The Pressure Crock

Jan 2nd Week Review and Menu Plan

2012-01-07T11:02:00.002-06:00

It's the beginning of a new year and things are off to a dizzying pace. But we're used to that. AND we are all healthy, which is more than I can say for how we were at Christmas time! Again, can I just say a huge thank you to those who man hospitals and urgent cares and are on call during the holidays? Thank you!

Okay, so since I have much more time at the end of the week than at the beginning of the week I thought I'd maybe (read maybe) try to start reviewing our weeks meals and hopefully give a menu plan for the following week.

On Monday we had a new creation for us - Ham and Spinach Rolls. What I did was take some fresh onion, garlic, and spinach (about two cups, fresh, chopped). I sauted them together in olive oil with some red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Once they were soft, I added diced ham - about a cup and a half. Then I added about a cup of ricotta cheese and some shredded Parmesan cheese. This acted as our filling. Instead of using manicotti shells or those jumbo shells, I used Barilla's no-bake lasagna sheets, softened for a couple minutes after pouring boiling water over them. They roll up very nicely! For a sauce, I made a Bechamel sauce with melted provolone in it. Over all, they were pretty good! Served with a green salad on the side.

Tuesday brought the start of the work/school week for us. I made Chicken and Dumplings from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food January 2012 magazine. Of course, I made my stock in the pressure cooker - turned out great! The kids enjoyed this meal. Yea for that!

On Wednesday, I made broiled salmon (marinated with soy sauce, garlic, ginger and brown sugar) with brown rice (again in the pressure cooker). We had a side salad with this as well.

Thursday was one of my favorite meals with Chicken Fajitas with Black Beans (pressure cooker) and an Avocado Salsa on the side. Yum! I've given up finding the perfect fajita marinade. I usually wing it and it works out pretty well. This time I used lime juice, minced onion, minced garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, some hot sauce, some cayenne pepper, black pepper, and canola oil. The fact that the peppers were from this summer's garden probably helped make the taste all that much better.

Friday was a great, comfort food night. We had mini-meatloaves, caramelized butternut squash (baked with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg), and Caesar salads with homemade croûtons (hey, I didn't have any on hand!). I did make a dessert too - magic cookie bars. Yum!

So this coming week, here's what I have planned:

Monday: Citrus Herb Pork Chops with Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
Tuesday: Blackbean Soup with Salad
Wednesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs with Salad
Thursday: Sautéd Chicken Breast with Lemon and Capers, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday: Pizza

Menu Plan - Week of November 28th

2011-11-29T17:12:00.003-06:00

Here's what we've got going on this week! Enjoy!

Monday: Baked Chicken Breast, Dilled Carrots, Brown Short Grain Rice Risotto with Mushrooms

Tuesday: Steaks with Mushrooms and Blue Cheese, Quinoa with Bell Peppers, Onions & Garlic, Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie (from scratch with the leftover chicken from Monday) & Green
Salad

Thursday: Shrimp Enchiladas, Black Beans and Green Salad

Friday: Holiday Party - no cooking for me! Word is, that we are having Swiss Steak (mushroom gravy kind), Mashed Potatoes, Veggies and Rolls - sounds good to me!

Harvest Pork Stew

2011-11-18T13:59:00.003-06:00

Have you ever looked at a recipe and said - "I'm pretty sure we're not going to really like that" and then been completely, utterly surprised to find out that you made a delicious dish after you gave it a try? That's what happened with this pork stew. It is really. really. good. REALLY.

I have to admit the good reviews on Allrecipes.com are what helped me make the decision to actually make this meal. I did make a few tweaks, so I'll rewrite the recipe here. Feel free to tweak it for your family as well. Only don't leave out the apple completely as I was tempted to do. It adds a sweet note behind the savory that works beautifully.

Harvest Pork Stew

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 bay leaf
3 cups, cubed butternut squash (I used half a large one)
1 apple, cored and cubed
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed (optional)
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

In a dutch oven, melt butter. Add cubed pork and brown evenly, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add onion and garlic, saute for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the herbs, including bay leaf and saute for another minute. Now, add the chicken broth, working to bring up any of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the butternut squash, apple, and potatoes. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

Cover and bake in 300 degree preheated oven for 2 hours (give or take!). Take the stew out and if you'd like it thicker (as I usually do), make a rue of 2 Tablespoons cornstarch with 2-3 Tablespoons water and stir it in. Cook until thickened to the consistency that you like.

I made an herbed whole wheat biscuit to go with this but a nice slab of peasant bread, heavily buttered, would also be great on the side. You're going to want to mop up every last bit of this stew!

Menu Plan Monday 11/14/11

2011-11-14T13:20:00.003-06:00

It's been awhile since I posted and I'm hoping I can get back into the habit. It's been a wonderful fall this year, full of busy activities and great weather. Shocking to think, though, that Thanksgiving is next week! There is much for me to be thankful for :)

This week's menu:

Monday: Sausage with Zucchini Cakes and Green Beans
Tuesday: Tatertot Hotdish (does it get more Midwest?) and a Green Salad (still getting lettuce from the garden!)
Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan and a Green Salad
Thursday: Sweet & Spicy Broiled Salmon, Seasoned Brown Rice and Peas
Friday: Chili and Peppery Cornbread

Another Menu Plan

2011-08-30T14:20:00.004-05:00

It's been quite awhile since I've shared a menu plan with you all. So on this rainy day, I'd thought I'd go ahead and post what we've got going on this week.

Monday: Mike brought home pizza. Honestly, I knew it was going to be a hectic day and very hectic right around supper time - the pizza was well worth it!

Tuesday: Broccoli, Potato and Cheddar Soup with Ham. I'm making it up as I go! Actually, I'm going to scrap the potato part since I need to dig them out and it's all muddy out there right now...

Wednesday: Sage Pork Chops, Green Beans and Baked Apples

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan & Salad - it's going to be a hot one this day, I may have to revisit this plan. Although, Mike wants Italian....with a lot of melted cheese.....

Friday: Grilled Blue Cheese Steaks, Mashed Potatoes - in the pressure cooker, Salad (yes, we melt blue cheese on top of our steaks, please do not knock it until you try it),

FUSION - by way of me ;)

2011-08-15T11:40:00.003-05:00

Do you remember when the hip word in the "foodie" world was "fusion"? Or maybe it is still hip? Or maybe it's just mainstream and that's what is expected. Well, not always in my house.

Now, I know a LOT of you think I'm pretty bold (or shall I say, exotic?) in my menu choices for our little family. And granted, sometimes I am. But the other night, I hit an extreme - even for me. In fact, the meal was so out there that I was giggling as I was making it and thinking - what on earth am I doing here?

It all kind of started on Tuesday night when I went to a potluck (or jackpot as Luke mistakenly calls it) and I brought a freshly made-from-the-garden salad. It had sliced cucumbers, sliced plum tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives and feta in it. Now, I could have made my own dressing (and have in the past) but I have this bottled Greek vinaigrette that I really like so I went ahead and splashed that on and called it good. The salad went over really well! When does a healthy salad go over well at a potluck? And there were some excellent choices there too! It went over so well that someone asked me what was in the dressing. Busted! Just call me Miss Sandra Lee! Slightly embarrassed, I informed her of the dressing brand and variety. She was surprised ;)

So the next night, I was bent on redeeming myself. Well, that's how it turned out anyway. Here's what I made:

Pork Soulvaki
Naan with Red Onions & Cilantro (an Indian flatbread if you are not familiar with it)
Baba Ghanoush - An eggplant dip similar to hummus - hey! I had eggplant to use

Now, the soulvaki is Greek. The Naan is Indian. And the baba ganoush is Middle-Eastern from what I can tell. And melded all together, it was delicious. :)

The Tomato Florida Weave

2011-08-01T17:22:00.004-05:00

Sounds like a great dance, huh? Or maybe a really red hair accessory? Nope! It is the way I've been staking my tomatoes for a couple of years. This year I've fallen in love with it!

So here is how you do it. You'll need:

6 foot t-posts
6 foot 1x2 wooden stakes
Twine (I prefer sisal, but there is such a thing as tomato rope out there)
Tomato plants (at least 4 - if you have less, another strategy might be more effective?)

Pound in the 6 foot t-posts at the end of your tomato rows. Every two tomato plants, drive a 6 foot 1x2 wooden stake. When you tomato plants are a little over a foot tall, start weaving!

You tie the twine to the t-post, and run it along one side of the tomato plants. When you get to the wooden stake, go around it several times, making sure your twine it taunt. Go along the next set of tomato plants on the same side as the previous set of plants. When you get to the end of the row, go around the t-post - making sure the twine is again very taunt, and do the same thing only going around the other side of the plants. To end, tie the twine on the beginning t-post. As the plants grow, you keep adding lengths of twine higher up on the posts. Sometimes I tuck in the growing branches to already strung twine.

Anyway, here are some pictures of how it looks in late July!

Puts-Hair-On-Your-Chest Salsa

2011-07-31T16:53:00.002-05:00

So a couple of weeks ago, before my tomatoes were ripening in larger quantities, I had loads of peppers. The nice thing about peppers is that you can use them when they are immature (why did that statement make me think of junior high kids?). Anyway! Yes, almost all peppers will turn another color when they are ripe but they are still usable in many different ways. In fact, it is often desirable to use an green pepper as opposed to a fully ripe one.

Take my jalapeños. I prefer them green just as I do my Anaheim peppers, Anaheim peppers are just like the diced, roasted chillies that you buy in the little cans in the Mexican aisle at your grocery store. So coming across a recipe for jalapeño salsa pricked my interest. The bulk of this recipe is using peppers, not tomatoes or tomatillos. Great for when your tomato harvest isn't quite ready yet but you still want some fresh salsa. Here's my variation.

5 Jalapenos, roasted then seeded and chopped
3 Anaheim peppers, roasted then seeded and chopped
1/3 cup diced tomato
1 small red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste

To roast the peppers, I simply grilled them on the grill over med-high heat, turning them as the blackened. I removed most of the blackened skin, took out the seeds and gave them a rough chop. Then I threw them into a food processor with the onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro, and lime juice. And let it whirl! Then I added salt to taste.

This salsa has the potential to put some hair on your chest (hence the name). But it's not an unbearable heat. And it all really depends on the heat of your peppers. Jalapeños are notorious for not having the same heat level across the board. If it ends up being too spicy, then stir it into some sour cream. Or make a queso dip with some melted cheese. I have the feeling that this would make an excellent base for an enchilada sauce - simply add it to a simple white sauce and poor it over some chicken enchiladas. If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you!

An Abbreviated Menu Plan

2011-07-11T15:58:00.002-05:00

Why is this week short? Because we're going to a baseball game Friday night. Our supper will be courtesy of the of Mike's employer via the stadium. Gotta love free food!

So what have we been eating? I've tried some new recipes here and there. One winner was Grilled Honey Lime Chicken that came from one of the cookbooks that Mike gave me for my birthday. I'll be posting it after the menu plan. Another honey chicken grilled dinner that was a winner was: Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs. While Mike enjoyed that one more than I did, it was still pretty good. Oh, and I made my first Chimichurri sauce this last week. Argentinian in essence, it really goes with a grilled beef steak (which is how we used it). But I can see it used in a numerous ways, including on fish. If you've got herbs out in your garden, give it a whirl! The recipe I used can be found here.

Monday: Zippy Summer Shrimp, Grilled Red Potatoes, & Salad
Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken, Rice Pilaf, and Dilled Peas
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes, Oven Fries, Veggies & Dip
Thursday: Hoisin Pork Stir Fry and Egg Rolls
Friday: Kernels Game!

and here is the recipe for the Honey Lime Chicken
from More Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer

4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño pepper

Mix together lime juice, olive oil, honey, cilantro, garlic, and jalapeno pepper. Place chicken breasts in freezer bag. Pour marinade over chicken breasts. Freeze.

On Serving Day. Thaw chicken completely. Grill over medium heat until chicken is tender and juices run clear. Great on salad or in a southwestern wrap!

Cheddar Jalapeno Pretzels

2011-06-13T16:15:00.004-05:00

They are a winner! Well "almost." :)

I haven't entered into many recipe contests lately. Life has just been busy with the kids and all their activities. But when I saw this contest come up again, The National Festival of Breads, that I actually was a finalist in 2009, I had to give it another shot. The Kansas Wheat Commission does a great job hosting this event and King Arthur Flour and Fleischmann's are wonderful sponsors.

So here is this year's entry. I am not a finalist this go around but really, if you can develop a good recipe that your family loves, then you already are a winner. I did find out when opening this weekend's mail, that my recipe was chosen for an Honorable Mention and thus I got sent a packet full of goodies from the Sponsors. Thanks!

Cheddar Jalapeño Pretzels

This recipe combines two of my favorite things: luscious, warm pretzels and Tex-Mex food. One day, while eating a hot, buttery pretzel from a mall shop, I was struck with the thought that it would be so great to have the spicy cheese flavor already baked inside the pretzel than to have to dip it into some less than healthy sauce. So, tinkering in my kitchen, this recipe was developed. It is fairly quick and easy. Your family will be asking you to make these again! Although they do include pickled jalapeños the flavor is not overtly spicy.

Ingredients:

4 Cups King Arthur Bread Flour

2 ¼ teaspoon Fleishmann’s Rapid Rise Yeast

1 teaspoon Salt

1 ½ Cups Water, 130° F

1 Tablespoon Honey

2 Tablespoons Pickled Jalapeños, finely chopped

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, finely grated

2 Cups Boiling Water

¼ Cup Baking Soda

3 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Kosher Salt for sprinkling

Method:

In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook, combine 2 cups flour, yeast and salt. Stir in the warm water until well combined with dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, add the honey, jalapeños and cheddar cheese. Continue to add up to two more cups of flour, until a soft dough is produced, kneading the dough in the mixer for about 8 minutes. Remove dough from the mixer and place in an oiled bowl and cover with damp towel and allow to raise for one hour, roughly doubling the dough.

Preheat oven to 450ºF. After dough is risen, push it in to deflate it. Divide into 12 equal sized portions. Boil 2 cups water. In a shallow bowl, measure out baking soda. Pour the boiling water over the baking soda and stir until the baking soda is completely dissolved. Set soda water aside.

Line two 10 x 15 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough portions into 2 ½ to 3 foot lengths (about a ¼ to ½ inch in diameter) and twist into pretzel shapes. Dip each pretzel into the baking soda water and place on a baking sheet. Allow to raise for 15 to 20 minutes and then place in oven. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Take pretzels out of the oven and transfer them to wire racks. Lightly brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Best enjoyed warm but they are still great when completely cooled as well.

Versatile Homemade Granola

2011-06-05T15:46:00.004-05:00

Granola. The very word alone brings to mind Birkenstock footwear and hemp necklaces. Or maybe for you, it is hiking boots and a forest trail. Whatever conjures in your mind at the sound of this word, it probably has something to do with nature or being natural.

And, in essence, granola is very unrefined. What is it? Some whole grains, a sweetener and maybe some dried fruit or perhaps even some nuts all mixed together. There are recipes for stove top granola and oven baked granola. I bet there is even a recipe for a crock pot granola! Maybe a dehydrator recipe? Yep, I can see it happening. I've tried both stove top and oven recipes and I by far prefer the oven recipe so that's what I'm going to share with you here.

But the nice thing about granola is that it can easily be personalized. You can add what you like. Some people dig raisins and others dried cranberries. How about dried apricots, bananas, currants or cherries? Some people like almonds or sunflower seeds but why not pumpkin seeds? Or coconut? I like to use honey as the sweetener but brown sugar could also be used - maybe even maple syrup (now I've got another idea....)

So switch it up - here's a basic starter recipe - make it your own by filling in the gaps:

Basic Granola

3-4 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chopped nuts (you pick)
1 cup dried fruit (you pick)
1/2 cup sweetener (honey is great, or brown sugar)
1/2 cup butter (some recipes even use canola oil)
1-3 tsp flavor additive (think vanilla extract, lemon extract, almond extract or even a citrus zested plus some of the juice!)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine oats, nuts and fruit. On a stove top (or even in a microwave!), heat butter and sweetener together until butter is melted and it is well combined. Take off the heat and stir in the "flavor additive." Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir until all is equally wet. Spread out wet granola on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 - 10 minutes. Take out and allow to cool. Store in an air tight container in the pantry.

