Comfort Food = Important.

Comfort food and I go hand in hand. Especially during the cold seasons. There's nothing like curling up on the couch with a good book and a bowl of hot soup.

Except that I never tried to make soup before. 

Until now, that is.

Chicken noodle is my personal favorite.

Tomato with a grilled cheese is a close second.

Cheesy Peasy

Cheese is a HUGE staple in this house.

Mainly because of Kyle. >.<

We all dig on cheese, but Kyle? He LOVES cheese. He's infatuated with cheese. Cheese and him go hand and hand. There's never such a thing as "too much". *sigh*

On the upside, it helps me throw some veggies into food without him making bad faces. So I guess it's a win.

I wanted something easy, simple, and different tonight for dinner. We all love pasta/italian. And pasta goes with cheese well. I debated macaroni and cheese, but I bet I'd never hear the end about how it's not his Aunt Terry's, but it's good.

I'm okay with that, though. Terry makes some bomb mac and cheese.

So, I threw some stuff together in a dish and BAM. Dinner.

I love easy and cheap dinners.

Cooking + Kids = Hard

Gabe's been in and out of his separation anxiety phase. But the only time it kicks in full blown is when he knows I'm making or have food.

Boys. Growing boys. Ugh.

Ontop of that, money's been pretty tight. Christmas put anyone and everyone in a bind when added in with the economy.

(Times is hard...Times is HAAAAAAAAAARD. - Channeling Sweeney Todd)

Needless to say, I've had to try and figure out how to make a good dinner for little monies.

Alas. Soup.

No, I didn't just throw soup in a pot and call it mine.

It's simple. It's pretty cheap. It's chicken.

My favorite things all in one.

Dear Bestie, Thanks For Letting My People Take Your Food.

It's no secret. My sister (*coughbestfriendimetonline4+yearsagocough* is Cherokee. So much, infact, that her ringtone on my phone for the longest time was the most amazing thing ever. The fact that we called eachother a lot made it even better. 

"CHEROKEE PEOPLE! CHEROKEE PRIDE!"

^.^ 

Well, I'm part Native American, too. No idea how much, but I know it's in there. Which is why I'm one of the few Asian-American's that can tan like it's nobody's business..and why people constantly mistake me for being Mexican.

Anyway.

My first time ever making a Thanksgiving dinner by myself, she was visiting. It was after Dot was born, and I kidnapped her and Logan for a month. The best month ever, might I add. She helped me figure out what to make, I converted her to a from-scratch cooker.

Yeah, that's not completely true. Let's say she cooks MORE things from scratch now.

This? This was one of our favorites. And the kids' favorite. They were like vultures. No joke.

Suh-weeeeeeeeeeeet potatoes. Yum.

GOO(lash)! I'm channeling Billy Madison.

This is honestly the easiest, simplest, and probably cheapest meal I ever make. Everyone digs on it, thank God. It's my fall back, to be honest. 

I'm talkin' goulash.

There's plenty of ways to make it. This is just a VERY basic recipe. You can add/remove whatever you want to make it your own. Corn is a vegetable a lot of people like to add to it. Me? I just keep it basic.

And cheap. SO beyond cheap.

But I always pair it with mashed potatoes. Sometimes cornbread, too..you know, when I'm feeling fancy.

I'm pork's and poultry's worst enemy.

It's no big secret. I love chicken. It's a family thing, I think. Me and my dad could eat chicken most, if not all, of the time. Don't even get me started on some turkey. Birds must hate us.

I definitely dig on some pig, too. Bacon is good times, but sliced ham? I love it. Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches? Yum. Yum all day long.

So, you know, you just HAVE to combine the two. And throw some cheese in there.

HOW MOUTH WATERING DOES THAT LOOK?!

Food Fail # 1

Not everything goes well when you cook. 

Actually, there's been a lot of times where I have fails back to back to back and it never seems to end. Those times? They usually end with my kitchen covered in food from me being frustrated. >.<

According to Kyle, my "fuck ups" are the best. Don't ask me why. This dude is SUPER weird sometimes. But because of this, he LOVES it when I try new stuff.

When I came across pictures of these lasagna cupcakes online, I knew that if they were executed right, they'd be a huge hit for dinner. "We're having cupcakes for dinner! w00t!" Right? 

