Salsa Chicken

You will never find an easier chicken recipe than this. Anyone can make it.

Ingredients - 
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 pack taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese(your choice)

Directions - 
Preheat oven at 350°.
Flatten chicken to around 3/4" thickness.
Arrange in sprayed baking dish.
Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken.
Pour salsa over chicken.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 more minutes.

Opinion - 
Everybody loved this - even my boy who hates anything with tomatoes in it ate every bite. Ridiculously easy to make. Really tasty. Served with Mexican rice and a salad. This will likely become my go to quick meal.

Italian Breaded Pork Chops

Ingredients - 
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 T milk
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
6 pork chops

Directions -
Preheat oven to 325° F (165° C).
In a small bowl, beat together eggs and milk. In a separate small bowl mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook until lightly browned. Remove garlic, reserving for other uses.
Dip each pork chop into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating evenly. Place coated pork chops in the skillet, and brown about 2-3 minutes on each side.
Place pork chops on a rack on a cookie sheet and put in oven.
Cook 25 minutes.

Opinion - 
These were really good. Spidey(hubby) went back for seconds. Next time I make these, I'll probably add a couple more spices to the bread crumb mix.

French Bread Pizza

Ingredients - 
French bread loaf
jar of pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
pizza toppings of your choice

Directions - 
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cut loaf once vertically and once or twice horizontally(I cut mine twice to feed 6.)
Spread sauce over open loaf.
Top with choice of toppings and cheese.
Bake for 10 - 13 minutes.

Opinion - 
Who doesn't like pizza? This was really good. Since I'm counting calories, I loaded my piece with lots of veggies, turkey pepperoni, and a little ham. Yumm-eee! I let the kids make their own and they loved it too. This is definitely going in our dinner AND lunch rotation.

Dinner Menu, 7/26 - 8/1

Monday - Going to Chuck E. Cheese. I'll be having one slice of cheese pizza and a couple plates of salad.
Tuesday - French bread pizza and salad.(Didn't make last week.)
Wednesday - Ham casserole and salad.
Thursday - Italian breaded pork chops, mac and cheese, green beans, and salad.
Friday - Salsa chicken, Mexican rice, and salad.(Didn't make last week.)
Saturday - Beef and pasta casserole, peas, and salad.
Sunday - Taco soup served with tortilla chips for dipping. Might take a break from salad this night.

Baked Eggplant Parm

Ingredients - 
1 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced(1/4" at the most)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
jar of spaghetti sauce
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella(I used a moz/provolone mix)
1/3 cup grated parmesan

Directions - 
After peeling and slicing eggplant, put a little salt on each slice and put in colander in sink to 'sweat'. I also placed a couple of heavy plates on top of the slices to force out the excess moisture of my eggplant. Let sit like this for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°(175°C).
Rinse salt from eggplant and pat dry with paper towels.
Dredge eggplant slices in egg and then bread crumbs.
Place in a single layer on cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes. Turn. Bake 12 more minutes.
Turn oven down to 350°.

In 8x8 baking dish, spread 1/3 of sauce on bottom.
Place a layer of eggplant on top of sauce.
Top with 1/3 mozzarella and 1/3 grated parmesan.
Do another layer of eggplant/sauce/cheeses.
Keep layering.(I ended up with 3 layers.)
Bake for 30 minutes.

*This recipe was plenty to feed 4.

Opinion - 
I've never eaten eggplant in my life. This was absolutely delicious! Will definitely make this again and again. Ate this with a small serving of spaghetti noodles and a big side salad with 2 tbsps light ranch dressing.

Crockpot Corn on the Cob

Ingredients - 
fresh corn on the cob
aluminum foil

Directions - 
Shuck corn and remove the silkies.
Rinse with water.
Wrap individually in foil.
Place wrapped corn in crock.
Put lid on crock and cook on high for 2 hours.

Opinion - 
This didn't do it for me. If you like your corn on the cob crunchy, this is an easy way to do it. However, I like my corn moist and soft. If I ever cook corn on the cob in the crock again, I'll ditch the foil and cook it in water.

Weekly Dinner Menu Plan

Since I'm giving this weight loss thing a good try, thought it would help to plan my meals out. Breakfast and lunch are consistently the same, so I won't bore myself(or anyone else) with those menus. Dinner can be tricky. I have three picky, utterly finicky kids. It's not their fault, I know. Diva helped. Anyway, dinner can be a hassle if I make something they all hate. So, I've gotten into the habit of making things they will eat just to get through dinner without fuss. That ends with this menu. Lord, help me!

Monday - Baked tilapia, oven baked steak fries, corn on the cob(in the crockpot as I type), and salad.
Tuesday - Tuna casserole, peas, and salad.
Wednesday - Moe's(as in 'Welcome to Moe's!') This will test my will power bad! I love their Triple Lindy.
Thursday - baked eggplant parm and salad. No frying before baking. It will be all oven baked.
Friday - French bread pizza and salad.
Saturday - Southwest pork chops, mac & cheese, and salad.
Sunday - Salsa chicken, Mexican rice, and salad.

Throughout the week, I'll pick a few things from the menu and post recipes. If the food looks decent, I might even add pics. I'm a Diva though and cooking is not my forte, so don't hold your breath. *hee*

Notice I'm serving salad every night we eat at home. This will be a good size salad that I'll eat before the main course. Hoping this helps me with portion control and to not overeat on the more caloric foods. We'll see. I know I can't go overboard on the dressing and will be mindful of that too.

TTFN