What My Family Ate for Dinner - Week 16

Another week in the books and I'm still in a recipe funk. I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the heat.

Here's what my family ate for dinner this week!

Sunday, June 15: Happy Father's Day! Scott and the kiddos went for a fun filled day of swimming and BBQ at his parent's house, while I soothed an upset stomach with toast. It was every bit as exciting as it sounds.

Monday, June 16: Chicken stir fry. I originally just had chicken teriyaki on the menu and Scott transformed it into chicken stir fry. It was super yummy and gave us plenty for leftovers.

Tuesday, June 17: Breakfast for dinner! Seriously, is there anything better than pancakes and turkey bacon for dinner? I mean, real bacon would make it better, but ya know. Aaron boycotted this meal because he did not think it was a real dinner. Tell me that again in 20 years kid.

Wednesday, June 18: Marinated pork chops. I shared this recipe a few weeks ago and we loved it so much we had to have it again this week. I marinated them longer and it made a HUGE difference. If you can marinate them overnight.

Thursday, June 19: "Hey, this weather sucks, let's just order pizza." "Okay."

Friday, June 20: Scott and I were supposed to have a date night, but an incident kept him at work. Thank goodness for leftover pizza.

Saturday, June 21: Chicken Marsala with parmesan orzo and zucchini. Yum! One of my favorite cookbooks is Rocco Dispirito's Now Eat This! series. He takes lots of your favorite foods and slashes calories and fat from them. Perfection.

I hope you enjoy these and I hope my funk ends this week. Fingers crossed!

Healthy Chicken Marsala with Parmesan Orzo

Scott and I love mushrooms and chicken (hello, protein!), so naturally a healthier version of chicken Marsala had to be discovered. Cue the devilishly handsome Chef Rocco. If you are trying to lose weight or eat healthy, you really should grab his Now Eat This! cookbooks. He takes a lot of your favorites (especially your favorite Italian dishes) and makes them healthier and lighter.

Here is what you need:

• 4 chicken cutlets (4 ounces eat), pounded thin.
• Salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• Nonstick olive oil cooking spray
• Two 8-ounce packages sliced mushrooms
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
• 1 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
• Black pepper

Here's what you do:

• To cook all of this at the same time you will either need one large pan or two medium skillets.
• Heat your skillets over medium-low heat.
• While pans are heating put 1/2 cup of the flour in one shallow bowl and your egg substitute in another shallow bowl. Dredge your chicken in the flour and then egg substitute. 
• Spray the hot pans with the cooking spray.
• Add chicken to the skillets and cook until golden brown on each side (should be about 4 minutes total, but always check to make sure your chicken is cooked all the way).
• Transfer chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
• Wipe out your skillets and raise heat to high.
• Spray the skillets with olive oil.
• If you are using two skillets, add one package of mushrooms to each pan. I was able to fit both in my pan. 
• Cook mushrooms for 3 minutes without stirring to allow the mushrooms to brown. 
• When the mushrooms are browned, combine in one pan (if you are using two skillets), add garlic and season with salt. 
• Reduce the heat to medium and cook the mushrooms for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
• Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour. 
• Stir in the wine and chicken broth, and bring the sauce to a simmer. You want to simmer this until it has the consistency of a gravy (about 3 minutes).
• Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt. Season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon your mixture over the chicken and serve.

This recipe serves four. Nutrition info: Calories 243, Fat 4g, Protein 34g, Carbs 12g, Cholesterol 72mg, Fiber 2g, Sodium 411mg. 

I served this over a really yummy parmesan orzo that can be found here (use whole wheat, it's so yummy!)

This is a great weekend meal, but if you have some extra time during the week, you can easily make it then.

Enjoy!

What My Family Ate For Dinner - Week 13

One of the things I love about this weekly post is that it keeps us honest. Scott is on a huge weight loss journey and it has caused us to completely reevaluate what we eat. Never in a million years did I think we would eat the way we are now (that's not to say we were unhealthy eaters before).  It's amazing to see the growth these past 13 weeks. I cannot wait to see where we go from here!

