Meal 18: Ashley makes chicken rolatini

What you need:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups (1 medium) zucchini, shredded
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Romano cheese (or parmesan)
• 3 oz part skim shredded mozzarella
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 thin chicken cutlets, 3 oz each
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and fresh pepper
• olive oil non-stick spray

Directions:

• Wash and dry cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.
• In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add oil when hot then saute garlic a minute, or until golden. Add zucchini, 1/4 cup Romano cheese, salt and pepper and saute about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool. When cool, add mozzarella cheese and mix to combine.
• Lay chicken cutlets down on a working surface and spread 3 tbsp of zucchini-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down.
• Combine breadcrumbs and grated cheese in one bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper in another bowl.
• Dip chicken in lemon-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish (no toothpicks needed). Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray with oil spray.
• Bake 25 - 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
  

Result:

I couldn't find cutlets at the store, and we didn't have a mallet to pound them out, so I used 'thinly sliced chicken breasts' instead. They were a little fat, so I did have to use toothpicks to hold them in place, but they still turned out awesome.

I loved the parmesan in the filling and the extra bonus on the breading. The lemon/olive oil substitute for eggs was nice, too! Sneaky way to get some zucchini in your diet!

I'll buy more chicken next time. I thought I had more in the package! They went quick!

Meal 17: Ashley makes honey garlic chicken

What you Need

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped or grated
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup honey
• fresh basil, shredded, for garnish

How it's done:

• Place the chicken in the bottom of a 4-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, soy sauce, ketchup and honey. Pour over the chicken and cover.
• Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours. Remove chicken, place on a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Transfer the remaining sauce to a saucepan and reduce down over medium heat until desired consistency is reached. Serve over the chicken and garnish with fresh basil.
• Serve over rice.

Result:

• This was really great for how simple it was!
• I personally thought the saltiness of the soy sauce was a little strong, so if I make it again, I'll use a low-sodium variety (but nobody else said anything)
  
• Also, I only cooked this for 5.5 hours on low, and I'd have liked to lose the last half hour at least. It was a touch on the dry side (but not much)
• I didn't have time to reduce the sauce, so I just added wondra to thicken it up. I imagine the sauce would have been different reduced!
  

Meal 16: Ashley makes bowtie pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 box farfalle (bowtie) pasta
• 2 jars pasta sauce- I use Ragu's sauteed onion and garlic
• ~1tsp dried basil, oregano, parsley
• 1 package italian sausage
• 1 package mozarella cheese

How it's done:

• Cook pasta using box directions
• Meanwhile, remove sausage from casings and brown in frying pan.
• Put pasta sauce in large pan. Add herbs. Once sausage is cooked, add to sauce (minus the grease)
• Once pasta is done, drain it and add it to the sauce and sausage
• Stir in entire package mozarella cheese
• Once the cheese is melted, it's ready to serve!

Result:

This wasn't a new recipe for me, but I hadn't made it in a while! It's always a favorite, and it's super easy. Tastes great reheated, too, so it's awesome for leftovers. :)

Meal 15: Sydney makes meatball sandwiches and broccoli and cheese casserole

How it's done and ingredients:

Mini meatball sandwiches: HERE

• Because we didn't have provolone cheese, Sydney used swiss instead, and it tasted fine!
  

Broccoli and cheese casserole: HERE


Results:

• The mini meatball sandwiches were great. Super moist, flavorful!
• The casserole was super cheesy, which I think we all found a little overwhelming ("I have more cheese than broccoli" -Sydney). Apparently we don't like our Velveeta as much as the pioneer woman does.
  

Meal 14: Ashley's failed Avacado Pasta

SO. Here's the deal.

The recipe I used called for a food processor. We had a blender. Said blender decided it did not want to function properly.

This meant that despite my best efforts, several ingredients could not be added in (because no one wants to bite into whole raw pieces of garlic, let's be real).

