Monday, February 9, 2009

Menu Monday!

We took a trip to Trader Joe over the weekend and got some great goodies for the week of cooking.

I absolutely love Indian food especially from my friend Sumita. She cooks the real deal. She also taught me that not all Indian food is about curry and introduced me to garam masala. Oh what a wonderful spice! We add it to vegetables for a kick of nutmeg, cinnamon and other goodness. Since I cannot cook Indian food, at least the way she does the closest, I've found is masala sauce at TJ. Add some diced chicken serve over brown rice and it comes so close to the real deal. I even grab some naan bread to scoop everything up. Try it and you'll feel like a culinary genuis!

Monday
Masala chicken with naan and green beans with garam malasa

Tuesday
Sun dried tomato chicken sausage on whole wheat penne

Wednesday
Stir Fry

Thursday
leftovers every man for himself

Friday
Whole wheat pizza and salad

Valentine's Day
Fancy Nancy has arrived at our home so we are decorating the dining room, dressing up, posting a menu and dining posh

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Kiss the one you love!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Menu Monday!

I hope you enjoy this week's menu because we just had the best chili!

Monday
Vegetarian Chili
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/global-flavors/vegetarian-chili.aspx
I added red pepper, orange pepper, no-salt tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with green chilis, no-salt diced tomatoes and kidney beans. It was amazing! We didn't miss the meat at all!

Tuesday
Honey mustard chicken with carrots
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/dinner/honey-mustard-chicken-and-carrots.aspx
We actually have this recipe from one of my first cookbooks and is so easy to make!

Wednesday
Penne bake with whole wheat penne noodles and veggie crumbles
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/boca-baked-penne-57005.aspx
I'm nixing the mushrooms

Thursday

Hawaiian pizza with Boboli whole wheat pizza crust & salad
A quick dinner with my hubby running back to work that night

Friday
Company over so I'm leaning towards salad, almond green beans and then....can't decide yet

Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Website Wednesday

Some of my favorite websites:

I can't live without facebook.com, it keeps me in touch with everyone from middle school to college to my very best friend.

Abby and I have been working on her letters over at pbskids.org/superwhy.

I wouldn't be able to share any of my recipes without kraftfoods.com

For fabulous confessions, photography and recipes head over to thepioneerwoman.com

I also can't live without my Google Reader to keep me up on my favorite blogs one of which is http://mystele.blogspot.com/. Alright I'm biased on this one since she is a dear friend, but her art is amazing, her confessions real, and heart is pure gold.

Hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Tattling Tuesday

Dear Mom,

I'm coming over this week to put a sign above the kitchen door that says "Danger Zone" since you've now fallen in there twice in 1 week. I would also suggest instead of going barefoot or wearing slippers that you invest in some sturdy combat boots and maybe even a hazard suit. This way your odds of falling will decrease at least by 1%.

Love,

Your concerned loving daughter

Monday, January 26, 2009

Menu Monday

Another Monday is here with another week of great recipes.

Monday
Chicken Enchiladas
2 jars of enchilada sauce (I prefer Safeway version at Dominicks)
1 jar of mild chopped green chilies
1 can of Southwest Verde Campbell’s soup or Cream of Chicken or Nacho Cheese soup
¼ cup of Sour Cream
2 pre-package of cut up chicken
1 package of shredded Mexican cheese
1 package of tortillas
Up to 2 casserole dishes (I end using 1 13x9 pan and 1 8x8 pan)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut up chicken into small or shredded pieces.
Combine the chopped green chilies, soup, sour cream, chicken, ¾ package of cheese, and a little enchilada sauce in a bowl.
In a baking dish(es), pour remaining enchilada sauce (keep a couple tablespoons to pour over after tortilla is in baking dish)
Spoon enchilada mixture into tortilla, roll up with seam facing down, and place in baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas are used.
Pour remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas and sprinkle the tops with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Mexican Rice
1 chopped green pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1 can (14 ½ oz.) diced tomatoes and green chilies undrained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans drained and rinsed
1 ¼ cups of water
2 cups brown rice
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
*1/4 cup chopped cilantro optional

Cook and stir green pepper and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat 1 minute. Add tomatoes, beans and water; mix well. Bring to a boil.
Stir in rice. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro; top with shredded cheese. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes
kraftfoods.com

Tuesday
Homemade mac-n-cheese (never made this before so crossing fingers it tastes good) & salad
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/whole-grains/healthified-macaroni-and-cheese.aspx

Wednesday
Garlic steak & onions (another newbie) with broccoli
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/garlic-steak-onions-107312.aspx

Thursday
Veggie sloppy joes (from my parents new diet)
Boca crumbles
1 large onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 cans no-salt tomato sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire
Whole wheat buns

Friday
Either pizza night with whole wheat Boboli crust or inviting friends over

Sunday, January 25, 2009

New website for healthy recipe

Check out http://www.eatbetteramerica.com for more wonderful healthy recipes. I'll be using a couple recipes from here for next week's cooking.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Tried an old recipe on Company

We had some wonderful friends over for dinner tonight and I tried an oldy recipe on them.

Dijon Chicken
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup light mayo
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
Put chicken in 9x13 pan; mix above ingredients and add over chicken
bake 350 for 30 minutes. Add some cheese on top and put in oven to melt. I used skim moz cheese today.

Hope you enjoy it! My company seemed to.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Worried

My grandmother, my Bubbie had emergency surgery last night for a hiatal hernia that was pressing on her esphogus. She is lying in the hospital with a respirator and I am not by her side. She has a long recovery ahead which is hard to imagine. I'm grateful my Dad was able to be there and handle it with my grandfather.

I hate the thought of my grandparents getting older. I love them so dearly and have always enjoyed spending time with them in Florida. I just listened to her wise advice 2 days ago and pray that there is never a day when I can't talk to her. Though of course there will be. Oh how that hurts my heart.

Please dear God take care of her. Heal her wounds, take her in Your arms and don't let go.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Weekly Menu

Every Monday after grocery shopping I will post my weekly menu. My husband seems to be the envy of his co-workers for his leftovers. This baffles me since I'm not a top chef. I just find easy delicious menus to feed our little family and save money on us eating out for lunches. I also heart kraftfoods.com so you'll find I use most of my recipes from there.

Monday
Mexican lasagna - I added chopped green pepper, black beans, and frozen corn to the salsa. I also substituted the Velveeta for 2% Mexican shredded cheese.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/mexican-style-lasagna-62383.aspx

Enchilda dip with crackers is always a favorite in our house. I rarely add in the chicken.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/enchilada-dip-60280.aspx

Tuesday
Easy Tomato chicken is a great recipe to play around with. This week I used Sun Dried tomato vinigrette instead of the Balsamic.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/easy-tomato-baked-chicken-107259.aspx

Large salad

Garlic rolls which I melt butter and garlic powder in the microwave then brush onto cresent rolls before throwing in the oven

Wednesday
Hamburgers with whole wheat buns

Sweet potato french fries

Thursday
Easy chicken cacciatore
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/quick-easy-chicken-cacciatore-111222.aspx

Brocolli & Salad

Friday
Whole wheat Boboli crust pizza & green beans

Maybe I should blog...

Lots of moms blog now, it seems to be the "it" thing. I don't know anything about being a great blogger, attracting followers, or getting sponsers. But I do know how to write, make people smile, share my opinion and even some great recipes. So I'll have a go at I think.

Every blog I love has a theme. A reason they blog. I think mine is going to be little of everything about being a mom (tips for raising a preschooler), being a wife (recipes, organizing your home, etc) and for being a friend (wisdom shared to me or just life lessons).

So off to the races.