Recipe Recap

A couple of weeks ago I made this......

They may look like just your normal taco's but they are not - they are baked taco's.
The original recipe can be found here but i made a couple of modifications.  Next time I will skip the tomato sauce and use enchilada sauce - Ole'!  This recipe is a keeper and G actually wants me to make it when we have a friend of his over that has gone to South America for a couple of months.  FYI it reheats great as well.  Just keep the toppings off and put back in the oven for about 10 or so minutes.

Oven Tacos
adapted from Blog Chef and Mommy I'm Hungry
2 1 lbs ground beef 
1 small onion diced
1  2 small can diced green chilies 
1 recipe for Homemade taco seasoning packet taco seasoning
1 (8 ounce) 4 oz  can low sodium tomato sauce 
1 (16 ounce)  1/2 can fat free refried beans 
2 cups shredded reduced fat Colby-jack cheese   whatever cheese you have
18-20  12 hard taco shells 

Toppings
Lettuce (shredded), Tomato (diced), Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream,Olives, sliced  

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  
In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny.   Make sure to cook this until all the liquid evaporates so your taco's stay crunchy

Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. 
Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving. 

What's for dinner

So just one week left at home with my pickle.  It seems like yesterday we brought him home.  I am very grateful that I was able to have the time I did I know that a lot of people do not have that privilege.  We had a last minute "issue" with our daycare so we did a quick scramble and were able to find something else.   So this week will be all about getting ready and prepped to return to the real world.   I hope to get some things in the freezer this week but we will see.  Needless to say Sunday prep is more important than ever.   Here is what I'm thinking for this week....

Sunday
Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup, salad, bread

Monday
Salisbury Steak, veggies, mashed potatoes

Tuesday
Leftover soup, salad bread

Wednesday
Leftover Salisbury Steak

Thursday

I never made this last week so lets try again this week
Chicken w/ 40 cloves of garlic, veggie, rice


Friday
Take out or go out

Saturday
Left over chicken, veggie, rice

Bon Appétit 

Recipe Recap

So I believe I owe you an update of how things worked out last week so here goes......

The tater tot casserole?  Well it rocked!   I'm adding it to my list of white trash foods that are great comfort foods....

It made a lot though - plenty for two dinners and a couple of lunches.  I pretty much followed the recipe exactly and can't really think of anything I would change in the future.

Spaghetti.....

This is what I do when time is limited....

  

Start by cooking 1 lb of chicken italian sausage (I like this better than pork for many reasons and if you live in Portland New Seasons Market makes a great one)

After the sausage is cooked remove from the pan and add one rough chopped onion. 

Saute the onion until soft

If you are going to add mushrooms add them at this point and cook them until soft

Pour in one small jar of pre-made pasta sauce (I use Trader's Joes but any will do)

Add sliced olives

Add a can of stewed tomatoes

Sprinkle in a little sugar

Add a splash of wine

Add some italian herbs - dry or fresh (remember is you use dry to rub them in your hands first)

Let the whole thing simmer along for a least a couple of hours.  

Cook some pasta and your set! (remember to salt the water once it boils but don't add oil to the water or the noodles after you drain them - the sauce won't stick) 

Chicken wings......

Just used a basic Lawry's 30 minute Sesame Ginger marinade - a great pantry basic that you should always have on hand

All in all this week was a success and made the week run much more smoothly having a plan!

What's for dinner

Ok so here's what for dinner this week......still owe you updates from last week I haven't forgotten

Saturday
Cheeseburger Soup, Salad
I thought this sounded fun and would be fun to try

Sunday
Always wanted to make this....
Chicken w/ 40 cloves of garlic


Monday
Left over  Cheeseburger Soup

Tuesday
Left over Chicken, veggie


Wednesday
Mexican night and I found a new recipe so it will have a twist
Oven Taco - will be sure to have plenty of tomatoes, lettuce and avocado's to put on top!


Thursday
Baked Chicken breast, roasted veggie, brown rice/quinoa
I love to cook bone in chicken breast with just some olive oil and S&P drizzled on it.  And hopefully there is some leftover chicken for a chicken salad sandwich for lunch later this week



Friday
Go out or take out....its a Friday thing for us


And now I'm off to make my list for the store!