Now on to why you're really here...

This is what my family ate for dinner this week...

Sunday, May 25: We celebrated Memorial Day a day early since Scott had to work. We had a late lunch of turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, beans, chips and salsa, fruit salad, veggies and apples. It's safe to say we burned a lot of that off in the pool.

Black Bean Burrito Bowl

Monday, May 26: I made black bean burrito bowls and oh my word. They were DELICIOUS! They are so easy to make, too. You can either use quinoa or brown rice, black beans, and literally whatever veggies you want. It's that simple. 

Tuesday, May 27: (Happy anniversary to us!) This recipe is what I like to call stupid simple. It's BBQ chicken melts that literally takes zero time to prep and make. How did I not think of this sooner?

Wednesday, May 28: Aaron is on a noodle kick, so we made shrimp alfredo with broccoli. I think he ate 3 servings. No, really. I just used the Bertolli light alfredo, frozen shrimp, broccoli and whole wheat penne. That simple.

BBQ Chicken Melt

Thursday, May 29: Another Aaron request...Jambalaya. I cannot find the andouille sausage I like at my Target, so I swapped it for chicken sausage. Um, yum! Again, I was lucky I had any of this. Aaron gobbled it all up.

Friday, May 30: Uncle Bob, Aunt Vanessa and sweet baby Jaxson were in town, so we brought in Giordano's. I'm proud to say I can still hold a baby and eat at the same time. Momma's still got it!

Saturday, May 31: Shrimp Boil. That's all I need to say. It is SO good and we just gobble it up. 

I hope you enjoy all of these recipes as much as we did!

What My Family Ate for Dinner This Week

Another week in the books and a few inches shaved off of Scott. Obviously, we are doing something right.

Here's what we ate this week:

Sunday, February 9: Meatball Stroganoff

The recipe for this is really vague and I ended up making entirely too much. We had leftovers for several days. The meal was really yummy though and a serving was about 358 calories. Not too shabby.

Monday, February 10: Chicken, Broccoli & Cheese Skillet

This is another yummy and quick meal that you can make during the week. It also contains all of Aaron's favorite things, chicken, cheese and broccoli. This is about 422 calories per serving.

Tuesday, February 11: Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I did not snag a picture of this because I was too busy shoveling it in my mouth. Holy yum, was this good! Again, this makes a lot and we were able to have leftovers for a few days. Each serving (which is 2 cups and HUGE) is only 358 calories. It was a struggle for me to eat 2 cups worth of this soup. It is so filling!

Wednesday, February 12: Tuna Sandwiches

We were running behind and the weather was AWFUL on Wednesday, so Scott fed the kiddos dinner and he and I had tuna sandwiches. We had it on Rudi's Gluten-Free bread with one serving of Starkist chunk light tuna, mixed with a half of a tablespoon of Ken's ranch dressing. I added some super delicious whole grain Cheez-It's on the side and my dinner was 470 calories. Not the greatest, but comforting on a stormy night.

Thursday, February 13: Sour Cream Enchiladas

Again, no photo. You will probably never see a photo of these from me because they are just so delicious. One serving (which is two enchiladas) is 374 calories. You will lick your plate with this meal. I'm not even kidding.

Friday, February 14: Chicken Jambalaya 

Okay, we were supposed to have chicken jambalaya for dinner, but neither my stomach nor Scott's stomach could not handle another meal that included Rotel tomatoes. I have the completed meal in the fridge for leftovers. We have made this before and it is really delicious. So what did we have? Um...we may have just ordered a pizza and called it a night. Everyone is allowed one of these nights.

Saturday, February 15: Repeat! Chicken, Broccoli & Cheese Skillet

Aaron helps plan the meals with me each week and this was one of this requests. Of course I obliged and made it again!

I hope you find these meals just as yummy! Enjoy!