Corned Beef Hash

Corned Beef Hash

5 potatoes, peeled, cooked, and cubed

2 lbs, (approximately) corned beef, cooked and chopped

1medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, diced

3 -4 Tbsp butter

½ C half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley to taste

In a skillet melt butter and then add onion and green pepper. Cook until soft. Add potatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add corned beef, cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add half and half, stir to combine.  Spread beef mixture evenly in pan and cook over low heat about 20 minutes or until  browned on bottom. Turn in sections and brown other side.

For more recipes visit Frugal Food Thursday

Easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake

¼  C butter
¼  C packed brown sugar
1 can pineapple slices, drained
Maraschino cherries, no stems, as needed
1 1/2 C baking mix
½  C sugar
½ C milk

2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg


Preheat oven to 350°F. In a round 9 or 8-inch cake pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices in single layer over sugar mixture. Place a cherry in center of each pineapple slice and around pineapple slices in any open spaces. In a large bowl, combine baking mix, sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, and egg. Mix well. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let sit for 10 minutes to cool then place a serving plate upside down over cake pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drop over cake; remove pan. Serve. 

For more recipes visit Foodie Friday 

Happy Homemaker Monday

The Weather:::


Right now I am:
Trying really hard to wake up.

Thinking:
about my mom who is back in the hospital. I haven't heard anything from the drs yet.

 My husband's best friend's dad was also in a car crash this weekend and is in the hospital with a broken neck. He helps to take care of my husband's best friend who has just one arm from an accident he was in. I am thinking of how to help them. the only thing I can think of right now is to cook extra at supper time and take it over. I can't imagine trying to cook with just one arm. 

On my reading pile:::
I have a ton of books I found at thrift stores this week from Victoria Magazine. Titles include:
Table Settings
The Charms of Tea
The Art of Taking Tea
Intimate Home

I also  found Vintage Style- Cath Kidston.

I am looking forward to browsing through these while we have rain this week. It will be nice to curl up by the fireplace and think about how to use some of the ideas in my home.

On my tv::: 
Same stuff as last week. I haven't had time to sit and watch the TV

The Dark Night Rises
Looper
Bringing Up Baby
Australia
The King's Speech
McLeod's Daughters
Robin Hood
Legend of the Seeker
Downton  Abbey

Favorite Blog post this week (mine or other):::
A new slipcover for my office chair I have some chairs that need a cover up and I love what she did.

Something fun to share:::
How to cover binder clips with fabric This project will make all the binder clips I have into something I'll actually want to use.

On the menu for this week:::
Monday-
Chicken Parmesan over Spaghetti
Vegetable
Garlic Bread

Tuesday-
Swiss Veggie Ham Bake
Corn

Wednesday-
Spinach Chicken
Rice

Thursday-
Bierrocks
Fruit

Friday-
Chicken a la King
Green Beans

Saturday-
Teriyaki Burgers
Fruit
Carrot Sticks with Ranch

Sunday-
Spiced Citrus Chicken
Long Grain and Wild Rice
Vegetable


On my to do list:::
Laundry
Clean the bathrooms
Pick up the house
Go see people in the hospital

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

I have way too many things going right now.

I finished the plaid dishcloth and it was huge so I hung it in the bathroom on my hand towel rack.

Now I am going to make a somewhat matching striped dishcloth for my husband to hang with it.

Striped afghan for my daughter. No progress on this, this week. I have to keep reminding myself it's going to get HOT and then I won't want to work on it

Love Dishcloth

Valentine Heart Dishcloth 

Very Easy Bath Mitt-

Modified Feather and Fan Dish Cloth-

Three Dishcloths-

Ruffle Scarf-

Coaster Set-

Diagonal Knit Baby Blanket-About 70% done at this point.

White Rabbit wristees- making these for my daughter for Christmas

Garter Stitch Slippers-I need to make 6 more pairs of these for friends and family 

Jubilee Tea Cozy

Something happened this week that I am rather excited about. I crocheted something!! I've been making chains for months now and I've bought book after book of "Learn to crochet" "Crochet for beginners" etc. I finally found one I understood and I made these:

Then I tried the next project, which was a spiral coaster....and it all turned bad. It wanted me to single crochet into the back and I tried hard, over 10 times. instead of growing outwards I made little weird things. My daughter called them "cupcakes".  Sigh....at least I was able to crochet something finally!

Homemaking Tips:::
10 Habits for a well-run home

Looking around the house:::
I need to clean this place

From the camera:::

To join in visit Sandra at Happy Homemaker Monday

Menu Plan Monday

Monday-

Steak and Portobello Mushroom Rigatoni
Garlic Knots

Tuesday-

Crockpot Split Pea Soup
Bread

Easy Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Wednesday-

Texas Beef
Mashed Potatoes
Peas

Peanut Butter Cookies


Thursday-

Pizza

Friday-

Patty Melts

Saturday-

Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole
Broccoli

Sunday-

Chili Mac
Green Salad

For more menus visit Menu Plan Monday

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

1 tsp butter

4 pork chops, bone in

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small onion

3/4 C chicken broth

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp chopped, fresh parsley

In a large skillet, heat butter over low heat. Season pork chops to taste with salt and pepper.  Turn heat to medium and add pork chops to the pan and cook for 7 minutes. Turn and cook pork chops about 7 minutes more until browned and cooked through. Remove pork chops and set aside. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and boil until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard and parsley. Serve the pork chops with the sauce over the meat.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya

 1 lb. boneless pork, chopped

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken, chopped

1 lb. sausage, chopped

oil

1 onion, diced very fine

½ head garlic, peeled and diced

2 C. rice

5 C. water

Cajun seasoning to taste

Pepper to taste

In a large pot heat a small amount of oil and sauté pork, chicken and sausage over medium heat until very brown and cooked through. Add sausage towards the end because it will brown quicker than the other meat. Add onion, garlic and seasonings and cook until tender. Add water, cover and cook over low heat for 45 minutes. Add rice and cook for 20 minutes more or until rice is cooked through. Stir meat and rice; remove from heat and let sit with the cover on for 15 minutes before serving.

For more recipes, crafts, etc visit In and Out of the Kitchen 

Chinese Pork and Fried Rice

Chinese Pork
3 lbs. country style pork ribs
Oil as needed
Adobo to taste
2 med carrots, sliced
2 med onions, cut into wedges
2 green peppers, chopped
2 C tomato juice
1 ½ inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1/3 C. vinegar
1/3 C sugar
4 tsp cornstarch

Place ribs in a roasting pan. Season to taste with adobo. Drizzle a small amount of oil on top of ribs. Place in a 325 degree oven an cook for 1 hour. While the ribs are cooking prepare the vegetables. Place all the vegetables in a pot with the tomato juice, ginger, vinegar and sugar and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove 1 C. of sauce from the pot and mix in cornstarch, then add back to the pot. Cook 15 minutes more, stirring frequently while it thickens. When ribs are done remove from oven and add sauce, return to the oven and bake for10- 20 minutes more in a 300 degree oven.


Fried Rice
4 C. cooked rice
1 cup diced green onions
1 package frozen stir fry vegetables
2 whole eggs
pinch of salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Heat wok or large skillet, add 3 Tbsp vegetable oil, add eggs and scramble in wok. Add green onions, stir fry one minute. Add rice and frozen vegetables, fry until rice is hot. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper Mix thoroughly.
For more recipes visit Foodie Friends Friday