A Tasty Dinner Meal In 30 Minutes.

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The winner of the apron is Comment #132:

Maria who said: I like baking with my family! Best times are in the kitchen!

Congrats Maria!! Please e-mail me at priscilla91@iowatelecom.net to claim your prize!

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Happy Thursday everyone! Whew, this week has been busy. I am feeling in much need of a long vacation. I am very excited because at the end of next month I will be going on vacation to California. I will be heading out to see my Grandma and to attend my closest friend's graduation. Ah, I seriously cannot wait. Eating at In-N-Out or Green Burito, seeing Palm trees, swimming, seeing mountains again, embracing the California sun. And much more. California I love you. I also adore you.

Onto a quick dinner meal. I'm sure a lot of you guys are familiar with marinating chicken breasts in Italian Dressing for a couple hours and then grilling it. But I also like to add some Pineapple Juice in with the Italian Dressing Marinade. Mmm, makes some lip smaking good chicken.

The rice and the green beans with eggs is also another favorite meal at our house during the summer with the chicken. The green beans mixed with eggs is my favorite way to eat green beans. We all grew up on Rice Pilaf and eat it all the time. It is a delicious side dish. This whole meal takes about 30 minutes (minus the marinading), it is simple but very appetizing.

Green Beans With Eggs
Ingredients:

5 eggs, beaten

1 can of french cut Green Beans, drained

2 tbsp. butter

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Dump Green Beans in and mix with the butter. Add eggs and stir until eggs are cooked. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Yield: 4 servings

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Rice Pilaf

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice, uncooked

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup vermicelli, lightly browned (Cracked into 3 inch pieces)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbsp. butter

DIRECTIONS:

Brown vermicelli at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. In a pan over high heat, combine rice, chicken broth, vermicelli, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes or until ready. 5 minutes before ready, drop tablespoonfuls of butter on rice and place top back on to finish cooking. Yield: 4 servings.

Pineapple And Italian Marinated Chicken
Ingredients:
4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, thawed

1 cup Italian Dressing

1 1/2 cups Pineapple Juice

DIRECTIONS:

Combine Italian Dressing and Pineapple Juice. Place chicken in a pan, pour dressing all over chicken. Cover and marinate for 3 hours. Grill on BBQ on low heat until no longer pink in the middle. Continue to baste chicken in dressing while grilling. Yield: 4 servings.

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I love watching the youngest two out of our family together. Being the youngest out of all of us kids, they have a special something together. Even in a group of people Joe and Anna can usually be spotted together. As long as I can remember they have loved tackling each other to the ground. I sure hope they won't be doing that at 20 and 22 years old. Yes, that would be weird.

Have a wonderful Easter everyone, the days leading up to it is packed with activities! Looking forward to it, hope I can last until Easter and that day too!

Sloppy Joe's With Red Kidney Beans.

Sorry for getting this announced so late, I was gone all day with a friend. Okay, the winner picked by random.org is:

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Courtney who said: I'm looking forward to it getting darker later!

Congrats Courtney! Please e-mail me at: priscilla91@iowatelecom.net.

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Good Saturday everyone! Hope you are enjoying your days off work and school. We have all been dealing with colds this past week. It seems that this is the time that everyone gets sick, at the end of winter. I found out that when I have a cold I can sing better than when I don't have a cold (you wouldn't want to hear me either way). Weird, I know. But, I'll still take a cold any day over the flu. As a matter of fact, I like simply being healthy! Don't we all.

I like to fix this for dinner on my dinner night. It is so easy and sloppy joes paired with fries are a hard meal to beat. I love the addition of kidney beans in this mixture, they add lots of flavor. I also like to dump more chili powder than the recipe calls for, chili powder is one of my favorite seasonings. Mrs. Butler, I know you said you were looking for a good Sloppy Joe recipe, hopefully you'll like this one.

Kidney Bean Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons chopped onion
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 can of dark red kidney beans, drained
6 hamburger buns, split

DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, pepper, cayenne, and kidney beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until mixture reaches desired thickness. Top each hamburger bun with mixture.

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Lewis. I like to say he is half-human, even though I know he isn't. His personality is beyond any dog I've had or any dog I've come in contact with. He thinks he owns the house. He loves refried beans, tomatoes, vegetables, fruit, gum, chocolate, paper, shoes, and anything he isn't supposed to put in his mouth. Loves to chase and scare to death my sister's cat. Has nightmares and shakes when sleeping. He has huge paws. And yes, he snores when he sleeps too. (The extra collor you see on him is his shocking collor.) If I was asked to describe Lewis, there is only one word....weird.

Hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you with a dessert recipe soon!