Favorite Fish Breading

This is my favorite breading for fish. What you get in the store is good but SO salty! I have to watch my intake so I make my own. It's more fun that way anyway. Here's my favorite way to make fish breading. It can be used on any meat but fish does really well with this. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup yellow or white corn meal

2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt

1/8 teaspoon or a few turns of cracked black pepper

You could also adds teaspoon or two of Garlic Pepper Seasoning in place of the black pepper. Mix it up with any of our new seasonings too like the Green Tea Peppercorn or even Rustic Herb Seasoning. Yum!!  

I did breaded flounder last night but you could totally use any fish you want. I made sure the fish was somewhat wet and then just coated it evenly. I pan fried it in shallow oil for 10-12 minutes and cooked 6 filets. There was left overt breading so you could make it ahead and just use a small amount at a time. Keep it in an air tight container and it should be good for awhile. If you do this, let me know how long it kept for in your container. I would love your feedback. 

This yumminess is going to work with me today. Have fun and enjoy!!

Rustic Spaghetti & Meatballs

There is just something special about Italian for Valentines Day. It's red I suppose but more than that it is like a big warm hug to your family or special someone. 

Since I was able to make tacos with the leftover pork this week, I can use the ground beef we got for tacos as meatballs for our Valentines Dinner. Winning!!  

I have another recipe for Rustic Herb Meatballs here in the blog. I didn't have bread crumbs this time though so I used some crackers I had in the cabinet. Use what you have!  

I know you just love our fine Valentine China. Ha!

Here's the recipe for the spaghetti and the meatballs. Use whichever recipe you want however. 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

10-15 crackers

2 tablespoons Rustic Herb Seasoning

Start by putting the beef, eggs and Rustic Herb Seasoning in the bowl. 

Then put crackers 10-15 or so in a zipper bag and crush. I just used my hand mixers.....my hands!  Then pour your crumbs into the bowl. I don't add salt or pepper because the Rustic Herb Seasoning provides that peppery flavor and the crackers have salt on them. 

This version I am baking. So spray your chosen baking dish with cooking spray, an 8x8 baker or I used my deep dish pie plate. 

Roll your meatballs about 1 inch and place into your baking dish. 

Cover with foil so that the grease doesn't pop all over the oven and the meatballs cook through. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. I pre made mine this morning since I already had the oven on for our valentines biscuits and gravy breakfast. But you could do this while you are making your spaghetti at dinnertime. 

I made my spaghetti noodles. I cook mine for 9 minutes so they aren't over cooked. Warm the jarred sauce in a sauce pan. I like to jazz mine up with either some Mama Mia Marinara Seasoning or more Rustic Herb Seasoning. Add your meatballs to the sauce and warm through. 

Serve over the spaghetti and garnish with Parmesan cheese. 

I am serving a salad and a loaf of Bountiful Beer Bread. Oh yeah!  It's Valentines after all. 

Have fun with it and make it your own. Happy cooking!!

Pork Tacos

So we had pulled pork BBQ earlier in the week. I had a chunk of pork left over that I didn't shred. What to do, what to do?  

Aha!  Pork tacos!  Bravissimo!  

Shred, add some chicken stock (about a half cup), 2 tablespoons if Wahoo Chili Seasoning and I also had some Chipotle Seasoning from last Summer. Yum-o!  

Pair with some bean burritos and voila. Saturday night, dinner is Alright!!  

Use what you have. Get creative!!  Happy cooking!!

Uncle Bob's Beans On The Menu

Yep that's right!  Uncle Bob's Wahoo Beans are What's For Dinner tonight!  I am so excited!!  I always have to mix it up when cooking so I used Roasted Garlic Infused Oil to cook my sausage on and a couple of teaspoons of Fiesta Party Seasoning for some kick. I can't wait to taste it later. It smells sooooo good in my house right now. Here's the original recipe if you want to know what you are having for dinner tonight. Mmmmm!  http://bit.ly/22XSoyB 

Healthy Chicken Soup

Made this for lunch to take to work. Yummy!!  All things that I love and so simple!

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1 can of Organic Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas

1 bundle of Organic Kale, de-stemmed and chopped

Garlic Pepper Seasoning

Drain and rinse the beans. Add them and the chicken broth to a stockpot. Being to a boil. Season with Garlic Pepper Seasoning. Add kale and cook until it wilts some. 

Serve immediately with Bountiful Beer Bread or Chill and Reheat another day. Can also be made ahead and frozen for a quick weeknight meal or yummy lunch. 

Quick lunch - Rustic Pasta Primavera

Ok so Yum! I just have to tell you how much I love a quick and easy meal. One of my faves is pasta. Today I threw together a Rustic Pasta Primavera. It was the ultimate in use what you have. 