Bon Appetit

Stew

Last week I made a departure from the plan and threw together a stew one day.

G will eat this but I forget he is never truly thrilled with eating it twice in one week.  No worries as I divided the leftovers into small containers and put them in the freezer for lunches.

No picture - sorry I forgot....you will just have to take my word it was tasty!


Beef Barley Stew

2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup water
1 onion rough cut
3 carrots finely chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup barley (I would maybe add a cup next time)
1 lb beef stew cut up in smallish pieces

Throw everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.   Yes you could brown the meat first but lets be honest here part of the joy of slow cooking is only having one pan dirty.   Also, who has the time for browning.  

Served with a salad and some rolls fresh from the oven!

Bon Appétit 

What's for dinner

Friday I had to work (I'm still basically on leave but I have a small project I'm working on that thankfully will be done by Tuesday) so I couldn't plan that day.  And yesterday just got away from me. To be honest I've been tweeking and retweeking this for a while but I'm going to the store after the Seahawks beat the Falcons (well that's the hope at least) and so I have to get serious about things.  So here goes......

Friday - dinner out!  Went for Mexican down the street

Saturday- Tater Tot casserole and Salad
Don't judge I'd had a hard day and hadn't made it to the store and well I could give a lot of excuses but bottom line is it was good and exactly what I needed.   Bonus - there are leftovers.  And honestly it was this or fast food take out and I somehow think this was a little bit better.
Recipe here

Sunday - Homemade Spaghetti, Salad, Bread
Will be sure to share my recipe later

Monday - Leftover Tater Tot repeat

Tuesday - Leftover Spaghetti repeat

Wednesday - Chicken wings, roasted veggies

Thursday - Taco's

Disclaimer:  All meals subject to change based on my mood and how well J cooperates with me being able to do things.

Bon Appétit

Recipe Recap

So far this week we've had two hits and one miss and to honest I'm cool with that.  Not every recipe is going to be a winner and I'm just happy to be out there trying some new things.  Also, this week I remembered why I hate to cook with pork.  Hate that's a strong word maybe just that cooking with pork is not relaxing.....

The Hits!

This is the pork chops in "shake and bake", delicata squash and smashed potatoes.  

This is the deconstructed enchilada recipe found here

Heads up seven up because I changed the recipe after I did the post for the week.  I decided I liked this one better.  I still might make the other one some day but I was glad I made this.  

It was a HUGE hit and it made a lot.  Enough for two dinners and then some lunches for later for the freezer.

I pretty much followed the recipe but  next time I will put the olives inside.  I didn't think about them until I had it all in the casserole.   Also I used canned corn (rinsed and drained) instead of frozen because that's what I had on hand.  A little garnish of tomatoes and you are good to go!

The Miss!

This was not a hit but to be fair I did stray a little from the recipe.   I used turkey tenderloins instead of chicken and I didn't have Bisquick but I had Belgium waffle mix so I used that.   Mistakes on both ends.   The turkey has a different texture and the mix made them almost sweet (G thought I was baking brownies).   The roasted broccoli and homemade ranch dressing made up for it a little though.   Great thing was that you could cook the chicken and the broccoli on the same big cookie sheet/jelly roll pan.   Less mess!  One tip I liked that I would take and maybe try again is to spray the chicken on both sides with cooking spray.  I great way to help them brown without adding extra fat.

Also, some randomness for this week.  This is a picture of my lunch one day.   Its leftover delicate, pork, corn, and a little feta.   It was tasty and didn't make me feel yucky later on.   We've all had those lunches where you make bad choices and then you don't feel so great (think I did that today).

Bon Appétit

Pinning

There are certain things in your life that make your life easier.  I relish these things - probably more than ever.  One of those things is Pinterest.   If you aren't familiar I recommend!  You can check it out here.....

Pinterest

I must warn you however it although it helps me to keep organized on recipes and such this site is a good time waster and can be very addictive.   It's kind of one of those things that you go to when you want to procrastinate about other things in your life that you should be doing.  That being said I also find it very helpful to organize certain things.

