Mmm Mmm Mondays #8

Today was another unusually warm day for January, and I think tomorrow is going to be even warmer. I don't mind the winter months, but the weather needs to decide if it wants to be spring or winter. It's just weird to have to wear a heavy coat one day and then a light jacket the next. I'm ready for Spring though because there are a bunch of things I want to do to the outside of the house this year. I am also ready for my yard to look pretty again, and not all gross and brown.

Anyway enough rambling, and on to the recipe. Tonight I made homemade onion rings and buffalo chicken wraps. Hubs has been waiting for me to make this dish for a while now, but things just kept getting in the way, like forgetting to even get the chicken out of the freezer, Whoops! Like I have stated many times on this blog hubs loves him some hot and spicy food, and his eyes lit up when I told him I was making this. I got the wrap recipe from pinterest and tweaked it a little and got the onion ring recipe off the internet a few years ago. They are both super easy to make and I had a lot of fun doing it. Here is how to get started.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

You will need:

1 bottle of your favorite ranch dressing

1 bottle hot sauce or wing sauce (I used mild, but you can use any heat you like)

About 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 pkg egg roll wrappers (found in the health food refrigerated section)

*The original recipe called for blue cheese crumbles instead of ranch, but neither of us care too much for blue cheese so we opted to use ranch instead. The original also called for slaw mix, but I decided to leave that out as well.

Once you've shredded your chicken place it in a bowl and then give it a good coating with your wing sauce. I don't have an exact measurement, so just eyeball it until you think it's good.

Next, take out one of your egg roll wrappers and place it on a flat surface. Take about a tbsp of your chicken mixture and place it in the corner of your wrapper like so.

Next, I squeezed a little blob of ranch on top of the chicken.

Next, fold the bottom corner of the wrapper up over your chicken mixture.

Second, take the left corner of the wrapper and bring it into the center like so.

Do the same with the right side, and then fold the whole thing over once.

It should look like a little envelope by this point.

Next you want to take a little water and rub it on the outer edge of your envelope flap (in the same spot that the glue would be on an actual envelope).

Then fold it over and rub it with a little more water to make sure that it sticks down.

Repeat those steps until you have used all of your chicken mixture. My mixture ended up making about 12 wraps. When they are all made, place them on a cooling rack set on top of a cookie sheet, so they will cook evenly. Place them in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 mins or until golden.

Baked Onion Rings

You will need:

1 large yellow onion

1 container bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

Slice your onion into thick slices. I think I cut mine about 4 times. Then separate all the rings. Place your bread crumbs in one bowl, and your eggs in another.

First dip your onion in to the egg mixture.

Second, dip it into the bread crumbs. Make sure it gets coated well so it will get crispy when cooked.

When they are all coated, place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 mins.

Since both of the things I made tonight were cooked at the same temperature I put the onion rings in first and let them start cooking since they take longer and then placed the wraps in once I was done making them. That way everything was done around the same time. Doesn't it look yummy??

Well it was and hubby loved it! Of course he had to add more wing sauce to his (I told you he likes hot food) but the flavors were delicious.

I had a little ranch on the side of mine for dipping, and it was perfect. I felt like a fatty because I ended up eating like 4 of these plus onion rings and boy was I stuffed, but it was worth every bite.

Hubby's rating: 5

The thing that I like the most about both these dishes is that they are baked and not fried, so they are just a tad bit healthier for you. I like being able to make things that still taste good, but are better for you.

Sorry if I have rambled on this whole post, but I am watching a riveting episode of the RH of Beverly Hills while I write this and I can't seem to focus on both. I hope you enjoy making this recipe and come back to let me know what you think or if you have any advice or tips. Until next time, BYE!

A Wintery Day and a Project

Well we finally had some wintery weather here today. The temperature dropped drastically in about 2 hours and we got a mix of some snow and rain. We were supposed to receive about an inch of snow, but didn't get that much in our area of town. They even closed school early today, in anticipation that the roads were going to be slick. They didn't get as bad as they thought, so I doubt school will be canceled tomorrow. I feel like kids nowadays get out for everything and when I was in school we never got out. In fact they let us out early one day in the middle of an ice storm!! Here is a picture of my backyard this afternoon.


