Meal Post #4

This past week's meal plan was a success! The coleslaw from BBQ taco night was sooooo good. It would taste delicious on top of salad greens too, for a 2nd night meal.

This week's meal plan needs to be very simple again because it's preschool Spring Break AND Baby Drew's is turning 1 on Saturday and we are preparing for his party - busy week!!!

Here are my meals for the week:

• Italian Sausage, Pineapple Kabobs on the Grill with Brown Rice & Side Salad
• Crockpot Italian Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
• BBQ Pork topped Baked Potatoes with Side Salad
• New PALEO Coconut Lime Chicken (link) with Cauliflower Rice
• Birthday Boy dinner menu: macaroni and cheese (new recipe! No Boil Mac N Cheese) hamburgers, shrimp cocktail, potato salad (THE BEST! link) & fruit salad. Still debating on what type of cake to make!

Have a great week!!!

Meal Planning: Post #3

Plain and simple: my menu posts last week had too many steps for busy people like us! I did end up making everything I had planned and the WINNER recipe for the week was the grilled chicken with avocado salsa, MAN was that good!

This week though, I'm all about good taste and simplicity! I actually already placed my Walmart pickup grocery order too. Did you know that they have same day pickup now? It's still free; definitely impressive.

It's supposed to be REALLY cold here this weekend, including a chance of snow later on Saturday, so on Sunday we are definitely having comfort food of chili!

Here's my menu of options for the week:

• Sunday: Red bean and turkey chili (packed with cuisinarted vegetables because they're easy to disguise). My go to recipe is always the red-checked cookbook from Better Homes & Gardens.

For the rest of the week:

• BBQ Tacos - I bought precooked pulled pork from Aldi last week, I'll serve that in corn tortillas with this homemade cole slaw link (that you can make ahead!). I haven't tried this person's recipe before, it sounds good, hoping it tastes good too ;)
• CROCK POT: pork tenderloin cooked low and slow (add about 1/2 c of chicken broth to it to make sure it doesn't overcook/dryout). This will be served with green beans & baked potatoes.
• Pasta night - trying out quinoa/brown rice noodles with a Trader Joe's pasta sauce and their turkey meatballs. Will also roast a medley of vegetables to top the sauce: zucchini, yellow squash and sliced carrots tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper, roasted about 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
• IRISH Meal for St. Patrick's Day on Friday! We are going to tryout this CROCK POT recipe Slow-Cooker Corned Beef & Cabbageand I'm going to attempt to make Irish soda bread too link. I tried it once and it did not turn out right; I'm willing to try again! Serving all of this with a pint of Guinness too! I might attempt Guinness Chocolate cupcakes but the jury is out :)

Happy eating!

Meal Planning: Post 2

If I can ever get in a rhythm of being prepared enough to share my weekly meal plan in advance, I'd like to share it on Friday or Saturday so it can help my friends with their weekly meal plan.

As such, I had a work trip last week and this weekend has been busy SO I'm just now posting it today. Consider this my suggestions for your meal planning for NEXT week :) now, excuse me as I go preheat my oven for our Aldi pizza we are having for dinner tonight LOL, with a side of salad, of course!

NEW RECIPE IDEA: I have been trying to limit as much dairy and gluten in our meals as possible, because it is so readily available to eat at breakfast and snacktimes. As such, I tried out a completely dairy free pasta sauce last week and it was SO good! Cory didn't even add parmesan cheese to the top of it :) that's a sign that it's flavorful. Recipe to follow below but the picture is right here, yum!

On our meal plan docket for this week (doesn't mean they will happen but at least I have a plan ;) :

1. Pasta Bake with Ground Turkey & Pork Sausage + Salad
2. Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa + Crockpot Beans + Brown Rice
3. NEW! Baked Potatoes with Wild Mushroom Ragu + Pancetta Crisped Brussel Sprouts
4. Crock Pot! Beef Stew with Potatoes, Carrots and Onions + Salad 

Here are the links to all of the recipes and my special notes beside them :) 

