January 22nd to the end...

I cannot tell a lie. This was by far my poorest performance in the Eat at Home Challenge and I'm very disappointed in myself. It's not even that we ended up eating out it's that I forgot to take pictures of my meals (more often than not), I didn't find time to try new recipes as I normally do during challenge month, I didn't blog often enough and we ate an awful lot of leftovers from the freezer which were often too repetitive or too boring to mention.
I do have a few things to report in the last week though...one night Paul cooked butter chicken sausage from our local market with sautéed shrimp, saag (a curried spinach dish) and pickled mango chutney.
Another night I made a pork & broccoli stir fry plus I've recently discovered a love for home made cooked oatmeal. This had apples in it with a blueberry syrup drizzled over top...YUM!
Though we didn't exactly end the month with a bang, we did start February off well by contributing home made treats on Superbowl Sunday. We made a cooked tex mex dip (1lb ground beef browned with 1 packet taco seasoning and 7.5 oz of tomato sauce, 1 can refried beans, 500ml sour cream and 200g shredded Kraft Habanero cheese). Layer in a 12x8" flat dish in the order above and cook at 325 until bubbly. Eat with tortilla chips!
I also made a flourless chocolate torte with white chocolate raspberry buttercream and dark chocolate ganache since one of Paul's friends is gluten intolerant. Lastly, I made a giant chocolate chip cookie and decorated it with PC Dark Chocolate Sundae Sauce using a piping bag.
Hooray! I finally did some creative cooking/baking. Too bad it was in the wrong month!

January 17-21st/13

Ack! Just when I was in a roll, I end up falling behind again!

January 17th to 19th were all boring leftover days. Leftover RiceARoni, more leftover RiceARoni and last but not least...you can fill in the rest! Don't get me wrong, I love that meal and it's SO cheap when you realize how many portions it makes.

January 20th...we were invited to Paul's parent's house for a late lunch/early dinner. We had finger foods...homemade sushi, chicken fingers, wheat berry salad and sausage rolls. Yum!

Later in the evening, we fired up our Whirly-Pop popcorn popper (from Lee Valley Tools $28.50) and made 3 batches of popcorn with special kernels we bought at the market. One was dill, one was Parmesan & herbs and the other was marshmallow caramel corn.

Tonight (Jan 21st), as with other Mondays I had a quick dinner before going to pick Paul up from the university. Just some chicken, rice & green beans. The rice and chicken were pre-cooked and frozen in portions for quick meals.

Until next time....
Lori

Wednesday, January 16th/13

Mackenzie was working from home today so I charged her with the task of figuring out what we should have for dinner. She chose a family favourite (compliments of Jenn)...Spanish RiceARoni nachos.

Paul added some garlic butter sautéed carrots & spinach. Yum!!

Tuesday, January 15th

Woo hoo! Look at me...posting same day!! Mackenzie is at school late today helping with the Grade 8 student & parent open house so Paul introduced me to Chinese dumplings.
These are from the United Food Mart in town. The large dumplings are chicken & vegetable. The little ones are pork/celery and pork/napa (a type of cabbage). We dipped them in Chinkiang vinegar which sort of tasted like a cross between malt vinegar and worcestershire sauce.
The best part is that I liked them! They were delicious! It's well known that I'm not very adventurous with new foods so this was great!

Lori

Days, 1,2 and 3 at the Park Household

Glad to hear that everyone is so excited about the Eat at Home Challenge.  I see we didn't do it in 2012 so I'm glad it's back for 2013.  One person who was not excited was Nathan.  When I told him we couldn't go to Tim Hortons he started to cry big alligator tears.  "I love Tim Horton's" he said through his tears.  Which honestly made me laugh even harder.  I admit it I'm not a very good mom.  But sometimes it's so hard not to laugh.

Anyway onto what we ate this week so far!

Jan 1 was peanut butter chicken.  I know been there done that.  But on a side note the Fetzer wine we had with it was really good.  Sweet and then dinner was sweet, worked well.

