Breakfast Casserole / Quiche

My mom has made breakfast quiche every year for Christmas till recently since we are all grown and gone. I really wanted it this year so I got all the stuff (with my own twist) to get home and realize my pie pans are in storage so I made it in a casserole dish instead. 

Ingredients: 

1.5 (box of 2) refrigerated pie crust 

1 roll breakfast sausage

3 hand fulls (so about 2.5 cups) shredded cheddar cheese 

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms

12 eggs 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

Salt and pepper 

Lightly press pie crust in casserole dish, may be uneven on sides and that's ok. Bake 350 8 min. Pull out and let cool.

Brown sausage, half way through add mushrooms and onions. 

In bowl whisk eggs and cream till good and airy. Add salt and pepper but do not stir. Will mix in when you pour it. 

Put meat mixture on top of crust. Add cheese, then pour eggs over it. 

Bake 350 20-30 min or till golden brown. 

Had my dad and his girlfriend over too and everyone loved it! My 3 year old didn't even realize there were mushrooms and onions in it 😉. 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~

Red Velvet Mint Chocolate Cookies

Do I really need to say much more?! These are soft and delicious! 

If you like Andes mints you'll love these because that what these chips taste like. Add that to red velvet and you have yummy-ness!

Recipe:

1 box red velvet cake mix 

2 large eggs 

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup oil 

1 cup mint & chocolate chips 

Flour for hands

Mix cake mix, eggs, vanilla and oils together (it gets stiky) fold in chips. 

Dip hands in flour to help percent sticking and roll in balls. 

Bake 350 for 8-10 min

Makes 24 

My husband wasn't a big fan but he doesn't like mint and chocolate. My son and I loved them! 

Enjoy!

~Mrs. Milly~

Confetti Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

My son and I started our Christmas baking today with very easy and yummy cookies! I wanted to make a few things this year so I looked in the pantry to see what I already had that I could use to save money. Well a box of Dunkin Hines confetti cake mix popped out at me. (You can use any brand) I thought, bet I could make this in to cookies. So I turned to trusty Pinterest to see what to use to make cookies instead of cake and it payed off. 

1 box confetti cake mix

2 large eggs

1/4 cup oil 

Mix together till smooth, put flour on your hands to keep from sticking and roll in to balls. Place 1 inch apart and Bake at 350 for 8-10 min. 

It's that easy! They are soft and delish alone but...

Of course we needed icing so what better than cream cheese icing! Again very easy. 

1 8oz block cream cheese, softened 

1 1lb box powdered sugar 

2tsp vanilla extract

1 stick butter, softened 

1tbs milk 

Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and butter together till smooth add milk to make it spreadable. 

-I put the icing in a ziplock for easy frosting. 

All good reviews so far on these, they are very sweet but so good!!! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~

Hunt Camp Venison Stew

This recipe couldn't be any easier or tastier!!! My husband gave it to me after he and his buddy Chad made it (with elk) at the hunting camp. You could also use beef if you don't have a hunter in the house. 

1 bottle of V8 tomato juice 

1lb stew meat 

3 large red potatoes cut in bite size pieces 

1 16oz bag frozen baby lima beans

1 16oz bag frozen cut okra 

1  can fire roasted tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon of each onion powder, Italian seasoning, and fresh cracked black pepper 

I used the crock pot on high, but can do it on low. 

Put V8 and meat in pot cover walk away for 3 hours (6 hours if crock pot on low) 

Add frozen veggies and potatoes, cook another hour

Add canned tomatoes and seasonings, cook another hour. 

Serve with corn bread. 

Serves 6-8 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

For something from my clean eating healthy side :-) 

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour 

2/3 cup oats 

1 1/2 cups milk

1 large egg 

1tsp baking soda 

1tsp baking powder 

1/4 cup raw sugar 

1tbs brown sugar

2tbs melted butter, cooled

Pinch of salt 

Veg. Oil for the pan

Soak oats in milk in bowl put to side. 

In another bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and sugar. 

Mix wet ingredients together with milk and oats. Stir wet in dry ingredients. Heat oil in pan. Pour on hot pan. Flip when starts to bubble. 

Makes 8 good size pancakes. 

