What's for dinner?

Every weekend (usually Sunday morning), I sit down and plan out what we will be eating for dinner during the week.  Thanks to a few food blogs and pinterest, it makes the planning a little easier.  I am still using the menu board that I made over a year ago.  Deciding what we are having for dinner for the week also makes the trip to the grocery store much easier.  I used to find myself buying all sorts of things and spending a small fortune and still having nothing to cook.  Planning ahead really does help, especially now that Lillian is here and she takes up a lot of time in the evening once I am home from work.
This week our menu looks like this....

Here are a few links to the recipes for this week (in case you care to try any of them as well)...

Sunday- I love pasta, especially with creamy alfredo sauce.  Since we are trying to eat somewhat healthy on most days, I decided to try out this healthier version.  I bought some whole wheat noodles to go with the alfredo sauce and blackened chicken.

Monday- We eat a lot of chicken, so I decided to throw in some pork chops when I came across this Paula Deen recipe (she is still a great chef despite all the media hoopla).  The red pepper soup sounds fancy, but it is not homemade.  Campbell's Go soups are so delicious!  You should give one of them a try!

Tuesday- I love stuffed bell peppers, and I love Mexican food!  What a better way to combine the two than with this recipe.  (Just don't tell my husband it's made with ground turkey!)  I also found this cilantro lime rice recipe I think should go perfect with the peppers.

Wednesday- Squash is in season right now, and we love chicken, so what better way to use both than to make a chicken squash bake.

Thursday-  We will join some great friends for dinner for E's night out.

Friday-  I decided to do something nice for my husband and make his favorite meal.  I asked him what his all time favorite was would be, and this is what he said, "steak, my mom's mashed potatoes, and green beans or any type of pea."  My sister came in town when Lillian was first born and made us some incredible steaks using the cast iron skillet, so I will attempt to recreate them.  I don't think I can make mashed potatoes quite like my MIL, but I think I can come close.  The green beans I can handle.  I hope it makes for a happy hubby!

Saturday-  I really like fish, but only if it doesn't taste "fishy."  This is my "go to" recipe for fish.  It is so good!! The fish has a tomato sauce with it, so I decided to make some okra and tomatoes with rice to finish off the meal.  My MIL gave us some fresh okra the other day that needs to be cooked.

Here to hoping I stick with the plan this week...
And as my girl Paula Deen says,

"Love & Best Dishes,"

No Farms No Food

The Shreveport Farmer's Market started yesterday. It's always one of my favorite things this time of the year. It is held on Saturday morning from 7-12 and Tuesday evening from 3-6. This past Saturday we got up and about early and headed downtown to see what we could find. Lillian got to experience her first Shreveport Farmer's Market! It was very crowded and already hot outside. We were wanting squash and strawberries. We did find 2 eight ball squash/zucchini so we snatched those up. I had never heard of them before last year when we found them at the market. We did not see any strawberries that looked good to us, but we did end up with some other goodies. A booth out there called Comfort Food was selling pre-made meals and mixes, so we bought cinnamon rolls from them that sounded delicious. Can't wait to try them! We also came across a dairy farmer's booth who was selling fresh milk, heavy cream, and butter. We were intrigued and decided to buy a half gallon of their chocolate milk. It should go good with a cinnamon roll! We will have to go earlier in the morning next time because a lot of the booths were sold out of things we would have bought. I'm glad Shreveport offers a farmer's market! It is a good thing for people to do with their families, it helps the farmers, and it introduces people to new foods and experiences!

Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Although I wasn't really wanting to, I made dinner tonight. I thawed some chicken and didn't want it to be wasted, so I browsed Pinterest and found a recipe. I tweaked the recipe a little to make it more my style. It turned out great! I highly recommend you make this one night soon! (It only takes about 25-30 minutes)

What you will need...
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 medium red onion
1 avocado
2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil

What to do...
Turn the oven to 350. Prep your chicken (cut off fat, etc.) Mix salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt together in small bowl. Rub spice mixture over both sides of chicken. Heat olive oil in skillet (I used a cast iron skillet) over medium high heat. Brown each side of chicken for about 3 minutes. Place chicken in baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. While chicken bakes, dice onion and place in bowl. Pour lime juice over onion and add cumin, mix together. Chop avocado (keep it pretty chunky). Fold the avocado into the onion mixture, being careful not to mash the avocado.
Spoon the avocado salsa over the chicken (the more the better) and serve immediately.

I paired the chicken with a salad and corn. It was a light but filling dinner! Enjoy! :)

Summer is Here and the Grillin' is Good

I don't know about you, but summertime makes me think of being outdoors and grilling.  Here in Louisiana it can be tough to enjoy the outdoors because it is so stinkin' hot!  Lately, Jon and I have been trying to do more outside, especially before the real summer heat hits.  We went to Hot Jazz on the Red again.  Unfortunately while we were there a bird decided to use Jon at it's port-a-potty.

Me and my handsome hubby @ Hot Jazz on the Red

The other night I was able to get off of work, so we joined some friends at the pool.  I forgot to put on sunscreen, so I am a little on the burnt side now.  After we left the pool we all came to our house, and Jon grilled us some burgers.  They were delicious!   I think that got Jon in the grilling mood, so last night he grilled some chicken and a potato recipe I found on pinterest.  Once again, delicious!

cheesy grilled potatoes via Pinterest

I only have 2 more nights in which I have to work a night shift.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be at home at night and to spend time with my husband.  We always enjoy cooking and eating dinner together, and now we can do that every night!  I see many more grilled dinner nights in our future!  I also see a lot more nights like this in our future...

The three pictures I used in this post make me think of my latest Facebook status...

"Listening to Texas country music, 

dinner is on the grill, 

glass of wine in my hand, 

and my husband by my side...

this is the life!"

fruits of his labor

I should actually have titled it "veggies of his labor."

My husband likes to plant a garden every year, but at the end of "growing season" he swears he's not doing it again.  One year, when we still lived in a tiny duplex, our super tiny porch was overgrown with all sorts of peppers!  Another year he grew grapes and tomatoes.  Our first year in our house he went all out and planted a huge garden with all types of tomatoes, blueberries, peppers, etc.  Last year he went with squash, okra (or so he thought- it ended up being cucumbers), and watermelon.  This year he again said he was not doing a garden because it's a lot of work, but we were at the nursery and he couldn't pass up a few plants.  He decided on 3 tomatoes, 4 sugar snap peas, and 4 kentucky wonder green bean plants.    So far we have had 1 little tomato, a handful of peas, and a TON of green beans!  I don't think the poor snap pea plants will survive the hot summer we are about to endure.

green beans plants

up close

We are enjoying all the green beans!  We have used them for a side dish for 2 meals and have another meal planned tomorrow that will include them.

one of the yummy meals

I know having a garden is a lot of work, and I help very minimally (I can't keep any plants alive), but I think next year I would like to plant things for a salad.  Maybe we could grow some different types of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers...it's just a thought...that I will definitely have to approve with the hubby...because like I said it will be veggies of his labor.

DIY Menu Board

Are you like me and tired of trying to figure out what is for dinner?  Jon and I are constantly scrambling for ideas at 6 or 7 at night which inevitably leads to us going out to dinner.  As I had mentioned before, we are trying to learn to live on a budget, and going to out to eat almost every night is not going to work.  I came up with the idea of making out a menu for a week at a time, that way we would be prepared and know what to make for dinner.  My next idea was to make a menu board that was not cheesy looking so that we could hang it in the kitchen.  I turned to google and pinterest and came up with a few ideas which led me to Hobby Lobby.  This is what I came up with...

-all my supplies-

-painted the letters-

-ironed the fabric-

-wrapped the fabric around the frame backing-

-glued the letters to the fabric-

-applied the stickers to the fabric-

-placed it all in the frame-

-hung it on the side of the refrigerator-

So far I have been good about filling it out (I just write on the glass with a dry erase marker) and sticking with the plan.  It has really helped out so far, especially with Jon and I on different shifts and working different days now.  Hopefully I will continue to stick with it and make it a habit!

November is upon us

I thought this past weekend of work was never going to end! We did dress up for Halloween on Sunday at work.  The theme of our unit was rockstars, and my co-workers looked more "rockstarish" than I did.  I did have some pretty sweet horns that the MIL bought for me! But thank goodness the weekend of work did end!!

On Monday our sweet babies got their "fur did" and I must say they are precious!
That night I decided to make a new chili recipe from Annie's Eats and we invited Jon's parents over to join us for dinner.  I definitely have to recommend this recipe! My husband was somewhat skeptical about the meal because it does have ground turkey, but he loved it anyway!  After dinner we sat around the house waiting for trick-or-treaters that never showed, but that's okay because we enjoyed the candy ourselves while watching Monday night football.  On Tuesday morning I finally went to my long awaited neurologist appointment.  It went well, I suppose.  I like the doctor, I feel she listened and really put into consideration what I have been going through.  She started me on Topamax and wants me to change my eating habits (cutting out as much MSG as possible).  The Topamax will also be a trial and error drug, like all the ones before.  I have to slowly increase my dose in hopes that it helps my headaches but does not cause the unwanted side effects.  If this doesn't work then we will have to try yet another drug. In a way I hope that this is the drug that works because I am tired of playing the trial and error game, but on the other hand if it does work I will have to stop taking it once Jon and I decide to start a family.   Oh the joys of these dang headaches! Why can't they just go away on their own?!  (I guess they are just stubborn like me!)
Wednesday and Thursday will consist of working, but we will have the weekend off!!  Saturday morning we are taking our family (Jon, myself, and the pups) Christmas card pics.  And of course Saturday night we will be cheering on the LSU Tigers for the biggest game of the season against Alabama!  Geaux Tigers!!

