Busy Week 2/21-2/27

We are leaving on vacation for ten days, so this week needs to be easy and not create a lot of leftovers. Hopefully this works well into your lives as well. Also, clearly I will be gone next week, so don't be eagerly awaiting a post on Sunday...Kasey!!

Meal One: Cauliflower Soup with BLTA's

Meal Two: Taco Salad

Meal Three: Mushroom Turkey Burgers

Meal Four : Cold Sesame noodles with Shredded Chicken

Cauliflower Soup: I use the Rachel Ray cauliflower soup recipe from foodtv.com, and BLTA's are no brainer!!

Taco Salad: I use turkey burger, just 1/2 lb (saving the other half for the turkey burgers the next night) I think this recipe is on a previous blog.

Mushroom Turkey Burgers: mix together raw turkey burger, sauteed mushrooms and shallot (both diced very small), handful bread crumbs, handful of Parmesan, fresh parsley and one egg. Form into patties and fry/bake/bbq or george them to perfection. I serve them on sandwich things and top with spicy greens and garlic/rosemary mayo (just finely chop fresh rosemary and garlic and mix with mayo).

Cold Sesame Noodles with chicken: This comes from "the best 3 minute recipe" book, the best cookbook yet!!! Also can be found at the cooks illustrated website. I haven't tried this recipe yet but I am going to give it a shot on Tuesday, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Shopping list:

cauliflower

shallot

celery

thyme

parsley

chicken broth

parmesan

lettuce

tomatoes

2 onions

sour cream

turkey burger

tortillas

sandwich thins

bread crumbs

spicy greens (arugula or water cress)

mushrooms

rosemary

ginger

brown sugar

whole wheat spaghetti

chicken breasts

scallions

Week Menu 2/14-2/20

Hope last week went well for everyone. I didn't make all four meals last week, the salmon will be tonight. Like I said things come up, but by using the the menu plan I am still able to avoid wasting food. This is going to be a busy week, but I know I can get at least three good meals in there, and I always have a couple back up meals ready whenever. Well lets get started with another delicious week.

Meal One: Potato Leek Soup and Salad (it's going to be rainy on Mon/Tues)

Meal Two: Fish Tacos w/ radish slaw

Meal Three: Cajun chicken with avocado salsa, asparagus and salad

Potato Leek Soup: I use a pretty generic recipe for potato soup (just go to foodtv.com). I use less onion and add the leeks in at the same time. I also top the soup with crumbled turkey bacon or prosciutto and cheddar cheese

Fish Taco: Season white fish with old bay and pepper then bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (until flaky, also any seasoning will do). Heat corn tortillas in very hot pan, individually. For radish salsa, thinly slice one bunch of radishes and three scallions. Mix together with one diced jalapeno (seeded), salt, pepper, dash of olive oil and juice of 1-2 limes. Top each tortilla with some fish, radish slaw and shredded cabbage.

Cajun Chicken: Season boneless/skinless chicken breasts with cayenne, pepper and salt (as much or little as you like) then either saute in small amount of oil over med/high heat until int temp is 165, or grill on the george foreman (which is what I do). Top with Avocado salsa (diced avo, diced red onion, salt pepper, and juice of 1-2 limes).

Enjoy this weeks meals, I can say I know they are all healthy and delicious. Have a great week, and make sure you sit down with your family to eat these delicious meals. This country has started to really stray from the family dinner, lets all do our part in bringing it back, it really does help bring calm to the end of the day.

Week menu 2/8-12

So in keeping with the realization that things come up during the week, having a meal planned for every night is unrealistic. I try to plan out 4-5 meals and use ingredients that are common to my life and can move from meal to meal. So here goes...recipes and shopping lists are at the end.

