This week FLEW by so fast it seems. I don't know what happened. I was excited because it felt like fall finally and then BAM North Carolina said "Oh, no. I'm giving you 85 degrees on Saturday and Sunday!" This week's meals were pretty easy, and I definitely dropped the ball on one of the meals. I only followed 2 Pinterest recipes this week but I'm still going to give you the ingredients for the two meals that are "Mine". Again, I know that the pictures of the food don't look amazing and that's because I'm not a professional food photographer. If you have tips then let me know! Let's dive in!
1. Lemon Chicken Orzo - If you like fettucine alfredo; you'll like this!
Typically, my husband isn't a huge fan of anything with chicken. He'd rather have red meat. He wasn't thrilled when I told him about this recipe. BUT, he liked it! If you haven't tried cooking orzo before, I highly recommend. It was a creamy recipe. The only thing I would have done differently is cut up the chicken in small pieces instead of leaving it in strips. PS, I always buy tenderloins instead of breast for recipes. I just feel like it is cutting out a step for me to buy them like this. You could make this Gluten Free and Dairy Free. I did not do that this time. But you could buy the Jovial Orzo to substitute out the regular orzo. I would change out the heavy cream for a full fat coconut cream to make it dairy free. It just may not be as thick of a sauce but that's ok! Also, a tip for the lemon juice - About once every few months, I buy a bag of lemons. I juice the lemons and freeze them in a small silicone muffin pan then pop them out and keep them frozen until I need them. I take the rinds of the lemon and put that in a mason jar with distilled white vinegar and I have a safe natural cleaner! Try it!
2. Easy Cowboy Cornbread Casserole - Everybody loved this!
This was a crowd pleaser! We actually used ground venison instead of beef but I'm sure there's not much taste difference. I try to use ground venison more than beef if we have it. Venison is a leaner red meat. There's literally no fat to drain when you cook it. That's the only substitution I did for this recipe. You can definitely buy the Gluten Free Cornbread by King Arthur it's delicious. Three of us at this and I had enough left over for Jeff and me to have it for dinner the next night too. If you have a larger family this will definitely feed you! Oh, the recipe did call for sour cream, but I forgot to buy it. I never said anything, and it wasn't missed.
3. Taco Salads - I don't have a link!
So, I'm really sorry but I absolutely did not take a picture of this meal. We had our other son and his fiancé over for dinner that night. I simply didn't think about it. BUT I'll tell you what I put together. I combined a romaine lettuce with a pea leaf mix that I found at Ingles grocery store. For the meat, I combined a pound of chorizo with a pound of venison. I used a Siete Taco Seasoning packet too. PS, please buy good quality pork products. I get ours from a local pork farm and it's sooo good. I cooked some rice and added half a squeeze lime to it once it was cooked with some fresh cilantro. (Remember when I cook rice, I use chicken bone broth). I also did a can of black beans that I pressure canned myself and a jar of homemade salsa. Lastly, I had organic tortilla chips. I try to get organic corn products because I feel like corn is sprayed SO much and it's one of the top GMO products in the US. Top with cheese and you're good to go! If you try it let me know. We love Mexican food at our house!
4. Kielbasa/Kraut/Potatoes - Put together by ME!
This is another meal that isn't from Pinterest. I'm going to tell you though, it's really good and really filling. Let's talk about kielbasa. If you look at ingredients, you'll find that almost all kielbasa you see in the store has corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. That's an ingredient I try really hard to avoid whenever possible. The only kielbasa I've been able to find that doesn't have HFCS in it is by Boar's Head or Pedersens. Sadly, most grocery stores around here don't carry those brands. When I come across them, I buy SEVERAL and freeze them. The sauerkraut makes the meal. If you haven't tried sauerkraut in a long time, I encourage you to give it a try. The probiotics in sauerkraut have so many health benefits that even if you still don't like it, I'd say eat it anyway. You only need 2 oz a day to give your gut all the goodness it needs. I share a simple recipe on my other blog post. I hope you check it out and try it.
What kind of meals are you loving lately? Would you like a blog about freezing meals for the winter, crock pot meals, pressure canning meals? I'd love to hear what you think! Don't forget to tag me in your posts when you make the meals.