Menu Monday

Chicken Tacos

No big recipe here. Just throw in  a crockpot: chicken breast, 1/2 jar salsa, and a can of Rotel tomatoes. Let it simmer all day and you have dinner! 

I also made homemade Pioneer Woman salsa, which is our favorite!

Spaghetti Squash

Tuesday night J didn't feel well and went to bed early. I tried to make spaghetti squash, but it didn't turn out too hot. Who knew you actually had to buy a certain type of squash called a "spaghetti squash" and couldn't just use a regular one. Yeah, I didn't.

Major fail.

Turkey Sausage and Peppers

I forgot a picture but ours looked close to this!

I thankfully had all of the ingredients to make this and it was so easy!

In a crockpot add your turkey sausage, green peppers, little onion (J doesn't like onion so I do very little--just for flavor), tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. 

{note: I left out the tomato sauce since there wasn't much meet. It was totally fine}

Let it cook all day and it's ready to eat! I bought some buns to make it more of a sandwich like you would find at the fair. J's brother joined us for dinner so we had some tater tots too.

Apple & Bacon Grilled Cheese

This is one of my favorites! But it is kind of rich so we don't eat it often. The great thing about this is not only is it easy but you can change up the cheese for different flavors. I love using gouda but this time we used pepper jack.

Directions:

1) Bake 1/2 lb bacon in the oven--I put it in the oven then turn the oven on to 350*. Always start with the oven cold when making bacon.

2) While the bacon is cooking, cut up the apples in thin slices and cut up your bread (we used an italian loaf)

3) Set out all of your ingredients: butter, apples, cheese, bread, and bacon (when finished)

4) Start your sandwich just like a regular grilled cheese. I put down a slice of cheese, then the apple, then bacon, then another piece of cheese to keep it together.

5) Grill it up and enjoy!

Friday night we went out to dinner to enjoy what could be one of our last nice dinners together. We decided on Cameron Mitchel's Cap City Diner. One of our favorite places!

Saturday night was J's night to cook, since he wasn't working! He made some yummy waffles. Nothing too fancy!

I didn't make any freezer meals this week because it was my first week back to school to get my classroom ready. But I do have a few for next week.

Don't forget to link up!

Menu Monday

Here are our dinners from last week!

Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

This was a major fail. My grandma makes the best shredded chicken and I tried to make them like her but it didn't work out. I did end up calling her after I made them and I know what I did wrong. I'll try again in a few weeks and then give you the recipe!

Outback Steak Sandwiches 

J's sandwich

My sandwich--ailoi underneath

The real Outback sandwich--Mine were pretty darn close!

These were delicious!! The only thing I would do differently is to get one filet instead of the kind of steak I bought. The meat was okay but in the rare occurrence we actually eat steak (which is never) I might as well buy the best. The aioli and au jus was delicious!! {I eat most of my sandwiches open faced}

Along with the sandwiches I made homemade skillet focaccia bread. I know...call me Martha. It totally made the sandwich. I thought it was a little harder than normal focaccia bread but it was perfect to dunk in the au jus.

As for the au jus, you can find the recipe here, the same place as the sandwich recipe. However, I didn't have french onion soup. So I had to change the recipe a bit but it was still amazing:

1 can beef broth

1 can water

1 packet of dry onion soup

The third night we were supposed to have fancy grilled cheese but instead we had pizza. It just sounded amazing--and it was.

On Thursday Josh worked late and I had a left over steak sandwich...yummy!!

So my freezer meal of the week didn't start off too well. I had decided to make Pioneer Woman's lasagna. Yum. So I took all my stuff over to my parents to make it there. Why? Well 1) I needed cheese from the farmer's market which is right down the street and 2) I promised my mom I'd make her a tray of it. The fact that they have a huge kitchen is a bonus too. I ended up making 4 half trays of lasagna. YAY! That gives us four big servings which is plenty for J and I and it also gives us left overs.

