Day4

Breakfast: zucchini hash browns (recipe coming as soon as I perfect them)

Lunch: squash sliced thinly to act as noodles (sautéed) with one large tomato I put through my new food processor with oregano, basil, garlic, pepper , and red pepper flakes . Sprinkled with Parmesan.

Dinner: 1 slice of sausage pie, and a side salad.

Plus taste tests of waffles and waffle batter lol

I pretty much ate veggies all day so that I could have a slice of sausage pie for dinner. :) Not complaining!

For my sausage pie recipe click here! 

Smoked Sausage

I know, I know...how many calories are in smoked sausage? A lot. Could I stop serving my family it? No. I'm in a house full of boys. You take their sausage and bacon away...they will riot! Luckily there are smarter choices like chicken sausage which offer lighter versions of smoked sausage. Today I want to share with you a tidbit I learned awhile ago. Growing up we use to have sausage just sliced like coins. As a family we would go to a country restaurant some of you may know as Lizard's Thicket. I use to LOVE their smoked sausage and I don't know why, I didn't think about it until I was an adult that I probably loved it based on the way they cut it. I tested it out, and YEP...so much better. A favorite I like to so with smoked sausage is to saute some banana peppers and onions with it, then top it with sauerkraut...Guy meal? Yes!

Slice the sausage in to quarter links, then make a slit on the top with your knife.

Then peel it back.

In to the frying pan it goes with it's peppers and onions.

Happy Late St. Patrick's Day! .....Slacking.

One: My neck got a little better. I was all energized and excited for spring so I did some yard work (raking and hoeing). I probably shouldn't have done that because now my neck hurts again and it'll probably take another week until I feel 100% better. This is really messing with my ability to work out, clean, and take care of kids. My house is a disaster and I just don't have the ability to care right now. I've been doing the minimum of cleaning possible. And I'm using the heck out of my simple meals and slow cooker meals. This leaves me with A LOT of foodie posts to update on for the next few days. :)

Two: I'm a little preoccupied with reading A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

With that said, I know I am late on the St. Patrick's Day post but Oh well. I think I'll share with family anyways.

I think a lot of people go with corned beef, cabbage, hash, green beer, ect. ect. for St. Patrick's Day. I love all those things, my husband- no! Getting him to eat cabbage would be like trying to fit a square in to a circle. Not possible. So I went for something I know everyone will enjoy: bangers and mash, and leprechaun poop cookies. Yes, leprechaun poops cookies. It gave Blake a pretty big giggle. I mean, all kids giggle about poop. Just the word poop itself, is funny.
In retrospect, bangers and mash is something we have often regardless. I’ve never thought about it before as being Irish until I decided to Google some traditional Irish foods. We love smoked sausage around here, and I love mashed potatoes…it works.

Bangers and Mash

Ingredients:

Bangers

24 oz Smoked Sausage Links

2 Yellow Onions

3 TBSP Olive Oil

Mash

4 large potatoes, peeled, diced, and boiled

1-2 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP butter

Pepper and Garlic Salt to taste 

Directions: Start off by peeling your potatoes, dicing them, then adding them to a pot of water, bring the potatoes to a boil and boil until tender and falling apart. While your potatoes boil, heat oil in a large pan, add sausage and cook them until almost brown while cutting your onions. Add your sliced onions, and cover pan with a lid. At this point, drain your potatoes and add to a large bowl. Smash them with butter and W sauce. Season with pepper and garlic salt, keep your potatoes slightly chunky.

And there you have it, my twist on Bangers and Mash. If you want to add a vegetable on the side you could do sautéed cabbage.  

 I don't know if anyone remembers but there was a recipe going around for unicorn poop cookies? I've yet to make those yet but I remembered it as I was trying to think of a sweet treat to make in honor of St. Patrick's Day, and it obviously had to be green so this is what we came up with on a whim out of ingredients I had on hand and usually always keep in my pantry. Also, obviously, you don't need to call them Leprechaun Poop Cookies if you're trying to raise prim and proper little kids. lol We don't really care around here. Poop is poop.

Making cookies with Mommy!

Leprechaun Poop Cookies 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

6 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (could use almond or mint if you have it on hand)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 oz confetti candy sprinkles

green food coloring

Powdered sugar

Baking time!

Directions: Preheat oven at 350 degrees. With a mixer, mix your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add green food coloring in to the milk, and then add alternately the flour, salt and milk. The dough is going to be thick and you may need to get a spoon and scrap the sides and do a little spoon mixing if your stand mixer can’t get it all the way. Add your sprinkles. Roll in to balls about 1-2 inch, and then flatten on to and greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, keep checking on it to make sure that the cookies do not brown or else they will be very hard.Once the cookies have cooled, cover them with powdered sugar. 

After dinner we made leprechauns and watched: (Excuse the fat that the following will be pictures from my iPhone and poor quality compared to my camera.)

 Does anyone else remember this coming on TV YEARS AGO? I remember I was little, and my mom let me stay up and watch it because I was always obsessed with Romeo and Juliet (even at a young age), fairies, leprechauns, and really  just ANYTHING magical! It has become my own little tradition over the years (minus last year when all my movies were stuck in storage in Montana). Its basically the story of Romeo and Juliet but with fairies and leprechauns. During the movie we made leprechauns using just construction paper and googly eyes. I cut the pieces out and they glued them together. Liam had help from daddy, and that's why you will notice that their leprechaun is a zombie leprechaun. *sigh*

admiring his work

coloring his hat

zombie leprechaun *sighagain*

Done with his leprechaun which is as big as he is.

So I am going to try to catch up with foodie posts for the next few days, stay in touch and come back! :)

Catch up, ketchup, hey hey hey!

Yeah, I don't know what is up with that title. Just sounded nice. :)

First excuse my last post, that was from Liam. He had my phone earlier, so I am going to guess that he had fun punching in numbers and letters in my blogger app.

Second, I am going to post a few posts tonight separate.

So I'll start this night off with a crock pot recipe!<3

Creamy Chicken and Sausage

There’s a lot you can do with this recipe. You can leave your chicken breast whole and serve it over rice, or you can shred your chicken and use it as a filling in a tortilla. Use your Crockpot!:) 

 

Ingredients:

·         3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast

·         1 jar chunky salsa

·         1 healthy smart can, cream of mushroom, cheddar or chicken soup

·         1 lb cooked and ground sausage

·         1 can pinto beans, drained 

Directions:

First things first, cook and ground your sausage, drain it then place it in a bowl. In that bowl stir in your salsa, cream of soup, and drained pinto beans. Place your chicken breast in the crock pot, and then pour the sausage mixture over the chicken. Cook in the Crockpot, high for 6-8 hours. 

This is delicious, and it freezes well.