Sunday Meal Planning!!!

It's been a busy weekend here! Hilary and I spent 3 days in Lancaster County, PA sightseeing and attending the Creating Keepsakes Convention.  Hopefully, Hilary and I will be able to put together a blog post on our cropping and shopping adventures really soon! 

We had a great time but for me it's back to reality! LOL Since I had some time last week before heading out for the weekend I pre-planned and shopped as much as I could for this week.  That's the point of "meal planning", right?

So, for this week this is what I have planned:

Sunday - Enchilada Lasagna with Crockpot Refried Beans and Saffron Rice
Monday - Baked Mac and Cheese with Tomato Soup
Tuesday - Italian Crockpot Chicken over Rotini Pasta
Wednesday - Cheesy Rigatoni Bake with Ground Beef
Thursday - leftover night!

Friday - Zesty Crockpot Chicken with Ciabata Rolls and Mayoless Slaw

Saturday - dinner out! :-)

I've made the Enchilada Lasagna a bunch of times but was never happy with how the layers came together.  This time I think I finally perfected how to layer it so it comes out of the pan and doesn't run all over the plate.  The original recipe is from Taste of Home.  Here is my modified recipe! 

Enchilada Lasgana (adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14 ½ oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce
1 teaspoon (to 2 teaspoons) ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ cups (12 oz.) 4% cottage cheese
4 cups (16 oz.) shredded Mexican cheese blend, reserve 1 cup for topping
9 flour tortillas (8 inches), cut in half

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the tomatoes, enchilada sauce, cumin and cilantro.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine egg and cottage cheese; set aside.  Grease a 13x9 baking dish. Layer 6 tortilla halves on the bottom of the baking dish. Spread a third of the meat sauce over tortillas. Add 1 ½ cups of the cheese blend over the meat sauce. Layer with 6 more tortilla halves, the cottage cheese mixture, another 1/3 of the meat sauce and 1 ½ cups cheese blend.  Finish layering with the last 6 tortilla halves and remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese blend.

Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly.  Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.  Yields 12 servings.

My family really enjoyed this dish.  The key to preventing it from running out all over your plate is really to let it sit for 15 minutes before cutting so don't skip that step!

Hope you have a great week! 

 

Deborah 

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

I had originally planned to make Frito pie on Monday and ribs on Wednesday, but I was so excited about this new rib recipe that I found, that I decided to make them last night. It was a little bit more work than your average crock pot recipe, but SOOOO worth it!!  The hubby raved about them and the little one couldn't get enough.  The big one wouldn't even try them, but that's a discussion for another post!  The thing that made them so good was you would never know they were cooked in the slow cooker!  They had a wonderful crispy "crust" from the caramelized rub and sauce.  They will 100% be made again in this house!!  So I had to share it with you.  I found this recipe on Pinterest.  It comes from the blog Mmm is for Mommy.

Easy Barbecued Ribs

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution

3 tbsp paprika 

2 tbsp light brown sugar, lightly packed 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 

S&P to taste (about 1 tsp each is what I used)

3 lbs pork baby back ribs  - leave the membrane on the ribs to help hold them together

3 cup barbecue sauce 

Vegetable oil spray.  

In a small bowl, mix together paprika, brown sugar, cayenne and S&P.  Rub this mixture all over both sides of your ribs well.  Arrange ribs in the slow cooker by standing them up against the wall of the stoneware pot, thicker side down and meaty side against the pot.  Pour barbecue sauce over the ribs, cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low (I did 7 hours and they were perfect).  

Now comes the only stove/oven work involved, we need to reduce the sauce and then brown the ribs under the broiler.  These steps are what turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, so don't you dare skip them even if your ribs already look pretty good.  Once the initial slow cooking is done, very carefully remove the ribs to a baking pan which you have lined with foil and put a rack on, bone side up. 

Strain all of the remaining juices from the slow cooker through a mesh strainer into a small saucepan and skim any fat that has risen to the top.  Bring to boil and allow to simmer and reduce by about a third, approximately 15 minutes.  Put your oven's broiler on to heat up and make sure that there is an oven rack about 10 inches below the broiler element.  When the broiler is preheated, brush the ribs with sauce and broil for 3 or 4 minutes.  Take them out and very carefully flip them over, brush with sauce and broil again, meat side up, for approximately 7 minutes, taking them out once or twice to baste with more sauce.  Serve any remaining sauce on the side with the ribs. 

I can't say enough about how yummy these were served with steamed broccoli and smashed red potatoes!

Hilary

Sunday Meal Planning!

Sunday is my typical day to plan out what my family is going to eat for the week.  I've been winging it a lot lately by just throwing some burgers, hot dogs or chicken on the grill.  Like I said in a previous post my meal plan for this summer is to keep the fridge and freezer stocked with plenty of stuff to grill and lots of fresh veggies on hand to whip up a salad or two each week.

