It's like....Magic

When it comes to cooking, any meal eaten at our house around our table during baseball season is a victory. I promise, we keep Chik-fil-A in business all across Houston. Unfortunately, I have my firstborn so well trained, he now rebukes any other drive-thru suggestions under the premise they are unhealthy. Can you say 'backfire'?

Lately, I have been feeling like a new bride who only knows how to cook tacos and spaghetti. Some of this I can attribute to my youngest son preferring to eat out of a box rather than partake in the vast variety of food that exists beyond crackers. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit, but his food preferences can be counted on two hands.

I have a bazillion recipes on my computer that are yearning to be freed from my hardrive and given a chance to shine in the flourescent lights of my kitchen. And they just might get their chance because of my good friend and fellow blogger, Michele.

Check this out. She got wind of an ingenius idea when it comes to meal planning- choose 30 recipes your family will eat and rotate them each month. Sounds amazing right?

*You'll need a 3-ring binder, 20 plastic sleeves, dividers and a blank calendar.

*Start by choosing 20 or so recipes that your family really likes.

*Now find 5 more that you have wanted to try but have been resisting because it wasn't worth the grief. Make copies of each recipe and slide them into the plasic sleeves.

*As far as organization goes, you have a couple of options. You can organize them by main ingredient (beef, chicken, seafood), by category (Mexican, Italian, Crockpot, Grill, Pasta), or alphabetically. You decide what is the best system for you.

*Now take your blank calendar and decide which nights you don't need to cook (maybe you have date night once a week, order in pizza or have a night you eat out). Draw a big fat smiley face in those squares. You have the night off!

*The next step is to identify which nights need meals that are easily assembled or can be prepped ahead of time because of kids' activities, Bible study, Book Club, etc. Make a small red dot in the corner of those dates so you know that day needs a quick meal.

*The remaining days are free game. Choose any recipe you want!

*If you want to get super fancy, order your recipes by the day you'll be using them before filing them in the 3-ring binder.

Some things to consider when rotating your meals:

*Have dinner around the world each week: One night Mexican, another Italian, maybe Asian or Chinese food one night

*Get input from your family. Maybe they have a dish they'd like to see several times a month. Bonus!

*Consider meals that can double as a second meal. For example...barbecue chicken in the crockpot can make sandwiches, barbecue baked potatoes or barbecue chicken pizza.

*Breakfast for dinner is a quick favorite.

I'm counting-on Michele giving a shout out to how this is running in her home and what things I missed.

If you've done something similiar, give us your tips! Until then, here's three recipes to get you started.

Chicken in a Pastry

3 oz. light cream cheese, softened

2 tsp light margarine, melted

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 cups cubed, cooked chicken

1 8oz can reduced fat crescent rolls

2 Tbsp milk

Combine cream cheese, butter, salt, pepper, milk, onion. Pour mixture over chicken and stir. Separate crescent roll dough into four rectangles and seal perforations. Spoon 1/2 cup mixture into center of each. Pull opposite corners of dough to center and seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Lazy Lasagna

1 pound ground beef

1 (26-ounce) jar low-fat spaghetti sauce

1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

1 (8-ounce) package precooked lasagna noodles

1 cup (4 ounces) pre-shredded reduced-fat mild cheddar cheese

Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook meat in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return meat to pan. Add sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Combine cottage and Parmesan cheeses in a bowl; set aside.Spread 1/2 cup meat mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over meat mixture; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup meat mixture, and 1/3 cup cheddar cheese. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining meat mixture over noodles. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheddar cheese, and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Crispy Sesame Shrimp (Jenny, this is still one of our faves!)

¾ c. Pepperidge Farm Herb-seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
1 t. sesame seeds
¼ t. paprika
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. pepper
1 large egg white
Tabasco or hot sauce, to taste
¾ lb. Large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine first 6 ingredients in pie plate or shallow dish and stir well. Place egg white in small shallow dish; stir well. Dip shrimp in egg white, and dredge in stuffing mixture. Place shrimp on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat shrimp with cooking spray. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden.

*Cooking hints: To get more sesame seeds on the shrimp, save these until right before you bake them and sprinkle them directly on the shrimp. Also-to bread the shrimp, combine ‘breading’ mixture in one plastic container w/lid and the egg whites in another plastic container w/ lid. First add shrimp to egg white container, put on lid and shake. Then add shrimp 4 or so at a time to the breading container (after draining excess egg white), put on lid and shake to coat. Results-even coverage!