Ranch Wife Cafe
Chow, Chaps and Chores..the life of a Ranch Wife
Spectacular Birthday Cake....itty bitty amount of work
In honor of "smoochy's" 1st Birthday I made him a special birthday cake though it looks very impressive it was a cinch to make.
I used the basic Betty Crocker Silver cake mix recipe from scratch but any box white cake mix will do bake as instructed in 2 - 9 inch cake pans. I also made homemade buttercream icing but a can of white or colored icing would work as well. I used what ever candy we had lying around the house you can have fun with it mixing and matching cookies, marshmellows or anything you can get creative with.
Baking took a little over thirty minutes and decorating took about thirty minutes as well plus about 20 minutes cooling time...all in all this cake was Fun, Cheap and easy!
Baked Chicken, Brown Rice and Dilled Brussel Sprout/Carrots
Seeing as spring is about to spring (or it least we hope to see some warmer sunnier weather soon) I made a "To Do List" in reference to the chow section of our life it consists of things I would like to do here at the Ranch it reads as follows (but does not nessecarily get followed as read).......
1) Clean out the freezers (by cooking with what we have left) that we filled up last summer with all kinds of fresh fruits and veggies to make room for the new crop that we will harvest this spring summer and fall
2) Try to plan well balanced nutricious meals (that will actually taste good and we will eat)
3) Cut down on our grocery bill and consumption of commercial groceries as well as fast food
4) Make the meals simple and fast so I'm not stuck in the kitchen all day and night
Hummmm lets see how I do at my own challenge this week.......
Heres what we had tonight....
| BAKED CHICKEN Preheat oven to 375 degrees place 4 frozen Chicken Breasts in a shallow baking dish and pour 1/2 cup of italian dressing over. Bake in preheated over for 45 minutes or until juices run clear. BROWN RICE Cook 2 cups of instant brown rice according to directions add 1tsp of chicken bouillion 2 TBSP of dried parsely or 2-3 stems of fresh parsely finely chopped. Drizzle with a small amount of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil). DILLED BRUSSEL SPROUTS/CARROTS In a med sauce pan add an entire package of frozen or fresh brussel sprouts that you have cut in half length wise (about 2-3cups) and 4-5 fresh carrots peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces or one small bag of frozen. Add just enough water to cover and boil until veggies are tender but not over cooked. Drain then add 3 TBSP of dill, 2 tsp balsamic vingear 2 tsp butter salt and pepper to taste. stir well. ( I also drizzled with EVOO but that is totally optional)
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Wild West tofu
Ummmm nothing says wild west like tofu...HUH? Yeah that's right I said tofu and wild west in the same sentence. Short story for you when I brought home the organic container of tofu my husband looked at me and then looked again at the tofu as if I had brought in a dirty sock to cook for dinner. Needless to say, he did not eat this dish- but the boys and I did and it was great hope you enjoy it too!