I boiled some whole grain spaghetti that I had in the cabinet, drained it and then made a sauce of butter, olive oil and about a tablespoon or so of Rustic Herb Seasoning. I sautéed the Rustic Herb for a minute or two to release the favors. Then I added a splash (or two) of some white wine I had in the fridge. Once it had reduced down a little I added the pasta back into the sauce, mixed well and then added some chopped tomato for the freshness. You could add any fresh veggie that you have and like. I turned off the heat and tossed the tomatoes into the pasta. The point is not to cook them, just warm them up a little. Garnish with some Parmesan Cheese and Voila!  Lunch is served. 

Rustic Mama Mia Stromboli

It's Saturday night and my teenage daughter has a friend over for the night. Kids love to help in the kitchen!  Even teenage ones. These two are actually stellar cooks so I was glad to have their help with this. It was so fun showing them something new to make and have them share in my recipe creation. =). You can use any topping you like on your pizza. These are the ones we like. 

Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

2 cans refrigerated pizza crust

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened 

2 Tbsp Rustic Herb Seasoning

1 pkg sliced pepperoni

2 cans sliced mushrooms

1 c prepared Mama Mia Marinara Sauce

8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

In a bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and the Rustic Herb Seasoning. Set aside. 

On a greased cookie sheet spread out your pizza dough long ways.  

Turn the pan so that the long side is in front of you. Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture on half of the dough. 

Add your toppings. 

Spread 1/2 a cup of the Mama Mia Marinara Sauce on top of the toppings. 

Doesn't this look amazing??!!  Ok, now time for the mozzarella cheese. 

Fold the dough over and roll the edges from the bottom crust to the top to seal. 

Repeat with your second pizza crust and the other half of the ingredients. 

Cut slits in the top to vent and bake for 15 minutes. Take the Stromboli out of the oven and brush with melted butter. Gorgeous!!!

Return to the oven for 7 more minutes. Pull out f the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Slice and serve. 

Tip:  make it a meal with a fresh salad with Spinach & Herb Dressing and a cool refreshing Mango Margarita Blender Drink. 

Serves 4-5. 

Bayou Bourbon Pork Tenderloin Medallions

I am loving this new grill!!  Tonight is Bayou Bourbon Pork Tenderloin Medallions. We bought the pork tenderloin on sale and yum, yum, yum!  I thought I loved Bayou Bourbon before but holy cow!!

I cut the tenderloins, there were 2 in the package, into 2" medallions. I sprinkles them with Seasoned Salt, of course, and then put them on my hot grill. I let them hang out for 10 minutes and then turned them over. I glazed them while they were hanging out on the other side for another 8 minutes or so, turned them over and then glazed them on the other side. 

We served them with a baked potato and veggie!  Talk about a healthy meal!  Cheap too!!!

Ah-mazing BBQ Ribs!!

Oh my goodness were these good and my first time cooking baby back ribs. One of our local stores had them on sale so we bought 3 racks!!  I am getting better at taking note of what I do so bare with me. It does take some time to do so a Saturday or Sunday is best. Or whatever your day off is. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 - 2 racks if baby back ribs

Himalayan Sea Salt Blend

Sweet & Smoky BBQ Seasoning (this is from last summer, so if you don't have that, use your fave BBQ rub)

Your fave jar BBQ sauce (we like Sweet Baby Ray's)

Do this early or even the night before for best flavor:  Rinse your racks and trim the silver skin off of the bone side of the rack. I cut mine in half for ease of cooking. Turn your Himalayan Sea Salt grinder a few times to taste. I did 8-9 grinds per side. Then sprinkle with your BBQ rub. Massage it into the meat and wrap in foil.  Repeat with the rest of your half racks. 

When you are ready to cook:  Line a large baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Take your foil wrapped racks out of the fridge and set on the table or counter. Preheat your oven to 325. Once preheated, place your racks in your baking pan. 

Cover with foil. Bake for approximately 90 minutes. 

Check the temperature with meat thermometer. Once at 150 degrees, remove from the oven. Let sit while you preheat your grill. 

You are going to want to use an indirect heat to finish off the grill. On our gas grill, one preheated, I turned off the left burner,turned  the middle burner on low and the right burner on high. 

Place the ribs on the left side of the grill meat side up. Then mop them generously with the BBQ sauce.  Let them cook for 5 minutes. Turn them over and mop the other side. Let them cook 5 minutes more. 

Once they have cooked on both sides, remove from the grill and place back into your foil covered pan. Let rest for 10 minutes. 

Cut into individual portions and serve with your favorite sides. A serving is 3-4 ribs per person. 

Santa Fe Grande Burritos

So, last night Kevin was hungry for tacos, nachos or something like that. Now, we always have tex mex ingredients in the house AND Tastefully Simple Products. So, I went with the Monday dinner from week 1 of the Simply Share Meal Planner. I know, it wasn't Monday but it's my meals and we wanted burritos last night! 😜

Well, it took me just about 30 minutes to prepare and bake them and they were fantastic!  I didn't expect any less to be honest. I have Wahoo Chili and Fiesta Party Dip Mix on hand just in case we want to spice it up a bit.  

