Refried Bean Dinner -Taco Salads

We like this meal because it is very versatile. It includes the frozen refried bean/meat mix (fully cooked) and 1 bag of chips. I gave you our very mild version so if you like it hotter, you may want to throw in a can of medium or hot chili peppers. There's serveral ways to serve this:
1. Thaw overnight; reheat in the microwave or on the stove, stirring every few minutes (and add a little water if you like it thinner). For the last couple of minutes we like to add a cup or two of shredded cheddar cheese and melt it on top. Serve the mixture on top of a bed of chips, and add lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, sliced olives, or whatever other toppings you like, and there you have a taco salad. OR ...
2. For kids that don't like all the extra toppings, just serve it like nachos and sprinkle more cheese on top.
3. Serve like a burrito, wrapped in a tortilla with salsa, sour cream, and lots of cheese (Dave's preference)
4. Serve on top of cooked white rice, and then add lettuce, tomatoes, olives and cheese on top (This is how my parents serve this meal).

Chicken and Brocolli Fettucini Alfredo

So many apologies... so little time...Well, I am still really embarassed that I did not have my meals done on Friday to give to everyone. I had a really busy week and several things came up that were unexpected. I am so sorry because this is twice now that this has happened! So, please forgive me. My food is done now though, and has been frozen for a couple days, so I will be dropping them off to everyone today.
The second thing I feel bad about is something I realized after my meals were already in the bags and partially frozen... I forgot to put garlic in the alfredo sauce. So, you'll have to add a little bit of garlic when you are heating it, or it won't taste very good. You can used fresh minced garlic, garlic powder, or garlic salt whichever you prefer. And, the sauce has a lot of cheese in it, so it will probably be really thick when it thaws out. Just add milk to thin it if you would like. I hope you enjoy it! This is one of our family's favorite meals... I usually serve it with garlic bread, green beans, and ceasar salad.

I want recipes!!!

Really, I want to put together a little collection of our recipes. I could do it every month after we exchange our meals. What ever we decide, if you could e-mail me your recipes at shaunaab@gmail.com then I will put them into one word document. Then I can e-mail the whole thing out to all of you monthly after we do our exchange. What do you think?

Just FYI

Tomorrow I will also be giving you tortillas. These are not frozen yet. So just make sure if you don't eat my meal soon that you put those in the freezer. I think it says by July 4th. So just to let you know. I had leftover from making my meals so I am bringing it to Ladies who lunch tomorrow. Just a little before hand taste test I guess! ;0) And Aften I'm sorry you can't do it this month! That's a bummer...did anybody else go to that class at the church and have actually tried to say "that's a bummer" to your kids. Gracie thought I was calling her a bad name and got so mad at me! Then I started laughing trying to explain it and she go even more mad because I was laughing. So "That's a bummer' doesn't work at the Gooch house yet-but Casey and I say it to each other. It makes us stop and laugh.

Meatloaf and Make-ahead mashed potatoes

Hey Girls, I will be making my grandmothers meatloaf and some mashed potatoes that are really yummy. Just don't ask what's in them if you are watching your calorie intake. I usually add brocolli or zuchinni to this meal or a salad always goes nice. Just bake both at 350 for 1 hour. I will be there on Friday to do the exchange. Can't wait to try more or everyones yummy meals.

Sorry

Sorry ladies about dogging out on ya'll...next month count me in...

Meeting time?

A few of us have been communicating by e-mail about our meeting time. In case you haven't checked your e-mail yet, we were talking about exchanging at 12:30 on Friday at Marianne's house since she is hosting Ladies Who Lunch. (Ladies Who Lunch is from 11-1.) We were thinking of bringing coolers with our food, put them in the garage, exchange our food and then sneak it into our cars. We are hoping to not make anyone feel left out by publicizing this too much. If they do find out, I don't think it's a bad idea to encourage them to start another group because we have all loved this so much. Does this work for everyone? I know Aften said she is out of this exchange due to going out of town.

