Whats For Dinner 10-2-11

Don't you just love this wonderful Fall weather that we are having? It is such a welcome relief from the Summer that we had. We have been really busy getting all our Fall decorations out and beginning to cook Fall recipes. I want to remind you that we have The Texas Star Chili Cook Off beginning on October 1, 2011. Sure hope that you are planning on bringing your very best bowl of chili. Get All The Details Here .

Sunday

Roast Chicken

Fresh Black Eyed Peas

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Green Tossed Salad

Hot Cottage Rolls

Chocolate Cake

Monday

With Leftover Chicken

Chicken Veggie Soup

Corn Bread

Left Over

Chocolate Cake

Tuesday

Two Way Pasta

(We Are Having The Hot Casserole)

 Tossed Green Salad

Garlic Bread

Mixed Berry Bowl with Spicy Vanilla Sauce

Wednesday

Ham Steaks

Butter Beans

Spicy Oven Fried Potatoes

Cole Slaw

Corn Bread

Lemony Nana Trifle

Thursday

Left Over Ham

Waffles

With

Chunky Fresh Peach Sauce

Friday

From 

Full Plate Thursday
Dinner
Grilled Salmon with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan Grits 
at Another Marvelous Meal
Blueberry Custard Tart  at The Traveling Spoon

Saturday

We Are Off To The City

Dinner With Friends

I am so happy that you were able to stop by and visit with us today. Your visits are always important to me.

I sure hope to see you at Full Plate Thursday and The Texas Star Chili Cook Off.

Peace and Joy

Miz Helen
This Post Is Linked To:
On The Menu Monday
Menu Plan Monday
Friday Faves
Friday Favorite Finds 

Full Plate Thursday 9-29-11

Happy Fall Ya'll and Welcome to Full Plate Thursday! I am so happy that you could come over today to share this great party with us. Come right over here and we will get your food out on the table I just know it will be delicious. Thank you so much for coming today and please come back soon!

I have a very special invitation for YOU!

You Are Invited to Participate In 
The 2nd Annual

Texas Star Chili Cook-Off

October 1 through October 31

For Details 

Click Here

Bring Your Best Bowl Of Chili

This Is How I Filled My Plate Last Week
Breakfast
Ableskivers  at The Real Housewives of Riverton
Morning Snack
Apple Turnovers at Carolina Heart Strings
Lunch
Crab Mango and Avocado Tower at A Spoonful of Thyme
Chocolate Souffle Cake  at Misadventures In Cooking
Afternoon Snack
Jello Krispie Apples  at  Flour Me With Love
Dinner
Grilled Salmon with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan Grits 
at Another Marvelous Meal
Blueberry Custard Tart  at The Traveling Spoon
If You Helped To Fill My Plate Today Please Take The Red Plate Home

The Code Is On The Sidebar

Full Plate Thursday Background Story

When we were young and just starting out in life sometimes we did not have a lot of money. Most of our friends were having to stretch the dollars at the end of the month just like us. My girlfriends and I decided that we would pool our food for some of the evening meals right before payday... the last week of the month. I have some of the fondest memories from those days. We would all bring our food together and we had some great food and great fellowship. We would get the food on the table and everything ready, someone would bless the food and then the hostess would say "come fill your plate".

I have just a few suggestions before you leave your dish and fill your plate.

• Link directly to YOUR RECIPE  and not to your web page.  

• Scroll down to the button that says "click here to enter"

• You will be asked to give your URL ( which will be your direct link to your post), the name of your recipe, and your email which we will not be able to see.

• Then you will be asked to select a thumbnail from your post that will be uploaded to your entry.

• Please include a link back to Full Plate Thursday, somewhere on your post. We will give you a gentle reminder if you forget...

• Please leave me a comment before you leave the page and let me know that you are here, I want to be a good hostess.

• Don't forget to visit with all the others, after all that is part of the fellowship that makes it so much fun, in addition to all the good food of course...

• Grab The Full Plate Button if you like and take it home with you.

• Now God Bless you and your food and everyone fill your plate!

Two Way Pasta

We are coming to the end of our growing season for tomatoes and I made some Oven Dried Tomatoes the other day, they are so delicious. I use the Oven Dried Tomatoes (Here) as a base for this recipe. I just love this recipe, because it is so versatile. You can have it as a cold salad or a hot casserole, it is the greatest!

