Thanksgiving Week Recipes

Crowd Pleasers for pre or post Thanksgiving meals for family and friends:

Jambalaya:
2lbs raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1lb smoked sausage (I use turkey sausage)
1 can beef bouillion
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 can French onion soup
1 stick of butter, melted
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 cups Uncle Ben's converted rice (uncooked)
Garlic powder
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Creole seasoning

Mix all ingredients and pour into a 9x13 baking dish.  Bake, covered, for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  Uncover, stir, and bake for 10 minutes more, uncovered.  Serves 10-12.

NOTES:  I made this last week for my women's group at church, and it was a big hit!  It serves a ton of people and is very hearty.  I served it with sour cream on top and with a simple salad on the side.  You can make this as spicy as you'd like with the cayenne pepper and the creole seasoning.  I use the creole seasoning pretty generously and go light on the garlic powder, salt, and cayenne pepper. 



North Woods Bean Soup:  (recipe from Cooking Light)
1 cup baby carrots, halved
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
7 oz turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 cups fat free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 (15.8oz cans Great North beans, drained and rinsed)
1 (6oz) bag fresh baby spinach leaves

Heat a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, onion, garlic, and kielbasa; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes.  Add the broth, Italian seasoning, pepper, and beans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. 

Place 2 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth.  Return the pureed mixture to pan.  Simmer an additional 5 minutes.  Remove soup from heat.  Add the spinach, stirring until spinach wilts. 

NOTES:  This recipe serves 5, so you may want to double for a crowd.  It is really yummy and hearty while also being low fat, low calorie, so it's great for the night before Thanksgiving or an early lunch on Thanksgiving Day while all of the "fixin's" are still cooking for Thanksgiving dinner.  This can be made ahead and frozen, but don't add the spinach until you are ready to serve. 



photo by Randy Mayor
Vegetable Chickpea Curry: (recipe from Cooking Light, found HERE.)

NOTES:  This can be made in the slow cooker in advance of all of your guests arriving.  It is a great vegetarian dinner to start of the festivities.  Super yummy and filling.  Recipe says it serves 6, but in my experience, it goes a long way.








Thanksgiving Day Favorites...these are just a few of our family's favorites for Thanksgiving Day...our menu has not been finalized, so it's not that I'm holding out on you, it's just that these are staples that we all LOVE!

Crockpot Dressing:  
4 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
1 8in pan cornbread
8 slices of day bread (day old is best)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
butter

Crumble bread and cornbread in a bowl and mix with spices.  Add celery, onion, eggs, chicken, soup; stir well.  Place mixture in crockpot.  Place 3 Tbsp butter on top of mixture (cut into pats.)  DO NOT STIR!  Cook on high for 2 hours, stir and serve.

NOTES:  So, in all honesty, I have not perfected the cooking time of this dish as of yet because I leave out the chicken for Thanksgiving, and the timing always seems to be off.  This year I will double the cornbread, saute the vegetables before adding them, and cook it on high for more than 2 hours.  Regardless, this cornbread is moist and delicious, and it still has those yummy brown bits stuck to the side like traditional dressing.



Taddy's Macaroni and Cheese
1 12oz can evaporated milk
4 eggs
3 cups grated cheese (use freshly grated and USE MORE!)
1 cup milk
4 T butter, melted
1 cup spaghetti noodles (cooked and drained)
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Cook at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

NOTES: This is the actual recipe for my grandmother's macaroni and cheese, but having watched her make it over the years, I know this is not exact.  She added a little bit of milk here, a little more cheese there, etc.  Try this using this recipe the first time, and tweak it as the years go on.  We're still trying to perfect it over here :)  It is one of my favorites because it brings a smile to my face remembering Taddy!



photo by Color Guard Mom
Kentucky Derby Pie (called Kentucky Pegasus Pie on this site, recipe found HERE.) 

