Meals:
Tacos
Pesto Pasta with Chicken {Hopefully I can find basil at the store! I’ve been on the hunt for it for about 3 weeks at 3 different stores! WTF?!}
Chicken Pot Pie
Sausage and Potatoes
Tortellini with Homemade Sauce
Pizza {I will use leftover homemade tomato sauce or pesto for the sauce.}
Leftovers
Things I want to bake:
Red Velvet cake or cupcakes
One cooking shortcut that I sometimes take is buying rotisserie chickens from the grocery store. I do this when I plan to make a recipe on a weeknight that calls for cooked chicken. Since I get home from work between 6-6:30, I don’t want to spend 20+ minutes cooking chicken just to use it in a recipe that is going to take 30 additional minutes or more to get to the end result. I generally like to serve dinner and have the kitchen cleaned up before 8. So, I will either buy the rotisserie chicken the day before I need it or sometimes the same day and then shred the meat off and use it in whatever recipe it is called for.
Some things that I’ve used the chicken for include: on pizzas, in enchiladas, in casseroles, and for buffalo chicken dip {recipe in this post} just to name a few.
What I’m getting at here is that I used a rotisserie chicken in this chicken and noodle recipe and I’m so glad I did because it made quick work of the process and was still delicious.
Chicken and Noodles
Ingredients
1 small rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 bag of frozen egg noodles
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
3-4 medium carrots, sliced
one 32 oz carton of low sodium chicken broth/stock
black pepper
parsley flakes
ground thyme
1 (or 2) chicken bouillon cube(s)
Directions
In a large dutch oven, heat the oil and butter. Then add the chopped onion, carrot, and celery and cook until soft. Then sprinkle in the flour and cook another minute or until the flour gets slightly brown. Then add the carton of chicken broth and stir to scrap up brown bits on the bottom of pan. Next, add the pepper, thyme, parsley and shredded chicken and heat thoroughly.
Meanwhile, boil a large pot of water with one or two bouillon cubes and cook the egg noodles for about 10-15 minutes. Then, drain but reserve the water. Add the noodles to the chicken mixture. Then add some of the liquid until you reach your desired soupiness (?). I think I added about 2 ladles/cups of liquid. Serve immediately.
I added an additional cup or so of the liquid when I put away the leftovers knowing that the noodles may soak up some more overnight.
A few weeks ago a friend {hi Melissa!} and I went to a pottery shop where you paint your own piece of pottery. Then they fire it for you and you pick it up about a week later. It was so much fun! I would definitely suggest this outing for any group of friends looking to do something different or even for a party. This particular shop has a large party room in the back. Just allow plenty of time to paint your piece {at least two hours} and have fun!! You may also need to call ahead to reserve a table, but I don’t think it is required.
They had many different pieces to choose from including: plates, mugs, platters, spoon rests, and seasonal decorations. Here’s what I painted:
I taped off the outside in random sized stripes and used brick red, purple, sage green, and speckled off-white paints. The white stripe is just the bare pottery. Inside the piece, I used brick red on the sides, and sage green on the bottom with a purple stamp. The edges aren’t as crisp as I would normally prefer, but it does give it a “hand-made” charm and I’m very happy with it overall. I think it is pretty and useful! By the way, all of the pieces are food safe after being fired.
I haven’t had a chance to use it as a serving piece yet, but hope to use it often in the near future. I definitely think I’ll use it with my Pampered Chef serving pieces that sort of match. One is shown below:
{Source}
Rather than going by memory as I tried to do, I would suggest that you bring something you own with you if you want to try to match it. As you can see above, I had a few of the colors correct, but totally forgot about the mustard and orange colors. I did remember that it had skinny stripes and went with the wider and more random stripes on purpose.
Since discovering the no-rise pizza crust yeast {I can only find it at Schnuck’s by the way}, I’ve made a homemade pizza about once a week! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a frozen pizza again. I’ve also enjoyed experimenting with different toppings and flavors. Nothing too crazy though because Tim pretty much only likes the traditional stuff.
