Chicken Parmesan

This chicken was a hit with my husband, but I think what he really enjoyed was the caprese bread with it :) I think the overall meal was a success though. It felt pretty well rounded and healthy even though I sort of just threw it together! So, check out this yummy chicken (using ingredients I had laying around)

Ingredients
2 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 egg, whisked
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl mix together the panko crumbs, parmesan, and italian seasoning. Dip chicken breasts into the egg and coat thoroughly. Then dip into the panko crumb mixture and coat completely. Place chicken breasts into a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and pour tomatoes and mozzarella on top. Replace in the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted nicely.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Knit Baby Blanket

Since yesterday was like the hottest day in June in Iowa for the past like thirty years, I think it is safe to say that I am glad that baby blanket was done! Knitting while covered in yarn is not the coolest activity...especially when you don't have central air :) Sending out this blanket was one of the most relieving things I have done in awhile. I usually only do small projects that take a few hours, but this blanket was for a good friend. I thought it might be a challenge, but I wanted it to be great! I was asked to make a baby blanket for a shower and we didn't know if it was a boy or girl, but didn't want it to look too girly either way. So, I found yarn with green and orange along with pink and purple, and made the squares because it seemed more neutral than lacy patterns. Recently found out...it's a girl!!! yeay! But...Boy, was it a challenge. It took so much longer than I anticipated, and it looked so much smaller than I thought it might. Good thing newborns are tiny :) Oh well, it looked great besides that and the detailing was fun once it was done. I hope they enjoy this blanket! I'm so happy I was able to do this for my friend, but will stick with my small projects from now on!! Here is a sneak peek of my baby blanket...if you want the pattern just let me know (it's a really easy pattern and gives a cool result)

The completed blanket

The edges (not the ruffle) are tiny squares...

while the middle is big squares!

Beautiful layette :)...but I may be biased

Caprese Bread Bites

This recipe was inspired by my roommate in grad school. She really liked fresh tomato sliced with a piece of mozzarella and fresh bail leaves. It really was quite tasty, and I always loved stealing one from her when she made them. I'm not a huge fan of tomato, however, and wanted to add some carbohydrates to the meal...I know people don't say that often, but what can I say? I'm addicted, bread and I have a thing :) Plus, I run...so I need carbs, right? I'll keep telling myself that. Forget the rambling, let's move on to the cheesy deliciousness!

Slice bread, sprinkle with olive oil and garlic salt

Chop basil, mozzarella, and tomato

Layer goodies and place in the oven

Remove from oven and add basil

Serve and enjoy!! (pictured here with parmesan chicken and raw broccoli)

Ingredients

1 loaf italian bread

2 Tbl olive oil

2 tsp garlic salt (or powder)

4 oz fresh mozzarella

6 basil leaves

2 tomatoes

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Slice bread to desired thickness and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle olive oil over the bread followed by a sprinkling of garlic salt. Then slice the tomato and mozzarella, and place a slice of mozzarella and tomato onto the bread.  Place in the oven until the cheese is looking nice and melty. While waiting, chop up the basil leaves. Remove from oven and sprinkle basil leaves on top!

Tasty treat or side!

Ramblings of a Wednesday

Well, I promised I would share more about our experience with home buying, so if you are a young couple/person who is looking to buy a home you may want to read this! The home we wanted to buy was through HUD, it was a foreclosure because we really wanted a fixer upper. Josh had flipped a house while we were engaged, and it was success, so we knew we were capable of doing it ourselves to our own home. We thought it would be a fun project and we had lots of time until our lease was up to make our home just the way we wanted it!

Anyway, this is our experience, we don't have anything against any organization or anything, we just want people to be aware of what can happen. When you are new to the business of realty, it can be really tricky and confusing. So, we had made an offer and were required to put down $500 in a check made out to HUD and to ourselves because we were able to have an inspection within 72 hours and rescind should the inspection go poorly. We had our inspection the same day our paperwork was accepted and found that there was WAY more work than we realized. We knew a lot about working on foreclosed houses, but there are things we don't know about and concrete is one of them. This house in particular had a lot of concrete work that needed to be done and didn't realize it. The biggest concrete problem was that the garage was in the ground because the house was on a hill. The retaining walls needed to be redone immediately because they were in very bad shape and would cost an extremely hefty sum, and really need to be done by a professional. So, once we found all of that out, along with a number of other undisclosed problems, we decided to rescind our offer. We knew we would be putting money into a foreclosure, but at some point it is silly to invest too much! You never want to invest more than the house is actually worth, or your home is no longer an asset to you.