Recipes - I used to think that I would remember where a recipe was on the wonderful world wide web. I thought if I just bookmarked the site on my blog (see the left hand side) that I would remember where the recipe was and be able to find.   As you may of guessed this didn't work out like I thought it was going to.  I spent the better part of a day looking for a lemonade cake once.  I had seen it in the early summer and was going to take it to our family reunion.   But when I went to the blog I thought it was on it wasn't there - UGH - and after searching through some of the other blogs I finally did a google search and was able to find it.   I also have a couple of three ring binders with sections and a lot of recipes.   This works to pull stuff out of magazines or print things I see but lets be honest - I don't every really go through those to look for ideas.  Organizing recipes on Pinterest however is a dream.  I have all my categories - Dinner, Sweets, Veggies, etc. and I just "pin" any recipes I find.   Then when I go to plan the weeks meals or I'm going somewhere where I want to take something I just go onto my "boards" and browse through things.   Then if I makes something I'm not crazy about I can just go in and delete the recipe - easy as pie!  And being able to have pictures to look at is great as well.

Boards - if you aren't familiar you probably wonder what I mean by "Boards".   These are basically the folders of Pinterest.   I have quite a few boards.   I have one for most rooms in the house - Kitchen, Living Room, Family Room, etc. where I can put pictures of things I came across for inspiration later.  I also have Crafty and DIY boards for different projects of inspiration.  I've already mentioned that I use it for recipe filing so probably the final collection of boards to mention would be holidays.   I have recently been adding to the Valentines Day but have them for pretty much every holiday.

Now granted this site crashes or goes away I've lost everything and I have thought about it but it doesn't really bother me - after all what are the odds?

Oh and also you can follow your friends and see what the "pin" on their "boards".

Really it will all make better sense if you go and look at my boards so feel free to join me here

Happy Pinning!

Recipe Recap

Here's a brief update on the new recipes we tired last week.

First up the Clam Chowder
This was pretty much a home run hit with G.   He said it was "restaurant worthy" and "if he had a facebook page he would post a pic and say how great it is".   I'd never made clam chowder before and definitely will again being that A - G loved it and B - it could not be more simple,  We had a salad of greens, tomatoes, and a little feta to go with it.

Next up Stuffed Beef Crescents
These were a hit as well and not only did I get two dinner I also have some in the freezer for another day.   My advise if you are going to make this and there is just two of you - divide the meat in two.   I did it "fresh" both nights.  By this I mean I only used on roll of crescent dough per night.   You just need to reheat the meat the second night before you roll it in the dough.  Also, the second night G decided he wanted a sauce on the side so he had his with a side of salsa.   These little pockets are very rich so you definitely want a veggie of some sort to balance the whole thing out.  I will keep this recipe but it won't be one that I will pull out all that often.  That's roasted broccoli - if you missed it my post on roasting veggies can be found here

Bon Appétit!

What's for dinner?

Here's what's for dinner this week

Friday - Pizza and salad - after all it is Friday

Saturday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Green veggie
Full disclosure I will be coating and cooking the pork chops in shake and bake.   What can I say G loves it and its super easy

Sunday - Taco Casserole, Salad
New recipe to be found here

Monday - Chicken Fingers, Potato/Sweet Potato fries (baked in the oven), green veggie
New recipe - can be found here

Tuesday - Leftover Taco Casserole

Wednesday - Freezer dinner, green veggie
Will take one of the casseroles I have in the freezer out - just not sure which one.

Thursday - Freezer dinner, green veggie

G just made a comment about me being organized again on dinners.  I basically sit on the couch (tonight we are watching the Fiesta Bowl - go Wildcats) and show him recipes that I've collected on Pinterest.  I don't get his approval on everything but on most.   My love affair with Pinterest only gets stronger.   Its a perfect place to just file things away for a later time.  Having a plan for the week just makes life so much easier.   G is going back to work next week so dinner prep will need to be more simplified as I never know how much time I will actually have.

In other news......I went to the library today.   Can't remember the last time I stepped into one......
More on that later......

Bon Appétit!