Weekly Dinners

I mentioned in a previous post that I am hoping to start making more regular dinners for my family. It's difficult to do so when I get home from musical practice most days by 5:30, but I do my best. I have kept with it pretty well and I want to share some of the meals I've made. My dinner posts will be brief and probably not that descriptive. It's just important for me to log the meals and then be able to look back on them and see if we enjoyed them or not.

Sweet and Sour Chicken from Cassie Craves

I choose to use legs for this recipe because we rarely have them. My dad doesn't like them (dumbbbb) so I had to force it. But, he said he loved this dish; as did the rest of our family. The extra sauce from the chicken is great poured over rice. The ingredients were so simple and I made this in 5 minutes flat. Then it just put in the oven until ready. I'm sure we'll try it again.

Ranch Macaroni and Cheese from Cassie Craves

This was the first of my structured dinners that I made for my family, and what a way to start off! This was incredible! I have never made homemade mac n' cheese, but the idea was so enticing! It's sad that in today's world most people hear mac n' cheese and think of the blue box. But really, the best stuff is homemade from scratch. Nothing out there beats it. Nothing! Everyone in my family loved it and we are dying to try more homemade macaroni and cheese recipes soon!

Roasted Vegetable Sandwiches from Cassie Craves

I don't think there was anyway to pick a favorite recipe from the week. But I must say, we loved these roasted vegetables. The colors were phenomenal and I couldn't believe how easy it was to make. We definitely want to try this roasting method again and see what creative things we can do with them. I used a french baguette to make buns, but they were a little difficult to eat like that so I'd probably pick a different bun for next time.

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce from Cassie Craves

I have made this recipe before, but I was dying to make it again! I mistakenly used cheddar cheese instead of the monterey jack cheese, which tasted just fine, but I do prefer the monterey jack. The green chiles in the sour cream sauce are subtle, but very necessary. They really tie the dish together I think. Another unanimous favorite in our house.

Not pictured but some things we have also made recently:

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice
-This was very tasty, but I think we though it wasn't cheesy enough and needed a tad more moisture, but I'm pretty sure that can all be blamed on my cooking skills and not the recipe. We are interested in trying it again, though.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
-These were a disappointment. We weren't big fans of it because they tasted flavorless. However, we think it was due to the fact that we did not have pizza seasoning like the recipe required, and tried to make up our own. So we aren't exactly sure what went wrong, but I don't think we'll be trying them again anytime soon.

Chipotle Cheddar Meatloaf Muffins
-These were fabulous! They were quick and easy and were a great kicked up version of meatloaf. They kept well and were easily microwaved for lunches or day after dinners. But trust me, they'll be gone fast!

And we also made some home made chicken and dumplings from an often used cookbook in our house: Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics. It's our go-to for Thanksgiving every year. It's so fabulous and such an easy fall back recipe!


This was kind of a different post for me to write, so hopefully you all accept it! My plan is to continue making these regular dinners and then posting a big round up of them so you guys can see. I hope this post inspires you to cook more home meals, or just try some new dinner recipes!