Menu Plan Monday - Week of 11/10/13

No menu plan last week... it was an insane week. The week of Jeff's show, and I had a bunch of things to do as well. Overall it wasn't too bad dinner-wise, but I am looking forward to cooking real meals this week!

Monday: Smashburger!!

Tuesday:  Parmesan Chicken and Rice

 Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Crock Pot Pizza Casserole

Friday: hot dogs, possibly in mac and cheese

Saturday: Fashion show at church - includes dinner


Sunday: family dinner out

Dessert of the Week: Pumpkin Crumble

 Find more recipes at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 9/2/13

Happy September!! Well... it might not officially be fall yet, but I couldn't resist using this banner :D September starts our busy months... Already we have something going on every week this month and into October! Not to mention that J. is back to work and E. starts his 2 year old class 2 days a week, so our schedule is totally changing! I love that fall is a time of change :)


This week:

Monday: leftover taquitos

Tuesday: Jen Hauler's Pizza Casserole

 Wednesday:  leftovers

Thursday: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken


Friday: Crock Pot Ranchy Chicken

Saturday and Sunday: leftovers and pizza

Dessert of the Week: need to make something for a birthday party on Sunday... probably Double Fudge Oreo Cookies


More menus at OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

Don't let that bad picture fool you - this recipe is delicious! It is simple to make, and it does taste like pan made chicken parm! But all it takes is a few minutes of prep (no pre cooking!) and a couple of hours in your slow cooker. I actually made this one as written! SHOCKING I know. lol But with seasoned breadcrumbs and real Parmesan cheese, I didn't even need to change the spices. Ok, I did sprinkle the leftover breadcrumb mixture on the top of the chicken before cooking, as you can see below. But that is it! The leftover cooked sauce I used on pasta. Yummy!!!

I used 3 chicken breasts in this recipe - 4 would be perfect

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan 
(this is NOT my recipe, but i don't know where it is from!)

Ingredients 
2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 t black pepper
 1/4 t salt
1 TBSP olive oil
1 egg, beaten
 sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
favorite jarred marinara sauce

Instructions 
Spread the 1 TBSP of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot.
Beat the egg with a fork in a separate bowl.
Mix the bread crumbs with the seasonings and the Parmesan cheese in another separate dish.
Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides with crumbs, cheese and seasonings.
Place the chicken breast pieces in the bottom of the crockpot.
Layer 2-3 slices or 1-2 cups of mozzarella cheese on top, depending on how much cheese you like.
Cover chicken and cheese with entire jar of marinara sauce.
Close lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 3. Serve with your favorite pasta.


 

Cheezy Ritzy Chicken Recipe

So, I made my own version of this recipe, and it s so good!!! But I forgot to take pictures (as wonderful as they are!) so I decided to make it again. But I did the chicken differently, and it shows! After the recipe i will give my tips to make this. :) This recipe is a little sweet and a little savory.

Cheezy Ritzy Chicken

Cheezy Ritzy Chicken

(based on this recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 pound cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 (10.5 ounce) chowder cheese soup
• 1 (8 ounce) fat free sour cream
• 3/4 sleeve to 1 sleeve Ritz Honey Graham crackers, crushed
• 2 to 4 Tbs butter, melted

Directions  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. In a medium bowl, add first 3 ingredients.  Stir.
3. Pour into greased casserole dish.  
4. Top with crackers.  Drizzle butter on top.
5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until sides start to bubble up.

(Serves 4 to 6)

Cheezy Ritzy Chicken

My chicken was frozen, so i cooked it in the crock pot. However, that made it more shredded than chunky, so it soaked up more of the sauce. If you chunk and cook the chicken you can get 6 servings. The shredded chicken only yielded 4.

for the crackers, use as many as will cover the top of the dish, or more if you'd like. Ditto on the butter - I used less to save on a few calories, but I am sure it tastes better with more butter!! :D

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 3/12/12

Recap from last week:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - I used the whole can of pumpkin so they were super moist and sticky but delicious!
Ritz Cracker Crust Quiche (adapted from this recipe) - The crust was waaaay too buttery. Delicious but I'd cut the butter in half next time.
I used an entirely different pot pie recipe that I might tweak and post later. I probably won't though lol I also made a chicken pasta salad, Thursday when it was 70 degrees and pot pie was not appealing! It was one of those throw things in and see how it tastes, and that actually turned out well!!

This week:
Monday: Italian marinated chicken
Tuesday:  Slow cooker pasta sauce chicken
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Oven fried pork chops and garlic mashed potatoes
 Friday: leftovers

I usually try not to cook on the weekends, but since it is St. Patrick's day, and I am a sucker for theme cooking (and E's last "first" holiday), I am going to make slow cooker baked potato soup, and I am also making a secret dessert, I don't want to say in case Jeff reads this!

