Tostadas

This is a meal idea and not really a recipe. Brian introduced me to tostadas after we were married and I really like them. It's a great alternative to tacos and they're just as easy.

We take a tostada shell and spread refried beans and then guacamole on top of that. That works as a glue to hold it together. Then we add taco meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. You can be creative and add what you like! We pick them up and eat them like pizza. And hey, tostadas sound a lot cooler than tacos.

Menu: January 26 - January 31

I haven't posted a menu since November! Kind of silly really considering I have planned menus most of these weeks I was just too lazy to post them. So here's this weeks:

Monday: We had leftovers from Sunday. Natalie made lasagna and it was really good!
Tuesday: Adobe chicken over salad. I really like that chicken over salad. Thanks again for posting that one Jennie!
Wednesday: Tostadas
Thursday: Italian dressing chicken with mashed potatoes and a veggie
Friday: Chicken and broccoli over rice
Saturday: Turkey sandwiches...we are having a late lunch at a teacher development meeting. So we'll have a light dinner
Sunday: I think I might make a roast, but I'm not sure yet

Menu: January 27 - February 3

We had a lapse last week...oops! We did a whole bunch of scrounging for meals and fast food. Oh well, life happens.

Here's to a better week!

Tuesday (today): Pork and Beans (Paul's family recipe)
Wednesday: Cream Cheese Chicken
Thursday: Rigatoni with Meat Sauce (Chef Britta)
Friday: Chicken Bell Pepper Chowder (Frosted Cupcake)
Saturday: Stir fry/Fried rice
Sunday (James' Birthday!): Hungarian Goulash
Monday: Pasta Primavera
Tuesday: Wild Rice Casserole

Oh, and I still have a few recipes to catch up with. I'll work on that. ;)

Banana Cream Dessert

This is one of my relatively new favorite desserts. Banana cream pie has always been a favorite and this is way easier and every bit as good in my opinion (a little bit richer).

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 and 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c. melted butter or margarine
3 T. sugar
Filling:
1 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
12 oz. Cool Whip
4 bananas
2 (3.4 oz.) boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 c. milk

Directions:
Stir together crust ingredients and press into a 9 x 13 pan. Cook at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes (I usually do about 8). Cool.

Mix together in a bowl (using a mixer) powdered sugar, cream cheese, and 9 oz. of the cool whip. Spread over crust. Cover with sliced bananas.

Mix 2 boxes of pudding with milk for a couple minutes and spread over bananas. Spread the rest of the cool whip on top of that. Refrigerate.

*I found this recipe here at cooks.com and then I changed it a bit. It called for a crust made of butter and flour and I prefer graham cracker crust. Also, I usually let the pudding layer set up for a little bit in the fridge before spreading the cool whip on top.
*It doesn't need very long to set up, but I usually refrigerate it for an hour before serving it (it probably doesn't even need that long).

Menu: January 14 - January 20

I forgot to post my menu last week. Oops! I even planned one! Silly me. Here's this week's menu:

Wednesday (today): Chicken and Broccoli
Thursday: Creamy Italian Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Carrots...and French Fruit Pie for dessert! (I'm bringing dinner to someone, so I decided to go all out. :) )
Friday: Hayashi Rice
Saturday: Chinese Haystacks and Wantons (Paul never got his birthday dinner...we went out for Japanese food instead.)
Sunday: We're going to a friend's apartment for dinner! :)
Monday: Marinated Pork Chops
Tuesday: Stir Fried Vegetables and Fried Rice

BBQ Beef Bowls

Paul is a big fan of rice bowls (as you can imagine, with his love for rice ;) ). I knew this would be a recipe he would like as soon as I read it. I found it on kraftfoods.com. The recipe on the site got mixed reviews, but mostly because people seemed to be surprised that it had a barbecue flavor rather than a taco seasoning flavor (which doesn't make much sense because taco seasoning is NOT one of the ingredients, but whatever). I thought barbecue would be interesting in a rice bowl, so I tried it. They tasted good! And as long as you realize that it's not going to taste like taco meat, I recommend you give it a try. ;)

BBQ Beef Bowls
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 c. frozen corn
1/2 c. barbecue sauce (the recipe obviously calls for KRAFT barbecue sauce, but you can use whatever you want, of course)
3 c. rice, cooked
cheese (again, because it's a KRAFT website, it actually calls for a slice of Velveeta on each bowl...I used grated cheddar ;) )
green onions, chopped


Directions:
Cook rice (oh how I love my rice cooker!). Meanwhile, cook beef with onions and bell peppers until meat is browned. Add tomatoes, corn, and barbecue sauce, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon rice into bowls. Top with meat mixture, cheese, and green onions. (I forgot the green onions when we had it, as you can see from the picture. )

For some reason, Blogger won't let me add a link to the recipe right now, but you can find the original at kraftfoods.com by searching for "BBQ Beef Bowls".

Quick and Easy Vegetarian Lasagna

Now, I've tried a few different recipes for vegetarian lasagna, and I like them all for different reasons. I knew I had to try this one when I read the ingredients and it had hard boiled eggs in it. Talk about interesting! It's another one from the Home Ec teacher's Italian cookbook. I loved it, and so did Paul. And Paul's not usually a big fan of eggs, so that's saying something. The eggs and spinach gave it a very distinctive flavor.

Quick and Easy Vegetarian Lasagna


Ingredients:
1 jar spaghetti sauce with vegetables
1 package lasagna noodles, cooked*
1 package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
8 eggs, hard boiled and sliced
2 (5 oz) packages mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

*I keep getting the lasagna noodles that you don't need to boil beforehand. They are way convenient; however, the top noodles always end up crunchy. I haven't figured out a way to make them soft. Let me know if you know of a way! Otherwise, if crunchy top noodles sound awful to you, you should probably use regular lasagna noodles.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of an 11x13 baking dish. Line with one row of noodles. Top with a layer of sauce, spinach, eggs, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers two more times (three layers total). Finish with a layer of noodles, sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes.