What to Make for Dinner on Cinco de Mayo

Looking for something different to make this year?

Spicy Chicken Meatball Skillet

What you need:

Meatballs

1 lb of ground chicken
2 eggs
½ cup of breadcrumbs
3 TBSP of hot sauce (more if you like)
¼ cup of dried onions
2 tsp of cumin

Sauce

1 (15 oz) container of Philadelphia Cooking Crème – Santa Fe Blend
¾ cup of diced tomato
¼ cup of diced green onions

How to do  it.

 Start with the meatballs.  Pre-heat your oven to 350, take a cookie sheet and cover it with foil and spray with non-stick spray.  Add the all the ingredients above to a bowl and mix with your hands, once mixed, form balls (about 2 inches in diameter)  bake them in the oven for 30 to 35 mins.

While those are in the oven start the water for your egg noodles or rice.  In a skillet, heat up the Cooking Crème, add your tomatoes and green onions.

Once your meatballs are complete, add them to the sauce and serve over egg noodles or rice.

Looking for something else?

Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken?

Ground Chicken Enchilada Casserole

What are you planning to make?

~Cyn

I'm off......discuss among yourselves

So, I'm heading off to the oral surgeon this morning for alittle torture that I think will knock me out for the rest of the day.  So I thought that you could enjoy some old posts while I sleep it off this afternoon.

Since it's going to be a rainy weekend, I thought that maybe people might be looking so projects (for summer) and just some time wasting Internet stuff...

Make a Beach Bag out of an Old T-Shirt

Maybe a Kitchen Project....Banana Cake

Recap of the 2011 Blizzard.

This one I need your opinion on....

Explore my Facebook Page  you should just like it while you are there

It occurred to me that not everyone might not know know how to leave a comment.  Just click on the 'comment' below and it will pop up a box and you can tell me whatever you want to!

Have a great day....

~Cyn

What to Make (Grill) for Dinner Tonight

Tired of hamburgers and hot dogs?

Smoked Sausage, Potatoes & Onion, and Cabbage

Try something new, and the best part is there are only 4 ingredients, 10 minutes to prep, 30 minutes on the grill.

1 - package of smoked sausage
2 - big potatoes
1 - head of cabbage
1/4 - cup of chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste (I guess that makes 5)

Pull out the aluminum foil, pull some out and spray with non-stick.  Clean your potatoes and slice them, and add to the foil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

More aluminum foil, pull some more out clean and quarter the cabbage.

Fold everything up in little packets.

Start the grill, medium to high heat.

Put the potatoes on first, 10 minutes later add the cabbage, 10 minutes later add the sausage.

Cook for another 10 minutes and then serve.

Let me know if you try it!

~Cyn

How to be a good Wedding guest

Oh, that time of year is upon us. The smell of buttercream and flowers are in the air. The words to the chicken dance (or at least the melody) is stuck in your head. If your mailbox is like mine it is filled with save the dates, and invitations to showers, engagement parties and weddings. It's a wonderful time of the year. So, let's just take a few minutes to refresh ourselves on how to be a good guest.

#1 - Return your RSVP card.

Honestly, there is nothing more irritating than people who do not return their RSVPs. It is very
frustrating trying to figure out how many people to plan for when you have 20 RSVP floating around.I understand, I slipped on one last week and heard it from my mom. I did return the it with a note to the Bride apologizing for being late. One final note on this, if you return your RSVP that you are coming at the last minute you can't make (I know it happens) - call the Bride (or her Mom or the Groom or his Mom) and tell them please.

#2 - Attend the Ceremony

I know the reception is the fun part, but there has been alot of planning and time spent on the ceremony as well.  Go and Enjoy.  Hold your partners hand while the Bride and Groom say their vows, it will remind you of yours.

#3 - Resist the Urge

To compare the wedding to your own.  Whether or not it looks like the Bride spent alot of time planning, rest assure that she did.  Resist this urge even if you see elements of your own wedding (in my case just 6 months prior) in their wedding, resist the urge to point this out even if other guests do.