1. Pasta Bake: see recipe below, as I made this one up. It's easy. NOTE: double up on this recipe & freeze the 2nd batch for a quick/easy weeknight dinner. 
2. Cilantro Lime Chicken (link); NOTE: recommends grilling chicken. You could also bake in the oven at 300 degrees for approximately 1 hour (check about 40 minutes into bake). 
3. NEW! Baked Potatoes with Wild Mushroom Ragu (link); NOTE: you can prepare the mushroom ragu in advance & heat when ready to serve; NOTE 2: you can cook your baked potatoes in a slow cooker all day! NOTE 3: if you don't go the slow-cooker route, the night before, you can prepare the baked potatoes in either foil to prepare for the oven OR a real quick route is cooking them in the oven until they're soft & finish in the 350 degree oven for about 20 more minutes to get them as close as possible, to oven-baked 
1. Garlic Prosciutto Brussel Sprouts (link) NOTE: I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on this, close to the end of cooking; NOTE 2: you may substitute any cured meat or bacon for prosciutto; NOTE 3: you may substitute olive oil for butter
4. Crock Pot! Beef Stew: NOTE: a slightly tedious stew prep & you need red wine but it is a special version of Beef Stew! NOTE 2: Prep this the night before, put into crock pot the morning you want to eat it on low. NOTE 3: this recipe truly does develop more flavor, if it's made 1 day in advance then reheated the next day. (link). 

Pasta Bake 

*this is a recipe you can make ahead of time, refrigerate & heat when you are ready to eat it

**this is a recipe I like to load up with vegetables because they become disguised in the sauce

For the bake:

STEP 1 Boil: 1 box of rigatoni or other pasta of your choice - tubular is best

STEP 2 Brown: 1 # of your choice of ground meat (italian sausage with casings removed, ground turkey/pork/chicken/beef)

STEP 3: Saute your diced (or in my case, food processor diced) vegetables:

1 T olive oil

1 T minced garlic

1/2 onion

*heat olive oil in a large skillet, add garlic and onion and cook til fragrant. Then, add remaining vegetables below (all which need to be diced in very small pieces or put through a food processor):

1 c carrots

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

STEP 4: MIX your sauce with the following + already browned meat & sauteed vegetables:

28oz can of diced tomatoes

1 T Italian seasoning

1 t salt (or more if you prefer) 

1 t freshly ground pepper

STEP 5: MIX your sauce from step 4, your boiled noodles together and put into a casserole dish

STEP 6: bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbling

OPTIONAL Steps - if youre not limiting cheese in your household:
1) you can mix 8oz of softened cream cheese with the mixture above for extra creaminess

2) you can top this dish with about 1 - 2 c of shredded mozzarella and about 1/4 c of parmesan cheese

Dairy-Free Yellow Squash Pasta Sauce:

*I baked Trader Joe's turkey meatballs and topped this pasta with the sauce

**always save about 1/4 of the water your pasta boiled in, to toss with the sauce (the starches help the sauce to stick to the pasta)

***this sauce may be made ahead and reheated on the night you want to serve it

****here's the link to the original recipe if you want to use cream instead of pumpkin puree & more chicken broth (link)

3 smallish-medium size yellow squash, diced 

1 c pumpkin (or butternut) squash puree

8oz of your choice of pasta (we tried out a brown rice rigatoni)

1 small onion, diced

1 T minced garlic

1/2 t dried oregano

pinch of nutmeg (less than 1/8 t)

salt, to taste

fresh ground pepper, to taste

3 T white wine

1/2 - 3/4 c chicken stock 

STEP 1: prepare your vegetables. Put 1 T olive oil in a large pan or skillet, when warm, add onion & garlic. Saute until fragrant

STEP 2: add your diced yellow squash to the onion/garlic mixture. Saute until tender. Add the wine. 

STEP 3: once vegetables are tender, puree in a blender to get as smooth as possible. If it's too thick, add a splash of chicken stock. Transfer back to the pan. 

*this is a good point to start boiling your water & cook your pasta

STEP 4: Add your pumpkin puree & chicken stock to the pan. Maintain heat. Continue to stir and let the sauce thicken. This is the part where I used my immersion blender to really get the sauce as smooth and creamy as possible (I was trying to imitate a creamy pasta sauce). Once you've done this, taste your sauce and ensure the right salt/pepper taste is present! Add the nutmeg at this step & stir into the sauce. 

STEP 5: drain your pasta, reserve 1/4 c of the water it was boiled in. Once drained, add the pasta back to the pot, add the water and then toss with as much of the sauce as you want! 

ENJOY! 

Meal Planning: Post 1

I love to cook...I however, do NOT like meal planning. However, meals must happen! :) Here are a few tips I employ each week (when I'm on top of things)...I have plenty of off weeks!

Last night we had a delicious dinner, that didn't look pretty (like most weeknight meals!). It was salmon cakes, baked sweet potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly squeezed orange juice, steamed broccoli. I experimented with the salmon cake recipe to see if I could omit the bread crumbs and I substituted crushed almonds/cashews. It gave extra flavor to the salmon cakes. See this post here, for the recipe (link here).

