Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sammiches and a weekly menu!

At about 3 pm, I realized it was Sunday and we had no groceries nor a meal plan for the upcoming week. Problem was, we don't get paid until Friday and we're running a little low on the fundage, so I had to come up with a full week's worth menu spending less than $50 on groceries. We pretty much cleared out our entire kitchen after Thanksgiving, so there wasn't a whole lot to work with. Since I'm more of a chicken fan than a beef fan, a lot of our meals this week have chicken in them. But don't worry, on Friday we're having Prime Rib (yet another military ball), so I'll be sure to get my red meat fix in then. ;) Here's the menu for this week:

Sunday: Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Monday: Quiche (woo-hoo, breakfast for dinner!)

Tuesday: Homemade pepperoni and sausage pizza

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Tacos

Thursday: Chicken Risotto

Friday: Out again!

Saturday: Umm...I totally forgot Saturday even existed.

We'll probably end up having friends over for dinner,

so I'll be sure to get back to ya.



Obviously, those are just the main dishes, as I have yet to decide what the sides will be. We have some baked potatoes, rice and veggies, mashed potatoes, fruit, and pasta that can be used, so we'll see what I come up with! There's also still some leftovers from Turkey Day, so I'm thinking that corn casserole will be reheated and eaten.

Before I go on to tonight's dinner, I want to post a dinner we had from the other night. I forgot to write about it and realized that last night, so I figured I'd play a little catch up and post it tonight. We had Hasselback potatoes and bleu cheese burgers. The potatoes looked NOTHING like the picture, I assume that I didn't cook them for long enough, so next time around, they'll be in the oven for a good hour. I'd also add a little more garlic and olive oil for more flavoring, but I think they have potential! You could also add in some bacon bits, bleu cheese crumbles, and even some shredded cheddar for an added yumminess factor. Here is the link for the taters, they were supes easy to make, so have no fear, just cook 'em a little longer than the requested time. And as far as the burgers go, just melt a little bleu cheese on top of the beef and add your regular toppings. Sooo delish.

Alright, tonight's meal was pretty yummy. I was craving some comfort food, and Liam's grilled cheese roll-up looked appetizing, so I decided to make a more "grown-up" version of that. I found this recipe for a Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese and just HAD to try it. I'm a big fan of buff chicken dip, so I figured if this recipe combines two of my favorite foods, it must be pretty dern good. We didn't have carrots, so we left those out. Not sure I would have added them anyways, but the recipe does call for them. I almost wish this sandwich had more of a "ranch" taste to it, but that's probably because I'm used to eating my buffalo chicken goodies with ranch or bleu cheese. I don't know, I was suddenly craving salad dressing while eating it. I think I'd definitely grill it on top of a stove in this instance as well, we used our George Forman, and it just wasn't crispy/buttery enough for me, if ya know what I mean. All in all, it was a good dinner and totally filling. J asked for seconds, and will probably bring the cold mixture to work-although now that I think about it, that mixture would taste really yummy on top of a salad. Drool.

Mmmkay, enough of my ramblings for the night, off to watch more Season 1 of Mad Men! ;)

Enjoy!

I'm exhausted!

We hosted Thanksgiving at our tiny little townhome yesterday. Eight adults and three children (all under the age of four, mind you) all smooshed into our little living room; sitting on the floor, random chairs, and our couch. As much work as it was, it was pretty amazing to be able to spend it with our friends, since we couldn't be with our families (buuut, I will say that I'm SO happy my hubs is home for these holidays-SO SO SO glad). J and I cooked pretty much everything-him the turkey and stuffing (dressing? stuffing? druffing?), and me the corn casserole, roadside potatoes, and the infamous Cheddar Bay buscuits (I'll admit, I'm obsessed, because they're so. easy.). We had so much food here, and tons and tons of leftovers. It was pretty awesome, and we were all exhausted by about 6:30. I think the two of us were in bed by like 7. Not quite sure we'll be hosting it again next year, but it was definitely quite the learning experience!

