GS Fried Samoas Shrimp

photo from Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast



Fried Samoas Shrimp

5 extra-large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
5 Girl Scout Samoas (Caramel deLites) cookies, finely chopped
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
2 cups flour
1 cup coconut flakes
4 egg whites
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 lime for garnish
Vegetable or peanut oil for frying


Toss coconut flakes with bread crumbs, cayenne pepper and chopped cookies. Dredge shrimp through flour, followed by egg whites and cookie mixture.

Fry shrimp in vegetable oil at 350 degrees until golden brown.

Garnish with coconut flakes and lime wedges.

Great Googly Moogly: Savory recipes with GS cookies

This recipe was posted in the Austin American Stateman and sounds wonderful. It is a great idea to be able to put these cookies to some savory uses!

Peanut Thai Chicken

This recipe comes from Little Brownie Bakers and calls for that company's version of the Girl Scout peanut butter cookies called Do-Si-Dos. In Central Texas, where Girl Scout cookies are made by ABC Bakers, the cookies are called Peanut Butter Sandwiches.


8 crushed Do-Si-Dos (Peanut Butter Sandwich ) Girl Scout cookies

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins

Teriyaki glaze (this and the peanut sauce below are available in jars in the Asian-food aisles of most grocery stores)

Thai peanut sauce

Cooked rice noodles or fettuccine


Grill chicken tenderloins on wooden skewers, brushing occasionally with teriyaki glaze. Serve chicken tenderloins with four crushed cookies sprinkled on top.

Mix remaining cookie crumbs with peanut sauce. Pour peanut sauce over chicken and noodles, or as side dipping sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

Cookie of the Day: Caramel Delite Banana Rolls

Winning Recipe! 2009 San Angelo Bake Off: Third place
Caramel DeLite Banana Rolls — By Angel, Troop 5143
CRUST
Crushed shortbread and peanut butter sandwich cookies
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
Blended together and pressed into the bottom of pan

CHEESECAKE
8oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. Vanilla
1/4 c sugar
Broken up Caramel deLites
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, sugar. Pour over crust. Bake for 20 min at 300°f. Mix sour cream, sugar, vanilla. Pour over top of cheese cake while still hot. Return to oven for 5 min. Cool before cutting. Garnish with Caramel deLites. Then refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Cookie of the Day: Caramel Delite Brownies

Winning Recipe! 2009 Waco Bake Off: Third place
Caramel DeLite Brownies — By Alena,Taylor and Katie, Troop 7081
Chocolate 2 layer cake mix
¾ cup butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 ¼ cup caramel sauce
Carmel Delite cookies-crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13 pan. Combine cake mix, butter, and evap milk. Pour ½ of mixure in the pan and bake for 6 minutes. Sprinkle with choc chips and drizzle ¾ cup caramel sauce over chips. Add ½ of the cookie crumbs. Top with the rest of the cake mix and bake for 10 minutes. Drizzle with ½ cup caramel sauce and sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs on top.

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Millioin Dollar Fudge

Million Dollar Fudge — By Chrissie, Troop 1838
4 cups sugar
1/4 pound butter
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
7 oz jar marshmallow cream
Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies
12 oz pack chocolate or mint chips
Crush enough cookies to size of pea to equal 2 cups. Set aside. Cook sugar, butter and milk to softball stage. Stir constantly. Remove from heat. Add chips, marshmallow cream, cookies and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Pour into 13" x 9" buttered pan. Cool.

Chili Lime steak

The other night I was having to scrap to put something together for dinner. I had a marinated Chili-lime steak from the freezer and some pantry staples, so I decided to just make something up. I grabbed a can of diced tomatos with chilis, black beans, chicken broth and sour cream.

This is what I started with.

First, I pre-heated a skillet over medium high heat. Then I added the chili-lime steak along with the marinade in to the pan and browned on each side for 3 minutes. This was a very thin sliced steak, so it did not take long to cook at all. Thicker cuts will take longer.

Once the steak was cooked, I removed it from the pan and placed it on the cutting board to rest while, I made a sauce.

