Monday Meals: Weekly Meal Plan

Okay, so yesterday (Sunday), we fully intended to have Bacon-Tuna Casserole (a concoction I put together combining two recipes). We had it ready to go in the slow cooker and everything! The Hubster got nervous that the noodles were going to burn (he’d left it on high), so he came home real quick to check it out. And, it’s a good thing he did! The noodles weren’t burned…they weren’t even on!! Ahhh…the joys of a busy Sunday morning! So, he turned it on then and I let it cook into the early afternoon and put it in the fridge for another day this week.

I’m continuing to make headway on clearing out our pantry for our transition to Real Food cooking!!! So, here’s what we’re eating this week!

Monday 4/30

Breakfast: Cold cereal

            Lunch: Grilled Turkey and Cheese

            Dinner: Frito Chili Pie or Spaghetti Red (I use the same sauce for both, so they can choose either chips or noodles!)

Tuesday 5/1

            Breakfast: Poptarts

            Lunch: HomemadePizza Pockets

            Dinner: Bacon-Tuna Casserole, green beans, homemade bread

Wednesday 5/2

            Breakfast: Homemade Pancakes, Sausage

            Lunch: Chicken Nuggets

            Dinner:  CheeseburgerMac & Cheese

Thursday 5/3

            Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs w/ bacon & cheese

Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas, grilled chicken fajitas

Dinner: Leftovers

Friday 4/27

            Breakfast: Homemade Poptarts

            Lunch: Leftover Cheeseburger Mac

            Dinner: Homemade Chicken Nuggets, homemade fries

Saturday 4/28

            Breakfast: Homemade Donuts

            Lunch: Fishsticks

            Dinner: HamTettrizini, green beans, garlic bread

Sunday 4/29

            Breakfast: Baked French Toast

            Lunch: TurkeyStroganoff, green beans, homemade bread

Dinner: Chicken Nuggets

NOTE: The lunch menu items usually pertains to my kiddos. I tend to eat leftovers to help purge and clean out the fridge.

Feel free to share your meal ideas here or link up to your own meal plan post!

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up:

Monday Meals: Weekly Meal Plan

 Last week was pretty normal around here. The rain and other weather issues, kept us inside most days, so the kiddos are getting a little antsy. And truth be told…so is momma! Hopefully we’ll have better playing-outside weather this week!

Here is this week’s YUMMY meal plan!

Monday 4/16

Breakfast: Pop-Tarts

            Lunch: Hot Dogs & Grilled Cheese

            Dinner: Homemade Bacon Pizza

Tuesday 4/17

            Breakfast: Cereal

            Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas

            Dinner: Ham Tettrizini, green beans, bread

Wednesday 4/18

            Breakfast: Cereal

            Lunch: Chicken Nuggets

            Dinner: Leftovers

Thursday 4/19

            Breakfast: Pancakes & Bacon

Lunch: Birthday Lunch with Miss Priss!!!

Dinner: Corn Dogs (kids); Pink Lemonade Cupcakes (Small group)

Friday 4/20

            Breakfast: Poptarts

            Lunch: Fishsticks

            Dinner: BBQ Chicken, mashed potatoes, baked squash/zucchini, homemade bread

Saturday 4/21 – Miss Priss’ Party Day!

            Breakfast: Dry Cereal

            Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas

            Dinner: Cheeseburger Mac & Cheese & PARTY!!!!

Sunday 4/122

            Breakfast: Eggs w/ bacon & cheese

            Lunch: Turkey Stroganoff, green beans, homemade bread

Dinner: Homemade Pizza Pockets

NOTE: The lunch menu items usually pertains to my kiddos. I tend to eat leftovers to help purge and clean out the fridge.

Feel free to share your meal ideas here or link up to your own meal plan post!

Blessings,

Annette

Monday Meals: Weekly Meal Plan

So this coming Sunday is Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Day as we call it) and it’s also my birthday. (We’re not going to talk about how old I am though…I’m ignoring that fact for a while longer.) I am so excited to get together with my family and see everyone. We are doing dinner Saturday night because it’s just easier for us. I am super excited that my kids will be able to play outside in the evening AND we don’t need to rush home for naps with cranky kids!! YAY!!!

What are your plans for Resurrection weekend? Without getting into a theological discussion, does your family do the Easter basket thing & egg hunts? How do you celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord?

Here is this week’s YUMMY meal plan!

Monday 4/2

 Breakfast: Pop-Tarts

        Lunch: Chicken Nuggets

        Dinner: Leftovers

Tuesday 4/3

        Breakfast: Cereal

        Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas

        Dinner: Garlic-Lime Chicken, brown rice, green beans

Wednesday 4/4

        Breakfast: Cereal

        Lunch: Fishsticks

        Dinner: Ham Sammies & Grilled Cheese, chips

Thursday 4/5

        Breakfast: Pancakes & Bacon

 Lunch: out

 Dinner: Chicken Nuggets, fruit

Friday 4/6

        Breakfast: Poptarts

        Lunch: Ramen Noodle Soup

        Dinner: Homemade Pizza

Saturday 4/7 (Family Easter Celebration)

        Breakfast: Dry Cereal

        Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas

        Dinner: Lemon-crumb chicken & dessert

Sunday 4/8 Happy Resurrection Day!!!!

        Breakfast: Eggs w/ bacon & cheese

        Lunch: Roast, pot/carrots, Homemade Bread, green beans

 Dinner: Mac & Cheese

Does your family have a traditional “Easter” dinner? Or something that’s become a tradition? Feel free to share your meal ideas here or link up to your own meal plan post!

Blessings,

Annette

Baking Bits: Chicken and Rice (two ways)

Do you have a favorite dish? Maybe one from your childhood? One of my most favorite dishes from my childhood is Chicken and Rice. My mom made it many, many times (well...that and Macaroni) and her mother, my grandmother made it too. Although we're not too sure where it originated, it is still a family favorite (and my go-to recipe when I don't know what else to cook!).

Now, there are two ways to make this dish. You can make it as a casserole in the oven, which is how we've traditionally made it. But, you can also make it in the crock-pot. Now, either way it doesn't take more than an hour and a half, so you need to plan ahead. This is not an all-day sit in the crock-pot dish.

Here’s what you need:

4 cups INSTANT white rice (you can also use brown)

2 cans chicken (drained)

Cream of SomethingSoup mix (in the yogurt container)

3 ¾ cups milk

1 ½ - 2 cups milk (preferably whole)

½ Onion soup mix (in the clear container...looks like I need to make more)

Measure out 1 cup of Cream of Something mix. Pour into small saucepan.

Add 3 3/4 cups of milk in with the mix

Now, you're going to whisk, whisk and whisk until it thickens (med-low heat).
About 10-15 minutes. I don't whisk continuously, but enough so the milk doesn't burn. 

Pour the rice into a large bowl.

Add the thickened soup mixture to the rice 

Blend the rice and thickened cream of something

Now its time to chop up the chicken. You want to make sure the chicken is not too chunky. I usually take a small knife & just chop it up a little more than what it is in the can. (I love, love, love my handheld strainer.)

Add the chicken to the mixture and stir

After you've added the chicken, you'll see how sticky and thick it is. This is when you'll add the 1 1/2 - 2 cups more milk.

 I wish I had a good way to tell you when to stop, but it's just by looks.
You need enough moisture in the dish so the rice will continue to cook. If there is too little moisture, the rice will stop cooking and be crunchy.

Pour the entire mixture into a 9x13 pan and spread out evenly

Sprinkle the onion soup mixture over the top.
I usually use about 1 1/2 TBSP of mix.

Bake at 350 for 45 with foil on. Remove foil and continue baking another 15 minutes.

Take out and you're ready to eat!


I've served this with green beans most often and some buttered bread. YUM!!!!

Now, since I began searching for ways to cut the grocery bill, I have changed this recipe up a bit.

Here's some changes you can make:

*       Can cut chicken to 1 can, but I prefer a bite of chicken each spoonful!

*       If you bake this dish, you can also use bone-in or boneless chicken breasts. You just need to make sure they are cooked thoroughly before serving.

*       I use this homemade Onion Soup Mix instead of the store bought kind
*  The original recipe calls for 1 can each of Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Celery and Cream of Chicken. We've just substituted with the Cream of Something mix. My kids don't like mushrooms or celery and would not eat it with the "green things" in it! NOTE: You can use any combo of the 3 soups. But, at least 1 chicken & 1 celery. We’ve often left out the mushroom & had 2 chicken.
*  If you love mushrooms, but HATE the Cream of soups, you can try this homemade recipe.
*  To make this in the crock-pot, follow all the instructions above and cook on LOW for 1.5 hours. Sprinkle the onion soup mix on the last 20 minutes or so. 

What's your favorite childhood dish? Share it here!!! Happy Cooking!


Blessings,
Annette


Linking up to these parties today! Be sure and check out some of the other fabulous blogs!!

  

Baking Bits: 4 Pinterest Food Reviews

I haven’t done a Food review in a while, so I thought I’d share with you a few recipes we’ve tried from my Pinterest obsession. (See it does come in handy…I find new recipes and try them on my family! hehe) These are a few of the "winners" our family has tried over the past few months. Hope you enjoy them too!!!

#1 Weight Watchers Salsa Roll-ups

This recipe is SUPER easy and quick. I whipped up a few of these last week and was surprised at how simple they really were! And yuuuummmmy too! In fact, the Hubster was caught more than once sneaking a bite or two! So, if you’re looking for a snack that’s easy to make and take – this one would be perfect! Be sure and check out her blog over at Chef-in-Training for more yummy recipes.

