Meal Planning March 18 - 24

Sunday:

Beef Stew – Use leftover veggies and meat from this week – roast beef and  corned beef

Potato pancakes – use leftover potatoes and mashed potatoes

Monday:  Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde from here.  

Tuesday:  Leftovers

Wednesday:  Parmesan Crusted Chicken from here.   I'm going to modify it based on comments I've read and instead of using mayonnaise, I'm going to use a dressing I made with light mayo, Greek yogurt, ranch dressing mix and homemade pesto.   

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday:  I'm going to make this because it can be done in the crock pot.   I'll use cream of mushroom soup and add garlic.  My parents will be here and the kids need to eat. 

For Saturday - I'll have a house full of people and we will all eat before going to see Our Town - so we will have a repeat of something I made a few weeks ago that was quite good!

Have a great week!

Benefits of Meal Planning and plan for March 11 - 18

I've been very dutifully planning meals for a little over a month and I'm definitely seeing a number of benefits to going through this exercise.    The benefits include:

• time - by planning ahead, I'm also able to do some food prep ahead of time.   I'm also not in that "hmmm, what should we have for dinner" place at 5 p.m. on a school night.
• cost - this is one huge area that I am seeing an impact.    I've changed some of my shopping habits, and it's definitely clear in my pocketbook.    I'm really trying hard to only go to the grocery store once a week.    By planning our meals, I'm making the purchases I need at that time, and am avoiding extra trips to the grocery store.    This week, I spent $130 on groceries.   The last two weeks, my purchases came in at $80 and $65!   That's a huge difference, and helps with the price of gas continuing to rise!
• Also, by planning specific nights for leftovers, I'm finding that we are eating all of what we cook instead of finding something in the refrigerator a week later and thinking, "oh wow, what was that?"

A couple of other things that I have recently started doing:

• prepping all of the salad stuff and raw veggies ahead of time.    On Saturday or Sunday I am washing and cleaning all the veggies to use in salads and cooking for the week.    I read about doing this on a great blog I follow and the key is to make sure that the veggies are dry before putting them away.   I have a salad spinner, and once I wash the lettuce leaves (spinach and other veggies too), I put them in the spinner, spin them dry and then put them in a ziplock baggie layered with paper towels.  I have found that by doing this, my lettuce and leafy greens are lasting more than a week.   It's also much easier to do the same with other veggies and not have to wash and prep them.
• Making sure that lunches for the next day are made the night before.    This simple thing makes our mornings so much easier!   It's much much better to be able to go grab our lunches and not think about it in the morning.

So here is our plan for this week - including what we had for dinner last night.

Sunday March 11

Sausage and Pepper Medley
Mashed potatoes
Steamed Green beans

*this was a recipe I created to use the peppers and onions that I had in the refrigerator.

2 pounds Chicken Italian Sausage
2 Green peppers, sliced
1 Red pepper, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
2 roma tomatoes (I had two that were getting really soft and needed to be used)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cubes of homemade pesto -  frozen in ice cube trays

Boil the sausage and then slice thinly.   Saute the peppers, onion and garlic in a large saucepan.   When fragrant but not soft, add the sausage and cook until the sausage begins to brown.    Add the tomatoes and pesto and cook until the pesto is evenly distributed and the sausage is browned to your taste.   We served this with homemade mashed potatoes and steamed green beans seasoned with thyme.  

My oldest thought that the green beans smelled like "summertime - like when you are digging in the dirt and it smells good."   He noted that they did not taste like dirt, though!


Monday
Pot roast in crock pot
Mashed potatoes - leftover from Sunday
Garden salad
Leftover green beans

Tuesday
Leftovers

Wednesday
Chicken with Tarragon and Leeks - recipe from Real Simple Magazine, April 2009
(I'm excited about this recipe because I love both tarragon and leeks)    If it's as good as I hope it is, I'll post the recipe.

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday:
Quesadillas  made with homemade re-fried beans

Saturday:  Will determine based on what is in the refrigerator.

Meal Planning March 4 - 11

I was busy again this weekend, despite having the day off from work on Friday!   We got a workout in every day this weekend (Saturday with our trainer, Moses, who worked us over with the circuit from hell)!    I also had to do some baking this weekend because I signed up to bring snacks for the theatre group on Monday.   The kids get to school  around 7 a.m. and are at rehearsal from about 2:45 - 5:30 p.m.     The director instituted a snack time this go around and I think it's been a good thing.   I made congo bars (see prior post) and brownies from here.   This particular brownie recipe is amazing and is my go-to recipe.   Easier and cheaper than a box of brownie mix and much better!



Tonight I made this!   

