Showing posts with label #weeknightmeals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #weeknightmeals. Show all posts

Monday, March 28, 2011

Lemon- Garlic Chicken from Kroger and ConAgra #weeknightmeals

More check-ins at Kroger
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I was able to participate in another Kroger shop. This time I used my widget on my sidebar to try out a new recipe called Lemon Garlic Chicken. I was really excited to try it out. I went to the website and printed the recipe and the shopping list. I never read recipes right off my computer because I would make a mess. Today’s Kroger trip was an adventure to say the least. It wasn’t bad, just crazy. I have been trying to have Noah walk more at the store instead of riding in the cart. He loves to push the cart and explore things. He does a great job at pushing the cart; it is really cute to see him pushing it. Today, we were in the area with the cheese, and produce. I went to get a sample of cheese for both of us and Noah was at the salad bar trying to sample things. He really thought they were samples. There was a guy who works there at the gourmet cheeses and he and I were both laughing so hard. I was like Noah, come here. He was totally going to help himself to whatever looked good. I mean he has seen me get a sample from the sample tray so he just thought it was the same thing.

We saw some pretty good deals. Noah had to check out the lobster tank too of course. I had to buy some chicken and they were pretty low stocked on chicken. I even checked the meat counter. I did find some, but it was a bigger package than I wanted to buy. It might have been because it was only $1.99 a pound which is a great price. We did find everything we needed though. I also picked up a couple other items that were a good price as a treat. I saw a lot of ConAgra products on sale too. I tried a recipe called Hero Joes a couple weeks ago and I was tempted to buy the ingredients for that as well, but decided I would another day. Noah wanted to sample some yogurt and when he was finished he threw away his spoon and little cup and walked away. He went back to the trash and was worried because he threw the spoon away and tried to get it back out. I had to explain to him that it was a throw away spoon, not like the ones we have at home. Once we got all our groceries we were ready to check out. This meal is very inexpensive to make.

When I was ready to make dinner, it was really easy to throw together. I had to cut the chicken breasts in half because there was only three in the package. The package of chicken weighted 2 and a half pounds. I think it would be great to use tenders too. The first thing that surprised me was that you don’t cook it on the stove. It is completely oven baked, that cuts down on the fat. If you know me, you know how much I hate doing dishes. I love this recipe because you don’t use any bowls, you put everything in bags and shake it. Once you are done with the bags you throw them in the trash and clean up is a breeze. It takes only 25 minutes to bake too. So easy, I couldn’t wait to try it.

Here is the recipe for Lemon-Garlic Chicken:

Ingredients
• PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Pure Wesson® Canola Oil
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 breasts = 1 lb)

Nutrition Information*
Serving Size 4 servings (1 breast each)
Calories 202
View complete nutrition information

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray shallow baking pan with cooking spray. Combine bread crumbs, garlic salt and lemon pepper in recloseable food storage bag. Combine lemon juice and oil in another recloseable food storage bag.
2. Add chicken to bag with lemon juice mixture; toss to coat. Place each breast in bag with crumb mixture; shake to coat. Place coated chicken in single layer in baking pan. Sprinkle any remaining crumbs over chicken, if desired.
3. Spray tops of chicken with cooking spray. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in centers (165°F).

I love how you get the breaded coating and you don’t have to mess with frying it. I know that there are a lot of dietary restrictions out there where people cannot have fried food. This would be a great option for them. There is no butter or eggs in it either. The wet part of the recipe is a little bit of oil and some lemon juice. Honestly, I was a little worried because I am not a huge lemon pepper fan, but really it was really good. The flavors were married perfectly. The lemon pepper wasn’t over powering. It had the perfect amount of crunch too. We had baked potatoes and corn to go with it. I really enjoyed it and so did my family. I love that I am trying so many delicious recipes from Kroger and ConAgra.

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Check Out My Meal Solutions Widget #Weeknightmeals

I am always wondering what is for dinner? I love to eat and cook so it is something that is always on my mind. Maybe it was something I inherited from my great grandma, she had 12 children and she had to start dinner as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared. Since she had to make everything from scratch and had to figure out what the meal was going to be. Maybe that is where I get the curiosity from. I also like to anticipate what I am going to be eating. I think that food is a great thing and should be savored and I like to think about how it will taste, smell and look.

I enjoy trying new recipes and there are many places to find them but I get lost in the recipes on some websites because there is not really an easy way to navigate. You have to have a specific ingredient in mind. I am not saying that is a bad thing but sometimes I don’t have the time to spend looking for a recipe when I don’t have something specific in mind. Sometimes I just think about the type of food I want and then I am overwhelmed with thousands of choices. I want something simple, easy to find and of course delicious.