So with this recipe, I made lemon cranberry granola with sunflower seeds and almonds. But before I've made vanilla coconut date granola. And before that I made raisin cinnamon granola. The possibilities are really endless! Make what your family likes and enjoy it.

Embracing Your Inner Granola

2011-06-01T11:11:00.003-05:00

The title of this post is what I did yesterday. Now, it may have something to do with Mike fixing the breaks on the van. Which he did a great job on, by the way, even despite running into a few problems (which we think caused them to need to be fixed....). Anyway, Mike was running around town most of the day looking for bolts and parts and what not and I was home with the kids - without a vehicle.

First, thing that happened is I realized we were totally out of bread for sandwiches. Thankfully, I noticed this early on and had time to make bread. Of course, I was nearly out of all my whole wheat and bread flours but I did find some rye flour in the pantry. So I made rye bread, or made up my own recipe for it, since I figured I also use up the white whole wheat and the bread flours too. Abby helped and she has informed me that it is the best bread. Frankly, I think she's a little biased and she also liked the idea of of the cocoa powder we added to give it a darker color.

Then, I realized we were pretty much out of snacks. Are you sensing a theme here? So I decided to make some granola. Why? Cause it is cheap, easy, and the kids like it on yogurt. I'll get to the yogurt part soon enough. So I made some cranberry lemon flavored granola.

Now, having been inspired by several blog posts on making homemade ricotta cheese, I had picked up a gallon of full fat milk (we usually drink one percent here) last week during my weekly shopping trip. Yesterday was the "best by" date so I figured I better use it up. But what I didn't realize is that I didn't really need a full gallon of milk to make the ricotta so I also decided to make yogurt in the crockpot. Also something I hadn't done before.

Making the ricotta cheese was so fun!!! And easy! Here's what I did:

1/2 gallon (8 cups) full fat milk
1/3 cup of white distilled vinegar
1 tsp of kosher salt (I might even add more if I knew the ricotta was bound for a savory dish)

Heat the milk on the stove top in a non-reactive pot. Heat to about 180 degrees over medium heat. If you don't have a thermometer then heat it just to the point where it starts to simmer. From what I've read though, anywhere from 165 to 185 degrees is just fine. You may want to stir as it is heating if you don't have solidly built pans as you do not want the milk to scorch! Turn off the heat, gently stir in the vinegar. Stir for about a minute. You'll see curds start to form right away. Use a slotted spoon or I have a small enough wire mesh colander that I simply used that to scoop the curds out of the whey. Have a colander lined with paper towels over another bowl, and place the curds on the paper towels to drain. Oila! Ricotta cheese! It tastes whey, I mean way, better than the stuff from the store. Refrigerate and use in the next 7 days. Save the whey, there are lots of uses for that nutritional liquid (including using it like buttermilk in recipes!).

So, after making the cheese, I still had another half gallon of milk so I started making yogurt. I have no fancy yogurt machine and frankly, bacteria, for the most part scare me. But after reading this blog post, I decided I had to give it a try. It was very simple. I let it drain again in paper towel line colander in the fridge (so I have more whey!) and gave some to the kids today for a snack. I served it with homemade strawberry/rhubarb jam, topped with homemade granola. I'm feeling my "inner granola" big time. :)

Raspberry Update & a Menu Plan

2011-05-20T13:56:00.004-05:00

It's been over a month since I posted. What have I been up to? Hmmmmm - yep! You guessed it: yard and garden work. In fact I have a strong urge to go out right now and weed that onion patch (my dill is overtaking my garden), plant some eggplant starts that I bought on impulse and prep the last area for the squash seeds that I'm thinking should go in before the rain that's coming. But I'm not. Instead I've decided to finally update you all.

About a week and a half ago, I noticed that the raspberry bare root plants I planted are indeed alive and doing well! Can I hear a praise God and an amen to that? :) Now to think about protecting them from those nasty, NASTY Japanese beetles....

Menu Plan:

Monday: Crock Pot Roast with Dilled Carrots, Dinner Rolls
Tuesday: Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs & Asian Sesame Ginger Salad
Wednesday: French Dip Sandwiches, Oven Fries, Fresh Veggies
Thursday: Spinach & Artichoke Pasta and ? maybe bread? fresh fruit for dessert?
Friday: Homemade Individual Pizzas (choose your own toppings!)

God's Grace in Planting Raspberries

2011-04-19T15:16:00.003-05:00

Last week I was brimming with excitement. The raspberries that I had researched and thought about and eventually purchased on-line were coming in the mail. From Maine (or was it Massachusetts?)! Yes, I purchased bare root canes of a variety called Polana and I was bound and determined that these little bare-root-nothing-to-them plants were going to make it.

You see, I've failed. And failed miserably in the area of raspberries. I've wanted them so long and have tried planting them a few times before. In fact a couple of years ago, I spotted a raspberry plant on clearance and planted it. Oh was I excited when I got it to grow! And then last year, we had berries! Only they weren't that sweet. Or at least they weren't until I let them turn a dark, dark color - yep - my "raspberry" plant really was a blackberry. Sigh. No wonder it's growth habit was different than what all the books were telling me it was supposed to be like!

So this time, I was going to do everything right. First, I decided what kind of raspberry to get (summer or ever bearing - I chose ever bearing). Then I picked a variety that would do well here and give me the kind of crop I wanted. Then I researched companies to see who would actually sell me a plant that was really going to survive (this is a crucial step!). On Monday, I got the e-mail that they were on their way, so I busily prepared the area for them. I took out all the grass that had crept in, put in a better grass barrier, added compost and tilled it all in. I was ready to go.

Wednesday dawned and I knew God was looking out for me. The weather was perfect, ideal weather to be working outside. But it gradually became warmer and warmer. And then I started fretting about it being TOO sunny and TOO hot - that the roots would dry out and then they would be goners (again, this is from the research that I had done). So I (read I) prepared myself for making sure everything was perfect - a bucket of water handy to go, so they could soak as I quickly dug the trench. I had looked at the forecast; the weather was supposed to turn really nasty the next day - cold, windy, and wet. Planting had to happen on Wednesday.

But the day drug on. No Fed Ex truck was in sight. I carried on with what I needed to do. It was about time to start supper and I had been doing other yard chores as I waited. Then, the sky gently clouded over. The temperature slightly dropped. The wind died down completely. And the Fed Ex truck pulled in front of our house. Quickly, I got the raspberries, and planted them per the instructions of the company. After I had them watered the sun broke out in full force and it warmed right back up.

You see I WAS prepared. BUT God, in His grace, even amongst the dumb, lame things of my life, provided for me abundantly in His timing. I was ready and He provided the ideal situation (the Fed Ex truck coming just as it cooled down and clouded up) in which to plant these things that for some silly reason, I really wanted. My timing would have had that truck come way earlier, even in the heat of the day and I would have planted those raspberries as I fretted about the sun and warm wind. You see, He knows my wants and my needs and He's sovereign over all the mundane and exciting situations and timings in my life. I find it thrilling to have a God that cares about me (and you) that much. I found myself saying Jehovah-jireh - the LORD provides...

Oh, and I hope to post about all the yummy raspberries I'm going to get this or next year, late summer.

Menu Plan Monday 4/4/11

2011-04-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

April is here! Warmer weather is here! Yea!

Last Friday with the knowledge that some rain was expected this weekend, I was able to plant turnips and onions (after I tilled in some compost). Then on Saturday, I planted some Kennebec potatoes along the west side of the house. We'll see how they do there since it only gets full sun from about noon on in the summer - and then it is a HOT afternoon sun. I'm still hoping to get another bed on the east side of the house done but it looks like the cable company is going to be digging there anyway due to something being broke underground (which I could care less about since it hasn't affected any of our television. I'm hoping a small retaining wall that's over the cable line remains intact. I'll wait until they are done and see what needs to be done.

Here's this week's menu:

Monday: Shrimp Scampi with Whole Wheat Angel Hair Pasta & Salad
Tuesday: Aussie Chicken & Roasted Asparagus
Wednesday: Fish Sandwiches, Veggies with Dip, & Chips
Thursday: Beef Enchiladas with Red Sauce, Beans, Chips and Salsa
Friday: Caribbean Jerk Roast Pork Loin, Sweet Potatoes, Salad

Menu Plan Monday 2/28/11

2011-03-28T10:52:00.003-05:00

The first birthday season of the year is here! My sweet little Libby is turning 4 on Wednesday (and 4 seems hardly possible!) and someone else has a birthday on Sunday. Okay, it's me. But really, turning 4 is SO MUCH more exciting then the number I'm turning ;) I asked Libby if she could just stay 3 and she told me no. That "I need to be 4 so I can cut paper and be like a parent." Yep, 4 is a pretty magical year. To this knowledge, you can see what the birthday girl picked out for her birthday supper on Wednesday.

Monday: Quick and Easy Fish Tacos, Black Beans, & Salad
Tuesday: Roasted Chicken & Spinach Salad
Wednesday: Hot Dogs, Mac-N-Cheese & Cinnamon Apples
Thursday: Chicken Soup with Stars and Spinach
Friday: Cheeseburgers, Fruit & Chips

Spring! And This Week's Menu

2011-03-22T12:12:00.004-05:00

The vernal equinox has occurred and it is now officially spring. Yesterday, I went out into the yard and bemoaned all the work I have to do. Well, not really because I love working outside. Have you ever found that you need to learn to enjoy the process as much as the result? It's kinda like the saying "Life is in the journey, not just the destination."

Here's what going on in my spring garden. In my cold frames, I have bok choi, Little Gem lettuce, spinach and cilantro. The spinach and cilantro are both overwintered. Also, the garlic I planted last fall is about 6 or 8 inches up now. Downstairs in my seed starting area, I have more lettuce and bok choi that's almost ready to be hardened off as well as violas. Planted but not fully germinated is my four different types of peppers: California Wonder, Anaheim, Serrano and Jalapenos. Today or tomorrow, I'll start my tomatoes and petunias, maybe some culinary sage and then in a week, some basil.

Soon, I'll plant my onion sets (red and yellow), peas, radishes, turnips and some beets directly in the garden. I don't like beets but I got some seed free with an order - maybe the kids will like it? This is my first year for planting turnips. I've dreams of them roasted while still young with olive oil and rosemary. Mmmmmm......I think it sounds good!

There are tons of other duties to do - like cutting (or I should say mowing) down the ornamental grasses, digging the grass out of the beds and hopefully installing a brick edging around the same perennial beds. I also would like to put in another bed on the east side of the house - I'm thinking it would be a good place for some extra vegetables.

But it's windy as all get out and the rain is drizzling so none of the outside stuff is going to happen today and that's okay. The more I think about it, the more motivated I'll become.

So, here's this week's menu!

Monday: Roasted Chicken Breast with Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto
Tuesday: Sauteed Pork Chops, Apple, Onion & Celery Dressing, and Green Beans
Wednesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup (with Monday's left over chicken)
Thursday: Baked Fleishkuechle, Dilled Carrots & Roasted Potatoes
Friday: Pizza & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 2/28/11

2011-02-28T10:42:00.003-06:00

My good God has the sun shining full force today even if the temperature is not too warm. He always knows just what I need. And apparently, He knows I need this raging head cold too. I'll take both because I know I'm being "perfected" and "encouraged" at the same time.

So, what will the family be eating this week? As soon as the Sudafed kicks in....

Monday: Spaghetti Puttanesca with Bacon & a Green Salad

Tuesday: Tom Ga Kai & Egg Rolls (the frozen variety - I'll tackle homemade when my bok choy is ready)

Wednesday: Sloppy Joes & Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

Thursday: Broiled Sweet & Spicy Salmon and Pineapple with Cilantro Lime Rice

Friday: Homemade Chicken Nuggets (Buffalo Style) & Deluxe Style Salads (you know, green salads with a lot of chopped veggies, cheese, sunflower seeds, croûtons, and hard boiled eggs?)

How To Menu Plan

2011-02-22T16:10:00.008-06:00

Recently, I was speaking with a mentor of mine. She's helping to put together a "how to" menu plan session for some younger women. This mentoring group was formed to help fulfill the Titus 2 passage where older women are to teach the younger women. They speak on both spiritual walk topics and on practical how-to topics. What a great idea! I'm not part of the group but I've heard wonderful things about it...

Anyway, she encouraged me to write a blog post about how to menu plan. Now, in some regards, I feel that menu planning is a very personal thing. You know what you like to eat, what your family likes to eat, HOW your family should be eating, what you have time to make and what you can afford. All of these various ideas roll into each week's menu plan.

I've been menu planning for 2 1/2 years. Some weeks I'm full of inspiration and it takes me 5 minutes to plan all the week's dinners. Other weeks, I sit with a blank face and stare at the computer screen (where I keep track of the menu) and ask anyone who walks by or happens to call or come to the door - what do you think we should eat next week?

Okay, let's get into it. First, you need to decide a few items.

1. What meals do you want to plan for? I plan solely and specifically for dinner. Yes, we eat other meals AND snacks, but I don't plan for them. Why? Well, my wonderful husband isn't home during the week for them and I like to keep them simple. For instance, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, meat & cheese with crackers and leftovers compose the bulk of our lunches. They are quick and simple, easy to prepare and the kids love them. If I see something like fish sticks or taquitos go on sale, I'll buy them and throw them into the mix. This may not work for you. You may want to plan out breakfast, lunch and dinner along with snacks. You'll be amazingly organized but it will take extra time.

2. How many days do you want to eat at home? I know this is perhaps a silly question but it really does help. I plan for 5 nights and this is why: one night can be leftovers (or something pulled from the freezer) and one night can be take out or take and bake pizza. I don't really like to cook on Sundays, so if all else fails, we eat popcorn and cheese. :)

3. How are you going to keep track? I keep my menu plan on Google calendar. There are other free calendar websites that you can use too. We do this for a couple of reasons. 1. My husband can access it at work and see what's going on. 2. We also keep our activity calendar on the same application. So, when I plan, I can easily see - Oh! We are going to have to head out to practice or go to AWANA or such and such has invited us over and adjust the meal for that night accordingly. If something comes up for an evening, I take that planned meal on the calendar and drag it to another day. No scribbles, no crossing things out. Some other ideas would be just to hand write it on a basic calendar. Use a dry erase board that you keep on your refrigerator. Pin up a sheet on a cork board - and then throw darts at it to determine the order of the meals :)

Now for the next part, choosing the actual meals. Are you still with me?

My family likes variety. Or I should, say, I like variety. And since, I'm the cook - guess what we get? To help get variety in your meals try these tips.

1. Make variations of things you like. For instance, your family likes hamburgers so try making: Greek style burgers (with Feta cheese and olives in the mix), Taco Burgers (add taco seasoning to meat), Pizza burgers (top with sauce and cheese and other various toppings), Cuban style burgers (with deli ham and swiss cheese, wrapped in foil and pressed). If your family likes pizza, try things like a pesto based sauce, BBQ chicken pizza, a Thai-style chicken pizza, differing toppings. Or try making a calzone instead! Don't be afraid to experiment. Keep a simple side so people will have something to eat even if the star of the event isn't their cup of tea.

2. Think ethnically diverse. One night is Italian night, one is Asian inspired, and one is good ole retro American (like meatloaf!), one is Southwest, and the next is Mexican. I try not to do 5 Mexican inspired meals in a week. The result of the beans alone is harbinger of why that's not a good idea.

3. Visit cooking blogs or check out cooking magazines. If you are reading this blog, then you have internet access of some sort. People are SO creative. And many are SUCH good writers! If I find a blog that makes me giggle and makes me hungry, I go back. Pioneer Woman is one that will do that. A site called Seriouseats.com has recently gotten my attention and I'm loving it! Orgjunkie.com hosts a Menu Plan Monday event every Monday where people post their menu's for the week. In fact, that's why I started posting my menus on this blog. I've since stopped participating but it is still a good place to find inspiration.

4. I try to use a method where I don't use the same variety of meat more than twice a week and sometimes I incorporate meatless dishes. So, I'll do one or two beef, one or two chicken, pork, fish and/or a legume. Just using a variety of protein sources will help you get variation in your meals.

Okay, so you are thinking variations, now what?

1. Start with what you already have in your pantry. I like to keep a well stocked pantry and it serves as the foundation of most of my meals. My pantry maybe more varied than yours, or maybe not! But look at what you got - most likely it is the basis for what you most like to eat. And don't be afraid to experiment with some new pantry items - try different grains such as different types of rice. Add a new bean into the mix (we stick to pinto, black and Great Northern but aren't afraid of something new).

2. Now you know what ingredients you have on hand already, go to the sales flyers. What's on sale? Is it time to stock up on a great deal on pork loin? Cook some for a meal in the next couple of days and then freeze the rest. So one meal is going to have pork as the main protein - it goes like that. What veggies are on sale? Eggplant? How about eggplant parmesan? Asparagus? Cream of aspargus soup or roasted asparagus to go with those loin pork chops. An outrageous deal on potatoes? Why not make a potato soup? Along with that, I try to buy fruits and vegetables seasonally. Mostly because a). they're ususally cheaper and b). they usually taste better. Once I was fooled into buying a cantaloupe this winter. Never. Again. Ick.

3. Plan your easiest meals for your most hectic days. I like to do crockpot meals on Wednesdays because that day has the craziest evening for us. On Fridays, I've got more time in the afternoons so I might put a little more effort into those meals and make something a little more complex.

4. So you see that pork is on sale and you have items a, b, and c in your pantry. You think they can go together but you're not sure how. Check out allrecipes.com's ingredient search or even just google your ingredients followed by "recipe" and you are sure to get some hits.

Lastly, make the time to do it. It is SO worth it. You'll save money, you'll save time and you'll save yourself a lot of frustration. My dear husband told me that I became a much better cook when I started menu planning. Interesting, huh? Menu planning with the follow through is when inspiration meets motivation - you end up with good results and good eats. I'm hoping this blog is helpful to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comment section under this post.

Menu Plan Monday 2/21/11

2011-02-21T13:04:00.003-06:00

Warm weather then cold again. It is the hallmark of spring! I was glad to have one day in the 60's without having to drive to Florida (in February) and I know that around the proverbial corner, much warm weather is ready to pounce.

After rereading my opening paragraph, I am beginning to think that reading Jane Austen novels is affecting my speech. :)

A quick update on our Valentine's meal: after much deliberation and input, I decided on Grilled Steaks with Sautéed Mushrooms, Baked Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus. By far the asparagus was the star of the meal. Bring on the spring vegetables! One other help in the decision making process was that it was warm enough to grill - that clenched it.

Okay, now onto this week's menu. There was not much inspiration from the sales ads, but this is what I've come up with:

Monday: Ritz Chicken (also commonly called Poppyseed Chicken) & Green Beans with Butter and Almonds
Tuesday: Chesapeake Bay Pork Chops, Baked Beans & Salad
Wednesday: Beef Pot Roast with Potatoes & Carrots
Thursday: Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches (with leftover pot roast) & Oven Fries
Friday: Crab Cakes, Rice Pilaf & Salad

Menu Plan & Valentine Day Poll

2011-02-09T09:17:00.004-06:00

Tardy, yet still here is this week's menu. Anyone up for grilling season yet?

Monday: Broccoli Cheese Soup (but I ended up adding a lot of other veggies so we'll instead call it Vegetable Cheese Chowder)
Tuesday: Sautéed Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
Wednesday: Tater Tot Hotdish (from scratch!) & Green Salad
Thursday: Baked Salmon, Brown Rice, & Dilled Peas
Friday: General Tso's Pork, Egg Rolls, & Egg Drop Soup

Now, here is the poll! What should I make for our Valentine's Day Dinner (not necessarily held on the actual day)?

A). Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms, Baked Sweet Potatoes, and Salad
B). Crab Cakes, Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Crackers & Veggies, Mozzarella Sticks with Marinara Sauce
C). Baked Red & White Manicotti with Caesar Salad

Venison Empandas

2011-02-06T10:22:00.002-06:00

For this year's Wild Game Feast, I made some venison empanadas. If you are looking for some game day food, then I would suggest these. In fact, I think you can make almost anything into an empanada and come out with some yummy food - isn't everything better when wrapped in pie dough?

The original recipe came from this site here. I made it as directed the first time but felt some changes were needed - just my preference - feel free to work off of my variation of this recipe too. Cooking is all about what YOU like to eat.

One recipe for pie dough (two 9 inch pie circles worth). I used this recipe here and really liked it for this dish. One, because it was super easy. Two, because of the protein from the egg, it had a stronger structure to the dough - good for when you need to fold the dough in half. It is not so fun to have your pie dough cracking! Of course, you can always buy refrigerated pie dough at your local grocery store and it will certainly save you time (but it will increase the over all cost of the dish). *Note that the above linked recipe will give you enough for one and a half need for the filling recipe (or just make a cream pie to go along with the meal) ;)

Venison Filling :

1 lb ground vension
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 Tablespoon paprika (I actually got a "Spanish" one from the bulk section of Hy-Vee super cheap)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup Spanish olives, chopped (you know, the green ones stuffed with pimentos?)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (I actually think it is okay if you omit this - try it and see)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium/high heat. Add the venison and brown well. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened. Add the chili powder and garlic powder cook to start waking up their flavors (about a minute). Add the olives, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes on low/medium heat.

Roll out your pie dough to a usual pie dough thickness. For the WGF, I cut 3 1/2 inch circles. Why? Because I had some tubberware that size - lol. Most recipes call for 5 inch circles, a little too big for sample size BUT the bigger you make them the faster the process will go. Now, for the smaller size that I made I suggest filling them like this (listen up because it took me some trial and error). Hold the pie dough round in your hand, slightly cup it so it looks like a "taco." Scoop in your filling - about a tablespoon's worth, then starting at one end, start pressing the edge together. If the filling starts coming out a little, just use a finger to press it back in and maybe adjust your filling amount for the next empanada.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Now, some prepping tips, you can make the pie dough in advance. You can make the filling at least a day in advance. In fact, I found it easier to use cooled filling - no melting of the pie dough! You can assemble the empandas a day in advance and then store covered in the refrigerator. Bake as previously noted. AND I haven't tried it but I do think you can make and then freeze these. I think allowing to thaw in a single layer in the fridge and then reheated in a 350 degree oven would be your best bet.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday 1/24/11

2011-01-24T10:48:00.002-06:00

Here's the menu for this week! Enjoy the cold weather while it lasts ;)

Monday: Moo Shu Pork and Egg Drop Soup
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan with Whole Grain Pasta & Salad
Wednesday: Beef Stew & Whole Wheat Biscuits
Thursday: Shrimp Alfredo & Salad
Friday: Italian Wedding Soup

Microwave Popcorn - Why did no one tell me?

2011-01-18T16:15:00.005-06:00

No, this isn't a rant about the ills of microwave popcorn. This post is meant to inform you and to help you save some money and time. Now, get this:

I'm reading in a cookbook (Mark Bittman's Food Matters, actually) and I see a recipe for popcorn. Who needs a recipe for that? We usually make it on the stovetop and an indeed that's what Bittman recommends but he says you can also make it in the microwave. Oh really?

So I did what he suggested:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 brown paper (or whatever color you got) lunch bag
Melted butter
Seasonings

Take the popcorn and salt and put them in the opened bag. Fold the top down several times (like an inch each time). Place in microwave, let it go for 2 to 3 minutes (listen for the popping to slow to an almost stop just like you always do when making popcorn). Take out, open being careful of the steam! Pour into a bowl and toss with butter (if you like) and seasonings of your choice. We usually go for just salt but we tried Old Bay seasoning and that was a hit.

Easy peasey lemon squeezey - as my daughter would say.

Menu Plan Monday 1/10/11

2011-01-10T08:39:00.003-06:00

Mondays are stinking busy days here at our house. Perhaps I need to give you some information about my personality in order to explain.

I hate procrastinating.

Always have, always will. The hanging threat of tasks that need to be completed wear on my conscience. So I end up doing a bulk of my weekly cleaning the first two days of the week. Then I let it slide - I'm not against letting things slide a little - as long as I know they haven't been totally neglected. Yes, I was the girl in college that had her homework done before 5pm. Yes, I never once pulled an all-night'r studying for an exam - just not my style.

So, today I'm going to be doing laundry, baking bread, baking bible study snacks for tomorrow morning, vacuuming (and normally mopping but I did that yesterday due to having people over) and a whole list of other tasks that may include having someone over for a playdate this afternoon. But I wanted to post this week's menu. I've been faithfully menu planning just not posting it as I should.

Here it is!

Monday: BBQ Pulled Pork, Baked Potatoes, & Cinnamon Apples
Tuesday: Roasted Chicken, Festive Brown Rice, & Green Beans
Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Chips & Homemade Salsa
Thursday: Asian Salmon & Green Salad
Friday: Black Bean Soup & Salad

Did I Meet My 2010 Goals?

2010-12-31T11:30:00.002-06:00

December 31st. It is such a final date. The year ends and on the waking of the morn, not only a new day but a new YEAR has begun. A person makes themselves promises: I'll eat healthier, I'll exercise more, I'll be more patient with my family, I'll stop drinking diet coke, I'll. . . . .

Last year I decided that I would not make myself promises, but that I would set goals. Here is a recap of those goals and the results:

1. Plant Asparagus.

Yes! I planted 10 Asparagus crowns and they grew wonderfully! Now, I can't wait until I can actually harvest a few spears this coming spring. :) I believe I planted Jersey Jem. I also got crazy and planted strawberries in with the flowers, it was an itch I had to scratch!

2. Find a recipe for a perfect homemade ranch dressing.

I really hit this one hard in the beginning of the year. A few times I thought I had it but as the dressing sat for a few hours (or days) in the fridge, the taste went all wrong. A few weeks ago, I got a slew of ranch dressing recipes from a friend of mine. I haven't made any of them yet but it is on my to do list. The quest continues....

3. A new way to stake tomatoes.

Yes, I did this one. I used a Florida Weave method and I plan on using it again this year. It works best for indeterminate varieties. I would not bother with it small determinate varieties.

4. Rent a plot in a community garden.

Did this one as well. It was, may I say, an abject failure. However, I did get lots and lots of onions :) In fact, I'm still using them and any one who knows me knows I use a lot of onions. lol The road being closed and a long detour to get out there didn't help matters. And the approximately 60 billion weed seeds and 20 billion insect eggs and 1 million various plant diseases didn't help matters.

So what I shoot for (garden and kitchenwise) in 2011? Hmmmm.......

1. Find a much better Roma type tomato. I think I going to try a variety called Juliet. For all I was sick of them, I really am glad I planted a Yellow Pear tomato - the thing thrived when my other tomatoes were looking pretty pathetic at the end of the year.

2. Learn to cook with my NEW STAINLESS STEEL cookware! Okay, so I have been cooking with it and it works great, I'm just a little annoyed with the whole egg sticking thing. Mike bought be a great set - Calphalon Triply Stainless Steel. Great deals where to be had!

Have a wonderful and happy New Year! As a friend on Facebook said - one more year closer to Jesus coming back! God bless!

Mushroom Orzo - the one I catered

2010-12-13T11:35:00.003-06:00

It is a brisk (okay, more than brisk) day. A perfect day for staying inside and cooking up a storm. Right now, my house smells divine because I'm making chicken broth on the stove top. It's been going for an hour and a half but I think I'll let it do it's low simmer for at least another couple of hours. I'm also feeling the urge to make some cookies so that'll be part of the afternoon's agenda.

I had my first foray into catering a few weeks ago. It was a lot of work but it was confirmed to me that it is actually something I enjoy. With planning and lots of lists I actually slept very well the night before and if you know me, you can tell how at ease I must have been.

While not everything was as perfect as I had wanted it to be, I did receive positive feedback. The most commented on item was the Mushroom Orzo. The original recipe came from allrecipes.com and can be found here. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it for 40 people on top of the stove top so I adjusted the recipe for the oven. If you are making it simply for your family, by all means - use the stove top - it will be faster and probably less mess. If you want a creamier orzo, let this overcook just slightly and stir. If it seems too dry, add more chicken broth - it's all good in the end! Oh, and you don't have to, but I would recommend baby bella mushrooms instead of the white buttons. The flavor intensity it just all that more (however, I did not use them for the event). This recipe makes a lot - at least feeding 8-10 people, you may want to cut it in half for your family.

Mushroom Orzo

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups uncooked orzo pasta

salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion, thyme, and mushrooms until tender and golden brown, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add orzo and cook slightly.

Place orzo mixture in a 9x 13 pan. Add 3 cups chicken broth. Cover with aluminum foil tightly and cook for 30 minutes. Take off foil, stir, cook longer if desired consistency is not reached. If desired, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.

Menu Plan Monday 11/15/10

2010-11-15T09:02:00.002-06:00

I'm fully aware that I'm avoiding laundry and breakfast dishes to write this post. This is really not my personality, and as soon as I get off of here, you bet they are going to get done!

I had a very difficult time coming up with this week's menu. Maybe I was too full when I was menu planning? Maybe I was exhausted from this year's Holiday Specialtea? Whatever the cause, I requested help from the family and here is what we came up with....

Monday: Fragrant Indian Butter Chicken, Brown Rice, & Salad
Tuesday: Whole Wheat Spaghetti & Meatballs & Salad
Wednesday: Potato Chowder & Salad
Thursday: Pesto Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, and Buttery Green Beans with Almonds
Friday: Bacon Cheese Burgers & Baked Sweet Potato Fries

A Chicken Lasagna

2010-11-14T20:24:00.005-06:00

Yes, I made a chicken lasagna and here's warning - if you don't do "scratch" cooking then this one is not for you. :)

I've been working on clearing out some of the recesses of our freezers (yes, plural), because soon we'll be gifted with some organic, grass-fed beef from my parents. Yay! In the upstairs freezer, I found a well wrapped package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Late summer I bought a big package of chicken thighs and "processed" them myself. I'm not sure I saved too much money but I felt like I did.

So, what to do with these chicken thighs? I decided to make Italian sausage with them and then to put the sausage into a lasagna. Here's how I did it. I ground them with my Kitchen Aid grinder attachment (works great!). You could probably also pulse them in a food processor. I would not recommend a blender.

To the ground chicken (roughly 1 1/3 pounds), I added:

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp crushed red pepper (I made my own this year!) - you can use more if you like it spicier.
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp of brown sugar (I like the bit of sweetness it added along with the browner color it gave the browned chicken)

Then, I browned the chicken sausage up real well. Added some basil garlic tomato sauce (canned from this year's garden) - I'd say use your favorite jarred spaghetti sauce. Simmer for at least 10 minutes. This was the red sauce for the lasagna. Now, I didn't have any ricotta so I decided to make a Mornay (a bechamel sauce with cheese) sauce. Here's how I did that:

2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
roughly 2 1/2 cups milk
2 slices provolone cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, stir in the garlic and onion powders. Add the flour and cook for couple of minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk, adjust how much milk you use according to how thick or thin you want your sauce. Stir in the cheeses - season with salt and pepper to your tastes.

Now, assemble your lasagna! I really like those no bake Barilla lasagna sheets. I used six of them (about half a package). In an 9x9 pan, put a dollop of red sauce on the bottom, then two lasagna sheets, then a third of the red sauce, 1 third of the Mornay sauce, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Repeat. Save just enough red sauce and white sauce to keep the top of the last sheets, well covered. The pile on the mozzarella and add a little grated Romano too.

Bake in a 375 degree oven, covered tightly with aluminum foil for 45 minutes. Uncover, and let cook another 10 minutes to give the top a little color. Allow to cool down for about 10 minutes, cut and serve! This is a great sized lasagna for our family and the kids all loved it!

This one is truly from scratch. My husband says I spoil him and I guess I probably do! Please give making your own bulk sausage a try - it is so easy, you probably have many of the spices already on hand and you'll avoid the addition of many additives (i.e. msg). Google what ever sausage you want to make along with the terms "spice" and "recipes" and you'll be well on you way.

In Regards to CHEESE :)

2010-11-08T13:58:00.000-06:00

Cheese Soup......with Vegetables

2010-11-04T09:35:00.003-05:00

My kids love cheese soup. Of course, we are big cheese people. (Note that I said cheese and not cheesy). Yes, we are the family that mainly holds on to our Sam's Club membership for the savings we incur by purchasing our cheese there. If you are lactose intolerant or a vegan or someone who just does not like cheese, well, then, this post isn't for you.