NOTES:  This is my all time favorite dessert.  It is simple to make and always a crowd pleaser.  It's basically like a big chocolate chip cookie in a pie!  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!

 

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

I do realize that the song referenced in the title of this blog post has NOTHING to do with food, raising children, or anything that I normally do on a daily basis, but that was the chorus that was swimming through my mind almost all last week...

Unfortunately, I don't have much to share in terms of dinner successes this week...that's not to say that we didn't have some delicious meals, but the week started and ended with a bang, and we were just in survival mode over here...you are fairly warned before you start reading :)

My husband left for Phoenix on Monday morning.  THAT was the morning that the mural incident (see last week's blog post...BIG mom fail!) happened.  I was preparing my husband's grandmother's lasagna to freeze and surprise him with when he returned from Phoenix the following Sunday.  George was upstairs trying to cram some last minute studying in before he left, and I was ALL over the place...maybe I was trying to do too much you may say?  Me?  Never!  ;)  Definitely not the send off I wanted George to leave with.  George's eyes were huge as he kissed us all goodbye wondering if we would be okay while he was gone...so, that's how my week began!

Luckily, my mom swooped in to help, and I am SO grateful because all three of my children ended up being sick.  The bad news about sick kids is that they are pitiful, make you sad, and can be SUPER whiny, getting on each others' nerves, and just plain mean.  The good news is that they all went to bed before 7:00 every single night giving me and my mama some great quality time together and a much needed reprieve.  The other bad news is that when you're the only parent home with three sick children, you are up AT LEAST three times at night every.single.night.

Before I realized all were going to end up sick, we had some sweet friends over for a last minute playdate and dinner.  I LOVE spontaneous dinners with friends, and when those happen, I usually have fall backs on hand for kids who may not love what we are having for dinner that night.  Those nights are meant to be filled with fun, laughter, and hopefully some adult conversation, so making sure the kids eat and are happy is key!!  The adults enjoyed some potato soup and some vino while the kids ate quesadillas, and my boys ate a little of the soup.  I highly encourage these spontaneous meals.  Just like wine always tastes better out of crystal (according to my mama,) meals always seem to taste better when we share them with friends!!

Since the kids were kind of a mess,  and we knew they would be in bed early, mom and I made the conscious decision one day to feed the kiddos PB&J and to wait until after they went to bed to start cooking our dinner.  I can't remember the last time that the two of us cooked together, by ourselves.  We had the best time drinking wine, laughing at ourselves, and eating every last morsel of our eggplant gratin.  It was a fun, rare night with my mama that I will not soon forget.

My dad came in on Thursday night, and the kids were seemingly turning a corner.  All the kids were back in school, my mom and I spent the morning in High Point furniture shopping, we prepared our dinner and were very organized well in advance of the start of the witching hour.  We ate Sherry's Aussie Chicken aka copycat Alice Springs Chicken.  I thought that surely this meal would be super yummy and an easy kid pleaser.  Well, evidently they were not feeling as well as I thought that they should be...the baby actually went to bed at 5:15! and slept until 7:30 the next morning, and the boys were a mess at dinner, so I put them to bed, and they were ASLEEP by 6:30.  The upside was that after the kids were out of the picture, my parents and I continued to enjoy a lovely dinner and wine...have I mentioned wine every day of this post so far???

So on Friday, my mom was diagnosed with strep throat...seriously???  And my dad didn't sleep the night before...so here we all were, tired, grumpy, and ready for the week to end.  Luckily, dad brought home Mexican, and we all ate well.  Put the kids to bed at 6:30, my mom to bed at 7:00, and my dad to bed by 7:30.  My parents are awesome, but, with the kids being sick, it was hard for them to even help because really all they wanted was their mama or daddy...well, unfortunately, there's only one of me and three of them, so by Friday, I was BEAT.   As sad as I was to be sitting in my living room by myself at 7:30 with five people in my house, I savored the moments of quiet, trashy television, and texting with my brother and sister...Mama Said They'll Be Days Like This!!!

