Chicken Pasta "Bake"

For those of you who have ever cooked with me, you know I like to "smorgy" my food. I take a recipie and kind of modify it to my own preferences. That's what I did with this recipie. Orginally from the Kraft website, it is meant to be put together and then baked in the oven. I tried that and I didn't think it really made a difference and just dirtier another dish and made me wait longer. If you'd like to use the orignal recipie here it is. And here is what I do again I kind of smorgy it, so if you want to use 3 chicken breasts rather then 2, it won't really matter. Or the brocolli if you use whatever you have is fine (brocolli wasn't in the orginal recipie)

1/2 package multigrain penne pasta( or rotini or any sort of noodle that size)

1/2 c. of frozen spinach
1/2 c. of brocolli

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/2 cups (1/2 of 700-mL jar) pasta sauce

1 tablesppon PHILADELPHIA Light Cream Cheese Spread

1 cup KRAFT Part Skim Mozzarella Shredded ( or marble or cheddar, whatever you may have)

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding spinach to the boiling water for the last 1 min.

Meanwhile, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook.until chicken is no longer pink, stirring frequently. Cook brocolli. Add pasta sauce ; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Drain pasta and spinach; return to same saucepan. Add chicken mixture; mix lightly. Stir in cream cheese spread and mozzarella cheese until melted.

I surprisingly don't have a picture of this meal, so I'll have to add one once we have it as leftovers.

Jenn

Sausage Soup

Tonight we tried out a new recipe and it was DELICIOUS! I got it from my favorite online recipie site, All Recipes. I enjoy sausage and I find it adds a little "pizazz" to my cooking.

Here it is:

INGREDIENTS

• 3 sausages (I use Mild Italian)
  
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
• 1 small zucchini, cubed
• 1 cup spinach (frozen)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup of pasta
  

DIRECTIONS

1. I like to boil my sausage to get rid of alot of the fat, so boil them first. Then throw it in a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, beans, spinach and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for atleast 30 minutes.
2. Cook pasta as per directions
   
3. Add zuchinni and the cooked pasta for 10 more minutes.
   

I'm finally handing in my review...

I'm sure you can imagine what kind of a student I was in school...keen at the beginning of the year but a slacker towards the end, lol.

We survived the month with a single trip to McDonald's. That's pretty amazing in our household.

I didn't realize until the challenge was on just how much we were eating out. The boys and I would go to Tim Horton's for bagels once every weekend and there were usually 1 or 2 nights per week when we seemed strapped for time and we'd normally grab take out but the challenge forced us to make a back up plan. I think soup and sandwiches were a staple for these occasions.

I also realized just how boring my cooking is. I stick with what's tried and true for our family but I have tried Lori's Italian Wedding Soup and Jenn's Hoisin Sauce.

Thanks Jenn for the challenge. I'm sure we saved $200 easily. If I figure fast food is about $25/30 each time and Starbucks about $25 a week...sigh....that's right...a lot of wasted money.

Wrap up at the Campbell's

Well...I admit it. I'm a horrible person. On Friday, I gave up on being creative and trying new recipes plus taking pictures of our meals just 5 short days before the end of the Eat @ Home Challenge. Now, don't get me wrong...we kept up with the challenge until the last day but we spent those last 5 days repeating some of the meals we'd had earlier in the month and we dug some leftovers out of the freezer which was not exciting but we did eat at home.

This challenge has taught me a few things:

1. Although I love to read blogs and I love to put my thoughts in print, I don't think I have the dedication to be a blogger. Between bargaining with my teenager for time on the computer and the time involved to download pictures, I just don't do a good job of getting blog entries ready in a timely fashion. Kudos to all of the bloggers out there...you're truly amazing!

2. I love number crunching, so budgeting and making my grocery money go as far as possible has always been a big priority for me. Especially in this day and age with the fast-rising cost of food, fuel, utilities, etc...there is very little we have control over with the exception of what the money experts call "consumables". This challenge has reminded me that you can get so much more food for your money at the grocery store than you can if you're eating out.

3. We have a family of 3, so I really only need to cook 4 nights per week because if I cook any more than that, we can't possibly keep up with eating all of the leftovers! I even fed some of the leftovers to my two wiener dogs!

4. I really do love to cook and although I'm not an adventurous cook when it comes to flavours from other parts of the world, it's still extremely satisfying to sit down to a meal that tastes gourmet and looks really appealing.

5. Lastly, although I'm glad the challenge is over (whew!...the pressure is off!) it wasn't as hard as I thought and I'm curious to see what Jenn has in store for us next!

The Last Day

YEAH for all of us. Today is the last day of the Eat at Home Challenge. I am so excited to eat out tomorrow. Although not as excited as I thought I would be. It is true that it takes about 3 weeks to form a habit. For the first three weeks of September it was hard. Hard to plan, hard to not give into it.... But in the last week it has been easier. I don't need to "plan" now or be conscious about not eating out.

There have been many benefits to this month. I have lost some weight (although that may be from breastfeeding) and saved lots of money (which I have enjoyed spending at Etsy). It's great because the whole point was to not lose weight or save money. The point was to see if I could do it. Could I go a whole month? And yes I can.

Tonight we had honey garlic chicken, teriakyi noodles and frozen vegetables. Chicken is just marinated in honey garlic sauce (I like the VH kind) Teryiaki noodles are just a Lipton sidekick.

Tomorrow I can't decide, Swiss Chalet or Chinese Food??

Jenn

Day 27 and 28 at the Parks

Well on Saturday we had roast beef, which was pretty good, but as usual if I spend alot of time making something I forget to take it's picture.

Then last night we had shrimp and pasta sauce. With salad on the side. Darryl and I are kind of funny with salad. If I buy it, we usually will eat it with some of our dinners. But if I don't buy it, we don't eat it, and don't really miss it. Healthier to have the salad, but cheaper not too. Which one wins out??


Jenn

I've found a few minutes to catch-up

I can't remember how far back I need to go...Hmmm...
Wednesday was leftover Mexican casserole. Thursday was soup and grilled cheese (Beaver night starts at 6 so it has to be quick and easy) Friday was perogies and sauerkraut I think. Saturday we had dinner at a lovely wedding reception. Roast beef, chicken with asparagus and hollandaise sauce, new potatoes...yummy! Sunday was leftover Rice a Roni from Saturday's lunch and
BBQ hamburgers but I think I'm missing the pic for that one.




Now that I've looked at the pics I realize that I forgot that Wednesday was the Lazy Lasagna recipe from the Big Cook. Everything else is a bit of a blur from this past week.

I'm counting down to the 1st of October

:o)