Macaroni and Cheese, Caramelized Green Beans, and Salad

Fettucine Alfredo, Parmesan Crusted Asparagus, Garlic Bread, Salad

Buttered Chicken, Naan, Rice, and Raeta

Cheddar Broccoli Soup, Bread, and Salad

Well, we just got back from vacation. And I had just gone grocery shopping, and because we've been busy busy busy, I wanted something easy. This was DELICIOUS!! Maybe it's just because I've been eating out and snacking for the last week, but I loved this and could probably make it way more regularly. My husband isn't really a soup guy, but said he might be able to do this one once a month or so, so I think it was a hit! (Courtesty of Allrecipes: Broccoli and Cheddar Soup)

1/4 cup butter
1 onion, cut into medium dice
minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 pound chopped broccoli (frozen or fresh, I used a little of both)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole or 2% milk
salt to taste
8 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Melt butter over medium heat in a stockpot. Cook onion in butter until softened. Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute then stir in broccoli, and stir in broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile whisk flour into milk until dissolved. Stir into soup stirring frequently until thickened. Reduce heat, and stir in cheese until melted and heated through.

Season with salt to taste.

I served this with a loaf of french bread and a large salad.

Grilled Cheese, Soup, Salad, Fruit

no recipe needed, quick easy and oh so delish

French Toast and breakfast for dinner

We love breakfast for dinner at our house. It's generally fast and easy. Paired with fruit and eggs, or even potatoes, it's perfect (and you can add that really unhealthy side meat, mmm my favorite)...

1/4 c. Flour
1 c. Milk
1 pinch Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 t. Ground cinnamon
1 t. Vanilla
1 T Sugar
12 slices bread

Whisk together flour and milk. Add salt, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar.

Heat your pan. Soak both sides of bread and cook until golden.

Chicken Nuggets, Tots, Fruit

Chicken strips
ranch dressing
Bread Crumbs (with Seasonings of choice)

I use the ranch as the glue for this recipe. Dip the chicken in the ranch and then coat with seasoned bread crumbs. I usually bake it at whatever temperature anything else needs baked (like the tots or fries or whatever). If it's the only thing I'm baking, I bake it at 375 for about 20 minutes or so. Usually I just take the biggest strip and cut into it to see if it's done.

Beef Taco Bake, Cornbread

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Chicken Parmesan, Garlic Bread, Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

9 Layer Dip

We regularly have appetizers for dinner, and this is one of my favorites.

We start with refried beans. We make them ourselves in the crock pot, but canned works fine too. Occasionally we'll add bacon and/or grilled chicken. Then we put cheese on top. I like mine baked, so at this point I will bake it until it's all warmed up and the cheese is nice and melted. Then we top it with tomatoes, sour cream, and sometimes guacamole.

Obviously it's not really 9 layers, but if you count the bacon and chicken by itself, we're at 7, and if you count the chips, we're at 8 layers. I don't know what else I'd put on it to make it 9 layers.

Mongolian Beef, Lo Mein, Fortune Cookies

Chicken kabobs and Saffron Rice

come back this week.

Beef Stroganoff over Egg Noodles

THIS WEEK MAYBE?

Tortellini with Alfredo Sauce, Sauteed Zucchini, Garlic Bread

Pretty simple. I use Barilla Tortellini and alfredo with sun-dried tomatoes sauce. Garlic Bread is just french bread sliced up and spread on top with garlic butter. Then bake for a few minutes at 350 or so.

Zucchini...
slice up the zucchini (I actually made each slice into quarters). Saute in a pan with olive oil. Sprinkle garlic on about halfway through. At the end sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Pork Chops, Scalloped Potatoes, Caramelized Green Beans

My husband grilled the pork chops and just basted them with bbq sauce. The scalloped potatoes weren't terrific, so I'm not posting that recipe. I'm really here to post the green beans recipe.
Growing up, my mom made different vegetables for dinner sometimes. But my dad, he really only eats corn and succotash (lima beans and corn together). I never could eat peas (they seriously make my tongue itchy...guess I'm a little sensitive??) and green beans from a can were gross. So I basically only eat corn. (I also eat salads and fresh veggies, but cooked ones, pretty yucky to me).

I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the Best Bites site. And that is where the recipe for Caramelized Green Beans come from. I use frozen green beans in the recipe, so it cuts down prep time significantly.

