Orange Chicken

I bought one of those Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken dry dinner kits. They are also available frozen for about $2 more.

1.) The dry kit does not include the meat or vegetables. The meat, which cost about $2.50/pound for the boneless, skinless chicken breast...assuming it's on sale.

2.) The dry kit takes 2 pans to prepare. A saucepan for the rice. A skillet for the chicken. The frozen kit takes one pan and you steam the rice in your microwave. (The dry kit rice was also undercooked and overcooked at the same time?! It was chew hard like it was undercooked, but slicky and slimy like it was overcooked.)

3.) The dry kit takes about 30 minutes to prepare, start to finish. The frozen meal is about half the time.

The only things I think that the dry kit has going for it are that it serves 5, while the dry kit serves two, making it much more cost effective for a family. The other being that it does come with the spices and options for stir-ins.

However, I found this recipe (Orange Chicken), which is really easy to prepare and doesn't have a lot of ingredients. The only thing that we don't keep on hand is orange marmalade. Add some Minute Whole Grain Brown Rice and a package for frozen stir-fry veggies and you've got a complete meal.

Baked Pumpkin Fruit Salad

So, I'm baking pumpkins galore when I realize that both...yes, both...of the recipes that I'm making call for brown sugar. I haven't had brown sugar since Christmas.

I look up a recipe on making a brown sugar substitute, which calls for molasses. Really? If I had molasses on hand, I'd probably have brown sugar, too. So, I looked up a substitute for molasses. Now, we're getting somewhere!

I found this recipe for Baked Stuffed Pumpkin and it called for a fruity filling, rather than custard or pumpkin pie filling. A couple of modifications for things we have on hand and things we like to eat, and we have a tasty treat.



BAKED PUMPKIN FRUIT SALAD

1 medium sugar (pie) pumpkin
4 apples, cored and chopped
1 cup walnuts
1 (14-16 oz) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks
1 (15.25 oz) can unpeeled apricot halves
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make sure oven setting is center rack.

2.) Cut off the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds.

3.) In a large bowl, combine the fruit, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon mixture into pumpkin.

4.) Place pumpkin on a baking sheet or baking pan. Bake for 1 hour & 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin starts to get soft. After it's baked, stir the mixture to get some for the soft pumpkin flesh mixed with the apple mixture.

Spaghetti with Almost Homemade Sauce

I was going to make chicken, Lily wanted "uhpuhscetti". Rather than fight it, I just made "uhpuhscetti".

Simple meal, with a twist to use some things from our garden and make it a complete, well-rounded meal.



1/2 box of spaghetti, boiled, all that fun stuff.
1/2 jar of Ragu
1/2 pound of ground beef, browned & drained
4-5 grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 sweet banana pepper, sliced
1 handful of shredded cheese (I used Colby/Monterey)
Parm Cheese

I got the beef from Two Thumbs Ranch. It was weird because there was no need to drain. There is pretty much zero fat.

Tomatoes and the pepper came from our garden. The tomatoes added a sweet freshness to the jarred sauce. The meat made it a much heartier meal. Cheese is just good in pretty much anything.

After the spaghetti was plated with sauce on top, I sprinkled the top with some shredded parm cheese. So good!

Apple Dumplings

I bought apples yesterday, after we ate about 3/4 of the previous bag. Some of the apples had started to go bad, so I just grabbed another bag. Sad, it's cheaper to throw away 3-4 apples than it is to buy in bulk just what we need.

Anyway, to prevent some of our apples from becoming landfill compost, I was looking for new recipes, and I stumbled across Old-Fashioned Apple Dumplings on All Recipes.

Of course, I don't have Granny Smith apples, pie crusts, brown sugar, cinnamon or nutmeg. So, time to improvise and see what I come up with...



INGREDIENTS
4 Washington apples, cored
8 ct. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
4 iced oatmeal cookies, ground up
1 egg white

INSTRUCTIONS

1.) Core the apples, then set them aside to prepare the sugary filling.

2.) In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and ground up oatmeal cookies. Microwave for about 30 seconds, or until butter is melted. Using a fork, mix until well blended.

3.) Take a cinnamon roll and flatten it out with your hands. (The cinnamon bits tend to stick to the non-stick rolling pin.) Smooth it out over the bottom of the apple.

4.) Fill the inside of the apple with the cookie/sugar mixture, packing it as best you can.

5.) Flatten a second cinnamon roll and cover the top of the apple. Brush the seams of the rolls so that they will stick better when cooking.

6.) Place the apples on a greased 9"x13" baking dish. Bake @ 400*F for 1 hour.

Serves 4

Homemade Baby Food

Experimenting with to consistancy of mashed avocado (which I then made into a weak guac).

I keep looking at the prices on jars of baby food. Forty or 50 cents doesn't seem like a lot, but I know that it's pricey when I can make my own, more nutritious, baby food at home.

I started looking online and found some nice, simple resources for making baby food. Some of which you can prepare in advance and it'll be easy to mix together when it's time for Baby's dinner.

Wholesome Homemade Baby Food Recipes
Making Your Own Baby Food, Mck Mama Style

I'm starting to collect recipes and websites with info. I don't want to attempt anything too complicated. I just know that if it's too overwhelming, that I won't be able to stick with it when I've got 2 kiddos to take care of.

Any other suggestions?
Websites?
Things you've done?