Meal Plan: February 2013

Everyone has a hard time figuring out what to cook.  I was talking to a co-worker this weekend and she told me that, while she was going back to school, she asked her husband to cook dinner on Thursday nights as it was her busy day.  He replied that he would cook, but she needed to tell him what to make.  She exclaimed that that was the hardest part!

I completely agree.  I love to cook, but sometimes I just really don’t know what to make.  My husband is no help because he never has any ideas for me.  I asked him the same question each week.

What do you want for dinners this week?

He responds one of two ways:

Meatloaf. 

Or

I don’t care.  Whatever you make.

Ugh!  Finally, I got smart.  A few years ago I started meal planning.  I must say…when I do it and stick to the plan, it really makes a difference in my day!  I don’t have that dreaded feeling hanging over my head of what to make.  I typically am more prepared and have the ingredients on hand.  I don’t have to try to figure out how to pick up the ingredients I’m missing and still make it home in time to have dinner on the table by 6p (Jake’s dinner time).

I realize many of you feel the same way, which is why I’m hopefully starting a new series on this blog.  I’ve tried in the past to post menus and failed miserably, so take that as your warning.

Jake eats most anything we eat aside from fish, shellfish, and nuts of any kind (though I did slip and give him some peanuts with my Thai food the other day.  Whoops!).  Some of the dishes are spicy (like the Cajun Chicken Alfredo and the Spicy Chicken Tortilla Rollups).  I figure I’ll just make a couple without the spice or he will have leftovers that day.  In any case, this may help lots of you moms out there!

I also plan to lighten up some of the more calorie dense meals to make them more Weight Loss Goal friendly.  Stay tuned for more on that later.

Here’s the key to reading the calendar.  The light green recipes are from my Pinterest account.  The light blue ones are either from my blog or from my personal collection of recipes.  Here are the links to the recipes you can find online:

Burgers
Cajun Chicken Alfredo
Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac & Cheese
Chicken Cassoulet
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken Taco Chili
Cilantro Lime Chicken
Cream Cheese Chicken
Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
Forgotten Chicken
General Tso’s Chicken
Honey Garlic Pork Chops
Meatloaf
Mexican Lasagna
Mini Corn Dog Muffins
Mushrooms Pizza Bites
Pad Thai
Pizza Casserole
Pork Chops au Poivre
Proscuitto Panini
Quick Coq au Vin
Spaghetti with Chicken and Thai Peanut Sauce
Spicy Chicken Tortilla Rollups
TJ (Trader Joe)’s Chicken Satay with Coconut Rice
Ultimate Chicken Fingers

You probably notice there isn’t any room for leftovers.  Most of the time, we either eat the leftovers for lunches, or I try to make a single night’s portion instead of a whole family’s worth.  The food gets eaten, don’t you worry.

I hope you guys enjoy this post!  If this is something you enjoy seeing, please let me know by leaving me a comment on my blog.  You can also show your support by liking my Facebook page!  I’d love to hear from you!

Three Little Soups (Part 1)

“Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.” -Bob Marley

Don’t you just love Bob?  Marley that is.  I love him.  I especially love Three Little Birds.  Hence the play on words of the title.  Anyhow…the other day, I was off work and wanted to make some soups.  It’s getting colder here in the lovely state of Ohio and when it gets cold, I eat soup.  Gallons and gallons of it.

I was flipping through my various magazines when I came across three little soups I wanted to try:  Beef Pho, Vegetable Ravioli, and…wait for it…Albondigas!  Don’t you just love that word?  Albondigas!  (When I say it, I imagine I’m a little Mexican man with a sombrero and maracas!  Ha…just kidding.)

These soups were relatively easy and used ingredients that, for the most part, I already had on hand!  Try them and let me know what you think.

Beef Pho
(From the November 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine)

2 beef shanks with meat on them (about 2 1/4 pounds total)
3 large yellow onions, halved
1 6-inch piece of ginger, halved lengthwise
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
2 tbsp vegetable oil
kosher salt
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise pods
3 tbsp black peppercorns
3 quarts low sodium beef broth
1/3 cup fish sauce
1 pound flat rice noodles
Optional additions:  bean sprouts, Thai basil or mint, jalapenos thinly sliced, red onion thinly sliced, Hoisin sauce or Sriracha

Put the beef, onions, ginger, garlic and oil in a pan.  Sprinkle with salt and toss.  Bake at 450º for about 30 minutes, turning beef once.

Meanwhile, toast the cinnamon, anise, and peppercorns in a dry pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until fragrance.

After the beef is cooked, transfer the contents of the roasting pan to a large stock pot.  Cover with beef broth, two quarts of water, the spices, and the fish sauce.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 1-1 1/2 hours, skimming any fat off the top.

Remove beef and shred.  Strain the rest of the broth through a strainer and then return to pan.  Add beef back to broth.  Cook the noodles according to package directions and add to broth.  Garnish with any of the above toppings.

Vegetable Tortellini
(From the September 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine)

1 tbsp EVOO
1 small onion, diced
3 medium carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 cups low sodium beef broth
1 9-ounce package cheese tortellini
a couple big handfuls baby spinach
salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese, optional
Whole Wheat baguette, optional

In a large pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil and cook the onion, carrots, celery, and thyme, stirring occasionally.  When the vegetables begin to soften add the broth and 3 cups water and increase heat to high.  Cover and bring to a boil, then add the tortellini.  Reduce heat and simmer until tortellini is cooked through (see package directions for time).  Add spinach to soup and cook until wilted.  Season with salt and pepper.  When serving, you can top with Parmesan cheese and bread if desired.

Because this post is so long and because the final soup is two recipes in itself and because (let’s be honest) I’ll be late for work if I don’t quit typing now, I am going to save the last recipe for the next blog post.  Check back soon!  You won’t be sorry.

Pinterest Recipe Challenge, Volume 2

Since the last time I posted a Pinterest Recipe Challenge was so successful (with myself at least) I thought I would do another challenge.  Honestly, this is more to remind me which recipes I chose to make when I get to the grocery store!  Ha!  More often than not, I’ll pick a few recipes to make, shop for the ingredients, and by the time I go to make the recipe I forgot which one I picked out!

Here’s the next batch of recipes on deck:

For those of you wondering how my last batch of recipes turned out, please see below!

Chicken Adobo:  This was really good!  I added a little extra brown sugar  in at the end because I thought it needed to be a tad sweeter.

Parmesan Chicken Bake:  I wanted this to be really good, but it was just OK.  The croutons on top worked to make the crust somewhat crispy, but if I had to choose, I would make the real dish instead of this one.

Frito Pie:  This was really good too!  My only problem?  I made it waaaayyyy to spicy because I added canned chipotles in adobo and added too many.  Oops!

Balsamic Parmesan Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms:  Confession…I haven’t quite made this yet.  I do have green beans in my fridge so that I can hopefully make them in the next couple days.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings:  OK, so here’s the deal.  I made this dish…and then got the stomach flu.  The thought of this dish kinda makes me queasy…  It’s too bad too because from what I remember it was pretty tasty!

Nutter Butter Bars:  I haven’t made this one either because I keep forgetting to pick up Nutter Butters!  I may have to get some of those from work tomorrow…

Have you made anything recently (from pinterest or not) that you have loved?

Pinterest Challenge for March

Do you ever log in to Pinterest and feel overwhelmed by the amount of recipes, crafts, or outfits you’ve pinned?  I know I do.  In fact, for a while I was avoiding Pinterest partly because it was too much, too fast!  Well, that and because I had a baby that was taking up 99.9% of my time.

I use Pinterest predominately for finding awesome recipes.  There are so many people out there that blog about food, not to mention all the professional recipe websites, that I can easily find handfuls of recipes to pin each day.  The problem with that is I pin way more than I can make in a given week, month, or even year!  In fact, when I do my menu planning, my Pinterest has so many recipes on it, I more often than not find myself bypassing Pinterest and looking at Allrecipes instead.  My cookbooks are angry at me for this reason as well.

I made a resolution with myself to cook at least one new recipe a week for the month of February.  I failed miserably. It’s time to try again.  I am going to try to cook one new thing each week from now on instead of limiting myself.  My mom did it when I was growing up and I believe it is a good practice to get into.  This way, I may find a go to recipe like my Brown Sugar Meatloaf (which came around the last time I resolved to add new recipes into my repertoire).

I spent a good amount of time on Pinterest this morning and have found the following five recipes I am going to try to work into my cooking between now and March 31.

In the spirit of sharing, I challenge all of you to make the same recipes so we can compare at the end of March.  I’m always interested in how people changed the recipe and what side dishes they chose to serve alongside.  If you would like to take pictures of your dishes and email them to me, I will feature you in my conclusions post.

