dinner – Page 7 – This Crazy Life of Mine

Tag: dinner

18
Jun
2012

Birthday and Father’s Day fun!

categories: blue, dinner, family, hubby, Ozzie, park, photos

Yesterday morning, I gave hubby a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (his fave!) and Father’s Day cards from Blue and Ozzie. When I saw these cards, I knew I had to get them. They were PERFECT. Who says father’s of furbabies can’t be honored on Father’s Day?

Then, hubby and I went for a walk at the park with Blue and Ozzie. We love talking the boys to the park. They are so happy and so excited when we go! I couldn’t resist getting a picture of the boys with hubby. He loves his boys!

In my BIG, crazy family, there is something to celebrate just about every month. A tradition was started years ago, as the family grew, that we would get together and celebrate birthday’s, holidays, anniversaries, etc… It works out that almost once a month we get together, sometimes having a dinner for multiple reasons. My hubby’s birthday is on June 22, so every year, we all get together on Father’s Day AND celebrate hubby’s birthday.

Hubby decided he wanted to go to Hooter’s for his birthday. No one in this family ever complains about going to Hooter’s. All jokes aside, we are a Hooters-loving family. Smile

It was really a nice afternoon, with the usual, family craziness. There are a lot of us and we are loud. It always requires planning to eat out. I went to Hooters an hour early just to make sure we could get a table for 18. 18!!!

As always, there was a lot of talking and laughing. I really treasure our family time. The kiddos are adorable and there is silliness and laughter. Pair that with yummy bad-for-you-food and beer, and it’s a GREAT afternoon.

As always, I took way too many photos and Instagram’d the heck out of them. It’s hard to get photos of everyone and everything, but this is a great representation of the fun we had yesterday to celebrate my hubby’s (40th!!) birthday and Father’s Day.

10
Jun
2012

Sunday in the kitchen

categories: blue, dinner, Ozzie, recipe, Sunday

What a weekend this has been! With all the rain we had last week, I took advantage of the sunshine this weekend and got caught up on some work, determined not to start next week any more behind than we had to. Thankfully, hubby was willing and ready to help out, as he always is. We completed a project in Plant City yesterday and then this morning, we drove to Cape Coral and Sarasota for a couple projects. A lot of driving, including heading both south and north on my least favorite bridge, the Sunshine Skyway. It’s a pretty bridge and I always seem to take pictures of it, but it just freaks me out. Here are pictures of it from today…

When we finally got home just after 1, hubby was working out in the garage for a bit, so I sat outside with Blue and Ozzie, despite the heat. They didn’t seem to care – look how happy they were!

I skipped yoga in the park with the wonderful ladies of the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers so I could have an evening at home with hubby and make a yummy dinner. I am bummed that I missed the meet-up, but after the craziness this weekend, I really just wanted to be home before the craziness starts again tomorrow.

For dinner, I made oven fried chicken – a variation of a WW recipe in their Best Darn Food Ever cookbook. Their version calls for buttermilk (reduced fat), but I hate to buy buttermilk for one recipe and not finish it. Plus I am not really a fan of buttermilk. It’s a bit too heavy for me. So, I just use fat free or reduced fat milk. Their version also calls for bone-in chicken breasts, sage, and rosemary. My version is a little different.

Here is what you need for my version:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper
1 cup Plain Panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
Paprika
Basil

Cover a cookie sheet in foil and spray with non-stick spray (I use butter flavor).

Mix the salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, paprika, and basil in a large bowl. On the paprika and basil, I like A LOT. I love the flavors and the more you use, it adds a little color.

Dip the chicken breasts in the milk and coat with the breading mixture, covering both sides thoroughly. Set on cookie sheet.

Bake in oven for approximately 30 minutes. Spray tops of chicken breasts with non-stick spray (butter flavor) and cook another 15 minutes. This will help it brown.

The chicken comes out very tender and juicy, full of flavor. You can serve just about any side with it. Tonight we had baked potatoes and white corn. For the two of us, I make 3 pieces and hubby will take a piece for lunch the next day. It reheats nicely in the microwave.

Thanks for reading!

27
May
2012

Sunday in the kitchen {and a doozy of a headache}

categories: blue, dinner, hubby, Ozzie, Sunday

This holiday weekend has not been what I had in mind when I looked forward to it all week. Thursday night, I had a sinus headache that thankfully went away on it’s own in a matter of hours. Friday evening, I was hit with another and it was a doozy, right above my right eye. I was in bed by 8pm just so I could be in a dark room with no noise. Saturday morning it was a little better but still there. After I helped hubby’s mom for a bit in the morning and came back home, it hit me again – this time on the left side. I’ve had a lot of headaches in my life and I can honestly say that the one I had yesterday was high on the list of worst headaches I’ve ever had. I could not get comfortable, I alternated between an ice pack on my head and a hot wash cloth. This headache was on the left side and it was throbbing. I actually threw up and that always makes me cry, and then I stood in the shower for 20 minutes with the hottest water possible running over my head. It helped a little but when I got out, I crawled right back in bed. I skipped dinner but was thankful when hubby finally came home from work and insisted I drink an ice cold frappuccino in hopes of the caffeine helping, along with maybe some brain freeze.

