What We've Been Eating

Hi friends. July seems to be moving slow. We have been sweating, swimming, playing, and eating. Since our days haven't had too much excitement, I want to share what we've been eating. Just like sister, I plan my dinner menu a week or two in advance to reduce the number of grocery trips. We laughed because our grocery notebooks look just alike, and we had never discussed or compared them with each other. 

It's been a while since posting a recipe. However, most of these recipes are copied and not an original.

Grilled Chicken Salad

I marinated the chicken in Italian dressing before grilling. Then I chopped it up and added it to my salad along with my favorite toppings and thousand island dressing.

Sloppy Joes and Sweet Potato Fries

I used this recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

I used a bag of frozen sweet potato fries. 

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs with Roasted Squash and Zucchini and Sauteed Green Beans

The chicken is also from the Pioneer Woman, and you can find that recipe here.

I didn't have the Hot Salt she uses, but I used 2 cloves of garlic, half a tablespoon of salt, and a little less than half a tablespoon of cayenne pepper.  

Squash and zucchini were coated in salt, pepper, and olive oil and roasted in 350 oven for about 30 minutes.

Green beans were sauteed in skillet with butter, salt, garlic and onion powder. 

I forgot to photograph it until I was on my second helping.

Yes, another PW recipe

Stuffed Shells

Find it here. 

This is an original recipe.

Chicken, Pesto, and Cheese Panini

I made pesto using this recipe. Instead of using walnuts I used 2/4 cup of pine nuts. 

This is shredded grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, and pesto on some honey whole wheat bread. We buttered the outside of the sandwich and cooked it on our grill pan. Can I still call it a panini if I didn't use a panini press?

It looked like a panini to me. I guess you could just call it a sandwich.

Pork Tenderloin

I can't find the recipe I used.

I rubbed some spices and fresh herbs on the pork and added a lot of chopped onions, celery, and carrots. Then I roasted it in the oven until the pork was done. I think some beef stock might have been added to it. I thought it was a pretty dish, and I remember that it tasted good. I'll keep looking and let you know when I find the recipe.

We eat a lot of tacos, and one evening we were out of taco seasoning. So we made our own using this recipe.

These are all the spices involved. We've used this mix on beef and chicken.

Grilled Chicken Tacos

Eggplant Parmesan 

I used some farmer's market eggplant. My mom told me about breading the eggplant and baking it in the oven. It was delicious and so much easier than frying. I also used this recipe for the marinara. I didn't have stewed tomatoes, so I used crushed tomatoes, and I think this was one of my favorite marinara recipes. 

Crawfish Fettuccine
When I planned this meal I was originally going to use a recipe out of a cookbook I have. However, mid-way through cooking the sauce, it didn't look so good. I eyeballed some ingredients that I probably shouldn't have. I threw it out and searched the Internet for a white sauce using ingredients I already had. It was already 6:30, and we were hungry.
I found this recipe. I added in a few dashes of Tabasco and a pinch or two of cayenne pepper. I threw in the crawfish (previously frozen from our crawfish parties this spring). I poured the sauce on some noodles and topped it with Parmesan cheese. It was wonderful!

I hope this can inspire some of your menus. If not, then maybe it will inspire you to check out the Pioneer Woman's recipes. Her stuff is always good. 

I'm trying to look in different cookbooks and try new things. I'm not cooking tonight. We will be enjoying dinner at church. I love to cook, but I also enjoy the nights I don't have to plan. What are you having for dinner tonight?