Sept 21 - 27

Review time again! All of the new recipes we tried came out really well. Some were better than others (I think I left the veggies for the calzones in the food processor too long and it came out mushy. The flavor was good, though), but overall very good! Our French toast treat was a hit too. Somehow it was done in half the time, but luckily I caught it in time. Just a little overdone. I'm too tired to go through each recipe individually right now. Maybe another time :)

This will be a short menu. We're having a pot-luck meal at home group this week, we still plan to eat out for a little boy's birthday and then we're going camping this weekend! Next week should be back on track :)

Tacos

Cheese, Crackers and Fruit

Terayaki Chicken Packets (for camping)

Pizza

April 5 - 11

We had a lovely Easter weekend as a family even without a special dinner. This next weekend we're hoping to go camping, but if not we still plan to roast some wennies by the fire-pit. Spring has finally sprung and summer's not too far off down here!

Chicken Terayaki

Egg Salad Sandwiches with Chips and Fruit

Shrimp, Tortellini and Spinach

Coconut Chicken with Twice Baked Potatoes

Hot Dogs and Beans

Fish Tacos with Cabbage Slaw and Avocado Cream

Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs

March 29 - April 4

Nothing really to report this week. Our new recipes weren't too exciting so no repeat performers. After fighting off a sinus infection all week and a busy weekend, I'm exhausted and wasn't feeling too inspired for this week's menu. I had high hopes of some nice holiday dinners (Passover and Easter), but I just don't think it's happening. This week anyway :)

Tamales & Beans

Grilled Turkey & Avocado Sandwiches with Chips and Fruit

Spinach Salad with Chicken and Oranges

Lebanese Rice

Teryaki Chicken

Ricotta Gnocchi

March 1 - 7

As promised, a review! The Chinese Orange Chicken with Broccoli was a huge hit! The kids absolutely inhaled it (I'm not sure if it was really that good, the fact that dinner was later than usual or the 2 hours we spent at the park, but I'm still impressed at how much they ate.) Next time I do plan to swap the amounts of lemon juice and orange juice and decrease the sugar. The sauce makes more than enough so I have half in the freezer for another time.

I bought some new cookbooks today (Kids Can Cook and Kids Can Bake - sorry, I can't find links right now) for my sous-chef and me to try out. A couple of recipes will be tested this week.

Taco Pizzas

Chicken Teryaki with Pineapple and Rice

Salmon Bites with Yogurt Sauce

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Quinoa Burgers

Texas Black Bean Soup and Easy Bread

Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan

May 13 - 17

I decided to go ahead and post our short week menu mainly so I can find some links quickly. Here we go!

Wednesday - Spaghetti with meat sauce

Thursday - Chicken with 20 cloves of garlic, mashed potatoes and veggies

Friday (camping) - Chicken teryaki packets with rice

Saturday (camping) - Hot Dogs and Brats

Sunday - Honey Mustard Lime Chicken with rice and veggies

Monday (just in case I'm too tired when we get back from camping) - Asian Chicken Wraps

April 27 - May 3

The Chicken Tikka Masala recipe from last week was just what we were looking for! I didn't notice the large amount of salt when I picked it, though. Luckily I caught it while cooking and adjusted it to 1 tsp in the maranade and 1/2 tsp in the sauce (down from 4 and 3 tsps!). It was still on the salty side so I'll probably cut it to 1/2 tsp in each next time. Oh and the 2 tsps of cayenne pepper makes it very spicy so beware if you can't handle much heat and adjust accordingly. Otherwise, the flavors were great and a close second to our favorite Indian restaurant :)

On to this week...

Monday - Chicken Teryaki

Tuesday - Tofu Stir Fry with Brown Garlic Sauce

Wednesday - Mexican style lasagna

Thursday - Tex-mex Cesar Salad

Friday - Frozen Pizza

Saturday - Couples Baby Shower Dinner

Sunday - Potato Gnocci with Sausage and Spinach

April 20 - 26

Monday - Birthday party at Chick-Fil-A!

Tuesday - Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower

Wednesday - Jambalaya

Thursday - Chicken Teryaki

Friday - Turkey Meatballs with Cheesey Mashed Potatoes

Saturday - Black Bean, Zuccini and Tomato Quesidillas

Sunday - Chicken Tikka Masala (I'm trying a new recipe. Last time I used packaged mixes from the Indian market and it was way too salty.)