Its still winter

and it sucks! Not only b/c I am over this cold & snow, but because its too dark at night to take pictures of my food.

Now that Jayson is eating everything we eat, meals have been a bit of a challenge. He is STARVING by 6:15, so I have to make some pretty quick meals for him. If I want to make anything that takes longer than 30 minutes, then I need a backup meal for him.

Anyway, here are somethings I have made recently. I need to get the papers off my cookbook holder and this blog is great for documentation!

Big Brother's Sunken Burritos--> I had every intention of making these per the recipe, but I didn't have time to cook the rice so I omitted that. However, I did roast a chicken earlier in the week & was able to use that chicken for my filling in these burritos.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo -> I am pretty sure my son was unhappy he couldn't have any of this stuff. He LOVES the spicy food. So before I mixed in the shrimp, I gave him some of the noodles w/the tomato sauce. The rest of dinner he was eyeing my plate.

Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes -> I made this so long ago! I don't think I was in love with it, but it wasn't bad. I may have been expecting something phenomenal-I mean, it has mushrooms & artichokes, my 2 favorite things!

Baked Ziti-> this was hit! I made it for the NCAA Championship football game (Roll Tide!). We had some friends over & this was the easiest thing to make. Everyone loved it-from the munchkin to the 15 yr old to the 40 yr old. But I would expect nothing less from Annie's Eats

Marshmallow Crunch Brownies -> Yes I still bake! I have made these 2 times since I found the recipe. One time I got in trouble b/c I brought them to the daycare teachers (No Peanut Facility) the second time I brought them into work. And now that I have stumbled upon the recipe again, I think I will be making them soon.

Sweet potato pecan pie -> I have been making sweet potato pie for an annual party we attend. This year, when I found a merge of sweet potato & pecan pie, I knew it would be perfect! It was, only we had to leave before we got a slice :(

Grilled Chicken w/creamy orzo -> Another Annie recipe. I wasn't in love with this one though, however I can't blame Annie. 1. I didn't have herbs de provence so I seasoned with a variety of herbs. 2. I didn't want to use heavy cream-it is the new year after all.

Sloppy Joes -> Ok so I have never in my life made sloppy joes from scratch. When I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it. Now I have to say it wasn't as good as the Manwhich can- I think it had too much thyme. But I do feel better knowing that it was the healthier option and even though I wasn't in love, my husband and munchkin were.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie -> At some point during the holiday season, cream soups were on sale for something cheap. I bought a bunch. I had about 5 cans of cream of chicken soup in my lazy susan. (No worries, I bought the 98% fat free) Anyway, this was a great & quick way to use one of them up.

Parmesan Ranch Chicken Packets -> This was something I came across in my Best of Pillsbury cookbook. I had everything on and and it was essentially hands off cooking. I had a little extra time on my hand the night I made this. Oh, I totally didn't grill this. It was like 5 degrees outside when I made this. It was baked in the oven, likely with me standing over it hoping to feel warm.

So you see-I have been cooking. My baking has been lacking but I hope to have something to post about tomorrow on that front. I suppose I should feel better about not baking, it means we haven't been eating sweets right? Wrong. We have Girl Scout Cookies in the house. Thank god they are gone now.

Yum!

Doesn't this look good?



I have no idea how I made it. Sure its mac n cheese, but that's all I got.
I will use this as a learning experience. If I don't blog about my recipes/cooking, I will never remember how to make them again.

Too Many Recipes!

I have so many recipes either starred in google reader, tagged in my cookbooks or linked in a word document/email. I needed some way to organize them & work them into my weekly menu. Those of you who don't know me personally will not understand this, but I am an extremely organized & planned person. If I didn't have a plan for each day, I am not sure I would get through them.

So my new menu plans will consist of something like this
Sunday- Slow Cooker/Soups/Salads/Sandwiches
Monday-Mexican
Tuesday: 3 piece dish (ie: grilled chicken, veggie, rice/potato)/casserole
Wednesday: Ethnic foods, so Chinese, Italian, Indian, Greek, etc...
Thursday: Another 3 piece dish/casserole
Friday:Fish Friday!
Saturday: Slow cooker/soups/salads/sandwiches


My first week at this menu I made a roast chicken on Thursday. The recipe came from a Cooking Light cookbook so I'll have to get it at home, but it basically consisted of Thyme & sliced lemons on a chicken & roasted for about 60 to 90 minutes. (PS whole chickens are cheap and so easy to make!!)

So I had all this chicken leftover. Well a few weeks ago I attended a baby shower for one of my closest friends. Our awesome host had made these mini paninis from french baguettes. HOLY DELICIOUS! So I had her email me the recipes & made some mini paninis of my own out of this chicken.

Frontega Chicken:

Smoked & pulled white meat chicken, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onions, chopped basil & chipotle mayonnaise, grilled hot on our Focaccia.
Basically got a rotissierie chicken and pulled that apart with some mozzarella, tomatoes, red onions, basil and then mixed adobe chili powder and cayenne powder into may to make the mayonnaise.

- Turkey Artichoke:
Smoked turkey, spinach artichoke spread, Asiago-Parmesan cheese, tomatoes & caramelized onions, grilled hot on our Focaccia.
Got sliced deli turkey, store bought spin dip, sprinkled asiago/parm cheese on it with some tomatoes and caramelized onions.

- Tomato & Mozzarella:
Fresh mozzarella, roasted & fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and all-natural sun-dried tomato pesto on Ciabatta.

- Hickory Smoked Turkey:
Hickory smoked turkey with cilantro lime cream cheese, smoked chipotle aioli, red onion and provolone cheese on a hoagie roll

- Mini Grilled cheese:
caramelized onions, swiss and honey mustard


Thanks so much Kari! We loved the frontega chicken & can't wait to try the other ones.

I also made some white chicken chili from the remainder of the chicken. Jayson loved it! He has a thing for spicy foods.