Salads

Did I mention that we have "Salad Night" once a week?  We also are trying to have a "Vegetarian Night" once a week too!

"Thai Salad" base-Cilantro, Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, Shredded Carrots, crunchy toppings and peanut dressing.

Finished Thai Chopped Chicken Salad dressed with the crunchy chow mein noodle topping.

Taco Salad-Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots, taco "meat" (soy meat) with cooked in taco seasoning. We top the taco salad with Kraft Catalina dressing, black pepper, and a few shakes of tabasco.

This is how Mike eats his salad-topped with shredded cheese, sliced black olives, and a dollop of sour cream.

We then crush a few pieces of tortilla chips on top.  

Stay tuned for more of our salad dinners. 

Enchiladas Part II

Mike and I finally ate those enchiladas that we had made a few weeks back (Don't worry, we froze those corn tortilla wrapped chicken bites). Mike and my mom have been taking care of dinner these days, so I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the apartment and an enchilada dinner was waiting for me. 

I had mentioned to Mike that I like my enchiladas separate from the sauce, so he baked the tortillas in the oven.  He also made a simple yet tasty white enchilada sauce.  He used a recipe that my friend forwarded to me and altered it based on the ingredients that we had on hand.
Here's the gist of the recipe:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can of green chiles
1/2 med onion chopped
Cheese
Sour cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
You would think that the sauce would taste similar to cream of mushroom soup, but you can hardly taste the mushroom since the green chiles masks the mushroom flavor.

It does not look very appetizing, but it tasted pretty good. I think that this "dry" version of enchiladas will make it into our dinner recipes rotation.

Chicken Marsala

After the baby was born, Mike and I have been trying to cook faster dinners.  The other night I made chicken marsala. I also usually do not measure my ingredients when I am rushing and just estimate the ratios and ingredient proportions and flavor it according to my liking.

Ingredients (Approximate Amounts):
2 Chicken Breasts (I used breast and chopped them up in smaller pieces so that it would cook faster)
3/4 cup Flour
1 t. Italian Seasoning
1/2 t. Salt
1/8 t. Black Pepper
Mix the flour, seasoning, salt, and black pepper together.  Coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture.
Pan fry the chicken in oil until chicken is light brown in color.  Take chicken pieces off the pan and leave on the side for later use.

Other Ingredients

Cooking Oil
1/2 Medium Onion,
~1 c. Chicken Stock
~1/2 c. Marsala Wine
2-3 T. Sugar (This is to taste. I like my sauce sweeter than most people)
8 oz Mushrooms (sliced)
Fry onions, then place the chicken back into the pan, add the chicken stock and simmer.  The flour on the chicken and the residual flour on the pan should combine with the chicken stock and thicken up the sauce.  Add the mushrooms, wine, and sugar.  Cook until the mushrooms look cooked. Done!

I'm not sure if this recipe qualifies as a 30 minute meal since I did not time myself, but it is probably really close to a 30 minute meal. I also bought pre-sliced mushrooms so that reduced my prep time for the recipe too.

I like to separate the pasta from the chicken and sauce and then pour the sauce over the pasta just before serving.
After we ate, mixed the noodles into the sauce and packed my lunch. You could also stir in the pasta and serve it like this prior to serving.

Mike's comments were, "It's good, but it would have been better with a little bit more marsala wine and butter."  Hahaha Mike, I didn't use any butter... If I want to impress people in the future, I will use butter. 

Enchiladas Part I

If you have been following this blog, the focus has been shifting towards quick homemade meals. We haven't had a lot of time to check out restaurants with the kiddo, and kitchen prep time has been cut in half.  Now I can understand why there are so many "quick meal" type cookbooks. 
A friend of ours dropped off enchiladas a few weeks back and a thoroughly enjoyed them. I have never ordered enchiladas before and never liked them because they were usually soggy and covered in sauce.  The enchiladas that my friend dropped off were dry and the sauce was on the side.  So, I decided that I now like enchiladas and wanted to make my own. 

Sliced onions and bell peppers.

I threw about  five chicken breasts, one medium onion, two medium bell peppers, a can of stewed tomatoes, and a bunch of spices (paprika, cumin, chicken bouillon cube, basically whatever I felt like throwing in) into a crockpot for a 6 hours.

