Super versatile chicken or beef recipe

Last night we had chicken using a marinade that doubles equally well for beef. I've especially enjoyed it with flank steak. For the chicken, I combined all ingredients in the crock pot, came back after 5 hours, and voila. Not even an extra bowl messed up - it doesn't get much better than that. Here's the versatile marinade recipe:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup V8 juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. minced garlic cloves

I added four frozen chicken breasts and put in the crock pot on high for 5 hours. Very simple and unique. It tastes nothing like what it sounds like!

Enjoy and let us know what you think or other ways you've used it.

Beef Five ways for Five Days

To really simplify a week of cooking, I like to crock pot a large amount of meat and then prepare it five different ways throughout the week. For beef dishes, I like to use stew beef since it's already cut up. Even if it isn't the best cut of meat, it doesn't matter because it will be slow cooked to tender perfection. And for chicken and ham five ways 5 ways for 5 days recipes, check them out on my site at www.pams-hams.com/recipes.

For the crock pot beef, create as follows:
5 lbs. stew beef
4 (14 oz) cans beef broth
2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilis
Combine all ingredients in crock and stir. Cook on high 6-8 hours. Crock pot tip: If you won't be looking at the crock for more than 8 hours, just add another can of water. Meat will be even better the longer you cook it - you just don't want the liquid to run down.

Monday's shredded beef over rice
Serves 4, Cook time: 3 minutes, Prep time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked beef mixture (approximately 1/5th of the meat mixture)
2 packages of uncle bens 90 second rice
Reheat beef mixture on the stove top while microwaving the rice for approximately 3 minutes. (90 seconds each rice and then some for the beef.

Tuesday's shredded beef chili
Serves 4, Cook time: 5 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/4 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 can (16 oz) kidney beans
1 can (16 oz.) pinto beans
1 can (16 oz.) corn
1 can (24 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

Rinse beans thoroughly. Drain beans and corn. Combine all ingredients and cook on the stovetop. Stir constantly and serve once heated through.

Wednesday's beef and cheese casserole
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/3 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/2 small onion chopped and browned
1 small can black olives
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz.) package Doritos or other taco flavored chips

Combine beef, cooked onion, black olives and tomato sauce (A). Combine sour cream and cottage cheese(B). Layer A then B, then cheddar cheese and chips two times. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Thursday's faux shepherd's pie
Serves 4 Cook time: 30 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/2 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 package refrigerated mashed potatoes (I use Bob Evans)
2 jars beef gravy (I like Boston Market)
1 envelope onion soup mix

Combine beef, gravy and onion soup mix. Spread into a baking pan. Cover with the potatoes. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Optional alternative: only 1 jar of gravy

Friday's beef barley soup
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (the remainder from Monday!)
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil (if possible)
10 cups water
2 cups of chopped cooked celery, onions and/or shredded carrots
6 beef bouillon cubes
½ cup quick-cooking barley
2 T. dry mustard
2T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. dried basil

Combine all ingredients except barley in large pot on stove top. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add barley. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until barley is cooked through (about 10 minutes). As with all soups, keeping it on low and cooking longer improves the flavor so do that if you have the time. Time saving tip: Buy the shredded carrots. They are much easier to add to soups and look great on salads.

Even the leftover hater in the family will be delighted with this assortment of meals that seem like you cooked for hours. Ciao and enjoy!

Parmesan Chicken and another great birthday party

Most of my main dish recipes are done in the crock pot but sometimes I don't get my act together early enough for the slow cooking. In those cases, I often also don't plan far enough in advance to have a lot of recipe ingredients either which is why I love this simple baked chicken recipe from our friend Alana. The three ingredients used are ones that just about everyone has in their pantry or fridge. And the other bonus of this recipe, it smells amazing while it's cooking. So without further ado, here is a gourmet tasting chicken recipe that you can make in a snap:

Parmesan Chicken Alana
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 stick melted butter or margerine

Combine cheese and crumbs in a baggy. Melt butter and dip each chicken breast into the butter and then shake in the baggy. Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes. Turn over about half way through.

This is great with rice pilaf. I swear by the 90 second rice from Uncle Bens. We also served it with leftover sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole (from my website http://www.pams-hams.com/) which created a nice presentation if I do say so myself!

Puppy themed 7 year old girls birthday party
We have such creative friends! Many of these cute little girl birthday parties are not only fun for the girls attending, but are a blast for the moms who are dropping them off and watching a few of the festivities. Julia's party last weekend was a real favorite with the puppy theme. And one of the best parts for the birthday girl's mom is the simplicity of these types of off-site parties. I'd much rather spend my time making prizes and planning fun games than setting up or cleaning up! So read on for some simple party tips:

Where: At a pet store in our area (Family of Pets). They have a build-a-bear type machine with which the party guests can make their own stuffed dog. Additionally, the kids spend much of the time playing with the puppies in little puppy run pens. Julia also brought her puppy who had just turned one and was from that very store.

Prizes: The cute stuffed puppy would have been plenty but Julia's mom is too creative to stop there! She had a paw print gift bag for each girl that contained a candy necklace (collar), a little doggy bowl with their name on it (made labels with the computer) filled with what looked like kibble but was really cinnamon cookies, dog ear headbands, a plastic bone filled with pretzels and puppy stickers. The pictures of these girls with their headbands are going to be precious.

Activities: Playing with the puppies and making the stuffed animals took up most of the time. The girls also had snacks*, played pin the tail on the puppy, and had a puppy coloring page.

Bonus: Julia doens't have a lot of the webkinz and littlekinz dogs so they were simple gift ideas that we knew she'd like. She also got a new Nintendo DS so games like Nintendogs were a super idea. *this particular store has a party room next door so you can eat - many of the pet stores do not which is also fine but just results in a shorter party .