Changes to last week

My weekly menu changed around a little last week. Wednesday night my husband ended up going out with friends so I invited my friends and their children over for a play date so we had a Pizza dinner party that night. We moved Chicken Enchiladas (recipe posted) to Thursday night.
Friday and Saturday night we were out of town for a little mini vacation with friends for the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately my husband has to work on Monday so we came back late on Sunday afternoon. After unpacking I did not feel like cooking so we ordered some Bar B Q food to go and have enough for leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Menu for next week to be posted soon.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp. oil

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 can (14.5 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained

1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided

1/2 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

8 flour tortillas (6 inch)

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK and stir onions in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 4 to 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, 3/4 cup cooking creme and shredded cheese.

SPOON about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining cooking creme. Cover.

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until heated through.

Mini Ham and Egg Casseroles

This is a recipe from Every Day with Rachael Ray. These mini casseroles are so yummy. I served them with a green salad and fruit.

Mini Ham and Egg Casseroles

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 baguette, cut into small cubes
• 4 ounces cream cheese, cut crosswise into 12 slices
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced ham, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 scallions, white and green portions thinly sliced and separated
• Pepper
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 pound plum tomatoes, sliced into wedges
• Salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup halfway with bread cubes. Top each with a cream cheese slice.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the ham, scallion whites and a pinch of pepper. Cook, stirring, until the scallions are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the half-and-half and bring just to a simmer before removing from the heat.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and thyme, then whisk in the warm half-and-half mixture. Fill the muffin cups with the egg mixture and bake until puffed and golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a cooling rack.

4. Drizzle the tomato slices with olive oil, top with the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper. Serve with the mini casseroles.

Corkscrew Chicken Ceasar Salad

16 oz Mueller's Corkscrew pasta
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced
1/2 lb Roma or vine ripe tomatoes cut into small wedges (I have used grape tomatoes also)
1 bunch of green onions, diced
1 1/2 cups of creamy ceasar salad dressing
1 cup toasted croutons
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• Cook the pasta according to package directions
• Rinse with cold water and drain
• Place the cooled pasta in a large bowl
• Stir together tomatoes, green onions, chicken and pasta; add dressing and mix thoroughly (remember Less is More with salad dressing, I never add the full amount; I add small amounts and mix and then decide if I want to add more)
• Top with croutons and Parmesan cheese before serving.
• Chill before serving.
• Serving suggestion: serve corkscrew chicken salad over a bed of romaine lettuce.
  

"Now, I know why Garfield likes Lasagna so much!'

Tonight, I made Broccoli and 3-cheese lasagna, a recipe from Real Simple magazine's Weeknight meals section. My son, Luke responded with,"Now, I know why Garfield likes Lasagna so much!"

The dish was very easy to assemble and very easily could be put together early in the day and baked later. It was delicious and I am sure will make very yummy leftovers.

Broccoli and Three-Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce container ricotta (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 pound frozen broccoli florets—thawed, patted dry, and chopped
• 2 1/4 cups grated mozzarella (9 ounces)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 16-ounce jar marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 no-boil lasagna noodles

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400º F. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, broccoli, 2 cups of the mozzarella, ¼ cup of the Parmesan,½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. In a small bowl, combine the marinara sauce and cream.
2. Spoon a thin layer of the sauce into the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. Top with 2 noodles, a quarter of the remaining sauce, and a third of the broccoli mixture; repeat twice. Top with the remaining 2 noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of mozzarella and ¼ cup of Parmesan.
3. Cover tightly with an oiled piece of foil and bake until the noodles are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until the top is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

By Sara Quessenberry, December 2009

The boys' first Crawfish Boil

Today we went to party thrown by my husbands' business and it was the first time my boys' have experienced a crawfish boil. We had a blast; I wished a had taken more pictures, but my hands were too busy eating.

Chicken Fajitas

Sunday night we had chicken fajitas for dinner. We grilled the chicken breast after marinading it over night in a Steak seasoning and soy sauce mixture and then broiled green peppers and onions that were seasoned with soy sauce and Tony C's creole seasoning.
This dinner is another in my "make you own" theme.
On the table we had warmed flour tortillas along with the following available for Fajita toppings:

• Green peppers and onions
• sliced tomatoes with cilantro
• shredded cheddar cheese
• salsa
• Breakstone's Zesty Blends Sour Cream Jalapeno flavor which is a new product that we were trying for the first time and it was really yummy and added a little spice to the fajitas.
  

Salmon patties

These are so easy and yummy!! I used to make these quite often before we had children and for some reason haven't ever made them for my boys. They loved them and wondered why I had never made them before.

I took 2 cans of boneless pink canned salmon and mixed it with chopped onion and bell pepper. I added a few spices like paprika, salt, pepper and a favorite in our house, Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning. I added one egg to the mixture and enough bread crumbs to keep the mixture together enough to form patties. Then, after I formed the patties I put more bread crumbs on the outside of the patties.
Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a pan over Med-High heat. Fry patties a few minutes on each side until brown and crispy.
We used a homemade spicy mayo dip (mayo, Sriracha, a little wasabi and a small amount of lemon juice) for dipping.

