Bites with Gigglingtoes

The Lazy Lady's Rib's

2012-12-20T20:21:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been far too long my foodie's. I have been so busy with my kids, husband, dog and leaky sink (that did a double take after I fixed it!) that I have failed to blog anything for you all. My apologies.

So this one is for all you dirty little crockpot whores out there. You know who you are dirty girls. It's also for Chancee because she needs new recipe's and has texted me saying that I need to update this.

So here we go! Start with pork ribs. You can use beef, but I use pork because I dont like things getting all stuck up in my grill. I used 2 packages, totaling about 4 lbs.

Stand the ribs up in the crockpot, straight up and down.

Next you will pour 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sherry, and about a half bottle of bbq sauce on the ribs.

Next you can add 2 tablespoons of worscheshire sauce. Here is a picture of what it looks like just in case you aren't from here.

Next you will cover this all up with the lid on top, cook on low for 8 hours and BOOM.

Put your feet up when your husband (or wife!) come home and pretend you have been cooking all day. Let them do the dishes. I may or may not of done that..

Sloppy Jen's

2012-05-02T17:38:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! Today I am making a sandwich I named "Sloppy Jen's."

First off you are going to need a package of ground turkey, 1 package of italian sausage, 1 can of mushrooms and stems, 1 cup of ketchup, 1 onion, 2 tablespoons of italian seasoning and 2 tablespoons of garlic.

Starts off slicing one onion and throwing it in a pan with the 2 tablespoons of garlic and the turkey.

Then slice up the sausage and put it in the crockpot on top of the (drained) mushrooms and 1 cup of ketchup.

The next step would be transfer the drained turkey with the onion and garlic into the crockpot on top of the sausage, mushrooms and ketchup and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Once it's done you can remove it and place on a hoagie roll with some mozarella cheese and enjoy!

Turkey Pockets

2012-04-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

I have been so crazy busy with training for a new job and both boys, soccer, keeping up with the house, everything else that I have not blogged anything new for about a month and a half. For those of you that actually missed my blog, today I am featuring something that will be good for kid's (or adults) that need a quick snack!

First you are going to need Crescent rolls, I just used plain old "Great Value" ones. Then you will need some ground turkey. A lot of people use ground beef but I prefer ground turkey because it's healthier and no one can usually taste the difference in my house.

Next you will cook a small amount of ground turkey. I probably cooked a half cup of it. I seasoned mine with Cumin, you can use whatever seasoning you prefer.

Then you will lay out the crescent rolls and spoon the meat into the rolls

Next you just roll those suckers up. fF you want to add cheese, feel free. I never tried that because I wasn't sure if it would come out too mushy?

After you have rolled them up, place them on a cookie sheet and bake according to the directions of the rolls. I baked mine at 350 for about 15 minutes.

When you remove them they should be looking pretty tempting and delicious...

YUMMY! Kid tested, and approved! I hope you all enjoy this small entry! It is simple, low budget and kid friendly! I will try to post recipes more often!

Sweet Potato Fries

2012-03-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

I am so flattered Shannon asked me to do a guest post on her blog and I hope that all the Mom's out there find this recipe easy and their kiddo's love it.

I am doing Baby Led Weaning with my 7 month old and sweet potatoes are one of his favorite's. Of course with every meal, I have to think of my 9 year old son's preference's too, so I decided to try sweet potato fries so that both my boys could enjoy them.

Get out some paprika and brown sugar and mix them in a small bowl. I didn't use exact measurements, I kind of just added to my taste and liking but you could say maybe 5 tablespoons of each.

Once you taste it and it's not too spicy or sweet

add about 1 tablespoon of salt to the bowl.

Cut up 2 sweet potatoes across and then long ways and lay them on foil.

I suggest spraying the foil with pam or olive oil or something so they won't stick.

Then you can sprinkle the mixture from the bowl over the top of the sweet potatoes and drizzle olive oil over them (not much just about 4 tablespoons of olive oil)

They should look like the above photo. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes- longer if you want them crispier.