Caramelized Green Beans (Courtesy of Our Best Bites)
1 lb. (actually, just a little bit more...maybe 1 1/8 lb.) fresh green beans
1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
Lots of freshly-ground pepper

Begin frying the bacon in a large skillet. Start boiling a large pot of water. Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.

Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar, soy sauce, and salt in a small bowl.

Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed (or minced..), and everything is ready to go.

Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel. If you feel like it, you can crumble it now or wait until it's cooled off a little. Pour bacon drippings out of pan.

Return a couple tablespoons of bacon drippings to the pan or just use some olive oil and heat pan to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot...

--Add onions and garlic. Give them a quick stir and then...

--Add beans to boiling water. Place colander in a clean sink. Boil for one minute; you're not cooking them until they're done, just blanching them to take the edge off. Meanwhile, stir the onions and garlic so they don't scorch. After one minute, drain beans in the colander in the sink.

--Once beans have been drained, add them to the onions and garlic. Stir fry 2-3 more minutes.

--Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans. Keep stir-frying until the beans get kind of glazy. Do this for another 2 minutes.


--Add crumbled bacon and lots of freshly-ground pepper to the beans. Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes so the beans cool down a bit and the glaze thickens up a little.

Broccoli Beef, Rice

Basically I followed the recipe from Allrecipes for Beef Broccoli I (or was it Broccoli Beef I?) Either way, that's the basic recipe. When I update, I will post what I did differently.

Creamed Chipped Beef, Biscuits, Fruit

My husband is on the city council. There are nights where he comes home just fast enough to see us and run back out to the meeting. On a normal day we don't eat dinner until 7, when he gets home, but on these days, I'd much rather eat at a regular time. So usually I go for quick and easy cooking and sometimes I'll let the kids eat in front of the tv for dinner, so I also usually go for not too messy.

Creamed Chipped Beef
4T Butter
4T Flour
3 c Milk
Pepper
Dried Beef

Melt the butter. Add the flour and make a roux. Then add the milk. When it starts thickening a bit, season with pepper and add the cut up dried beef. Serve over toast or biscuits. We've also made it with bacon and sausage instead of the beef.

Breakfast Sandwiches, Fruit

Again, breakfast for dinner, and this one is easy. Sometimes when I eat out, the thought never occurs to me that I could make this at home. But this one did...

Toast some English Muffins, scramble some eggs, fry some bacon. Layer it together like a sandwich (don't forget the cheese...) and you have a DELICIOUS, cheap, and (slightly) healthier version of our favorite McDonald's sandwiches. What I love most about this is it can easily be changed up. Use Buttermilk biscuits, homemade, or in a tube. I've also used lunchmeat when we were out of bacon (I can hardly believe that in this household...)

Pair it with fruit, or yogurt, or do some potatoes. Juice and milk, and you're all set in just a short amount of time.

Zucchini Parmesan, Garlic Bread, Salad

NEED TO MAKE TIME TO COME BACK AND UPDATE THESE POSTS

Shake and Bake Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Salad

COME BACK AND POST MORE

Macaroni and Cheese, Veggies

I got this recipe from Mr. Food. Everyone in the family loves it. Sometimes I add cheese dogs too.

8 oz. cooked elbow macaroni
8 oz shredded cheese (set some aside to put on top)
10 3/4 oz cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. Mayo
1/2 c. Milk

Preheat the oven to 375. Stir together. Top with extra cheese. Bake for a long time, about 40 minutes in my oven because I don't know how to use the broiler and I like the top to get crispy.
But really, you can cook it for less time because you're not really cooking anything. So it's ready when you are.

Muffins, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon

Well, I wanted to have a breakfast dinner. Usually it's pancakes, biscuits and gravy, or dippy eggs and toast. I just didn't feel like doing any of them, except for MAYBE the dippy eggs, but there wasn't enough bread for toast. So it hit me...MUFFINS!
I meant to make homemade muffins, but I got stuck playing Lego Star Wars and before I knew it it was 5:15 and I just didn't have time to make homemade muffins, so I'll have to do that another day.

Chicken Chimis, Mexican Rice, Black Beans

Well, here it is. I finally cooked. It's not that we spent the last few nights not eating, but my husband cooked on the weekend and on Monday we had to go to the dr. to get checked up so we didn't really cook. I really love Allrecipes. And all of last night's dinner came from there...

