Eating Out at Home - Smoothies!

I have been on a smoothie kick lately. It all started with the fact that I am awful about not eating breakfast, so smoothies seemed like a good idea. I also thought they would be good for the kiddos. Here are a few of our faves from the ones we've tried, as well as some I intend to try. Bottoms up!

These we have taste tested:
The Elvis Smoothie - In my opinion this is more milk shake than smoothie, but it's still yummy!

Orange Julius Smoothie - This was not what I had in mind when I started trying smoothie recipes, but I like it a lot. Not the greatest thing nutritionally, but a great treat.

Blueberry Blast Breakfast Smoothie - Oh my, this is good! A great way to start your morning!

Banana Oatmeal Smoothie - This was really good and filling.

Breakfast Smoothie Quickie - This was a huge hit with the kids!

These are on my to try list:

Best Breakfast Smoothie - Don't laugh, but I've never had tofu and I have this mental thing thinking I won't like it. Real grown up, right? Anyway, I am going to suck it up and try this one soon.

Alien Gut Smoothie - I really want to try this one, especially for Tristen. I am not so sure that I'll be able to find all the ingredients here in Podunk, but I plan to look the next time I go into Stephenville to HEB. I think it sounds yum! The title alone will get him to drink it! I also love the blog I discovered when I found the recipe, A Battle Worth Fighting. If you have an ADD/ADHD child it's a great read!

Finally, I want to try one of the green smoothies like those listed here. The problem is, if the kids see me make them, they will not drink them. So, I am having to be creative on this one. I may just start by adding some purple puree to one of the smoothie recipes above.

I'd love to hear what ya'll put in your smoothies! These are something I can see myself getting really creative with.

Eating Out At Home - Golden Arches Breakfast

The four of us love to go to the golden arches for a weekend breakfast treat. Now that we've moved to a small town, that is no longer an option. So, here are the recipes I've used to keep us all from having fast food breakfast withdrawal.

Egg Mcmuffin - DH and I both love these!

Breakfast Burrito - Tristen devours these things!

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait - Yummy!

Vanilla Iced Coffee - Warning, these can be habit forming!

Ashley loves pancakes as a special breakfast, so her normal meal when we do golden arches breakfast is frozen pancakes, warm syrup, and a parfait. I always cook up some frozen hash browns and serve OJ as well. A great family friendly breakfast done frugally. I hope ya'll enjoy!

Eating Out At Home - Red Lobster Style

I have been really craving seafood lately. So today I decided to feature the recipes that make up my favorite meal at a certain well known seafood restaraunt. I am drooling while I type, lol. Enjoy!

For a starter we have Bacon Wrapped Scallops. My favorite entree is Shrimp Scampi and Shrimp Linguini Alfredo. With this I love a good Caesar salad (this recipe rocks!) and lots of warm cheddar biscuits. Then some yummy Chocolate Wave Cake for dessert. Now that's a yummy meal!

Eating Out At Home - Chinese Style

My whole family loves Chinese food! But, taking all 4 of us out to eat runs over $50! So, I went on a mission to find great tasting Chinese that I could cook at home. I will freely admit that we ate some yucky stuff before finding the things we enjoyed. This process took several years. So, these are the recipes we love. I want to acknowledge my wonderful family for putting up with the Chinese experiments until I found the "right" recipes.

Shrimp Toast - Little Miss could eat her weight in these!

Crab Rangoon - These are in my top 5 favorite foods on earth! This recipe is great! We had tried at least 5 others, and this was the hands down favorite!

Egg Drop Soup - This was actually much easier than I thought it would be.

Egg Rolls

Sweet & Sour Chicken (or pork)

Moo Goo Gai Pan

General Tso's Chicken - We had all sorts of hot peppers in the garden this year, so this was a great way to use them!

Lemon Chicken - Both the kids just devour this dish! I cannot make it without thinking about "Everybody Loves Raymond" and how lemon chicken seems to be the only thing his wife can or does cook.

When we cook Chinese food or just a quick stir fry, we always make Dan's fried rice. It's really simple. He cooks white rice, using slightly less water than called for. You want your rice done, but not in the overcooked, mushy stage. He sautes chopped onions, zucchini, and mushrooms in a little oil, then adds stir fry sauce (we love House of Tsang). Then he adds a small bag of frozen peas and carrots, the cooked rice, and more stir fry sauce until everything gets browned and the veggies are crisp tender. Then he scrambles a couple of eggs into the mix and that's it!

And to top it all off we have my favorite, almond cookies. I really, really like these!

I haven't gotten brave enough to try making my own fortune cookies, but I will one day. Sounds like a fun project for me and the kiddos.

I hope you and yours enjoy these recipes as much as our family does.



P.S. If there are any restaurants you'd like me to feature in Eating Out At Home, just leave me a comment and I'll do my best. I have hundreds of recipes and copycat recipes from lots of places and I love sharing them.

Eating Out at Home - Coffee Shop Style

I believe that I've mentioned before that I love coffee. Before I embraced frugality, Starbucks was a very bad habit of mine. After realizing how insane it was for me to shell out that kind of cash on coffee, I decided to start making my own. I tried lots of recipes, and intended to try many more. But, I found some favorites pretty early on and have stuck with those. Here are my favorites as well as a one that I haven't gotten around to making yet. Enjoy!

German Style Eiskaffee This is hands down my favorite homemade iced coffee drink! Better than a coffee shop in my opinion.

Cinnamon Mocha Coffee Wonderful hot coffee!

