Clearly I suck at the weekly menu thing. Despite my best efforts, it always seems to go down the crapper. Awe well, maybe next time (she says.....again!).
I found the original recipe for this dish on Pinterest. Don't you just love that place. Yep, I consider it an actual location. I spend quality time there. You can find me if you click HERE. If you don't want to find me....well I can't blame you. Oh, ya back to this recipe, like I said I found the original HERE. Can't really go wrong with anything with a Mexican flare at my house and this one looks really good. I made a few changes, so you find my version below.
Cream Cheese Crock pot Chicken
1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tsp. taco seasoning
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (Hunt's brand if you were wondering)
1 brick cream cheese
place chicken in crock pot, sprinkle with taco seasoning. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low 4-6 hours. Stirring once or twice. Serve over rice or as a taco/burrito filling.
It's in the pot right now, so I will have to let you know how it turns out.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Dinner Menu Aug. 20-26, 2012
We have another crazy week ahead. Yep, I say it every week, and it never fails to be just that. This week we start gymnastics, are heading to Lagoon and also start preschool for the little one(s). My nephews start too, but they go different days then Alex. I got 2 dinner requests from my son, so I am using them. Because if you are willing to come up with a dinner idea, you usually get it around here.
Homemade Pizza.......easy enough. My kids generally just go for the cheese variety. I, lately, have loved mushroom and marinated artichoke heart. Hubby is easy and likes meat. Make your own dough (like I do) or snag some at the grocery store.
Tortellini......at our house the only way to have it is with Alfredo sauce. And I admit I buy both pre-made. Easy dinner for me that the kids love. Score!
Roast Chicken.......you know, back before the days of grocery store rotisserie chicken. I unearthed a chicken in the freezer, so I am going to cook it. Probably with the cavity stuffed full of lemons and fresh herbs. Delish!
Steak on the grill.........Simple, easy and beats the heat in the kitchen. I am a big fan of Montreal Steak Seasoning from McCormick. Delish!
Enchiladas.......at our house "regular" enchiladas are filled with ground beef, refried beans and cheese. With a traditional red enchilada sauce on top. Good stuff.
I must confess to slapping zucchinni in any and everything I can. My son fights fruits and veggies will all his heart. We have had many hours spent in tears (both his and mine) at the dinner table. My garden is full (and then some) of this easy to hide squash so I have peeled and shredded a few and thrown them in the freezer. I just pull some out, saute it up in the meat (this works especially well with ground beef) and he has no idea. If he asks what it is I totally lie and say it is onion or part of the "flavoring". You won't catch me saying "oh it's squash" he'd never eat again. I swore I would never be that mom, and I totally am. As much as I hate it. I know there are other good things you can hide in your kiddies food if it is necessary at your house too, but we have food allergies and zucchinni is about as crazy as we get. Enjoy!
Homemade Pizza.......easy enough. My kids generally just go for the cheese variety. I, lately, have loved mushroom and marinated artichoke heart. Hubby is easy and likes meat. Make your own dough (like I do) or snag some at the grocery store.
Tortellini......at our house the only way to have it is with Alfredo sauce. And I admit I buy both pre-made. Easy dinner for me that the kids love. Score!
Roast Chicken.......you know, back before the days of grocery store rotisserie chicken. I unearthed a chicken in the freezer, so I am going to cook it. Probably with the cavity stuffed full of lemons and fresh herbs. Delish!
Steak on the grill.........Simple, easy and beats the heat in the kitchen. I am a big fan of Montreal Steak Seasoning from McCormick. Delish!
Enchiladas.......at our house "regular" enchiladas are filled with ground beef, refried beans and cheese. With a traditional red enchilada sauce on top. Good stuff.
I must confess to slapping zucchinni in any and everything I can. My son fights fruits and veggies will all his heart. We have had many hours spent in tears (both his and mine) at the dinner table. My garden is full (and then some) of this easy to hide squash so I have peeled and shredded a few and thrown them in the freezer. I just pull some out, saute it up in the meat (this works especially well with ground beef) and he has no idea. If he asks what it is I totally lie and say it is onion or part of the "flavoring". You won't catch me saying "oh it's squash" he'd never eat again. I swore I would never be that mom, and I totally am. As much as I hate it. I know there are other good things you can hide in your kiddies food if it is necessary at your house too, but we have food allergies and zucchinni is about as crazy as we get. Enjoy!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Dinner Menu Aug 13-18, 2012
This week is going to be kind-of wonky for our house. Our wonderful friend and baby sitter from Heaven is getting married and we have been invited to both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. That eliminates 2 meals this week, but for the sake of those of you who are kind enough to look at my menu I am still planning 5 meals. Just know I will not be making them all.
Meatloaf.......a request from my 7 year old. He loves meatloaf with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Doesn't everyone have a favorite recipe? I will include mine at the end of this post.
Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken........it's another newbie, but why not? I am not sure the name of this is accurate, but we shall give it a try. You can find the recipe HERE.
Spinach Tomato Tortellini.......something I have made before and I am guessing we liked it. Because I took the time to blog about it. The recipe is found HERE.
Dijon Crusted Halibut............from the Alaska fishing days. Really flavorful and easy to make. HERE is the deal on this one.
Ooey Gooey Mexican Chicken.......this ONE is so good. Crock pot again but plan ahead this calls for already cooked chicken. So either poach some (which is what I usually do) or grab a rotisserie chicky at the grocery store. Serve with chips, as a burrito, or on a salad. Lots of options here.
Wahooo! Another week in the bag. The last one is one of my favorites and is the meal I did for the neighborhood meal swap last month. It is east to amend to your likes/dislikes. Make it spicier if you wish.
Meatloaf
adapted from Gooseberry Patch "Flavors of Fall"
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg beaten
1/3 c. bread crumbs (fresh if available)
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 small onion diced and sauteed in olive oil just until soft OR grated
1/4 c. Catsup
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. dry mustard
mix beef, egg, bread crumb, milk, salt, and onion together. arrange in ungreased 9"x5" loaf pan. Combine remaining ingredients; spread on top of meat mixture. Bake at 350* for one hour. Serves 8.
*****Notes: I will never understand why my son loves meatloaf, but he sure does. And I made the Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken. But I bake it in the oven at 350* for about 30 min. after I wrapped the chicken (tender) in the bacon and browned it off in a pan. I forgot to add the sour cream to the soup. (It was one of those days) but it was still good. The soup part was a little thick, but I think that would not have been the case had it been cooked in the crock pot as the recipe intended. And we had a lovely time at the Wedding we took part in.
Meatloaf.......a request from my 7 year old. He loves meatloaf with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Doesn't everyone have a favorite recipe? I will include mine at the end of this post.
Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken........it's another newbie, but why not? I am not sure the name of this is accurate, but we shall give it a try. You can find the recipe HERE.
Spinach Tomato Tortellini.......something I have made before and I am guessing we liked it. Because I took the time to blog about it. The recipe is found HERE.
Dijon Crusted Halibut............from the Alaska fishing days. Really flavorful and easy to make. HERE is the deal on this one.
Ooey Gooey Mexican Chicken.......this ONE is so good. Crock pot again but plan ahead this calls for already cooked chicken. So either poach some (which is what I usually do) or grab a rotisserie chicky at the grocery store. Serve with chips, as a burrito, or on a salad. Lots of options here.
Wahooo! Another week in the bag. The last one is one of my favorites and is the meal I did for the neighborhood meal swap last month. It is east to amend to your likes/dislikes. Make it spicier if you wish.
Meatloaf
adapted from Gooseberry Patch "Flavors of Fall"
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg beaten
1/3 c. bread crumbs (fresh if available)
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 small onion diced and sauteed in olive oil just until soft OR grated
1/4 c. Catsup
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. dry mustard
mix beef, egg, bread crumb, milk, salt, and onion together. arrange in ungreased 9"x5" loaf pan. Combine remaining ingredients; spread on top of meat mixture. Bake at 350* for one hour. Serves 8.
