Weekly Pinterest Roundup

Welcome to my weekly Pinterest roundup! No images belong to me, only their respective owners. Click each picture to go to the link.

Inspirational Stuff:

This is something I really need to learn to do.

I love how organized this bullet journal is. Definitely something to consider when I finally get a dotted notebook.

I dabble a bit in jewelry making, and these have sparked my inspiration again.

Style:

Simple and classic, with a twist.

I don’t know why, but I love this dress.

This is not a look I would wear myself, but something about it is inspirational.

Food:

Molasses cookies are good. Healthier breakfast molasses cookies? Even better.

Instead of a graham cracker crust, try a gingersnap crust!

I love dishes like this. I tried it and it was delicious.

Home:

This is a great storage solution for someone without a lot of cabinets.

I hope to grow a garden in the spring, and spinach is at the top of my list.

Meal Plan – September 6

We got the house! This week has been insane. We closed on Wednesday and spent this entire past long weekend working. We painted three whole rooms and touched up some others. I painted my kitchen yellow and the two bedrooms an aqua blue. The living room and all common areas are white, so we found a matching color and touched up places, including a section of wall that had been replaced and was just drywall.

My husband and dad plan on opening the wall of the laundry room to fix the vents, and when they replace the wall I’ll be painting that as well, along with the bathrooms eventually. The bathrooms will also get facelifts eventually as well.

We got a new fridge and dishwasher because they were both original 80s basically, but the stove was decently new. The kitchen faucet got replaced and one of the bathroom faucets drips and needs to be fixed. There are a lot of little things that need to be done still but other than the carpet and dishwasher being delivered, we’re pretty much ready to move in.

Last Week’s Meals:

Sunday Night: Double Delicious Pasta. One of my favorite dishes, the addition of sausage makes it a lot more hearty and nutritious.

Monday Night: Green Pepper Casserole. Such an easy dish, and delicious. I adore green peppers.

Tuesday Night: Shrimp and Rice. I was going to make shrimp and orzo, but I decided to go for rice and add some edamame as well.

Thursday Night: Brown Sugar Baked Chicken. Forgot to take a picture of this one, but it was pretty good. I marinated it for a few hours before baking and it was moist and tasty. I served it with baked potatoes.

This Week:

Since it’s a short week already, I only have three dishes for the week. I tried to keep the costs down by using a lot of stuff I already had on hand.

Chicken Parmesan Rice  — A simple dish, I’m really excited to try this. Meal cost for the week: $3.07 for chicken. I already had all other ingredients.

Sausage and Scallop Skillet — I bought some scallops a week or two ago and got some sausage this week. Limited meals for the week means I can double up on meat. Meal cost for the week: $3.66

Hamburger Helper Copycat — This is from a cookbook I’ll be featuring later on. All I had to buy was celery, so it worked out perfectly. Meal cost for the week: $4.78

Total meal cost for the week: $11.51, but I can use the chicken for other meals as well and the celery.

Tasty Tuesday – Spaghetti and Meatballs

This recipe for spaghetti is an old family recipe. My mom’s aunt used to make it and then my mom made it when I was growing up. Now I’ve adapted it and it’s the only way I’ll make spaghetti.

My mom makes it with ground beef, saving some plain sauce for me. These meatballs are a new addition for the first time. They’re made with turkey and baked in the oven.

I combined all of the ingredients, formed into balls and popped them in the oven.  I then started cooking the spaghetti. I used foil, but you’re going to want to grease the pan because they stuck pretty badly.

The sauce is the main ingredient. I use a can of tomato sauce, olive oil, water and seasonings. My mom and her aunt use a packet of spaghetti sauce seasoning, which is an option.

Tada! It takes a little while to cook, but dinner is easy and delicious.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Meatballs

• 1 lb ground turkey (or whatever you prefer)
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp of dried parsley
• 1 tsp of onion powder
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Mix all ingredients together.
3. Form into balls and put on baking sheet. Bake for twenty minutes.

Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup of water
• Seasoning mix (either homemade or packet)

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
2. Heat on low/medium until bubbling, turn down slightly and cover with lid.
3. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened.
4. Serve over pasta.
5. Add mushrooms in the beginning of cooking if you like.

Seasoning Mix

• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp sugar
• Up to 1 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1-2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

1. Combine all ingredients and mix with a whisk or fork.
2. Use entire mixture.

 

Tasty Tuesday – My First Curry

Indian food isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with. I tried it once when I lived in Boston, but I’ve never tried making it. I found some curry powder for a good price so I wanted to try it.

I thought doing a side dish would be a nice way to try it out.

I didn’t have every ingredient required, since I don’t cook with onions and whole ginger. First I sautéed some garlic in olive oil and then added the curry powder with some ground ginger and onion powder. Then I added the spinach with a little water to steam, before adding chickpeas and tomato sauce.

It was a little bit watery because I didn’t have enough chickpeas, so I mixed in some rice.

Since the side dish was so flavorful, I decided to serve it with some baked herbed chicken. I really really liked the curried chickpeas, but it was the strangest thing, I took one bite and was reminded of Spaghetti-Os. My husband agreed, but we both liked it. I definitely want to make another curry dish soon.

