What's Cooking in Chicagoland

Cooking is such a HUGE part of my life, as I'm sure it is for every parent who does the bulk of the cooking for their family.  With three meals and three (or more) snacks to plan each day for the five of us, it's kind of all consuming.  If I'm not cooking, I'm cleaning up from cooking, or preparing to cook, or thinking about what's on deck for dinner, or what my pantry needs, or what groceries I need for the recipes I'm planning.  I'm thinking about who ate enough fruits and veggies today, who needs to drink more water, did I remember to give everyone vitamins?, did I pack the lunches yet? , oh my head I haven't eaten yet today and its NOON! and so on.

Last winter I had a great system going and usually managed to have something delicious for dinner each night.  But then came the packing and the moving and the settling in - and any 'system' I had got blown to smithereens.  Poor Marc has to resort to cooking himself pasta more nights than I want to admit.

Part of my New Year's Manifesto (which isn't quite ready for publication yet) is that I want to nourish our bodies with a more well-balanced diet.  One specific goal related to this is to have dinner planned and ready for each night of the week, keeping in mind that some nights, the answer to "What's for dinner?" may be "leftovers" (my personal favorite)!   But by planning it better, I can keep my stress to a minimum and keep us thriving on meals that nourish our bodies rather than just feed them.

This past week, due to the unexpected "visitors" I mentioned in my last post, I didn't have much time to plan and had even less time to cook.  But I managed to come up with two meals that are cheaper than takeout, taste delicious, and can be prepared in than 15 minutes or LESS.  I think both of these will go into regular rotation they were so good!

15 Minute Thai Chicken Pasta
(inspired by my favorite Cheesecake Factory dish, but so much healthier!!)

INGREDIENTS:

• Archer Farms Thai Peanut Sauce (from Target)
• Linguine or Fettuccine
• Chicken cutlets
• 1 red pepper
• 1 carrot
• snap peas
• 1 scallion
• bean sprouts
• peanuts

DIRECTIONS:

Minute  1: Boil water and cook pasta to package directions.

Minutes 2-10: While pasta is boiling, slice up the red pepper, julienne the carrot, finely chop the scallion and slice the chicken into half inch strips

Minutes 10-13: Throw the pepper, carrot and snap peas in a microwave steam bag and steam for 3 minutes

Minutes 11-14: While veggies are steaming, stir fry the chicken on high heat until cooked through (3-5 minutes)

Minute 15: Drain the pasta and ladle portions into bowls. Top the kids' pasta with butter and parmesan and call it done.  Top the grownups' pasta with veggies and chicken, pour ¼ to ½ cup of Peanut Sauce over the top and garnish with bean sprouts, peanuts and scallions.

Ten Minute Fajita Rollups

INGREDIENTS

• Target’s Microwaveable Frozen Mexican Veggies (peppers, onions black beans, and corn)
• Old El Paso Mexican Rice (in microwave pouch)
• Chicken cutlets
• Whole wheat tortillas
• Light sour cream
• A Lime
• Half an Avocado
• Salsa 
• Light Mexican Shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS

Minutes 1-5: Microwave steam the veggies

Minutes 5-6: Microwave the rice 

Minutes 2-6: While veggies and rice are cooking, slice two chicken cutlets into ½ inch strips and stir fry over high heat until cooked through. If you want to be thrifty with your time, make the Thai Pasta the night before and cook enough chicken for both dishes.  Dice the avocado.

 Minute 6-10: Put a whole wheat tortilla on each plate.  Top the kids' with cheese, nuke it for 30 seconds and call it done.  Top the grownups' with sour cream, rice, veggies, chicken, salsa, avocado and shredded cheese. Squeeze the lime over the top.   Roll it up, eat it open faced, stack a few and bake it in the oven as a mexican lasagna - whatever floats your boat!