Orzo: One Pan Chicken and Orzo Skillet

Mom chose orzo, which was a great choice to me since I never use it.

One Pan Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner. Ingredient: Orzo, chosen by Mom.

Probably my least favorite thing I made. The orzo ended up being mushy because I put too much water in--I didn't have the broccoli it called for which needed to be cooked in that water as well. The favor wasn't outstanding either.

I should have made rice pilaf, since I love it. 

Tomatillos: Charred Tomatillo, Chicken & Broccoli Salad

I've only ever used tomatillos in salad dressing, but I was excited to give them a chance to star. I adapted a recipe from EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners Cookbook when I read that tomatillos are great charred. The cookbook had a charred tomato salad, so I made it into a charred tomatillo salad.

4 c broccoli florets
1 lb tomatillos (smaller is better, I'm told)
2 tsp + 3 Tbps extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder (I omitted this)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 14-oz cans chunk chicken

1. Bring about 1" of water to boil in a large pot. Add broccoli and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.

2. Peel off leaves and rinse them. Toss with 2 tsp olive oil. Cook in a heavy pan over high heat until charred. Remove from heat and quarter. Do not clean the pan.

3. Heat remaining oil in the pan over medium. Add salt, pepper, chili powder, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar (watch out for spatter when adding liquid). Stir, scraping up any brown bits.

4. Break up chicken, and combine tomatillos, broccoli, and chicken. Pour pan sauce over. Serve warm or cold.

This was kind of acidic for me. If you like tomatillo flavor, you might like this, but we . . . didn't.

Wayward!

Indian: Chicken Korma

I wanted to recreate my Indian restaurant experience at home, so I found a recipe for the dish I had: Chicken Korma. This particular recipe requires a bit of work and ingredient coordination—and salt, since the recipe doesn't call for any—but it's very tasty. (You may want to increase the spices or heat; we omitted all heat from ours.)

I wish you had smell-o-vision right now. The wok has the spices below (1 tsp each) plus an onion, 3 cloves of garlic and 2 bay leaves in oil. (The blender has 1/2 c half and half, 1/2 c plain yogurt and 1/3 c cashews soaked in 1/3 c boiling water.)

Add three chicken breasts, cubed, to the wok and cook for five minutes. Add 1 c chicken broth and 1/4 c tomato sauce. Simmer 15 minutes. Add blender mixture and simmer 15 minutes more.

Add a slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tsp water and cook to desired thickness.

Serve over rice!

Leftovers to Lunch! 10 Great Ideas to Take Your Dinner Leftovers to a New Level!

My favorite lunch is leftovers. I just love how easy it is and I'm not wasting a thing! Sometimes leftovers need a little sprucing to make a good lunch. Here are some ideas!

1. Throw it in an omelet. Good for meat and veggies.

2. Eat it on bread! I had some paprika chicken sauce but no cooked noodles. I just ate it on a slice of bread instead for an easy lunch.

3. Burrito time! Wrap up everything in a tortilla and call it good.

4. Soup. Oh how I love soup for lunch! You can use meat, vegetables, beans and pasta in soup and they taste amazing. I love to experiment with soup and throw different vegetables in. I don't recommend eggplant though.

5. Sandwich, the old stand-by. Take it up a notch by turning it into a grilled cheese! Don't forget to add vegetables like asparagus, onions, and peppers you cooked up last night. A lettuce wrap is a way to use your leftovers as a sandwich without eating a ton of carbs.

6. Eat it cold. I'm looking at you, pizza. And I will also eat spaghetti cold too, on occasion.

7. Bake it. Leftover spaghetti? Why not bake it? Recipe here

8.  Why not make a pizza? French bread pizza is so fun and easy, lunch comes together in minutes when you have left over meat and vegetables. Or a pizza bagel!

9.  Eat it over rice. I ran out of tortillas the last time I made chili verde pork. I couldn't let it go to waste so I ate it over rice. Delish! Or use your leftover to top a baked potato.