I have a new widget on my sidebar from Kroger and ConAgra that is really cool. It is called Meal Solutions. You can find it on my left side bar. It will tell you a recipe or recipes by answering three simple questions. You just click your selections and you are introduced to a delicious meal. There is also a Surprise Me button where you can get a totally random recipe.

The Three Questions are:

1.What are you craving? The choices are: American, Tex-Mex, Asian and Italian

2. How much time do you have? Less than 15 minutes, less than 30 minutes and more than 30 minutes.

3.Who is coming to dinner? Serve 1, Serve 2, and Serve 4.

I really like the ease of this website and widget. I can just click it and know that I will have a great meal to create for my family. I also love that I can print a shopping list of the ingredients that I need. If you are not sure your spouse will like the recipe or have a friend who loves Italian food, there is also a Tell a friend button that will share the recipe with them. I hope you will check it out and let me know if you try anything. I know that the Hero Joes are delicious! I am going to try another one of the recipes very soon and share with you guy about it.

Disclosure: This widget has been sponsored as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

ConAgra and Kroger Ethnic Dish Shop #weeknightmeals

I had the opportunity to do another shop at Kroger. This time it was for Ethnic Foods. I decided I would make my Chicken Teriyaki stir fry that I created like 5 years ago. I have talked to my mom about my stir fry but she has never tried it. Every time I planned on making it, it never was done. I am not sure why, but I finally had the chance. I did change the recipe some because I wanted to try the new LaChoy Teriyaki Stir Fry sauce. LaChoy is a brand of ConAgra which make quite a few of my favorite brands. When I came up with the original recipe it was pretty much one of those throw whatever I had in the electric skillet and cook it. Now I have refined it and instead of French cut green beans I am using sugar snap peas and of course the sauce is different. I change recipes all the time to jazz them up.

I went to Kroger and it wasn’t too busy, which is great because it was easier to shop. Especially when I am taking pictures, I think I have done a good job with people not wondering why I am taking pictures of groceries. I wouldn’t know what to say if someone asked. Another thing I love about Kroger is they always seem to have samples. They had chocolate covered strawberries samples. Let me tell you how delicious it was. I said to my family, this is better than Edible Arrangements. Noah really likes samples too. We get to try out different kinds of cheeses, among other things. First I went to find the LaChoy Teriyaki Stir Fry sauce, since that was the ConAgra product I selected from the list. I found it in the Ethnic food aisle next to the Asian products. It is a nice thick sauce and tastes good too. It was only $1.99 which is a great price compared to other similar sauces priced at $4.99. Next thing I got was the chicken, normally I get chicken breasts but since the chicken breast tenders were cheap, I figured I would give them a shot.

I had to stop in the toy aisle and get Noah a new toy. He was very good and did something that made me really proud. In case you were wondering, he got some new Hot Wheels cars. After we got that squared away we looked around at other ConAgra products like Orville Redenbacher Popcorn. They now have Nacho popcorn. I bought some because we eat so much popcorn. Another ConAgra product we like is Hunt’s tomatoes and Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce. Hunts Spaghetti Sauce is really good in pasta dishes.

Finally we headed over to the frozen food department and got a bag of frozen corn and a bag of frozen sugar snap peas. I am not a huge pea fan. I don’t like normal peas but I like the sugar snap kind. I thought it would be classier than tossing in a can of green beans, even though green beans are good too. We made our way to the check out and I paid for our groceries and Noah’s new toy. On the way out Noah wanted to ride one of the ride on toys, unfortunately there had been teenagers that broke it. So, we got in the car and went home.

I wanted to share the recipe with you.

1 pound chicken breasts or chicken tenders

1 bottle of LaChoy Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce

Frozen corn

Frozen Sugar Snap Peas (or Green Beans)

A pinch of brown sugar (for sweetness)

First cut the chicken in to bite sized pieces. Place in a big skillet and start cooking the chicken. Once the chicken is cooked, add the frozen corn, frozen Sugar Snap Peas , the Stir Fry Sauce and brown sugar and cook through. You can always make some fried rice to go with it too.

It is really easy and very inexpensive. I paid under 10 dollars for this meal. It was something I came up with when I was married and broke. It is really good though. After dinner I decided that I prefer using the LaChoy Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce for a few reasons. I think it tastes better than using just Teriyaki sauce. The sauce is a lot thicker and also has a lot more flavor. It was really delicious and my family really enjoyed eating every bite. It was a winner.

Check out my Whrrl Story below. I hope you will try it. If you try this recipe let me know what you think!

More check-ins at kroger Olio Road
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I was compensated for this shop as a member of Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions are my own.