patties and pups

I'm in a seafood kind of mood today. Where's a Red Lobster when I need one?! Here's a simple, under 30 minute meal you can make in a jiffy.. with JIFFY mix!

Salmon Patties

1 (14.75oz) can salmon

1 egg

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Drain and reserve liquid from salmon. I took the bones out.. but you don't really have to. They're so small and edible. 
2. Mix egg, onion, bread crumbs, and salmon together.
3. Form into patties. If the mixture is too dry add a little of the reserved liquid from salmon.
4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, brown patties on each side.
5. Drain on paper towel.

Hush Puppies

1 box of Jimmy Corn Muffin Mix

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

Oil for frying

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep pot. Oil should heat to 375.
2. Mix all your ingredients together.
3. Drop by teaspoon into hot oil.
4. Fry until golden brown. (about 4 minutes)
5. Drain on paper towel.

Fried food is not always the best thing for you to eat. But once in a while it's okay. Besides Omega 3 in the salmon is good for your hair! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Love, Lana

Tis the Season!

Can you believe it's almost Christmas?! I am super duper excited! We got the house all Holidified. Is that a word? It is now!! haha. Everyone has their own family traditions that they do to celebrate Christmas. Here's some things that we do in my home. First thing we do is pick a theme and colors. One year we had a snowflake theme and everything was blue, white, and silver. Last year it was poinsettias with red, gold, and green. This year we decided on pears and doves with pear green, purple, and gold. Instead of buying a whole new set of decorations we made some homemade ones. Check them out!

We found really cheap purple balls for a dollar! A dollar!! All you need is some glitter glue to make them fancy. Design them however you'd like. I put our names on some and the rest had random dots, stripes, or swirls.

Pears: My mom had some plastic pears that went perfect with the theme. I used curling ribbon and glue dots to make into ornaments. That's it! We tested it out and the glue dots peel right off without damaging the pear.

 Doves: I'm sure you can find a template or stencil online for a dove, but we just drew the shape of a dove and cut it out. Use it to trace more onto cardstock or scrapbook paper. I used a pale shade of purple. Try using paper with designs and patterns on them. That would probably look nice.. but this is all we had. There's two ways you can make this dove.. the simple one: trace, cut out, decorate, hole punch at the top to tie ribbon or string. And the 3D one: the same as the other dove but you fold the paper in half and use the folded side as the dove's belly. Then trace and cut out, fold the wings down and secure with glue where the wings meet. I used gold glitter glue again to decorate. I'm going crazy with that stuff!

Tada! Other homemade ornaments.. Pine cones spray painted gold and pearls, cut the strands and fasten with a wire hook to make them dangle like earrings.

 

More decorating: A lot of things that you already have can be used for any occasion. I filled a trifle bowl with pears, pine cones, and birds. And a mini one with tea lights. Hope my mom didn't need them for food! :X

 

Christmas Wreath: 

Willow wreath, ribbon, flowers. All of our supplies we already had. They came from Dollar Tree. Wrap the ribbon around the wreath and tuck the flower stems in between the ribbon. It started out simple but my mom got our decorations from last year and went a little ribbon happy.  

Gift Wrapping:

No need to spend money on wrapping! When we moved we got a box of packing paper that we never used. Now we use it for everything but packing! Projects, drawing on, making sewing patterns, making treasure maps! haha. The box is still full over a year later. In this case, we used it as wrapping paper but other things to try are brown paper bags, newspapers (especially comics) magazine pages, fabric scraps. Decorate with ribbons, flowers, buttons, just about anything!

 And don't forget the tags. I cut out holly leaves on green scrapbook paper and glued red pompoms for the berries.

Or just draw your own tag right on the wrapping itself. It works.

The Holidays wouldn't be complete without something sweet! Well, that's every day in our house. Can't wait for Christmas Eve when we make cookies for Santa. That's a whole other blog to be. 

Sweet Treats:

chocolate dipped fortune cookies and pretzels

White Chocolate covered Oreos

Wrapped up and ready to go!

 

 Rudolph cake pops: His HUGE gummy nose makes me laugh! hahaha

Rice Krispy Treat Present Pops

Brownie Xmas Trees

 

Reindeer Cupcakes with crushed candy topping

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Banana Bread Muffins and Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese Icing

For our friends

Hot Cocoa with Holiday Marshmallows

Mocha Lattes with whipped cream and sprinkles

 

My little brother thinks that the holidays are all about getting toys. But I know it's much more than that. It's a celebration for Baby Jesus. You don't have to buy expensive presents. Everyone appreciates gifts from the heart. Hope you get inspired to make some handmade and homemade goodies for your family and friends. Merry Christmas everyone! 

Love, Lana

cloudy with a chance of meatballs!

