365 days-Day 21 Island Chicken and Rice

Yummy, yummy, yummy. A definite do over. This one will be in rotation to try another time once this challenge is over.

http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/MainDish/SimpleMeal.do?mealId=2018&mealGroupId=1004

Husband tried this awhile ago at Publix and asked me to make it. Unfortunately I waited until it was no longer the featured recipe and it took awhile to find all the items but it was worth the wait. Not sure what else to say. I served it with a salad and some fruit.

As a side note I just noticed that there are no more leaves on our trees outside our front door. Guess that means fall is over. I know it is technically Dec 21 but this is a depressing day for me. Good thing the high was like 72 to help ease the pain.

365 days-Day 20 REM listening Party

I went with Jennifer to Athens tonight for a REM listening party for their last album release. It was pretty cool. Had Chick-fil-A on the way, not so cool. At the party Mike Mills and Bill Berry showed up. Mike Mills even signed my new REM t-shirt. Guess that shirt will never be worn.

365 days-Day 19 Parmesean Crusted Chicken with Pasta Alfredo

This was pretty good. Would be something to try again with maybe a little harder recipe. I had limited supplies so this worked out really well. Here is the recipe I used.

http://www.hellmanns.us/promotions/ChickenChallenge/recipe-parmesan-crusted-chicken.aspx

I served it with orecchiette pasta with alfredo sauce on top and brocolli florets.

365 Days-Day 18 Republican debate

Today Chad went to the first network televised Republican Presidential Debate. We always travel together to keep one another entertained so we ate out. I failed my other challenge (no beef) and ate a nasty greasy cheeseburger and decided that it wasn't really that great so maybe I can stop craving them.

365 Days-Day 17 Marsha's spaghetti bake

My neighbor Marsha who I have been giving some of my dinners away to made dinner for us tonight. Actually it was for yesterday but since I had the tooth pulled we ate it tonight. Very good. Gonna have to ask her how to make that sauce.

365 Days-Day 16 tooth pulled :(

Insert big frowny face here. I thought I would be fine after surgery but I was soooo wrong. I did pull it together enough to go to work for an hour or so but after that I was wasted. I got yummy Chicken Soup from Monterrey's Mexican. I am off solid food for 24 hours per surgeon. Another big frowny face goes here :(

365 days-Day 15 Fresh Bread and Chicken Salad.

This was always a staple in our house growing up but with Tuna instead of chicken salad. I am not big on tuna unless it is with fresh bread so I made chicken salad which I am a big fan of. I used my bread machine instead of my mixer since it is a little easier that way. This is the recipe I used:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/best-bread-machine-bread/detail.aspx

It is as good as the Krusteaz Country White mix that costs over $2-3 just for the mix. It was so yummy.

The chicken salad is a simple recipe I learned from my Memphis mama-Deborah. The amounts needed are guesses because she never measures and I never measure but I tried to take note of what I put in tonight. For a small batch I used about 1/2 -1 cooked chicken breast, 1 celery stalk (large chop), 1/2 small to medium onion (large chop), and approximately 1/4 cup Hellman's regular mayo. You can also add some salt and pepper. Dump into food processor and process till you get your desired consistency. I like it all mixed up really good and no large bits. I have a mini food processor so I make the small batches and then dump into a larger bowl and mix that up if I need more. Taste as you process so you can decide if you want to add more of something.

365 days-Day 15 Eating out

Tonight we went to see Hairspray at Brenau. It was awesome. I was worried that it being a smallish college it might not be very good. I was pleasantly suprised but it being at least cruise ship quality and maybe not quite as good as something at the Fox in Atlanta but very nice. Singing was awesome. Dancing was so so. You could tell these are vocal actors and dancing is down low on their skills but if you aren't looking for the mistakes you might not hardly notice. If you get a chance please go see this and support them so they can get even better next time.