What my 7-day meal planning looks like:
2 Days of a Break for Me:

• 1 Takeout Meal
• 1 Meal Out

5 Days of Cooking:

• 2 Crockpot Meals
• 1 - 2 Casseroles + salad
• 1 "Fresh" meal

How I Prepare for the Week of Meals:

1. Online Grocery Shop/Order Process - either via Walmart Grocery Pick-Up or Kroger Clicklist (I usually place my order on Saturday for Sunday pick-up or place it Sunday for Saturday pick-up). This saves me so much time in driving, parking, getting the kids out, making it through the store...STRESS, STRESS, STRESS! You get the picture ;)
2. Prep as much as I can before the week starts, such as:
1. Wash all fresh fruit & vegetables and let it dry. It's so nice to know everything I'm putting into the refrigerator is clean and ready to go!
2. I chop/store as many of the same ingredients as I can - if I know I'll be using yellow squash in several dishes, I'll slice it, put it in the food processor, etc and store until using it that week
3. For any grains, you can go ahead and make a large batch of it and add it to dishes/reheat the night you're serving them
3. Try not to stress over a complicated meal on a weeknight - keep it simple. Let a fresh, green salad be your key side dish every night. If you vary the toppings and dressings, it will seem new each night.
4. Rotation of Favorites - I typically don't repeat the EXACT same meal more than 1x per month. I have a rotation of favorites that I do a variation on but don't do a precise repeat. I'll share more recipes through more of my meal planning posts.
5. STUFF each recipe as full with veggies as you can! My favorite go-to secret veggie is yellow squash. Due to its color and texture once cooked, it's incredibly easy to disguise in almost any dish.
6. Let your slow cooker take care of the meat! I absolutely hate cooking meat during the weeknights, it takes too long and it's too easy to ruin (if you get distracted, etc.). You can put almost any cut of meat into the crockpot and its perfectly ready by suppertime!

Rotation of Favorites, Ideas*:

• Pasta - boiled noodles, any sauce (red, white, pesto, olive oil), topped with meat or roasted veggies
• Vegetable noodles with your choice of sauce, meat and vegetables
• Chicken casseroles - chicken poppyseed, chicken spectacular, chicken soup casserole, chicken cordon bleu
• Casseroles - taco casserole, chile rellenos, rigatoni pasta bake
• Baked salmon - I like to get the large cut at Costco and it acutally can be used for 2 meals! The first, you bake or grill the whole fish fresh (portioned of course) and then save at least 1/3 to use for the next recipe, the best salmon cakes you'll ever make! 3 easy ways to prep & bake in oven: cover salmon with pesto & bake, cover salmon with apple butter & bake, cover salmon with lemon juice, salt & pepper then slice lemon slices and place on top for baking.
• Salmon cakes - of course, you can use salmon from the packets, if you are in a hurry or didn't buy fresh salmon that week.
• Lasagna - traditional, chicken or veggie
• Slow-Cooker Meat made with any variety of sauces: BBQ, rotel, balsamic blend, Italian Dressing, kahlua; over any variety of meat: pork tenderloin, turkey tenderloin, chicken breasts
• Slow-Cooker Meals: beef stew, chili (white bean with chicken or red beans with beef)
• Single Sheet Pan Meals: chicken, green beans & potatoes, paella
• One-Pot Meals: featuring pasta of your choice, vegetables of your choice, meat of your choice (optional) basil, olive oil, chicken broth, salt & pepper.

*These are the ones I can think of right now, while I have a quiet moment to type this out :) I'm sure I will remember more later, when I look through my recipe books!

Side Dish Options:

• Roasted vegetables: thinly sliced zucchini, yellow squash tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper
• Baked Sweet Potatoes
• Baked Potatoes
• Sauteed vegetables: sliced zucchini and yellow squash with diced onions
• Green beans, boiled in chicken broth
• Steamed broccoli

More to come!!! But now, it's bedtime! :)

Salmon Cakes

I've been working on omitting unnecessary gluten and processed foods from our diet. I can tell I feel better from doing this. I'm not a purist by any means but I can tell I feel better from reducing the amounts I consume. Additionally, I am realizing how much I rely on cheese for snacks and in recipes. It's become an interesting challenge to find substitutes that taste just as delicious.

Last night, I substituted chopped almonds/cashews for breadcrumbs in my salmon cakes recipe and it was delicious!

Here is the recipe:

2 packets of pink salmon, wild caught
2 T BBQ sauce
1 T Worcestershire
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1/2 cup of finely chopped almonds/cashews (or really any nut blend you prefer)
1/2 small bell pepper or 2 snack peppers, diced in small pieces
1/2 c carrots
1/2 zucchini or yellow squash
1/2 small onion
1 T diced garlic
*I found this really cool mixed super foods pouch at Trader Joe's the other week. I added about 2 T of that this time too.

