Lynn's Kitchen Adventures » Quick Cooking

Easy Valentine’s Day Fudge

Lynn — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:14:18 +0000

When I say this is easy Valentine’s Day Fudge, I really do mean it is easy. So, easy that it only contains 3 ingredients. Four if you include the sprinkles for decorating.

I was recently looking for a quick and easy Valentine’s Day recipe for my kids to make. I wanted it to be easy enough for them to make on their own, but cute enough that they would really enjoy making and eating it, they are kids after all.

I immediately thought of my candy bar fudge and how we could adapt it for Valentine’s Day. My daughter has made the quick and easy candy bar fudge many times, so I knew she could easily make it.

She gave making it into heart shapes a try and it worked great. She had so much fun making it and it turned out perfect!

This is the plateful that we sent to my husband’s office. Everyone loved it and it turned out so cute. All we did was place the little fudge hearts that she made in mini cupcake liners and we had our own little box/plate of chocolates. So cute!

All she did for this was take my basic easy fudge recipe, (recipe at the end of this post) and spread it out onto a cookie sheet that had been lined with parchment paper. For the strawberry version she simply used white chocolate chips and strawberry frosting and spread it out on a different cookie sheet. Then you sprinkle with any sprinkles or decorations that you want to use.

Be careful not to spread it to thin or it will be hard to cut into shapes. Place it in the refrigerator for about an hour or two.

Once it is set up, use heart shaped cookie cutters to cut into shapes.

We made a couple of different sizes since she wanted small and large hearts, but really any size will work. And my daughter kind of just randomly put sprinkles on them because we wanted a few different looks for them, but again anything works here.

You have to be carefully when cutting these and removing them from the cookie cutter, not all the hearts turned out perfect, but that is okay, my kids gladly ate those.

Place on a plate or place in a small box and give away a simple box of homemade chocolates. So cute and so good!

Enjoy!

Easy Valentine’s Day Fudge

1 teaspoon butter
2 cups chocolate chips or white chocolate chips for strawberry fudge
1 can (16 ounce) chocolate or strawberry frosting
sprinkles for decorating

Line a cookie sheet or large pan with parchment paper. Grease the foil and set aside.
Melt chocolate chips and butter. (We do this in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted)
Stir in frosting until well combined.
Spread onto pan that has been lined with parchment paper and decorate with sprinkles if using. Refrigerate for 1-2 hrs.
Cut using cookie cutters.
Serve and enjoy!

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Oven Fried Pork Chops

Lynn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:20:45 +0000

My husband loves pork chops. They are one of his favorite cuts of meat to eat. Over the years I have cooked pork chops many different ways and these oven fried pork chops are one of our favorites. We love these!

And our favorite way to eat them is with buttermilk mashed potatoes. The gravy that this recipe makes works perfectly with a side of mashed potatoes and the buttermilk in both recipes go very well together.

Oven Fried Pork Chops

1/4 cup butter, melted
4 or 5 pork chops ( I brine mine first and it really makes them better, so I would not skip this step.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature, and divided
3/4 cup flour ( I now use a gf flour blend or Bob’s Red Mill gf biscuit mix)
1 can cream mushroom soup ( or make your own)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Pour melted butter into 9×13 pan and set aside.
In a shallow dish or on a plate combine salt, pepper, and flour.
In a separate shallow dish place 1/2 cup buttermilk (Save the other cup of buttermilk for later use.)
Dip pork chops in buttermilk until completely wet and then dredge in flour mixture until completely covered on both sides.
Place in the pan with the melted butter.
Bake for 25 minutes.
In a bowl combine the remaining cup of buttermilk and the soup. Pour over pork chops and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes or until the pork chops are done.
Enjoy!

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Fiesta Macaroni

Lynn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:42:53 +0000

Today for Ground Beef Thursday I have another quick, easy, and inexpensive dinner idea for you. This is one of my family’s favorite quick and easy meals. It is similar to my taco pasta, but has a different flavor. And we love this just as much as we do the taco pasta.

This is one of those ground beef recipes that is truly quick and easy, budget and kid friendly.

Fiesta Macaroni

3 cups macaroni noodles
1 lb ground beef
1 -16 ounce jar salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can -15 ounce chili beans

Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions.
In a skillet cook ground beef, until browned and done. Drain off fat.
Combine cooked beef, cooked noodles, salsa, 1 ½ cups cheese, and chili beans.
Place mixture in a 9×13 pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cook at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.
Serve and enjoy!

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Porcupine Meatballs

Lynn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:12:54 +0000

Porcupine meatballs are not exactly gourmet food. They are more of a down home everyday type meal. And they are not a very pretty meal, or a very photogenic one as you can tell from the picture above, but they are so good.

And not only are they good, they are an inexpensive and kid friendly meal that is so easy to make.

The first time I made porcupine meatballs was back in 1995. I had only been married about a year and I came across a recipe in a Taste Of Home magazine and knew I had to try it. It looked easy to make and I had everything in my cupboard to make them. I also knew that I could get ground beef on sale and this was a meal that would make that ground beef stretch.

