Baked Cheese Bites

Last night for dinner I made southwest chili lime meatballs (ground pork seasoned with Stubb's Chili Lime Rub and baked on 425* for about 20-25min until they're golden brown how I like them). I decided that a good side for them would be the baked cheese bites that I found on Pinterest, so I tried out that recipe. Anyone who has ever cooked will tell you that sometimes things that seem soooo simple can turn out soooo wrong. Yes, they were edible and still delicious but they were more crispy cheese puddle than cheese balls. I followed the advice from the blog this recipe is from and froze the cheese before I dipped it. When I make this again (I want to keep trying this one until I get it right) I think I will use panko crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs because they have a lot more crunch to them. I am also going to freeze them after they're dipped since they do warm up some in the dipping process. Hopefully those two changes help them to crunch up before they melt down. I couldn't find fat free cheese at Walmart like the original recipe used and this might also have affected their meltiness.

Baked Cheese Bites

Pack of lowfat string cheese sticks

Bread Crumbs

Milk

1. Cut the cheese sticks into bite sized pieces and place into the freezer. Opening the cheese stick packs was tons of fun for my two kids so take the help if you can get it.

2. Preheat the oven to 425*. Once the cheese sticks are firm to the touch (mine were in the freezer about 30 minutes while I put away groceries) take them out and add a little milk so you can coat all the pieces.  Then roll them in the bread crumbs.

3. Place onto a pre-greased cookie sheet and bake on 425* for 6-7min until they are golden brown. Serve with marinara or your favorite dipping sauce.

Recipes I'm Trying This Week

I LOVE using my Foodie Ideas board on Pinterest to find new and exciting recipes to try for the week. The type of food I'm cooking is totally dependent upon what kind of schedule I have for the week. If I know that I'm going to be working later (like I was last week driving over an hour into SC) then I go for things that can be done in the crock pot. Another option of course is to cook enough on the days when I have time so there are leftovers. My boyfriend is all about the leftovers, so this goes over well. He is also lactose intolerant, so when I make recipes they are done with dairy free substitutes. Sometimes it's an easy swap like lactose free milk. Other times I have to make a trip to a store I don't normally shop at for goat's milk mozzarella (I get it at Harris Teeter here) or vegan cream cheese (also at Harris Teeter or Trader Joe's).

Here are a few of the recipes I want to try this week. The pictures are all property of their respective blogs which I have linked to. You can find the recipes in each picture caption...

I've been seeing these really delicious looking baked cheese balls from the blog Never trust a skinny cook on Pinterest everytime I search for cheese (don't judge me, haha). I am a major lover of cheese and since my boyfriend is out of town this weekend I can make this recipe with no modifications.

http://justaddasliceoflove.blogspot.com/2011/09/baked-cheese-balls.html

 

 

I have never met an artichoke dish I didn't like so of course I pinned a chicken dish that included an artichoke topping on it from the Sugar Laws website. These artichoke crusted chicken breast look moist, delicious, and who doesn't love a creamy topping?!?

http://www.sugarlaws.com/artichoke-crusted-chicken

 

We eat Mexican food a lot in this house. I love flavors of the Southwest from growing up in Southern California and then living in El Paso, Texas. There's almost always some sort of shredded chicken made with salsa or taco seasoning in my fridge, so running across Healthy Delicious baked chicken flautas is a no brainer for something to try!

http://healthy-delicious.com/2012/03/baked-chicken-and-spinach-flautas/

 

I know for sure that my shopping trip today will include a couple of packs of chicken, so going for a chicken cordon bleu recipe from The Girl Who Are Everything was a no brainer. I just picked up some ham lunch meat on sale so I'm good to go on this one.

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/09/easy-chicken-cordon-bleu.html

 

When I'm going grocery shopping I roughly plan recipes I want to try like this. I check my different resources and pick out a few. As you can tell there's not really enough recipes to eat for the whole week here and that's because I'm not quite sure what meat besides chicken will look good or be a good enough price to have. This flexibility also means I can always double up a recipe for leftovers or just pull some of my pre-marinated meat out of the freezer. Stay tuned throughout the week to see how I make each of these meals my own!

Meal Prep and Planning

Now, I've been doing the bulk of the cooking in every house I've lived in since moving out of my mom's. She always says that I never cooked this good at home and it's true. Sorry mom, haha! Many people ask me how I manage to make a delicious, homecooked meal most every night for dinner. The answer is simple: I plan ahead and shop smart. When I look at prices at the grocery store I check not only the price per pound or ounce, but also how many servings I will get out of an item. This is especially helpful for meat. Take for example chicken breast at my local Wal-Mart. They are normally $1.99/lb and I tend to get a pack that cost $5-$6. There's enough in that pack to make enough meat for at least two different meals. If I am shredding the chicken I can stretch that pack even further.

I work outside the home and my schedule is never the same, so I need things ready to go with minimal preparation the day I want to cook it. My best advice for this is to buy meats on sale and season before you freeze them. If you came to my house on grocery day you would find me dividing meat into meal sized portions and seasoning it in ziploc bags. All you have to do then is squeeze the air out of the bag and place it into the freezer. I will write the name on the bag if I'm doing two preparations that look the same, but the flavor is totally different (say taco seasoning and a chile based bbq seasoning). I am the shopper and cook in this house though, so I don't feel the need to label the bags since I always know what I have. By marinating before you freeze you give your meats even more time to get delicious. They will marinade as they freeze and as they defrost in addition to as they cook. When you are deciding what to eat for dinner you can just put the bag in the fridge before work so it's defrosted when you get home. My favorite though is to just open the bag and dump the still frozen meat into the crock pot. Even from a totally frozen state the meat will be cooked to a safe temperature by dinner time.

When looking for inspiration for what to cook I look at many different sources. The best of which is friends and family. That's where Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest come in especially handy. Pinterest is my favorite of them all because it gives you access to so many more people and websites than you might have found on your own. Back in the day when I had cable I used to watch a lot of the Food Network. I've always enjoyed reading, so cookbooks and magazines are especially good resources. The Joy of Cooking cookbook has pretty much every recipe you could ever want. Food Network Magazine, Rachel Ray Magazine, Self, and Women's Health are just a few resources to subscribe to for recipe ideas. The second best source would be restaurants because they give you a chance to try different styles of cooking without having to do all the work yourself. Lastly, EXPERIMENT! Start with a base that you know works. One of the things I cook that many people still talk about it candied bacon (bacon that is sprinkled with brown sugar as it bakes in the oven). I know that bacon taste delicious  and I've always loved a play on different taste sensations. I tried it once and I was hooked! Many times I build upon that flavor profile by adding a sprinkle of something spicy like chipotle chile powder. The point is you shouldn't be afraid to just get in the kitchen and start cooking. You might discover a flavor combination that your loved ones will always remember