A Few Lunch Suggestions

Have you ever had an "Everything Bagel?" I love them...even better though? Everything Bagel Thins. These make delicious sandwhiches. My kids even love them.

Here are a few sandwhich ideas using bagel thins:

Turkey, Bacon, Avacado:

Place a few slices deli turkey (and ham if you want), and the cheese of your choice (we use swiss or provolone, or sometimes cheddar) on your bagel. Place bagel in toaster oven to melt cheese and warm turkey. Top with your favorite toppings: cooked bacon, avacado slices, mayo, mustard, tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, cucumbers (add a little salt, it makes a huge difference!), and anything else you might want.

Toasted Ham and cheese: Does this need an explanation? :)

Ever been to "Pita Pit?" YUM! Another thing we love to use at our house: whole wheat pita pockets.

You can often find them in the refrigerated section of your grocery store (by the tortillas). You can either keep some cooked, diced (or shredded) chicken in your fridge, or I often buy already cooked chicken from Costco (it can get expensive, but I always forget to keep the cooked chicken in my fridge!! You really can just cook a chicken breast in a skillet if you don't have any cooked chicken) Here are a few things we like:

Teriyaki Chicken Pita: Warm some cooked chicken in a skillet on the stove. Put some pineapple and teriyaki sauce (to taste) over chicken and warm through. Top with a little bit of shredded cheese. Put in your pita and enjoy! You can also add any additional add-ons you wish!

Chicken (or Turkey) Bacon Pita: Cook some diced onion in a skillet (whatever kind you like, sometimes we use yellow, sometimes we use red) until soft. Add your chicken, or turkey, and warm through on the stove. Add some shredded cheese, if desired, and allow to melt. Put chicken in your pita and add additional add-ons of your choice: ranch dressing, caeser dressing, tzaiki sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, spinach, olives, cucumbers, banana peppers (if you're my husband!), mayo, mustard...whatever you choose!!

Beef, Tomato and Goat Cheese Pita: If I have left-over roast-beef from a sunday dinner, I usually shred it and stick it in the fridge. For this one, cook some diced onion in a skillet until soft. Add your shredded beef. Put a dash or two of oregano, garlic powder, and basil. (Add a little water if the meat seems really dry). Add some diced tomatoes. Top with goat cheese crumbles, and cook on medium-low heat until cheese is melted. Serve in Pita


We also love Quizno's at our house. Every had one of their "Sammies?" Yum! My kids especially love their chicken, bacon, ranch sammy. We also love flat bread....so you can't go wrong. Did you know that you can buy flat-bread thins at Costco? Yum!! Only 100 calories...and that's AMAZING For flatbread (It is usually pretty calorie dense)

Chicken-Bacon-Ranch: We usually use these just to make our own version of a chicken-bacon-ranch. Warm some cooked chicken on the stove (you can do some onions too if you want). Spread a little bit of ranch on your flatbread (My favorite is Marzetti's Light-Ranch). Add some crumbed cooked bacon, your chicken, diced tomatoes, a little shredded cheese (cheddar, colby or monterrey jack), and some shredded lettuce. Easy Enough!

Chicken-Caeser: Cooked Chicken, lettuce, diced tomatoes (if desired), parmesan cheese (if desired). Spread flatbread with Caesar Dressing, add other ingredients, and enjoy!

You can also use these to make individual pizzas. When I make pizza sauce, I usually have extra, so I will freeze some of it. There are instructions for several different kinds of pizzas you can make on the flatbreads right inside the package!

If you have something that you like, whether it be a brand (i.e. McCormick, Campbell's) or something specific (i.e. bagel thins, pita pockets, flatbread), most of these things have websites with endless recipes! Many grocery stores also have lists of recipes on their websites, I know Hy-Vee does (They usually even have a "recipe of the day)! The other thing we often do is think of our favorite salad, sandwich, or panini to order from somewhere, look on their website to determine the ingredients, and make our own version at home!

Help me with lunch!

