6 Easy Dinner Ideas

I like to cook so I decided I would share some recipes that I have collected and want to share.  I found these recipes on the web and I haven’t tried them yet but will give it a try soon.  I hope you all enjoy and if any of you make any of these dishes please let me know how they came out.

The chicken in this main dish recipe is lightly coated with a spiced tomato-and-mushroom blend. If you are looking for a timesaving dish to prepare, you can mix up the tomato-and-mushroom blend in advance to be used when you are ready to heat up the skillet. Enjoy it served on top of cooked rice or egg noodle pasta.

ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup Spiced Tomato-Mushroom Blend, (recipe below)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1-1/2 cups fresh sugar snap pea pods
• Fresh parsley (optional)
• Lemon wedges (optional)
• Spiced Tomato-Mushroom Blend
• 1 cup dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
• 1 oz. dried mushrooms (shiitake or morel)*
• 1/4 cup dried minced onion
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seed
• 2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

directions

• 1. Lightly coat chicken with 1 tablespoon of the spiced blend.
  2. In large skillet cook chicken in hot olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side; remove from skillet. Stir remaining spiced blend and rice into skillet; cook 1 minute. Add 2-1/2 cups water; return chicken to skillet. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes.
  3. Add pea pods to skillet. Cover. Cook 5 minutes more or until rice is tender. Serve with parsley and lemon wedges. Makes 4 servings.
  4. Spiced Tomato-Mushroom Blend:In large bowl combine all ingredients. Place the mixture, one-fourth at a time, in blender. Cover and blend 30 seconds or until tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer to storage container. Refrigerate; use seasoning blend within 1 month. Makes 8 (1/4-cup) portions.
  5. *Test Kitchen Tip:To remove grit from dried mushrooms, place in sieve and rinse under cold running water. Drain and pat dry. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until dry and crisp.

Keeping your pantry well-stocked is essential to quick meal-making, and tortillas are one of those pantry building blocks (even though they go in your fridge). With tortillas around, you can make huevos rancheros and quesadillas and all manner of quick tacos and enchiladas. This recipe relies on premade pot roast, which is available in the refrigerated section of your grocer’s meat aisle. Serve this with a side of salsa and a salad.

ingredients

• 8 6-inch corn tortillas
• 1 17-oz. pkg. refrigerated beef pot roast with juices
• 1 14-1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 green sweet pepper, cut into strips
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Dairy sour cream (optional)
• Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

directions

• 1. Wrap tortillas in microwave-safe paper towels. Microwave on 100 percent power (high) 45 to 60 seconds or until warm. Cover; set aside.
  2. Microwave beef according to package directions. Meanwhile, place undrained tomatoes in small saucepan; heat through.
  3. Remove meat, reserving juices. Cut in slices. Serve on warmed tortillas with tomatoes and green pepper strips. Pass lime wedges, sour cream, and cilantro. Drizzle reserved juices.

This classic chili recipe includes all the traditional ingredients — ground beef, peppers, onions, and kidney beans in a tomato juice. While the soup is great the way it is, you can also experiment with different spices to give it some flair. Top individual bowls off with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.

ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, undrained
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 to 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
• Chopped onion (optional)
• Dairy sour cream (optional)
• Crushed red pepper (optional)

directions

• 1. In a 3-quart saucepan cook and stir ground beef, sweet pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion, and the garlic over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.
  2. Stir in tomato sauce, undrained beans, undrained tomatoes, chili powder, salt, basil, and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. To serve, ladle chili into bowls. If desired, top each serving with cheese, chopped onion, and/or sour cream and pass crushed red pepper. Makes 4 main-dish servings.
  3. Chili for Two: Prepare as above, except divide all ingredients in half.
  4. Cincinnati-Style Chili: Prepare as above, except omit sweet pepper, basil, and optional garnishes. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper with the tomato sauce. To serve, place 1/2 cup hot cooked spaghetti on each of 4 serving plates; make an indentation in center of each portion. Top each serving with some of the chili, 1 to 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese, 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped onion, and/or 1/4 cup additional kidney beans.

Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes (see recipe below) – Potatoes are one of the great comfort foods, especially when stuffed with a satisfying mixture of lean ground beef and broccoli florets plus reduced-fat sour cream and Cheddar cheese. Add a tossed salad and you have a healthy and hearty meal that will leave you feeling good.

Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes
Active time: 30 minutes | Total: 40 minutes | To make ahead: Prepare and stuff potatoes. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Microwave and serve.

4 medium russet potatoes
8 ounces 90%-lean ground beef (see Variation)
1 cup broccoli florets, finely chopped
1 cup water
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 scallions, sliced

1. Pierce potatoes all over with a fork. Place in the microwave and cook on Medium, turning once or twice, until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. (Or use the “potato setting” on your microwave and cook according to the manufacturer’s directions.)
2. Meanwhile, brown meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Increase heat to high, add broccoli and water to the pan, cover, and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain the broccoli; add to the meat.
3. Carefully cut off the top third of the cooked potatoes; reserve the tops for another use. Scoop out the insides into a medium bowl. Place the potato shells in a small baking dish. Add 1/2 cup Cheddar, sour cream, salt and pepper to the potato insides and mash with a fork or potato masher. Add scallions and the potato mixture to the broccoli and meat; stir to combine.
4. Evenly divide the potato mixture among the potato shells and top with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Microwave on High until the filling is hot and the cheese is melted, 2 to 4 minutes.

Vegetarian variation:
Replace the ground beef with a soy-based substitute or omit the beef altogether and increase the broccoli to 1 1/2 cups and the cheese to 1 1/4 cups.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 274 calories; 10 g fat (5 g sat, 4 g mono); 52 mg cholesterol; 24 g carbohydrate; 22 g protein; 2 g fiber; 514 mg sodium; 740 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (42% daily value), Zinc (27% dv), Potassium (21% dv), Calcium (19% dv).

Here’s a drumstick version of the popular Buffalo chicken wing appetizer. If you like a little less hot and spicy flavor, use just two tablespoons of hot pepper sauce and add one teaspoon of vinegar. Serve the chicken with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing for dipping. This spicy recipe makes a great party appetizer.

ingredients

• 8 medium chicken drumsticks (about 2 pounds total)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 to 4 tablespoons bottled hot pepper sauce
• Celery sticks
• 1/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing

directions

• 1. Skin chicken, if desired. In a plastic or paper bag combine flour and paprika. Add chicken, a few pieces at a time, shaking to coat well. In a 10-inch skillet cook chicken in hot oil over medium heat about 10 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned, turning to brown evenly. Remove chicken; set aside.
  2. In drippings in skillet cook onion and garlic about 5 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Combine chicken broth and hot pepper sauce; stir into skillet. (Avoid inhaling fumes caused by cooking the hot pepper sauce.) Return chicken to skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink.
  3. Transfer chicken to platter. Skim fat from sauce, if necessary. To serve, spoon some of the sauce over chicken; pass remaining sauce. Serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing. Makes 4 servings.

Coated with olive oil and baked in a hot oven, these fries are soft and buttery inside and crisp on the outside—the perfect combination.

4 servings

Active Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into wedges
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Toss potato wedges with oil, salt and thyme (if using). Spread the wedges out on a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Bake until browned and tender, turning once, about 20 minutes total.

Nutrition

Per serving: 102 calories; 5 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrates; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 291 mg sodium; 405 mg potassium.

1 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat

Impersonations by Kevin Spacey (Full Video)

Kevin does so many impressions and he is absolutely amazing at them! I could not believe that this actor had such a talent. Check out the video below to see what I am talking about!

Sexy Asian Girls – Music videos lol

All I can say is these girls are sexy! I mean wow!  Their a pop group in Japan or China or something but I didn’t watch the video because they were singing. lol  Anyways, check out the video below.

