Category: Food

Meal Plan Monday: April 22nd Edition

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I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Mine was made perfect because Mom hosted a brunch (my favourite!) And dinner (not my favourite. I don’t love big family dinner. I’m weird. I think it’s because at heart I’m not a meat and potatoes girl and that’s what holiday dinners always seem to be.) The actual reason it was perfect though was all the baby cuddling… and I could still eat one handed, niece tucked in on my left (almost – the waffles were tricky.)

It’s so nice out today and I lost track of time. Dinner will be takeout pizza because I’m kind of done. Meh. Whatever.

The rest of our menu for the week is planned a bit better:

  • Carnitas nachos
  • Pulled pork “shepherds pie”
  • Canelloni
  • Crepes
  • Cheeseburgers
  • Stir-fry

All the above served with salad, fruits, and/or fresh veggies. I really can’t wait for some of my garden veggies to mature! The walking onions are just finally starting to poke through.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner… or Chicken Fajita Bake

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I have a love/hate relationship with chicken. I am generally a fan – until I go to bake it. Then I tend to overcook it and it just tastes like dry, bland ickiness. Even though I enjoy the kitchen (some days more than others), I’m not the world’s best cook. When I find a recipe that works, it gets added to the rotation. Usually that means 3 out of 4 of us approve. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t take the oldest son’s opinions to heart because he has a remarkably limited palate. When we get 4 out of 4 two-thumbs up, I’m ecstatic for days.

While browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago, I saw a chicken fajita casserole with cream of soup and cheesy rice. It looked delicious, but I was wanting something a little lighter tonight. This was a use-what’s-on-hand dinner using the basic fajita ingredients. (Authentic? Absolutely not. Maybe calling it fajita-inspired is a better way of phrasing it.) It’s not anything new, I’m sure – we’ve made basic variations of this and it closely resembles my bruschetta chicken (that I haven’t had in much too long!) The chicken was moist and flavourful, the veggies weren’t soggy or gross. I’m listing the recipe as I made it – which fed three of us a good-portioned dinner, left Kevin with leftovers for lunch, and an extra breast & a half to use in quesadillas.

Chicken Fajita BakE
Ingredients:

  • 1 package boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs (I used a 5 pack of breasts)
  • 2 bell peppers (we had green on hand, but I think red would be even more delicious!)
  • 1 large onion (I used a red onion, but white would be fine)
  • 2 tomatoes – optional
  • fajita seasoning (to taste)
  • 1 cup shredded cheese, monterey jack or cheddar

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a casserole dish.
  2. Cut your veggies into thin strips and mix. (Your tomatoes can be cut into wedges or large diced)
  3. Place chicken breasts in the pan and sprinkle with fajita seasoning. (I honestly don’t use “fajita seasoning” but just come up with a concoction that at least contains oregano, cumin, chili powder, and cumin. Sorry – that’s not helpful – “season to taste.”)
  4. Add your veggie mix.
  5. Top with cheese.
  6. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a safe internal temperature is reached and chicken is cooked through.
  7. Serve on tortillas, rice, or a bed of spinach, if desired. (We used a spanish pilaf I found in the back of the cupboard and it was delicious!)

This meal smelled so delicious and we were so hungry when it came out of the oven that it was devoured before I took pictures! A stock photo it is and I’ll update the next time we prepare it. It’s my favourite kind of recipe – little prep time, and no thought once I popped it into the oven so I could concentrate on folding socks (or playing Homescapes.)

Meal Plan Monday: April 15th Edition

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Lucky you! You get two doses of my ramblings today. I just have so much to say, but don’t always find the time to say it. It is April 15th and in our little corner of the world we got to enjoy some 0°C weather with some wind, snow, and rain. Yay spring! I have some seedlings started and am having a hard time reconciling a need for a coat and my urge to garden.

This week’s meal plan is not very creative in that I’m not attempting anything new. It is creative in that I’m tackling some of the leftovers found in my freezer and crisper drawer to create a yummy menu and pared down grocery list. We should be covered for dinners, but breakfast and lunch ingredients are pretty slim and the boys’ lunch bags did not contain any semblance of well-roundedness this morning.

Here is our forecasted menu for the week:

  • Chicken Fajita Bake
  • Chicken Quesadillas
  • Spaghetti
  • Pesto Tortellini
  • Stirfry
  • Soup(s)

Of course we’ll accompany the meals with salads or veggies on the side as needed. I haven’t planned a full week and may have to break out the KD and hot dogs. The kids will love it, but I’ll probably opt for a smoothie that night.

Meal Plan Monday: April 8th Edition

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The week has gone by pretty smoothly and I’m feeling much more human. This translates into a full grocery shop ($$$) and an actual meal plan. Home cooked meals with a little bit of thought will be happening – no excuses.

Except… I have to drag the boys to the mall tonight and bribery helps us all stay sane. They’ve been given the choice of food court dinner as a treat. One will mostly pick KFC and the other will go with Taco Bell. (Why? I don’t know – there are so many better options!)