You see those were our poor days, or at least back when my husband was trying to finish up college and money was very tight. If it was not on sale, or extremely cheap, we did not eat it.

It was also back when meat was a treat for us to eat. It was rarely the star of the meal because I had to make it stretch and these meatballs worked great for that because we always served them over rice which allowed me to stretch this one meal into two or three meals.

Now I know they have rice in them, but I could make them stretch even farther if I served them over rice also. And because I served them that way so often years ago, this is the way we have continued to eat them.

Rice was one of those inexpensive things that we ate a lot of during those years and I loved to find creative ways to use it so that it did not feel like we were just eating rice all the time.

The first few months after we were married, we lived in an apartment near some Asian markets where you could get some really good deals. And I quickly learned that buying rice by the 25lb bags from the Asian Market was much cheaper than I could buy it anywhere else and so we ate a lot of rice. And when I say we ate a lot of rice, I do mean a lot of rice.

And do you know what, rice is still a staple in our house because it is still an inexpensive and easy dish to serve and it is easy to change up and serve many different ways.

So, feel free to serve these how you want to. And if like them with lots of sauce, feel free to double the sauce, I like to do that sometimes and it gives it more sauce if you are serving it over rice.

Porcupine Meatballs

1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound ground beef
2-8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl combine rice, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and ground beef.
Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls. In a large skillet, brown meatballs and drain off any fat. (If you use really lean beef than you may need to add some oil to the pan.)
Combine tomato sauce, water, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce and pour over meatballs. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour or until meatballs are done.

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Pizza Soup

Lynn — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:41:04 +0000

My kids love pizza. And really what kid does not love pizza? Today’s soup recipe is all about the flavors of pizza in a bowl of soup.

This pizza soup recipe is so easy, so good, and very kid friendly. And you can easily add other ingredients like green pepper, onions, mushrooms, or whatever you like on pizza, to give it the flavors that you enjoy.

If you have missed out on my other Souper Monday recipes you can find all of them here.

Pizza Soup

1 lb ground sausage
15 slices of pepperoni, chopped (I degrease mine.)
9 cups water
24 oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or another type of cheese)
1 cup macaroni noodles

In a large pan brown sausage until done. Drain off any fat.
Add water, spaghetti sauce, and noodles. Cook over medium to medium high heat for about 12-15 minutes or until pasta is done.
Stir in cheese and pepperoni until cheese is melted.
Serve and enjoy!

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Coconut Milk Asian Noodle Soup

Lynn — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:08:38 +0000

I thought we needed to start the New Year out on a healthier, lighter note, so I decided to share with you my Coconut Asian Noodle Soup today for Souper Monday.

This soup is a version of my basic Asian Noodle Soup that my family loves. Last winter I made my Asian Noodle Soup quite a few times and although we love it, we got tired of it and wanted something a little different.

So, I decided to change it up by adding some coconut milk to it and it was so good. It changed the taste of the soup and gave it a creamy broth. In fact it changed the flavor so much that it seemed like a whole new soup to us.

I love this soup because it is a quick and easy and pretty healthy soup.

And it is one of those soups that is easy to make gluten free because the ingredients are all gluten free. All you need to do is read the labels to be sure there is no hidden gluten in anything and you should be fine. I love normal food that just happens to be gluten free.

Asian Milk Noodle Soup

1- 8 ounce package of rice noodles ( I use the noodles pictures below)
3 cans chicken broth ( or about 8 cups of homemade)
1- 13 ounce can coconut milk
2 cups water
¼ cup soy sauce
a one inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 2 pieces
2 cups cook chicken, diced
2 cups coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
Red Chili sauce- for serving if you like it spicy (this is an asian style hot sauce)

Fix noodles according to package directions. This is usually soaking them in hot or boiling water to soften them.
While the noodles are soaking, heat chicken broth, water, coconut milk, soy sauce, and ginger to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.
Remove ginger. ( The ginger is just to add extra flavor to the liquid)
Add chicken and cook until chicken is heated through. This should just take a few minutes.
Add coleslaw and softened noodles and simmer for 1-2 minutes. You do not really want to cook the noodles and coleslaw just heat them through.
Serve and enjoy!

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Ground Beef Taco Rice Dinner

Lynn — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:01:08 +0000

With all the holiday posts that I have done lately, my ground beef recipes and Souper Monday series have not been as regular as I had hoped, but after the first of the year, they will both be back as weekly features. I am really excited to continue both of these series next year.

Today though I do have another ground beef recipe for you and it is perfect for the busy holiday season. Ground beef taco rice dinner is so quick and easy to make. It contains pantry ingredients, and is great leftover as a burrito or enchilada type filling.

Ground Beef Taco Rice Dinner

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like rotel)
1 ¾ cups water
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 package homemade taco seasoning (or use homemade)
½ teaspoon salt
optional ingredients for serving: sour cream, chips, cheese etc.

