Meal Planning

I generally dislike cooking.  Luckily for me, many nights Ryan will cook and just tell me to get out of the kitchen.  This is a lot less stressful for everybody!  However I don't like to leave it up to him all of the time!

The worst part for me is actually deciding what we are going to eat.  I have found that if I plan my meals, it makes the whole process much more enjoyable.  Instead of stressing about what we're going to have for dinner, I can just fantasize all day about what we are actually having.  (I love my food!)

So a few times in our marriage (and I mean that, a few), I have planned my meals for the entire week.  I'm really going to try to do this more often as it makes life way easier.  

Here are our meals for this week:
Monday - Caprese Chicken (I made this last night, it is unbelievable!)

Pinterest

Tuesday - Layered Fiesta Casserole - an old favourite

Kraft Canada recipe

Wednesday - Stir Fry - Just for me since Ryan is at Wing Night!
Thursday - Creamy Spinach and Tomato Tortellini - This is a new recipe, so we will see how it is!

Pinterest

Friday - Fish & Chips from the fry shack down the road

And just like that I know what my plan is when I get home from work and I'm already excited about the entire week's worth of meals!   

Bacon Wrapped Jalepeno Poppers

We were at the cottage this past weekend, and generally while at the cottage we eat.  It sometimes feels like we don't get much more accomplished than that.  

I had made these jalepeno poppers before, but they were way too spicy.  So I decided to try again with a few changes, and these ones turned out amazing and delicious, just as I had hoped.

You need:

Jalepenos

Cream Cheese

Grated cheddar or marble cheese

Bacon

Disposable rubber gloves (optional but highly recommended).

The quantities of course depend on how many jalepenos you are making.

Last time I made these, I didn't use rubber gloves and I paid for it.  It's hard not to touch your eyes when you know you shouldn't! And it actually took days for me to get the jalepenos washed off of my hands.  So just wear the gloves!

First, cut your jalepenos in half.  Take all of the insides out and make sure you get all of the seeds, as that's what makes them spicy.

Mix together some cream cheese with a bit of grated cheese. Spoon into halved jalepenos until full.  

Wrap half a piece of bacon around each jalepeno.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  

We weren't quite ready to eat them so I turned the oven down a bit and left them in.  The longer you cook them for the less spicy they are.  I think that last time I cooked them at a higher temperature for about half the time.  So your cooking time can be based on how hot you want them, just keep an eye on the bacon.

They were honestly much more time consuming than I was expecting, but they were totally worth it.

Pinterest Recipe Reviews

Everything looks delicious on Pinterest, but sometimes when you make it, it's just not as good as you were expecting it to be.  Lately I have tried out a few recipes, so I thought that I would share my thoughts so that maybe you can try them too!  (I hate the way you embed Pins now, so I'm just going to link the original website.)



Chicken Taco Bowls

 I really enjoyed this Chicken Taco Bowl.  It is basically shredded chicken, corn, salsa, black beans and some spices.  The best part?  I threw it all in the slow cooker before work and so dinner was basically done when I got home.  Ryan wrapped his up in a tortilla and ate it as a wrap, which I'm sure is also delicious!

Caprese Chicken

 This was another good recipe.  I am a huge tomato fan though.  I forgot to add the balsamic vinegar at the end, but it was still really good.  Cheese, tomato and basil = win.


Zucchini, Black Bean and Rice Skillet

Of the three recipe's I have tried recently, this was probably my least favourite.  However, I did feel that it was fairly healthy and so I still enjoyed that part of it.  It was good enough, just slightly bland. 

So there are three of my recent attempts at cooking.  I'm not sure that Ryan was thrilled with any of them, so they are maybe slightly girly meals.  But we can't have sausage, hamburgers and pizza everynight!  (Which I'm pretty sure would be his choice.)