#2 Chicken Roll-ups

This is another super easy and quick recipe. I think it literally took me a total of 10 minutes to get it ready!! Now that’s quick! Now, ours were a little over stuffed, but they were still DELICIOUS!!! They were a hit with 2 of the 3 kiddos too! (Mister Mouse is super picky, so we don’t take his vote most of the time!) The only thing I did different is use my own homemade Ranch dressing mix rather than a store-bought package. You can find the mix I used here.

#3 Hawaiian Sweet Roll Sammies

Okay, talk about mouth-watering…these sammies are to-die-for! I mean, first of all, how can you go wrong with Hawaiian Sweet Rolls?! And, second…they’re just plain good! They do take a little bit of time to prepare (approx 20min), so allow yourself that extra time in addition to cooking them. But, trust me – they are absolutely worth it! The first time I had these were at a Women’s night at a church – YUM!!!! Then, I made them again for our small group (two pans even) and they were gone in lightening speed!! THEN…we had them for our small family Christmas and WOW!! Still yummy! So, if you see Hawaiian Sweet Rolls on sale or just out on the shelf, pick up a package and make these babies! You won’t regret it!! (NOTE: I used dried minced onions rather than real ones. They are so much smaller and they really crunched up nicely!)

Okay, last one – I promise!

#4 Chicky Nuggets

So, who doesn’t like Chick-fil-a nuggets? Let’s face it…not many people dislike their delicious chicken (not to mention the fact they have a great indoor playground for my kiddos). This recipe takes some up-front planning, but its well worth it!! This quickly became a frequently requested meal at our house. We’ve had to limit it to 2-3 nights a month! My kids would eat this twice a week if I let them! I do recommend using peanut oil to fry them in for several reasons: 1) That’s the way Chick-fil-a does it and it’s yummy, 2) peanut oil stays cleaner longer, so you won’t have to change the oil after one batch and 3) did I mention it made them YUMMY?!

So, there ya have it! FOUR Pinterest recipe reviews. I’m working on taking pictures when I cook, so that I can share several more recipes with you over the next few weeks!! Being new at this regular blogging thing, I’m still getting used to keeping the camera close-at-hand. Well…that and I keep moving it out of reach from wandering little hands!

Join me next week for another YUMMY recipe!!!!

Blessings,

Annette


I'm linking up to these parties today: 

Lemon-Crumb Chicken

Doesn't this look absolutely DELICIOUS?!

Okay, I know…THREE posts in one day! It’s crazy!! But, I just had to share this recipe with you! I was looking through some old recipe files I had stored away on my computer and came across this delight. And what a delight it was tonight! YUM-O!!!! I must confess, however, that we did not have wheat bread, so I used white or reduced calorie Mayo, so I used regular. We also didn’t have minced parsley so I just added a little more than a Tbs of the flakes. But, TRUST ME…you’re going to want to try this recipe!! After we baked it and cut it up, I squeezed a little extra fresh lemon juice on my chicken. Ooohhh!!!! What a scrumptious taste it was!  We paired our meal with corn-on-the-cob tonight. It was a HUGE hit with the entire family too! The oldest came back several times for more (we had to cut him off!) and the middles both ate well too! This will definitely go in the FAVORITES section of my recipe binder!

 Lemon Crumb Chicken

2 slices whole wheat bread made into crumbs (1 cup)

1 Tbs Parmesan cheese grated

1 Tbs Minced parsley

1 Tbs grated lemon zest

4 (1/4#) boneless chicken breast

½ t salt

½ t pepper

2 Tbs. reduced calorie Mayo

Combine bread crumbs, cheese, parsley and lemon zest in medium bowl.  Transfer to a sheet of waxed paper.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Spread mayonnaise on both sides of chicken.  Coat chicken with bread crumb mixture.  Arrange on sprayed baking sheet.  Bake until crust is golden 20 – 25 minutes @ 425 degrees.

Annette’s tip: To make bread crumbs, toast both slices of bread on a mid setting. Then, crumble them onto a baking sheet. Set your oven to broil and put them in for about 7-10 minutes. WATCH THEM CLOSELY so they don’t burn! After you take them out, just start tapping on them to make the crumbs even more fine crumbs.

Blessings,

Annette




UPDATED TIP: When talking with my husband about this recipe last night, we discussed how you could change up the ingredients a little and have several VERY tasty meals!!! Here's a few suggestions:
* Garlic-Lime chicken (just nix the parsley & lemon and sub garlic and lime)
* Parmesan Crusted Italian Chicken (sub Italian seasonings for parsley)
* Change up the meat and use FISH! (Parmesan crusted Tilapia, Cod or whatever!)