Recipes leading up to V-Day

Went commissary shopping Sunday. I didn't have many coupons this time around, but I managed to only spend $112. I will have to go back out for spinach and Ramona cheese - they were out! When we get back from being out of town, we'll have to pick up milk and some fruit for the week. Otherwise, we're set for 3 weeks! Yay! lol.

 Sunday night we grilled out kabobs with chicken, onion, green bell pepper, and red bell pepper. I marinated it all in zesty Italian dressing, and it was the yummiest ever! I also baked homemade fries in the oven. Also easy, and extremely tasty. 

We had chicken taco salads tonight. I threw two large chicken breasts in the crockpot along with a can of diced tomatoes (no salt added), homemade taco seasoning, and a can of diced chilies. Very yummy and spicy! There was enough for two large salads and two more lunch sized helpings. 

Tomato and Spinach Pasta Toss

Cheesy One-Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Just a note. While I post kraftfoods.com recipes, I often just loosely follow it. A lot of their recipes are easy and basic. It doesn't take much to make it healthier or to change it a bit. I don't really have my own adapted recipes of many of these such recipes cause I tend to do something slightly different each time depending on what I have available. 

Baked Fudge - I'm hoping this will satisfy my chocolate craving. :D I'm also debating picking up some strawberries to dip in chocolate - they're on sale at my local grocery! 

To Die For Fettuccine Alfredo - using this for the sauce. One of our favorites, though we rarely eat it. I love making my own pasta when I have the time, so I'll be making spinach pasta! Yummy!

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

·      1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

·      ½ teaspoon salt

·      1 cup milk

·      2 eggs, beaten

·      ½ cup applesauce

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      vanilla yogurt, for topping 

Directions

      Preheat oven to 325*F. In a large bowl combine the oatmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix in milk, eggs, applesauce, and brown sugar. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 325* for 45 minutes. Serve warm or hot, topping each with vanilla yogurt.

Menu: Feb 7 - 28

8^th Sunday Dinner: chicken kabobs, also grill hamburgers for Monday night

9^th – 13^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1.  Chicken taco salads
2. Beef wraps
3. Tomato and Spinach pasta toss
4. Cheesy one-pot chicken cacciatore
5.  (Mon) Hamburgers, au gratin potatoes, veggies

14^th Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: leftovers

14^th Saturday Dinner: homemade shrimp and spinach alfrado, baked fudge for dessert

15^th Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: Baked Oatmeal

15^th Sunday Dinner: leftovers

16^th Monday Breakfast/Lunch: Scrambled eggs and homemade biscuits

16^th Monday Dinner: out to eat

17^th-19^th: Tuesday - Thursday Meals:

1. Apple chicken quesadillas
2. Red beans and rice with smoked sausage
3. Frozen meal 1

Out of town 20^th, 21^st, and returning 22^nd.

22^nd Sunday Dinner: frozen pizzas

23^rd Monday Dinner: Creamy Chicken and Noodles

24^th – 27^th Tuesday – Friday Meals:

1. Baked fish, steamed rice, and veggie
2. Frozen ravioli
3. Spicy chicken stir-fry
4. Frozen meal 2

Grocery money and recipes...

A post on a military wives' group online got me thinking. Apparently DH and I do a great job of spending money wisely on food. I thought we did okay, but that we could be doing a lot better. After multiple posts the past few weeks on grocery budgets, I feel better about our food costs. We went to the commissary Saturday and spent $112.42 on food. A couple of items will not be completely used up this menu, or I bought it for next menu cause I had coupons that were about to expire. If I only bought exactly what we had to have, it would have been $10 cheaper. 

Anyways, some recipes...

