Make Ahead Meals: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

So.
I'm always looking for new recipes that I can make ahead and have J shove in the oven so we can eat about 15 minutes after I get home.  Such is the life of a type-A personality that will not allow her husband to do things in her kitchen that might not work out as expected.  You know, like the time he thought he put the dual burner on low, but it was really on high and he tried to burn chili to the bottom of the Le Crueset Dutch Oven.
He is, however, fully capable and willing to put pre-made casseroles in a cold oven and turn it on.  I'm always looking for things that I can make early that won't be adversely affected by the wait time.
I was poking around Pinterest one night and found this recipe.  It looked simple, filling, and like a possibility.  It's just not really June food.  I'm looking forward to making it again in November.
I present to you now Tasty Kitchen's Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake:

Dinner with Friends: Strawberry Cream Roll

So.
I needed a make ahead dessert for when we had friends for dinner.  Something summery.  Something that used things in my cupboards.  I started flipping through my What's Cooking summer magazines and came across this recipe.  A couple of small changes, and I was on my way to a fabulous dessert.
I had never made an angel food cake mix before.  Frankly, I've never made my own angel food cake.  I don't think I'll ever get around to making the cake from scratch.  I'd hate wasting all of those yolks, or I'd end up making ice cream that I don't really need.  The mix was just add water, and put in the pan.  It came out beautifully.
I present to you now a tweaked version of Kraft's Heavenly Strawberry Roll:

Dinner with Friends: Pineapple Sangria

So.
Cleaning out our house to ready for packing and moving also means we need to drink more.  Neither J nor I are particularly big drinkers, although I do enjoy my gin and J likes spiced rum.  In my profession, I seem to get a lot of wine as gifts.  It's not that we don't like wine, we just don't think of it until the meal is over and then we think that perhaps we should have had some, but polishing off a bottle now doesn't seem like a good plan.
In having people over, we find that we usually finish a bottle or 2 of wine...but that our dinner guests bring us a replacement.  With our last dinner guests, I decided to try something different and offer a summery beverage that used a bottle at the same time.
In April, J and I went away for the weekend and had dinner with a good friend of mine at an Italian restaurant.  They had a sangria on the specials that night that was spectacular:  light and berry tasting.  It used white wine and melon liqueur.  This is nothing like that, but it's good all the same, and can be made ahead so the flavours meld.
I present to you now Pineapple Sangria.

Dinner with Friends: Garlic Balsamic Grilled Pork Tenderloin

So.
I'm cleaning out my freezer to prepare for moving.  This isn't a bad thing.  I should probably try and get to the bottom of my freezer once a year.  We've been here 3, and it's never been defrosted.  Yikes.  Now that I have a bit of a timeline about when the freezer needs to be in moving condition, I should probably do something about that.
To that end, we did an inventory of meat that we have stockpiled when it's been on sale for a special occasion.  Double yikes.  There's a prime rib roast, lots of Italian Sausage (I think I was preparing for asparagus season), and 3 pork tenderloins.  Plus the myriad of other things that I randomly buy because they're a good deal and we'll eat them eventually.  The time has come.
So we've decided that to empty the freezer we need to have more company, seeing as many of the cuts of meat I stockpile appear to be for company.  I'm not cooking a prime rib for the 2 of us when it's not a major holiday!  To that end, we've started inviting people in to help us eat all of the interesting things that I find at the store and have saved for "later".  You're welcome, if you live close to us.
Over the next few posts, you will find recipes from our last evening of having people in.  We had a great time, laughed a lot, got soaked running for the patio chair cushions that were soaked in the sudden downpour during dessert, and ate a fantastic meal.  Since it was the same day as our last open house, everything was prepared in advance.  I love that kind of cooking!
I present to you now our new favourite way to cook pork tenderloin:

Grillmistress: Foil Potatoes

So.
J believes that there should be starch with most meals.  He has this bizarre love/hate relationship with carbs that I totally don't get.  He might not want pizza at dinner because there are "too many carbs", but then will add 3 packets of sugar to a cup of coffee.  Although it's kind of the pot calling the kettle black...I just know I don't need the number of refined carbs that I eat in sugar or flour form.
Ahem.  But, he expects either potatoes, rice, or pasta as a side when I make dinner at home.  Here's what we like to do with potatoes in the summer when we're grilling.  I present to you now Sarah's foil packet potatoes:

Pesto Chicken Calzones

So.
I love Pinterest.  It is yet another place where I store recipes until I have time to make them.  The thing is, I'm actually making them.  I have found some keepers, and this one is no exception.
In getting ready to move, we are working on emptying out the freezer.  It's not coming along super well, but we're trying, and I've noticed a difference in the amount of meat that we're buying.  It astounds me the amount that hides in both our chest freezer downstairs and the freezer in the kitchen.
When I buy chicken, I buy the Club Packs and split them up into single breasts to freeze.  Sometimes, my ambition takes a hike before I split up the packages.  When that happens, J will take an afternoon and grill the breasts up, put them in a ziploc, and freeze them for later use.  I found one of these bags when going through the upstairs freezer.
Enter the recipe for Pesto Chicken Calzones that uses a couple of cooked chicken breasts, and apparently can be frozen, if you get that far.
I present to you now the recipe for Pesto Chicken Calzones:

I'm Ba-ack!

