Seriously Good Sandwich & a Frappuccino

I was browsing some of my favorite food blogs recently and saw this recipe for Chicken Caesar Sandwiches that looked and sounded delicious.  Today, I remembered these sandwiches and decided to attempt to make them for lunch only I didn't have the recipe in front of me at the time nor did I have all of these ingredients.  So, I made up my own with what I had on hand. It was so good that I thought I would share,

Yummy Chicken Sandwich

2 chicken breasts

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Lemon

Garlic, 1 clove minced

Sandwich Rolls or Bread (I had some small sour dough sandwich rolls)

Caesar Dressing (bottled or homemade)

Lettuce

Sliced Tomato

Feta Cheese

I mixed up a few tablespoons of olive oil with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and juice of one lemon.  Rub each chicken breasts down with this mixture.  Heat a grill pan.  Cook chicken breasts in grill pan until good and brown on both sides.  Push chicken to one side to finish cooking through.  While chicken is cooking, brush your bread or rolls with a mixture of olive oil and fresh garlic.  Put bread cut-side-down in the grill pan to toast.

Once chicken is cooked through and bread is toasted, slice your chicken breasts. Then, make your sandwich with sliced chicken breasts, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato, feta cheese, and Caesar dressing. This made 3 sandwiches. So yummy!

With the sandwich, I made a homemade frappuccino.  My friend Lisa posted the recipe for these Starbucks clones on her blog last week. I bought some of the syrups she mentioned and made a caramel one today.  It was so good and great for summer!  The only problem was I only had enough coffee to make one and I was nice enough to share with Jason.

Menu Monday & Current Happenings

Well, it is definitely a sign that I've not been blogging much
lately when I go to login and cannot remember the password for our
blog. The camping trip was a success and lots of fun.  I will
try my best to post some pics this week.  I know you want to
know about the "s'nores" and "smarshmellows."

Today we ended up car shopping and were gone most of the
day.  We didn't set out to buy a car today, but happened on a
great deal and now own a "new-to-us" GMC Yukon.  The
best part is thanks to Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University we
will have no car payments. Woohoo!  We also own 2 vehicles again
which is going to be very nice, though after sharing one for almost 2
years I feel a little spoiled owning two.  

I have had no time to plan a menu for this week, and the best part
of posting these on the blog is that it's holds me accountable to
getting it done (well, sometimes).  Menu planning doesn't take
me too long these days unless I'm in the mood to browse cookbooks. 
Without further rambling, here's our menu for this week,

• Spaghetti, Marinara, Italian
  Chicken Sausage, Green
  Beans with Bread Crumbs, French Bread




• Carne Asada, Black Beans, Yellow Rice, Guacamole, Sopapilla
  Cheesecake



• Sloppy Joes, Baked Fries, Carrots, Fruit Salad


• Grilled Chicken, Quinoa, Salad

Menu Monday 5.3.10

Last week, I went to Costco for the first time and fell in love.  It is clean, full of organic and healthy choices, and just plain wonderful.  The only problem is that I usually plan my menus before I shop and there I just shopped.  I do have meat to last us at least a month and lots of other goodies, but my menu planning was backwards this week.  Though I must say I kinda enjoyed doing it this way and just hope I don't let any of these bulk items go to waste.  Here's what we are eating this week,

• Tostadas with Black Bean & Mango Salsa, Yellow Rice, & Salad


• Pork Chops with Dijon Sauce, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans


• Flank Steak Pinwheels, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Carrots


• Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi, Rice, Cucumber Salad (there will be chicken for a certain husband who doesn't eat fish)


• Grilled Hamburgers, Potato Wedges, Fruit Salad

Pantry Raid Menu Monday 4.26.10

Being that I really don't want to go to the grocery until hopefully Friday, we are going to be using up some stuff in the freezer and pantry.   With that plan, our meals will be the following,

• Leftover Night (which is tonight) - There's chicken, mac & cheese, chicken salad, hot dogs, roasted veggies, and who knows what else in there ;)


• Breakfast for dinner - Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, Sausage/Canadian Bacon, and Fruit


• Spaghetti and Marinara, Salad, Homemade Bread


• Chicken Fajitas, Rice, Beans


• Pot Roast, Potatoes, Green Beans

We have more stuff than I thought as I perused the pantry. Of course, this is due to the wonderfully nice church members who stocked up stuff for us before we got here.  It's been very helpful! :)

Edited to Add: Jason just came home and said let's go out to eat tonight after I said leftovers for dinner.  Little does he know that they will be still be good tomorrow.  ;0)

Menu Planning Monday

Now that we are pretty much settled in our new home, I figure I need to get into my regular routine of planning our weekly meals.  Awhile back when some friends and I were talking about cooking, they asked if I would be willing to share our menu each week.  I actually really enjoy the menu planning part as I get to peruse recipes and usually pick something new to try. So, I will try to post our menu each week on here.

