Spaghetti/Meatballs with Whole Wheat Pasta Thursday

I love making spaghetti. It's so easy and so yummy and fulfilling. I just thawed some left over homemade zucchini pasta and added some Ikea meatballs (mainly for the boys). I topped some whole wheat pasta with the sauce and everyone gobbled it down.

Here is what the boys ate for lunch today: Ramen, Stuffed Spinach Shell, Edamame on a stick, Carrot Sticks, Fruit Chews (aka- too much sugar) with their Juice Plus+ gummies added. I should also mention that they both devoured the entire meal:

Spinach/Cheese Stuffed Shells Sunday

We're eating this yummy shells for dinner again tonight!

Red-Pepper Salmon Pasta Tuesday

I made a variation of this Red-Pepper Salmon Pasta tonight with our left over ginger salmon. Instead of the cilantro, I used basil (since I have a HUGE plant in the front yard), I omitted the jalapenos (for the boys), added a zucchini to the blend, and used both orange and red bell peppers (small ones from Costco). It turned out very yummy!!


This is what the boys went to school with today: left over sweet potato/corn/black bean stuff, black olives, 1/2 apple, goldfish/banana chips, and JP+ veggies.


I know the black olives will be gone for sure when these boxes get home!!

Shrimp Tacos Tuesday

I'm changing the menu up for Tuesday as we have a lot of large leftover shrimp from Monday night. I'll cut up cabbage, make a spicy sauce, chop the shrimp up into smaller pieces, and put a taco together. I will throw in some black beans and rice as well.



Here's Chaz's lunch for Tuesday too (done the night before when I'm planning correctly!!):

Ground Bison Tostadas Friday

Wow... the last day of school until a long Labor Day weekend. I was having fun making Chaz's lunches too!!


For dinner, we cooked up some ground bison meat and some refried beans. Then we topped the tostadas with it and cheese. They turned out rather nicely!! I'm a little tostadaded out though (I've been eating them for lunch a lot!!). We only used about 1/2 of the lb of bison meat, so the other half went into a big egg casserole I made for Saturday morning breakfast- easy because the meat was already cooked.

Pasta with veges and leftover salmon Thursday

After the boys ate Ramen soup, crunchy Ramen, popcorn, an entire cantelope, yogurt pretzels, AND cheddar bunnies, they enjoyed a bowl of the real dinner.

I made the Soy Salmon with veges again (similar to a few nights ago). It was so yummy! I put in a head of broccoli, some onion, garlic, red pepper, soy sauce, brown sugar, and lots of basil! I mixed in some whole wheat spaghetti pasta and mixed it around. I love that meal!!

Thai Garlic and Basil Salmon Noodles Monday

This was a really nice dish. We had one salmon steak leftover from last night's meal (I planned it that way), so this dish seemed to work nicely tonight. I took a recipe from the 6 O'Clock Scramble (Thai Garlic and Basil Chicken) and tweaked it to work with a lot less salmon. I added a head of broccoli and put it all on top of some whole wheat spaghetti noodles. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this recipe. Here's the recipe from the scramble:

2 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. minced garlic (about 12 cloves)
1 large red onion, quartered top-to-bottom and cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips, about 1-inch long
1 pkg. (about 1 1/2 lbs.) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks (we used salmon)
5 - 7 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce (to taste)
1 Tbsp. white or brown sugar
1 1/2 – 2 cups fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped (reserve 12 leaves for recipe # 3)

In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil.
Add the garlic, onion, and peppers and sauté them for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and stir-fry it until it
starts to brown on all sides, but is not cooked through, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the soy sauce and sugar and cook the chicken, uncovered, tossing it occasionally, until the
chicken is just cooked through, about 2-3 more minutes. (At this point you can cool and freeze the
chicken for a future meal, then add the basil just before serving it.)

Add the basil, toss it well, and remove the chicken and vegetables from the heat. Cover it until ready
to serve.

Left over fake lasagna Tuesday

We re-heated the fake lasagna that we hadn't finished from a couple of nights ago. We also had a great cole slaw that I made with spicy dressing.

Leftovers from lunch and date night Wednesday

Thanks to Tita and Papa, we had some nice roll-up sandwiches left over from our pool day picnic today. The boys ate those up, along with some left over watermelon, pineapple, mandarin oranges, cheese, and Pringles.

Dad and I ate two slices of leftover jalapeno and pesto pizza from East Side Pies. We're going out for date night to balance our budget. You may notice more Ramon noodles for dinner in the coming months.

Stir Fry Salmon, Veges, and Noodles Tuesday

Tonight's meal came to me on the fly... no recipes whatsoever, just basically cleaning out the fridge and freezer. I boiled some whole wheat spaghetti pasta, then sauteed some veges-- garlic, onions, celery, green onions, and carrots. I then cut up some salmon and sauteed it, then mixed it with the veges and noodles. I stir fried it all with some peanut sauce. Topped it with a little soy as a condiment and wahlah... the kids and hubby loved it.

We also had some birthday cake with homemade frosting (who's birthday is it you ask? Well, I was saving the cake for Cooper's birthday, but he couldn't wait any longer. Eh- I can scrape up another $.89 and 3 eggs before Aug. 31st).

Angel hair pasta with baby squash, shrimp, onions, garlic, and hotdogs Sunday!!

Thanks to my sister-in-law's party yesterday, we had some lovely shrimp, veges, and hotdogs left over. I boiled some angel hair pasta, sauteed up some garlic, onions and baby squash, and then added the hotdogs for the boys and the shrimp and peppers for us. I topped it with parm cheese and it was quite yummy!!

Shrimp Scampi Saturday

YUM!!!

For the parents- grilled shrimp scampi on linguine with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, and red pepper flakes. We LOVE this recipe!! The grilling and marinating of the shrimp is really what does it!!



For the kids- Linguine with garlic and olive oil, topped with last night's carrots and cauliflower in chicken broth. Chaz had seconds. From the picture, you can see they like eating "worms"!!