Anyway, we went that day to rescind our offer and found out that we may not be able to get our $500 back! We were shocked!! Both our realtor and the paperwork seemed to promise our money back. We were so upset, because although we would be fine, $500 is A LOT of money! It would be coming from our house nest egg, but still that is a HUGE house payment that we would be missing out on from that fund. We were pretty upset, and still haven't found out for sure either way. We wrote an appeal as to why we believed we were to get our money back, and will hopefully find out soon. Until then, we will continue to house hunt and steer clear of government owned properties. We will stick with the bank from now on, or owners for that matter. I will keep you updated, and we will keep praying that our perfect house will find us soon. We know that God has a greater plan for us, and even if our money doesn't see it's way back to us we know there is something in God's plan that we don't understand.

I hate to be all gloomy..so on a happy note.....I finished my first hand knitted baby blanket! It turned out really well and I will be posting pictures asap :) Hope you are all having a great week!!!

Meal Plan 8

I know, I know....I've been slacking!! It's hard to say that I've been busy since I don't have a job or kids, but it really is amazing how busy you can get doing household chores, even in a tiny apartment :) So, last week we were very excited about our offer being accepted on our house, but we decided to rescind our offer. More on that later though. We are a little sad and have had to jump through some hoops, but our quest for the perfect home continues! And on to this week's menu...again it is a little weird because we are still using some gift cards. Also, I attempted to visit Trader Joe's this week for the first time here because I really needed some good meat substitutes and lo and behold the power was out...go figure. Not to mention, it took me forever to find it because my silly little GPS told me the wrong spot (it was the right road, but far too soon)...the joy of technology, right? So, I had to run to Wal-Mart for the last three items (fake chicken, fake hot dogs, and quinoa) and since they aren't a specialty store, more expensive. Oh well, good thing I didn't spend too much at Aldi!

Meal Plan 6/25-7/1

Monday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner: bfast—raspberry/choc chunk pancakes, eggs, fruit

Dessert: chocolate chip cookies

Tuesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: hummus, veggies, fruit

                Dinner:  Baked Tortellini, salad

Wednesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: tortilla, beans, cheese

                Dinner:  youth group (pool party with hot dogs/chips)

Thursday:

                Breakfast: greek yogurt/PB

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner:  roasted broccoli and chicken parmesan

Friday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner: caprese bread, pesto parmesan chicken

Saturday:

                Breakfast:

                Lunch: rice beans, cheese

                Dinner: frozen pizza

Sunday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner: youth group...so something easy/quick

Groceries: raspberries(1.89), cream cheese (1.19), tortilla chips(1.19), shredded cheddar cheese(1.79), fruit(7.70), pickles(1.19), bread(.99), hot dogs(.75), shredded mozzarella(1.79), tortillas (.99), oreos(3.38), broccoli (3.00), frozen pizza (1.98), hashbrowns (1.69), milk (1.49), yogurt (1.79), bagels (1.49), fake chicken (3.79), fake hot dogs (3.79), quinoa (9.00)

Grand Total: 50.84...but mind you 16 of that was on a gift card...so we were under budget again :) yeay! If I didn't have the gift card I would have skipped on other items that we didn't necessarily need, but enjoy as snacks like yogurt and fruit leather

Grilled Cream Cheese Sandwiches

We are really getting settled in here, and I even have an interview for a job in my field! This is of a miracle...so we will see how it goes. In the meantime, I saw a picture of a grilled cream cheese sandwich (or that's what it looked like) so I thought I'd try making something like it. Josh and I really enjoyed it!

