What's For Dinner?

September SNAPS 2014 - Day 22 - WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Some nights I cook dinner for the two of us, and other nights we opt to go out.  I imagine you do the same.   With our busy schedule and my picky palate, sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas to cook.  A couple of years ago, I was inspired to try "crockpot freezer meals" that I'd seen on Pinterest. (you can see my post on it over here)  I bought all the supplies, then chopped and mixed everything and bagged it all up, leaving us with about 10 meals ready to cook over the next few months.  Some were better than others, but all of them were good and it was so nice to not have to worry about WHAT'S FOR DINNER on those nights.

I really need to do that again---the freezer is bare and my schedule is busy!  What's on the menu for you tonight?  

This past weekend was a really good weekend.   While I've touched on parts of it (the 5K race), there was so much more.  Ron had originally planned to go hunting this past weekend, so he had taken off work on Friday.  When the hunting plans fell through, that left him with a free day, so I met him at Norton's during my lunch break.  Ron packed a picnic and we enjoyed it among the plants and streams.  It was so nice and relaxing, it was hard to leave to go back to work. 

That night, we grilled pizzas and enjoyed them out on the deck.  The hummingbirds must have been hiding someplace a little warmer this time.

















For dessert, I made Cinnamon Popcorn, and we munched on it while we watched a movie.  So Yummy!!

Saturday morning was race time and I guess I got a touch of "runner's high" after that because I became quite the busy bee around the kitchen.   I know that for most people it takes 15 miles or so, but for me, running my first 5K did it!    I'd been wanting to try out these freezer crock pot meals I'd seen over on Pinterest.

Source: melissafallistestkitchen.blogspot.com via Linda on Pinterest

After a trip to the grocery store, I began chopping, peeling and bagging.  

I actually love to chop vegetables for some reason, and my new chopper from Pampered Chef made that job really easy.   I was so busy chopping that Ron had to go pick up Callie at the airport!   The recipes I followed made ten meals for us that are now neatly stacked in the freezer awaiting the crock pot.  I'll let you know what I think after we try them out!
***Tried the BBQ chicken last night and it was really good***

Saturday evening, the LSU vs. Florida game was on TV, but by that time, I was beginning to crash and actually ended up falling asleep during parts of the game.  I guess a Runner's High can only last for so long.

Ron had the idea of having another picnic after church on Sunday afternoon.  While I was at church, he packed the lunches and after bundling up for the cool temperatures, we headed out to the Red River Wildlife Refuge.  When we arrived, we were the only people there and it was so nice!  We picnic'ed by the lake.

In addition to our sandwiches, enjoyed some of the pecans that were all over the ground (yes, I know it is probably against the law to pick up pecans at a center like this, but . . . ).  

Along the way, we saw lots of footprints---raccoon, skunk, deer and some that we later learned were from a bobcat.  

The walk around the lake was about 3.5 miles and I loved seeing all the flowers and butterflies along the way.  We kept our eyes open for wood ducks, but they have much better ears than we do and always fled before I could get a photo. 

After a quick tour of the visitor's center (which is REALLY nice), we went down to the Revel site to watch and listen as Callie and Jordan performed with their church's praise band. 

You can't go to the Revel without sampling some of the food, so we shared an order of fried crawfish tails that was delish!!  It was really cold that evening, so we headed home in time to be able to watch the Saints game.  

The weekend was so great--from beginning to end!

Summer Food

Those of you that know me even a little bit, know that I do NOT consider myself a cook at all.  I like to eat, but cooking has never been my favorite thing.  My domestic talents seem to lie with sewing rather than creating interesting meals, so recipes need to be easy, and not involve a bunch of unusual ingredients.  I tend to eat the same things over and over, particularly for breakfast and lunch.  I also know myself well enough to know that if I don't have my meals planned out a little bit, I am NOT going to take the time to prepare something that is healthy, but will instead turn to filling myself up on unhealthy snacks from the pantry.

So, here it is summer (a somewhat eternal summer for me, now) and I'm home a good part of many days.  I've been trying to have healthy foods available in my fridge (fruit and such), and have planned several dinners to cook each week so that I won't be eating out as much or snacking.  This morning, I realized that I had a grilled chicken breast in my refrigerator that needed to be used right away, so I invited Callie over for lunch and whipped up my favorite chicken salad.

For those of you that find yourself struggling with difficult recipes and not enough time, this recipe is super simple and quick to mix up.

1.  Using my mini food processor, I finely chopped the chicken.  

2.  One chicken breast was more than the two of us could eat at one meal, so I bagged up half of it and popped it into the freezer for another day.

3.  Since my chopper was out, I also chopped up a handful of pecans and added them to the bowl of chicken.

4.  I like grapes in my chicken salad, but only had 3 grapes in the refrigerator??  What's with that??  Well the grandkids did just leave a few days ago.

5.  No one in my family likes mayonnaise, including me, so I use it VERY sparingly--just enough to make things stick together.

6.  That's it!  Stir it up and spread it on a sandwich round.

After sharing that with Callie, she shared a simple recipe with me---Zucchini Frittata.  Using this recipe as inspiration, I adapted it to fit what was in my refrigerator this evening.  I used eggs, 2% milk, 3 slices of cooked bacon, sliced yellow squash and fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden.   The recipe works best using a cast iron skillet (which I don't have), so I used a stoneware quiche pan instead.  It was super simple to make and looked really nice when I took it out of the oven.    

The best part, though, was how tasty it was!!  Yum!!!