SuperMom...LOL!

SuperMom...LOL!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Saucey cooks again!

Ok, so I can't make up for not having posted recipes for a while but if you
Follow My Site,
then you will know when I have posted something.  That way you don't have to keep
checking...and then be disappointed that there is not a new recipe!  LOL

So I am posting the recipe for Bacon Cheeseburger Rice from the old stand-by.  This
one has ZIP!  I love it!  My boys don't like pickles but they love the dinner!
I don't like cooking with regular rice so this improvement with Minute Rice makes
me a happy cook (especially since I'm on time restraints)!

BACON CHEESEBURGER RICE
(Sorry, didn't have time to get a pic!)

1 pound of ground beef
1 3/4 cups of water
2/3 cup of honey barbeque sauce  (I like Kraft)
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons of minced onion
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 cups of Minute Rice
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped dill pickles
5 bacon strips (cooked and crumbled) or use Oscar Mayer Real Bacon in 2.8 pkg
already cooked and cut   :o)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the beef until no longer pink; drain. 
Add water, barbecue sauce, mustard, onion, and pepper.
Bring to a boil; stir in the rice.  Sprinkle with cheese. Reduce heat.
Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes (depends on the heat your
stovetop puts out).  Sprinkle with pickles and bacon.
I made this for the four of us but it serves about 5-6 servings.

Hashbrown Casserole (One of my favs!)

Most people make Hashbrown Casserole with those stringy hashbrowns...Yuck!
So, here is my favorite made with cubed Hashbrowns and sourcream!   Try it you just
might like it!  (Oh yeah, and I do make two batches: one w/out cheese for the hubby!)

Sherri's Hashbrown Casserole
  (Beware, it makes a lot and is definitely too rich in taste for some.)

1 package Ore-Ida Country Style  (cubed) Hashbrowns (30 oz.) thawed
7 Tablespoons of butter  (divided, see later)
2 cups of sour cream (about 16 oz. container)
1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups of Honey Bunches of Oats

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, 4 Tablespoons of melted butter, sour cream, soup,
cheese, and salt.  Mix well. (I sometimes sprinkle in a little bit of minced onion.)
Spread into a 13 x 9, lightly "Pam-ed", glass pan. 
Combine Honey Bunches of Oats with 3 T of melted butter.  Stir until coated.
Sprinkle evenly over the top of the Hashbrown mixture in pan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for about an hour or until bubbly.
(Sorry no pics this time...but trust me it is wonderful!)

That's it!  Pretty easy!  It's just the waiting for it to cook....gives you time
to get on Facebook!  LOL

I LOVE cooking as much as I LOVE Eating!!!

That's my drawback in life.  I really would be some type of supermodel if I didn't just LOVE food!  Of course, that is why I have a hard time posting on my site....because I love to cook and hardly have time for anything else.  When I'm Facebooking, it is because I am most likely waiting for some cooking timer to go off for dinner or desserts!
     So, sorry for the delay!  Today is a new day!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Chicken Sweet Chicken!

Today's dinner I prepared before I went to school and let it cook All Day in the Crockpot!  It only took me about 20 min to get it ready because I got all the ingredients and tools out last night.  I would have liked for the prep time to be shorter but at least I didn't have to stand in the kitchen and  cook it!  :)  We loved the chicken but apparently our family will have to save the sweet potatoes for the South.   I will probably make changes to this recipe much later on.  (see FYI Hints)  :o)

    Nonetheless,  Here is how you make it:

Chicken Sweet Potatoes: from Busy Cooks

     Ingredients:  8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 1 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp paprika,
1 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, 1 onion chopped,
1 cup of peach preserves or apricot preserves, 3 TBSP apple cider vinegar, 1 TBSP low-sodium
soy sauce, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and 2 TBSP of cornstarch.  (For my family I had to leave out
the cayenne pepper & onion)
 
STEP 1:  Sprinkle chicken with mixture of salt, pepper, paprika, curry powder and ginger.  (I rubbed it
into the pieces.) 

STEP 2:  Spray Crockpot Stoneware with, you know me: "PAM" it!  Place the sweet potatoes and onion (remember I didn't use the onion) in a 3 1/2 quart crockpot
STEP 3:  Top with chicken.  Top the chicken with preserves, vinegar and soy sauce.

STEP 4:  Cover and cook for 6-8 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
STEP 5:  Combine chicken broth and cornstarch and mix well.  Add to crockpot.  Cover
and cook on high for 10-15  minutes until sauce is thickened.

FYI HINTS:  I cooked our dinner for 10 hours knowing that I wouldn't be home until then and it came
out wonderfully!  I couldn't see putting all of that in a 3 qt as it almost came to the top of my 6 qt
crockpot.  I served it with Chicken Stovetop Stuffing so that I could use the rest of the Chicken
Broth from the can (FRUGAL!).
     So, changes to make...we LOVED the chicken and stuffing but not the sweet potatoes.  We are all for the canned sweet potatoes and I would probably cook this with the juice from the can, brown "sugar", and
butter.   I would probably have to shorten the time due to canned sweet potatoes or simply add them
about an hour before the recipe is done cooking.
     I'll play with it and let you know! 
But for now, Frugal Saucey Texas says, "DIG in!"

Monday, October 11, 2010

How Heavenly!