Ingredients
1 Tbl olive oil
2 pieces of bread
1 tsp cinnamon/sugar mix
2 Tbl cream cheese
blueberries (or any berry of your liking) or jam

Directions

Place medium sized griddle over medium heat with olive oil. Place two slices of bread on the griddle and toast first side, flip and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix, add the cream cheese to each slice, and berries (or jam) to one side. Place top slice of bread on sandwich and grill to desired toastedness :)

       

   

Artichoke and Garlic Pasta

My husband and I used to have pasta like twice a week before we were married. It was a simple go to since we didn't live together and didn't always have much time or money. Since we've been married, we've hardly had much pasta at all, so I thought I'd bring back an old favorite with a new twist. Since Josh has discovered (because I made him try them) that he love artichokes, I thought I'd mix things up a bit. So, I tried this recipe which is really yummy!

Ingredients

1 box pasta

1 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 8 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 15 oz cans of artichokes

6 cloves of garlic, diced

basil, oregano to your liking

1/2 cup cream

a sprinkle of parmesan cheese

Directions

Place the crushed tomatoes, artichokes, garlic, and spices into the crock pot. My crock pot is six quarts and I left it in there for two and half hours on high. Once it is finished, add in the 1/2 cup of cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. I think that it could also taste great without the cream if you are watching fat :)

When you are ready (or when the sauce is almost complete) begin cooking the pasta as directed on the box. 

Pour some sauce on top of your pasta and any extra cheese you'd like on top. Enjoy!

I paired this with a simple salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, radishes, and zucchini  with balsamic vinaigrette :)

before the cream

Meal Plan 7

We have some very exciting news!! We've been house hunting, and the reason my menu is up late is because our offer was accepted for a house!! We have paperwork to go through still and we won't close until July because it is a HUD house which means there is a lot of government red tape to go through, but it is a wonderful fixer upper with all the things we really want. Buchanan will have a fenced in yard, we will have a basement and fireplace and a cool underground garage! Anyway, we are excited to get everything completed (and hope that everything works out, since it isn't officially ours until keys are in hand) and start fixing it up! We have so many ideas, and can't wait to get started :) If you have tips on a new house let us know! We have flipped once before, but it's different when it's your own. Hope you are all having a great week too!

Meal Plan 6/18-6/24

Monday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner: tacos, chips and salsa

Dessert: cheesecake bars

Tuesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  homemade pizza

Wednesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: with friends

                Dinner:  garlic artichoke pasta

Thursday:

                Breakfast: oatmeal

                Lunch: sandwiches/fruit/chips

                Dinner:  with friends

Friday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: grilled cream cheese sandwiches

                Dinner:  creamy caprese pasta, salad

Saturday:

                Breakfast: pb banana bfast bread pudding

                Lunch: rice beans, cheese

                Dinner: leftovers

Sunday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner:  youth group

Groceries: fruit(5.39), 15 oz cans diced tomatoes(1.58), 14oz cans of artichoke hearts (2.99), cream(1.99), ground beef(3.49), tortillas(1.29), cream cheese(1.19), cereal(1.99), milk(1.49), parmesan cheese(1.99), Italian bread(2.29), pizza dough(2.99), good mozzarella cheese(2.69), sugar(2.88), shredded mozzarella(2.99), pasta(.99), butter(.79), lettuce (1.99), ranch (1.29), beans (.59), burritos (.70), peanut butter (2.29)

Grand Total: 45.87

Ranch Dipped Pork Chops

As a vegetarian, I don't know much about cooking meat. Luckily, my husband is wonderful and is very good about eating all my crazy creations :) This one turned out pretty good, though!

Ingredients
2 porkchops
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
basil, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dip the porkchops into the ranch dressing, so it's nicely coated on each side, then dip into the bread crumbs. Make sure each side is nicely coated. Then place into a foil lined baking dish (for easy clean up since the bread crumbs can really stick on the dish) Place in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until nice and crispy (and cooked all the way through). Then serve! We had the cheesy zucchini bake and broccoli as sides for this dish. Yummy yummy :)

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

We love zucchinis in our home, but we often make the same thing every time, so I've been trying lots of new zucchini recipes. We've done baked zucchini, zucchini burgers, and now cheesy zucchini bake. Who doesn't love cheese and zucchini, so why not pair them together? Anyway, it's really easy, and really yummy!

