RT: Quick and Easy Peasy

This one is right up my alley...

That's right it's time for my weekly Random Thursday post! 

I love to cook and so this one might be just what i need to end my day (I am, of course writing this post on Wednesday night!) 

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Dump Cake

This is so easy a gnat could do it! I don't have my own picture of one of my hand crafted beauties, but i am totally kicking myself, because i made a beautiful one the other night for some of our friends! 

But here are some links to some awesomeness! 

All Recipes: Dump Cake I & Blueberry Dumpcake (a little more prep, but still easy!)

And leave it to The Pioneer Woman to get it right: Dump Cake

Oh, BTW, it truly is a can of crushed pineapple, a can of pie filling (your choice of flavor), a boxed cake mix, and a stick of butter (melted). Add nuts if you feel nutty! And i swear one of the easiest and most delish dessert you will have with really noooooo fuss!

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Taco Beans and Rice

I found this in a cookbook and have added ground turkey to it.... check out my blog post about it! (link above)

                                                                                                                                             |three|

Flat Bread Pizza

Here's a sneak peak ... with a recipe to come on July 10th!  

What are your quick recipes? 

So much to cook and soooo little time! 

Check out other's quick recipes! 

Snickerdoodle Yumminess

You may have seen that i was baking a few days ago! 

I have volunteered to make appetizers for our church service on Saturday nights one time a month. 

This time it was my turn to do a dessert and some sort of vegetable. 

The vegetable was easy: a veggie tray! 

But the dessert clearly needed to be made! 

This is one of those moments where Pinterest comes in handy! 

I definitely had a few options! 

Source: daydreamkitchen.com via Simone on Pinterest

Source: daydreamkitchen.com via Simone on Pinterest

Source: sallysbakingaddiction.com via Simone on Pinterest

I ended up choosing Snickerdoodle Bread! 

Source: lilluna.com via Simone on Pinterest

And here is my version! 

A few notes: 

- The recipe called for Cinnamon chips and they are a seasonal item. I must have missed them in the stores though i have never seen them before! I opted for white chocolate chips instead! this was a great option and way more readily available.

-The bread was perfectly moist! Loved that! I think it must have been the sour cream! 

- The recipe calls for it to be baked for 35-40 min. for mini loaf pans, but i do not own mini loaf pans. I used the larger loaf pans plus 2 more 8x8 pans! It took quite a bit longer for them to bake through. If you choose to use a different sized pan, just keep and eye on them. Mine took about 55 minutes a piece. I kept testing them with my knife to make sure the middle was done! 

- I highly recommend utilizing the "measure once, mix twice" rule that helps when baking more than one batch! This means i do end up with a few more dishes, but it helps with not having to measure the same thing twice. (Basically i measure out my ingredients in the order the recipe calls for and then measure the same ingredients into additional bowls! It makes the second batch go so much quicker!

- The white chocolate chips melted into the bread making it super yummy!  

-I cut up each loaf and put it on trays. There was all but 6 pieces left after church! Everyone loved it! I saw several people going back for more! 

Overall, this was a great recipe! 

I will be making it again! 

Today i am also participating in the GFC Blog Hop! 

Come and join in the fun! 

 

Taco Beans and Rice

YAWN....So slepy tonight! Its been a long day... i've been up since 4:30 this morning and i can totally swear i hear my bed calling! Can't wait! But i also do not want to neglect my blog! I guess the name of this little corner of the blogging world sums up my last few days. 

Tonight, I thought i would review what I have planned for meals for this week and then I thought i would share my lovely Saturday "girl's day" with a good friend! 

First, the meals we are going to eat... Our lunches will be from the lovely Girl Who Ate Everything. This week we are trying out her Fruit and Nut Salad in which I am using my candied walnuts (left over from my Christmas giveaway treat) and without the apples (mostly because I forgot to chop them up and include them into the baggies!) It will definitely be tasty either way! Maybe later on in the week i will decide to get rid of a few apples to put on the side! 