Chicken Chimichangas with Green Sauce

Ingredients:

2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup 2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chiles 5 pitted green olives 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning 1 pound shredded cooked chicken meat 8 (10 inch) flour tortillas 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese 1 cup chopped green onion 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:

1.	Pour the cream of chicken soup into a blender along with the green chiles, olives, jalapeno, and lime juice. Puree until smooth, then pour into a saucepan, and warm over medium-low heat while proceeding with the recipe.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning until well blended. Fold in the chicken. Evenly divide mixture among the 8 tortillas. Fold each tortilla into a rectangular packet around the filling.
3.	Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry 4 chimichangas at a time until golden brown, then drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
4.	To serve, place a chimichanga on a plate, and ladle the warm sauce overtop. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and green onions. Finish with a dollop of sour cream. What I did differently: I used canned green sauce. But I didn't eat it so I don't know how that was. And I baked mine chimis at 350 for about 30 minutes or so.

Mexican Rice III

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain white rice 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups chicken broth 1/2 onion, finely chopped 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 tomato, seeded and chopped 1 cube chicken bouillon salt and pepper to taste 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 clove garlic, halved

Directions:

1.

In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in onion, green pepper, jalapeno, and diced tomato. Season with bouillon cube, salt and pepper, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cover with tight lid and set your timer for 20 minutes. Do not lift the lid. When the timer goes off, turn off the oven and let the rice set for 5-10 minutes.

What I did differently:
I cooked the onion and pepper with the rice and then added the garlic before pouring in the liquid and seasoning.

Best Black Beans

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) can black beans 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper salt to taste

Directions:

1.	In a medium saucepan, combine beans, onion, and garlic, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Season with cilantro, cayenne, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

The recipes were ehhh, not terrible, but not melt in your mouth fantabulous, at least to the adults. But the kids ate it. Even our 3 year old who really only eats pb sandwiches every day for lunch. But we do have leftovers that I do get to eat for lunch, so no fuss there.

General Tso Chicken and Rice

Tonight I was trying to find a way to use rice that I made last week. I had made it specifically for fried rice, so I tried to figure out something to make.

I was going to make Sesame Chicken, but my honey was running low. After rummaging through the fridge, I found some General Tso sauce that I thought I should use up, so again, I don't really have a recipe.

I used 1 HUGE chicken breast. Cut it up into chunks and then coated them with a flour/5 spice mix. Cut up some onion and stirfry until the chicken is cooked. I removed that from the pan and stir fried a bunch of broccoli. I removed the broccoli, put the chicken back in and added the sauce. At the end I added the broccoli back in.

In the meantime, I pulled out the rice and I guess it had gone bad, so I had to make new rice, which means I couldn't fry it. But I did add chicken seasoning to the water of the new rice so that it wasn't just straight white rice.

Served with oranges.

Toasted Subs, Chips, Fruit

Again we needed something quick and easy. Now the baby is sick, on top of everyone else, so we're all tired and cranky now...

I don't think I need to post instructions. Just make a sub. Toasted or not...the choice is up to you.

Chicken Corn Soup and bread (& salad)

Well, everyone in my house is sick. (Even me, I'm pretty sure, but I'm undiagnosed...) So last night we got home from the Doctor's office (and I'm pretty sure we'll be going back today) and I figured soup would be a good option for dinner. So I whipped some together... (wish I would have taken a picture though.)

Ingredients:
4 cans of chicken broth
one chicken breast
diced up carrots
egg noodles (the kind for soup)
2 eggs, (will be hardboiled)
2 cans of corn, drained

Directions:
Pour 3 cans of broth into a pot and poach the chicken breast until it's done. (I did this step while I put groceries away)

Remove chicken and add carrots. Shred the chicken. Start hardboiling the eggs.

Add 4th can of broth and noodles.

Add the chicken; cut up the eggs.

Cook until the noodles are tender and everything is warmed through.

Sides:
I served this with a loaf of french bread from the store. On an ordinary day I would have also done a salad, but since we were sick, I didn't bother with that.

Notes:
This served my family of 6 (well, there's 7 in the family, but the baby doesn't eat yet) and we have leftovers for several more bowls, probably at least lunch for most of us. I wanted to keep it simple this time, so I didn't add celery or onion or season it at all, although my husband added pepper to his when he served it up.