 This recipe is super easy and just screams CoMfOrT FoOd. Especially since it's getting SO cold outside. Stay in and  enjoy a heaping plate of pasta and meatballs! Pair it with a funny family movie. May I suggest "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"!

Baked Meatballs

• 1 1/4 lbs ground sirloin
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• salt and pepper
• italian seasoning to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Grease baking sheet with cooking spray.

3. Mix all ingredients together and form 1 to 1 1/2 inch round meatballs

(I find mixing with your hands to be the best method.)

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until no longer pink in the middle.

5. Enjoy with your favorite pasta and sauce!

I used Cellentani Pasta (Barilla) and Newmans Basil Marinara. Also served with garlic bread.  But the goodness doesn't stop there! The next day we had Meatball subs for lunch. Or as they call them up here, Grinders! Hoagie rolls, the meatballs you just made, marinara sauce, top with mozarella (slices or shredded), sprinkle with parmesan if you like..

..pop it in the toaster oven til the cheese is melted juuuuust right and Viola! You're welcome!!! hehe.

Love, Lana

just roll with it

Good Morning! Let's start this day with some breakfast.. shall we? I love omelets. They're easy to make, you can put whatever you want in them, and they are yummerific! I found a way to make it fast and pop it in the oven so you don't to watch it and flip it over. Set it, and forget it! I'm posting the recipe for the omelet roll, but just to let you know, I had to make a few changes because I had to use what was in our kitchen and wasn't prepared to make this.. but my tummy waits for no one! Try using other ingredients too. Like peppers and sausage with a side of salsa! mm! Or mushrooms and spinach. Whatever you like to use in regular omelets..  just roll with it! ^_^

Baked Omelet Roll

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup shredded cheese

**We were all out of shredded cheese so I cut up some string cheese. I also added chopped lunch meat. (ham and turkey)**

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Grease a baking sheet or wax paper, place in a 9x13 jelly roll pan.

3. Combine eggs, milk, flour, salt, and pepper. Pour into prepared baking sheet.

 

4. Sprinkle with cheese and other fillings.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, (until eggs are set)
6. Starting at one of the short sides, carefully lift the baking sheet and slowly roll up omelet.
7. Place seam side down on a serving plate and cut into slices.

Right now I'm visiting my grandma in Florida. Quick and easy recipes like this one is great for times like this when you have a lot of people to feed. Plus it makes a pretty nice presentation. Start your day off with an Eggcellent breakfast! That's how I roll!

Love, Lana

orange you glad I made cake?!

Today's secret ingredient is... (drum roll)..Mandarin Oranges! I love these sweet, lil slices heaven. I like to add it to yogurt or just eat them plain. Yummerific! Here's how we added them to our menu for the evening:

*Lemon Pepper Baked Haddock

*Sweet Potato Fries

*Mandarin Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

*Mandarin Orange Mini Bundt Cakes

baked fish & sweet potato fries

1lb sweet potatoes- peeled and cut into fries (I made mine like steak fries)

olive oil

1/2 cup flour

1 egg-beaten

1 cup bread crumbs (seasoned with lemon pepper)

6 cod or haddock fillets

1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking pans with nonstick baking sheets. Drizzle potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with sugar and toss until coated.Spread the fries on a pan and bake for 25min. Turn over and bake for another 15min.

While the fries are baking, get 3 shallow dishes. One for the flour, one for the beaten egg, and one for the bread crumbs. Dip the fish fillets in the flour to coat, then the egg, and finally the bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet.

The last 15min of cooking the fries put the fish in the oven. Turning once during cooking, until the fish is tender. 

mandarin spinach salad

1 lb baby spinach
mandarin oranges 

4 oz pecans

1/4 c dried cranberries

4oz crumbled goat cheese

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

2 tbsp honey mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

3/4 c olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

mandarin orange mini bundt cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 11oz can mandarin oranges (undrained)
4 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
vanilla cake icing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini bundt pan with butter and dust with flour. With an electric mixer on low combine cake mix, eggs, and oil. Reserve about 15 orange slices for later, and add the rest of the mandarin oranges with juice and mix with a spoon. Pour batter into pan 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25min. Check with toothpick in center of cake, should come out clean. Turn cakes over on a cooling rack. Once they're cooled off, heat icing in microwave for a few seconds.. until its smooth enough to lightly pour on top of each cake and decorate with a mandarin orange or two! You can also garnish with a lil mint leaf. Pretty!!

This is one of my favorite cakes that my mom passed down to me. It's usually a summer treat because it's fruity & refreshing, served with a cool whip/crushed pineapple topping. But since it's not summer I like to eat it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Trust me, you want to try this one!

Happy Cooking!

Love, Lana