Oven Baked Onion Rings

On my last menu plan, I listed Oven Baked Onion Rings for Monday night. I was asked how I made them so I thought I’d share them with you. This recipe must have come from somewhere on t.v. because it looks like I wrote it in my notebook pretty quickly…lol…

Oven Baked Onion Rings

Vidalia Onions cut into rings

4-5 cups potato chips

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (we use a little more)

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 TBS flour

Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray. Crush your potato chips either by hand or food processor to make fine crumbs. Place the crumbs in a shallow dish (I use a pie plate) and add the cayenne pepper.

In another shallow dish mix your buttermilk, salt, pepper & 2 TBS flour.

Put 1/2 - 1 cup flour in a big ziplock bag and add your onion rings. Shake to coat. Take them out of the bag and dip them in the buttermilk then into the crumbs. Place them on your baking sheet and spray them with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Easy Peasey and so much better for you than deep frying them. ENJOY!!

To make these healthier, you could substitute the potato chips with baked chips, and use a low-fat buttermilk instead of the regular and you could skip the salt and use a salt substitute if you’d like.

MENU PLAN FOR JAN 18th – JAN 24th

 

Hello….and thanks for stopping by.  Where did last week go?  Doesn’t it seem like we just did this?  This week is going to be pretty hectic so the meal prep time has to be quick.

Monday:   Sloppy Joes, Oven Baked Onion Rings, Coleslaw (the BEST coleslaw dressing recipe below)

Tuesday:  Salmon Patties, Mac & Cheese, Peas

Wednesday:  Taco Salads

Thursday:  Jiffy Jambalaya,(recipe below) Cornmeal Muffins, Tossed Salad

Friday:  Leftovers or Pizza

Saturday:  Breakfast

Sunday:  Paula Deen's Baked Spaghetti Tossed Salad, Garlic Toast

                                                                                                     

And now for some recipes:

Here’s a recipe that my family loves.   It’s been FOREVER since we’ve had this and it’s super quick, so it’s perfect for this week.  This recipe came from a cookbook called “Fix it Fast”. 

Jiffy Jambalaya 

1/2 cup chopped onion                     1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 TBS cooking oil                                     3 drops hot sauce

1 (28 oz) can tomatoes diced                  1/2 c. water

1 (12 oz) can Spam, cubed                      1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed                  1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp salt (can omit because the Spam has plenty of salt in it.

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 cups quick rice

 

In a 3 quart saucepan cook onion & green pepper in hot oil till tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients except rice.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in rice.  Cover; simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir before serving.  Makes 6 servings.

                                                                                                     

Now for the coleslaw dressing:

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1/2 cup Miracle Whip                             1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar                                         1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper                                       1/4 cup vinegar

Combine all ingredients and pour over your shredded cabbage.  Refrigerate.  This makes THE BEST coleslaw!!  I usually double this recipe because we like our coleslaw with a lot of “juice”. 

That’s our plan for this week.  Want to see more great menu plans?  Head on over to Organizing Junkie.  There are hundreds of them! 

(PS  Since you’re here, you should take a minute to enter my Old El Paso "Tackle the Taste" giveaway .  Better hurry though, this giveaway ends 1/22)

 

PANERA’S CREAM-CHEESE POTATO SOUP

 

In our last menu plan, I included a link to Panera’s cream cheese potato soup.  A couple of you were curious as to how it tasted.  Well, I’m here to tell you that it was DELICIOUS!!  This will definitely be on our menu again.  

It was a little thinner than I like, so I just added a little bit of potato flakes (I might not have added enough potatos).  And it had a little more heat to it than I expected, so next time I’ll cut the red pepper back some. 

Other than that, it was a hit.  Even my non-soup eating hubby loved it.

Go ahead and make you some…I know you’re wanting to!!

CALENDAR IS FINISHED & BEEF STEW IS COOKIN'

Well, I have to say, the calendar turned out pretty good considering I never could draw a straight line even with the help of a ruler...lol... Now, it just needs a hanger hooked to the back and hung on the wall. I can't wait to show you all some pics. Still working on borrowing a camera. (I've been really good this year...maybe Santa will bring me a new camera :)

Now for something totally unrelated to the "home office" projects:

Since this colder weather has hit, I've been craving some beef stew and some biscuits straight from the oven. So this morning, I threw everything in the crockpot and by the time I get home from work tonight it should be ready. All I'll have left to do is through some biscuits in the oven. I love coming home from a long day's work to food that's already cooked, don't you? Here's the recipe I use. It's from the little cookbook you get in the box with your crockpot. AND IT IS DELICIOUS!!

