Attempt at Healthy

Summer is so crazy busy and sometimes it just ends up that you have to do a meal that was pulled from a box. Yes, I'll admit it. We had taquitos! LOL

I was feeling a little guilty about serving my kids something out of a box, so I went and got some spinach leaves out of the fridge and wrapped one of my taquitos in it before I dipped it in salsa and sour cream. It actually was pretty tasty!

Once the kids saw me wrapping my dinner with a leaf, they ALL wanted leaves. I had to go back to the sink several times and prepare even more spinach leaves. The leaves became a real hot commodity! So, without even trying, my kids enjoyed a whole bunch of spinach for dinner. :)

More More Casserole

I'll admit, this meal is much better than it looks! THIS is More More Casserole. It's one I used to have when I was little and now I feed it to my kids. It has a bunch of stuff in it that they will eat and they really like it. :) I served it without a side because I was totally out of "side" ingredients. That's ok though. It has everything in it we need to be healthy, right? So I can still chalk it up to a full meal.

More More Casserole

1 c. spaghetti noodles, broken into 1/2" pieces

1 lb. ground beef

1 (12 oz) can whole kernel corn

1/4 c. green peppers, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce

3/4 t. chili powder

1 c. mild chedder cheese, grated

Cook noodles in boiling, salted water until tender (10 min). Brown ground beef with onion and green pepper. Drain fat. Drain noodles and corn. Add all ingredients together except cheese. Stir well. Pour into casserole dish and top with cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

What I did differently:

I substituted the ground beef with 3 cups of cooked red beans. I just sauteed the onions and green peppers together in a pan until they were soft and added them to the mixture.

Here is what the finished product looked like - just out of the oven. TASTY!

Cream of Chicken Rice

This is one of our favorite fall-back meals. I make it when I haven't gone shopping for awhile and need something quick. When I took it out of the oven this time, Samantha came in and started jumping up and down saying, "I love this dinner!" That's always a good sign.

Cream of Chicken Rice

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1/2 onion, chopped

2 c. milk

1 c. uncooked rice

Boil chicken for 1 hour on stove (or however you like to cook it). Shred the chicken. Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Stir occasionally so the rice will cook evenly.

I sometimes add broccoli into this mix, or you can top it with buttered cracker crumbs. This is how it looks when it's done.

Our favorite way to serve this is to spoon it onto your plate while it's really hot. Then add a little butter on top and let it melt. Top with salt and pepper.

This time I also served salad with it. The salad was simply red leaf lettuce, chopped spinach leaves, chopped carrots, cucumbers, and green peppers. YUM!