Mango Chicken

I am going to make Mango Chicken. It is a great chicken marinade with cilantro, mango nectar, and a bunch of spices--but not spicy! You can grill or broil the chicken. We usually serve it with the sides below but it can also be served as just a fancy chicken sandwich. These sides are both really good! Don't be scared off by the number of ingredients. I promise you will be hooked if you try them.

Mango and Black Bean Salsa
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup chopped tomato
2 thinly sliced green onions
1-2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

In medium bowl, mix all salsa ingredients. Let stand 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Cilantro Corn
4 ears of corn with corn cut off or 1 bag frozen corn
1 medium red onion, chopped
cilantro to taste, chopped
butter and olive oil

Put some butter and olive oil in a large frying pan (enough to prevent sticking) and add corn and
red onion. Fry until both are tender. At the very end at some cilantro for color and flavor. You will be surprised by how sweet the corn tastes.

Southwest Pulled Pork

I am going to be doing a pulled pork that you serve with tortillas and sour cream and all that yummy stuff. You will just need to warm it up and then roll it up in the tortillas!

Chicken Spaghetti

I have been planning on making chicken spaghetti. I hope you guys won't mind getting two spaghetti meals. The sauce is more creamy than a marinara sauce. I am going to cook the chicken in the sauce till it falls apart and is nice and tender. Then I will just give you a box of noodles with the frozen sauce. You can just set the bag out in the morning, then you should be able to put it in a sauce pan and warm it up. I would serve it with salad or fresh corn on the cob that is being sold up the road. YUM!!!

Homemade Spaghetti

So I'm thinking I'll do a homemade spaghetti sauce over noodles. I wanted to do something that doesn't use the oven so you'll heat the sauce, serve it over cooked noodles, and serve with bread, salad or corn. Yum!

Good Job Everyone!

Good job to everyone! We just ate our last couple meals and they were all VERY good: Lasagne Rolls, chicken pot pie, and stroganoff. They were all very yummy, and plenty of portions for us to have leftovers (except the chicken pot pie because that is one of Logans favorite meals and he had three plates full!) My kids especially have enjoyed all of the 8 meals this month and we are all looking forward to the next batch for July.

Next Exchange

Okay ladies. The next exchange is going to be this Saturday the 28th. If anybody has conflicts just let us know and we can figure something out. I'm looking forward to see what everyone does!

Aften!!

Oh my gosh your Lasagna rolls were yummy!! I took it out the night before and then cooked it tonight for 1 1/2 hours. PERFECT! That was seriously good. Even Hobbs ate a whole roll! And he kep saying in between bites...I like it mom...it's yummy! So good job. We need to diffenetly keep this one on file!

Next Exchange?

When are we going to do the next exchange, where, when, how? I'll be out of town until the 19th and Jane is out of town until the 21st. ( around then at least)

Penne B+

Scott is out of town s I can't say how he liked it, but Jeffrey and I enjoyed it. I did add some milk, salt, pepper and 2 c. cooked chicken. I'm not sure if there was too much garlic but it was a little too strong for me. My twins are picky eaters and didn't like it. (Don't be offended Amy, they don't like most of what I cook.) Overall, Jeffrey and liked it and will be eating left overs tomorrow. Thanks Amy!

Pork is on sale Amy and Aften

Pork is on sale at Safeway for 97 cents a pound. Just thought I would let you know. The sale ends Wed.

More?

Okay so right now these women have said they would like to do more exchanges:
1. Marianne
2. Sarah
3. Aften
4. Amy
We just need to hear from the others.

Penne yum

I only added a little sauteed garlic, salt pepper and some milk, and parm cheese...re heated adn yum.thanks gooch
mid month dinners? what up, what we doing?

What's the word?

Just wondering if we are going to exchange meals mid-June. Let me know what you all think about doing another exchange. THANKS.

