Saturday Night Out

We headed out to the Burlington Mall last night and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We hadn't been in years and not much has changed, except they no longer have bananas foster on the menu which made Allen sad. Dinner was good, the kids had fun, here are some pictures. Highlight of the evening, picked up some adorable pink sparkly flip flops at Nordstroms for only $11.00. Bought two pieces of cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory for $14.00. The shoes were cheaper, what's wrong with that?

Chicken Legs

Remember those chicken legs I ranted and raved about? This is what they look like.

Weekly Menu 5/31/09-6/6/09

Did a decent job sticking to the menu last week. I think I switched around a couple of nights and we ended up going to the Burlington Mall Saturday night and ate there but other than that we did good.

Sunday-Chicken on the grill with veggies
Monday-home made Hamburger Helper
Tuesday-Chicken peas & rice casserole (one of Allen's favorites)
Wednesday-Tips on the grill, green beans etc
Thursday-I'm out of town so Allen's making sandwich steaks
Friday-Back home late afternoon early evening so it's probably what ever is easy, maybe take out
Saturday-BBQ I'm sure

Southwest Chicken

So I found this on line and tweaked it a bit and it came out great. I love my crock pot but the one complaint I have is stuff tends to loose it's flavor after cooking for 8+ hours. This one didn't.

Ingredients

Chicken (I used 6 tenders)
taco seasoning packet
2 tbls. flour
one each sliced green & red pepper
one sliced onion
1 small can corn
3/4 can drained black beans
1 & 1/2 cup salsa (I used medium, I think it was Chi Chi's and the bottle was exactly 1 & 1/2 cups)
Mexican cheese

So mix chicken with taco seasoning & flour in zip lock bag. Don't do what I did and forget to fully zip it and then dump everything on the kitchen table. That was fun at 6:30 am. Put that in the crock pot, top with peppers, onions, corn, beans & salsa. Mix well. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Mine cooked for about 10, didn't hurt anything. Turn crock pot off, cover the top layer with cheese, cover the crock pot and let it sit for a while. I used about 1/2 a package of Mexican cheese and it was the only complaint Allen had was that he wanted more cheese. Enjoy!

Weekly Menu 5/24/09-5/30/09

Sorry it's late, like you care, but I'm sure Allen has been like what the heck is going on? He could just find me in the house and ask what's for dinner tomorrow but it's more fun for him to wonder and then check on line.

Sunday-I think we grilled
Monday-Cook out with Bob & Gail
Tuesday-Southwest Chicken in the crock pot (recipe to follow)
Wednesday-Grilled Chicken Legs & other stuff
Thursday-French Onion Burgers & corn on the cob
Friday-Punt night, between swim lessons & water aerobics I don't get home until 7:30 at the earliest so whatever is easy.
Saturday-Hmmmm, plenty of choices in the freezer since I went to McKinnon's last weekend. We'll have to wait and see

B's Birthday

So my baby is 5. Hard to believe I know. I took Tuesday off to spend with her. We did girly things, like go to the salon to get a mini mani & pedi, had lunch a little shopping for sun dresses and at night we all went out for ice cream. It was a good day. Here's some pics.

Kid in a Bag!

I'm sharing this because it made me laugh.

Weekly Menu 5/17/09-5/23/09

It's back the weekly menu. Like you really care, but as I've said before Allen likes it when I post so he knows what's up for the week.

Sunday-Filet Mignon on the grill (awesome sale at McKinnon's) cream cheese mashed potatoes & broccoli
Monday-Jerk Chicken, veggies
Tuesday-B's 5th Birthday! Tacos
Wednesday-Chicken Fried Rice
Thursday-Pork Chops of some sort
Friday-Grilled chicken & veggies

Grilled Chicken Legs

Wow is this recipe good. I wasn't sure if I was a chicken leg fan but decided to give cooking them a shot. I had a couple of recipes and literally picked this one from a hat. It's awesome. Sorry I don't have a pic, we didn't think of it until there was a pile of bones on the plate.

2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons seasoning salt-I used Lawry's
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix everything together in a ziplock bag. Add chicken and marinate at least 4 hours. I ended up adding a little more olive oil. Grill on low-medium heat flipping it occasionally. It took me about 25 minutes on a pretty low setting. And again it was excellent.

Weekly Menu 5/3/09-5/10/09

I'm bored. Bored with cooking. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to cook, but I've been very uninspired lately. I need some new recipes to get me moving again. Mind you I have about 20 cook books. You'd think I could find something in there. Probably will. I also check the Internet. If you have any you think I'd like send them my way. Here's this week.

Sunday-Chicken pie, taters & veggies
Monday-Spanish Rice Casserole
Tuesday-Haddock for Allen something else for me.
Wednesday-Lemon chicken stir fry for me something else for Allen
Thursday-Ziti with sauce
Friday-Hmmmm. I have water aerobics so this may be a punt/left over/what ever's in the cupboard night.
Saturday-Pork chops & veggies

Family Cookout

Darren & Veronica hosted an awesome cookout on Saturday, which we combined into the kids birthday party. Here are some great shots.