Monday, March 28, 2011

Meal Plan Monday

Sunday
Raspberry Chicken (make a double batch)
Mashed Carrots and Parsnips
Wild Rice Pilaf

Monday
Chicken Salad Sandwiches (using last night’s chicken)
Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Green Salad

Tuesday
Turkey Three Bean Chili Topped Baked Potatoes (chili from my freezer)
Chips and Guacamole

Wednesday
Ricotta Stuffed Bell Peppers
Sweet Potato Gnocchi (from the freezer--see recipe page for details)

Thursday
Burgers with Goat Cheese and Caramelized onions
Green Salad

Friday
Grilled Shrimp Cesar Salad (make extra dressing for next week)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Veggie Burger that Started it All

Ever since I won an honorable mention in a Better Homes and Gardens recipe contest friends have been asking for dinner ideas. I have always written a weekly meal plan so I started to email it to these friends. They liked it so much that one suggested I start a blog. This week I am posting my award winning recipe, The Veggie Burger that Started it All, see the recipe page for details. Please make my Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Burgers and let me know what you think. If you like them keep coming back I'll be posting one original recipe each week.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Sunday
Dinner at Grammie Luba’s

Monday
London Broil (reserve 1/2 for tomorrow night's salads)
Oven Roasted Root Vegetables (save 1/2 for the white pizza)
Asparagus


Tuesday
Steak Salads with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions (save 1/2 of the onions for tomorrow's pizza)
Popovers with Black Pepper and Herb Butter

Wednesday
White Pizza with Caramelized Onion and Roasted Root Vegetables (using Monday's veggies and last night's caramelized onions)
Spinach Salad

Thursday
Chicken Marsala
Cheesy Polenta
Sautéed Broccoli Rabe

Friday
The Veggie Burger That Started it All
Sweet Potato and Red Bell Pepper Burgers

Oven Roasted Potato Wedges

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!


I remembered to make the Leprechaun sized Key Lime Petits Fours and Green Milkshakes for my son’s kindergarten class but forgot to plan a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner.

With a little bit o’ luck and my slow cooker dinner will be ready when I come home from school. Slow-Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage, Carrots and Parsnips, Mini Mint Chip Ice Cream Cones and Guinness Ice Cream Floats.

Cheers!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

What’s cooking in your kitchen?

I would love to know what you’re eating this week. If you don’t write a meal plan you should, it makes everything from shopping to cooking easier. Having a plan for your leftovers will greatly reduced the amount of food you throw away. I HATE to throw away food. I go to very great lengths to avoid waste. What started because I prefer the taste of homemade croutons, bread crumbs, and chicken stock has become my kitchen mission.

As it says on my favorite WWII poster “Eat It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do or Do Without." I will go easy on you for now and not start preaching about making your own stock. But never let a carcass go into the trash with out a good long simmer.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Meal Plan Monday

Sunday
Roast Chicken (shred and freeze leftovers and use carcass to make stock)
Broiled Wild Mushrooms
New Potatoes with Lemon and Oregano
Asparagus

Monday
Broiled Gulf Shrimp
Brown Rice (make twice what is needed)
Miso Glazed Eggplant
Edamame

Tuesday
Meatballs (taken from the freezer)
Couscous Salad
Hummus and Pita Chips (made using whole wheat pitas)

Wednesday
Turkey Three Bean Chili (freeze leftovers)
Baked Sweet Potatoes (cook and extra one for tomorrow)

Thursday
Spicy Pasta with Sweet Potatoes and Chicken (using leftover frozen chicken)
Cucumber Salad

Friday
Veggie Fried Rice
Broccoli with Black Bean Sauce

Monday, March 7, 2011

Meal Plan Monday

Sunday
Linguine with Marinara, Meatballs, and Sausage (freeze half of the meatballs)
Sautéed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Lemon (save half)
Bread

Monday
Jerk Chicken (Cook two extra breasts)
Basmati Rice with Coconut Milk, Butternut Squash, Black Beans, and Lime

Tuesday
Chicken Tacos with Avocado and Hearts of Palm (left over Chicken)
Brown Rice and Beans (using leftover Black Beans)

Wednesday
Whole Grain Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe (leftover Sausage and Broccoli Rabe)
Salad

Thursday
Meatball Heroes (Meatballs from the freezer)
Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Friday
Salmon with Tzatziki
Orzo Salad

Sunday, March 6, 2011

One Cultured Lady

When a woman with a master degree in microbiology stops working at Merck to become a stay-at-home mom you know there is going to be a lot of experimenting in her house. Growing up my mom was always doing something magical in the kitchen. Some things seemed to defy gravity, like fruit suspended in Jell-O and sky high Angel Food Cakes. Some things were just plain magical like Popovers and Baked Alaska. But it was the metamorphosis of milk to yogurt that fascinated me the most. I still remember being filled with pride as I carried little Dixie cups full of homemade yogurt and blackberry jam in to my elementary school for a science project.

My mother believes that if you eat well, there is little need for medicine, yogurt is like her penicillin. She had such respect for the medicinal properties of yogurt that she wrote her master thesis on using lactobacillus acidophilus to cure acne. But you don’t need an advanced degree to know that when you eat well you feel well. When was the last time you got heartburn from a dish of fresh picked raspberries?

I make almost everything we eat from scratch and this week I’ll add yogurt to the list. Since I use it in both sweet and savory dishes we go through a lot each week. Yogurt with fruit and homemade granola is a breakfast staple and I can’t imagine a piece of salmon without Tzatziki. I am going to make Grammie Luba’s yogurt with my boys and I’ll let you know how it turns. If it’s as easy and delicious as I remember I’ll post the directions next week.