HotDog heaven at our house tonight!

Today was a super fast and easy dinner night - we had Hot Dogs... not even grilled, just cooked on the stove and paired with a yummy pasta salad and watermelon. I have decided that we may have reached that point of moving to a two package hot dog family because there is almost not enough for everyone... scary thought - not sure what we are going to do when they are teenagers! Anyway, I can't post something without leaving you with some sort of recipe. Below is my pasta salad recipe that is a big hit with the family. We found it by accident one time on the back of an Albertson's package of salad pasta and it has quickly become our favorite.

Dill Pasta Salad

8oz of your favorite small pasta cooked

6 oz cheese cubed

1/2 C. finely chopped dill pickle (very important!)

1/4 C. finely chopped onion

1 C. frozen peas, thawed

1 C Mayonnaise

1 T lemon juice

1T Dijon Mustard

1/4 tsp Tabasco (trust me - very important!)

1/4 tsp salt

pepper to taste

Mix it all together and enjoy. This salad gets better when it sits in the fridge for awhile but it is good whenever you have it. My favorite part with this salad is that I can make it really quickly which is most important on busy family nights.

Yummy Grilled Chicken

Summer is by far my most favorite time of year when it comes to food because I love grilling. My husband is the master griller at our house, however, I have improved my skills immensely this last season because of his crazy work schedule. Anyway, we had some left over Coke that I wanted to get rid of and thought there has to be a recipe out there somewhere that uses it as a marinade - and shockingly enough, there are Several... who knew?? Anyway, Coke makes a nice carmelization on the chicken when it's cooked that made this dish mighty tasty.

Coke Chicken

2C. Coke

1/3 C. Soy Sauce

1T minced Garlic

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1T Balsamic Vinegar

1T Lime Juice

Chicken of your choice

I put all the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and put in fridge before I left for work. We did both a mix of boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs because we have mix of preferences at my house. Anyway, Take chicken out of fridge about 45 min before you want to grill. Place on preheated grill and cook until done. We served this with cheesy cauliflower and rice pilaf. Nice meal and everyone cleaned their plate!

Goulash (or however you spell it??)

Since my honey has had quite the busy and crazy week - I decided to make him one of his favorite dishes - Goulash... it is comfort food at it's finest and he definitely needed some comfort.
When I make this dish, I usually just serve it with nothing else because that's how he prefers it. I think it is tasty with a salad and maybe some shredded cheese on top - but that truly is your call!

• 1lb ground beef


• 1/2 onion chopped


• 2 C. dry macaroni


• 4 14oz cans stewed tomatoes


• chili powder


• nutmeg (trust me on this one!)


• other seasoning to taste

Cook macaroni to al dente. Saute hamburger with onion. Drain. Combine macaroni, meat, and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and chili powder and a dash of nutmeg. Heat until hot and enjoy!!

My kids love this as well by the way. Both Thomas and Kate ask for seconds when we have this. Thomas, who does not like tomatoes, will eat this without complaint.

Ok - I will try this again...

This is definitely one of our families favorite dishes. If you have a pressure cooker - it takes only a few minutes to cook... if not, you can cook this on the stove top and it works just as well. Also, we like this made with ground turkey instead of ground beef because turkey tends to be a bit more moist. When I make this for our family of 6, I usually double the recipe because it goes rather quickly... you can make adjustments to the recipe as you see fit - it definitely doesn't need to be exact.

• Porcupine Meatballs


• 1 lb meat


• 1/2c. Long grain rice


• 1/2 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp Pepper


• 2 TB finally minced onion


• 1 can condensed tomato soup (approx 10oz can)


• 1/2 Cup water


• 1-2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (makes all the difference)

Combine the first 5 ingredients well and form into meatballs. Combine the last three ingredients and place in pressure cooker. Place meet balls in with the sauce. Put lid on and heat until it's pressurized - cook for 10 min under pressure. Let pan cool down at least five minutes before releasing pressure. For stove top: Brown meatballs in large skillet. Put sauce mixture over meatballs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35-40 min - stirring very gently every so often. If you do it this way, you may need to add some kind of binder to the meat so they don't break - like egg...) Anyway, we usually serve these with green beans and that's it. Very tasty and very quick!! Definitely my kind of meal!