I made two DELICIOUS (sorta) new recipes for the dinner and lemme tell ya, got LOADS of compliments for both. I've made the potatoes in the past and they were a hit, so I figured I'd do 'em again. Plus, they're one of my favorite dishes that my mom makes, so I kinda wanted to make them to have a little piece of my fam. They're really, really, REALLY easy, but super unhealthy-but isn't that what Turkey Day is all about? ;) The corn casserole was even easier than the potatoes, and it turned out really light and fluffy-not too dry either. So, without further ado, here are the recipes, I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

The first is the corn casserole, which has been in my family for awhile. My mom gave me the recipe in a little scrapbook she made for me when J and I got married. It's got all my favorites, which make me feel close to my mommy when I'm having a bad day (sad, I know).

Corn Casserole

1 can of creamed corn

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 cup sour cream

1 stick margarine, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup water

1 package Jiffy Corn Muffin mix

Mix all ingredients together, then pour into a 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (edges will be golden but not too crunchy)

Told ya it was easy. Moving on...

The next is one of my all-time favorite dishes to eat and make is something we call Roadside Potatoes (sounds lovely, eh?). They're just as easy to make, and even more delicious to eat. Here's what to do:

3 cups half & half

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated parmesan (I ran out and had to use the thin chunks of parm, but I crumbled it up and it tasted just as delish)

24 oz. (1 bag) frozen or fresh shredded hashbrowns (I use the frozen)

Mix together the first four ingredients.

Put the hashbrowns (they don't need to be thawed) into a 9x13 pan and pour the mixture over them.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour

So there ya have it, my easy "mix, dump, and bake" recipes. I know I've been slacking on the weekly recipes, but it's been so hectic around the L household that we've been eating a lot of leftovers and, shhhh, going out to eat (I got lazy). Once Monday rolls around, I should have a new recipe for ya, just gotta hop on Food Gawker and see what I can find! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of love, laughter, and delish dishes!

Homemade Chili=EPIC FAIL (& two more successes)!

Welp, the hubs attempted to make chili without a recipe. I was super excited to be able to share his AWESOME creation with you, but unfortunately, that will not be happening. He used a bit too much chili powder which resulted in a very SPICY dish (and not good spicy, but like "too much spices, it's really chalky" spicy). Really wouldn't have been a huge deal besides the fact we had already invited company over and needed to make a meal. Thankfully I had all the ingredients for our dinner that was supposed to be tonight, so I made that instead. It turned out pretty decent, but I didn't get any pics (I thought company might think I was kinda weird for taking pictures of my meals). I also made my Cheddar Bay Biscuits again (see previous post) and tried making some crispy asparagus spears, but those didn't turn out too well (let's not talk about that)-thankfully I had some extra veggies in the freezer! Anyways, I made Champp's Pasta Cake and although it was super cheesy and rich, it was pretty good! I poured spaghetti sauce over it, but I think some alfredo would be a whole lot better! Here's the recipe:

Champp's Pasta Cake

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 cups grated parmesan

2 cups grated mozzarella

1 cup heavy cream

2 eggs

1 tbsp. salt

freshly ground peper to taste

1 lb. (I just used one box) spaghetti cooked al dente

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

6-8 cups spaghetti/alfredo sauce

Combine ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, cream, eggs, salt, and pepper. Add cooked pasta. PRESS  mixture into buttered/greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until golden.

If you'd like to try the crispy asparagus spears, you can find the recipe right here. Hopefully you have better luck with it than I did! If not, just make sure you have some veggies handy! ;)

Alright, now onto my other recipe that actually turned out pretty dern delicious, even though we can barely take credit for it. I say "we" because my hubs was in charge of this meal and I offered up a few ideas to make it better. Anyways, we started with a box of Chicken Helper Cheesy Enchilada. He made that up and added some green peppers and cilantro. Once it was all cooked up (just follow the directions on the box), we rolled up the mixture into flour tortillas, added some shredded cheese, and baked them for like 7 minutes. After we pulled them out and they cooled down, we added some more cilantro, and, VOILA! Finished! They were so good! Hubs even heated the mixture up the next day and put it over some tortilla chips-SO. GOOD. He was so proud of himself and wanted to make sure I took a picture, so here ya go!

So there ya have it!

Enjoy!





Thursday=Epic Fail

It was FREEZING yesterday (well, not by NY standards, but it was the coldest it's been here yet) and when my husband finally came home, the kitchen was freezing and I just wasn't feeling making dinner or eating in there. Is that weird? I HATE when my house is cold, it doesn't feel cozy or welcoming at all. I even had a candle lit and my Scentsy warmer going, but nothing was helping! I had been dealing with demon child our sweet baby boy all day, and wanted out of the house, so I begged my husband to take me to BDubs (or BW3's/Buffalo Wild Wings/Whatever you choose to call it in your home) since I had been having mad cravings for their parm garlic boneless wings. He gave in (even though it wasn't "technically" in our budget-we had a little extra this paycheck) and we loaded up the Subi and headed out.

So, this means no awesome chili recipe for ya. I'm not quite sure my husband would have been able to pull it off since the ground turkey was barely thawed and it was already 4:30 (would have been 5 by the time he finally got his butt in gear), so who knows what would have happened had I not thrown in the towel before anything got started.

Since I don't want to leave you empty handed, I wanted to throw this Grilled Cheese Roll Up recipe your way. I know it sounds like just another grilled cheese, and it technically is, but ZOMG, they taste SO. GOOD. Liam has had them the past two days for lunch, and I have a feeling he's about to get another one today. They're super easy to make (although I used WAY too much butter-which wouldn't be such a bad thing since it WAS nummy, but didn't help my caloric intake for the day) and come out so gooey and delish. They're perfect for little hands too, and they're awesome for dipping (if you have a dip lover like me)! You could also throw in some chopped veggies or even some shredded lunch meat to make it extra nutritious. Dip them in some homemade tomato soup or marinara and...

Enjoy!

Shredded Chicken Taco Bowls

Tonight's dinner was a sort of "dump and go" meal-I threw all the ingredients in my trusty crockpot this morning and pretty much forgot about it (minus a little stirring once or twice) until it was ready to go. I love being able to start my meals at the beginning of the day when I have a little more energy, and having the majority of the work done for me! All I had to do before serving was make some rice (which could totally only take 90 seconds if you go the instant route, but I chose not to), chop up the cilantro, and put the shredded cheese in a bowl. Oh, and heat up the queso dip, which is what I served as a little appetizer (although you really don't need anything, this meal was SUPER filling). Overall, the meal was a success, but J and I both agreed it was lacking in the seasoning department. I think it needed a little more salt, there was still a pretty good "kick" to it, but it needed something more. I also think I'd go easier on the rice and have the "taco" part be more of the focus. Here is the full recipe, I really love how she breaks it all down by cost, this one was less than $11-totes affordable and seriously SO easy. Trust me, if you have a crockpot, you can make this. Now, onto pics...

Here is the chicken, beans, corn, and seasonings (I didn't just use taco seasoning) just bakin' away

And here is the finished product, served with Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale which is DELISH!

Overall, I think I'd give this one a solid B. J is taking the leftovers to work tomorrow to share with the guys, so I'll let them be the final judges!

Enjoy!

