Meal Monday: Taco Stuffed Shells #recipe

Someone posted this recipe to Facebook last week so I thought I'd give it a shot.  We eat tacos almost every week at my house and this sounded like a nice change of pace.

Taco Stuffed Shells

1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 4-oz pkg cream cheese
12 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
2 cups shredded cheese (I used co-jack)
1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips
Any other taco "stuff" you like for serving - lettuce, pico, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, etc

Cook up meat and mix in taco seasoning as usual.  Then add in cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted.  Stir until combined.  Let it cool while you cook the shells.  After shells are cooked, drain and toss with a little butter.

Pour salsa into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Stuff each with the meat mixture.  Place shells on top of the salsa.

Pour taco sauce over each shell.

Cover and bake inthe oven at 350* for about 30 minutes.  Then, uncover and top each shell with some crushed tortilla chips and cover with cheese.


Put back into the oven for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese is melted and the shells are heated through.


Serve with whatever you normally like on your tacos.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Monday: Turkey Stroganoff #recipe

I had a package of ground turkey in the fridge that needed to be used, so I went searching for a recipe. This is what I found (a Ziplist recipe I modified a tiny bit).

Ground Turkey Stroganoff

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped (I used a small one)
1-1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 package (8 oz) sliced mushrooms
1 large sweet red pepper, cored and chopped
1 can (14.75 oz) chicken broth
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 pound egg noodles
1/4 cup parsley, chopped (I used a Tbsp dried)


Directions:
1.  In a large, nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onion, and saute for a few minutes or until it starts to soften.  Add turkey and break it up into pieces.  Then add mushrooms and red pepper.  Saute until turkey is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

2.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together broth, flour, salt, paprika, thyme and black pepper.  Add to skillet and stir.  Bring to a simmer and simmer about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until it's thickened.

3.  Reduce heat to low.  Stir in sour cream and mustard. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes until heated through.  Don't let it come to a boil or it will burn.  Sprinkle with parsley.

4.  Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook your noodles according to the package directions.  Serve turkey mixture over noodles.  If you want to be healthier, have a salad to go with it :)


According to Ziplist this recipe serves 8 for about 450 calories each, with 18 grams of fat.  Ouch.  I used regular sour cream and might try it with light next time, but overall this was pretty tasty.

Do you ever swap out ground turkey for ground beef?  Definitely a way to lighten up some recipes without sacrificing a ton in taste.

In case you missed it - I posted yesterday at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans on finding balance in your life.  Go check it out!

Meal Monday: Eggplant Parmesean

My girl requested this last week & normally I make it healthier than frying but this time I went with pan frying the eggplant and it was so good.

Peel & slice eggplant about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt & let it sit for a few min. Blot any liquid with paper towel.

Scramble an egg in a bowl. Dip slices in egg then dredge in a mix of seasoned breadcrumbs & Parmesean. Pan fry in butter & oil a couple min on each side until slightly crispy.

Pour a jar of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Lay eggplant slices on top & bake in a 350* oven for about 30 min.

Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and put back in the oven for a few minutes. Serve with a salad, pasta & garlic bread.

Turned out very good for just throwing something together. This is my only eggplant recipe. Do you have a favorite way to prepare eggplant?

Meal Monday: Curried Chicken Salad with Apples

I saved this recipe to ziplist quite a while ago but never got around to making it. That changed yesterday. You can find the original recipe plus ziplist plug in here. Her pictures are also much better than mine, but I don't claim to be any kind of food photographer & I do my best with my little eye phone. In any case, I give you

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD with APPLES

Ingredients:
8 oz cooked chicken breasts - cubed (I used a large can of Swanson chicken, drained)
4 celery stalks - minced
1 apple - diced
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt (I used Chobani fat free plain)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt


1. Wisk together yogurt, curry powder, lemon juice and salt in a medium bowl.


2.  Add chicken, apples and celery.  Toss well then refrigerate for a while to let the flavors blend.

this picture is terrible - I am sooo sorry

3.  Enjoy!


I really liked this one - the curry gives the chicken salad a nice kick and it's a really pretty color - but I think something is missing.  Next time I make it, I'm going to try crushed pineapple instead of the apple and see how that works. I think grapes would be good too.

What's your favorite addition to chicken salad?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Monday: Pasta and Asparagus

Welcome to 2013 and what I hope will be a weekly post here.

Last week I was having the worst time trying to find one of my recipes because my recipe book looked like this:


I decided I needed to get organized so I bought another binder, tossed a bunch of crap recipes, and typed up others that were just on scraps of paper, receipts, you name it. This was the final result. Much better, no?


