Visitors and Stuffed Peppers

Today we had some visitors!!  We had a nice visit with DF's Lisa and Giuliana.  They stayed for a little while and the girls got to play.  I know that DD enjoyed having a friend to play with.  A little later in the day we got a visit from DF Chrystal.  Everyone has been so nice and keeps bringing gifts to us!  We feel so special and loved!

For dinner I defrosted some of the stuffed peppers that I made before DS came along.  I pulled them out of the freezer about 3pm and by dinnertime, 5ish, they were defrosted.  I baked them as the recipe says, but I did forget to put them over sauce and sauce on them, oops!  So after about 15 minutes I added the sauce to the top. 

I cooked up some pasta to go along with it.  On mine I just put butter and parmasan.  DH and DD both had sauce on their pasta.  These came out really good.  That was definitely a great way to do stuffed peppers.  I highly recommend it!

Open House and Frozen Pizza

Today I held my first open in months!!  A fellow agent asked if I wanted to hold one of her homes open so I said sure.  I went from 1 - 3.  I only had two groups go through.  The first group was a young couple with a 6 month old that had just started their home search.  Unfortunetly when they signed in they said no to follow up!  Well looks like they'll just be getting a lot of mail from me, hahaha!  The second group was this wierd guy who wouldn't sign in at all.  Didn't offend me much since he was weird!

Of course I didn't get a chance to eat before I left, so by the time I left the open I was STARVING!!  I went home and finished off my psuedo sloppy joes.  We decided to all go out as a family to do some grocery shopping.  We waited for DD to wake up, and we also had to wait for the brownies that DH decided to cook to be done.  By the time we left it was after 5.

We hit up BJ's for our stock up of items.  Then we decided to go to the GE in Willoughby.  I just went in alone and shopped.  When I came out with the frozen pizza, DH was like, I don't like that kind.  Everything went down hill from there.  How was I supposed to know which one he didn't like!

I bought one of the new digorno pizza's with the cheese sticks.  It honestly was a terrible pizza dn the cheese sticks were not very good!  I would not recommend this to anyone.  The only reason that I even got a frozen pizza is we are out of Alesci's Pizza Dough!

Baby Shower and Best Gyro's

Today Shane and I went to his first party ever!!  We traveled to the west side for DF Bridget's baby shower.  The food there was so delish!!  They had a great summer menu:

• Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella skewers with a balsamic drizzle
• Chicken Salad with Avocado on a Croissant.  The avocado was mixed into the salad and it was so yummy!
• Some other kind of sandwich on a croissant, but I think it was ham/roast beef or something like that so I didn't take it.
• A Roasted Veggie Salad that included eggplant, peppers, and squash in a light marinade served cold.
• Quinoa Salad that had peas, ricotta, and almonds in it.
• A marinated salmon, I didn't take this either.
• Homemade cupcakes.

I also love going to showers for new ideas!  Two different people did these cute little clothes lines of baby clothing that were such a cute idea. 

When we left there we went to this store in Rocky River called Planet Green.  I went there in hopes of finding some Bum Genius from a local retailer.  Of course they only had organic ones which cost $24 instead of $17.  Then we went to Whole Foods in University Heights.  I know it said online they had BG's, but I was a little iffy if they really had them in stock.  Of course that Whole Foods is not easy to get to off the highway.  I felt like I had been driving for a long time before I got there.  And to make it even more fun you had to park on the roof and go down stairs or an elevator to the store.

After going through the whole store without finding them, I took one last look in a different section and found them!  But they only had pink and white.  They also had swim diapers, but none in DD's size.  I ended up buying 1 white to add to my collection.

On our way home DH called and was asking about dinner.  I was naming all the left over's when he said, I'd really like a Gyro.  So much for not going out to eat!!  So I turned around and headed for Mayfield to go to Best Gyro.  This trip also made it feel like I had been driving forever!!  I also think the tzakiki at the mall is better than Best Gyro's, but it was nice to have a Chicken Gyro.  This is also not a kid friendly place as there are only bar seats and only about 5 of them. 

Psuedo Sloppy Joes

Today was our second day home alone.  I think it's a little easier than what people have said.  Although, we haven't left the house and DS is still in his babymoon stage of just sleeping all day.  I feel bad for DD because I know she just wants to get out and do stuff.  It's been so hot here though we can't even go outside to play.

For dinner tonight I reused our meal from last night!  I heated up the leftover meat sauce in a pan and I also added one small can of tomtato sauce to it.  Kind of like a psuedo sloppy joe, which we haven't had in our house in a while.  The fries are the Alexa Sea Salt fries, but I really don't care for them.  They really have no taste.  So I won't buy them again (and they cost more!!).  I also stuck a hotdog bun in the oven with some butter on it to grill it up, but I didn't leave them in there long enough so they came out soggy instead. 

