Chicken Lo Mein

I love Chinese food. My husband hates to go out to Chinese restaurants. What's a girl to do, but learn how to cook it herself? I'm still working on it, and this is definitely not the best recipe I've made, but it's good enough to satisfy the craving. Also, a lot of the uncommon ingredients for this recipe stay good for a long time, so don't be afraid to buy them, thinking that they'll go bad soon.

Lately, we've been eating out a lot because we've been traveling up to the new house, so we are definitely ready to start eating some good food. I've been so busy lately with job interviews, that I don't have much time to cook. So, I'll be cooking some old, trustworthy recipes this week. Hopefully, my job situation will be settled by the end of next week (fingers crossed), and things will get back to our semi-normal dual house lifestyle.

Chicken Lo Mein

12 oz. linguine pasta

1 large onion

1 1/2 lbs. cubed, cooked chicken

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

3 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

1 tbsp. ketchup

1 tsp. sesame oil

Cook linguine according to package directions. While the noodles are boiling, whisk the last 6 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet. Coarsely chop the onion and add to the oil. Saute the onion until crisp tender; add chicken and heat through. Meanwhile, drain noodles when done. Add noodles and the liquid mixture to the chicken and onions. Turn the heat to high and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes. Serve.

Notes: I think I used too much linguine. Also, I added a little more soy sauce at the end for more flavor.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

This week has been filled with traveling, and therefore little cooking. I have had 4 interviews and 1 job fair lately. It wouldn't be so bad, but its a long drive across Houston during rush hour. I have had one job offer and I think I'll get another this week. I'm trying to hold out for the second offer with Magnolia ISD. Hopefully this week will be better (plus no school on Friday!!!!). Anyway, I've wanted to post these enchiladas for a while. They are so not the traditional enchiladas we are used to, but they are still tasty. My husband really likes them and they are easy to make.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

4 0z. cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp. water

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken

10 flour tortillas

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1- 4oz can green chilies

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, water, and seasonings until smooth. Stir in chicken. Place 1/4 cup of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla, roll up, and place seam side down in a greased 13x9x2 inch dish. In a bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, milk, and chilies. Pour over enchiladas. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese, bake 5 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.

By the way...I'm posting this from my couch on my new handy, dandy HP Netbook. I've never had a laptop, and I'm super excited. Hopefully I'll post more often now that I can do it from anywhere in the house (maybe).

Banana Split Friday

My sister, Lindsey, and friends, Sara and Destiny, all got together for girl's night last Friday. We went to Gringo's for mexican food, as usual, and then went over to Sara's apartment to watch a movie. The highlight of the night was the banana splits everyone made. I never knew there was so much controversy over what to put on a banana split...pineapple, caramel, chocolate syrup, marshmallow puff, cherries, different flavors of ice cream, strawberry topping, whipped cream....the possibilities are endless. Here are a few of the concoctions...

Lindsey's: chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate, with some whipped cream, and a cherry.

Sara's: all vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and cherries.

Destiny's: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream, with whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate syrup.

Mmmm, Mmmm good!! Makes you want one too, doesn't it??

New House -- Meatball Pizza Subs

Spring break is here!!! Too bad I'm spending most of it working on the new house. The last three days have been spent painting and cleaning. Anyway, I said I would post some pics of the new house, so here are a few I took this morning.Here is the living room. Remember, we haven't moved most of the furniture, so foldable tables are all we have.

KitchenEntering the house.Part of the back yard.

View of part of the front yard from upstairs bedroom. You can see our tiny pond and the driveway.

Obviously, we have a lot of work to do outside, but we are focusing on the inside of the house for now. A lawnmower will be our next big purchase, and someday we hope to expand the pond.

In spending so much time at the new house, we've had to eat out a lot, which is getting to be very expensive. So, I cooked our first dinner at the new house last night. You need absolutely no dishes for this meal!

Meatball Pizza Subs

Hoagie Buns

1-15oz. jar of pizza sauce

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

20 slices of pepperoni

1 bag frozen cooked meatballs, thawed

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Open hoagie buns and sprinkle approx. 1/3 cup cheese into each bun. Place 4 slices of pepperoni on top of the cheese on each bun. Place 3 to 4 meatballs in each sandwich. Now, spoon about a 1/3 cup of pizza sauce on top of the meatballs for each sandwich. Wrap each sandwich with aluminum foil and bake for approx. 10-12 minutes.

Voila! How easy is that???

Spiral Pepperoni Pizza Bake

I've been pretty busy lately. We recently bought a new house, which happens to be about an hour away from where we currently live. So, we've been spending some of our weekends at the new place, and we'll move there permanently next June. Hopefully, I'll have some pics to post soon. Anyway, I haven't had much time for posting or cooking. This is a recipe I made on Monday.

Spiral Pepperoni Pizza Bake

1-16oz package spiral pasta
2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2-15oz cans of pizza sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1-3 1/2 oz package of sliced pepperoni

Cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, in a large pot, cook beef, onion, salt and pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the pizza sauce, garlic salt, and italian seasoning; remove from heat and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and Parmesan. Drain pasta; toss with egg mixture. Transfer to a greased 3qt. casserole dish. Top with beef mixture, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Notes: You could use spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce. Definately salt the pasta while its boiling. I didn't do this, and the pasta layer in the casserole was bland. I used grated Parmesan instead of shredded and the dish came out fine. Lastly, I only used about 3 cups of mozzarella. Four cups just seemed overwhelming.

Sour Cream Beef and Beans

In my never-ending quest to find quick and easy recipes, I found this microwaveable recipe. I know, many of you out there despise the microwave, but oh well. I just can't pass up recipes like this. It was quick, easy, and better than a tv dinner. If you like Frito Pie, then you will like this. It's basically Frito Pie with a mexican twist.

Sour Cream Beef and Beans

1 lb ground beef
1-15oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1-15oz can enchilada sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1-4oz can chopped green chilies
1 1/2 cups crushed corn chips
1 cup sour cream
additional corn chips, optional

Crumble beef into an ungreased 2qt. microwave save dish; cover with paper towel or waxed paper. Cook on high for 5 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, stirring twice; drain. Stir in the beans, enchilada sauce, 1 cup of cheese, chilies, and crushed corn chips; mix well. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until heated through, stirring once. Top with the sour cream and remaining cheese. Heat, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with corn chips.

The Best Pasta Carbonara

I made the best pasta carbonara last week. The recipe is by Pastor Ryan from The Pioneer Woman website. Its not very healthy, but everything is ok in moderation...right? By the way, I just have to say, that I LOVE bacon. You can find the recipe here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/cooking-with-ryan-pasta-carbonara/. I promise, it's worth it.