365 days-Day 14 Fajita Quesadillas

I love, love, love fajita quesadillas. They are delicious and really easy. I have always made them with chicken, but in the spirit of the challenge to myself I made them with shrimp for the first time. All you have to do is cut up about 1/2-1 bell pepper and onion and them make the marinade. I like the Walmart/Great Value Fajita mix the best and never make it ahead like it says. I throw everything in the pan together and cook. If you use chicken let that cook longer and add the veggies after the chicken has cooked 3-5 minutes. Then spread some butter or something on one side of a tortilla, place in fry pan and let it cook. While the tortilla is doing its thing sprinkle cheese all over the tortilla and then put your meat and veggies on one side of the tortilla and fold over. Done. Yummy. I forgot to take a picture but they looked like the above pic.

365 days-Day 13 Sweet & Sour Chicken

Yummm. This one was good. Not sure if it ranks at the top. I think I would try a different recipe next time, but very good and very easy for novice cooks. I found the recipe here:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/10/sweet-and-sour-chicken-stir-fry/

Not much else to say. I followed this recipe spot on except I forgot to get fresh ginger so I threw in some cinnamon and allspice with the salt and pepper. I would use the red bell pepper for presentation's sake. I used green and it didn't look as pretty as the stock photos. :)

365 days-Day 12 Baked Spaghetti with side salad

So baked spaghetti. . . I give it a 2.5 out of five. I did not get sick and I didn't want to spit it out but it lacked a lot of flavor. I used really good sauce and did everything right except I used ground turkey because of the no beef thing. I wouldn't recomment but I bet this would be a whole lot better with real beef. Also I realized I didn't have regular spaghetti noodle only angel hair so I made it with some penne pasta. Here is the recipe if you want to try:
http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/MainDish/SimpleMeal.do?mealId=60&mealGroupId=1001

365 days-Day 11 Coconut Shrimp with Orange Marmalade Dipping sauce

Tonight was soooooo good. I think it was my favorite so far. This is one of my most favorite things to eat anyway. Lisa A gave me a recipe for this and I also had one from Publix and they varied a decent amount so I decided to see if there was a recipe online for Outback Gold Coast Coconut Shrimp because I mostly wanted the dipping sauce. Yipee Skipy they have it here:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/524/Outback_Steakhouse_Gold_Coast_Coconut_Shrimp38359.shtml

Yummmmmm. You will love this recipe. It is not hard at all. I mean look at the list of ingredients. A well trained monkey could handle this. It would be easier if you could find already peeled shrimp. I fried mine in my tiny fry daddy and I wouldn't recommend this. I could only do like 3 at a time and even then I had grease boiling over. Most recipes I saw called for pulling oil in large saute pan enough to cover the bottom and cooking there. I also used fresh cold beer (thanks Marsha), not flat; and cooked immediately due to the comments people left on the website.

365 days- Day 10 Logan's

Ugh another night out! Tonight we stayed in Douglasville until the rain had passed through Atlanta so we could drive home in no rain or traffic. Coconut shrimp will have to wait one more night.

365 days- Day 9 Chick-fil-A

Don't ya just love it? Tonight was church and we got out late from work, so it turned into a Chick-fil-A night. Bleh.

365 Days-Day 8 King Ranch Chicken

Tonight we had king ranch chicken, broccoli slaw, salad, and fresh fruit. I forgot to take my pictures but I have the stock photo for the recipe above. Here is a link to the recipe I used.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/king-ranch-chicken-casserole-i/detail.aspx

The broccoli slaw is a fresh veggie mix from publix and you add the mayo and whatnot to turn it into slaw. The salad was a fresh express pear Gorgonzola mix and then we had strawberries and bananas. Overall the dinner was very good. This was the easiest King Ranch chicken recipe I have found anywhere and I think it could have been a lot better if there was more effort on my part. Don't get me wrong I thought it was good and will be happy to eat the leftovers for lunch but next time I might try a little more difficult recipe because I think it will be worth it.

365 days-Day 7 Leftovers

Failure on day 7 you ask? Well not sure because husband said he wanted to eat leftover chili and quiche for dinner. I think he was just trying to go easy on me so we could get the dogs in costume and get ready for trick or treaters. Whatever it worked for me.