You also can see some fridge pickles!  Love those!  I needed to use them up and I'm the only one that likes them, booo!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Rice Pudding and Meaty Pasta Sauce

This morning everyone went home and I was left for the first time alone with both kiddos!  I was scared my day was going to be a disaster, but it actually went well.  I was able to get a lot of things done.  I just remember having to hold DD a lot when she was little.  But maybe I just did that because I lived at my MIL's and was bored? 

In the afternoon I made some Rice Pudding.  I had made a bunch of rice last week when I was doing my freezer cooking.  I was thinking that I need to double the chicken and rice recipe.  It worked out perfect though because it was just enough for a a rice pudding recipe!  This recipe I got from Betty Crocker.  I was actually down to one egg, so I could only add one egg to the recipe.  I also added two teaspoons of vanilla instead of one.  I didn't add raisins because I don't like raisins in my rice pudding.

I still had some turkey burger in my fridge from what was supposed to become my second Turkey Meatloaf.  I needed to use it up, so I decided to do a pasta with meat sauce.  Since I wasn't going anywhere I made some homemade sauce.  Now I've never made sauce the same way twice, so here's a rough recipe I used.  I cooked up some garlic, onion, pepper (red and green), grated zucchini (still trying to use this up!) in a little EVOO.  I added some oregano, basil (Fresh chopped from my garden), and parsley when they were cooked up a little.  Once they cooked up a little, I added a can of crushed tomatoes.  I love making sauce with crushed tomatoes.  I think they taste better than diced and makes for a soupier sauce.  I also added a little bit of sugar to cut down the acidity of the tomatoes.

Right around dinnertime, I cooked up the turkey burger, added the sauce and made some pasta.  Super easy, filling dinner.  I used to babysit every Thursday night and the girls mom always would make pasta with meat sauce for us.  I also added my signiture breadstick to it, hehe!

Pasta with Meatsauce

Rice Pudding

Mall trip and BSpot

Today we all ventured out to the mall to go to Build a Bear.  I figured this would be a good activity for DD.  I'm not sure how much she really enjoyed it because I think she was a little young to understand the concept.  She made a dog that barks.

For lunch we ate in the food court at the mall.  My mom and I went to Subway.  I was trying to be good and they had pizza there, so I knew DD would eat that.  A water main had broke in front of part of the mall, so some stores had no water.  Only a few food places were open in the food court because of this.  My sister and her BF went to "It's Greek To You...".  When we all sat together I thought, mmmm, a Chicken Gyro sounds super yummo right now!!

For dinner we decided to eat out at BSpot.  I was a little disappointed this time with it.  We were sat in the mall area patio at the last table, a sure fire way to know you'll be forgotten most times!  There were nats flying around us and they didn't have enough high chairs!!  We have gone out to eat before where they didn't give us the high chair right away and it's turned into a disaster because when we finally did get it, DD didn't want to sit in it!!

By the time our dinner came they still didn't have a high chair.  So I asked for a booster instead.  It worked ok, but I really wanted a high chair.  After dinner we went up to Fosters for ice cream.  I had a cookie sandwich, it was sooooo good!!  Two homemade chocolate chip cookies with soft serve in between.

Buffalo Stuffed Chicken

Today my sister and her BF came to visit.  I left with DS to get them at the airport.  I left DD with my mom.  When we got back to my house we all took DD to the spray park again.  This time she went in a little more with my sister, but still was not sure about it. 

We left about lunch time to go to Chick-Fil-A.  I know, I know, I said I'm not eating there ever again, but my sister's BF had never been and we wanted to go somewhere that is not back at their home.  On our way there, DS began to cry so much because he was hungry.  I could not get there fast enough for him!!  When we got there we sent everyone in and DS and I stayed in the car to feed.

After we stopped at DQ because my mom likes dilly bars and there are DQ's back home.  I found out there were several flavors of them that I never knew about!!!  I had a heath one and it was so good!  Had I known they had different ones I would have gotten them in the past instead of the too big blizzards!  Not to get off subject, but I'm watching tv as I write this post and just saw the Kia Black Sheep commercial, so stinkin funny!!

Anyway, we got home and everyone was ready to nap!  DH came home early since DS had his first doctors appointment.  DS actually gained 10 ounces!!!  That is a lot for a BF baby!  When we got back, everyone was still sleeping!!  DH and sisters BF went out to get some diapers and stuff.  When they got back DH had my new flash!!!  Super excited to learn how to use it!

For dinner I decided to make the stuffed buffalo chicken that I had put in the freezer.  I had it out thawing most of the day.  To accompany it we had left over macaroni salad and fridge pickles.  The chicken came out good and my mom even liked it!  I do think this meal would be a better quick fix meal rather than freezer meal.  I unfortunetly didn't take any pictures, so I'll have to take some if I make it again.

Vermont Apple Sausage Salad

Today DF Mandy went home!  She drove here on Thursday evening with my mom and is driving back today.  She was so sad to leave because when she was here about a month ago, DD wanted almost nothing to do with her.  This visit, DD was calling her name, hugging and kissing her, talking to her.  What a difference a month makes.  So we told her that she had to get a video camera for her computer so she could skype us!

