California Taco Salad

I thought this was really good. We didn't have salsa to put on top though. I used some Louisiana hot sauce, but it really needed some true Mexican salsa. Otherwise, I loved the mango, black olives, ground beef, and avocados mixed together with the lettuce, cheese, black beans and vinaigrette dressing. Writing all this, I don't think we'll make this again. It wasn't a big hit with hubby. He may change his mind with some real salsa on top though.

Thursday Quesadillas

These were really good. I found the recipe on Whole Food's website (that was the theme this week). I changed up the cooking method, but all the ingredients really worked well together (sauteed onion, yellow bell pepper, and olive oil mixed with black beans and shredded cheese). I put the buttered tortillas onto a cookie sheet, filled each one with the ingredients, then topped them with another buttered tortilla. I put the oven on broil and cooked them for about 4 minutes per side (be sure to watch so you don't burn them!! All ovens are different... mine even has multiple personalities depending on the day of the week/year). These are super tasty with some guacamole (secret- add some garlic salt and a half teaspoon of mayonnaise-- makes for a great consistency and taste).

Tuesday's Tostadas

Boy, these turn out so much better when you have some nice ingredients to throw on top (we usually just have beans and cheese!!). This time, I cut up an avocado, some cherry tomatoes, and fresh onion. We topped it with Whole Food's 365 brand hot sauce. YUM! Warning, if you eat 3 of these, you will not be able to move off the couch afterward!! The boys had their tostadas plain and dipped them in a bowl of beans and cheese... that's how they like it!

Black Bean, Sweet Potato, Cauliflower and Basil Tacos

I made the same sweet potato tacos as before, however, this time I used cauliflower instead of corn (big mistake) and frozen veggies instead of fresh ones (biggest mistake ever). Everyone still ate them, but they were nowhere near as good as the time before. I spent so much more on these fancy frozen veggies from Whole Foods too. This is not the time for convenience foods, even though I want and need them so bad!!

For lunch, the boys really liked this one: Nutella and PB sandwich, black olives, grapes, veggie chips.

Uncle Julio's Enchiladas Friday

My parents ordered some Uncle Julio's enchiladas and heated them up at the Bed and Breakfast. They were pretty good. They kind of got dried out by the time they were heated the second time. We also had rice and beans as well as carrots and snap peas.

Sweet Potato, Corn, and Black Bean Tacos Friday

Yum! The tacos are so yummy!! I got the Taco Recipe out of Rachel Ray's magazine and made it today for the first time. I doubled (or tripled) the recipe so that I could bring it to a family who just had a baby (and are gluten-free). Both of my boys devoured a bowl of the mix (they didn't like the taco part).

The boys ate this un-healthy lunch today. Unfortunately, everything was eaten out of both boxes!! Oh well! It is Friday!!

Bean and Cheese Tostada PTA Thursday

Tonight is our once a week quick, budget meal of refried beans, cheese, jalapenos, hotsauce, and tostadas. Such an easy meal!!

Here is what the boys had for lunch today:

Bean/Cheese Tostada Thursday

So I don't have any soy sauce, so I won't be making the rice tonight. Also, the neighbor kids are coming over for an hour, so I thought it might be easy to feed us all the bean and cheese tostadas for dinner. I have avocados (59 cents each), refried beans, cheese, lettuce, and some chopped up tomatoes. We will have some chips and salsa on the side too... maybe I'll throw in some broccoli or asparagus and rice for good measure (and because Chaz basically had beans and rice for lunch too).

Here is Chaz's lunch from today:

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!!):

Burritos Monday

Another recipe from Whole Food's Meals for Four under $15 called
Roll Your Own Burritos . The kids LOVED putting together their own burritos... even though they really only chose rice, beans, and cheese. Cooper didn't even eat the tortilla!! Bananas at bedtime has been a ritual around here.

And here is Chaz's lunch for Monday: PBJ on Whole Wheat, Cauliflower with Parmesan and Garlic, Chex Mix, some mandarin oranges, and a cup of yogurt.

Bean and Cheese Tostada Friday

Seems like Fridays are always something easy- like bean and cheese tostadas!! A new favorite!!

I also heated up the scalloped potatoes (from the other night) added some more milk and blended it all together. It turned out soooo yummy as a soup for lunch!!

Fish Quesadillas Friday

So I'm using leftover tilapia from last night to make quesadillas. Cheese added to anything makes it good!!

Also, here's Chaz's lunch again. He came home with the entire sandwich still untouched, and only about two bites out of the couscous. The fruit was gone, the candy still there, two cookies left, no yogurt pretzels, and he drank his milk. Luckily, he ate his sandwich in it's entirety when he got home.

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.

Tostada Sunday

Easy breezy tostadas with refried beans, cheese, and hot sauce. The boys also had some PBJs. First day of school tomorrow, so you may see more lunch ideas on here from now on!

Bean and Cheese Tostada Friday

Change of menu plans. These tostada meals are the easiest. Cheap tostada chips from Fiesta, canned refried beans, shredded cheese, canned jalapenos and salsa. Yum! The boys like to take the chips, break them, and then dip them into a bowl of beans and cheese.

Spinach and Onion Quesadilla Thursday

I made the boys some plain cheese quesadillas (blah) with black olives and cookies. By the time I finished making their food, I decided I'd leave the rest of the dinner up to dad or Katie. Luckily, they did most of it! We sauteed some onion rings in olive oil, then added spinach to wilt, then heated up the tortillas, stuffed them with the veges, then topped it with cheese.


They were really yummy. We had guacamole and chips/hot sauce to go with them.

Also, Cooper's had a tummy problem for a few days, so you can see two items from the BRAT diet pictured here too... he didn't eat much of it!!

Vegetarian Enchiladas Tuesday

Yummy yummy yummy. These are some of my favorite enchiladas!! Zucchini, corn tortillas, onions, spices, and cheese! The boys usually go nuts for these too. I've also got some spinach and chips/salsa for the side.

Dover Sole Fish Taco Monday

Super yummy!!

I made these Sole tacos (breaded them with flour, eggs, then bread crumbs), baked them for 15 minutes, topped with a spicy chipotle/adobo sauce, and some yummy red cabbage and carrot cole slaw. The tortillas were fresh and warm from El Milagro.

The tacos were similar to this one I found on allrecipes.com:

Fish Tacos with Honey-Cumin Cilantro Slaw

I give this an A+. Unfortunately, the kids only had chicken nuggets and bananas. C- for that one.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili Pie Monday

This was actually a hit! The easiest meal ever and no complaints! Two cans of Whole Foods Black Bean Vegetarian Chili on top of Frito chips, topped with hand grated cheddar cheese. Two bowls and I'm full!!

We'll have to do this easy one again!! Although I'll add more veges next time (maybe carrots or celery on the side).

Mexican Restaurant Friday

Dario's got our dollars last night. I was so stuffed and lethargic after all that cheese on my enchiladas. I definitely can't do that too often.

The boys loved their bean tacos!