Some Easy Favorites

Since we're getting ready for a move, I wanted to prepare some food that would be really easy - heat'n'eat meals.  So I spent just about all of yesterday cooking.

The first thing I made was stromboli.  It isn't really stromboli, I just keep calling it that.  I think it might better fit the definition of a calzone.  Basically, a hot pocket without the sauce (and with REAL food inside...).  I got a box of bread mix because it usually works out better than bread from scratch.  For the filling, I cooked up some chicken, green peppers, jalapenos, mushrooms and mozzarella.  One box yielded eight stromboli/calzone buddies, which is quite a stretch.  I think they were mostly filling, which is tastier anyway :)

I always have some leftover filling, and I decided to make a pot of white chicken chili with it.  I cooked up more chicken and sauteed the peppers with some scallions.  I used the pressure cooker to cook some Great Northern beans.  Throw it all in a large pot, add a couple cups of chicken broth, simmer forever.  What else did I put in it...a handful of mozzarella, and a spice packet I bought (I could have done the spices better myself though - I won't use one of those again). 

Also, in between easy meals I used the last of the pecans - the last of them?  How did we go through them so quickly?  They are actually a really great snack, just sit down with a bowl of pecans and a nutcracker.  Perfect for late at night when I got home from work, hadn't eaten dinner, was really hungry but didn't want a full meal.  Anyway, I used the last of the pecans to make Pecan Sandies!  This is one of the weirdest cookie recipes I've ever followed.  The main ingredient is butter, which meant that you refrigerate the dough to make a brick of butter, then break off pieces to bake.  And the baking time is very long - I needed 20 min for bitesized cookies.

Toss in powdered sugar for a perfect cookie.  They really are "the best I've ever had!" as the recipe quotes.

So finally, I got done with all my cooking and thought a bowl of soup would be the perfect lunch.  I was somewhat surprised to find that I wasn't even hungry.  I guess I'd been "sampling" my work a little more often than I thought.  I still had a small bowl, and it was delicious.  Kyle took a stromboli buddy to work today, so I'll get the reviews on that one tonight.

Stromboli and white chicken chili are from my go-to recipes - the things I would make in college so I didn't have to cook again that week.  Also in that group is manicotti, fajitas, regular chili and fried potatoes.  Between those recipes, I don't think I really ate much else in college, except for when I occasioned to buy some bread, lettuce and lunchmeat.

Good luck to all my hunters out there!  Someone shoot me a deer, please, I'm running low on venison.  And stay safe!