Viruses, Hybrids & Recipes!

That's quite the blog post title, isn't it? The virus is what Aiden has. I had no idea he was so sick. He has a bacterial chest infection, a viral throat infection and congestion in his ears messing up his equilibrium, which is why he keeps falling down. Poor baby! I'm sorry if he's passed it on to anyone else. Runny nose, high fever (102°) and vomiting were his first symptoms.

Recipes! I never post recipes but Danielle's blog posts got me inspired! I enjoy cooking and I like good food but I don't like to be in the kitchen for more than an hour. I also am a big fan of Sandra Lee - I love how she can take a packaged food, add something easy to it and have a delicious meal! These are recipes I love because of how ridiculously easy they are and because Aiden can eat them, too. I am posting them because they use ingredients that you can buy boxed, canned or frozen and are perfect for hurricane season, trucker strikes, etc. (Small cans of evaporated milk work well for all of these!)

Bell Peper Alfredo: (this recipe will serve 2 adults and 1 child. Double if needed.)

1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1/2 onion chopped
6 chicken tenders (fresh or frozen)
2.5 tablespoons butter/low fat spead
1 bag Knorr Pasta Sides Broccoli Alfredo
milk & water as called for on the pasta box

I put one large and one small pan on the stovetop. In the small pan put 1/2 tablespoon butter, the bell pepper and the onion on low to warm until the veggies are soft. In the big pan add 2 tablespoons of butter and your 6 chicken tenders. (I almost always use frozen.) Cook the tenders until the center is white and then remove them from the pan and cut them into strips or chunks. Using the same large pan, with melted butter still in it, follow the directions for cooking the pasta. By now your bell pepper and onion should be nice and tender. Once the pasta noodles are beginning to go soft, add in the veggies and chicken and continue cooking until the pasta is done. Serve with hot french bread.

This is my favorite meal to make when taking dinners to people so you might have already had it! This recipe is half-Sandra Lee's and is similar to Hasta la Pasta's signature dish. If you want to get fancy, add yellow bell pepper slices to give the meal more color.


Ridiculously Easy BBQ Chicken: (recipe serves 2 adults and 1 child.)

1/2 bottle of any BBQ sauce (the cheaper the better! I use Hunt's 99¢ brown sugar BBQ sauce)
6-8 chicken tenders

I kid you not, put the frozen chicken in a glass pyrex, pour half the bottle of BBQ sauce over it and bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until the chicken is done. Pair with Rice-A-Roni rice pilaf (follow box directions) and a can of baked beans for an awesome summer meal all guys love. Use an entire bottle of BBQ sauce and double the chicken tenders if needed. NOTE: Do NOT use with extra-large cuts of chicken. Large chicken breasts will need 1.5 hours or more baking time. Trust me, chicken tenders are the way to go on this recipe!


Tay's Totally-Cheating Beef Stroganoff: (serves 2 adults and 1 child)

1 thin steak (usually marked for Milanesa and sold in packs of 2)
Worcestershire sauce for marinading
1 bag Knorr Pasta Sides Beef Stroganoff
milk, butter & water as called for on the pasta box

Throw steak in a quart-sized ziplock bag, slosh some Worcestershire sauce over it and place in the fridge to marinade. At dinner time, pull the steak out and either grill or cook in a pan on the stove until done. (This will go fast because the steak is so thin.) Slice the steak into small strips while you cook the pasta according to package directions. When the pasta is nearly done, add the steak and finish cooking. If the pasta tastes bland, which it sometimes can, add 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and any seasoned salt to taste. I find using a small can of evaporated milk makes the dish creamier and gives it a better flavor.

The best dinner rolls: I'm sure I could mix up a batch of dough for homemade rolls but when Rhode's sells a bag of 36 frozen dough balls, I just can't pass that up. They're in the freeszer section, cost around $2.50 and a bag lasts us a month. Sometime after lunch I'll spray a round cake pan with Pam, throw the frozen dough balls in and cover with plastic wrap to let them rise. By the time dinner is cooking, they're big, fat and ready to bake. (They have a 3-5 hour rise time with a 1.5 hour fast rise if you need it.) I promise that no matter how the house looks, the smell of fresh-baked rolls will put your hubby in a good mood!

If you really are in the mood for something more elaborate, that destroys your kitchen and takes two days to make but tastes like heaven, I can post my strudel recipe next. ;)

Okay, here is the one little hybrid I made this week:



This is a little tag for our snack basket so guests can find it and help themselves easier. I also want to teach Aiden good eating habits, which includes limiting the number of sweet snacks you eat. I had planned on letting him choose between fruits, veggies and string cheese for some snacks and then allowing one snack from the snack basket, which is usually stocked with fruit snacks and chewy granola bars. (The Hershey bar ended up in S'mores last night! YUM!) We'll see how that works out. But for now, it sure does look cute with that little hybrid label tied to it!