Igloo Time

Well looks like we are going to have a blizzard. We have battened down the hatches, gotten extra water and food, as well as toilet paper. We are prepared...unless the power goes out then we are going to have to find someone with a wood stove or something...but I am confident that it won't come to that.

So in other important news, we have kitties! My beloved, David, has adopted the 2 cutest little critters in the world...well except for the other critters that we had, like Cleo, My moms cat, Isis, and Ashes. We have one that is solid black, not even a few white hairs, she has hazel/green eyes, they sort of change each day. We named her Luna, She is a feisty little lover girl, about 8 or 9 weeks old. She loves to cuddle and loves to be in your face and the center of attention...until you stand up, then she runs. The second little lover girl that he has adopted is a white and gray little bundle of joy. She is the most social of the two, she enjoys cuddling, running and playing with her sister and the little monster man. She enjoys also being under blankets for warmth. She is the smaller of the two of them.

Aren't they adorable!  And yes... I/We are turning into a cat lady. hehe!

Simply The Best

So last night I made the beset chicken ever. I got this recipe from my Mama and she would make this when I was younger and still living at home. It is soooo moist but crunchy at the same time.

Bread Crumb Chicken

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 to 2 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts trimmed of fat
1/2-1 cup Italian bread crumbs
 grated Parmesan cheese


Take the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese and mix together. Add just enough of the parm cheese that it makes the bread crumbs a  little whiter.

it should look like this

Take the chicken Breast and coat in the mayo then roll in the bread crumb mixture.

Place on a non stick baking sheet and bake at 350 F. for about 20-25 minutes.

Death Warmed over...

I died today. I went to physical therapy and died. Dead, Death warmed over etc. They upped my bike time to 17 minutes, I enjoy the bike, they upped my weights for my leg exercises, I did step-ups, worked on my balance (for those of you that know me...I didn't/don't have any balance at all so anything would be an improvement haha), wall squats that I held for 10 seconds each, the leg press also with upped weight to 60 lbs, AND I did 5 minutes on an elliptical. DEAD!! I also did all of this, after making baked pumpkin doughnut holes this morning for breakfast.

These cake like doughnut holes are awesome. My amazing mother has donated her mini muffin pan to the Rachel Kitchen Tool Usage Fund so I had to make something.


Baked Pumpkin Doughnut Holes

For the Doughnuts:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk

For the Coating:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray no stick mini muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves) in a bowl and set aside. (I used ginger in place of the ground cloves because I didn't have that)

put canola oil (I used veggie oil because I didn't have canola) brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk in a bowl and mix well.

Add your dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among muffin tin.

bake 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick or knife come out clean.

While they bake melt butter. In a separate bowl mix together sugar cinnamon mixture.

Pull the doughnut holes out of the oven and let cool for 2 minutes. Take them and roll them in the butter, then roll around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat until all doughnuts are done.

they are best if you eat them warm, or room temperature. These things went like lightening in our house, and as always I gave some away to my pt crew!


Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

a little happy, a little sad

Well, first off let me say I'm sorry it's been a while since I have posted. We have had a bit of sadness in our house. Isis our beautiful tabby lover girl has gone to stay at my parents house on the farm. Our apartment was too cramped for her and she just wasn't happy at all. She kept urinating on everything because she wanted to keep her territory from Ashes. She so far is very happy at my folks place. She is downstairs in the living room and socializing which is great! She is usually very antisocial. So big shout out to my parents for giving her a loving warm and wonderful place to stay.  I'm sure in a couple weeks she will be cuddling with you on the couch.  I love all of you.

The recipe tokay is some thing Super easy...and yes again with the crock pot. I'm sorry...Hello my name is Rachel and I am a crock pot addict. If there were a 12 step program I would not join because crock pots are awesome.  End of story lol. Anyways ....

Crock pot Chicken Ranch Tacos


2 lbs of chicken breast
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packed ranch dressing mix
1 cup chicken broth


Place all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 4-6 hours. Take chicken and shred it. Place back in the crock pot and let cook an additional 30 minutes. Enjoy with your favorite taco fixings, we did lettuce soft taco shells, tomatoes,  cheese, and ranch dressing. They were amazing!! Hope you enjoy.

Happy 1 Month Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to the blog! Today makes 1 month since I have been writing. Today I made crock pot potato soup (this is a repeat so I won't put the recipe on here. It's also SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!! Whoop Whoop! Out of my beloved and myself I am more of a football fan, as a girl I have a very healthy big love for football. I wish I had made some snack foods for today but we are having a couple day, where we do things together and I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen.


Anyways I hope everyone stays safe tonight...who are you rooting for?

Adorable

I don't really have much to talk about today. So here is a couple pictures of my kitty lovers. :-)

Just Fake It

Any of you that know me, know that I am a carb-a-holic. This is not good for my figure or anything else for that matter, but because the world so amazing and has great things that grow I can fake pasta without it being horrible for me. Spaghetti squash!!! Whoop Whoop! It is the best thing to come out of the garden since tomatoes, green beans, and corn...and well anything else that comes from the garden (if we are being honest). I love to get spaghetti squash just because just like pasta you can do many many things with it! Yesterday, when I made this, of course I had to nibble a little bit of it to see how it was, quality control and all that jazz haha! It is soooo easy that anyone with an oven can make it.


Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squasg
fork
sharp knife


Preheat your oven to 350.

Take your knife and just prick little holes all over the outside of the spaghetti squash.This step is VERY IMPORTANT so that the squash doesn't have a lot of pressure build up..built up pressure = exploding squash = BAD! No exploding!

place on  a nonstick baking sheet and bake for about an hour (I baked mine for about an hr and 10-15 minutes just because I like mine very done.

Let it cool down to where you can handle it with your hands.

Take your sharp knife and cut the squash hamburger bun style (short ways, not long ways like a hot dog bun)

Take the fork and scrape out the seeds and gooey stuff from the middle. Don't worry if some of the squash strands come out also.

Take your fork and just start to peel out the strands, Scraping the sides etc. until all of the squash is out.

See, told ya it was easy!

Top this off with your favorite sauce, or just butter and Parmesan cheese (my lunch yesterday).


As always, I hope you enjoy this awesome squash. Please feel free to comment or send me an email at landoffoodandkitties@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!