BEEF STEW

1 1/2-2 LBS. STEW MEAT CUT INTO 1-INCH CUBES

1/4 CUP FLOUR

SALT & PEPPER TO TASTE

1 1/2 CUPS BEEF BROTH

1 TSP. WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE

1 CLOVE GARLIC, MINCED

1 BAY LEAF

1/2 TSP. PAPRIKA

3 CARROTS SLICED

3 POTATOES, DICED

1 OR 2 ONIONS, CHOPPED

1 STALK CELERY, SLICED

2 TSP. KITCHEN BOUQUET, OPTIONAL

PLACE MEAT IN CROCKPOT. MIX FLOUR, SALT & PEPPER AND POUR OVER MEAT; STIR TO COAT. ADD REMAINING INGREDIENTS AND STIR TO MIX. COVER AND COOK ON LOW FOR 8-10 HOURS. (HIGH 4 TO 5 HOURS) STIR STEW THOROUGHLY BEFORE SERVING.

Well, guess I'd better get ready for work. Catch ya' later!

MEIJER COUPON MATCH-UPS (1-11 to 1-17) AND A NEW FAMILY FAVORITE RECIPE

We just finished supper and this is what we had: ASIAN CHICKEN WITH PEANUTS. It was delicious!! And, I'm stuffed!! So, I thought I would take my "can't move cause I ate too much time" and try to match up some meijer deals with some coupons so I can send DH on an after work run. This is what I've come up with:

• HORMEL PEPPERONI: $1.00 each use 0.55/1 cpn from 11-9-08 ss? = FREE
• CHEX MIX $1.00 USE 0.50/1 cpn from 12-7-09 ss = FREE
• TOTINOS PIZZA ROLLS $1.00 (15 count) use $1.00/1 printable coupon (I printed this one a while back from coupons.com. I believe it's no longer available, but there are cpns in 1-11-09 ss for 0.35/1 which would make them 0.30/box) Total price=FREE-$0.30/box
• AUNT MILLIE'S ENGLISH MUFFINS: $1.00 use 0.35/1 cpn in 1-11-09 ss to get them for $0.30/pack
• PILLSBURY GRANDS $1.00 use $0.25/1 cpn from 11-23-08 ss to get them for $0.50/each
• SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER: $1.33/each use 0.40/1 cpn to get them for $0.53 each. (Looks like DH will be making a couple of stops at Meijer because I'm stocking up on this. We go through ALOT of peanut butter lol)
• BISQUICK: $1.99/40 oz box (Another great stock up item) use cpns from 12-14-08 ss for 0.60/1 = $0.99/box
• BIRDS EYE VOILA COMPLETE MEALS : 2/$6 use printable cpn HERE to get them for $2.00/ each
• 3 lb bag yellow onions $1.00
• PILLSBURY TOASTER STREUDELS $2.00 use $1/1 printable cpn HERE to get them for $1.00 each.
• Betty Crocker Frosting: 3/$4 use 0.50/1 cpn from 12-14-08 ss to get the frosting for 0.33/each. There is also a cpn for the "supreme" brownie mix (also on sale at 3/$5) in that insert, It's also 0.50/1 and that will make the brownie mix 0.67/each
• Pure Protein Bars : $1.00/each use 0.50/cpn from 1-04-09 RP to get them for 0.50/each

This was just a quick matchup, so I'm sure I'm missing a few good deals. If you know of any more, please feel free to share. And don't forget that on the 10/$10 items, you get the 11th item FREE. I haven't had a chance to look through the Kroger paper yet, but I'll try to get some cpn matchups for there when I get home from work tomorrow evening. Well, supper has settled and now my Sleep Number Bed is calling me. (yeah, right...I wish I had a sleep number bed...anyone have a cpn for that? lol )

Some Of The Ways That We'll Be Using Our Kroger deals

When I picked up the Honeysuckle Turkey Brats at Kroger's, I had no idea what I was going to make with them or If we would even like them, but for 99 cents, I didn't want to pass them up. So, after looking through Honeysuckle's website, I came across these two recipes that sound really good so I'll make this with one pack: German-Style Turkey Brats And Sauerkraut and I'll make this with the other pack: Bratwurst and Winter Vegetable Stew . Let's hope they're as good as they sound!!

I'm going to make some Soft and Chewy Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies with my free cake mix and some of the Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

And one of our all-time favorites, using the crescent rolls, cream cheese, and the sausage, My DH will be in charge of making the Sausage Brunch Braid .

