Chow Mein Casserole

Hot Dish or Casserole? What are they called in your house? I have lived in several different area's of the midwest, and had to learn to change with the region on what the dish is that I am baking. In Iowa, it was always "Casserole". After moving to Minnesota, I had to switch to talking about baking a "Hot Dish". Here in Wisconsin, both terms are used.  Some people believe that it has to do with the region and what the religion of the area is, meaning Catholic or other. When getting ready to post this recipe, I did a little research on this topic. On Wikipedia, their research found that a "Hotdish" is a variety of baked casserole, that in the end is mixed with a "canned soup". What do you called your baked dishes?? 

Now that I have all that out of the way... (I got on a little research tangent there just because I typed "Casserole" in the title of the post)... I have been so busy lately, and not feeling the greatest, so I have been counting on some of my quick and easy recipes. Some times you just don't have the energy to be in the kitchen. This recipe is like that for me. Brown the meat while the rice is cooking, throw it together, bake, done.  You are ready for dinner!

Chow Mein Casserole

1 lb. ground pork ( ground chicken also works well)
1 6 oz. bag Chow Mein noodles (divided)
1 c. cashews (add more if you are like me and LOVE cashews)
1 pkt Chow Mein seasoning
1 28 oz can Chow Mein vegetables
2 c. cooked white rice

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare rice.  Brown meat, drain.  Prepare seasoning, following directions on packet.  Add meat and vegetables to seasoning mixture.  Bring to boil, and cook for 10 minutes.  

In small roasting pan, layer as follows: Meat Mixture, 3/4 bag of noodles, rice, and cashews.  Cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and mix ingredients thoroughly.  Serve with soy sauce, and reserved Chow Mein noodles. 

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Weekend Potluck

Gram's Buttermilk Pancakes

One risk I have run into with raising our own chickens, is serving eggs to often for breakfast! Truckin' Man is pretty good at letting me know when he needs a change up in our menu plan! Today, was one of those days. He wanted pancakes, so I got out my Grandma's recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes. She gave me this recipe about a year ago when I was complaining about always being out of pancake mix when the mood struck to make them. I haven't bought a mix since. 

These are so simple, you don't need a box mix. Don't have buttermilk on hand? You can make a buttermilk substitute in just 5 minutes with milk and vinegar or lemon juice!

Grams' Buttermilk Pancakes
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
2 c. buttermilk**

Mix dry ingredients.  Add eggs and buttermilk to dry mix. Mix until combined,there may be a few lumps.

Bake on hot griddle.

Buttermilk Substitute: For two cup of buttermilk, add two tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measure cup. Fill cup to equal two cups, with milk.  Let set for 5-10 minutes. Add to recipe as needed. 

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Three Pepper Pasta Salad

Where has the summer gone? It seems to have flown by, and I know that fall is approaching as we were below 40 degree's last night! I am looking forward to our first frost. It has been near all I can handle to keep up with the vegetable garden, the flower garden, working... Where is my time to cook, bake and have fun in the kitchen??

With how busy things have been, I have been getting by on quick and easy recipes. I LOVE pasta salads. As much as I hate to admit it, I do like the Suddenly Salads that come in the box. The seasoning blend they use is just a favorite of mine. My Three Pepper Pasta Salad uses a mix, but you can add your own fresh peppers. Since, I use Penne Pasta for this salad, I cut my ingredients to match. Kind of like a thick julienne cut.  My mom just laughs at this salad (and other dishes I make) since I like to keep my ingredients in similar shapes.  I don't deny having my "issues", I can't be the only one that likes their food shapes to match.... Can I??? Tell me yours!

Three Pepper Pasta Salad

13 oz. box Penne Pasta
1 - 1 oz. package Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. olive oil
1 medium size green bell pepper
1 medium size red bell pepper
1 medium size yellow bell pepper
1 medium red onion
6 oz. cheddar cheese.

Directions

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix dressing mix together with water and oil. Combine well, and set aside.

Cut peppers, onion and cheddar cheese into thick julienne strips. 

Rinse pasta in cold water.  Add dressing and toss together until thoroughly combined.  Add vegetables and cheese. Toss lightly. Add additional olive oil, if needed.

Let chill for 4 hours.  Serve and enjoy!

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Farm Fresh Eggs

It is so hard to believe that today is the 6 month anniversary of when I brought our little fuzzy baby chicks home! Where does the time go?!?! We went from the cute fuzzy chicks, to the ugly dorky stage, to beautiful birds that have become pets for us. I am going to skip over the part of the 6 chickens we raised for butchering, for now. Still not sure how I feel about that ordeal, and if I will do that again.

We have 6 ladies with us still that are laying perfect eggs daily. On a normal day we are up to 5 eggs. One of the ladies, "Crooked Comb", is still struggling with laying and doesn't always get us up to the grand total of 6 eggs.

Even before getting our own hens, I had been eating farm fresh eggs for some time. I couldn't even remember what a "store" egg was like, so my parents brought one over for me.  I finally got to do an appearance and taste test. Sad part of that is that I had let my parents run out of eggs. . .  I shouldn't have let that happen!

See how the yolk on the left is more orange? That's from my ladies and thanks to the great diet they eat!

As far as the taste test, what I found was that the egg, fresh from my ladies, had flavor. 

In comparison, the store egg really didn't have any flavor. At all.

It really did make me feel that what we have done raising our own chickens is worth while and we are getting a better egg for the work! And bonus... I have egg customers! Only 3, but that is really an ideal number of customers for how many eggs we get. 

The only disadvantage I have found to fresh eggs is hard boiling them. They are hideous in appearance after you boil them! When I would try peeling them, at least 1/8" inch of the white would come off with the shell.  After a lot of research, there are many tips for getting your eggs to turn out. I just tried one for the egg's I had planned on making this weekend. I had to let them age. So, I pushed a dozen to the back of the fridge for 3 weeks and forgot about them. I boiled them last night and thankfully they turned out beautifully! I had my fingers crossed on this one since they were destined to become deviled egg's for a potluck today, and everything was a success.

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