Corn Chowder

I love making soups in the winter! I also double my recipes and freeze some for a quick lunch. My favorite containers to do this are those "deli" type containers. You can buy in bulk at GFS. They are the perfect size serving. But, remember liquid expands when you freeze, so don't fill them all the way up! I usually do 3/4 full. This recipe was based on a chowder recipe I received at a Martin's School of Cooking class. The chef used water as a base, I use chicken broth. She also used heavy cream, but I use fat free half and half. I think the results are similar! So, here it is!

Corn Chowder (4-6 servings)
Ingredients
4 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 pkg corn tortillas (I use Sprouted Corn type. They are Food For Life brand and can be found at Martin's Supermarket in the Gluten Free Section of the Frozen Foods)
1 poblano chili, roasted, skin removed and diced (use a small one if you like it milder)
1 pkg frozen corn
1/2 bunch green onion, sliced
1 cup whipping cream (can use fat free half and half)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Saute shallots in olive oil until caramelized in stock pot. Add 4 cups water (or chicken broth, corn tortillas, and 1/2 bag frozen corn to pot. Bring to simmer. Tortillas will fall apart in pot. Puree ingredients with an immersion type blender, or let cool and blend in batches with a blender. Return to pot and bring back to simmer. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to simmer again, and add salt and pepper to taste. Like I said, I double this recipe. If I want to make it a heartier soup, I purchase a rotisserie chicken and remove from bones, chop and toss it in. If you are doing a single batch, use 1/2 a chicken, or any other leftover chicken you might have.

French Dip crock pot sandwich

Tonights meal will be Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches.  I started with 2.76 lb top round roast.  (It's on sale at Meijer this week).  I added 1 can of French Onion Soup, one can of Au Jus, and the rest was beef both to almost cover it in the crock pot. 

I then browned the roast on all sides.  I'm not sure why, but this makes a huge difference when you cook beef in a crock pot.

Then everything went in the crock pot.  I also sprinkled in a little bit (not too much, 1/4 tsp if that) of Italian Seasoning.  My crock pot is at low for 8 hours!

I plan to serve on mini sub rolls and a spinach salad!
Here's the finished sandwich

  Enjoy.

Vanilla Berry Trifle in a Cloud

For Easter I wanted something light and refreshing for dessert.  My daughter and I were shopping at Meijer and they had Vanilla Berry Trifle in a Cloud to sample.  It was fantastic!  I've made it a few times since, and eliminated the Nilla wafers.  It still tastes good without!  Here's a link to the recipe.

Kraft Fresh Take Cheese and Breadcrumb Mix

Earlier in the week, I tried Kraft's new Fresh Take Cheese and breadcrumb mix.  I choose the Cheddar Jack and Bacon Recipe.  I opted for Chicken.  The directions seemed weird to me, but I followed them.  You needed to dip the chicken in water then in the breadcrumb mix.  I didn't think the mix stuck all that well, but I just kept going.  Apparently after reading more of the instructions, it's not supposed to entirely coat the chicken.  So, I continued on.  The chicken smelled wonderful while baking.  I served this with a side of pasta, spinach salad and cantaloupe!  My husband, 12 year old boy and I loved it.  The twins scraped the coating off!  But, that's to be expected from them. But, they did eat the chicken once it was off, so that made me feel a little better.

I've also purchased other flavors.  I look forward to trying those as well.

Chicken Pita

Last night's dinner needed to be quick and easy.  Also, due to kids activities, we weren't home at the same time to eat.  So, I made Chicken Pita's with homemade Tzatzki Sauce.  It was so good!  I just cut the chicken into small chuncks, seasoned with "beach sand", which is a local mixed seasoning.  You can use whatever you like to season chicken with.  Doesn't have to be greek at all.  I cooked the chicken till done.  Heated pitas on my griddle and served with lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and the Tzatzki Sauce.  I found the recipe for that online.  I followed the recipe, except shredded the cucumber instead of chopping.  That's it!  Quick, easy, healthy and good.  And, the best part is everyone ate versions of it.  That's a winner in my book.

Sticky Chicken

I made this recipe a few weeks ago.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course. It comes from Semi Homemade Mom. I followed the recipe for the most part, except used 1 cut up chicken because my families likes different pieces of chicken. This works out well. It was also almost 6 pounds of chicken, so I doubled everything in the recipe.



It was awesome to have the chicken cook all afternoon. Then, when we were all home and ready to eat, I popped the chicken on a sheet pan covered in foil, topped with the sauce and broiled for 5 minutes. I also served it with rice, corn and fruit.

So, the final verdict of the family was positive. Everyone ate it. Hubby, oldest son and I thought it was really good. 9 year old twins ate it, but didn't rave about it. Hey, I'll take what I can get. As long as they don't complain about it and actually eat something, I'm thrilled. In fact, the biggest complaint was the rice for one kid and the corn for the other. Really? Sometimes a Mom can't win!

Chicken and Dumplings

One if my favorite comfort food is Chicken and Dumplings. I love Cracker Barrel's version. So when I found this recipe I jumped all over it. It is super easy and relatively quick. And most if all, everyone in my family loves it.

Here's the recipe. The original recipe came from Comfy in the Kitchen. I made changes to suit my families likes, mainly adding more dumplings. I also found that 3 cans of chicken broth was 7 cups, so I just used it all. Anyway, here is it. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

Chicken and Dumplins

1 pre-roasted Chicken (deli section of the grocery store) I've also used about 10 chicken tenders  Just cook them in the broth till they are done.  Proceed with recipe as normal.

7 cups Chicken Stock (I used 3 14.5 oz cans)

Dumplins

3 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tbsp Milk

Directions

Take skin off the chicken and discard. Cut Chicken into pieces. This depends on how big you like you pieces to be. Set aside.

Pour your broth into a large heavy pot. Bring to boil.

Meanwhile, make your dumplings. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk and stir until mixed. Let set for 5 minutes. Roll dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 inch squares. I like to use a pizza cutter to do this. Quick and easy.

Drop each dumpling into simmering broth. They will swell up, but keep stirring to get them all in the pot. Continue to cook on low heat for abougt 20 minutes. Stir often. Add chicken and cook another 5 minutes or so. Season with pepper and enjoy!

Grilled Balsmic Flank Steak

Since the weather has been so nice now and then here in Michigan, the grill has been brought out of it's winter storage. I went to the store recently to purchase some nice steaks to grill. Much to my surprise was the cost of steaks! Holy Cow! $12 a pound!! With my family of 5 (including one 12 year old boy with a hollow leg), it would have taken over $30 just for steak! So, I went looking at a more economical piece of meat. I settled on a flank steak. But my problem was, I have never grilled a flank steak. So I came home and went to my beloved Pinterest site. I settled on this recipe. Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak. I followed the recipe and it was awesome! I did need to add a bit of my most awesome finishing salt to bump up the flavor. Best of all, every person ate it, and liked it. Double thumbs up from me.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my Family Meals Blog.  The purpose of my blog is to share my family meals to give you ideas for quick, easy, but yet good food for famlies that I think most kids will eat!  Throw in soccer, running here and there with kids, and time can be a huge issue.

My kids are good eaters, but can be "weird" at times about what they will eat.  I have one kid that does not like ketchup or anything "goopy".  My tween age son eats just about everything now (except mushrooms) since he's growing like a weed.  My daughter, who's 9 picks at her food.  She'll peels off the breading of most things, but loves salads!  Weird!  But, I keep trying to make something everyone will eat.  I hope you enjoy these receipes.  Most are not my creation, but rather ones I've found online.  Enjoy.