Menu Monday

     That's right folks, it's back! Menu Monday. I am so happy to be back in my kitchen cooking and able to look at all my recipe blogs and cooking magazines again. It was kind-of sad to find yummy recipes when we were living in the hotel because I couldn't cook them. So this week we have several new recipes and some old favorites. 


Monday: Chicken, spinach, and noodle casserole. This recipe is from a recent issue of Real Simple magazine. It looks really good and I already have on hand all the ingredients except for the sour cream and spinach. I pulled this recipe out of the magazine about a month ago when we first moved into the house, but it got lost in all the cardboard boxes and packing paper and chaos. When I uncovered it the other day, I decided to give it a try before I lost it again. 

Photo from www.realsimple.com.

Tuesday: Sausage and kale quiche. This is a recipe that my mom adapted from one on the blog Kalyn's Kitchen. It's a basic quiche with kale, onion, mozzarella cheese and sausage in it. She said that it turned out really well. I have never eaten kale before, but I like most leafy greens, so I'm willing to give it a shot. And if it turns out that I like it a lot, the local farmer's market sells loads of it. 


Wednesday: Crock pot chicken cacciatore. This is a recently posted recipe on the Skinny Taste blog. The main reason that it stood out to me is because I have chicken thighs in the freezer from when Tim and I grilled some the other week. The other reason I chose it was because of the picture. Look at it. Doesn't it look like some fancy pasta dinner you'd get at a restaurant? Also, I can't wait to use my slow cooker again. We unpacked it last weekend and it was like reuniting with a long, lost friend. A long, lost friend that makes your dinner for you all day while you do other things. 

Photo from www.skinnytaste.com.

Thursday: Healthy baked chicken nuggets. This is a recipe I've made several times from the Skinny Taste blog. It is super easy to make and tastes really great even though the nuggets are baked. We love to pair ours with our favorite sauces from fast food restaurants. I love mine with either Zaxby's sauce or Chick-Fil-A sauce. Tim will most likely drown his in Sonny's sweet barbecue sauce. We'll be having the chicken nuggets with baked zucchini sticks and pasta sauce for dipping and a side salad. I'm excited to make these now that Owen is eating more foods and I'm hoping that he will at least give them a try. He's eaten a McDonald's chicken nugget before and I'd rather he get a taste for these than the unhealthy fried kind. The zucchini sticks are a great thing to pair with these because I just dip them in the same breading at the chicken nuggets and throw them in the oven with them. 

Photo from www.skinnytaste.com

Friday: Cheeseburger salad. I have a pound of ground beef in the freezer that I wanted to use for something this week. This recipe is super quick and just as tasty as eating a hamburger. And probably a little bit healthier since you're eating a bunch of lettuce. My favorite parts are the yummy sauce made from ketchup, mustard, and barbecue sauce, the pickles, and the homemade croutons. P.S. Take the extra step and make the croutons instead of using storebought ones. You will thank me. Maybe even name your first child after me. 

Photo from pioneerwoman.com.

Saturday: Chicken and white bean enchiladas. The blogger of Skinny Taste makes the best chicken enchiladas I have ever eaten, restaurant, at home, or otherwise. Her regular red sauce enchiladas are super amazing, but these more frequently overlooked white enchiladas are just as good in my opinion. The jalapenos and diced green chiles seem really hot when you're making the sauce, but after you cook them, they leave a really nice flavorful spicy taste that isn't too hot to eat. 

Photo from www.skinnytaste.com

Sunday: Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork sandwiches with cilantro jalapeno slaw.  I have been waiting for summer to arrive just so that I could make these sandwiches again. Not really, but they are one of my favorite summer recipes. They are so very tasty. And super easy. Because the meat is made in the slow cooker, all you do is throw a pork shoulder in with a can of chipolte chiles, a can of Dr. Pepper, some brown sugar, and an onion. Then you shred it and put it on a toasty bun. The coleslaw really helps to cut down on the heat from the meat and adds a nice crunch as well. It's practically nirvana in a sandwich. Well, except for Tim because he's deathly allergic to mayonnaise and won't eat coleslaw. At least that's the story we'll go with for now because otherwise he would sound like a crazy person for not wanting to eat this sandwich exactly the way it is in the picture below. My parents are coming into town this weekend so they will be lucky and get to eat this with us. I will be happy about that because it means that when I see the bottom of the coleslaw bowl, it doesn't mean that I ate the whole thing. 

Photo from pioneerwoman.com.