Thursday Thirteen---Fruits

The last time I participated with this meme, I talked about the 13 veggies that I was going to work at adding into my diet despite what my family thinks of them.  Just to update on that part of things, it is going well...not as well I would like but I am making an effort to eat more veggies in my diet!

I thought since I did the veggies it would not be complete if I didn't do 13 fruits!  So this week, I am going to share 13 fruits that I enjoy eating. Living in the Midwest, it is difficult to get tasty fruit because a lot of it has to be shipped in.  I love the summer time in the Midwest because that means I can get LOTS of tasty in season fruits that can be combined to make a big delicious fruit salad!

Without further ado....13 fruits!(in no particular order)

1. Apples
   
   
2. Pineapples
   
   
3. Cantaloupes
   
   
4. Strawberries
   
   
5. Raspberries
   
   
6. Peaches
   
   
7. Pears
   
   
8. Grapes
   
   
9. Watermelon
   
   
10. Cherries
    
    
11. Blueberries
    
    
12. Plums
    
    
13. Blackberries
    

You are probably wondering where the oranges and bananas are on that list!?!?  I can not eat these fruits when they are fresh because oranges give me lots of cankers in my mouth and bananas give me massive heartburn. I still kind of eat these fruits by drinking orange juice, eating a fruit salad, and eating banana muffins.  Sometimes for bananas I will even pick up a jar of baby food bananas and eat them instead of fresh bananas. 

For more Thursday Thirteen lists, head over to Happy to be at Home. 

Works for Me Wednesday---Onions

Any long time reader of my blog knows that I cook for a  bunch of picky eaters!  Just the other day when I was talking about the salsa chicken, I made mention of the pureeing the sauce so there was no chunks to worry my picky eaters. 

Well there is something else that the picky eaters do not like and that is onions! However, I love cooked onions in my food!  Basically every meat and a few veggie dishes I make has to have onions as part of the mixture or it tastes bland!  Needless to say, it has been a rough road of wanting onions in things and having those picky eaters complain about the "chunks" of onion that is in their food!  

I have tried to go without onions in the food and the food just does not have any flavor!  So I have found something that has worked for me in getting onions in the food and yet has kept the "picky eater complaining" at bay!  Instead of using fresh raw onions, I use dried minced onions or onion powder in my foods. This way I am getting the flavor I want but yet the chunks of onion are basically non-existent.   

Now I do not have to worry about wasting part of a fresh onion or stinking up my freezer with the chopped up fresh onion or trying not to cry while chopping a fresh onion.  Speaking of crying while cutting a fresh onion, did you know that if you chill the onion and then peel them under running water you are less likely to cry??  Well it's true!

If I need to use a fresh chopped onion in something, I will take the time to rehydrate the minced onion.  I put the minced onion in a bowl and put in enough water to cover the pieces.   Usually though I do not take the time to rehydrate the onion, I just measure out what I need for the dish I am making and dump the onion in. 

I get the minced onion or onion powder at Sam's every couple of months. At my Sam's Club, the minced onion in the 15 oz bottle is $4.64 and the 20 oz bottle of onion powder is $3.88. 

Just in case you are wondering what the equivalents are between fresh onions and the minced onions or onion powder....1 small onion = 1/3 cup = 1 teaspoon onion powder = 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

Dry minced onions or onion powder work for me while I am cooking meals for my family!

For more Works for me Wednesday, head over to We are THAT Family!

That Did NOT Last Long...

So what did not last long???

Life with one vehicle!!  

After hubby wrecked his Explorer truck, I was resolved that we were going to be a family of seven with just one vehicle for a while, despite going in several different directions every day and needing to take hubby to work in order to go the different directions.   However, after just one week of one vehicle, hubby was having major withdraws and started looking for another vehicle for us.  He was looking for something that would manage all of us and had low mileage. 

After looking for a couple of weeks, we had narrowed it down to several vehicles, actually trucks!  

After test driving and having our friend who is a master mechanic look at all the trucks we were interested in...we settled on a 2003 Chevy Suburban!  It has less than 80,000 miles on it! The only thing that our mechanic found on it was that it needed an alignment!  It has enough seats for all of us!  Granted it doesn't have an entertainment center in it like we have had in our other vehicles(including our current van) but that is something that is easily fixable if we so desire. 

So now life can go on like it had been before frightful snowy day when hubby wrecked his Explorer.   

