Menu Monday!

Good Morning!

I did a much better job this week of getting all my photos! Here is a look at what we had to eat.

Last week ended with lasagna and I had enough leftover to send with my Hubby to work. My grandson made a little frozen pizza and I opted for a healthier dinner! :D I made myself a salad, or maybe it could be called a chef salad..

On top of a nice bed of salad greens I put cabbage, grape tomatoes, red onion, sliced cucumbers and then topped it with a piece of turkey lunch meat that I cut up and feta cheese. This was very filling and I really enjoyed it. 



Then, if it can be believed we had a cold, wet and windy day (yes in mid-July!). The house was so cool I even started a small fire that morning to take the chill off. I decided it was the perfect weather for soup. I do admit that I like soup in any weather, but something about a cold wet day just made it sound all the better. 

I made chicken potato soup. I started to take pics of the process to share, but had unexpected company arrive so all I ended up with is a picture of the final bowl of soup.  

I made this in my Instant Pot. I put about 1# of chicken legs in my IP and added 3 cups of water, salt, pepper and garlic. I cooked it on "Manual" for 30 minutes. I did a quick release of the pressure and removed the chicken legs to cool. To the broth that was in the IP I added about 2/3rds of a bag of frozen hash browns (the cube type), 1/2 cup (or so) of frozen broccoli and the same amount of frozen corn. I tasted the broth and it needed more flavor. I added a chicken bouillon cube and a little extra salt.  I put the lid on and let that cook for another 5 minutes on high pressure. I did a quick release of the pressure. I added in the chicken meat (I had removed it from the bone) and then added some milk until the consistency was what I wanted. Finally I added in a handful of grated cheddar cheese. 

I don't have a more precise recipe because I didn't use a recipe. I just put it together as I went along. This soup was so good!! And really did hit the spot for the cool day..

 I served it with crackers and a salad. 


The last evening before my grandson left we had BBQ burgers. As usual, they were delish! 

The next night  Hubby wanted a BBQ again and BBQ'd chicken sounded so good to both of us. I am not a huge fan of chicken breasts, especially on the BBQ. I think they end up tasting to dry. My preference is chicken thighs. They have enough fat on them to keep them moist and tender. 

If you simply toss chicken on the BBQ you'll wait forever for it to cook completely. So what I do is boil my chicken for 10 minutes before putting it on the grill. 

This time I tried something different. In my pot of water I add 2 teaspoons of salt, a tablespoon of granulated garlic and 1 teaspoon of pepper. 

I brought this to a boil and put my chicken thighs in and let them boil for 10 minutes and then removed them to a plate. I was hoping the added seasonings would enhance the flavor and it did! I'll be doing that again..

After that it was time to put them on the BBQ. We use charcoal (and Hubby likes to add different types of wood as well, for flavor) because we prefer the taste of the food over a propane grill. So I don't have exact time and temps. I'm guessing the grill was about 300 degrees or so. Hubby let them cook skin side down for starters. When they had browned nicely he turned them over. He continued this process of cooking and turning for 20, maybe 30 minutes. 

Then started brushing them with BBQ sauce..

 

 And turned and brushed a few more times until everything was a perfect crispy, sticky, BBQ creation. 

I had made some mashed potatoes (from a packet) and a salad to serve for sides..

 This was definitely a wonderful tasting meal! 


Over the weekend the weather improved and we enjoyed more BBQ-ing.

We BBQ'd a couple steaks and I made some creamy alfredo angel hair pasta and a salad for the sides..

 For the pasta I made my own alfredo sauce. I had a couple tablespoons of cream cheese in my fridge that I wanted to finish off. I added this along with a couple tablespoons of butter and let it melt, get soft and combine it as well as I could..

Then I added some milk. Maybe 1/2 a cup or a little more. I didn't measure. I stirred this around to warm up and mix in the butter and cream cheese. I added a salt, pepper and granulated garlic. I was a little heavy handed with the pepper but it actually turned out to be really good! I didn't have any parmesan cheese to add so I tossed in a handful of mozzarella cheese...

While I was working on that I boiled about 4 or so ounces of whole grain angel hair pasta and drained it..

I mixed this in with my sauce.  When It was all done I added and mixed in some feta cheese. I told Hubby it was the adult version of mac & cheese! Ha, ha!! 😄

Finally we ended the week with simple hamburgers on the grill. The weather was so beautiful and warm! It was the perfect evening to sit outside and enjoy another BBQ. 

That's all for this weeks, Menu Monday! 
Crystal