MAG promises Playstation’s biggest firefights – 256 individual players

256 individual players is insane! I love the squad idea as their are a lot of people out there that love to do their own thing and end up costing the entire team the game…Having a squad and a squad leader will improve game play.  Also, I love how not just anyone can become a squad leader, everyone has to work their way towards and earn that title.  That is just awesome!!  Well, enough of me talking, read below to see what I am talking about!

Console action game fans are used to shooting it out with 16 or 18 other players, but upcoming Sony release MAG is about to kick it up a notch.

And by “a notch” we mean “about 240 notches.” Set in the year 2025, where private military forces are warring over lucrative contracts, MAG’s online matches will support up to 256 individual players — a first for console shooters.

A truly Massive Action Game.

A recipe for chaos? Maybe, but at least MAG has a chain of command. Players are organized into eight-man squads, each with its own commanding officer. Four squads make a platoon, four platoons forms a company, and players head up each level of organization.

If you’ve ever played an online game, you may be wondering exactly how that’s going to reduce confusion. So you’ll be relieved to hear the developers don’t just let any random fool take the reins of an entire faction. Instead, players with ambitions to command will have to prove themselves as a grunt, while those in higher levels of command will already have succeeded at squad-leader levels. More experience also grants access to higher levels of gear, much like in last year’s hit Modern Warfare 2 — and good leaders gain perks that give bonuses to all the soldiers under their command.

Sounds good, but will players actually be prepared to follow orders? Smartly, MAG builds in a reward system that doles out incentives for fulfilling objectives that your commander considers important. That extends way beyond just shooting opposing players: for example, destroying obstacles or taking out anti-aircraft guns. We’re betting there will still be headstrong types who prefer to go it alone — or those who don’t take direction well — but they’re not going to advance at the same rate as team players.

MAG’s scale plays into its map design, too. Expect to find MAG games playing out over landscapes more akin to Grand Theft Auto IV than what you’d expect from the smaller, more compact maps from the Halo or Call of Duty games. Fortunately, the game also packs drivable vehicles like APCs and tanks to help players navigate the terrain, and despite the mammoth scale, the visuals are every bit as good as any other top-tier shooter you care to name.

MAG comes to us from the team behind Sony’s long-running military action series SOCOM, so they’re no stranger to gunplay, and reports from the game’s just-concluded beta test are encouraging. During the test, over a million players downloaded the game, and an impressive number played the game enough to max out their characters. You’ll get your chance to enlist on Jan 26.

Source: Click Here!

Obama announces initiatives for middle class – Tax Breaks

I wanted to share this with you guys and hope it helps some of you.  We all need to take advantage of new tax breaks and try to maximize our income tax $.  So, read on and enjoy!

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday offered help for people struggling to pay bills and care for their families, appealing to a middle-class he says has been “under assault for a long time.”

In a partial preview of a State of the Union address that aims to answer voter angst about the economy and reconnect with the public, Obama outlined the series of proposals from the White House. The product of a middle class task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden, the proposals will also be included in Obama’s budget request due to be submitted to Congress next week.

Among the initiatives: a doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000; a $1.6 billion increase in federal funding for child care programs and a program to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income above “a basic living allowance.”

His initiatives also include expanding tax credits to match retirement savings and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. That program would also require many employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan.

Obama is seeking to offer some attractive options to taxpayers, mindful of the painful implications of the loss of a traditionally Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts to Republican Scott Brown. White House advisers see Wednesday’s State of the Union speech as a key opportunity for Obama to recalibrate his message and reset his presidency after that stinging setback, which took away the Democrats’ 60-vote supermajority in the Senate and put his main domestic agenda item, a health care overhaul, in doubt.

Obama and fellow Democrats are trying to regroup to stem more losses of congressional, gubernatorial and legislative seats in this fall’s midterm elections. Obama’s poll numbers are also off — primarily because of the slow economic recovery and double-digit unemployment.