#4 - Watch your fluid intake

The open bar is tempting.  It's like going to a buffet, it's like they want you to stuff yourself and feel awful later (or in the morning).  This will cause you to say things that you don't mean, for example "When did your wife start dressing like Michael Jackson?" -- yes I did overhear that at a wedding.  A couple of drinks will get you loosened up for the 'Electric Slide' - just don't get too loose, if you know what I mean.

#5 - Thank the Bride and Groom

It's important that you get alittle face time with them.  Thank them for the lovely dinner, and sharing their special day with you.  The best way to excuse yourself?  "Well, I know you have alot of other people to see, I can't wait to catch up with you after your honeymoon."

#6 - Don't Forget the Gift

Simple card, write a check, that way you will know they got it.

#7 - Enjoy Yourself

Eat, drink, dance.  Catch up with family and old friends, make some new ones!

~Cyn

PS - So now you know what how to act, find out What to get the Bride and Groom.

Random Ramblings on a Saturday

Have you ever been so busy running around that when you finally had some down town, all you wanted to do is veg out, instead of doing the things that you need to do?

This is what I have been doing instead of things like cleaning my house, doing laundry & cooking dinner.

I watched the last two episodes of 'Friday Night Lights'

Reading recipes in my new (old) cookbook.

Thank you Momma!

I just finished watching the mini-series 'The Kennedy's' and for the most part I liked it.  They didn't even talk about Teddy, apparently his life wasn't tragic enough.  But, I liked it, it really questions the myth of Camelot for me though.

I had a awful shopping experience today.  Read about it here (and while you are there like my page!)  Honestly, I don't know why no one has manners anymore.

I've been eating leftover Easter candy.

Now I'm going to lay down and watch a movie..Have a wonderful (rest of) the weekend, I hope you are more productive than I am.

~Cyn

What to Have for Dinner

So maybe not for dinner tonight because it's almost 8:30 but you could easily make this for dinner tomorrow night.  It took 15 minutes to put it together and 30 minutes in the oven.

Parma Pork Chops

Here's what you need:

Boneless pork chops
Bread Crumbs (3/4 of a cup)
Parmesan Cheese (1/4 of a cup)
Potatoes, cut up into bite size portions
olive oil
salt and pepper
can of green beans (optional)

Pre-heat your oven to 350.  Spray two baking dishes

In a bowl add your breadcrumbs and cheese.  Clean your pork chops.  Coat your pork chops in the breadcrumb mixture and add to one of the baking dishes.

Cut up your potatoes add to the other baking dish, coat with olive oil and salt and pepper (to taste).

Pop both in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Take out of the oven, heat up your green beans and enjoy.

~Cyn

Golf Themed Wedding Shower

We had so much fun putting this together.  It was a whole family effort including my Dad and my Hubby, who stamped out flowers and made weights for the balloons.  But most of the credit goes to my Mom, my sister, and my niece without them we wouldn’t have gotten anything done.

The color palate was easy, we went with the colors of the wedding apple green, and royal blue, and we used those for the table cloth colors and then added paper flowers for decoration.  The centerpieces were simply balloons with golf balls used as weights.

The cake balls were the hardest to put together.  We started with chocolate and strawberry cake and mixed them together with vanilla frosting (neapolitan cake balls).  Then we added some more vanilla frosting and white ball sprinkles to finish off our cake ‘golf’ balls.  We frosted sugar cookies to look like ‘greens’, and added a tee to tie the whole thing together.

The cake was beautiful and big Thanks to my sister for arranging it.

Since this was a shower that spanned across two families and a lot of friends, we decided that name tags were definitely in order.

The games were short and sweet.

Guess the number of balls and tees in the jar.

Then two more, one the being the famous, here are a bunch of kitchen gadgets, see how many you can remember.  My favorite one (yes, I know have a favorite shower game) was the game were we ask questions (were all the answers were numbers) and then one with the lowest (like golf) number difference between their total guess and the right total wins!  Thanks to my other sister for this one!

Like I said it was a wonderful day and weekend, I'm still tired!

