It's been a few weeks, but the time has come to get back to meal planning.
I'm really happy with how everything turned out this week and think they're all very easy and repeatable meals. I didn't get my own photo of the chicken stroganoff because that one went straight into the fridge. We had the meatloaf pie the first night and then everything else as leftovers.
Take pie crust out of fridge and set time for 15 minutes. Once ready, place in pie pan and set aside.
Peel & Slice three large
potatoes and set to boil. Mash and set aside.
Slice three chicken breasts,
place in large bowl with half a bottle of sundried tomato marinade.
Chicken Stroganoff
Chop four chicken breasts
into bite sized pieces and place in crockpot along with 2 tbs butter (I cut
that up into small pieces first) and a packet of dry Italian dressing. Cook on
low for 4 hours.
After 4 hours, add 8 oz of
cream cheese and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Keep cooking on low for
another 30 minutes or until chicken is done.
The first time I made this
recipe I used the full 8 oz of cream cheese. It was really, really good…and
really, really thick. This time I only used about ¾ of the package and it was
just as good, not quite as rich but probably a little less fatty if you’re
concerned about that.
Serve with a ‘Super-fast
Salad’ (Bag o’Greens, cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta and green onions).
Meatloaf Pie
Chop an onion and toss in
into a skillet with the pound of ground beef. Cook until brown and drain.
In a large bowl mix the beef
& onion with:
1 egg
1 tbs ketchup (plus a really
healthy squirt, I didn’t think one tbs was enough)
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
(plus another quick pour, see above)
1 Can corn
½ cup cheddar cheese
(healthy ½ a cup)
Pour this mixture into the
pie crust and top with the mashed potatoes. I realize the actual recipe calls
for layering corn, beef, potato and cheese, but I prefer to toss it all into
together and go for it. If you want to top with cheese also that’s good too.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
until the potato peaks start to turn golden. This one can also be refrigerated
and baked later. Add 10 minutes or so to the cook time and cover with foil at
the end so the crust doesn't burn.
Tomato Casserole
This might be one of my new
favorites. Everyone has loved it, even the baby, although she’s not at all
picky. I initially thought about trying to add chicken into the casserole and
decided that would change the cook time and make the pan a little overfull, so
I baked chicken to go along with it.
Bake marinated chicken at
350 for 18-10 minutes or until done.
While that’s cooking:
Heat 3 tbs olive oil in a
large skillet. Chop fresh bread into 3 cups worth of cubes and ‘toast’ in the
skillet. Mine didn't brown so well and after almost 10 minutes, I kind of gave
up and moved on to the rest of the recipe.
While bread is toasting,
chop tomatoes and into a large bowl add:
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt (or just
salt)
1 tsp pepper
I also added some chopped
onion which is not in the recipe but sounded like a good idea. Once you decide
the bread is as toasty as you’re going to get it, toss in the tomato bowl.
Cook & stir for 5
minutes or so until it’s all heated and mixed together. Add:
1 Can great northern beans
(drained & rinsed)
½ cup fresh basil sliced.
1 bag of spinach. The recipe
calls for frozen but I find I like fresh so much better than I typically don’t
use the frozen anymore. Add the spinach in large fistfuls and stir until incorporated,
then add more.
If your large skillet is
oven proof top this mixture with ½ cup Parmesan and drizzle with 2 tbs of olive
oil. I moved everything into a large casserole dish, the easier to store
leftovers in, and then added the cheese and oil.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until
the top is brown & bubbly. Serve with chicken, or on its own for a great
vegetarian dish (not allowed in my house).
Enjoy!