Then, I'll use some of the chicken I got out of the marked down meat bin (the 6.5 lbs for $3.56), the kroger brand salsa & the shredded cheese, and the Daisy sour cream to make Chicken & Sour Cream Enchiladas . I will use THIS RECIPE to make the tortillas, but when I make them this time, I will make the balls slightly larger than what they call for. My family liked them alot better than the store bought ones, but they were too small, no matter how much I rolled them out.

With one of my Libby's pumpkin and some more of the cream cheese, I'll make this Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Bread . Wouldn't a loaf or two of this bread make a wonderful gift!

When Kroger's had their bananas on sale for $0.39/lb, I bought extra, cut them in small pieces and froze them to use later. Well, I think "later" is going to be tomorrow, so I'll make some Cream Cheese-Banana Nut Muffins . Doesn't that sound yummy!! (can you tell that I'm a cream cheese fanatic?)

That's some of the ways we'll be using our Kroger deals...How will you use yours?

FIVE INGREDIENTS FOR FRIDAY"S

It's FRIDAY!!

Today's recipe is for one of my favorite dishes. Paired with some garlic bread and a salad, this is another fast and easy meal. ENJOY!!

Creamy Fettucine Alfredo

8 oz cream chesse, cut in bits

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese-grated

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup milk

8 oz fettucine; cooked & drained

In a large saucepan combine cream cheese, parmesan, butter and milk stirring constantly until smooth. Toss pasta lightly with sauce, coating well. Leftovers (if any) will freeze well.

FIVE INGREDIENTS FOR FRIDAY'S

It's FRIDAY!! That means another five ingredient or less recipe and with temperatures the way they've been, this is sure to warm your family's bellies. It's fast and delicious! What more could you ask for?

SENSATIONAL CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

3 1/2 CUPS CHICKEN BROTH

1 MEDIUM CARROT, SLICED

1 STALK CELERY, SLICED

1/2 CUP UNCOOKED MEDIUM EGG NOODLES

1 CUP CUBED COOKED CHICKEN

MIX BROTH, CARROT, AND CELERY IN A SAUCEPAN. SEASON WITH PEPPER. HEAT TO A BOIL. STIR IN NOODLES AND CHICKEN. COOK OVER MEDIUM HEAT 10 MIN. OR TILL NOODLES ARE DONE. SERVES 4.

This recipe is from a "Campbell's Favorite Recipes" booklet. We have made it quite a few times. I have even used leftover turkey instead of the chicken. This is great to put in a thermos for your little one's school lunch or even your own. Hope you like it!!

BEER SAUCED LINKS

Wanted to share another favorite recipes of ours. This time its an appetizer. I have a potluck at work this weekend, and this is what I'm in charge of bringing. They are so good!! This recipe was from a cookbook called "Fix it Fast". Give em a try:

BEER SAUCED LINKS

2 lbs. fully cooked Polish sausage or frankfurters cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup beer
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 TBS cornstarch
1/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. mustard
1 TBS horseradish

In skillet, combine sausages and beer. Cover; simmer 10 minutes. Combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in vinegar, mustard, and horseradish. Add to sausages; cook and stir till bubbly. Makes 36. Serve warm with wooden picks.

ENJOY!!

FIVE INGREDIENTS FOR FRIDAY'S

Every Friday, I will post a tasty recipe that contains five ingredients or less (I'm not counting the spices) The recipes that I will be posting already have a "hubby and 3 teens" seal of approval. Hopefully, you'll find some that could be added to your family's favorites and maybe share some of your family's 5 ingredients or less recipes with me. So, for my first FIVE INGREDIENTS FOR FRIDAY'S post, I am sharing with you this recipe that I found written on a piece of loose leaf paper in one of my grandmother's old cookbooks:

EASY CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

1 lb. ground beef

1/4 cup milk (put in a shallow bowl)

1/4 to 1/2 cup flour (put on plate)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 to 3/4 pack of crackers, crushed

Form ground beef into 5 or 6 patties. This next step is a very messy step, but trust me, it's worth it...Dip each side of the patty in the milk, then in the flour, then in the egg, and lastly in the crushed crackers. Place in a hot frying pan with a little vegetable oil. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Turn down heat and fry on one side. Then flip to other side and fry. They are done when the juices run clear. Serve with white gravy on top. When served with green beans, mashed potatoes, and a roll, you have a very tasty meal that is ready in no time.

ENJOY!!!

