Weekly Warriors Entry
Easy Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese
Tomato Soup:
1 Carrot – chopped
1 Onion – chopped
1 Jar Marinara Sauce (your choice or homemade)
1 Can Cannellini Beans
1 Large Handful of Small Cut pasta – whatever you have left over in your pantry, even broken spaghetti works just fine
1 Box Chicken Stock
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt & Pepper
In a pan over medium heat sauté the carrot and onion in a little bit of oil (olive or canola), let cook for about 5 mins stirring occasionally. Season with a pinch of crushed red pepper (or more if you can handle it) and a pinch of salt & pepper. Once the veggies are a little soft you add in the marinara sauce, chicken stock, & beans. Bring it to a boil and add the pasta. Cook until the pasta is al dente (approx 6-8 mins depending on what kind of pasta you use). Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Serve with a grilled cheese or for the fancy dinner a grilled Panini
Chicken Empanadas
1 Rotisserie chicken
2 Potatoes
1 Box of frozen puffed pastry
Sriracha hot sauce or any hot sauce you have in your pantry
Hefty pinch of cumin
1 Egg
Thaw your puff pastry according to the package directions. Preheat the oven to 425. Peel & chop the potatoes and boil them until they are fork tender. In a mixing bowl shred one of the breasts of chicken from the rotisserie chicken (save the rest for asian chicken salad later in the week). Mash the potatoes & add them to the bowl, season with a pinch of cumin, salt, pepper, and hot sauce if you like things spicy. Stir everything up, taste, and adjust seasonings if necessary. Roll out your puff pastry and cut them into 4 or 6 equal pieces depending on how many/large you want your empanadas. Put a spoonful of filling in the puff pastry and fold them over into a triangle shape. Make sure to pinch the edges closed really well so you don’t lose your filling during baking. Place them on a cookie sheet and brush them with a little egg wash (1 beaten egg and a splash of water). Bake at 425 for 15 mins then turn down the heat to 375 and bake for another 10 mins. Serve warm with some BBQ sauce for dipping
Cheese Fondue
1 Cups sharp cheddar cheese
1 Pkg softened cream cheese
1 ½ cups sour cream
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
Bread, Veggies, Mini Hot dogs, etc for dipping
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and pour into a warm fondue pot or if you don’t have one you can serve it right out of the warm saucepan. Serve with chunks of bread, steamed or raw veggies, mini hot dogs, etc.
Olive Oil & Garlic Angel Hair Pasta
½ leek, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 bag of big leaf spinach, washed
2 Tbl parsley
1 Can diced tomatoes
1 box angel hair pasta
1 red pepper (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to top pasta
Saute leek, garlic, & spinach in a medium skillet until softened. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Add diced tomatoes, parsley, red pepper, & salt & pepper to leek mixture. Toss with cooked pasta and top with parmesan cheese.
**you could also add cooked shrimp or chicken to bump up the protein**
Asian Chicken Salad
Leftover rotisserie chicken
½ Red pepper, sliced
Lettuce (whatever you have will work, I use a combo of romaine & cabbage)
1 Carrot, peeled & sliced
Baby corn
Chow mein noodles
Asian dressing (I use Newman’s Own Asian Sesame Ginger)
Layer in a salad bowl & serve
Chicken Tenders & Fries
Chicken:
1 Pkg chicken tenders
2 Eggs
1 Cup whole wheat flour (regular flour will work fine too)
2 Cups panko bread crumbs
Cooking spray
Fries:
4 Yukon gold potatoes
Oil
Salt & pepper
Or a frozen bag of fries if it has been a tough day!!
Preheat oven to 400. If you are making your own fries, chop the potatoes into fry shapes & lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, drizzle with a little bit of oil (olive or canola) and season with salt & pepper. Pop them into the oven for 20 mins or so until they are lightly golden brown and cooked through. For the chicken, get 3 separate bowls or paper plates, in the first put the flour and add a pinch of salt & pepper. In the second put the 2 eggs & lightly beat them. In the 3rd put the panko bread crumbs. Get a baking sheet and set it next to your bowls. Take the chicken tenders and one by one put them first in the flour (dust off any excess) then to the egg then in the breadcrumbs. Place them on the baking sheet. It is a messy job but well worth the homemade chicken tenders. Once all of your chicken is breaded and on the baking sheet lightly spray them with cooking spray so that they will brown up nicely in the oven and fool your kids into thinking they are the fried kind. Bake for 10-12 mins or until your chicken is cooked through. If you are using frozen fries just toss them on a baking sheet and pop them into the oven with the chicken. Serve with honey mustard (in a bowl stir together equal parts honey & yellow mustard) or ketchup.
Bonus:
Raspberry Trifle Dessert
Small carton of Raspberries
Jar of Raspberry Jam
1 Angel food cake
1 Box of vanilla pudding (large box)
Milk
Make the vanilla pudding according to the box directions. Cut the angel food cake into large cubes and set aside. In another bowl mix together the jam & 3 tbl of hazelnut liquor or water just to thin it out. Now you just start layering in a large bowl. First you layer in 1/3 of the angel food cake cubes, then drizzle 1/3 of the jam mixture, then 1/3 of the pudding. Continue this same pattern for 2 more layers then top with raspberries. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to eat!
