MOM will be a little late...

So I totally let this month get away from me and right about now I should be posting my Month of Meals for July but...well...I haven't even started it. And we're leaving for vacation on Thursday so I've lost all motivation to plan tonight.

I'll give you this much:

July 1: Sandwiches
July 2: Salads
July 3: At the cabin!!!
July 4: At the cabin!!!
July 5: On the road back

Happy 4th of July everyone - MOM will be back next week!

Chicken Veggie Pasta

A good friend of ours brought this over after we had Joshua and it has been on our menu ever since! It is a perfect summer dish and I love that the veggies are mixed right in!

I am posting the original recipe, but our veggies usually include carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and red/yellow peppers. We've also switched over to whole wheat spaghetti - I highly recommend this! We think it is very yummy!

This was on the menu for tonight but will have to be put on hold - busy night and lots of leftovers to consume!

Chicken Veggie Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast cut lengthwise into strips
1 box spaghetti noodles
1 medium zucchini sliced
1 medium carrot sliced
1/2 small onion sliced
1/2 large green pepper chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bottle reduced-fat Italian dressing

Place chicken strips in a bowl or 1 gallon ziploc storage bag and cover completely with Italian dressing. Refrigerate and let marinate at least one hour before cooking.

Prepare spaghetti noodles as directed on box. Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat, add zucchini, onion, green pepper and carrot. Saute until zucchini, green pepper and carrot are soft and onion is transparent. When noodles are done, drain and add them to vegetable mix in skillet. Turn heat to low.

Grill chicken (I did ours on the George Foreman, if you have one) or brown chicken in separate skillet until there is no pink in the middle. Add chicken to noodles and veggies. Pour Italian dressing over mixture to taste. Toss noodles and veggies in dressing until coated evenly.

Serve warm. Top with Parmesan cheese if you wanna!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cookies

This is the perfect cookie recipe to make with the kids - thank you Screwed Up Texan! 3 ingredients, no messy eggs, very easy! And the cookies are actually fairly healthy - bonus!

I love pumpkin all year round, so Jeremiah and I made a double batch yesterday and they are delicious! I put some raw dough and baked cookies in the freezer - I will let you know how they come out later!

Check out the recipe here. Yum.

Calling all freezer meals!

We got a deep freeze yesterday.

I am so excited. Seriously. I got home from a MOPS Leadership meeting late, but I honestly wanted to go downstairs right then and start filling that big beautiful freezer up with all of the stuff that is overflowing out of our freezer on top of the fridge!

But I didn't. I actually showed restraint. Amazing.

The new freezer has got me thinking. I love making big batches of food and freezing it for later. Now I have the room to do that. So I need your help.

I am looking for two different kinds of recipes:

1. Freezer meals for new mommies that are not tomato-based or too spicy (I have seen what that can do to nursing babies!)
2. Freezer meals that our family - in all its picky glory - might like

I know it's a challenge but I believe in you :)

Now, enough restraint. Time to fill the freezer.

Chicken Marinara

This is one of Stephen's favorite meals. I've become pretty fond of it as well. Especially with some yummy garlic bread or breadsticks on the side.

This is what my plate looks like (sorry for the poor pictures - in a hurry to eat)...

And here is Stephen's plate.

He loves olives and Parmesan. I won't eat either.
And yet we still love each other :)

And here is the recipe. Enjoy.

Chicken Marinara

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 jar (28 oz.) meatless spaghetti sauce (I use Newman's Marinara - love it)

1/2 cup chicken broth

hot cooked spaghetti

In a nonstick skillet coasted with nonstick cooking spray, cook chicken for about 6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink; remove and keep warm.

Add mushrooms, garlic, basil and Italian seasoning to skillet; saute until mushrooms are tender. Stir in spaghetti sauce and broth. Add chicken; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Serve over pasta.

