Back to the plan

To say it's been a busy summer doesn't quite cover it. Somehow a month has gone by and it's really been that long since I managed to sit down with a solid meal plan and get my act together.

That being said I have five words for you.

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Muffins.

Yes. Let's say that again.

Chili. Cheese. Corn. Dog. Muffins.

It is just that awesome.

I will admit I used canned Chili for simplicity's sake, but next time I'm going to plan this to go with a pot of fresh made chili. They were good, easy and a good one for Alice to help with. She mixed the batter, sliced the hotdogs and then proceeded to make such a huge mess attempting to put the batter into the muffin tin that I took over at that point. She did a great job though.

After going through everything, it's a pretty cheesy week, which was completely unintentional. I'm quite confident that cheese makes everything better though so it's ok.

Shopping List

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Muffins

Chicken broccoli rice casserole

Enchilada Pasta

Step by Step

Put 1 cup of brown rice in the rice maker.

Steam 12 oz broccoli (approx. 10 minutes) and set aside.

Chop 8 oz chicken thighs into bite size pieces.

Dice ½ an onion.

Chop 1 small onion.

Enchilada Pasta

Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a large pan and add:

2 cloves minced garlic

Onion

1.25 lbs ground turkey

Taco seasoning

(Little side note. I totally forgot the taco seasoning. Rather upset about it. Leaving that out made the whole thing a little bland and only ok; Pretty much just turned it into pasta with turkey meat sauce. It was good, but definitely not what it was supposed to be. I will attempt this again and hopefully get it right next time.)

Add:

2 cups chicken broth

19 oz can red enchilada sauce

8 oz uncooked rotini

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Uncover and simmer for 5 more minutes to let the sauce thicken. Stir in 1 cup of cheese.

I then refrigerated it for leftovers. When reheating I topped with additional cheese and then served with black olives and green onions.

Again, it was basically just pasta with a turkey meat sauce. So upset I forgot the seasoning! Let me know how yours goes!

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Muffins

Spray muffin tin.

In a large bowl mix:

2 packets sweet yellow corn muffin mix

1 cup milk

1 egg

2 tbs vegetable oil

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

Add 1 package sliced hotdogs & 1 cup Colby jack cheese

Spoon into muffin tin & bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes (mine took 25 and probably could have come out a little earlier).

Heat Chili on stove while muffins bake.

Serve muffins topped with chili, sour cream, additional Colby jack cheese and sliced green onions.

I also served a salad and some frozen mixed veggies for the girls that I heated up while the muffins baked.

Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole

This one doesn’t have a lot of seasoning in the recipe and so I did add a few extras that I think helped quite a bit.

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a large pan and add:

Chopped onion

½ tsp minced garlic

8 oz sliced mushrooms

Chopped chicken

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

Dash of ground red pepper

In a medium bowl combine 1 ½ cups milk and 3 tbs flour. Whisk until smooth.

Once chicken is cooked through, stir milk mixture into pan with chicken and cook for a couple minutes until it starts to thicken.

Remove from heat and mix in:

½ tsp salt

Cooked Brown Rice

Steamed Broccoli

1 cup cheddar cheese

I don’t like to ‘top with cheese’ and prefer to have it mixed in. I did top with a little extra when serving thought and had served a with this dinner also.

Enjoy!