I hope everyone has/had a wonderful week and weekend!

Don't knock it til you try it!

I used to be totally against Sushi.  I mean raw fish, come on! I would always say that I hated it (although I had never even tried it.)  When Jon and I moved to Fort Worth we found a restaurant there called Piranha Killer Sushi, this is where I found out that I loved sushi!  I finally tried it and now I'm hooked.  I am still not very daring with what I eat, but I do eat the raw stuff.  Jon on the other hand loves the straight up super raw fish on a hunk of rice stuff.  I mainly eat rolls that have a combo of things, including raw fish.  This past week we went to Sushi Gen here in town with the in-laws.  It is one of our favorite places to get sushi around here.  I am picky about where I will order sushi from.  The place must be clean, not hot or musty, and most importantly, can not smell like fish.  I know you probably think I am crazy?!  Sushi Gen meets all of the criteria.  When we went this past week we decided to try the Monkey Brains appetizer that we have heard so many people talk about.  It consists of avocado, crab, and spicy tuna.  It was delish!  For dinner I had the spicy tuna roll (one thing I always order) and a combo roll called the Red Dragon Roll that was made of shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, spicy tuna and crab on top.  I was very impressed.  Jon ordered the Sexy Trio roll, which was an ordinary spicy tuna roll but was topped with salmon, yellow tail, and eel, and mackerel and eel sushi.  I did try a piece of his Sexy Trio roll and it was pretty good.  The in-laws are not fans of raw fish so they had shrimp and chicken fried rice and were very pleased with their dinner.

Monkey Brains

Jon's dinner

my dinner

I am very glad that I decided to give the raw fish a try.  Although I'm not very adventurous in my sushi intake, I still really enjoy what I do eat! 

Chicken {tortilla} Soup for the Soul

Jon and I both work every other weekend, so on those days it's nice to have a quick, easy, and delicious meal to be able to prepare before work.   I am also a lover of the crock pot (I do believe it was one of the best inventions ever!).  So when I find a recipe that sounds delicious and is able to be put in the crock pot when I get home in the morning and then a wonderful meal is ready when I wake up, I am all about it!   And as most of you know, I LOVE Mexican food! One of my favorite, if not my favorite, mexican restaurants in town is Superior Bar and Grill.  Well, I was flipping through a cookbook we have, Louisiana's Best Restaurant Recipes, and I stumbled upon a Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe from Superior!  Fabulous was the first thing that came to mind!  So this morning I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few items, went home and chopped them up, and then threw them in the crock pot to mix and mingle and create a wonderful dish!  Here is the recipe...

Chicken Tortilla Soup

from Superior Grill

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon water

1 (16 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes

2 (8-10 oz) skinless chicken breasts, uncooked

1 (16 oz) can tomato juice

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon garlic powder

3 jalapenos, finely chopped

1 1/2 oz chicken base

1 potato, peeled and cubed

1 yellow squash, cubed

1/4 head cabbage, chopped

1/3 cup rice

1 zucchini, cubed

4 ribs celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

Directions:

In a large stockpot, combine water, tomatoes, chicken, tomato juice, spices, jalapenos, and chicken base. Bring to a boil, then add remaining ingredients; lower temperature to let simmer for 10-15 minutes.  After it has simmered, use a potato masher to stir contents until all chicken has broken up and spread throughout the soup.  It is then ready to serve.

I definitely made some changes to the recipe.  For one, I put all the ingredients, minus the chicken, in the crock pot this morning and put it on low.  Once, I woke up this afternoon I put in the chicken and cranked up the pot to high.  I let it cook about 2 more hours and then proceeded with the potato masher step.  Also, instead of 1 16 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, I used a 10 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes and 1 can rotel tomatoes (I probably use rotel tomatoes for everything).  Do NOT mistake chicken base for chicken stock/broth...it's not quite the same thing!  I am glad I looked this up before making this recipe.  Chicken base is powdered stock.  I only put in 3 ribs of celery, because instead of chopping up an onion and making myself cry, I used Season's Blend (another great invention!).  If you don't know what Season's Blend is then you are missing out.  (Not too long ago I didn't know what it was, but my friend Shannon introduced me to this chopped onion, celery, green bell pepper blend in the freezer section...Season's Blend=godsend).  Notice the recipe does not call for salt....it should!  I realized there was not salt in the ingredient list, but I figured it would be salty enough with the can tomatoes and the tomato juice, but I was wrong.  You definitely need to add some salt. (I don't know how much because I added mine to my bowl once it was cooked.) Also, garnishing your bowl of soup with some sliced avocado and crispy tortilla strips would top it off just right!  I hope you like this recipe as much as I did, and I hope you are having a great weekend!