We also got a visit from DF's The Sabin's!  They stopped on their way out of town to say hi and see DS.  After they left, my mom and I took DD to the spray park to play for a little bit.  She still won't really run into the water.  Maybe if she had some of her little friends with her she would.  My mom and her were playing by some squirt guns when they were ambushed by a little boy, hahaha!  We also played on the playground while there. 

For dinner tonight I decided to make a large salad with some sausage on it.  My SIL made this once when I was over her house and I thought it was really good.  I used Al Fresco All Natural Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage.  The only reason I bought these is because I had a dollar off coupon.  They are kinda pricey and only come with 4 of them.  I did see on their website you could get a dollar off coupon, but it looked like you had to sign up for their emails to get it.  Every few weeks there is one on smartsource.com.

I was afraid that my mom wouldn't like it because she is very picky.  BUT she did!!  And I know she wasn't just being nice because she ate up all the salad.  They were pretty tasty.  I even used raspberry vinegarette instead of my usual Cala's dressing!  I still have another dollar off coupon and may have to buy them again, maybe try another flavor.  On their site they had a chipotle chourizo flavored one, but I haven't seen those yet!

Unfortuntely I totally forgot to take a picture of this meal!!  I'm sure we'll have it again sometime, so I'll take a picture then!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th to everyone!!  We haven't been able to enjoy fireworks for a few years now!  When I was preggers with DD, she was doing backflips in my belly over them.  Not sure if she liked or disliked them.  We went to South High to watch them and were practically in front row because of SIL.  Her work is right there!  Last year we just stayed home and this year I don't think DD would have lasted.  She totally hates loud noises.

Today we had my MIL and AIL for a little BBQ.  My mother and DF Mandy are still here as well.  On our menu today was:

• Hamburgers
• Hot dogs
• Black Bean Burger (for me!!)
• Fridge Pickles
• Macaroni Salad
• Baked Beans
• Potato Salad (My MIL brought this.)
• Pizzales (My AIL brought these.)
• Left over Chocolate Zucchini Cake

We ate about 2 and couldn't possibly eat dinner!!!  We just picked at some leftovers.

Home Sweet Home!

Today we came home from the hospital.  My DM and DF Mandy are here visiting for a little while.  My MIL brought over chicken and rice casserole and salad for us all to have for dinner.  For dessert she made us a Chocolate Zucchini Cake with a glaze on it.  I don't have her recipe, but I found this one on line that I think is very similar except she doesn't add chocolate chips.  This sounds like a weird combination, but it is actually really good and I don't even really like chocolate.  It comes out so moist and yummy.  She also makes it with a yellow cake, which I do like better.  It's nice not to cook, but I hate people deciding what I eat for me.

While in the hospital I got to have a grilled cheese and tomato soup!  I was so excited because I never get to have that at home.  DD and DH both don't eat either!  So sad!  The food in there wasn't all that great, but it was included in the price, hahaha!  We can't wait to get into a routine with the new addition. 

Sorry I had been missing!  I will try to promise not to be MIA so long in the future!

Turkey Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Freezer Meals

Today was possibly my last day of work for a while!  I went into work this morning and then went to the doctors.  We decided to induce tomorrow since my doctor would be at the hospital.  Recently I bought a bunch of food to make freezer meals for when baby comes.  I guess that means I HAVE to make them today otherwise the food will go bad!

Here is a list of things that I made:

• 
  
  Kaylee's Casserole - I found this on OAMC with Once a Month Mom.  I haven't tried this recipe at all, so I'll have to get back to you when we actually eat it.
• 
  
  Chicken and Rice Casserole - I got this recipe from my MIL.  I think this recipe is too much for us, so I always split it up into two containers.  I usually make it when someone has a baby and I give them one and we eat one for dinner.
• 
  
  Stuffed Peppers - I always use Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for stuffed peppers and zucchini.  I never have stuffed the zucchini because DH isn't a huge zucchini fan.  I made the filling for the peppers and I added in some grated zucchini to use it up.  I stuffed the peppers, then I put them on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the freezer to freeze individually.  Once they were totally frozen I put them in a ziplock bag.  This way we could cook what we want instead of cooking all 6 at once.  I haven't tried this before either, so I'll have to get back to you if it works well.
• 
  
  Stuffed Buffalo Chicken - I also found this on Once a Month Mom.  I only used 3/4 cup of butter because that's all I had out.  I also added some ranch dressing to the mix because I always add ranch to anything buffalo.  I haven't tried it either.  Again, I'll have to get back to you on the finished product.
• 
  
  Lasagna - I always use the Barilla noodles recipe to make lasagna.  In my cheese mix though I add garlic and some spices (oregano, parsley, basil).
• 
  
  Tomato Soup Cake - This recipe made 5 mini loafs.  I got this from my MIL as well.  Sounds weird, but it is really good!
• 
  
  Zucchini Bread - Again this came from my MIL as well.  This recipe I lost on my kitchen table, so I'll have to get it for you at another time.