As A Salad

As A Casserole

Two Way Pasta

Miz Helen's Kitchen

4 cups cooked chicken chopped

1 pound Rigatoni cooked

1 cup Zucchini sliced

1 cup yellow onion chopped

1 cup Red Bell Pepper chopped

1 cup black olives, drained and chopped

1 cup Oven Dried Tomatoes chopped

6 ounces tomato paste

1 tablespoon dried oregano

3/4 cup fresh basil chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste 

1 cup mozzarella shredded

1/2 cup Parmesan shredded

3 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pour 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil into a hot skillet and saute the zucchini, onion, red pepper on medium heat until the onion is clear. 

Add the cooked chopped chicken and mix well. Add the tomato paste and the water and mix well, then add the chopped Oven Dried Tomatoes and mix. 

Add the basil, oregano, salt pepper and black olives then mix well. Leave the chicken and veggie mix on simmer, while you cook the pasta. 

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain well and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. 

In a large container mix the chicken and veggie mix with the pasta and add the shredded mozzarella. 

Here you make the decision, which will it be, a nice cold Pasta Salad or a nice hot Pasta Casserole.

For The Salad

Place in refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before serving, add the fresh shredded Parmesan to the top right before serving.

For The Casserole

Place in a baking dish and add the shredded Parmesan to the top of the casserole. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chop The Veggies

Chop The Oven Dried Tomatoes

Add The Chopped Chicken

You Should Just Smell This Wonderful Dish

   The Salad

Or

The Casserole

Hope You Enjoy It!

I sure am glad that you stopped by today to try out both of these great dishes. Be sure and let me know which one you like the best or maybe you want both, I did. I hope that you are getting your Chili Recipe ready for the The Texas Star Chili Cook Off (Details Here), it is going to be so much fun! Hope to see you again real soon!

Peace and Joy

Miz Helen
This Post Is Linked To:
Full Plate Thursday
Your Recipe My Kitchen
Hunk of Meat Monday
Melt In Your Mouth Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday
Tuesday Tasty Tidbits
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesday At The Table
Tasty Tuesday
Hearth and Soul Blog Hop
Crock Pot Wednesday
These Chicks Cooked
Whats Cooking Wednesday
Cast Paty Wednesday
Made It On Monday
Real Food Wednesday
Foodie Wednesday
Foodie Friday
Friday Potluck
Fat Camp Friday
Fusion Friday
Recipe of The Week 

Whats For Dinner Next Week 9-25-11

We are so excited it finally RAINED !! We got about 2 inches and are supposed to get some more soon. We are down 16 inches for the season so far. However it  is cooler now and we can sit on the new back porch. Come on back and we will sit out here on the new porch and visit for a while. Don't forget about the big event beginning on Oct 1st through Oct 31st. I just know that you will be bringing your very best bowl of Chili to The Texas Star Chili Cook Off.

The Code Is On The Side Bar

You Are Invited to Participate In 
The 2nd Annual

Texas Star Chili Cook-Off

October 1 through October 31

For Details 

Click Here

Bring Your Best Bowl Of Chili

 Now lets get busy with this weeks menu and find out Whats For Dinner Next Week

 

Sunday
Oven Fried Chicken

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans

Tossed Green Salad

Cheesy Dill Biscuits

Coconut Pie

Monday
Canning Day
End Of Season Soup

Green Tossed Salad
Corn Bread
Left Over
Coconut Pie

Tuesday
Hamburger Steak
Chipotle Mac N Cheese

English Peas and Carrots

Sliced Tomatoes

Chocolate Ice Box Delight

Wednesday

Brisket and Vegetables

Cole Slaw

Cottage Bread

Blackberry Cobbler

Thursday

Brisket Sandwiches

Left Over 

Cole Slaw

Blackberry Cobbler

Friday

From 

Full Plate Thursday
Dinner
Spicy Crock Pot Jambalaya  at Cajun Delights
Grape and Mixed Green Salad   at Let Birds Fly
Pumpkin Pound Cake at  Happier Than A Pig In Mud

Saturday

Candle Light Dinner On The New Back Porch

Steaks On The Grill

Herb Baked Potato

Roasted Squash and Peppers

Crisp Green Salad

Garlic Bread

Homemade Spicy Vanilla Ice Cream

I am so happy that you came by to visit with us today. I hope you have a very special week and come back to see us real soon!