Mix salmon, bbq sauce, Worcestershire, 1 egg and 1 egg white in a medium size mixing bowl. Set aside, it's time to prepare the vegetables.

Process your onion in a food processor, then heat 1T of olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic and onion to the pan and stir until fragrant and slightly glossy.

Process your remaining vegetables in the food processor and add to the garlic/onion mixture. Cook until slightly softened.

Once the vegetables are ready, add to your salmon mixture. Ideally, you will be able to chill this mixture at least 1 hour until fully chilled. This will make it a lot easier to form your salmon patties.

Get out one 12-cup muffin pan. Spray with cooking spray. This next step is optional but I feel it gives the salmon patties a better texture and bake. Get a salad plate and pour about 1 c of cornmeal onto it. Form your salmon cake, roll in the cornmeal/pat cornmeal onto it and then place into a greased muffin cup.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes until you see a slight browning on top. Serve with more BBQ sauce or ketchup.

You can also cook these on the stove in a skillet, in vegetable or olive oil but again, it makes them a little heavier of a dish.

Cupcake Bouquets: Don't Just Don't

The other day, my friend asked if I could make one dozen cupcakes for an event she was hosting. They were going to use them for a cupcake bouquet. I looked at the design and thought, sure! I can do that. Then I got the idea, that I should make a couple myself, for an event I was attending that same evening.

Here's the original design inspiration and I actually read the blog post for the "how to" to make sure I got it right (which I don't normally do). It looked innocent enough (link here):

What I found though was that this project was quite involved...sooooo...even though they turned out quite nicely. I've decided to share my 13 reasons for why you should NEVER make a cupcake bouquet LOL: 

1. Don't. Just don't do it!
2. Making & icing cupcakes from scratch is enough. Period. The cupcakes don't need a display or anything cutesy. 
3. You'll go to Michael's and spend $30 on supplies you don't want to buy but at this point you're committed to make the silly thing!
4. Once I arrived home, I laid out all of the suppliers and think, huh, this thing may be more involved to make than I thought. 
5. Prep cups, tissue, glue gun and placement. 
6. Glue everything: the foam to the pot, the cups to the foam and prepare the toothpicks...oh.so.many. toothpicks. 
7. Think: am I really doing this? 
8. Start the assembly of the cupcake bouquet. 
9. Stuff tissue paper. 
10. Stuff more tissue paper. 
11. Stuff even more tissue paper. 
12. As I open the refrigerator door, one mini cupcake falls off and I say: Oh Heck! and just eat it!
13. Remember: Sprinkles are God's gift to bakers (they cover any icing errors!)
14. Warning: this bouquet is as dangerous as a porcupine due to the excessive amounts of toothpicks. You will get pricked. 
15. As the project was coming to a close, I thought: huh, I haven't cursed at all during this proecess and it was the perfect excuse to! Right at that time, Cory walked in and said: these are the best damn cupcakes I've ever tasted! and, he said I could quote him on that ;)
16. Finally, transporting the silly things was STRESSFUL and I drove granny-speed for several spots of our trip, just hoping it would stay assembled!!!

Fortunately, they both stayed together and we did not have any further cupcake casualties! Everyone thought they were real flower bouquets and not make of cupcakes. The best part was that they were enjoyed for their taste!

Easy & Delish: One Dish!

You can cook all of this meal in one dish!...that doesn't include the containers for prep though :) I got everything ready ahead of time this afternoon when I had about 15 minutes. When it came time to cook, it was super easy to assemble the meal!

One Skillet, Greek Lemon Chicken with Mixed Grains 

For the chicken...get 1# of chicken breasts 

Mix your marinade of:

4 garlic cloves, minced 

The juice of 1-2 lemons +4 Tablespoons (I used 6 T of pre-squeezed lemon juice today!) 

1 T oregano

1/2 t table salt 

--> marinate your chicken for about 2 hours at least or overnight 

For the rice mixture:

1 small onion, chopped

1T oregano

2.5 c chicken broth

Grain of your choice, I did a mixture of pearled couscous, bulgur wheat and quinoa 

1/4 t salt 

Preheat oven to 350

Step 1

Heat 1.5 T olive oil in a large, oven proof skillet. Brown chicken on both sides. Once browned, set aside.

Wipe pan down with a paper towel to remove the blackened bits.  

Step 2

Add ~1T of olive oil to the pan, over medium/high heat. Add onions and stir until translucent.

Step 3

Add rice mixture (all remaining ingredients) to the pan and stir. Bring to boiling. Remove from heat, place browned chicken on top of the rice then cover the dish with the lid. 

Step 4

Put into oven. Bake approximately 30 minutes covered then another 10 minutes or so uncovered, until the liquid has evaporated and the grains are tender. 

Enjoy!