Quick Tip: Green Onions

This is the picture I saw on pinterest. The caption said that if you slice your extra green onions, you can freeze them and then just pour out some when you need them. Here is the original link. I have done this. It is wonderful and glorious. It is so helpful when a recipe only calls for the whites or greens of the green onions and you don't want to waste the rest of it!

Changes

You may have noticed the change in this blog's name. Since I was failing miserably at 101 in 1001, I decided to update this blog into what I'm doing now. I have found a fantastic website and have started saving ideas like crazy. My profile has all the "corkboards" that I have created to save all the wonderful ideas that I have seen. I have gone a little crazy but there is no better way to me to find ideas and store them somewhere. Pinterest gives you a place to find crafts, recipes, and ideas. The "pins" are actually links attached to the pictures you see. This allows you to save ideas and not have to face the thought of "Where did I see that?!" I will start posting on here any ideas I pinned and then actually made. If it is a recipe, I will still post that on The Rodgers Cook but I will also put a link to that blog on this one. I want to share what I have found and taken the time to make. Hopefully, I can keep up!

P.S. The labels on these posts will be which board you can find the pin!

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy

The title of this post is from the Bridge students that I work with this year. It's what they say with their teacher if something sound super easy. =) Love them!!

So a few weekends ago, I threw my parents a surprise birthday party. Besides stressing out, I ended up doing a lot of planning, forgetting, and baking. Brian's girlfriend Michelle and Mom's bff Paige came to the rescue and baked with me the night before from 830 at night to 1 in the morning. After the party was over, these were the most requested recipes. All of them, are "Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy."

No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

This is a Rachael Ray recipe that ended up being a favorite. I tripled this recipe for the party and had some left over filling. I also added some Cool Whip on the top of every cheesecake and left them in the freezer over night (at Paige's house. haha).

Ingredients

• 12 strawberries
• 12 ounces softened cream cheese, 1 1/2 (8-ounce) bricks
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 individual gram cracker crusts, available on baking aisle

Directions

Coarsely chop 6 berries and place in food processor. Add cream cheese, sour cream, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and process until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, fill pie tins. Garnish cheesecakes with slices of remaining berries.

Luscious Slush Punch

This recipe I found on AllRecipes. The link is to the recipe and it makes 2 punch bowls full. But I'll also copy it here for you. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 6 cups water
• 2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin mix
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 quart orange juice
• 2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
• 
  
• Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.
2. When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda until slushy.

Mexican Chicken-and-Rice Soup

#20, BB  4 & 5 and the Chicken Broth!!

The love of my life got sick Tuesday morning. It was enough that he got to stay home with me and sleep in that morning. So, I immediately knew what we needed to cook for dinner...Chicken Soup! Who doesn't want chicken soup when they're sick. This soup allowed me to feed my sick hubby, picky eater dad & brother, and my mom & I.

When I finally woke up, I went and pulled the chicken broth, pulled chicken and rice pilaf that I needed that night. Jerome finally started to feel better and we chalked it up to something he had for dinner. We went to the store to get the last few "fixins" we needed for the soup. I think getting him out of the house helped Jerome feel better just a little more.

I'm pretty sure I used more broth and chicken than the recipe called for but if you're going to add the fixins, then the recipe should be just fine. I did not add the salsa to the broth when the recipe called for it because of my brother's picky-ness. After the broth & lime juice heated through, I added the room temperature chicken and rice. Everything else was available on the counter for everyone to add what they wanted to the soup and it was just how they would want it.

I know that chicken soup is for the soul. It is what you feed your family when they are sick (my whole purpose). It is normally from a can or homemade. This soup had that one extra kick that made it ah-mazing...the lime juice. This is what gave it the Mexican flair but also something that wasn't bland. If I ever make homemade chicken soup from now on, it WILL have lime juice in it.

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 qt. chicken broth


• 1 cup tomato salsa


• ¼ cup fresh lime juice, plus 4 lime wedges


• 1½ cups Pulled Chicken


• 3 cups Rice Pilaf


• 13 cups shredded monterey jack


• ¼ cup sour cream


• 1 avocado, thinly sliced


• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS
In medium pot, bring broth, salsa and lime juice to boil. Divide chicken and pilaf among 4 bowls. Fill each bowl with hot broth. Top with cheese, sour cream, avocado and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Spanish Rice with Shrimp

#1, BB 2, 3 & 5

So I was cooking for my dad & hubby the other night. My dad is not a fan of veggies in any way. As I was making this, I made sure to keep the veggies on one side of the pan while still leaving enough shrimp and rice on the other side for my dad. I ended up thinking it tasted a little odd but the hubby said he liked it. I was concerned because the only spice the recipe calls for is smoked paprika. After adding some salt and pepper it was much better.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups Rice Pilaf


• ¼ cup EVOO


• 4 cloves garlic, chopped


• 1 lb. peeled, deveined shrimp


• 1 tsp. smoked paprika


• 1 cup Tomato Sauce


• 1 cup chopped Roasted Peppers


• ¼ cup chopped black olives


• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley


• 4 lemon wedges

DIRECTIONS

In large nonstick skillet, heat pilaf in 2 tbsp. EVOO. Transfer to bowl. In same skillet, cook garlic, shrimp and paprika in remaining 2 tbsp. EVOO. Add tomato sauce and peppers and heat through. Return pilaf to pan, stir in olives and cook 1 minute. Serve with parsley and lemon wedges.

Veggie Flatbreads with Hummus

#7, BB 3

So, I've never made anything at this high of a temperature in the oven before. I thought I was burning the flatbreads but it was really was just surface level. It wasn't even that crunchy except on the edges. This was really good.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small bulb fennel, shaved


• 3 tbsp. EVOO


• 4 naan or pocketless pitas


• ¾ cup hummus


• 1 cup chopped Roasted Squash


• 1 cup chopped Roasted Peppers


• ¼ cup chopped oil-cured black olives


• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 500°. In bowl, combine fennel and 1 tbsp. EVOO. Brush naan on both sides with remaining 2 tbsp. EVOO; place on 2 baking sheets. Spread 3 tbsp. hummus on each naan; divide fennel among naan. Bake until toasted, 10 minutes. Sprinkle with squash, peppers and olives and bake until crisp, 5 minutes. Top with parsley.

Pork Fried Rice

#13, BB 1 + 5

I love these 20 meals because, after the one day of cooking, all the meals come together in less than 20 minutes. This one literally took 10 minutes to make. Since I don't like peas, we added in extra pork for my hubby. We also used tamari instead of soy sauce. It's an aged soy sauce and my hubby prefers it to soy sauce. And since he was cooking, he used tamari. =) So yummy. I love it!

INGREDIENTS

• ¼ cup peanut oil
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts separated)
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½ tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. minced ginger
• 1 cup Pulled Pork
• 3 cups Rice Pilaf
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

DIRECTIONS
In extra-large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. peanut oil until very hot. Add scallion whites and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add eggs and scramble until set, 45 seconds; transfer to bowl. Add remaining 2 tbsp. peanut oil, garlic and ginger and stir-fry 1 minute. Add pork and stir-fry 45 seconds to heat through. Stir in pilaf and soy sauce and stir-fry 2 minutes. Return eggs to pan with sesame oil and toss well. Top with scallion greens.