More crescent roll recipes

Okay, not sure why I can't edit that last post, but here's some more crescent roll recipes from the Pillsbury Crescent roll recipe booklet:

Bratwurst Braids

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls

4 tsps spicy brown mustard

1 can (8 oz) sauerkraut, well drained on paper towels (1 cup)

4 fully cooked smoked bratwurst (thawed completely if frozen

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp caraway seed

Heat oven to 375*. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough and separate into 4 rectangles; place on cookie sheet. Press each into 6x4 inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.

spread 1 tsp mustard over each rectangle to within 1/2 inch of all edges. Place 1/4 cup sauerkraut and 1 bratwurst lengthwise down center of each rectangle.

on long sides of each rectangle, make 5 cuts at an angle and 1 inch apart almost to edge of sauerkraut. For braided appearance, fold strips of dough at an angle across bratwurst with ends of strips slightly over lapping, alternating from side to side; press ends to seal. Brush tops with egg; sprinkle with caraway seed.

bake 15 to 20 minutes or till deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm with additional mustard, if desired.

Here's a list of more recipes in this booklet. If you would like me to put the recipe on here, just let me know. I would be more than happy to.

APPETIZERS AND SNACKS

Artichoke-Cheese Braids

Bacon cheddar pinwheels

basil and havarti cheese pinwheels

crescent-crab purses

crescent nacho mini cups

crescent wrapped brie

easy pesto pinwheels

ham and swiss double pinwheels

holiday herb crescent trees

mexican confetti pinwheels

mini beef and provolone crescents

mini reuben turnovers

olive-feta pinwheels

pizza pinwheels

sausage snack wraps

smoked salmon pinwheels

thai appetizer pizza

BREADS:

cheddar twisters

cream cheese raspberry coffee cake

lazy maple crescent pull aparts

simply super crescent cinnamon rolls

COOKIES AND BARS:

chocolate macaroon crescent bars

DESSERTS:

country french apple crescent casserole

MAIN DISHES:

crescent topped burger bake

crescent breakfast pizzas

crescent chile rellenos

egg, broccoli and ham ring around

chicken breast bundles with cranberry chutney

chicken chile casserole

fiesta chicken taco cups

SANDWICHES AND FILLINGS:

crescent sloppy joes

buffalo chicken stromboli

easy crescent dogs

ham and cheese crescent sandwiches

individual pastrami braids

pizza in a crescent

pizzazzy sausage crescent sandwiches

savory crescent chicken squares

spicy cashew chisken bundles

whoo...that's a lot of little recipes in this little booklet...lol.

Crescent Rolls...yummy!!!!!!

Today, I want to share a few of our family's favorite recipes using crescent rolls with you.
This recipe is from a back issue of Taste of Home's quick cooking:

Sausage Brunch Braid

12 ozs. bulk pork sausage

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1 pkg. (3 oz) cream cheese, cubed

2 Tbs. chopped green onion tops

2 Tbs. minced fresh parsley

1 tube (8 oz) refrigerated crescent rolls

1 egg, lightly beaten

In a skillet over medium heat, cook sausage, onion, celery, green pepper and garlic until meat is no longer pink and veggies are tender; drain. Add cream cheese, green onion and parsley. Cook and stir over low heat till cheese is melted; set aside.

unroll crescent dough n a greased baking sheet; press perforations together. Roll into a 12x10 rectangle. Spoon sausage mixture to within 3inches of long sides and 1 inch of ends. On each long side, cut 3/4" wide strips 3 inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle, forming a braid. Brush dough with egg. Bake at 350 degress for 20-25 minutes or till golden brown. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Yield: 8-10 servings

That part about storing the leftovers in the fridge cracks me up!! When we make this, we always have to make two...and there's only 5 of us eating. We never have any left over...it's that good.

Here's another good one. This one came from a special edition Pillsbury Crescent main dish, appetizer, and dessert recipes booklet.

Bacon Cheeseburger Calzones

2 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 lb lean ground beef

2 Tbs. dried instant minced onion

2 tbs chopped hamburger pickle slices

2 tbs ranch dressing

1 italian plum tomato, thinkly sliced, if desired

2 slices american or cheddar cheese, each cut in half

1 can (8 oz) crescent rolls

1 egg, beaten

heat oven to 375*, In a 10" nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium heat 2 minutes. Add ground beef and onion; cook stirring occasionally, till beef is thouroughly cooked; drain if necessary. Stir in pickles and ranch dressing. Unroll dough and separate into 4 rectangles; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press each into 7x4" rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.

Spoon about 1/3 cup ground beef mixture onto one end of each rectangle. Top each with tomato slices and 1 piece of cheese. Fold dough over filling; press edges with fork to seal (sandwiches will be full). Brush tops with egg. Bake 15-20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm. Makes: 4 sandwiches. KITCHEN TIP: These calzones can be assembled up to 2 hours ahead. Be sure the beef filling is completely cooled before filling the dough. Cover the calzones and refrigerate till you're ready to bake.