Dinner was a hit!

So you know I gotta share it here! We made kabobs and flat bread, the kids loved assembling them and they even loved eating it!

We started by thawing two steaks and three chicken breasts.
We marinated the chicken for about three hours, with just:

• 1/4 cup olive oil  
• 1 tbsp granulated garlic
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp lime juice

We quartered and boiled some "new harvest" red potatoes, and sprinkled them with seasoning salt and olive oil. Then we chopped up half a white onion, a package of button mushrooms, one zucchini and one corn cob. Then we set it all out and let everyone assemble their own kabobs. My husband made a few extras to use up stuff including a steak and potato only skewer, and we still ended up with two chicken-only skewers to cook the leftover chicken.

When we were done making the kabobs, and they were lined up on the cookie sheet at the top of this picture, he drizzled them all with olive oil and a sprinkling of seasoning salt. Then they all hung out on the grill til they were done! (the steaks were quite rare....)

While the kabobs were grilling, we also made THIS flatbread recipe. I added about 1/2 tbsp of dried basil to the mix, and since we have a jar of yeast, rather than packets, we used 3 tsp of yeast as our guessed amount. We pinched off blobs of dough and then rolled it very thin. We brushed the electric griddle with olive oil and threw the dough on sort of like a pancake, flipped it once and that was that!

This is my plate, to give you an idea! (a potato fell off from the middle...) My husband pushed the contents of his skewers onto his flatbread, and ate it sort of like a taco, and my kids discovered they could deal with the mushrooms better if it was with the flatbread.

The chicken was amazing! The flatbread was amazing! The potatoes were fabulous! The zucchini was rather bland, and the corn wasn't great, but the meal was a hit! We have leftovers and definitely plan to make it again!

Food Lately...

Its really, really hot. I don't want to eat food, much less cook it. So mostly we're eating our favorite stand-bys, or grilling burgers/hot dogs, or yes, even eating out. One night the kids got pbjs and my husband and I ate about 3 hours later after we'd cooled off!
But, we have tried a few new recipes in recent weeks, that I thought I'd link up here and let you know what we thought about them. You're welcome! (most of them come from one of my husband's fav food blog)

Crock Pot Nachos: This was a hit with me and the kids. I took the leftovers with me to my parents and they enjoyed it too! Not hard to make at all, but you have to accept that nachos are dinner, haha.

Black Beans & Rice: My kids didn't love this, but they ate it. My husband and I enjoyed it, but I was definitely done with it when I finished my plate. So, its great, in one serving portions.

Creamy Fettucini with Ham and Peas: The pasta was just fine, a lot like the Swedish meatballs and alfredo my husband makes. The kids were happy to eat it tho.

Asian Lettuce Wraps: I'm the first to admit I don't like Asian food. My husband knows this, but sometimes we all take turns picking our favorite, right? And that's ok! He didn't love this one tho, and I didn't like it even a little bit. Our kids sure did though!! At first they thought it was weird that we were rolling lettuce around food "like a crepe!" but they gobbled them up! Parts of the meat and rice fell out, like when you eat a taco, so they just got more lettuce, tore it up, and ate it all like a salad! Of course they like a meal I did not! haha... Also, we substituted in ground turkey for the ground chicken.

"Chicken Cordon Bleu - The easy way." This one was very tasty! We all enjoyed it and it really was so easy to make- hooray for that! I'm sure this will live on in our "regulars".

Its a Wrap!

That's what I think every time my son asks for this meal....which was rather a lot over the recent school break. hee hee... A few months ago, my husband decided that our son should be tired of pbj sandwiches and made something unique for lunch one day, and now its a hit! He's had this meal quite a bit, and in the last week or so found out the ingredients in the sauce, and was more than a little horrified! This child is the most picky eater in the family. So you know if he loves it, it must be good!

First, you make the sauce:

1 spoonful miracle whip
2 drops hot sauce
drizzle honey
1 small squirt mustard
Chop up one pickle slice, into little minced bits, put it all together and mix it up!