Chicken and Dumplings

This is a meal I used to be afraid of preparing because it seemed complicated but it is really very easy with very few ingredients.

• Saute sliced onions and celery in a small amount of butter and salt and pepper
• Add cooked chicken, I use shredded rotisserie chicken, then add around 3 cups of chicken broth to the pot.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Two options for dumplings are, using the recipe for dumplings on the back of the Bisquick box or using refrigerated biscuits.
• When using refrigerated biscuits, use the "cheap" kind, not flaky layers or Grands. I cut the biscuits up in 4 pieces per biscuit and then lightly coat all the biscuit pieces in flour before adding to the chicken broth mixture. Cook stir occasionally until biscuit dough is cooked though.
  

Make your own pizza night

This meal is always a hit at our house. I just put out a platter with different toppings and let the boys make their own pizza. Normally, I buy the packs of pizza crust that have 3 small crusts in a package but they were not on sale this week so I bought the bigger crusts and just cut a bigger one into 3 pieces for each boy to do his own pizza.


Some topping suggestions:
Green pepper
Mushrooms
Onions
Black olives
Tomatoes
Ham
Pepperoni
Feta cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

Hoisin Chicken over Sticky rice

Sunday, we tried a new recipe from Publix Apron's Simple Meals. Let's just say Hoisin sauce and garlic cheese spread do not go well together. We put everything on our plates and everyone tried a bit of the chicken and all quickly agreed how BAD it tasted.

We ended up salvaging some of our previous nights' leftovers and the side dishes from tonights' dinner. We had rice balls made from our leftover sushi rice, pickled carrots and cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and we made a quick tamago (Japanese sweet rolled omelet).

I hated admitting that what I had made was inedible, but sometimes you just have to be able to move on...

Sushi on Saturday

We had spicy special California rolls, Tampa rolls, Futomaki rolls, seaweed salad with crab, crab stick and tamago (Japanese sweet rolled omelet). This is a dinner we have to practically fight our boys to get our share!!!

Marzetti Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip Giveaway Winners

I only had 2 entries for this giveaway so I will be sending you both a $2 coupon and a recipe booklet. I will be contacting you both for contact information very soon. Thanks for commenting and following my blog.

Chicken Nachos

Friday night, I used the leftover Salsa Chicken from Wednesday night to make "Super Nachos".
I just topped Tostitos Scoops Nacho chips with the salsa chicken, jalapeno peppers, olives, scallions, cilantro and shredded cheddar cheese and baked until hot in the oven.
I served it with sour cream and fruit on the side.

Cinco de Mayo and a night off from cooking for Mom

This has been a crazy, busy week so far and I had to volunteer all day at my boys' school for their annual Spring Fling, so we decided to go out to dinner tonight.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Children, Don't need a short order cook...

I wrote this post as a participant in the Eat, Play, Love blog carnival hosted by Meals Matter and Dairy Council of California to share ideas on positive and fun ways to teach children healthy eating habits. A list of other registered dietitians and moms who are participating in the carnival will be listed at the bottom of this post or can be found on Meals Matter.

When my boys were very little, I made the mistake of serving each child a different meal. I felt like I was doing the right thing at that time because I was serving each child something that they liked, but in retrospect I was doing them and myself a disservice. I was not only exhausting myself but I was raising children who wouldn't try anything new. I decided to change my ways and now my children are very adventurous eaters. In the beginning, it was hard to tell the boys that what I cooked for dinner was everyone's dinner and that I would not be preparing anything else. My husband helped to support me and reassure me that our children would not starve and would eat when they were hungry.

I don't know where I heard or read the following statement, "it can take up to 12-15 times for a new food to be offered before a child will accept it", but I firmly believe it to be true. There are many meals that I have had to serve over and over again before my children would accept them in our family's meal rotation. I have one son who for a very long time wouldn't eat anything in a red sauce, so each time I served chili or spaghetti he would not eat. After repeatedly being exposed to red sauces, he decided to just "poke" a few bites of food and would nibble on it. Later, he took bites. Now he gobbles it down, red sauce and all!

Another way to get children to eat things they might not usually try is not labeling each thing. Just last night, we were having homemade chicken pot pie that had mixed vegetables in it. One of my sons saw a lima bean and said, "not sure what this is but I am going to try it and said he liked it!" I wonder though if I would have told him if it was a lima bean if he would have said, "YUCK!" and not even tried the new food.

My husband and I decided that since we like to eat a very culturally diverse and flavorful diet then our children should also. I also believe that children will want to try new foods when they observe their parents eating them. When our boys were younger we would wait until they had been fed a boring, bland dinner and then we would have sushi or a spicy Mexican, Indian or Thai meal. After a few times, having our dinner almost stolen off our plates by boys curious about new flavors we started sharing our love of ethnic foods. Now our children beg for exotic dishes like sushi and eel rice.

To all the Moms out there that work so hard to get dinner on the table, don't take it personally because even the best of eaters can turn their noses up at what used to be their favorite meal.
So don’t give up! Keep exposing your child to new foods and returning old favorites to the dinner table and before long, you’ll have a child who eats without an argument.

