Pinspiration Wednesday: Chicken, bean and potato dish

This week’s post is a recipe review based on this pin:

Source: pinterest.com via Julie on Pinterest

I haven’t been able to trace this back to any particular blog or person, so unfortunately I’m not able to properly credit this. The recipe instructions that were uploaded with the pin are as follows:

4-6 raw chicken breasts, new potatoes, green beans. Arrange in 9×13 dish. Sprinkle with a packet of Italian dressing mix and then top with a melted stick of butter. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I used a quart jar of green beans I canned last summer, three or four regular  Yukon Gold potatoes, and three chicken breasts. I just tossed it all in the pan instead of arranging it all fancy-like. My husband doesn’t care about presentation. I used a .9-ounce packet of Italian dressing mix and changed the one stick of butter to a 1/4 cup of butter and a 1/4 cup of olive oil.

Here’s how it turned out for me:

Verdict? This dish has promise, but I thought it was waaaay too greasy. The potatoes and beans went well with the Italian dressing mix, but the chicken didn’t do it for me. It was just bland.

If I make this again, I’m going to marinade the chicken first, then just use a half stick (1/4 cup) of butter or oil instead of the full stick (1/2 cup).

Has anyone else found this recipe on Pinterest and tried it? What did you think?

 

 

 

Check out my previous Pinterest Wednesday post.

The case for DIY Swiffer-style refills

So…this may only be exciting if you’re into cleaning your house. Or saving money. Or finding a winning strategy for battling the cat hair on your hardwood floors.

Pro tip: Make your own Swiffer sweeper cloth refills. They work better, in my opinion, and you’re not wasting money on something you can clean one room with and then pitch.

I haven’t purchased refill cloths for my Swiffer sweeper for more than two years. I made my own out of some scraps of antipill fleece I had left over from sewing some comfy pants. That fleece collects cat hair like nobody’s business, which Cougar and Andy have demonstrated several times after sitting on my lap or brushing against my leg. I’ve also tried some microfiber cloths, but the fleece has worked best for me.

Want proof? Here ya go. I dusted my living room floor after sweeping it with a traditional broom, and this was the result:

Yeah, it’s gross. But it’s on the cloth and not my floors, which is awesome.

When I’m done with it, I just toss it in the wash with my towels. If the cloth is particularly furry, I’ll shake it out in the yard, but I generally don’t. The fur and dirt all comes out in the wash and does not get transferred to the other clothes.

I made these cloths by measuring my Swiffer sweeper and then sewing a pocket on the ends, but the easiest way to make your own cloths is simply cutting a piece long enough to tuck in the cloth gripper holes. You don’t even need to sew the edges. Piece of cake!

One of these days I want to try to sew a fabric refill for the duster. Has anyone tried that yet?

Pinspiration Wednesday: DIY pillowcase bag

Remember my old Pinspiration Wednesday posts that I discontinued? You’re looking at their new revival with a different angle.

Instead of just sharing pins that I find awesome, I’m sharing projects, recipes, etc. that I’ve found on Pinterest and have done/cooked myself. This isn’t a new idea and other bloggers are doing it, so I guess you could say I’m just jumping on the bandwagon.

This week’s project is a shopping bag made from a pillowcase from the blog Grow Mama. The link to the Grow Mama blog will take you directly to the tutorial. I chose this project to repurpose an old threadbare sheet set I have.

I modified mine to have straight seams simply because I like to sew in a straight line. I kept the sections I cut out because they’re the perfect size for cleaning rags. The original tutorial has a curved handle, which is prettier, but I was aiming for simplicity with this project.

Here’s the finished product! It’s now my new storage bag for the store plastic bags I need to recycle/repurpose for trash can liners.

Follow me on Pinterest!

Two-bean tamale bake recipe

This is a recipe that I made this week after an error in judgement at the grocery store.

My local store had organic, canned beans on sale for 5 cans for $4. For organic ones, I thought that was a decent deal. So I bought quite a few cans, thinking how nice they’d be in chili.

Then I remembered – warm weather is NOT chili season for this redhead. So what to do with the beans?

Boom. A recipe for beef tamale bake became two-bean tamale bake instead. It’s quick, it’s easy, and you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry right now.

Redhead tips: You’ll need a deep-dish, 11-inch pie plate for this meal, but a 9-by-9 casserole dish may work too. If you prefer a meat version, just substitute one can of the beans for a half pound of cooked ground beef.