Oh my gosh, it was wonderful and the recipe can be found here!      Only Jacob and I were home, so there are leftovers, which may change my plans for later on this week.   Here's tonight's recipe as I did it and my plans for the rest of the week:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp dried dill weed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Season the chicken breasts with the above mixture.   I put the seasonings all in a small bowl and sprinkled them over the chicken breasts.  

Heat a skillet and add olive oil and butter.   Once the pan is hot, add the chicken breasts and sear both sides.    I added a lid to the pan and let it cook a while on the stove and because I had to cook it in two batches, I put the first chicken breasts in the oven and cooked them with our asparagus that was roasting.  

 Sauce:

1/2 cup white wine
1 cup half and half (I used fat free half and half)
3 Tbsp capers, drained
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
additional half and half

Once finished, remove the chicken breasts from the pan and deglaze the pan with the wine.   Add the half and half and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.   After about 2 minutes, add the capers.    The original recipe said it would be done at this point, but I found that I had to make a roux and thicken the sauce.    I used the butter and flour to make a roux and added it to the sauce.   I found it needed about 1/2 cup more of half and half.

We served this with roasted asparagus.   It was delicious!

For the rest of the week, here is our plan!

• Monday:  Spinach tortilla bake from here!   I've already cooked the chicken and chose this to use up ingredients that were in the refrigerator. And yes, that is from a quilting blog!
• Tuesday:    Leftovers - Gym Night
• Wednesday:   Sausage with Peppers and tortellini - pesto pasta - my recipe
• Thursday:   Leftovers -  Gym Night
• Friday:    Roast in Crockpot with potatoes and carrots
• For the weekend, this salad.  

Busy Weekend

Wow, busy weekend.   Lots of work stuff to do.   Because of a snow day, we only had two days of school with kids this past week, and I spent both of those days in meetings ALL day.    I had a lot of catching up to do.    Next week is a really crazy week for us too.    Monday night is the ONLY night where we don't have something going on.

We only made it to the gym on Monday last week.    Yesterday we took a walk and today we worked out hard at the gym.   Tomorrow the plan is to head there again and then we will go sometime on Friday.    I really miss the time when we don't or can't go.   I'm sitting at 16 pounds lost since January 1.   I'm feeling pretty good about that!

Monday - Gym (gotta get that workout in)
Tuesday - Accountability meeting (work-related) and Choir concert - 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Wednesday - Conference night (at work until at least 8 p.m.) and band concert
Thursday - Conference night
Friday  - comp day (but I know I will be busy crazy)

So here are our meals for this week.

Sunday - Migas - from a new cookbook I purchased, Pioneer Woman Cooks (Ok, I know I need another cookbook like I need a hole in the head, but this was from Books are Fun and highly discounted and pretty awesome!
Monday - Cowboy Calzones  - also from Pioneer Woman Cooks.   I'm in the process of making these tonight and cheating a little with store-bought pizza crust
Tuesday - I'm actually going to order a pizza!
Wednesday - YOYO - Your On Your Own
Thursday - YOYO - Your On Your Own
Friday - Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu from here.
Saturday - Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken from here. 

Weekend Cookin'

Wow...I had a busy weekend, but it was relaxing too.    We had the day off today, so it was nice to extend our time away from work.

I went to the gym on Saturday,  Sunday and today. I so did not want to go on Sunday, but forced myself to and was glad of it.   Today I did the aqua class this morning.    It was fun, with a different instructor, and a different workout and it was nice to get my exercise in at the beginning of the day.

My weight has stayed the same this week, but I can definitely tell that I have more energy, more stamina and feel better in general.    Onward and forward!

I have a couple of recipes to share tonight.    One was something I had planned for Friday but didn't get around to making until tonight and the other was a spur of the moment baking decision, and will be in the boys lunches next week.

The first, Crockpot Sausage Soup, adapted from here.

My first disclaimer is that I made it on top of the stove.    I already had a chicken in the crock pot and it was late in the afternoon, so I used my favorite pot (which I bought at the ARC thrift store after encouragement from my mom - thanks Mom!).

The second disclaimer is that I really just used the recipe as an inspiration.   I used a different kind of sausage, LOTS more veggies, including a bit of broccoli and cauliflower that were all by their lonesome in the refrigerator,  some leftover cream cheese, and a mix of quesadilla cheese and cheddar cheese.    It got great reviews from the troops and we have enough left over for dinner tomorrow.   Score!

Sausage and Veggie Soup

Ingredients

I love this pot!   It cost me $10 at the ARC Thrift Store.   




