Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken & Dumplings / photo by Emily Beth Leathers

Winter is still looming in the dark clouds that bring rain and blustery wind here in Texas. For these chilly days, I have a comfort food that not only fills your belly, but also satisfies all your wintery blues! I’ve been making a version of this recipe since I was around 8 or 9 and literally—no one else dares to make Chicken and Dumplings in my family! Upon moving to Texas and buying my very own crockpot, I decided to {Read More}

Crockpot: Southern Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

pulled pork in crock pot

My family absolutely loves this melt-in-your-mouth tangy pulled pork. This recipe is one of my go-to weeknight favorites, and I always have some on hand. It has just the right amount of tang to eat plain, on a bun, with a little bit of the vinegar-based juices drizzled on top. The next night we use the left over buns and change up the sandwich by adding our favorite bottled BBQ sauce on top. We also love this pork on soft {Read More}

CPK Family Cookbook: Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken / photo by Kellie Renfroe

Whether it’s for a birthday or special occasion, a family favorite restaurant to visit is California Pizza Kitchen. Funny thing is, we love the salads (Thai Crunch is my pick) and entrees more than their pizza! Over the summer the kids and I found the California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook at the library and enjoyed spending a few weeks cooking our way through it. Inspired by CPK’s orange lettuce wraps in the cookbook, we transformed it from what my family {Read More}

Cheesy Noodle Crockpot Dinner

cheesy noodles

Kaesspaetzele (Cheesy noodles) Traditionally these noodles should be homemade, but I sacrifice a little traditional flavor for ease and simplicity. I am always on the lookout for these noodles at specialty food stores.  As an alternative, I recommend boxed elbow macaroni or packaged egg noodles, according to preference. Ingredients: 1 box or bag of pasta sliced or shredded swiss cheese onions, butter Prepare pasta according to package directions and drain. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Dice the onion {Read More}

Single Woman Cooking: Italian Chicken with Veggies in One Dish

Casserole dish with three small red potatoes drizzled with olive oil and topped with parsley laying next to green beans laying next to a boneless skinless chicken breast seasoned with Italian seasoning.

Cooking for the single woman can be a challenging task amidst rising food costs and the simple fact a single woman should not eat mashed potatoes and gravy every night for dinner. Besides, most of us are watching our figures! What is a lady to do when she finds herself living on her own? I recently came face to face with this predicament when I moved from my small town life in Mississippi to city life in Texas to become {Read More}

Honey Lime Enchiladas

enchilada1

A guaranteed hit at my house is any type of Mexican dish. The kids love slightly spicy foods, and Mexican fits the bill nicely. One of our family favorites is Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas. The combination of honey and lime is delicious! While I generally make this recipe using the mild green enchilada sauce, I do like kicking it up a notch with medium heat sauce from time to time. Be sure and taste as ingredients are mixed. If you {Read More}

Chicken Tamale Casserole

A slice of chicken tamale casserole by Kellie Renfroe for www.MentoringMoments.org

Almost rivaling my love of chocolate is my love for tamales. Yes, tamales. Homemade-from-scratch tamales take a considerable amount of time to make and who has hours to spend on tamales these days? Finding this recipe at My Recipes  I was happy to learn it originally appeared in Cooking Light magazine although I tweaked it in not-so-light cooking ways. Three out of four kiddos liked chicken tamale casserole making it a keeper. Serving eight, it was plenty for my family {Read More}

Black Friday Black Bean Taquitos

photo by Molly Evert

A few weeks ago, Marcia Washburn, author of Homemade Convenience Food in 15 Minutes, gave away a copy of her book here at MMCW. It was a fun give away complete with some of our wonderful readers sharing family favorite quick meals. One of the recipes shared was Black Bean Taquitos by Georgette. It’s fast, kid friendly, and healthy to boot. It is perfect for lunch or dinner. Georgette says the original recipe comes from Six O’Clock Scramble, a membership fee based recipe site. {Read More}

Gluten-free Thai Noodle Salad with Chicken

photo by Kellie Renfroe

Finding healthy recipes my four children will eat is more than a challenge, sometimes it seems impossible. When I came across Thai Noodle Salad with Chicken over on Stacy McDonald’s Your Sacred Calling blog it seemed like a fun one-bowl dinner my young’uns just might enjoy. Not only are my kiddos in love, we are having it again for dinner this week. Stacy’s recipe calls for serrano peppers in the sauce, which I left out the first time.  I was {Read More}

Raspberry BBQ Chicken

raspberry bbq drumsticks 2

The fascination with drumsticks continues at my home this summer. We’ve had Spicy Orange Drumsticks and Zesty and Healthy drumsticks and now my favorite of all– Raspberry BBQ Drumsticks. Skip the chicken and just give me a spoon for the sauce–it is that good! I served this with zucchini pie and parmesan-lime potatoes (recipe coming). The recipe comes from an older Taste of Home cookbook I have with a few tweaks to fit my family’s taste. To add a bit {Read More}