In the process, I found a bunch of great recipes that I haven't made in awhile, plus some new ones. I decided that I'd start posting a recipe here every Monday. Hopefully you'll find something your family loves as much as mine.

This week we're going with a vegetarian dish - but you could easily add diced, cooked chicken to this if you wanted, or serve it on the side of a meat dish.

Pasta and Asparagus

please forgive my awful food photo taking

Ingredients:

• 1 lb asparagus
• 1 lb grape tomatoes (I didn't use that much)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• basil, fresh - approximately 15 leaves
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 13 oz package of pasta
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Start a large pot of water to boil pasta.
2. Trim asparagus and cut into 1-inch pieces.
3. Halve tomatoes.
4. Julienne basil.
5. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add garlic and saute 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and asparagus and cook until the asparagus is tender.
6. Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente and drain.  
7. Keeping the asparagus warm, add butter and cooked pasta.  Toss over low heat.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss in the basil.
8. Serve warm.  Sprinkle with Parmesan.  

Are there any types of recipes you'd like to see here?

Menu Plan Monday: On Vacation

One of the best parts of vacation is not needing to grocery shop and plan a menu.  I don't have to think much.  I have no idea what the hubby and kids are eating this week and frankly, I don't care :)  My goal is to not be 5 pounds heavier when I get home next week. In the meantime, my brain is still on vacation.

photo credit

Do you plan your meals out when on vacation, or just wing-it and eat where ever and whenever you're hungry?

Menu Plan Monday - planning is the hard part

So, I had a pretty busy weekend (or specifically Sunday) so I didn't get a chance to plan this week's meals out until this morning.  It's been a pretty productive morning, too - a 1/2 mile swim topped off with a trip to sbux to use the free drink coupon that has been floating around in my purse for 3 weeks I know, it's ridiculous that it took me 3 weeks to use.


Anyhoo...after pursuing the cupboards and fridge because I don't want to buy a ton of groceries today, here's what we will be eating for dinners this week.  (Now that we are into summer break, I should probably be planning lunches too - maybe next week that will happen.)

Monday: Homemade pizza with bread machine pizza dough (we were supposed to have this yesterday but ended up spending the day down at my sister's. Playing with my niece and nephew trump pizza.)

Tuesday: Chicken fajitas - found out last week that both kids liked these. SCORE!

Wednesday: Dinner at the food court - I have the parent meeting for driver's ed before D and K's class, so I'm planning to give them money while I'm in "class" and then I'll figure something out after.  Otherwise we need to eat dinner at 4:00 and that is just dumb.

Thursday: Pomegranate chipotle  pork chops (it's a Tastefully Simple sauce), noodles, green beans or broccoli

Friday: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread (even though I'm not doing long runs for the foreseeable future, old habits die hard)

Saturday: Pan glazed chicken with basil, broccoli couscous (this will be piss off the children night - I think they are going to probably hate this but oh well)

Sunday: Father's Day - I think we'll grill out hamburgers and hot dogs unless M wants to do something else.

What plans do you have for Father's Day?  Do you take your guy out, cook something at home, just give him a new ugly tie?

Menu Plan Monday

It's the last week of school for us!!!! Only 2 more wake-ups after today! (Sorry if you aren't done yet & congrats if you are.)  This week is also week 2 of driver's ed for D and K, so meals need to be pretty quick.

Here's the roughed-out plan for the week:

Monday: Chicken tacos and/or fajitas

Tuesday: B-double E-double R-U-N BEERRUN! M and I are going to the first beer run of the season so the kids are getting dropped off at the mall for class early with Subway money :)

Wednesday: Crockpot Pulled Pork (pork shoulder, BBQ sauce, turn on crockpot!), cole slaw, asparagus

Thursday: Burgers on the grill, corn, fries or tots

Friday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Saturday: Cheese tortelini, italian sausage, peppers combo that I'll try throwing together :)

Sunday: Homemade pizzas (bread machine dough & everyone can make their own)

Menu Plan Monday

As I write this, I'm enjoying relaxing after a Mother's Day bike ride and I'm planning to send hubs out for groceries later since I've been walking around A LOT on my healing leg this weekend and, frankly, it's sore.  Here's what we are planning for dinners this week:

Monday: Tortilla pizza for the kids & portabella mushroom pizza for me (I make it similar to this).

Tuesday: Skillet Lasagna, garlic bread, salad

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, asparagus, fries or tots

Thursday: Tacos and taco salad (use ground turkey to make it healthier)

Friday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Saturday: I'll be out of town hanging with Erin and getting read for the Mud Run!!!, the kids and M are on their own.