So.
Things got a little crazy around here.  Who am I kidding?  Things became seriously nuts around here, and I quit cooking.  Actually, that's not completely true.  My camera will attest to that.  I do have some new recipes to share.  But not many.
Here's the short version of the story - I got promoted.  Hooray!  I was assigned my own building.  Hooray!  The commute from our current house is at least 90 minutes on a good day.  Boo!  We put our house on the market.  Gulp!  My principal went on leave for surgery and I was left in charge.  Gulp!  No one died, and I only called the ambulance once.  Hooray!  My principal came back.  Hooray!  A week late.  Boo!  I got a call on the last Tuesday of school that I was going to a different building in the fall.  ACK!  School ended.  I am on vacation!  WOOHOO!!  Our house hasn't sold.  Boo! 
So, now that I'm home, I'm cooking again.  Okay, not today.  I was tired and cranky after having 2 teeth filled, grocery shopping, and cleaning for another showing.  Which happened right at the dinner hour.  Bleh.
Going to the grocery store, however, bodes well for this week and next.  I've pinned a pile of things to try.  Here's some of what you can look forward to over the next little bit:

• Grilled Garlic Balsamic Marinated Pork Tenderloin
• Rhubarb Strudel Muffins
• Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Chicken Pesto Calzones
• Summer Spaghetti with Lemon Garlic Chicken and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
• Sangria
• Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole

And more!
Here's to summer...and cooking up a storm!!!!

Planning: May 12-18, 2012

So.
Work is nuts.  It's now hiring season, which will quickly be followed by track and field season, and then academic testing, report cards, and the mad dash to the end.  So tiring.  So no time to cook.  It's sad.  J and I are talking about using a company where I can go and make frozen meals for us in June when there's no time and I'm abandoning him for year end dinners regularly.  He learned that "delivery pizza is really expensive" when the Domino's near us shut down and he looked for a new pizza source.  We'll see.
The other good thing is that it's finally grilling season!  Woohoo!  When in doubt, fire up the Broil King!!
Here's how this week appears to be shaking out:

Saturday:  Black Bean Salsa Chicken, rice, and a salad.  And the end of the Nutella ice cream.
Sunday:  Breakfast for Dinner - Bacon and Eggs.  I thought we were out of eggs, so I bought another dozen.  Um, we weren't.  Yeah.  Breakfast for dinner.
Monday:  Steak, Potatoes, and Vegetables on the grill.  I do the potatoes in foil, and toss the veggies on the grill too.
Tuesday:  Burgers, I think.  After Tuesday, it won't be grilled weather.  Boo.
Wednesday:  Dinner out.  I have a late night.
Thursday:  Shake n Bake Chicken, Potatoes and Broccoli.  By Thursday, I just want to be done.
Friday:  Long weekend!  We'll be eating on the road, so probably Wendy's.

Yay!  Sounds like a good week.

Weeknight Meal: Easiest Spaghetti and Meatballs

So.
I hate cooking on weeknights.  Scratch that...I hate cooking when I've been working all day and I get home exhausted and don't feel like doing anything.  It doesn't matter if I've planned.  Heck, it doesn't matter if I like what we're having.  Work and cooking don't mix.  Especially this time of year when my work is wild and I don't really have time to think.
Last night, I was supposed to make this recipe.  But enter a fight with a dryer vent and a long day getting me home about 7, and I didn't get around to making this.  I would like to say, however, that making this tonight wasn't a huge deal; and the results were delicious.
I present to you now Everyday Food's Easiest Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Pinteractive: Nutella Ice Cream

This is my Pinteractive post for the week.  Click on the badge over there ------> to go to Nanette's blog and see all the Pinteractive posts!

So.
When I got married in 2007, I registered for one expensive, frivolous gift that I knew I probably wouldn't get but really, reeeeeally wanted.  That item was the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer.  I was right.  I didn't get it.  But I didn't forget about that attachment.  And 2 years later I finally got around to buying the attachment.  I have never regretted it.
J and I love ice cream, and I grew up in a house where there was dessert every night after dinner.  Most nights still, we have something: a cookie (or 3), a bowl of ice cream or the like.  What I like about the ice cream maker is that I can control what is going into what we eat.
Ice cream is often super rich, using egg yolks and heavy cream or half and half.  I've never experimented with using evaporated skim milk, but I probably should.  I usually use a mixture of 1% milk and half and half or heavy cream.  Results can be mixed.  Vanilla is not always the best.  Great ice cream is high in fat for a reason.  Fruit puree sorbets are divine, but J's not big on fruit.
After making the Nutella cake, I had a partial bottle of the spread in my cupboard.  When I went back through my pins on Pinterest, I discovered this little gem, once again from From Away.  They seem to be as crazed about chocolate heaven in bottle as I am.  I present to you now Far and Away's Nutella Ice Cream: