Meal Planning: Week 5 (loosely speaking) November 22, 2009

Yeah, I know, I’m lazy. And I owe you blog updates.  Here’s a list, just so you can look forward to the tasty things to come:

Korean BBQ Beef in the crock pot

Easy German Chocolate Pie

Simply Fabulous Sweet Potatoes

Homemade easy calzones

And my first entry on the World Tour of Wheat Pastas!

 

My husband and I did celebrate our 1 year anniversary a few weeks ago, and yes, we did consume the top layer of our wedding cake (OK, not the whole thing, it was huge). It was actually quite good, here’s how we managed to keep it moist and flavorful over the last year:

1) If your cake has a fondant layer on the outside, you’ve done yourself the first favor. I know fondant is weird and it tastes funny, but it really works great as a freshness keeper. After the year, it was pretty hard and chalky, so discard that.

2) Immediately after the wedding, wrap the cake in 3-4 layers of plastic wrap.

3) Then wrap the cake in 2-3 layers of foil.

4) If your freezer has cold spots, put it in the coldest part of the freezer.

5) The day of your anniversary, put the cake in the fridge. It really only takes 6-8 hours to defrost!

Enjoy!

 

Now, onto the meal plan!

Sunday – Bacon wrapped filet, baked potatoes

Monday – World Tour of Wheat Pastas, episode 1 – Barilla Plus Angel Hair, in a meat sauce

Tuesday – Baked chicken and jack cheese rice

Wednesday – We’ll probably eat out, pick up a few last minute things to prepare for our favorite 4 days of the year, Rogue Thanksgiving Weekend

Thursday – TURKEY DAY!  I will be going through the full Thanksgiving day preparations for a dinner for 2. My husband and I have tried traveling home to see family for this holiday, and we have given up… too many crazies. I’ll post about how to prepare a full meal for a small Thanksgiving gathering.  Oh, and we’ll be having corn cakes for breakfast.

Friday – Leftovers

Saturday – Leftovers.

 

 

Meal Plan Week 4 November 2, 2009

Last week didn’t get a meal plan due to a really busy week. Most nights were “yes that looks good.” As a result, I am totally out of food. Meal planning this week looks great, and I do owe you all some blog updates. I’ll get to that shortly.

Monday – Chicken enchiladas

Tuesday – Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup Chicken, apple, and walnut salad

Wednesday – Calzones

Thursday – Pulled pork sandwiches on sandwich thins

Friday – Leftovers

Meal Planning Week 3 October 18, 2009

I have 4 meals planned for this week, hopefully we will actually get to have them all!

Sunday – Take out. Meal planning exhausted me…

Monday – Korean BBQ Beef (Crockpot recipe… I hope this works out, I only got 1/2 the ribs it called for, those suckers are expensive)

Tuesday – Baked beans and hot dogs

Wednesday – TACO NIGHT!

Thursday – Jumbalaya with smoked turkey sausage

Friday – Unknown…

Saturday – H is on his own, I’ll be at a dance fest all day

Family Recipe – Chicken Marsala October 14, 2009

My wonderful husband has this real character of a father. He’s got crazy curly grey hair, big thick glasses, and possibly one of the most warming and welcoming personalities. Spending time with him is a pleasure. Plus, on top of that, he loves to cook. In fact, he usually shows up at my house and cooks for me! Who doesn’t like that?

This was a dish he’s made a few times, namely for my bridal shower, in which he was the caterer. The food was so fantastic!  My Aunt has asked for the recipe, which of course I had to get from the father-in-law.

You will note that there’s not a lot of measurements in this recipe. That’s because he doesn’t cook by measurements. He cooks by feel. Fortunately, I do too, and this worked out well.  As a note, this is in no way, shape, or form, healthy. It is a great special occasion meal!

Please enjoy this recipe!

Chicken Marsala

Mmmm. Chicken Marsala!

Ingredients:

1 sausage link, cut into a few pieces (this is used for flavor only, I didn’t have any, so I just used a beef bullion cube, some garlic, some crushed red pepper, and some salt and pepper and it worked just fine)

EVOO

1 medium onion, sliced very thin

Sliced mushrooms

2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces, larger than bite size but smaller than filet

Flour

Garlic powder

Parsley

Basil

Butter (appx 1/4 to 1/3 cup!)

Chicken bullion

Marsala wine (bartolo, burgundy, chianti will also work, and honestly, I have used sangria, it worked too!)

Directions

Heat up the EVOO (about 1/4 cup) and add the sausage. Cook until the sausage mushrooms on both side. Remove. (If you go with the alternate method, add the listed ingredients and allow to eat).  Add the sliced mushrooms to the frying pan. Cook until brown and soft. Place the onions into a dutch oven with some water. Add the mushrooms. You’ll want to have enough water so that it looks a bit soupy now. Don’t worry, it will thicken!

Put the butter into the frying pan and allow to melt and start to bubble slightly. Take that chicken and put it into a plastic bag with the flour, garlic powder, basil, and parsley.  Shake to coat the chicken, then saute it in the butter. Let it saute slowly, don’t rush it!

When the chicken is done, add it to the dutch oven. If your frying pan is too small and you have to do 2 batches of chicken, you may need more butter.

Add the chicken bullion to the dutch oven. Then take the flour leftovers from the plastic bag and put it in the leftover saute butter. Allow it to come together, then add to the dutch oven.  I had too much flour, but it still worked out! It should for a paste.

Allow the dutch oven to cook while simmering for about 15-20 minutes. Then add the wine to taste. At this point, you can serve, or allow it to sit for a while longer. I let mine sit for about 30 minutes more, just to allow the flavors to really sink in. When I do this, I add another dash of wine at the end.

Serve with pasta, though we eat it with rice. I’m weird.

Three Bean Turkey Chili – Slow Cooker October 12, 2009

Another slow cooker recipe. Its been fitting nicely into our seemingly too-busy schedule. This was a definite hit! I loved the flavors and the beans… so good!

I added a lot more spice than the recipe called for. As with any chili, spice as you like!

Three Bean Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

1 small onion, chopped

1 can diced tomato, undrained

1 can tomato sauce

1 can light red kidney beans, drained and washed

1 can black beans, drained and washed

1 can chick peas, drained and washed

1 can green chilis

1-2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp garlic

1 tbsp crushed red pepper

2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp black pepper

Salt to taste

Directions:

Brown the turkey and the onion until it is no longer pink.

Add all of the ingredients to the crock pot. Cook on high for 6-8 hours, or on low for 8+, then on high for 1 hour.

Serve as you would chili! We had ours over rice with a little cheese and sour cream.

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls October 12, 2009

I wanted a quick and easy cinnamon roll for breakfast this past Sunday. I didn’t have the fridge kind, and I did not want to spend the time making dough. Google to the rescue! There are lots of recipes for cinnamon rolls using cresent rolls as a base.

These were super good, very sticky! I’d almost consider a cream cheese frosting instead of the one I used.

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 can crescent rolls, I used reduced fat

1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

1/6 cup brown sugar

1/6 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 cup soft butter

Glaze:

1/2 powdered sugar

1/2 tbsp melted butter

Milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the pecans, sugars, cinnamon, and butter. Mix well. Open the can of crescent rolls and unroll into 2 rectangles. Spread the mix onto one of the rectangles, then place the other on top. Cut into 8 thin strips, then roll up.

Place in an ungreased baking dish with a little room between each.  Cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Make the glaze while the rolls are baking. Only use enough milk to create the glaze, you don’t need much at all!

Enjoy!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken October 12, 2009

This is a quick and easy recipe I’ve been seeing on blogs for a long time, and I finally got around to trying it. I will admit that I did not love the spice mixture, and I’ll probably go with something a little less cumin-heavy next time.  This issue was entirely my fault, I don’t use taco seasoning packets as suggested, they are so high in sodium! I just use my own spices to make a mixture.

The recipe below is as I have seen it on various blogs, not my spice-flop version!

