Valentine's Dinner

For our Valentine's dinner, Jen brainstormed food ideas that were red/white for the occasion that the girls would eat without a fight and she came up with pizza. I bought the pizza dough already made in a refridgerated canister. I cut it into the heart shape and Jen made heart breadsticks from the dough that was cut out from the heart. I made the pizza sauce from scratch and it is amazing. It is the second time that I made it, so I knew how good it was. I also tried to spell LOVE in mushrooms on the top of the pizza, and as you can see from the picture, you have to use your imagination to see it. The sauce recipe is below. Enjoy! Also, the heart cake's recipe is not included because I lost it. It came witht he heart cake mold.

Grade: A


Pizza Sauce:
In a medium saucepan combine one-8 oz can tomato sauce; one 7 1/2 oz can undrained tomatoes, cut up; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1 Tbs dried basil, crushed; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tspdried regano, crused; 2 cloves garlic, minced; and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or till the onion is tender.

Skillet Garlic Chicken Dinner

This meal was very good. It was not hard to make and everyone enjoyed it. I doubled the parmesan cheese to make it a little extra cheesy. I recommend trying this one out with your family tonight. I also made a salad with chopped vegetables. I know that I have been not posting regularly lately, and I will being trying harder to keep the recipes coming more on time.

Ingredients:
Vegetable cooking spray
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 cups Swanson® Chicken Stock
3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen vegetable combination (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika

Directions:

Spray a 12-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken and garlic and cook for 10 minutes or until the chicken is well browned on both sides. Remove the chicken from the skillet.

Stir the stock, rice and vegetables in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese.

Return the chicken to the skillet. Sprinkle the chicken with the paprika. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender.

Anna was way more excited about her salad than her main course.

Emily wants YOU to eat your dinner!

Sarah still working on not using her hands.

Lucy licking up the ranch dressing.

Cheeseburger Pasta

This meal was extremely easy, but had little to no taste. It tasted like a Hamburger Helper meal. I am not going to waste anymore time writing about this meal. No pictures.

Grades: Ease-A Taste C-

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or Healthy Request®)
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups uncooked medium shell-shaped pasta

Directions:

Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.

Stir the soups, water and pasta in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender, stirring often.

Mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and veggie hot dogs

Meal 2 of the vegetarian week
The second vegetarian meal was interesting to say the least. I bought Brussel sprouts and told Anna that they were little cute lettuces. She bought it for the most part and when I mixed it with her mashed potatoes, she ate enough of it. The worst part of the meal was the vegetarian hot dogs. They were disgusting to say the extreme least! The smell was horrendous and the texture was even worse. When I made Anna take a bite, she almost vomited all over the table. Emily, on the other hand, could not get enough of it. She didn’t touch her mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts, but ate at least one hotdog.
Grade: C-

Anna, looking oh so happy that I made her eat that discusting "dog"

Emily, couldn't get enough!!!!

Sarah has learned to cheese for the camera

Lucy wearing her war paint

Look at this horrendous looking excuse for a hot dog! NEVER AGAIN.

Vegetarian Week (Spinach Lasagna

This was the first night of “vegetarian week.” I was trying to have only vegetarian meals for every meal . This was going to be a hard week for me to stomach I had thought, and for me anyways, I didn’t think it was that difficult. The only hard part was eating a lot of ice cream at the end of the night because I was hungry because of the lack of meat! Enjoy the two veggie meals.
Spinach Lasagna
This meal required a lot of work, but it was worth it. It is the first time that I have ever made any type of lasagna, so it was fun for me. The girls liked it for the most part, and best of all, the adults enjoyed it.
Grade: B
Ingredients
9 dried lasagna noodles
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs margarine/butter
1 7-oz jar roasted red sweet peppers drained and chopped
1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
1 30 ½ oz meatless spaghetti sauce
¼ cup grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1. Cook lasagna noodles for 10 to 12 minutes or till tender but still firm. Drain noodles; rinse with cold water. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook onion, mushrooms, and garlic in hot margarine till tender but not brown; stir in sweet peppers. Set aside.
3. Pat spinach dry with paper towels. In a medium bowl stir together spinach, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, the ½ cup parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, oregano, and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir sweet pepper mixture into spinach mixture.
4. Spread ½ cup of the spaghetti sauce evenly in a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles over sauce. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Bake, covered in a 375 degree on remaining spaghetti sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the ¼ cup Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake about 10 minutes more or till heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8 main-dish servings

The pictures are all about Sarah, from the start of her meal to the end. Enjoy!

Baked Chicken, peas, mashed potatoes, and salad

This was a great meal and believe it or not, fun to make. The baked chicken, wasn't really baked I would call it "butter-fried" chicken. The chicken was first dipped in an egg wash and then put in flour before putting it in some melted butter. I cooked half of the chicken in an 8x10 pan in the oven and the other half I did on the stove top in a new skillet that I got for Christmas. The skillet is a grilling skillet and it was good. The mashed potatoes and peas were prepared as usual with nothing special. Anna never liked mashed potatoes, but the girls could not get enough of them. I am going to try to sneak some brussel sprouts pass them by slipping it mixed in with the mashed potatoes.

Grade: A-

Lucy wondering what the mashed potato stuff is.

Anna trying not to pose for the camera

Sarah sucking it all off of her hand

Emily looking a little clueless

Pizza, Garlic Bread, and a Salad

This is all of the items before being served.

This dinner was definately a favorite with the girls. There was not any complaining or food dumping on the kitchen floor! Granted it was pizza, but still, for all to agree is simply amazing. I had made the pizza earlier this year before the blog, I think, so I knew how easy it was. The pizza dough is puff pastry from the freezer, but the sauce was homade with the help from Anna stirring the "pizza soup" as she put it. The salad is a simple chopped salad, but I made the vinegarette from scratch. And the bread is a simple garlic bread. The recipes are down below. I would stongly recommend using the puff pastry as the crust for an easily made pizza. Enjoy.

Grade: A-

Pizza Sauce:
In a medium saucepan combine one-8 oz can tomato sauce; one 7 1/2 oz can undrained tomatoes, cut up; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1 Tbs dried basil, crushed; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tspdried regano, crused; 2 cloves garlic, minced; and 1/4 tsp pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or till the onion is tender.

For puff pastry:
Thaw the pastry shells at room temperature for 40 minutes or until they’re easy to handle. Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry shells into 7-inch circles. Put the pastry circles on the baking sheets. Using a fork, prick the pastry circles thoroughly. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Leave the pastry circles on the baking sheets, and place the sheets on wire racks. Set aside.
Spread the pizza sauce over the pastry shells, cheese, and whatever toppings you would like, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Italian Herb dressing:

Combined 2/3 cup olive or vegetable oil, 1/3 cup Heinz Wine Vinegar, 1 clove garlic, split, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp each salt, dried basil leaves, dried oregano leaves, 1/4 tsp crused red pepper; cover and shake vigorously. Chill to blend flavors. Shake again before using.

Emily trying to stuff her mouth completely full.

Anna loving the cheese garlic bread that she helped make.

Sarah picking up her piece of pizza.

Lucy loving the garlic bread.