Slow Cooker White Bean Chili

I made this for dinner tonight and it was really good. The preparation was quick - I got everything into the crock pot while Moo was eating her breakfast pancakes - and once it was cooking there wasn't anything to do until about a half hour before dinner. We had a couple of people over for dinner and ended up with just one small serving of leftovers, and everyone liked it.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Slow Cooker White Bean Chili

White Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

I made this for dinner tonight. I wanted to make a freezer meal to get ready for the upcoming new baby (but this is probably the only one I'll make - I don't make dinner every night, so why do I need a freezer full of freezer meals?), and when I saw this recipe on Facebook it looked good. I used my regular 8*8 glass pan and bought a disposal aluminum pan (that ended up being a little shallow but will probably be fine since the spinach does cook down quite a bit and the foil stays on for the first part of the baking). Instead of using 3 lasagna pieces I used two for each. And I didn't measure the spinach; I bought a big carton of it and tore it (tearing is like coarse chopping, right?) over the lasagna until it looked like there was a thick layer. Also I used Costco canned chicken (cooking chicken seemed like an extra step I didn't have time for) - 2 cans total.

I really liked the recipe. I like white sauce lasagnas, and overall it was tasty. I like that I can have it ready in the freezer, and I imagine it will make good leftovers.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe White Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

Balsamic Chicken Noodle Bowl

Eric's sister made this a couple of weeks ago for family dinner and I really really really liked it. I love balsamic vinegar, and it was just really tasty. I made it a few days later and liked that it was mostly easy. I used Costco tenderloins for the chicken (I can't remember how many) and cooked the chicken before cooking the peppers. I left out the feta (just because I think Eric's sister had left out feta) and probably used more mozzarella (I used the entire ball thing I had gotten at the store), and I think I had less basil (I used fresh basil, but the little package I bought probably wasn't a half cup). When I made it the cheese got kind of melty, but it was still really good. Next time I might try adding some tomatoes.

It also made pretty good leftovers, and I hate leftovers.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Balsamic Chicken Noodle Bowl

Hoisin Rice Noodles with Chicken

This was a recipe that Eric thought was good (or not bad) and I didn't like at all. I felt like it *could* have been good - kind of a Thai-peanut-noodle dish - but it wasn't very flavorful to me.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Hoisin Rice Noodles

Chicken with Zucchini and Mushrooms

This is one of Mel's Kitchen Cafe 30-minute recipes, so I tried it for dinner tonight. It was quick and easy, and it tasted fine, but it wasn't anything special. I expected it to be more flavorful because of the sesame oil and balsamic vinegar, but it was pretty bland. Maybe it would have been better if I had added some salt? I'd make it again, but it's not something I'd really get excited about eating.

Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry

Made this stir fry (with the sweet-and-sour chicken) for dinner tonight (we had people over). It was pretty quick, pretty cheap, and a hit. The chicken was a little too peppery and there was a bit too much sauce. I used 6 Costco chicken tenderloins - probably both of those problems would have been solved with more chicken, or I could have used less salt/pepper in the salt/pepper/corn starch step. It really was easy (hardest part was cutting the chicken and veggies), though, so I think we're going to add it into the rotation.*

*We don't really have a meal rotation. Sometime I'd like to make a chart, but I haven't yet.

Chicken Sauce for Hawaiian Haystacks

I really like Hawaiian Haystacks. I had no idea they were a trend from the 80s. Anyway, the pictures on this recipe looked really good so one day I made the chicken sauce from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. It was a little more involved than I thought it'd be, but it was tasty. We had this over brown rice with tomatoes, green onions (I didn't eat those), chow mein noodles, and mandarin oranges. I wish I would have included black olives and maybe pineapple instead of the oranges. It was still tasty, though. And the leftovers were great.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

One of my favorite things to eat is sweet and sour chicken (Almond Chicken) at The Mandarin in Bountiful, UT. I've never had sauce like theirs anywhere else. This recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe looked like the same sauce, and it's one of the most popular on her site, so I decided to try it. I've made it twice. The second time the corn starch/egg step went a lot better - I didn't cut the chicken as small (the first time I did bite-sized pieces, and the second time I did chunks that were probably 3/4 inch by 1 or 1 1/4 inch), and I beat the eggs with a mixer. I also stirred the chicken through the eggs instead of trying to coat each piece. Both times the chicken pieces haven't been evenly coated, so they don't look just like the chicken in her picture, but it still tastes good. Next time I want to try to remember to include some bell peppers.

I use chicken tenderloins from Costco and usually do 5 pieces and bake it in an 8 x 8 pan (p.s. I *love* that you just mix the sauce and pour it over). With that amount of chicken it would probably be nice to 1.5 times the sauce recipe (or even double it), but it's fine as it is.