Stove Top Chicken - found this in my last Southern Living magazine. Made for some very yummy chicken and some very flavorful broth! I changed the recipe they gave slightly - cause a couple of parts didn't make any sense at all. Basically I washed the chicken (4.5 lbs) and dug out the icky parts. I rubbed the chicken with a mixture of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Heated up a dutch oven. Put the chicken in breast side down with 1/4 cup blush wine (white is used, but I didn't have any of that already open) and 1/4 cup water. Brought to a boil, then covered. Cooked for one full hour (till 180*). YUMMY. I saved the broth to use for later. While I do occasionally buy carton and canned broth, I'll use my own if I have it. Now what they said to do was drop butter in the dutch oven while heating, brown the breast side of the chicken for 5 minutes. Then flip and add the wine and water mixture. Well, that's just stupid cause as soon as you put the lid on, condensation happens and the browned part just creates a brown mush skin. After all, I don't care about the skin - I care about the yummy meat! The meat was very good, and once I took all the meat off we had enough chicken to make two meals. :D

Meatloaf

Tonight we had MIL spaghetti. Remember awhile back when DH decided that he was going to cook his mother's spaghetti sauce? Well, we ate half of it for a dinner that night. I froze the other half and we had it tonight. There's still some leftover too - that'll become DHs lunch later in the week. 

I can't find one of the items that I need to make the cheesy chicken and potatoes, so I think I'm just going to invent something for that instead. lol. Yep, invent something with what I do have for that meal. Who knows what we'll end up with, but I'm sure it'll be edible!

I've never attempted a Jambalaya before. I've never had true NO style Jambalaya before either. But the 14th edition of BH&G's Cookbook has a recipe, and I'm going to try it! It has sausage and shrimp and rice....and well,  I love sausage, shrimp, and rice. I'll post it after I try it and type it up. 

Menu: Jan 24 - Feb 7

Weekend Baking: Apple Crisp

24^th Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: Egg in a Hole

24^th Saturday Diner: Stove Top Chicken, homemade mac and cheese, and veggie

25^th Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: Applesauce pancakes

25^th Sunday Dinner: Meatloaf, leftover mac and cheese, and veggie

26^th – 30^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Cheesy Chicken and Potatoes
2. Leftover MILs spaghetti
3. Chicken Parmesan
4. Jambalaya
5. leftovers

Weekend Baking: none

31^st Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: oatmeal and apples

31^st Saturday Dinner: Beer Batter Fish and fries

1^st Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: scrambled eggs and biscuits

1^st Sunday Dinner: Superbowl Sunday Party somewhere – spicy bean salsa

2^nd-6^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Beef Noodle Bowl
2. Frozen pizzas
3. Grilled cheese and frozen veggies
4. Cheesy chicken and rice casserole
5.  Out to eat (cheap Chinese)

Italian Minestrone Soup

Got this from one of the two cookbooks that my MIL gave to me for Christmas. This one is called Busy Woman's Quick and Easy Recipes. I've seen much better cookbooks, but there are a handful of recipes I'm going to try from it in the coming months.

Italian Minestrone

1 (16oz) package frozen onions and bell peppers

3 ribs celery, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 cup butter

2 (15oz) cans diced tomatoes (get the no salt added ones)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 (14oz) cans beef broth

2 (15oz) cans navy beans

2 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, sliced

1 cup elbow macaroni

Saute onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic in butter for about 2 minutes in soup pot. Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, and a little salt and pepper. Boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in beef broth, beans, zucchini and macaroni and boil. Reduce heat again and simmer for another 15 minutes or until macaroni is tender.

Since DH doesn't count meat free meals as meals, I'm thinking about adding some left over pork shoulder to the mix. I'm also considering fixing the pizza Monday and the BBQ shoulder Sunday. This way I can make BBQ pizza. Yummy!!! I even have some wonderful Corky's BBQ sauce left from back home. Mmmm. DH and I are both from just outside of Memphis, TN. You just can't beat the BBQ from back home, and boy does everyone love BBQ there!! I really miss Memphis in May BBQ Festival. Full of yummy shoulders, ribs, and whole pigs. All during a huge party on the river. One of the few things I miss about home! :)

Have a great long weekend everyone!