Roast with Carrots and Potatoes (meal 4; week 5)

Here's another duplicate! I found a great piece of Chuck Roast on sale at Meijer today. This was a great one-dish meal - and it was even better because since I had to put it in the oven in the middle of the afternoon, when my son decided to come down with the flu at 5pm, supper was already in the works and I didn't have to worry about the meal on top of his illness.

Here is the link to the roast I made earlier!

Pork Barbeque Ribs (meal 3; week 5)

Hi all. I'm finding that I'm starting to repeat recipes!! Don't you find that you have several 'comfort' recipes that are easy for you to prepare, your family loves, and you always have the ingredients on hand?

The meal for Monday was Pork Barbeque ribs. I made these for my very first blog post - so click on the link to see how I prepared them!

We've had some illness in our family over the past day, so my posts have not been as frequent as I would like for them to be.

Chicken Casserole (meal 2; week 5)

I spent the last 2 days at a continuing education conference in Indianapolis. I had lots of fun catching up with old friends and seeing old co-workers. I still wanted to make a good meal for my boys, and since I had just made up several frozen meals for my cousin, I used our half of one of those meals for them.

I have already made Chicken Casserole the second week of my blog. It is such an easy recipe and freezes very well.

Here is the recipe again for those of you who missed it the first time:

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

2 cans of chicken noodle soup

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup of chicken broth

2-3 cups of diced, cooked chicken

12 slices of white bread, torn in bite sized pieces

2 teaspoons of parsley

Crushed cracker crumbs

Mix everything together and top with cracker crumbs. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Spinach Stuffed Shells (meal 1; week 5)

My cousin, Erica, gave birth to a baby girl last week. Some of the family members have offered to bring the family some meals to help them out. I thought this would be a great opportunity to not only help my cousin out, but to help us out as well! I prepared 3 different meals and divided each one into 2 pans and froze them. This way Erica will have a few different meals in her freezer and so will we!

Tonight's dish is Spinach Stuffed Shells. I took it from this recipe, and then added spinach.

I actually made this yesterday and kept it in the refrigerator until tonight. Being cold added about 15 minutes to the cooking time. We had breadsticks as well and our son thought that was the neatest thing ever.

The stuffed shells were really good and it wasn't hard to make. It sounds like it would be very tedious, stuffing the individual shells, but it really wasn't hard. Once the shells are boiled, they are very pliable and I just used a large spoon to stuff in the filling. I'd compare it to making lasagna. It tastes like lasagna too, which is yummy!

This has been fun preparing the meals in 2 days. I have continuing education classes tomorrow and Friday, and so knowing that there is a meal all ready for my husband to pop in the oven is fantastic! I may actually try doing this more often (and keep the 2nd portion in the freezer for future use - or to pass out to a friend who may need a meal.)

Holiday weekend

Holiday weekends are tough to plan meals around! My husband and I both come from large families, and we spend most every holiday with all of them! We had wonderful meals both Saturday and Sunday, so it was nice to not have to plan and cook too much! I did bring food to our gatherings - macaroni and cheese to my side of the family and sweet corn from my Dad's fields (that had been frozen) to Matt's side.

I did want to post my meal that I made last Friday. I didn't get a chance to post it.

I made chicken and rice packets in the oven. This is something that I tried a while back with salmon, and it was so good and easy that I use it with chicken too! Here is the recipe that I used as my guideline.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

uncooked rice

marinade (I use the Lowry's Marinades - Sesame Ginger is our favorite)

frozen mixed veggies - (I like the stir-fry kind)

pineapple tidbits

water (or the juice from the pineapple)

My chicken was pretty large and thick, so I pounded them and then sliced the breasts into 'tender' sized pieces. Combine the rice (amount varies depending on how many packets you are making - for 4 packets I used about a cup of rice. Add enough marinade to make it soupy and then add the pineapple and the frozen veggies. If it appears you need more liquid, use some of the fruit juice or water. (remember, your veggies are frozen, so they will provide some extra moisture)

On a large piece of foil, spoon some of the rice mixture in the center of the foil. (don't forget, the rice will expand and absorb the liquid as it cooks - so use less than you think!) Lay the chicken on top of the rice mixture (however much chicken you want for one serving) Fold up the foil into a packet, leaving a bit of room for the steam to circulate. Make the rest of your packets. Lay all the packets on a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with raised edges). Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes - or until the chicken is done and the rice is cooked.

This is also great leftover (since I had it for lunch today!).

I hope to get back on my cooking game tomorrow. See you then.

