The Art of Eating When Moving - Chicken in Cream Sauce and Italian Sausage Pasta

Oh, so much has happened since my last post. (Seems like that will be a theme in my blogging) I had a third child (a girl!), summer came and went, our neighbors and close friends moved away, our son started Pre-K at one of the happiest places on earth (Disney and Trader Joe's being two others), and we're buying a house.

The Baby

The Summer

The Neighbors

The Schoolboy

The House

Lots of major stuff, but that last one is the point of this post. It focuses on using up what's in your house so you don't have to move it all to your next house. It's also good for occasions when you can't get to the store, have left over ingredients from another recipe or just want to stretch your dollar.

Chicken in Cream Sauce over Pasta
Today's dinner for my husband (I say this because he works midnights and eats dinner at noon) was chicken, pasta, broccoli in lemon cream sauce. I used this recipe for the lemon cream sauce (it's yum-o). I omitted the lime zest because I didn't have any limes. The chicken was frozen chicken strips from Trader Joe's, which are, in my opinion, the best chicken strips out there. Any pasta you have in your house will do and my broccoli was fresh, but frozen would work just fine. I cooked the pasta and made the sauce at the same time (it takes about the same amount of time). I steamed my broccoli while I heated the chicken strips in the microwave. Then I put it all together and ta-da! Dinner is served.  

Italian Sausage and Pasta
This has been a favorite for the summer. If we grill, I put a package of mild Italian sausage on the grill, too, and make this the next day. If we don't grill, I cook them on the stove. NBD. Anyway, you cook the sausage all the way through, then in the same pan you cooked the sausage sautee your peppers in oil until crisp tender (I like to use yellow, red and orange - any combo. If you grilled your sausage, sautee your peppers until almost crisp tender, then add your sausage in to heat through. Add to cooked rigatoni (the preferred pasta for this dish), then drizzle with olive oil to coat and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. So good every time!

I'll post another few ideas between packing boxes :)

A Word About Rewards Cards

It seems like every retail store has some kind of rewards program. This can be a bit annoying when all you want to do is pay for your stuff and go, but the cashier is obligated to offer you the opportunity to sign up for this money saving opportunity and when you say, "No thanks", an "Are you sure? You'll get money saving coupons and the rewards add up fast!" is sure to follow. Now you feel like a jerk and a bit annoyed that your initial polite response was ignored, but you have somewhere better to be! Well, go if you're short on time, but if you have the extra couple minutes and the rewards program is FREE, fill out the paperwork! Here's an example:

I don't shop at Famous Footwear. Ever. I can't even tell you where one is although I'm sure there are some on my usual routes. I think I ordered some shoes online a year or so ago because they had some deal on something I wanted with free shipping. Somewhere in the online transaction it asked if I wanted to become a rewards member. Yes. I like rewards and discounts and whatnot. So I took the extra couple minutes to fill out the forms. What I quickly learned is that they send out $10 off your $10 purchase cards every so often. Yay! Today I cashed that in for some shoes for my daughter that are EXACTLY what I have been searching for for about 4 months (brown Mary Janes in a toddler size... didn't think it would be that hard, but it is!). They were $14.99 (which was 50% off) + $10 off + shipping and tax, my total came to $9.80. YAY! You may say, sure you saved money, but you SPENT money by signing up for that rewards card at that store that you NEVER used to shop at. True, but I got exactly what I wanted that I haven't been able to find anywhere I usually shop, and do you know how fast toddler feet grow?! We always need shoes!

Another example: I have a total of 1 retail store credit card. It's the place I shop the most for clothes for our whole family. The reason I have it? It's not to pay interest on the stuff I buy - it gets paid off almost as soon as I get home from the store. The rewards add up fast and I get $10 off your $10 purchase cards ALL THE TIME. You have to check each store's policy on what coupons and rewards can be combined because sometimes they just see your "reward" as a coupon.

Final example: The grocery store rewards card is ESSENTIAL. Their prices can be ridiculous and their discounts deep (because of the ridiculous prices). Even if you don't coupon or make a plan around the sales, you'll save about 10% every time you go. At least that's the truth where I shop. And if your total comes to $100, that's $10 that the grocery store doesn't take out of your wallet! (I love simple math.)

Bottom line, if it's free and you need the product anyway, or you're always buying things from that store, take the time to sign up for the rewards card. The worst that can happen is you get a few extra emails and you have an extra card or two in your wallet.

Tomato Cream Sauce for Pasta

In an effort to use up perishable items before leaving on vacation, I decided to try out this recipe. I had to use up some heavy cream, tomatoes and broccoli and happened to have all the other ingredients on hand. I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tomato-cream-sauce-for-pasta/detail.aspx with these modifications:

I forgot the sugar. Probably better for my gestational diabetes anyway. No canned diced tomatoes. Instead I used whole cherry tomatoes heated in a skillet with my frozen grilled chicken strips. If you go this route, add the tomatoes (and the broccoli) to the skillet when the chicken is done. Heat until tomatoes are about to pop or skins blister. You don't want them all to explode and some will burst when you stir them into the cream sauce.

