Appetizer Dinner

I have an easy dinner idea for you this Summer.  Plan an appetizer dinner one night.  Buy a couple of new appetizers or the ingredients to make a couple of appetizers, add in some leftovers from your fridge, fruits and veggies.  You're all set!

We did new appetizers of 

Street corn dip and lime chips from Costco

Frozen Taquitos, mini tacos, Trader Joe's cheese curds and TGIFridays potato skills.

We had some fruits and veggies plaus some leftover taco ingredients.

I loved finishing up things from our freezer that weren't quite enough for a full dinner.

My family was thrilled and it was the easiest meal to pull together.

Crunch Wrap Supreme at Home

Olive added at at home Crunch Wrap Supreme to our menu last week.  She loves Taco Bell and was inpsired to create our own Crunch Wraps.  As our kids are getting older, they love to help me plan meals for the week.  Olive added the ingredients to our grocery list.  I like to leave the Walmart website up on my desktop and the kids will add items to it throughout the week.  Then I edit them before I order groceries.

We used the following items:

burrito soft shells

tortilla chips

pico

shredded lettuce

sour cream

queso

shredded cheddar cheese

green onions

We added the ingredients in a big burrito shell.  Folded it.  We found that it worked better to roll it and flatten it like burrito.  Warm up a skillet and then toast each side.

The crunch, the delicious filling and then flavor combos was SO GOOD.  Olive and I loved how they turned out.  We can't wait to make them again.

Our first try - we folded all the edges in.

Our second try.  I left it open on the ends (due to tons of toppings!) and toasted both sides.

Cut in half and serve.  It was delicious.

Put this crunch wrap on your menu ASAP!

Nacho Bar

We had the yummiest nacho bar for dinner last weekend!  It was the perfect game day meal.  We all built our plates of nachos to perfection.  I picked up all of our favorite toppings.  This meal ended up being enough for two dinners for us.

Let me talk you through the ingredients.

Chop onions and sweet peppers up small and saute them.

Make your favorite taco meat combo.

We love Chihuahua cheese and Mateo's salsa from Costco.  My brother introduced me to this delicious cheese and it makes every kind of taco better.

Queso fresco cheese, Pablano street corn dip and we grabbed the Short Cuts pico from Schnucks.

Two kinds of chips and a few taquitos for Leo.

The very best queso is this Rancho's queso from Sams.  It tastes like restaurant queso and is so good!

A variety of taco sauces.

Yum!!  This was one of our favorite dinners!  Every plate looked different and every person was so happy.

You'll have to put a nacho bar on your menu soon!

Easy Pork Chops & Sams Sliders

I've made it through the chaos of back to school and am back to cooking more these days.  I have two really easy dinner ideas for you today.

Sams sells these Member's Mark Prime Rib Ground Beef Sliders for under $20.  That's WAY cheaper than taking your family out to get burgers.  You get 18 sliders.  We love them!  They aren't frozen and we usually grill up the whole package.  It serves us a delicious dinner and some really great lunches for the week.  We tried the slider buns from the Sams bakery which were good.  They were the perfect size and not as sweet as the Hawaiian rolls we've tried before.   I season them like I do a regular burger - Kinder The Blend seasoning, seasoned salt and worcestershine sauce.  We did white cheddar cheese on top plus all the burger toppings.

Bacon, grilled onions, sauces, lettuce, tots and pickles.

Delicious burger bowls for lunches.

I never buy pork chops.  Kevin happened to win a golf tournament and won a ton of pork chops from a local place.  We got something like 100 pork chops so I had to learn how to fix them.  They were THICK.  I tenderized them.  Added The Blend Kinder seasoning to both sides.  Then grilled them on my grill pan with butter.  Melt some butter in a hot skilled and sear both sides.  Add butter on top.  Grill until nice and toasty.  Then I cut them up for everyone to eat.  That might seem silly, but the kids don't love messing with a bone and cutting up meat.  I don't love it either, but these delicious pork chops are worth it.

