Chocolate Mint Popcorn

So, the next few recipes are going to be the buffet of options that I had at my last Bunco night with the ladies! I had a great time trying out these recipes and most of them required very little "same day" prep, so I was able to get everything ready over the weekend, which makes life so much easier!! This popcorn was a delicious, EASY twist on chocolate popcorn and only calls for TWO ingredients (not including the popcorn)... Love it!! Super tasty!

Chocolate Mint Popcorn
(Recipe found in Taste of Home)

8 cups popcorn
2 tablespoons butter
1 box (4 ounces) junior mints

Melt junior mints and butter over medium low heat. Stir into popcorn and mix thoroughly.

Easy Asian Chicken Slaw

This was a super simple weeknight meal that I was able to throw together in about 10 minutes (not including baking the chicken since I went with the frozen chicken breasts that I had on hand). Since my daughter isn't a huge fan of coleslaw or broccoli slaw, she was the only one that didn't really care for this meal. I thought it was fabulous and it was still good for leftovers the next day! We had this as our main dish for the night, but I thought that it would be a great side to bring to a potluck!!

Easy Asian Chicken Slaw
(Recipe found in Taste of Home)

1 package (3 ounces) ramen noodles
1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed and shredded (I baked up some chicken breasts)
1 package (16 ounces) coleslaw mix
6 green onions, finely chopped
1 cup reduced fat asian toasted sesame salad dressing

Discard seasoning packet from noodles or save for another use. Break up noodles into small pieces into a large bowl. Add chicken, coleslaw mix and green onions. Drizzle with salad dressing and toss to coat.

Weekend Brunch Casserole

This past Easter I decided that I didn't want to wrestle with getting the kids up early enough to head over to sunrise service and the breakfast that goes with it. I planned a nice leisurely breakfast at home and then we strolled into church right about the time that it was going to start. No mass chaos with kids running everywhere, no crabby kids that I had to wake up and drag out of bed... It was a nice start to our day!! So, if I was going to let them sleep in, then I wanted to get a little extra shut eye myself - so that meant no getting up extra early to make something extravagant... But, I wanted it to definitely be something yummy though!! This fit the bill... Not too difficult to throw together and it only took about 20 minutes in the oven to cook. I could easily shower and get a couple of kids ready in that time!! Not to mention that it tasted delicious!! we had some fruit on the side and it was a great start to our Easter morning.

Weekend Brunch Casserole
(Recipe found on pinterest via culinary.net)

1 (8 ounces) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 pound sausage
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain and let cool while you continue with remaining recipe. Line bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Sprinkle with sausage and cheese. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage. Bake 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares; serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers.

Walnut Crusted Salmon

This is a definite redo in my house!! Wow, the taste of it was fabulous and the kids had so many extra pieces that the hubs and I only got one a piece and there were NO leftovers the next day... This is the first time that I have made salmon and I figured that it would go over pretty well since my kids love fish of any kind, but I didn't realize that it was going to go over quite so well!! We love it, as you can probably tell. I had pecans at my house, since the in-laws have a whole grove of them, so I used that in place of the walnuts. Go nuts, try it with whatever floats your boat!! Make sure you make extra though, because it will go fast!

Walnut Crusted Salmon
(Recipe found in Taste of Home)

4 salmon fillets (4 ounces each)
4 teaspoons dijon mustard
4 teaspoons honey
2 slices whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat oven to 400. Place salmon on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Mix mustard and honey; brush over top of salmon. Place bread in a food processor; pulse until coarse crumbs form. Transfer to a small bowl. Stir in wannuts, oil and thyme, press onto salmon. Bake 12-15 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and salmon just begins to flake easily with a fork.

Garlicky Chicken Pizza

I was a little nervous about making this pizza for my kids... Putting tomatoes and onions on the pizza kind of sounded like a recipe for disaster at my house, but it looked so good that I had to try it at least once! My kids are usually game for anything on a pizza crust, so I have gotten them to eat some interesting foods this way. I have to say that everyone had a couple pieces of pizza and my oldest son is requesting it next week for his birthday dinner! Not too shabby for a meal that I was worried about flopping! I'm also not a huge fan of warm tomatoes on my pizza and I usually skip those types, but I thought it was fantastic also - AND it was pretty good for leftovers the next day as well! The only thing that I would change is to amp up the garlic factor on the crust... I didn't feel like it was very garlicky for a garlicky chicken pizza...

Garlicky Chicken Pizza
(recipe found in Taste of Home)

1 tube (13.8 ounces) refrigerated pizza crust (or I used this recipe for pizza crust)
2 tablespoons olive oiul
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, well drained
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved (I switched to black olives - my kids are obsessed with them!!)
2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken
1 1/3 cups crumbled goat cheese (I used feta since my store didn't have goat cheese)
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Unroll and press dough onto bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of a greased 15x10 baking pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. (I used my own crust and skipped this prebaking step.) Mix oil and garlic; brush over crust. Top with tomatoes, onion, olives, chicken and goat cheese. Sprinkle with rosemary, garlic salt and pepper. Bake 10-12 minutes or until crust is golden.

Southwest Chicken Wraps

This was a family favorite the second that I put it on the table... I loved that I could whip it up earlier and it was delicious for leftovers the next couple of days. My kids didn't even whine about the tomatoes that were included!! :)

Southwest Chicken Wraps
(Recipe found on pinterest via mostlyhomemademom.com)

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
1 1/2 cups coleslaw (from the bag, not prepared coleslaw), or broccoli slaw
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
6 tortillas

Place chicken in large mixing bowl. Quarter grape tomatoes and add to the bowl. Mix in coleslaw (or broccoli slaw), chili powder, lime juice, ranch dressing and cheddar cheese until all ingredients are well incorporated. Cover tightly and refrigerate 2 hours. Serve on warmed tortillas.

Weekly Line Up - 8/1-8/7

So this is a big weekend for us! The hubs brother and his family are moving from Arizona to Minnesota... As I am writing this post they are spending their last morning on their hard floors (all their stuff is packed) and pretty soon they will be up and out the door! :) Which means that come Sunday I will have a few hungry mouths to feed and a lot of unloading to help with... YAY!! We can't wait to see them and can't wait for my kids to have another cousin here to play with - they are pretty fired up! On top of that fun news, I have a camper to pack this week. We are headed on vacation starting next Saturday (for 8 whole days) and I have some major packing to do. Plus you know that I have to make some goodies to go along with us, so I need to get my booty in gear this week! Time for some vacation fun! :) Here's what's on the menu for this week...

Friday - Spaghetti
Saturday - Roast
Sunday - Omelots
Monday - Burgers
Tuesday - National Night Out
Wednesday - Chicken Legs
Thursday - Pick Your Own

Extras: Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffins