365 Diner Grills!

For those of you keeping track - no dinner pics from July 30th, as we ate over at my mom's and I forgot to take pics! :0(

July 31st, 2011

Grilled Italian Chicken, Cheesy Julienne Potatoes, Salad, Garden Green Beans, and Grilled Peaches!

So Hubby, Oldest Daughter and I spent most of the morning walking around a HUGE antique fair which is held monthly near our house. It was HOT and we were all ready to jump in the pool for awhile and cool off. Dinner would have to be: early to accommodate everyone's schedule, and be able to be cooked outside! I had some chicken marinating so that would be our meat. It pulled together OK, and it was the perfect day to float and eat outside.

Later my parents and brother stopped by for a quick dip, and I invited them to share dessert with us - Grilled Peaches. They were pretty good, not as great as I had hoped, so they will need some tweaking. Mom thought they were good, and said they tasted like homemade peach pie - minus the crust!

Here are the recipes I used:

Italian Chicken (dump chicken and marinade in Ziploc when freezing - that way it marinates and thaws at the same time!)

http://www.food.com/recipe/grilled-italian-chicken-breasts-227912

Green Beans - fresh green beans canned in a pressure canner.

Salad - romaine lettuce, garden tomatoes (thanks Jen H. and Mom!), cheddar cheese, blueberries, almonds, and Asian sesame dressing.

Cheesy Julienne Potatoes - I "cheated" and used a boxed dish that was leftover from camping. Made in a cast iron skillet with lid over the outside burner.

Grilled Peaches - I used this recipe, although at first I mixed them with balsamic vinegar and honey. Then I added some brown sugar to the tops as they grilled on the final side. This recipe still needs a "little something" more, but I am not sure what yet. Worth trying though!

Enjoy!

AS

365 Diner Picnic

July 29th, 2011

Picnic Pops!

Each year, we head to our local ski hill on Friday nights in July to listen to the Grand Rapids Symphony. Friday night's dinner consisted of sandwiches, chips, pop and beer! Low key but oh so tasty!

Hubby (ever the meat eater) was not interested in going meatless again, so his sandwich was turkey (lots o' turkey!), bacon, provolone, super yummy garden tomato, and mayo.

I decided to go meatless again and had a great sandwich made with grilled portobello mushroom caps, fresh mozzarella, a couple of slices of a garden tomato, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It was super good!

We polished off the sandwiches, chips, and drinks before we knew it - they were that good. The music was pirate based for the 1st half and a Beach Boys tribute group for the 2nd half.

Enjoy!

AS

Really July 28th!

(not sure how yesterday's post got named the 28th...)

July 28th, 2011

Fettuccine Alfredo, Salad, Garlic Rolls

I have been trying to focus on having a "Meatless Monday" each week, but with our schedules that doesn't often happen on Monday! :0)

This week, we had Meatless Monday on Thursday. I made Fettuccine Alfredo, garlic rolls and snuck a salad in to make it a little healthy! We also had watermelon, but that was on a separate platter at the time of the photo. (Sometimes I am not very organized!)

I find that Fettuccine Alfredo is quick and easy to make, and all but one of the picky eaters at my house will eat it. Here are the recipes I used:

Fettuccine Alfredo (purchased the pasta, haven't tried making my own - yet!)

(I leave out the parsley - throw back to the "what's that green stuff" years)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/fettuccine-alfredo-v/detail.aspx

Garlic Pull Aparts (make your own dough - it is SO worth it!)

http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/11/wedneday-baking-pull-apart-garlic-bread/

Salad - no recipe, but tonight's was romaine lettuce, chopped tomato, sharp cheddar cheese, blueberries, and sliced almonds. (We're trying to eat the rainbow!)

365 Diner Take Out

July 28th, 2011

Brown Butter Peach Crumble Bars

I am going to talk about desset first today since it was yummy and went according to plan! Bubba, DaGirlz, and I were heading over to have dinner with GG (our Grandma/Great Grandma) at her retirement community. How Sweet It Is featured a peach based recipe earlier this week, and as soon as I read through it I knew it would be our dessert. It fit many of the requirements for the night: not too much sugar, and would travel well. In addition to that, GG loves peaches!

These bars are like peach cobbler in a bar form. I couldn't find local peaches (yet) so I had to use peaches from the store. It was so delicious, I can't imagine how much better it will be with local peaches! To give you an idea, it was good enough, and smelled yummy enough that even DaGirlz ate it, and they don't like peaches!

The recipe does feature browned butter - DON'T be put off by that. Browned butter is just butter you cook until it starts to brown! Nothing fancy or hard.

You should definitely try these!

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/07/brown-butter-peach-crumble-bars/

For today's actual dinner, I was planning a special cookout at my Grandma's retirement community. They have some nice grills set up in the main courtyard for people to use. Hot Dogs and Burgers sounded great to her, since they eat "Sunday Dinner" all week.

And then it rained. All day. At times torrentially.

Hot Dogs and Burgers inside just would not be the same (and her kitchen is the size of a postage stamp!), so we changed plans and took pizza over with us. A quick call to Jet's Pizza and we had a regular pizza buffet: veggie with hand tossed crust, cheese with pan crust, cheesey breadsticks, and Grandma's favorite a thin crust chicken parmesan pizza.

Not a super healthy dinner in terms of nutrition, but it did a lot to feed our souls! <3

Enjoy!

AS

The 365 Diner Grand Opening!

The 365 Diner is an online experiment to keep track of what we're eating for dinner for a year.

I am hoping that knowing I will be sharing it with you, I will focus on healthier dinners. I will start with tonight's dinner.....

July 26th, 2011

Buttermilk Brined Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Salad and Mandrin Oranges.

I actually made 2 versions of this meal, one for Hubby and one for me. Hubby had the straight meal, and I turned mine into a salad (sliced up the pork, added blueberries and feta cheese to what is shown above) and skipped the mashed potatoes. :0)

Here are the recipes I used:

http://www.food.com/recipe/kittencals-basic-buttermilk-brine-for-pork-chops-287617

(although I grilled mine outside)

I don't use a recipe for the potatoes really, just chunk them up, bring to a boil, boil until soft, and then mashe with a stick of butter and 1/2 cup to 1 cup of heavy cream.

1 Down, 364 to go!

Enjoy!

AS