Then, we typically have flour tortillas on hand, and then whatever deli meat and cheese we have. Today's selection is turkey and provolone. Spread the sauce onto the tortilla, lay the meat and cheese how you like, roll it up and enjoy!

and I have to say it again, that's a wrap! hee hee!

**Edited to add: When my husband makes it, he adds some lettuce before rolling it all up.

Make Your Own Mexican Wrap!

Friends are an excellent source of dinner ideas. One day a few months ago, my friend told me what they'd had for dinner the night before. I jotted this down: refried beans, salsa/black beans/ lime, brown rice, cheese, sour cream, avacado, wrapped in a tortilla! 

We finally got around to having it!
I started by microwaving one 10-inch flour tortilla for each of us, and set out the fillings!
We had brown rice, refried beans (with a good handful of shredded cheddar and a few tablespoons milk mixed in), ground beef with taco seasoning, shredded cheddar, shredded pepperjack cheese, salsa and sour cream! The kids could choose any protein and any dairy they wanted, and I served limade with it, instead of putting lime juice in with the rice or something...some members of my family don't like lime... 

"Sweet" Pork Barbacoa

Yes, this is extremely similar to THIS recipe.
The meat was done exactly the same, except with 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup brown sugar.

This time we did a black bean mixture.

And the rice was just lime rice....1/2 cup dry rice, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp lime juice, cooked til done!

But this time! We put meat, beans and rice all into the tortilla, wrapped it up burrito style, stuck it in a baking pan, smothered it with about half a can of enchilada sauce and a bunch of cheese! Then we had corn on the side. Quite tasty!

Healthy little snacky-lunch!

ETA: I made it again and this time I took pictures!

I recently became a facebook "fan" of Walmart's Meal Solutions. This means that once a day they post some kind of budget-stretcher kind of meal. The other day they posted a snack that I had for lunch today! If this works, you can see the picture HERE. (altho you may need to scroll back to September 14)

You'll need 2 tortillas (whole wheat would taste better...), peanut butter, honey, and either a pear or granny smith apple*. That's it!

Spread the peanut butter all over the tortilla. Chop your apple or pear like french fries...long and thin, not slices. Lay them across the tortilla, running long ways, but sort of along a side. Drizzle with honey, wrap it up and ENJOY!

The recipe said to serve it with yogurt so I had a cup of yogurt with the apple wraps and water for lunch. It was just the right amount of food and so tasty!

*I used a granny smith apple because that's what I had. The recipe calls for pears. I don't think it matters much. :)

Barbacoa Pork

Sunday was one of those days we'd managed to run out of grocery staples. That meant it was time to get creative for dinner, and my husband did an awesome job!! Doesn't this look dreamy good??

He started with the meat that is wrapped inside that tortilla. Here's what he did....
Thaw 2 lbs of boneless, country-style pork ribs. Put about a quart of water in a large pot and add the following:
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1 8oz can tomato sauce
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 large bay leaf
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar OR red wine vinegar OR apple cider vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce paste OR 1 tbsp liquid hot sauce

Boil/simmer until liquid is reduced to 1/4 volume, and has become a good thick sauce, and pork can be shredded and falls apart.
Remove the meat and shred, then return it to the sauce until meat is completely coated.
So that's the meat filling, which we put into a tortilla, topped it with cheese and rolled/folded it up burrito style.
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Then he made a side dish of honey lime rice:
Put a pat of butter into the pan and toast the dry rice. Then add the water, boil/cook til the rice is done. He drizzled on a little lime juice and a little honey, and a dash of the rice wine vinegar. Use way less than you think!
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And a side dish of refried beans.... which are simply a can of refried beans dumped into a pot, and add a tbsp or two of milk and a small handful of cheese, and heat through!
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The burrito was then smothered in enchilada sauce and some cheese, cheese on top of the beans, and it went under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes. And came out looking like this:

oh yes. it was THAT good!