What's for Dinner

With Ella's upcoming first birthday party on the agenda, simple is the name of the game when it comes to dinner this week... Not that it isn't always, but my to-do list these next few days is quite a bit longer than normal, and I just won't have time to be preparing gourmet dinners.

{photo via}

Monday

My cousin, who is a talented chef, and writes an impressive food blog, turned me on to this one pot pasta, and it has become a staple recipe for us. It's super easy to prepare, and delicious. I'll serve it with some crusty bread and a light side salad.

Tuesday

I'm totally intrigued by these ranch chicken fajita bowls, and being the Mexican food fanatic that I am, I figured we ought to give them a whirl this week. Served with a side of warm corn tortillas, some sour cream and avocado... I can't imagine that they'll be anything but good.

Wednesday

Last fall, we attended a local Hatch Chile festival and tasted a ton of incredible foods that followed along with the festival's theme (obviously, Hatch chiles). One item in particular that stuck with us after the festival, were these sort of open-faced hatch chile sandwiches/flatbreads... I'm not really quite sure what to call them, but essentially, you take a piece of focaccia bread (we picked some up at Trader Joe's), and top it with freshly roasted hatch chiles (when hatche chiles aren't in season, we use poblanos or Anaheim peppers) and shavings of fresh asiago cheese. There so simple, but really tasty. We pair them with homemade baked sweet potato fries. (I promise to add a photo of these)

Thursday

We're big Monterey chicken fans in this house, so as you can imagine, this is a recipe we repeat often around here. We'll have this with corn and probably some sort of rice on the side.

Friday

As always, this is our easy take-out or appetizer night. These caprese meatballs sound delightful, perhaps I will substitute ground chicken for the ground beef to lighten things up a bit. I think some bruschetta would pair well with this... and obviously, because it is Friday, some wine... but not too much, because we have a big birthday to celebrate the next day!

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

-J

What's For Dinner

As promised, here is the first, of what will hopefully be many posts, where I share our dinner plans for the week.  If you didn't catch my most recent Swoon Worthy post, where I admitted that I am totally stuck in a dinner rut, and have been feeling in desperate need of some dinner inspiration, consider yourself caught you up to speed.

As I previously mentioned, many of these meal ideas will be linked to the sources where I found them, i.e. Pinterest, food blogs, magazines, and the occasional personal recipe. There likely won't be anything super fancy, we eat a lot of chicken, and tend to go for appetizers on Fridays... a little Happy Hour at home, if you will.

If nothing else, I'm hoping these weekly posts will keep me motivated to find new and different recipes to try, but I am hopeful that you will find some inspiration here as well.

So, without further ado, here's "What's for Dinner" this week:

Monday

Chicken Fajita Pasta  served with a side salad, and some garlic bread.  I will likely substitute fat free half and half for the heavy cream that this recipe calls for, and may use whole wheat pasta.

Tuesday

Pizza Chicken Roulades served with a side of broccoli and potatoes roasted in olive oil, s&p

Wednesday

Grilled pizza night! Sometimes I make my own dough, and sometimes I use store bought dough.  I roll it out, brush it with olive oil, and a little s&p, and then I grill it until it is not quite crispy or done.  Then we top them with sauce (store bought, or I sometimes buy a can of San Marzano tomatoes, and I throw them in the food processor with a clove of garlic, some s&p, a Tbs of Italian seasoning, and a tsp of red wine vinegar), and whatever toppings we have on hand, and throw them in the oven at 450 for a few minutes until the cheese is bubbling!

Thursday

Salsa Chicken and One Pan Mexican Quinoa "burrito bowls"

Friday

Quesadillas using leftover Salsa Chicken, homemade guacamole and chips. We usually fill large flour tortillas with chicken, shredded Mexican blend cheese, and canned green chiles, and we dip them in salsa and sour cream.

If dinner this week seems pretty simple, that's because it is.  I like things that are easy to prepare and don't require a million ingredients.  I do enjoy cooking, and like to try new things, so I promise not every week will be so boring.

Please feel free to send recipes and recommendations my way.  I'm always looking for fun new ideas to test out!  Hope you all have a great week!

-J