Orzo and Chicken Autumn Skillet Meal Recipe

Hola Amigos! We had an unusually warm day for this time in the year up here. But still, it was one of those days that some comfort food was in order. I went to the store to get me some chicken and thought about trying the new chicken helpers on the market, just to make a quick meal but I couldn't Something about sweet and sour chicken coming out of a box doesn't sound too appealing to me, no matter how easy it looks.
I tell you guys, best decision ever! For about the same price I made this delicious and easy 1 skillet meal.
Maybe lady luck was on my side because all the mayor components were on sale! The rest we all have in our pantries.

A homemade meal to feed 4 for about $5 (well not counting the caramel apple candy corn and diet pop I got)!

This is your ideal Fall and Winter meal, easy, warm and comforting! In my book it doesn't get any better than that. Dinner is done in no time leaving plenty of time to enjoy the crisp weather and sunsets outside with the family.

Thank You for your visit to the blog today! I hope you are able to try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we did. Remember my friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Orzo and Chicken Autumn Skillet Meal
Ingredients:
1 Pd Chicken Tenders (was on sale)
1 Pd Baby Spinach (was on sale for $1)
1 Small can Mushrooms slices (was on sale for $.89)
1 Large Onion, sliced
1 Clove Garlic, minced
2 Cup Chicken Broth
1/3 Cup Orzo (was on sale for $1)
1 Tbsp oil for browning
Directions:
Season your chicken as you usually do with salt and pepper. I add a pinch of celery salt to mine all the time.
In a large skillet add the oil. Let it get hot and add your onion and garlic clove. Cook until your onions are transparent, always keeping an eye on your garlic not to burn. Add the chicken and brown. Add spinach, mix in with the chicken. Add orzo, mushrooms and broth. Cook for the time indicated on the box. I cooked mine 12 minutes. We really don't like our pasta quite al dente, neither mushy so that time was good for me. If you like it more al dente by all means cook it for only 8 minutes which is the box recommended time.
Let it sit for a couple of minutes for the pasta to absorb the sauce and serve with Parmesan cheese and bread. Enjoy

Prep and cooking time 30 minutes                                                                  Serves 4

Sharing my Frugal Comfort Meal at these Fa-BOO-lous Parties:

The Best Blog Recipes, Craftionary, The Girl Creative, Tidy Mom, Home Maid Simple, Love and Laundry, Today's Creative Blog, Practically Functional, My Turn (for Us), Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, Sara Howe, Townsend House, Cooking with Curls, Living Better Together, Shaken Together, The Pin Junkie, 504 Main, Cheerios and Lattes, Six Sisters Stuff, It's Overflowing, Be Different Act Normal, Classy Clutter, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Angels Homestead, Suburbs Mama, Twigg Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, I Should be Mopping the Floors, The Chicken Chick, Huckleberry Love, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Velvet Moon Baker, Flamingo Toes, This Gal Cooks, WOM, Between Naps on the Porch, My Girlish Whims, Ginger Snap Crafts, Made to be a Momma, A Southern Faitytale, The Shady Porch, Mom's Test Kitchen, Mom's Test Kitchen, Lady Behind the Curtain, Creations by Kara, Ducks' n a Row, Our Table for Seven. Homemade Ginger, Hun What's for Dinner?, Memories by the Mile, Not Just a Housewife, Home Stories A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, The Mandatory Mooch, Sweet Haute, A Pinch of Joy, Recipes for my Boys, Kitchen Meets Girl, Real Coake Family, Considered Me Inspired, Cassidy's Cooking

Pumpkin Brownies Halloween Recipe

Hola Amigos! If you follow me on FB you know I got a little help from my friends to get me through what I call a seasonal blogger dilemma. For a while I was seriously considering going into hibernation, closing shop, sort of speak through the Fall and then wake up and join the living on Winter time..odd I know, but here is why:  I couldn't figure out what to blog about because we all know this is Pumpkin Season and I Hate Pumpkins, with Passion!!!