 Jan 2 was a recipe I had pinned.  But honestly it wasn't that great.  It was good, but one of my criteria for dinner is the amount of mess it makes and this one made 4 pans dirty.  Too many in my dislike of doing the dishes opinion.  



Jan 3 we ate one of my favorite easy, delicious, albeit expensive meals at 15$  Not quite as much as going out and it does usually give us a lunch after too, but now it just sounds like I'm validating my reasons for spending more then 8 dollars on a dinner, which I would say is about average.  Okay now that I've built it up... it's Vodka Scallop Pasta.   So the scallops, 7$ a bag and then the sauce is the PC black menus sauce 6$ (which is a lot for a can of sauce).  I usually add some mushrooms and parm cheese on top.  So a more expensive meal, but it's a crowd pleaser.  And both kids like scallop, which we also refer as marshmallows of the sea, which may be another reason we like them... =) 

 

 Jan 4: Tonight is pizza.  I'm hoping to do homemade, but it might be from a box.  If we make our own I'll add a picture. 

Jenn

Day 9 @ The Campbell's

Hooray! I cooked a quick meal! Last night while rummaging through the freezer for something sweet, I found a couple of chicken breasts that I had already cooked. That takes care of the two most time-consuming steps of making dinner (thawing and cooking) the meat. So...then I went looking for something to match up with it. I found a Knorr Sidekick called Singapore Curry Noodles and found some broccoli in the fridge and voila...an idea came together!

This is what I started with and this is how it ended up!

Plus, I cooked everything in one pot so not only was it quick and easy but clean up was a cinch!

Lori

Day 2, 3 & 4 @ The Campbell's

So far, so good! On Day 2, Mackenzie and I cooked a pizza that we had in the freezer from Costco. I know that's not the healthiest dinner, nor would it really be considered "cooking" but for the past few months, pizza seems to be the only food she craves so it's better than if she didn't eat at all! Either way, it was cooked in our oven so we went with it!

On Day 3, I cooked my FAVOURITE pasta dinner! I've been making this recipe for at least 15 years now. It was an adaptation from a dish at a restaurant called Oscar Taylor's that Ian and I used to frequent in our early years.

Grilled Chicken & Penne Pasta

3 or 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (grilled & sliced thinly)
1 large clove garlic (peeled & minced)
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) flour
1 1/3 cups milk (I use skim but 2% would make a creamier sauce)
2 cups crushed or diced canned tomatoes (I cheat...I use the whole 28oz can)
1/4 to 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (the powdered kind...if you're using the real thing, you might want to use less)
1 tsp thyme (the dried kind), (if using ground thyme use 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp basil
1-2 cups uncooked penne pasta (cook according to package directions)
2-2 1/2 cups broccoli

1. Grill, bake, bbq or pan-fry chicken breasts until done. Slice thinly or cut into cubes. (Note: A package of the pre-cooked, pre-sliced chicken from Costco makes a quick short-cut for busy nights)
2. Put chicken and garlic in a large (wok-size) non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Cook 1-2 min (don't let the garlic burn).
3. Add canned tomatoes & herbs.
4. Combine flour and milk in a small bowl with a whisk to prevent lumps. Slowly whisk the milk/flour mixture into your sauce.
5. Bring to a boil slowly, stirring frequently as sauce starts to thicken.
6. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Reduce heat to low or medium-low, cover and simmer.
7. Cook pasta according to package directions.
8. Cook broccoli separately or add it in to the pot with your pasta 2-4 minutes before the pasta is done.
9. Drain pasta. Toss pasta and broccoli in with the sauce.
10. Serve with grated Parmesan and/or fresh ground pepper.

Since I haven't been cooking very often in recent months...I doubled the recipe and froze 10 small containers for my lunch! YUM! Note: I often double the garlic and basil in this recipe...just personal preference.

Day 4: Leftovers from Day 3...woo hoo!

Lori

P.S. The picture shows a lunch-size Corel plate. I had used Italian Sausage/Asiago Tortellini instead of penne so I was only able to eat half...very filling.