We tried a new thing last year at our big annual Ropte Family GTG: A chili cookoff!
You guys - it was a blast! While some of the guys kinda pawned off the chili making onto their wives ::ahem, Mark and Dan:: the other guys got really into it, even naming their chili. All the names were pretty much inside family jokes, so that was kinda fun too lol
All the chili was pretty tasty, but this one stole my vote. And really, who would have guessed it: My baby brother (a bachelor who has just recently decided to start cooking instead of eating out, living in an apartment in Des Moines) was the chef who introduced me to it! The name of his chili "Mars Garlic Attack" was actually on account of him slightly mis-reading the recipe, and instead of 1 1/2 TSP of garlic powder, he added 1 1/2 TBSP. He was worried that it was ruined, but it was AWESOME!
I had heard about White Chicken Chili for years, but it never really sounded that good. I've changed my mind: It's DELICIOUS! I know he said he found it on my sister's Pinterest, but I searched and searched to no avail to find it. If you know whose recipe it is, please let me know so I can add a reference!
This past Christmas was a first for us: Not only did we host a fun gathering (which is normally held at Dad and Pam's house), but we decided to forego the traditional Christmas ham and did a Chinese Christmas with homemade Chinese dishes.
It has been a family tradition over the past 3 years that when we are decorating for Christmas, we get Chinese takeout, decorate, listen to Christmas music, and then watch Christmas movies when we're all done. I guess I just didn't get my fill of Chinese this year :)
I decided to make two of our favorite "go-to" Chinese food recipes: Sweet & Sour Chicken and Beef & Broccoli. To be honest, I felt like they both kinda flopped, but everyone else said they were great. I tried this Kraft box of sweet & sour mix to make things easier on myself, but I prefer my own recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken (I'll post it below).
The Beef & Broccoli ended up getting a little singed, what with me planning a little poorly on the prep work (lesson learned!). Once again, everyone said it was great, but I think they were all lying lol I also felt the sauce was a little too bold, as I prefer a more mild sauce where the beef and broccoli are the stars with just a little flavor. I wouldn't make the recipe again, especially since it took such random ingredients that we don't typically keep on hand.
I actually discovered an incredibly more awesome Beef & Broccoli recipe earlier this week, so instead of giving you the wretched one we used this particular night, I'm going to give you the incredible one I made Monday evening. I actually ended up doubling the sauce because there wasn't a ton once it simmered a while, and that ended up being about perfect. However, it also added a TON of sodium from the soy sauce, so keep that in mind. It was probably fine just for us, but with a 1 year old with minimal teeth, he needed a little more sauce to get it down.
I got this recipe from a co-worker friend a few months ago, and since I cannot pin it through an email, I'm putting it on the blog! Thanks, Debbie, for this great recipe! This was the recipe we used for Kendrick's 1st birthday cake, although we used a cream cheese frosting for the frosting. It was so decadent and moist, and I had no problem finishing up the extra cupcakes. This is the only picture I have of the cake.
As a side note: This probably isn't a great cake for a mold haha. It didn't really turn out great from the mold. It's dense.It'll be nice to have this in my back pocket this winter when I'm craving something sweet that doesn't pack quite as many calories.
Enchiladas for me are typically hit or miss. I'm not overly fond of the typical enchiladas you'd order at a restaurant, but these ones are in a whole different ballpark!
I first had them at Grandma Vi's a few years ago, and she had found the recipe in a magazine (although she can't remember which one, so if YOU happen to recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!)
The recipe actually calls for turkey, but I have only been making them with chicken: Both are awesome, and this would be a really great way to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving!
I'm not going to lie: This is a pretty involved recipe as far as enchiladas go. Most of the time, it's "throw a few cans in a bowl with some shredded chicken or ground beef" for the filling, but this one has a LOT of stuff in it. But that is really what makes this so delicious, and I promise you won't regret it!
My boys just absolutely LOVE these enchiladas! (This was Cashel's "THIS STUFF IS SO GOOD I COULD SCREAM!" face on Valentine's Day)
There really isn't a good way to photograph this sandwich that truly does it justice. I mean, chicken is kinda a boring food to look at anyway, so add white on top of white on top of white, and well...it's pretty visually non-stimulating. But this sandwich is incredible!
My friend Jill introduced me to this, and I think I bought one a week and ate them myself for almost a month. SO delicious! A typical breakfast at our house (back when Kendrick was eating purees still...sniff sniff) Whenever we have the opportunity to get Papa John's pizza, we take the opportunity. Breakfast on vacation in Brainerd: Belgian waffles and OJ The other days...it was my homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee :) One of our favorite meals to make for family and friends: Chicken Teriyaki Sandwiches with Swiss. A Pinterest Win! Rafferty's was a huge find in Brainerd. The picture may be blurry, but their Pulled Pork pizza was out of htis world! Lunch in Brainerd at Grizzly's: I had the Pulled Pork sandwich with slaw and a salad Yummy scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with Biscoff spread Lunch in Brainerd at Ernie's on Gull Lake We picked an enormous boatload of strawberries from Schumaker's this year!