Confessions: I often substitute canned mushrooms pieces and stems for the fresh mushrooms and garlic powder (or Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic) for the garlic cloves. This is one of those recipes where I don't even measure out the ingredients anymore! And it still turns out yummy!

Mexican Beef and Corn Bread Pie

Mexican Beef and Corn Bread Pie

Ingredients

Meat Mixture
1 pound lean ground turkey

½ - 1 cup of your favorite salsa (I used Wholly Salsa Mild)

½ package taco seasoning (I used McCormick’s 30% Less Sodium Taco Seasoning)
10-ounce package frozen whole-kernel corn

Corn Bread Mixture
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Whites of 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon canola or corn oil

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the turkey for 4 to 5 minutes, or until no longer pink, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the remaining meat mixture ingredients. Reduce the heat and simmer while you prepare the corn bread mixture.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, and baking powder, and sugar and salt if desired. In a small bowl, stir together the egg whites, milk, and oil. Pour into the dry mixture. Mix lightly to avoid overbeating- this is VERY important!

Spoon the meat mixture into a baking pan – I used a 9x13 pan but it would work well in a 10-inch square pan. It did NOT work well for me in an 8-inch square pan. Spoon the corn bread mixture over the meat; spread lightly to cover the surface.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the corn bread is golden brown. Do not overcook!

FYI: My only complaint - the crust can get a little dry. Any suggestions?

Kabobs or kebabs?

However you spell it, they are yummy!

I marinated the meat all afternoon in Kraft's Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing & Marinade. So easy and excellent!

I think red and yellow peppers are beautiful.

I also added zucchini, mushrooms, and - my favorite - pineapple. The pineapple really completes it for me. And I convinced Stephen of the same. Small victory for me.

Yum.

Nice job with the grill Stephen. The best part - very little clean-up!

So how do you spell it?

MOM: June 2009

Here is our Month of Meals (MOM) for June 2009!

We love to grill in the summer if you couldn't tell! The grill and crockpot are my friends in the summer when I don't want to use the oven and heat up the house! Our Wednesday nights are busy with church activities so we keep it simple those days - usually subs or leftovers.

June 1 - Turkey Tacos
June 2 - Chicken Chili
June 3 - Leftovers
June 4 - Oven-Fried Chicken
June 5 - Grilled Pork Chops
June 6 - Homemade Pizza
June 7 - Dinner with friends!
June 8 - Grilled Steak Kabobs
June 9 - Mexican Beef and Corn Bread Pie
June 10 - Subs & Salads
June 11 - Chicken Marinara
June 12 - Grilled Buffalo Burgers
June 13 - Out of Town
June 14 - Out of Town
June 15 - Godfathers (coming back from out of town)
June 16 - Chicken Tacos
June 17 - Subs & Salads
June 18 - Quesadillas (with leftover chicken taco meat)
June 19 - Spaghetti
June 20 - Guests from out of town - meal TBA
June 21 - Small group dinner
June 22 - Apple-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
June 23 - Pulled Pork Sandwiches
June 24 - Leftovers
June 25 - Chicken Veggie Pasta
June 26 - Grilled Salmon
June 27 - French Dip Sandwiches
June 28 - Summer Bash at church!
June 29 - Leftovers
June 30 - Chicken Tortilla Soup

A Month of Meals

Ok, I am finally getting around to putting up our monthly menu. I've thought about it for a while now but, well, I was just lazy. So now I will put it up as I finish it (usually the end of the month before - a few days late this time around).

Why a monthly menu? Stephen loves looking at the menu and knowing what's coming. I like not having to plan meals on the fly! It works well for us.

You will notice that we are very boring people as far as meals go. I may try to throw something new in every once in a while (for my benefit mostly), but I stick to the menu as much as possible.

Unless the Pioneer Woman posts something yummy. Or any of the new blogs I discovered this weekend. Then the menu might change.

If you ever want a recipe, just let me know! Or if you want to send me one, I would like that too!