Saturday, January 21, 2012

Friday Food

Since I have a LARGE family my recipes are larger. Unless otherwise noted, assume all recipes serve 8.  You can easily downsize them for a smaller family.  Also, Every menu item should link to the original recipe.(To give credit where credit is due!)  My own original recipes will not be linked, unless they are repeats.  **PLEASE NOTE: I may have changed recipes even in my menu title, depending on what I did differently.

Saturday 1/14 - PLANNED: BBQ Chicken and Chili Quesadillas
What Actually Made it to The Table:
16 corn tortillas
1 1/2 lbs. Chicken Breasts
BBQ Sauce of choice
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
Monterey Jack cheese
2 small cans of chopped green chilis

I use my Kitchen-Aid food processor slicing blade to slice the frozen chicken. (I don't think a less expensive food processor can do this.)You can just cut the chicken into smaller pieces if you don't have a quality food processor. Cook the chicken in a skillet with the BBQ sauce, salt and pepper and cook through.  If you haven't used the food processor for the chicken, shred it now.  Spray griddle or non-stick skillet with cooking spray and put one corn tortilla.  Top with cheese, chicken, and some green chili's.  Then add a small amount of cheese on top of everything.  Top with second Tortilla and flip.  Cook till all cheese is melted.  Repeat process for the rest of the tortillas. Enjoy!

Rating: 7:), 1:(  *Bean does not like BBQ(I KNOW it's crazy!)...otherwise I'm sure she would enjoy this too.  I just make her a quesadilla instead.


Sunday 1/15 - PLANNED: Ham and Baked Potato Soup
What actually made it to the table: I don't remember! We have church until 2:30 and eat late lunch and it throws our whole day off.  Plus, this particular day we were meeting my parents for their layover at the airport at 7 so the day was messed up anyway.  I did make cookies.  And I did eat them. :) I"M NOT ON A DIET!

Monday 1/16 - PLANNEDFrench Dip Crescents
What actually made it to the table: This was super easy and delicious!  I adapted the original "recipe" as follows: I put on a roast in the morning and then just cut up the meat, wrapped it, and a serving of low-fat provolone cheese in Pillsbury Crescents.  Then served them with Aus Jus.  As a serving, I ate two.

Rating: 8 :)

Tuesday 1/17 - PLANNED: Stuff-A-Roni (AKA Florentine Manicotti)
What actually made it to the table:
1 1/2 lbs. Lean Ground Turkey
1 Cup whole wheat, soft bread crumbs
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 10 oz. pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3/4 cup Egg Beaters or 3 egg whites
2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 TBSP. Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 pkgs. Manicotti Noodles
1 large(4lb 3oz (67oz) jar Marinara ( I use Prego Traditional when I don't use homemade)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Saute onion with ground turkey until turkey is cooked.  Put the meat mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Squeeze ALL excess moisture out of spinach and add to meat mixture.  Add bread crumbs, egg whites, salt, pepper, and cheese to meat mixture and mix well.

Pour one cup of marinara sauce in bottom of two 9X13 pans (so, 1 cup in each pan)  Fill uncooked noodles with filling and place one package (filled noodles) in each pan.  Add 1 cup of water to remaining marinara and mix well.  Divide remaining marinara and water mixture equally between both pans and pour over the noodles.  Cover each pan with foil and bake for one hour. **Filling the noodles can be messy and time consuming, but this meal is SO worth it.  One day, I will film my stuffing method and post it, I promise!

Rating: 8 :)

Wednesday 1/18 - PLANNED: Sweet and Sour Mango-Pork Lettuce WrapsCilantro Lime Brown Rice
What Actually Made it to The Table: I used Pork Tenderloin rather than chicken which is called for in the original recipe above and brown rice instead of white.  In the end the rice didn't cook properly (I was rushing! It's Wednesday!)  So, we didn't eat the rice but I think it would be super yummy either in the wrap, or on the side!  Also, I would chop the mango up smaller than is pictured. I also used iceberg lettuce, thinking it would be better for the kids.

Rating: 5 :) 3 :|
*The kids aren't used to the "lettuce-wrap idea" and I think this affected how the little kids liked it.  And EClaire doesn't seem to like much these days.  All in all though everyone liked the taste of the pork.  It was very good!

Thursday 1/19 - PLANNED: Bobby Deen's "Un-Fried" Chicken, Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

What Actually Made it to The Table: I used chicken tenderloins rather than the chicken thighs called for.  Also, this was huge, the amount of cereal called for was SERIOUSLY lacking.  In the end, I'm not sure how much more I used because I just kept having to add handfuls with chicken coated hands as I ran out!  So, in my opinion - you need more cereal than called for!  Also, with the sweet potato fries:  I got SOME crisping...I mean, it was definitely better than without the cornstarch, BUT still not as expected.  NOT crispy as promised.  I may not have used enough cornstarch.  I'm going to tweak this and definitely try this one again.  They tasted good and are a favorite around here when we bought the more fattening Alexia brand.  Also, I did NOT make the dip for the fries.

Rating: 8 :) *But we would have liked the fries crispy as promised!

Friday 1/20 - PLANNED: Meatball Sandwiches, Chips

What Actually Made it to The Table: Friday night is date night.  I forgot to put the Marinara and Meatballs on, so the kids did their own thing.  Probably ate waffles.  Someday, I will succeed in changing this, but not today!

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