For me, I don't like a strict schedule of meals so each week I plan 5-6 dinners and some breakfasts to cook and simply put the list on the fridge.  This number of meals works for us since we usually eat at the church once a week and eat out once a week.  Then, we typically eat leftovers or sandwiches for lunch so I don't plan those.

For this week, the meals are primarily old favorites with a friend's yummy pasta recipe thrown in.  Here you go,

• Canjun Chicken Pasta, Spinach Salad, French Bread 


• Mini Meatloaves, Roasted Potatoes, Smothered Green Beans


• Homemade Pizza (Thai for us & Pepperoni for the boys) & Thai Cucumber Salad


• Baked Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti & Marinara, Zucchini Cakes, Green Salad


• Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Dill Carrots, Dinner Rolls

Have fun cooking this week! :)

Mini Meatloaves were a BIG hit last night

It's not often that I can say everyone in my house cleaned their plates, but last night's dinner was a big hit.  I made mini meatloaves (or 'big meatballs" as Cole called them).  As usual, I looked at a few recipes and then started cooking without writing down what I did.  Since these were received so warmly, I decided I better try to remember what I did so I could make these again one day.  So here goes...

Mini Meatloaves

1 egg

1 cup milk

2/3 cup oats (old fashioned or quick ones work)

1 cup grated Cheddar Jack cheese (use whatever cheese you have on hand here)

1 carrot, grated (I used my micro plainer for so it was very fine)

1/2 onion, finely diced or grated

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

Glaze:

1 cup ketchup

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp Worcestershire

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Lightly grease or spray a muffin pan.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat your egg.  Then, pour in the oats, milk, cheese, carrots, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Mix together and let sit for 5-10 minutes so the oats soak up some of the liquid. Next add in the ground beef.  You're going to have get your hands in there and mix it up really good. Once it's all mixed together, form the meat into 12 balls and put them into your muffin pan.  They should fill the muffin cups.  Put them in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

While the meatloaves are cooking, mix together your glaze.  Stir ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire, onion powder, and lemon juice.  Once your meat has cooked for 30 minutes, spoon some glaze on each loaf.  Then, return to the oven for 15 more minutes.

Inspired by this recipe, Mini Meatloves, at allrecipes.com

Please keep in mind I rarely measure anything unless I am baking, so I don't think you can really mess these up.  I made Mashed Potatoes and Maple Dill Carrots (this is the best carrot recipe ever) with them.  I tried something new with the potatoes too.  A few weeks ago, I made Pioneer Woman's Creamy Mashed Potatoes and they are scrumptious, but I wanted to lighten it up a little. I used Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese, lowfat milk instead of cream, and a little less butter.  They were so yummy!

Greek yogurt is a new friend to me. It's a great substitute for sour cream or cream cheese in recipes.  I can't seem to find it at our local grocery store.  I get it at Natural Grocers in Amarillo, which is my new favorite store as we are trying to eat organic and natural (basically no chemicals).

For dessert, the boys had plain yogurt with blueberries and honey.  They love this! I like it because it's healthy, cheap, and easy.

Obsessed with Food Blogs & Websites

I truly enjoy cooking, but I LOVE recipes and finding new ones to try.  Is that weird? I used to have a rather large cookbook collection though I've weeded some out over the years. I still love to sit down and read a good cookbook from beginning to end.  Yes, I read through the entire thing including all the recipes.  It's combines my love of reading, eating, and cooking (maybe it's a sickness????). But with the internet brimming with incredible food blogs and sites, cookbooks are just not necessary anymore.

My "go-to" sites when I'm looking for a specific recipe or what to do with a specific food item are allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com.  I love that the recipes are reviewed by regular home cooks and you can sort by rating on both sites.  I will say that the Food Network site is slow and often cumbersome, but still some of my all-time favorites recipes are from there.

But food blogs are so fun to read.  I love reading about real cooks, their families, and the recipes they love.  I'm seriously obsessed and get a little rush going to Bloglines to see who has posted new recipes (I highly recommend using Bloglines or some other kind of reader to keep up with the blogs you like).  It's like getting a little peek into kitchens around this country and sometimes the world.

Here my current faves,

• The Pioneer Woman Cooks - I love her site in general, but her recipes are divine. 


• Annie's Eats


• Homesick Texan


• Weekly Dish


• Simply Recipes


• Food Blogga

Hope you enjoy! If you have a favorite food blog or site you love, please share.