Salsa Chicken

Last week, I made a new dish for a dinner called "Salsa Chicken".  I have heard and read about it before but hadn't really found a recipe for it. 

I did some research and found that there are several different ways to make Salsa Chicken.   You can do it in the crockpot or on the oven or on the stovetop!  You can use tomatoes with chilies or you can use a jar of salsa.  You can add extra spices or you can let the spices or the tomatoes be enough. You can make it creamy or you can just leave it uncreamy.

With all the different variations it is easy to make the dish to suit your palette.  The majority of my family does not like chunks of veggies, especially tomato, in their saucy food.  So I decided to follow a friend's advice when putting this dish together.  I also decided that I was going to do a crockpot version of the recipe.

First, I cleaned my chicken pieces(I used a combination of boneless/skinless chicken tenders and breasts) and put them in my crockpot. (Sorry I remembered to start taking pics about the time I was ready to pour in the sauce!)
Then I combined one jar of Chi-Chi's Mild Salsa, one can of cream of chicken soup, and two tbsps. of taco seasoning into my blender!  Then I pureed all of it! (This was my friend's advice!--I can still have the spices and flavors of the salsa without the chunks!) OH! If you and your family like the chunks then you can skip the pureeing process. Just combine all salsa, soup, and seasoning in a bowl and dump over the chicken!
Then I poured the sauce over the chicken and cooked in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. (The picture above was taken about midway through the cooking process.)
I served the chicken on to plates and topped with shredded cheddar cheese. For my sides, I served rice and corn.   

With pureeing the sauce, it was thin and actually made a great gravy!  My plate I actually put the chicken in a bed of rice and then topped it with cheese.  It tasted very similar to having a chicken burrito without the tortilla shell!

The leftovers of the chicken were saved for a lunch and I made it into a leftover makover, I cut up the chicken into bite size pieces and heated through and made chicken tacos/burritos for the family! 

Now for the exact recipe: 

Salsa Chicken

4 fresh chicken breasts

10 fresh chicken tenders

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 jar salsa

2 tbsp. taco seasoning

Clean chicken. Blend soup, salsa, and taco seasoning well. Pour over chicken. Cook in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 

This post is linked at: 

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace!
  
• Kitchen tip Tuesday, over at Tammy's Recipes! 
• Tasty Tuesday at Forever, Wherever
  
• I am Blissfully Domestic at Blissfully Domestic!

Menu Plan Monday 3/22-3/28

Last week's menu plan went pretty smoothly and was followed very well!  It is amazing how the tone of the kitchen changes when the menu plan is posted for the whole family to see during the week.  I got more help from my kids this week in the kitchen with having the menu posted than what I did the week previous when I was lazy and didn’t post it.

Also last week, I tried a new recipe called "salsa chicken".  The family is divided on the liking of the dish, however, if you come back tomorrow I will have my review of the recipe along with the recipe posted for your trying enjoyment. 

This week’s shopping trip was a major trip!  I am trying to get back into the swing of a “major trip” every two weeks.  I can’t quite swing a monthly grocery shopping trip so I like to do major shopping every two weeks instead.  So far this is working well for my family.

This week’s menus are some family favorites. I am gearing the meals more towards the kids’ favorites as my hubby will be working late a couple of days this week.   Also this week, I don’t have any appointments or grocery shop so this “homebody” will hopefully be getting some baking done for the freezer. I really need to think about getting some baking done as the warm weather is just around the corner and it is hard to justify turning on the oven in 80 degree heat!

Lunches listed are for the kids & me. Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or baby carrots along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 400 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie’s site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists! 

Sunday (3-22)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, and jiffy muffins

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: pizza party @ church

Snack: snack basket

 

Monday (3-23)

Breakfast: cereal, toaster strudel

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  saucy pork chops served with rice and peas

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (3-24)

Breakfast: waffles and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  sloppy joes served with French fries and a fresh veggie tray (carryover from last week)

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (3-25)

Breakfast: bagels, eggs and cereal

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner:  goulash served with homemade corn muffins

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (3-26)

Breakfast: Pancakes

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: creamy chicken served over noodles with green beans on the side

Snack: snack basket

 

Friday (3-27)

Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: grilled marinated chicken, fish, & shrimp served with French fries and corn

Snack: cookies & milk                                            

Saturday (3-28)  

Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”

Lunch: pizza 

Dinner:  cube steak served with crashed potatoes and corn

Snack:  snack basket  or popcorn