To make the sauce, I added about half of the can of chicken broth to the pan and used a wooden spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Next went in the can of diced tomato. The sauce simmered for 5 minutes to reduce the amount of liquid by about half. Then went in the black beans for 2 minutes- just until heated through. While the sauce simmered, I sliced the steak into thin strips and added them into the pan. The final touch was 1/4 cup of sour cream to thicken the sauce a bit.

The flavor was excellent, but I think next time I will add a bit more lime juice to punch up that flavor. This was a hit with the kids and super fast to make. Definitely a make again recipe!

Breakfast Cups

Mornings are a rough time for me. I am not a morning person at all, so getting 3 kids fed and 2 of them out the door with their father by 7:30 can be really rough. One thing I have found that helps thing flow a bit smoother is to have breakfast items ready to go in the freezer. I can just pull them out the night before and they will be ready to heat and eat in the morning. Usually we are stocked with waffles and pancakes, but this time I decided to try something a bit different. Breakfast cups!

First- I started with liquid egg, chopped frozen spinach, shredded mozzarella cheese and some cooked ground pork sausage.


I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and ladled into a muffin pan coated with cooking spray.



Finally, I baked them at 350 for about 17 minutes.

The end result was almost like individual mini frittatas. Next time I may not use as much spinach, just to make them more appetizing for the little ones. These freeze beautifully and were a super fast breakfast. Now I just need to figure out how to get them dressed quicker!

Mission Sidedish Continued- Eggplant Pasta

Eggplant has not been a very popular vegetable in my home. Fried eggplant is always nice with a little tomato sauce, but nothing really healthier or more creative than that. My mission was to find a fun and flavorful way to introduce eggplant to my family so that they will want to try more. The recipe I found was for Eggplant pasta. Basically, you cut the eggplant into thin strips and it acts like the pasta in the dish. The original recipe called for cream instead of drained yogurt, but I found the yogurt really gives the dish a nice tang and it is much healthier!



Ingredients
2 medium-large eggplants
Kosher salt, for purging
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
4 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup yogurt- drained in cheesecloth
4 tablespoons basil chiffonade
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Freshly ground pepper

Directions
Peel each eggplant leaving 1-inch of skin at the top and bottom unpeeled. Slice the eggplant thinly lengthwise, about 1/4-inch thick. Evenly coat each slice with the salt and purge on a sheet pan fitted with a rack for 30 minutes.







Rinse with cold water and roll in paper towels to dry. Slice the pieces into thin strips to resemble pasta.

In a large saute pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and chili flakes and toast. Add the eggplant "pasta" and toss to coat. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cream and increase heat to thicken sauce. Finally add the basil and Parmesan and toss to combine. Season with pepper, no salt needed as the eggplant will have residual salt from the purge. Serve immediately.

Goat Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Goat Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Chicken breasts is one of my favorite dishes and I have been dying to find out how freezer friendly it was.

I started by making the filling of goat cheese and spinach. I slit the chicken breasts part of the way and stuffed them full of the filling. This is where I stopped and froze the dish.



The night before I was going to serve the chicken, I pulled them out of the freezer and thawed them in the fridge. They cooked perfectly and there was no change in the end result from times when we have had the chicken not frozen. This is definitely going to be a new freezer meal favorite!


Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach and Goat Cheese
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch spinach tough stems removed
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 oz low-fat goat cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Wooden toothpicks

Heat oven to 400

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in spinach and cook, stirring constantly, until spinach is wilted and liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate. Wipe skillet dry with paper towels.

Beginning at the thickest end of 1 chicken breast, carefully insert a sharp knife into center and cut a pocket as evenly as possible, leaving a 1 inch border on three sides. Repeat with remaining breasts. Open each pocket, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fill evenly with goat cheese and spinach. Seal each with two toothpicks and season outside with salt and pepper. THIS IS WERE I STOPPED AND FROZE.

Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until well browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until juices run clear, about 8 minutes. Serve Hot.

Makes 4 servings

280 calories
10 g fat
3 g saturated fat
42 g protein
3g carb
1 g dietary fiber
390 mg sodium

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Strawberry Lemon Pie

Sorry that I kind of slacked off on getting these recipes up.Cookie sales and sickness took over for a bit! Anyway, this recipe looks great and is definitely on my must try list.