1.  Chicken Adobo by Crepes of Wrath

2.  Parmesan Chicken Bake by Food Wishes

3.  Frito Pie by Steamy Kitchen  *I will probably make this with ground turkey*

4.  Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms by Kalyn’s Kitchen

5.  Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings by Polish the Stars

BONUS RECIPE CHALLENGE:  Nutter Butter Bars by Keep It Sweet

For those of you who don’t share my same recipe tastes, I would be interested in hearing which dishes you’ve tried in the last month or so that you just loved!  I’m always looking for those recipes that will stick with me for years to come and I find suggestions from others are a great place to start.

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

When I was in college, I did not like buffalo wings.  I tried them a couple times and I hated the way they made my lips sting and sucked all the taste buds out of my mouth (due to the heat).  Why would anyone want to eat something as an appetizer and then eat their meals when they couldn’t taste anything?!

My husband, on the other hand, was a buffalo wing lover pretty much since birth.  Well, that’s how it seems.  We would go out to eat and he would get the buffalo wing appetizer, the buffalo chicken sandwich, buffalo wing ice cream milkshake…  OK, OK, that might be an exaggeration.  It might….

One day, he convinced me to try them again. 
But I’ll burn my lips and I won’t be able to taste my entree! I whined.
You’ll be fine.  Just use a fork to get the meat off the bone.  He desperately wanted me to try them.  He likes to share.
OK, but if I don’t like it, you’re buying me a chocolate sundae with extra cherries to make my mouth feel better!

I pulled a small piece of the chicken off the bone and hesitantly brought the fork to my lips.  It smelled good…a bit tangy with a whiff of garlic…so I bit down, taking great care to avoid getting the wing sauce on my lips.

Oh. My. God.  Why have you never made me try these before?!
The smug guy just sat there, with a little smirk on his face, and watched as I demolished his plate of wings.

The rest, we shall say, is history.

To begin, I poached a pound of chicken in water seasoned with Herbes de Provence, whole peppercorns, and kosher salt.

While the chicken was poaching, my egg noodles took a hot soak in some water.

Then, I introduced the ranch dressing to the hot sauce.  Everyone got along famously.

When the chicken was nice and cooked, I pulled it from the water and shredded it with two forks.

Then I drained the egg noodles and combined them with the chicken.

I added the hot ranch and a cup of cheese and mixed well.

I deposited said mixture in a square glass baking dish I’d sprayed with Pam and topped with “bread crumbs” (or ground up pretzels, which is all I had) and sprayed them with cooking spray.  Note:  the next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time!), I am going to crush up whole wheat crackers and mix a little melted butter in them.  That way the crust will get nice and golden and there will be more crunch…something that was missing this time.

As I was not going to be home for dinner, I decided to leave my sweetie a little note to help him out.

Our verdict?  YUM!  This is going in the “make again” pile.  It’s great for freezing and would be wonderful for kids.  Just decrease the spice level a bit. Let me know what you think!
Buffalo Chicken Casserole
1 pound chicken
peppercorns, salt, & herbes de Provence for poaching
2 cups egg noodles
1 cup Ranch dressing
1/2 cup hot sauce
1 cup 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese

Topping:
1/2 cup Ritz crackers, crushed (subbed from my original recipe)
1 tbsp butter, melted (subbed from my original recipe)

*Unfortunately, as I did not use the Ritz crackers and the butter, I may have the measurements wrong.  Please use your discretion when making the topping.

Preheat your oven to 400* and set two pans of water to boil…one for your chicken and one for your egg noodles.

In the chicken pot, add your peppercorns, salt, and herbes.  Bring both pans to a boil.  Add your chicken to your chicken pot and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink.  Add your egg noodles to your pasta pot and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are al dente.

Meanwhile, combine your ranch and hot sauce.  I usually do this by taste without measuring.  Make sure you hold back on your hot sauce if you are not a spice fan.  Keep tasting it to see if the temperature is to your liking.

After the chicken is cooked, shred it apart with two forks.  You could also chop the chicken in a fine dice if you’d like.  Whatever suits your fancy.  Then, combine the chicken with the egg noodles and toss.

Sauce your chicken/pasta mixture well, then add in your cheese and toss to combine.  After everything is mixed, deposit it into your prepared baking dish.

Melt your butter and crush your crackers.  Then let them meet and mingle.  Spread the mixture over the casserole.  Bake at 400* for 30 minutes.

This dish would be great with a crunchy salad (simulating the celery they serve on the side) or with a roasted green vegetable of sorts.

**My bestie, Carolyn, is testing out vegetarianism, so I find myself thinking “What would Carolyn do to make this vegetarian friendly” a lot of the time.  In this recipe, I think you could either leave the chicken out completely and decrease the amount of sauce you used, or you could use cannellini beans you’ve rinsed.

What would you do to change this recipe?