In the end, we gave up on it. I tried my best to eat it, but seeing as it was only olive oil, avacado, and lemon juice at that point, it tasted an awful lot like avocado with a little bit of lemon juice, and it just wasn't cutting it.

SAD DAY. I'll try this again sometime when I have a food processor.

On the plus side, I used one of our (ten) containers of spaghetti we've needed to make use of.

Meal 13: Sarah makes pork tenderloin

Ingredients:
TBA

How it's done:
TBA


Result:

• The potatoes were awesome.
• The gravy for the pork tenderloin was really good- very different!
• Actual roast was a little overcooked, probably because Sarah was waiting on us slackers to get home and trying to keep it warm!
• Overall: great!
  

Meal 12: Ashley makes Chicken Tacos

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1/2-3/4 packet chicken taco seasoning
• 1 jar salsa
• 1 can corn
  
• Whatever taco toppings you prefer (we did avocado, pico, cheese, sour cream, lettuce)
• 1 box rice
• 1 can black beans

How it's done:

1. Put chicken, salsa, corn, taco mix in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Serve with toppings.

Result:

These were ridiculously good for how easy they were. Highly recommend and will make again!

Meal 11: Ashley makes spinach manicotti

Ingredients:

• 1 box uncooked manicotti shells (14 shells)
• 2 cups shredded italian cheese blend (or mozzarella cheese, which I used), plus extra for top
  
• 1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
• 1 box frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1.5 jar pasta sauce
  

How it's done:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Cook manicotti as directed on box. Rinse with cool water; drain well.
• In medium bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups of the Italian cheese blend, ricotta cheese, spinach, garlic and egg.
• In bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish, spread 1/2 jar of the pasta sauce. Spoon ricotta mixture into manicotti; place over sauce in dish. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti.
• Cover tightly with foil; bake about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. Uncover dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Italian cheese blend. Bake uncovered 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. (I put the cheese on top before I covered it, and it was fine).

Result:

• Tasty and hearty- I really liked the spinach in it.
• I'd like to try it with the blend of cheeses and see if it tastes any different!
  

Meal 10: Sarah Makes Salmon

Ingredients:

1.5 lb salmon filets
two heads broccoli
four red potatoes
splash of milk
garlic powder
salt and pepper
butter
lemon juice



How it's done:

Season fish with salt and pepper to taste. Cook in skillet in medium high heat in olive oil for about five minutes on each side until cooked all the way through. Peel off skin midway through cooking (should be easy to remove).

Cut potatoes into one inch cubes. Boil until soft. Add a third of a stick of butter, a splash of milk, and mix together until creamy. Add small and garlic powder to taste.

Put a quarter inch of water in a microwave safe dish. Cover and microwave for eight minutes. If desired, melt butter and add lemon for a lemon butter sauce.

Result:

It was great!
And potatoes were a wonderful success this round!

Meal 9: Sarah makes chicken pie

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 can celery soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 1/2 cups bisquick
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 stick butter melted
• 2-3 cups cooked rice

How it's done:

1. Cook chicken in foil for 1 hr at 350.
2. Tear apart chicken and layer in bottom of pan.
3. Layer rice on top of chicken
4. Mix soups in a bowl and layer on top of rice.
5. Mix milk and bisquick together and pour on top of soups.
6. Melt butter and drizzle on top of everything.
7. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Result:

Yum!
Sydney and I wanted a bigger chicken to biscuit ratio, but Sarah wanted more biscuit (and only used two chicken breasts).
Good meal for cold weather!

Meal 8: Ashley makes turkey meatloaf

Ingredients:

• tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons ketchup, divided
• 1 3/4 pounds ground turkey, 97% lean
• 3/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, broth, and 1 tablespoon ketchup; transfer mixture to a large bowl, and cool
2. Add turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, egg white, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to mixture in bowl, and mix well. (Mixture will be very moist.)
3. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and coat lightly with cooking spray. Form the turkey mixture into a loaf, and place on the pan. Brush meatloaf evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons ketchup. Bake 1 hour or until thermometer inserted into center registers 170°. Let meatloaf stand 5 minutes before serving.