Winning Recipe! San Angelo Bake-off 2008: Honorable Mention
Strawberry Lemon Pie — By Cortnee, Troop 5070
1 box of Girl Scout Lemonade Cookies, crushed
½ stick of butter, melted
1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened
1 small container of cool whip, thawed
1 small container of frozen strawberry margarita mix, thawed

Combine melted butter and GS Lemonade cookies and press together in a pie dish to make a crust.
Combine cream cheese, cool whip, and strawberry margarita mix with a mixer until well blended.
Pour mixture on top of lemonade pie crust.
Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Optional garnish may be lemon zest and strawberries.

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Thin Mint Mini Cheesecakes

Winning Recipe! Austin Bake-off 2009: Honorable Mention
Thin Mint Mini Cheesecakes — By Jessica, Troop 891

Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 drops mint extract
Few drops of green food coloring
Ready whip

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 10 muffin cups with foil baking cups. Place Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie in the bottom of each cup. Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla and mint extract; beat well. Crunch up 6 thin mint cookies and mix into batter. Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cover; refrigerate until chilled. Just before serving garnish each mini cheesecake with ready whip and thin mint on top.

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Chocolate Caramel Dessert

Oh I am most definitely going to be trying this one out. Cookies go on sale Wednesday!

Winning Recipe! 2009 San Angelo Bake Off: First place
Chocolate Caramel Dessert — By Dez, Troop 5067
1 box Girl Scout Caramel deLites
3 tablespoons margarine, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups non-dairy whipped topping, thawed
1 1/4 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4-serving) instant pudding and pie filling (vanilla flavor)
3 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels
Non-stick cooking spray

Place cookies in a food processor or blender; process until fine crumbs. Spray bottom of a 9-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine cookie crumbs and margarine; press evenly in bottom of prepared pan. Using an electric mixer beat cream cheese with sugar and 2 tablespoons milk until smooth. Blend in 3/4 cup whipped topping. Spread evenly over cookie layer. Pour 1 1/4 cups milk into a bowl. Add pudding mix and beat 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Pour over cream cheese layer. Chill several hours or overnight. Just before serving, spread remaining 3/4 cup whipped topping evenly over top of dessert then spread mini morsels on top of dessert, be creative and decorate

Cookie Recipe of the Day:Peek a Boo Pie

Peek-a-boo Pie — By Boo, Troop 5009
For Crust:
2 Tbs. melted butter
1 ½ Tbs. granulated sugar
11 crushed Thanks-a-lots
Pie tin

For Filling:
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup coconut
½ cup sugar
1Tbs. melted butter
¾ cup light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Crust:
Mix butter, sugar, and Thanks-a-lots. Press into bottom of pie tin. Set aside.

Filling:
Beat eggs; add sugar and mix well. Add corn syrup and mix well. Add coconut and mix together. Pour into pie tin and drizzle melted butter over top. Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Flower Power Energy Mix

Going for something a bit lighter and healthier this year. The Daisy-go-rounds are actually great cookies to send to the troops. They don't melt and come in small packets. Talk to your local Girl Scouts for more info on Operation Cookie and how to send cookies to our troops overseas.

Winning Recipe! Brownwood Bake off 2009: First place
Flower Power Energy Mix — By Elizabeth, Troop 7108
2 cups Daisy-Go-Round cookies
1 pkg. Sun-maid Mixed Jumbo Raisins
1 (12 oz.) pkg. Select Chex Mix Chocolate & Peanut Butter

Place all ingredients in a gallon zippered plastic bag. Close bag and shake to mix. Makes 20 1/2 cup servings.