Despite a little bit of a rocky start, Saturday was a 180 degree difference.  I ran my 10 miles, we watched football, we bought a new chaise lounge, and we enjoyed some delicious comfort food for dinner...poppyseed chicken can usually set the world right!  And Sunday was quiet, and daddy came home late that night in time to enjoy that lasagna I made earlier in the week...and it was worth it...the craziness of it all is always worth it when he walks in with his huge, genuine smile on his face, and I know that everything is going to be alright.  Gah, we missed you, George!!

We are the family of nothing major but always something!  I suppose the moral of all of this is to roll with the punches, find the blessings in the hard moments, and know that no matter how painful things get, we will be okay!

This week is off to a MUCH easier start, and our meals will include the Lasagna, Tortellini Soup, Jambalaya, Pecan Crusted Tilapia, and maybe some of Nana's Meatballs with marinara left over from the lasagna.

Happy Cooking!!! 

Dinners Week 9: My mama's favorite meals...and one of mine!

Eggplant Gratin: (Recipe from Food Network's, Ina Garten)
Found HERE

NOTES:  Oh my word...this was delicious!  I made this for me and my mom after the children went to bed.  While the oven preheated, I fried the eggplant and mixed the cheese sauce.  I decided to put the dish into one souffle dish rather than in two gratin dishes.  You could easily put this in a square, glass baking dish.  Mom and I enjoyed a glass of wine and a nice chat while the gratin baked.  Once it was done, we ate the entire thing!!  Yep, every.single.last.bite.  This would be perfect for a date night.  If I were to make this for the whole crew, I would defintely double the recipe.


Potato Soup: (recipe from my friend, Craig, from my Nashville BB&T days)
5-6 peeled, diced, medium potatoes
1 chopped medium sweet onion
2 cups water (you will be tempted to use more...don't do it!)
2 cups milk
1 8oz block cubed cream cheese
2 Tbsp butter
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and garlic salt to taste

Add potatoes, onions, and water to stock pot.  Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook until water is nearly evaporated (about 20-25 minutes.)  Decrease heat to medium, and add the cubed cream cheese to the potatoes and onions once the water is nearly absorbed.  Stir to melt cheese.  Add milk and butter and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the soups and spices to taste and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

SERVE WITH: shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, chopped green onions, sour cream

NOTES:  I first had this soup at a work pot luck lunch.  It is so yummy and perfect for this cold weather.  I peeled and chopped the potatoes and the onions in the morning and put them in the fridge.  This comes together easily but takes a little time.  You can't really leave the soup unattended because it will stick and burn on the bottom.  This worked out perfectly because we had our neighbors/friends over for a quick playdate, so the kids were entertained..the playdate turned into a fun dinner.  The kids ate some soup and a sandwich/quesadilla, and the mamas enjoyed the soup and all the fixings.  NOTE:  I am serious about the 2 cups of water.  I made the mistake of thinking this wasn't enough one time, and it was WAY too watery and took forever to cook.



Sherry's Aussie Chicken:  Recipe found HERE

NOTES:  When we were in college, George would take me to Outback Steakhouse for special occasions.  I always got the same thing...Alice Springs Chicken.  This is a copycat version of that recipe, and it's pretty close.  I leave out the onions and add a little bit more mayonnaise to the honey mustard.  You could use any bottled honey mustard that you like, but making your own is so easy...just tweak it to your liking.  I started this the day before while the kids were eating lunch.  I didn't actually leave the chicken in the refrigerator for 30 minutes...I just left it in there while I was frying the bacon.  It was so quick to put together, and it was ready when I needed it the next night for dinner with my mama and dad.  Big hit all the way around!

SERVE WITH: Twice baked potatoes and roasted broccoli. 