~Cyn

Hostest with the Mostest: Dinner Party

I was watching Mad Men the other day, actually I was catching up on last season before the new season started, but anyway Joan and her husband (David?  I don't know I can never remember his name) were having a dinner party.  First of all I love that era.  Everyone was still eating meat and potatoes, putting cloth table clothes on the table and retiring to the living room for conversation (dessert and coffee too) and alittle accordion music (ok, that's what Joan did!) after dinner.  So in today's day and age, what are the keys to a successful dinner party?

Don't Try Anything New

If you must try a new recipe (I know, I understand) make it for your family the week before, this will cut your stress down like 90% because you will have confidence in what you are making.  Plus you will know what to add to make it better!

Don't bring the kids (or send the kid's to Grandma's for the night)

This will foster adult conversation (probably mostly centered around the kids) but you will be able to enjoy a glass of wine and not worry about what little Timmy is breaking in the next room.

Drink the Wine

As a hostess, you should never ask people to bring anything.  But, when they call to see what they can bring ask them to pick up a bottle of wine that fits with the dinner you are serving.  Then serve it.  So many times people bring wine, and it doesn't get opened and then there is that awkward moment when you don't know if you should send it home with them or keep it.  So DRINK it!!

Eat Dessert in the Living Room

Set up your living room with a flow that promotes conversation.  Have the couches face each other, clear off the table so that you can serve coffee and dessert (don't worry about the carpet), and everyone has a place to set there cups.

Save the Dishes for the Morning

Hopefully, you were cleaning up as cooked to avoid the messes, so all you should have are dishes, wine glasses, and coffee cups.  These can wait to the morning.  Lock the door behind your last guest, turn the lights off as you walk up the stairs.  Pick up the kids, and tackle the dishes in the morning!

~Cyn 

An Easter BBQ

We went a little unconventional with Easter Dinner this year.  I just could not wrap my mind around ham for some reason.  It's not that I do not like ham, I do, but sometimes I feel like it just keeps multiplying in my refrigerator.  I just couldn't deal that this year...way too much going on for all that mess.

So I decided that this year would be easy and simple.

Enter the grilled turkey idea.

It was way easier than I thought that it would be.  It was marinated for 2 hours, and cooked on low on the grill for another 2 hours.  Easy Peasy.

Just add some potato salad, baked beans (also done on the grill), sweet tea, deviled eggs and rolls (it was Easter after all) and Mini Pineapple Cakes for dessert.

We ate, and then we took a long turkey induced nap.

It was a great day.

~Cyn

Quick and Easy Easter Dessert : Mini Upside Down Pineapple Cakes

Looking for a quick dessert to take to Grandma's tomorrow?

Do you think this will work?


So simple, and it only has 5 ingredients!  I bet that you have them all in your cabinets.  I found this on the Dole.com.


What you will need:

1 can of crushed pineapple
1/3 cup of very softened butter
2/3 cup of packed brown sugar
1 cake mix (I used yellow)
12 maraschino cherries, halved (I used 24 whole) **

 ** side note on the cherries do you know it's more expensive to buy the cherries with stems?  I would have thought it would have been the other way around...anyway


How you do it:

Drain you pineapple, save the juice and use in place of the water in your cake mix.  At the same time drain your cherries (they are just easier to work with).  Pre-heat your oven to 350 and mix up your cake mix.

Next, melt your butter, and add the brown sugar mix together.

Spray your muffin pans with non-stick spray.  If you only have one you are going to need to do two batches.  Divide the brown sugar mixture (1/2 of the total mixture if you are doing 2 batches) evenly among the muffin cups.

Add a layer of pineapple, and cherry (or half a cherry sliced side up) that fill muffin cup to top with cake mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes.

When they are ready to come out of the oven get a cookie sheet (or cutting board ready) you are going to want to get these out as soon as possible.  I recommend that you run a toothpick around the edges of each cup so they do not stick.  Place cookie sheet (or cutting board..haha) over the top of the pan and FLIP.

If they do not come out...do not panic!!!  Get out a large spoon and scoop them out, making sure to get all the good stuff.

Enjoy!

~Cyn