Pumpkins, Squash, Gourds, Sweet Potatoes, Yams...you name it! If it's orange and it's not a carrot I don't like it!. Believe me, I've tried, very hard, but a single bite won't go down my throat.
I don't cook them, I don't know how to cook them and never been interested in them until this Fall, when the entire bloggy community is going head over hills over pumpkins and since now I'm blogging...well what to do!

I got a lot of good suggestions. This was among them, recipe and all courtesy of Paula D. Wilson, one of my FB readers. She promised me I would not be able to taste the pumpkin in these brownies and I thought.....what do I have to lose!

Well, Shut The Front Door!!!! They are amazing! and No Pumpkin Flavor!!! To the point that my little one who can't stand pumpkins either ate the first one and then I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, but nothing...he loved them!

They are soft, fudgy and so chocolaty! I followed the recipe to the T...well there are only 2 ingredients as you probably know. Just added some chocolate chips and M&M's as I do with all my brownies! Oh My!!!
Just grab the milk and keep them coming!

Decorate them with seasonal candy, more fudge, caramel, peanuts or marshmallows!!! They are good!

I want to thank Paula for her help and for sharing her recipe with me and let me try some pumpkin without really tasting it!!! how great is that?

Thank you for visiting the blog today! Every Thursday on FB I'm having a Thankful Thursday as a way of thanking my readers and fellow bloggers for their support. If you are a small blog, you are just starting as a blogger, you are an artist, you are a reader with a great recipe, Comment on this post leaving me a link to your blog,  contact me and send me your recipe and I will try it and post it here on my blog giving you the credit you deserve. You don't need to be a blogger to do this, just email me or PM me on FB or G+.

Have a great day and keep in mind friends...everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love and a little help from your friends!

 Besitos,

Lizy

Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients:

1 Box Brownies (18 -20oz) I used Ghirardelli's Ultimate Brownie Mix

1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin Puree

M&M's candy (optional)

Chocolate Chips (optional)

Seasonal Candy (optional)

Directions:

Mix together Brownie Mix (no eggs, no oil, no water) Just the powder with the Pumpkin Puree. It's going to be a thick mix. Pour it into a 13x9 baking dish and bake for 18-24 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool, cut in squares and decorate the brownies any way you like it. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 3 minutes                                                                  Baking Time 18-24 Minutes                          

Bringing a sweet treat with a trick to these Fa-BOO-lous parties:

Planned in Pencil, Tatertots and Jello, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, SerenityYou, Classy Clutter, Fox Hollow Cottage, Cheerios and Lattes, Too Much Time, Twigg Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, WCFS, Your Homebased Mom, Mommifried, The Thriftiness Miss, Under the Table and Dreaming, Dear Creatives, Flamingo Toes, I Should be Mopping the Floors, Frugal Foodie Mama, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Coastal Charm, Between Naps on the Porch, Carrie This Home, A Pinch of Joy, PandP Kitchen, Jembelish, A Southern Fairytale, Setting for Four, Titi Crafty, Huckleberry Love, VMG 206, The Gunny Sack, Ladybug Blessings, Home Stories A to Z, Chef in Training, Our Table for Seven, Nap-Time Creations, Mandy's Recipe Box, The Everyday Home, The Well Crafted Home, Smart School House, My Sweet Mission, Lady Behind the Curtain, Thank You Honey, All She Cooks, Ducks 'n a Row, Delish, Sweet Haute, A Handful of Everything, The Mandatory Mooch, Saving 4 Six, The Crafty Blogstalker, Maid in a Day, Simply Dream and Create, The Best Blog Recipes, Craftionary, Tidy Mom, The Girl Creative, Home Maid Simple, Love and Laundry, Todays Crative Blog, Practically Functional, My Turn (for Us), Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, Sara Howe, Townsend House, Cooking with Curls, Living Better Together, Shaken Together, The Pin Junkie, 504 Main, Six Sisters Stuff, It's Overflowing, Be Different Act Normal, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Angels Homestead, Suburbs Mama, WOM, Housewives of Riverton,SNAP, Cassidy's Cooking, Classy Clutter

Woodland Ogre Halloween Beef and Pasta Stoup Recipe

Hola Amigos: Not everything hasto be skulls, bones and witches for Halloween right? there are plenty of other fun characters out there to play along with make a recipes around them. This is one example, the friendly (?) Ogre!
We all learned to love that green fellow capable of making the "princess"  forget about getting  the ultimate makeover and be true to herself.  I wasn't quite fond of his taste for dinner (neither were the 3 blind mice) but I'm sure this dish would satisfy his appetite and the appetite of any of our own big and little ogres at home!