Meal One: Rotisserie Chicken with peasant pasta and garden salad
Meal Two: Baked Salmon with tomato relish, quinoa(or couscous) and oven roasted broccoli
Meal Three: Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches with tater tots (this one is for my husband)
Meal Four: Chicken enchiladas (made with remaining chicken from meal one)

Peasant pasta: cut one head of Cauliflower in bite size pieces place on sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Also slice one head of garlic in half and drizzle with olive oil. Lay out in single layer on sheet pan and roast at 425 for about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile grate 1-2 handfuls of Parmesan cheese and a handful of fresh Italian parsley. Cooke 1/2 - 3/4lb fussili pasta and reserve about a cup of pasta water. Mix together pasta, roasted cauliflower and garlic (just use a paper towel to buffer the heat and squeeze cloves of garlic into pot), Parmesan, parsley and 1-2 handfuls of bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil to bring dish together and add pasta water if more moisture is needed.

Roasted Salmon with Tomato Relish: sprinkle salmon fillet with lemon pepper, or Old Bay and pepper and place in oven at 400 for about 20 minutes
In a bowl, mix together one large tomato diced, handful of fresh basil sliced and 1-2 T of capers with a little of the juice. Season with Salt and pepper and mix together.
Serve tomato relish over salmon, which is on top of quinoa....Yummy

Philly Cheese Steaks: Saute sliced onion and green pepper in skillet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper over med heat. In a separate skillet saute sliced mushrooms in 1T olive oil and 1T butter with salt and pepper, again over med heat. You can do the mush, onion and peppers together, but I prefer to do them in separate pans. Sometimes I also just do one, set in bowl covered and then do the other...less dishes for me to wash. In a flat skillet lay out one serving of roast beef topped with cheese (provolone), Onion/pepper mix and mushrooms. Place lid over sandwich filler about 2-5 min, just heating/melting meat/cheese. Meanwhile toast hoagie rolls then slather with favorite spicy mustard.

Chicken Enchiladas: I'm sure we all have our own recipe for this, the main thing is that you get to use the remaining Chicken from the first meal, less waste.
The recipe/system I use for enchiladas is always changing. The basic one I use is a can of cream of mushroom or chicken soup, a couple large scoops of sour cream, sliced olives and a can of green chilies. Mix these ing together with the shredded chicken. Fill either flour or corn tortillas with mixture, layer in pan then top with red or green sauce (I make my own red sauce from new mexico chilies) then cheddar cheese. Bake 25 minutes at 350 in the oven.

Grocery List:
Rotisserie Chicken
Salmon
Deli Roast Beef
Provolone Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Onion
Bell Pepper
Mushrooms
Salad fixings
cauliflower
Broccoli
Tomato
Italian Parsley
Basil
Head of Garlic
Capers
Hoagie Rolls
Fussili Pasta
quinoa/couscous
tortillas
tater tots
Bread crumbs
Cream of Mushroom/chicken soup
Sour Cream
Black olives
Can of green chilies
spicy Mustard

A new way to organize your food life

So after many requests, I guess it is just easiest to start blogging my weekly menu plans. This is pretty much the only thing that I have been able to organize in my life. I make one main shopping trip at the beginning of the week and have a plan for my daily meals. Most of the meals are interchangeable and/or can meld into one another. Also when your significant other is home before you they can help you get dinner on the way, even if it is just by taking the meat out of the freezer or getting that loaf of french bread from the store. Everyone in the house knows the plan and doesn't feel lost about what is happening each night. I have found that by doing this there is less fighting about dinner time and I waste less food at the end of the week. I used to have great intentions about making all these things during the coming week and then in the end I would have ended up wasting half the produce I bought and start again the next week. By no means do I stick by this plan 100%, we may decide one night to go out with friends or have pizza. With this plan most things can be moved along a day or saved for the next week. With this meal organization I am able to realistically set meal goals for myself, and it works. I still find myself having these fantasies of making all these new fun dishes during the coming week, but once I write it out on my meal planner, I realize that there is no realistic way of making all those meals in 5-7 days, again realizing what a great idea this really is.