A Yummy Fall Dinner

A little inspiration from everywhere, including my dad. Thanks Dad! This recipe has flavorful rice, moist chicken, savory apples and delicious veggies. I'm eating leftovers today,which is all thrown together and it tastes great that way too!

Chicken  - I eyeballed measurements, so I hope it's close!
4 Chicken Thighs
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp water
1/2 C bread crumbs
1/4 C fresh Parmesan cheese
1 T paprika
1 t garlic salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg. Spray cookie sheet with Pam. Pre-heat skillet with oil over medium heat. Pat chicken dry. In one bowl mix egg and water. In another bowl mix bread crumbs, cheese, paprika, salt. Dip chicken, one at a time, in egg then in bread mixture. Coating well. Brown in skillet. The chicken will not be cooked through. We want to seal the chicken in the crusty bread. Transfer chicken to cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.

Rice -change amount of rice as needed
2 C water
1 C rice
1 T chicken bouillon

Bring water to a boil in a pot that has a cover. Add bouillon and rice. Bring temperature to Low and cover. Let sit on Low heat for 20 minutes.

Apples
4 medium apples (we used a red apple good for baking)
1/4 C brown sugar (more or less to taste)
2 t Ground Cinnamon (more or less to taste)

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg. Core and slice apples. We did not peel them, but you can if you or your kids don't like the skin. Place apple slices, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Toss to coat. Place apples on baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve warm. ** this also fills your house with a wonderful smell! You may want to do more apples late in the afternoon and get this done first, prior to the chicken so you can snack while you cook.....Yes, I'm that bad**

Vegetables
I cheated. Grab a bag or two of steam in the microwave veggies. Pour cooked veggies in a bowl, serve.

Kid food on a stick

I am going to try my best! I made this up last night.

Cheeseburger Meatballs

1 lb ground beef (meat)

1/3 C bread crumbs

1/3 C shredded cheese ~ eyeball it. You want enough in the mixture, but not too much to where oils from the cheese is pouring out (I used mozzarella last night)

1 t parsley

1 egg

**note** you can add any flavoring to these meatballs. W-Sauce, spices, Montreal Steak flavoring - whatever you typically add to your burgers when you grill them.

Garlic Toast

Either bake at 350 deg for about 25 min or until cooked or skewer them and cook them on the gill.

Either serve garlic toast or take a baguette, slice it length-wise. Cut into cubes. Spread butter and garlic salt on bread. Toast or skewer and grill until butter is melted.

Dilly Cheesy Veggies

2 C vegetables, cooked and drained

1/4 C velveeta (yes, I cheated. You can make homemade cheese sauce too)

1 t Dill mix (dill, onion powder, garlic powder)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl over medium heat until cheese is melted. Serve.

Another fun item to make instead of the garlic toast: Cheeseburger noodles.

1/2 box any type of noodles: fun shapes are best for kids

ketchup

mustard

cheese

Cook pasta as directed on box. Drain. Mix in ketchup, mustard and cheese until cheese is all melted. Serve with meatballs on top (if you want, you can omit the cheese from the meatballs if you're adding cheese to the pasta)

Yes, I realize this whole thing is full of cheese. I must have been in a cheesy mood!

Shepard's Pie - with a twist... or two

First of all, if you don't know what Shepard's Pie is, you're missing out. It is a classic dish that you can make in 30 minutes or let simmer and bake for extra flavor.

I recently made this dish and when I went to grab the potatoes I noticed I had used them two nights before! After a quick thought of panic I looked to see what else I could use so my pie would have a topping. I looked and saw two sweet potatoes sitting on my counter. Joy! Not knowing how it would come out I thought to myself, "It can't come out that bad. It's in the same family and it is fall, after all." So I chopped and boiled my sweet potatoes and mixed in ingredients one would typically use in baked sweet potatoes and a casserole. Ending result: Delicious!!! From my 1 year old to my 30 year old (husband).

This can be a multi-tasker recipe, but don't freak out. You can let items sit for a while on lower heat and then bring it back up if you feel overwhelmed. It's okay.

1 lb ground beef (really, whatever meat you use)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 T minced garlic or 1-2 fresh cloves, minced

1 1/2 C frozen mixed veggies (you can use any veggies here or only carrots)

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 C Beef boullion (if using a cube, mix with 1 C water)

1T W-Sauce

2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped

2 T butter

milk

cinnamon

nutmeg

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for 7-8 minutes or until a fork goes through easily.

While potatoes are boiling: Brown meat, onion, and garlic in frying pan over medium heat. Drain fat, return pan to stove. Add veggies and let cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.

While meat is browning melt butter in a small frying pan or small pot (medium heat). Add flour and mix well. Bring to a small boil. Add boullion and W-Sauce, mix well. Add this mixture to your meat and veggie pan. Mix well and let cook on medium heat for 2 minutes to thicken. Transfer to a 1 1/2 qt baking dish. Prep broiler to High.

When potatoes are done cooking; drain and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and enough milk to make the mashed potatoes smooth. You can add it little bits at a time. Spread potatoes over meat mixture. Broil for about 5 minutes or until the potatoes start to brown a bit. You're not cooking anything here, just topping off the potatoes with some heat.

*******

This recipe can be tweaked again with Post-Thanksgiving dinner! Replace ground meat with leftover turkey. Add any vegetable leftovers. Mix with turkey gravy. Top with mashed potatoes and bake to warm up. Serve with Cranberry Sauce. Yum!

Almost a cupcake meal

I recently tried a recipe I found on food network to make with your kids. Here's how it goes:
In a cupcake pan place cooked noodles of choice. Sprinkle cooked ground meat and veggies and top with cheese. Bake until cheese melts.

Well, when I went to take it out of the pan it all fell apart! So much for that recipe! But I will not be discouraged. It's all in how it's prepared. I will always follow the recipe to the T the first time around. I want to know how it's "supposed" to taste. Let's just say I'll tweak this one. Next time I'll cook the noodles al forno. Then I'll mix that with the uncooked ground meat, veggies, and an egg and mix-in the cheese (whatever cheese you have on hand will work). That should give me the texture I'm looking for and hold I want in the dish.

This could turn into a fun dish with your kids. Have them mix everything up for you and squish it in the pan. Just make sure you wash their hands after you're done.