A Comfort Food Favorite

Tonight's dinner was a take on the classic comfort food favorite Chicken Pot Pie.

Because of the amount of "work" needed to make this meal, I chose to make it tonight seeing this is the only night Emily has no basketball practice.

I found this recipe for Cheddar Bay Biscuits Chicken Pot Pie through Pinterest at the website Seeded at the Table. 

There are several steps to this recipe as I stated previously. First, there is the prepping of the chicken. Earlier today I poached several chicken breasts in broth and then shredded it using my Kitchen Aid mixer. I chose to shred the chicken to make it more palatable for Emily who is a bit of a chicken "snob". When I brought the kids home from school, I started the remaining steps which included prepping the veggies and making the sauce. While that was cooking, I made the biscuits that would top the "filling" along with the garlic butter that was put on top of the biscuits for the browning process.

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. Emily believe it or not gave it a thumbs up - I think the biscuits won her over. Matt liked it but wasn't thrilled with all the veggies - carrots, peas, corn and the ever awful potato. He picked out his favorites - peas and corn. I was able to keep it in the oven on a "warming" setting so that Dave was able to eat when he came home. He gave it a thumbs up.

There is a slight downside to this recipe for our family.

This is the portion all four of us ate for dinner. Being a non-leftover eating family, this poses a bit of a problem. Next time, I will definitely half the recipe. Oh, and don't be concerned I didn't throw the leftovers away, I will try and get one more meal out of it. 

Seeing I've made new recipes the last two nights, I'm going to give the family a break tomorrow night and make some pita pizzas but I'll be back using the Crock Pot Friday night. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

What on the Menu? is back!!!

Woohoo!! I finally got my act together when it comes to dinner. Well, at least for the next 8 meals.

Sunday night I pulled recipes from my "to try" folder to be made during the upcoming week. Monday morning I made my list, shopped my pantry shelves for items already on hand then headed out to the food store. 

Last night for dinner I pulled meatloaf mix from the freezer and made our family favorite mini Italian meatloaves. They were served with mashed potatoes and corn. A yummy meal with all the ingredients already on hand.

When choosing the week's meals, I focused on ones that would work well with Emily's new basketball practice schedule. Three of the meals are made in the crock pot, which I LOVE!!!

Here is the list:

• Crock Pot Cashew Chicken
• Cheddar Bay Biscuits chicken Pot Pie
• Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
• One Pot Cheesy Chicken Pasta
• Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini
• Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina
• Cheeseburger Pasta

Looking forward to trying some new recipes and I promise to keep you informed on the success of these meals.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Dinner's on the Table

My meal planning/cooking "schedule" has been so off lately.

I only got Emily's soccer schedule somewhat under control where I could plan meals, when it ended and a week later basketball season started. With a short practice time (3:15 - 4:30), I find myself staying at the school with Matt every weeknight with the exception of Wednesday. Thankfully Matt and I do use that time to get his homework completed. However, if I don't have my act together prior to school pick up and practice dinner becomes a rushed mess!

In the midst of all this craziness, I did make a few meals that turned out somewhat successful and have been added to our family menu planner. 

The most recently successful meal was Baked "Fried" Chicken. I found this recipe at the website bakerette. The meal was very easy to make the longest part being the soaking of the chicken in the buttermilk, which was only for 30 minutes. I used Smart Balance butter to make it a little more "healthy". It truly did have that "fried" chicken flavor. Emily is my chicken "snob" so if she likes it I know that it is good. Well, she liked it. Matt was the only one that wasn't all that thrilled with the meal but it is worth another attempt to see if I can get him to give it a thumbs up. What was also nice about this meal is that it was easily reheated for when Dave came home a little later that evening and it didn't dry out. 

One of the pluses to this Pesto Chicken Alfredo casserole is that it makes two portions one of which can be frozen. I found this recipe at the website Amanda the Virtuous Wife. We did eat the one portion which was fantastic. Out of that portion, we still had enough leftovers for another meal. This meal tastes good enough even to serve to company. We have yet to eat the frozen portion, so I cannot advise whether or not it truly does freeze well. Everyone gave this meal a thumbs up with the only ingredients being left on their plates the diced tomatoes and spinach - I try to get those veggies in there but they always push them aside. 

