Football, Christmas, Pickles

Say what?  Last night’s FSU and Louisville game was crazy!  We didn’t see it but followed the score.  We were happy at halftime (sorry all you FSU fans) – by the end of the third quarter we were not.   And into the 4th quarter, we went to bed.   We’re old.  That’s how we roll.   So we were hoping that the Cardinals would pull it out, but alas, they did not.   For you FSU fans, congrats.   For you non-FSU fans who root for whoever is playing FSU, sorry.

On another note, Hallmark kicks off their Christmas movies tonight!  I am beside myself.  It means I get theTV controls…..well, sometimes.   Mainly on Saturday night (unless there is a football game on and then I am sent to another room) and Sunday night to watch my beloved Christmas movies.   It’s the most wonderful time of the year, indeed!   Yes, I know it is Halloween tonight.   Yes, I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner,  But if this doesn’t put you in the mood, make you thankful for everything and everybody, and thankful for the real reason for the season, nothing will!   So bring it on, Hallmark!

Now, on to the pickles.   Of which I do not eat many of them – not to say my family doesn’t love them!   And on another line of thinking, have you ever been “in a pickle?”  Of course, you have!    Well then you just need to pick up your handy dandy little “pickle” and get just what you need and carry on!

All my girls have one and love their “pickle”, a handy little carrier of an assortment that they have found they now can’t be without.  This little container carries some of the following inside a beautiful clutch (or camo pack for guys) in handy separate see-through little pouches nicely tucked away for your every need (and those of your family:

• 1 hand sanitizer pen
• 1 spot remover pen
• 3 individually wrapped antibacterial wipes
• 1 credit card size mirror and floss combo
• 1 pair of tweezers
• 1 pair of fingernail clippers
• 2 emery boards
• 1 travel size sewing kit
• 1 retractable mini scissors
• 1 24″ tailor tape
• 3 hair bands
• 5 rubber bands
• 5 bobby pins
• 5 safety pins
• 5 paper clips
• 1 phillips head mini screw driver
• 1 straight head mini screw driver
• 1 mini pen
• 1 “In A Pikle” sticky notepad
• 10 adhesive bandages
• 1 package travel tissues
• 1 pill box

And you can personalize to your likes and needs! Just replace as you use the items.

Here’s a photo of one opened up with the items in their neat little compartments:

Today, because it is Halloween, AND mainly because Hallmark is my best friend for the next two months, I am giving away three of these cuties:

Dill Pickle in Red Floral:

Bread and Butter Pickle in Cocoa:

And I am giving one away especially for the men:

The Gherkin Pickle in Camo- it has a special backpack/belt loop clip – they can take it hunting/hiking or just put in their truck:

If you want a chance to win one of these three “Pickles” just leave me a comment and tell me what your plans are for the weekend – the weather is going to be nice and cool and crisp!  Let’s enjoy it!   Winners will be announced Tuesday, Nov 4th.

Oh – and if you want to go and read up on these jewels and see all that the company has to offer, just go to http://inapikle.com/ – you will love the site!  Have fun looking!

Breakfast Sausage Cups – not just for breakfast

What a great little jewel….these breakfast sausage cups.  Easy to make, easy to pick up and eat as a hands-on item.  A great little tail gate item or Sunday morning breakfast food for Sunday School.   I have a picture of these.  But it is on the camera I have not downloaded yet.  Sorry!   i didn’t want to wait to post this recipe as it was a hit at SS this past week.

Make these and see how you change yours up to satisfy your taste buds!

Breakfast Sausage Cups

1 pkg of whole crescent roll dough (found my complete roll at Wal Mart)

8 oz. smoked sausage or kielbasa, diced – about 2 cups)

2 Tbsp orange marmalade or your favorite jam (i am using some hot pepper jelly next time to kick it up a notch!

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Fresh chopped parsley (optional- I did not use this at breakfast)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I may have even baked mine at 375 – I’m weird that way)

Brown diced sausage just enough to get a bit of the grease out of it and to give it a slight crisp to it.  Drain on paper towels while preparing dough.

Sprinkle a bit of flour on work surface to keep dough from sticking.   Roll dough out and slightly roll with rolling pin dusted also with flour to thin it a bit.   Slice into 2 1/2 inch squares. I got about 16-18 out of my one square.

Press into mini muffin pan cups.