Tasty Tuesday – Orange Chicken

I’ve been wanting to make a home version of orange chicken forever. It’s my favorite dish to get when we eat Chinese/Japanese food (unless they serve sushi, then sorry orange chicken, sushi wins). I found a recipe that didn’t seem too complicated or require specialty ingredients like orange extract.

I served it with roasted Brussels sprouts. We’ve given them a few tries so far in different ways but I don’t think we are going to be eating them again sadly. I wanted to like them but nope.

Sautéed the chicken until almost cooked. I just realized I forgot to season the chicken. I also made some couscous and mixed up the sauce. Once the chicken is about done, I poured in the sauce.

Overcooked? They didn’t taste bad or burnt at least. They just tasted like Brussels sprouts.

Finished chicken with thickened sauce.

Plated on top of couscous with Brussels sprouts.

It wasn’t terrible, and it really tasted like orange chicken. I think it needs some tweaks. Less honey probably, 1/2 cup is a bit much. I possibly needed more chicken. The Brussels sprouts weren’t bad when mixed with the chicken and sauce.

Recipe I used here.

Tasty Tuesday – Sage-Crusted Chicken

I started this dinner by deboning all of the chicken we bought at Costco last week. That’s twenty chicken thighs, it took quite a while. I threw all of the bones and skin in my crockpot to make chicken stock.

But now my freezer is full of individually wrapped chicken thighs that will take no time at all to defrost for dinner. This saves so much time trying to thaw them in a hurry.

I cooked four thighs for dinner, dredging them in flour then coating them in eggs whisked with mustard, and finally breading them with panko breadcrumbs, sage, salt and pepper.

In the oven for 30 minutes. I then hurriedly chopped up a few potatoes for mashed potatoes.

Clearly I’m terrible at remembering to take pictures. This is the remaining chicken thigh on top of mashed potatoes for my husband’s lunch today.

• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• About a cup of breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of mustard
• 1 tsp of sage
• Salt and pepper
• All-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk eggs with mustard until smooth.

Dredge chicken in flour, coat in egg mixture then bread with breadcrumbs.

Place on baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes.

I served these with ricotta mashed potatoes: Boil potatoes, drain. Add about a tablespoon of butter, 1/2-3/4 cup of ricotta cheese, and enough milk to mash it smooth. Be careful with the milk, only use as much as you need. Add salt, pepper, parsley and chives.

 

Tasty Tuesday – Baked Penne

For the first dish of the new year, I decided to go with something easy and simple. This is flavorful with minimal work, and makes a lot of food for a large crowd.

First, cook pasta and drain it.

Mix a cup of ricotta cheese with mozzarella, parsley, black pepper and oregano. In another bowl add minced garlic to a jar of pasta sauce. Mix in your cooked pasta.

Lay half of the pasta in a baking dish.

Cover with the cheese mixture.

Add the rest of the pasta and cover with more cheese. I decided to go light on the cheese.

Bake for half an hour. Voila, dinner is done.

• 12-16 oz of whole wheat penne
• 1 jar of pasta sauce (I recommend Ragu Traditional, but any kind you like)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1-1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella
• 1-2 tsp dried parsley
• 1-2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

Cook pasta and drain.

Mix pasta sauce with garlic in a large bowl. Mix ricotta cheese with the majority of the mozzarella and spices in a smaller bowl.

Mix pasta into sauce and pour half into a 9X13 baking dish. Spread ricotta mixture. Top with rest of the pasta and rest of the mozzarella.

Bake for half an hour.

Tasty Tuesday – White Bean One Pot

We’re still on vacation mode so this is the first meal I’ve cooked this week. Something delicious, easy and nutritious was perfect.

Brown ground meat until no longer pink, add in onions and garlic. This week I used ground turkey.

Mix in chicken stock, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of great northern beans, pepper and Italian seasoning. I make my own blend of that.

Simmer until thickened, mine ended up very watery even after half an hour. The original recipe called for three cans of beans but my husband doesn’t like them so I only used the one I had on hand. Once done simmering, mix in greens. This week I used a kale mix with spinach and chard.

It was very good, and the beans were so creamy and tender.

Tasty Tuesday – Ground Turkey and Tortellini

Time for another delicious and easy pasta dish. This is very flavorful and it all cooks in one skillet for easy clean up.
First brown the ground turkey (or chicken or beef, whatever you like). When it’s almost done, add in garlic. I also add onion powder, you could probably saute some onions if you like.

Then add in one jar of pasta sauce (I like Ragu Traditional and it’s not very bad for you), half a cup of water, a bag of frozen tortellini and some Italian seasoning.

Once the tortellini is soft and cooked through, wilt some spinach in it and top with cheese. Let melt and serve warm.

Tasty Tuesday – Cheesy Sausage and Rice

This dish combines the best of a lot of dishes I love, plus it gives me a way to incorporate beans into our dinner. My bean-hating husband doesn’t even mind it!

The ingredients: turkey sausage, one green pepper, one cup of rice, 3 cups of chicken stock, and one can of black beans, rinsed. Not shown: Worcestershire sauce, cheese.

Brown the sausage and add peppers until softened.

Add the rice and let it saute for a bit then stir in stock and about a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.

Dump in beans and salt.  When the rice is cooked and the liquid reduced down, take off heat and add cheese of your choice.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product until I was writing this post. Here was my lunch on Monday. I bet this would be great with a little kick to it, maybe some cajun seasoning.