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Menu Plan Monday

May 13, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | No comments

I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day. I know it can be a difficult day. It is for me, sometimes. I’m so thankful and glad to be a mother, but the mothers in my life are missing and that’s not always easy. I know for some friends that the path to motherhood has been so hard or still not realized and it’s heartbreaking.

It’s cooled off here in Ohio. At least in our part. We’ve been hoovering near eighty degrees for the most part of the past few weeks and now we’re seeing 500 degree temperatures. What gives? That’s okay. It gives me a little room to eat up a few of those cold weather things I’ve been holding on to but haven’t felt like eating because it’s been warm. And, I have to move fast. It will be 80 again on Wednesday. I know my friends in the upper Midwest haven’t had a great spring, but ours has been fantastic.

Monday- Slow cooked corned beef brisket with potatoes and carrots and the dear, dear hope that they’ll be enough leftover for has on Tuesday morning. Because there is nothing NOTHING like making your own left over corned beef hash. NOTHING.

Tuesday- Chicken and Potatoes Oregano

Wednesday Grilled Chicken with lime and  cilantro with grilled veggies

Thursday  Chicken Stir Fry (a great way to use up LOTS of veggies with dinner!)

Friday Date night.  Oh, Auntie Awesome, how we LOVE date night

Saturday The Princess is having a sleep over.  I found a recipe for knock off deep dish Chicago pizza I may try.  There was just a school trip to Chicago (the Princess skipped due to her allergy, but not next time!) and I want to put our favorite pizza up against what they may have ate when they were there.

Sunday Everything permitting, I hope Big Daddy will smoke chicken.  Big Daddy’s smoked chicken is really the next best thing to heaven. I think anyone who has tasted it will agree.

 

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

May 8, 2013 in Recipes | No comments

Are things getting insane in your neck of the woods? It seems like the entire year of school activity is concentrated into May (and December. Christmas programs). We coast through so many month and then, all of a sudden, everything comes due. I try not to think too hard about our schedule because I’d probably cry.

Quick dinners are, once again, king.How quickly can we put dinner on the table and NOT serve sandwiches.

This recipe was born out of desperation. We had a six o’clock meeting at school and it was 5. I hadn’t been to the grocery store in a week, to further complicate finding a quick dinner in our pantry. I knew I had a couple of good staples :boneless chicken and whole wheat pasta, but then what? Well. This.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

serves 5 as a main course with a vegetable side

 

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cut into chunks

1 box of rotini, penne or your pasta of choice

1-2 block of cream cheese

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Ranch Seasoning

1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

 

1.  Start your water boiling for pasta.  If your chicken isn’t already diced, dice it up.  Add pasta to water when the water is boiling.

2.  Throw chicken into a pre-heated pan with your choice of cooking oils (I used a little butter, but olive oil or your choice or oil would be fine).  You can also season your chicken at this time, but I left mine plain, but only because I forgot to put anything on it.

3. Continue stirring your chicken to cook it.  When chicken is mostly cooked, season it with the ranch packet.  Stir your chicken around to distribute the seasoning.

4.  When chicken is cooked, drop the cream cheese on top and stir to melt.  One block is fine, in a pinch.  It does make a for a drier (but still tasty) pasta.  Two will be more creamy, but desperate times and all that.

5. Combine with your cooked pasta.

6.  At this point, you can serve as is.  I opted to drop mine in a casserole dish and melt some Italian blend cheese on top.  Your choice.  Skipping this option, dinner can be on the table in about 20 minutes.

It was even enjoyable al fresco.

Is there anything sweeter than tiny little shoulders?

 

 

 

May Days-Menu Plan Monday

May 6, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes, Tied Up | No comments

My kiddos only have a few days left of school. Just seventeen (well, sixteen actually. We have some really exciting news about the Princess’s peanut allergy coming up that I can’t wait to share). I was asked the other day what I thought about the coming of summer. My answer, of course, was that I couldn’t wait. I like having all my buddies home with me. I like having days with no obligations or schedules. I like the days we spend all day in our pajamas in a cool room watching videos. I like the days we run errands or play the whole day long. I love summer. I’m sad when the school year dawns anew because our summer of fun is over.

I want to make something clear. I’m not some perfect, martyr mommy. I like it when my Aunt takes the kids and Big Daddy and I get to do grown up things like Sleeping In and Watching a Movie without Interruptions. I enjoy my time away from my children, but they’re fun little people and I like being with them, too.