I haven’t been able to take any medication since Monday when I went to the eye doctor for the hemorrhage in my right eye. And while I know my body enough to know when a headache is sinus, stress, or whatever, I actually think I had a migraine yesterday. One side of my nose kept opening up which led me to believe it was still sinus-related, but the throbbing and my desire to be in a dark cool room makes me think it was a migraine also.

Today has been better, but I’ve still spent much of it doing nothing and napping. Still unable to take anything until all the blood clears from my eye, I have to rely on taking it easy. It’s not fun but I do NOT want to have another headache like I did yesterday. It. Was. Awful.

So, here is where I’ve spent much of my weekend. Thank goodness we have a super-comfy bed.

Despite my headache, I did manage to make brownies and cook dinner today. It wasn’t anything new or terribly exciting, but it was nice to cook dinner for hubby. I think he thinks I’m silly when I take pictures of food all the time, but I just love to take pictures of the food I make.

I made hubby a steak (no picture of that!) and a side of shrimp cooked in Carolina BBQ sauce. If you’ve never done this, it’s super easy, and he loves it.

I also had half a loaf of crispy sourdough bread from Publix leftover from Friday, so I sliced it up and toasted it with butter and garlic. Always a yummy addition to any meal.

I made myself my super-easy rice, beef, and diced tomato dish. It sounded good and there are leftovers to have for lunch tomorrow!

And because I was feeling down in the dumps when I went to the store this morning, I decided to make brownies. If a girl can’t enjoy a glass of wine or an ice cold beer, then chocolate is the next best thing. They came out sooooo good!

I was very glad to have hubby home with me today. He was working yesterday and I know he couldn’t be home with me. Blue and Ozzie, being the super smart Aussies they are, knew that I did not feel good yesterday and they were super snuggly. Whether I was laying on the couch or in our room, they were right there with me. Today, hubby has been good company, letting me sleep and relax. He also says my eye looks much better, which makes me happy. I am so ready to be over this.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend!

22
May
2012

Meal Planning

categories: dinner, food, lunch, meal planning

I decided to take stock of what we have in our kitchen and see what kind of meal planning I can do for the rest of the week and even into the next week. When I grocery shop and I buy chicken or ground beef, I package it up into single servings and freeze it. I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and freeze one per bag. I split up the ground beef into single-serving patties and freeze them. Depending on how I need the ground beef for whatever it is I’m making, I can either cook it as a patty or crumble it up. Over time, it starts to add up in my freezer and I am pleasantly surprised at what I have.

After taking stock today, this is what we have both fresh and frozen:

17 chicken breasts
3 pork chops
2 Italian sausage links
4 pcs. Tilapia
3 hamburger patties
1 new York Strip Steak

The chicken, considering I make 2-3 pieces at a time depending on what I’m making and if I am making extra for lunch the next day, could make 5 1/2 meals alone! The pork chops is 1 meal, the sausage links are 1 meal, the tilapia is 4 meals, the hamburger will likely be 2 meals, and the steak is a bonus for hubby. Technically, we have enough for 13 dinners.

After checking to see what meats/poultry/fish we have, I went through the freezer to see what frozen veggies and foods we have:

1/2 box fried shrimp
1 bag hushpuppies
Chicken and Vegetable Steamer meal (for 2)
Garlic Chicken Steamer meal (for 2)
1/2 bag sweet potato fries
Chicken rice
Brown Rice
Brown and Wild Rice Medley
Garden vegetable medley
Mixed veggies
2 bags broccoli
Asian medley

Next up were fresh veggies and cheeses:

3 baking potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 zucchini
Onion
Mozzarella cheese
Mild cheddar cheese

In our pantry, we have the following:

1 can Italian diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans
1 1/2 box penne pasta
1 box angel hair pasta
1 bag No-Yolk egg noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Soft taco dinner kit
Italian bread crumbs
Panko bread crumbs
Carolina BBQ sauce
Turkey gravy
Mexican rice
Teriyaki noodles

All this, while possibly boring to you, means A LOT of meal options for us over the next two weeks and hopefully, a much lighter grocery bill! And while not all of these items are super healthy, they can be made healthier by how I prepare them. So many options for yummy meals in our house!

Do you meal plan? Do you use any specific websites to enter your ingredients to get ideas?

07
Apr
2012

Not at all good for me

categories: dinner, WW, yummy

When I asked hubby what he wanted for dinner tonight and he said Italian sausage and garlic bread, I knew right then what I was going to make for myself. I wanted pasta and ooey-gooey melted mozzarella cheese. I decided it would be even more delicious with ground beef and sauteed onions and artichoke hearts. Not at all good for me and it probably had a bazillion WW Points Plus value. I didn’t even calculate it. But oh my, was it yummy. I topped it off with a glass of Barefoot Moscato. Doesn’t it look wonderful?