The rest of the week looks like this:

  • Chicken Enchiladas
  • French Dip Sandwiches
  • Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers (using the leftover beef)
  • Cheddar & Broccoli-stuffed Chicken Breasts
  • Breakfast for Dinner
  • Soup & Salad (variety to be determined)

As the weather hovers above zero, I’m antsy to use the grill. Unfortunately it needs more maintenance than I’m capable of or knowledgeable about. It’ll be a task added to the honey-do list. As soon as it’s ready, I’ll be throwing on a flatbread, some red peppers, and eagerly waiting for peaches to be in season!

What are your favourite summertime barbecue recipes beyond the burger?

Meal Plan Monday: April 1st Edition

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This isn’t going to be a long post because I don’t have an actual meal plan in place for this week and it’s a little annoying. My weekend did not go as planned and some complications with Type 1 left me in the ER for most of yesterday. I suppose I could have planned instead of staring at the misaligned light fixture in the ceiling above my bed (also annoying) but my mind wasn’t really in that frame.

Tonight we pulled out that emergency skillet meal that Kev suggested I include last week. Tomorrow a friend is bringing us a meal. I’ll worry about the rest of the week later. Lunches are also creative because necessity is the mother of invention and I have no energy.

In other news, our 11 year old discovered some boxes of Jell-O in the pantry. I can only guess how long they’ve been there because A. I don’t remember buying them and B. I don’t like Jell-O. He’s been on a Jell-O making binge since Friday and even decided to try layering this afternoon (lemon, orange, and something red.) He’s requested that I include some in a very specific container in his lunch tomorrow so it will be “just like my own Jell-O cup.” Whatever. I’ll round it out with some shriveled grapes and frozen peaches because of that whole no groceries done situation. Maybe I’ll throw in some jalapeno gouda. Balanced lunch, indeed.

Meal Plan Monday: March 25th Edition

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My kids are home and they snack a lot. So much. I do groceries (carefully planned out), put them away, and poof, the food is gone. I suspect some growth spurts are to blame. Youngest son is currently eating melba toast, after he packed away an apple, a greek yogurt, and a Tim Horton’s cookie treat. He’ll demolish a full plate of food at dinner too. My metabolism doesn’t understand this. At. All.

This week’s menu was pre-planned and I kept in budget. That’s hard to do for me…especially with extra people shopping alongside. My secret was using the PC Express shopping option. I paid for convenience, but my cart didn’t contain impulse buys. Score 1 for Lindsey. Left on the list:

  • cashew veggie stir fry
  • breakfast for dinner (Kaleb’s pick)
  • tortellini with pesto, spinach and broccoli
  • corned beef, potatoes, carrots
  • corned beef on rye with tomato jalapeno soup
  • chicken, steamed broccoli, waffle cut carrots, and scalloped potatoes (Justin’s pick)

I also have a package of peameal bacon in the freezer and soup ingredients on hand for backup. Kev suggested I pick up a skillet freezer meal because he knows there will be at least one day that doesn’t go to plan where I’m home later than expected and have to rush out again shortly after dinner – anyone can pull it out and prepare it. It’s a cheaper option than pizza… plus easy to include extra veggies! I appreciate that he doesn’t *need* me to cook all the time and that he recognizes that my time is important too. #teamgoals

What are your quickest healthy meal options for the days you forget to take something from the freezer or don’t find time to prep?

Recipe Test: Korean Beef Sloppy Joes via Dinner Then Dessert

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I stumbled across a Korean Beef Sloppy Joe recipe from Sabrina at Dinner Then Dessert a few weeks ago and thought it might be the perfect burger replacement in our meal rotation without the taste of a typical sloppy joe – which I honestly don’t love. I loved the idea of added extra of veggies that might work for my sometimes picky eaters. (This idea failed as the pickiest one actually requested that if I make this again, I serve the veggies on the side…. so no mom-win there.)

While I prepped the veggies and started sauteeing the meat, J. (our eleven year old) started measuring out the ingredients for the sauce. It all came together nicely and made more sloppy joe filling than we needed. (Ideas on how to use the leftovers?) Overall, no major complaints (aside from the hidden veggies) and J. took a strange pride in this very tasty sauce.

The only change we made to the original recipe is that I added some ginger paste (the kind that comes in a tube) for a little extra punch. For vegetables, I included 2 shredded carrots, finely chopped red onion, and finely chopped red pepper (half of each that were sitting in my fridge leftover from our omelettes this morning.) I tossed in a few handfuls of baby spinach for extra greens and used extra garlic because my cloves were tiny – also you can never have too much garlic. We served our sloppy joes on toasted ACE classic buns with sliced cucumbers on the side.

While I’d love to share the actual recipe with you here, I’m going to respect the original copyright and instead send you over to the original post – credit where credit is due and all that… plus she has the nutrition info posted if you’re concerned about that!