My thoughts are already drifting toward the summer and with the temperature creeping upward, my menus are headed that way as well. I love that summer dinner can be such easy fare. Seasoned meat on a hot grill, fresh veggies from the garden or farmer’s market or CSA subscription. It’s so easy. When fall kicks off, I look forward to the heavier, more complicated cooking of the season but right now I don’t want to look at a stew or casserole for months and months.

In other news, our garden is finally growing asparagus!  I mean, only, like, four stalks at a time, but it’s a great start!  As you can also see our strawberries and dandelions are in full bloom.

Monday BBQ chicken salad with creamy BBQ cilantro lime dressing

Tuesday Gnocchi with summer veggies Can I stop for a moment and tell you that I buy my gnocchi from Aldi’s. It’s pretty good, inexpensive and peanut free! I’ve been getting a lot of my produce at Aldi’s as well lately. Some of the things we like to eat; mini bell peppers, persian cucumbers and bananas are cheaper there hands down.

Wednesday Grilled pork tenderloin (I buy the small seasoned ones and then slice into medallions) and creamy spring pasta

Thursday Make your Own Salad

Friday Make Your Own Pizza

Saturday

Sunday

I’m so very glad to be back.

Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens-Menu Plan Monday

February 18, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | Permalink

Today, I stole Big Daddy’s laptop and am using it at the kitchen table.  It means I’m having less trouble tapping and I don’t have to balance on his damn ball chair which I’m about a foot too short for.

Big Daddy and I had a budget meeting over the weekend.  I’m feeling positive.  He still looks slightly ill, but I have faith that things will work out fine.  Being a bit more tight fisted with our budget means I’ve been trying hard to cut that weekly grocery bill.  I can’t help that we’re food snobs but I can help the bill.

This week our local grocery store has chicken breast on sale.  And I’m on a diet!  It’s meant to be!

But, Big Daddy isn’t a big fan of chicken all the time.  Keeping that in mind, while the chicken is a good price and we’re going to be eating it a lot this week, I need to make sure I’m mixing up the preparation and flavors so no one gets sick of it.

In all honesty, I don’t like to eat the same things over and over.  It just doesn’t appeal to me.  The idea of eating the same breakfast several days in a row?  No matter what it is?  Gross.  Cannot do it.  So, making sure the menu is varied is about me too, I guess.

As an aside, I made creamy chicken and dumpling soup last week out of some left over smoked chicken.  Everyone LOVED it (except for Littlebit who refused to eat the dumplings for reasons I cannot understand, but no worries!  The rest of us took care of that business!).  I used an old standby recipe and I highly encourage you to consider making it. It’s hearty and delicious and contains cream of no crap (or no egg as shown in the recipe.  I used a roux).  I used one pre-cooked breast and two pre-cooked thighs for the five of us, so it’s a great way to stretch those chicken leftovers.

As a note, in situations such as this when I’m making a one pot meal, I do my best to include a half of a cup of veggies per person.  That’s a serving of veggies!

And now?  The Menu Plan!

Monday Tahini chicken with couscous and veggies

Tuesday Chicken with chimichurri sauce and grille dveggies

Wednesday  Chicken Tortilla Pie and corn

Thursday Avocado Enchiladas 

Friday Autnie Awesome has had some sad news and while she processes things, the girlies haven’t been over to stay.  However, I know the girls miss Auntie Awesome AND that Auntie Awesome misses the girls and I’m hoping for a date night this week

Saturday  Pizza Night!

Sunday Smoked chicken wings, crash hot potatoes and veggies

Menu Plan Monday-Back to those damn 99 problems

February 4, 2013 in Menu Plans, Recipes | Permalink

My laptop is dead. Second time in about a year. This time it’s out of warranty, so changes have to be made and I have to readjust and I hate change and right now I’m typing this from Big Daddy’s office on his stability ball chair and his natural keyboard. And, I keep typing the wrong things and I keep almost falling off of this darn ball so it’s clack, clack, WHOOPS, clack, clack WHOOPS!

Last year, an old “friend” on facebook told me that my “charmed” life was disgusting.  That I had no awareness, self or otherwise, about how hard the world is.  I try not to let him rent much space in my head.  I realize that a broken lap top and a stability ball is small in the scheme of things. I’m not that spoiled.

clack, clack, clack WHOOPS!

The past few weeks for Big Daddy and I seemed to revolve around money.  Have you had those seasons in your marriage?  We seem to.  A lot of little issues are coming to a head while we are fine it means Big Daddy is stressed, so I am stressed.  It means canceling our spring trip to South Carolina and eyeing our December 2013 trip to Disneyworld with worried suspicion.  We won’t be hungry or cold or homeless.  Just less comfortable while all the piled up little things work themselves out.

Our food budget is huge.  HUGE.  I’m sure Big Daddy has the specifics, but it’s a large point of our monthly expenditure.  One place where I feel as though I can and should pitch in as a stay at home mom is getting that food budget down.   It’s not easy.  The things that are the cheapest, tend to be food we won’t/can’t/shouldn’t eat and trying to give a nod to our desire to eat whole foods while balancing the seasonally higher costs of fruit and the overall costs of leaner meat.  The menu plan, for while, is going to be focusing on how to feed your family good, healthy, delicious dinners without wracking up a 1k a month grocery bill.

So, without further ado, the Menu Plan

Our local grocery store had roasting chickens on sale buy one get one free.  We bought four.  They were HUGE chickens.   One chicken was tucked into the freezer for smoking on a later date and I roasted three and pulled off the meat.  We ate for several meals off of those three chickens and I’m going to share what/how we did it.

Monday Easy Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Tuesday Baked Chicken Flautas

Wednesday Chicken Packets

Thursday Chicken and Oven baked orzo (I added a few cups of diced chicken to this recipe)

Friday  Puff pastry pizza.  Big Daddy and I had chicken, pesto and tomato while the girls had pepperoni.  Littlebit lamented that we weren’t getting pizza out, but I think our pizza was a LOT better.  One box of puff pastry dough will make two slightly smaller than cookie sheet sized pizzas.  Be sparing with your sauces!  The pizza WILL get soggy, but it is crazy delicious and, I must say, the dough is so much easier to roll than traditional pizza dough.  So.  Much.  Easier.

There’s enough chciken left over for one more meal.  We’ll have eaten six times for our $21 meat purchase.  Now, let me be clear.  I know there are bargain divas and coupon quens who would scoff at meat coming in at 3.50 a meal, but it is a big change for us.  How do you save money on your grocery bill?

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It’s Diet Monday AND the menu plan

January 7, 2013 in Menu Plans | Permalink

I think maybe diet is an unfair word.

My years of dieting has taught me that it has to be something different than that. I cannot be, simply, a reduction of calories until your goal weight and then life as usual. It has to be something different.

This year, I need to drink more water. This year I need to exercise more. This year, I need to eat less garbage. Not just this year. Always.

Thankfully, due to gall bladder adjustments, I didn’t gain too much holiday weight. I start off 2013 how I spent the last quarter of 2012 (sadly, my gall bladder didn’t weigh 20 pounds).

I’m on the search for more healthy comfort foods and that’s what this week will feature.

Monday Roman Style Chicken over pasta with veggies

Tuesday Crock Pot Chicken with 40(!) cloves of garlic over smashed yukon gold potatoes

Wednesday Chicken with Orzo Pasta

Thursday Avocado Cream Cheese Chicken Puffs with Sweet Potato Fries

Friday Make your own pizza night!

Saturday Family Movie Night

Sunday White Chicken Enchiladas, spanish rice and corn.

 

Comfort Food

December 17, 2012 in Menu Plans, Recipes | 3 comments

On Friday night, the Princess and I had a talk in her bedroom away from the little ears. I explained what happened in Sandy Hook to her. She cried and we hugged. We discussed what to do in an emergency such as that. We talked about a meeting place if something happened at her school and we needed to come and get her.

It was a heavy bunch of topics for a Friday night and, frankly, Sandy Hook has left me more than a little bit devastated this weekend. I think that’s true for most of us.

But, I don’t want to get too deep on a Monday and this will all come full circle in a second.

We’ve kept the news from Littlebit and Baby Bee. I saw no reason to plant the idea in Littlebit’s head that her safe school is not. Because the truth is, despite the horror of mass shootings, most places really are safe. Including our schools.

This week, I asked for help in making our menu plan. I asked each family member to pick a meal. Not surprisingly, we all ended up picking comfort food. Even Littlebit who will skip off into Kindergarten with nary a care in the world.

Monday-The World’s Best Potato Soup
Tuesday-Chicken and Rice with gravy
Wednesday Chicken Pot Pie
Thursday-Salisbury Steak
Friday-Cincinnati Chili

Saturday and Sunday aren’t yet planned because, well, Christmas is coming and things are about to get SPECTACULAR around here.