Cookie Recipe of the Day: Minty Bonnet Cake

Winning Recipe! Lone Star Bake-Off 2007: First Place

Minty Bonnet Cake — By Natalie, Troop 1291

51 Thin Mint cookies (approximately one & 1/2 boxes)
2 tablespoon butter, melted
1 to 2 pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 container of icing
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
4 drops or more of green food coloring
Several semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 fruit roll ups (3 feet long each) in desired color


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely chop 34 mint cookies. Melt butter and mix with chopped cookies. Press crumb mixture to the sides of a 1 quart oval bake-able bowl. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool completely. Place ice cream in refrigerator for 20 minutes to soften. Place bowl with cooled crust in freezer for 20 minutes. Scoop mint ice cream into the chilled bowl with the crust. Press the ice cream gently in the crust until it meets the end of the cookie crust. Cover with aluminum foil; freeze 6 hours or overnight. To assemble bonnet, let stand for 10 minutes before dumping out to decorate. Mix icing with peppermint extract and green food coloring. Use a cake decorator with an open star tip filled with mint flavored icing. Put stars scattered all around the bonnet. In the center of each star but a semi-sweet chocolate chip. Use mint leaves for the rest of the flower. (optional) Surround cake with the rest of the mint cookies to form a brim for the bonnet. Remove the fruit roll from the paper. Place the fruit roll around the bottom of the cake, crisscrossing ends to resemble a ribbon. Make a bow with the remaining fruit roll and place at the crisscross. To decorate the brim, use the cake decorator with the open star tip with the rest of the icing. Decorate the brim of the bonnet.

Beef with Mushrooms and Asparagus

Saturday nights dinner was beef with mushroom and asparagus. It was an all in one pot kind of dinner. You have to love that.... only one pot to clean up!

First, score a diamond pattern about 1/4 inch in on a London broil on both sides. Then sprinkle with crushed rosemary and garlic. I don't think the meat had enough flavor, so I would definitely let the rub sit for awhile to permeate the steak.

Next, brown the steak for 4 minutes on each side in a heavy skillet. You may want to do this a bit longer because our steak as definitely on the rare/mid-rare end of the spectrum.

Remove the steak from the pan and tent with foil while cooking the veggies. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the pan and one sliced onion. Saute for 3 minutes and then add 1 lb sliced mushrooms and 1 lb of asparagus that has been cut into 2 inch pieces.

Cook the mushrooms and asparagus until moist of the moisture is gone and the asparagus is crisp tender. Then add one tsp of freshly zested lemon.

The end result looks like this!

It looks great and the vegetables tasted wonderful, but the steak was bland. I would suggest letting the rub sit for a bit and squeezing some of the lemon of the steak. This was a hit with the kids, but needs somemore flavor for the hubs. Next time!

Mission Sides Part 2- Chinese Style Broccoli

Last night I got back on my mission to make our sides more tasty and fun. We had Garlic and Soy Pork Chops with Chinese Style Broccoli. The broccoli was excellent and the perfect accompaniment to the chops.

First, put one pound of broccoli in a high sided pan. Saute for 2 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 cloves of minced garlic and the juice of one lemon. Continue to saute for 5 minutes until broccoli is crisp-tender.

Sorry for the blurry pic, I had a 3year old pulling on my leg because she wanted to set the table.

Well the broccoli was a hit- even with the impatient 3 year old!

Cookie of the Day

Everyday for the next couple weeks I am going to post up a yummy recipe that calls for Girl Scout cookies. Don't forget to support your local girls and buy a box!

Winning Recipe! Lone Star Bake-Off 2007: Third Place
Lemonade Cooler Pie — By Ariana, Troop 923
1 sleeve Shortbread Girl Scout Cookies
1 Box Lemonades Girl Scout Cookies
1 stick butter or margarine (separated into 6 Tbsp. and 2 Tbsp)
1 1/2 cups hot water
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
1/3 cup lemon juice
Whipped cream/Cool Whip

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 6 Tbsp. of the butter or margarine. Process 1 sleeve of Shortbread cookies in the food processor to a coarse texture. Add melted butter and stir until cookie crumbs are slightly moist. Spray pie pan with Pam or other cooking spray. Press moist crumbs into the bottom of the pie pan with a glass or the back of a spoon. Bake crust in oven for ten minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing the pie filling.

Pie Filling:
Take approximately half of the box of Lemonade cookies, place them in a plastic bag and seal it. Then, using a rolling pin, crush the Lemonades into small chunks. Set aside. In saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt. Gradually add hot water, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over moderately high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat. Cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir a moderate amount of hot mixture into egg yolks, then return to hot mixture. Bring to a boil and cook two minutes, stirring constantly. Add butter and lemon juice, mixing well. Fold in chunks of Lemonade cookies. Pour pie filling into Shortbread crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool before cutting. (I recommend chilling in refrigerator overnight.) When ready to serve, pieces of pie can be garnished with whipped cream and Lemonade cookies (cut in half).