Brats and Beans (meal 4(?); week 4)

Well, I'll let you all be the judge and decide if this meal counts as a 'planned' meal or not!

I went to the grocery yesterday morning and they had a good sale on brats and smoked sausage. I bought some thinking that it would be a good grill meal sometime this week with all the awesome weather we're having. By the time I got home from picking my son up from pre-school and getting the baby down for his nap, I realized that we had parent-teacher conferences that night and we needed to eat early!

So, I pulled out the brats and sausages (I'm not a big fan of brats) and had the hubby fire up the grill. I made baked beans and we had the leftover coleslaw from Tuesday's fish tacos. It was a fast, but delicious meal!

Fish Tacos (meal 3; week 4)

Hubby always talks about how much he loves fish tacos, so I decided to try to make some. In no way are these even close to what you would get from a restaurant, but they were ok. I am willing to make them again sometime and tweak the recipe a bit more.

I started with some tilapia that I baked in the oven. Honestly, I don't make fish at all, so seasoning it was hard. I wasn't sure what to put on it. I ended up using lemon pepper. Next time, I think some sort of cajun seasoning might work better.

Husband said that you serve coleslaw on the fish - but what kind? Creamy or vinegar dressing? He wasn't sure, so I made some of both. I just used bagged coleslaw mix and made my own vinegar dressing (vinegar and sugar) and a pre-bottled creamy dressing that we already had.

We put the tacos together - flour tortilla, coleslaw, fish. It was ok - a bit bland for me. Like I said, I think some sort of cajun seasoning would have helped.

Our 4 year old son didn't have a taco, but he did eat a piece of fish! I'm glad he is open to trying new things.

Beef Enchiladas (meal 2; week 4)

I needed to use up my leftover taco beef from the first of the week (taco salads) and so I decided to make enchiladas. Yum Yum. I would have posted a picture, but I can't find my camera.

I used the leftover ground beef and black bean mixture I made for taco salad night. I added 1/2 a can of Fiesta Cheese soup and nuked the mixture in the microwave. I spread a bit of enchilada sauce on the bottom of my greased 9x9 dish and then placed the beef/cheese mixture in flour tortillas, rolled them up, and placed them seam side down in the dish. Cover the rolled tacos with the rest of the enchilada sauce and top with shredded cheese. I also topped 1/2 with sliced jalapenos (since hubby loves them). Put in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and cheese is melted. I topped it with diced tomatoes.

I also made a corn cake (premix) to go along with the enchiladas. It was all just so good! I'm glad there are leftovers. :)

Pulled Pork (meal 1; week 4)

To say that yesterday was a good day at our house would be totally wrong. Our day was terrible, as only a 4 year old can push the buttons of sanity just so. Our dinner was very late and not a complete balanced meal. But, we got some nourishment, and I supposed that will just have to do.

I had decided to try my hand a pulled pork. I found an inexpensive pork shoulder and found a very recommended recipe on allrecipes.com, of course!

Here is the recipe:

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

2 lbs of pork (shoulder or a tenderloin)

1 can of root beer

1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce.

Put the pork in a slow cooker and pour the root beer over it. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6. Remove the pork from the liquid and shred. Pour out the liquid, replace with the shredded pork and bbq sauce. Let it heat back up. We had our pork on buns and my husband made coleslaw to go along with it. It was really good!!

Fresh Asparagus and Chicken Casserole (meal 4, week 3)

Tonight I tried a new recipe. I had some fresh asparagus in the refrigerator (have you caught on that I LOVE asparagus??) and wanted to find something different to use it in. I found Fresh Asparagus and Chicken Casserole from allrecipes.com. I have to say that this is one of the few recipes that I have tried that I did not like. Now, my husband will argue that he thought it was good and I know he will eat it for his lunches this week. But, I just did not like it very much.

I did adjust the recipe based upon the comments from the website. Here is my version:

10 oz. of egg noodles, cooked and drained

1 cup of sour cream

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup of milk

1 tsp of worchestershire

2 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

2 cups of cooked, diced chicken

1 lb of fresh asparagus, trimmed in 2 inch sections

1/2 cup of grated parmesean cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Combine sour cream, mushroom soup, milk, worchestershire, garlic powder, oregano, asparagus, and chicken together. In a 1 1/2 quart greased dish put noodles at the bottom and then the chicken and cream mixture over the noodles. Top with the cheese and bread crumbs.