A good mix to add berries to! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~

Bakery Style Pumpkin Muffins

My 3 year old had mini pumpkin muffins at Cubbies (bible school) and asked me to make them. So I went searching for a recipe we could all enjoy since a dessert was what I needed to bring for Thanksgiving. I am not a very good baker, let me throw that out there so I was a bit nervous about these. Plus my mixer broke so I had to Improvise. I threw on boxed brownies just in case and got to work.

I followed this recipe I got on Pinterest to a T! 

Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

I was very proud of myself! 

Everyone raved how good they were and my 3 year old was very pleased! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Ranch Chicken with Pan Sauce

I wanted to try making my own ranch "seasoning packet". I put it on 2 chicken breast, and cooked it in the cast iron skillet. 

Ranch Seasoning:

3 tbs onion powder

1 tbs garlic salt 

1/2 tbs dried parsley

1/2 tbs dried dill weed

1/4 tbs freeze-dried chives

1/2 tbs black pepper 

1/8 tbs paprika

Ranch Chicken:

Coat the chicken with olive oil.

Sprinkle desired amount of ranch seasoning on each breast. I used about 2-3 tbs. 

Put in zip lock bag in fridge for 4 hours. 

Cook in cast iron skillet. 

Put to side to rest. 

Pan Sauce:

1 tbs unsalted butter 

1/2 cup beef broth 

2 oz cream cheese 

1 tbs garlic salt 

1/2 tbs black pepper 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

In hot skillet chicken was cooked in add beef broth. Stir to get all good bits off pan. 

Add butter and cream cheese stir till melted. 

Add seasonings. 

Simmer till thickened. 

Turn off heat, stir in heavy cream. 

Serve over chicken. 

I served the chicken and sauce over boxed chicken and herb flavored cuscus. Sided with my ham hock green beans, see LINK for recipe. 

Everyone in the house REALLY liked it! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Ham Hock Green Beans

The family loved these! My 3 year old even had 2 servings! 

Ham Hock Green Beans:

1.5 lbs fresh green beans trimmed and rinsed

1 ham hock 

1 clove garlic mashed 

1/2 cup Olive oil 

1 box chicken broth 

Salt & Pepper to taste 

Put olive oil and garlic in pot heat up. Add ham hock and brown a bit on both sides. 

I had to remove my garlic cause I burned it a bit and it gets bitter when that happens but that's your call. The oil is already infused.

Add chicken stock. 

Add green beans. Cover the rest of the way with water. 

Cover and simmer for an hour. 

Let sit in warm water covered for 30 minutes, pull out hock and let cool. 

Pick hock and mix meat in beans.

Salt & Pepper to taste

Serve

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Crab Stuffed Flounder

Another FRESH and ORGANIC catch brought home by the hubby!!! I am a big fan of flounder and always like trying new things with fish. The fisherman his self requested crab stuffed flounder. So I started looking around at recipes. None really made my mouth water. They all had too much breading, mayo or sauce which takes away from the yummy lump crab meat. Not to mention crab is not easy on the wallet... So you don't want to cover up its great flavor with bread crumbs and sauce. So I took parts and what I thought should be good and made my own and it turned out good!!! The hubby did say to add cheese of some kind next time though. I'm not sure that's my cup if tea but ill try it. 

He really liked it the way it was though so did I! 

Crab Stuffed Flounder: 

3-4 Fillets of flounder 

8 oz lump crabmeat 

6 saltines crushed up 

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs 

1/8 cup onion finely chopped 

2 tbs celery finely chopped 

1 tbs Fresh dill

1 tbs scallions 

1 large egg

1/2 cup mayo 

2 tbs Worcershire sauce 

2 tbs yellow mustard 

2 tbs old bay seasoning (split up) 

1 tbs garlic salt 

Salt & pepper to taste 

Olive oil 

1tbs Butter melted 

Cut slit in center of fish fillet to make hole. You can also place meat on top if its a thiner fillet. Olive oil on both sides. Salt and pepper on bottom and part of old bay and garlic salt the top. 

Mix crackers, bread crumbs, herbs, veggies, and crab together. 

In another bowl mix all left ingredient but butter. Then pour over crab mixture and and gently mix. Make in to cakes and place in hole and / or on top of flounder. 

Bake 350 for 10-15 minutes, broil at end for 3 min to crisp up cake but, be carful not to over cook fish. Pour butter over fish after remove from oven. 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Breakfast Crescent Muffins

I saw this on Pinterest one time and thought I don't need to go back how hard can it be. To my luck they turned out! 