It's a crock pot dish too...so no need to slave over a cauldron  to enjoy comfort food at the end of a cool Fall or Winter's day!

Just like a real Ogre would do, don't even worry to much about perfectly cutting veggies, just rough chop everything and after 4 hours or so enjoy the goodness!

As you can see here, nothing is Mushed <-----not quite sure that's an actual word but you get the idea. Everything remains whole giving it the perfect "Stoup" consistency...a Stew and Soup together! what is not to love about it!

Here you have it my friends! Like our favorite character said once "Ogres (and bloggers) are like onions", no we don't stink, but we have layers and deep inside we all believe in fairy tales and we  bring them to life with projects, crafts or why not a recipe! Enjoy and remember that everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Woodland Ogre Halloween Beef and Pasta Stoup

Ingredients:

1 (1 1/2-2 Pound) Chuck Roast

1 Small Bag Frozen Stuffed Pasta

(I had Ravioli handy, but you could use Tortellini too)

1 14.5 Oz Can Petite Diced Tomatoes

1 14.5 Oz Can Sweet Corn

1 14.5 Oz Can Beef Broth

1 14.5 Oz Can Condensed Tomato Soup

1 Large Onion Chopped

8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms

Salt, Pepper, Celery Salt , Onion Powder to taste (or use your own favorite spice mix)

Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Get your Crock Pot ready.

Make a bed with your chopped onion and place the roast on top, add the rest of ingredients except the Parmesan Cheese.

Cook for 4 hours. Serve with some Parmesan Cheese on top and Enjoy

Personal Tip: I like to use chuck roast for soups because it's not expensive and it gives the best flavor to soups, stock and broths, but I don't like the fact that it has bones and a bit too much fat for my taste, so I take the extra step of trimming the bone and fat before I freeze it, so it is ready to go when I need it. 

Prep Time: 5 Minutes                              Cooking Time 4 hours                         Serves 6 Bowls

Sharing some Ogre Chow at these Fa-BOO-lous Parties:

The 36th Avenue, 52 Mantels, The Mandatory Mooch, Sweet Haute, Saving 4 Six, Lamberts Lately, What's Cooking Love?, A Handful of Everything. Live, Laugh Rowe, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Katherines Corner, The Best Blog Recipes, Craftionary, Tidy Mom, The Girl Creative, One Tough Mother, Home Maid Simple, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, 504 Main, Craft Dictator, Do Small Things with Love, Diana Rambles, Sara Howe, Planned in Pencil, Living Better Together, The Jenny Evolution, Shaken Together, The Pin Junkie, Tatertots and Jello, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Serenity You. Classy Clutter, Who Needs a Cape, Cheerios and Lattes, Too Much Time, Twigg Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, WCFS, Your Homebased Mom, Mommifried, The Thriftiness Miss, Under the Table and Dreaming, Dear Creatives, Flamingo Toes, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Frugal Foodie Mama, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Coastal Charm, Between Naps on the Porch, Carrie This Home, A Pinch of Joy, PandP Kitchen, Jembellish, A Southern Fairytale, Setting for Four, Titi Crafty, Huckleberry Love. VMG 206, The Gunny Sack, Ladybug Blessings, Home Stories A to Z, Chef in Training, Our Table for Seven, Nap-Time Creations, Mandy's Recipe Box, The Everyday Home, The Well Crafted Home, Smart School House, My Sweet Mission, Lady Behind the Curtain, Thank You Honey, All She Cooks, Ducks n' a Row, Six Sisters's Stuff, Call Me PMc