Cooking with Girl Scout cookies

Ok, I am not much of a baker or sweet treat maker, but this recipe really has me intrigued. It has both Thin Mints and Lemonades in it. Great Googly Moogly my pants may never fit the same again!!




Winning Recipe! Austin Bake-off 2009: Third Place
Lemonade Cake with Thin Mints — By Jessica, Troop 2179
CAKE
½ pound butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
¼ cup grated lemon zest
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 box Lemonade cookies, ground to consistency of flour (yields 2 cups)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
5/8 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 sleeve Thin Mint cookies, chopped to size of chocolate chips, dusted in flour

SYRUP
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

FROSTING
1 sleeve Thin Mint cookies, ground to consistency of flour
½ cup heavy whipping cream

GARNISH
3-4 cookies crushed Lemonade cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Cream together the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Add eggs to mixer, one at a time, then the lemon zest. Sift together ground Lemonade cookies, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the Lemonade cookie flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the Lemonade cookie flour. Toss the chopped Thin Mint pieces with flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth on top, and bake for 50 minutes (45 minutes to one hour). Let cake cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan, over medium-low heat, cook the sugar and the lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on the rack over a tray and spoon the syrup over the cake. For the icing, melt the ground Thin Mint cookies and heavy cream in a saucepan, stirring until the icing is warm and smooth consistency. Take off the heat, let cool slightly until consistency of honey. Drizzle over top of cool cake. Garnish cake with crushed Lemonade cookies on top.

Chicken With Cilantro Sauce

Last night I tried out a new recipe from a Once a Month Cooking book that I got for Christmas. I had the original book for awhile and this is the "Family Favorites" edition. It has some great new recipes and even a 2 week gluten free plan. The thing I love about these cookbooks it that they have both Monthly plans and 2 week plans for those of us not quite ready to commit to a months worth of cooking from their book. It gives the grocery list, what staples you should have on hand and a list of freezer containers. They book give you a guide on the order to assemble the meals. They also give you a guide on how to create your own once a month cooking plan using your own recipes. For January, I did a combo of recipes from these books, South Beach and my own favorites. This is a link to the sample menu guide http://once-a-monthcooking.com/includes/MenuSampler.pdf. It will kind of give you and idea of what the books are like. Personally, I love them. I have cooked almost every recipe from the first book and I am working on the second one now.

That takes me back to where I was, the Garlic Lime Chicken with Cilantro Sauce.

Looks good, doesn't it? Yes, I know the sides are pretty basic, but it was cold and I was feeling too lazy to be creative yesterday.

Anyway, the recipe is basically chicken breasts marinated in lime and garlic with a cilantro cream sauce. Of course, I am not good at leaving a good recipe alone so I made some changes from the book and have a few more that I will do next time. The chicken, lime and garlic are all put together in a freezer bag with a small bag of the cilantro sauce taped to the outside. The sauce consisted of yogurt, sour cream, cilantro and lime juice. The sauce was great and had wonderful flavor, but was a bit thin for me. Next time I will drain the yogurt to get out some of the water before making the sauce. The chicken is supposed to be grilled and would probably have been even better that way, but it wa in the 20's here and I wasn't going outside to strt the grill, so I baked it. The kids loved it and so did my husband. I was immediately asked to put it "in the rotation" as my nine year old calls it. I gave the 2 youngest ones cups of the sauce to dip in so even the veggies got a bit of the sauce. Definitely a make again for us

This is my adapted recipe if you want to try it out.

Garlic-Lime Chicken with Cilantro Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lime - juiced and zested
1 tbls chopped garlic

Coat the chicken breast with the garlic, lime juice and zest and place in a gallon freezer bag.

Cilantro Sauce:
8 oz plain yogurt - drained in a cheese cloth or coffee filter for 30 minutes
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime - juiced and zested
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and place in a quart size freezer bag. Tape to the chicken bag or place inside with the chicken.