HOMG SO WRONG.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

This recipe is a winner for three reasons.

1. It's chicken.

2. It's EASY.

3. It's CHEAP.

Cheyah, dude. Any recipe that meets those three requirements? Automatic win.

Chicken

Cream of mushroom soup. Easy? Uh, YEAH.

An asian..cooking...mexican?

For some reason, whenever we have someone over I'm obligated to make these. Not anything else, just my burritos. They're simple and quick, so I don't complain, but it kinda confuses me, to say the least.

Large tortillas FTW. Also make great baked nachos.

Mixmixmix.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit....

Everything tastes better with cheese.

Oh, those Southerners.

I've never heard of country fried steak until I moved to Missouri.

Serious.

I've never attempted to make it until I married Kyle. I found out it was one of his favorites, so ofcourse I had to attempt it.

I've tried making it a few times before this, but this is definitely the best of those times it came out.

I also used a different method of peeling/cooking the potatoes for the mashed potatoes.

You can find the method here. I found that boiling my potatoes for 30 minutes made them cooked perfect for mashing. :)

Waiting to be boiled.

Preparation at its finest, yo.

I'm still not good with frying. Like, at all. But I'm trying.

The aftermath of the potatoes.

Our KFC is gone. :(

Okay, to be honest, I'm not really upset that our KFC got taken away. I prefer Popeye's, and we have one of those in the next town over. I'm not broken up about losing one restaurant in our area, especially considering it was absolutely horrible and ridiculously expensive for very little food.

So I may not miss it, but Kyle loves (er..loved) their snack bowls. He just hated how small they were. So we took it upon myself (yes WE turned into ME) to make our own rendition of it. It's definitely a family favorite. The kids are always asking for seconds or thirds.

Homemade mashed potatoes FTW!

Popcorn chicken ready!

Everything's better with gravy, yo.

My favorite. Always. <3

"Bacon makes the world go round."

Atleast, according to Kyle. *eye roll*

Tonight, I tried something completely new. As in, I've never made it before. Along with the sidedish.

Bacon wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with onion garlic cream cheese and potatoes au gratin. Let me just get my pat on the back up in here now. *pats self on back*

So, the potatoes were fantastic. But then I tasted the chicken. Let's just say, I didn't want the potatoes after that.

God bless my slow cooker.

Selena, my step-daughter helped me out tonight. She was so proud afterwards when dinner was "goooood!"

Oh good God. Oh yeah.

These Are Probably The Worst Pies In..Jackson?

While it's perhaps not the healthiest meal ever, it's still super delicious and great comfort food. The best part of chicken pot pie is that you can almost add anything to it. Any veggies you want. Yeah. GREAT way to get the kids to eat vegetables..unless you're Myriah. Then you pick out the green beans. 

Every.

Single.

One.

*sigh* This kid. She's something else. But I love her.

And now, onto the main event.

Mixing the inside goodness. *drools*

Ready for the oven. I'm WAY too impatient for this.

Tater Tots Are Nice And Round.

I first heard of tater tot casserole watching a documentary on The Duggars (who currently have the show 19 Kids And Counting..and props to them for being able to do it all). It was one of their older episodes, and they were talking about how tater tot casserole was one of their favorite foods. 

I loved just about all the ingredients they were putting into it, so I HAD to try and make it. I've been making it for a few years now, but ofcourse I had to tweak it here and there to try and make it fit me and my family best. I think I finally found the best for us!

Nomnom! Ready to be baked!

This is really great for the kids, too. What kid doesn't love tater tots?!

Beef: It's what's for dinner.

Kyle works swing shifts, so there's a fair amount of night shifts that I'm only making dinner for me and the kids. There's days he's off so I'm making dinner for everyone. Then, there's his day shift, when I make dinner for everyone, but alone. Needless to say, trying to cook ANYTHING with Gabe is tough. That kid runs to food like moths to a flame. 

I've been trying to get it through to him about the whole "HOT" thing, but he doesn't care. He wants some food, he gets some food and that's the end of it. But lately, he's been just standing between the kitchen and dining room, thank God.

Tonight, I opted for an easy choice seeing as I had to cook with Gabe at my legs. I went with some good ol' beef stroganoff. Marie Callander's ain't got shit on me.

Cooking egg noodles.

