#1: Hawaiian Roll Sandwiches with Turkey and Muenster, Fruit of Choice
#2: Lemon Pepper Chicken, Braised Green Beans, Fruit of Choice
#3: Hamburgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Fruit of Choice
#4: Romaine Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Shredded Carrot, Turkey, and Cheese
#5: Breakfast for Dinner (Pancakes or Waffles, Eggs, Fruit of Choice)
#6: Leftovers
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Find more inspiring dinner menus at I’m An Organizing Junkie.
After a long hiatus, I hope to be coming back (if not at least to give ideas for menu planning)! I had my daughter Katie just over two months ago, and now more than ever we’re trying to save money! Menu planning is definitely helping us with that.
1: One Pot Mac & Cheese, Green Salad
2: Tuna Melts, Chips
3: Taco Soup
4: Raspberry Dump Chicken, Green Beans
5: Garlic Butter Shrimp, Orzo Salad with Parsley and Grape Tomatoes
6: Pizza Pretzels with Marinara, Green Salad
7: Beef Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Chips & Guacamole
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Find more fascinating menus at I’m an Organizing Junkie.
Nothing too special being made this week, although I’m excited to try a copycat of Panera’s Broccoli-Cheese soup from this book.
Sunday: Shake n Bake Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, Steamed Broccoli
Monday: Hawaiian Rolls with Cracked Pepper Turkey, Panera’s Broccoli-Cheese Soup
Tuesday: Spaghetti with Meatsauce, Breadsticks
Wednesday: Baked Potatoes, Salad
Thursday: Taco Soup
Friday: Breakfast for Dinner (Biscuits, Scrambled Eggs, Grapes)
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Find much more inspiring (:-p) menus this week at I’m an Organizing Junkie.
PDFI don’t know why we call these by this name. They’re not exactly cheap. But that is what we call them, and they’re great for a night when you want something really snacky/easy.
Poor Man’s Nachos
- Bag of Tostito’s Mini Rounds
- 1-2 cans Fritos Bean Dip
- 1 bag Shredded Mexican Cheese
- Spread chips out over microwave-safe plate.
- With back of spoon, spread bean dip over each chip. Be liberal!!!
- Sprinkle shredded cheese over chips–however much you want is fine!
- Microwave 45-60 seconds, or until cheese is melted and chips are warmed through.
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I never claimed to be healthy! And these definitely aren’t! Phil has apparently eaten these for years and introduced them to me when we got married. They’re great for a night when I get off late (which fortunately doesn’t happen often anymore), or if we’re just pooped after a long day.
This week, I’m trying to clean out my freezer–I have TONS of things in there. Basically, the only meal I have to really buy the main things for are the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Fortunately for me, my favorite meatloaf is one that I don’t even have to do anything fun with. My favorite meatloaf is the Hormel brand that you just pop in the microwave. I would rather have this any day over a homemade meatloaf. I think it has to do with texture (I like the taste of almost everything–I have to fight with not liking a food because of texture constantly).
Sunday: Cheeseburgers, Fries
Monday: Grilled Cheese, Chips
Tuesday: Taco Soup, Chips and Salsa
Wednesday: Shake N Bake Chicken, Green Beans
Thursday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes
Friday: Easy Crusted Salmon, Steamed Broccoli, Wheat Roll
I *love* watching Hell’s Kitchen on Tuesday nights. I love the intensity in the kitchen, and then tension I feel when one of the chefs has to bring something (especially a risotto) up for service. Will it be well seasoned? Will Chef Ramsay throw the whole pan in the trash? It’s always a close call, and you can almost never tell which he is going to lean.
Because of this, many people I know (ahem, Krista!) have been discouraged from trying risotto, including myself. I decided to bite the bullet, however, and I’m so glad I did! I certainly didn’t expect it to come out well the first time, but lo and behold, I had a wonderful creamy, parmesan-y risotto in my bowl when I was finished.
I didn’t follow a certain recipe, just gathered tons of information from various readings about risotto. So, another recipe all my own! In fact, this is the first time (ever!) that I have cooked off the top of my head, just going by what I know. A major triumph in the kitchen today.
Okay, okay, on with it!!!
