Monday, January 11, 2010

a really jumbled post about food.

Remember how we're not eating out this month? Well, we broke our rule and ate out on our anniversary. We went to Texas Roadhouse and had delicious steak and potatoes (nothing we couldn't have prepared on our own -- sigh) but it sure did taste great. Anyway, that isn't the point of this post.

Among that little "resolution" to eat at home, we're also resolving to not buy anything unnecessary (actually, we aren't really buying anything this month). And we're resolving to eat healthier. For the most part, I think I cook pretty healthy. Vegetables, chicken, steak, hamburgers, Hamburger Helper...

... wait, what? Hamburger Helper isn't healthy? Um, oops!

But for real. I'm trying to cook us healthy foods. Tomorrow I'm going to cook thinly sliced chicken breasts in a skillet on the stove, and I'm going to make "veggie bundles" (the 1st cousin of potato bundles). Green pepper and onions in aluminum foil. How does that sound? I have no idea. I'm testing it out tomorrow. I would add more veggies, but our commissary had the teeniest little selection I've ever seen. I wouldn't even call it a "produce" section. They literally had like 7 squashes and 7 zucchinis -- as far as those types of veggies are concerned. Geez Louise! .. anyway..

Back to the real point of this post: I've been trying to eat healthy, which means I've been buying healthy. We bought bananas, oranges, and other stuff that now escapes my mind. Tonight I snacked on an orange.

It was a huge feat for me.

I actually hate fruit. I know, I know. I'm insane! I really only like pineapple and bananas -- and I really really love banana baby food. But that's it. Anything else? I have to force it down my throat. I hate grapes, cherries, apples, and I only like watermelon sometimes.

I would so rather eat vegetables.

When we first moved here, we bought a little bag of mixed veggies and some frozen little corn on the cobs. They're still in our freezer. Thank goodness that frozen food ... stays frozen.. ?? Yeah. Anyway. This is my blog, so I'm going to blog our weekly meals:

Today: Hamburger Helper and an orange for a snack
Tuesday: chicken and green peppers with onions
Wednesday: steak and potato bundles (Mark's favorite)
Thursday: chicken fingers with some kind of side
Friday: Digiorno pizza (another favorite!)
Saturday: fettuccine alfredo
Sunday: HELP
Monday: HELP
..etc

We have a bunch of trays of chicken in our freezer -- what should we do with them? I would really like to make some kind of chicken casserole-ish thing that uses some kind of condensed soup. I also have a box of rice in the cabinet. Any ideas on what we should eat?!

We actually have enough meat in our freezer for twelve+ days. So we're completely stocked up on food. No recipes that include pork chops, please! We do not buy pork chops. Ever. And no pot roast. Basically, we only eat chicken, ground beef, and steak.


So, let's hear it: What do you cook?! Please don't be shy. For the sake of our hungry bellies (and my starving husband), give us ideas! We pretty much like anything!

Yummy.. Can't wait for my healthy meal of chicken and veggies tomorrow night!!!


*EDIT: I really really love tomatoes -- they are my absoslute favorite fruit. I forgot to mention that!

13 comments:

  1. We LOVE King Ranch Chicken:
    3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces
    1 can cream of mushroom soup
    1 can cream of chicken soup
    1 can rotel
    1-2 cups cheddar cheese
    Package of corn tortillas (small)

    Tear the tortillas into small pieces and line the bottom of a pan. Mix together the soups, rotel and chicken and pour on top. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

    I usually serve with spanish rice, or mexican cornbread.

    Since you two love Mexican food, I really think you will love this!

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  2. Amanda DrommerhausenJanuary 12, 2010 at 12:55 AM

    I actually make a Chicken Casserole dish with all those ingredients! haha, you boil 6 chicken breasts for about 15 mintues and then shred it. Then use 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup and stir it up. Put it in a 13x7 baking dish and put stuffing on top :) And we serve it over rice. It is my total comfort food :)

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  3. yummmm guys.. those sound SO good!!!! Amanda, do you mean put like pre-made stuffing on top? If so, what kind? I've never bought pre-made stuffing :O

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  4. Stove Top Chicken is usually the best with what Amanda is telling you about-I have a recipe involving that too!
    Bruschetta Chicken Bake
    1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
    1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
    1/2 cup water
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
    1 tsp. dried basil leaves
    1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

    Heat Oven to 400.

    Mix stuffing mix, tomatoes, water, and garlic in a bowl until well mixed. Set aside.

    Put the bite-size pieces of chicken at the bottom of baking dish. Don't use cooking spray, it won't stick.
    Sprinkle with basil leaves, then layer over the cheese. I usually add a bit more basil after adding the cheese too.
    Your final layer will be your stuffing/tomato mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until your chicken is done. If your chicken pieces are bigger, they typically take a bit longer to cook.

    Jason LOVES this one too :)

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  5. Amanda DrommerhausenJanuary 12, 2010 at 8:24 AM

    I usually use the Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing or the Cornbread Stuffing, but Stove Top is good too, any is really as long as it is the dry kind that comes in a bag.

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  6. yaaaaay!! Keep these coming! I have all those ingredients except the mozzarella cheese, so that's good!

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  7. I just made this chicken and rice casserole from the Pioneer Woman's recipe site:

    http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/souper-chicken-and-rice-casserole/

    It's SO good.

    Also, I find a lot of excellent, healthy recipes at eatingwell.com. They're really easy, as well, and I have yet to find one that has more than 430 calories per serving.

    Hope that helps!

