Menu Plan 1/29/12 - 2/3/12

LOTS of new recipes this week...I went a little crazy on Pinterest this weekend, lol!
Hope you all are having a great weekend - xoxo

Sunday
     Bacon Cheeseburger Salad.  Kiddos will have theirs on a bun with Potato Wedges.

Monday
Pepperoni Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Caesar Salad, Parmesan Pasta

Tuesday
Japanese Steakhouse Chicken and Veggies with White Sauce, Brown Rice

Wednesday
Seasoned Tilapia with Dill Sauce, Garlic Almond Green Beans, Rice Pilaf

Thursday
Roasted Boursin Chicken, Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower, Mashed Potatoes

Friday 
Left-overs or out for dinner

Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Sesame Glaze

Straight up, this is an amazing way to have broccoli.  We LOVED it!  I made it to accompany the Bourbon Street Chicken.  Yum, yum, YUM!  Roasting veggies just gives them an entirely new layer of flavor.  I hear it does the same with Brussel Sprout...yet, I still can't go there...bleck!  
ANYWHO, I hope you enjoy this...I can't imagine a dish it wouldn't make an amazing Robin too (you know...Batman....Robin) except maybe ice cream.  Or Brownies.
Did I mention I have a wicked head cold right now.  It is either from kiddo cooties or sugar detoxing...not sure which.  It has made me a bit wonky though.  I need to go back to bed.
But, before I go...I thought I would share my most very favorite Broccoli song EVA! 
Choppin' Broccoli
Make this though.  Over and out.

Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Sesame Glaze
Recipe Source:  the ever-fabulous Jaime from Jaime Cooks it Up.  Go visit her site, she has some amazingly scrumptious eats!

• 1 pound broccoli
• 1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 2 TBSP honey
• 1 tsp peanut butter
• 1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

Wash your broccoli and cut off the big stems. Spray a large cookie sheet with cookie spray and place the broccoli on it. Spray the top of the broccoli with cooking spray.
Put the cookie sheet in your oven at 425 for about 10 minutes, or until a fork can be inserted easily into the pretty little vegetable.
While your broccoli roasts away place 1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP olive oil, 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar, 2 TBSP honey
and 1 tsp peanut butter into a small sauce pan. Heat the sauce over medium high heat. When it boils, remove it from the heat.
When the broccoli is done, put it in a medium sized mixing bowl and pour the sauce over the top. Stir it all around, making sure each broccoli piece has sauce on it.
Sprinkle 1 TBSP toasted sesame seeds over the broccoli and serve.
Enjoy!

This recipe has been linked up to:
This Chick Cooks
Tidy Mom
The Country Cook
Simply Sweet Home
Eat at Home

Bourbon Street Chicken

Yuuuppp! 
HA!  Anyone who watches "Storage Wars" just said that in Dave Hester's nails on a chalkboard voice. 
Anyway, back to the YUP.  I meant to go on and say "YUP, just like the Bourbon St. Chicken you get in the mall."  It is scrumptious.  It is simple.  The only change I will make next time I make it is to use chicken thighs instead of breasts.  The mall uses dark meat and I just feel like dark meat stays oh-so moist.

Bourbon Street Chicken
Recipe slightly adapted from:  Big Oven

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts OR boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces 
• 1 -2 TBSP Olive Oil 
• 1 Garlic Clove, crushed
• 1/4 tsp Ginger (I used dried ginger powder) 
• 1 tsp Sriracha Sauce 
• 1/4 cup Apple Juice
• 1/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2 TBSP Ketchup
• 1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 TBSP Cornstarch (to thicken sauce if desired)

Heat oil in a large skillet.

Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned.
Remove chicken.
Add remaining ingredients, aside from cornstarch, heating over medium heat until well blended and dissolved.
Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered.
If you want a thicker sauce, combine 1 TBSP of cornstarch to 1 TBSP water.  Add to sauce and stir to thicken.
Serve over hot rice.

This recipe has been linked up to:
This Chick Cooks
Country Cook
Tidy Mom
Simply Sweet Home

Magical Poofy Pancake

If you have never tried one of these wonders known as Puffy Pancakes, German Pancakes, Dutch Babies, or my favorite, Poofy Pancakes, you MUST try them!  I had a bunch of excuses that kept putting them off for me...they didn't look tasty, they looked to hard, etc. etc. etc.  I can tell you with 100% certainty, they are FREAKING FABULOUS and seriously one of the easiest things in the world to cook.  The kiddos think there is a bit of magic that goes into them...of course that may be because I say some magic words with a flick of my wrist before putting them in the oven. 
You can top these with maple syrup, fruit, or my absolute favorite LIQUID GOLD.  Can I just say, if you haven't tried Liquid Gold, please, please, PLEASE try that one soon too.  In fact, just to pressure you some more, I will include that on at the end of this post.

Magical Poofy Pancake

• 5 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 TBSP butter, cut into 1 TBSP increments

Place butter in a 9x13 dish and place in the oven while preheating the oven to 400 degrees.  Once the butter is melted, remove from oven until all the way preheated. 
Place the eggs, milk, flour, salt, sugar, and vanilla in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour the batter into the baking dish over the melted butter.  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
See, told you...easy peasy!