Irish Coffee- I love this stuff! Just mix 1 1/2 ounces Bailey's Irish Cream into one cup of good quality (hot) coffee. Top with a good sized dollop of whipped cream. I like to use the whipped cream in a can, lots of it.

Kiddo Coffee- The kids love this and it's so simple! I mix about 1/4 cup coffee, a teaspoon of sugar, then fill the mug up with milk. It's great for the times they want to have a cup with mama.

Pumpkin Spice Latte II This has been in my favorites for ages and I still haven't gotten round to making it. It looks divine! The "real deal" is my favorite coffee drink ever!

Coffee Cake- I found this recipe in my grandma's recipe box.


Crumb Topping

1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar , packed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecan, optional

Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside.


Cake

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
Dash of salt


In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and eggs. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Slowly mixture into the sugar mixture. Add milk and mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan, then top with topping mixture.


Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on how brown you like it, at 325. Cool and serve.

Eating Out At Home - Steak and Ale Style

Tonight's Eating Out At Home menu was inspired by this yummy recipe Donna, one of my readers, sent me earlier in the week. I haven't eaten at Steak & Ale in years, but this was my favorite entree. The restaurant serves it with rice pilaf and your choice of salad, so I've included links to tried and true recipes for both rice pilaf and an excellent wedge salad. And for dessert, try some fantastic french silk pie. Enjoy!

Steak and Ale Hawaiian Chicken

Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cups pineapple juice
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon sugar

Instructions:
In a bowl combine all ingredients except for chicken. Stir. Using a fork, poke about 5-8 sets of holes in each chicken breast. Put chicken in marinade, making sure it is covered in the mixture. Add more pineapple juice if necessary. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Grill as you normally grill chicken. Top with grilled, sliced pineapple if desired.

Rice Pilaf My kids really like this recipe.

Iceberg Wedge Blue Cheese Bacon & Tomato Salad So refreshing during the hot summer!

French Silk Pie This is just so smooth and chocolaty. I am not that great at pies, but this one was easy enough for even me.

Eating Out At Home - Chili's Style

I've posted before about our practice of making our favorite restaurant foods at home.We enjoy the same yummy food for a fraction of the cost! This post and the recipes I'd posted along with it have gotten such a huge response that I decided to make them a regular Friday post. I hope ya'll enjoy it.

Today I am craving Chili's, so here are a few of our make at home versions of their yummy food.

Chili's Shanghai Wings with Wasabi Ranch Dipping Sauce - A friend sent me this in an email and it's wonderful!

2 chicken breast fillets
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk
4 to 8 cups vegetable oil (for deep fat frying)

Ginger Citrus Sauce:
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon corn starch
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Wasabi Ranch:
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch bottled salad dressing
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon powdered wasabi

Slice each chicken breast into 6 pieces. Combine flour, salt, peppers and paprika in a medium bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together egg and milk.

One or two at a time, dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, then into the breading blend; then repeat the process so that each piece of chicken is double-coated. When all chicken pieces have been breaded, arrange them on a plate and chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat 4 to 8 cups of canola oil in a deep fat fryer to 375 degrees.

Ginger Citrus Sauce:
As the chicken is resting, make the ginger-citrus sauce by dissolving the corn starch in the water. Pour the water into a medium saucepan along with the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. When the sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until thick. Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool a bit.

Wasabi Ranch:Make the wasabi-ranch dressing while your ginger-citrus sauce is simmering. Simply whisk together the ranch dressing, buttermilk, prepared horseradish, powdered wasabi, and green food coloring in a small bowl. Cover and chill this until the wings are done.

When the chicken has rested and you're ready to cook, lower the boneless wings into the oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until each piece is browned. Depending on the size of your fryer, you may want to fry the chicken in batches so that the chicken isn't too crowded in there. When chicken pieces are done frying, remove them to a draining rack or a plate lined with a couple paper towels.

When all the chicken is fried, place the pieces into a covered container such as a large jar with a lid. Pour the Ginger-citrus Sauce over the chicken in the container, cover it up, and then gently shake everything around until each piece of chicken is coated with sauce

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Chili's Spicy Garlic & Lime Shrimp - One of my very favorite foods!

Chili's Paradise Pie - This came in the same email. Thanks to Mel for sharing these!

Cookie Layer:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Crust Layer:
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cinnamon Butter:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

To Serve:
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
caramel syrup - ice cream topping
chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease baking sheet with butter or margarine.

To make cookie layer:
Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder in medium bowl.
In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar. Continue beating about 30 seconds or until mixture turns light in color. Add egg, milk and vanilla extract; beat until smooth.
Slowly fold dry mixture into the wet mixture. Beat well. Mix in coconut flakes. Set aside.

To make crust layer:
Melt butter in medium bowl. Add sugar and stir 30 seconds. Add graham cracker crumbs; mix well. Press this mixture into bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish or pan.
Sprinkle cup of chocolate chips evenly over graham cracker crust. Press cookie dough into dish, covering chocolate chips. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over dough, then press in.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until edges become light and brown.

Cinnamon Butter Directions:
Cream together butter, sugar and cinnamon in small bowl with a electric mixture on high speed.
Heat small skillet over medium heat. When hot, remove from heat, then add about 1 Tbsp cinnamon butter to the pan. It should quickly melt and sizzle.
Slice the hot pie into 9 pieces and place one slice into hot skillet till warmed; repeat with other pieces.

Serving Instructions: Place a scoop of ice cream on top of each slice of "pie". Drizzle chocolate and caramel syrup over each slice of dessert and then sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.

Hope you enjoy!