• 1 lb sausage (I used chicken sausage from Sunflower Market - casings removed)
• 4 potatoes, cut in cubes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
•  8 celery ribs, chopped
•  8 large carrots, chopped
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 1/2 cup skim milk cans 
•  3/4 cup total shredded cheese (I used cheddar and quesadilla cheese, plus about 3 Tbsp of cream cheese that was lurking in the refrigerator.)
• dried parsley, dried oregano, dill - I didn't measure this, just used probably 2 Tbsp each of the parsley and oregano and maybe 1 tsp of dill
• Shake of seasoning salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup mashed potato flakes to thicken up the soup.    
• salt and pepper  

Directions

1. Brown sausage and onion in a skillet. Drain well.
2. Place potatoes, celery and carrot in bottom of crock pot  (or add to sauce pan with the sausage and onion mixture.) Add sausage and onion mixture. Pour chicken broth over vegetables and sausage.
3. Turn crock pot to low and cook 4 to 5 hours.  Bring to boil on stove top and then turn down to simmer, uncovered
4. Add spices and herbs at this point.
5. During the last 5 minutes of cooking add  milk and cheddar cheese. Do a taste test for salt and pepper and add, if needed.
6. Note: If a thicker soup is desired, add -- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Yummy delicious dinner!

 

The surprise tonight was that I saw this posting from what is becoming one of my favorite blogs and decided to make them.    

I didn't make any changes at all.   I know.   I ALWAYS change something.   Not this time.    Just as written.   I did double the recipe and didn't have pecans so substituted walnuts.   Wait...that's what I changed!    This filled a VERY LARGE cookie sheet.     My children are not so patiently waiting for them to cool so that they can sample them.  

Congo Bars Recipe:

2 3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. butter, softened
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package milk chocolate chips
1 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended. Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Add flour and mix until combined. Stir in chips and then pecans.

Coat a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

cookies and milk anyone?

Meal Planning Feb 19 - 26

So what's on tap for this week?

I've done a lot of cooking today, which always helps later on in the week.

I've got a chicken in the crockpot that I skinned before cooking.    I'll make something with that or we will eat it for dinner with salad one night this week.    I'm making the sausage soup from last week tonight as I did not get it made.     We also have a lot of overlefts in the refrigerator:

chili, chicken caccitore (going into the freezer), a bit of Mexican Lasagne - (which was wonderful!), and of course we will have some of the sausage soup left too.

Monday - Crockpot Sausage Soup from here - hit the gym this morning
Tuesday -  Leftovers - chili, soup, salad - Parent meeting for theater production and college night meeting
Wednesday - Roasted chicken, steamed veggies  Grocery Store Tour - Wednesday at 7 p.m. at KS - Union and Briargate
Thursday - Gym night - aqua zumba maybe - Eggs and turkey bacon
Friday -     History Day competition at CC - Leftovers
Saturday - not sure, but will have all day to think about it.

So for a long time, I have been buying ground turkey as opposed to ground beef.   However, last time I was at Sunflower Market, I bought some of their ground beef.   When I cooked it for the Mexican Casserole this weekend, I could barely stand the smell of it.    I think that I will only be buying ground turkey and chicken from here on out.    I can only tell a difference if it's in a burger.   If it's in tacos or a casserole, I can't tell the difference, and I don't think that the boys can either.

Have a great week, everyone!

Apple Cake!

So what does one do when one has a lot of apples that have already been sliced and cored?    One makes Apple Cake!   Now I'm not talking about 10 sliced apples - I'm talking about a gallon-sized zipper bag full of apples.    So I searched and looked and found this recipe, claiming to be the best apple cake in the world.     That's a pretty big claim - but the recipe did look good and looked like it would be an easy way to use all of those apples.    So I got busy.....

Please don't laugh at my ugly green bowl.   It's actually a Halloween bowl, but it's the only one big enough for ALL that batter.   It came to the top!

Three times the recipe equals 5 pans!

Pretty pretty!

Those apple chunks are really good!

Apple Spice Cake (from here)

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 to 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped assorted nuts, such as pecans and walnuts (optional)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Working over a large sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gather sifted ingredients into center of sheet; set aside.(I sift everything in a large bowl)
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
4. Fold reserved parchment in half lengthwise; with mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
5. Add apples and, if desired, nuts, to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
8. Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack 

My Notes:     I tripled the recipe and used 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce.    I think I could have used even less oil and more applesauce.     I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl, not on parchment paper.    I used walnuts in the bread.  I probably only cooked this for a total of 55 minutes - check it at 45 minutes.   I also had a really hard time getting this bread out of the pans.    I either need a)  new pans or b) to flour the sides of the pans or maybe use parchment paper in the loaf pans.      Be aware that the batter is very thick, and not like a typical cake batter.   The apples release moisture as they cook, and the end result is quite nice.      I had a small piece last night and again this morning.   It's definitely better this morning.    I think that the people I am serving it to on Tuesday or Wednesday will really enjoy it!