Overnight Oats...

I decided to make my own version after watching YouTube videos on them being made in mason jars (as well as other meals). I made one version of old fashioned quaker oats, milk (I used lactaid although you can use regular or even soy milk), a little bit of honey, chia/flax seed blend (which is healthy for you and acts as a thickener), vanilla extract, and strawberries. The next version I had the oats, honey, lactaid, chia/flax seed blend, cinnamon, and raisins. The next morning I ate it cold, it was mushy, including the raisins which need to be added right before eating to prevent them being mushy, and it did have more of an oat flavor. My overall impressions was that I thought the strawberry version would be my favorite but it wasn't at all, the vanilla flavor didn't come through. I did a taste test of heating up a cinnamon oatmeal version with no raisins today, and it wasn't mushy but had less of the cinnamon and oats flavor. So next time I will need to add more cinnamon, and I didn't mind it either cold or warm.

I do reuse some glass jars not just regular mason ones. So have you tried this? What did you think? 

Whats On Your Plate This Week?

Last Week:

 The Goulash was ok, I couldn't find the recipe that I used last time. So next time I will just change it a little bit.

 The Chicken Tikka Masala was good, but the sauce I purchased was a little spicy. I plan on adding some vegetables next time.

The potato Lentil Soup was good. The picture is of leftovers that I ended up freezing.

This Week:

Last week I didn't end up making the Veggie Bean Casserole or the Mac and Cheese, we either had leftovers or delivered pizza.

This week I want to try a few dishes I have never made before, either as a main meal or side. So I hope they taste good! You will just need to wait until next week to find out, what we thought of them. I have made the Shepherds Pie quite a few times from the past couple of months, and it is really good. Also, from the same cookbook I make a healthy Turkey Meatloaf that rarely is there ever any leftovers, it is that good.

• Spiced Chicken with Herbed Veggie Skillet
• Rustic Italian Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Rosemary-Dijon Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
• Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce
• Italian version of Shepherds Pie (From Mama's Table to Mine cookbook)

What Is On Your Plate This Week? Share below what you will be eating this week, so we can all get inspired for other meals.

What's On Your Plate This Week?

 

I am so excited to be starting this weekly Monday blog post, and I hope that lots of people will share what they eat in the week for dinner. FYI this is a long post. In case you did not see my post from last week, here is a little recap; every Monday I will post what we ate last week plus what I plan on making this coming week as well. I hope to include pics, reviews, recipe links when available, etc. Now if you just want to talk about what you made without pictures or links, short post, long post, only want to post once a month etc that is fine.Whatever you want, just as long as you have fun! I thought also it would be a great way to find new recipes, if people share theirs when posting on their own blogs. At the end of this post will be Mister Linky so that you can link up to your own post to share with all of us.

 

What Did We Have Last Week?

 

Monday

Leftovers

 

Tuesday Baked Chicken and roasted vegetables:

 

The roasted veggies were potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, rosemary, thyme, and pepper. It was pretty good, as you can see I left out a few ingredients that is in the recipe, which I either didn't have or didn't want to use. Unfortunately, the baked chicken got a little dry (I didn't put enough sauce on it) but otherwise was good.

 

Wednesday: Smashed Potatoes with Turkey Chipotle Taco Seasoning and roasted veggies (recipe different from Tuesday's roasted veggies)

 

I remembered a quick meal my mom used to make as a kid but I changed it a little bit. My mom would always use baked potatoes with hamburger meat that just used regular taco seasoning. I didn't have big enough potatoes and really needed to use the leftovers from the day before (I had had them for awhile). So I just peeled and boiled the potatoes (you will need more than normal as you don't add milk, etc), drained, smashed them and put them on a plate with turkey meat with chipotle taco seasoning (I also put on top some cheese). As the chipotle taco seasoning was a little salty, so with the smashed potatoes didn't need anything else. Besides that I used the rest of the potatoes, leftover sweet potato from the night before, 2 parsnips, 2 carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme for some nice roasted veggies. As you can tell I usually change some things on recipes that I make. I only used enough veggies to cover half of a baking sheet, so it was just enough for one meal. We both really liked this dish, so I will make it in the future. Here is a picture of the leftover Smashed Potatoes with the turkey chipotle taco meat.

Thursday: Curried Pumpkin Soup and baguettes with gouda cheese

I had made this recipe only once before. The changes I made were; I used more pumpkin, chose to use the vegetable broth, added nutmeg, added cumin, and used more evaporated milk, salt, and pepper. I just added a little bit at a time until I liked the desired taste. It was good and I plan on making it more during the coming winter. It takes little time to make as well.

Friday: Slow-Cooked Bean Medley

I have never had this before as never tasted some of the beans used in this recipe. I love to use slow cookers/crockpots and that I just need to put in the ingredients and it cooks by itself. I added more brown sugar than what was called for in the recipe, as for me it was a little tangy. So, in the future when I make this I might just put in a little less Italian dressing. There was quite a bit of leftovers, so I decided to freeze some of it.

Saturday: Leftovers

It is just a smorgasbord of leftovers that were from several previous nights meals from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sunday: Leftovers

We still had some soup and bean medley left over so we had that. We added some smoked turkey sausage to the bean medley.

Meals This Week:

Monday: Leftovers

We don't have very much leftovers and I will be at an event tonight. So what doesn't get eaten tonight will be thrown out.

Tuesday: Potato Lentil Soup with rolls

I have made this a few times and it is pretty good. I usually cut down on the amount of chili powder used. It makes quite a bit, so I freeze some of the leftovers.

Wednesday: Velveeta Queso Blanco Mac and Cheese with green beans

Velveeta has a creamy version of mac and cheese that is really good. Even if your not normally a fan of Velveeta, try it. I usually get two packages so we have leftovers. They have the regular mac and cheese but also a queso blanco version too.

Thursday: Leftovers

We will have the leftovers of the potato lentil soup and mac and cheese.

Friday: Chicken Tika Masala over rice

I just use a store bought version of the Tika Masala Curry sauce and follow the instructions.

Saturday: (American) Goulash with Veggie Dish

I know lots of different people have names for this dish; hodge podge, American chop suey, goulash, etc., and all put a variety of somewhat different ingredients in it. My family just put in the hamburger (although I will substitute that with ground turkey), sauce, macaroni, and we usually added corn. I will also be making a veggie dish that consists of; frozen French cut green beans (although regular frozen green beans can be used), frozen corn, onion, sweet red bell pepper, olive oil, and dried basil (I just add it until I like the taste) until cooked through. The veggie dish is quick to make and freezes great.

Sunday: Veggie Bean Casserole with rolls

I make this a few times during the winter when we want to have a hearty meal with veggies. It also freezes well.

That is it for this long post. So what is on your plate this week?

Idea for a weekly post What's On Your Plate This Week?

 

So starting next Monday, I plan on posting what dinner meals I will be making for the week. I will include recipe links (when available), pictures, reviews, did we like the food or will we revise it, did we freeze the leftovers, etc. I have found that it helps immensely if I have meals already scheduled, even if they are just leftovers. Otherwise it is really hectic and we eat really late. I thought a regular blog post on every Monday, would be beneficial to me to ensure that I always know what meals we will be eating, and perhaps others will share on their own blog, thus getting even more ideas for meals. On Monday I will post what we ate this week and upcoming meals as well. Included in my post will be Mister Linky, so that anyone who wants to post about their own meals can. So, will you join me next Monday?