I serve porkchops with all kinds of sides - mac and cheese, roasted vegetables, salads, cornbread, etc.  My whole family loves pork chops this way.

Happy cooking!

7 Simple Family Dinners

It makes me so happy to be able to plan ahead and put together delicious dinners during the week.  I meal plan on the weekends.  Grocery shop on the weekends and write out a menu for the week.  It's flexible, but it always feels good to have a plan.  It also ensures that we save money by eating at home.  I usually cook 5-6 nights a week and simple dinner options save me on busy days.  And you'll see that Sams is saving me these days.  

Let's talk family dinners - Meal #7 might just change your life.  It's our new favorite!!

1. Make your own pizza night was a hit.  I bought pizza crust (the kind that comes in a can - we used two cans) and we each made our own pizzas.  I had sauce, turkey pepperoni, cheeses, pizza salt, olives, veggies and noodles.  Everyone was happy with their topping situation and Leo opted to eat just breadsticks and veggies.

2. Soup night!  I made homemade vegetable soup with okra from our garden.  It was enough for two dinners when I added a side of bread each night.

3. Pasta night!  Try out a new noodle shape to make spaghetti night a little extra exciting.  I grabbed this pumpkin pasta at Walmart and it was so fun to eat.  It held sauce and meat very well.  I wish I'd bought more.  I made homemade fettucini sauce, meatballs and then everyone built their own pasta bowls.

4. Panda Express at home!  We had egg rolls, edamame, pot stickers, rice and grilled chicken with all the sauces.  It was delicious!

We got these from Sams and are obsessed with them.  They are a great quick lunch option on the weekens and we love them for dinner.  I serve them with soy sauce and yum yum sauce.

5. BBQ night.  I grabbed some pulled pork from Sams and all the sides from Sams.  It was so good with plenty of leftovers for lunch.  I accidentally bought the jumbo shells mac and cheese.  The kids loved it!

6. Chicken Alfredo.  This was fine - great sauce and noodles, but the chicken was a little meh.  My kids wolfed down the pasta part and picked around on the chicken.  I wish it ame without the chicken so you could just chop up a rotisserie chicken to add to it.

7. Grilled Chicken Salad bar.  We tried these grilled chicken nuggets from Sams and they were AMAZING.  Such good chicken that I was honestly shocked.  I cooked the nuggets for about twice as long as it says and they come out perfect.  Just make sure they are slightly browned.  Then I chopped up all the salad toppings I could think of.  The adults built proper salads and the kids just ate a plate full of all their favorite salad toppings with chicken nuggets.

What is your family eating for dinner these days?

Burger Bowls

I made burger sliders for dinner Sunday night and I couldn't wait to eat the leftovers for burger bowl lunches.  I love the fresh sliders you can buy from Sams for under $15.  They easily serve one big dinner and several lunches.  They aren't cheap, but they are SO much cheaper than going out with your whole family for burgers.

For dinner, I gave the options of a Hawaiian roll bun or a small tortilla shell or plain.  We all picked a different way to enjoy our sliders.  It was my favorite meal of the week and it brought me so much joy to have it for lunches 3 days this week.

Burger Bowl must haves:

2 slider patties cut into bite sized pieces

sharp cheddar cheese

bacon

dill pickles

lettuce

purple onion

tomatoes

sliced up tortilla shell

ketchup, mustard & fry sauce

*grilled onions & A1 were also family favorite toppings

I love fixing a big dinner and having leftovers to enjoy at lunch all week long.

Would your family enjoy these burger bowls?

Appetizers for Dinner

My family loves when we have appetizers for dinner.  I make some homemade and buy some yummy frozen apps.  Everyone loves building their own plates of appetizer yumminess.

Appetizer spread:

Reheated pizza

Homemade pico & chips

Mini Tacos from Sams + toppings

Chips & Queso

Mozzerella sticks

Breadsticks

Fruit & veggies

A few other ideas:
Spinach artichoke dip

Meatballs

Pulled pork sliders

Taquitos

Quesadillas

All of these combos would be delicious!