Chocolate Guinness Cheesecake

December 13, 2012 in Big Daddy, Recipes | 1 comment

Big Daddy isn’t into presents. He’s just not. It’s hard for me. My love language is gifts. Gifts are how I show love. I like them to be big, opulent and something you don’t need. I like to give impractical presents. Big Daddy? That’s not his speed. It is a part of marriage where you work on loving your partner the way he likes to be loved. In our case, in means Big Daddy buys me presents and I don’t buy him presents back.

That’s seems crazy and one sided doesn’t it?

It’s really not.

It’s simply about loving Big Daddy the way it makes sense to love him. The way he likes to be cared for. It means, instead of lavishing him with presents, I do things for him. Big Daddy’s more of acts of service guy. He loves by doing and the best way to make him feel loved is by doing.

So, on his birthday I try to refrain (I refuse to do so at Christmas. I am not explaiing to the children why Daddy didn’t get any presents and, besides he deserves pampering and it makes me happy! Dammit!) The thing that Big Daddy enjoys the most is something done lovingly. Just for him. And, since Big Daddy is, admittedly, a foodie that means I cook him something spectacular.

Big Daddy is a little bit proud of my abilities in the kitchen. He likes to show me off. He loves having a house full of people and setting them onto a meal created by me. So, of course, Big Daddy must have an excellent meal and dessert for his birthday.

This birthday’s dinner was okay.  I didn’t hit the ball out of the park.  Iit’s kind of par for the course with these particular set of recipes.  Either they’re so fabulous you want to kiss strangers and go sing in the street or they’re a lot of work for an okay outcome.  To me, that’s not okay.  If I’m slicing and dicing and letting things cook for hours they’d better be GOOD.  And, you can never tell when you get started which sort of recipe you’re going to get.  Something so good Big Daddy is doing a little happy dance in his chair or mediocre.  Big Daddy’s birthday dinner was a slow cooked beef stew served over slow cooked, creamy grits with cheese and chilis.  It was just okay.

But dessert?  That was where the magic happened this year.

This dessert recipe combines three things Big Daddy really likes; chocolate, beer and cheesecake.  I know we do a lot of cooking with beer around these parts (and I won’t even drink it!  Ever!) but the results are so good and this cheesecake was no exception.

Chocolate Guinness Cheesecake

adapted from Closetcooking.com

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 6 oz semisweet chocolate
  • 1 tbsp heavy cream
  • 12 oz cream cheese (1.5 bricks)
  • .5c sugar
  • .25 c greek yogurt
  • 1.5 eggs (yes, I know.)
  • 3/8c guinness
  1. Mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cocoa and butter.  Grease well a 9 inch cake pan and press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
  2. Heat a double boiler.  Chop the chocolate (coarse chop is fine) and melt in the pan with the cream
  3. While the chocolate melts,  cream the cream cheese and sugar.  Once fluffy, mix in the yogurt and eggs and chocolate.  ONce mixture is smooth, mix in the beer.
  4. Poor cheesecake mixture into your prepared pan
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.  Begin checking your cake at about 45 minutes.  Turn off the heat once a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out mostly clean and the cake is set and solid.  Crack your oven door and let the cake rest in the warm oven for an hour
  6. Enjoy

With the holiday season at hand and so many gatherings, this cheesecake isn’t hard to make and is something just a little more special than the usual offering.  The taste of the Guinness isn’t overpowering, but it is present.  It was delicious and moist and a keeper.

Let’s Talk About Soup

December 10, 2012 in Recipes | 3 comments

I’m one of those “sick” people who love winter. I really do. There’s something peaceful to me when the ground is blanketed in snow and things are muffled and silent and crisp. It seems so fitting to me that the year rings out and in this season. It’s the perfect ending and beginning time.

I love going out into the cold weather and feeling of the cold crisp air in my nose. And, I admit to being someone who loves being at home. I’m like a little caterpillar, spinning myself into the cocoon that is my home. I pull on my slippers and a sweater and light some candles and I bake and roast and stew and slow cook and the house is full of the warm smells of winter.

And, that means soups.  And stews.  And chowders.    Lovely meals you simmer for hours and eat out of big mugs and bowls.    Im going to let you on on a little secret.  I have a thing for soup.  There’s something comforting to me about the slicing and chopping and simmering.