Don’t stop here! Join the carnival and read other Eat, Play, Love blogs from dietitians and moms offering the best advice on raising healthy eaters. And if you don’t get enough today, for more positive, realistic and actionable advice from registered dietitian moms, register for the free, live webinar Eat, Play, Love: Raising Healthy Eaters on Wednesday, May 18.

The Best-Kept Secret for Raising Healthy Eaters, Maryann Jacobsen, MS, RD
Feeding is Love, Jill Castle, MS, RD, LDN
5 Quick Ways to Prepare Veggies with Maximum Flavor, Dayle Hayes, MS, RD
The Art of Dinnertime, Elana Natker, MS, RD
Children Don’t Need a Short Order Cook, Christy Slaughter
Cut to the Point - My Foodie Rules, Glenda Gourley
Eat, Play, Love - A Challenge for Families, Alysa Bajenaru, RD
Eat, Play, Love ~ Raising Healthy Eaters, Kia Robertson
Get Kids Cooking, Jessica Fishman Levinson, MS, RD, CDN
Kid-Friendly Kitchen Gear Gets Them Cooking, Katie Sullivan Morford, MS, RD
Kids that Can Cook Make Better Food Choices, Glenda Gourley
Making Mealtime Fun, Nicole Guierin, RD
My Top Ten Tips for Raising Lifelong Healthy Eaters, EA Stewart, RD
My No Junk Food Journey – Want to Come Along?, Kristine Lockwood
My Recipe for Raising Healthy Eaters: Eat Like the French, Bridget Swinney MS, RD, LD
Playing with Dough and the Edible Gift of Thyme, Robin Plotkin, RD, LD
Picky Eaters Will Eat Vegetables, Theresa Grisanti, MA
Putting the Ease in Healthy Family Eating, Connie Evers, MS, RD, LD
Raising a Healthy Eater, Danielle Omar, MS, RD
Raising Healthy Eaters Blog Carnival & Chat Roundup, Ann Dunaway Teh, MS, RD, LD
Soccer Mom Soapbox, Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD
Teenagers Can Be Trying But Don’t Give Up, Diane Welland MS, RD
What My Kids Taught Me About Eating Mindfully, Michelle May, MD

Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken breasts
1 15-oz can black beans, drained
1½ c. corn
1 ½ c. salsa
1 c. Cheddar cheese, grated
Hot cooked rice


Directions:

Combine ingredients in slow cooker, except rice and cheese. Cover; cook on Low 6-8 hours or High 4-6 hours. Serve over rice and top with cheese or serve with warm flour tortillas, cheese and sour cream.

My family is not huge on canned corn so we did not add the corn and it turned out great. The boys loved it wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.

Source: "What's for dinner" thread on www.vickysdeals.com

Classic Chicken Pot Pie

Quick and Easy by Pillsbury
1 (15 oz) package Pillsbury refrigerated Pie Crusts

1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup Pillsbury BEST All purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 to 3 cups shredded, cooked chicken or turkey
2 cups of Green Giant Frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for 2 crust pie using 9 inch pie pan.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Add onion, cook 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk; cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly and thickened.
3. Add chicken and mixed vegetables; remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust and flute; cut slits in several places.
4. Bake at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

*This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake.

Marzetti Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip Giveaway

I am member of Bzz Agent, which is the leading social marketing company. They help people find, try and share cool products, services and brands. It's like the recommendations you already share — just easier and more fun. For more information and to join, http://www.bzzagent.com/

Bzz Agent recently sent me information about the Marzetti Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip BzzCampaign! They shared information about this product and coupons for me to share with my friends.
I recently took 2 of the varieties of this new dip along with a platter of veggies to a party with friends and we all really enjoyed the creamy, delicious flavors.
The dip comes in the following five flavors:

1. Cucumber Dill Feta
2. Spinach Artichoke
3. Garden Herb Ranch
4. Salsa Cilantro
5. Chipotle Cheese

They contain Omega-3 and are only 60 calories per serving and are perfect for everyday snacking as well as parties and entertaining.

I would like to pass on savings to 2 of my followers to be able to try these new dips so Please leave me a comment stating that you are a follower of my blog and which flavor you would like to try. I will send 2 winners a $2 off coupon for one Marzetti Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip and a Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip Recipe Book. This giveaway will end Saturday, May 7th and a winner will be chosen randomly by using www.random.org.
For more information on this new product, check out their website http://www.marzetti.com/products/marzetti/dips/otria-greek-yogurt-veggie-dips.htm where you can also download a
$1 off coupon.

EZ Crockpot Pork Chops

I tried a new crock pot recipe tonight. It was super easy and very few ingredients that are probably in your pantry right now.

1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 packet of Onion soup mix
Pork Chops

Put fresh or frozen pork chops in crock pot. Mix mushroom and onion soup mixes together and pour over pork chops.
Cover and cook on Low heat for approximately 4 hours.

I served the pork chops with rice and mixed veggies.