Recently I wanted to get back on track with cooking healthy(er) and, in the name of accountability, committed to sharing what I’ve been serving my family every night this month. Plus, don’t you just love peeking into other peoples’ homes? Well, here we go! {Read more about the idea behind my September Re-Set and see how I did during week 1, week 2, and week 3.}
Fall has officially arrived, and with the earlier setting of the sun comes a marked decrease in the quality of my dinnertime photos. So sorry!
But along with the chill in the air comes the desire for warm, comforting food. And even though I’m not typically a slow-cooker enthusiast (I feel like most slow-cooker recipes I’ve tried are either 1) bland 2) mushy or 3) all taste the same), this week I somehow wound up with three crock pot meals on the menu. And you know what? They were all pretty amazing.
Sept. 22 – chipotle grilled chicken, roasted red potatoes, and parmesan-roasted green beans
This is one of the best grilled chicken recipes I’ve ever made – moist, flavorful, and versatile. I served it several times over the summer and it was a hit every single time. Time to table: 45 minutes (mostly because of the time needed to roast the potatoes; the chicken marinade is super simple)
Sept. 23 – asian turkey meatballs with homemade gyoza (potstickers) and rice
We LOOOOOOOVE these meatballs and make them all the time. But don’t think for two seconds that I whip up potstickers on a regular basis to go with them – those usually come from the grocery store’s freezer aisle. I lived in Japan for most of my growing-up years and since this was a non-work day for me, I thought that trying to make gyoza from scratch would be a fun project. And it was!!! But not one that I’ll be doing a whole lot of in the future because it was a bit of a time investment and, well, I’ve got a house, a husband, two kids, and two part-time jobs to keep up with.
And if you’re looking at this photo and thinking it’s devoid of vegetables? You’d be right. My original menu had this served with a zoodle (zucchini noodle) stir-fry but we were in a rush to eat and get out the door so I made rice instead. Because sometimes, convenience wins.
Time to table: 30 minutes (this does not count the time I hand-made the potstickers because that is just a ridiculous task to take on, and I’d also pre-mixed the meatballs)
Sept. 24 – black bean soup and quesadillas
Let’s just say the day did not go as planned and I forgot to defrost my chicken in time to go in the slow cooker. So on my lunch break I regrouped and ran to the grocery store for my old stand-by of a super-fast meal. This is cheap, this is easy, this is tasty, and this is fast. Even with absolutely zero prep work, dinner was on the table in 10 minutes. BOOM.
Sept. 25 – Papa Murphy’s pizza
Had friends over, bought pizza. The end.
Sept. 26 – best whole chicken in a crock pot, roasted asparagus, and baked potatoes
Oh, look! Thursday’s chicken has finally thawed! We all love this recipe and the leftover chicken is perfect to freeze for another day or reuse in a zillion different ways. Time to table: 1 hour (for the baked potatoes)
Sept. 27 – garlic cheddar baked chicken nuggets and zucchini tots
My original plan was to make these baked chicken nuggets from Skinnytaste, but then I ran across this old stand-by from early in our marriage and got a craving for it, so I decided to somehow combine them and try and make the best of both worlds because a girl wants what a girl wants. Turns out they were the best of both worlds and everyone ended up happy. (In case you haven’t noticed, I’m less of a follow-the-recipe gal and more of a use-the-recipe-as-a-loose-guideline-and-do-your-own-thing type of gal.)
And if you’ve never made zucchini tots, I suggest you try them at least once. I counted them as tonight’s veggie instead of making a salad like I’d planned because I was tired. Or lazy. Or both. Time to table: 45 minutes
Sept. 28 – slow cooker French dip* with potato wedges and coleslaw
We used to have this ALL. THE. TIME. when we first got married. I’m not sure I’ve ever even made it since our son was born nearly 7 years ago. So I decided to bring it out of retirement and see if we still like it as much as we used to. We do. Time to table: 45 minutes (for the potato wedges; mostly hands-off)
* recipe: rump roast + 1 can each: beef broth, condensed French onion soup, beer. Slow cooker on low for 8 hours.
Sept. 29 – slow cooker paleo jalapeno popper chicken chili
I made this one for my husband. Put “jalapeno” in the title of anything and he’ll try it. This was ANYTHING but bland for this slow-cooker skeptic and was the hands-down winner of the week. It’s definitely going on our regular rotation! Time to table: 5 minutes
Sept. 30 – pasta with broccoli sauce and sautéed chicken sausage
My freezer was getting ridiculous with leftovers after this month’s cooking extravaganza and it was time to start using things up. I had a bag of broccoli stems and decided this was the perfect comforting way to use them. Making a delicious pasta sauce out of veggies is pure brilliance, and everyone cleaned their plates! I did add the starchy pasta water to the food processor (not on the original instructions) to help correct the consistency of the sauce. Time to table – 45 minutes, but you could easily make the sauce in advance and turn this into a 15-minute meal.
And thus concludes A Month of Meals in the Slaney house. I really feel like I’ve gotten back on track with my meal-planning, food-prep, and kitchen habits and having this accountability was a big reason I stuck with it. Was I perfect? No. Could we have eaten more veggies? Yes. Did I succeed every day? No. Did I beat myself up? No. Did I do my best? Mostly.
Will I keep it up? You bet.
Thanks for going along on this journey with me. And while you were here, I hope you found something new to try in your own kitchen!
