need to add the baking powder.

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

I made them into cupcakes - I actually had balloon cupcake cups from some time I thought I was brave enough to bake for the kids.

Thinking that something this simple deserves icing, I found a simple buttercream recipe - Almost Professional Buttercream.  The cupcakes are in the oven and I am going to start on the frosting now.  Will post a pic later.

Best Chili Ever

I made chili tonight and it came out so totally yummy, I had to write down what I put in it for posterity.  And so I remember next time.

Best Chili Ever - Turkey Ancho Black Bean Chili

 

1 pound ground turkey

1 small onion

1 big clove garlic

“brown bag” chili mix – about 1.5 TBSP  (I don’t use the whole bag at once cause the kids like stuff mild)

Ancho chlili powder – 1TBSP

1 can Bush’s chili beans (mild)

1 can Ro-Tel Mexican diced tomatoes mild

1 can black beans.  (rinse the black beans well in water before putting in the chili otherwise they make everything black.)

1 squirt of ketchup   (imparts a certain "je ne sais quoi"

 

 

Chop onion and garlic and sauté lightly in some olive oil.  Add ground turkey and cook through. 

 

Dump in all the other ingredients.  Cook up for 15 minutes or so to thicken the sauce.  Enjoy.

Easiest Buffalo Chicken Strips

I did this semi-homemade style. In homage to the Vikings playoff game and with fond memories to the yummy Buffalo Chicken Dip I made on New Years Eve I decided to do Buffalo Chicken Strips. I sliced organic chicken breasts into strips and then used Shake and Bake on them and baked them in the oven. Half stayed like that for the kids and the other half got tossed in Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing sauce. Yum! Add some cut up celery and carrot sticks, rice pilaf side dish, and blue cheese dressing and it was tasty and easy meal.

See more progress on: Cook a healthy dinner.

Cooking for the New Year

What a great recipe!  For New Years Eve last night we had a dinner of appetizers.  I made the Buffalo Chicken dip recipe from Allrecipes.com (slight modification I used Blue Cheese Dressing instead of Ranch, and skipped the cheddar cheese).  Its really tasty, and since I made it with lowfat Nuefchatel instead of cream cheese, and light blue cheese dressing I don't think it was totally bad for you.  It was an excuse to eat alot of celery anyhow.

I used the Franks Hot Sauce Buffalo wing mix, so I can use it straight on chicken breasts later to do a buffalo chicken breast dinner.

I cut up celery, carrots, and served chicken in a biscuit crackers *funny!* and Triscuits.  I also cut up some Gouda cheese.  The kids didn't like the dip - too spicy, but they loved the veggies, cheese, and crackers.  I served the cheese with party toothpicks, and that was the height of fun for a 4 and 5 year old.  They are so easily amused - makes it fun to do things for them.  We all should spend more time with kids and get that simple amazement going in our lives.

Here is a picture of the feast whic we followed up with sparkling cider.  (Adam called it fuzzy cider)

One of my new years hopes (I just can't do resolutions) is to keep the place clean and cook dinner every night.  While I am looking for a job we need to eat healthy, and economize.  2009 is going to be the year of clean kitchen sinks just like the FlyLady says.

Tonight I am making baked potatoes and chili.  It's going to be a baked potato bar with chili, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, broccoli, and sour cream.  This should be really yummy in my humble opinion.  I've got these monster sized potatoes in the oven right now, on top of my pampered chef pizza stone.

What are we having for New Years Eve?

We are running out to the grocery store to pick up New Years Eve goodies.

I think I am going to try this one --

Buffalo Chicken Dip

From Allrecipes.com

"This tangy, creamy dip tastes just like buffalo chicken wings. It's best served hot with crackers and Celery sticks. Everyone loves the results!"

INGREDIENTS

    * 2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
    * 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
    * 1 cup Ranch dressing
    * 3/4 cup pepper sauce, such as Franks® Red Hot®
    * 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
     * 1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
    * 1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers

   

DIRECTIONS

   1. Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.

The Morning Banana Diet

Here's the scoop on the biggest diet fad to hit Japan recently - the Morning Banana Diet.

This is a quote from the Time Magazine article on the phenomena where supermarkets in Japan are running out of Bananas, and banana imports have skyrocketed in that country.

The Morning Banana Diet regime is simple: A banana (or as many as you want) and room temperature water for breakfast; eat anything you like for lunch and dinner (by 8 p.m.). A three o'clock snack is okay, but no desserts after meals, and you have to go to bed before midnight. Sumiko Watanabe, a pharmacist in Osaka designed this stress-free diet to help increase the metabolism of her husband Hitoshi Watanabe, who had been rather overweight.

Of course Americans have been in love with the banana for years, and it is in fact the #1 most popular fruit in this country.  Considering it contains potassium and other nutrients, and is easy to digest, a banana does make a wonderful breakfast.

According to Wikipedia's Banana Article one average banana contains 28% of your daily recommended vitimin B6, 15% of RDA for Vitimin C, 5% of RDA B5, and 8% of your daily potassium requirement.  With 2.6 grams of fiber, and 1.09 grams of protein, and 22.84 grams of Carbs.  Sounds like a great little tasty package of goodness.

Banana, raw, edible parts Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 90 kcal   370 kJ
Carbohydrates     22.84 g - Sugars  12.23 g - Dietary fiber  2.6 g   Fat 0.33 g Protein 1.09 g Vitamin A equiv.  3 μg  0% Thiamin (Vit. B1)  0.031 mg   2% Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.073 mg   5% Niacin (Vit. B3)  0.665 mg   4% Pantothenic acid (B5)  0.334 mg  7% Vitamin B6  0.367 mg 28% Folate (Vit. B9)  20 μg  5% Vitamin C  8.7 mg 15% Calcium  5 mg 1% Iron  0.26 mg 2% Magnesium  27 mg 7%  Phosphorus  22 mg 3% Potassium  358 mg   8% Zinc  0.15 mg 1%