The familiar ritual of curling around a mug or a bowl.  The pattern of dip, blow, sip and repeat.  The crumbling of crackers and dipping of read.  The way you have to eat soup slowly, which means you have to sit around the table just a little longer.  Soup is one of those meals that can warm you to your toes.

Usually, on Monday, I lay out our menu plan for the week.  This week I’m going to do something a little different.  I’d like to link you to a handful of my favorite soup recipes (or stew or chowder) in hopes that it inspires you to cook something warm.  I’m not going to put my favorite Guinness Beef Stew or Ultimate Potato Soup on the list.  I’ll link you anyhow.  These are longer cooking soups that are great for special occasions or lazy Sundays.

Without further ado, seven fantastic soups for cold days

1) Easy Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup–I know this calls for a lot of processed ingredients, but this is a really fast soup to make on a busy night.  Big Daddy LOVED this soup.  It’s creamy and thick and super yummy.

2) Panera bread knock off broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls-Does this taste like Panera’s soup?  I don’t know.  I’ve not had it.  What I can tell you is that it tastes amazing and everyone in my house loves it.  Want to make super easy bread bowls? buy frozen bread dough.  Two loaves will make five, good sized bread bowls.  Let them rise and then back in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

3) Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana in the crock pot.  Anoither great soup to serve with fresh baked bread of any can.  I tear mine up and drop it in the soup.

4)Smokey Black Bean Soup with Avocado Salsa -this soup is seriously easy for busy nights. Just open a few cans and simmer.

5)Chicken and Dumpling soup. A wintery must, don’t you think?  I hate to say this, but be sparing with the dumplings.  It sucks up all the broth.  I like a MILLION dumplings and if you like a lot, you may want to double the liquid in the soup.

6)Cincinnati Style Chili -This is a great choice for parties.  It’s different than your run of the mill chili, but the toppings really make this one fun.  Over spaghetti?  With cheese?  Onions?  Beans?  I know this recipe calls for chocolate and that might feel a little weird, but it’s not.  It’s good.

7) Italian Wedding Soup since this is a Giada  De Laurentis recipe, she encourages you to make your own meatballs.  However, my grocery store sells teeny tiny frozen meatballs, which would easily decease the amount of time this recipe takes.

All of these soups would rest fine in the refrigerator, so you can make a nice big batch on the weekend to eat during the busy part of the week.   They all will freeze, but the soups with milk in them will get a little grainy and separate.  This won’t affect the taste, but if you’re picky about consistency, it will suffer if you freeze the potato soup or the broccoli soup.

Do you have a favorite soup recipe?  I’d love to hear about it.

It’s December–AND the menu plan

December 3, 2012 in Menu Plans, Recipes | Permalink

We saw Santa.

Littlebit couldn’t contain herself.  She was so excited.  She couldn’t wait to see him and give him her list (a Hello Kitty Hat and a Cinderella Doll, so note to those of you buying for her!)  SHe answered a very emphatic yes when he asked if she’d been good, which is true.

Baby Bee showed Santa her bear and gave him a high five, which Santa said was just fine.

The Princess didn’t really pay Santa a visit this year.  She stood by because Baby Bee was nervous about it and gave Santa an answer when he asked what she wanted, but she didn’t care about seeing him this year.  The Princess will be 13 soon.  I know the time of Santa is over for her.  It’s sad.  I have a special letter I’m going to slip into her stocking on Christmas morning to mark the passing of the Princess for the enchanted to the part of the Magic Maker.

In my yearly quest to make sure we have the Best Christmas Season Ever™ I’ve planned lots of fun and activities and we’re running around here like we’re hopped up on some kind of fabulous Christmas uppers.  Because, really, isn’t that the point?  To whip the kids into a frenzy of Christmas activity so when the big day finally arrives they can’t contain themselves and someone is crying in the corner?

No.  Not that.

But, I really do try to pack in as much fun as we can. My biggest fear about the Christmas season is that we may miss something that’s extra super fun.  No one wants that.  Well, I don’t want that. Big Daddy assures me that no one but me will notice.  I’ve made my list of Christmas fun, checked it twice, cross referenced it, added it into my calendar and rolled up my sleeves.  But, we still have to eat, right?

Monday Baked Spaghetti with salad and Garlic Bread (I’m not making the sauce

Tuesday Macaroni and Cheese

Wednesday Chicken Taquitos

Thursday Chicken Gyros

Friday Pizza Night. Yummy!

Saturday Holiday Family Movie Night.  Stay tuned!

Sunday Cincinnati Chili (Big Daddy’s request)

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