Preparation. I recommend a bigger cutting board. I ended up just putting it on the counter so that the juices didn't run all over the place. 

Look at those Huge Burritos!!  This feeds 6. 

End result. I had to add some freshness. Now yours may not look like mine because I like crushed tomatoes and don't care for green chilis oh and we used black beans seasoned with Wahoo Chili instead of the chili beans. So, are you ready to save some time and some $$$??  Email me to find out how you can  save $50 to make meals just like this one. 

Buffalo Breaded Chicken Breasts

I made a pork version of this for a family whose mom is on the hospital and several of us banded together to help provide the dad and son with meals. I had chicken in my fridge so I made mine with chicken. I just pulled it out of my freezer to have tonight. How awesome!  All I have to do is fix a side and a veg or salad and we are set. Will have some beer bread too. Score!  

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless chicken breasts or boneless pork chops

Creamy Buffalo Dip Mix

3/4 c sour cream

1/4 c mayonnaise

Breadcrumbs

Lay your chicken or pork chops flat on a plate. Prepare the dip mix as the box indicates. Separate a small amount of the dip into another bowl.  Add 2 cups or so to a shallow pan. 

With a BBQ or pasty brush, generously brush one side of the meat with the dip. Bread the meat on the one side with the breadcrumbs. While still in the shallow pan, generously brush the other side of the meat and then flip and bread that side. Repeat with the rest of the meat. I wrapped mine with press and seal (or use plastic wrap) and place in a labeled freezer bag. 

When you are ready to cook it, thaw in the fridge. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until 165 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes. 

Uncle Bob's Wahoo! Beans

This recipe was inspired by my Uncle Bob, my dad's brother. He made an awesome spicy bean and sausage soup when we visited them in Texas and my mom replicated the recipe when we got back home. It became a family favorite and now it is a favorite with my family. I had to Tastefully Simple-ize it and below is the result.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of pinto or cranberry beans, soaked overnight and rinsed

1 lb of breakfast sausage or chorizo if you prefer, browned and drained

1 tbsp Onion Onion

2 tbsp Wahoo! Chili Seasoning

1 tbsp Seasoned Salt

1 tbsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning

8 cups of water

Brown the sausage with the Onion Onion. Drain. Add the beans, sausage,seasonings and water to the slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6 hours then high for 3 hours. This is best to be done on a weekend or a day off. It will totally be with it. Stir the beans occasionally and don't forget the Bountiful Beer Bread or corn bread. 

Wahoo! Chili

As the name of the products suggest it is fantastic to use in any chili recipe. There are so many other uses for it as well from tacos to chicken to fish seasoning.  This versatile product is a must have in your pantry. Stock up though, it is only available for a limited time.

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground meat, we use ground chicken

2 tbsp Onion Onion

3 tbsp Wahoo! Chili Seasoning

1 tbsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning

Cracked black pepper to taste

2 cans of chili hot beans

2 cans of red beans, light or dark

2 cans of black beans

1 6oz can of tomato sauce

1 can of petite diced tomatoes, use just diced tomatoes if you like it chunky 

1 can of vegetable juice cocktail (tomato juice

1 small can of tomato paste

Brown the ground meat with a splash of olive oil and Onion Onion.  Drain if you are using ground beef or pork. Stir in the Wahoo! Chili, Garlic Pepper Seasoning and black pepper. Stir and cook for a minute or two to "bloom" the spices. Add your tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir. Add each type of bean and stir between each type.  Do not drain the beans!  You need that liquid to thicken your chili. This I have learned over the years. Add about 3/4 of the juice. And stir. Cook on medium until boiling, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, turn down to low to medium-low and simmer for about an hour. The chili will thicken some. If you have added too much juice, add about half the can of the tomato paste and stir well to melt it into your chili. 

My husband likes a pasta or macaroni product so halfway through the simmering time, add not quite half a box of pasta.  Stir well. This may make your Hoosier style chili really thick, so add some more of the tomato juice. 

Serve with your choice of toppings and ENJOY!

Simple Ham and Bean Soup

We found a ham bone in the freezer, score!  Since it is starting to turn cool outside, what a perfect time for some bean soup. Yum!  

Ingredients:

Left over ham bone or ham hocks 

2 pound bag of great northern beans or your favorite, soaked overnight

2 Tbsp. Onion Onion

Cracked black pepper

8 cups water

Place your ham bone in a large slow cooker.

Add Onion Onion

Add your beans

Now your water and cracked pepper.  If you like more garlic use Garlic PepperSeasoning instead of the cracked pepper. 

Set your slow cooker on low and cook 6-8 hours. 

Serve with Bountiful Beer Bread or Bountiful Corn Bread (see Tastefully Simple website for the recipe).