Chicken Fingers & Potato Wedges: Frequent Repeat

Forgive the repeat, but I wanted to bring this entry from my old cooking blog to this blog for easy reference on how I make chicken fingers.

October 4, 2006

Do you have some menus in your house that you repeat over and over again? I do. As much as I LOVE to try new recipes, sometimes I just want one of my favorite meals.

One of my favorites is what I made last night: chicken fingers, baked homemade fries, and steamed broccoli. I vary the seasonings slightly, but the basic menu is the same. It's a meal I never get tired of.

Last night, I did everything with ranch. I took chicken breasts, cut them into strips, and marinated them in ranch dressing in a ziplock bag for a few hours. Then I threw in a lot of dried parsley (I use it often and buy it in bulk) and about half a tube of crushed Ritz crackers. I dumped that out into a 9x13" casserole, and topped it with the rest of the tube of crushed crackers.

Then I chopped up 4-5 potatoes, and shook them in a ziplock with olive oil and dry ranch dressing mix. I put them on a foil-lined cookie sheet that was sprayed with non-stick spray... the only problem with these potatoes is that they often stick to the pan!

I popped both pans into the oven on 375 for 45 minutes. After they were done, I steamed some broccoli in the microwave, and dinner was served!

Menu Plan Monday 3/31

I've skipped the last couple of weeks of doing Menu Plan Monday, but it's going to be a busy week, and I'll need a plan!

Everything is a tried and true favorite this week! :)

SUNDAY: beef fajitas, my favorite bean dip & nacho chips, corn


MONDAY: hamburgers, ranch potato wedges


TUESDAY: *DD's 5th birthday, menu of her choice!* Chicken nuggets (kids), Chicken Fingers (adults), our favorite macaroni & cheese with tomatoes, raw veggies & dip, chocolate cake & ice cream. (See entry after this one for details on how I make chicken fingers.)


WEDNESDAY: crockpot meatball subs, steak fries


THURSDAY: crockpot chicken in gravy, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli


FRIDAY: roast in crockpot with veggies


SATURDAY: ??-- I always leave Saturdays open.

Broccoli Nemo Soup :)

Yup, you read that right, Nemo.

Don't worry, I'm just using Nemo-shaped pasta... no adorable orange fish were harmed in the invention of this recipe. :)

Do you ever just start throwing things together in a pot and call it lunch? I do it all the time, LOL! Today was one of those days... I knew I wanted broccoli soup, but I didn't have the ingredients on hand to do my usual recipes. So, I started playing around, and came up with a recipe of my own. I'm posting it here because both kids loved it, and I might want to recreate it again one day.

Amy's Broccoli- Nemo Soup: In a large stockpot, add about 3 cups of water and one box of frozen broccoli. Turn heat to high and simmer until broccoli is broken up a bit and partially cooked. Add in two teaspoons chicken bouillon paste and half a box of Nemo-shaped pasta. Stir it all together and add a little more water if needed. Let simmer for a few minutes, then add in about 3/4 cup cream soup base and, on a whim, about 1/3 cup instant potato flakes. Stir it, decide it needs more of a cream base, then add in about a cup of milk. Keep simmering. Add in about two tablespoons dried minced onion and stir well. Taste to see if pasta is done yet. If so, add in about four slices of diced Velveeta. Stir until cheese is melted and then serve. (And in my case, place the kids' bowls in the freezer for a minute because they're both underfoot & starving, and the soup is too hot to serve.) Garnish with choice of shredded cheddar cheese (me), croutons (me) and/or CheezIt crackers (kids).

Obviously, all measurements could be adjusted to taste, and I'm pretty sure that any cartoon-shaped pasta of your choice could be used. ;)

Meatball Subs: crockpot & freezer recipe

This is a great recipe to pop in the crockpot and enjoy later in the day. You can also make the meatballs ahead of time and freeze them, so I thought I'd share it as a part of both Freezer Food Friday AND Slow Cooking Thursday. FFF is new to me, and I haven't done SCT in quite a while... my silly job keeps interfering with this fun stuff! ;)


Meatball Subs

For the meatballs:

• 1 lb lean ground beef



• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (I also add a small amount of oatmeal.)



• 1 small onion, diced



• 1 dash Worsterchire sauce



• 1 dash onion powder



• 1 dash salt



• 1 egg



• 1 TBSP grated Parmesean cheese

1 large (approx. 32 oz.) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

6-8 sub or hoagie buns

1. Combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.



2. Shape into walnut-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet.



3. Cook meatballs: either bake at 400 for 20 minutes or so, or, microwave until done-- it takes about 8 minutes in my microwave.



4. (May freeze at this point by placing meatballs on a foil-lined cookie sheet and freezing. After frozen, remove from cookie sheet and place into zip-top bag.)



5. Place meatballs in crockpot and cover with sauce. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.



6. To make subs: place meatballs and sauce on buns, top as desired, and enjoy!



7. Optional: I like to toast the buns with a little butter and garlic salt, and then top the meatballs with sliced mozzarella cheese and broil until melted.

P.S. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the font sizes in this entry keep changing from microscopic to huge on me. I can't find anything in the HTML to explain this. I hope you can read it!