Sweet pea and I got out and went to our favorite store Target this morning before the weather hit, but then stayed inside the rest of the day. We watched some of her favorite show Diego.

And then when hubby got home we built her a little fort. It was the first time we had done this before, so she was a little unsure at first about what to do. She eventually got the hang of it once I brought her some books to look at. Isn't that the sweetest thing!

Mommy on the other hand got bored being couped up all day, so what did I decide to do you say?? If you said craft project, than you get an A+! Since it was too yucky to go out and get any supplies, I had to make something with the things I already had on hand. I looked around the house for an idea and then stumbled upon this little blue bird. I haven't been 100% satisfied with this vingette in my dining room since putting away my Christmas decor, so I decided to spruce things up a bit by building this little guy a nest.

See doesn't he look lonely??

I remembered I had some spanish moss from another project I did back in the fall, and then I just used a styrofoam bowl for the nest shape.

Out came my trusty little glue gun and I went to work. I first filled in the bottom of the bowl, like so.

Then I started wrapping the edge and the sides of the bowl, and glued as I went.

Once I got it completely wrapped, I filled in the areas of the bowl that were still showing with the scraps that had fallen off while glueing. I then trimmed any crazy excess that was sticking out.

I found these twigs tangled in with the moss so I decided to glue them on the edge.

I wanted to flatten the middle down a bit so the bird didn't sit up so high, so I just placed one of my cereal bowls in the center of the nest and let it sit for about 1 hour.

Here is the finished product.

I think mr. bluebird likes his new home, what do you think??

I hope to be able to swtich this out for a real one some time this summer. My mom found the most perfect nest in my front yard last summer, and she took it to her pre-school so she could use it for her science center in her class. I had never actually seen one that was in such pristeen condition. Hopefully I will find one just as good this year. It is amazing all the hard work that those little birds put into making a nest.

I hope all this snow moves out by the morning, because I don't want to have to deal with driving in it. People just do stupid things when it snows here! I am gonna go now because Grey's Anatomy is on. On tonight's episode they are separating conjoined twins, Wow! Hope you all have a good night, BYE!!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

At The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday

Mmm Mmm Mondays #7 (On Tuesday....Again)

Well I am unfortunately a day late with this weeks Mmm Mmm Monday post, so you are getting it on Tuesday again. My computer has been acting up lately, and it would not let me upload any pictures to blogger. I am not really sure why it is happening, but boy is it frustrating, especially when you are already tired after a long day of cleaning and taking care of a 19 month old! The weather here was really nice today and almost got up to 60 degrees. I heard there is a cold front moving in tomorrow though and maybe snow on Thursday, YUCK! I am not a winter person and don't like snow that much so I am not very thrilled to say the least. Oh well, what can ya do about it.

This weeks recipe was found on, you guessed it, Pinterest! It is a recipe that I pinned a while back but am just now getting around to trying. I always like to make a least one pasta dish every time I plan my meals out for the week, and this one was one that we have never tried before so it was perfect. You can find the original recipe here. The recipe is for Toasted Ravioli, which is a nice way of saying that it's fried! Here is how to make it:

Toasted Ravioli

You will need:

1 qt vegetable oil

1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

2 tbsp dried oregano

2 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp dried thyme

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 package store bought ravioli (I used cheese filled)

Place your oil in a large pot and heat. When working with oil you need to be careful not to get it too hot or it will burn the food pretty much on contact (trust me I know from experience!), so try turning it on med-low and when you think it may be hot enough try one piece of ravioli at a time in case it's not ready. If it burns on contact your oil is too hot and you need to turn it down, if it doesn't seem to make a fizzle when you put in the ravioli then you probably need to turn your heat up a little. Like hubby told me, it's better to have to turn the heat up and cook the food a little longer than having it burn right away. (That hubby, always gives good advice)

While your heating your oil place your flour in one dish, your beaten eggs in another, and your bread crumbs mixed with all other ingredients in another.

When your ready to start making the ravioli, grab one, roll it in the flour and shake off excess.

Then dip it into your egg mixture.

Then dip it into your bread crumb mixture, and coat it well. If the crumbs don't stick you may want to dip the ravioli back into the egg.

