Kabob Crazy

We were in a kabobing mood with the nice weather we've been having.  I feel like regardless of whether they are made on the grill or in the oven, they just remind me of the summer months.  And somehow, when you serve food in kabob form, kids seem to find it more enticing.  So Eve helped me create a meatball kabob skewered together with some orange pepper and quartered biscuits.  Soooo easy and quick.  Just bake them for about 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven and that's it (we used fully cooked frozen meatballs to make this a quick meal).  Served with some marinara sauce for dipping as well as a fruit kabob.  Oh, and if you're using wooden skewers like we did, don't forget to soak them first so they don't catch on fire! That would turn your quick meal into a quick mess.  :(

Kabobs a plenty - meatball/pepper/buiscuit kabob, strawberries, blackberries, marinara

Go Get a Croquette

Okay, again with the remake leftovers.  You can tell I am in desperate need for a trip to the food store.  Well, we had some honey ham and some chicken (from yes, the homemade rotisserie), so we made some croquettes.  Easy to do, but it does take some time.  I have made a quicker version of croquettes where you just grind and mix everything together, but they're definitely not as good.  Anyhow...the mac and cheese was per daughter's request (we always have it for emergency purposes in the pantry...and like I said, we need to make a food shopping trip, so this IS one of those emergencies).   :) 

Croquette lunch - mac and cheese, ham and chicken croquete, edamame, honey ham chunks   

Rachael Ray the Bento Way - Pretzel and Peanut Crusted Chicken

Since I didn't do a very good job of posting last week, I'm giving you two posts today...this is our dinner, and below you will see our lunch as well.

Okay, so first let me say that despite the fact that the recipe only calls for a 1/2c of honey roasted nuts, buy the large container anyhow!!!  I looked in several stores looking for a small jar of nuts because I thought they would go to waste if I bought the big one, but could only find the big momma jar of nuts.  WELL, you can probably guess that it DID NOT go to waste.  They are utterly addicting!  I think I ate half the jar before I even put any into the recipe!  Not to mention I had two little girls begging me for nuts the entire time I was cooking. Anyhow...getting back to the point. This is a very kid-friendly meal since they are just chicken tenders, so I didn't need to change antything this time...so this post is really just a "Rachael Ray, her own way" as opposed to "Rachael Ray the Bento Way."  Here's the recipe for the chicken and you can also click on the link for the accompanying "smashed sweet potatoes with honey". They have a bit of orange in them, which explains our fruit side today.  They went really well together, not to mention I had the other half of the orange to use up.  :)   http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/pretzel-and-peanut-crusted-chicken/

Rachael Ray Her Own Way Dinner - pretzel and peanut crusted chicken, smashed sweet potatoes with honey, orange, honey roasted peanuts

Leftovers Recreated

Whenever I have something left over from dinner the night before, I try my best to turn it into something different for lunch, instead of eating straight leftovers (this works best with chicken breasts, simple pork roasts, etc.).  Since we had some leftovers from a rotisserie chicken I made recently, I decided to make it into a chicken salad for our lunch.  I'd share the recipe, but frankly, I don't really have one.  Chicken salad happens to be something I just make with whatever I have on hand, but usually it includes chicken (obviously), grapes, pecans, celery, and light mayo.  Just chop, mix, and season to taste! We also made some trail mix with bulk nuts, raisins, and m&ms (I LOVE the bulk section of our grocery store...can't live without it).  If you have one, consider making your own trail mix as well...it's much cheaper than buying the ready made stuff, and you get to control what goes into it (not to mention you can make it much healthier by getting the non-salted variety). 

Chicken salad bento - chicken salad, celery with PB, trail mix