In a skillet cook ground beef, onions, and green pepper until meat is done and onions and peppers are tender.
Drain off any fat and add tomatoes with green chilies, water, rice, taco seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover and cook 10 or so more minutes or until rice is done.
Serve and enjoy!

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Easy Fajita Pizza

Lynn — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:08:53 +0000

This is one of those quick and easy, you don’t have a lot of time for dinner meals. It is also a perfect cook once, eat twice meal, because it uses fajita meat. And it is so easy to make extra filling when you are making fajitas. You just have to plan ahead.

This Easy Fajita Pizza is kind of the same idea as my Mexican Pizza. All I did for these was take a homemade tostada shell, and layer it with beans, fajita meat, and cheese. It was that simple and my whole family loved it.

So, next time you make beef or chicken fajitas for dinner, make some extra meat and veggie mixture and use it for Easy Fajita Pizza the next night. I think your family will love it.

Easy Fajita Pizza

2-3 cups of meat, onion, and peppers that have been seasoned with fajita seaoning mix (I use my seasoning, but really this works with any sort of fajita style filling. Even my crockpot fajita filling would work.)
1 can refried beans
2 cups shredded cheese
tostada shells ( I used homemade ones)

Spread beans on tostada shells. Layer meat on top of beans. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until heated through.
Serve and enjoy!

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Tater Tot Nachos

Lynn — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:18:34 +0000

These Tater Tot Nachos are one of those recipes that I almost did not post. They are too easy and not really a recipe.

Not only that, this recipe makes me admit that yes, I do in fact often have a bag of tater tots in my freezer.

Yes, we love homemade oven fries, but the reality is life gets busy and crazy, sometimes I just need a very quick side dish or meal. So, yes I will admit that you will often find a bag of frozen french fries or tater tots in my freezer.

The day I made these tater tot nachos was very busy. I had planned on making pizza for dinner, but I had been gone all day and did not have time to make the dough. It was one of those days where if we did not live in the country and have food issues, we would have just ordered a pizza. But, since that is not an option, I had to come up with something.

We had already had breakfast for dinner that week and I knew my family would prefer not to have it again, so I needed to come up with something else quick.

I headed to the freezer to see what I could find that would be easy to put together. I found some frozen taco meat and a bag of tater tots and decided to combine them into a one dish meal.

What I ended up serving was basically just tater tots covered in seasoned taco meat and cheese. So quick and easy and my kids loved it. This will definitively show up on the menu plan again.

Because I was in a hurry, I kept this dish really simple, but you could easily add beans, salsa, and other toppings to this. We did serve it with salsa, but I think the salsa would be good added into the dish also.

Tater Tot Nachos

2 lb bag of tater tots
1 lb of cooked ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning ( I used some from the freezer.)
2 cups of grated cheese ( I used a combination of jack and cheddar)
salsa, either mix it in or serve with salsa

Place tater tots in a 9×13 pan. Spread meat over the top of the potatoes. Sprinkle cheese on top of meat.
Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until heat through and done.

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Roasted Vegetable Frittata

Lynn — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:36:07 +0000

Nothing says summer quite like the fresh fruits and vegetables that are available. They are bountiful this time of year and I love finding new ways to use them in the kitchen

I have mentioned before how much I love Everyday Food magazine. It is one of my favorite food magazines and earlier this summer Martha Stewart Everyday Food came out with a special summer edition of their magazine. It was all about summer food and entertaining.

When I was out shopping last month I saw this special edition issue. I picked it up and started looking through it. The pictures were beautiful and the food sounded wonderful.

The whole issues captured summertime food so well that I knew I had to have it. Well, okay I did not have to have it, but I knew I would use many of the recipes in the magazine and I decided to buy it.

So far I have loved this issue. And although summer is almost over there are still several recipes that I want to try and that will work all year long.

The first recipe I tried from the magazine was for a roasted vegetable frittata. It was perfect for summertime, but really this frittata can be made any time of year using vegetables that are in season or at your local store.

This would be good with all kinds of vegetables and even with something like mushrooms. You can really do a lot with this basic idea and adapt it to your family’s tastes.

I played with the recipe a little and tweaked it just a bit for our tastes, but used the same basic idea. What I ended up with was a quick, easy, and healthy dinner that my whole family enjoyed.

Roasted Vegetable Frittata

2 tablespoons oil
4 cups of vegetables, a mix of onions, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, etc.
salt and pepper for vegetables
1 teaspoon salt to add to eggs
10 eggs
½ cup Parmesan cheese (the real stuff not the stuff in the green can)
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Slice tomatoes, zucchini and/or yellow squash into thin slices. Slice onions and peppers and any other vegetables you are using.
Place vegetables on a baking sheet. Drizzle with tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake at 475 for 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are tender and roasted.
Turn oven temperature down to 450 and grease a 9 inch pie plate that is a deep pie plate. (You can also use an 8×8 pan for this.)
Place roasted vegetables in the pan and set aside.
In a large bowl beat the eggs.
Add the cheeses and 1 teaspoon of salt to the eggs.
Pour over the vegetables and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center is set.
Cut into wedges and serve.

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