“Too many Americans have known their own painful recessions long before any economists declared that there was a recession,” Obama said in remarks to the task force, gathered around a horseshoe-shaped table.

The president said that creating new jobs and reducing unemployment is the “single-most important thing we can do to rebuild the middle class.” “I won’t rest until we’re doing just that,” he said.

But, Obama said, “We also need to reverse the overall erosion in middle-class security, so that when this economy does come back, working Americans are free to pursue their dreams again.”

The White House says the new proposals are aimed at just that — the “sandwich generation” that is now struggling to care for both children and parents. The theme fits into the planned economic message of Obama’s prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday, which promises to provide a sharper focus on jobs and is likely to cover financial regulations, energy, education, immigration and a push to change the political tone in Washington.

Under the president’s proposals, families making under $85,000 a year would see their child care tax credit nearly doubled. Families making under $115,000 would also see at least some increase in their tax credit as well. Obama will also call for the allocation of $100 million to assist families caring for aging relatives by providing help with transportation, adult day care and in-home aids.

The initiatives also focus on savings, requiring employers that don’t offer work-based retirement plans to enroll their employees in a direct deposit retirement account, unless the employee opts out. The cost to employers would be offset by new tax credits, and the administration says the smallest firms would be exempt.

Obama will also call for caps on some student loans, limiting a borrower’s payments to 10 percent of his or her income, and forgiving all remaining debt after 10 years of payment for those in public service work — and 20 years for all others.

Source: Click Here!

“Doin’ Your Mom” Song By RayWilliamJohnson

I found this video on youtube and it is just too hilarious to not share.  Check it out guys.

Stop Child Abuse! – The Peter Connelly Story

I saw a video today that literally brought a tear to my eye.  A child is like an animal and is defenseless against abuse.  They can not call ‘911′ or yell out for help…They can only suffer and hope someone comes to their aid.  This child was tortured and and neglected! How is it possible to do such a thing to a child.  Does it make those sick fuckers feel powerful?  Does it make them feel like their God?  How can people like that sleep at night and go through out their day feeling OK with themselves.  I would love to torture that fucker for what he did.  I would do everything he did to that little kid right back at him. How could the mother let this happen? HOW COULD SHE FUCKING LET HIM CUT OFF HIS FINGER! I hope they both die a horrible and painful death.  This was so horrible I bet not even the Devil could stomach to watch this video.

Please spread the word of this video so child abuse awareness can spread.  Also, just like children,  animals need our help too.  If you notice any kind of abuse please call the proper authorities.  Abuse should not be allowed to go on…Please fight abuse no matter what kind it is (Women, men, animals, children, etc.)

Please watch the video and spread the word:  http://media.causes.com/590344?p_id=41784731

U.S.A. Rubbing off onto South Korea!

The United States is starting to rub off some of it’s ‘No shit taking’ power to other countries.  South Korea said something that earned my respect.  South Korea has an army on stand-by and will attack North Korea if they try anything.  “South Korea’s defense chief called Wednesday for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if there is a clear indication the country is preparing a nuclear attack.” YEAH BITCHES!!  THE UNITED STATES IS TAKEN OVER THIS WORLD!  South Korea is becoming just like the U.S. and this tells me SK will be on our side no matter what.  Check out the article below!

Video of  “NKorea calls for peace talks, end to sanctions” at the bottom of the article.

=ADK= – A Different Kind of Multi-Gaming Community

=ADK= is a gaming community which my best bud Ray is apart of.  Their an awesome group and they even put a banner of RomesBlog up on their site…Isn’t that cool of them!?    Anyways, I want everyone to check out their site and see if you want to become a =ADK= member. I think you will, and remember, RomesBlog never steers you wrong!

www.ADKGamers.com

=ADK= – A Different Kind of Multi-Gaming Community. We are a gaming community where we enjoy playing multiple games. We don’t limit ourselves to one or 2 games, but rather multiple games.