Tostadas

Tacos and burritos get all the attention when it comes to Mexican food!  Have you had a tostada lately? You can buy tostadas by the tortillas at your store.  Put refried beans, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese blend and tomatoes on top.  Maybe even add a hot sauce if you like that.  It's easy, inexpensive and relatively low in fat.  One tip a person showed me was to add some milk to your refried beans when you're heating them up.  Just a little will make them less dense and easier to spread on your tostada.

Husband wasn't home this night!
Boys say:  thumbs up

Kneaders

I live in a fairly small city.  We don't have many options for eating out.  When the new Kneaders opened just up the street I was excited for a healthy yummy place to take a break from cooking!  I fell in love with their Raspberry Chicken Salad.  Honestly, I eat this about once a week!  It's fresh, it's healthy and so tasty!  Give it a try if you're lucky enough to live close to a Kneaders!

BBQ Baked Chicken, Beans, Green Salad, Watermelon

For Memorial Day we had dinner with family.  My sister-in-law made a great baked bbq chicken recipe.  I'll post that when she sends it on to me.

I made my dad's baked beans.  We also had a wonderful green salad and watermelon slices.  Again, super easy!

Husband rating:  4 stars
Boys say:  thumbs up

Family Dinner

On Sunday night we had dinner with family.  We had ham, my favorite sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and rolls.  For dessert we had ice cream and berries.  Easy!!

Taco Salad

This is a good recipe to feed a large group.  It's easy to add more and even divide it up if others are helping to bring something for a gathering.

ground beef, brown then add taco seasoning and water according to package directions

black or refried beans

lettuce, chopped

tomatoes, chopped

shredded blend of cheese

sour cream

guacamole

tortilla chips

favorite dressing-we often just use ranch

Husband rating:  3.5 stars

Boys say:  thumbs up

Foil Dinner

Idea from my friend, Rebecca

hamburger patties
tater tots
carrots, sliced
onion, sliced
broccoli
gravy
heavy duty foil

Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray.  Place the hamburger patty in the center of the foil.  Top with about a desired amount of tater tots(I did about 12), carrot slices, onion slices and broccoli pieces.  The tater tots are genius because they cook more quickly than potato slices.  I topped this with a little gravy.

Fold the sides of the foil together, leaving a little room for steam in the packet (create a little tent basically).  Toss on the grill or coals.  I think ours took about 20 minutes.  This is one the kids will love!

Update: I made this again recently. For my foil dinner I used salmon, sweet potato fries, onion, salt and pepper, broccoli and carrots. I thought it was great and more to my taste than beef and tater tots. And if you omit the gravy this dinner is gluten free.

One son wanted to eat outside on the ground "like in the olden days." We spread out towels on the back patio and ate on the ground! We had a great time!

Husband rating:  3 stars

Boys say:  thumbs way up!

La Jolla Groves

A good friend was visiting from Texas so we had a girls night out to La Jolla Groves in Provo, Utah.  The ambiance of the restaurant is very inviting.  The service is top notch.  The food is so tasty!  Almost everyone chose a different meal and everyone was happy.  No one took food home!  And there wasn't any sharing going on!  No one wanted to give up a bite of her delicious dinner!  I had the blackened salmon salad.  I would go back for that any day.  But I also want to try most of the rest of the menu.  Check out their menu at:  http://lajollagroves.com/menu/

My rating:  5 stars!