Sick of Cooking Same Old thing....whats Your Favorite Meal??? JFF

African peanut soup

just google it. There are many variations but its a great healthy vegan stew with sweat potatoes, black beans, red pepper, kale, and thickened with peanut butter. Exotic and amazing! Even my meat loving in-laws love it.

For dinner we just had a family favorite - garlic-lime chicken with glazed carrots and seasoned oven fries. The fries are the kind you get in the freezer section, the carrots are a barefoot contessa recipe and the chicken is this recipe. I make a big batch of the spice mix and use it on everything. It's very similar to Emeril's Essence:

Garlic Lime Chicken
Serves 6

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can eliminate if too spicy for you)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons lime juice

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.

In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken and add lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve with remaining sauce drizzled over the top.

I tried to put the recipe up but it came out all weird. so go to betterrecipes.com and look at the general tso's slow cooker pork tacos. they are yummy!

Creme Brulee French toast:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creme-Brulee...

Chicken Bundles
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39688.asp

Breakfast: Bagle (sesame, poppy seed), toasted, with cream cheese that I've added cucumber, carrot, and jalepenos to.

Lunch: Homemade grilled cheese (sourdough bread, cheddar and mozarella cheese, a little butter on both sides of the bread. Add olive tempenade if that strikes your fancy).

Dinner: Tonight we're having what the church ladies called "The Dish." In a 9x13 pan, I'll put frozen chicken breasts, sliced potatoes, a can of green beans (drained), a stick of melted butter, and then sprinkle a packet of ranch salad dressing mix all over the top. Bake for an hour or and hour-and-a-half. Moist meat and very tasty.

breakfast- taylor ham egg and cheese on a bagel
lunch- chicken cutlet sandwich
dinner-roast beef and mashed potatoes and broccoli with cheese

I'm all about making it as easy as possible:

Taco Ranch Soup
2 lbs ground meat browned and drained with 1 sm. Chopped onion
2 pkgs. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
2 pkgs. Taco seasoning
1 can kidney beans
1 an black beans
1 can rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans corn
2 cups water
Combine all ingredients and stew for 1-2 hours or cook slowly in crockpot all day. Can add cheese on top.

We make our own "Chipotle Bowl" at home with marinated chicken or beef (pick your favorite marinate), black beans, corn, pico, and white rice. Serve with chips and quacamole. It's very easy and filling.

Chicken in a Biscuit:
Grill chicken with cajun seasoning and bake a can of biscuits. Make your own chicken sandwich.

Crockpot chicken:
Put skinless boneless chicken in the crock pot (frozen or thawed)
pour container of barbecue sauce over it
turn on low for 4-5 hours
Shred with a fork and serve on buns or baked potatoes with cheese on top

Breakfast: Blueberry pancakes, poached eggs, or french toast
Lunch: Chicken salad on flatout bread or a croissant with a side of fruit salad, or a tuna wrap
Dinner: Tacos, Spanish Rice, refried beans

I too get so tired of the same old thing.

breakfast, we do waffles, raisin cinnamon bread, bagels with cream cheese or fruit and rotate
Lunch. quesadillas (so easy), mac n cheese, sandwiches or left overs
Dinner- Couscous, sauteed in olive oil then cooked in chicken broth and I add shredded chicken to it, meatloaf, a pasta bake, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches with a soup. Zucchini (chopped into small bits), corn, tomato and red onion, you can also add shredded chicken, saute it all in olive oil and then wrap in tortillas. I'd love to hear your most common meals. I'm so bored of my stuff and I think my family is to.

Breakfasts: My favorite childhood breakfast is "dippy eggs" - for one adult soft boil 2 eggs, then when done chop all the egg up in a bowl (runny yolk) in small pieces, add small pieces of buttered toast, mix all together. Cream of wheat with a little sugar added (my son loves this stuff). Homemade blueberry scones. Slow cook oatmeal with chopped apples, cinnamon and sugar mixed in.
Lunches: We do sandwiches, quesadillas, mac n cheese, soup. For myself I love to make a batch of lentil stew with veggies (cook lentils in chicken stock, add chopped carrots, celery zucchini, etc) or a big bowl of quinoa salad (cook quinoa, add chopped tomatoes, avocados, chopped mozerella, almonds, a fresh herb, olive oil and basalmic vinegar) for the week. One of my kids likes the lentil stew.
Dinners: One of my favorite dinners is to marinate or put a rub on salmon and grill it. Cook up pasta with chopped potatoes and green beans and mix in Trader Joe's pesto. You can also add olives or pine nuts and fresh basil at the end if you want to be fancy. Serve salmon, pasta and a salad.

Before I mention my faves, there is a website/blog that I LOVE! it's plainchicken.com. She tries new dishes every week and many of them look AMAZING! and most of them are easy to make. She's got all courses too. The cheddar bacon ranch pulls and cinnamon pulls are un-friggin-believable! !

Breakfast fave: hashbrown casserole. You can probably find several versions on line.

Lunch: I hate making lunch but I really like grilled ham and cheese on sour dough bread.

Dinner: easy chicken cordon bleu. Roll thin sliced chicken breasts with ham and Swiss, dip in butter, roll in Panko breadcrumbs, and cook in a dish with melted butter and white wine. My favorite part of cooking this is having a little wine while I'm cooking!

I have a 2 yr old girl and 5 year old boy (both picky).

I have put a little blue or green food dye in eggs for green eggs (a St. Patrick's day thing). Orange juice and cereal.

Pasta with a meat sauce work for lunch or dinner. My kids also like frozen berries (blueberries or strawberries) or any fresh fruit along with a cheese stick. Chicken with ketchup is always popular too. My son love PB&J and yogurt.

I got a frozen bag of salmon from Costco (you can get salmon anywhere, but I planned to use it for several people and it was cheaper than fresh which I normally buy). I defrosted it and put a little Kosher salt and some pepper on it. I use a little olive oil in the pan and fried the fish. They both loved it (they like it better with no sauce). I had carrots that were sliced to look like ruffle chip and some sweet potato fries. Fish is great for lent season too.

My kids also like tomato soup. There is a creamy organic one at Trader Joe's. I use sour dough bread (or whatever is available) and add cheddar cheese on top and put it in the oven (a less greasy version of grilled cheese). They like dipping the bread in the soup.