Liquid Gold

• 1/2 cup (1 stick)  butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp maple flavoring (found with all the extract flavors in the baking aisle)

In a medium pot over medium-high heat (you need enough room for this to boil), bring all ingredients to a rolling boil for 2-3 minutes. Watch very carefully so the mixture does not over boil all over your stove.

This recipe was linked up to:
This Chick Cooks
Tidy Mom
Country Cook
Simply Sweet Home

Pizza Panini

Super FAST and EASY recipe coming at you today....and of course, TOTALLY TASTY!
In case you didn't know...panini is just fancy-talk for a grilled-cheese like sandwich.  I do not have a panini press, so I put these on my grill pan and topped it with a cookie sheet, weighted with a big-ol butcher block cutting board on top of that.  Cause I'ma fancy that way, lol!
Everyone loved these...like I was the "coolest Mom EVER" loved them. I threw a salad on the plate and I was done-daddy-done.


Pizza Panini
Recipe Source:  Life as a Lofthouse via Cassie Craves

• 1 box frozen Texas Toast Garlic bread
• Pizza Sauce (jarred or homemade)
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Pepperoni and/or other favorite pizza toppings

Place the frozen garlic bread on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil, and bake according to package directions, making sure they don't get too crispy.
Meanwhile, heat your panini press, grill pan, or skillet to medium-high heat.
Take one piece of cooked garlic bread and top with favorite pizza toppings. (Sauce, Cheese, etc)
Top with another piece of garlic bread and place on panini press. Close lid and cook until cheese melts and sandwich is hot. About 2-3 minutes.
Repeat with remaining pieces of garlic bread and pizza toppings. You can serve extra dipping sauce on the side if you would like.  Serve immediately!

This recipe has been linked up at:
This Chick Cooks

Menu Plan 1/8 - 1/15

Time to get the schedule back on track...so here is my first menu plan of the year!

Monday

Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce, Rice Pilaf, Garlic Almond Green Beans

Tuesday

Roasted Red Potato and Green Bean Beef Soup, Lion House Rolls

Wednesday

Bourbon Chicken, Steamed Rice, Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Sesame Glaze

Thursday

Spaghetti, Breadsticks

Friday

Grilled Steak, Loaded Smashed Baked Potatoes, Ranch Wedge Salad

Saturday

Jambalaya, Cornbread

Sunday

GO BRONCOS !!!

Chicken Suiza Melts

I don't know about you, but I am still recovering from Christmas and New Years...in fact, my tree and decor is still up (((gasp!)))  It doesn't help that I tweaked my lower back this week and ended up on a heating pad for the first part of the week.  Whatever the reason, my house is still thrashed and I still feel like I ran a 2 week race.   It is times like this (as well as many other times our crazy schedule has us running, running, running), I love a super quick and easy meal that is super tasty for the entire family and makes minimal mess.  This recipe definitely fits that bill.  I made the kiddos little sliders using Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and made ours using store bought Kaiser Rolls.  This delicious 15-minute ditty is a definite repeat for sure!

Chicken Suiza Melts
Recipe Source:  Cassie Craves via Everyday with Rachael Ray

• 1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 1/2 cups store-bought tomatillo salsa or salsa verde
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded
• 4 crusty sandwich rolls, split
• 4 slices Monterey jack cheese

Preheat the broiler. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and honey, then stir in the salsa and heat through. Mix in the sour cream. Stir in the chicken to coat.
Pile the chicken mixture on the roll bottoms. Top with the cheese and broil to melt.

This recipe has been linked up at:
The Country Cook
Tidy Mom
Simply Sweet Home
This Chick Cooks

Roasted Red Potato and Green Bean Beef Soup

Happy 2012!  I trust you all had a wonderful New Year celebration.  As for us, we had a total chill-out, X-Box for the hubs, DS for the kiddos, Nook for me, type of night.  In fact, I was lost in the world of the Hunger Games....reading the entire series that weekend.  It is a great series in case you are of the few (like me) who hadn't read it yet.
I have a super yummy recipe today that I CANNOT wait to make again.  In fact, it got gobbled up so quickly that we didn't even have leftovers!  Now, while we do not eat Hamburger Helper....it is the base of this soup, which scared me at first, but it totally works.  I have not tried the recipe NOT using it, so I can't help you out if you are dead set against using it...sorry :(  But, if you are looking for a really tasty, kid and man pleasing, super easy, comfort food-type dish, give this one a try!

Roasted Red Potato and Green Bean Beef Soup
Recipe Source:  Moogie and Pap

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 package Hamburger Helper Beef Pasta
• 5 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes  (I pureed a bit since I am not big on chunky tomatoes)
• 1 package frozen Birds Eye Roasted Red Potatoes and Green Beans

Cook and stir ground beef and onion in a Dutch oven until beef is brown; drain. Stir in sauce mix from Hamburger Helper package. Add water, bay leaf, salt, pepper and tomatoes. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Stir in vegetables and noodles; cover and cook about 10 minutes longer. Serves 5 to 6.

In case you need a visual on the packaged ingredients, here you go!

Photo courtesy of Birds Eye

photo courtesy of Betty Crocker

This recipe has been linked up at:
Simply Sweet Home
Tidy Mom
The Country Cook
This Chick Cooks