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Because I’m just this awesome

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Yup, this is me. I am random and not always super consistent with things like blogging. If it is something easy I can type up on my phone then I’m there but sometimes I have to actually sit at my computer and type up one of the recipes I used and that takes more time. Time is a funny thing to me. I have 5 kids, 2 of which I homeschool and 1 of which is a very active toddler. (Don’t underestimate the active part, many people that have heard me say this don’t actually “get it’ until they see him and say “Wow, you weren’t kidding about how active he is, he is always on the go”) Then there is the fact that the people in my house like to eat…every single day, and multiple times a day too! What’s up with this? I sometimes survive on half a meal until I binge at night, why can’t they?! :) So I feed them, and that makes a mess, which may or may not be cleaned up right away depending on what else is calling us. So time doesn’t always come in the abundance I want.

As for eating the last few days. Well…we’ve had spaghetti made by my husband. I made a wonderful Creamy chicken noodle soup. We’ve had leftover soup. Ummm, I think that about covers it, I’m not sure. Tonight is crazy as I will be out with my sister who is in town from Alabama. Our 6 year old has a birthday party to go to, which she has required her dad to stay at with her since it is at a jumping place and she wants to know someone is close by, so they will probably eat something quick before they go. (Quesadillas are a staple in her diet so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was dinner with us having a substantial snack tonight)

On the “menu” (And I use quotation marks here because again, I’m pretty random and spontaneous so our menu changes often.) for the next few days. Some kind of marinated chicken with roasted broccoli tomorrow. Pizza on Sunday. Monday I’m still kicking around some ideas. Maybe danish meatballs with gravy and potatoes. Maybe Sloppy Joes with homemade buns. Ooh, I know, i have some pesto I need to use and I love this Pesto Chicken florentine recipe I found once. Yeah, maybe that. I usually decide the night before but if nothing is “on the menu” or I didn’t get meat out early this is what I do. Grandpas “quesadillas” (I’ll post the recipe soon) or tacos. Sometimes grilled cheese, such as I posted the other day. But something that is easy and good that I often do is this.

Toss a quick salad together (Lettuce/spinach, chopped carrots/broccoli whatever really even just the lettuce is something) Or start some veggies steaming or just open up a can of veggies.

Start some potatoes boiling or start some rice. Get some chicken out, frozen. Thaw it just barely or not at all, depending on how good your knife is. Slice it up, sprinkle some herbs on it, such as lemon pepper or garlic, onion, salt, pepper, thyme, and maybe a little basil. Just whatever seasoning you have that you like or look up some great dry rub recipes. Sprinkle that on all over your chicken. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on a big pan. Toss the chicken in and sauté until done, this doesn’t take too long with the chicken sliced like this.

Serve the chicken, rice or potatoes (with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper of course) alongside whatever greens or veggies you threw together and there you have a fairly balanced dinner that took maybe 30 minutes to throw together from freezer to table.

Alright, I have 2 recipes. The potatoes and the soup.

Cheesy Potatoes

3-4 cups ,unpeeled, thinly sliced potatoes*

¼ – ½ cup butter, melted

¼ teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon thyme, dried

Pinch or two of pepper

1 cup shredded cheese*

Preheat oven to 425 F. Grease 9×13 baking dish. Place sliced potatoes in baking dish. Melt butter and stir in thyme, salt, onion, pepper.  Pour butter over potatoes and mix well coating potatoes with butter.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

*The original recipe called for 4 large baking potatoes, which seemed to come out to about 3-4 cups. I use probably 12 smallish red potatoes. I kind of eyeball it. We eat a lot of these so to me more is better.

Use whatever kind of cheese you love. Cheddar is usually what we use because we almost always have it on hand. 

Creamy chicken noodle soup

Slightly adapted from Chef in Training

6-8 cups broth*

2-3 cups egg noodles

1/2 cup butter, very soft

½ cup flour

4 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

Bring broth to boil, add noodles. While noodles are cooking make cream base.

Mix softened butter and flour together to until smooth and creamy using a fork. Heat milk until very hot, stirring constantly. Whisk in butter/flour mixture until melted in. Continue to whisk sprinkling in garlic, thyme, and salt. Continue to stir until thickened. Pour cream base into broth and mix in well. Add chicken and cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened to your liking. Enjoy!

*This is using broth I made from roast chicken but here is a recipe for making it from scratch if you don’t have some broth already.

 



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