Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

I didn’t feel very adventurous this week. So when I saw that All Recipes had a recipe of the day for Baked Chicken Nuggets, I knew that would be what I’d make this week—something simple yet still something I had never tried before.

I have two toddlers and they are in that big chicken nugget phase. So I like the idea that I can make my own and I’ll know exactly what ingredients are in it. When I made this, I picked up some Organic Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts. The first thing you do is to cut them into 1 – 1/2″ pieces. I made some of ours a little smaller since the kids are still fairly young.

Next, you mix up the spices and Parmesan Cheese. The cheese is what makes these taste really good! You’ll keep those in a separate bowl from the chicken pieces.

Then, you’ll melt your butter and keep it separate from the other two bowls. After that, spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. When your prep work is done, it will look like this:

Now begins the process of coating the chicken pieces. You’ll first dip them in the melted butter. Then coat them in the spices and Parmesan cheese mixture. After this step, lay the coated chicken pieces on the sprayed cookie sheet. Continue doing this until all the pieces are coated. It will look something like this:

When I was reading the reviews on this recipe, a lot of the commenters recommended flipping the chicken pieces halfway through. So I set the timer for 10 minutes instead and then flipped them over and reset the timer for another 10 minutes. I had no issues keeping the coating on and they didn’t seem to be greasy that way, either. (Don’t forget to check that your chicken pieces are fully cooked!) This was what ours looked like when we were done:

During the cooking time, I had chopped up some watermelon and I also steamed some Organic carrots in one of those microwave steam bags for our side dishes. It worked out perfectly for time!

The Verdict:

I didn’t have any Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs so I had used regular and threw in some Italian Seasoning. I put a little too much but it still tasted really good. I’ll be looking for a sale on the Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs when I make these again. These were very tasty and not one bit greasy. I liked being able to eat chicken nuggets that tasted like real chicken instead of that processed stuff. We’ll be making these for a lot of future lunches! I’m going to have to test out how these freeze so I can just pop them in the microwave on busy days.

Well, that was my new recipe for this week. Did any of you try to make something new, too? I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s site later for when she posts her latest cooking adventure, too!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

So I was debating what I would make for my new recipe this week and then the new Taste of Home Magazine showed up and as soon as I saw the cover, I knew I had to make some Crockpot Beef Stew. It’s perfect for this time of year on a cold night.

If you subscribe to their magazine, you’ll find this recipe on page 45 of the Feb/March 2011 issue.

Ingredients
1 lb. of Beef Stew Meat
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can (14.5 oz ) beef broth
1 can (11.5 oz) V8 juice
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB cornstarch
1 TB cold water
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas

Your prep work will consist of peeling/cubing potatoes, peeling/chopping carrots, chopping celery, chopping the sweet onion and cutting up your meat if you don’t buy it pre-cut. When I made this, I bought a roast and cut it into 3 – 1lb sections. I weighed it out with my Kitchen Scale and then put two of them in their own individual Ziploc bags so I can now easily make up two more batches of beef stew. I saved money by not buying the pre-cut beef stew meat as it cost quite a bit more per pound.

After all your prep work is complete, you’ll put the first 12 ingredients into your crockpot. (That’s everything from the beef stew meat down through the pepper.) Cover it and let it cook on low for about 7-8 hours. Now, my crockpot tends to run a little hot, so mine was good to go soon after 6 hours. So make sure you check to see how yours is around that time, just to be sure.

After this time-frame, be sure to carefully pick out your bay leaves. Don’t worry that your stew is a little liquid-y. It will thicken up soon as your next step is…

Combine your cornstarch with the water and stir it until it’s smooth. Stir it into the crockpot. This will help thicken up your stew.

Next, you’ll add your frozen corn and peas. Turn your crockpot up to High now and let it cook for about 30 minutes or until your stew thickens some. And your end result should look something similar to this….

This was my new recipe that I tried for this week. Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this week as she made Mini Taco Cups, which might make for a great Super Bowl Sunday appetizer, too! Did any of you try to make something new this week? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

Between my son’s birthday party and being at a conference most of the week, I honestly didn’t get to squeeze in a new recipe last week. The night before I left for my trip, I stood there with all my ingredients ready to make this next recipe and I decided that spending that last bit of time with the kids was my higher priority. So first thing when I got back, I whipped up a batch of the recipe I had chosen for last week which was Acorn Squash Soup.

I had some leftover squash from the CSA I belonged to and I was looking for a unique recipe to use it in. My hubby isn’t very fond of squash and when I saw this one, I thought it might be one he might like, though.

You have to start off with some prep work of cutting the onion, dicing celery, cooking the bacon and cooking the squash. Once you get the prep work done, the rest of the recipe goes fairly fast. If you wanted to save a little time, you could probably use real bacon bits from a jar, since the bacon is really just sprinkled on top of the soup for a little extra flavor. (I’m wishing I had chopped mine up finer instead of bigger chunks.) I personally like to microwave my bacon using this Presto Microwave Bacon Cooker so I just had that going while I was chopping up veggies. But here’s a tip: If you are like me and find it impossible to cook and chop bacon without eating it, you may want to cook up 6 slices instead of 5!  I just cooked the whole package hoping to save some for sandwiches the next day but my kids and hubby stole them on me! 🙂

To cook the squash, I microwaved mine in an 8×8 pan with a little water in it. (The squash was cut in half, seeds/strings removed and turned upside down.) I want to say it took closer to 12-15 minutes per half. If I had followed the directions on the squash for cooking in the oven, it would have taken 40 minutes.  I was able to mash up the first half while I was waiting for the second half to cook, so it worked out real nice. Just be very careful when removing these from your microwave as the dish, squash and water will be very hot.

