Tuesday, April 25, 2017

April 16-22, 2017

Sunday:  Easter Sunday!

  We always host our family for Easter, and this year was no exception.  I made ham in the Crock Pot using this recipe from The Crockin' Girls.  It is always a hit with everyone, and it couldn't be simpler.  Everyone else provided a the rest of our meal, and we were are overly content.  :-)


Monday:  Ham & Egg Breakfast Casserole



  As with any holiday meal, there are usually leftovers a'plenty!  We had quite a bit of delicious ham, so Chad was genius and suggested a breakfast casserole.  I mean, we ALWAYS have eggs thanks to our girls out back, and I happened to have a can of crescent rolls in the fridge.  So, I made our meal using this recipe from Kevin & Amanda, except that I subbed ham for sausage, and I also used 8 eggs instead of 6.


This dish was an absolute HIT!   Everyone cleaned their plates, and Payton went back for thirds!  I served ours with fresh fruit.


Tuesday:  Tamales with Rice, Avocados, & Apples



  Another holiday leftover...tamales! We are down to 2 4-count packages of tamales leftover from Christmas Eve.  It's actually a good thing because they actually get hotter each time we eat them!  Ha!  I suppose the spices become more potent with time.  So, the kids can't eat them at all.  I think I made chicken nuggets for them.  I had to put a little sour cream and avocados on mine to tone down the spice a bit too.  I also served it on our best china so as to save me a bit of time since we have small group at 6:30.


Wednesday:  Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes



  Baking sweet potatoes opens up a world of options!  I bought a rotisserie chicken from the store and tore off the chicken.  For Chad and me, I made a baked potato bar.  We topped ours with chicken, black beans, salsa, sour cream (I used plain Green yogurt), cheese, avocados, and tortilla chips.



My kids aren't big fans of foods stacked on top of each other, so their plates looked a bit different.  :-)  They prefer roasted sweet potatoes to baked, so I sprinkled on a little cinnamon.  This meal was incredibly simple, but also really delicious!


Thursday:  Dinner at Callen's Game

  A weeknight game at 6 and Chad being out of town means packed dinner eaten in the stands!  Callen ate a little bit at home before his game, and had a snack after.


Friday:  Fun at the RoughRiders Game!

  The Frisco Baseball Association has a night at the Frisco RoughRiders (our minor league team) each season.  The boys were able to walk on the field with their teams, and our tickets included hotdogs, chips, and drinks!


Saturday:  Pizza Night

  Chad was still out of town, plus we missed pizza the night before.  ;-)

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

April 9-15, 2017

Sunday:  Baked "Grilled" Cheese Sandwiches with Fruit & Veggies



  We came home after church, and I made a simple but healthy meal we all enjoy for lunch.  Baked "Grilled" Cheese Sandwiches!  Whenever I make more than 2 grilled cheeses, it's really so much easier to assemble them and lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Then you top it with another sheet of foil and another cookie sheet on top of that!  I place mine in a cold oven and then heat it to 400.  Usually, they are perfectly golden when my oven is done heating up!  Perfect!



  For the kids, I made plain turkey and cheese.  But, for Chad and me, I added in thinly sliced apples and some strawberry preserves.  Yum!

  This was also nice because we had our church Easter picnic and egg hut at 4:30.  This meal was made, eaten, and cleaned up in a SNAP!


Monday:  Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Sandwiches with Roasted Broccoli & Sweet Potatoes



Slow Cooker Crack Chicken
  This is a delicious way to make chicken in your crockpot...and the chicken is so versitile!  This recipe is from Cookies and Cups.  The cream cheese makes the chicken really creamy.  We had ours as sliders for dinner.  The next day, I ate some of the leftovers cold on crackers, just like chicken salad!  This meal is a big hit with my kids.


Tuesday:  Crack Chicken Nachos

Kid Plate:


My Plate:


Crack Chicken Nachos
  I used our leftover chicken from the night before to make nachos.  It took no time to bake these in the oven, and it was an easy clean up before our small group came over at 6:30.


Wednesday:  Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia in a Basil Cream Tomato Sauce with Sauteed Asparagus



Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia in a Basil Cream Sauce
  I made this a few years ago, and I remember us really enjoying it.  The recipe is from Life's Ambrosia, and it is full of flavor! I never use any of the sauce for the kids, though.  They prefer to eat it plain, or with a dipping sauce.  That's fine...more yummy cream sauce for Chad and me!


Thursday:  Dinner Out with Mom

  Chad was in Tulsa for the night, so we met Mom at a restaurant that just opened in downtown.


Friday:  Pizza & Movie Night!

  Can I just say...thank you for pizza night!?!?


Saturday:  Grilled Sausage with Fresh Fruit & Veggies



  Chad grilled a regular beef smoked sausage and also a delish chicken sausage with apple and gouda that I found at Costco.  We ate alfresco on our newly finished Turquoise Table!


Friday, April 7, 2017

2 Weeks Worth!! March 26 - April 8, 2017

  Happy Friday!! Our week has felt a little busy, as Spring tends to feel anyway.  We are trying to finish up our school year, but we are also enjoying some field trips and time off with friends on these beautiful days!  Both boys are playing baseball, which means usually 2 practices and 2 games per week (sometimes more).  So, our menu is often simple, kid-friendly, and we are probably eating out about once per week more than usual.  