In my pursuit to make things "more healthful" for our family, I've cut out pretty much all canned condensed soups. And, as I've searched for cheese soup recipes, most of the well reviewed ones call for one of two ingredients: condensed cheese soup or Velveeta. Now, I don't really have anything against Velveeta. It's just not for me. And it's relatively expensive and really not all that healthful for you. I'm more natural than that. Here's how I've gotten around the processed cheese aspect of a good cheese soup.

Cheese Soup with Vegetables:

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 sprig fresh thyme
1 Bay leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 flour
3-4 cups of milk (we use 1% but whatever you have on hand)
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (you can use more if you'd like!)
2 cups broccoli florets, cut into bit size pieces
Hot sauce, to taste (optional)

In a soup pot, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot and lightly sauté. Add butter to the pot and stir until melted. Add thyme, bay leaf, and salt & pepper (and really any other herb that you think might be good like maybe sage) and stir. Add the flour, stirring for a minute or two to cook out some of the flour taste. Slowly add in the milk, whisking as you do so. You're basically making a white sauce with vegetables in it (I do this quite a bit when I cook to make sauces). It's up to you how much milk you want to add, you can always add more later to get the consistency your family likes. Then add the cheese and stir to melt. Your pot should be at a simmer now, don't boil or it'll get all chunky and not be smooth. Let it barely simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the broccoli florets and simmer another five minutes. Check for seasonings, add a couple of shakes of hot sauce if desired. Remove bay leaf and fresh thyme sprig (if you used), serve and enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday 10/25/10

2010-10-25T20:30:00.002-05:00

So today I pulled up the last of my tomato plants and harvested thyme and oregano to dry. As I was washing the herbs, I kept thinking how much I really, really like thyme. You all have conversations in your heads about food too, right? Anyway, I was on my way to declaring it my favorite herb - I love it with mushrooms and with chicken and in soups and on potatoes and so on. But then I remembered sage and how much I love sage. With butternut squash and with pork chops and apples and with chicken ...... Hard decisions when it comes to those herbs! What's your favorite?

Here's this week's menu, enjoy!

Monday: Broccoli Cheese Soup (my own recipe, I'll have to post it soon) & Crusty Bread
Tuesday: Swiss Crockpot Chicken & Green Beans
Wednesday: Round Steak in Gravy, Baked Potatoes, Salad
Thursday: Chicken Tacos, Ranch Beans, Salad
Friday: Pepperoni Stromboli & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 10/18/10

2010-10-18T13:13:00.002-05:00

What a lovely fall we're having! This week is "perfect" fall weather in my book - high's in the 60's, sunny and a light wind. I think we're at peak color for foliage right now too. Due to mild temps, I've still got peppers growing in the garden along side my pak choi, romaine lettuce, carrots, & wax beans. Those wax beans have been producing for at least the last two months (they were a mid/late summer planting) - but I do think they are about done.

Here's this week's menu!

Monday: Chicken Fried Steak, Roasted Potatoes & Wax Beans
Tuesday: Chicken, Pepper, & Pak Choi Stir Fry, Egg Drop Soup & Salad
Wednesday: Jamaican Jerk Drumsticks, Rice, & Chili-Lime Corn
Thursday: Parmesan Tilapia, Pesto Potatoes, & Salad
Friday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Menu Plan Monday 10/4/10

2010-10-04T13:02:00.003-05:00

When Mike saw the menu for this week, he uttered this phrase: "We're going around the world!" In a way, we are! Many of these are old stand-by recipes though; I'm not trying anything too new this week. Last week had four new recipes, three of which were hits (the one that wasn't was the fish dish - I think it would have been much, much better with fresh fish). So, what does a week of stand-bys look like for our family? Take a look:

Monday: Pesto & Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Salad (from the garden!)
Tuesday: Moo Shu Pork (using garden pak choi), Rice & Egg Rolls
Wednesday: Tater Tot Hotdish (this has to be the very first thing I made growing up - now I don't use canned soups but still...) & Salad
Thursday: Slow Cooker Green Pork Chili (okay, this is new - we'll see how it goes over!) & Black Beans
Friday: BBQ Chicken Pizza & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 9/27/10

2010-09-27T08:50:00.003-05:00

Fall "officially" came last week. Doesn't everyone like fall? Have you ever talked to someone who said they didn't like fall? It is hard for me to imagine anyone detesting this time of year; the crispness in the air invigorates, the changing of leaves beautifies the landscape, and there is football every waking moment of the day. (Okay, maybe some football widows dislike fall.) I like fall for all the fall foods that you can now make without anyone questioning you. See, now you can make pumpkin muffins, butternut squash soup, and beef stew and not have anyone raise an eyebrow at you. I am reminded, though, that I often feel the same way about the grilling and fresh vegetables the warmer weather brings in late spring/early summer.

Here's this week's menu! Heavily, heavily inspired by Ina Garten - loving the cookbook I checked out from the library!

Monday: Tuscan Lemon Chicken (swapping out rosemary for thyme), Roasted Potatoes (beside the chicken in the pan) and Wax Beans (still from our garden!)
Tuesday: Chicken and Spinach Casserole (from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food October 2010), & Salad
Wednesday: Easy Cod Meuníere (think cod or sole, sautéd in butter with lemon juice) , Wild Rice, & Peas
Thursday: Roasted Beef, Mushroom, and Barley Soup - another EF recipe (and maybe a salad from the fall garden outside?)
Friday: Brats, Chips & Fruit

Meun Plan Monday 9/20/10

2010-09-20T08:43:00.002-05:00

Drum roll please! Time to share what's going to be on the table of the Richard family this week! Cue the trumpets!

*Eye Roll*

:)

This week has a lot of peppers scattered through out. It's time to either eat them up or freeze for this winter.

Monday: General Tso's Pork, Rice & Egg Drop Soup
Tuesday: Roasted Chicken, Butternut Squash Casserole (the uber-sweet brown sugar kind) and Fresh Green Beans with Butter & Salt
Wednesday: Philly Cheese Sandwiches, Roasted Potatoes
Thursday: Mini-Meatloaves, Sweet Potato Fries, & Peas with Butter and Chives
Friday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Fresh Tomato Soup

2010-09-20T08:20:00.003-05:00

For the most part, my poor tomato plants are looking pretty pathetic. But I am still getting loads of cherry sized tomatoes. One plant is a volunteer, so I have no idea what variety it is (I think it was from seed that got put into my compost bin after a friend blessed me with a bucket of cherry tomatoes last year). The other is a yellow pear tomato. I guess I thought yellow pear tomatoes were larger but they are actually pretty tiny. The plant itself was by far the largest plant in the garden though. Interesting. Anyway, what do you do with all those small tomatoes?

We love tomato, cucumber, and feta salad. Yum. But my cucumbers are done and have been pulled out. I love salsa, but these tomatoes are not the meaty roma type tomatoes that make good pico de gallo. The fruit flies had found them and it was of the highest priority to use them up. Either they got pitched or I made something with them. Yes, it had come to that. ;)

While I was perusing the cook books at the library, I ran across Ina Garten's (the Barefoot Contessa) Back To Basics. And I am so glad I did. Her cream of fresh tomato soup inspired me and I loosely followed it. It was one of the most delicious soups I've made at home in a long time. You will need a food mill or food strainer for this recipe. I have the attachment for my KA mixer - love it!

Fresh Tomato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (or in my case a good handful of baby carrots)
1 celery stock, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 pounds of tomatoes, chopped or sliced in half depending on your size of tomato (I'm just guessing here - a little more or less shouldn't matter too much).
1/4 cup packed basil
1 teaspoon sugar (to taste - it cuts the acid of the tomato a little)
Salt & pepper to taste (2 teaspoons to a tablespoon of salt - depending on the saltiness of your broth - and at least a teaspoon of pepper)
2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup sour cream (Ina Garten uses heavy cream to finish her's - by all means use it if you have it - I think it would be fantastic!)

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery and sauté until soft. Add the garlic, sauté for another minute. Add all the tomatoes, cover and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Add the basil and sugar. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Everything should be soft and the basil flavor will infuse the vegetables.

Break out your food strainer. Run contents of the pot through the food strainer/mill. Discard the solids. Return juice and pulp to the stockpot over medium heat. Add chicken broth, season with salt and pepper and whisk in a the sour cream. Serve and enjoy. Yum!

I'm going to make this again either today or in the next few days. Then, I'm going to freeze it to save it for one cold winter evening.

Menu Plan Monday 8/30/10

2010-08-30T08:34:00.002-05:00

I'm writing this post from my kitchen! Yes! We got a new laptop this weekend. And do you know what we named her? Martha. Yes, I love my Martha - she's going to be fun and handy to use.

So, what's going to be on the Richard Family Table this week?

Monday: Crockpot Whole Chickens, Roasted Potatoes & Dilled Peas

Tuesday: Grilled Pork Chops with Pear Salsa (so good!), Brown Basmati Rice, & Grilled Zucchini

Wednesday: Chicken & Black Bean Burritos, Chips & Salsa

Thursday: Red Pepper & Bacon Quiche & Salad

Friday: Brats, Quinoa Salad & Fruit

Menu Plan Monday 8/23/10

2010-08-23T09:32:00.002-05:00

Here's what's on the menu for this week! See my earlier post today for more of what's been going on in our kitchen.

Monday: Chicken Fajitas, Beans, Chips & Salsa
Tuesday: Pork Souvlakia & Greek Salad
Wednesday: Country Style Pork Ribs, Mac'n Cheese, Salad (if my 2nd planting of wax beans start cranking out, we'll have those instead!)
Thursday: Beer Battered Fish, Oven Fries, & Red Cabbage Coleslaw
Friday: Greek Hamburgers & Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Home Preservation

2010-08-23T09:14:00.004-05:00

Hello! Wow - once again, the busy-ness of life has caught me off guard and I have not kept you all up to date on what we've been eating. I know the extreme sadness this must have caused you (excuse me, my tongue is in my cheek ;) )

The garden is in full swing! Although the first planting of cucumbers is dwindling down, I've still got another, smaller planting now producing. The tomatoes are getting their "I'm tired" look but the peppers are blushing just like a new bride. Here's a list of what I've canned and preserved (not in it's entirety but close):

Tomato Juice
Salsa
Italian Seasoned Tomato Sauce
Dried Tomatoes
Really Quick Dill Pickles
Quick Sweet Pickle Slices
Honeyed Pickled Jalapeños
Southeast Asian Chile Garlic Relish
Dried (and crushed) Anaheim Peppers
Blueberry Lime Jam
Peach Jam
Spiced Peach Jam
Dried Sage (need to do more!)
Dried Dill (need to do more!)
Dried Thyme (need to do more!)

.....I'm sure the list will continue to grow :) I've also done some freezing: like 11 pounds of chopped onions.

I'll also keep my bell peppers and hot peppers that I haven't been able to use fresh and freeze them.

I get an immense sense of satisfaction by putting up the food I've grown, seeing the clean jars that glimmer like jewels on the counter beside the stove. Adding the dehydrator has been a nice addition to canning and freezing. What have you been putting away for the upcoming months?

Menu Plan Monday 7/12/10

2010-07-12T16:06:00.003-05:00

I guess today is the 12th even though every thing I signed today, I wrote the 11th. Is it really the 12th of July already? My, my, my.....Maybe time would slow down if the rain stopped. lol

Here's this week's menu!

Monday: Roast Chicken (roasting two so I'll have leftovers!), Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto, & Wax Beans

Tuesday: Shrimp Fajitas, Beans, Chips & Homemade Salsa (might make a peach salsa I'm thinking)

Wednesday: Apple & Onion Chicken Burgers, Roasted Baby Potatoes (on the grill)

Thursday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Chips & Fruit

Friday: BBQ or Buffalo Chicken Pizzas (grilled) & Salad

Tried It & Liked It 7/5/10

2010-07-05T15:28:00.002-05:00

In my latest culinary thoughts, I've discovered a few new prepackaged or convenience foods that I really, just really, like. So I thought I'd pass along the information in case you've eyed these things on the store shelves and have thought about giving them a try.

The first is new variety of Oscar Meyer hot dogs. Long have Hebrew National beef hot dogs reigned supreme in this house but I recently spied some Nitrate Free Angus Beef Oscar Meyer hot dogs. Now, I'm not really afraid of nitrates. I buy regular bacon and regular deli meat but I thought I'd go ahead and try these. They are really, really good in my opinion. They have a good "snap" to them when you bite in. They also have a really good spicy, savory taste to them. Reminiscent of maybe a good, non-tangy summer sausage? I'd say thumbs up on this one!

The second is some new flavors of Lays Potato Chips. I'm a potato chip fiend. But the past year, I've tried to stay free of msg (monosodium glutamate) and many, many of the flavored potato chips include this ingredient. Why? Because it makes them taste good! Aldi's sour cream and onion chips are msg free, as well as their plain. But Lays has baked up (or rather fried up) Tangy Carolina BBQ & Garden Tomato & Basil. Both are good tasting. If you are more traditional in your chips flavor then I would really suggest the BBQ. The Garden Tomato & Basil is fresh tasting though, and will grow on you especially if you like dishes such as bruschetta.

Menu Plan Monday 7/5/10

2010-07-05T09:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm awake after the late night fireworks show. I was in bed, not watching...HOWEVER, I felt the display that my neighbors put on. If any of you are reading this, that sure sounded like a humdinger of a show!

So what's on the menu for tonight and on-wards this week?

Monday: Chicken Cutlets with a Wax Bean, Chickpea, and Spinach Salad

Tuesday: Venison Sausage, Grilled Squash, Onions & Peppers

Wednesday: Chipotle Lime Orange Grilled Chicken & Quinoa Salad

Thursday: Going to Friends for Dinner

Friday: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread & Green Salad

Menu Plan Monday 6/28/10

2010-06-28T11:08:00.005-05:00

It's Monday and I'm raring to go :) That maybe because I slept in until 7:30 this morning or it could be that it is a lovely 75 degrees outside, sunny and is NOT muggy for the first time in days. Ahhh...yes, it is going to be a good week!

And it must be the time of year to have babies, because I'm taking meals to two new mothers this week. Such fun! Hope they like what I bring (or are awake enough to taste it).

Monday: Italian Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts, Bell Pepper Rice Pilaf (shooting for Ruby Tuesday's here), & Dilled Carrots. Dessert will be a Lemon Raspberry Cake with a Sweet Glaze.

Tuesday: Spinach & Artichoke Quiche with a Green Salad

Wednesday: Ham, Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, & Broccoli Salad

Thursday: Cuban Burgers (burgers topped with ham, provolone cheese, and dill pickles and then pressed) & Grilled Potato Packets

Friday: Grilled Pizza & Salad

And now for a garden update:

The garden plot is a jungle but everything is taking off. So far, I've gotten 9 heads of romaine lettuce, and two big heads of broccoli, some basil and a baseball sized red onion (that I didn't mean to hoe up but oops!). All the tomatoes out there are setting and so are the peppers. And I sold my soul to the devil and finally sprayed for Colorado Potato Beetles. That one application has allowed me to get a handle on the situation and I think I'll get a good harvest of potatoes now (before it was looking kinda sketchy!).

My backyard garden is doing well and everything looks healthy. I've got LOTS of dill, even after pulling a bunch. Sadly, the cilantro is past it's prime but soon I'll be able to harvest the coriander. All the herbs are doing well and I picked up a stevia plant on clearance. Now, my peppers here are not setting very well and I sure hope that they pick up some steam with this sunny weather we're supposed to have this week because I love my peppers!

Summer Menu Plans....

2010-06-18T09:05:00.003-05:00

Whew! It's been rainy and some what warm. What have we been eating? Maybe this will give you some ideas for your menus!

Last week:
Monday: Grilled Steaks (w/ melted bleu cheese), Baked Beans & Salad
Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Bleu & a French Carrot Salad
Wednesday: Chesapeake Bay Pork Chops, Cous Cous & Salad
Thursday: Buffalo Chicken Wraps, Veggies & Dip
Friday: Kernel's Baseball game - food compliments of Rockwell Collins! Woot woot!