This is another freezer-friendly pasta casserole I made. I found it at the website Money Saving Mom. It was very easy to make. Instead of ground beef, I did opt for using sweet Italian sausage which in my opinion gave it a kick of flavor.  In the future, I would half this recipe for our family as the 9x13 casserole portion fed us for one night, two of us for leftovers and we still had more left. Being not a big "leftover" eating family the better option for us would be to do a half recipe. 

The final recipe I want to share is slow cooker Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (no picture taken) which I found at the website Uncommon Designs. We had company over for dinner one Saturday and I served these sandwiches. I myself am not a big BBQ fan but my husband is so I gave it a try. They were very yummy. I served it with coleslaw and potato salad. Definitely a good option for a football party. 

Well, there you have it the few recipes I've made lately. I'm hoping to get my "meal planning/cooking" act together and use the crock pot a little more now that basketball season has started. 

As always, thank you for stopping by!

What's on the Menu?

Being back at home means getting back into routines. I'm a routine fanatic if you haven't already deciphered that from previous posts. 

One routine I'm happy to begin again is my weekly menu planning. I love trying new recipes and when I'm in my menu planning routine, I get to do just that. 

So, this morning I pulled out my recent recipe finds, mainly from Pinterest, decided my weekly menu then compiled my shopping list. One thing I always do is "shop" my shelves for items already on hand saving money by not purchasing an item unnecessarily. 

Here is the list of the items for this upcoming week:

Friday (Tonight) - Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Saturday - Southwest Chicken Wraps

Sunday - Out 

Monday - Lemon Chicken Thighs with Olives

Tuesday - Baked Tacos

Wednesday - Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

Thursday - Turkey & Spinach Lasagna

Friday - Creamy Chicken Enchiladas 

Saturday - Cheesy Spaghetti with Turkey Sausage

Weekly Dessert:

Chocolate Coconut Bars

The meals on Tuesday and Saturday are ones prepared in the slow cooker. Now, I am just waiting for my son to be picked up by a friend so Emily and I can go to the food store.  

All of these recipes are new, so I will let you know how the family rates them. Hoping more than one will be a keeper with a 4 thumbs up rating.

What's on the Menu?

I'm excited for this week because with the kid's on spring break I can get back to the weekly menu. 

With our involvement in our church's Passion play, it was difficult to be able to do this, so we pretty much stuck with "eating the shelves" for the last few weeks. 

Yesterday, I did make pasta sauce that can be used as a backup meal any time this week if we are running on a tight schedule.

Here is the menu:

Monday - 30 Minute Lemon Brown Sugar Chicken

Tuesday - Spinach & Artichoke Baked Pasta

Wednesday - Pork Piccata

Thursday - Creamy Shrimp & Mushroom Pasta

Friday - Chicken with Mushrooms

Saturday - Dinner Out

Sunday - Cheesy Chicken Meatball & Tortellini Soup

I also have pizza fixings for a quick meal too!

With the kids being home, we are going to do some extra baking so our desserts for the week are:

Peanut Butter Dream Bars

Fudgy Brownies

Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Stay tuned for our family ratings! 

What's on the Wessel Weekly Menu

About two weeks ago, I planned out a month's worth of meals. The first week went really well but we needed to take the following week "off" from the schedule in order to use up the leftovers created. I also decided to use that time to once again "eat the shelves in the pantry, the fridge and the freezer". Basically, we only ate leftovers or meals made from items on hand. The fridge and freezer are down to just the main condiments, staples on hand (eggs, luncheon meat, fruit, etc.) and beverages we drink.  

The shopping list has been made and here is the menu for the week to come:

Greek Steak Pitas with Dill Sauce 

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

Sweet & Spicy Greek Meatballs

Creamy Tortellini Soup

 (Made this before 4 thumbs up family rating)

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups 

(also a 4 thumbs up rating)

Hungarian Beef Goulash

Bacon, Tomato & White Bean Soup

Sesame Orange Shrimp

For dessert:

No Bake Chocolate Eclair Dessert

As always, the family will give each recipe the "thumbs" rating and those that pass I'll share with you. The menu starts Monday.