This week's plan is: Eat what we have!
Chicken Enchiladas with Rice
**I acquired some chicken from work this week (already cooked) and I'd like to use it up, and there's rice in the freezer from Cinco de Mayo to reheat.
** I'm making my own sauce for this, because it's hard to find GF enchilada sauce in the stores, and I'm trying to use up our canned goods! I found a recipe for Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas and Red Sauce here and the same woman has a green sauce on another blog here.
**The enchilada recipe I'm using is very similar to the one above, but I will also be adding green onion and cilantro to the filling. I will make and assemble them tonight to sauce and pop in the oven tomorrow when I get home from work--dinner in a FLASH!
Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese and Salad
** This dinner is a tribute to my Dad who recently told me his cooking skills extend only as far as soup and crock-pot recipes. He recently made homemade tomato soup from a recipe on All Recipes which is an awesome website! I think my Better Homes and Gardens classic cookbook has great old fashioned soup recipes too, and I will be using their basic Cream of Vegetable soup recipe and canned tomatoes to make Creamy Tomato Soup.
**For creamed soups, or other dishes you want to feel very luxurious, but want to skip the calories and fat, try using canned evaporated milk instead of half & half. It has a much richer feel and taste than regular milk, but the same amount of calories and fat!
**I'll serve Ryan's with a Grilled Cheese to make it a little more filling, and a salad on the side for both of us with a light vinaigrette.
Spicy Tomato Braised Pork Chops with Butter & Parsley New Potatoes and Peas
** I have Pork Shoulder Chops in the freezer left over from our Cinco de Mayo taco meat. I'm going to brown them quickly to sear in the juices, and also add in some bell pepper and onions, and then simmer them in tomato puree and red pepper flakes, until they fall of the bones.
**Normally this is the sort of thing I'd serve over rice, to soak up the sauce, but we got baby new potatoes at the Farmer's Market, so I'll quarter them and boil them until done, then toss them with butter, garlic salt, and chopped fresh parsley.
**Since my creamed peas failed last week I will give Ryan plain buttered peas this week. :)
Chorizo, Peppers and Onions with Creamy Coleslaw
** For our celebration of I'm-Glad-I'm-Not-A-Mother's Day on Sunday we had breakfast nachos with chorizo sausage, eggs, cheese, salsa etc. I'm going to grill the left over sausages until cooked through and slice them on the bias (aka diagonal) and sautee up some peppers and onions to go with.
**Since chorizo sausage is so spicy I'll serve it with a cool, creamy coleslaw. For a little Mexican influence, I'll use lime juice in my slaw instead of vinegar.
Erin requested that I list more recipes that involve things most people already have in their pantry. My staples are usually: Rice, pasta, tortillas, potatoes, onions, canned tomatoes, random canned veggies, frozen veggies, oils & vinegars, TONS of dried spices, and other condiments. We don't have a ton of room to keep lots of things on-hand. However, for these 4 meals my grocery list is very, very short, I will be buying some fresh produce and herbs but that's pretty much it. Lots of the ingredients are left overs being turned into something new. You don't need a lot of crazy stuff to make a delicious meal! Check out Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade on the Food Network for more store-bought shortcuts to homemade praises from the Fam.
Bon Appetit!
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