This would be the perfect menu for game day or fun dinner for your family on a regular night!

What an election night!  Kevin and I stayed up way too late (just like we did in 2016) to enjoy the election highlights.  I'm heading to bed optimistic and so excited for the days ahead.

I put together a USA treat board for our Election Night watch party last night.  The kids were thrilled!

Easy Dinner Ideas from Sams

Sams is one of our favorite spots to pick up easy dinner options.  Their meats and sides make dinner prep really easy for a busy mom.  I'm excited to show you some of our favorite dinner items that make eating dinner at home so fast and so easy for me.  I'll show you my favorites and tell you how I prepare a meal with each item.  I hope you find a few new things to try on your next trip to Sams.

Member's Mark Southern Style Chicken Bites

This bag is about $12 and feeds us two dinners.  The chicken bites are so good.  They taste very similar to Chick-Fil-A for a fraction of the cost.  My kids love them.  It's an easy dinner that I know everyone will enjoy.  I cook them about twice as long as the package says to get them really crispy.

Member's Mark Southern Style Waffle Fries

These are a great combo with the nuggets above.  The kids love at home Chick-Fil-A night.

Member's Mark Pork Carnitas

We love this meat!  It's so good on tacos, nachos or by itself with vegetable sides.  I always keep one of these in our freezer for easy meals.  You warm it up in the oven, shred it by hand and remove any fat and it is so good.  It feeds our family with leftovers for lunch.

Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips

These are yummy!  Great quality chicken.  This bag feels us for 2-3 meals.  We eat them on salads or with sides.  They are always good.

Ajinomoto Vegetable Chow Mein.
My kids lvoe this stuff.  They often eat it for lunches on the weekends.  They remove the veggies they don't like and add soy sauce.  I like to add chicken to this mix for a big stir fry dinner.

Asparagus.  We love this roasted as a side with any meat for dinner.  I just chop off the bottom 2 inches, drizzle olive oil and seasoning and roast at 400 for about 30 minutes.  It's so good and so easy.

Member's Mark Jumbo Hoagie Rolls.

These are so good!  We make toasted sub sandwiches for dinner out of these and I love to slice them up to use for garlic bread.  They are so cheap.  6 rolls for $7.  They also freeze really well.  I usually use a few rolls and then freeze the rest of the bag.  Let them thaw, slice, add butter and garlic salt and it makes the yummiest, chewiest garlic toast.

Member's Mark Uncured Black Forest Ham.

This ham is so affordable and so good on paninis, omelets, Hawaiian Roll sandwiches and regular cold cut sandwiches.  The price is great for sliced ham.  I don't like slimey lunch meat and this passes the high quality test for me.

The Little Potato Co. Little Duds

Such an easy side dish!  I like to roast these and they'd make the cutest potato bite appetizers.

Member's Mark Five Cheese Tortellini.

We first tried these at a sample stand and fell in love.  They are so good.  Fletcher and I could eat them every day.  He loves them coated in pesto and I love them any way you serve them.  This two pack makes it easy to enjoy some now and later.  One container serves a whole family so this is a great deal.

Member's Mark Chicken Breast Bites.

These are so good on a salad or in stir fry or in a casserole.  They are fully cooked and so easy to warm up in the oven.  The meat is great quality requiring no trimming.

Member's Mark Pesto.

So yummy!  This container is huge so we usually use half and freeze half to make sure none goes to waste.  We love it on pasta, homemade pizza, chicken salad and anything with crusty bread.

Don Miguel Chicken Mini Tacos.

They are our new favorite food for game days.  They are so good!  The whole family enjoys them.  I love to add all the dips when I serve them - sour cream, salsa, guac and pico.  The kids just love to dip them in taco sauce.  They would be perfect for any game day party.

I hope you found a new thing or two to try at Sams.  These are all easy, crowd pleasing dinner options for my family.  They aren't as cheap as homemade things, but they are SO SO SO much cheaper than going out to eat with your family.