Breakfast Crescent Muffins:

1 muffin pan 

12 crescent rolls - or how many your pan holds

(I used 3 of the 4 packs got on sale and with coupon for .71 each! You'll learn as my blog gets going more I love a deal!)  

1/4 lb breakfast sausage

4 eggs 

1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese 

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven 350 degrees. 

Brown sausage. Cool

Grate cheese. 

Whisk eggs, stir in cheese and sausage.

Spray pan with cooking spray, take the crescent and make a cone like shape pressing any holes together. Press in muffin pan. 

Spoon about 2-3 Tbs of mixture in each cup. Fill about 1/4 inch from top. 

Season with salt and pepper to taste on top. 

Bake 15-18 minutes. 

I enjoyed them, might add a splash of milk or cream to eggs next time and I grabbed Italian sausage which I think just a mild breakfast sausage would of had better flavor. There is a lot of possibility with these. Let me know if you try something else! 

Enjoy!

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Pumpkin Brownies

I saw this on Pinterest (no site just a pin) and had to try! 

Pumpkin Brownies:

1 box of brownie mix 

1 can pumpkin 

Bake as directed on box. 

-They are better for you with out the oil and stuff. 

- They were more of a fudge brownie. 

- The pumpkin is a very light behind the scene taste.

 ** Refrigerate leftovers, the pumpkin will spoil (learned the hard way) 

They got the thumbs up from the family! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Wild Pork Oven Roast

 

My husband is a hunter which means I have a freezer full of as organic as it gets yummy lean meat! He got a hog last season and we still had 2 about 5lb roast left in the deep freezer I needed to use.

I pulled it out and defrosted it then put it in a brine of salt, sugar and a few herbs for a day and half. This makes it tender, not gamey tasting, and gives great flavor!

Wild Pork Oven Roast:

(Brine)

1 Roast 5+/- lbs

1/8 cup parsley

1/8 cup scallions

1cup salt

1/2 cup sugar 

Warm water - enough to cover meat 

- Mix all ingredient in warm water to dissolve. Cool with ice or in fridge. Pour over roast. Put in fridge for at least 24 hours. 

(Roast Prep) 

Brined Roast

2 garlic cloves cut in 4 pieces each 

4 tbs black pepper (split)

2 tbs Thyme (split)

1 tbs season salt

1 cup beef broth

2 cups carrots cut up

1 cup celery cut up

1 medium onion cut up

2tbs butter

2tbs flour 

Rice

- Pour water off roast but DO NOT RINSE you want all the good stuff to stay on it. Season bottom side with black pepper and thyme. Put in pot/pan needs a lid (I brined mine in the pot I cooked in). On top, Cut 8 little slits randomly and put garlic pieces in. Add the rest of the black pepper, thyme, and season salt. Pour beef broth in pot. Cover. Cook 300 degrees for 5 hours. Ladle out around 1 1/2 cups of liquid and set aside. Add veggies, cover and cook another 30 minutes. Pull out let rest covered 30 minutes. While resting cook rice. Also while resting make roux with butter and flour. Once tan/ light brown colored whisk in liquid to make gravy.

Serve with or over rice.

My husband, our friend "Toe", 3 year old son and my self all really liked it! 

Enjoy!

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Left over BBQ wrap

Don't know what to do with that left over BBQ chicken? Make a yummy lunch wrap! 

1 Spinach herb wrap

Lettuce (I used romaine) 

Cheese (I used Munster) 

Mustard BBQ sauce

Left over chicken- heated up 

I heated my chicken because I wanted it that way but you don't have to. 

It was very yummy! 

Wrap it all up and enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Easy Chicken Stir Fry

I didn't get a photo due to a late rushed dinner. 

Easy Chicken Stir Fry:

2 chicken beast chicken 

1 12oz bag of fresh not frozen veggie stir fry mix, I used eat smart brand I added a little Zucchini and mushrooms too. Whatever veggies you like you can use really. 

1 cup soy sauce

2 garlic cloves minced

1tsp ground ginger 

1tbs black pepper 

1/2 tbs onion powder 

1/2 can chicken stock

White rice 

Put 1/4 cup of the soy sauce on chicken and brown in vegetable oil, put aside.

Start rice 

In same pan as cooked chicken add chicken stock, garlic and veggies, stir on medium low heat. Add rest of soy sauce and spices. Cook till veggies are tender and add chicken back. Serve over rice. 