Place browned sausage in small bowl and mix in mustard and jelly.   Stir to coat.   Place about a tablespoon in each dough cup.   Bake until pastries are golden brown,   Sprinkle with chopped parsley, if you so choose.

Now you could mix your sausage with just about any flavor combination.   What about the grape jelley/bbq sauce if you were tailgating?   Or the hot pepper jelley and a spicy ketchup?   Man, the possibilities are endless.  Fingerfood at its best.

Try these and see if your crowd doesn’t like them.    Have a great day!

foiling and rice krispy treats….huh???

I foil the easy way…..not my hair…my cooking pans …when I line them with foil.   You probably do, too, but I thought I would share just in case you don’t.

The easy way to get your foil to fit your pans “just perfect”, turn your pan upside down and fit your foil to the bottom of the pan like this…plus you can just pick up the foil for easy removal and slicing.

Then flip the pan right side up and the “molded” foil will slide right in for a perfect fit…. like this!

Now….I came across a slightly different Rice Krispy Treat recipe that I wanted to give a try just to see how different they were.  And let me tell you, they are really a great recipe.   One, they are easy but have a little hidden secret – you fold in mini marshmallows in the end which gives you these great little bursts of great white gooey greatness.   You can certainly change an fold in other stuff.  Use your imagination on this one!

See those bits of folded in marshmallows?   Another secret tot his recipe is you do not “pack” this into the pan like the old recipe – this makes for a more softer and gooier rice krispy treat.   I guess if you like the more “packed” version you can knock youself out and pack away.  But let me tell you, once you try this gooier version, you may never go back.

Rice Krispie Treats

5 Tbsp Butter

8 cups plus 2 cups mini marshmallows

6 cups rice krispie cereal

1/2 tsp salt

Line a 9×9 pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a large pot over low heat, melt the butter.  Once it is melted, add the 8 cups of mini marshmallows, stirring constantly.   Once they are melted, remove from heat and stir in the cereal and salt and stir just until coated.  Now fold in the remaining 2 cups of mini marshmallows.

Place mixture into prepared pan and press evenly.  I have found it makes it easy to press in pan if you butter your hands first.  (keeps from sticking to your hands!)

Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Drums……for eatin and keepin the beat

It’s football weekend and what a gorgeous weekend for it!   Nothing like beautiful weather, cooler temperatures, bands beating out the tunes to get you fired up, and food.  Man, that tailgating, munching, food.

This recipe is one you can change however your tastebuds (actually how hot or not) you like them.

I like mine hot and hubby not so hot.  So I may divide mine and alter the heat for us.

Baking these at home makes for an easy recipe for even a weeknight.

Taco Chicken Drummettes

1 1/2 lbs chicken drummettes (04 16 pieces)

1 (8-ounce) jar hot taco sauce (medium for you non-hotheads)

1 cup dry breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix (I shall be using my homemade taco seasoning mix)

Combine drummettes and taco sauce in a shallow dish; cover and chill 2 hours.   Combine breadcrumbs and seasoning mix in a shallow bowl.  Dredge drummettes in breadcrumb mixture, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Have a great weekend, get outside and enjoy this great weather, and I hope your team wins!

Congrats winners

# 14….Dianne Hann and

# 1  – the Writer Girl –

Both of you will be making wonderful tasting soups this cool weather!   Congratulations and Happy Tuesday!

Soup’s on!

I love soup! I love to create new soup with what’s in season, or what’s left in the freezer/refrigerator.  I love other people’s suggestions for soup recipes.  I love to give the “soup mix in a jar” as gifts.  Did I say I love soup?   And who says soup is only for the fall and winter?   Although I find we eat more soup during the cold weather..why is that?  It was brought to my attention that we eat other foods “hot out of the oven” all year long so why not soup all during the year?  I totally agree.

So….to celebrate the changing of the leaves, the beautiful weekend coming, and the cooler weather (sorry about the cooler weather, Tracy!) of which I dearly love, I am giving away two (2) of these 7-quart gorgeous dutch ovens:

Great for a BIG pot of your favorite soup.  Or your BIG favorite roast with veggies.   OR whatever you want to put in it and make.  Use these on top of the stove or use these in the oven.  I chose red to go along with those changing leaves.  I hope you like the color.

Want a chance to win one of these two pots?   Just leave a comment and tell me your favorite soup you (or your family) like(s) to have on a chilly night (or day…or football watching afternoon…or well, I’ll stop for now).   And if you are so inclined to do so, share your recipe!    Two winners will be posted next Tuesday.