  

Notes to Self and a Few Confessions

On the menu this week:  Poppyseed Chicken, Lasagna, Potato Soup, Eggplant Gratin, & Sherry's Aussie Chicken

But first, a few reminders from this week...some dinner related, some not:

Seems random?  We'll get to this in a moment...
Reminder #1:  Remember to rename foods that are "iffy."  This came into play with the Turkey Chili Taco Soup this week.  Any time I use the word "soup," my kids automatically get the most twisted, horrified looks on their faces...however, when I use the word "nachos" and serve the same soup with chips, cheese, and sour cream it automatically becomes a culinary delight in their little minds.

Reminder #2:  Do not try to follow your grandmother's recipes verbatim.  You will end up having to figure what a #3 can is, or asking yourself why in the world anyone would ever cook with MSG, or googling how big a "fryer" was 50 years ago and equating it to boneless, skinless chicken breasts...also, you will not realize that a bread recipe actually makes 3 loaves of bread rather than one, and your bread will explode and ooze all over your oven.  And, last point, it will take you two days to make a chicken and wild rice casserole rather than whipping it together in 5 minutes after the chicken is done.

Reminder #3:  Puff pastry is delicious...always...filled with anything.  A prime example was the quiche this week.  (It may have had something to do with the fact that there was a large amount of bacon and onions fried in bacon grease in the recipe?)  I really don't like eggs...no, really...I don't like eggs, but I LOVE this quiche.  I love that it is super fast to make.  I love it with no vegetables, I love it with broccoli, I love it with zucchini, I love it with anything...and I love it even more with puff pastry as the crust rather than pie crust.

Reminder #5:  Thursday night parties are FUN!  I had sort of forgotten this one because, let's be honest, I don't get out much on Thursday nights...and my morning starts at 6:30am no matter what I do the night before.  The Stella and Dot party that I threw on Thursday took a little planning for the menu and a lot of planning of how to execute getting the food prepared, the tables set up, and the decor arranged with 3 little ones under foot and ready to rip off a table cloth at any given second...and I had a blast doing all of it and even more fun hanging out with some friends...until midnight...on a school night ;)

Reminder #6:  I am not in my twenties anymore.  I know...it's hard for me to believe too ;)  I did, however, try to act like I was back in my college years this weekend with 6 of my very best friends in the entire world in town.  (We missed you, Woody!)  We had a BALL.  It is always good for my soul to laugh with these women who are more like my sisters than my friends.  We stayed up way too late...may have had just a smidge more wine/beer than we normally would at a tailgate ;)...and laughed harder than I think any of us have in a long time.  We even gorged ourselves on pizza like we did way back when. I am exhausted but would give anything to do it all again this coming weekend!!

Reminder #7:  My children are not perfect, and neither am I.  I tend to expect a lot out of everyone in my life...myself, my husband, my family, my friends, my children.  This lovely character flaw is sometimes  unfair, unrealistic, and drives those who love me crazy.  I am working hard on this, but it's a hard habit to break.  So, here goes...my children have been known to occasionally write their names on the walls in the basement.  We have had many talks about this, we have scrubbed walls multiple times, we have gone to our room to "think about" writing on walls.  Well, the other morning I was prepping for my dinner, and all was blissfully calm and happy in my home.  I went downstairs to bring the boys up for breakfast, and, to my horror, they had drawn a MURAL along the back wall of the playroom.  Well, I lost it.  I mean, I really lost it.  It was bad.  I am embarrassed.  I have not reacted so poorly in a long time.  While my kids were "thinking about what they had done in their rooms," I was angrily scrubbing the walls, so mad, so mad, so mad, scrubbing so hard, and then I saw the marks on the wall where my husband had recorded their heights.  I had just lost it on these two little boys who are not even three feet tall.  Well, that was enough to make me feel about three inches tall.  The boys came down, and one of them said, "Mom, we think we owe you an apology."  I almost fell over at that point from shock and from feeling even worse than I had before.  After many hugs and an apology on my end, I calmly told them that we were going to remedy the situation and remove the writing utensils from the craft nook in the basement...to which my five year old responded with tears, "But I won't be able to practice my math!"  GAH!  Be still my heart!  Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE math!  We will now be practicing at the kitchen table, however.

