11th Night

Finally, a true home cooked meal for our family.  I have been thinking that I should take pictures of our meals.  Unlike many food bloggers that I read, I A. do not have a fancy camera, B. am a point and shoot kind of girl, C. have a simple old kitchen (i.e. no dishwasher, no fancy granite counter tops etc...) and D. I am not good with presentation.   I can cook a mean meal, but it is rarely pretty.  Do you really want to see pictures of my red Paula Deen cookware, which by the way is not all it is cracked up to be!  So maybe I will start small, but don't bash me if they are not the beautiful images you see on other websites.  

Tonight's dinner was a adaptation of a recipe that Pioneer Woman shared a few weeks ago.  Hubby and kiddo were both turning their noses up as I was preparing dinner.  You can check out www.thepioneerwoman.com for the original recipe.  I made ours with low fat ingredients and with chicken.  

Tonight's Meal

Lemon Pasta with Chicken

3  Larger Chicken Tenderloins

Lemon Pepper, I used McCormick that I swiped from our neighbors cabinet.  We were out.

10 oz thin spaghetti

2 lemons

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 cup + light sour cream

Fresh Parmesan Cheese grated (I got mine from the salad bar at Giant Eagle, saved lots!)

Flat leaf parsley if you feel adventurous

Coat chicken liberally with Lemon pepper.  Saute on medium for 4 to 5 minutes on medium.  Boil Spaghetti to package instructions.  Zest 1 lemon. 

Melt butter in skillet, add olive oil and garlic.  Simmer for a few minutes.  Add the juice of the lemon you zested.  Simmer for another minute.  Add the sour cream. Add zest.  I used a little over one cup, it just did not seam creamy enough.  This also took several minutes to combine thoroughly.  Be patient.  

Drain Spaghetti, make sure your chicken is not burning.  Add spaghetti to sauce and mix well.  I planned on serving it like this, but hubby was in the shower so I put in a casserole and baked it for about ten minutes with the chicken sliced on top, at 350.  

Remove from oven.  Sprinkle with cheese and sliced parsley. Squeeze lemon juice over top.  Serve hot.  

Opinion:  This was soooooo yummy.  Rich, yet light.  Hubby was surprised and loved it.  The lemon flavor was mild. I could have done without the parsley.  Lots of leftover pasta.  Hubby thought the sauce might be good with green onions added to it. 

Kid Opinion:  She ate it, but I could tell she was not in love with it.  Shockingly she ate the chicken, which had a dominant lemon pepper flavor.  

All in all a good meal that I would at to our occasional list.  

8th Night

Another busy day at our home.  We had a t-game this afternoon.  It was very muggy.  We came home and made our first trip to the pool for the summer.   Hubby and kiddo were in the pool for all of about 35 minutes, then came the thunder.  We came home.  Hopefully we can make it back out tomorrow.  Kiddo's swimming skills came back to her quickly. 

Tonight's Dinner

Chef Salad

Ingredients: 1 head of lettuce

Cubed chicken (we used leftovers from last night, and a little from the Giant Eagle Salad Bar)

Cubed ham

2 Roma tomatoes sliced

2 slices of Swiss cheese sliced

A couple of green onions

Mix all together in a big bowl and serve with your favorite dressing.  We used Kraft Ranch with Bacon tonight.  I am normally not a huge fan of ranch, but it was pretty good.  We also usually put green peppers and a hard boiled egg in this salad, but alas we had no peppers, and did not feel like waiting for the egg. 

 Opinion: We all really liked tonight's dinner.  Kiddo was a clean plate kid.  I know for me this is a good way to get fresh veggies without feeling like I am just eating lettuce.  Using the salad bar for some things has proved to be a money saving idea for us.  One pack of the precooked salad chicken is over $3.  The serving that we purchased for quick use off the salad bar was $1.25.  

Seventh Night

Wow! We had a busy day today.  We went south and spent some time in Hocking Hills State Park.  We packed one of our favorite picnic lunches that I will share with you.  

Today's Lunch

Turkey Roll up's

Sliced Oranges

Dried Pineapple

Pita Chips

For the Turkey Roll Up we spread a thin layer of low fat cream cheese on a 6 in tortilla, we used plain today.  Then two slices of thin deli turkey, and cranberry honey mustard.  We use Woeber's brand cranberry honey mustard.  Woeber's has the best customer service ever!  We had a problem a few months back with our favorite honey mustard and they replaced it!  What company still does that?  Anyway, roll up like a pinwheel, wrap in plastic wrap and chill.  We love these, they travel well in a cooler, and there are endless possibilities!

Tonight's Dinner

Chicken Tenders with dip

Rice Pilaf

I am a huge fan of flash frozen chicken tenders.  They are super for late nights like this and they cook quick.  I will not lie, we cooked ours up tonight on our first generation lean mean grilling machine.  Kiddo ate hers with some Ken's Ranch dressing, and I had mine with Woeber's honey mustard.  Hubby will have his with Buffalo wing sauce.  

I would love to tell you that I made the Rice Pilaf from scratch, but I did not.  Rice a Roni has been my favorite non vegetable side dish since I can remember.  I make it with Olive Oil, so less fat.  One of my goals is to learn to make it homemade soon.  

Opinion:  This is one of Kiddo's favorite meals.  Nothing spectacular or interesting, but she eats without complaint. 

Tonight's Dessert... Amaretto Sour.... obviously kiddo has a few mini cocoa cookies instead.