All cooking time - thaw both bags and grill the chicken for 15 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Served topped with Cilantro Cream sauce.

Mission: Side Dish

Now that I have our entrees covered for the month, I really want to concentrate on making some yummy sides. I grew up in a home where the sides were some type of microwaved canned veggie and an iceberg lettuce salad. There was nothing inspired or exciting about it. Nothing tasty either! After I left for college, I realized that asparagus are not actually a slimy puke green worm and not all lettuce tastes like soap. Currently our sides tend to be a steam veggie and a spring mix salad. Its an improvement, but not overwhelming. There are often groans when i ask my kids to eat

So anyway that is my resolution for this year-- to come up with some yummy sides and interesting ways to prepare veggies that will make my family look forward to eating them.

My first attempt was stuffed baked tomatoes. My husband is not a big fan of tomato, so he was my challenge. If I could win him over then it would be a good addition to the recipe box.

The first time I made these - I cut the Roma tomatoes in half, and then removed the seeds. I chopped the seeds and the pulp and mixed it with mozzarella, Parmesan and basil.





Next, I sprinkled the tomato shells with garlic salt and spooned in the stuffing. I baked them for 10 minutes at 350 and then broiled them for a minute to brown the tops. this first round was a big hit with the kids, but not so much with my husband. He said that it still had too much raw tomato flavor. So I tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with this:

Stuffed Broiled Tomato

4 Roma tomato - halved, seeds and pulp removed
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tbls grated Parmesan
1 oz goat cheese
garlic salt
1/4 tsp basil

Place the tomato halves on a baking sheet and sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix the cheeses in a small bowl and spoon into the hollows on the tomato. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes and then Broil for 3.

January Dinners

Well, I did it! I managed to go shopping and prep enough meals for us for the entire month. I am so excited to have this done and it cost less than $150 plus all the staple items I had at home.

Some of the things I purchased were 10 lbs chicken breast, 10 lbs of whole pork loin, 2 packs of pork tenderloin, and 3 pounds of top sirloin. The recipes came from various sources and some are my own. I will share my favorites as the month goes on.

Here is copy of my meal plan for the month :

January
1 ham and black eyed peas
2 meat roll
3 chicken mole
4 bbq chicken/stuffed baked tomatoes
5 beef goulash
6 baked fish in spaghetti sauce
7 grilled southwest chicken in cilantro sauce
8 Chicken chili
9 garlic and soy grilled pork chops / chinese style broccoll
10 beef with asparagus and mushrooms
11 steak roll
12 Chicken taco salad
13 vegetable beef soup
14 lime herb pork tenderloin
15 Going Out
16 Going out
17
18 twelve boy curry
19 pork satay q&e 244
20 Out
21 grilled ancho rubbed steak q&e 224
22 stuffed pork chops
23 Chicken with goat cheese and spinach
24 stuffed pork chops
25 Chicken cacciatore
26 pork chops with orange sauce
27 mexi spiced pork tenderloin
28 baked jambalaya
30 Teryaki pork tenderloins
31 spaghetti and meatballs

So far my favorites have been the Meat Roll and BBq Chicken.

Meat Roll - I subbed cheddar cheese the second time and it was excellent.

2 slightly beaten large eggs
¾ cup soft bread crumbs (1 slice)
½ cup tomato juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon crushed garlic
2 pounds lean ground beef
8 1-ounce thin slices fully cooked ham
1 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese


In a large bowl combine eggs, bread crumbs, tomato juice, parsley, oregano, salt,
pepper, and garlic. Stir in the ground beef, mixing well. On waxed paper, pat meat
mixture into a 12 X 10-inch rectangle. Arrange ham slices atop meat, leaving a ½ inch
border around all edges. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of the shredded mozzarella cheese over
ham. Starting from a short end, carefully roll up meat, using waxed paper to lift; seal edges and ends. Seal in a 1-gallon freezer bag, label and freeze.

When thawed, place roll, seam side down, in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Bake
in a 350 oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers
170 and juices run clear. (Center of meat roll will be pink because of the ham.)
Sprinkle remaining shredded mozzarella