Then enjoy!!!

Oven Baked Onion Rings

2012-03-21T08:20:00.003-05:00

I feel like it's been forever since I've blogged! I apologize for the absence..hopefully you missed me. I was really sick along with starting a new job! Anyway, today I am posting a recipe I made because I was craving onion rings and I really didn't feel like ordering them from a fast food spot. These are oven baked!

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut your onions like the above photo. Then get out buttermilk and flour.

I used whole wheat and honestly, I did not taste a difference and it made it a little healthier.
Make a bowl for your buttermilk and bowl for your flour.

Dip the onion in the buttermilk and then in your flour and lay it on cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

I sprayed my onion rings on the pan with "PAM" lightly and put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes depending how crispy you like them. They came out really good. They weren't as greasy as you would get with your burger at Carl's Jr or something, but they were pretty good for being homemade and my older son ate them up. I hope you enjoy!

Quinoa Cakes

2012-03-05T07:58:00.001-06:00

Are you familiar with Quinoa? I had never had it but I kept hearing about it and seeing all these recipes for it so when we were at a spanish market one day I picked some up and decided to try these. They are little seeds similar to rice.

I was inspired by Linda at http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/love-my-quinoa-burger/ because she had this amazing recipe on pinterest and I had to try it.

You are going to start by cooking 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups boiling water and leaving it covered on low (once it has hit boiling) for 20 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the following:

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1 medium carrot, finely grated (OR 1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed dry)

3 eggs

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 green onions, including white parts

1 /2 teaspoon Splenda or sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

It will look something like this.

Once the quinoa has finished cooking, you will add it to the bowl and mix it up. Put the mixture into a measuring cup and pour it into a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat and press down to make firm patties.

Once your patties are in the pan the rest is just making sure you flip them correctly. If you flip too early they can fall apart, too late and they will burn! Keep an eye on these.

Serve it with Tzatzki dip, which is a green yogurt and cucumber dressing with dill. Low calorie dip that is amazing on these. I hope you enjoyed your Quinoa experience! Thanks to Linda for her talented creation!

Shepard's Pie

2012-03-02T08:14:00.003-06:00

Growing up my mom used to buy shepard's pie, heat it up and give it to me for dinner and I loved it. My whole family loved it and it came in such a small quantity that we didn't get that much. She always made something extra with it, but I wanted more Shepard's Pie!! So, I decided as an adult, I would just make it myself!

Start out by browning some ground meat in a pan with a little olive oil and I added cummin for seasoning.
While the meat is browning boil about 6 potatoes.

Put the browned meat in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then get out your mixed veggies. I personally used frozen because I had barely gotten home when I made this and didn't have fresh vegetables. Obviously, defrost the vegetables if needed.. Spread the vegetables over the browned meat.

Next your potatoes will probably of taken 30-45 minutes to get soft like you need them so whenever they are done put them in a bowl and mash them up.

Once the potatoes are mashed up, use a spoon and spread them over the meat and vegetables and pat them down so they are flat.

Then you will shred some cheedar cheese over the top (or you can use pre shredded cheese, doesn't matter.)

Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes and enjoy!

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

2012-02-28T07:34:00.000-06:00

I am going to start this post by saying I failed to take many pictures of this because it was my son's birthday this weekend and it was chaotic in my house, but the recipe is easy so don't be discouraged.

You need the following combined in a crockpot:

1 chopped sweet onion
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 package of beef stew meat or round steak cut up
1 can of mushrooms (drained)

Cook this on high 4 hours or low for 6. My slowcooker seems to cook faster so I do low for 4 hours and it turns out fine.

The last half hour of cooking put 1 small contained of sour cream into the crockpot and 1 package of cream cheese (not fat free or won't melt) Once it's melted you can serve it over egg noodles or rice. Big hit and simple!