I was also going to do a meatloaf for the freezer, but I didn't have the time.  I spent 5 hours in the kitchen cooking and preparing and had to be back at work for 7-9.  For dinner I did make a meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  For meatloaf I always use the Weight Watchers recipe for Turkey Meatloaf.  I do mine a little different though.  I saute the onions, peppers, and garlic on the stove and let it cool before adding to meat mixture.  I think they cook better in the meatloaf and have a better taste.  I've made it before without doing that and DH has told me that the onions are too strong.

I can't have meatloaf without mashed potatoes.  But I always cheat with them, hehehe!  I buy the Ore Ida Steam and Mash Garlic Seasoned Mashed Potatoes.  These taste really good and I can always have them on hand in the freezer.  I take small portions out and then microwave them.  I usually get two uses out of a bag.

Slow Cooker Mango Pork

Today DD and I went to meet up with DF Bridget who was in from Chicago. We went over to the west side to Johnny Mango's. It was a cute little restaurant and had tasty food! Keeping with the mango theme I decided to make something with mango for dinner!! Even though I didn't eat anything with mango at Johnny Mango's!!

I wanted tonights dinner to be in the slow cooker like this recipe says, but my pork wasn't thawed in time! I got this recipe from onceamonthmom.com. I did mine a little different though, of course!

First off I used an Italian marinated pork loin. I have since learned a lot about pork loins from I think Alton Brown on his show "Good Eats". In the past I've bought the premarinated loins because I thought they tasted better. But I learned that they have much more additives and preservatives than if you just buy a plain ol pork loin. And the plain ol ones are cheaper! When I was just a few months preggers I made one of the Italian marinated ones and just couldn't eat it. I have since learned that my taste is still not liking them! Haha!

I mixed all the ingredients except the mango and the italian spices (since it was already a seasoned loin) together with the pork in a ziplock bag. I let it marinade for the afternoon in the fridge. I put everything in the pan and began to cook. Well, now I know why it should be done in a slow cooker!!! The sauce cooked up so fast that it began to burn!!!

I also added fresh mango instead of frozen because I had a mango on hand. To accompany the dish I made rice and peas. I really couldn't eat this meal because of the Italian pork loin taste. I am interested to try this in the slow cooker with frozen mango though.

YMCA Dream House and Leftovers

Since DD has been asking to go "Bye Bye" all weekend we decided to take her out today. Of course it had to be 90 degrees out on the day we leave the house, hahaha! We traveled out to Painesville Township to see the Lake County YMCA Dream House.

I still like the one in Concord two years ago the best. Last year was in the Marsh Landing or something like that and you couldn't pay me enough to live there. For those of you not from Ohio, every year the Lake County YMCA has a home built and completely decorated. Then they sell tickets to visit it which are raffle tickets. In August they pick 12 names and give 12 people the keys to the house. Whose ever key fits the door wins the house or $250,000.

This year they had a lot of the rooms ropped off which made it more like a museum than home. We let DD run rampid in there, but she had fun, hahaha. After leaving we stopped at BW's for lunch. DD was soooo awful we almost left without ordering. We had to bribe her with everything we had to get her to stop whining!

For dinner we did the leftovers from the Louisiana Chicken Pasta. Tomorrow I think I may do some bulk cooking and freezing for when baby comes. If I don't do that, then I'm just resting and hoping for baby to come!!

Louisiana Chicken Pasta

Today we didn't even leave the house! DH worked on my back brakes all day. Now the noises coming from my car are gone, yay!! I spent the day cleaning, laundry, organizing, cooking!

I make jello about once or twice a week for DH to take to work. It's much cheaper than buying the packs at the store. I have a bunch of the little 1/2 cup glad containers, which is one serving size of jello. I buy the family size package and usually get about 9 cups out of it. Costs about $2.00 about, when 6 packages premade are usually over $3. I'm going to soon start to rotate between jello and pudding for him. We buy the pudding premade now. Only thing I hate is that he won't eat instant, he wants it to be cook and serve, argh!!

I also make simple syrup once a week for my ice coffee. I make ice coffee about twice a week (1 pot of coffee cooled and put in the fridge). I also make ice tea about once a week for DH. I cut up fruit today as well. I made an angel food cake as well. DH had bought everything to make it on a run to the grocery store (which is why he is not allowed to go there very often!!!). I also went through all the baby clothes from my SIL. For me that seemed like so much, hahaha!

For dinner I made a recipe that DF Chrystal recommended to me on another post. It comes from a website called Annie's Eats and is Louisiana Chicken Pasta. It was good, so good DH had seconds. It was also a very simple recipe that only took me about 1/2 hour to cook.

I of course didn't follow directions, haha! I was worried about it being too salty from DF Chrystal's suggestion and I was also worried about it being too spicy for DH. I did not salt or pepper the chicken. I just put the cajun seasoning on it. I also did not add salt, pepper or cayenne to the bell peppers and onions. The ingredients mentioned garlic powder, but no where in the recipe did it tell you where to use it. So I put it in with the bell peppers and onions. Instead of half and half I used up some whole milk that I had.