Result:

• This was delicious!
  
• I only used one clove of garlic because they seemed really large. I also made my own 'broth' with a cube of chicken bouillon.
  
• Served it with asparagus with lemon butter and some pillsbury honey butter rolls.
• A+
  

Meal 7: Ashley makes Greek Chicken Pockets

.
Ingredients and How-To can be found here at: Dashing Dish

Result:

These looked great, but the flavor wasn't there. They were too salty for Sydney and I (though not for Sarah or Sydney's boyfriend). Definitely would leave out the additional salt. I thought the red pepper humus overwhelmed everything, so maybe using plain would work better.

I was also very glad that I bought two cans of crescent rolls because I made 14 rather than 8 of these with the filling's recipe!

Not making these again, unfortunately. I was really excited for them, but thumbs down.

Meal 6: Sydney makes curry

Sydney never gives me her recipes, but I will say that she used curry from a box and that, yes, it is supposed to be this brown color.

Result:

I thought this was awesome. I am a bit of a pansy when it comes to spicy food, and this curry was a much more mild one.

Lovely!

Meal 5: Sarah makes apple pork chops

Ingredients and How it's Done:

This recipe can be found at FoodNetwork.com

Result:

• The sauce wasn't bad
  
• The pork chops were a teensy bit dry, but not bad.
• ...There was a bit of a potato mishap we won't go into.
• I don't know that I would make them again.
  

Meal 4: Ashley makes Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 4 bell peppers
• parmesean cheese
• 1 box frozen spinach
• 1 lb ground turkey
• garlic powder
• basil
• oregano
• spaghetti
• spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu onion and garlic)
  

How it's done:

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Cook ground turkey. While cooking, thaw frozen spinach and squeeze out excess water.
   
3. Once turkey is almost cooked, add 2 cups spaghetti sauce, spinach, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp basil, and 1/2 tsp oregano.
   
4. Stir in 2 tbspn cheese.
5. Cut peppers in half and remove stems and seeds.
6. Stuff peppers with as much filling as you see fit. Top with extra cheese.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Mine were done at 20.
8. Cook pasta and heat up remaining spaghetti sauce.

Result:

• Great!
  Delicious and healthy!
  

Meal 3: Sydney makes Fried Rice

I haven't asked her for the recipe yet, but it was delicious.

Meal 2: Ashley makes stuffed turkey burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
1 jar fire roasted red peppers
1 package mozzarella cheese
1/2 yellow onion
garlic powder

2 large sweet potatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper


How it's done:

1. Cut up sweet potatoes to desired size
2. Mix fries in salt, pepper and olive oil
3. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through

1. Grate onion into ground turkey. Add (eyeball it) garlic powder.
Note: I did not use the entire half of the onion.
2. Divide into three equal parts. Split each part into two rounds.
3. Put mozzarella cheese and diced red peppers into the center of one round and place the other on top. Seal the edges.
4. Grill for about five minutes on each side.

Result:

• The meat was flavorful and moist, but adding worchestire sauce would be tasty!
• 1 lb was not enough meat. Buy more turkey so that there is enough room to add more cheese and peppers in the middle!
• Not bad for a first try!
• Overall: Good!

Meal 1: Sarah makes Pot Roast

We forgot to take a picture, so I have posted a picture of the chef instead.

Ingredients:

2lbs chuck
4 carrots
2 red potatoes
1 can pineapple
1/2 onion
1 package onion soup mix
2 cups water

How it's done:

1. Cut up veggies to desired size
2. Coat chuck with flour
3. Put ingredients (with potatoes on the bottom) into crock pot. Add water and soup mix and cook for 6 plus hours.
4. For gravy, add thickening agent of choice to water and add juice from the crock pot.

Result:

• Tender meat.
• Tasty veggies.
• Could use a bit more seasoning because of the volume of liquid.
• Super easy!
• Overall: good!