*****Notes: I will never understand why my son loves meatloaf, but he sure does. And I made the Sour Cream and Bacon Chicken. But I bake it in the oven at 350* for about 30 min. after I wrapped the chicken (tender) in the bacon and browned it off in a pan. I forgot to add the sour cream to the soup. (It was one of those days) but it was still good. The soup part was a little thick, but I think that would not have been the case had it been cooked in the crock pot as the recipe intended. And we had a lovely time at the Wedding we took part in.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Dinner Menu August 6-11, 2012
This weeks dinner menu. I am trying hard to get these out every week, because it makes my life so much easier. I will see how long I last, I really want to be on top of dinner, but as every parent (stay at home or working) knows things can fall apart in a matter of moments during the day. My oldest has theater school from 4:30 to 7:00 again every night this week. Pile that on top of school every day from 9-4 and he is wiped out, so a good dinner that is ready for him to inhale when he walks in the door at 7:20p.m. makes this go a little smoother for this mom. Happy Dinner!
Freezer Meal......I am lucky enough to be part of a meal swap in my neighborhood. there are usually 7 of us that swap a freezer dinner every few months so I have a little stash of these. Sorry no recipe, just me doing a happy dance. And you really don't want to see that.
Sausage and Spinach Orecchietti...........find it here. it was published in the most recent Taste of Home, and it's a new recipe for us.
Hamburgers........fast easy and never have to argue whether they are "liked" by the family or not.
Crock Pot Orange Chicken.........find it here. Found it on Pinterest and seeing that we have been craving Chinese around here (!?!) I am going to give this one a whirl.
Tacos.......nothing complicated about this. And since I have leftover "guts" from last weeks Mexican Pizzas (they are from here in case you missed it last week.) I figured why not use it up.
I did pretty well last week. We ate fast food one night, but seeing that I was home for a total of 2 hours from the time I woke up until almost 8 that night I am not going to punish myself too much. I was excited to do so well at sticking to my menu. I do not usually do that well.
***Notes: We did okay this week. I made some modifications to the Crock Pot Orange Chicken. I added 1 cup of chicken broth and a chunk (about the size of a peanut m and m) of fresh ginger about an hour and a half into the cook time. It only took about 3 hours on low. Watch yours so the chicken doesn't get tough. We did not make it to the Sausage and Spinach Orecchietti. It was the last week of theater school, and after 4 days, I was burned out and we hit fast food on Thursday for dinner.
Freezer Meal......I am lucky enough to be part of a meal swap in my neighborhood. there are usually 7 of us that swap a freezer dinner every few months so I have a little stash of these. Sorry no recipe, just me doing a happy dance. And you really don't want to see that.
Sausage and Spinach Orecchietti...........find it here. it was published in the most recent Taste of Home, and it's a new recipe for us.
Hamburgers........fast easy and never have to argue whether they are "liked" by the family or not.
Crock Pot Orange Chicken.........find it here. Found it on Pinterest and seeing that we have been craving Chinese around here (!?!) I am going to give this one a whirl.
Tacos.......nothing complicated about this. And since I have leftover "guts" from last weeks Mexican Pizzas (they are from here in case you missed it last week.) I figured why not use it up.
I did pretty well last week. We ate fast food one night, but seeing that I was home for a total of 2 hours from the time I woke up until almost 8 that night I am not going to punish myself too much. I was excited to do so well at sticking to my menu. I do not usually do that well.
***Notes: We did okay this week. I made some modifications to the Crock Pot Orange Chicken. I added 1 cup of chicken broth and a chunk (about the size of a peanut m and m) of fresh ginger about an hour and a half into the cook time. It only took about 3 hours on low. Watch yours so the chicken doesn't get tough. We did not make it to the Sausage and Spinach Orecchietti. It was the last week of theater school, and after 4 days, I was burned out and we hit fast food on Thursday for dinner.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Dinner Menu July 29-Aug 4, 2012
This is my dinner menu this week, I chose things that could reheat easily since the boy child has theater school Mon-Thurs. and since the hubby works late on Tues and Thurs. Follow the links to the recipes.....and happy dinner!
Crock pot Lasagna...go here. This one I have personalized, mostly because I detest Ricotta cheese. Feel free to make it your own too.
Cheesy Potato and Sausage Casserole....available here. Fair warning, I have not ever made this before.
Angel Chicken......right here. Again, this is a newbie for me, but it looked good on Pinterest.
Mexican Pizza.....can be found here. A first timer again (good bye dinner rut!) but Travis made me laugh and these look amazing.
Baked Egg Rolls....I don't really use a recipe but if you need one, this one looks decent. At our house I would omit the carrots (food allergy) and the water chestnuts (hubby dislikes them) and add chopped mushrooms and ground turkey. But whatever rocks your boat! If I had a dollar I would bet there will be some of these zucchini fries to go with the egg rolls seeing that we have tons of zucchini coming out of our garden.