If you give this meal a try, let me know your thoughts and variations and be sure to share your comments under the original recipe as well. As for us, I’ll keep it in our rotation and probably use the sauce for other tasty concoctions. It rates pretty high for dinner satisfaction (aka lack of complaints) – a hard achievement when my two ridiculous boys can never agree on a meal!

Life… and a Book Review: The Liar in the Library by Simon Brett

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I meal planned this week… and not a single meal went to plan so far. We’re going with it. Monday, Kev brought home samosas that we paired with spring rolls. Last night, he decided to pick up pizza. Tonight, I prepared dinner for 20 teens that I had conveniently thought I didn’t have to do for another few weeks. (Meatball subs using frozen meatballs for the win… I mean, I did heat up the meatballs first.) I have a few meatballs in sauce left… so tomorrow night won’t go according to plan either. Whatever. We have food in our bellies and extra supplies for next week. Not a big deal.

My boys are finally home again and I’m so happy! Do parents feel like this when their kids are my age (30-something…) and decide to pop in for a visit? Do you ever lose the excitement of your kids coming “home” if you haven’t seen them in awhile? Asking for a friend… Just so you know how much they missed me, while I was in the middle row of the van my mom was driving to go visit my niece yesterday, both boys took off their shoes and put their disgusting smelly socked feet in my face. So yeah… I feel loved and cherished.

While the munchkins were gone, I read ALL. THE. BOOKS. (Not really… but I put a good dent in my NetGalley to-be-read pile and have to catch up with all the reviews.) One such title was Simon Brett’s “The Liar in the Library.”

Unwittingly, when I requested the title, I was not aware that it was the 18th book in the Feathering Mystery series. It didn’t make a huge impact – I could figure out who characters were and what was going on without having to dig up 17 previous titles. But really, who starts reading a new series at Book 18? Something about that bothers me… I have my issues.

It was a classic Whodunnit, throwing one of the key protagonists into the spotlight of suspicion. I wasn’t blown away by the mystery or the writing, but it was a cozy piece of crime fiction set in a quaint British seaside community with not entirely loveable characters.

Again… this novel was of those titles that’s just a midpoint rating from me. It was easy to read and a good little escape, but didn’t leave any particular strong feelings or impressions one way or another.

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Publisher: Black Thorn Books

Publication Date: June 16, 2019

Meal Plan Monday: March 18th Edition

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My meal plan last week was geeat in theory, but we didn’t follow it very closely. I definitely prepare healthier food or follow better eating habits when the kids are home. On our own, Kev and I tend to do a lot scavenging and fend for ourselves.

The boys are home tomorrow. (Oh how I’ve missed them…) Even our meal tonight didn’t go to plan. I had a healthy veggie noodle stirfry planned – topped with cashews for crunch and texture – and Kev came home with samosas from a new restaurant that opened in town. Who am I to complain?

I actually prepared a plan for two weeks this time. Next week’s plan is subject to change as I have only done groceries for this plan.

  • cashew stir fry and spring rolls
  • rice, farmers sausage, and spinach salad
  • potato soup
  • korean beef sloppy joes
  • crepes and fruit
  • burgers
  • tortellini with pesto, spinach and broccoli
  • mac & beef casserole
  • veggie loaded pasta and garlic bread
  • corned beef, potatoes, carrots corned beef on rye with tomato jalapeno soup
  • italian sausage meatloaf with buttered bowties and broccoli

Does anyone have some great budget-friendly, time-friendly school lunch ideas? I don’t know how my oldest isn’t tired of his go-to lunch box formula…

Meal Plan Monday: March 11 Edition

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I am here at home enjoying surviving the gloomy, overcast pre-spring weather phenomenon of snow one day, rain the other, mud and puddles everywhere. My boys are off enjoying sunshine and swimming pools complaining that they have sunburns.

As it’s just the two adults at home this week, our meals are fairly low effort (because as stated last Monday, I’m lazy… especially when I know Kev *could* fend for himself if need be.)

I didn’t put a thorough meal plan together, but will rely on the contents of my fridge and pantry. In no particular order, some of the meals we’ll be enjoying are:

  • ham & veggie omelettes with toast
  • burrito bowls (PC From Our Chef’s Ready… Set… Stirfry Meal Kit)
  • General Tso stir-fry bowl (PC From Our Chef’s Ready… Set… Stirfry Meal Kit)
  • peanut chicken with rice and veggies
  • ribs, sweet potato, and salad
  • grilled cheese and soup

Is anyone else ready to dig in the dirt and get their lettuce and tomatoes in? I’m craving bruschetta with fresh herbs and tomatoes from the backyard! Pasta with pesto. Zucchini fritters. Salad with handpicked boston lettuce. One of my favourite reasons to garden is the grab and go flavours right there to choose from (but maybe not the weeding.) C’mon spring, you know you want to be here!