Dinner Wins this Week

This week was a winning streak as far as dinner is concerned. I made three meals that ended up being the perfect size to take us through the week for dinners and lunches. Here's the rundown:

A large pot of veggie soup, made up on the spot. Sauteed carrots and onions, a large can of diced tomatoes with their juices, a small can of chickpeas, a couple cups chicken stock and a bag of frozen vegetables. I seasoned with salt and pepper, a little ketchup (a trick I learned from my mother-in-law!) and Worcestershire sauce. This is definitely a "season to taste" recipe. For individual servings, I made up some some small shell pasta. It was almost minestrone-like, but certainly bastardized.

A large pot of chili. My favorite, super-easy, comes together so fast you won't believe it, is Martha Stewart's "Lighter Beef Chili." It's a knockout for an after work dinner, especially when your husband offers to make cornbread! I didn't have tomato paste in the house, but didn't find too much lacking in the taste department. If anything, without the extra tomato flavor, the meat really stands out. Topped with cheese and sour cream, this is a winner. On Martha's site, this recipe has a publication date of 2008, from Everyday Food. I can actually remember the tiny Everyday Food I used to pick up at the grocery store, so this means this is one of the first recipes I learned when I started to teach myself to cook after college. That's pretty awesome.

Finally, I tried a new recipe, one for Skillet Chicken Fajitas from Serious Eats. I followed this recipe pretty closely, leaving out the jalapenos and green onions. I did add a bag of the new Frontera "skillet sauce" - not my usual cooking style but I'll admit they are attractively packaged, which is what made me pick it off the shelf. It was a Chipotle sauce, labeled "medium" hot, which translated into = not hot. If I tasted it still on the stove, I would have added some of my dried chipotle pepper, but either way the fajitas were delicious. We ate them with plenty of avocado and they might be making a repeat appearance this week.

Thankfully I made these meals early in the week, before a head cold knocked me on my butt for a couple days. I was grateful to have meals in the fridge for both Brian and I as we continue with our busy, busy pre-baby schedule. I'm sure I'll look back at this and laugh, but honestly, I can't wait for Caleb to come and make me leave work, clear my calendar and just focus on him for a few weeks.