A week of Easy Family Meals-{charleston sc travel and lifestyle blog}

I’ve had this ‘food’ category on my blog since the beginning, and can’t believe I’ve never done one single post to go here. That changes today!

I’m not the best cook, I’ll admit that up front, but I try, and my goal is always to get better in the kitchen and somehow make it fun so I do enjoy cooking more.

Lately, I do like to throw on a cool apron, turn up my alexa jams and sometimes have a glass of wine while I get busy in the kitchen. I did also go and purchase some new dishes and colorful pots to help inspire me to get cooking more often.


I came across this fun little cookbook called ‘Real Life Dinners’ by Rachel Hollis that has helped inspire me to get in the kitchen more this week. I love her recipes and dog eared a bunch that I can’t wait to try(one below). Check out the book at the link below and treat yo-self.


Today though, I thought I’d take a moment to list out my week ahead and what I plan on making for my family.

I’m challenging myself to spend a week in the kitchen cooking every single night.

I’m venturing off my usual go to’s like spaghetti and taco night turned nacho’s the next day 🙂 even though they are definite faves among my 2 little ones.

 ….

Check out my list below for the upcoming week(and don’t laugh at Wednesday). You can’t knock it until you’ve tried it 😉

I’ll take pictures each day and add to this post, but for now, I”ll only list out my recipes+ingredients


Monday: Pepperjack Chicken

This one is first in my recipe box and one I’ve made about a hundred times, but it’s too easy not to list here since it’s my #1 go to for a quick and easy weeknight meal! 

Ingredients:

boneless chicken pack(I usually do strips)

6 slices of pepper jack cheese(sub in swiss if you don’t like the extra kick)

1 can cream of chicken

1/4 cup milk

1 roll ritz crackers

1/4 cup melted butter(1/2 the stick)

Preheat oven to 350

In a casserole dish, cover the bottom of it with the chicken. Layer the 6 slices of cheese on top. In a separate bowl, mix the 1/4 cup milk plus cream of chicken and pour on top of cheese & chicken in your dish. Melt the 1/4 cup butter to have it ready. Crush the tube of ritz on top and then pour the butter over the ritz evenly.

Bake for 45-1 hour.

I serve this over rice and usually with some bread and maybe one veggie like green beans or field peas.


Tuesday: Enchiladas

This is my husbands favorite dish that I make and it’s super easy.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 can tomato soup

1 can mild enchilada sauce

8 (7 or 8 inch) tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream

*You can also add olives and a small chopped onion

Preheat oven to 350

Cook ground beef and drain. Stir in soup and enchilada sauce. Spread about 1/4 cup of meat mixture onto each tortilla, a sprinkle of cheese, then roll up and place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Load that baking sheet up with the tortillas. Pour remaining meat mixture on top of rolled tortillas. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese(no one says you can’t add extra here) for 5 more minutes or until cheese has melted.

Serve with sour cream, olives & black beans or rice.

The salsa Verde is a whole different post. This was the first time I’ve ever made it and it was fantastic!!  I’ll be making it again soon!

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the costco queso, but it’s amazing and would be a great appetizer in place of the salsa while you’re waiting on these bad boys to finish up. I did the salsa earlier in the day b/c I knew it would take me a while since I’ve never made it before. 


Wednesday: Plate of Things

Kids fave! I know it’s not technically cooking, and it seems kind of lazy, but guess what, my kids love ‘plate of things’ night so I’ll keep right on doing it. It’s also just a great dinner on the go option when they have a sporting event, concert, or anything after school. For us, on this night, we do have something to do at dinnertime, so this will be a really quick easy dinner option when we get back home.

Ingredients ;):

You don’t have to do all of these on the plate, but here are some ideas of what I will do for ‘plate of things’-

Sliced Cucumbers

Cherry Tomatos

shredded cheese

rolled up deli meat

peanuts/almonds or spoon of peanut butter or almond butter

crackers or pretzels

Sliced apples

sliced banana

grapes

pepperoni slices

peaches

toast with honey

dry cereal

boiled egg(my kids love a boiled egg)

blueberries

If you have a rotisserie chicken on hand, you can add some of that chicken to the plate with ketchup of course

You can also really make this fun by putting things from this list on a skewer. Kids seem to love anything they can eat off a stick!

Assemble on a plate with their favorite juice or beverage and sit down mama!



Thursday: Hawaiian Chicken

Back in the kitchen on Thursday for a recipe I’ll try from ‘Real Life Dinners‘, linked above!


Friday: Parmesan Chicken Roll ups

Anything rolled up in a crescent roll sounds like a good idea to my kids so I’m giving this one a try for the first time.

Ingredients:

Marinara Sauce

Chicken strips 

Crescents

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup parmesan cheese +3 tbsps

4 slices mozzarella(divide into 8)

3 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375

Season each side of chicken with salt +pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes until each side is nicely browned, and set aside.

Mix together mayo and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. 

Unroll each triangle of crescent rolls and place one piece of chicken at the wide end of each one. Spread a good layer of the mayo mixture on top of each piece of chicken.

Divide the mozzarella slices in half to create 8 slices, and add to the top of each piece of chicken. 

Roll the crescent dough around each piece of chicken and place on a greased cookie sheet. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the microwave and brush over the tops of each crescent roll. Then sprinkle each roll-up with the remaining grated parmesan cheese.

Bake for 14-15 minutes or until each are golden brown.

Serve with marinara and diced tomatoes



So what’s on your list for the week? I love to see what others mamas are up to in the kitchen so let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

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