10.  4. Toss with lettuce to make a salad. One of my favorites, good for meat, veggies and even rice like I did with my left over fish tacos and rice:

Do you have any ideas on how to liven up your leftovers? Share them!

Precious Cargo Baby Shower Decor

Back in March, I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend. The theme was Precious Cargo. It was really fun to plan. Here's our Pinboard: Precious Cargo Baby Shower Inspiration Our colors were red, white and blue and we decorated with air planes, boats, globes, and luggage, as you will see!

Here are some pictures of the decor:

Here's the food table. We had some Jelly Belly candies in the colors of the shower, chicken salad sandwiches, a relish tray, a fruit tray (it came later, so not pictured), mini ice box cakes with strawberry whipped cream, and a banner cake. For decor, the honoree had the boat, cloud paper and typewriter. My co-host brought the glasses and straws.

Banner cake: banner by me (made with my Silhouette) and cake by my co-host.

Guests came in and picked up their travel passports. Inside were the supplies for all the games and other shower activities including:

Travel advice cards. Made by me =) Sign made by honoree (She was very happily involved)

Here's the whole table. I loved the globe she had and it fit perfectly with the theme!

This amazing chalkboard style art was made by the honoree (she is so talented) and so was the banner.

"Drop your luggage here" sign to show where the gifts went as well as some vintage luggage =)

Airplane banner by honoree. So fun!

Two Week Menu Planning with Themed Nights

This ain't a sponsored post, yo. 

Before I had my baby, I daydreamed about how great my life would be as a SAHM. One of the things I was excited about was having the energy to cook every night--HAHA! That was a stretch at first, but slowly I'm getting into the swing of things. What's helped the most has been using the Food Nanny's "Nanny Plan". If you've watched her show on BYUTV or read her cook book you'll be familiar with the Nanny Plan. If not, this is the basics. Sit down, plan out a theme for each night of the week. Then make a two week menu plan and shopping list. Doing it two weeks at a time is much easier actually! I can carry over ingredients and look at patterns of when we have certain meats (like not having chicken too often, it's my fallback).  Anyways, here's what my daily themes are:

Traditional Sunday Dinner
Mexican Mondays
Meatless/Breakfast Tuesdays
Italian Wednesdays
Comfort Food Thursdays
Grillin' Fridays
Date Night Saturdays

First I made a table in a word document. with all my days. Then I started looking through recipes on Pinterest (see above links for the pinboards!). I selected recipes for each day and started making my shopping list in the same document. Then came the shopping trip. It took a little while and the end bill was higher than what I'm used to, but I also got a lot more food. Experts say you save money by shopping bi-weekly too. Here's what my two weeks looked like

Traditional Sunday Dinner

1. Chicken Piccata This was the plan, but plans change! We got invited to dinner both Sundays so I didn't make this, although I plan to. I think it looks delicious!

Mexican Monday

1. Fish Tacos with Lime Cilantro Rice, using these two recipes combined

2. Chipotle Pork Tenderloin with Butternut Squash Tacos (I used sweet potato instead)

Meatless/Breakfast Tuesday

1. Sweet Potato and Brussels Sprouts Skillet

2. Egg Topped Twice Baked Potato  We ended up having leftovers instead. This meal is a great one to plan in, since I didn't have to get any extra ingredients and potatoes keep well!

Italian Wednesday

1. Pastichio (Greek Style Lasagna)

2. Bow Tie and Italian Turkey Sausage Skillet (I used pork sausage)

Comfort Food Thursday

1. Paprika Chicken

2. Alice Sprigs Chicken  and Brussels Sprouts (I used up all the mushrooms in the paprika chicken last week, forgetting I needed some for tonight's chicken. It was still good without the mushrooms) 

Grillin' Fridays

1. Grilled Chicken Thighs (Marinated with this for 2 hours) with Rice Pilaf

2. Tri-Tip Steak with Pappy's Seasoning, Kings Hawaiian Rolls, Cheesy Potatoes

I really think using "The Nanny Plan"/ themed nights has taken a lot of the stress out of "what's for dinner?" I'm on my second round of the Nanny Plan and it's working great! I hope you find some inspiration!

