Happy Tuesday, friends! I'll be honest. I was going to write to inspire you with some dinner ideas, but I feel like I'm the one who needs the dinner inspiration. I was going to cook last night and then I didn't want to, so we all just kind of made do with what I had on hand. Todd had chicken salad with tomato slices, Graham had mini tacos in the air fryer and I had a piece of fish with riced cauliflower.
That being said, here is an example of what I've made lately.
I always lean toward Mexican food, so we regularly have nachos, tacos, or taco salad. I use meat or chicken, rice or riced cauliflower, black beans, corn, and all the toppings I love like tomato, onion, jalapeno slices...you get my drift. It's delicious.
I regularly make hamburgers. Well, I put them together, Todd grills them. We eat ours on lettuce slices with all the toppings and no condiments.
We have salmon a lot. I buy the big fillets from Costco and make it in my oven. I usually top it with olive oil, lemon juice, dill and some Cajun seasoning. I like to have some sort of potatoes with this (regular or sweet) and broccoli.
And lately I've been on a healthy version of air fried chicken nuggets with sides, like this salad you see above, also from Costco. I just take the breasts or tenderloins and make them into bite sized pieces and dip them in an egg mixture and crushed tortilla chips or corn meal with Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper. I make them in the air fryer on 400 for ten minutes and do them in batches, keeping them in the oven on "warm" until they're all done. Jonah likes to dip them in ranch dressing, especially the kind that I make. It's equal parts mayo and sour cream, salt & pepper, some taco seasoning, a dash of Worcestershire and drizzles of milk until it gets to the consistency we like.
I know for a fact I'll be making the chicken again this week, Jonah loved it so much. Noah loves it too and it's healthy enough for Todd to eat it guilt free.
So, what are you having for dinner this week? Does the outside temperature affect how you cook? It does me and I don't like to use the over too much when it's hot. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.
It's interesting to read about what's on others' dinner rotations. I tend to use my oven almost as much in the summer as in other months. I don't make too many modifications due to the season except I usually don't make soup in the summer (however, my pasta e fagioli soup loving daughter asked me recently when I would be making that again so I might make it this summer still). We do Tex-Mex a lot here, too. Do you guys like Asian inspired food? I just made PF Chang's copy cat lettuce wraps. We all like this dish- it's fairly healthy made with ground chicken and then typical/ spicy Asian sauces. We also like chicken or shrimp fried rice and cashew chicken.
ReplyDeleteMaria, you're not the only one who has said that. Last week when it was so hot here, I couldn't bring myself to turn the real oven on! The heat index was 115 for several days and it definitely affects our small kitchen. I'm hot just sitting, so it is way worse when I cook.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, during every summer, I always make taco soup one night. I usually have someone that asks for it, so I happily oblige. I have never made those, but we do love Asian inspired food, so I'll have to try those! Thanks for the suggestion. We love fried rice!
I need to make more fish! Also, try the Bare nuggets from Costco. They really aren't bad at all - fat and calorie-wise. I'm all about a dipping sauce. It just makes everything better!
ReplyDeleteWe could also have Mexican 3-4 times a week. I really should try to make my own fajitas since I always order those now. I love the La Banderita flour tortillas and use those for me. I love getting new ideas! Thank you!
Your meals sound and look delicious. Have you ever tried the Red Bag Chicken Breasts from Aldi's? They are delicious and what we had last night for dinner. Hubby ate his on a bun(with pickles and mustard) and I ate mine without a bun (using Chick-fil-a Polynesian sauce and some honey mustard to dip them in) along with some mixed veggies. Very good and easy meal. Everyone keeps talking about their air fryers and I'm wondering whether I should replace my Instant Pot for get an air fryer instead. Any thoughts on this? I hope you have a really great day Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteI really need a Costco membership. Everyone seems to find yummy things. We have a BJs less than five miles from the house...and the Costco is way on the other side of town. It doesn't make sense to use Costco over BJs - but, I must admit, I am not much of a BJs fan. We buy toilet paper there and a few other things but rarely anything for dinner, etc. I don't often think of soup this time of year. Never really crosses my mind....but taco soup does sound good right about now:)
ReplyDeleteAmy, I'm adding those to my Costco list now. Thanks for the tip! We love their fish that comes frozen. The cod is good, the mahi mahi, and I bought a new one last week- barramundi, or something like that? I haven't tried it yet, but it's on the dinner list this week. I read your comment to someone about making your own tortilla chips. I'm going to try that and write down the brand you mentioned. My dinner tonight was MUCH more satisfying because I added a bit of carbs. Thanks for that tip!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cathy! I have not tried those, but I need to! I think we would like them. In my opinion the instant pot and the air fryer are totally different things. The air fryer is great for warming things up and for making them crispy. I didn't use my instant pot except for one time, so I can't say much about that, but I've used the air fryer almost every night for like three weeks now. I love it!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, I've never heard of BJ's! Is it a big store like Costco or Sam's? I love Costco and everything they sell. I always have! They have great clothes, books, food...we buy so much there. It's nothing like Sam's, which is essentially a big Walmart, so I'm not a fan of it. I found out a membership is only $60 a year, so it's worth it just to save money on gas, which is always so much cheaper there! It's worth thinking about.
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