March 27, 2012

Menu: March 27 – April 2

Tuesday: personal pizzas (whole wheat pizza dough)
Wednesday: mini corn dogs, corn, and tater tots (DH and Squish only meal)
Thursday: chicken salads
Friday: crock pot minestrone soup
Saturday: out
Sunday: slow cooker Bolognese
Monday: Eggs, bacon, and biscuits

Trying a few new recipes this week!

One of the joys of a new house is that I have room for a pinterest idea that I've been dying to use. I would link to the original idea I ran across, but the blog is no longer up! :( Trust me, her's looked nicer because she 1) has better handwriting than me, 2) used much nicer scrapbook paper for the backgrounds, and 3) didn't hang it up on a white wall between two doors. Even though mine doesn't look as nice, my husband is really enjoying knowing what will be for dinner each night. 


I used a cheap collage frame I picked up from Kirkland's. Any frame with glass works though since dry erase markers work great on glass. :)

March 23, 2012

Menu: March 20-26

Tuesday: Lettuce wraps and sautéed zucchini
Wednesday: Veggie nuggets and parmesan potato puffs (still not done with veggie nuggets, but I'm getting closer to a recipe worth sharing; tried a potato puffs recipe, but decided it needs some definite tweaking)
Thursday: Mini meatloaves (froze half of them for later!), steamed broccoli and carrots, and herb butter pasta
Friday: Fish tacos and fiesta lime rice (loved the rice and bet it would better had I remembered to find some cilantro! Ha ha!)
Saturday: Pork tenderloin with sweet potato hash and some sort of salad
Sunday: Spaghetti with sautéed chicken and grape tomatoes

March 19, 2012

Chip Chicken Nuggets

Definitely not my normal type of recipe, but while we continue to unpack I'm still piecing together meals with what we have. Recently my husband brought home a bag of jalapeño chips, one of my few weaknesses. Rather than devour the whole bag in one sitting, I set some aside to make some crispy chicken nuggets. These were delicious I have to admit. I also went simple with the recipe, which means I didn't use any measuring.

Chicken breasts
Milk
Bread crumbs or toasted bread
Chips (something with flavor - I used jalapeño and I bet BBQ would be excellent too)

Cut chicken breasts into nuggets sizes. I used 1.5 breasts which was more than enough for 2 adults and one toddler. Place in a bowl and cover with milk.
Crush chips finely and mix with bread crumbs (or give toasted bread a spin in a food processor). I used two large handfuls of chips and two slices of toasted somewhat stale bread. Place mixture in a second bowl. When in doubt start with equal amounts of chips and bread crumbs. Remember you can always add more to your bowl if you run out!

 One at a time, place chicken nuggets in the chip and breadcrumb mixture. Make sure all sides are coated. Placed on a wire baking rack over a cookie sheet.

Bake at 425* for 10-15 minutes. Mine took 12 minutes.
Beautiful. Crisp. Easy. Tasty.

If you don't have a wire rack I'd place nuggets on a greased cookie sheet and flip halfway through the baking time. 

For those that aren't so thrilled with my chip chicken nuggets, don't worry I'm still working on perfecting a baked veggie nugget recipe. ;)

March 16, 2012

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Look! I managed to clear off enough of my counter to start back to cooking and baking! :D

Not my recipe, but I see myself adapting this soon to be a little less heavy on the sugar and to spice it up. But trust me this stuff is AMAZING as written. It's super easy to prep, so it's a great treat (just ignore the mound of sugar you pour in).
Recipe from  A Whisk and A Prayer.

1 1/3 cup white sugar, separated
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease a 9" loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup of the sugar. Add to it the egg, milk, and oil. Mix with a whisk until combined. It's okay to have some lumps.
In a small bowl mix the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon.
Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle most of the cinnamon-sugar mix on the batter. Top with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mix on top (a tablespoon or so will do).
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to finish cooling.

Original recipe calls to wrap in foil after it's cool and eat it the next day. 
HA HA HA HA HA! 
We didn't even wait for it to cool before cutting and eating.
Obviously since I didn't remember to take a picture till half the loaf was gone. 

March 14, 2012

Half a Menu

Better than none, right?

We finally are in a house and have furniture! I can almost see my kitchen counter tops. I was hoping to have them visible, but toddlers are fun like that.

Monday we went high class with frozen processed lasagna, canned green beans, and pre-baked rolls. Won't call it my best culinary moment, but it sure beat eating out (and besides we still didn't have any of our household goods at that point).

Tuesday - out to eat

Wednesday - Spinach burgers and tater tots

Thursday - Teriyaki chicken with broccoli and rice

Friday - southern apple tuna salad; whole wheat mac and cheese with zucchini, tomatoes, and carrots

And if I find my counter tops I want to try making some cinnamon bread.


As usual if I haven't linked to the recipe, I'm either trying something new or still working it out. I'll come back and link later if I find successes. :)