Ok, so tonight we had a great dinner!  It was really late...after the football game had only 45 seconds left and was called on the count of a huge rainstorm approaching with golfball size hail.  (They will have to play against them again...good since we were losing...bad cause the storm wound up going the other direction!) LOL
     So I had made a Slow-cooker dish, Heavenly Harvest Pork Roast from Disney Family, knowing the dish could cook while we were gone to Waco.  It was absolutely FANTASTIC!!  I just know you will want to try it.  All the "He-men" LOVED it!
Here is how you make it:
     First, I use the Rival Stoneware 6qt Crockpot.  I've used it for years and love it!

     Second, Ingredients:  1/4 cup pomegranate juice, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 TBSP salt, 1 TBSP Garlic salt, 1 TBSP Chicken Rub, 1 pork roast any type (4-5 lbs) I used Boston Butt, 2 pears, cored, peeled, and sliced thick, and a couple of orange slices.


STEP 1:  Combine the pomegranate juice and sugar in saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.  Pour into a greased (you know me "PAM" it) crockpot at least 4 lbs.


STEP 2:  Blend salt, garlic salt, and chicken rub together and rub over the roast. (I did top and bottom sides.)  Place roast in crockpot.  Turn over to cover with juice mixture.  Top roast with pear and orange slices.

STEP 3:  Cover and cook for 8 hours or until tender.  Mine was extremely tender and Perfect! 

Just a hint about your crockpot.  If your Crockpot is less than a 5 qt capacity you want to be sure and cut your roast in half.  With my 6 qt. it was cooked through without cutting.
I served it with white rice because that is all I had time for but I would have loved to make bread with it!

As for now, Frugal Saucey Texan says, "Dig In, Folks!"


Breakfast....before dinner!

So, Let's talk about Breakfast before dinner!  I have always been big on
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" not only to my students at
school but very much so for my own children.  You just don't have the energy your
body needs to go throughout the day without it.
     Today, since it is a holiday, I decided to make our traditional Coffee Cake.
Though we don't drink coffee, it is hard to find a better name than that for this
wonderful breakfast cake.  I think my boys like it the most because it is filled
with brown "sugar".  Which explains why I only cook it on a holiday and only
every now and then. 
     So, I will post the recipe and pictures and I hope that it will soon become a
family tradition for you.  And keep your comments pleasant...it's taken me a
couple of years just to get this recipe the way MY family likes it. 
    
You will need the following ingredients:
CAKE:  4 cups of Bisquick, 1 1/3 cups milk, 4 TBSP Sugar, 2 eggs.
TOPPING: 1 1/2 cups Bisquick, 2 1/2 cups Light Brown Sugar, 3 Tsp Cinnamon, 15 TBSP margarine
                   and 2 TBSP margarine set to the side (not part of cake or topping).
This makes a large pan of 16 x 12 rectangle cause my family loves it.  I use the Decorative Wilton Cake Pan.

 Heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Mix all ingredients for the cake (not topping) till it looks like this:


TOPPING:  In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients of the topping list slicing in butter and enlist any help you can find!  LOL
I like to use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter well until your topping looks crumbly like this:


When mixed well, add 1/2 cup into the cake dough and mix lightly. 



Then spread it out into the long decorative pan sprayed with PAM cooking spray.  It won't look like much dough and it you wanted a thicker cake just shorten the size of the pan.  Top with 2 TBSP of butter sliced and placed on the dough.

With your hands, scoop up the Topping and sprinkle over the dough in the pan until covered.  (It will be sticky because it has butter in it.)
 Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  Take out of the oven.  I always like to tap the pan once on the stovetop and let the brown sugar fall (2nd picture below).  (Kids love it!) 

THEN ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR! 
(Thanks to my son, Christopher, photographer and helper!)
I always say that if your are trying to sell your house make some amazing dish like this, or bread, or cookies and people WILL remember how wonderful your house was!
                   Tonight....Heavenly Harvest Pork Roast!
           As for now, Frugal Saucey Texan says...."Dig in, Folks!"

Sunday, October 10, 2010

To Eat or Not to Eat....

Well, at least that's what my boys say! 
     Have you ever bought a cookbook or cooking magazine just to find out that when you get it home, there are only like 4-5 recipes that even "look" good enough to make??
(of course, I never buy a cookbook that doesn't have pictures of every recipe!  It's got to at least look like it tastes good!) 
     So, I decided to create this blog for the purpose of trying new, tasty, easy (prep. time) recipes that are sure to please the family.  (I certainly don't promise to write here everyday but I will try to make every effort to do so!)
     I have always enjoyed cooking but have been "blessed" with having just two boys still at home along with my husband and that, indeed, is quite a monumental herd to feed.
You see, my husband won't eat anything that has cheese.  So when I have a recipe I try to substitute with mozzarella cheese (that, he can stomach) or create a casserole with only one half of the pan with cheese and the other not.  Then, to top things off, my boys are very picky about what they eat and hate eating anything that we've already had in the last 2 months. LOL
I should probably tell them of this famous quote,

              "A hungry stomach seldom scorns plain food".

So, my task will be to create a meal with all the fixins and post the recipes along with pictures and maybe even preparation pictures for y'all to see and hopefully incorporate into
your busy lives
     And, yes,  I did add the word "Frugal" to my Saucey Texan site which means I will probably be posting frugal ideas/recipes that are easy on the wallet.  After all, in this
economy who isn't willing to try to save a dollar (not penny...inflation you know) here and there.

And for now, Frugal Saucey Texan says, "Dig In", folks!

(It may take me a while to get the hang of this blogger site so please be patient and return
often!)   *Ü*