The sauce was great. My husband actually said, "I want to know when we're going to have this again. I want 2nds and 3rds of this!" Unfortunately, we had just enough for dinner. I successfully accomplished having just enough food to get us through the day we leave for vacation!

Sorry there's no photo here of what I made. I had to serve it in inappropriate bowls because all the "right" ones were in the dishwasher. But since it's already been requested for a future meal, I'm sure I can get one up here sometime. :)

Baked Pork Chops

Keep reading if you want melt in your mouth pork chops. Stop reading if you don't like your recipes to take too much time, because this one takes 1 hr 30 min bake time, but only 15 min of prep. Are you still with me?? Good. Read on.

So me and my deal matching self got a good price (for the City of Chicago) on pork chops. I decided to look for a recipe that didn't involve the crock pot since the last 3 or more meals I made came from it. (What can I say... it gets crazy around here!) Allrecipes.com comes through again :) Here's the recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-pork-chops-i/detail.aspx This recipe calls for a can cream of mushroom soup, which I didn't use. I used a homemade cream of chicken that you can find here on my blog. But there is a catch... I didn't have chicken stock, or bullion. What to do?! I didn't want to use water (totally bland boring yuck). I used some of the white wine the pork chop recipe calls for... quite fragrant! The wine was Barefoot's Sauvignon Blanc - it was on sale :)

here's the browning process

 

post soup application

right out of the oven

here's the end result... pork chop goodness!

These were exactly what I was looking for. Not tough bland pork chops. These pretty much fall apart and have plenty of flavor. Even my recipe substitution of wine instead of chicken broth worked out just fine.

I do recommend browning your pork chops until there is a deep brown crust that has formed. That's REALLY good. 

These were even awesome as leftovers... maybe even better. You know how food does that sometimes? Yeah. Real nice.

So, give it a try if you have the time.

DIY Cream of Chicken Soup

Forgive me if you already saw this from my Facebook page, but I got tired of buying Cream of Chicken soup and finally got around to Googling for a homemade version. It's not bad. A friend suggested adding actual shredded chicken and onion powder to make it a little more authentic. Good suggestions.

Here's the link. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-diy-crea-16827 I plan to use this in my recipes instead of canned versions. Way less expensive and without all the sodium and preservatives!

Printing My Own (Coupon) Money

I'm currently taking a short break from meal planning/grocery list making/couponing. While I was doing this planning I printed some coupons from a manufacturer's website (2 $1 off coupons) and I thought to myself, "I'm printing money!" It made me laugh, but it's kinda true. I went through all the coupons I had for this particular item, which is on sale at my grocery store for $1.97. When my binder came up a loser, I decided to look on coupons.com. Nope, nothing there either. Then I Googled it. And there it was. Right there on the manufacturer's brand website! That means I'll get my item (usually priced somewhere in the $2.50-$3 range) for $.97 each! Happy day!!

The moral of the story here is the following: always search for a coupon. Just because it isn't in your physical arsenal doesn't mean it isn't out there. Doing that tiny bit of research could keep money in your bank account rather than the grocery store's.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole - Slow Cooker

Have you heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? It is 100% true, in my case. This past week we haven't eaten out once and I've noticed a certain happiness and contentment coming from my husband. Funny how that works :) I made all the meals in an effort to help keep money in our checking account, rather than restaurant chains, but this side effect is always welcome.

Most of the meals have come from the crock pot with massive amounts of leftovers (that's how we roll... well, survive really). This is one I've posted before. It doesn't have a photo because it's really not pretty. Of course, the picture in the book it came from looks fantastic. I'm sure if I was a photographer and actual chef I'd have a nice picture. I'm not, so I don't, and I'm ok with that.

Anyway, here you go. Hope you enjoy.

Here's a favorite from my "Rival Crock Pot Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipes" book, and let me tell you, this one is best loved!!

Slow Cooker Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole (with optional sausage!)
1 lb italian sausage, browned and sliced (optional)
2 T olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
1 large green pepper, finely diced
8 oz button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 t dried oregano
1 t paprika
2 T butter
2 T all-purpose flour
1.5 c milk
8 oz pepper jack, Cheddar or Swiss cheese, shredded (I usually use sharp cheddar)
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 c wild rice mix, cooked according to package instructions (I usually use 2 boxes of rice-a-roni long grain wild rice mix)

1. coat slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
2. heat oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot. add onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. cook and stir 5-6 minutes until vegetables soften. add garlic, tomatoes, oregano and paprika. continue to cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to large bowl to cool. (add in sausage, if using)
3. Melt butter in same skillet over medium heat; whisk in flour. Cook and stir until smooth and golden, about 4-5 minutes. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Whisk shredded cheese into boiling milk to produce rich, velvety sauce.
4. combine cooked wild rice with vegetables in large bowl. Fold in cheese sauce to combine gently. Pour into prepared slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 4-6 hours or on HIGH 2-3 hours.