What's for Dinner?

I have to admit that when it comes to planning dinner I am not the best at being prepared. I am usually trying to figure out the day of what we are going to have. It is one of those things that I am trying to work on. I had taken some chicken out of the freezer last night to be prepared for dinner tonight. I was feeling quite proud of myself.

When discussing my dinner plans with David, he mentioned he would like to try something new that he had seen on a show. I was quite surprised by this as I am married to one of the pickest eaters out there, and trying new things is sometimes difficult. Now I may have thought I was prepared, but I am going to take these opportunities that present themselves since it doesn't happen very often.

The idea presented was "Southern Fried Chicken Nachos with Peach-Pecan Salsa" which can be found at http://www.bhg.com/bhg/file.jsp?item=/contests/ptr_ann_challenge/TostitosWinner&temp=yes.

I had most of the items needed, but needed to pickup a few items, so Aubrey and I headed off to HyVee to pick up what we needed. Aubrey was quite the little helper and she decided it was her job to push the cart and I was not allowed to help. I helped her guide it without her knowledge and snuck a little picture of her being my big helper today.

Here's what's for dinner, kids (I watch a little too much Rachael Ray)

This is the official version, along with some salsa and cheese dip on the side...and don't mind the fancy dinnerware.

I prepared the kids plates and the responses were as follows:

Peyton - "Yucky green things" (the cilantro) and "Yucky red things" (the red onions) he ate his chips and the chicken.

Hunter - "Mom, this is nasty! I liked the chicken and the chips and salsa, but the rest of it is just nasty."

Aubrey - Pretty much the same response as Hunter and I believe she even used nasty to describe it.

Tanner - fell asleep and left a full plate.

Zach - ate the chips and chicken and skipped the Peach-Pecan Salsa and resorted to Pace Picante Sauce.

David and I loved it! The Peach-Pecan Salsa was awesome and I even think this is something that I would make just to have as a dip for chips. The cream cheese-salsa verde mixture was also very good and something that could be used as a dip. The chicken was wonderful. We both agreed that it is something we would have again for dinner with modifications made for the kids. We'll skip the dips for them and serve the chicken with their chips and dip and I think they would be happy!

I did mention to David that if this was a recipe that I had brought to his attention that he would have stuck his nose up and not wanted to try...he agreed...but, now he has hesitantly agreed that when I mention something different, he'll at least give it a try before automatically saying no. Success!

On a separate note, I love cheesecake and like experimenting with new types of cheesecakes on occasion. Since I was experimenting with this new dish, I decided I might as well make a dessert to and so I made an Apple Pecan Cheesecake. It is delicious!

The kids and I are heading off to Grandma's house tomorrow to celebrate Uncle Matt's 25th birthday - I am looking forward to seeing my parents and grandparents and siblings, as we haven't seen them since Christmas. The kids have been begging to go down for the past several weekends, so it should be a fun day.

Have a good weekend!

Dawn