Creative in the Kitchen

Got your attention in the title, didn't I????  Everyone knows I don't have any creativity in the kitchen, but last week I made something out of leftovers that was GREAT.  I had made some bone in chicken breasts Sunday afternoon, baked with BBQ sauce.  To go with it, I had stuff in the cupboard to make some cornbread style baked corn (what we usually make at Thanksgiving).  It was pretty good, but after the first set of leftovers, there was still alot left, so I got to thinking...

Took shredded chicken and added the leftover cornbread baked corn and wrapped in a tortilla.  I covered the tortillas with enchilada sauce and baked to heat through, adding cheese the last 10 minutes.  It was delicious!!! (Unfortunately it made for two more sets of leftovers.   This cooking for one is worse than for two).

Sausage, Snausage

I really don't like sausage.  Wierd huh?  I like spicy foods, so why don't I enjoy sausage?  Maybe I haven't found a decent type.  Maybe it's only cheap sausage I don't like.  When I say sausage, I am talking about the breakfast/pizza kind.  I will eat it, but will pick most of it off.  If I order something with it, I usually don't ask them to omit it, because I eat around it.  This morning I got off work at 10 a.m. (more on early mornings later) and was hungry, so went through the drive through.  I asked for a breakfast burrito and didn't pay attention (plus they didn't ask) that it was a choice of meat, so I didn't say anything and they gave me sausage.  Would have rather had bacon, but I ate it anyway, because it also had eggs and melted cheese.  Well, I am paying for it now.  Heartburn, yuck!

Leftovers

I typically don't mind eating leftovers, as long as I had enjoyed it the first time. Last night we were both home for supper so I had decided to cook a good meal. I had a frozen meatloaf I put in the oven, and then made a box of scalloped potatoes and a bag of Steamfresh peas. I figure the total cost of the entire meal was $1.80 and very proud of that!

Faith usually doesn't like leftovers and never ever touches them unless I heat them up for her and basically force her to eat them. On my way home tonight I knew I was making supper for one because Faith worked, so I was actually looking forward to the leftovers. Guess what I found on the counter--a dirty plate and empty containers. SIGH....on the bright side it must have been really good for her to do that.

Sun Tea

I love sun tea, and usually make it all year long, but I tend to make more in the spring and summer. Technically what I make is not sun tea, probably just brewed cold tea. I will fill a large glass jar with hot tap water and add 2 regular tea bags, and for a little kick a peppermint tea bag. If you noticed in past posts about my coffee addiction, I love the taste of peppermint and use the tea bags to make the same flavor in my tea as well. It works pretty good! I have tried other flavors, and the apple/cinnamon is good, but my favorite is the peppermint.

FREE Potato Oles

I know there are a few family members who would love this one!

http://tacojohns.com/maniacs

Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

Here is a picture of the best pickles every, and this is what it takes to make the ultimate peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. Thought I would share what I eat when I have to make that dreaded meal for one, which happened to be tonight. These pickles are from Mom and Dad's pickle packing party they do evey summer, and I think we would riot if they ever stopped canning them. The pickles have the right amount of spice, heat, and crunch and coordinate well with the peanut butter.

Here are the other two ingrediants, good bread and creamy peanut butter. I know you have to look at this picture sideways, but it took me long enough to get them loaded and I didn't have the patience to figure out how to rotate it.

You have to spread a layer of peanut butter on both sides of the bread. This prevents the sogginess that can happen when the pickle juice hits the bread. This also helps when you are taking this particular sandwich to lunch so you don't have wet bread by the time noon rolls around. I also used this trick on Faith's PBJ sandwiches for lunch, having the jelly between the 2 layers of PB so the bread wouldn't get soggy (also great trick on the PB and banana).

Cut the pickles to desired thickness. Because these are homemade pickles, they are whole.

This was my side dish, some chips from a free bag I picked up last weekend. CHEAP but good chips. Sorry the pic is sideways.

Here is the finished result.

What can I say, it hit the spot and the price was great!!!

Now does someone remember who taught us how to make this wierd sandwich?