Reminder #8:  My mama can still make everything better.  My husband left town for a week yesterday, and the cavalry arrived just a little over 3 hours later.  I am SO happy she is here.  All three of my children are now on antibiotics for various ailments, and she has been my lifeboat.  I love spending time with my mama...she not only helps to take care of my children, but she also takes care of me..she reminds me to slow down, to take a breath and relax, to sit and chat...to basically attempt to be more of a Mary than a Martha.  She has this down to an art, and I am trying very hard to learn from her amazing example.



Happy Cooking!

Dinners Week 8: Turkey Chili, the most delicious Quiche, and some party favs

First off, let me apologize for the tardiness of this post.  Six of my best friends in the entire world were in town this weekend, and I wasn't about to miss spending one minute with them because I was on the computer...so here you have this week's meals a little late ;)

Turkey Chili Taco Soup:  Recipe from Skinnytaste found HERE

NOTES:  So, this is one of my new favorite blogs...www.skinnytaste.com.  I have only tried two of her recipes thus far, but they have both been easy and delicious.  In all honestly, this was not the soup that I thought I was making...I had planned on making her turkey chili with sweet potatoes...there is also one with pumpkin that looks delicious, but I wrote down the wrong recipe.
Well, good for me, because this was GREAT!!!






Quiche: (recipe from CovCom Cooks!...can y'all tell this is one of my favorite cookbooks?!??!)
1 9in pastry shell, unbaked (I used 1 sheet of puff pastry this time)
8-10 slices bacon, diced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup grated Swiss cheese (can substitute Gruyere)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Freshly ground pepper
Freshly ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  *Prick holes in pastry shell and back for 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees.  

Fry bacon in small skillet.  Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.  Place onion in skillet, and saute in bacon grease over m edium heat until golden.  Drain grease.  Spread onioin, bacon, and grated cheese in partially baked pastry shell.

Combine eggs, milk, cream, salt, cayenne, pepper, and nutmeg in medium bowl; mix well.  Pour into pastry shell.  Place pie plate on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until custard is golden brown and firm, and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

NOTES:  I wanted to make something with puff pastry since I had some in my freezer this week.  I thought maybe I'd do some sort of broccoli cheese puffs or mini pizzas, but I then realized that I had some leftover Swiss cheese and bacon that I also needed to use up, and it dawned on me that I hadn't made this quiche in a while and that puff pastry would probably work just fine...which it did!  It was amazingly good.  I don't really even like eggs, and if you ask me if I like quiche, I would probably say "not really."  BUT, this quiche is SO yummy!!!  I added broccoli to the onions and cooked it for a few minutes before adding them in to the pie shell.  *I poked holes in the puff pastry and spread it over a pie plate.  I added macaroni noodles to it to keep it from puffing up...ideally you would use beans for this, but I didn't have any, so I tried the noodles...they burned a little ;)  I cooked it for about 10 minutes.  I made this all at once because it comes together super quickly...my 4 year old helped!!



Stella and Dot party:
Photo by Susie D
I hosted a stella and dot party this past week, which was SO much fun.  I ended up with about 20 girls here just having appetizers, drinking some wine, and looking at fun jewelry.  I thought I'd share my menu with you:

Artichoke Dip: recipe found HERE.
Serve with wheat Toasted crackers.

Toffee Fruit Dip:  recipe found HERE
Serve with sliced Granny Smith apples.  Squeeze a lemon over the slices so that they don't turn brown.

Reese's Cup Toll House Cookies: 
Break and bake Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Miniature Reese's Cups

Spray two mini muffin tins with cooking spray, or line them with mini muffin liners.  Add one unbaked cookie to each muffin cup.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Unwrap Reese's cups and add one cup to each muffin tin.  Press down slightly so that top of Reese's cup is even with top of muffin tin.