Some of my failures: I needed to cook some chicken, but my boneless chicken breasts were frozen. I thought I would just boil the frozen chicken.... not good! The chicken turned out tough and rubbery. I also put the asparagus in the casserole raw and they were very crunchy in the finished casserole. Maybe you like your asparagus crunchy, but I don't. Firm, yes - but not crunchy.

Anyway, try this recipe for yourself and see if you like it better than I did!

Taco Salads (meal 3; week 3)

Mmmm, taco salad! This is one of my favorite meals to make. I feel like I'm eating guilt free, what with all the lettuce and tomatoes! Okay, maybe it's not total health food, but it is a one-dish meal!

Tonight I added a can of black beans to my meat to help stretch it for two meals. I used half of the meat mixture tonight for the salad and I will keep the other half for a meal later this week. (Maybe enchiladas or mexican lasagna)

For our taco salads, we use the bagged shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, taco sauce, meat and sour cream. Then we top off the salad with crushed chips (Fritos are my favorite!). How do you make your taco salads?

Grill out again! (meal 2; week 3)

It was such another lovely day here that we grilled out again! This time we had a (large) sirloin steak, some grilled foil packet potatoes and a salad.

The foil packet potatoes were easy. Here's what I did:
3 large potatoes, large diced
1/2 stick of butter
salt and pepper to taste

Wrapped the potatoes and butter in 3 layers of foil and grilled for about 30 minutes, flipping every 10-15 minutes or so. (be careful of hot spots on your grill as our potatoes burned slightly on the bottom.)

The potatoes were okay - nothing spectacular. Maybe next time I'll use a garlic salt or italian seasoning on them. They needed a little extra something.

Sorry there are no pictures - we got too hungry!

Grill out! (meal 1; week 3)

Today was just a bad day all around. The last thing I wanted to to was cook... don't you have days like that?!? But it's so nice out, I thought maybe the hubby would be willing to grill! We are loving this weather!

We are having porkburgers (waaay better than a hamburger!), baked sweet potato fries, and baked beans.

To make the baked sweet potato fries:

3 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges or strips

olive oil

salt/pepper to taste

Coat sweet potatoes in olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper. Lay in one layer on a cooking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Flip potatoes and then raise oven temp to 450 degrees for another 15 minutes. (these will be softer than traditional fries.)

Night off

Just a quick post to say that we had leftovers tonight. We had leftover quiche and chicken pasta. It was really yummy! I am not a huge leftover fan, but there are a few dishes that I like as much or better the second time around. One of those is quiche!

Spinach Quiche (meal 4; week 2)

Today was one of those days where I didn't have plan for dinner. As dinner time got closer, I really just wanted to make a pizza or frozen meal, but I knew this was my last day in my 'week' and I had only made 3 meals. So, I looked in my fridge and freezer and found all the right ingredients for my favorite quiche recipe! We all love this and it's great because it is a one-dish meal. Protein, veggies, and carbs all in one!

Of course, my recipe comes from Allrecipes! It is just a basic spinach quiche - no extra add-ins. I always add to the recipe with what I have on hand. Sometimes I use sausage, ham, bacon, mushrooms, or tomatoes.

Tonight the extras I added were tomatoes and bacon. My other recipe changes are the addition of a pinch of nutmeg, and about a 1/2 cup of milk. I also use 6-7 eggs instead of the 5 the recipe calls for. One thing about quiche is, you can't mess it up! Just add whatever sounds good to you.

Buttery Herb Wine Pasta with Chicken (meal 3; week 2)

Ahhh, after a nice weekend away, it's back to thinking about meal time and planning our dinner. I was worn out from the trip and the boys were needing a catch up day, so I was on the lookout for a recipe that I could make with ingredients I had on hand.

Pasta sounded good, so off to Allrecipes to see what sparked my interest. I saw a recipe for Buttery Herb Wine Sauce, had all the ingredients and tah-dah! my supper was in the works.

I coated the chicken in a garlic-herb rub and then pan sautéed the chicken in olive oil. I then made the buttery herb sauce in the pan drippings. I am not much of a wine drinker, but we did have a bottle of white wine in the refrigerator. When I added it to the sauce, I just had to pour myself a glass to go along with my dinner!

I had some asparagus left from last weeks sale at Kroger. I roasted the asparagus again in the oven and that made the perfect light vegetable side.

This turned out really good and the sauce will make my online 'recipe' box.

Enjoy!!

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff (meal 2; week 2)

Sorry I missed posting last night. It has been warm and sunny here in Indiana and we spent a good part of our day outside! We had leftover roast last night for dinner - even better the 2nd time around!

