Supreme Green Spaghetti

This is one of our favourite vegetarian recipes. I don't make it very often, but every once in a while we make it up. It's a quick and easy recipe, great for the end of a busy day... only about 15 min from start to finish.



Supreme Green Spaghetti

16 oz uncooked spaghetti
1 pound frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup skim milk
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
salt to taste
pine nuts
grated parmesan cheese

Prepare the pasta according to the package directions; drain. Meanwhile, microwave the frozen spinach to thaw and cook, about 4 minutes on high power. Transfer to a blender and add the milk, garlic, butter, and salt. Puree. Pour the sauce over the hot pasta. Toss and sprinkle with pine nuts and cheese.


This recipe was passed on to me by my cousin. She's a vegetarian and served it for us one time when we visited. It's delicious....

So good some elect to not to use a fork....


Finger lickin' good.....

June Meal Plan

Here is my meal plan for June. With baby potentially coming near the end of the month, it's easy dishes as we get closer (with the exception of Rouladin, which I'm hoping my hubby will tackle, but thinking we'll have company who would appreciate it around then).

This meal plan is definitely going to be pretty fluid throughout the month, and I expect that I'll be doing a lot of rearranging.

1 - Green Spaghetti*
2 - Eating out - Sushi
3 - Frittata, Fruit On The Road - sandwiches or wraps
4 - Steak, Baked Brocolli and Cheddar Potatoes**, Salad Hot dogs and veggies (worked outside all day)
5 - Waffles, Fruit
6 - Leftovers
7 - Hawaiian BBQ Chicken**, Salad
8 - Spinach Lasagna, Salad Super easy bean burritos (was out ALL day)
9 - Beef Stirfry, Rice Spinach Lasagna*, Salad
10 - Chicken and Quinoa Supper** Leftovers
11 - Turkey Burgers*, Curry Potato Salad* Treated to dinner out
12 - Pizza Muffins and Fruit Salad
13 - Broccoli, Cheese and Chicken Pasta**, Salad
14 - Cauliflower and Potato Curry**, naan bread Grilled Chicken over Salad (wasn't feeling like anything heavy)
15 - Baked Chicken, stuffing (Stovetop), veggies Dinner out for birthday
16 - Chili, Tortilla chips
17 - Leftovers
18 - Pork Chops, pasta salad (going to try a new recipe... not sure which yet)
19 - Muffins, fruit
20 -Southwest Chicken Pasta Salad**
21 - Stew*, buns
22 - Leftovers
23 - Easy Lasagna**, Salad
24 - Bean and Cheese Quesidillas
25 - Hot dogs, broccoli salad*
26 - Crepes
27 - Chicken Rice Casserole*, Salad
28 - Salmon, baby potatoes, salad
29 - Pizza
30 - Rouladin, haven't decided on sides yet

Do you meal plan? Do you do it weekly? bi-weekly? Monthly?

I've decided this month instead of just changing the meal plan as we go through the month (rearranging), I'll do strike through editing, so you can see just how fluid our meal plans can be. Certain easy meals are easily axed, but those that I bought specific groceries usually get rearranged. :)

Disasters do happen

This was a recipe I wanted to share with you.... it's the most delicious carrot cake ever!!!

But of course I HAD to try it in the bundt cake pan this time... and of course.. this is how it came out:



I'm thinking I'll do round 2 of it in a couple weeks, and hope to get some decent photos... then I'll share the recipe! :)

Putting these swollen feet to bed! Goodnight!

Planning

We've done some swapping around of meals this last week. Mostly because I've been forgetful and forgotten to take my meat out of the freezer. But I did score some awesome deals on meat this week for next month! Nothing like good priced groceries to make me giddy :)

Looks like this month is going to be mostly beef and vegetarian, but beef will make my husband happy!

Nesting has officially began, and I did an overhaul of my pantry and freezer and took inventory, so it's looking like I can do June's meal plan without actually having to buy TOO many groceries. I also have plans to do a day of freezer cooking with a few friends at the beginning of the month, to help stock up on meals for post baby.

June's meal plan will probably be more labour intensive at the beginning of the month (but still not crazy), and then super easy meals towards the end of the month.

The meal plan is starting to come together. A few recipes from last month getting shifted forward, a few recipe requests from friends, and meals based on the meat deals I scored. :) Bring on June!

Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake

From Fix It and Forget It: Kids Cookbook



I've gotten a few kids cookbooks lately, as my daughter ALWAYS wants to help. This one looks like a really good one.

It has also been a rainy week around here... so we've been cooped up. So more baking than normal. :)

Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake

1 cup all-purpose BAKING mix
2 cup sugar, divided
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, plus 1/3 cup divided
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups hot water

Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray.
In a medium0sized mixing bowl, mix together baking mix, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp cocoa powder, milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into your slow cooker and spread out evenly.
In a small mixing bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa and the hot water together. Carefully pour this mixture over the batter. Do no stir.
Cover your slow cooker. Cook the cake on high for 2-3 hours.
After 2 hours, check with a toothpick. If it looks wet, the cake needs to keep cooking, if it has crumbs on it... it's time to eat.
Test every 15 min if it does need to cook longer.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The cookbooks we used the MOST growing up, weren't big commercial ones.... they were the books made from the collecting recipes from either churches or schools. My mom was a teacher, and my parents moved a fair bit before I was born, so we had a great collection of school and church cookbooks. You know that people select their favourite tried and true recipes, so you're going to get a fantastic collection of recipes.

I lucked out with this cookbook, since my parents had bought one for my Grandma at the time, and so it is one of my keepsakes from my Grandma's kitchen now. I think in the future, and cookbooks that we get to be a part of, I will buy 3 (well maybe 5, for the grandma's too). That way when my girls move out, they have a copy to keep too.



This recipe is from the book from my elementary school. My name is even next to a few of them. Good old Golden Horn! It's definitely a unique school. Didn't really realize at the time all the advantages to going to that school, but it was awesome.

This one was from one of my classmates.




Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter, add sugar, beating until smooth. Add egg and vanilla; mix. Add dry ingredients; mix well. Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 8-10 min or until done. Cool.

We put both semi-sweet and white chocolate chips in this batch, since that's what we had on hand.

I barely got my photo taken, before they started disappearing.

Sesame Ginger Chicken

I found this recipe in my The Girl Can't Cook book. This is a recent purchase, and I'm loving it so far. I'm not much of a cook (part of the reason for this blog), and this book gives easy meals that are impressive.



Sesame Ginger Chicken

1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup liquid honey
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 dried red chili pepper, crushed
2 lbs (1 kg) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
chopped cilantro for garnish

In a microwave-proof bowl, warm all ingredients (excluding chicken). Stir to combine well, and set aside to cool.

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the chicken pieces and the marinade and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a pan with foil or parchment paper. Place chicken in a single layer on the pan, drizzle the marinade and bake for 45 minutes, basting a couple times with the pan juices.

Remove the chicken from the pan, and tent with foil to keep warm. Pour the cooking juices into a small saucepan and boil over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the sauce is reduced to a thick glaze.

To serve, slice the chicken breasts and fan on individual plates, then drizzle with some of the sauce over top. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro to garnish.



We served this dish with stir fry veggies, and udon noodles (my husband loves udon noodles, but we've never made them at home before, so this was a treat for him).

This recipe was delicious. My husband and I agreed. A few complimentary tweaks we thought of for next time, is a sprinkling of sesame seeds to garnish (we omitted the cilantro, as neither of us like it much), and perhaps a touch more soy sauce in the mix. He also suggested I sauce the noodles as well. This recipe will join in our regular meal plans though. Quick, easy and yummy.