Meal Highlights

Meal Highlights of March

Tortilla Pizzas

These were a great use of extra tortillas.  I toasted a few in the oven @400, then took them out and added pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.  Then I melted it in the oven!  It was a hit!!

Chicken Loaf

 It was okay.  I read about this in my Amish Cookbook.  This recipe used condensed milk, and I did not like the sweetness it added.  The pimentos were an interesting addition too--not sure it really added much to the dish.

Chicken Tacos w/ Black Beans

Oh, so easy meal--throw together with shredded chicken and black beans--all from the freezer!

Meatloaf Cups

 Very good!  I was able to freeze some for extra meals.  I also made a few in the mini-muffin tins for the kids.  Great for lunches!

Pizza Pockets 

The family loved these!  I made crust in the bread maker and loaded them up with homemade sauce and cheese.  I made a few with ground sausage and pepperoni.  Check out another cool way to freeze your pizza pockets @ Heavenly Homemakers.

Spaghetti Night

Spaghetti has become such a winner on busy nights.  I have homemade sauce all ready in the freezer. I thaw the sauce, boil the noodles and we are ready to go!  Everyone is happy :)

Menu Plan Monday--March 29th

Be sure to visit on Thursday, April 1st to check out my new meal plan.  I'm still using up some leftovers but I also am still buried in reading about Amish cooking. I am really excited to experiment with Hamburger Puffs.

Has anyone here seen Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver on ABC?  It is so nice to see a show that is supporting feeding our children well.  I feel so strongly about knowing what is in my food, and making most of my food right in my kitchen. 




Monday- Spaghetti, Homemade Sauce from $5 Dinners Cookbook

Tuesday-Bean Burgers on Homemade Buns

Wednesday-Breaded Turkey Patties

Thursday-Chicken Loaf

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday-Grill or Sandwiches

Sunday- Happy Easter!


I've planned out all my meals for March here.


Need an idea for this week?  Check out my Chicken Philly Boats.


Check out more menu plans at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Snacks on Sunday--Chicken Philly Boats

This is a recipe we enjoyed at least once a month for awhile and then we forgot about it.  

Does that ever happen in your house?

We made some great changes to it this time and we will have it again soon--probably in April because we loved it so much!

Keep reading because this has a great LEFTOVER surprise!

Chicken Philly Boats

Ingredients
2 lbs shredded chicken ( I cooked a 2 lb small fryer chicken in the crock pot)
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red or yellow pepper, sliced
1 med. onion, sliced
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
2 TB olive oil
Salt/Pepper to taste
32 oz marinara sauce
6-8 slices of Provolone Cheese

1 Loaf French or Italian Bread

Directions

1. Cook your shredded chicken and bake your bread.  I used the dough cycle to start my bread and then finished it off in the oven to make the individual bread boats, but I've also just bought a big loaf in the bakery section of the grocery store.

2. Heat a large skillet with the olive oil.  Once heated, add in the peppers, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until soft.

3. Add in the chicken until combined and warmed through. Turn off the heat on the stove and heat your oven to 400 degrees.

4. Cut out a diamond shape and hollow out your bread--save the extra bread to dip in your extra marinara sauce :)

5. Stuff your bread boat with the chicken mixture and top with marinara sauce.

6. Top with the cheese and bake in the oven for 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Now, on to the leftover!


Tonight we used the extra chicken/pepper mix and marinara to make a Chicken Philly Pizza! We made pizza crust in our bread maker, and topped the pizza with shredded mozzarella.  It  was a success!

That's for me on this Sunday!  Have a great night!

Planting Planner--Preliminary List #2

Here's what I hope to plant--

Lettuce

Spinach

Sugar Snap Peas

Peppers

Strawberries

Zucchini

Cherry Tomatoes

Tomato (one other tomato plant)


Deck--

Basil
Oregano
Sage

Other--
Pumpkins
Watermelon

I'm going to do some seed shopping soon, as well as a trip to the Farmer's Market to see what is happening over there :)  I got some great tomato transplants there last year and I am going to do that again.

Since we have cats, it is hard to plan indoors.    I plan to do most of my planting after the first frost around mid-late April.

My 4 year old and I did plant pumpkins and watermelon in small pots which I bring in at night.  I've been covering them with a towel in hopes that the cats will leave them alone--not so.  Our smaller cat laid on the bigger pot like it was her bed.  I wish I had a picture of that!

Next up--Daddy Builds the Garden Box!!!

Be sure to visit $5 Dollar Dinners for more gardening fun!

Menu Plan Monday--March 22nd

 Well, things did not go as planned last week. I spent most of the week sick and doing everything I could not to cook--or do anything.  Then hubby got sick again. Thankfully, I'll say again, I think we are on the mend....

We managed on freezer food, a few meals out, and of course, Breakfast for Dinner--HUGE WINNER!  My four year old is going to be sad when he can't pick his dinner anymore :)

This week I'm going to try to use up some of the meals I had made in the freezer.   Then I'm heading out of town with the kids for a night and then we have company visiting. 