TWO-BEAN TAMALE BAKE
Adapted from The Pampered Chef’s “It’s Good for You” cookbook

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-23 minutes. Makes eight slices if cut like a pie.

For the tamale base, you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup hot water (from the tap is fine)
• 1 egg (or two egg whites, whichever you prefer)
• 3 Tbsps. melted lard (or butter/margarine)

Mix the dry ingredients together, followed by the liquid, in a bowl with a fork. Pour into greased baking dish.

For the topping, you’ll need:

• 1 15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-ounce can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa (I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe)
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 2 tsps. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Mix these ingredients up in a bowl, then pour over the tamale batter, leaving a half-inch edge. Bake for the specified time. When done, top with cheddar cheese to taste and put back in the oven for a few minutes or until the cheese melts.

Give it a try and tell me how you liked it! It’s really good topped with just a bit of sour cream.

Repurposing a doily for a clock

I appreciate the intricacy of doilies, but I just can’t get behind decorating with them. I never liked how they looked under under a vase or some other knickknack.

I have three doilies my grandmother crocheted a long time ago and they’ve only gotten as far as my linen closet in my house. I always felt slightly guilty for this.

Fortunately, I have found a use for one of them! Ta da, a clock!

I needed a new clock in my living room after I accidentally slammed the front door and the force knocked my previous clock off the wall. It crashed on the floor and that was that.

I found the tutorial for this clock at Name that Candy. I don’t have exact totals, but I know I spent less than $15 on supplies. The clock kit was the most expensive item. I used a fat quarter from the quilting section of my local craft store to cover the box. Ideally I would have used some scrap fabric, but I didn’t have anything that would match the orange in the doily.

You’ll need a doily, some fabric, a clock kit and a wood canvas box. Drill a hole in the center of the box.

Since the hands are a little hard to see, I later used some glow-in-the-dark puffy paint on the clock hands to make them more visible. I may paint them black yet still; I haven’t decided.

You’ll need a doily with a fairly large opening in the center. Mine was three-eighths of an inch, which is exactly what I needed for the clock components I bought.

You’ll also need to starch and block your doily to stiffen it up for the clock face. I don’t keep laundry starch on hand, but if you have corn starch in your kitchen, you can make your own. The recipe I used was from Pinky has a Brain. It worked really well! I blocked the doily on a pizza box with pins and let it dry overnight.

This was a really quick and easy project that I finished in probably 10 minutes. What do you think?

My new favorite breakfast

I’m here to share my latest breakfast food obsession – refrigerator oatmeal.

I found refrigerator oatmeal under several names, including summer porridge and muesli. At it’s basic level, it’s oats, Greek yogurt and milk that’s tossed in the ‘fridge overnight and eaten cold. No cooking required. It sounds weird, but it’s delicious. It almost reminds me of a crazy cousin to pudding.

I’ve been using the recipes found on The Yummy Life blog. I’ve made the blueberry maple, apple cinnamon, banana cocoa, banana peanut butter, raspberry vanilla and mocha. The mocha has been my favorite recipe so far, but I’m anxious to try pumpkin pie, peach melba and cherry garcia. Sax Guy really likes the banana peanut butter.

I double these recipes for a pint Mason jar because I’m a pig and like a big breakfast. I currently do not use the chia seeds and cut back on the milk by a few tablespoons so I don’t have runny oatmeal. Unfortunately I can’t offer an exact amount because I didn’t measure. I do want to try it with chia seeds when I can find some.

I’ve also tried these recipes with plain yogurt, but Greek works best.

I’ve been enjoying this oatmeal almost every morning for two weeks or so. It’s been a nice breakfast for my morning reading binge. I’ve been working on the Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, but I’m taking a break from that to start “Parade’s End” by Ford Madox Ford. Has anyone read that book?

Hope you’re all doing well!

A sign that spring is coming

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know I deal with various furry woodland creatures around my house.

Every spring, I have the battle of the chipmunks. Skunks and raccoons frequent the garden in the summer.

Now, I have a bigger problem since the temperatures are starting to warm up and furry creatures wake up from their long winter naps.

Squirrels.

 

My usual tactic is to grease my shepherd’s hook with lard or Crisco. It makes the pole slippery enough to deter chipmunks, but the squirrels aren’t bothered by it.

Ugh. They’d be easier to hate if they weren’t so cute.

Back to the drawing board. I think I just need to give up and buy a baffle.