Parmesan Risotto for Two
Ingredients:
- 1 32-ounce box chicken broth
- 1-2 tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper
- Parsley (fresh or dried)
Directions:
- Warm the chicken broth in a 2-3 quart saucepan over medium heat. In a medium sized sauté pan, heat the olive oil on medium. Sauté onion and garlic until onion is nearly translucent, 4-5 minutes.
- Add the rice and stir to coat. Toast the rice for 2-3 minutes until you can hear the grains clicking against each other. The rice should not be browned. Pour in the water while stirring, and let the rice absorb all liquid.
- Turn the heat under the rice mixture to medium-high. Ladle the broth into the rice until the rice is covered. Stir frequently (but not constantly) until the rice has absorbed the moisture.
- When the rice does not immediately come back together as you stir, add more broth to cover. Again, stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid. The rice should start to look creamy around this time.
- Add more broth as needed, tasting as you go to determine whether the rice is cooked through. The rice should be al dente–firm but not crunchy. This process should take 15-20 minutes from the time you add the water.
- Take the sauté pan off the heat, and add the two tablespoons of butter, stirring to incorporate. Add the parmesan, once again stirring until thoroughly mixed. Add salt & pepper, if needed.
- Garnish with parsley.
I’m pretty new at this whole “making up recipes” thing, so this casserole wasn’t perfect, but it was extremely comforting! But then again, when isn’t a recipe with pasta, tomatoes, beef, and cheese comforting? I did find that if you let it sit for a few minutes after bringing it out of the oven, the taste of the Italian seasoning “quiets down” a little, and everything tastes a little more blended.
Ingredients:
- 1 box Rotini pasta
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 tablespoon McCormick’s Italian Seasoning
- Salt & pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided into 1 cup portions
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Brown beef in large sauté pan on medium heat. Drain and add back to pan.
- Boil pasta according to directions on box. While pasta is boiling, add tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, and s&p to beef and warm through on medium heat.
- Drain pasta and place in large mixing bowl. If any juice is left in meat mixture, drain, and add to pasta. Add 1 cup mozzarella, and fold all ingredients together.
- Place mixture into 9×13 glass pan and sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese on top. Warm in preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Filed under: Appetizers, Dinner, Pork, Vegetables | Tags: asian, carrot, hoisin, lettuce, Pork, water chestnut
I love love love Asian food! A while back, I saw this lettuce wrap recipe from Apples and Oranges and starred it in my GoogleReader, but I never got around to making it. I was looking for something that I could make with ground pork this week, and when I saw this sitting there–all but forgotten–I decided it was time to give it a try. The only changes I made were that I used ground pork and ground ginger, only because I forgot to get fresh ginger at the store. I also added some shredded carrot to the top for color and crunch.
I actually had some chicken fried rice in the freezer, but this made SO much, that we just ate the lettuce wraps by themselves and still had some meat mixture leftover. I ended up sticking the leftovers in the freezer for a quick and easy meal one night in the future.
Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner (never got around to it last week!)
Monday: Grilled Cheese
Tuesday: Thai Lettuce Wraps, Chicken Fried Rice
Wednesday: Crazy Noodles, Sautéed Zucchini
Thursday: Chicken Breast with Roasted Garlic & Red Bell Pepper Seasoning (McCormick’s), Green Beans
Friday: Crazy Noodle Leftovers, Corn
Saturday: Baked Potato with all the trimmings, Steamed Veggies
Oh, how I am still learning in the kitchen!! I figured this tart from The Way the Cookie Crumbles would be no problem, and boy, I was either just wrong or way off my game tonight…
And therefore, I have no photos tonight. The only thing I did differently from her recipe was to add some crumbled Sweet Italian Sausage on top with the mozzarella. I think I had the heat on too high with my Le Creuset skillet (hey, I’m still getting used to this new glass-top range!!) and the potatoes on the very bottom were burnt to a crisp.
We managed to save dinner by flipping the whole thing over onto a plate, picking off the burnt potatoes, and just mixing everything up into a bowl. Therefore, it ended up being a potato-tomato hash…
Definitely not the best thing I’ve made, but definitely not the worst! In fact, I think I’ll be trying my hand at this one again soon 🙂
The Yummy Side of Life... 