Weekly Menu...

Whats on your menu this week?? With my hub being so busy at work and not home until way after dinner time mine has been struggling! Not to mention my BIL is staying with us during the week for now & our leftovers don't go as far as they used to.

Last night I made steak&cheese subs, they were YUMMY- I have enough left that they may come back later this week



Monday- Spaghetti with Italian chicken sausage & garlic toast

Tuesday- Pork chops, green beans & mashed potatoes

Wednesday- Chili & corn bread ... luckily that will cook in the crock pot all day be ready when I get home after dance

Thursday- Girls night out with an old friend at one of my favorite seafood restaurants just opening for the season

Friday- Tacos, beans & Mexican rice

Saturday- Daddy & C's night out while I work

Sunday- Crock-pot Spinach & Tortellini Soup



Last week's recap

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! I most definitely did ... stayed home all day in my PJ's, cooked a yummy meal for my little family & decorated for Christmas! C decided she wanted to sleep over our neighbors so the hub was actually able to go Black Friday Shopping with me this year. He was a Black Friday Virgin & I can almost guarantee, he will never go again.

Dessert is of course my favorite part of Thanksgiving ....

I absolutely loved my long weekend home with my family, I even had time for some Christmas crafts with the little one. I am really happy with the way they both turned out.

Buddy the Elf has been back & C is the perfect age!! She wakes up everyday so excited to find him, her giggles 1st thing in the morning are great.

This weekend I plan on figuring out the Christmas craft that C will gift this year & making an Advent Calendar for the house. eeek I can't wait, only 3 more days of work.

Chicken Ranch Enchiladas (Crock-Pot)

D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S

Ingredients

• 1 Packet of Taco Seasoning
• 1 Packet of Ranch Dressing
• 1 Can of Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 lb of Chicken Breast
• Whole Wheat Tortillas
• 2 Cups of Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
• 1/2 Cup of Light Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 Cup of Salsa

{The next time I think I will also add a chopped onion, chopped bell pepper and a can of chopped chilis to the crock pot}

Directions

• Put chicken, taco seasoning, ranch mix & chicken broth in crock-pot & cook for about 6 hours on low. I shred the chicken after about 4 hours.
• Divide the chicken and cheese between the tortillas, roll them up & place in a greased 9X13 baking dish.
• Bake on 350 for about 20 minutes
• In a small bowl combine ranch and salsa. Pour over the enchiladas before serving.
• Enjoy!

I have been horrible at taking pictures lately!! I served ours with mexican rice and refried beans.

Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells

This was one of those recipes that I was iffy about but OMGEE they were good!!!They were also a good pick-up & go food that could be good for a party.

 Ingredients

{all are rough estimates}

• Jumbo Pasta Shells {cooked aldente, they finish cooking in the oven}
• 4-5oz of  Cream Cheese
• 2 Cups Shredded Chicken
• 1.25 Cups Shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 3TBSP Pesto Sauce
• 1/2 TBSP Minced Garlic
• Salt/Pepper to Taste

Directions

• In a large bowl combine all ingredients except 1/4 cup of cheese and shells.
• Fill the shells with the mixture and place into a baking dish.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan on top of the shells.
• Bake on 350 for around 30 minutes.
• Enjoy!

Menu 7/27-7/30

Key West Grilled Chicken, Grilled Mushrooms & Broccoli

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells

Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken with Spaghetti Squash

Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Chicken Taco Chili

This was yummy & perfect for the rainy Sunday! It wasn't as spicy as I would have hoped but perfect for C, I just added hot sauce to mine. I of course used low sodium on anything I could, the original pinterest recipe I saw used canned corn but I switched to frozen to cut down also.

Ingredients...

• 1lb boneless, skinless chicken
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with chopped chilis
• 1 small can of tomato sauce
• 10oz of frozen corn
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder

Directions...

• Combine all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred Chicken about an hour before serving. {GEEZ I LOVE CROCK POT COOKING}

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna ... nom!

I realized after I cooked all if it that I didn't take any pictures! I saw this recipe on Pinterest made a few different ways so I printed 2 and then personalized it a little bit ... the ranch powder was my doing ;)


Ingredients...

• Whole wheat lasagna noodles {uncooked}
• 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed... I used my PC chopper to chop small
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup of franks buffalo sauce
• 1 packet of hidden valley ranch dip mix
• 15oz non fat ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup of egg beaters
• cheese, the recipe called for pepper jack slices I didn't have any so used reduced fat mozzarella
• 1.5 cups of water

Directions...

• Preheat the oven to 350 & spray 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• Cube chicken, toss with ranch powder & cook in a skillet. You could also shred it & then mix it with the powder, I thought the cubes were too big so I chopped it super tiny with my chopper after it was cooked.
• Combine chicken, water, buffalo sauce & spaghetti sauce in a large bowl.
• Combine ricotta & egg beaters in a small bowl.
• Spread 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan, cover with noodles, spread more sauce, then layer with ricotta. Repeat this process until you are out of ingredients {you should finish with a layer of sauce}.
• Cover with foil & bake 70 minutes.
• Uncover, top with cheese and bake 15 minutes uncovered.