For more menus, visit OrgJunkie!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 3/5/12

We are all still sick. I am much worse, and the poor baby's face is all crusty with snot :( He is also teething (2 more are poking out!) so it has been miserable around here. Therefore...  comfort food is the course of the week!

Monday: chicken fingers

Tuesday:  Ritz Cracker Crust Quiche (adapted from this recipe)

Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Chicken  Pot Pie (adapted from this recipe)
Friday: something from the freezer

Dessert will be brownies, which I made yesterday from a mix!
Breakfast will be Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

For more menus, visit OrgJunkie!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 2/20/12

This week is a busy week - Jeff is off for break so there is always a million things to do! The plus is that I won't have to cook too much! Huzzah!!!

Monday: I will be cooking chicken in the crock to shred for the future, but we will be going out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner - gift card and 2 free slices of cheesecake YUM (as a side note - I will be going out shopping without the baby and I am sooo excited!!!)
Tuesday: All-you-can-eat pancakes at church for the start of Lent
Wednesday: Italian Style Chicken Dinner
Thursday: We are going to a taping of The Chew!!! It is Oscar themed so we will be all dressed up. We are going to Primeburger on the advice of a friend (yes you, we heard about it from you long before him <3 )
Friday: We are getting our taxes done which means one thing: Bobby's Burger Palace!! for lunch So dinner will be something light.
Saturday: leftover Italian Style Chicken
Sunday: Perdue chicken nuggets!

Dessert... I will post my VDay dessert this week (It was a doozy!). This week I need to make my daring baker item. And for some reason we have peanut butter cookie dough in the fridge, so I think I will make something with that. Take advantage of J. being around!!

Here is to a fabulous week!
For more menus visit orgjunkie.

Sad Day, Bad Day but Great Dinner

Gotta look at the little things, right?

After a weekend of steadily getting worse, we decided the best thing to do was to put Torrie down. I am not a big animal person, but Torrie was such a sweet and loving fluffball. She was a very gentle and nice cat who loved her Mousie! RIP, there's a special spot in kitty heaven for you.

Last night, I dropped my laptop on the floor - AGAIN. I always trip over the cord. Well, this time the back cover popped open and in trying to get it back on, I screwed up the hard drive. It worked for a little this evening then boom... went to black and now it can't find Windows. A new laptop was NOT in the budget... and what good is paying off a credit card if  you just put stuff back on it? AURGH!!!!

If you know any laptop deals PLEASE let me know!!

Knowing it was going to be a bad day, I decided to make oven fries tonight. We were already going to BBQ chicken, and then Jeff kicked it up notch with bacon and cheese :) So I thought oven fries would be a good compliment to that. They are really easy to make but they take a long time to cook. I just started making them and wish I'd been making them all along lol Tonight I used my silpats to make them and it was SO MUCH BETTER!!! A little burning but NO sticking!!!! 

Here's the recipe: (picture to come later)

Take some russet potatoes and slice into fry shapes. I like mine thin. I use 5 or 6, that way we have leftovers.

Pour some oil into a deepish, flat bottom dish. Canola or olive oil are what I prefer. Enough that you think it'll coat the potatoes.
Add some spices - garlic powder, garlic salt or regular salt, paprika, Italian spices... whatever you prefer!

Add Parmesan cheese. We just use the kind in the green container. Add about twice as much as the rest of the spices - this is what coats the potatoes.

Mix up then add the potatoes some at a time.

Stir to coat, pick up with tongs and let some mixture drip off.

Put into jelly roll pans - heavily sprayed or with a Silpat.

Cook at 450 for about 45 mins or until brown and crispy and soft. Turn halfway through.

I love this recipe because it makes me feel like a "real cook" by not measuring!!

Menu Plan Monday 11/9/09

Ok... my first Menu Plan Monday post! (IF I am doing it wrong please LMK!). See http://orgjunkie.com/ for more info!

Monday:  chicken burgers, au gratin potatoes (free from the Betty Crocker promotion!
Tuesday: rest of chicken burgers and potatoes
Wednesday: I work late and J is off so it'll be frozens
Thursday: Maple- glazed chicken with sweet potatoes I'll be making regular potatoes instead!
Friday:  leftover chicken and potatoes
Saturday:  Wine trip!
Sunday:  Crock Pot Ravioli

Looking forward to it!!

Cooking!

I am finally going to be baking again this weekend!
Making these Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
and a crck pot BBQ chicken with bacon recipe from allyou.

It's supposed to pour and pour all day tomorrow so it will be the perfect day for cozy cooking and yummy smells!