Ingredients
2 large zucchini
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
2 basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and then into small pieces (should look like half circles). Place the zucchini in a large bowl with 1/2 cup of the cheese and the spices. Be sure to combine the ingredients thoroughly and then place into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove zucchini from the oven and sprinkle the last of the cheese on top and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Ok, I think it's time for me to be honest with you guys. I have an addiction...to PEANUT BUTTER!!! I'm pretty sure it's my favorite food, and I can't thank George Washington Carver enough for his discovery, and if I were stranded on a deserted island this would be my one food item of choice...see, you get the idea. I'm a PB junkie! It's a joke amongst friends and family and so, I am sharing my very first peanut butter recipe with you. It's soo yummy! Ok, but first I must give a special thanks to The Girl Who Ate Everything, where I got the recipe.

Ok, a few things here. I wish I could have made it more healthy, but I'm pretty sure you need the not so healthy peanut butter because natural doesn't melt so well. Also, I used light corn syrup, but does anyone have good suggestions for a substitute for that? Anyway, it's not particularly healthy, but we must live for fun sometimes :) The one healthy thing I did was using popcorn kernels instead of bagged popcorn so there weren't all the chemicals and butter and who knows what else is in those weird little bags.

Mix together sugar, honey, and corn syrup until boiling

Add in the peanut butter and vanilla until it is creamy and melted

Pour over popcorn and eat!

Ingredients
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Heat sugar, honey, and corn syrup in a medium sauce pan over medium heat until it turns liquidy. Keep an eye on it until it begins to boil. In the meantime, make popcorn however you make it ( I used about 1/8 oil with my kernels over the stove in a high sided pan). Once popcorn is popped, place in a large container and set in the oven to keep warm.

Once the syrup begins to boil, let boil for only 1-2 minutes then add vanilla and peanut butter. Make sure you mix it well so that the peanut butter gets nice and melted. It will have a nice creamy texture. Pour over the popcorn and let sit until it's no longer sticky! Dig in!

Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I couldn't wait until it was fully dry to try it out and it was yummy wet, but don't burn yourself because it is pretty warm. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Vegetarian Taquitos

My husband and I have been hankering for some yummy Mexican style food. Obviously, it's never all that authentic, but it does the trick for us :) I got to go to lunch yesterday with a new friend at this delicious burrito place called Bandit Burrito..if you live near Des Moines it's a must try! Anyway, I decided to fix our Mexican food with some vegetarian flair!

Cook veggie ground for 3-5 minutes.

Place mixture into tortilla shells.

Place in baking dish at 325 for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup veggie ground ( I use morningstar brand)
1 Tbl olive oil
1/2 can black beans
red pepper flakes, cumin, and salt/pepper to taste
4 -6 tortilla shells
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 325. Place a medium skillet over medium heat and add in olive oil. Cook veggie ground with red pepper flakes, cumin, salt, and pepper for about 3-5 minutes, until mostly unfrozen. Add in beans and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Place cheese and cooked mixture into the tortillas and roll up. Place in baking dish until lightly golden on the edges (about 10-12 minutes). We served with salsa (which my dad made himself with fresh veggies from his garden..soo good!), but guacamole and sour cream would have been great too!



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June Date

This may seem really strange to many of you, but our June date was a Barnes & Noble gift card which were to spend on a fun book to read together. Since we both love fantasy novels, we found a fun one about dwarves. It is super silly, but lots of fun to read it. We read a little bit each night before we go to bed. It's the date that keeps on giving! We are both enjoying it greatly, plus when we went to go find B&N it was a good chance to explore our new town! It was in a big mall which was fun to look around, and we found some yummy restaurants which another big plus. So, overall, we had a very successful date day :)

The other book we bought (our gift card was $20, so we got two cheaper books) was the full collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales which was on sale, but is a really cool hardcover version that is a great display on our shelf as well.

Anyway, hope this provides some inspiration for you!