  I still try to abide by our 80/20 rule...eat well 80% of the time, and don't feel guilty about the 20% of the time when our meal isn't the healthiest.  :-)  It works, and as Moms and Dads, we know we all are doing the best job we can for our family, and for ourselves.  

  So, here is last week's menu, along with what we've eaten this week!  I mean...if I waited all the way until Friday to post, I might as well double up!


Sunday:  3-Envelope Sliders with Fresh Fruit & Veggies

3-Envelope Sliders with Fresh Fruit & Veggies
  This recipe is actually a combination of Six Sisters’ Three Envelope Pot Roast Sliders and You’re Too Crafty’s Best Pot Roast Ever.  I saw the Six Sisters recipe first and liked the idea of having pot roast sliders rather than traditional roast with sides.  But, I didn’t want the flavor of salsa, so I used a Coke instead, as suggested by You’re Too Crafty.  

So, I put my roast in the crock pot around 6:00 that morning before getting ready for church.  Then I mixed 1 packet of onion soup mix, 1 packet of Italian dressing mix, & 1 packet of Au Jus gravy mix with 1 cup of water.  I poured that on top of the roast, then poured a Coke on top of that.  I cooked it on high for about 90 minutes, then on low for 3-4 (my slow cooker cooks pretty hot).  It was SO, SO GOOD!  The house smelled amazing when we arrived home from church!  Seriously, the gravy is so ridiculously delicious that I could have downed it with a straw.  J

I used King’s Hawaiian Rolls, spicy mustard, & Havarti cheese to make our sliders.  We also had plenty of food, so we were able to invite another couple from church over for lunch.  I actually forgot this time, but it's a great idea to pour the gravy in small bowls so we could dip our sliders into it.  I’m not kidding…these are DELISH!  Make them!  As a bonus, we not only had leftovers for dinner the next night, but I also had it for lunch once or twice.


Monday:  Dinner at Mom's


Tuesday:  Taco Tuesday!!  Venison Soft Tacos

  Tacos are always a hit around here.  I usually make the kids quesadillas because melting everything together is always a less messy way for them to eat, making my job easier when it's clean-up time.  ;-)


Wednesday:  Dinner with Friends

  Wednesdays are usually one of our two busiest days of the week with preschool for Payton, her dance class, and practice for both boys.  But, we had rain the night before, so the fields were too wet for practice!  So, we ended up at our friends' house for pizza and pool time.  :-)


Thursday:  Scrambled Eggs, Venison & Cheese Tostadas, Apples, & Roasted Broccoli & Green Beans



  I mean...so much randomness.  But, we didn't have enough venison left over to make a full meal for our family of 5, so I added in some scrambled eggs to round out the meal.  I made what I called tostadas out of tortillas that I cut into triangles and browned and crisped in the oven just a bit before topping with venison and cheese.  Then, I broiled those just long enough to melt the cheese.  This meal was a total hit with everyone!


Friday:  Family Movie Night!




  We had eaten pizza with our friends only 2 nights earlier, so instead of pizza for family movie night, I asked Chad to grill some venison.  I served it along with macaroni-and-cheese, sauteed zucchini, & rolls.  For dessert, we had fresh Cutie orange slices with dark chocolate chips!  Yum!

Grilled venison also makes a delicious topping on salad for the next day!




Saturday:  Dinner Out with Friends


Sunday:  Chicken Fried Venison with Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Asparagus



  We had a friend over for dinner, and this was his requested meal.  Whenever Chad fries anything, he always does it outside on his grill.  :-)


Monday:  Hot Dogs & Sausage for Opening Day!!



  The Texas Rangers Opening Day is always a cause for celebration in our house.  :-)  Go Rangers!


Tuesday:  Leftovers on the Go!

  Ranger had a baseball game at 6, so he had an early dinner of leftover hot dogs with fruit at home, and I took Callen's and Payton's dinner to the game.  Chad was out of town.


Wednesday:  One More Game Night Meal...

  This time is was Callen's turn for a 6:00 game, so we did almost the same thing, except the dinner I took to the game for Ranger, Payton, and me was a bag full of fruit, proteins, and a few salty and sweet snacks to go along with it.


Thursday:  Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas

  Chad was out of town for work again, and the kids and I were gone all day on a field trip to the zoo with some of our homeschool friends.  We had the best day!!  But, arriving back home tired and smelly at 5:40 doesn't really inspire much cooking from me.  Thankfully I had some rotisserie chicken in the freezer already shredded up.  I try to always keep the Tortilla Land ready-to-make tortillas on hand because they can be used for so many meals.  It only took about 15 minutes to thaw out and warm up a bit of chicken, make tortillas, shred some cheese, and assemble our quesadillas.  I actually used the chicken and made a big spinach and kale salad for myself.    I served the kids quesadillas with some apples and fresh spinach.


Friday:   Dinner with Mom


Saturday:  Dinner at Studio Movie Grill!