Once it's good and coated, place it gently into the hot oil. It should make a little bubbly action and you'll know it's working. I placed about 5-8 in at a time. Let them brown on one side for about 15 secs and then flip them over to brown the other side. The raviolis should puff up a bit which is good because that means they are cooking all the way through.

When they are browned on both sides, scoop them out with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with paper towels to catch the excess oil. They should look something like the picture below.

When your ready to serve go ahead and sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese onto the top and Voila! There you have it. I served mine with salad and a bread stick, but these could be served with anything of your choice. They would even be a good appetizer food for a party, but you would have to make sure that you served them as soon as they came out of the oil, because otherwise they would get too cold.

These were really delicious and easy to make, and sweet pea loved dipping hers into the marinara sauce. She had it everywhere!

Hubby's rating:4

Hope you have fun if you decide to try this recipe, and be sure to come back and visit next week to see what I have up my sleeve. I am gonna go to bed now, it's been a long day and I am EXHAUSTED! See you soon, Goodnight!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #6

Dinner done, dishes done, sweet pea's bath done, sweet pea to bed done, toys cleaned up done. I finally have a chance to sit down and write this weeks Mmm Mmm Monday post. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here it was freezing today, and we even had a little bit of snow. Nothing too crazy, but it was a nice dusting. Sweet pea liked looking out the window as it was coming down. Here are a few pics that I snapped this afternoon while it was coming down pretty hard.

As we were looking at the snow I thought to myself, "self what should we make for dinner tonight since it is so cold outside?" and my self replied "Oh definitely some kind of comfort food and something warm". So after some thinking I chose to make Chicken and Dumplings.

Now, my aunt really makes the best chicken and dumplings, but I think mine come in at a pretty close second. I was always intimidated by hers and knew for sure that they would be so hard to make, but I was pleasantly wrong. Once I tried, and with a little bit of help and encouragement from my aunt, I finally made them on my own. I was very proud of myself the first time I made them and even more proud to show my hubby what I had accomplished. I felt like a true southern cook at that moment (even thought I still have a long way to go)!

So without further ado, here is my recipe for Chicken and Dumplings.

Chicken and Dumplings

You will need:

1 medium sized whole chicken or 3 good sized breasts

1 tbsp butter

2 cups bisquick

2/3 milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cold water

8 oz chicken broth (1 can)

salt and pepper to taste

Season your chicken with salt and pepper, and then place into boiling water. If you are using a whole chicken it will need to cook for approximately 1 hour or until chicken can be easily pulled away from the bone. If you are using chicken breasts they typically cook for about 30 mins, but cook time will vary depending on the size of breasts your using.

While your chicken is boiling, you can put together your dumpling mixture and thickening agent. First, place bisquick and milk in a bowl and stir until fully mixed.

You should end up with a dough mixture like this.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth.

Once your chicken is done, remove it from the water and let it cool. If there is still a lot of water left in the pot you may want to pour some out until its only about less than 1/2 way full. If not your soup will be too runny. I unfortunately had this happen tonight, but they still turned out OK. Once your chicken is cool, shred and then return to the pot.

You will then add your butter, salt and pepper and stir.

Once you've added those ingredients you add in your chicken broth. I said to use one can for measurement reasons, but your can really use as much as you want according to your taste, but just be careful not to use too much or your soup will become too liquidity.

Once you have added your broth go ahead and stir in the flour mixture that you made earlier and return to a boil.

Let soup boil for about a minute or so and then drop tsp of your baking mix into the boiling mixture. Repeat this process until all dumplings have been dropped.

Reduce heat to simmer and cook uncovered for 10 mins. I always turn my dumplings after about 5 minutes so they get really good and cooked. Cover and then continue cooking for about 10 more minutes. Once they are done, they should look something like this.

Serve them up with your favorite side of choice (biscuit, green beans, etc...) and ENJOY! I decided to skip the side item tonight to save my calories for the large bowl of cookies and ice cream that I just indulged in. YUM!

Hubby's rating: 5

I hope if you decide to try this recipe you will come back and let me know how you liked it, or if you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. It's gonna be a cold one again tomorrow, so I foresee some leftovers in my future. Hope you all have a good night and stay warm out there. Goodnight!!

Linking up to:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays