Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole

When planning this month's meals, I picked Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole. I knew it would be a bit hot for me, but Lance would love it. After eating it tonight, Lance said he couldn't taste the hot sauce at all and my lips were burning. We are on opposite ends of the spicy spectrum.

Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken
6 cups potatoes (4 large potatoes), cubed
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp garlic powder
6 Tbsp Frank's Red Hot Sauce
2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
2 cups Mexican style shredded cheese
1 cup green onion, diced
1 cup bacon, cooked & crumbled
Preheat oven to 500°. Mix oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and hot sauce in a large bowl. Mix potatoes in sauce to coat. Spray a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray. Place potatoes in pan leaving as much sauce behind in bowl as possible.

I used 2 - 7.5" x 9.5" pans because I will freeze half for a dinner later. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

















While potatoes are baking, place chicken in bowl with remaining sauce. Mix to coat.

I also cooked the bacon while the potatoes were baking.  I cut up the bacon and then cook it.  It seems easier to me than cooking then crumbling. In a separate bowl, mix cheese, green onion and bacon. After potatoes are cooked remove from oven. Turn oven down to 400°. Spread chicken over the potatoes and then the cheese mixture over that.
















Bake again for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked and about 165°. Remove from oven and serve.




















This recipe orginally from Cook Lisa Cook

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Seeking His Plan

This last year and a half has really had its ups and downs. We have had the excitement of my first pregnancy and the grief of losing that pregnancy and two more. But God has been good throughout. We are trusting that He has a plan.

In seeking His plan for us, we don't feel like He is leading us down the road of adoption just yet. He has provided a doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies. I will be seeing that doctor this week. And from what I understand I will have blood tests to go along with the visit. Thankfully, I am not bothered by having blood drawn.

I am sharing this with you because I would like you to pray for me and the doctor. Pray that I will continue to find comfort in my Heavenly Father. Pray that the doctor will be able to diagnose the problem and it will be something we can correct. Also please pray for Lance as he supports me.

Goals for 2013

I normally start each year with the typical goals - losing weight, saving money, and reading through the Bible. I never make it. And while I want to do all these things, I don't really want to set myself up for failure once again. This year I've decided to set some new goals, fun goals.

This year I've tried making a lot of new foods. I've had a lot of fun doing it. So I've decided to try a new food each month. I'm going to start the year with pasta. Lance has been asking me to make pasta, and I have pasta attachment for the Kitchenaide.

I would like to have a plan for the whole year before we get to the new year, but I'm not sure what else I want to try. Any ideas? I have already made sour cream, cream cheese, bear claws, and croissants. And I want to stick to food but not gross food. So please help me with ideas.

Is it mine now? Roasted Tomato Sauce

I still have a mound of tomatoes. They are ripening slowly but surely. I had decided I have enough diced tomatoes canned. So it's time for something new. I use a lot of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce for recipes through the winter. I found a recipe for tomato sauce that looked much easier that most and didn't involved blanching, shocking and peeling which I find a pain in the neck (actually feet). I haven't ever made tomato sauce so I'm not sure if it tastes better. But I think it was easier.
The first batch didn't turn out like I wanted so I adjusted and tried again. So does that make it my recipe now? Can I claim it as my own and not give credit to the originator of the recipe? I guess either way I need to. I got this recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com. But again, I have altered it.

Roasted Tomato Sauce
10 tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup finely diced onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves
3/4 cup chicken stock or white wine
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Wash and sliced tomatoes in half. Seed tomatoes and place on a foil lined baking sheet cut side up. Mix together oil, pepper, salt, garlic, oregano, & thyme. Drizzle oil mixture over the tomatoes. Sprinkle diced onions over tomatoes. Place baking sheets in oven and baked for 2 hours. At the end of the 2 hours, turn up the oven to 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on them. They need to be roasted but not burned. (Like I did) I think my second batch I only cooked them for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and put through a food mill. Discard peels and put sauce in a sauce pan. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half and is the consistency of tomato sauce.



I canned my tomato sauce, but you could also freeze it. It definitely has a different flavor. But I think it will add great flavor to my recipes.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

And the Winner Is...

Due to Facebook being difficult, the giveaway for Best in the West Bakery has been moved here.  The random number generator gave me number 9.  And that person is Marianne Smith.  Marianne, if you will email me your address and which type of cookie you would like, I will mail you a bakers dozen cookies.  My email is countryrunnerk@gmail.com

If anyone has any idea how to configure apps for Facebook, I would love help so that future giveaways can actually be on Facebook.

How Time Flies...

I happened to see my blog when I posted my garden pictures and laughed because the garden doesn't look anything like that anymore. I thought I'd show you the difference.

When I first planted

Now

When I first planted

Now

When I first planted

Now

I have frozen 40 cups of zucchini and have made lots and lots of zucchini bread along with selling & giving away a little bit of zucchini.  Romaine is ready to be harvested. I also harvested spinach today and blanched & froze it.  Not enough to make spinach dip but close.  By the end of the season, I definitely will.  Today I discovered I have two baby cantaloupes.  I'm hoping I have enough time left in the season for those to get ripe.  And tomatoes - I have so many on the vine.  I don't quite have enough ripe to can but hopefully soon.

This is my zucchini & squash patch.  It is a little bit out of control.  The tomato plants look different after cutting them back today.  I only have a couple or so weeks left before out first freeze so I need as many tomatoes to ripen before then.  I cut most of the leaves off so the plants will put it's energy to growing and ripening the tomatoes.  

I Hate to Exercise But Love to Cook

I love being married.  Lots of people say it is hard.  For me it hasn't been.  I think because I got married in my mid thirties, I am more appreciative of Lance and what he is in my life.  As with anything in life, there are always little annoying things you have to put up with.  The little annoying thing in my marriage that I have to put up with is growing.  It is that I have gained weight.  I hate to admit that I have gained 20 lbs since I got married.  So I am working on getting it off.

Recently, my friend Kelly introduced me to My Fitness Pal.  I have used Daily Burn in the past, but wasn't able to put my recipes in it.  And since we rarely eat out or eat premade food, it just didn't work for me.  My Fitness Pal allows me to put in the recipe and then enter the serving size I ate.  When you start your account, they ask you all kinds of questions and determine how many calories you need to eat per day.  They gave me 1200 calories.  Yikes!  Although burning calories gives you more to eat.  Whoo hoo.  And cooking burns calories!  Double whoo hoo.  I hate to exercise but love to cook.

While trying to balance out my calorie intake for the day, I went looking for a smoothie recipe.   I had purchased 32 lbs of strawberries and split with my mother.  I froze 8 lbs to make smoothies with.  So the smoothie recipe had to be strawberry and since I do not like bananas, it could not contain bananas.  I found a smoothie recipe that I added my touch to and now love.  I took 2 recipes and combined them.  I needed something that would tide me over until lunch.  So the ingredient I used from the second recipe was oatmeal. I put the oatmeal in the blender first and blended it so it was more like flour.  Then I added all the other ingredients.  It gives it a little odd texture but is filling.

Strawberry Pineapple Oatmeal Smoothie
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
3 oz milk
3 oz pineapple juice
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp sugar
3 ice cubes

Put oatmeal in blender and blend until fine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and chop ice (pulse) until completely chopped.  Then blend for 30 seconds - a minute.  Pour and drink.