I need a vacation just to catch up on my blogging! So many things I want to blog about. Since I have a few minutes here's my menus for this week.
Sunday: Potluck with friends. Grilled rabbit was the main course (yum). We took calico beans.
Monday: Corn beef sandwiches (leftover corn beef from Saturday) with ranch bow tie pasta salad
Tuesday: Planned: Chicken leg quarters, noodles, and California mix
Actual: Cheese tortellini with chicken, roasted red pepper, and Alfredo sauce, California mix, and crescent rolls
Wednesday: Asian glazed tilapia and Asian salad
Thursday: Homemade pizza
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
MENUES 11-17 MARCH
Things have been a bit nutty and I didn't get any blogging done this week. Here's my menus we used for the past week. The picture above was taken in the fall. Our Mary Jane's Farm local group were privileged to be able to drive some antique tractors. I apparently did a good job driving initially because he had me drive out on the dirt road instead of just in circles. The shifting is a bit tricky on these so he did the shifting and we got to drive.
Sunday Brunch: French Toast & bacon.
I woke up with a migraine so it was a good thing Matt had planned to cook this day.
Monday: Cube steaks, mashed potatoes, gravy, and fried corn.
This was a pure comfort food day since I was dealing with the after effects of the migraine.
Tuesday: Italian chicken, broccoli and rice pilaf.
I put the chicken and broccoli in a roasting pan and added about 1/3 cup Italian dressing. Baked at 350' for an hour.
Wednesday: Venison steaks, asparagus, and crescent rolls.
Thursday: Taco Salad.
With the warm weather we've been having I'll be incorporating salads more.
Friday: Dinner out. It was my Captain's going away dinner and we were invited. Hibachi Grill. I had steak and lobster which was absolutely sublimely delicious. Matt had the steak and calamari, which was equally delicious. Neither of us have ever been to a hibachi style restaurant so it was a lot of fun and very entertaining experience. The Captain gave me a gift card that paid for most of our meal which is why we were able to eat a little better then we would without the gift card. It was a very nice gift for sure and much appreciated.
Monday, March 5, 2012
CHICKEN WITH THIS AND THAT
I love it when I can pull a meal together with random items found in my freezer or pantry. Last night I pulled out some chicken leg quarters (bought for 25c per pound!) to thaw in the fridge. When I got home I'd originally considered doing orange chicken but discovered when I went to grab some orange juice from the freezer that I didn't have any. What I did notice was a bag of white sparkling wine and a bag of tomato juice. Hmmmm - a play on chicken cacciatore came to mind. I dumped the chicken into my clay baker, tossed in a bag of frozen broccoli, and dumped both bags of frozen liquids in. I seasoned with salt, pepper, seasoned salt, and dried rosemary. I flipped the chicken over about half way through and mixed up the tomato juice and wine so it blended better and then drizzled over the chicken before putting it back into the oven. I served it up with some mashed potatoes and the last two dinner rolls I found in the back of the freezer. The whole meal probably cost me less then $3 for everything. There was no cost to the wine since I froze the last of a bottle that wasn't going to be finished off. The tomato juice was leftover from a chili making so no cost there either. I just have to remember to put these items in bags and freeze them instead of forgetting to save them. The one thing I would recommend would be freezing in ice cube trays instead of baggies if you can and then putting into baggies so you customize the amounts easier.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
BEER BRAISED BRATS
The other night was an easy meal night thankfully. My recovery has been very slow and the continued exhaustion irritates me to say the least so easy meal planning is a blessing. Temps dropped significant through the afternoon into the evening and Matt wasn't too excited about going out and grilling the brats. I'd seen a recipe a while back braising brats in a crockpot. It was too late to try using the crockpot so I winged it and decided to try it on the stovetop.
I used one of my cast iron pans that has a hinged lid on it. I put a touch of oil and a pat of butter in the pan and the lid. I then placed the brats in the lid portion to brown and tosssed 1/2 an onion and 1/2 of a green pepper into the pan. Once the onions and peppers were sauteed I took the brats and added them into the onion/pepper pan, poured about 1/2 can of beer over them, and put the lid on. I simmered these for 20 minutes, turning about every 10 minutes. I then took the lid off and simmered for another 10 minutes. The brats were absolutely delicious! We will definately be adding this recipe into our repetouire.
Side note: I placed my bun on top of the lid and toasted it up a bit.
SEMI-HOMEMADE MAC & CHEESE
Friday night's dinner was:
Pan-fried salmon
shells & cheese with truffle oil
home-canned green beans
homemade tartar sauce
I frequently get asked by people how we manage to make homemade meals like the one above on a nearly daily basis. They claim that they're too exhausted to cook after working all day and can't figure out how we manage it. I'll let you in on a secret - everything we make isn't totally homemade. I knew by Friday night we'd both be tired and not into cooking anything elaborate so I chose an easy meal plan. The salmon (wild caught) was purchased frozen at Aldi's, pulled out the night before to thaw and was quickly pan fried with some dill and lemon pepper. I also purchased a box of shells & cheese at Aldi's to which we added a small dribble of truffle oil to boost the flavor. Opened and heated up the green beans and we had an easy meal that took probably about 20 minutes to fix. Deciding on what type of pizza to order usually takes us longer then this meal did to prepare. Last night we also split up the cooking. While I was cooking and prepping the green beans and mac & cheese, Matt cooked the salmon which took probably about 5 minutes since the fillets were thin.