If you try anything let me know what you think.....or if you have a favorite meal, leave it in the comments. I am always looking for a new dinner!
***End of the week notes:
Cheesy Potato and Sausage Casserole got good reviews from the hubby. The kids said they didn't like the chunky potatoes to which I said whatever! I liked it. I did not use the Velveeta cheese, because of the daughter's issue with annatto (coloring agent) I just used 8 ounces shredded cheddar to make the cheese sauce. I think it was good. Maybe a little hearty for July/August but will be a great Fall menu item.
Mexican Pizza was delish. My son was very skeptical, but ended up loving it. It's pretty basic, if you like tacos or enchiladas, this is a sure hit. I also cheated and used pre-made enchilada sauce. Hey, a girl has to cheat sometimes.
Angel Chicken.....didn't happen. for no other reason then it just didn't, we really didn't have dinner on Friday because of a late lunch and a ton of errands. I intend to add it back into the menu later in the month.
Crock pot Lasagna...go here. This one I have personalized, mostly because I detest Ricotta cheese. Feel free to make it your own too.
Cheesy Potato and Sausage Casserole....available here. Fair warning, I have not ever made this before.
Angel Chicken......right here. Again, this is a newbie for me, but it looked good on Pinterest.
Mexican Pizza.....can be found here. A first timer again (good bye dinner rut!) but Travis made me laugh and these look amazing.
Baked Egg Rolls....I don't really use a recipe but if you need one, this one looks decent. At our house I would omit the carrots (food allergy) and the water chestnuts (hubby dislikes them) and add chopped mushrooms and ground turkey. But whatever rocks your boat! If I had a dollar I would bet there will be some of these zucchini fries to go with the egg rolls seeing that we have tons of zucchini coming out of our garden.
If you try anything let me know what you think.....or if you have a favorite meal, leave it in the comments. I am always looking for a new dinner!
***End of the week notes:
Cheesy Potato and Sausage Casserole got good reviews from the hubby. The kids said they didn't like the chunky potatoes to which I said whatever! I liked it. I did not use the Velveeta cheese, because of the daughter's issue with annatto (coloring agent) I just used 8 ounces shredded cheddar to make the cheese sauce. I think it was good. Maybe a little hearty for July/August but will be a great Fall menu item.
Mexican Pizza was delish. My son was very skeptical, but ended up loving it. It's pretty basic, if you like tacos or enchiladas, this is a sure hit. I also cheated and used pre-made enchilada sauce. Hey, a girl has to cheat sometimes.
Angel Chicken.....didn't happen. for no other reason then it just didn't, we really didn't have dinner on Friday because of a late lunch and a ton of errands. I intend to add it back into the menu later in the month.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Chicken Meatballs
After scouring the internet, I never found a recipe that I liked, so I made up my own. These meatballs won rave reviews from both the children and the husband.
Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
1 egg
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup onion, sauteed until soft in a little olive oil
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1-2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp dried oregano
mix all ingredients together, form into rounds. Brown lightly in on the stove top in a little olive oil and finish off for 10 min in a 400* oven until cooked through. Internal temp should be 175*. Serve as desired. (I served mine with tortellini and alfredo sauce)
Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
1 egg
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup onion, sauteed until soft in a little olive oil
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1-2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp dried oregano
mix all ingredients together, form into rounds. Brown lightly in on the stove top in a little olive oil and finish off for 10 min in a 400* oven until cooked through. Internal temp should be 175*. Serve as desired. (I served mine with tortellini and alfredo sauce)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Buttermilk Syrup
I don't like maple syrup. Not much anyway. So in my searching, I found this recipe in many places and referenced many time. Trust me, it is soooo good.
Buttermilk syrup
1 1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
add all but sugar to a large pan, bring to a boil and boil 7 minutes stirring regularly. after seven minutes remove from heat, stir in vanilla and serve.
I store my leftovers in the fridge.
Buttermilk syrup
1 1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
add all but sugar to a large pan, bring to a boil and boil 7 minutes stirring regularly. after seven minutes remove from heat, stir in vanilla and serve.
I store my leftovers in the fridge.
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