I made one of my famous frozen breadsticks as well, hehehe (see earlier post for secret recipe, hehehe!). It made a very good size pan as well. On a week night it would make for some pretty tasty leftover lunches! Only one drawback, DD would not eat it! Only a little and dipped in honey mustard, which I beleive totally ruins any recipe, haha!

I skipped angel food cake after dinner in lieu of going to the movies with some friends and munching on popcorn instead! I went to see Sex and the City 2. I was kind of disappointed in the movie. The first one is much better, wait for the video!

Skillet when it was done.

Plated.

Bspot!!!

It was a cooler day today. I was able to open the windows and turn off the a/c. I also was able to finish baby's blanket and hat before he arrives.

DH was on his way home and called to ask what was for dinner. Which I had planned on making the Louisiana Chicken Pasta. Well then he got to thinking and suggested we drop DD off at grandma's so we could go out to eat alone. So we cheated yet again!

We chose Bspot. Bspot is owned by Michael Simon, Iron Chef America an Cleveland local. Of course now I can't find where I saw it, but they also use all natural raised beef and meat from a local farmer. It actually was not too crowded for a Friday night.

DH had the Lola Burger and the chocolate/banana/marshmellow milk shake. I had the Chick Magnet and Lola fries!!! I just love those Lola fries!! Every year for our anniversary we visit Lola downtown and the highlight is ALWAYS the Lola fries. They come in a mixed drink mixer cup and are shoe string fries seasoned with sea salt and rosemary. They are devine! At Bspot they are in a smaller mixer cup, so we opted not to share and I made DH get his own. Only I finished them!!

After leaving Bspot we stopped at Fosters in Willoughby Hills for ice cream, only DH couldn't eat any since he was stuffed! hahaha! DH pass up ice cream, he must have been REALLY stuffed!

Garlic Roast Chicken with Corn on the Cob

I struggled today to figure out something to cook for dinner. I was so exhausted I laid down for a nap when DD slept and slept the afternoon away.

After long hard thinking, I resorted to my favorite quick cooker, Rachael Ray! The recipe I made was Rachael Ray's Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon. Only I don't follow directions very well. I added half a lemon's juice into the mixture to put in the oven. I don't think I'd do that again as it made it kind of a watery marinade. I also used dried rosemary because that is what I had on hand and also used chicken broth instead of wine.

It was a good recipe, but DH and I both agreed that it would be better with rice. I would make it again and DD ate it!!! I also didn't use 2lbs of chicken. I used about 2 1/2 chicken breasts because I didn't want left overs.

Very Very Bad!!

For the past two days we have been super bad!!! Last night we had Chipotle. The cutest thing happened there though. As we pulled up to the building, DD was clapping and super excited! Loved it! Then while inside she kept saying hi and bye to everyone walking in or out! hahaha! We went out because we needed to go to Lowe's to check out door prices since I broke the window, boooo!

Tonight we ordered pizza from Petti's Pizza in Wickliffe. That place is sooo yummy! If you haven't tried it you should! They are also awesome with kids. They bring out pasta wheels or their dinner before yours so they can eat. Then they bring out popsicles for them. We just went to get pick it up though. Tonight we ate out because we finally got our fridge back from my MIL's!!! Yay!! Won't be long before the ice cube maker is hooked up and I no longer have to make them!!!!!

Buffalo Turkey Burger

I cheated again tonight! Hehehe! I bought the premade burgers from Heinens!! I have to say it was a little dry, but DH thought it was fine. Of course mine looks so plain because I don't put condiments on my burger and I don't eat buns.

I had my fridge pickles with it, mmmmm! I also made for the first time Alexa Fries. They were olive oil and sea salt. I couldn't taste neither! I didn't think they were that great. They were steak fries with skins on and good for you, but I want to taste the things they say they have on them. I made a salad for Doug because he didn't have fridge pickles.

On the package for the burgers were the ingredients. I was thinking while shopping that this would be super easy to do at home on your own, only I didn't have any defrosted meat. Here are the ingredients so you might try at home!

Shredded Mozzarella
Franks Red Hot Sauce
Garlic
Lawry's Seasoning Salt

See, super easy to do. It was all just mixed in. For dessert we had some carrot cake that I bought while there too. Heinens carrot cake is really good!!

Happy Father's Day and Chicken Meatball Kabobs!

Happy Father's Day to all my father, grandfather, and godfather readers!!!

Today we had a nice relaxing day at home. We were a/c hogs all day until after dinner when we ventured out to let DD play in the pool. This recipe I found in Parents Magazine and I have been so excited to try it ever since. It was such a good recipe!!

Last night I mad a zesty dipping sauce of 1 tablespoon of minced shallots, juice of 1/2 lemon, and 1/4 teaspoon lemon in a bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used organic Stoneyfield as to utilize the point system to get a free yo baby yogurt!!!), 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 teaspoons each fresh dill and mint, and a little minced garlic. I'm not gonna lie, I tried it when it was done and it was super yummy!! Even better today though! It was sort of like a tzatkiki sauce you'd have on greek food.