 
Photo by GaylaJ

Bacon Wrapped Dates: recipe found HERE



Happy Cooking!!!

High, Low, High, Low, Trick or Treating We Go

View from our back deck on Halloween morning
High...Halloween Week...there is so much fun to be had around Halloween.  The costumes, the parties, the candy, the festivals.  It feels like there is almost as much activity surrounding Halloween as there is Christmas these days.  Fall festivals, Halloween parties at school and with friends, and endless means of securing candy, including trick or treating at the opthamologist's office gave the kids ample opportunities to wear their costumes...and to go through a few costume changes.  Snow White, Cam Newton, and the Doctor were adorable on Halloween night if I do say so myself!  I love seeing the kids getting to dress up and pretend with their siblings and friends.  Their little minds are so creative, and it's a treat to watch the excitement that comes with all the Halloween festivities.

Halloween snack for class party
Low...So, that's the fun of Halloween...now, here's the part that no one wants to put on Facebook.  The meltdown right before trick or treating because you want to be a baseball player and not a doctor exacerbated by the fact that we don't have a baseball costume.  The screams of thirst and the need to go pee pee!!!! coming from the back seat on the way home from trick or treating.  The disaster at bedtime on Halloween night.  The disaster the next day when all the kids are out of school, exhausted, on a sugar crash, and it's pouring down rain...all...day...long.  Sidebar...the school system is simply brilliant for making a teacher work day the day after Halloween...genius!!!!



High...dinners this week were really fun!  The black bean burritos that the kids love are always so simple to make and so yummy.  A simply superb date night in dinner complete with Green Jacket Salad and Parmesan Chicken over Angel Hair Pasta with a Lemon Butter Sauce was key to surviving the week.  Sharing the Flank Steak and Salad with friends over a playdate at their house was so much fun...I brought the food, she provided the grill and the wine, and the kids had a ball.   Pizza ordered after trick or treating on Halloween night was just what the doctor ordered...literally...ha! (Yes, I just laughed at myself.)  And a simple kid friendly dinner of chicken nuggets, squash muffins, and fruit provided ease of clean up before a date night out with my hubby, which was much needed!

Low...my husband was on call six nights in a row last week.  This meant long days and nights for him, for me, and for the kids; interruptions during trick or treating to answer pages, a delayed long run for me after I was all geared up and on my way out the door with my training buddy, and three birthday parties to juggle with three kids (of course not all of the kids were invited to all of the parties.)  Even the date night in was not as exciting as it could have been because he couldn't enjoy the delicious wine pairing that went along with our meal and continually got interrupted by pages.

High...my best friend was in town on Halloween night and the next night.  She got to experience the pure joy and, in her word, "trauma" that was involved with the holiday and its aftermath :)  We ended the weekend by just celebrating life and everything that's been accomplished over the past year.  She brought a bottle of 2008 Cakebread Pinot Noir, and we toasted to 18 years of friendship and all that the future holds.  We had a delicious, uninterrupted, unrushed dinner out, and enjoyed too many laughs to count once we got home.  It is always so good for my soul to spend time with old friends.  To give you a glimpse into who this wonderful person is, here is something she wrote, recently:

 "I've learned that both inspiration and defeat can come from anywhere - the kind words of a stranger, inadequacies pointed out with just a glance, determination in a child's eyes, friendships tested, strength to know when to let go, the hopeful nuzzle of a dog, heartache of love lost, encouragement from good friends, love in merely a touch. And through it all, the constant assurance of Grace, that with every dawn comes a new day, with every day the opportunity to figure it all out, and with every setting sun the promise that tomorrow you'll get another chance to try again."  -Anne Gooden

Always end on a high, right?  Happy Cooking!!

