Monday Meals: Chicken Noodle Soup

There’s a sickness circulating in our house right now, so I thought it appropriate to post this recipe, even though we eat it year round, no matter what our state of health! My mother actually came up with this back in the days when she had 4 little girls running around under her feet, so you know it has to be quick and easy and pretty cheap.

Monday Meals: One-Dish Chicken & Vegetables

Here follows the recipe to one of our favorite meals ever! 

It comes from the Busy Family Cookbook (not being paid to say this), so you know it’s fairly easy to prepare, and the ingredients are not difficult to find. (Onion soup mix makes everything taste more flavorful!)

Monday Meals: Chicken Tarragon

The first time I made this meal, I felt like a gourmet chef. Not that it’s difficult, but I did learn how to julienne because of it. (I admit I turned to Youtube.)

Monday Meals: Waikiki Meatballs

I’m not sure where we got this recipe; I just found it in our cookbook, and my mom made it for our “family potluck” last summer. (Yes, one day our family of 6 had a “potluck” where we each made a different dish to share for dinner.) Anyway, since then we have made this dish several times.

Monday Meals: Basil Orange Pork Chops

It’s another awesome recipe that we originally found in the Taste of Home Busy Families cookbook. As is evidenced by the title, the primary flavors added to these pork chops are basil and orange! The flavors come together in perfect harmony to create something unique and delectable.

Monday Meals: Chicken Pot Pie

Besides its spectacular taste, this recipe brings back wonderful memories for me. During my 4 years as a student at Bryan College, I was very active on the yearbook staff. I spent countless hours each week designing layouts, gathering photos and copy, editing pages, and helping to produce a meaningful record of the school’s year. Our staff advisers, Jon & Karin Carpenter, shared wisdom, encouraged us, and supported us through all the deadlines and in spite of our issues with “ladders.” And… oh yes, they fed us!

As I recall, it was a weekly ordeal. We would gladly shirk our cafeteria duties, traipse down to the Rankin building, and inhale some homemade delicacies, which would give us energy to work long into the night. Of the many marvelous meals I ingested, this one was my favorite. Before I graduated, I begged Karin for the recipe, and she gladly obliged. Every time we make this recipe, we think of her, and I share it here with her blessing.

Monday Meals: Skillet Steak & Corn

Here’s another great recipe from the Taste of Home’s Busy Family Cookbook – I tell you it’s our favorite!

Monday Meals: Spiced-Up Spaghetti

The first thing I ever learned to cook was spaghetti. But I’ve come a long way since I cracked open the can of spaghetti sauce and spilled the dry noodles all over the counter because they wouldn’t fit in the pot.

Maybe it started one day when I looked closely at those pre-made spaghetti sauce jars. “With basil and oregano, huh? Maybe I can add that myself.” It was so fun that I just couldn’t stop! I added dashes and teaspoons of whatever sounded good. This meal has been fiddled with so many times, but we now have a tried-and-true recipe that we use pretty consistently.

I know everyone has their own way of making this classic meal; this is my version of spaghetti.

Monday Meals: Peanutty Chicken

Our family LOVES peanuts. We’ll eat peanut butter on toast for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, a handful of peanuts for a snack, and this lovely meal for dinner.

This is one of our favorites, and it came from a book called Busy Families Cookbook (from Taste of Home). I bought this book in a rush and without paying too much attention to it – I was on my senior trip in college and realized that Mother’s Day was soon after I would return. It was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. We have found so many great (and quick and easy!) recipes in this cookbook! I would highly recommend it!

Monday Meals: Swiss Steak

This recipe makes me think of my grandmother. She was a missionary to India, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a storyteller, an example… well, how do you sum up 96 years of love and service in one sentence? 

Dora Meberg on her 87th birthday in 2000

She lived a few blocks from us, and after a long day at school (my parents are both teachers), she would invite us to her house for dinner. Many times, this is what she would serve.

Monday Meals: Cranberry Chicken

If Friday is a pie-day, then Mondays need to be for meal planning. This is a recipe I’m rather fond of and a little proud of – I made it up myself! It’s the first recipe I’ve created, and it’s pretty yummy, if I say so myself.

I love cranberries. I think I have 4 bags of craisins in the pantry right now (I stock up on BOGO deals), and also I buy them fresh when they’re in season and freeze them to use all throughout the year. I don’t know what it is about them, but we were trying to get rid of some, and I thought, “Why not combine them with chicken?”