DELICIOUS fresh salsa. Recipe courtesy of my buddy Jim from work Our fair share of yummy watermelon! Sadly, we "grilled" on our griddle for the 4th of July. We got our new grill a week later! Our Church's Annual 4th of July Picnic (on the 6th this year) Centennial Picnic for work: HyVee catered A "just alright" gyro at the International Fair in Worthington You had better believe that as soon as the grill arrived, we put it together and made our very next meal on it! Kendrick has been loving all the fresh fruit this time of year! Cupcakes for the hubby's 35th birthday, but a week early for a surprise party! It's CORN SEASON!! :) Of course, there can never be too much cake, right? We got a real cake for his actual birthday a week later :) Grapes and cheese have been a big time favorite at our house! Cashel tried cotton candy for the first time at the Cottonwood County Fair. He didn't care for it too much, sadly, but Kendrick ate his leftovers right up. Nutty Bars at Lake Okoboji We froze 7 batches of sweet corn this year: More than we have ever done! LOVING the fresh cherry tomatoes from the farmers' market Like I said in my previous post: Any opportunity to get Papa John's, and we will take it!
One of the greatest parts of meal planning this year has been the recipes we've discovered to be our new regulars. This one is absolutely one of them!
To be honest, this may now be one of my favorite recipes of all time. The variable levels of spice (depending on the level of heat in the Rotel you use) just make this perfect for anyone, really. Looking at the picture now makes me drool!
But as usual, I'm always nervous that one day someone will clean house and take away the recipe, so I want to have it here just in case!
The only changes I made to the recipe was to use penne pasta simply because I didn't have campanelle noodles (but really, you can use whatever you want to) and I used regular smoked sausage instead of turkey sausage.
I'm not going to do a step-by-step here, because Kevin & Amanda do it SOOOOOOOOO much better (so check them out...seriously), but I will list the basic recipe here for future reference :)
Oh my word are these a hot commodity lately! I'm almost afraid to bring them anywhere because I end up getting hit up about a dozen times for the "recipe" haha :)
The credit goes to my little sister, Amanda, for introducing these to me circa 2007. She was the cake ball QUEEN in those days, back before her or I had any kids, and we chuckled when our nephew Jacob would come to visit in the summer and just go nuts over these. He LOVED them!
They are SO EASY. It's really not even funny. Or fair. They are absolutely perfect for a bridal or baby shower as favors, and most of the time, the guests end up wanting to take more than one, because they are so.good.
Cashel really loved the Elmo cake I made for his birthday. It was a total frosting fail, as it ended up bitter when I added so much food coloring to make it so bright red! He didn't care haha These cupcakes from River City Eater in Windom that we took on our first night away from the boys just before Valentine's Day weekend. One of my absolute favorite meals of ALL time from Chevy's TexMex: Crispy Flautas with Jalapeno Jelly. I literally moaned through this entire meal, and may have closed my eyes numerous times. SO.GOOD. Mark had this at Chevy's and was only mildly impressed. I'm pretty sure he wanted to disown me during this meal lol Superbowl 2014: Mark bought a 5lb bag of chicken pieces...and then proceeded to freeze it...in a 5lb bag. Needless to say, I was really really sick of chicken for a while. Valentine's Day: Strawberry Trifle Valentine's Day: Grandma Vi's turkey enchiladas - SO DELICIOUS! Coffee...and more coffee...and more coffee!! Kendrick's first food: Peas. He wasn't too fond. One of our all-time favorite meals at our house: Roast, Potatoes, Onions and Carrots. I only ever just sprinkle a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix in and put it in the crockpot for 8 hours. This picture doesn't even remotely do this sandwich justice, but SO GOOD! Italian Chicken Sandwiches: A Pinterest Win! My friend Mandy introduced me to this DELICIOUS country chicken chowder. Cashel refers to it as "soup", and LOVES it! Blue cake pops I made for my friend Heather's baby shower Baby shower spread, courtesy of Heather's Mom and sister Pasta bar night at Minerva's with my good friend Angie! ...and my seconds: asparagus and mushrooms with pesto and garlic And a truffle from Goodie's to round out the meal :) Ben Lee's for lunch to meet up with Rach and Nancy Chinese at Panda House in Worthington: VERY good! Cupcakes for my sister-in-law's baby shower! A very blurry pic (sorry) of Easter dinner. I was a smidge busy with the boys to really sit down and enjoy it for long. A bunny cake for the boys made with love by Aunt Sharon. Cashel and (First) cousin (once removed) Alex loved it! 2 pans of lasagna for our friends Believe me - it tasted better than it looked! This version, however, was MUCH easier! Another Pinterest Win: 15 Minute Skillet Lasagna. A special day with my Mama - we had this delicious Meatloaf and stuffing at Sadies Tea Thyme in Fort Dodge for lunch.
Well, I think that's enough for one post. I'll be posting some Pinterest WINs hopefully soon! And no, we really don't eat out that much typically: I just didn't make anything extraordinarily exciting this month that I hadn't already posted about before.