Enjoy!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Crockpot Salsa Chicken over Rice

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (I used 2 big ones)

1 cup salsa, medium spice

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 packet of taco seasoning

1/2 cup sour cream

Shredded cheese, taco shells, tortilla shells, rice, tostadas… however you want to serve them!

Directions:

Place the chicken breasts in the crock pot, frozen is just fine (how convenient!). Put the salsa, soup, and seasonings on top. Mix up, place the lid on the crockpot, turn on low, and go away.

Come back hours later. When you’re getting ready to serve, shred the chicken using 2 forks and add the sour cream. Serve in any way you like!

Meal Planning! October 11, 2009

Week 2 Meal Plan

This will be a weird week. I’m flying out to Baltimore on Wednesday, so the husband is on his own. He’ll do just fine, he used to cook for all of his college roommates!  So here’s our short meal plan:

Sunday – Dinner with friends from Papa Murphy’s Pizza, a take and bake pizza place that is a local chain

Monday – Three Bean Turkey Chili in the slow cooker (new recipe)

Tuesday – Chicken Parmesan or Spaghetti and Meatballs, depending on time

Wednesday through Saturday – Loki

Wednesday – Dinner with Dad, We had Chicken Marsala!

Thursday – Dinner with BFF!

Friday – Dinner with Di!

Saturday – Back home, dinner depends entirely on timing

What’s your meal plan this week?  Does it help you to think about food ahead of time?

UPDATE 1 – We had spaghetti and meatballs on tuesday in an italian sausage pasta sauce (jarred… what are you gonna do?). I spiced it up and it was DELICIOUS!  I also added my Wednesday dinner at my Dad’s house that I made.

Crockpot Steak Fajitas October 5, 2009

I recently got the Best Loved Crockpot Recipes book as a gift. I think I have about 30 pages marked with recipes I want to try! This was the first, steak fajitas.  It does require about 15 minutes of prep work, but I did it the night before to make my morning easier. These were a hit in my house, and I highly recommend them.

One important note: Read the directions carefully, the peppers don’t go into the crock pot until an hour before you want to serve. Otherwise they will be soggy.

Crockpot Steak Fajitas

Open faced fajita

Ingredients:

1 lb flank steak, cut crosswise then into strips

1 medium onion

1/2 cup salsa, medium, plus additional for garnish

2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro (omitted b/c cilantro tastes like soap)

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 small green bell pepper, cut into strips

1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips

Flour tortillas, warmed

Directions:

Put the meat into the crock pot. Add the onions and the salsa, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and salt into the crock pot. Mix up. Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

1 hour prior to eating, add the peppers and cook for 1 more hour.

Serve on warm flour tortillas.

Cream Cheese Cookies October 4, 2009

So I have a block of cream cheese (1/3 reduced fat) that was about to hit its sell-by date. I decided to make some cookies for the week. I had some trouble finding a recipe, but I got lucky. These are super tasty and they allow you to kind of manipulate them as you wish.   Make the cookie dough, then do any of the following:

1 – Mix in finely chopped pecans or walnuts

2 – Drop the cookie onto the baking tray and press your thumb down into it and then fill that with preserves or candies like candied cherries

3 – Use a cookie press to create fun shapes!

4 – Use sprikles

5 – Ice them

6 – Roll into a log and then freeze them, cut them off as you want to eat them

etc, etc etc!

See, good basic cookies. I decided to make some cream cheese frosting to top them with, though the frosting tastes great it is not hardening well, so you don’t get the recipe for that now. Maybe later, when I fix it.

Cream Cheese Cookies

Frosted cookies going into the fridge!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

3 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Cream the sugar, butter, and cream cheese until soft and fluffy:

Light and fluffy

Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour slowly to the batter.

Use the cookie press or put 1 tbsp drop cookies onto the greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, but monitor the cookies closely. They don’t really change color from the original batter, so it is a little hard to tell when they are done. After 15 minutes, turn one of the cookies over, the bottoms will start to brown up a bit. When they look like the picture below, or darker, they are done.

Bake until the bottoms of the cookies get slightly golden