The kid, husband and my self enjoyed it and it didn't take long at all! 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~ 

Apple Pie Bites

This is a Pillsbury recipe I vamped up. My dads girlfriend brought the stuff over to make it after the shrimp and grits but we never got around to it so she left if for me to make. 

Bites:

1 tube crescent rolls

1 slice apple per triangle

Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar 

Roll up and bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Glaze:

1/2 cup pure cane sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup water

1/2 Lemon juice squeezed out 

Put all in pot and whisk. Add

1/2 TSP Almond extract 

And 1/2 packet Gelatin 

Bring to boil whisking every minute

Drizzle over finished bites

*I made this up as I made it but turned out good!

Feedback:

Husband said needs different apples (i used the already sliced in a bag kind), father in law and my self liked them, 3 year old took the apple out ;-) 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~  

Pork and Beans over Rice

Husband said he wanted beans and ham that you put over rice on Sunday, so that's what I did. Got a bag of northern white beans, instead of ham he got cooked pork chops (good call on his part) and a ham hock. 

Pork and Beans:

Ingredients -

2 TBS olive oil 

1/4 sweet or yellow onion chopped 

2 cloves garlic 

1 bag northern white beans 

1 ham hock

1/2 can beef stock 

1 package, ours had 5 pork chops, by the cooked ham 

1TSP Kane's Krazy Mixed-Up Pepper seasoning 

Salt 

Pepper

Rice

Put oil in bottom of hot pot, add onion till softened some then add garlic, and ham hock. Add broth to deglaze pot. Add salt pepper and seasoning.

Pour in water according to bag of beans and beans. Cover and simmer on low for 2 hours. 

Serve over rice, I used Basmati and added a TBS of butter to the water which was a nice extra flavor. You can use any rice you would like though. 

Good for company or leftovers. 

Feedback:

Everyone- my family and in laws enjoyed it with no complains. 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~

 

Boiled Peanuts

My husband made the best boiled peanuts last night! Yes he cooks too at times and is pretty good at it!! I had to share with y'all he put a little secret ingredient in there that made a difference from your regular just salted ones. 

Mr. Milly's Boiled Peanuts:

2lbs green peanuts

1/2 cup salt

1 heaping TBS Old Bay Seasoning; yep that's the secret, just enough for flavor with no spicy-ness (I make up words at times lol) 

Simmer for 3 hours 

Let soak for an hour in warm water

Cool off in fridge, we like them cold in our house this is optional 

Enjoy! 

~Mrs. Milly~

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

We carved a pumpkin 3 days ago. I saved the seeds and put in the fridge and finally got around to roasting them tonight. I did a batch with cinnamon and sugar and one with creole seasoning. Everyone liked the creole best but the cinnamon sugar got a little over cooked even though they were in the same time, guess it was the sugar. 

Pick and rinse off seeds. Dry best you can. They stay kind of wet. 

Spread out on baking sheet coated with olive oil add seasoning and mix. 

Make sure spread evenly. 

Bake at 325 for 20 to 30 min stirring around every 10 minutes. The sugar ones 20 minutes. 

Throw Together Scalloped Shepard's Pie

(It got dug in to before I could get a photo)

I had taken out hamburger meat and had no idea what I was going to do with it. So I got to looking around, had 1/2 a bag of frozen mixed veggies, beef broth, and scalloped potatoes I had frozen. So I thought, Casserole. 

One thing you will learn about me is some of my best dishes are ones Ive thrown together and just eye the measurements. My husband will agree, he's always saying how great my throw togethers are. 

I browned 1lb hamburger meat with 1/4 of an large onion and 1 clove of garlic. It was petty lean meat so no need to drain. Put in bottom of casserole dish. 

In same pan added 1.5 TBS butter, 1/2 can beef stock and whisked in 2 TBS flour to make a gravy. I then added the frozen veggie mix, salt and pepper to the pan and simmered for a few minutes to thaw and start the cooking of the veggies. 

I placed the thawed, blanched scalloped potatoes in 2 layers on top, poured about 1/4 cup of beef stock on top, topped with a little salt, pepper and Monterey Jack cheese and parsley. 

It turned out to be like Shepard's Pie and my dad, son and self enjoyed it!

Baked 350 for 20 min. Let stand for 8 min. to let sauce thicken and serve. Serves 4 

Easy to make! 