This week:
Sunday: Poppyseed Chicken & Salad
Monday: Philly Cheese Burgers (sautéed bell peppers, onions & mushrooms on top), Veggies & Dip
Tuesday: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, Chips & Salsa
Wednesday: BBQ Pork, Potato Salad, Corn, & Baked Beans
Thursday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Potato Chips & Fruit (actually had this for lunch - pizza for dinner!)
Friday: Leftovers because the Kelly Family didn't eat nearly the amount I thought they would!

The New OLD Workout

2010-06-04T09:13:00.002-05:00

So I've decided that the newest trend in upper body - specifically shoulder and arm - workout system should be hoeing in clay along with washing your gravel road dusted car. Now, in order to take full advantage of this workout regimen, you'll have to rent a garden plot that's main access road is cut off so you need to take a 5 mile detour on gravel roads to get there. Then, once you are there, you need to hoe and hoe and bend and kill Colorado Potato Beetles and hoe and hoe some more because you don't want to make the extra long trip for another week. Then wash your vehicle once you get home so you can see out of the windows for next time! This will do wonders for you arms and shoulders! Anyone interested in participating in this workout can give me a call and I think I can set you up.

What have we been eating?

Monday: Cochinita Pibil, Black Beans & Chili Lime Corn
Tuesday: Cobb Salads (I have SO much romaine lettuce now from the garden! yea!)
Wednesday: Pesto Chicken, Roasted Parmesan Potatoes, & a Green Salad
Thursday: Chicken Fried Steak, Herbed Brown Rice, & Grilled Zucchini
Friday: ???? Mike's going to be at a going away party so we'll see
Saturday: Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs, Green Salad w/ Sesame Ginger Dressing

Harvest Pictures 2010

2010-05-26T11:13:00.004-05:00

Thought I'd share some of this year's kitchen harvest pictures. I've had lots and lots of herbs so far but for vegetables, we've been eating radishes (done now), pak choi, and romaine type lettuces.

Pak choi (a Chinese cabbage variety) & Cherry Belle Radishes

Martha, Martha, Martha!

2010-05-26T10:41:00.004-05:00

I'm going to admit it here. I'm on a Martha Stewart kick. It is highly probable that this is do to my Christmas gift of a subscription to Everyday Food that comes on a monthly basis (actually - I think it is 10 issues per year). Whatever the cause, I've been searching it for inspiration. Most people know I like to try new recipes and it is getting harder to be inspired in my searching. I find a lot of recipes on Allrecipes.com and think that will always be my go-to site. Maybe I need to take a rainy afternoon and just search the food blogosphere for inspiration.

Anyway, on Monday we had Barley Salad with Chicken and Corn. It was a great meal for a hot summer day. The only issue I had with the recipe is that it had you roasting the corn and green onions for 25 minutes in a 450 degree oven - hello? - crispy? and hot? So I used my cast iron skillet out on the grill and had them on there for maybe 15 minutes - probably less.

Barley Salad with Chicken and Corn (from Everyday Food's June 2010 issue)

Coarse Salt and ground pepper
1 cup barley
2 bunches of scallions, cut into thirds crosswise and white ends halved (from the garden!)
2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels or frozen corn
3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pin grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup fresh parsely leaves (I substituted cilantro - from the garden!)
cooked chicken breast, shredded
1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
5 ounces baby spinach (I was short because my spinach isn't going gangbusters in the garden yet)

In a medium pot of boiling slated water, cook barley according to package instructions. Brain and let cool. (I used my pressure cooker for this as I did not have quick-cooking barley).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees (or heat up your grill!). Place scallions and corn on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with 1 Tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through.

In a large bowl, combine barley, roasted vegetables, tomatoes, parsley, chicken, 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 Tablespoon lime juice, season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, toss spinach with 1 Tablespoon oil and 2 teaspoon slime juice; season with salt and pepper. Serve spinach with chicken-barley mixture. (I actually just tossed the spinach in and added the extra oil and lime juice in the whole mixture).

Then last night we had the Beer battered fish from the same June issue. I doubled the batter and used Vidalia onions to make onion rings - top notch easy stuff!

The rest of the week goes like this:

Wednesday: Molten Hamburgers (the Cheddar cheese slice is cooked in the middle and oozes out) and Sweet Potato Fries
Thursday: Chicken Satay with Rice & Stir Fried Pak Choi
Friday: Venison Sausage, Grilled Zucchini & Pasta Salad

Menu Plan Monday 5/10/10

2010-05-10T16:29:00.003-05:00

Here it is Monday! And the Monday after Let-Tanna-Be-Pampered Day, better known to the rest of you as Mother's Day. My wonderful husband and children really treated me quite nicely yesterday. In some ways I felt it was well deserved after the two days of our garage sale. Or perhaps, I should call it plant sale? I sold many of the tomatoes and peppers that I had started. It was so encouraging to sell each one! Thank you to all my friends who were able to stop by (and even get a plant) - you've bolstered my "garden addiction" fund. We did end up getting a tree with the proceeds - a Japanese Tree Lilac. Hopefully we'll be able to pick it up this week and get it planted. It's great planting weather!

Here's the menu!

Monday: Tatertot Hotdish (from scratch - no canned soup here!) & Lettuce Salad
Tuesday: Hugh's Dry Rubbed Chicken & Cucumber with Dill Quinoa Salad
Wednesday: Parmesan Tilapia & Sauted Squash with Onions
Thursday: Sticky Asian Chicken & Stir-fry Pak Choi with Mushrooms & Carrots
Friday: We're going to Prom!
Saturday: Lasagna & Lettuce Salad

(ahhhh - it's no longer Monday - need to remember to hit the publish button!)

Menu Plan Monday 4/26/10

2010-04-26T14:14:00.002-05:00

Here it is! This week's menu:

Monday: Best Italian Sausage Soup & German Rye Bread
Tuesday: Mini-Meatloaves, Baked Sweet Potatoes, & Peas
Wednesday: Pesto Chicken, Roasted Asparagus & Cheesy Bread
Thursday: Grilled Salmon & Green Salad
Friday: Pork Spring Rolls (using my pak choi in place of the cabbage), Egg Drop Soup

Strawberries and Asparagus

2010-04-19T13:13:00.003-05:00

I don't really have any recipes to go with the title of this post. Perhaps I should dig some up but I do want to let you all know that Strawberries & Asparagus are joining my great outdoor fresh market - you know, the one the bunnies and I share outside my patio door?

The asparagus went in March 30th and has yet to make an appearance....maybe I'll go check again, hold on.....WAIT...they are up and I'm "doing the happy dance." Use your imagination as to what that may look like. I won't be able to harvest this year.... sad, I know. But next year I should be able to pick sparingly. Roasted asparagus is my favorite way to eat this gem of a vegetable. Simply take fresh asparagus spears whose bottom ends have been trimmed (or cut off), toss with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt & pepper. Place them on a baking sheet in one even layer and roast at 425 degrees F for 10-20 minutes - it all depends on the thickness. Yum!

Now for the strawberries. I bought them today because I really can't stop thinking about strawberries and how good backyard ones are to the mammoth sized ones in the grocery store. Now, I really don't know where I'm going to plant these. I know where I want to plant them but Mike informs me the kids will smoosh them there. Anyway, I bought June bearing ones as opposed to the ever bearing. That way, I'll get all my crop at once instead of it being spread out over the course of the summer.

Oh, and mint also went into the herb section of my perennial bed. I planted it inside a sunken pot to hopefully stop it from dominating the world. We'll see. But with all the Greek & Thai recipes I've been cranking out lately, mint is definitely going to be used.

This week's menu:

Monday: Spatchcocked Roasted Chicken with Fresh Sage & Cobb Salad
Tuesday: Pork Milanese, Green Beans, & Brown Rice
Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas, Black Beans, Chips & Salsa
Thursday: ??????
Friday: Thai Beef Salad

Pork Souvlaki

2010-04-15T09:20:00.003-05:00

This is an awesome recipe from Everyday Food for a pork "kebab-like" dish. I have to admit, I was hesitant because I felt the flavors would not quite be there. I did one modification that I'll add here. I used dried oregano (2 tsp) as opposed to the fresh chopped oregano. The rest is perfect as is. We have started to keep tahini on hand as we use it making Mike's new favorite dip - hummus. It is a little pricey, so I recommend trying it with out first if you don't keep it on hand. Or, if you are going by an ethnic grocer that may carry it - check their prices. I picked up our tahini at Hy-Vee. But I'm guessing that the Aladdin restaurant on the south side that also sells Greek ingredients probably has it for a better price. Just a guess. I know that it is definitely the case for Kalamata olives! You can also use cubed lamb, chicken, turkey or extra-firm tofu in place of the pork.

Pork Souvlaki (from the April Everyday Food magazine)

1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (I used a pork loin end roast from a 10 pound loin I bought)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (you can commonly buy the Yoplait Greek yogurt in most stores now, I've noticed)
1/4 cup tahini (optional; if not using, substitute Greek yogurt).

In a medium bowl, combine pork, oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, garlic and oregano. Season with salt an pepper and toss to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 8 hours.).

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, 1/4 cup lemon juice, tahini (if using), and 1 to 2 tablespoons water (sauce should have the consistency of heavy cream. I omitted the water, I liked it a bit thicker.

Heat a grill or grill pan to high. Thread pork cubes onto 8 metal skewers. Grill until brown on all sides and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Serve souvlaki with yogurt sauce and lemon wedges.

Getting Back Into It....

2010-04-12T11:45:00.002-05:00

Alright, time to try some new recipes! The week promises to be warm so I'm going to do some grilling. Also, we'll be having chili one last time before the cold weather comes again in the fall. ....Okay, now that I say that and see it is only the middle of April, I do think there is a chance that we may indeed have it again....

Monday: Chili & Cornbread (use you cast iron skillet! It makes the best cornbread...)
Tuesday: Crab Cakes & Quinoa Salad With Toasted Almonds
Wednesday: Pork Souvlaki & Chopped Greek Salad (these recipes are from my Everyday Food April magazine - yes, it is a Martha Stewart owned magazine....)
Thursday: Greek Burgers & T's Sweet Potato Fries
Friday: Roast Chicken, Broccoli, & Cheddar Rice

So the new recipes come on Tuesday & Wednesday. Thursday's Greek burgers, I'm just going to wing it. What I think I'll do is add dried oregano, minced garlic, and feta cheese to the hamburger. I'll probably top it with some of the left over sauce that goes with the Pork Souvlaki. The Allrecipes.com sweet potato fry recipe is one that I submitted. I can NOT believe it has gotten as many reviews as it has and when I see the amount of people that have it saved to their recipe box my mind is really blown! Thankfully, it is still at four stars. A lot does depend on your microwave and your oven and how thickly you slice your fries. I've long since stopped microwaving them but that is mainly because our oven here in Iowa rocks compared to our oven in California.

Laziness in April :)

2010-04-08T15:38:00.002-05:00

It must have been my birthday or something but this week's menu is pretty pitiful. In fact, I'm doing some last minute change-ups because I don't feel like cooking. Actually, that's not entirely true. I don't feel like cooking a big, up-to-the-last-minute meal and driving to go get Mike from work (we're working on finding him a new car). So tonight we are going out to eat. Perkins - here we come!

Monday: Impromptu Taco Salad
Tuesday: Pot Roast, Carrots, (crockpot) & Green Salad
Wednesday: 13 Bean Ham Soup (pressure cooker)
Thursday: Out to Eat
Friday: Thai Peanut Chicken with Glass Noodles & Salad
Saturday: Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches (topped with peppers & onions) & Chips

Have you ever tried glass noodles? They are made with mung bean flour so they are good alternative for a gluten free diet. I'm not really worried about gluten but my husband is trying to cut down on carbs so I figured these would be a better bet for us than some other types of noodles.

Well, well well.....

2010-03-31T08:23:00.004-05:00

Steve - this one I dedicate to you ;)

We've not wasted away here. We are also not on a crazy, no-palatable food purge. We've been out of town and then, well, what can I say? This "Garden Girl" has been out tending to her garden! The weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS. Okay, okay, a little bit windy but typically if you know the temps are warm in the early spring then you also know you've got some killer wind. But I'll take the wind. God has blessed us with a stretch of warm weather and I'll take it!

So, I mentioned that we had been gone. We took our first family vacation to Florida. Specifically we stayed in Seagrove Beach which is in between Destin and Panama City Beach on the Florida panhandle. Now, I wrote a long, tedious (although at times humorous) recount on my family blog, so if you'd like to check that out, you can go here. But I will mention a couple of restaurants and a little bit about vacation condo cooking.

Pizza By The Sea: We had this the first night we were there. It is located right next door to the closest Publix, so Mike and one of the kiddos went over there to grab us some grub for the evening while I went to fulfill my shopping list for the length of our stay. What they came back with was the special of the day and I think one of the most brilliant pizza topping combinations that I've tasted. The toppings were pepperoni, crumbled crisp bacon and feta. Yum! And salty! But oh, so good! The pizza place also had hula hoops and other games to keep kids of all ages entertained while their pizza was being made.

Flip Flops Grill: Casual burger joint. Not a whole lot of seating inside but hey, there's flip flops nailed to the wall :) We had a great time here - very family friendly. I had the Gorgonzola Burger which was a hand shaped Angus patty topped with Gorgonzola and fresh spinach. I think it was supposed to have bacon on it as well but they ran out of bacon. How is that even possible? However, I knew that after the previous night's pizza, I didn't need any more bacon.

AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar in Destin, FL: We had a snack here after our dolphin cruise. I felt the prices were on the pricey side but I do have to say the crab cakes that we had were very, very good. If watching the harbor while drinking cool one with your friends is your thing - then this is a great place for you.

Now, condo cooking. I wasn't sure what to expect when they said it had a fully equipped kitchen. I acknowledge that I like my cooking gadgets. What they had was okay stuff. The stuff that will get the job done but that you definitely don't want to take home with you. Which I guess is what I'd stock the kitchen I rented out with as well. Knowing that I wouldn't have all my spices available to me and wanting to take it kind of easy while there, I planned some easy meals using convenience product I normally wouldn't use. Here's what I have to say to that: probably not worth the convenience. I bought a jarred alfredo sauce - no flavor, ick. If I want to put pasty glue on my pasta, I'll just go get some Elmer's. Maybe I picked the wrong one. Maybe. The pancake mix that I brought with was pretty good. I believe it was Bob's Red Mill 10 grain pancake and waffle mix. It was good but you can probably mix up the same stuff way more reasonably in your own kitchen but used for the convenience - it was great. Mrs. Dash's Garlic & Herb seasoning helped save the day. I bought it because we wanted garlic bread. So I slathered a cut French bread loaf with butter and sprinkled the Mrs. Dash's on and gave it a quick broil. It turned out great and I ended up doctoring a lot of other food with the same seasoning.

So, that was the main food part of our trip. What are we eating this week?

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie with homemade biscuits for the topping
Tuesday: Cheeseburgers, Red Slaw, Fresh Pineapple, & Chips and dip. Dessert: Birthday cake for Libby!
Wednesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup - yum!
Thursday: Grilled Salmon, Grilled Zucchini, & a Quinoa Salad
Friday: Grilled Steaks, Southwest Potato Salad, & a Green Salad

Butternut Squash Casserole

2010-03-01T13:05:00.003-06:00

Now, normally, I don't really like sweet vegetables and for the record, I'd rather not have my butternut squash taste like a dessert. But the kids really do love this and I guess I'll sweeten it up if it means that every once in awhile, I can get them to eat their vegetables!

Butternut Squash Casserole

2 1/2 Cups Butternut Squash, cooked & mashed
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk (if you have buttermilk on hand, use that)
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix squash, eggs, sugar, butter, cinnamon, and ginger. Pour into a 1.5 to 2 quart baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle coconut and then walnuts on top. Bake in preheated oven for roughly 35 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday 3/1/10

2010-03-01T12:47:00.004-06:00

Today is the start of meteorological spring. :) And currently, I see that it is 34 degrees outside. That's pretty good for the weather we have been having!

Mike is out of town for part of this week so we are playing it pretty easy. Here's this week's menu:

Sunday: Mexican-themed salads with left over pork that I made into a quasi version of carnitas.