Making the sauce. Looks icky, but it's SUPER delicious.

This is something requested by a ton of kids in my family, if not my kids, then my nieces and nephews.

As shepherd's watched their flocks..er..food..by night?

I don't understand why this is called Shepherd's Pie. I probably never will. But I will always understand the deliciousness of this. Not to mention, the comfort aspect. It always seems to have a calming effect on me. Why? I'll never know. But it's a great way to get the kids (and the husband) to eat some veggies. There's nothing wrong with that!

Myriah's notorious for picking out EVERY green bean, saying "I don't LIKE this one, mommy. I don't LIKE this one." She won't do that for this. She eats it up QUICK. Hell, Selena takes 3 servings..but she's been eating 3 servings a LOT lately. Helloooooo growth spurt.

First layer...looks like puke. I'm sorry, but it does. It almost makes me not want to eat it. But it smells good. Oh, the dilemma.

Second layer, mashed potatoes! Yum! These are my cheesy garlic variety. *mouth waters*

Ready to be baked! Yay!

Italians Do It Right

I'm a huge chicken eater. I could eat chicken for every meal, every day, and not get sick of it. I get it from my daddy. ;)

I love how versatile chicken is. You can pair it with just about anything and get a whole new taste from just one main ingredient. Who can't love a food like that?!

Tonight, I made some Chicken Parmesan. Yummm..Italians sure know how to cook!

Pan frying before baking.

Mmmm I could eat it just like this!

Covered in sauce and mozzarella, ready to bake and eat! Yum!

Meatloaf, Meatloaf, Double Beatloaf.

I REALLY need to watch that movie. Get it out of my system. Oy.

So, a common staple in almost anyone's kitchen is meatloaf. A brick of meat. Yeah. Almost everyone knows how to make it. But there in lies the interest.

Almost everyone has a different way of making their meatloaf.

When you're using just a pound of ground beef and adding random things to it, the possibilities are almost endless. It's one of those versatile meals that you can add just about anything to. I know someone who adds a packet of dry onion soup and then bakes it on a sheet in little mini loaves. I like the mini loaves for the kids, and they do too. But I don't add dry onion soup. And one thing I ALWAYS make sure to do: Bake it on a sheet in a loaf shape. Why? This makes ALL the sides get that nice crust.

I DID have to try something I've never done before. I realized too late that I was out of regular bread crumbs. So, I improvised. I crushed up a bunch of Goldfish crackers to make up for the bread crumbs. 

Goldfish slaughter! <insert evil laugh>

Ready for baking!

That's Just A Load Of Crock Pot Roast.

Worst news EVER to hear in this household.

The heating element went out in my oven.

I'm so beyond upset over this. I can't bake and I'm VERY limited to what I can cook. As if making food wasn't bad enough with little kids, the picky little boogers. Now I have to try and come up with ways to not keep making the same thing all the time on the stovetop or in a crock pot. While many people say "Oh, that's easy!", maybe they should try it. It's easy to say that when your oven is still in good working order. But I have picky kids and a picky husband. I'm pretty much stuck.

So, I went on the search for something easy and simple, and I kept coming back to pot roast. Okay, I tried making pot roast once before this, and it came out horribly dry and I vowed to never make it again. But, beggars can't be choosers, and by this point I was BEGGING for something. And so...

Nomnom! The carrots and potatoes were DELICIOUS. And the beef wasn't bad either!

The beef was still a LITTLE dry, but in the typical roast beef dry. Know what I mean? No? Well, deal with it.

Mac & Cheese..on pizza?

I was always adamantly against the macaroni and cheese pizza at Cici's. "Macaroni and cheese is a meal in itself! It doesn't belong on a pizza!" Well...I tried it and, like it was the crack of the pizza world, I was hooked. I craved it. But the only downside is Cici's is in the next town over, a trip we can't usually make just randomly, and we can't always afford to go out. We have a lot of kids. And Kyle, who eats like a bottomless pit. So, I had to try and figure out how to make this. I finally attempted it today and, I'm glad to say, I'm fairly proud of the results. I may do some tweaking here and there, but not too much.

At first when I had it in the pan, I swore it looked more like a casserole. But after it was baked...

Yay! It looked like a pizza..kinda!

It's a pretty simple recipe. Definitely something I could do again and again.