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  8. Oh nooo! You don't like fruit?! I totally didn't know that! Do you like strawberries? Yum, those are my favorite! And white peaches. And MANGO! Mmmmmm.

    Oh, uh, sorry. :) Do you have a crock pot? I think you do! Here are some yummy crock pot recipes for chicken!

    Bacon Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken
    2 Chicken Breasts
    1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
    1-2 Apples, Peeled & Grated
    1 Lemon, Juiced
    4 Slices Bacon

    Directions
    1. Combine BBQ Sauce with grated apple & lemon juice.
    2. Place chicken in crock pot, pour BBQ/apple mixture over chicken. Wrap 2 pieces bacon around each chicken breast.
    3. Set crock pot on low and cook 2-8 hours. (Depending on your crock pot. Ours takes about 2 hours. You could probably wrap the chicken, sauce, and bacon in aluminum foil, and bake it in the oven instead. That way, the chicken stays juicy.) Yum!

    Autumn Chicken
    2 Chicken Thighs (or breasts, or whatever)
    1-2 Apples, sliced
    1/2 Onion, sliced
    1 Cup Apple Juice
    Salt & Pepper
    Dash of Cinnamon
    3 Tablespoons of Lemon, to prevent browning of apples

    Directions
    1. Pour apple juice in crock pot and place chicken in juice. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Add onion around the chicken.
    2. Slice apples and mix with lemon juice and cinnamon. Place on top of chicken in crock pot. Set on low and cook for 2-8 hours. (Again, you can probably do the aluminum foil in the oven instead of the crock pot.)

    Enjoy!

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  9. Yeah, fruit just isn't my thing. I do like strawberries dipped in chocolate. And they're okay smothered in powdered sugar. But that's it. I would never EVER snack on strawberries. And definitely not pears (I *hate* the texture of pears), mangos are slippery, and so are peaches. Although, to be honest, I guess peaches are one of the best fruits out there.. I can deal with those. I'm so weird :\ I'm really trying to just make myself used to eating fruits. It's sorta-kinda working. I would rather eat the baby food versions of fruits.. (seriously)

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  10. I only like FRESH red pears. I can't stand the ones in fruit cups or cans. Blech. They're so gritty. The texture of fresh red pears is so much better. I don't eat them, ever, though. Like, once a year. Ha. And I'll only eat a mango when it's soft and ripe. YUM. I really want a big bowl of strawberries, clementines, white peaches, mangoes, and grapes right now. Ha!

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  11. Cooking for me I LOVE the cheesy chicken and rice casserole! It's so good! I got it off the Campbell's website a couple years ago and its been yummy in my tummy ever since!

    And I've always made it without the veggies since I'm really not a veggie eater so tell me what you think if you ever decide to make it!

    Ingredients
    1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (regular or 98% Fat Free)
    1 1/3 cups water
    3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
    2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables
    1/2 teaspoon onion powder
    4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
    1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
    Directions
    1.Stir the soup, water, rice, vegetables and onion powder in a 12 x 8 inch shallow baking dish.
    2.Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired. Cover.
    3.Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes or until done. Top with cheese.

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  12. Lurker here but decided to add one. My kids and hubby just LOVE this. Hopefully you have a crockpot? We just call it Southwest Chicken.

    Package of boneless chicken 1-1.5 lbs (whatever meat you prefer, breasts/thighs/tenderloins etc)
    1 can of mexicorn (or you can use frozen corn and add your own fresh peppers (YUM!)
    1 sweet onion, sliced
    1 colored pepper (or more if you like) sliced
    1 can seasoned black beans (drained)
    1 packet of taco seasoning

    layer in the crockpot
    veggies, corn, beans chicken, and a little taco seasoning.

    Repeat. I usually do about 3 layers. Add about 1/2 cup of water and cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high about 4 hours.

    This dish looks a little messy after cooking all day but it's SOOOO good. My 4, 6 and 9 year old LOVE it and it's my picky husbands favorite meal (almost). It's very versatile and you can eat it almost like a southwest rice bowl if you want (just take a ladle and put it over cooked rice of your choice). My girls like the chicken shredded with some of the veggies over nachos and sprinkled with cheddar cheese. And my hubby likes to eat it rolled up in a tortilla wrap with cheddar cheese sprinkled on it too.


    Another favorite is Stuffed Taco Shells

    1 lb ground beef
    1 package taco seasoning
    1/2 package (4 oz) cream cheese
    1/2 box (15-20) jumbo pasta shells
    Salsa
    Taco sauce
    1.5 cups of crushed tortilla chips
    1 cup shredded monterey jack
    1 cup shredded cheddar


    Boil the pasta. While that's cooking brown the ground beef. Drain the grease. Add taco seasoning (and water it calls for on the packaging) cook per directions. Add in the cream cheese and stir until completely mixed. Drain pasta when al dente, let cool. Pour about 1 cup of salsa in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. When pasta is able to be handled, stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place in baking dish. When all are stuffed, cover shells with the taco sauce (usually about 1 cup...but more if you need more) Cover and back at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes uncover and top with tortilla chips and cheese. Bake uncovered for about 10 more mins...just until cheese is melted.

    Serve with your favorite toppings, green onions, sour cream, black olives etc.

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  13. Amanda DrommerhausenJanuary 15, 2010 at 12:26 AM

    Oh, and I forgot to add: You set the oven to 350 and bake it for like 35-40 minutes. Just to get it warm, since it's all cooked anyway :) It's sooo delicious.
    I don't know why I thought of this today, but it was totally random and I felt horrible for leaving a step (a VERY important step) out haha

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