This afternoon I mixed 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1/4 cup minced shallots, 1 tablesppon each mint and parsley (I used dried parsley because that's what I had.), 1 tablespoon olive oil, minced garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin (oooops, forgot this), salt (forgot this too!), and pepper (also forgot, oh well!). Then I added 1 pound ground chicken breast and I shaped into meatballs.

As DH was heating up the grill (yes I made him work on Father's Day!! If you knew the Mother's Day I'd had you'd agree it was ok!!), I began to make the skewers. The recipe called for 12 skewers, but I made it into 6, 2 for each of us. I did one meatball, then a red pepper, then a zucchini. I repeated this until I ended with 3 meatballs on a skewer. Instead of brushing with olive oil this time, I sprayed with cooking spray. I use olive oil cooking spray so I figured this would work just as well and it did. It was also less messy. The recipe also says to add grape tomatoes to ends of skewers in the last 1 to 2 minutes, but we didn't do this.

I also made corn on the cob as our side. To my surprise, DD actually gobbled up the chicken meatballs! She didn't care for the sauce at all. DH said that it tasted much like a gyro since the meat of a gyro is processed lamb and the same texture. I may end up making the meatballs into patties sometime and stuffing them in pita's with the sauce as a "mock" gyro. Again I know that DH liked because he already made his lunch container!!!

I have to say that although I did not plan my weeks worth of meals out or grocery shopping like I said I would last week, I am very surprised that we were able to have something different each night and not go out to eat at all! Now it's Sunday night again and I have no game plan for this week as well. I also have a busy week at work, so I guess we'll see how well this weeks meals turn out! Oh that and if Baby P decides to show up this week then all plans are out the window no matter what!

Skewers all done.

Finished plate.

Pizza!

Tonight was pizza night at our house! I go to this Italian supermarket near me, Alesci's every so often to buy pizza dough. I can get fresh dough for $0.70. Cheaper and easier than making it myself and it's always just better! I usually buy 3 or 4 of them and that night we'll have pizza and the rest will be frozen for later dates.

Since I had the pizza dough out for Friday, it was all ready to go. Unfortunetly the only topping we had was pepperoni. I don't eat pepperoni nor will I allow DD to have it. It contains BHT and BHA which is a known carcinogen for animals.

Some animal food companies put it in their food and it has been known to cause cancer in pets. So if it does that to pets then why are we allowed to put it in people food???????????? It's a perservative that is in several things and to my surprise I found it in Lime Jello tonight!!!!!!!! I looked at another box of Jello I had and it did not contain it. So make sure you check those labels Mamas!!!

I even hate the fact of it being on our pizza, but I'm not in the business of making two seperate pizza's over it. I didn't picture it because I got distracted and left it in the oven too long. So the cheese browned a lot and it didn't look so pretty.

Pasta, nope Pizza, nope Pasta!!

I had planned to make another suggestion from DF Chrystal from my facebook post but everything got all mixed up!

I had everything ready to make a spicy pasta with cream sauce over bowties but ended up with a surprising appointment for work. I figured since it was at 4:30 I wasn't going to be able to come home and prepare dinner the way I wanted to. DH had to pick DD up at daycare today, so before I left for work in the afternoon I pulled some pizza dough out of the freezer. I instructed him that he could just make that up and we'd have pizza for dinner tonight.

I arrived home at about 5:30 and they were arriving at the same time! I was all ready to make the pizza, only the dough was still semi frozen!!! ahhhhhh!! DH was complaining about being hungry RIGHT NOW!!! So I told him it would take just as long to go out to eat than if I just made what I was going to originally make after all. He didn't like that as an answer so I told him go down to Wendy's then, but I'm making pasta!

Well I forgot that it was going to be a spicy pasta. So I added some olive oil to the chicken, garlic powder, and season salt. I let it marinate for a about 5 minutes then cooked it up.

For the sauce I found a basil cream sauce on foodnetwork.com by Guy Fieri. In clean saute pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter, when melted, add in remaining basil (I picked some fresh from my pots outside. I used quiet a bit.), saute until crisp and butter is just very lightly browning. Add in remaining cream (I used 1 1/2 cups of milk) and reduce to thickened. Salt and pepper to taste. Of course this did not thicken like I wanted it to. So I began the old corn starch trick. In the end I added too much and it kind of got like tapioca.

It was edible, but no big hit in my house. DD wouldn't even touch it and we had to feed her something else instead. DH said it was too salty. I completly forgot to take a picture of it altogether, sorry. The left over pasta part was really good though. I guess if you mixed the right amount of corn starch or flour in it would be a really good dish. Also if I had made the chicken spicy like my first intention, it would have been better as well.

Gordita's and Taco Salad

Today I took a suggestion from yesterday's post on facebook from DF Corine. She suggested taco salad, but we changed that around a little.