Look here to see our other dates for the first year of our marriage :)

Meal Plan #6

Meal Plan 6/11-6/17

Monday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner: Dinner with a church family

Dessert of the week: PB popcorn

Tuesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  Pesto Ranch Pasta, salad

Wednesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  vegetarian taquitos, chips&salsa

Thursday:

                Breakfast: oatmeal

                Lunch: sandwiches/fruit/chips

                Dinner:  creamy ricotta artichoke lasagna, salad

Friday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  cheesy zucchini bake, the best pork chops

Saturday:

                Breakfast: honey yogurt waffles

                Lunch: rice beans, cheese

                Dinner: Zucchini rice and leftovers

Sunday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner:  Youth Group

Groceries: fruit(6.96), shredded cheddar(2.79) and mozzarella (2.99), lasagna noodles(1.79), artichoke hearts(3.09),  veggie ground 3.75), 15 oz light ricotta (3.75), eggs(1.09), tortilla chips(1.19), sweet potato chips (1.99), hot dog buns(.79), greek yogurt (3.29), lettuce(1.99), tortillas (.99), frozen lemonade (.99), sliced cheese (1.99), yogurts (1.79), frozen tortellini (2.49), tomatoes (1.69), broccoli (1.29), lunch meat (2.89), pickles (1.19)

Grand Total: 51.96

I know this is a little over our budget, but we had a gift card to a particular grocery store in the area which I would normally never go to because it is so expensive, and so a few of the items (artichoke hearts, ricotta, veggie crumble) are from there and so the prices were higher than if I had gotten them at wal-mart which is what I would usually have done since Aldi didn't carry that stuff. So, I only spent like $40 because I only paid at Aldi, so just make sure if you are getting these items that you take care to only go to the cheaper stores...it really does make a big difference!!!

Pesto Ranch Pasta Bake

Thank you again Pinterest! You have given us another great recipe! I love when Pinterest recipes work out, because then it doesn't seem like I was wasting time pinning :) My husband was very excited for this one, and when I told him I pinned it, he was like when are you making that? So, I finally made it last night, and we are glad I did. It also couldn't have been much easier. It's not as healthy as I usually like to go, but sometimes flavor and fun win over healthy (as long as we don't do it all the time) So, I'm going to stop talking and give you the goods.

Ingredients
1 16 oz box of pasta (we used macaroni)
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup pesto
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pasta as directed on the box (usually cook in boiling water for about 8-10 minutes). Then place pesto, ranch, noodles and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese into a baking dish and mix thoroughly. Once it's all nicely mixed, sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Let bake until cheese is nice and melted. Enjoy!

See, easy peasy :)

Sorry the picture isn't that great...I just couldn't seem to get a good one...either way I promise it tastes good!

Zucchini "Burgers"

Since I am a vegetarian, I often have to get a little creative so that I don't get bored. I really love meat substitutes like quorn and morningstar products, but those can get quite pricey. Plus, Aldi doesn't really sell those, and that is my grocery store of choice. There are quite a few things they don't sell, but I just try to stock up on those things once a month or so and just make one trip when I seem to be getting low on some of the items they don't have. Anyway, I am beginning to ramble, so let's get back on track with my "burgers."

A few months ago, my mother-in-law made us spinach burgers which were really yummy. I had never really tried making homemade burgers with vegetarian items before, but I braved the challenge this week! Since my husband likes zucchini and they are everywhere right now, what better burger base than a yummy veggie? I used mostly zucchini on this one with a little bit of potato since our potatoes need to get used up!


Ingredients
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup shredded red potatoes
salt to your taste
a pinch of flour
1 egg
garlic powder, salt, pepper, dried italian herbs to your liking
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbl olive oil

Directions
Shred the zucchini and potato and place spread out in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for at least 30 minutes to let the moisture release from the veggies. Once that process is over, using paper towel, squeeze remaining water from the veggies. Make sure you really squeeze, because even after I did this to mine, it still was watery in my mix and if it is too watery, you won't really be able to keep the patties together.

After that sprinkle with a little flour to help soak up some of the extra water. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the egg, cheese, seasoning and the veggies. Heat oil with a skillet on medium heat. Shape the mixture into patties and cook until browned on the outside. Then serve! I served mine with sweet potato chips and salad. YUM!