Oh, and up this week:  Turkey Chili Taco Soup, Chicken & Wild Rice, party food (bacon wrapped dates, toffee fruit dip, etc,) and something made with puff pastry ;)

Dinners week 7: Inspiration from Restaurants: The Green Jacket, Cowboy Ciao, and Macaroni Grill

Parmesan Chicken: (recipe from CovCom Cooks!)
4 Chicken breasts, whole or cut into strips (I cut mine into strips)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2T parsley
1tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted
2T lemon juice

Combine bread crumbs, cheese, salt, and parsley in pie plate or shallow bowl.  Combine butter and lemon juice in another pie plate.  Dip chicken into butter mixture and then coat with bread crumb mixture.  Place in baking dish and top with remaining bread crumbs and pour extra butter mixture over top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

SERVE WITH: Edamame (aka poppers!) for the kids...for our date night in:
 Angel Hair Pasta With Lemon Butter Sauce:
Cook Angel Hair Pasta according to package directions, top with chicken and pour lemon butter sauce over top
Recipe for Macaroni Grill inspired Lemon Butter Sauce

Green Jacket House Salad: (recipe from Food for the Body and Soul)
4 cups lettuce (I used Romaine)
1 T parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
Pita chips
4 to 6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber (optional,) sliced (I omitted this)
Parmesan cheese

DRESSING:
3 T oil
3 T red wine vinegar
1 T seasoned salt (I would cut this in half next time)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 T Accent (MSG???  no, did not use this!)
1 T coarse black pepper

Mix all ingredients for dressing and marinate cucumbers and tomatoes in it.  Combine lettuce, onions, and parsley.  Add to dressing when ready to serve.  Toss to coat lettuce.  Put in serving dish.  Add Pita chips and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

NOTES:  This is a totally indulgent meal, but that's okay when it's made for a date night in :)  Much better for us than going out and eating a similar meal.  I went ahead and breaded the chicken in the morning and had it ready to throw in the oven for the kids while I made the simplest side in the world: frozen, steamable edamame...the kids LOVE these!  I covered the rest of the chicken with tin foil to keep it warm so that we could enjoy our dinner after the kids went to bed.  I also made the salad dressing in the morning and let the tomatoes marinate all day.  I threw together the salad and cooked the noodles and sauce while George put the kids down.  This dinner has A LOT of butter in.  I would recommend cutting the butter for the chicken in half at least and cutting recipe for the lemon butter sauce in half and inviting some friends over :)  You really only need a tablespoon or two for each person because it's so heavy.  I froze the leftover sauce, but I have a feeling it won't work very well because it will separate and turn basically back into butter.  Time will tell!  For the salad,  use no salt Pita chips, or make your own and cut down on the seasoned salt (I cut it in half.)  This salad was famous at a restaurant in Augusta called the Green Jacket that was right across the street from the Augusta National.  The restaurant has since closed, but the fame of the Green Jacket House Salad lives on.  This meal was so fun and totally indulgently delicious.  A great alternative to a date night when you're in need of one but can't make it happen for whatever reason!!



Black  Bean Burritos: (recipe from my friend, Liz Todd, who always helps me to keep my sanity and is an amazing cook!)
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. veg. oil
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
 1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 2/3 cup canned black beans
2 tsp minced jalapeno
8tbsp grated Monterrey jack cheese
4 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp chopped cilantro
4 flour tortillas (burrito size)
4 sheets of tin foil
preheat oven to 350 degrees
combine onion and oil in a large nonstick skillet.
stir over med. heat until onion is golden.
add cumin and chili powder, stir 20 sec.
add bell pepper, saute until almost tender.
add beans (drained and rinsed)
add jalapeno
bring to a simmer
place tortillas on foil sheets
spoon bean filling down center, top each with 2 tbsp cheese.
fold sides of tortillas over filling and wrap with foil.
place in over for 15-20 minutes
garnish with sour cream and cilantro

SERVE WITH: Cole Slaw:  Combine Angel Hair Cole Slaw with 1/2 cup mayo, a couple of Tbsp of apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper,  a dash of sugar, chopped Roma tomatoes, and chopped cucumbers.  I learned this recipe for Cole Slaw from my friend, Whitney's mama, Nancy (who happens to be my mama's best friend!.)  She made it at the beach this summer, and it is more like a salad than a slaw...it is delicious! 