Sunday: I'm "running" the Down and Dirty Mud Run today! Not sure when I'll be back in town but dinner might just be a pizza :)

What's on your menu this week?

Menu Plan Monday

So, most normal people would menu plan and then do their grocery shopping, but yesterday was crazy for us (crap, the whole weekend was between all day track meets, Jazz Band performances, and 2 band concerts) so we pretty much just peeked in the cupboards and looked to see what was low.  I scanned a few things into ZipList and off we went to the store.  (If you don't use ZipList, I highly recommend it - check it out and I believe the app is free.)

We came home without much real food in the cart, so this menu is certainly subject to change if things don't go as planned. (Also, I only plan dinners.  I have a protein shake for breakfast and eat a salad and a serving of Click Espresso Protein Drink pretty much everyday for lunch and the rest of the family is on their own.

Monday: Crock-Pot pulled pork sandwiches.  (So easy: pork shoulder in crockpot, pour on bottle of BBQ sauce - we like Bulls Eye because the first ingredient is tomatoes and not sugar - then turn on low. When it's done, shred the meat with a fork and drain off some of the liquid).  Serve with cole slaw (directly ON the sandwich if you're me), a salad, asparagus, and maybe some fries.

Tuesday: Turkey tacos and/or taco salad.  We always use ground turkey for our taco meet.  I can't stand it made with hamburger now.

Wednesday: Leftover pork or tacos for the kids, portobello mushroom pizzas for me (scrape out insides, coat with a little olive oil, grill until soft and fill with pizza sauce and cheese). 

Thursday: Grilled chicken or chicken tacos (D likes his in a tortilla but K doesn't). Frozen broccoli.  Tater Tots.

Friday: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread.

Saturday: Church talent show & D is in it, so who knows what we are doing for dinner. Maybe Tater Tot Hot Dish if there's time.

Sunday: Mother's Day - they better plan something nice is all I'm saying.

Menu Plan Monday

So last week's attempt at menu planning turned out pretty well - the kids actually liked the new items and we stuck to the plan for 6/7 days.  I'd call that a resounding success given my family of picky eaters.

This week's menu plan is resulting in some additional challenges.  I have parent-teacher conferences 2 nights this week and on Saturday we will be out of town all day for a jazz competition.  The good thing - I don't have to cook as much.  The bad - more opportunities for crap eating.

Anyhoo...this is what's on the menu for the week.

Monday: Kids will make themselves dinner (probably sandwiches, a frozen pizza, something like that).  I'll eat whatever the parent group feeds us so I have no clue if it will be healthy for me.

Tuesday:  Skillet Lasagna (this is a kid favorite and is more skillet pizza than lasagna. I should post the recipe sometime).  Salad and garlic bread

Wednesday:  Burgers on the grill (I'll eat a veggie burger probably), tater tots, green beans.

Thursday: Kids fend for themselves again while I eat whatever the school provides.

Friday: Turkey tacos (we always make our tacos with turkey burger) & refried beans (for K's tacos cuz she doesn't eat taco meat)

Saturday: Jazz Competition at WMU.  Go out to lunch and dinner and hope to make 1/2 way decent choices. 

Sunday: Shoyu Chicken Thighs (these got bumped last week), broccoli, brown rice.

Not very original this week, but sometimes we have weeks like this where the schedule is just crazy and goes out the window.  

Menu Plan Your Butt Off

So here's the deal...I'm sick of the fighting every night about what to have for dinner.  I'm also sick of eating the same 4-5 meals every frigging week.  Hubs has also decided that there should be no eating out for the rest of the month (yes, I know it's only March 5th) because we're going away for vacation the first week of April.

Therefore, this weekend I decided to use my time on Pinterest and ZipList wisely and come up with a meal plan for the week.  I did not meal plan breakfasts or lunch because the kids are on their own for breakfast & I pretty much always eat oatmeal.  Lunch is at school for them (or they make pb&j) and I typically have a lean cuisine and salad for lunch or sneak off to Subway.

So here's my basic plan for the week:

Monday: Tortilla Pizza, salad (D has a jazz band performance tonight so I let him choose dinner)

Tuesday: Mini Turkey Meatloaves, Lipton noodles, green beans

Wednesday:  Skinny Chicken Enchiladas, refried beans, salad

Thursday: Slow Cooker Pork and Zucchini, sauteed asparagus

Friday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad (I had to include one standby so the family wouldn't mutiny)

Saturday: Shoyu Chicken Thighs, steamed broccoli, brown rice

Sunday: Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti, green salad

In reviewing the plan with the family I got whining and complaining and eye-rolling, but this is it.