Menu for the week: 11/15-11/21

I think I should have posted my weekly menu before I posted my first meal yesterday, but I'm still trying to figure this all out, so I'm allowing myself a bit of a freebie. I also wanted to add that not all my meals will be from new recipes since my husband likes to cook a little too, and he usually just "does his own thing"; meaning, he makes it up as he goes. He's down with me blogging about our dinners, so I'm hoping I can get him to give me a step-by-step this week. His meals are underlined, mmkay? Oh, and we're on a pretty tight budget, so we rarely go out, but this week is an exception since we have the hubster's TaskForce semiformal and get a free meal! I'll post more about that on Friday-give you the breakdown of my outfit, hair, and make-up. So anyways, here's our menu for the week, and the reason that it goes from Tues-Mon is because I plan our meals around paydays which are the 1st and 15th of each month. I plan them out one week at a time for now, since two weeks just seems too overwhelming!

Tuesday (yesterday's meal): Campbell's Potato Broccoli Cheese soup, spinach, grape tomato, carrot, and feta cheese salad, and the Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Wednesday: Shredded Chicken Taco Bowls and some sort of side, we'll see what we're in the mood for!

Thursday: Chili and cornbread. Since my husband is cooking tonight, I'll try and make a new dessert. :)

Friday: Out for the semiformal (first date night since J got home from the 'Ghan)!

Saturday: Chicken Enchiladas-here's the deal with these: my husband has a weird fascination with Hamburger Helper-it was the first meal he asked for when he got home. He usually adds a bunch of seasonings and ALWAYS adds green pepper to the Mexican dishes. I'll still make sure to take pics and let you know what was added, but I also plan on rolling them in tortillas and baking them to make a sort of taquito.

Sunday: hamburgers, Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks, and Hasselback potatoes (I think I'm most excited for this one!).

Monday: Champp's Pasta Cake (my own recipe, so I'll share that within the blog post) and one of those handy-dandy veggie steamers (luuuuurve those).

So there ya have it. That's my week. I know it's not much of an inspiration, but once little nugget goes down for his nap, I plan on printing off more recipes for next week. It's supposed to start snowing here soon, so I'm sure there will be a lot more comfort foods thrown in the mix!

Also, if you have any bomb recipes that you think I might like, throw 'em my way! All my blog stuff can go to fashionlustrocks@gmail.com-but please leave me a comment here (or anywhere on the blog) letting me know you emailed me!

Enjoy!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits!

If I could eat at Red Lobster every single day, I would. No lie. I could live off of their Caesar salad, crab legs, and, oh yeah, CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS. Hell, I could probably eat just those everyday and not get sick of them. And for some odd reason, their soda even tastes better there!

On the first day of my recipe challenge, I decided to take it a little easy on myself and try out a biscuit recipe. It was SO simple that I'm almost embarrassed to post it, but I'm still proud of myself at how delicious they turned out, so I'm gonna go for it. And don't hate on my cell phone pics, I'm no shmancy pants photographer, so those grainy ones will just have to suffice for now.

And P.S.-make sure to comment on my AWESOME Fiestaware. :)

Wine is Moselland Lighthouse Series Riesling- a little bubbly, semi-sweet, and a little spicy! Delish!

You can find the Cheddar Bay Biscuit recipe here from All Recipes. I cut it in half and it made 8 large biscuits. We also used Sharp Cheddar cheese and used a tad bit more butter.

Enjoy!

Oh hi!

You made it! Were you just over at Fashion Lust? Or were you creepin' on my FB and wanted to check my new endeavor out? Either way, I'm super glad you're here. This is my new little corner to write about anything and everything I want-the idea started this morning when I challenged myself to step outside my comfort zone when it comes to cooking and try a new recipe each night for the week. I thought instead of writing a simple status update about it, I'd blog about it, and throw in other random things as well. Fashion Lust is strictly for all things fashion, but I really wanted a place where I could talk about my crafts, my newest beauty products, and what I'm cooking for dinner (recipes included)-proof that anyone can make an edible meal! ;)

Knowing me, the layout will change a thousand times, so don't be surprised if you come back and it looks different, that's just me, being indecisive.

Thanks for following me, and I hope you enjoy this new little gem I'm slowly polishing!