Garlic Spaghetti Bread

2012-02-21T07:53:00.003-06:00

So, I am not going to lie. This was a recipe I found floating around pinterest 4 months ago and tried it because my mouth was watering at the photos. This has become a favorite of mine.

The photos of the original recipe were much better than mine. However, I modified my recipe to make it simpler than the one I originally tried. Trust me, it's delicious.

You can use this recipe with leftover spaghetti or fresh- really doesn't matter. You can use meatballs or sausage.

First you are going to get the frozen bread dough from the store. Not the "rolls" it has to be a loaf. It usually comes in bags of 3 bread loaves and I combine two loaves. You are going to flatten the dough as best you can. Use a rolling pin if you have one. Make sure there are no holes in your dough though.

The trick with the dough is that you have to wrap it in wax paper in the fridge all day on the day you are going to be making this recipe so it can thaw out/ rise a little.

Now cook your spaghetti as you normally would. Add the sauce and meat to your noodles. Spray pam or butter some foil before you lay the dough on top of the foiled cookie sheet (so it doesn't stick) and then pour the spaghetti over the flattened dough.

Once you have poured the spaghetti on top of the dough, get your other thawed loaf and flatten it as well just like you did with the first. Then put it over the top of the spaghetti and make sure both loaves are touching, making a dough seal. Try not to leave any holes or the spaghetti will pour out the sides.

Once both loaves are touching, take olive oil and put it over the top- maybe 2 teaspoons and coat the top of the bread. I cut a few lines on the top to let air through. The take garlic and spread it all over the top of the olive oil. Bake the bread as it suggests after refrigerated use which for my loaf was 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and enjoy!

Birthday Pancakes

2012-02-17T08:43:00.003-06:00

Today my baby boy turned 9! I wanted to start the day off special for him so I made birthday pancakes! All I did was add sprinkles to bisquick pancake mix. The photos will show you how easy it is!

Kids love it and it's such a great start to a morning especially if they have school. Hope you enjoyed!

Kid's Choice Mac and Cheese

2012-02-16T08:01:00.003-06:00

My little guy loves Mac'n'Cheese. I am guilty of doing the box at times when I don't have time but it really doesn't take very long. I started by cutting up cubes of cheedar cheese (I used a half block of cheese) and boiling the noodles al dente, meaning not completley done, still a tiny bit hard. I used one bag of noodles.

Then I put 3 tablespoons of butter into a pan and melted it. Once the butter melted I added 4 tablespoons of flour to the melted butter.

It will look something like the above. Then you will add 2 cups of milk to this and turn the heat up so that the mixture is bubbling.

It should look like the above now. Now you can add your cubed cheese to this.

Now you can wait until all that cheese has melted, and throw in your pasta right into the pan with all the mix you just made. Once it gets gooey and cheesy, go ahead and put it into a greased casserole dish or something similar and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Crispy Parsley Pork Chops

2012-02-16T07:50:00.001-06:00

I am always looking for new things to do with pork chops because pork chops are always on sale and as I said before, I get tired of cooking them the same way. Here is how this will begin.

In the first bowl fill it with 1/4 cup of flour

In the second bowl, crack 2 eggs and beat them.

In a 3rd bowl combine 3 tablespoons parsley, 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese, and panko bread crumbs.

Start a pan of olive oil heated up to put the chops in. Then dip the pork chops in flour, then egg, then the panko seasoning and place them in the pan.

Now you are done dipping! They should look like this...Heat some olive oil on medium heat in a pan and throw the chops in there for 5-7 minutes on each side

Put them on papertowels to catch excess oil and enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Crusted Apple Pie

2012-02-13T08:51:00.001-06:00

Cinnamon rolls as crust? Heck yes. This pie was pretty easy and very delicious. I can start by saying, I have 2 small children and a busy house so I was not able to prepare my own filling (peeling and coring apples, etc) So I bought the canned stuff. But if you have the time to make the filling, go for it and just use the same directions for the crust.

Take out your cinnamon rolls.

