As hungry as I am these days–as in ALL THE TIME HUNGRY–it’s still hard to figure out what is going to satisfy my appetite. I end up snacking a lot throughout the day, but I usually want something really yummy for dinner. I’m sure Ross doesn’t mind that philosophy either since he eats the same thing–by choice–every day for lunch during the work week. He’s had little variation on his packed lunch since he was in grade school. No joke.

So, I’ve adopted her menu planning idea and have shopped for and prepared a few meals I’ve pinned onto my Food Love board. I noticed that there are a lot of Mexican dishes on there!

Tonight we had Chicken Enchilada Pasta:

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YUMMY! Definitely a recipe keeper. We all–including Analiese–cleaned our plates. We topped ours with sour cream and avocado. I didn’t have any tomatoes otherwise I would have added a few to mine and A’s. And I just don’t like green onions at all, so those were left off, too.

I’ve also wanted to make use of my crock pot more because it just seems to make cooking a meal so much easier than standing at the stove while A begs for my attention and repeats “sit there mama?” over and over again. And since I’m a veteran freezer-cooker, this assortment of freezer/slow cooker meals was appealing. The three recipes call for many of the same vegetables, so it made the shopping and chopping process more efficient.

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We tried the Healthy Mama Barbecue Chicken first and all enjoyed it even though it didn’t have a very strong BBQ flavor to it. I was skeptical of the big pieces of onion and skin on the sweet potatoes, but it was really delicious…and full of good stuff, which makes me like it even more.

We tried the Goulash next and thought it was good, too, but not as flavorful as the first meal. Analiese was not a fan, but I think that was mostly because of the meat. I’m glad I didn’t use as many beets as the recipe called for. In fact, instead of dicing them, I used a puree I had frozen from when I tried out Jessica Seinfeld’s Deliciously Deceptive cook book. They blended well this way and the beet flavor was subtle.

We haven’t tried the Chicken Curry, but I think it will be a good one.

Answer: Smitten Kitten’s Cubed, Hacked Caprese salad

I’ve been on a gotta-have-some-GOOD-food kick lately. And when I stumbled upon this recipe, I decided to forget about that whole couponing thing and just get the ingredients I needed to make this. (The fresh mozzarella did come with a $4 coupon off your next purchase coupon…)

I used my new “Elite” Cuisinart Food Processor to make homemade pesto (note to self: always use less garlic than the recipe calls for). Add a little red wine vinegar and…voila!

Deb from Smitten Kitchen calls this a “springboard” salad. I had never heard that term, but totally dig the idea. Once the basic dish is prepared, you can serve it in a variety of ways. Deb outlines 7 different ways to eat it. I chose to serve it with toasted bread sprinkled with olive oil (no salt…there was plenty of flavor in the salad itself).

Also on the menu for this week:

• Tomato Pie
• Quesadilla Pie

I just love the dishes I discover on Simply Recipes. The tomatoes from the vegetable garden we inherited with the house are all ripening and I’ve needed to find ways to use them hide them in dishes that are so good Ross can’t complain that he’s eating tomatoes. We had the Quesadilla Pie tonight. Even though I had to rush the baking time a bit to get Ross off to Bible study in time, it was still delicious. I love Mexican food, but can get bored with the basic quesadilla, burritos and taco salad. This new dish will fit right into the rotation!

Ok…time for some coupon clipping. I’m way behind!