Monday, May 7, 2012

A Week's Worth of Dinners

Time for the next weekly installment!

Sunday I had my sister over for dinner.  We were going shopping beforehand and then hanging out at home.  I didn't want to spend all my time in the kitchen cooking so I decided to use my trusty crockpot.  Spaghetti is a family favorite so I made this meal.  It's called Nancy's Spaghetti Sauce.  I have made this before.  As a matter of fact, the link I provided it to my old cooking blog.

This is a yummy and very hearty pasta sauce.  It is a crowd pleaser because it contains both meat and veggies. Serve it with a salad and bread and you have an awesome meal.  Jack has been eating the leftovers.  He asks for "pasta" for lunch.  It's really cute.


Like my glass of milk in the background?  I always drink milk with spaghetti.

Monday night was another crockpot meal.  I swear, it's my favorite kitchen appliance.  I use it all the time and Jason teases me about it.  Mongolian Beef, yum!  I was skeptical about this one.  I am not sure why but sometimes it's best to cook something out of your comfort zone otherwise you won't find new favorites.

This turned out surprisingly good!  The sauce got thick because of the cornstarch you dredge the meat with. I didn't use flank steak like the recipe calls for.  I had a family pack of petite sirloins that I needed to use which coincidentally is less expensive than flank steak.  The meat got really tender and flavorful.

Jason loved this so I am positive I will be making it again.  The only downside is that it takes a lot of ingredients.  Mostly spices but I had them all on hand so it wasn't a huge issue.  But if you don't stock things like cooking sherry or sesame oil it can be an expensive dish to make.

We had this over rice and had salad alongside.


Tuesday night brought up homemade Baked Chicken Nuggets and they were yummy!  They took a little while to prepare but they were worth it.  Even my super picky child ate a couple. I served them with french fries and green beans.  I also made a homemade buffalo sauce to dip the nuggets in.  Yum!  

I doubled this recipe and I am glad I did because both Jason and I went back for seconds.  We still have some left over for a lunch as well.  I did make a goof and forgot to spray the baking sheet.  Had I done that, the nuggets would not have stuck to the tray.  Oh well, live and learn.


Wednesday night I made Buffalo Chicken Chili.  We love spicy foods in our family and this one delivered!  It was spicy without being uncomfortable.  I cut up some celery and heated some rolls to eat alongside.  Jason loved this but complained that the bleu cheese was too strong.  Dude, next time don't put so much on the top of your chili!



Thursday night I made meatloaf.  I don't follow a recipe.  I typically just throw together a mix of stuff.  After all, meatloaf is pretty flexible when it comes to ingredients.  As long as you have an egg and a binder of some sort, it usually will turn out.  I also don't have a picture because let's admit it:  Meatloaf looks like dog food.

Here is what I put in this meatloaf.  Keep in mind these are rough measurements.

* 2 pounds of ground beef
* egg
* 1/2 cup oatmeal
* 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
* 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
* 1/2 cup milk
* spices to taste:  Salt, pepper, red chili flakes, thyme, dried mustard

Jason claimed this was one of the best meatloaves he had ever eaten.  I will say it was pretty tasty.

Friday night was dinner over at my in-laws and Saturday was Jason's game night so no dinner posts those two days.

I am on vacation for the next week and will be cooking but I probably won't have a lot of time for a post.  That means I will have more catch up to do later!

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