Enjoy your football weekend and I hope your team (if they are playing this weekend) wins.   But get out and enjoy this wonderful weather.

Grilled Taco Chicken

I haven’t made this in a while but will be making this again….and again….have you noticed I eat a lot of chicken?   Mainly cause it’s about the only meat i will eat.

This is a great marinade and basting sauce to use along with a leftover chicken that is good on salads.   Place in your marinade the night before, put in cooler and take to your next tailgate – grill and have at it.   Also, cut your chicken in cubes, marinade, put on skewers, and you have a great kabob!

Grilled Taco Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Marinade:

2 Tbsp taco seasoning mix (and yes I will be using my homemade taco season mix – no store bought in my house!)

1 tsp dried oregano (can eliminate this if you use my homemade because it has it in there!)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 tsp ground cumin (eliminate if you use my homemade taco season mix as mine has it in there)

Basting Sauce:

1/4 cup BBQ sauce (your favorite brand (but I will be using my homemade recipe – of course!)

2 Tbsp chili sauce

Mix the marinade together in a gallon zip lock bag and place the chicken breasts in with the marinade.  Mix well so that all the breasts are coated well.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to grill chicken, mix the basting sauce together.   Grill chicken, until just about done.   Baste with sauce on both sides, and finish grilling for a couple of minutes more.

Shaved chicken breast? You don’t say!

I found this at the grocery store (well, commissary)….

And I knew we could make SOMETHING out of it.  I also found shaved beef there.   And I knew we could make SOMETHING out of it, too.  And boy, did we!

This stuff is great!  It is uncooked chicken breast shaved thin and piled high for your imagination to run wild.  I told hubby to take some onions, bell peppers, and sautee with a bit of salt and pepper and about a Tsp of olive oil.  Remove them from the skillet.  Throw in the shaved chicken and some taco seasoning mix with a bit more olive oil and get that going.  It only takes a short minute or two to cook as it is shaved!   We served this over our salad for a taco salad with some salsa.  Man, was it good.  Hubby did his the same way but wants to make his as a philly cheese steak next time.

I had leftovers.  That means taco soup!   Throw the leftover chicken in a pot.  Throw some crushed tomatoes in the pot (or diced tomatoes if you want).  Throw some more taco seasoning mix in the pot.  (I like heat!).  Throw whatever vegetable in the pot – either some black beans, corn, whatever.  I threw some frozen okra in mine.  Man, was it good.  Let it simmer for a few minutes and have at it.

I hope I can find some more because we really enjoyed this.   If your supermarket doesn’t carry this, make them order it.   And go to the website for some great recipes.  But you can make your own up.  A great item for hoagies.

ALERT:   A give-a-way in relation to cooler weather is coming Thursday…….get your soup recipes ready!

Tailgating at Troy

Go Trojans!  It’s another football weekend – for another grandkiddo – we divide our time between all our grandkids’ activities and this Saturday it is Trojan Time.   Sister is coming in town for some time with me and to see another of her great nephews in their activities.

One of the things we will be serving, is Turkey Burgers….I don’t eat beef.  Oldest daughter found this somewhere out in cyberspace and they look yummy.   That won’t be all we will be serving, but that is my “all” that I am looking forward to.

Here’s the handy dandy recipe – I plan on having hubby make these up quite often on the grill at home.

Turkey Burgers

1 lb. ground turkey meat (preferably thigh meat)

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced (or other fresh herbs if you would rather)

1 Tbsp garlic powder (or less if you wish)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

cheese(optional)

Mix ingredients together and form 4-6 patties.  They should look like this:

Grill on medium heat for 7 minutes a side.  2 minutes before burgers are done, place a slice of cheese (optional) on each patty.  Serve hot.

Any herb or seasoning would be good in this burger.   What about my homemade taco seasoning mix?  Man!   Or a package of ranch dressing mix?   And what about some Italian seasoning herb mix?   There you go!

A very versatile recipe you can change up each time you make these.

Hope your team of your choice wins!   Have a great weekend.

Minion reporting….

Houston….we have a winner….

# 8

Janet Millwood!   Can I hear a congratulations??!!

Janet – I will be emailing you to get info on getting you this cute little Fall Door Decoration (say that fast three times)!

Guess what??  It’s Hump Day!   Happy Wednesday!  Woot Woot!