My husband isn't a big fan of canned refried beans, but he's LOVES them when I make them myself. Even leftovers of them get eaten up quickly.
Homemade refried beans are super cheap and they freeze great. And while I am listing the recipe below for only 1 pound of beans, I don't cook such a small batch. If I am going to make them, I usually do at least 3 lbs at one time and I freeze the leftovers into smaller portions for future meals.
Here's how I do them. You will notice that I DO NOT add
Any Cereal Chicken Tenders
One of the favorite meals in our house is Chicken Tenders...yum, yum, yum.
I make mine by baking them in the oven, rather than frying, and the coating on them is any kind of cereal that I have on hand. Just about any cereal will work - in the past I've used sugary cereals like Captain Crunch (I have no problem admitting that these are GOOD), but lately I use cereals such as Fiber One or Total - which everyone in my family gobbles up too. I've even used Shredded Wheat or Cheerios. The cereal I
A Side of Black Beans
In our family, refried (pinto) beans are almost always served with the Mexican food I cook. While I love refried beans - my husband would rather have black beans. Here's how I make black beans for a side dish:
Black Beans
3 cans of black beans; drained and rinsed
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use less or none if you don't like spicy)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice
Combine all ingredients in a
Fruit & Chicken Salad
In the Summer, we have salad for dinner about once a week. Not only do I like how easy they are, but on a hot, mucky day, it's so refreshing to have a light meal such as a salad.
Walmart had strawberries on sale and considering how great they looked and that we haven't had them much this Summer, I decided to buy some. Of course, we could just eat them as-is, but my mind turned to yummy various desserts I could make. But this week was also a week that I was determined to spend as little as
Strategic Dish Drying Club
Sadly, we don't have a dishwasher.
Everything must be handwashed, which I don't really mind, but I would love the option to use a dishwasher on some days.
At some point in the early years of our marriage, it dawned on me that people actually hand dry the dishes that they hand wash. I seriously didn't know this. I believe I saw it on a movie or TV show: a couple standing in the kitchen while she washed and he dried. Interesting concept. Here's me: I let them air dry in their dish
Discovering Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches
My poor, deprived Mattie. He just learned about peanut butter and banana sandwiches. He was watching something on TV and mentioned to me about someone making a "peanut butter and banana sandwich". I told him "yeah, they're good."
He was shocked. He couldn't believe it. He glared at me as if to say, "YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?". It was almost the same look I got when he learned that there was peanut butter with actual little pieces of nuts in it (aka chunky peanut butter). See, I told you he was
Tortilla Soup
Tonight's dinner was Tortilla Soup. If you've been following my menu plan, you know that I post it on Mondays. I don't usually check the weather when making my grocery list, so little did I know that today would be one of the hottest days we've had since last summer! I don't like having hot soup when it's hot out AT ALL, but I decided to stick with the plan and it worked out ok.
I didn't dish up a bowl for Mattie - it was a bit spicy and I know he won't eat it. So rather than even attempt it,
Split Pea Soup with Ham
Tonight's dinner was Split Pea Soup with Ham, which I have a tradition of making the week following Easter (using leftovers from our Easter dinner). It's inexpensive and good for you. For those of you who follow Weight Watchers, this has a point value of only 2 pts per 1 cup serving.
We love sourdough bread - especially when paired along with soups, so I served the soup with Monterey Sourdough Bread that I picked up at Sam's Club.
Walmart & McD’s
Menu Planning Dinners
This is a list of common dinners we eat at our home -- I usually try a new dinner once a week and if it's liked, we add it to the list. Having this list helps me with menu planning. Some of these recipes are already on my blog, but I am slowly adding the others and linking them as I have time. Menu Planning - Favorite DinnersMexican Burritos (all different versions)Tacos (beef, chicken, fish, etc.)TostadasTaco SaladEnchiladas (cheese or beef w/ enchilada sauce)Creamy Chicken EnchiladasTaco