Monday-Baked Chicken Burgers, Steamed Zucchini

Tuesday-Meatloaf Cups

Wednesday- Out of Town

Thursday- Tacos

Friday- Family Visiting--Still Undecided on Menu

Saturday- Dinner with Friends

Sunday- Snacks on Sunday TBA

The wheels are starting to churn for April's meals--yeah for spring!

You can check out my Monthly Meal Plan here.

Be sure to check out Orgjunkie.com for more meal plans!

Garden Series--Square Food Gardening #1

Last year I did a little gardening.

A little.   I did not want to get too overwhelmed so I grew a couple tomato plants and herbs on our deck.

It was so much fun that this year I am expanding--Square Foot Gardening here we come!

In Square Foot Gardening (or SGF), you build a 4 by 4 wooden box, and square it off into 16 square feet.

Each square foot has a different plant.  

I hope you'll come back and check out our progress!


Be sure to visit Erin @ 5 Dollar Dinners--she's got a great SFG!

Coming up--

My Plant Plans.....

Menu Plan Monday--March 15th

Thankfully, we are all on the mend here.  I think...

I'll be out a couple evenings this week so I am keeping it simple. I also did not cook much last week so I revised my plan a bit.  We do have some food in the freezer too--meatball cups and a chicken loaf that I'll use up next week.

I've discovered the wonderful world of couponing at my local health food store, Earthfare.  If you sign up for their newsletter you will get some amazing coupons.  We are enjoying taking trips there once a week to stock-up on more organic foods to fill our fridge and pantry. 

Here is what we'll eat this week--

Monday- Grilled Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli
Tuesday-Veggie Brown Bag Burritos
Wednesday-Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Veggie
Thursday- Potstickers
Friday- Baked Chicken Burgers with Homemade Buns
Saturday-Eat Out or Leftovers
Sunday-Taco Pockets

Check out more meal plans over at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Bloggy Interruption

To take care of my sick little one :(

Let's hope it does not turn into 2 sick little ones, a sick daddy and sick mommy.

I need a bloggy sick button.

Be back next week!!!


See my monthly menu plan here.

Menu Plan Monday--March 1st

Monday- Tortilla Pizzas

Tuesday-Chicken Loaf (double for freezer)

Wednesday-Chicken Tacos w/ Black Beans

Thursday-Meatloaf Cups,  Mashed Potatoes

Friday- Ham Quiche, Fruit

Saturday-Eat Out or Leftovers

Sunday- Pizza Pockets

I've planned out all my meals for March here.

Check out more menu plans at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Freezer Cooking

Here's my freezer cooking plan for March.  I had hoped to complete most of this in one day so I could put my feet up several nights in March, but things happen--like stitches.  That has slowed down my plan and I am going to proceed to cook up some extra food in "batch cooking" style.

What is batch cooking??

When you make a casserole--make 2 and freeze one!  I often will make a dish, and freeze half of it since usually just part of the dish is more than enough to feed our family of 4.

When I do freezer cooking I like to include dinner items, healthy snacks, and some breakfast goodies.  I have my freezer list all documented on my meal calendar that hangs on my fridge for the days I plan to batch cook.

Here is my list for March--

I am SO excited that I actually completed some of my list this weekend

Chicken Loaf

Meatloaf Cups

Veggie Brown Bag Burritos

Baked Chicken Burgers

Muffins

Spaghetti Sauce

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Cups


Be sure to check out more Freezer Cooking Plans at Money Saving Mom

March Menu Plan

 I'm ready for March--Are you??

I'm so excited for spring this year--sun, fun, a 1 year old girl, a 4 1/2 year old boy, my hubby and a  new garden plan!  So much to look forward to and be thankful for!

I'm excited about my menu plan this month.  I'm trying out some new recipes, along with sticking to some easy, easy dishes.  I doing some "batch cooking" during the month.  I had hoped to do a FULL day of freezer cooking and complete a bunch of meals at once, but unfortunately there was a cooking incident last week that has slowed me down a bit.

Here's the plan--

1- Tortilla Pizzas
2- Chicken Loaf (double for freezer)
3-Chicken Tacos w/ Black Beans
4-Meatloaf Cups,  Mashed Potatoes
5- Ham Quiche, Fruit
6-Eat Out or Leftovers
7- Pizza Pockets
8- Baked Chicken Burgers
9- Veggie Brown Bag Burritos (double for freezer)
10-Spaghetti Night
11-Chicken Nuggets, Fries
12 Waffles, Eggs, Fruit
13-Turkey Burritos
14- Garlic Chicken Dip, Sandwiches
15- Breaded Turkey Patties (Double for Freezer)
16-Crock Pot Black Bean Salsa Chicken
17- Veggie Brown Bag Burritos
18- Potstickers
19- French Toast
20-Eat Out or Leftovers
21-Taco Pockets
22-Chicken Loaf, Freezer Mashed Potatoes
23-Meatloaf Cups
24- Tacos
25- Beanburgers
26- Family Visiting
27- Eat Out or Leftovers
28- Snacks on Sunday TBA
29-Spaghetti
30-New Crock Pot Recipe
31 Leftovers

See my freezer cooking plan here.



Check out 5 Dollar Dinners , Amy's Finer Things, and Once a Month Mom for more meals by the month!