Bacon club crackers.

Did some experimenting this weekend. Didn't like the outcome much, but I plan on changing it up next time I make this. I plan on exchanging the Parmesan cheese for brown sugar because this batch was a tad too salty for my taste. 

Ingredients

1 package of bacon

1 sleeve of club crackers

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (you can substitute blue cheese or brown sugar)

Cut bacon in half and place cracker in the middle of bacon. Place on a greased baking sheet. 

Place enough Parmesan cheese to cover cracker. 

Fold bacon over to cover cheese. 

Repeat until entire sleeve of crackers has been used. 

Bake for 2 hours on 250 degrees. Serve immediately or at room temperature. 

Again, these were a tad salty for my taste. Next time I will try brown suga for that sweet and salty taste. 

Mini Cheeseburgers.

After a long day of every problem known to man occurring while changing oil in both of our vehicles,  I made a simple yet amazing meal that my husband loved!  Seriously, he remarked during dinner, at least 6 times, how good it was!

Mini cheeseburgers & fries!  I cheated and made frozen French fries, but everyone deserves a break sometime, right?  To make the cheeseburgers all you need is:

2 pounds of ground beef

1/4 cup of plain bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper

Mix those ingredients with your hands (or fork if you don't like getting messy). Then press into a 9x13 pan. And cook on 400 for 30 minutes. Once done (meat will shrink during cooking process!) add 6 slices of cheddar cheese on top and cook for an additional 3 minutes so cheese can melt!

After the cheese has melted, cut into squares enough to fit you bread type. We used kings Hawaiian rolls. It made 18 mini burgers!  I was way too hungry to take pictures during the process, but I do have pictures of 2 different kinds of cheeseburgers I made. 

First, bacon, mustard, & pickle

Next, (my favorite) the BBQ bacon burger. 

Yummy!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Thank goodness for  employment at a mortgage company, I am off tomorrow too!  Yay!

French Bread Pizza.

There is nothing better on a Saturday night than having pizza and beer with the husband. We sat up a pizza bar in our kitchen to make our own homemade pizzas. You can gather any toppings that you like on your pizza!  

Our bar had marinara, pepperoni, bacon, ham, olives, green onions, banana peppers, and mozzarella cheese. You will need a loaf of Italian or French bread (you will find these in the bakery section on your local grocery). You just cut the loaves in half and top with whatever toppings you like. Once topped, bake your pizza at 500 degrees for 10-13 minutes. Super easy, super yummy!

(My French bread pizza)

(I love veggies!)

(My husband's upside down pizza)

Great fun for a Saturday night in!  We had a ton of fun seeing what kinds of creations we could make!

Chicken Dumpling Casserole.

The husband & I have been under the weather this week so I decided to make his favorite comfort food for dinner. Chicken & Dumplings!  Neither one of us like our chicken and dumplings soupy, so what better way to fix that than turn it into a casserole (because in the South, that's what we do)!

You will need:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

-boiled & shredded

2 cups chicken stock

1 stick butter

2 cups bisquick or self rising flour

2 cups milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 bouillon cubes (chicken flavor)

1 tablespoon salt & pepper

First, the chicken!  Place the chicken in a sauce pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and sit 10-15 minutes. I usually let mine sit the full 15. 

Once you've cooked, shredded your chicken, melt the stick of butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. 

Then top with the shredded chicken & pepper. 

In a small bowl, mix together your 2 cups milk & 2 cups bisquick or self rising flour. Pour over shredded chicken. 

In another small bowl, whisk 2 cups chicken stock, 3 bouillon cubes, and can of cream chicken soup. Slowly pour over bisquick layer. 

Bake in oven at 350 for 35 minutes!  It should have a yellow tint and the top will be slightly crisp. 

At this point you will need to add salt to taste. The first time I made this I added the salt during the layering process and it was a tad too salty (the broth and cream of chicken add salt naturally). So now I save it for the end and it's much better! 

CHICKEN DUMPLING CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

         -boiled & shredded

2 cups chicken stock

1 stick butter

2 cups bisquick or self rising flour

2 cups milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 bouillon cubes (chicken flavor)

1 tablespoon salt & pepper

Directions:

Step 1- preheat oven to 350

Step 2- place chicken in sauce pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover, turn off heat. Let sit 10-15 minutes. Remove chicken, let cool, shred. 

Step 3- Spray a 9x13 pan with non stick spray and add 1 stick of butter, melted. 

Step 4- top with shredded chicken and pepper. 

Step 5- In small bowl, mix together milk and bisquick. Slowly pour over chicken layer. 

Step 6- In medium bowl, whisk together chicken stock, bouillon cubes, and soup. Slowly pour over bisquick layer. 

Step 7- Bake 35 minutes. 

Crunchy Ranch Porkchops.

I was hoping I could go more in depth with my first post, but It's going to take me a while to get used to documenting each step of my cooking process. 

I always make my husband dinner so I thought I would share tonight's menu. Simple sides with a delicious pork chop. I don't know about y'all but I love ranch dressing. I could eat it on just about anything.  I came up with a crunchy ranch pork chop that is to die for. 

Crunchy Ranch Porkchops:

4 thick cut pork chops

1/2 cup ranch salad dressing

1 cup bread crumbs

Salt & Pepper to taste

1- coat each side of pork chop with ranch dressing (I put mine on a plate and turn on top of dressing until covered)

2-once coated, roll pork chop in bread crumbs

3- Place on greased baking sheet

4-Cook on 425 for 20 minutes. Then 450 for 10 minutes (to make them crunchy). 

5- Once they have cooked I too mine with black pepper. 

Crunchy Ranch Porkchops, baby carrots, restaurant style baked potatos. 

Let's get started!

When you think of activities for little girls, what automatically comes to mind? Dolls? Dress up? Tea party? If you know me, you know I am far from the norm. When I was growing up I would trade a doll for a Ninja Turtle and a Tea party for time spent tinkering in the garage with my Papaw and his tools. There is one stereotype that I am guilty of loving since I can remember, cooking. Anytime my Mom or Grandmas were in the kitchen, I had to pull my sleeves up and get elbow deep in flour and seasonings. Growing up in a small town in Kentucky, there were home cooked meals everyday that the family gathered around to discuss their day. That's not something you get often now days, but it's definitely something that meant the most to me during my childhood that I can't wait to pass on to my children. I have been cooking for as long as I can remember, well, attempting to cook. When I was around 6 years old my mom let me help her make salmon patties for dinner one day. She pulled the kitchen chair to the counter and I hopped up, rolled my sleeves up, anxious to help. My Mom stepped out of the room and when she returned she found a huge, white, glistening mound of sugar on top of her salmon mix! After that I never forgot that salt goes in salmon patties, not sugar! (: I recently got married in May, so now I have 2 families to cook for. Any family gathering I always get asked "What did you bring this time?!". I can't wait to have kiddos of my own one day so I can share my kitchen with their creative little minds, but for now I'll keep cooking for my Husband and my dog. I am anxious and excited to share my kitchen with y'all & I hope you enjoy!