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients:
one prepared pizza dough {recipe found here}
about 1/4 cup of bbq sauce or enough to lightly cover the dough
about 1.5 cups of shredded cooked chicken
2-3 strips of bacon, cooked until crisp and then crumbled
3-4 green onions, sliced
3/4 cup of shredded cheese {I think I used Colby Jack?}
crushed red pepper flakes – optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Make the dough and roll into a circle, then place it on a pizza pan. Spread with bbq sauce. Add chicken, bacon, and sliced onions. Then sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes and cheese.
Bake on bottom rack of oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
I have really grown to love chick peas over the past few years – in hummus, tossed on a salad, etc. I totally love the healthy little beans. Years ago I never would have looked in their direction. My how things change! So, since I always have a can or two in the pantry, I thought I would go ahead and try roasting them for a snack.
I wasn’t sure if Tim would like them, so I cut the recipe in half {below is my halved version}, but I upped the amount of spices used because I love a good kick.
Overall, they were pretty good, but not something that I’ll bother to make frequently because they didn’t knock my socks off.
Roasted Chickpeas
{Source: adapted from Milk and Honey}
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425°. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 17- x 12-inch jelly-roll pan {I used a smaller baking sheet since I halved the original recipe}. Bake 35- 45 minutes or until crispy and dry, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes.
I can’t really think of a better combination of flavors than peanut butter and chocolate. It is certainly my favorite anyway! So, not only do these bars have great flavor, the texture is great too. They are somewhere in between blondies and cake, but leaning more towards blondies. Yum!
{souce: taste of home}
I decided to make a snack for us to nibble on during a lazy Sunday and decided on this dip that I have seen on a few other blogs. It was great! We both like beer a lot so we definitely like finding ways to incorporate it into our food. 
The ranch flavor is quite strong, so I’ll probably reduce the amount used next time. Overall, this was a nice alternative to my usual cheese dip recipe.
Beer & Cheese Dip
{source: adapted from Vintage Victuals and Milk & Honey}
I cut the recipe below in half.
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
I think this could be considered the perfect Sunday night meal during the winter months. It takes a few hours to cook, so you’ll want to plan ahead, but it is not difficult at all. A little hands on time is all it takes, and then the oven does the rest of the work.
I served the stew with Red Lobster biscuits.
Hearty Beef Stew
{source: adapted from America’s Test Kitchen seen at Good Things Catered}
Ingredients:
3 lbs. beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 in. cubes {I used approx. 1.5 pounds of beef stew meat}
salt and ground pepper
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped coarse
2 celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 c. dry red wine
1.5 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried thyme
4 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in. cubes
3 or 4 large carrots , peeled and sliced 1/4 in. thick
1 c. frozen peas {I omitted}
1/4 c. minced parsley {I omitted}
Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
-Dry beef thoroughly and season generously with salt and pepper.
-Heat 1 Tbsp oil in Dutch oven over medium high heat.
-Add half the meat so that pieces are not touching and cook not moving until brown (about 2-3 min)
-Use tongs and rotate pieces until all sides are browned (about 5 additional min.)
-Transfer beef to medium bowl and add another 1 Tbsp oil to pan if needed, repeating previous steps with other half of beef.
-Reduce heat to medium and add additional 1 Tbsp oil to now empty pan and swirl to coat bottom.
-Add onions, celery, and 1/4 tsp salt and cook, scraping bottom of pan for brown bits until softened (about 5 mins).
-Add garlic and continue to cook for 30 sec.
-stir in the flour and cook until lightly colored (1-2 min.)
-Add wine, scraping the bottom and stiring until thick and flour is dissolved.
-Gradually add the chicken stock, stirring constantly scraping up the remaining browned bits on bottom of pan.
-Add bay leaves and thyme and return to simmer.
-Add beef, return to simmer, and place the pot in the oven.
-Cook for 1 hour.
-Add potatoes and carrots cover and return to the oven to cook for additional hour.
-Remove the pot from oven (here you can cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)
-Add the peas, cover and allow to stand for 5 min.
-Stir in the parsley, discard bay leaves, adjust seasoning and serve immediately.
Meals:
Foil Pack Taco chicken with potatoes
Swedish Meatballs with noodles
Baked Pineapple Chicken with rice
Buffalo Chicken Fingers with oven fries and a veggie
Beef Quesadillas
Leftovers
I will possibly try to make Cabonara again since it flopped last time??
