Whatcha Eating? Wednesday

Once again, another one of my family's favorites. I have been making this since our first year of marriage and it has been going strong since. I think it is supposed to be a spin off of an Outback Steakhouse dish, but I've never had it there so not sure. I found it here.

Aussie Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 6 slices bacon, cut in half
• 1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes (I never have onion flakes, so I usually dice up a small amount of onion very finely)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I omit these, because I don't like them)
• 2 cups shredded Colby-Monterrey Jack cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Rub the chicken breasts with the seasoning salt, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crisp. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, honey, corn syrup, mayonnaise and dried onion flakes. Remove half of sauce, cover and refrigerate to serve later.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the breasts in the skillet and saute for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until browned. Remove from skillet and place the breasts into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Apply the honey mustard sauce to each breast, then layer each breast with mushrooms and bacon. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and chicken juices run clear. Garnish with parsley and serve with the reserved honey mustard sauce.               

Spring Break

It's been a crazy last couple of weeks. It is rough trying to plan 3 birthdays in one month (more on that later)!
Last week was spring break and we were able to travel to go and see my brother and his family. I had not seen his wife and kids in 2-1/2 years, not ever met their newest baby, Samuel. So I was super excited! His 2 daughters, Lilly and Olivia are right next to Gia and Jerry in age, so they had a blast! They played and giggled for days! Samuel is soooooo cute!

During the trip, Jerry turned 5, so JT and my brother Chris took him out shooting for the first time. He got to shoot a 12 gauge shotgun and, I think, a .40...He had a blast and he and daddy both came back with a tic on them (YUCK!)!

We also went to a Hands on Science Center, which had lots of science stuff for the kids to mess around with.

We took the kids to go see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax...total hippy movie, but the kids absolutely LOVED! Even Sophia sat through the whole thing with no talking!

It goes without saying that traveling any distance with 3 young kids is always interesting. We had some interesting things happen, most of which came from Jerry.  He broke out in hives and pooped on the side of the road for the big highlights. LOL!

Tire Swing Fun!

Sharing the cheese balls!

At the Science Center!

Gia doing the smoulder!

12 gauge

.40 glock

Whatcha Eating? Wednesday

This is a very yummy, not healthy at all, cookie recipe. It goes real well with a cup of coffee...*drool* The recipe come from allrecipes.com (follow link)

Cinnabun Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened (I just use all butter instead of a combo)
• 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
•                     
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter, shortening, light brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time then stir in the vanilla. Combine the 1 tablespoon cinnamon, flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. (I freeze for much longer, because it is a sticky dough).
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a small microwave safe dish, heat the 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup of butter and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in the microwave. Stir frequently until butter is melted and the mixture is well blended.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each half of the dough to a 12x6 inch rectangle. Spread 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture over each rectangle. Roll each one lengthwise into a log. Cut into 1 inch segments. Use remaining filling to place a small dollop of the mixture onto the cookie sheet where each cookie will be placed, About every 3 inches. Place 1 cookie onto each dollop with the cut side down. (I skip the dollop part and just halve the sugar mixture between the two roll outs)
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Flip cookie sheet over onto a tray to remove cookies while they are still very hot. If the cookies are stuck, heat the pan in the oven again for a few minutes to soften the cinnamon dollops.               

I also make a simple powder sugar glaze (powder sugar and milk) to put on top.

Coffee. Don't. Forget. The. Coffee.

Pop in microwave for a few seconds the next day....*double drool*

Whatcha Eating? Wednesday

I like convenience and yumminess to go hand in hand. So, I noticed McCormick has these new pre-measured spices with recipe on back. So, I picked up a few to try. Well, one of them was Apple and Sage Pork Chops. I am not much of a sweet and savory person, but these are good! The kids love them, too!

Apple and Sage Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons Sage

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt

1 teaspoon Thyme Leaves

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, Ground

6 boneless pork chops, 3/4- to 1-inch thick (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 apples, cut into thin wedges

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup apple juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix flour, sage, seasoned salt, thyme and nutmeg in small bowl until well blended. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.

2. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add pork chops; brown on both sides. Remove from skillet. Add apples, onion, remaining seasoned flour and juice to skillet; stir until well mixed. Return pork chops to skillet.

3. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until pork chops are desired doneness. Remove pork chops to serving platter; keep warm. Simmer sauce 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

Just getting started!

Looking good!

Paired with wild rice and corn!