What's For Dinner?

I've been on one of my culinary highs lately. I go back and forth with this. I will go for a while when all I want to do is be in my kitchen creating things. Then I'll go for a while when I think I'll scream if I have to cook another meal. For now, I'm riding the high while it lasts and my family is enjoying it. Well, my husband is enjoying it. The kids are enjoying most of it. The veggies, not so much!
I thought I'd share some of the yummy goodness we've been enjoying lately. I will post recipes later if anyone is interested.

I was attemping to make a Taco Soup, but altered the ingredients/amounts a bit to make it more of a chili/stew. I decided to name this one "Mexican Chicken Chili" and it was delish. We ate it with shredded cheese on top and dipped tortilla chips in it as well. This was a crock pot meal, which made it even better! I threw it all in the pot at 8am and it was ready by 4pm. I must admit that I did not force my children to eat this. They're not much of the "all in one pot" meal. They like their ingredients plain jane and separate, for the most part. This night, they ate chicken nuggets and green beans instead.

A couple nights before the chili, I made Nacho Chicken (coated in crushed Doritos!) and also, these Parmesean Potato Wedges. Talk about yummy. Jason was the only one who seemed to like the chicken very much. I don't think I'll be making that again. But the taters, they've already made a second appearance at dinner at my mom and dad's last weekend and I'm pretty sure we'll see them again.

Last night, was spaghetti. On Monday, Labor Day, I made a pot of homemade spaghetti sauce with beef. One of those "simmered on the stove for 4 hour" varieties. We already had dinner (leftover roast, taters, and green beans from mom and dad's on Sunday) so after it was done, I put it in the fridge for the next night.

Here's Jason's plate. I promise there's some good looking spaghetti sauce under all that mozzarella cheese! And I didn't even put a vegetable on the man's plate. You'd think he'd died and gone to heaven.

Here's my kid-version of spaghetti night. Again, not big fans of the meat and the sauce actually being cooked together in the same pot. So, I just gave them plain marinara sauce over their noodles. Noodle variety of the night, Radiattore. I always try to mix it up and use different shapes so they never know what they're getting. They seemed to like this one.

You'll also notice that there's not a single vegetable on the plate. GASP. When I realized this at the last minute, I immediately grabbed some bananas and sliced them up on their plates. It made me feel like a better mom, and the kids loved it. They were STOKED about the no veggies deal. They take after their father! I must say that Braden and Gracie normally do pretty good with the veggies. I didn't have any luck with the Zucchini I made last week, but the standard corn and green beans are usually big hits with them. Rhett on the other hand... not so much.

Enjoying Spaghetti night!

I pulled out my current favorite cook book and decided to make a quick dessert at the last minute. The book calls it "Chocolate Spoon Pie". I prefer "Warm, Ooey, Gooey Chocolate Cake."Here's a serving of the "pie". It was supposed to have been served "A La Mode" but we didn't have any "Mode". I'm still trying to lose 1 more pant size and ice cream is a BIG weakness for me. So, I just tend not to keep it around. Although, I'm not sure the dessert in general is a good idea. Oh, well. Life is short!! But it would've been heavenly with the cold ice cream though. Not sure eating it without the ice cream did the recipe justice.

I recently purchased a beautiful roasting pan from my favorite Pampered Chef consultant, my friend Brenda Manley. I have a whole chicken in my fridge and I'm planning for the two to meet sometime this week. My mouth is watering already. I've been dreaming about roasting that chicken in my new pan.

I have some ground turkey in the freezer that I intend to make Turkey Tacos with in the near future as well. Other than that, no big culinary plans. Yet. I've been taking the cookbooks to bed with me at night, so I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Oh, did I share my kitchen inspiration with you yet?

A new apron. I've never had a cute apron. In fact, I've been using one for years that my MaMa Dennie gave me that was a freebie from the Louisiana Lottery. It's the only one I've ever had. We went to a craft fair this past weekend and my sweet hubby bought me this one. And he bought Gracie one to match.

Aren't we just darlin' little 1950's looking divas in our new aprons??

I temporarily broke my "no kid touches the camera" rule to let Gracie snap this picture of me.

After calling my spaghetti "the best I've ever had in my life" last night, Jason said if the apron was my inspiration, he would happily run out and buy me 5 more.

Off to start making buttercream. I'm making my nephews birthday cake this week!