I know technically this is a recipe exchange but I need help. I loathe lunch. I dislike coming up with ideas for things to eat, my husband takes the left overs, and, unlike my children, the idea eating PB&J sandwiches everyday grosses me out!
I will share some of my lunches, if you share some of yours! Some of these are kind of obvious so don't think that I am being to mundane by writing descriptions beneath them:)

Mediterranean Eggs
Make an Omelet or scrambles eggs. Add spinach, onions, and tomatoes that have been sauteed in olive oil. Sprinkle with Feta cheese.

"Wrangler" sandwich
Saute chopped onions in olive oil until soft, add chopped roast beef, with bbq sauce, mushrooms (optional) and pineapples tidbits. Serve on toasted deli roll with provolone cheese melted on top.

Chicken nugget sandwich
Whenever my kids have chicken nuggets* I save three or four for me. I toast up some bread, spread light mayo and bbq sauce to moisten, add pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and hot chicken nuggets.
* I buy either buy organic, natural chicken nuggets or make my own and freeze them, they taste way better that way.

Taco salad
I either keep a small amount of ground beef available for cooking, or when you cook taco, make a little extra and reserve some in the fridge. Lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, olives, sour cream, salsa, beans.

Lettuce wraps- wrap the following ingredients in iceberg lettuce leafs, lunch meat, cheese (I like pepperjack), mustard, yellow peppers, tomatoes, I guess pretty much anything you like!

Quesadilla-
I prefer to use uncooked tortillas found in the refrigerated section. Cook it up, them wipe a light amount of canola oil on the bottom, put some shredded cheese in the middle, top it off, and spread wipe some more canola on the top part of the tortilla, flip until done. Top it off with salsa, lettuce and black beans.

That is all of my ideas right now. Please help me stop dreading lunch so much and share your ideas with me! Thanks!

Raspberry-Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Raspberry-Balsamic Glazed Chicken
1 tsp vegetable oil
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt divided
4 chicken breast halves
1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper


Heat oil in a large nonstick skilled coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion; sautee 5 minutes. Combine thyme and 1/4 tsp salt; sprinkle over chicken. Add chicken to skillet; sautee 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1/4 tsp salt, preserves, vinegar, and pepper, stirring constantly until the preserves melt. Spoon raspberry sauce over chicken. Makes 4 servings.

I served it with rice. It's simple and quick...and yummy too. Can't beat that!

Peggy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies for primary last month and was asked to put the recipe on this blog. So here it is for all of you who liked them :)

• 2 C shortening
• 2 C sugar
• 1 C brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 5 C flour
• 1 bag chocolate chips

Mix everything together. Drop by the spoonful (I use a cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 min.

A Side Dish! It's POTATOES!!

I realized that I mostly post main dishes or desserts....but we can't just have a main dish without something to serve it with, right? And if our "main dish" is something simple or semi-boring (like hamburgers, or grilled chicken) it is nice to excite your dinner by adding a yummy side-dish. So, here are a few of our favorites:

Roasted Parmesan Potatoes
4 medium potatoes, peeled (can use red potatoes, or any kind you like)
1 tbs vegetable oil
3 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Slice potatoes in half, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Place potatoes in medium bowl and toss with oil (or in a zip lock bag). Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add herb/cheese mix to potatoes and toss to coat potatoes evenly. Arrange potatoes on prepared baking sheet. Bake, turning once, until potatoes are lightly browned and easily pierced with a knife, about 25 minutes.

Microwave Cheesy Potatoes
4 cups potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbs butter
3 tbs cornstarch
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (Cheddar, Colby or Monterrey jack)
1/2 cup sour cream, optional

Mix milk and cornstarch until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except cheese. Put in 2 qt glass microwave dish. Cook 15-20 minutes on high in microwave, stirring every 5-7 minutes. Add cheese, and sour cream if desired, and let stand 3-5 minutes to allow cheese to melt.

Scalloped Potatoes
6 potatoes, peeled and cut into disks
1/2 onion, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
shredded cheese, to taste

Place potatoes and onion in pot of water with a pinch of salt. Boil until barely tender, but not done. Mix potatoes with soup and desired amount of cheese. Microwave until bubbly.