After having all my ingredients cooked, chopped and measured correctly, I started sauteing the onions and celery in the butter I had melted in the pan.

Next, I added the flour and spices mixture and stirred them until blended.

Then I gradually added the chicken broth and evaporated milk, stirring frequently, until it boiled for about 2 minutes.

Next I added the salt, pepper and the squash that I had cooked and mashed up with a fork beforehand, stirring that into the recipe. Then came the fun part. You need to blend the soup. I didn’t want to mess with a blender so I looked online for a deal for an Immersion Hand Blender and ended up finding a good price on Amazon for it. (Yup, that’s where that deal came from!) 🙂  It was so easy to blend and I’m so glad I picked one of these up. I plan on using it for a lot of soups coming up. Just be careful and follow all manufacturer’s directions when using this. I was very happy with how easy it was to clean and I didn’t have to mess with pouring this into the blender in batches.

The end result:

The verdict:

When my hubby saw it, he wasn’t sure if it was cheese soup or what. After tasting it, he said that if I hadn’t told him it was squash, he might not have guessed that’s what it was. I was in complete shock that he liked it. It just has this super creamy texture and it’s delicious! I think part of why it’s so tasty is that little bit of curry powder. My kids did eat theirs but I think next time I make it, I’ll put theirs in a bread bowl since they like dipping things.

I think this recipe is perfect for the fall when squash is in season and the weather typically gets a little cooler. I definitely will be making it again–I am actually looking forward to the leftovers!

So that’s my recipe for last week. I will still have a new one coming at you on Friday for this week. Did any of you try to make anything new this last week? I’d love to hear your stories!

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

Oh, this week I had such high hopes for new recipes. I had three of them picked out ready to go and then life happened. My family and I all caught a terrible flu bug. And let me tell you, the last thing on your mind when you have the flu is food. Especially new recipes. I was fortunate enough that a few days before the sickness hit, I did get to try one new recipe called Lemon Garlic Tilapia. One of my goals this year is to try to get more fish/seafood into our monthly menu plan. I’m not one to like the more smelly or strong tasting fish varieties so I’m usually pretty leery about venturing out and trying new fish. I had heard a few good things about tilapia so I figured that would be one for us to try. I wanted a very simple recipe—and one that I had all the ingredients on hand–so I choose the Lemon Garlic Tilapia one I found on AllRecipes. (one of my favorite recipe sites)

I was very surprised at how simple the recipe actually was to make. It didn’t require much prep work and while it was baking, I had time to clean up my kitchen. You gotta love multi-tasking!

The Verdict: I think we’ll definitely be adding this into our menu routine randomly. I made the mistake of not cutting back on the lemon, as I only used three fillets but it still tasted pretty good.  I think next time I make tilapia, I’ll try a breaded recipe, possibly this Ranchy Breaded Fillets one.

Well, that’s my small cooking adventure for the week. I’ll have to save the other two I had planned for another week. Did any of you branch out from your typical menus and try something new this week? I’d love to hear about it!

Welcome to my new series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn. So check her site for what she’s tried this week, too!

The whole reason for me wanting to start this series was to push me to make the things I’ve been wanting to make for awhile. Awhile back, I ordered some Tahini and Organic Garbanzo Beans on Amazon when I found a good deal on them. I didn’t realize how long it had been until I went to create the links and saw it say, “Jaycie, you ordered these on September 20, 2010.” Wow. Talk about procrastination, right? This is just one of the many things I’ve bought last year with hopes of trying to create them. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has done this. (and if so, please lie and tell me I’m not alone….)

The original recipe I found was for a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus but when I was at the store and saw the price of them right now, I cringed and debated making a plain hummus. I caved and bought one and I’m glad I did. Not only did the red pepper add a nice additional flavoring but it gave the hummus this amazingly beautiful red/orange coloring, making the dish all the more appealing. So, I did follow the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe this week but first, I had to find out How to Roast a Red Pepper. These instructions were really great and actually fairly easy to do. While it was roasting, I was putting together other ingredients so it didn’t add much time to the process. The skin peeled off so easily and I’ve now found something to add to our sandwiches and such during the week. (when peppers are in season!)

I also wanted to try my hand at making my own Homemade Pita Chips. These are just made from store-bought Pita Pockets so they are only slightly homemade. Here’s how everything looked mid-stream:

Chips coated and ready to bake. This was just batch #1 and I only used half the pockets, overall.

This is my roasted red pepper split up. I am still shocked how easily the skin peeled off and how easily the seeds and stem came off, too.

This is the hummus right before I blended in the red peppers and basil.

And this is our delicious little afternoon snack! The kids got a kick out of how I displayed it on the plate. The side bowl is what I saved for later in the week.

As I mentioned, I only used half of the pita pockets. The other half, I kept to make chicken pizza pockets for supper. I just threw in some leftover chicken from earlier in the week, along with some black olives, pepperoni, tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. I baked them at 400 degrees just until they were heated and the cheese melted. Not much more than 5 minutes. I added some fruit for a side dish and we were all set!

Verdict:
I thought that the hummus might have had a little bit too much Tahini in it. On my next batch, I’ll think I’ll dial it back just a touch. I also liked my pita chips super crispy. So I flipped them over on the other side for just an extra minute and I liked how they turned out. My kids loved this little snack and I thought it tasted a lot fresher than the store bought stuff, which I loved.If you buy garbanzo beans with no salt added like I did, you may have to add a little salt for flavoring later. But I’d wait until everything’s blended in your food processor just to be sure you need it.

This was my “What’s New for Dinner” for this week. Did any of you attempt to make anything new this week? If so, how did it turn out? Don’t forget to check out Jenn’s adventure this week. She made some Slow Cooker Southwestern Chicken Chili this week for her family.