Monday: Fast Food Somewhere (due to basketball practice & Mike being gone)

Tuesday: Hot Dogs, Chips & Fruit (told you I was playing it easy)

Wednesday: Spinach, Bacon & Cheddar Cheese Quiche & Salad

Thursday: BBQ Chicken, Butternut Squash Casserole (the kids LOVE this! - I'll post my recipe), & Roasted Asparagus

Friday: Steak Fajitas, Refried Beans, Chips & Homemade Salsa

Menu Plan Monday 2/22/10

2010-02-21T17:09:00.003-06:00

Well, I don't think my ranch dressing, yes, the one I was so excited about, is quite right. I like the taste when I first make it but then something goes off. I will keep working on it though! I WILL succeed! But to give myself a break, I made this creamy Italian dressing. It was pretty good. I've modified it enough that it is my own but I worked off of one on allrecipes.com.

Creamy Italian Dressing:

In a blender combine:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (you need extra virgin for the "fruity" flavor it brings)
1 Tablespoon chopped onion (or just cut off a slice and throw it in there)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Pepper to taste

Blend until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!

This week's menu plan:

Monday: Vegetable Beef Soup & Open-faced Cheesy Bread
Tuesday: Chicken Fried Steak, Rice & Mixed Vegetables
Wednesday: Sticky Drumsticks & Spinach Cobb Salad
Thursday: Triple Zest Pork Chops with Citrus Relish (a recipe I'm concocting for a contest), Baked Potatoes, & Salad
Friday: Fire Roasted Shrimp Enchiladas (another original recipe) & Black Beans

Valentine's Week Menu Plan

2010-02-17T09:24:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone! I hope that all of you are doing fine on these late winter days. At least the sun is staying up longer! And it is getting stronger. I can tell because the snow is melting and it is only 18 degrees (says the computer).

Well, the kids have been sick. I'm feeling very needed. And hopefully that won't end up with me feeling very needy. I mean I've only had someone cough in my face about 5 times in the past few days and I've only cleaned up throw up twice. Really, I think my immune system should be able to kick whatever is thrown at me. Really.

So what have eating?

On Sunday, I made us a very, very yummy meal. My parents had just delivered our Christmas present - a freezer full of meat! So we had organic, grass fed beef New York strip steaks, with a basic, creamy risotto (only a total of 10 minutes in the pressure cooker!), and green beans with almonds. Now, let me tell you a way to kick your steaks up a notch. I did not marinade them but I did rub them with Worcestershire sauce, pepper, kosher salt and garlic powder. Then I put them under the broiler. Yum! To finish them off, and this is the key part, I sprinkled blue cheese on them and set them back under the broiler. Yum!!! Try it, you will not be disappointed.

Monday: Clean out the fridge :)

Tuesday: Seafood Enchiladas, Black Beans, & Chips with Homemade Salsa. The seafood enchiladas are from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Luke loved them, he wrote me a note during the meal that said " You look beautiful and you made a great dinner." Ahhhh :)

Wednesday: Ritz Chicken (a.k.a - poppy seed chicken) I make mine entirely from scratch - no cans of soup. We'll have a green salad with it.

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan & Salad

Friday: Split Pea Soup with Biscuits (requested by by my dear husband). I laugh at the fact that I make and actually enjoy split pea soup now. I remember HATING it as a child. Oh, how we all change.

Have a great week!

Menu Plan & Playing with Mackerel

2010-02-03T11:11:00.003-06:00

Late (we've eaten half of the menu) but sharing nonetheless!

Monday: Butternut Squash Soup
Tuesday: Ham and Sweet Potato Pancakes (an original recipe - contest submitted - lol) & Salad
Wednesday: Mexican Taco Casserole (I'm loosely basing this off the linked recipe) & Salad
Thursday: Green Chicken Coconut Curry with White Rice & Salad
Friday: Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce and Salad. I may just throw in some cheesy bread sticks with this one.

Now, on to the mackerel.

Holy Mackerel!........sorry, couldn't resist.

I've been recruited to cook some mackerel for our church's Wild Game Feast. Now, I've never cooked mackerel nor have I actually ever eaten mackerel so this should be fun and exciting! The planners gave me some ideas but after bumming around on-line, doing some searches, I think this recipe looks promising and so I'm going to just go with it. It is for Japanese Broiled Mackerel. I'll be excited to see how it turns out and will try to give an update next week.

Menu Plan Monday 1/25/10

2010-01-25T11:59:00.004-06:00

Getting into the New Year groove here in the Richard household! I've continued to menu plan all along but now I'm getting to actually posting it too. If you don't already, menu planning is a great resolution to make. You'll tend to eat out less, spend less, and feel less stressed. Just my plug for spreading the organization love out there to you all. :)

On another note, I think I have the ranch dressing secret mixture down. Oh, it took me many tries. I had it very close but something on the spice end was just wrong. Then it hit me! I knew what spice to add. Now I think it is about perfect :) Thinking about submitting it to a contest I saw the other day on-line but we'll see. Not sure I want to give up the rights to this one.

Monday: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits
Tuesday: Mini-meatloaves, Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, & Peas
Wednesday: Pork Chops with Apple Onion Stuffing & Salad
Thursday: Tropical Salmon Coquettes (testing a recipe I've been playing with in my head), Rice, & Salad
Friday: Cheddar Chicken Broccoli and Rice Bake & Salad

Today I Baked A Pumpkin

2010-01-21T15:07:00.006-06:00

Or, to be absolutely honest with you, today I baked a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin (or Squash). That's what one does when the roads are incredibly icy and you don't have to go about your normal morning duties/routines, right?

This year was the first for Long Island Cheese's in my garden. In fact, I kinda just tucked the one plant behind a bunch of perennials. In my actual vegetable garden, I grow butternut squash, my absolute favorite winter squash but a close relative to the Long Island Cheese. But I may have to grow less of them and put in another of these, because not only do they taste wonderful but they make the prettiest looking fall decorations (people didn't even think they were real!).

Now, this year, I probably went over board on squashes. Or it was just the year for them. Regardless, I harvested 22 butternut squashes and a couple of Long Island's that were each about 6-8 lbs. I probably have enough to last me through a good portion of next year since we don't eat them every week. Or maybe we're going to have to start. Either way, come April or May, I'll have to process and freeze whatever is left.

So, back to today. I managed to cut one of the Long Island's open and baked it at 375 for about an hour on a aluminum foil lined baking sheet after cleaning out the inside. Then I let it cool down. After it had cooled, I used a paring knife and cut of the outer skin (easier I think, than scooping it out with these types of squash). In two batches, I pureed the squash with no added liquid. What I was left with was 3 15oz. cans worth of puree plus one cup. I froze two cans worth and made one pie and one batch of muffins. I can't vouch for the pie yet but the muffins were AWESOME! Here is the recipe I worked off of (and of course, I'll tell you what I changed).

From Food Network's Ellie Krieger

Pumpkin Muffins:

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Now, I didn't have molasses so I substituted another tablespoon of brown sugar and poured a little maple syrup in the batter. Sorry, I didn't measure but I'm guessing it was about 2 tablespoons. :) Also, I didn't have any pumpkin seeds to place on top so I simply omitted that. The recipe made 12 very nice sized muffins that I think turned out very visually appealing. Here's a picture:

And because, I took a picture of the pie too:

Menu Plan - For New Decade ;)

2010-01-05T17:27:00.002-06:00

Here's what I've got going on in the kitchen:

Monday: We had German Style Pork Chops in the crockpot. It was a dish where the pork chops cooked on a bed of potatoes, onions & carrots. Then the last half hour you added a can of sauerkraut and a couple of diced apples. It was okay - definitely not going on the rotation.

Tuesday: Whole Chicken with Balsamic Dried Tomato Sauce and Potatoes (cooked in the pressure cooker altogether). Add will be a green salad. It smells delicious in here but we'll see what it tastes like :)

Wednesday: Good Ole Tater Tot Hotdish & Salad

Thursday: General Tso's Chicken, Egg Rolls and if it is as cold as they say it will be, I'll throw in some Egg Drop Soup.

Friday: Broiled Salmon, Cous Cous, & Peas

2010 Goals!

2010-01-02T10:27:00.005-06:00

As the new year begins, which by the way, I'm referring to as Twenty Ten, one starts to think about one wants to accomplish. Now, I've been running since late summer on a consistent basis so I really don't feel like I need to add exercise to my list. But I do love to cook and I do love to garden, so I've decided that I will do some "extra" focusing on my loves and set some goals in those areas for this coming year. I love my children and I set goals for them too so why not?!

1. Asparagus. We love it. So why am I not growing it? Well, for those of you who do not know, asparagus is a perennial vegetable. That means that it comes back, year after year on it's own accord. In fact, a well tended asparagus bed can produce for 20 years or more. I know growing up that we would find asparagus in ditches. My parents have recently, in the past few years, found some "wild" asparagus behind some old buildings on the farm. These asparagus patches have been planted by birds from the seed of female asparagus plants. Now, I am not going to plant asparagus from seed. As the newer hybrids are mostly all "male" meaning they produce more and bigger spears than the female plant but do not produce seed. So I plan on planting crowns (i.e. the roots) of the plant and probably two-year crowns. Now, the tricky thing with crops such as asparagus and strawberries is that you really are going to have to wait to harvest any sizable amount. And not wait like a few weeks or months, but maybe a couple of years. The plant needs to "get strong" enough before you can start picking the asparagus spears. That's because those spears turn into the fern that in turn feeds the roots that in turn allows it to produce more spears and so on and so forth. Why not dig up well established 5 year crowns and transplant them? Well, because they are fickle and older plants do not transplant well. So one year crowns are recommended but I find that 2 year crowns are more widely available. I'm still deciding on the variety...

2. Ranch Dressing. Lite House Ranch dressing is our favorite ranch dressing. It doesn't contain any msg and it tastes fantastic. I'd love to be able to recreate this at home. I've tinkered with this project off and on but I've decided that this is the year that I will master the ranch dressing quandary. I've made some really good head way into this project and I think that well before 2010 is over, I will have conquered ranch dressing. Then I may post the recipe :) Maybe ;)

3. Figure out another way to stake my tomatoes. I can't decide whether to do t-bars, cages or string but I do know that I need another method for staking my tomatoes. This past summer was pretty cool and rainy by any standards and tomato blight was a huge problem. Some of this could have been avoided by proper staking. But I admit, I am a lazy gardener when it comes to things like staking. And I'm cheap. One idea is to put t-bar on the outside ends of a small row of tomatoes. Then take string and as the tomato grows, use the string to make a "cage" by encasing the tomatoes between the t-bars. It might work. Or I could by or maybe build some heavy duty re-bar tomato cages. Lots of ideas floating around in my head as you can see. If anyone has some great pointers, I'm willing to listen.

4. I'm not sure this is a real goal or not but I'd like to maybe rent a plot in a community garden. Then I could grow larger quantities of things that I currently don't believe I have enough room to grow profitably - think potatoes. Wouldn't you love to see posts on here of yummy dishes using purple & fingerling potatoes? And to grow enough beans to actually put some up for the winter? I guess the problem would then be how to store the potatoes.....hmmmmm

Menu Plan Monday ~ Christmas Week!

2009-12-21T20:03:00.002-06:00

Yea! Christmas is almost here! Currently it is snowing outside, in fact, it is supposed to snow/sleet the entire week. It smacks of a down-home Christmas where all the family drinks hot cocoa, reading books by the fire place and throws holiday movies into the dvd player and cuddles together underneath the blankets. Ah, yes, we'll see how it pans out in reality :) One thing, our little family will be alone this Christmas. In some ways, it is sad. But in other ways, I enjoy being able to make our own little traditions. Like singing happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning over a danish/coffee cake lit with candles. And reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Focusing on what a wonderful gift we have been given in our Savior!

Monday: Pesto Chicken (pesto from this year's basil harvest!), Baked Sweet Potatoes with butter and cinnamon sugar, & Salad
Tuesday: Parmesan Tilapia, Cous Cous, & Peas (this has been on the menu for weeks but for some reason it never actually gets made!)
Wednesday: BBQ Pork (crockpot), Baked Potatoes, Salad
Thursday (Christmas Eve!): Our Tradition: Knoephla Soup & Summer Sausage Sandwiches
Friday (Christmas Day!): We are foregoing the ham and making Manicotti Alla Romana & Salad, appropriate since it has both a red and a white sauce on it :)

Now, I hope to bake bread, bake a danish, make marshmallows and make a chocolate/mocha cheesecake (this one via the pressure cooker). It sounds busy and it's good thing that the roads will be horrible so I'll have to stay home and stay in the kitchen!

Menu Plan Monday 12/14/09

2009-12-14T14:59:00.003-06:00

A short week, due to the holidays and family but I tried to make it good :)

Monday: Mushroom Sauced Roast Beef (from the BH&G cookbook), Au Gratin Potatoes & Salad
Tuesday: Parmesan Tilapia, Cous Cous, & Peas
Wednesday: Swiss Chicken Casserole & Salad
Thursday: Ravioli, Salad & Breadsticks

The Best French Toast EVER!

2009-12-14T14:50:00.003-06:00

Mike, a few months ago, requested that I make a bread called Challah. It is a traditional Jewish bread that is well, very rich. I used this recipe, although please note that the recipe does not call for rapid rise yeast but you really must use rapid rise, a.ka. instant yeast, if you really want to make this in a hurry. I finally got around to it last week and it turned out pretty well. I'm more of a sourdough or French bread kinda girl myself but Mike and the kids loved it!

Then, the next morning, Mike made us French toast. One might say that using French bread is the only way to really make French toast. I DARE this person to try this recipe and not fall in love. It is that good. Yes, that good. Let me please also note, that Mike did use a good quality egg nog to replace the half and half - but he cut down on the egg and a little on the sugar too to make up for that. The one thing that made this recipe stand out is the use of orange zest - a new must for our French Toast.

Challah French Toast (by Ina Garten)

Ingredients

6 extra-large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half or milk
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon good honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large loaf challah or brioche bread
Unsalted butter
Vegetable oil

To serve:

Pure maple syrup
Good raspberry preserves (optional)
Sifted confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey, and salt. Slice the challah in 3/4-inch thick slices. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 5 minutes, turning once.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven. Fry the remaining soaked bread slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it's all cooked. Serve hot with maple syrup, raspberry preserves, and/or confectioners' sugar.

Menu Plan Monday 11/30/09

2009-11-30T09:07:00.002-06:00

"Thirty days past September, April, May and NOVEMBER!" Yikes, November is over. Christmas, I mean, December is here! I've got a good start to my Christmas list. However, I've been invited to two cookie exchanges so I've definitely got some extra baking to do. :)

Monday: Sage Pork Chops, Sweet Potato Fries, Green Beans
Tuesday: Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Rice & Coleslaw
Wednesday: Tacos, Homemade Refried Black Beans, Salad
Thursday: Parmesan Tilapia, Parsley Potatoes, Salad
Friday: 15 Bean Soup & Crusty Bread

Menu Plan Monday - THANKSGIVING!

2009-11-23T11:20:00.003-06:00

How wonderful that our nation's founders, culminating with Abraham Lincoln, decided to set aside one day a year to give thanks. We, in our household, are very thankful for all of you! And who are we thankful to? Why, our Heavenly Father! As I recently memorized in James chapter 1 - "Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow or change due to variation."

This week's menu:

Monday: Butternut Squash Risotto (need to cook some butternut squash for a pie!) & Almond Green Beans
Tuesday: Chicken Noodle Soup
Wednesday: Shipwrecks & Veggies with Dip
Thursday: Spicy-rubbed Turkey Breast, Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, Apple-Onion Stuffing, Salad (etc.)
Friday: BBQ Turkey Pizza and Green Salad

Menu Plan Monday 11/9/09

2009-11-09T16:26:00.003-06:00

It is Holiday Specialtea week! Yea! Now all the work really goes to everyone else and they can make all the recipes that myself and a good friend included picked out. Pray for these women! Lord willing, no one will get sick.

This week's menu:

Monday: Roast Chicken, Rice and Roasted Asparagus
Tuesday: Five Minute Tomato Sauce (pressure cooker recipe) and Pasta, Salad
Wednesday: Spinach Tortellini Soup
Thursday: Chicken Tacos, Refried Beans, Salad
Friday: Cheeseburgers & French Fries

Sage Harvest

2009-11-03T16:56:00.000-06:00

This year I started a bunch of sage plants from seeds. They are a perennial here and I think the gray-green foliage is pretty. I also like sage. Sage is delicious paired with pork and with another favorite garden produce item - butternut squash. Mmmmm....sage scented butternut squash soup - delicious!

