What did you have for Dinner this week?

What did you have for Dinner this week?

Maegan and I are trying to swap recipes a little more but I figured it I post it on my blog then maybe someone will make some suggestions of new things for me to try too! Here are the dinners we had this week. The recipes are adaptations of ones found in cookbooks and the soup is from my Mom so, I don't feel like I'm violating copyrights or creativeness in posting... Also, all three of these recipes make a lot of food. You can freeze half of each of them, have some extra people over for dinner, or eat leftovers at lunch.

MONDAY
Taco Salad - no recipe here, pretty self explanatory (some chips, lettuce, tomato, kidney beans, ground turkey, cheese and.... French dressing on top - the way my gma used to make it!)


TUESDAY
Crock pot Beef Stroganoff/Swiss Steak/Whatever you want to call it
1 - 2 lbs of Round Steak (super cheap)
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
1 big can (family size) mushroom soup mix
about 1/3 of the soup can of water
1 container (I think they are pints) of sliced mushrooms or 1 can sliced mushrooms
1 bag extra wide egg noodles
Combine all ingredients except noodles in crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Make noodles according to package directions. Drain. Stir noodles in to crock pot mixture. This makes a lot. You could freeze half of it for another day.
It really can't get much easier than that. You can also add sour cream if you like it a little creamier but I am not a big sour cream fan so, I leave it out. I also made some steamed carrots to go along with this. I got a 5lb bag of organic carrots at "Geagle" for $3 - I thought that was a good deal and I need to make Ray some more carrots anyways.

WEDNESDAY
Potato Soup
1 package of bacon (I used the center cut Oscar Meyer but you could get whatever)
1 bunch green onions
1 5lb bag of white potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 gallon water
1 cup milk
several tablespoons of all purpose flour
Shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Cook bacon until crispy, crumble and set aside. I cooked the bacon in my heavy stock pot, dumped the grease but didn't clean the pot for the extra bacon flavor per my Mom's suggestion. Add white parts of green onions, potatoes, and water to stock pot. Cook on low for several hours until potatoes are very soft and starts to get soupy. Just before serving, add milk and flour to thicken it up. Serve topped with crumbled bacon, green parts of onion, shredded cheese and salt and pepper. This needs salt and pepper but I hate cooking with salt so, I just had everyone add their own.
We had Mike's parents over for dinner and still had enough left over that Mike and I both ate it for lunch today. Sam also made corn muffins to go along with this, yep, Sam made them! I also made a chocolate cake from scratch. The recipe was on the Hershey's cocoa box, "The Best Ever Chocolate Cake". I don't know if it was the best ever but it was pretty good. This was my second ever attempt at a cake from absolute scratch and I think I might be a convert now - it was so moist! Of course I made my own frosting :)

THURSDAY
Chicken Carbonara (see picture)
1/2 package of bacon
several chicken breasts
1 medium size tomato diced
1 bag fresh baby spinach
1 jar alfredo sauce (we like Bertoli's)
1 box penne pasta (we tried Barilla Plus and it was great!)
Cook bacon until crispy, crumble, and set aside. Cube chicken and cook in a little EVOO or small amount of bacon grease. While Chicken is finishing up boil pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta but don't shake all the water out. Put back in pot with bag of spinach. Stir spinach and pasta together until spinach starts to wilt. Add bacon, chicken, tomato, and alfredo sauce. Mix together well. Enjoy.
We ate this tonight and Sam said, "yeah dinner!" and "(is it) Cute Mommy?". I guess he enjoyed it... This recipe came from our friend Allen. He used to work at a restaurant called Lindeys here in Columbus and this was one of his favorite things on their menu. The Barilla Plus pasta has a ton of protein, Omega 3, and fiber in it. It's a multigrain pasta and it was really tasty. I tried some of it on its own before adding the sauce and everything to it.

Tomorrow I think I am going to make talapia and try out a new edamame succotash recipe I found. Probably some couscous too since fish and couscous is one of Sam's favorite meals.

I've also been eating a lot of salad with blueberries on it this week with this Fat free raspberry vinagarette I bought; It's so good! I am addicted to sweet tea but I am trying not to make it anymore or, just for special treats. I found this green tea with berries at Giant Eagle (it's their brand) and its delicious. I've been trying to cut back on night time snacking. When I do I've been eating Yoplait yogurt with granola mixed in. Is there any other yogurt besides Yoplait? I think I'm just a snob about it. Although I know that I have to try Greek Yogurt sometime soon per Brooke.

As far as C 2 5K goes, I haven't done any running for 2 weeks cause it's been soooooo cold! It's warmer here today and supposed to be all weekend so, I'm gonna try to get out tomorrow (Friday) and Sunday.