3 Ingredient Delicious Chip Dip

Please forgive our brief absence we were all hanging out together! 

I have a super simple yet really good recipe for you today. It was a Pinterest find. We had a big family get together on the 4th of July and I served this dip. It was a huge hit!

All you need is cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix. Here is the source for the recipe! I used plain cream cheese and it still turned out great. One of my uncles told me it was really good with cooler ranch Doritos.

Have you tried any great simple recipes lately?

Want to follow us on Pinterest to see what we've been pinning lately?

Jaime's Favorite Trader Joe's Products

Do you have a Trader Joe's? We got one in my area last fall. At first, Trader Joe's can be very overwhelming: they have tons of products, but what should you get? Here are my recommendations from a newbie Trader Joe's lover.

1. Speculoos Cookie Butter. I finished the whole thing, by myself, in record time. I refuse to buy it again because I cannot control myself around it. But you simply must try it. Spread it on just about anything. Or eat it straight out of the jar with no shame.

Source

2. Trader Ming's Mandarin Orange Chicken. Tastes like your favorite take out place, maybe even better! It's cheaper than and a super easy dinner. We have eaten it at least 7 times, including last night. And I thought to myself, "This is better than Panda Express"

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3. Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe-Joe's. SUPER rich and tasty. Sadly only available around Christmas. The dark chocolate and peppermint make these to die for! I'm not, however, a big fan of regular Joe-Joe's. I think I'd rather have Oreos.

Source

4. Trader Joe's Tortellini with Pesto Filling. This is a super fast dinner we love to have on hand. One bag feeds us both twice!

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5.  Trader Joe's Flank Steak Pinwheels. Made me realize I actually liked feta cheese. My husband and I both liked them so much, I made my own version for Valentine's Day. 

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Honorable mentions (things I keep buying at TJ's): bagged baby spinach, salted creamy peanut butter, dried cranberries (my husband loves the orange flavored ones), hummus salad dressing, Kung Pao chicken (my husband's favorite), and pizza. Their candies are really, really good too. 

What's YOUR favorite product from Trader Joe's? 

What works for me: 5 favorite cookbooks

I do a lot of menu planning through the Internet, but I always need my cookbooks! I collect these things, and I have a hard time saying no to a new one, no matter how full my recipe cabinet is getting. Handed down, printed out and other loose recipes are staples in my kitchen, but I always find myself turning to these cookbooks to find something new to eat! (Disclosure: affiliate links.)

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How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart by Pam Anderson

I can't remember how I came across this one, but it went right on my wishlist! My wonderful sister-in-law got it for me.

The book teaches you a bunch of different dishes and methods to make meals from what you've got on hand. It's designed to help you memorize the methods, and I haven't quite gotten to that point, but I remember enough that I can wing most of it for several of the dishes I've made most.

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How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

This cookbook showed up in an apartment in college. None of my roommates said it was theirs, and I was the last to move out, so it became mine.

Although sometimes I could take or leave the author's attitude (I'm sorry, you shouldn't make pecan pie with corn syrup because corn syrup by itself isn't delectable?? Do we sit around eating flour or butter or sugar plain??), this book has a ton of reference material. It's especially useful if you're doing a produce co-op and end up with a mystery vegetable or two. It also explains dozens of techniques with useful illustrations. I don't often plan menus from here, but when I need to look something up (in a book), this is my top choice.

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Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

This one is a family tradition. Growing up, we saw Mom make many a recipe from her ring-bound BHG cookbook. As my generation of Wayward Girls grew up and got married, we received our own copies.

Not only is the binding the best adapted to the kitchen of any of the books listed here, but the recipes have every standby you could want. This is one of my top go-tos for regular menu planning. It also has lots of great techniques, tips and tricks in the sidebars.

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EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners Cookbook by Jessie Price, Nicci Micco & the Eating Well editors

I came across Eating Well magazine via Pinterest. A pin led me to their list of 500-calorie meals. Since my husband was dieting at the time, I worked every one that looked good into our menu plan. Most of them were fantastic! I knew I needed a hard copy.

The most awesome thing about this cookbook actually isn't that it's full of tasty, filling, low-calorie meals. It's that each meal isn't just an entree. In the sidebar, each entree is paired with options for side dishes or even desserts, making a complete meal—still under 500 calories! I love this thing!

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Something new!
I use these standbys so much that I always have to keep room in my cabinet for something new. Here are the latest cookbooks I've got my eye on.

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Another useful tip: get a cookbook stand! I use the acrylic one because it helps to keep my pages clean, but there are so many options out there, you're sure to find one for you!


What cookbooks do you use over and over again??

Photo of cookbooks by Tom Taker

What works for me: 5 last-minute meals

How was your Mother's Day? I hope it was wonderful! Mine was great!

I've been kind of burned out on menu planning for a while. Too many decisions, not enough time, and most of all, no idea what to make for dinner for one night, let alone thirty.

So we've been doing a lot of last-minute meals lately. Naturally, that's a lot harder than just planning the meals, but I still can't make myself do it. Instead, after the great advice of a friend, I've been relying heavily on the easiest meals I have, especially these five favorites.

"Mexican"

Cook corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, onions, peppers, and garlic with spices (salt, pepper, cumin, basil) to taste. Serve with lettuce, cheese and other toppings on tortillas or tortilla chips.

For some extra flavor, char the corn, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables. Above, I used cubed sweet potatoes (steamed and then sauteed) and a little pineapple salsa.

Bonus: I often skip meat for this meal, and we hardly miss it. Mexican meatless Mondays ;)

Stir-fry

This is based on a recipe from How to Cook Without a Book, but it's the version I make when I don't feel like pulling out the book.

Heat oil in a wok. Add sliced onions, cooking until they're translucent. Add minced garlic, ginger and chopped meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through or browned, your preference. Remove from wok. Heat a little more oil. Add chopped vegetables like celery, peppers, carrots, (whole) snow/snap peas, or whatever else you like in a stir-fry. Cook until tender. (If you're really lazy like me, you might use canned meat, in which case, you'll cook that after the veggies.)

You can use soy sauce to season it or make a cornstarch thickened sauce, but then I start pulling out the recipes.

Serve with rice.

Breakfast

Pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs, fruit—everything you love about breakfast, only at dinner time!

Frittata
If you've got a lot of eggs and a few other things on hand—for example, when you didn't end up making nearly as many Easter eggs as you were planning—this is a great alternative.

Again, this formula comes from How to Cook Without a Book. You can use all kinds of veggies in this, but my favorites are always ones with potatoes and diced ham or crumbled bacon.

Preheat the oven to 425. In a large, oven-safe skillet, saute the meat first (if raw), then the vegetables. (Cooked meat, like ham or bacon, is added after the veggies have begun to brown.) In a bowl, mix 8-12 eggs, up to 3/4 c cheese, salt, pepper and spices. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and let cook on the stovetop until the edges are set (about 1 min), then transfer to oven for 10-20 minutes.


Spaghetti
It's hard to go wrong with this favorite! Boil spaghetti, brown ground beef (or skip for a vegetarian meal), warm up a jar of sauce, add spices and combine them all.

If you want to go a little more homemade, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until just tender, then add a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Tasty homemade sauce (via Rachael Ray & 30 Minute Meals AND How to Cook Without a Book).

What's your go-to meal when you don't know what to make?