Meal Plan Monday | Lazy Weekend

Can you believe it's the last Monday of August?  I know summer was here and we did a bunch of things and even had a couple lake trips in there but did we really?  I have already seen Halloween decorations in stores and Christmas is basically next weekend.  Time is going too damn fast.
We had a great weekend hanging out at home.  Hubby worked for a bit on Saturday and I ran a few errands but Saturday night and Sunday we chilled at home.  If you follow me on instagram you basically got a play by play of our lazy Saturday, including family nap time.  And then for some reason I really wanted to watch Marley and Me and even with hubby saying "isn't that movie really sad?" I insisted on it.  I didn't remember it being that sad the first time I watched it but I may have shut it out... and this time I bawled my eyes out the last 10 minutes of the movie and for a couple afterwards.  Maybe I just needed a good emotional cry and that is exactly what I got.
With regards to cooking at home we made a valiant effort last week but went off the rails a couple times due to a few late nights, but hopefully this week will be different.  I found a couple new dinner ideas that look tasty and should be pretty quick to put together.

 

Sunday: While I was grocery shopping on the weekend I found ribs on sale and realized we had not yet had them this summer and the Mr. makes killer ribs so picking some up was a no-brainer.  And once again they were delicious!

Monday: I saw this recipe on Megan's blog and I thought it would be good to try something new (with a few tweaks).  I actually threw this together last night so it's ready to pop in the oven about half an hour before we want to eat.  The only thing I'm worried about are the corn tortillas - they ripped all over as I was rolling them up.  We will see how tomorrow goes but we may be switching to flour tortillas - has anyone else experienced this problem?

Tuesday: Another Pinterest find and we have all the ingredients required on hand, cross your fingers this tastes good!

Wednesday: I pushed this one back from last week... hoping to successfully tweak this spicy sausage pasta recipe.

Thursday: So I was supposed to go to the spa last Thursday but due to not one but two traffic nightmares, I had to reschedule 

Friday: as usual, Friday is our dinner out night :)

What do you have cooking this week?

Linking up with Bella and Lisa, Meg and Biana, and Meghan!

Cucumber Cups Stuffed with Chicken Salad

I recently came across this recipe on Pinterest for cucumber stuffed with crab and it looked like the perfect cold refreshing snack for a hot summer day.  Except I didn't have any crab and to be honest I wasn't really feeling crab... but I was most definitely feeling chicken salad.  Every couple weeks I go to Costco on my lunch hour which is obviously when all the samples are being handed out and I had the most amazing chicken salad (quarter) sandwich.  Cut to this weekend when I had a full cucumber and I thought hey, why not?These were so easy and quick to make!
I made the chicken salad pretty similar to how I make tuna salad.
Ingredients: 1 can cooked chicken, rinsed 1 cucumber 2 tbsp light mayo 2 tbsp plain greek yogurt (0% fat) salt and pepper to taste paprika to sprinkle on top

I wanted to add finely chopped celery but we were out, bell peppers would also make a great addition... the possibilities are endless!

   

Directions:

1. Combine chicken, mayo, greek yogurt, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.  Place in fridge to chill slightly while preparing the cucumber cups.  

  2. Slice cucumber in 1/2 inch sections (the original recipe says to peel the cucumber but I didn't bother). 3. Using a grapefruit spoon with serrated edge, carve out the inside of the cucumber (the other recipe used a melon baller but I didn't have one and the serrated spoon worked really well!).  

    4. Scoop approximately 1 tbsp of the chicken mixture into each cucumber cup. 5. Sprinkle paprika on top.

 

 

I made these Sunday afternoon and they were a total hit!  I will definitely be making these again, and maybe even trying a few variations.  
I love how the cucumber cups replace bread - what other vegetables could be used as cups?  

Loving Dinner Menus!

I am really loving the dinner menus we plan for the week, we may stray once or twice but it just makes life so much easier to know what's coming.  Add in my pre-made breakfasts and lunches and I am cruising the week food-wise.  Now if I could just win the lottery or invent the next iPod and get rid of that pesky work requirement I would be golden!  It's all about positive thinking right?

 

I have tried planning weekend meals but it doesn't really work... Fridays are date night and we always eat out (or takeout/delivery) and Saturday depends on how we're feeling but almost always we pickup something or get together with family/friends.  Hubby likes to cook something really tasty on Sundays and he usually plans that Friday or Saturday.  It's the one day he really likes to make something tasty and I am more than happy to let him.  For our meals Monday through Friday it's anything fast and easy, and hopefully tastes good too.

 

 

 

 

Monday: Spaghetti & Meat Sauce (I am going to use spaghetti squash instead of pasta!)

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner: ham omelette with shredded potato hash

Wednesday: Chicken & mushroom pasta (one of my favorite comfort recipes)

Thursday: Fish & Chips (we really need to eat more fish and I am hoping to find a tasty cod recipe)

Friday: Dinner Out

 

Our dinner tonight consists of typical Super Bowl treats: sausage rolls, chicken wings, nachos, mini burgers... my tummy is going to hate me tomorrow! 

 

Go Seahawks!

   

Drumroll Please... Dinner of the Year!

Well, best dinner of 2014!  I scored so many points with my first new recipe this week! Hubby was blown away, called it one if the too 3 meals I have EVER made.

I can in no way take credit for this recipe; I have been dying to try it ever since I saw the cheesy goodness on
Megan’s blog and loved how the recipe looked so simple (i.e. “Sarah-proof”).  I was so excited to have it on our
dinner plan and mentally checked off (or so I thought) everything we would need to make it.

Meghan’s Ingredient List:

11 lasagna noodles

1 jar of Vodka Sauce

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

2 cups of shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup ricotta

1 egg

 

We had everything – even the jar of vodka sauce that I picked up from Trader Joe’s in November when I
first wanted to make it, can you say procrastinate much? – EXCEPT THE RICOTTA.  How could I have forgotten
this pivotal lasagna ingredient??  I knew I needed to figure something out and quickly googled replacement for
ricotta but found link after link telling me how to make ricotta and that definitely wasn’t happening so I looked
in the fridge.

 

 I used 2 tbsp of cottage cheese (all we had left) and 3 tbsp of plain non-fat greek yogurt.  DELISH!

 

 

So Megan I apologize for not properly follow your amazing recipe but I am freaking proud of myself for winging it and blowing my husband’s mind!  He has requested this again ASAP and I’m pretty sure I will become a regular in our house – I think I’m even going to freeze a few portions!  This is the type of meal that I can prepare the regular version for my hubby and try to lighten it up for me.  Oh and I have put ricotta on the grocery list to try it the other way next time.

 

Seriously people, if you like pasta and cheese (who doesn’t??) then you need to try this recipe!