I wish I had taken a picture of this so I could show you how truly awesome and tasty this meal really is. In the last week, since the birth of our newborn daughters, we have been blessed by so many friends and neighbors stopping by and bringing us meals. Food really is one of the best gifts for people post delivery. It really just helps tackle one of those necessary items on your never-ending to-do list that you need to do but don’t have a lot of time to really spend on. If it wasn’t for these amazing gifts of food we would probably eat cereal at every meal until we get past the newborn phase!

Here is a recipe for Baked Spaghetti brought to us by our neighbor Jenny. It really is wonderful! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large
skillet, cook beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the marinara  sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain
spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat. Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the cottage cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

I’ve been doing pretty well sticking to our meal plan for the week. We’ve moved around some of the meals but no emergency pizza calls or cereal nights so that’s a plus! Tonight we tried this recipe for shrimp and grits.. It was so simple to make but has a flavorful and simple taste. It’s the perfect weeknight meal after a busy week when you want something different but don’t want to make an extravagant meal. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup instant grits
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

• Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat, covered.
• Uncover and slowly whisk in the grits, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
• Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the parmesan and 1 tablespoon butter.
• Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

• Meanwhile, season the shrimp with salt and pepper.
• Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add the shrimp, garlic and cayenne and cook, tossing, until the shrimp are pink, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons water, the lemon juice and parsley, stir to coat the shrimp with the sauce and season with salt and pepper.
• Divide the grits among shallow bowls and top with the shrimp and sauce. Serve.

Original recipe available here.

So I’ve really been slacking on making dinner lately. Thankfully my husband is amazing and has been saving us and our tummies these past few weeks and taking care of making meals for us. In an effort to try and get on top of things again here is my meal plan for the week for easy weeknight dinners… week 1. Here’s to hoping I can come up with an easy month of meals to make future planning a little easier.

• Sunday: Food Trucks after church
• Monday: Filet steaks on the grill and roasted Brussel sprouts
• Tuesday: Fish tacos with salmon and Mexican corn.  (I’ll have to write a post with the recipe for both of these that night)
• Wednesday: Ranch chicken club roll-ups
• Thursday: Homemade pizza
• Friday: Date night- Dinner out!
• Saturday: Shrimp and grits

So full recipes and results on how well we stuck with this plan to come!

Last night I made dinner for one of our friends and neighbors who recently had their fourth child. It’s crazy to think we moved into our new home and neighborhood just two years ago, right around the time they had their third child. Man, how time flies!

My typical go-to meal when bringing dinner to another family is Sicilian Meatloaf, however I’m pretty sure that’s what we gave them after baby #3 so I had to change it up a bit this time around. This recipe takes a little longer than my usual weeknight meal but the results are well worth it! And it makes a ton! So not only did we send a dinner (plus enough for leftovers) to our sweet friends but we had enough for 2-3 meals ourselves. That’s a lot of peppers (and yes, this recipe can definitely be halved if you don’t want this much).

Ingredients

• 6-7 red, yellow, orange, or green bell peppers or a mixture of all
• Olive oil, divided
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp chili powder (if desired-I don’t love spicy food so I often leave this out)
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 16 oz ground turkey
• 1 (16 oz) jar chunky salsa, mild or hot
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup cooked brown rice*
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 2 large avocados, peeled and pit removed, sliced
• 1/2 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped basil

*Quinoa or couscous can be subbed instead of brown rice.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, slicing from the stem to the bottoms. Remove the white pithy ribs near stem and down length of inside. Remove the ribs and seeds and discard. Place the peppers in a shallow 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Drizzle the peppers with oil. Cover the dish with foil, and bake the peppers 15 to 20 minutes, until they start to soften.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, chili powder, and cumin; cook until the vegetables are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the ground turkey to the skillet. Cook, breaking it up with a slotted spoon or potato masher, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the salsa and the spinach, and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the cooked brown rice.

Carefully fill the pepper halves with the turkey mixture. Cover the dish with foil, and bake until the filling is hot and the peppers are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove foil, and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the peppers. Return to oven; bake, uncovered, until cheese has melted, about 7 to 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, top the peppers with a heaping tablespoon of the greek yogurt.  Place slices of the avocado on top of each pepper.  Sprinkle with the basil.  Serve immediately and enjoy!

Original recipe available here.