What's For Dinner?

I've been wanting to put a post about cooking on here for some time. I'm always curious as to how other moms and working people feed their families. I usually cook based on what I feel like eating so I don't always have a menu. I don't like to make "emergency" trips to the store so I try to keep lots of stuff stocked and make meals with what I have. I try to make a square meal most nights of the week. That doesn't always happen, though. Last night, we had pizza. Some times, we'll grab fast food while running an errand with the kids. Lexi likes to play in the play areas so we'll do an FHE activity and then eat out some days. If the weather has been awful, we'll head to McDonald's so she can get out of the house. Anyhow, I thought I'd post what we ate for dinner tonight. Then, if you, the reader, wants to, you can post what you ate for dinner. Good, bad or otherwise. We can take a peek at the comments and see if there is something new or yummy to try. So, this is what we had for dinner (sorry, no pictures tonight):

BBQ Chicken
Hashbrown Casserole
Brown Sugar Carrots

BBQ Chicken

I use the frozen chicken breasts you buy in a bag, but you can always use fresh if you want. I thawed them, trimmed them and if they are too thick, I'll tenderize them with a meat mallet (be sure to put some wax paper over them before you start). Then, I heat the grill and stick them on. When I get good grill marks, I flip. Then, I brush on my first layer of BBQ sauce. I let the other side get good grill marks, flip and baste. After a few minutes, I repeat the process. When they are almost done, I put them on the top rack and put even more sauce on. I flip them one last time, and apply the last coat. They are usually moist and sticky with sauce.

Hashbrown Casserole

For the hashbrown casserole, I went to cooks.com and searched around until I found a recipe that had ingredients I had in the pantry or fridge. I knew I wasn't going to make a special trip so I was a little limited in what I could make, but this was awesome!! I highly recommend it.

2 lbs. frozen hashbrowns
1/2 c. butter
1/c c. chopped onions
16 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
10 oz. cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix potatoes and butter; add rest of ingredients. Butter casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Here's how I altered it a bit:
I started to mix the hashbrowns and butter (I had melted it), but you know what happens when you put butter on frozen stuff? It gets hard again. So, I stuck with whole thing in the microwave until the butter was melted again and stirred it. The potatoes got a little thawed, but it really didn't make a bit of difference.

I don't like onions so I left them out. I intended to put onion powder in the mix, but forgot that too. Again, still awesome.

I forgot to turn the timer on when I put it in the oven so I just watched it and tried to get it timed with the rest of the meal so it would all be hot. I baked it until it was brown on the edges and really bubbly. I made sure the bottom didn't get too dark, but I let the cheese brown quite a bit before pulling it out. I covered it with foil while pulling the chicken off the BBQ. It was plenty warm by the time we got everyone situated at the table (and you know how that goes).

Brown Sugar Carrots

Baby carrots (as many as you need to feed your party)
Butter
Brown Sugar

Steam carrots. Drain off water and return to pot. Add butter to taste (usually about 2 tablespoons). Add about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. It will all melt together for scrumptious, warm, buttery-sugar goodness.

All in all, a pretty good meal. It came together pretty quickly and was really nice for the summer.