Last Nights Dinner

I thought I would share a few things we made 

for dinner last night 

We had Aimee's baked chicken from All recipes

Broccoli Bacon salad

Smashed cauliflower with yams

We really liked all of it.  The smashed cauliflower was

really improved by adding a half of a yam. I changed up

a traditional broccoli salad with sunflower seeds instead

of peanuts. Check out the recipes below sorry I only have a

picture of the chicken.

Aimee's Baked chicken 

4 chicken breasts      1/4 cup bacon bits

4 oz. Dijon mustard    1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Place chicken in oven proof pan. 

Slather mustard evenly over chicken, then pour teriyaki sauce

evenly over all. Sprinkle with bacon bits, then cover with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 min.

Broccoli Salad

3 cups chopped broccoli(I like to blanch it for like 1 minute)

1/4 cup chopped purple onion

1/3 cup sunflower seeds or peanuts

1/2 cup bacon bits or more if you like

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

dressing-1/4 cup light mayo, 1tsp splenda or sugar, s&p to taste 

2-3Tbls red wine vinegar mix and pour over salad good to let it

hang out for a half an hour or so before eaten.

Smashed Cauliflowered Yams

Steam half a head of cauliflower or whole if you want I used

the orange colored cauliflower.

Bake a yam or sweet potato if your going to turn the oven on

you might as well bake a few and use them later.

Just put the cauliflower and yam in the food processor with a 

little butter s&p. I wanted to loosen mine up so I added a little

coconut milk I had in the fridge you could use sour cream, cream,

yogurt or milk. Mia thought it was really really good. Jess would've liked it to.

       

GRILLED CHICKEN AND VEGGIE SKEWERS

The other night I wanted something different I went on Our Best Bites and found
these Grilled Chicken and Veggie skewers.  We don't have a grill so I put them
 in the oven and baked them then finished them on my stove top grill pan.
They were good and satisfied that grilled chicken crave.  The family liked the change up.
Its nice to have a husband and 2 girls that will eat what I decide I want to eat.
Hmmm would be nice to have food placed in front of you for dinner each night, oh the
excitement to see what the mom  has cooked up each night.  Yah, well sometimes its
not all that great and they wonder what I've been doing all day:)
Stuff you know I got stuff to do too:)

www.ourbestbites.com/2009/07/grilled-chicken-and-veggie-skewers/

They will smell fantastic–the smell and flavor, strangely, is actually very reminiscent of Churrascorestaurants like Tucano’s or Rodizio grill. Pop off one of those GLORIOUS mushrooms as soon as they’re cool enough to handle and serve with some cubed watermelon and Brazilian Lemonade for a fabulous summer feast!

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Skewers1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into small, bite-sized pieces

1 each yellow and green zucchini squash, cut in half (if large) and sliced

8 oz. small whole mushrooms, stems removed

1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper (or combo of 2 or more), chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 small red onion, carefully cut into bite-sized chunks (try to keep as much of the pieces in tact as possible, but don’t stress it if they start to fall apart)

Sweet cherry tomatoes

1 recipe of Zesty Italian Dressing (below) or 1 bottle of Berenstein’s Italian Dressing

Prepare Zesty Italian Dressing:

1/4 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. lemon juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (this really doesn’t add much heat; it’s better with it!)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 c. canola oil

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese (either fresh or from a can)

3/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (add more if needed)

In a blender, combine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, salt, seasoning salt, black pepper, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Blend. While blender is running, slowly add oil in a steady stream. Turn off blender and add Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Pulse blender 2-3 times to combine herbs and cheese. Remove 1/2 c. of dressing for basting during grilling and set aside.

Place cut-up chicken in a shallow dish and pour a little less than half of the remaining dressing over the chicken. Place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until ready to use.

Place chopped veggies in a dish (a 9×13 pan works great) and pour remaining dressing (except for reserved 1/2 c.) over the veggies. Toss gently to combine. Set aside.

If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for about 30 minutes.

When chicken is done marinating, skewer veggies and chicken (you’ll have far more veggies than chicken, so keep that in mind when assembling your skewers; I use about 3 pieces of chicken per skewer, but as many vegetables as I can get on there).

Preheat grill and then cook skewers for about 10-12 minutes over medium heat until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender-crisp, turning at least once.

Our Best Bites is awesome place to go thank-you 







http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/01/recipe-for-roasted-green-beans-with.html

Roasted green bean and mushrooms, with balsamic and parmesan 
This is what was for dinner tonight with Lemon Dill chicken 

                      http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/lemon_dill_chicken.html

This Lemony Dill chicken was very good just the right amount
we put the sauce over some potatoes they went well with the
green beans it was quick and easy a winner with us.

Dump dinner

Ok this is my version of the Dump dinner that is going around, saw it on pinterest.
sorry we didn't take a picture but its real easy to do
Most of these amounts should be varied by how many your serving

dump a bag of frozen chicken in your crock-pot
dump in a bag of frozen corn
dump in a can of black beans
dump in 1-2 cups of salsa
dump in 1 can of cream of chicken soup(reduced fat) add 1tsp of cumin and 2 TBL
taco seasoning in the can and mix before you dump.
dump one 8oz cream cheese cubed

Let it cook on low all day or high half the day you can shred or chunk it
or leave the chicken whole

I made rice to go with it kind of a mexican rice
brown in olive oil-1/2 onion, 2 grated garlic cloves and I had green peppers and a
jalapeno I chopped and added them.  Add 1 1/2 cups of rice brown a little add 3 cups
of water I added 2TBL tomato paste simmer on low or till done.
You can serve with tortilla chips, tortilla's and a little cilantro.
Was good!

Chicken Taco Salad with Lime dressing

6-8 cups of greens(spinach, iceberg, romaine)
add any veggies you and your family like
cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded carrots, peppers...etc
1 cup olives
1 cup cheese
1 can beans drained and rinsed like black, red, pinto
3 chicken breast grilled, sliced or use a rotisserie chicken
2-3 cups tortilla chips crushed


Dressing:
3TBL vinegar I used rice vinegar
2 TBL oil
1 TBL sugar
1/2 lime juiced I used the whole thing
1 clove garlic crushed
1/4 tsp. salt
mix dressing, drizzle over salad just before serving. 
I think I doubled it to make sure I had enough

Baked Ziti III

This is from allrecipes.com 

Tried and tested very good!

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package dry ziti pasta
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 (28 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces sliced provolone cheese
• 6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream (use light or fat free)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• try layer spinach in it also

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown beef over medium heat. Add onions; saute until tender. Drain off fat and add spaghetti sauce; simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. In a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish, place about half of the pasta; top with a layer of provolone and mozzarella cheese slices. Spread on a layer of half the spaghetti sauce mixture and sour cream.
5. Cover with remaining pasta, cheese and sauce; sprinkle a layer of Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbly; serve.