I was seriously going to do taco salad but DH called it taco's, so I decided to use up the rrest of the remaining gordita shells we had in the fridge. Last week I bought an Old El Paso Gordita Kit and it had this really good sauce with it that I wanted to use up too.

I didn't take a picture because again this is like a staple dinner in our home. It's easy to do on a week night and tastes so yummy. We also had some chips (yes the Garden Fresh Gourmet ones, mmmmmmm!) and salsa along with it.

The taco salad, as always, is DH's left over lunch the day after we have taco's (or gordita's in this case).

Chicken Kabobs

Today I went to work in the morning and had no clue what to make for dinner. So I posted to my facebook asking for suggestions. Once again I am using a suggestion from DF Jillian!

I made Honey Mustard marinated chicken kabobs. I first made a homemade honey mustard. I mixed honey, hot mustard, regular mustard, and some fresh chopped garlic. I placed the chicken in a bowl and covered it with the sauce. A little sauce went a long way. So don't think you have to make tons of it. I let them hang out in the fridge for about 2 hours.

On my kabobs I used onion, summer squash, green pepper, and cherry tomatoes. On DH's I used everything but the tomatoes. I also put less onion on his as he doesn't really care for it, but I add it always for taste. I coated the veggies with some olive oil once they were on the skewer to prevent burning.

Then I sent him out to grill them! I know, so cliche, but I don't grill. That's a guys job, hehehe! I also prepared a salad for us to have with the kabobs. It was a very enjoyable and filling dinner. I know DH liked it because he took leftovers to work the next day!!!!

All the kabobs all done.

The finished plate.

BLT

Tuesday's I have a sales meeting at work, so I'm not home all day to prepare or think of something for dinner. Usually I go for pretty simple things on Tuesday nights.

Tonight we had BLT's, well sort of. I always have a BT-L, Bacon and tomato only. I hate lettuce on warm sandwiches, kinda weirds me out. I also made what I call Italian Mayonaise. You mix Italian dressing with mayonaise, or Miracle Whip as we use. It looks kinda gross as your mixing but man it's so good. Cala's near our house makes it really good. It comes with their sandwich platters. Once when I was in there I asked what it was and they said just dressing and mayonaise. Simple!

Now DH on the other hand likes to have BL-T. He doesn't like tomato. We usually add cheese too, but we only have shredded cheese now adays, that doesn't work too well on a sandwich.

For our sides we used up the last of the Orzo salad (which was over it's 3 day mark but we didn't want to waste it) and fridge pickles, mmmmmmmm!

Chips & Salsa

I know, nothing fancy, but oooo so good! This is what I had for lunch today and I thought it looked so pretty on the plate I wanted to share! The chips I first had on Memorial Day at my DF Jillian's house. They are made by Garden Fresh Gourmet. They are based out of Michigan, so you might be able to get them at Whole Foods. Mine came from Heinens. The salsa is the sweet onion fresh salsa from Giant Eagle. Their salsa is actually really good.

Tonight we had Sausage, Peppers, and Onions. I didn't picture it because it's a common dish in our house. I peel the skins off of the sausage, I don't like the way they smell when they are cooking. Then I cut them length wise so they can cook faster. I don't chop them up because then you don't know what a serving size and in case you didn't know a serving size is one sausage. Cutting them lengthwise lets you know that two slices equals one.

I started this back when we did "The Biggest Loser Challenge" at work in 2006. Back then we used turkey sausage, but have since switched back to Italian sweet sausage. I think because when I started weight watchers in 2009 I found that the Italian sausage was worth less points than the turkey sausage.

I cook those up and once I see they are pretty well cooked I add onions and peppers that are thinly sliced. I also add some spices, usually the Italian trifecta as I call it; basil, oregano, and parsley. I add in some fresh cut garlic and usually a can of some type of tomato, this time was a stewed tomato. Then I just let that all cook together. Once we plate it we add cheese to the top, either parmesan or mozzerella.

Voila, a very easy, healthy week night dinner!

Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast

Well I managed to do nothing I said I was going to do this weekend! No grocery shopping, no meal planning, nothing!!!!!

I always get excited when I see meat on sale at Heinens, especially Gerber products. They are Amish products that are raised naturally without hormones or antibiotics. So this past week when I checked the flyer and it was on sale I rushed to get there to buy some. Everytime I go though it ends up being parts I don't partically care for (such as thighs, or bone in breasts, etc.). But I figured since I was there I'd try a whole chicken breast (bones and all) to see if I could make something out of it and buy it in the future.

Tonight I decided to make Lemon Pepper Chicken out of it. I placed it in a casserole dish and sprinkled some olive oil on it (usually my first ingredient in any marinade). I then used some real lemon on it. I had this huge container of it from a BJ's trip and I FINALLY got to use the rest of it. I then sprinkled both sides with McCormick Lemon Pepper Seasoning on both sides of the breast. I also added some garlic powder, what's a dish with out ga-lick???? Never in my house!!