My neighbor had mentioned how she frequently goes to the grocery and looks for the 'quick sell' meat to get ideas for her dinners. I was at Sam's Club yesterday and they had a few kinds of meat labeled 'quick sell'. (an aside, Sam's Club has very good quality meat) One was beef stew meat. Now, I have no idea what to make with stew meat (besides beef stew), but I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to try something new! The package was enough for 2 meals, so I divided it and froze half of the meat.

When I searched for 'stew beef' on All Recipes, I found some slow cooker stroganoff recipes. We love stroganoff, so that's what I'm making. I modified the online recipe with my mom's recipe.

Slow Cooker Stroganoff

1-1.5 lbs of beef stew meat, cubed

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 packet of dry onion soup mix

1/4 cup water

1 can of sliced mushrooms (my addition)

4oz of sour cream (the recipe called for cream cheese here, but my mom uses sour cream in hers)

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mix in sour cream before serving. Serve with egg noodles (or rice).

A personal tid-bit about stroganoff, my family always made stroganoff with pieces of beef in sauce served over noodles. My husband's family make their stroganoff with ground beef and serve it over rice. Sometimes I have to compromise and either make the beef with rice or the ground beef with noodles!

*we are going out of town for a couple of days, so I won't be posting again until Monday! Have a great weekend.

Chicken Casserole (meal 1; week 2)

Tonight's dinner was a casserole that is a great use of leftover chicken. This recipe comes from my childhood church's cookbook. Don't you find that church cookbooks have the best recipes?? If I am ever in need of a recipe, I always look there first.

Here is the recipe:

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

2 cans of chicken noodle soup

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup of chicken broth

2-3 cups of diced, cooked chicken

12 slices of white bread, torn in bite sized pieces

2 teaspoons of parsley

Crushed cracker crumbs

Mix everything together and top with cracker crumbs. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

I served this with some cooked spinach.

I actually froze half of this recipe to have at a later date. It freezes very well.

Date Night!

Tonight, my husband and I are attending an investor dinner, sponsored by our Edward Jones broker. We will be dining at Matteo's in downtown Noblesville. I'm so excited for a night out! (even if it does mean we'll be listening to an investor!)

Roast with Carrots and Potatoes (meal 4)

Well, I did it! Four meals prepared and it hasn't even been a week!

Tonight's fare is chuck roast with carrots and potatoes. I realize most would also add onions to this, but my husband doesn't like them. (although I did use a dried onion soup mix)

Kroger's great sales this week, plus my new found love for Reynold's Oven Bags, made this meal one of the easiest meals I've done!

All I did was mix a 1/4 cup of flour, dry onion soup mix, and 2/3 cup of water in the bottom of the oven bag. Then add your meat (turn to coat) and your carrots and potatoes. I left it in the oven for a good 3 hours at 320º. It makes enough for a small army, but having this for leftovers is sooo good.

It was a huge hit at our dinner and our son asked for 3rds on the meat.

Enjoy!

Out To Get Me (meal 3)

Have you ever had the feeling that your food was out to get you? That's exactly what tonight's dinner felt like. As I said in my opening post, I would share ALL my food stories, both successes and failures. And tonight's was a close failure.

I chose to make a roasted chicken tonight because our local Kroger had whole chickens on sale for $.88/lb (only $5 for a chicken!) and I wanted to make a chicken casserole and will use the leftover chicken for that. I bought some of those Oven Bags to roast the chicken in. This was my first experience with using the bags, but my mother-in-law just made one of these last weekend, so I thought, 'hey, I can do that!'.

Today is Sunday and we had a long day already, but since the chicken was in the fridge and we didn't have any other ideas for supper, I decided to go ahead with the meal. I prepped the oven (350º) then the chicken. I coated the chicken in a Garlic-Herb blend dry spice rub, placed the chicken in the oven bag and closed it up.

I also made some roasted asparagus and white rice.

After an hour and a half (per instructions) I was positive the chicken was finished. I pulled it out got to the table and my husband started carving.... and it was.... NOT DONE. ugh. So, back in the oven it went while we ate rice and asparagus for an appetizer.

After another 30 minutes, the chicken is now done. As I am carving the chicken (hubby is tending to the baby) almost every cut I make, the chicken slips and lands on the table or floor. By this time, I'm so over this chicken. I get enough cut for our son and hubby and then go in the other room to just get away from that silly bird.

Let's hope the chicken casserole goes better later this week!

(This lovely picture is BEFORE we cut into the chicken)

EDIT: oh dear.... as I was deboning the chicken for the casserole I noticed something funny in the chicken. Do you know where this is going?? Yes, it was the baggie of giblets. No wonder my chicken didn't cook. Thanks for laughing with (at) me.