Peace and Joy

Miz Helen
On The Menu Monday
Made By You Monday
Hunk of Meat Monday
Your Recipe My Kitchen
Menu Plan Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesday Tasty Tidbits
Tasty Tuesday
Hearth and Soul Blog Hop
Whats On The Menu Wednesday
These Chicks Cooked
Whats Cooking Wednesday
Real Food Wednesday
Made It On Monday
Friday Favorite Finds
Friday Potluck
Fat Camp Friday
Friday Favorites
Fusion Fridays 

The Tomato Journey

We just love tomatoes, green, red, yellow, black, all colors of beautiful tomatoes. We have tomatoes for slicing, for canning and just enjoying. You can grow a tomato just about anywhere, in a garden area, on the patio in a container and even upside down in a basket. We start our tomatoes from seed and the process usually starts in January.

 

The Kitchen Window Becomes The Greenhouse

Transplanted To The Garden and Blooming

Here Come The Tomatoes

And Back To The Window

Hot Sauce Anyone?

Maybe You Would Like Oven Dried Tomatoes
Recipe For Oven Dried Tomatoes (Here)

Then the tomatoes are over for another few months until we begin the process all over again. In the mean time we have lots of good canned tomato products in the pantry to enjoy until next year.

I sure am glad you came along for my Tomato Journey I always enjoy your company on the journey. Don't forget your bag of tomatoes and hope you will come back real soon!

Peace and Joy

Miz Helen

The Homesick Texan Cookbook Review

The day my book came in the mail I was so excited. I got my cup of tea and sat down to really enjoy the new cook book. The first thing I noticed was the size, it was just perfect for my cookbook shelf, it would fit there nicely without being to tall, to small or just to large. I love the texture of the pages, a nice feel to my hands as I scanned every page so carefully. I began to notice that many of the photo's looked very familiar to me because I had traveled some of the same roads many times, it was home for me.

Lisa Fain, a seventh generation Texan found herself working in Manhattan and searching for the right ingredients to prepare the thing that speaks to all of us when we are lonely, and that is food from home. The taste, the comfort that only comes from the smells, the texture and the flavors of the food that gives us comfort. Lisa began to blog in 2005 and from that beginning The  Homesick Texan Cookbook was developed. 

This cookbook will take you on a tour of Texas, its people and culture and the wonderful food that is such an important part of that culture. From the far West Texas Oil towns to the high rises of Houston and Dallas to the small fishing villages on the gulf, to her heart and soul,  the farm where she spent so much time as a young woman.

Lisa has put together a  glossary of terms and even photos of those special chili peppers that add so much flavor to the recipes, making it so much easier to stock the Texas Pantry. The recipe's range from Pickles to Sweets with the classics in between, 12 chapters packed with adventure in the Texas cuisine. One of the first thoughts I had upon reading the recipes for the first time was, that gal can cook ! Now after cooking several of her recipes in the past few weeks, I still think the same thing even more so, That Gal Can Cook!!

As a native Texan, I have come to have a very deep appreciation for this cookbook. One of my favorite photo's is of her grandmother holding her pail of Black Eyed Pea's. What a familiar scene that was for me. Lisa takes you on a journey with her touching stories of her childhood and school days here in the state that she loves so much. I too lived away from Texas for a number of years and understand what it is like to search for the food and the culture that means so much to your lifestyle. She has created a way for all of us to enjoy a little bit of  Texas anytime we like, all we have to do is open The Homesick Texan Cookbook and start to cook.

It has been an honor and a privilege  for me to be asked to be a part of this Spotlight and Cook Off for The Homesick Texan Cookbook for the past few weeks, I have loved every second of this adventure! Thank you so much to Heather at Girlichef who has been our host for the event and our sponsor Hyperion. If you would like to check out the recipes that I prepared from The Homesick Texan Cookbook  please go to these links.

Dallas Gas Station Pork Tacos, Austin Style Black Beans, Sopapillas, Pasilla Garlic Shrimp, and Tomatillo Cheese Grits

I sure hope that you will come back to see me real soon.  I always look forward to your visits.

Peace and Joy

Miz Helen

*This post is part of The Homesick Texan Cookbook Spotlight and Cook-Off sponsored by Hyperion and hosted at girlichef*

Disclosure:
I have received an advance copy of this book as a gift to participate in this review, however the opinions are mine.
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