This week is a challenge with the holiday smack dab in the middle of the week.  One of the three kids is in camp this week and we are in the middle of a heat wave baby!  I really don't feel like grilling but I don't feel like heating up my kitchen either.

Last night we decided to go out to dinner to avoid throwing food on the grill but tonight I must cook those burgers before they spoil. I prepped a yummy corn salad yesterday so that is ready to go for tonight.

Here is my plan for this week:

Sunday - Burgers and Hot Dogs with Baked Beans and Corn Salad (recipe below)

Monday - Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches in Crockpot with French Fries

Tuesday - Tamale Casserole with Cilantro Lime Rice

Wednesday - ???, maybe get some steaks to grill

Thursday - Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti

Friday - Breakfast for Dinner Nite! - Pancakes and Hashbrown Quiche with Turkey Sausage

Saturday - ???

And as promised, I am sharing another summer salad recipe! Here is the Corn Salad that I made. Doesn't it look yummy?

Confetti Corn Salad

Ingredients:

6 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 orange bell pepper, diced

1 small red onion, diced

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon salt

ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine corn, bell peppers and onion.  In a small bowl, mix vinegar, brown sugar, oil, oregano, salt and pepper together with whisk.  Pour vinaigrette over corn mixture and toss gently to mix well.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Hope you have a great week and happy meal planning!

Deborah

Meal Plan Sunday 6/24

After all the traveling by my husband and the family over the past couple weeks, I'm looking forward to a "normal" week!  This morning I checked pinterest, my coupons, and my recipe collection to decide what we will be dining on for the week.  

Today, my hubby, an excellent cook in his own right (I know, I'm lucky!) said that he wold make his chicken parm over pasta.  For tomorrow, I decided to try a new recipe I found on pinterest called Salsa Chicken and serve it over rice.  It is a slow cooker recipe, which is perfect for a hot summer day because I won't be heating up the house with the oven or the cooktop!

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts 
1 can cream of chicken soup 
1 cup salsa 
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream 
shredded cheddar, black beans and scallion, for serving (optional)

Directions: 

Put chicken, soup, and salsa in slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. If shredding the chicken, pull the breasts out and shred; return back to slow cooker. Stir in sour cream and heat just until everything is combined.

As I said, I haven't made this recipe before but it gets good reviews so I'm hopeful!!  I'll let you know how it comes out in the comments of this post.  On Tuesday, the hubby will be out at a dinner meeting so it will be breakfast for dinner for me and the kids.  Wednesday will be slow cooker beef and broccoli, Thursday will be pizza night, and Friday will be burgers on the grill with corn and a caprese salad.

Happy eating everyone!  Let us know what's in your meal plan for the week!

Hilary

BBQ Meatballs....Yum!

I have been in the mood for meatloaf for weeks.  Last night I was determined to finally make that meatloaf. Only problem was I was out of most of the key ingredients.....you know the recipe you find on the back of the Lipton Onion Soup Mix box? Yeah, I was out of nearly everything including the soup mix!  No eggs, no bread crumbs, no soup mix.  I suppose I was lucky I had the ground beef in the freezer!

Then I remembered that I had watched the Pioneer Woman make these yummy looking BBQ meatballs for her church potluck with oats and milk.  No eggs or bread crumbs required! Yay!

For those of you that follow Ree aka The Pioneer Woman, you know that her food is not for the faint of heart.  I'm willing to bet she could have a "Butter Throwdown" with Paula Deen and it would be a tie!

While I did end up making some slight modifications to the recipe, here is Ree's original recipe:

Pioneer Woman's BBQ Meatballs

Serves 6

Ingredients:

FOR MEATBALLS -

1 ½ pound Ground Beef

3/4 cups Oats

1 cup Milk

3 Tablespoons Very Finely Minced Onion

1 ½ teaspoon Salt

Plenty Of Ground Black Pepper, to taste

FOR COOKING MEATBALLS -

1 cup All-Purpose Flour (coating For Frozen Meatballs)

Canola Oil

FOR SAUCE -

1 cup Ketchup

2 Tablespoons Sugar

3 Tablespoons Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire

4 Tablespoons (to 6 Tablespoons) Onion

1 dash Tabasco

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place sheet in freezer for five minutes. After 5 minutes, remove meatballs from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour. Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish. Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty French bread.

So of course I had to modify the recipe somehow to make it my own, right? Well, I didn't have an onion so I used that dried minced onion stuff in a jar.  Worked just fine.  And the step about rolling and freezing and dredging and frying? Yeah, I left that out too.  I just baked them in the oven with the sauce poured on top.  I figured that since I was already using 97% lean ground beef that what ever drippings there were wouldn't kill us.  I also had more like 1 3/4 pounds of ground beef so I just added oats and milk to make sure the consistency of the mixture was right.

Like Ree says in her original recipe these are more of a comfort food meatball not an Italian meatball so I chose to serve them over mashed potatoes.  Except I didn't make them from scratch or anything.....I used a box of potato granules!!!!! The horror!  

And in case any of you are wondering my kids actually prefer the potatoes from the box because they think I took the extra time to actually peel the potatoes and that must mean I love them a little extra that day.  :-)

It's been a while since I tried out a new meatball recipe and this one is definitely a keeper!  I might even double the sauce next time since we all seemed to wipe up the remaining sauce from our plates with our fake mashed potatoes! It was that good!  It didn't exactly cure my meatloaf craving but I'll work on that soon! LOL

Hope you enjoy this recipe too!

Deborah

It's Summer Salad Time!

During the winter I am all about sticking to a meal plan and making sure that the meals I serve are carefully thought out and shopped for.  I plan and prep and it seems like some days are spent entirely in the kitchen or grocery store..

Once the warm weather hits I tend to throw caution to the wind and meal planning goes out the back door so to speak.  The days are longer and spent outside by the pool, so during the summer my fridge and freezer are stocked with burgers and hot dogs, steaks and boneless chicken breasts.  After being cooped up inside during the winter there is nothing better than throwing something on the grill and dining al fresco!

I have tons of "salads" in my repertoire from pasta to veggie to cold noodle to spinach....the list goes on and on.  And each summer there tends to be one salad that becomes our favorite and winds up in our weekly rotation.  

Last summer it was this Tangy Southwest Pasta Salad that I came up with.  My family loves anything with a Southwest or Mexican flair to it so I knew this one would be a hit.  I'm pretty sure I made this at least once a week last summer!

We actually had this last night when we grilled burgers and hot dogs for Father's Day. I also made a super yummy Cucumber Salad (I'll post that recipe later on) and between the 5 of us the bowl was pretty much half gone.  I'd say that's a winner in our house!

Here's the recipe:


Tangy Southwest Pasta Salad

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:
1 lb. wheel shaped pasta, cooked and drained
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained (or 1 can works fine too!)
1 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 small jalapeño pepper with seeds removed, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar (I use the equivalent of a sugar substitute)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, corn, peppers and black beans. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, sugar, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour over pasta mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until serving.


Doesn't this look yummy???

There you have it, a super easy southwest inspired pasta salad.  Hopefully, you will find time to work this recipe into your meal rotation.

It is important to note that when cutting the jalapeño pepper you should either wear gloves or wash your hands very well before touching your eyes.  Trust me on this one....it burns!  Also, the heat of the pepper is in the seeds so be sure to remove them to avoid something super hot.

So, my meal plan for this summer is to keep the fridge and freezer stocked with plenty of stuff to grill and lots of fresh veggies on hand to whip up a salad or two each week.  Ah.....the lazy days of summer!!!

Deborah

A Divine Pasta Dish!

Besides scrapbooking, one of my passions is cooking.  We recently underwent a huge kitchen   renovation and I wasn't able to even boil water for like 8 weeks!!! Now that I am cooking again I figured I would share one of my most favorite pasta dishes.  My family loves it too. This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman and her Penne a la Betsy ROCKS!  We actually call it Punk Ass Pasta in my house!

Here is the recipe:

Penne a la Betsy

Ingredients:

1 lb. shrimp

¾ lb. penne pasta

3 tbsp. butter, divided

3 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 small white onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup white wine (or chicken broth)

1 (8 oz.) can plain tomato sauce

1 cup heavy cream

Fresh parsley

Fresh basil leaves

Salt & Pepper

 

Directions:

Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, while water heats and pasta cooks, make the sauce. Melt 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shrimp and cook for a few minutes, until opaque. Remove to a plate to let cool. Heat 2 tbsp. butter and 2 tbsp. olive oil in the skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally. While the onion and garlic are cooking, chop the shrimp into small, bite-sized pieces. Add the wine (or chicken broth) to the pan and allow to reduce for a few minutes. Chiffonade the basil leaves and set aside. Stir in tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Add shrimp back to the skillet and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the parsley and basil and mix well.  Drain pasta and return to pot. Add the sauce to the pot and stir well to combine. Serve.

 

This is the most awesome pasta dish ever! I have made a few adjustments to the recipe like using crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and using fat-free half & half instead of the heavy cream. I also use a full pound of penne for my family of 5 and there was still plenty of sauce. YUM!  Try this when you are in the mood for something divine!

Enjoy!

Deborah