I let that marinade for several hours. I cooked on stove top with all the marinade. The way I think about it is it's getting heated up just like the raw chicken, so you have nothing to worry about. When you do this it also makes a nice crust on things and reduces down to an awesome sauce to use on the chicken!!

To accompany it we had corn on the cob and salad. I add sugar to the water in order to make it sweet corn. I didn't take any pictures of the dish itself but here's a picture of the finished chicken.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Tomato, Mozzerella, and Pesto on Ciabatta

Tonight is a free night for me!! We have my neices dance recital, so we went out to eat. We tried for the first time Hooley House. It's a bar food type place. It was ok, but I REALLY wanted Quaker Steak and Lube, :( which just happens to be across the street)!

So instead I'm going to post this yummy dinner I made last week while my family was in town. It's tomato, mozzerella, and pesto on a ciabatta bread from the supermarket. It was so yummy and refreshing! To accompany the sandwich is an Orzo Salad and Fridge Pickles.

The Fridge Pickles recipe is courtesy of my DF Jillian! They are so good! All you do is slice cucumber. Then add equal parts of white vinegar, sugar, and water. She told me she normally uses about 1/2 cup each. She also told me that once you finish all the cucumbers in it, you can usually get one more use out of it just by adding some more cucumbers. She also adds some sliced onion (they end up being sweet and not over powering) and she adds pepper flakes. I didn't add pepper flakes because I don't have them on hand, shame on me! It's on my list!

The Orzo Salad is just about 1 cup (uncooked) orzo, cooked to package directions. Once it's cooled I add some olive oil, lemon juice, and dried basil. If I have it on hand I would much rather use fresh basil, but you have to make do with what you have sometimes. Then I add a container of feta and some chopped up watermelon. Leave in the fridge for several hours to cool. It doesn't keep very well more than 3 days. The watermelon tends to turn everything pink and it's just not as fresh.

The purple cup is filled with homemade ice tea. I make this on a regular basis as DH drinks it daily in the summer. I just brew 12 cups of water through the coffee maker to about 4 bags of lipton tea tied to the handle. DH recently saw that you should only let tea bags seap for 3 minutes, so make sure you don't leave them sitting in there too long. I let the tea cool a bit and then put it in the fridge.

For my tea I also add some simple syrup that I mix up about once a week. It's equal parts water to sugar boiled to a clear liquid. I use 1 cup water to 1 cup sugar. I let cool and then I have this little container I put it in the fridge. I never let it get a week old because I also use it in ice coffee, but it definitely could last more than a week at a time.

Pasta Tettrazini

For dinner tonight we had some spaghetti with a tettrazini sauce, salad, and a breadstick.

I cheat on breadsticks all the time! Once I tried to make them and it just did not work out right. So instead of even trying anymore, I just buy a box of frozen ones and take them out as I need them. They only take 7-10 minutes to cook and don't need to be defrosted. I suppose you could buy the fresher ones in the bread aisle, but then you'd have to use them all or freeze them anyway!

I always try to supplement pasta with salad. I need to fill up my hungry man and salad usually works! We always have lettuce, pepper, cucumber, and mozzerella on hand. I add tomatoes to mine. I've also still been working on my Cala's dressing, hehehe. Cala's is a local pizzaria near us that has really good dressing. My in laws gave us a container from my neices confirmation party and I transferred it to a fancy little pour jar.

The tettrazini sauce is super easy to make, but I must admit it works much better if you put it on pasta with chicken and then bake in the oven. It was very thick on pasta, but still was a good alternative to just plain marinara sauce.

The tettrazini recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Cookbook: Everything You Need To Know To Cook Today. I once asked a friend for a recipe and she told me it came from Betty Crocker. She wasn't into fancy recipes or foodnetwork.com. She told me sometimes it's just easier to go back to basics. So I find and use a lot of recipes or variations in this book.

For the sauce:
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup of chicken broth
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream (I personally only use skim milk which is what we always have on hand. This also makes for lower calorie sauces.)
2 tablesppons dry sherry or water (I use water.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and whipping cream (or milk as I used). Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Now the recipe that I used is supposed to be baked pasta and the parmesan is for the top. But I put the parmesan in the sauce. Then I topped the pasta with the sauce. It was a good meal for me, but I know DH didn't like it much because he didn't take leftovers (that's always the sign!!!)!!!

In the Beginning...

Well, I decided several days ago to finally do a food blog. I love cooking, I love cooking for others, and I love sharing what I cook. I think it might be more to make people hungry for what I eat, hahaha!

I must admit its been hard for me to figure out meals this year. Being preggers and having a toddler who has decided to eat practically nothing doesn't help! My hope with creating this blog is to activly get me to plan out more meals and eat at home. At the same time it will also help me be more effective with my grocery shopping, since I go to Giant Eagle just about every day!

I'm going to take this first weekend to look through some recipes and plan out this weeks meals so that on Monday I can begin my crusade of blogging at least every other day about the food that I cook!

As the Portuguese say, bom apetite!!