Grease the pie pan with butter or crisco or the pam spray or however you grease. Press the cinnamon rolls into a pie pan and make sure there are no holes in the bottom where the filling will go or it will leak out. Remember, the cinnamon rolls are going to puff up and expand so don't worry if there is still pie pan showing towards the top.

Here is what I used...(sorry Mom!) Pour it over the top of the cinnamon roll crust and bake just like the cinnamon roll instructions say which I believe was about 15 minutes?

Sprinkle some cinnamon over the top, let it cool, and voila! This was really yummy on a cold day and I loved how the cinnamon mixed in with the apples. Have a slice and relax with your blankey and slipped!

Crockpot Fajitas

2012-02-13T08:43:00.002-06:00

So my little Crockpot whores have returned to my blog for another lazy meal idea? :) Perfect!
Welcome back.

Start out by chopping up a red onion, red bell pepper and green bell pepper.

Throw all of that into the crock pot. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth.

Get out your chili powder, cumin and lime juice. Mix this in a small bowl to pour over the chicken. It all depends on how spicy you like your fajitas. I used probably 3 tablespoons of both spices and 8 drops of lime juice. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to this as well.

Now you can add the chicken. This really depends on how many people you are feeding. I use one chicken per person. I also use frozen chicken if I'm super lazy that day. I used 4 chicken breasts.
Pour the mixture over the top of the chicken.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours and serve with warm tortillas and sour cream on the side or whatever other side things you prefer with your fajitas. This is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy!

Quicky French Dip

2012-02-10T07:35:00.002-06:00

My family loves french dip but we don't go out to eat all that often so I decided to just make it at home.
Start with Beef Consome (found in the soup aisle)

Next you get out your hoagie buns and toast them in the oven at 250 for about 5 minutes.

After that you will get out your provolone cheese and roast beef.

After that you will take a couple pieces of meat and warm it with the broth, inside the pot.

Once the meat kind of bends and gets softer you can take it out.
Take out the buns also and lay a piece of the cheese inside the bun and then place the meat from the broth on top of the cheese so it melts.

You can pour the sauce over the sandwich as well as add a side to it. This is such a quick dinner and everyone always eats it up. People will think you're french! (har har har)

Weeknight Broccoli and Sausage

2012-02-08T08:10:00.002-06:00

Everyone has those days, whether you are a stay-at-home Mom, or a working Mom (or Dad!) that you just do not have the energy or feel like cooking. What I am about to reveal to you is my secret recipe for killing a case of the Mondays. Just keep in mind to fully cure the Mondays not only do you need to use this VERY simple and fast recipe but you must have tall glass or wine or some other alcoholic beverage followed by a warm bath to completley appreciate it.

It starts with boiling noodles. I like penne noodles because I find them to be the most attractive.

Next you are going to cut up some pieces of kielbasa sausage. I just throw it in with the noodles when they are close to done.

Next you are going to take your broccoli (I used frozen but you can use fresh also) just steam it or boil it. I microwaved mine. Like I said, this is an EASY weeknight recipe..

Then when the noodles and sausage and broccoli are all done, I throw them all in the strainer and drain them.

After that I put them in a dish together as a family.

I pour some sauce over the top (alfredo is my choice)

And then I serve it up!

This "Getting rid of the case of Mondays" has been brought to you by Gigglingbites. Now go take a bath!

Football Pizza

2012-02-05T15:26:00.003-06:00

This was so easy! I bought pre made pizza dough (such as Boboli) and just added pizza sauce, mozarella and shaped the pepperoni in a football shape and use mozarella for the laces!

Football Cheeseball

2012-02-05T14:49:00.000-06:00

This was pretty fun to make.

I just took 2 packages of cream cheese..

Then almost a block of shredded monterey jack cheese.

Mixed them together in a bowl and then made them into the shape of a football

Then I rolled it in crushed walnuts

I added little pieces of mozarella for the laces of the football. Put it in the fridge for about an hour and dip your crackers in it!