I brought most of the stuff I needed for the lasagna including the cooking "tools". I needed a can opener to open the tomatoes so after searching I finally found one. Well, not all can openers are the same and I could not figure out the one she had. I kept making all these dents in the can but nothing would open it! Finally I gave up.

But I got it open!! 

Thankfully I found a normal can opener a short while later and the rest of the cans were good to go. 

I'm so excited to make some corn for dinner next week. LOVE corn season!

Menu Monday! FIVE new recipes!

Menu Monday is much better this week! I'm also going to be adding at least one freezer recipe a week. I'm starting to cook and stock up on freezer meals so after baby girl is born we don't have to worry about dinners for a while. When we get closer to my due day (August 29) I'll do one big post of all of them. Until then, I'll share with you the one or two I do per week.

Meatball Sub Casserole

Josh loved this meal. I'm pretty sure the main reason was because I used "real meat" (beef) as he calls it instead of substituting for turkey. We use turkey 99.9% of the time. I haven't purchased beef in months--I actually cannot remember the last time I did. So he was in for a real treat! But he said with or without the real meat, it was a great dish!

Like most recipes, this one made more than enough for two people so I just halved it. Once the meatballs are made it's much easier to decide how much of the casserole you want to make and can cut the bread to the amount you want. We used about half of an Italian loaf and I froze the rest of the bread.

I did make homemade meatballs and used a pound of meat. I ended up freezing a good majoring of them and will use that as one of our freezer meals (easy spaghetti one night)!

Meatball Recipe

1 lb of beef (or turkey)
1 egg
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 tbsp parsley
1-2 garlic cloves (we buy minced garlic in a glass jar--I used 1 heaping tsp.)
1/4 c.  grated parm cheese
ground pepper

Mix all together by hand. Roll in balls (about golf ball size). You can broil on LOW for 10 minutes, until brown and cooked inside (definitely check) or you can bake on 350* for about 20-30 minutes. Just keep checking. I forgot to see what time I started baking them so I don't know exactly how long it takes.

To freeze: I cooked meatballs (directions above) and put in a disposable bread loaf pan covered with tin foil. 
To cook: I will defrost and cook in spaghetti sauce (like you would a frozen store meatball).

Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

I don't think I put enough ranch mixture on the burritos. I halved the recipe and you couldn't taste the ranch. Oh well, they were still pretty good. Hard to go wrong with chicken and cheese!

I prefer the Skinny Enchiladas over these any day!

Jalapeno Bacon Apple Grilled Cheese

Not the best color to this picture

Stop. Go make these. Right now.

I was so excited to make these sandwiches this week. If you've never had an apple and bacon sandwich then you're completely missing out. One of my favorite tea rooms has an apple/bacon/Gouda sandwich and it is amazing. These were equally as good plus had a little kick to them. Instead of using regular wheat bread, like the recipe calls for, I used small ciabatta breads I found at Target. Delish!! Definitely a sandwich you can use with many types of bread and can even have at a girls lunch! I loved it so much I had it for lunch the next day!

Top Top Roman
{recipe below}

J found this recipe a few years ago and I couldn't tell you where he found it! He just came home one day and made it. We ate it a lot at first but haven't had it in over a year. To make it easier you can buy a rotisserie chicken instead of using chicken breasts. I can't stand pulling the chicken off the bone so I'd rather make it myself!

Recipe for two people:

2 pks of Roman Noodles (you can make it with more)

2 boneless chicken breasts (I use small frozen pieces)

1 pk frozen Asian veggies (I prefer the steamed veggies but it doesn't matter)

Directions:

1. Cook the chicken. I'm terrible at cooking chicken in anything but a crockpot, so I throw in the 2 pieces in the morning with some chicken or veggie stock and it them cook on low all day.