A Taste of 2Johns

and the Cub too....There is a restaurant here in town named 2Johns that is one of mine and Jon's favorites.  They have a steak on their menu called Steak Au Poivre which is a pepper crusted filet.  It is A-MAZING!  Jon decided to look up a recipe on how to make au poivre sauce and try it out on Sunday night.   It turned out wonderful!  My Jon gave 2Johns a run for their money!  I will now have a hard time paying for the steak when I know that my awesome husband can make me one!  I contributed to the dinner by making au gratin potatoes, using a recipe from a restaurant here in town named the Cub (they are supposedly known for these au gratin potatoes).   I must say that they turned out really good as well.  Overall it was a fabulous dinner!

the steaks (still raw)

the peppercorns after my husband got to them

searing the steaks

catching the brandy on fire

making the au poivre sauce

voila!

Steak Au Poivre Recipe

(courtesy of Alton Brown of the Food Network)

Ingredients

4 tenderloin steaks, 6 to 8 ounces each and no more than 1 1/2 inches thick

Kosher salt
2 tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 cup Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon (my husband used Brandy and it turned out great)
1 cup heavy cream


Directions
Remove the steaks from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour prior to cooking. Sprinkle all sides with salt.
Coarsely crush the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, the bottom of a cast iron skillet, or using a mallet and pie pan. Spread the peppercorns evenly onto a plate. Press the fillets, on both sides, into the pepper until it coats the surface. Set aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil. As soon as the butter and oil begin to turn golden and smoke, gently place the steaks in the pan. For medium-rare, cook for 4 minutes on each side. Once done, remove the steaks to a plate, tent with foil and set aside. Pour off the excess fat but do not wipe or scrape the pan clean.
Off of the heat, add 1/3 cup Cognac to the pan and carefully ignite the alcohol with a long match or firestick. Gently shake pan until the flames die. Return the pan to medium heat and add the cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and whisk until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the teaspoon of Cognac and season, to taste, with salt. Add the steaks back to the pan, spoon the sauce over, and serve.

Enjoy!

The next Paula Deen...

Ha! I wish! I sure do love cooking though!  Maybe since I am starting to cook more and experimenting with my cooking, I might be half as good as Paula Deen when I have great grandchildren (yes, I said great grand).  Since the lifestyle change I have been trying to cook more, although they may not be the healthiest meals, they sure are delicious!  Two of the meals I made last week I felt were "bloggable."

One night I decided I wanted to cook something with the okra that we picked up from the farmer's market.  After looking through our collection of cookbooks, I came up with my own idea on how to cook okra and tomatoes.  Then I had to decide what I could cook to go with the okra and tomatoes...I settled on baked chicken.  It turned out pretty darn good! 

The start of the okra and tomatoes...bacon always makes everything taste better!

The yummy okra from the local farmer's market

add in the tomatoes and few other key ingredients

then add the okra and voila...okra and tomatoes!

Dinner is served- baked chicken with okra and tomatoes served over rice! Delish!

The next "bloggable" meal started when I decided to cook some pork chops.  I usually smother pork chops in some sort of gravy, but this time I didn't want to.  So I turned to one of my favorite food blogs, Annie's Eats, and found a recipe for parmesan crusted pork chops.  The recipe was very simple and the chops turned out great!  My next decision was choosing sides...so I went with what we had...sweet corn and asparagus.  I remembered another recipe that I had flagged on Annie's Eats, where you topped asparagus with tomatoes and feta, so I tried it out.  I love tomatoes and feta cheese so I knew I couldn't go wrong!

seasoned pork chops (I took it upon myself to add the seasoning I prefer)

dip chops in parmesan cheese, then egg, then bread crumbs

then drop them in the skillet (P.S. I LOVE cooking in a cast iron skillet!)

asparagus with tomatoes and feta

Another yummy dinner!
(Please excuse the poor picture quality...1 I am not a photographer and 2 they were taken with my iphone.) 

Since the lifestyle change that I previously mentioned, the hubby and I have completed week 1 of Couch to 5K! Woohoo!  We were supposed to start week 2 yesterday, but my crazy sleeping habits/schedule didn't allow me to get out of the bed until after lunch.  We don't like going to the gym after lunch because it's a mad house.  So week 2 of Couch to 5K will start on Wednesday.  

Hope you have a great first week of AUGUST!