Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge Week & Pizza Friday

It's the time of year for saving and spending on Christmas so this week I skipped grocery shopping and vowed to feed us well with whatever we already had on hand. I think I did a pretty good job! Here's what we ate for dinner this week:
Monday: Pasta with Meat Sauce
Unfortunately below is only a picture of the leftovers because I didn't remember to take a picture the night of. This pasta was SO good. I simmered 3 leftover grilled burgers with a jar of marinara sauce and served it over this cool organic pasta. The girls loved the shape of the pasta and the grilled burgers added such a great flavor to the sauce. We all had leftovers for lunch the next day. Two meals for the price of one!

Tuesday: Chicken Soft Tacos
For this dinner I threw 2 organic chicken breasts into the slow cooker with 2 T of homemade taco seasoning and about a 1/2 C of water. I cooked it all day until it shredded up really easily, and then stuffed it into tortillas with leftover brown rice, cheese, and mild salsa. I served it with a green salad. Not only was there was enough chicken for Daddy to have a leftover chicken taco salad for lunch, but I also made 8 burritos for the freezer so he can take them for lunch a few times over the next couple of weeks! SCORE!

Wednesday: Wegman's Carry Out
Tonight's dinner was courtesy of Nana and Pee Paw. Due to a logistical error they weren't able to use this food for a meal they had planned to give a friend so they gave it to us instead. Lucky us! I figured the girls would be reluctant to eat it so I tried to win them over with my presentation. I made harvest veggie grass beneath a stuffing sun and mashed potato clouds. It didn't work too well so they supplemented their meal with PB&J sandwiches. I myself thoroughly enjoyed the carb overload :)

Thursday: Orecchiette with Toasted Breadcrumbs
I found this dinner in one of my favorite cookbooks: Giada's "Everyday Italian". It was SO budget friendly (obviously I had everything on hand!) and super duper yummy. The girls even ate it! I will definitely be making this again. Daddy and I both had leftovers for lunch and there is still another serving in the fridge.

Friday: Pizza Friday Cheese Pizza
Not much explanation needed here. I made the dough from the recipe on the back of the yeast packet and topped it with the last little bit of marinara sauce we had in the fridge, and the last of the bag of mozzarella. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED and we didn't starve!!!

Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls

We had special guests this weekend and I whipped up a super easy and dazzling breakfast. These crescent rolls, mango chunks, and crispy uncured bacon. Everything was perfect and complimentary. Definitely a "keeper" menu!

Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls
Adapted from www.odense.com

Ingredients
7 oz almond paste, grated or thinly sliced
2-8 oz packages of refrigerated crescent rolls
4 oz chocolate bar, broken into 1/4 inch by 1 inch pieces (I used Milk Chocolate Hershey's bars but a semi-sweet bar would be good too)
(you can also add an egg wash and sugar to top the rolls with before baking but I skipped this step)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Separate each tube of crescent rolls into 8 triangles. Lay pieces/slices of almond paste over the dough. At the widest end of the triangle lay a strip of chocolate on top of the Almond Paste. Roll from wide end to point.
Place point side down on baking sheet and curve into a crescent shape. If desired, brush crescents with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Devour :)

Pizza Friday - Pizza on a Stick

Tonight's pizza is pretty much self explanatory! I found the idea on Pinterest and made it to our tastes. I used turkey kielbasa since 50% of us don't like pepperoni, zucchini, yellow bell peppers, orange Zima tomatoes, and black olives. Skewer, twist pizza dough around the stick, sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan, and bake for 10-12 minutes at 400. Immediately sprinkle with mozzarella when you take it out of the oven and serve with marinara sauce for dipping. FUN & YUM :)

Halloween Fare

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes with pumpkin faces

Homemade Brownie Bites for Leyna's class

(clockwise from top left) "Baby pumpkins" (orange Zima tomatoes), "Bat wings" (organic blue corn tortilla chips), "Pumpkin toes" (mandarin oranges), pumpkin shaped quesadillas, "Monster eyes" (black olives), ghost shaped quesadillas

Spiderweb Pizza

Snowy Day Food

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookie Cake

Roasted Chicken and Homemade Macaroni & Cheese (there were mixed veggies too but I didn't think they warranted a picture!)

Soup Week, Day 5: Pizza Friday Soup!

Of course we had to have Pizza Soup on Pizza Friday! Unfortunately I changed this recipe so much to fit the girls' tastes that it wasn't very pizza-y. And it figures they didn't even like it anyway! I'm just going to link to the original recipe because that's the one you should try. I replaced the suggested meats with ham and the only veggies were an orange pepper and some spinach. I also used whole wheat rotini. It was good but if the girls weren't going to eat it either way I would have much rather had it with pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms!

Here's the link: Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

Soup Week, Day 4: Italian Wedding Soup

Tonight's soup was a first time try for us and it was great! Unfortunately, the girls both refused to eat the soup even though I thought they would love it. About halfway through dinner I had a revelation and took the meatballs out, put them on a special plate with some ketchup, and told them that the spider caught those meatballs in his web just for them and he would be soooo happy if they would eat them. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. I am still in shock that Cora ate meat that wasn't a chicken nugget or bacon. And she did eat a little broth so I'm sure I'll try this soup on them again sometime :)

Italian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Giada's Family Dinners

Ingredients
Meatballs
1 small onion, grated
1/3 C chopped Italian parsley
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t salt
1/4 C seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 C grated Parmesan
1 lb organic ground beef
freshly ground black pepper
Soup
10 C organic chicken broth
1 bag organic baby spinach
2 large eggs
2 T freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

To make the meatballs: Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the cheese and beef and mix gently using your hands. Shape the meat mixture into 1-inch (I ended up with 56 meatballs!). Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook until wilted and still bright green. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with extra cheese if desired.