Apparently I don’t want to ever lose the weight because for this week’s Monday’s Menu, I chose to make No Bake Cookies. The kind you make on the stove top and don’t bother waiting until it’s completely set before you start eating them. They just so happened to be one of the only things I had all the ingredients on hand for tonight. Kind of telling isn’t it? That I have ingredients for cookies, but not for dinner? There are cookies to make and eat, so let’s get started.

You’ll need oatmeal, milk, sugar, cocoa, butter or margarine, peanut butter and salt.

In a saucepan, combine 1 stick margarine or butter… As you can see, I really need new pans.

1/2 cup milk…

1/2 cup cocoa…

2 cups of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt whose picture didn’t turn out.

Get it all stirred up together… it might take a minute if you’re waiting on your butter to melt.

Bring to a boil, and cook for one minute. Incidentally, it is hard to get a picture of a boiling pot… all you get is steam!

Remove from the heat. You can’t tell, but in this picture I’ve just added 1/2 cup of peanut butter.

Add 3 cups of oatmeal.

Stir until well-combined. You can usually tell right away if you’ve done it right because it will be starting to thicken up as you stir it.

Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper. Let the cookies cool until they are set. Or some of them anyways. Feel free to pick up the still warm, half-set cookies and enjoy them! And don’t stress out too much if the cookies don’t set… the “goop” still tastes wonderful when scraped off the wax paper with a spoon. Ask me how I know.

The Recipe
No Bake Cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir together, and bring to a boil. Cook for one minute. Add in

1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal

Stir well to combine. Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool until set. Enjoy!

Today’s Monday’s Menu comes from a Light and Tasty cookbook I borrowed from my mom. I did manage to find the recipe online though, so I’ll link you to the Chili Mac. To make the Chili Mac, you’ll need two pounds of extra lean ground beef, 1 cup elbow macaroni, 28oz diced tomatoes, 6oz. tomato paste,, 2 cloves of garlic, 16 oz. kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. The recipe lists a couple other ingredients (onion, and green chiles) but I left these out and it still turned out great!

I forgot to add the garlic in this picture, so I took another one. But that one turned out blurry and I just couldn’t bring myself to post a picture that blurry so imagine my little jar of minced garlic sitting next to my tomatoes.

First up, brown the two pounds of ground beef with 2 cloves minced garlic (or the equivalent from a jar of pre-minced garlic as I have done).

Steam makes pictures blurry too!

Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni according to package directions. I snuck in about half a cup extra of the pasta because it just didn’t look like enough. Once my meat was finished cooking, I added the rest of the ingredients.

Stir them all together.

Add in the cooked macaroni and transfer to a 13×9 baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don’t be like me. Cover it the first time, don’t put it in the oven, take it back out, cover it, and return it to the oven.

Remove from the oven, carefully uncover, and sprinkle on two cups of reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or so until the cheese melts. Eat, and enjoy!!

I wasn’t too sure how this was going to turn out, and Sarah who was the guinea pig for this particular meal, and I were both kind of nervous. In fact, we had back up plans to head to Taco Bell for dinner if it wasn’t too good. But I dished it up with some corn on the side, and it was delicious! We were both pleasantly surprised by how much flavor it had!

The Recipe
Chili Mac Casserole

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend

DIRECTIONS

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, chilies and seasonings. Drain macaroni; add to beef mixture.
Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5-8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 10 servings

I’m going to try something new, in the hopes that it will get me cooking and keep me updating this blog regularly. Lately, all the more cooking I’ve been doing is heating up soup or microwaving lean cuisines. A couple of weeks ago though, I did invite family over for lunch and I made White Chicken Parmesan. I got the recipe from Colleen, and it’s a yummy, very filling meal that seems fussy but is impossibly easy to make.
I first made this for Mother’s Day last year, and I was seriously intimidated because not only had I never cooked with raw chicken before, I’d never even cooked spaghetti noodles! Now I have done both, on multiple occasions. But onto the recipe!
The first step is to mix one egg and 1/2 cup of milk. In a separate bowl/plate/whatever suits your fancy, mix 1 cup dried breadcrumbs, 4 tbs parmesan cheese, 1 tsp of oregano, dash of garlic power, and a dash of pepper.

Next you’re going to take your two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and dunk them into the egg/milk mixture, and then into your bread crumb mixture. Make sure the chicken gets nice and coated and then transfer it to a 13×9″ baking pan.

There were four of us, so I made five chicken breasts so that we’d each have one and I’d still have some leftover. There were plenty of bread crumbs left so this could be easily scaled up or down. When you’ve got all your chicken ready, slide your pan into the oven and back at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, combine two cans of cream of mushroom soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. (You can add more milk if your sauce is too thick).

After your chicken bakes for thirty minutes, remove it from the oven, pour your mushroom soup mixture on top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the whole thing, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

While you’re waiting, you can cook up some spaghetti, and I always mix up some extra soup and milk mixture to spoon over the top. I also made more parmesan cheese available to sprinkle over the finished product, and served salads on the side.

I only wish I’d have gotten a picture of my plate made up with the chicken and spaghetti on it, but I was eager to sit down with my family and start enjoying what I’d been working on!!

The Recipe:
White Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
4 tbs parmesab cheese
1 tsp of oregano
dash of garlic power
dash of pepper
1 egg
2 lbs of boneless / skinless chix breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of milk

In one bowl, combine egg and 1/2 cup of milk. In separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder and pepper. Dip chicken into egg mixture, and then into dry mixture to coat. Place in 13×9″ pan and bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
Combine two cans of soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. May add up to an additional 1/2 cup milk if sauce is too thick. Pour over chicken, and return to oven for another 30 minutes. Serve over spaghetti, and enjoy!