So anyway, winter IS coming. It has already made it's presence felt a few days this fall. So I harvested some sage. All I did was place it on a cookie cooling rack. Then I left it in an out of the way spot (in this house, that means up HIGH!). After a few weeks I needed the cookie rack so I checked on it. Yep, it was dry! So then what was I to do?

I figured that I would one of my presents from birthdays past. This time it was a molcajete or in normal speak - mortar and pestle. It did the job fantastically and the product looks so much better than the dried rubbed sage I buy at the store.

Another Week of Menus

2009-11-03T16:37:00.002-06:00

Alright, posting a day late again, but posting regardless!

Monday: Pesto Chicken, Brown Rice w/ herbs (baked), & Broccoli
Tuesday: Beef Short Ribs with Tomatoes & Peppers (Rick Bayless) & Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday: Tatertot Hotdish & Romaine Salad
Thursday: Broiled Salmon, Raisin Cous Cous & Dilled Peas
Friday: Pizza!

Menu Plan Monday 10/26/09

2009-10-26T08:42:00.002-05:00

I've got news! The day we left for vacation, I found out that I took third place in the Mom's Best Cookie Recipe Contest. Yea! Check out the sponsor, The Sugar Association and their blog for the winning recipes. I've got my eye set on some other contests! And lots and lots of ideas floating around in my head for them.

On to business, this week's menu:

Monday: Black Bean-Chicken Tostadas (Rick Bayless recipe) and Salad
Tuesday: Butternut Squash Risotto (Ina Garten recipe) and Green Beans
Wednesday: Black Bean Soup & Salad
Thursday: Chicken with Thyme & Garlic Sauce (crockpot recipe), Cous Cous & Salad
Friday: Pizza! & Salad

A Multitude of Breads

2009-10-05T12:31:00.004-05:00

I've been up to my ears in breads. MMMmmmmm. I do love bread. There is no way on earth that I could ever do an Atkins-type diet. No bread? How horrific!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on a list of breads and spreads to be the taste samples for our wonderful church's Holiday Specialtea. Last week I really kicked it into high gear and made a large assortment of breads so I thought I'd share my findings with you. (The recipe titles are hyper-linked so go ahead and click to see the recipe).

Okay the first I made was Syrian Bread. It turned out pretty well. The first two did not puff up but the last six did. It really wasn't anything special. I think I would have preferred it to be a whole wheat pita. It was fun to use them for pita sandwiches with the kids. Over all, I give it a B- and think I'd look for another recipe for pita bread. So this one was taken off the list.

The second bread of the week was King Arthur's Asagio Ciabatta. This one is a two day process but relatively simple to make. The bread tasted great the first day - loved the chunks of oozy cheese. Sliced and used to make a turkey sandwich the next day, my husband said it was good enough to cater. I'm an even bigger fan of cheese than I am bread so putting the two of them together can't be wrong. This one goes on the list!

Next, I tried Lavash Cracker Bread. Very, very similar to the Syrian Bread in ingredients but totally different in texture. I felt it needed some visual "oomf" so I sprinkled with black sesame seeds while I rolled the subsequent rounds. They do need to be docked (pricked all over with a fork) before they were baked. I know the recipe author says you need to roll them very, very thin but I did and the first two still puffed up like pita bread. The docking took care of that problem. I paired this with a spread - Greek Feta and Olive spread. Oh my. OH MY! If you love Greek food (and I do!) then by all means, you must make this yummy spread. Delish!

Lastly, not to leave out our sweet breads, I made Coconut Pineapple Loaf Cake from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food PBS show. I know Martha Stewart has a reputation for using expensive, hard-to-find ingredients but Everyday Food is not like that at all. This quick bread/cake was a big hit at our small group bible study last night. Different and easy to make I call it a winner. The only change I would make would be to use pineapple tidbits (very well drained - maybe even pressed in a paper towel) and would be to increase the baking time by another 15 minutes.

So there you go! I'm sorry I don't have photos. I really should have snapped some but you know how life goes!

Menu Plan Monday 10/05/09

2009-10-05T08:39:00.003-05:00

For all you menu plan gawkers:

Monday: Cochinita Pibil, Rice & Green Salad
Tuesday: Ziti with Tomatoes & Mushrooms (from "Pressure Perfect") and Spinach Salad
Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup with Sour Cream & Bacon, Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Thursday: Chicken Fettuccine & Green Bean Almondine
Friday: Good Ole Pizza

Menu Plan Monday 9/28/09

2009-09-27T20:35:00.003-05:00

Wow! Where has September gone? It seems silly to ask that question but still! Before I know it November will be here and that means our church's Holiday Specialtea is almost upon on us and I'm still in the midst of wading through sample recipes for it. We provide samples of fun foods to try along with recipe cards and also a nice meal (someone else is in charge of this area - Praise the Lord!). This is a great outreach into our community and I am so grateful to be a part of it. But it is time to kick into high gear! I'll be making lots of breads and spreads this week (this year's theme) - pray for me!

Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup
Tuesday: Beef Tortellini with Marinara Sauce, Salad
Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, Refried Beans, & Salad
Thursday: Parmesean Sage Pork Chops, Brown Rice & Green Beans
Friday: Hamburgers & Oven Fries

Menu Plan Monday 9/21/09

2009-09-21T08:50:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because, well, because I've been busy! But isn't everyone busy? So that really is a lame excuse. I have still worked from a menu plan. I find it very hard to go grocery shopping without one so it is necessary to do. My wonderful husband is gone Monday through Wednesday on work this week so I'm just cooking for the kids and me - so easy does it!

Monday: Pigs-in-a-blanket, Fruit Salad & Veggies w/Dip
Tuesday: French Toast, Bacon & Fruit Salad
Wednesday: Homemade Chicken Nuggets, Oven Fries & Green Beans
Thursday: Pesto Chicken in Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Salad
Friday: Grilled Salmon, Raisin Cous Cous & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 8/31/09

2009-08-31T08:45:00.003-05:00

Watch out everyone! September is HERE! Or will be tomorrow at least. Are you ready for fall? I love fall but I'm not quite sure where summer went.

Monday: Roast Turkey, Cheesy Potatoes, & Wax Beans
Tuesday: Browned Pork Chops, Risotto (pressure cooker), & Salad
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes, Oven Fries, & Veggies w/ Dip
Thursday: Cheesy Turkey Pot Pie (first time using crescent roll dough as the top) & Salad
Friday: Pizza! and I may make some homemade Jalapeno Poppers too....

The other thing I know I need to make this week is hot sauce. Looking for some good recipes! But I bascially think I got it worked out to how I'm going to make it.

Menu Plan Monday (er, Tuesday! 8/24/09)

2009-08-25T14:56:00.002-05:00

Monday: Salmon with Dill Yogurt Sauce (added diced cucumber to the sauce), Cous Cous & Green Beans
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos, Black Beans, Homemade Salsa & Chips
Wednesday: Easy Slow Cooker French Dip, Roasted Potatoes & Squash
Thursday: Eggplant Parmesean & Salad
Friday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Menu Plan Monday 8/17/09

2009-08-17T13:31:00.002-05:00

I sat and stared at the computer screen a long, long time before I could come up with a menu for this week. Sometimes I just get tired of doing it but I know it is so much better to have a plan. I think I'll be pretty excited when cooler weather comes and we can have soups and stews again (just like I'm excited when grilling weather comes in the spring!). This week I also have plans for putting up some more garden produce. I'll be pickling jalapenos and I think I'll go ahead and do some dill pickle slices too. Although, I really would like to crinkle cut them - I just think they look so much nicer when they are crinkle cut! I'd also like to make some marinara sauce. If anyone out their has a great, approved for canning in a BWB canner marinara sauce recipe then please do share!!

Monday: Chicken Fajitas, Refried Beans, Chips & Salsa
Tuesday: Blue Cheese Burgers, Oven Fries, & Grilled Corn-on-the-Cob
Wednesday: Sauteed Chicken Breasts, Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, & Green Salad
Thursday: Grilled Salmon, CousCous & Green Beans
Friday: Parmesan Sage Pork Chops (on allrecipes.com), Wild Rice, Sauteed Squash

Menu Plan Monday 8/10/09

2009-08-10T08:56:00.005-05:00

It is August and we really should be having cucumber salad every night. Yes, I've got cucumbers. I did make some freezer pickles. Yes, I said freezer pickles. But I don't really have plans to make anymore pickles since I still have 6 jars of pickles in the basement from last year. Plus, I also have pickle relish. I've toyed with the idea of making faux apple rings (you know red hot candy and cinnamon flavored) but every recipe I see calls for pickling lime. I don't want to have to buy pickling lime.

Now the big question is whether I should make salsa or if I should make marinara sauce with my tomatoes. Hmmmmmm. I have all the stuff for both. I really do like freshly made salsa. I wonder if I can freeze my hot peppers and just use them through out the year? I've roasted and peeled some of my Anaheim peppers and froze them in cut rings. They'll make great "green diced chiles" through out the year.

Enough rambling:

Monday: Grilled Pork Chops & Peaches, BBQ Beans
Tuesday: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Salad
Wednesday: Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken and Salsa Pasta Salad
Thursday: Parmesan Tilapia, Grilled Summer Squash, Rice
Friday: Hot dogs, Grilled Corn & Cucumber Salad

Please go to I'm An Organizing Junkie for more menu plan ideas :)

Menu Plan Catch Up!

2009-08-04T21:52:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm playing catch up big time here with my menu planning. It's not that I haven't had a plan but just that I haven't gotten to posting it (read pure laziness if you'd like). But after Mike came home today asking about it and a friend mentioned looking at my menu plans tonight, I figured I better get it up. Keeps me honest :)

The garden is really producing now so we're eating a lot of fresh vegetables. I love it!

Last week's menu:

Monday: Salmon, Rice & Salad
Tuesday: Grilled Carribean Jerk Chicken, Cucumber Salad, Cous Cous
Wednesday: Moo Shu Pork with Noodles & Egg Drop Soup
Thursday: Grilled Cheeseburgers & Oven Fries
Friday: loving dh brought home supper
Saturday: Pizza Margherita & Salad

This week's menu:

Monday: Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Salad & Sourdough Garlic Bread
Tuesday: Tacos (I snuck in yellow squash in the meat!), Refried Beans, Chips & Salsa
Wednesday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches & Fresh Veggies with dip
Thursday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches & Chips
Friday: Thai Chicken Pizza & Salad

Sourdough Success!

2009-07-21T10:11:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I baked my first loaf of sourdough bread from my own homemade starter! Sweet success! (or should I say "sour"?) I really couldn't believe that it worked but work it did.

My earlier post on this subject showed the original starter recipe. From that I fed the starter every day with 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 cup flour. I used various types of flour that I have in the pantry (always wheat flour). I figured in the end that it wasn't going to work so I just ran warm tap water instead of the bottled water I began with. One day I decided to add a 1/4 teaspoon of cider vinegar. Another day I may have added 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. But I think it worked because as one article I read stated "people who didn't believe the Earth was round did this for millenia. Do check out the hyper-linked article above - the author really made this whole process seem doable instead of insurmountable like in this article. Both provide a wealth of information.

The best news of all is that both Mike and kids actually like the taste of the bread. Luke says it tastes "lemony" and Mike had extras at supper last night. So over all it is a hit and I have more starter in the fridge!

Menu Plan Monday 7/20/09

2009-07-20T09:40:00.002-05:00

Is it July? I mean, really, it has been exceptionally cool. It is weird. But on the total upside, we've gotten to go for some family bike rides in the evenings, checking out and exploring some local trails and parks. I've also been more prone to take the kids to the park. But it is July, despite the lack of heat and that means that it is Mike's birthday this week! I'll be making him a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. From a box. Yes, from a box. My guilt will be overcome by the sourdough bread that I'm making from my own wild yeast and the blueberry jam that I'm planning to put up this week.

Without further ramblings:

Monday: Italian Beef Roast (crockpot), roasted baby potatoes & dilled carrots
Tuesday: General Tso's Chicken with Rice & Green Salad
Wednesday: Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches & Chips (with meat leftover from Monday)
Thursday: Manicotti Alla Romana & Green Salad (Mike's birthday choice)
Friday: May or may not be at home....?
Saturday: Date Night (and I'm not talking figs)

Sourdough Exploration...

2009-07-14T09:37:00.003-05:00

So I have this friend who is doing all this reading on artisan breads. So I decided to do some reading too. :) An online search produced masses of recipes and information. From everyone I've talked to, making your own sourdough starter outside of using packaged yeast (i.e. capturing wild yeast), is a difficult and elusive thing to do. So I figured, let's give it a try! lol

I'm likening the process to a fermentation process. And right now, in my basement, I am currently fermenting the cabbage from my garden to make sauerkraut. So why not try it upstairs on the counter and make a sourdough starter? The cabbage is fermenting so I must have wild yeast beasties running a muck in my house, right? (notice how I keep seeking your affirmation as I'm typing this).

After reading a short on-line sourdough starter recipe, I cut it in half and mixed together in a toss-able plastic container:

1 cup King Arthur Whole Wheat flour
1 cup water (I used bottle spring - figured the chlorine would probably hinder the yeast growth)
1 Tbl Sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Then I sat it on the counter and covered it lightly with the container's lid. I thought, "I'm crazy" and walked away. Last night I saw that water had separated and was floating on top. I left it alone. This morning, their is no liquid floating on top but but there are bubbles in the mixture. Could this be the beginning of the fermentation? I think so! I'm pretty pumped over the whole thing and I'll (hopefully) keep you updated.

Menu Plan Monday 7/13/09

2009-07-14T09:25:00.003-05:00

Well, I never did get to posting the chicken & squash bake. But I do have a good excuse - I'm potty-training our youngest! That really is a full time job in and of itself. But I did have time to menu plan! Here's what we had and are going to have..

Monday: Cabbage Rolls & Mashed Potatoes
Tuesday: Apricot Pork Chops, Rice & Salad
Wednesday: Crockpot Whole Chickens, Risotto, & Peas
Thursday: Cheesy Ham & Potato Casserole with Mixed Veggies
Friday: Chicken Taco Salad
Saturday: Pizza Margherita (come on tomatoes - ripen!)

Pizza Margherita is simply where I take homemade pizza dough and slather it in it's round shape with olive oil. Then I sprinkle Italian seasoning and garlic powder on it. The toppings are sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, & mozzarella cheese (I've used both fresh and the "regular" kind). I usually add some parmesan cheese too. It is very tasty and cheap! Especially when you have tomatoes & basil growing in your garden. :)

Menu Plan Monday 7/6/09

2009-07-06T12:51:00.002-05:00

We are just back from vacation. Time to get back to reality! We had lots of fun and it was so nice not to have to cook every night. But in the end, I really do like to cook. Most days this week will be pretty easy. Here's the menu!

Monday: Hot Dogs, Homemade Baked Beans (pressure cooker), Green Salad
Tuesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup (we've got Anaheim peppers in the garden!)
Wednesday: Fish Tacos, Fiesta Corn on the Cob, Watermelon
Thursday: Italian Chicken & Squash Bake with Garlic Bread
Friday: Cheeseburgers, Chips & Fruit Salad

I've got an idea for the fiesta corn - not sure how it will turn out. Hopefully it'll be a winner! I'll post the Italian Chicken & Squash Bake later in the week (my summer squash is no where near being ready but my friend Horn Herd Mom was so nice as to give me some!). I've also got an idea floating around in my head for the garlic bread. I'm going to go more for an artisan style bread.

Cabbage & Apple Saute

2009-06-29T12:54:00.003-05:00

Two posts in one day? Will wonders never cease?

I've actually got to get this written down because I made it up last night and I want to remember how I did it so I can recreate it.

Now some people are not big cabbage fans. I'd have to say that once upon a time, I would have considered myself part of this group. However, my strong German ancestry is starting to make itself more and more known in my taste buds (hmmm, they probably never ate Thai food though....hmmm). Anyway, cabbage is now very much part of my diet. This is my first year growing it in the garden. It is one of those veggies that are just so cheap, why bother growing your own? I'm glad that I am though!

