Three Times a Week Cooking Challenge

One thing Philip and I do ALOT is eat out! Maybe it started because we used to have grad classes 2-3 nights per work week. Also, sometimes it is cheaper! A $5 pizza on Tuesday from Papa John's is pretty hard to beat. But mostly, it's because after we come home, we are EXHAUSTED and just want to grab something to eat and hang out with each other and Landon.

But now Landon is growing older. He started eating "regular food" last week at daycare, and he gets a mix of baby food and "regular food" at home. I DO NOT want him to grow up eating take out/fast food every night! I want Philip and I to cook for our family. 

So, we have begun a Three Times a Week Cooking Challenge. I figure if we set manageable goals in the beginning, we will (hopefully) feel successful and can then cook at home more and more. Oh yeah...and one important rule. The "cooked at home" food does not have to be from scratch!! We simply do not have time for this three times a week. It still counts if it is from a box or if the meat is already cooked (like those Publix rotisserie chickens).

Last week was the first week of the cooking challenge (even though PB didn't know it). :) Here's what we cooked: 

1)Last Saturday we had friends over for dinner. We made chicken and steak shish kabobs with onions and green peppers. Philip grilled them and they were good! He hasn't grilled them in a while, so a few of them got a little charred, but the rest were delicious! I made twice baked potatoes and green bean casserole! We also made Buffalo Chicken Dip. I got this recipe from my friend Lindsay Ann and make it all the time!! Yummy!!

2) On Wednesday I grabbed a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken from Publix. You just can't beat those things. I cooked some rice pilaf and green beans to go with it. Simple, but we are still counting it towards the three times a week cooking challenge. :)

3) Philip's Mom came up for her birthday on Friday. I baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells for the occasion. I got the recipe from the blog of Jessica Guess, but it was originally a Paula Deen recipe. I served it with ceasar salad and chocolate cake of course. Barbara and I liked it, but I'm not sure that Philip did. He would never tell me he didn't like something I cooked. :) Of course he pretended to eat it, but I'm pretty sure he snuck into the kitchen and dumped the rest in the trash. He's a very picky eater though at least when it comes to new things. Too bad for him, because the other half of the recipe is frozen in the freezer for a later date. Ha! Ha!

I put the spinach, cheese, and seasoning mixture in a ziploc bag and snipped the ends. It made it easier to pipe into the shells. 

The finished product. Delicious!

I probably won't post about the cooking challenge each week, but maybe...not really sure. The idea was  just to make the challenge public... that way I'll stick to it! And to get some help with ideas of some of YOUR FAVORITE easy recipes! Feel free to share!