Tequila Honey Wings

2012-02-05T14:42:00.000-06:00

My mother in law asked what I was making for the super bowl and when I told her, she said she was making tequila wings. That sounded so cool. I decided to do my own recipe and add a little tequila. Hopefully you guys like it!

Start out with wings, cut off the tips.

So we are clear, it's honey, garlic powder, chili powder, tomato sauce and tequila in the above pictures.
Put all the wet ingredients into one bowl and flour and the seasoning in another bowl. You only need one shot of tequila, 1/4 oz tomato sauce, 6 drops of honey in the wet bowl and 5 tablespoons of garlic powder and 5 tablespoons of chili powder.

Dip the wings into the flour with seasonings.

The into the sauce- Then lay onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes
(or until chicken is cooked all the way)

Yum Yum! Grab your napkins!!

Crockpot Grinders

2012-02-05T14:25:00.003-06:00

This recipe looked awesome when I saw it, so I emailed a fellow blogger at "Big Red Kitchen" http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2010/12/advent-day-3-crockpot-grinders.html named Robin Sue and asked her if I could feature it on my blog and as sweet as she is she gave me the green light. I knew this would be perfect since I know so many of you love your crock pot like I do. So here is how it starts.

You are going to need to ball up some foil so that the sandwiches do not sit directly on the bottom of the crockpot and add a little water to the bottom- it won't affect the sandwiches because they will be sitting inside of foil and on top of foil. If you have something similar to what a pot pie comes in, like a mini pie tin you can use that at the bottom if you want.

The original blogger used italian bread loaf and did not cut directly through completley to the bottom of the bread, she just sliced it. I however, I used french bread for mine and it was completley sliced. Above is the layering technique. Cheese, Meat, Banana peppers (peppercini) and onion. You can use however much meat and cheese you prefer in your sandwich and whatever type. I used Salami, Turkey and Ham.

Sprinkle some italian seasoning on your line up.Tuck the creations in between EVERY OTHER slice of bread and wrap them up into foil. Add a little water to the bottom of the crockpot.

After you wrap them up into the crockpot it should look like this:

Cook for 4 hours on low. After it's done you can drizzle a little olive oil in between each slice, cut and enjoy! Thanks to Robbin for letting me try this amazing recipe! I will put up a final pic when this is done cooking!

Perfect for the Superbowl. GO GIANTS!

Red Velvet and Blue Superbowl Cake

2012-02-04T11:35:00.000-06:00

Here we go! Tomorrow is the SuperBowl! Are you ready? I am making sure that my house is because tomorrow my husband could be the happiest guy in the world or the worst guy to be around. Also, let me tell you that RED CAKE is not easy to make. So, here is how you make red velvet and blue superbowl cake.

Start with our friend the dough boy white cake. I had to use 1 1/2 boxes. I mixed it regular and then did half a box with 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg and 1/4 the mix. I winged it.

Then you are going to split the mixture into 2 bowls. You will be creating one blue and one red mixture.

The red is tricky! It turns pink, even with red food coloring. Solution? Cocoa powder and if it turns TOO brown, add hot pink (neon) food coloring to even it out.

You can just use neon blue food coloring to achieve the deep blue of the Giants color for this cake. Regular blue food coloring makes it baby blue. The cocoa in the mix is what labels it red velvet.

When it cooks it gets lighter so make sure it looks like the above. I did blue first and then red, so the red is when I added part of the second box of mix. Not much- I made just enough to fill the rest of the cake tin.

Bake these as the box says to, normally. Then remove them and do not frost them for an hour. Otherwise the frosting will melt and ruin it and the cake will fall apart.

You are going to frost the bottom one and then the top. I just wanted to show you how to layer the cakes.

When you get to the sides of the cake, frost them in an UPWARD motion to fill in the gap.

When you cut the cake it will look like this. I am pretty proud of this. Now, if you want to add the NY Giants symbol to the top you can. I used food coloring GEL and was super careful to do the outside of the block letters and then did the middle in blue and used a q tip to rub it in. It can be tricky.

I am not baker, so those of you with tools and experience can probably do better than myself but I did my best and it pleased the person I intended it to so...Have a great Superbowl and GO GIANTS!

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

2012-02-03T19:36:00.001-06:00

Gone are the days of mashed potatoes as a side in my house since discovering cauliflower can replace white potatoes pretty easily. They look pretty similar too. Start out with half a head of cauliflower and steam the cauliflower. I use my rice cooker and just use the "steam" setting but you can steam it however you normally do. Don't remove it until it's completley mushy.

Mash the cauliflower up really well in a bowl.

Add 2 chopped green onions
1 tablespoon butter/margarine
1 dash of salt (totally optional)
3 TABLESPOONS of chopped garlic

Then enjoy your potatoeless (is that a word?) guilt free mashed cauliflower!

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

2012-02-03T07:39:00.002-06:00

Today is my little sister, Allysa's, birthday. After I had my second son she came to my house and took care of me and when I didn't want to eat, this is something along the lines of what she made me when I didn't want to eat.

In the morning if I don't eat breakfast I will drag through the morning until lunch feeling like a waste of life. My stomach slowly begins to eat itself and I become grumpy. So when I do not have time for a bowl of cheerios or something, I make this shake because its QUICK and healthy.

This is all you need. If anyone wants to sponsor me to buy a better camera ,I'm game.

half banana
handful of oatmeal
1/4 cup milk
3 pieces of ice

BLEND like there is no tomorrow!!

Then drink it...mmmmmmmmmmm delish and now your stomach will not be angry with you this morning!

Carmel Apple Porkchops

2012-02-02T08:35:00.000-06:00

I think everyone buys porkchops because they always seems to be on sale. The only problem is people get tired of cooking them the same way all the time. Most people I know like to "fry" them, which I find dry and gross. I always bake mine. So, here is my Carmel Apple Porkchop recipe. Quick and Easy. Like always.

Start with some brown sugar (just add it as you cook the sauce, this makes more sense as you read below just start with 3 tablespoons), 3 sliced green apples and a stick of butter. (You can skin the apples but this Mama doesn't have time to be skinning anything!)

Then you will take out your pork chops (I prefer no bone, but bones are okay.) I kind of feel like a cheetah if I eat porkchops with bones on them.

Then you are going to take (the first part will be half a stick of butter) the butter, brown sugar and apples and put them into a sauce pan on medium heat. I put more brown sugar as I stirred until it became thicker because that is what makes it a sauce.

When you can see that it has become a sauce, drain the sauce and leave the apples in the pot and pour the sauce along the bottom of the baking dish to place the pork chops on top of it. Then you will put the other half a stick of butter in with the apples and more brown sugar until you make another sauce and pour that over the top of the pork chops along with the apples. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes. These are tasty treats for your taste buds!

Crockpot Chili Nirvana

2012-02-01T07:38:00.000-06:00

This is probably the first thing I ever learned how to cook in the crockpot. A girl at work gave me the ingredients and encouraged me to try it. "The crockpot is easy, girl! You leave for work and come home and dinner is done!" So...as a single Mom I was ready to do anything that could save me time and energy. I tried it. It was good.

First you will need 2 packages of ground turkey. I use turkey because it's healthier than ground beef, but if you want to use ground beef- go for it..

Next you need 3 cans of kidney beans.

This is a large can of tomato sauce and italian diced tomatoes. You can also used italian STEWED tomatoes.

As well as..a tiny baby can of tomato paste.

So you are going to need 1 red onion, 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper.

Put the turkey in the pan with some red onion and oil..

After that, add the peppers and let it all cook together for a few minutes (until the turkey is browned like the above photo) Then drain the mean and add things into the crockpot.

Then the meat and bell peppers and onion from the pan..

It should look something like the above photo now. Then you can just add the tomato sauces and paste.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours

then serve! You can top with cheese and a side of cornbread. Enjoy!