Veggie Tomato Sauce

This is a good one for those picky eaters! My 3 year old LOVES anything with tomato sauce on it so I thought, ill just sneak the veggies in. He ate 2 servings!!! I thought it was really good too! 

How I Made It:

I used jarred tomato sauce. You can use any kind of your choice but I'd pick the most basic one. If I had the time I would of made my own too but this was much faster after a busy day. 

I put olive oil in the bottom of a medium sauce pan, it needed to be a little bigger. 

I roughly chopped 2 carrots, hand full of asparagus, 1 zucchini, 1 large clove of garlic and 2 hands full of baby spinach. And put in pan in that order. Let the carrots cook for about 5 min, asparagus 2 min, garlic and zucchini at same time for about 2 min, then spinach. Sautéed it all for 15-20 min added jarred sauce and blended it all up. Let sauce simmer while I got the water in a pot to a boil and cooked frozen cheese ravioli.

You could use any pasta but the cheese in the ravioli gave it a nice taste. 

Enjoy!

~Mrs. Milly~

Instagram

Check out #cookinwithmrsmilly if you are on Instagram =) I post my food photos on there also and there are a few things from before I started this blog.

Smothered Chicken

This is a recipe I have made a few times and my family really likes!!! It is not so low fat but yummy and pretty easy. I found it on Pinterest and followed to a T.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN

FOR THE CREAMED SPINACH:

1 large bag of spinach leaves

4 ounces cream cheese

1/4 C shredded parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T onion, minced

2 T olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE SAUTEED MUSHROOMS:

8 ounce package of mushrooms, sliced

1/2 stick butter

2 T olive oil

1/2 C white wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE CHICKEN:

4-5 boneless chicken breasts

8-10 slices Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/8 inch slices

1 T garlic powder

1 T seasoned salt, like Lawry's

1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sprinkle the garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper on both sides of the chicken.  Bake for 16 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the creamed spinach.  Over medium-high heat, melt 2 T olive oil in a skillet.  Add in the onions and saute 2-3 minutes.  Add in the spinach and garlic.  It will shrink ridiculously.  When it's cooked through, stir in the cream cheese and parmesan cheese.  Continue cooking and stirring until the cream cheese is melted.  Remove from heat.

For the mushrooms, melt butter and 2 T olive oil in a skillet.  Put the mushrooms in and cook until browned all over.  Don't season with salt until they are browned or they will never brown.  Deglaze the pan with the wine.  Add in the garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until most of the wine is cooked out.

Flip the chicken pieces over.  Divide the spinach and mushrooms over the top of each breast.  Lay two slices of cheese over each piece of chicken.  Cook another 12-14 minutes or until cheese is browned and chicken is done.

Shrimp and Grits

                                                            (sorry not the best photo)

My best friend has been raving about this recipe and I finally got to make it and it is just as good as she made it out to be. Not that I doubted her but I am kind of a shrimp and grits snob, it is one of my favorite foods I've had it at many places. Well this recipe beats most restaurants!!! It was so good and got great feed back of how good it was from my dad, his girlfriend, my 3 year old son even really liked it, even my husband who didn't get to get it fresh but after it had cooled and sat even said it was VERY GOOD!

Here is the link to the recipe I followed but I doubled it:
http://www.realfoodgirlunmodified.com/real-easy-shrimp-n-grits/ 

I did change the cheese to monterey jack, used store bought stock, also used Tony Chathchere's Creole Seasoning on the shrimp and didn't add the garlic because the seasoning had plenty in it.

*One thing I would of done different is take the tails off the shrimp, it looks pretty but a pain when eating it =)

It is a great hearty dish that was a little work but easy and really impressed!

~Mrs. Milly~

Welcome To My Blog!

WELCOME to my first little blog! I have always had a love for food which has grown in to a love for cooking! I love all styles of food from Southern, Italian, and everything in between. With this blog I am going to post recipes and feedback about recipes I cook, good or bad. The recipes will be my own, from friends, family, cookbooks and a verity of online sites. The feedback will be from myself, kids, husband and other family and friends that let me feed them.

Please feel free to ask me to cook something you've been wanting to try or any questions on how to do something in the kitchen or tips and I will do my best! I am not a chef and have not been to culinary school. I am self taught and still learning every time I step in the kitchen. I hope you join me in my cooking journey and learn along with me!

~Mrs. Milly~