Voila! Cooked chicken.  I shredded it and I now had filling for my enchiladas.

I bought some yellow corn tortillas.  They are harder and more rubbery than flour tortillas, so I had to heat them up on a pan before filling them.

I tested out my tortilla skills and flipped them by hand.  :) Then I handed them over to Mike for rolling.

I had Mike fill the corn tortillas, and then he rolled them and froze them for later use. This is a picture of the tortilla that I filled. Mike may have filled it with double the portion of chicken because we were only about to make about 15 rolls. 
We have not eaten them yet, but plan to take them out of the freezer one night, bake them in the oven, and then top them with an enchilada sauce.  I just have to find a good recipe.  Any ideas?
To Be Continued...

Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread

This is one of my quick and easy recipes that I make to accompany pasta dishes or when we buy a pack of bread from Sam's Club and are not sure what to do with the second loaf.

Horizontally cut the bread loaf in half.

Mix garlic, butter (or margarine), mayonnaise, salt, and shredded cheese (I use sharp cheddar) and spread over the bread.  I do not measure the ingredients, I basically make a paste/dip consistency with the ingredients.  I like a lot of garlic and cheese, so I usually use about 7 medium sized cloves to 3/4 cups mayonnaise.

Spread the mixture evenly on the bread. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350F or until the cheese starts to melt. 

 Cool the bread for until you can touch it (5-10 minutes) and then cut the bread into slices.  We forgot about the bread in the oven and ended up with some burnt edges. Enjoy!

Fast and Easy Dinner~Pasta

I've been on a "different" pasta kick and recently purchased some Orecchiette pasta.  "Orecchiette" means "small ear" in Italian.  Do you think that the pasta looks like little ears?  Changing up the shape of the pasta can change the eating experience. I do not think that I would have enjoyed this meal as much if I used spaghetti noodles or macaroni shaped pasta. 

Orecchiette Pasta, Arugula, Italian Cheese, Pesto, Grape Tomatoes, Onions, and Garlic

This was a quick and easy dish. I sauteed sliced onions in oil, then added minced garlic and grape tomatoes.  I then added the cooked  pasta, then some pest. I shut of the stovetop heat, and added shredded Italian cheese and a couple of handfuls of arugula.  I've been trying to incorporate more vegetables into our diet, and this pasta was a perfect way to increase our veggie intake instead of eating a side salad. 

I liked the look of the pasta, but I had some difficulty cooking this pasta.  Since the Orecchiette pasta were all the same shape and size, a bunch of the pasta pieces stacked together and I could not separate them while they were cooking in boiling water.



Mini Corn Dogs

I saw pictures of these mini corn dogs on Pinterest and wanted to try them. I rarely eat hot dogs and could not get myself to buy regular high fat hot dogs and bought turkey dogs. 

Generously spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick oil spray.  Fill the mini muffin pan with prepared cornbread mixture. I used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and followed the instructions on the box. 

Place the 1" hot dog pieces into the batter. Bake at 375F for ~12 minutes.

Serve the mini corn dogs with ketchup or mustard.  Mike thought that these were just "okay." He recommended that the next time I make these I use REAL hot dogs and make a fluffier cornbread.  I guess that means I have to make a cornbread batter from scratch or find a cornbread mix that results in a fluffier finished product.

Easy Dinner~Taco Salad

I've been trying to post more on this blog, but I find myself not having enough time in the day.  Making dinner, doing laundry, and taking care of things around the house take second priority after taking care of our baby girl and the dog. 
I just realized that I can start blogging more if I use Mike's laptop instead of mine. My laptop keyboard is AWFUL! I have to pretty much stab some of the keys for some of the letters to appear on the screen. Typing on Mike's laptop makes blogging so much easier. 

Here's a picture of one of our quick and easy dinners.  Vegetarian taco salad.  I could actually make this during the day so that Mike had dinner waiting for him when he arrived home. 
Chop up lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.
Cook vegetarian patties (gardenburgers or boca burgers) with chopped onions and taco seasoning. 
Add Catalina dressing, black pepper, and Tabasco to taste. Top salad with crushed tortilla chips.