Alright, here's the recipe:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup onion, sliced
6-8 cups rough chopped cabbage (green or red)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup apple juice
1 Tbl sugar
1 large apple, cored and sliced
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large, deep saute pan, soften onion in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the cabbage, vinegar, apple juice, and sugar. Stir to make sure the cabbage is tossed with the liquids. Cover and allow to cook down - about 7 minutes. Add the apples, salt & pepper. Stir again. Cover, allow to finish cooking - approximately another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

We ate this with venison sausage and hot buttered noodles tossed with basil & chives. Enjoy!

Yes, Strawberry Ice Cream

2009-06-29T12:37:00.003-05:00

I asked the kids the other week, "What kind of ice cream do you want me to make?" In my mind, the fruit and ice cream really don't go together but the answer was unanimous - any kind of ice cream that has berries!

In my fridge was a big ole package of strawberries from Fareway. We had used some but I knew the others needed to be used quickly so it was really the perfect use for them. A quick search on the internet came up with this recipe.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Rated:

Submitted By: Christy J.

Photo By: Trisha

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

Servings: 6

"This vibrant frozen dessert offers fresh berry flavor at its best."

Ingredients:

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided

3/4 cup white sugar

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions:

1.	Place the berries into the container of a blender or food processor, and puree until smooth. Pour into a large bowl, and set aside.
2.	Heat 1 1/4 cups of the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble at the edge of the pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup cream, and corn syrup. Gradually pour the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Strain custard into the berry puree through a sieve, mix, and refrigerate until chilled.
3.	Fill an ice cream maker with the mixture, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Now, some people suggested leaving some of the strawberries out of the puree. I, emphatically think this is a bad idea. I mean, a frozen berry in your mouth when you are eating a smooth and creamy dessert? No thank you! So I blended all the berries. Here are some before and after pictures.

As you can see, the pureeing really makes a difference in the total volume (as opposed to the mass - can you tell I'm married to an engineer?).

I didn't get a picture of making the custard. I did use a wooden spoon as opposed to a metal spoon. When you can swipe a finger across the back of it and see the trail it is done. It really doesn't take that long. What takes a longer time is for the ice cream base to cool down before you put it in the ice cream maker!

Here's one last picture just because I thought it was so pretty when I poured the custard into the strawberries:

I didn't get a picture of the finished product but it was a very lovely color and what is more important - it tasted awesome! The strawberry flavor was very intense. It was awesome with chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. I think some cut up bananas would have made the sundae over the top! We also used this in smoothies. Very good!

Menu Plan Monday 6/22/09

2009-06-22T14:06:00.002-05:00

Whew! Summer has most definitely hit Iowa! This week is VBS at our church and I get the privilege of helping with the "game" station. So are outside and it is muggy and hot and very rewarding! But I definitely don't feel like heating up the kitchen anymore than I need to so here's the menu I came up with for the week:

Monday: Fish Tacos & Black bean-Red pepper-Quinoa Salad
Tuesday: Cheese Filled Ravioli with Red Sauce & Salad
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes & Chips
Thursday: Sassy Grilled Chicken, Cous Cous & Dilled Peas
Friday: Grilled Margerhita Pizza & Salad

Soon to come (I promise!), my attempt at making Strawberry Ice Cream. Mmmmmm.....

2009 Festival of Breads - My Experience

2009-06-19T10:32:00.005-05:00

We are back from my first experience in the world of food competition. I could have also entitled this "The Greenhorn" or "Lessons From a Kansas Ballroom" but instead went with a more general title. I learned SO much in regards to wheat, the people of Kansas and to baking bread. I also learned more than I wanted to about how to bake in a hotel ballroom. I've come to the conclusion that I LOVE my humble kitchen!

After my oldest daughter's dance recital on Sunday, we headed off on our adventure. Traveling with the three kids went pretty well. We spent the first night in Olathe, KS and finished the drive on Monday to Wichita. The Hilton was our home base and also where the competition was held. It was a lovely hotel. Abby and I went to do some exploring soon after arriving, because quite frankly, all three kids should not be confined to a small place together for more than 2 hours at a time.

Wandering the hall, a man came up and said, "You look familiar. I think I know you." I'd never seen him before, thus I said, "I don't think so." To which he replied, "Tanna, right?" So I was introduced to the fact that everyone knew who I was by seeing my picture beforehand - a very weird feeling! His name was Bill and he was part of the Kansas Wheat Commission (KWC). Everyone from the KWC was wonderful! I've never felt so welcomed before. They put all of us contestants at ease.

We had a full three days. The first evening was a trip to Cowtown in Wichita. Cowtown is a living history town set circa the late 1800's. We had the run of the place and had fun wandering from building to building seeing how people used to live. We even got a ride in horse drawn wagon! There, we also were treated to a barbecue dinner and a concert by the Diamond W Wranglers band. Great cowboy music! Check them out if you get a chance.

Here are the 8 Finalists at Cowtown:

The next day we had an early breakfast and got to check out where we would be baking on Wednesday. We got to check all of our equipment; later we got to check all our ingredients. Then we went on a day long tour of the wheat industry. We started at the Cargill grain mill in town, then out to a farm for lunch and got to witness the combining of a small patch of wheat. Then we followed the wheat to the grain elevator where they explained the analysis and storage of the wheat. It was all very interesting and I felt right at home being a farmer's daughter. The people we met were passionate about their products from farm to mill to plate. I think the wheat industry is in good hands!

Now, let me talk about the other finalists. What a neat bunch of ladies! The majority of them had been in national food competitions before so I was definitely the youngest and the complete rookie of the bunch. But they were all very encouraging. We laughed as we were all hanging off of each others words as we chatted about cooking and our past experiences. I got a few tips of the trade and really met some characters! Marjorie Johnson was probably the biggest character there and I can see why the television world has sought her out. What fun she is! Jessie Grearson was so fun and encouraging to be around as she is another fellow gardener and cook. I really enjoyed getting to know her more. And the winner, Dianna Wara was also an encouragement when I was feeling defeated after the issues I had on baking day.

Me and Marjorie:

Ahhhh, yes, my issues. I didn't really think about the problems or issues that I may have baking bread in a large space that is not my own kitchen. I've made this bread so many times that it really is second nature. In fact, I probably ended up taking that for granted. We started at 7:30 am. The room was cool due to the air conditioning and the atmosphere was humid outside. Whatever the case, I had the worst time getting my bread to rise properly. I ended up baking it but it was a full inch or more shorter than what it usually is here at home. So before I had that out of the pans, I made another batch of dough and set that to raise in some new pans that I was given there that I hadn't used before, on the stove top to utilize the heat from the oven. Well, that dough raised well but not evenly and ended out coming out flat on top (tasting good but not pretty). I thought it was due to the new pans and went ahead and did another batch in my own pans from home. Set it again on the oven top to raise. After that had raised and was again flat, I realized my mistake was not the pans but the fact of where it was being placed to rise! So I started booking it to get a fourth batch in. I mean, I was cruising at speeds yet unseen in that ballroom. In fact, I was going so fast that I forgot some of the ingredients. My dear wonderful new Kansas friend and runner pointed out the canola oil but I totally spaced out the honey. Sigh. So that was my last batch and while I had it rise away from the oven, it came out blond and not so sweet.

While we were baking, there were baking classes being taught for the public. One of the things the instructors mentioned was how sugar was not needed in bread but it added to the color and to the taste. At the end of the last class, I brought an earlier loaf and one of my last loaves up front as a visual example of that information ;) Maybe I shouldn't have pointed out my weakness? Oh well, if it helps future bakers!

Let me also quickly mention my wheat spokespersons, Reba & Erin. Two nicer ladies I think would be harder to find. They were absolutely terrific! I really felt put to ease and it was good to have someone rooting for me and being there to help things go as smoothly as possible. So thank you again! I probably would have started crying had it not been for Erin that day.

Erin and me:

Reba and me:

So, I didn't win. But I gained a great experience, wonderful new friends, and a great knowledge of how we get from farm to fork.

Here is my recipe: Healthy Homemade Bread. All the recipes, including the winning one, are posted on the Kansas Wheat website here.

Healthy Homemade Bread
Tanna Richard, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I developed this recipe because I needed a tasty bread recipe that would be easy on the budget and easy to prepare at home.

1 cup King Arthur Traditional 100% Whole Wheat Flour
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup quick cooking oats, uncooked
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast2 ¼ cups very warm water (120-130°F)*
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
4 - 4 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
*Gauge water temperature with thermometer.

In mixing bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oats, salt, and yeast. Stir in water, honey,and oil; beat 2 minutes. Gradually stir in 3 cups bread flour to make a slightly sticky dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead in enough remaining flour to make a smooth and elastic dough. Knead 8 to 10 minutes by hand or with dough hook.

Divide dough in half. To shape: form dough to fit into 2 oiled 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch bread pans; press dough down to fill pan. Smooth top. Cover loaves with a damp towel; let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Bake in preheated 350°F oven 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and done. Tent with foil last 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 loaves, 16 slices each.

Nutrition information per serving: One slice provides approximately 108 calories; 3 g protein; 18g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 3 g fat (.18 g saturated); 0 mg cholesterol; 37 mcg folate; 1 mg iron and 219 mg sodium.

Menu Plan Monday 6/8/09 & The Competition

2009-06-08T14:43:00.003-05:00

Well it is Monday! Again! Time to whip out the ole menu plan (or pull it up on the Google calendar application I use) and post it here for all the world to see. I hope it gives you all some ideas!

Monday: Garlic Cheddar Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Dilled Peas
Tuesday: Mango-licious Tilapia, Cous Cous & Fruit
Wednesday: Teriyaki Chicken, Rice, & Spinach Salad
Thursday: Cerveza Lime Pork Chops, Southwest Pasta Salad
Friday: Grilled Cheeseburgers & Chips & Fruit

I am a week away from competing in King Arthur's Festival of Breads competition. So time to really get serious and figure out how I'm going to display my bread for the judges. That, of course, meant it was time to shop this past week. I went to Michael's to look for a basket. Nothing that was right was there. Then I went to Pier 1. There I found a basket I liked but - yesh! - I'm cheap and wasn't paying the price they were asking. Finally, I ended up a Gordman's and found a basket that is JUST the right size and while I was there I got some red and white striped kitchen towels to line the basket with. What do you think? I will slice the two loaves and display them like this (see below picture). I only have about 1/2 of one loaf left of the last batch I made but I think this will give you a good idea of what I'm looking at presenting.

Menu Plan Monday 6/1/09

2009-06-01T14:06:00.003-05:00

It's June! I did have a menu plan for last week but didn't get to posting it due to having my wonderful husband home both on Monday & Tuesday. So - here is this week's:

Monday: Roasted Chicken, Risotto, & Spinach Salad
Tuesday: Pancakes, Sausage, & Fruit (requested by Abby - seemed reasonable enough)
Wednesday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches (w/ leftover chicken), Chips & Fruit
Thursday: Dal, Chiliean Style (requested by Mike - he heard about the recipe from listening to NPR....)
Friday: Grilled Cheeseburgers & Grilled Potatoes

Menu Plan Monday 5/18/09

2009-05-19T15:31:00.002-05:00

Late but not forgotten....

Monday: Cerveza & Lime Marinated Pork Chops (grilled), Cous Cous & Spinach Salad - The pork chops were awesome! I left out the tequila and added a tablespoon of brown sugar - also did not make the full amount of marinade. Let them marinate for about 8 hours. Definitely a keeper....

Tuesday: Chicken Satay w/ Peanut dipping sauce, Rice, & Salad
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes, Chips & Fruit
Thursday: Greek Pasta with White Beans & Tomatoes, Salad
Friday: Crispy Oven Baked Fish, Oven Fries & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 5/11/09

2009-05-11T08:45:00.004-05:00

Where does a week go? We've got lots of lettuce and spinach from the garden so we are "heavy" on the salads this week. Here is the menu:

Monday: Jerk Chicken, Rice & Salad
Tuesday: Lasagna & Salad
Wednesday: Fried Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes & Dilled Carrots
Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas, Refried Beans, & Salad
Friday: Hot Dogs, Potato Salad, & Baked Beans...and maybe a salad ;)

The last time I made potato salad, Mike raved over it. Now, if only I could remember what I did....I know I didn't use a recipe!

Menu Plan Monday 5/4/09

2009-05-04T09:57:00.003-05:00

Keeping on track! That's what the menu planning feature of this blog really helps me do. It is also nice for my husband to check at work to see what he's going to come home to ;) I have to admit, I'm not crazy about every night this week. But I honestly start running out of ideas of how to use ground beef - of which we have tons - and I'm very thankful for! That's why we are having the baked fleischkuechle. If you're from ND, then you've probably at least heard of it (although they are usually deep fried). If you aren't, well then, it is basically seasoned ground beef wrapped in a basic dough and then cooked. It's a Russian-German thing from what I gather.

Monday: Chicken & Mediterranean Pasta & Salad
Tuesday: Steak Fajitas, Rice & Beans
Wednesday: Tom Ka Gai (Thai Chicken Coconut Soup), Egg Rolls & Salad
Thrusday: Baked Fleishkuechle, German Potato Salad, & Green Beans
Friday: Grilled Salmon, Rice Pilaf, & Salad

The salad in my garden is ready to go so we need to be eating it A LOT!

As always, head on over to Orgjunkie.com for more menu plan ideas!

Menu Plan Monday 4/27/09

2009-04-27T14:47:00.003-05:00

It's time to use up those meals that got pushed back due to various reasons. The meals that usually don't get made are those with the ingredients that I always have on hand but don't need to use (i.e. tilapia is in the freezer but if it isn't thawed it can wait a week or two or three....).

Monday: Sweet Potato Manicotti (did not have last week) & Salad
Tuesday: Parmesan Tilapia (did not have two weeks ago), CousCous & Peas
Wedneday: Spinach Ravioli & Salad
Thursday: General Tso's Chicken & Egg Drop Soup
Friday: Grilled Steak, Pasta Salad & Fruit

Cheese & Herb Biscuits

2009-04-21T09:37:00.003-05:00

I love going to Red Lobster. We don't often go though. And I'm not really a HUGE seafood fan, although I do like it. But I do love those Cheddar Bay Biscuits. They do rock, don't they? And every once in a while I get a hankering to have some at home. This is my latest attempt. They probably are not as good as Red Lobster but a whole lot cheaper!

Here is my inspiration recipe. I took this and ran with it.

Cheese & Herb Biscuits

2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1 Tbl chopped chives
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbl red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a food processor, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and the seasonings. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Throw the flour-butter mixture into a bowl and toss in cheese and chives. Stir in milk and vinegar until all is just moistened.

Knead the dough on a well floured surface for about a minute. Pat out until about an inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch round, or do as I do and use a kid's cup. Makes about 10 biscuits.

Menu Plan Monday 4/20/09

2009-04-20T09:18:00.003-05:00

Last week's menu went pretty well. I had to do some switching and cut one meal out and replaced it with something else due to time constraints and other things that came up. I really liked the Salisbury Steak recipe that I made with my adjustments - very easy and I think cube steak is a great option when making this dish. I also made a pretty mean biscuit from scratch. I'll post the recipe today, you can give it a try and see what you think ;)

On to this week!

Monday: Country Style Pork Ribs (crock pot), Homemade BBQ Beans, & Potato Salad
Tuesday: Chili & Cornbread
Wednesday: Stuffed Pork Chops, Corn & Salad
Thursday: Molten Hamburgers & Oven Fries
Friday: Sweet Potato Manicotti (I'm making this one up) & Salad

Menu Plan Monday 4/13/09

2009-04-13T14:55:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone who reads this had a wonderful Easter! I baked a ham and made a glaze out of apricot jam, brown sugar, mustard and some vinegar. I also made some cheesy potatoes which turned out really well. We had peas and of course, as is tradition in my family, my mom's orange rolls - they are SO good. They maybe in a post coming soon to a computer near you ;)

On to this week's menu:

Monday: Crock Pot Chicken, Wild Rice, & Salad
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas (using left over chicken), Black Beans, Chips & Salsa
Wednesday: Salisbury Steak (I'll be using cubed steak and adding mushrooms to this recipe) Mashed Potatoes, & Corn
Thursday: Parmesan Tilapia, Cous Cous, & Garlicky Green Beans
Friday: Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza & Salad