Thursday, November 12, 2015

Whats for Dinner : Take 1

            I really enjoy cooking and I think we do a decent job at eating healthy on a budget so I have decided to share more about our meals and join Simcha’s link up. My favorite websites that help me with meal planning are www.saymmm.com (where I store all of my favorite recipes) and www.cookinglight.com (where I get most of my recipes from!) Here we go

Sunday: Root Vegetable Minestrone
We had vegetarian friends over for dinner so I made one of our favorite vegetarian recipes. It is a perfect fall recipe with both butternut squash and turnips. When I was cooking I realized that I did not have any vegetable broth so I decided to try making my own. I used all the scraps from the vegetables I was cooking, added some spices and salt and then boiled it away for about 45 minutes. It turned out alright but next time I think I will try adding some ginger for a nice kick. I also omitted the bacon obviously. We actually used the crockpot to make it ahead of my Theology of the Body study group which worked out for the most part except that my husband added the pasta too early and it got mushy. All of the adults like it but the kids mostly ate bread and fruit, oh well! I forgot to take pictures whoops!

Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup
This is one of my favorite recipes, I love this soup! On Saturday I used the crockpot to cook the chicken ahead of time which also gave me a lovely chicken stock, it was awesome to have that prepared already when I got home from work. I use the recipe below as a base and made some small alternations. I used more chili powder and added some paprika. I also sautéed two green bell peppers with the onion to add more veggies. At the end I also added a can of rinsed black beans and quite a few squirts of lime juice. I found after many different attempts at making the perfect tortilla soup that lime juice is much more flavorful than lemon juice.



Tuesday: Whole Wheat Pizza with veggies and pepperoni
I had to work late on Tuesday so I planned ahead for my husband to make this before I got home. We get whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joes (it’s awesome) and then my husband added some sautéed onions, olives, mushrooms , feta cheese and mozzarella on top of some jarred tomato sauce. He added the pepperoni which I was not a fan of and did not feed to Gianna. Gianna ate a whole small slice, she loved it!
Wednesday: Taco Casserole
This is a super easy casserole to whip together on a weeknight. Tim was working late and I was able to entertain Gianna while I made it. I used ground turkey instead of beef and white corn tortillas instead of the chips.

Thursday: Caprese Turkey Burgers on Homemade Focaccia
Earlier this week I found a recipe for slow-cooker focaccia and I decided to try it. It turned out pretty well and I would definitely recommend it. I made a simple turkey burger with bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and an egg. It didn’t hold together super well but it worked. And then I added a pesto spread, fresh mozzarella and sliced tomato it was delicious!



Friday: We're celebrating my youngest sisters birthday so I won't be cooking! 

I will take more pictures next week! 

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