Wow...is it June already? Where is the year going? Liam is just about 17 months now, and school is almost out for the big kids. With Memorial Day behind us, I guess the summer really is just about here!
This week I spent time going through some of my recipe binders to meal plan for the week, and came up with quite a few to try. I wanted to find a few keepers, and man, did we; we ended up with 5 this week! 3 dinner recipes, a pancake recipe and homemade Oreos! Ryan suggested we have fish this week, so we had one shrimp dinner and one night had tilapia. Hannah doesn't like shrimp or tilapia (but she does like the pasta and rice that went with the fish), but Owen, Ryan and I all enjoyed those dinners, and I hope you do too!
I will admit that I love sun-dried tomatoes, and you will notice 2 recipes this week have them in the ingredient list. I usually have the dry packaged ones in my pantry, but one of the recipes specifically called for the kind packed in oil, and then used the oil in the recipe itself. I followed that exactly and was happy with the results. If you don't want the kind packed in oil, then use the dried and season the olive oil you use in the dish with some Italian herbs.
Saturday was a total wash out weather-wise, so our plan of grilling out hamburgers was replaced with chicken fajitas. I usually use a pre-mixed packet for seasonings (typically Lawry's or McCormick), but had a recipe for fajitas, so it was one of my new recipes this week. I always marinate my chicken in freshly squeezed lime juice when I use a packet, but this recipe marinate called for both fresh lime and orange juice. We all agreed it had decent flavor profile, but not enough heat. Hannah loved it (she doesn't like all that much heat), but Ryan and Owen loaded their fajitas with Frank's Red Hot sauce to kick it up. I enjoyed it, but it isn't going to get a place in my recipe box, so I didn't post it here.
The chicken dinner keeper had a smokey flavor due to the bacon in the dish. It is a great recipe for left over cooked chicken breast. Next time you cook an oven-stuffer, reserve a few slices of the chicken and try this recipe. Or if you are grilling out this weekend, throw a few extra chicken breasts on the grill and save them to use during the week. I didn't have any leftover chicken on hand, so I poached 2 chicken breasts with Italian seasoning and used those. It worked out well, and the recipe came together pretty quickly. I used skim milk in the sauce, and it would create a thicker sauce if you use whole milk, or if you have cream on hand you could try that. We liked the dinner with the skim, so I think we'll stick with that. If you do use skim milk and want to make the sauce a bit thicker, you can always add 2 tbs water and 1 tsp cornstarch at the end. I think I am going to try that next time!
I have had this apple pancake recipe for a few years, but never gave it a try. One morning this week I told the big kids I was going to make them. Liam and I were going to try them and if they wanted to, they could as well. At first the big kids turned up their noses, but then they smelled the cinnamon and vanilla, and in the end - they each ate three! We all thought they were delicious! I had all the ingredients on hand, and they came together in a flash.
And finally, when I came across a Homemade Oreo cookie recipe, how could I not try it? I found it on Thursday morning, and Thursday after school Hannah helped me make them. I am going to try to find a new filling recipe, but even with the filling recipe here they were very good. At first I didn't think there was enough cream to fill all the cookies, but when I was done there was some left in the bowl. Following the recipe we ended up with 26 good sized sandwich cookies. They are probably best eaten within 2 days of baking, so we shared ours with some friends in the neighborhood. Thank goodness we got them out of my kitchen...I think I would have eaten 10 if they were available!
Well, it was a very good week for keepers...we'll have to see how next week turns out!
New Recipes
Tilapia with Lime Sauce
Spicy Shrimp Pasta
Chicken Fettuccine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Apple Pancakes
Homemade Oreo Cookies
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