A Night Out

We have had such nice sunny weather here in Indiana today. It was a welcome change from our snowy gray days. We all played outside and then had to run some errands this evening. We decided to take advantage of the 'Kids Eat Free' at Steak n' Shake.

I have a few ideas for meals in the upcoming days. I'm going to make a whole roasted chicken tomorrow evening and then use the leftover chicken to make a casserole. Later in the week I will make a chuck roast with veggies.

Until then!

Salmon's for dinner (meal 2)

Since I was struggling for a meal idea today. I pulled out an old standby for supper. Marinated salmon filets. We get these frozen and individually wrapped at Sam's Club and they are wonderful. I could classify this as a 'quick-prep' meal, but since salmon seems so indulgent to me, I am going to use it as one of my Four Meals this week.

Menu:

Morey's Wild Salmon Fillets(Sam's club)

Baked Potatoes (with butter, sour cream, and cheese)

Asparagus

I forgot to snap a picture of our meal, but it was really good. Our oldest son gobbled it up and even asked for seconds of the salmon and asparagus!

Tomorrow is Saturday. I'll ponder tonight on what to make for supper tomorrow.

Until then!

Up next

Yesterday the boys and I went to my parents home for the afternoon and evening while my hubby was at work and a company dinner. We had dinner with my parents, so that why there was no post yesterday.

I haven't even thought about dinner tonight! How sad. We've had some troubles with our oldest son and his sleeping, so my thoughts haven't been on 'what's for dinner'. Hopefully, I'll think of something this morning and I'll let you all know.

I want my baby back baby back (meal 1)

Let's just say I am now blissfully full and happy! The ribs turned out fabulous! They were falling off the bone - no knife needed. I ended up wrapping them tightly in foil and baking for 2.5 hours at 300 degrees. I then took off the foil and put more barbeque sauce on them and place them under the broiler for 15 more minutes until the sauce caramelized.
I made homemade mashed potatoes and some steamable mixed vegetables to go with the ribs.

This really was a very easy and relatively mess-free way to make ribs. It takes a bit of planning ahead, making the rub and marinating overnight, but it is WELL worth it. Enjoy!

Tomorrow night, my husband is going out with his co-workers for dinner. It will just be me and the boys, so it will probably be a quick-prep meal.

Tempations!

Today in my email I received a coupon for 2 free meals at Houlihan's for tonight only. How I would love to put my ribs on hold for a night a run right over there for dinner.
This is exactly why I started this blog to make myself accountable! I can do it!

Pork Barbeque Ribs

First meal to blog.

I've decided to go 'whole hog' (*roll eyes*) and start my adventure with pork ribs. Growing up on a hog farm, I've had my fill of pork products and rarely have made any pork in the past. But, since it's what I was raised on, I've decide to tap into my past and bring out my favorite of all pig.

I love Allrecipes and I am always browsing the site for new and not-so-new recipes. I stumbled across a great barbeque rib recipe and I am going to use it again today.

For the Ribs: I'm following THIS recipe

• 2-3 lb. rack of pork back ribs
• Dry Rub
• Favorite Barbeque Sauce

Most important step (and one I didn't know the first time I made them) is to remove the membrane from the back of the rack of ribs. This looks like a layer of fat, but it's a very tough, thin layer that holds the meat and bone together. It is not necessary to remove it, but if you want the 'fall off the bone' type rib, then it must be removed.

My vegetable will be a frozen 'steamable' broccoli with cheese sauce (hey, it doesn't have to be all home-made!)

I am also going to serve homemade mashed potatoes with this. Just thinking of mashed potatoes and barbeque ribs brings back so many memories of my childhood!

I've completed the dry rub phase of my ribs and they are marinating in the refrigerator overnight.

Pictures of my completed meal coming soon!

My meal experiment

This is my attempt to be more creative and responsible in cooking for my family. I have a pantry and freezer full of food and my wallet is too light to go out to eat. Too often I wait until 4:45 to decide 'what's for dinner' and by that time it's just easier to get take-out. By making myself accountable to this blog, my goal is to think ahead and get creative in the kitchen!

Objectives of this blog:

*to intentionally plan, shop, and prepare 4 meals in a week.
*to share with you my recipes, techniques, thoughts, and results of each meal
*to inspire other moms to try to make time to cook!

I hope you will join me in my adventure. I will be totally honest and will share my successes and my failures with you as they happen!

Happy cooking!