NOTES:  When I make these burritos, I want to yell out, "Welcome to Moe's!."  (I may or may not have actually done that this week.  These are so fast to pull together and super yummy.  I generally make the filling in the morning, fill the burritos, wrap them in the tin foil, and save them for when I'm ready for dinner in the evening...that way, dinner is literally ready in 20 minutes with no fuss.  If you want to cut your prep even more, you can always buy the precut onions and peppers in the freezer section of the grocery store.
 


Flank Steak Salad with Stetson Salad Dressing:  (Flank Steak recipe from CovCom Cooks!, dressing recipe from CovCom Cooks! and inspired by Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale, AZ.)    
Flank Steak:
1 freezer bag *don't gasp too loudly, David Byars!
1 flank steak 
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 T white vinegar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
3 T green onions, chopped
Poke holes in steak.  Add each of the listed ingredients to freezer bag and add flank steak.  remove air and either refrigerate or freeze.  If frozen, the night before you plan to serve, place in the fridge to thaw.  Grill meat until desired level of doneness.  (Suggestion is to make 3 at a time, cook one, and put 2 in freezer.)

Stetson Salad Dressing:
1/2 cup basil pesto**
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 cup Aioli (see NOTE)
1 cup buttermilk
Fresh lemon to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Whisk all ingredients together and refrigerate.  The longer it sits, the thicker it will become.
**  You can make your own pesto by blending 8 cups packed basil leaves, 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, 2-4 garlic cloves, and 1/2 tsp salt in the food processor until smooth.  At the end, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
NOTE:  For Aioli, combine 1-2 finely minced garlic cloves, 1/3 cup olive oil, and 1/2 cup mayonnaise.  Whisk together and set aside. 

SERVE WITH:  I served the flank steak over a baby spring mix, sliced strawberries, fresh goat cheese (crumbled,) and pecans and topped with the Stetson dressing.  

NOTES:  I always make my own Aioli for the dressing because it's so easy, but I usually buy premade pesto and drain the oil off the top.  I like to make the dressing the day before so that the flavors have time to meld together, and I like to marinate the meat for at least 24 hours as it's a tough cut of beef.  After you grill the flank steak, cut against the grain to maximize tenderness.  Flank steak is a great cut of meat to serve to a crowd.  It goes a long way!
*Plug for my brother and Bag It The Movie...this is something everyone should watch to learn about how and why to cut down on plastic usage...eye opening and easy to implement!



Healthy, Baked Chicken Nuggets:  (recipe from Skinnytaste, found HERE)

SERVE WITH: Fresh fruit and:
Squash Muffin Cups:
1 can regular flaky bisquits (10 count)
4 eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups grated squash

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and add 1/2 of each biscuit to the bottom of each muffin cup.  Combine the eggs, cheese, and squash and spoon over biscuits...fill about 3/4 full...I use about 1/2 of an ice cream scoop full for each muffin cup.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

NOTES:  I was introduced to this chicken nugget recipe this summer by a friend at the beach.  These nuggets are SO easy and SO much healthier than frozen nuggets.  I make the nuggets in the morning and put them in the fridge until I'm ready to cook them.  The squash muffin cups were inspired by the Kappa Muffins aka Sausauge, Egg, and Cheese Muffins that I wrote about in Week 3's dinners.  These taste like squash casserole in a muffin!!!  I think I may have to break these out at Thanksgiving this year.  So yummy and super easy.  The only thing I did ahead of time was grate the squash.  This was our date night OUT, so I wanted something easy and yummy for the kids that didn't take too much time to cook or clean up.



Happy Cooking!!!


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