Menu 7/30-8/3

Monday- Leftover Zesty BBQ Chicken

Tuesday- Baked chicken & pesto spaghetti squash

Wednesday- Ranch Chicken & mixed veggies (yes this is it's 3rd time on the menu, I really plan on making it)

Thuesday- Salads, oatmeal, eggs, anything easy! Gymnastics plus Big Brother ;)

Friday- Tacos

Last weeks food (plus lots of pictures)

I again went off track with my menu, but hey I'm a mom things change by the second :)

Spaghetti squash with chicken sausage & veggies. It was DELISH, the hub liked it a lot more than I expected.

Meatloaf for meatloaf haters. Dont be fooled by the way it looks, it was really good & that comes from someone who absolutly hates meatloaf.

Wednesday night C's Deeka came and took her out on a date

       One night we had YoCool (okay 3 nights but who's counting?)

           

Sunday night we had pulled zesty bbq chicken

I started off my day today with a Green Machine Smoothie

Stuffed Zucchini

Over the weekend I stopped into one of my favorite little veggie stands, Spider Hill Farm. They also sell fresh meat, cheese, eggs, ice cream, milk, sweet tea, dressings, jams & the list goes on! I went there to get squash, onions, tomatoes and zucchini for the week since at the grocery they always look bad & are triple the price. The only zucchinis they had were HUGE, I mean unbelievably HUGE! Every time I stop in it's the same lady working and she asked me what I planned on doing with them this time around and I told her roughly what i had planned for the upcoming week, she mentioned stuffing them since they were so big... why do I never think of these clever ideas on my own? So Stuffed Zucchini made it to the weekly menu & it was yummy!!

I used....

• 1lb ground turkey
• 1/2 onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 cup of mushrooms
• 1 EXTRA large zucchini
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 can black beans
• 1/2 can of tomato sauce
• olive oil
• reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup egg beaters (1 egg)

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Chop/dice onion, pepper & mushrooms. Saute in a small sauce pan with olive oil
3. In a larger sauce pan add meat, beans, tomatoes & wine. Cook until meat is browned. Drain
4. Once the meat and veggies are done, combine them in a bowl and mix with tomato sauce, taco seasoning & egg.
5. Cut zucchini length wise and spoon out insides. Mine were so big it left about .75 if an inch of zucchini so i didn't use any of the insides.
6. Place the empty zucchini "shells" in a baking dish (I used 9x13) and fill with filling.
7. Bake until zucchini the softness you like. Add cheese for the last few minutes.

Menu 7/16-7/20

On the menu for this week ....

Monday- Stuffed Zucchini ... I haven't yet decided what I'm stuffing it with, but it's huge and must be stuffed!

Tuesday- Grilled Hawaiian Chicken Skewers & Red Potatoes

Wednesday- Ranch Chicken & mixed veggies

Thursday- Oats 'N Veggie Pizza

Friday-  Veggie Quesadilla (maybe with chicken) & Spanish rice

If any of these meals are worth sharing, I will!

Pop-Tarts

What's better than a nice warm, sugary pop-tart on a Sunday morning? Yea A LOT! But my girls really enjoyed making these and they were so good ... not on my diet but I had a small bite.

So here's what you do, of course followed by some pictures.

• Pie Crust (I used Giant Brand)
• Milk
• 1 Egg
• Powdered Sugar
• Jam/Preserves (I used Harvest Apple Cinnamon... OMG)
• Sprinkles if you want to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Cut the pie crust into even rectangles, lay1/2 of them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
3. Put about a tablespoon of jam on the pie crust, top with the other & pinch the edges
4. Brush with egg wash ( 1 beaten egg mixed with about 2 teaspoons of milk )
5. Bake until lightly browned, Mine baked for about 12 minutes.
6. Once they are cooked let them cool for a few minutes and top with glaze and sprinkles

Glaze: Mix powered sugar and milk

Week-End Recap

I swear someone slipped me a Xanex this weekend! Between laundry, the normal mess, and my house still being a disaster from my 2 bathroom floods within 3 days, I had a lot to do BUT didn't care at all. Which just isn't normal for me, the typical Ashley would have needed all of this done in time for my Sunday night shows. Instead, I relaxed, enjoyed my girls and we did some fun things. Saturday the girls made some crafts for Deeka (my dad) since we were going to be celebrating his birthday Sunday, C made him a hand/foot print ocean & M made him a tie dye shirt, which is not at all him but I guarantee he will wear it all the time. We also made Flubber (blog to follow), english muffin pizza's, J took M to see Spiderman while me and C got to spend some time with our friends! Sunday we slept in, made pop-tarts (blog to follow) & spent the afternoon by the pool enjoying some of our amazing family. Now it's back to Monday & my house is still a crazy messy disaster, there is always next weekend :)

C's artwork ... go figure I got no pictures of the tie dye

C and some of her girlfriends

... Our Pizza's ...