Party of Five Favorite Recipes

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the blog lately, and about some changes I want to make. The main purpose, of course, is to serve as a virtual scrapbook for my kids. I'm printing it out year by year to create some wonderful memories in hardback for them to bicker over later. Yay!

One goal I have is to start branching out a little bit to be less about my kids and more about other things.  Those things are yet to be determined.  But one thing I'm starting with will be recipes. Here in the Bramell house, it's no secret that we do a lot of cooking. Because we do a lot of eating!  I won't say that cooking dinner every night is easier than eating out, but it's definitely healthier and easier on the wallet.  I'm starting to realize that buying groceries for a family of five is no picnic either.  What do you spend for your family on groceries?  Right now, we are running about $120 A WEEK!  I cannot imagine when we have three teenagers in this house; we'll be broke for sure!

Being the busy working family that we are, we have two requirements for our dinners.  1) Quick and 2) Minimal Effort.  I'm fortunate that for the past two years, Lee has been mostly in charge of starting dinner before I get home in the evenings. That has been so nice! What helps is meal planning---each weekend, I try to sit down and literally write down what we (or he) will cook every night. You'd be surprised how much stress it takes away.  No standing in front of a half-empty fridge thinking about calling Pizza Hut.

So, here is one of our favorite go-to dinners.  It's the Foil-Pack Chicken Fajita Dinner.  I got it from a Kraft Foods magazine in the mail.  Love it!

Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1 & 1/2 cups hot water
1 Tbsp. taco seasoning mix
4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
green & red pepper cut into strips
1/2 cup your favorite salsa
1/2 cup shredded taco cheese

HEAT oven to 400 degrees.

FOLD up all sides of each of 4 large sheets of heavy duty foil to form a 1-inch rim.  This means just tear off a square and fold up the sides; spray with cooking spray.  Combine rice, water and taco seasoning; spoon onto foil squares.  Top with remaining ingredients.

BRING up foil sides; fold down to make 4 packets.  Place in baking pan (I use a cookie sheet or 13 x 9 pan)

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is done (165 degrees.  Cool 5 min.  Cut slits in the foil to release the steam before opening--HOT!

The beauty about this recipe is that you only have to open a can of vegetables and you have a meal!  If you try it, let me know what you think.  If you have a recipe to share, email it to me at RhondaLeigh1@hotmail.com .