Another yummy chicken one!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 fresh tomatoes, dices
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 6 artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, cubed
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
• 2 cups marinara sauce

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, artichoke hearts and red peppers. Cook until just hot, then remove from heat. transfer to a large bowl and toss together with mozzarella cubes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lay out the pounded breasts and spoon filling onto the center, leaving an inch on each side. Adjust filling as you roll so as not to over stuff. Place them seam side down into a 2 quart baking dish. cover with marinara sauce. Place lid onto dish or cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is cooked through.

I do have to say that the recipe above is straight copy & pasted from Allrecipes.com however, I made a few changes. The first being that I only made 2 chicken breasts instead of 6 so all other ingredients were adjusted accordingly. Second, after reading the reviews of the recipe and after preparing the initial ingredients I opted not to top it with any marinara sauce because the amount of filling I had far exceeded what I could stuff into two little chicken breasts no matter how flat I could get them! :) Next time, I think I'd still do the marinara - it was good... oh boy was it good - but it needed that little extra sauce.

And the wine... oh the wine :) Chianti my friends...

Meal Plan #2!

March 13th - 19th

Welcome to week two!  Week one went well... um, as well as could have been expected for week one anyway! Adam's favorite was the Aloha Pork - SO yummy! Mine was probably the Chicken Fiesta Salad, although I made some minor changes to that recipe which can be found here. 

I also had to make a minor change 1/2 way through the week cause I didn't realize I put two meat/rice dishes right in a row. So I switched Wed and Friday around... but then, I got a bout of the stomach flu on Thursday night into the day on Friday so dinner was out of the question for me. Adam went ahead and had the meatloaf as leftovers. :) So we're pushing the Arroz Con Pollo to tonight because I really wanted to try it over the Stroganoff. Maybe we'll save that for week 3.

Overall, 6 out of 7 days with just a few changes ain't bad for our first week right??? 

So, on to week 2! :) I've decided to make this work I need to make some slight changes. I'm not going to plan every day. A lot of Saturday nights Adam will be camping or out doing "guy" things. Or once the weather gets nicer we'll be out camping with him or doing family stuff so for right now I'm either not going to plan Saturdays or I'll find something SUPER simple and solely geared for Landon. And Sunday's are just out because usually after camping, maybe drinking, and fishing all day Sunday - the last thing he ever wants to come home to is a huge meal... plus half the time, I never know when to expect him or know when we'll be back from our adventures. Which is fine - maybe Sunday's we'll order a pizza... :)

Sunday: I'm already drooling for a Papa Murphy's Chicken Garlic Gourmet on thin crust!

Monday: Artichoke & Tomato Chicken

Tuesday: Cornbread Taco Bake (My mom makes this the best and I couldn't find her recipe, but I think this is close?!)

Wednesday: Tater Tot Casserole

Thursday: Pork Chops with Apples & Garlic Smashed Potatoes 

Friday: Chicken Enchiladas Verdes
Saturday: TDB... based on our plans :)

The Grocery List:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can artichoke hearts

1 can diced tomatoes

1 Red bell pepper

Mozzarella cheese

Marinara sauce

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (8 ounces) Hunt’s® Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 package (8-1/2 ounces) corn bread/muffin mix

1 can (2.8 ounces) french-fried onions

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

1 pound small fingerling potatoes

5 cloves garlic

4 1/2-inch thick boneless pork loin chops (5 oz each)

1 large red onion

2 Granny Smith apples

3/4 cup apple cider

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 lbs of chicken thighs or breasts

2 medium yellow onion

1 lbs tomattillos

4 serrano peppers

Cilantro

Corn tortillas

Sour Cream

Mexican Cotija or Queso Fresco cheese
1 lb ground beef
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can mushroom soup
1 package chopped spinach

1 bag tater tots

Meal Plan #1!

March 6th - 12th

Here's attempt 1 at my weekly meal plan! I'm going to try to do this post weekly and on Saturdays (yet another task to be completed during Landon's nap or meal times). It was SO much fun to hunt down these recipes so hopefully I'll be able to stick to it! 

Sunday: Chicken and Herb Dumplings

Monday: Stuffed Peppers

Tuesday: Aloha Pork Chops

Wednesday: Arroz Con Pollo

Thursday: Cheesy Meatloaf

Friday: Chicken Fiesta Salad

Saturday: Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Now for the grocery list! I've taken the main ingredients from all the recipes to make sure I have everything I'm going to need so there's no last minute trips to the store! I've excluded spices and things like milk, flour, etc. because generally I'll already have all that. For my personal reference, I've bolded the things I'll actually need to go buy (not too much eh?) ;)

Shopping List: 

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 chicken thighs
Carrots
Celery
Frozen whole kernel corn
Chicken Broth

3 bell peppers

2 lb ground beef

4 Yellow onion

2 can tomatoes

5 cups long grain rice

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can tomato soup

2 pork chops

Sweet & sour sauce

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 Red onion

Stir fry sauce

Velveeta

Fajita seasoning packet

Black beans

Salsa

Lettuce

Tomato

Cubed stew meat

Cream of mushroom soup

8 oz can of mushrooms

Mushroom gravy packet

There you have it! Our menu for the week! I'm so excited about it and I hope Adam and Landon enjoy it all!