For our dinners, I will share a recipe that i have changed and altered based on my preference. My preference in this case would be: PROTEIN! It is originally a vegetarian recipe, but i add ground turkey. Without further ado...

Taco Beans and Rice

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What you will need:

1 1/2 lb ground turkey

3 large bell peppers (I like red, yellow, and orange) 

1 bag of chopped onions (approx. 2 cups)

1-2 15 oz. cans of kidney beans, rinsed

1 packet taco seasonings

2 cups brown or white rice, frozen or cooked by you!

Shredded cheddar cheese

Restaurant Style Salsa - as much as desired (mild, medium or hot - you choose)

Optional: 1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, Cilantro, tortilla chips, sour cream

Here's what to do: 

1. Brown the ground turkey in a dutch oven, making sure to break it into small pieces. While this is browning, chop the bell peppers. Once the turkey is beginning to brown up a little more and most of the pink is gone, put in all chopped onion and bell peppers. Let the turkey and veggies cook for about 5-7 minutes. 

2. Once the veggies have softened a bit you can add the kidney beans and the taco seasoning and let simmer  for another 10 minutes. 

3. Serve over rice and top with cheese and salsa. 

Optional: Skip the rice and scoop up with tortilla chips instead. You can also top with sour cream! 

Enjoy! 

Here's what it looks like:

Hubby said this was a particularly good batch. I think it was cause I happened to add a little bit of taco seasoning cause I had an opened package and an unopened package that I put in this time. He likes the spice! 

Ok... BIG YAWN!!! Off to shower and find my bed! 

PS. I did a little blogger planning yesterday! Excited about what's to come! Even got a pretty good idea of what I might do for a link up party! Gonna let it fester a bit to see which idea I like best! (Plus I gotta figure out how to do it!)

Meal Planning Part 2

Today is COOK Day! Like i said yesterday, I cook on Mondays. So after a long day of work i usually want this to take the least amount of time possible. I truly try to make it take no longer than 2-3 hours including clean up time. If it takes longer i get really cranky after a long day of work and then crash after. 

I thought that today as I cooked I would document how I do this and package all my food (and my husbands too!). So on the menu this week is Bean & Sausage Soup for our dinners (Tuesday thru Thursday) and a green salad with whatever I felt like buying from the store this week four lunches Tuesday thru Friday. 

Tonight i began with the soup and this recipe was easy! It was made even easier by buying a few items that save on prep time. I buy mirepoix to save on chopping time. If you don't know what this is - it is chopped onion, chopped celery, and chopped carrot all in one container. This is not always sold prepared, but it is used to create a vegetable base to many soups. In addition to the mirepoix, I use my food processor to help slice, chop, or even blend things quickly. Tonight I do not know what I would have done without the food processor! 

Anyway, once the soup had gotten going, I  finished adding what was needed and skipped the spinach because I will be adding that on a daily basis. Soggy spinach doesn't excite me so, I figured it will be fresher if I add it each time I heat up a bowl. I then moved on to some Sassy Water which was a snap with the food processor. It literally only took me 5 minutes to make and the longest part of the process was filling up the HUGE pitcher with water.

Our salad for the week will have red onion, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, with celery, grilled chicken, and some white cheddar cheese that is cubed. The greens consist of Romaine and spinach! We usually package our salad dressing the morning before we leave for work. The key to all of this is keeping the ingredients with the most moisture separate from the lettuce or anything else that should not sit in moisture until it is eaten. 


After the sassy water, I moved on to salads and started by filling 8 containers (2/day for 4 days per week) with romaine and spinach.


Then I packaged baggies with the chicken and the veggies. I made 8 baggies so we can easily take them each morning. 

The cheese came last and this time I used snack size baggies and packaged the cheese separately to prevent soggy cheese. Again, soggy = not yummy! 

In the end, I put the soup into one large container and stuck it into the fridge after I served my husband a bowl with fresh spinach! The soup got good reviews, so I hope you night try it some time! 

Hope you enjoyed reading!