Taco Salads

I'm considering a refried bean dinner (I like to use it for taco salads, Dave loves to make it into burritos.) It's got ground beef, refried beans, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and a few mild seasonings (not spicy). I know some people love refried beans, some people stay away from them at all costs. Any opionions one way or the other?

Sweet & Sour... thumbs up!

We ate the sweet & sour chicken for lunch today and it was very good. I have never been able to master the art of making anything resembling Chinese food, so I was impressed with Tami's feat. You are right though Tami - a little bit of sauce goes a long way. The flavor is very delicious though... we did add a bit of soy sauce to lessen the sweetness for the kiddos. Job well done!!

Pork Clarification...

By the way... the "magic pork" I was talking about was the fiesta pork. Thanks so much Sarah!We cooked it up and made tacos and burritos with it and it was a hit!!

Magic Pork!

OMG! (Oh My Gosh :) The pork was AMAZING!! What did you put in that stuff? Whatever it was, it must have been magic becuase all of my kids ate it. Did you catch that, or should I say it again... ALL OF MY KIDS ate it. (Incase you aren't aware... this is a miracle!) Compliments to the chef.

pork ole taco's

YUMMMMMY! I only added a little water and some extra chili's ...yum, my kids ate it but Gooches didn't...sorry Amy ( and I almost made Sidney cry).
Thanks Sarah for that yummy dinner!

I'm in!

I would love to cook 2 times and have 16 meals! That is only twice a month! Maybe we can do one in the middle? I'm in if everybody else wants too?

We rock!

Ok, so it sounds like we are all pretty good cooks and we all love this meal trading group... should we trade meals more often? I think so... let me know what you guys think!

Too Funny!

You guys are so funny! Maybe we need to do more meals? Everyone is using their meals before the first week of the month! But that is awesome! I am so upset though. I was planning on making steaks yesterday but Casey calls and says that he is going to be late and lets wait till tomorrow. Okay so 5:30 and now I need to start from scratch on dinner. So I pull out Tammy's Sweet and Sour chicken and thought I would just put it on the stove in hot water. I have done this alot and it works...well I got busy and forgot and when I did go back the bag had melted over the side and the yummy smelling dinner was all in the water and ruined!!!! I am so glad everyone else is getting to enjoy these meals though. ;0) Shawna I will email you my recipe-I think that would be awesome to put these together!

Pork Chops & Stroganoff get an A+

Thanks Marianne & Jane for the yummy dinners! Scott said, "You need to really get these recipes!" I would love to have all of your recipes and I will put them into one word document and share them all with everyone. If you have a chance, will you e-mail your recipe to shaunaab@gmail.com? Thanks everyone, I'm really loving this!

YUMM-O

We had our BBQ beef sandwiches tonight and they were glorious. I cut open the rolls and buttered them then I lightly broiled them. They were perfect for a hot day. Sometimes a hot meal on a hot day doesn't sound good to me. So this hit the spot. THANK YOU SHAUNA!!!

YUMMY!

Good job everyone! One afternoon in the kitchen for 8 nights

of dinner is definitely my idea of saving time!!!!

BBQ Beef- Yummy! Everyone here liked it- Logan even had 2 sandwiches!
Penne- Yummy! Everyone liked it! I used about 3/4 of the box of noodles, added some milk and it was perfect. What kind of cheeses did you use? It had a bit of an unfamiliar sweetness to it and I was curious what kind of cheese that was... I really like it.
Pork Chops - Yummy! Dave's favorite so far (he loves pork chops)! We grilled them on the BBQ and they were perfect! My kids had nearly a whole one each; they really liked it too.
I am trying to not eat all the meals up in the first week so that I have some left for the rest of the month! :)

Worst Critic

Okay...I did not like my Penne! I'm glad you liked it Marianne but I just thought it was way too thick! I tried thinning it out but maybe I just didn't do it enough. So word to the wise add lots of milk. It was so good when I first made it but putting it in the freezer made it different? I hope I don't scare anyone off but that is just my opinion!! Can't wait for everyone elses!