2. When the chicken is done and you're ready to cook dinner, shred the chicken up into pieces

3. Cook/Steam veggies

4. Cook roman noodles as directed on package. ONLY ADD HALF of the seasoning (I use 1 pk of season per 2 pks of roman)

5. In a large mixing bowl add noodles, veggies, and chicken. Stir together. Add a little soy sauce or other Asian sauce to your liking.

FROZEN MEAL OF THE WEEK:

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

I've never made this before so can't tell you if it's good or not, but I'm sure if we made some green beans and shared a baked potato it will be a great dinner when Miss H is home! You can find the recipe here along with the frozen directions.

Menu Monday

Grilled Cheese

Monday was "clean out the fridge" dinner. We had bacon and bread we had to eat up otherwise it would go bad. So, we made bacon grilled cheese. My original plan was for BLTs but I ate the last of the tomato for lunch and we were out of lettuce--oops! J doesn't eat BLT's anyways, so it worked out. Then I dropped my sandwich, which just topped the night off!

I took a picture of this but I think I deleted it from my phone on accident.

Tuesday I went to dinner with some friends, which ended up being a surprise baby shower! More on that this Wednesday!

BBQ Shredded Chicken

Wednesday I was so excited to try these BBQ chicken sandwiches from Duchess of Fork. They are easy and delicious! I've been obsessed with putting pickles and jalapenos on my BBQ. Normally I have slaw on there too but we didn't have any. But I made some cheese filled pasta salad to go with it.

Pasta Salad Dressing

- 1  cup of olive oil
- 1/2 cup red vinegar
- 2  tsp of basil
- 1 tsp dry yellow mustard
- 1 tbl sp minced garlic (you can use less but I love garlic!)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and whisk together really well. Pour over pasta and toss. Refrigerate until cold.


Thursday we were supposed to have chicken tacos but I just wasn't feeling tacos. J told me that he would bring something home for both of us and he came home with...

White Castle!! I'm sure some of you are gagging but I love them! J gets the chicken ring sandwiches, which I've never had. I have loved sliders since I can remember. My grandpa used to pick up a sack and take me down to the river to feed the ducks. He used to tell me that when he first moved to Columbus they were only 10 cents! Nothing beats a good White Castle burger sometimes. 

Menu Monday!

Dinners this past week were great!

Bang Bang Chicken Po' Boy

 Not too long ago, I made bang bang chicken for dinner. J really wanted a po' boy and LOVED the bang bang chicken, so I put them together. They turned out really well. We had left over bread to use so I figured it would work. I love a lot of lettuce on mine so J made me take a picture with my lettuce and then with a normal person's amount :) Only negative side is the house smells like oil for about 2 days and we hardly use any. Nothing compared to what the recipe calls for! :(

Turkey Meatball Gnocchi

No recipe to this. I bought a pack of gnocchi and already had the meatballs frozen from a while back. I had never made gnocchi before so I kind of just put things together. We love pesto, so I thought that would be something good to add. It wasn't bad but I need to work on my gnocchi skills.

What do you make with gnocchi??

Crusted Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce

This was AMAZING!!! It does not look as good as it actually tastes. I promise! It takes almost like a Chicken Marsala. I let J pick the side and he picked Julianne potatoes. Not good. We totally should have gone with pasta. It would have been much better. I didn't touch the potatoes (I don't like that kind) so I can't really complain. Next time pasta all the way!!

Pioneer Woman Salsa

{modified}

I've wanted to make this for awhile and just made it last night. OH MY GOSH. Best salsa ever! We love it spicy, so I added a little more cumin and used a whole lime (love my limes). I also only had one can of rotel tomatoes so my recipe was a little different...

Modified:

1 can (14 oz) whole tomatoes

1 can (10 oz) Rotel tomatoes with chilis

1/4 white onion (didn't measure in cup--used 1/4 of the onion)

1 clove of garlic--I used more because I love it!

1 whole jalapeno

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt (added more)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 cup cilantro (ended up being perfect)

1 whole lime, juiced (1/2 in food processor then half when finished and stirred with spoon)