It wouldn't have made sense to make an entire batch of mac & cheese for a side dish just for this meal so boxed mac & cheese can be a handy pantry item. Depending on what it will be accompanying, there are a variety of items that can be added to pop the flavor and make it taste almost homemade.
* truffle oil - if you haven't tried truffle oil it is a huge pop of flavor and requires a very small amount to add a touch of gourmet taste
* bacon - take several pieces and chop into small slices then cook and sprinkle into the mac & cheese at the end - you might also want to sprinkle some on top
* broccoli - add about 1/2 cup chopped broccoli that's been steamed or you could add in to the pop with the pasta while the pasta is cooking (good use for leftover broccoli)
* bacon & broccoli - I'd probably cut the broccoli amount back to 1/4 so it doesn't overwhelm the bacon
* chopped green chilies - if you like spicy food add some chopped green chilies to taste
* sun-dried tomatoes - chop up a couple sun-dried tomatoes and add for color and taste
* add cheese - you can add a variety of additional cheeses such as smoked Gouda or sharp cheddar to change up the flavor of the cheese sauce
The options are endless. The bland mac & cheese suddenly isn't so bland any more. So rethink how you make basic things like mac & cheese and see if you can think of something to add to the dish to liven it up and make it more appealing.
Pan-fried salmon
shells & cheese with truffle oil
home-canned green beans
homemade tartar sauce
I frequently get asked by people how we manage to make homemade meals like the one above on a nearly daily basis. They claim that they're too exhausted to cook after working all day and can't figure out how we manage it. I'll let you in on a secret - everything we make isn't totally homemade. I knew by Friday night we'd both be tired and not into cooking anything elaborate so I chose an easy meal plan. The salmon (wild caught) was purchased frozen at Aldi's, pulled out the night before to thaw and was quickly pan fried with some dill and lemon pepper. I also purchased a box of shells & cheese at Aldi's to which we added a small dribble of truffle oil to boost the flavor. Opened and heated up the green beans and we had an easy meal that took probably about 20 minutes to fix. Deciding on what type of pizza to order usually takes us longer then this meal did to prepare. Last night we also split up the cooking. While I was cooking and prepping the green beans and mac & cheese, Matt cooked the salmon which took probably about 5 minutes since the fillets were thin.
It wouldn't have made sense to make an entire batch of mac & cheese for a side dish just for this meal so boxed mac & cheese can be a handy pantry item. Depending on what it will be accompanying, there are a variety of items that can be added to pop the flavor and make it taste almost homemade.
* truffle oil - if you haven't tried truffle oil it is a huge pop of flavor and requires a very small amount to add a touch of gourmet taste
* bacon - take several pieces and chop into small slices then cook and sprinkle into the mac & cheese at the end - you might also want to sprinkle some on top
* broccoli - add about 1/2 cup chopped broccoli that's been steamed or you could add in to the pop with the pasta while the pasta is cooking (good use for leftover broccoli)
* bacon & broccoli - I'd probably cut the broccoli amount back to 1/4 so it doesn't overwhelm the bacon
* chopped green chilies - if you like spicy food add some chopped green chilies to taste
* sun-dried tomatoes - chop up a couple sun-dried tomatoes and add for color and taste
* add cheese - you can add a variety of additional cheeses such as smoked Gouda or sharp cheddar to change up the flavor of the cheese sauce
The options are endless. The bland mac & cheese suddenly isn't so bland any more. So rethink how you make basic things like mac & cheese and see if you can think of something to add to the dish to liven it up and make it more appealing.
Monday, February 6, 2012
WEEKLY MENUS
I'm getting over bronchitis and pneumonia so I'm behind on a bunch of things. This past weekend I worked on the spare room again and have it pretty much packed up and neat. Today I dusted the living room and bedroom and swept and mopped the living room, bedroom, and hallway. It was a bit much and I was coughing quite a bit but it needed to be done. I rewarded myself with a nice foot soak.
Over the weekend I stopped at an estate sale. I haven't been to any type of sale in quite a while. I didn't see anything for myself but saw a lot of tools that I thought Matt might be interested in. We went out later and stopped so he could check it out. He found a bunch of tools and a metal toolbox that he bought. While looking through one of the rooms I found an box for a massaging foot bath. I was really disappointed when I picked it up to realize it was empty. I was rather surprised to see the foot bath sitting by a table as we were checking out. It looked brand new. The man assured me it wasn't any body's stash so I immediately grabbed it for $5. I was at Meijers later that night and they had the exact same one for $49. My chiropractor recommended a massaging foot massager for my plantar fascitis.
Last week I scored chicken leg quarters for $.25 lb / 20 lb. maximum so there will be a lot of chicken recipes.
Sunday: Terriyaki pork chops, scalloped potatoes, and green beans
Monday: Venison and barley soup and biscuits
Tuesday: Brats and macaroni salad
Wednesday: Venison stew and biscuits
Thursday: Chicken leg quarters, cheesy mashed potatoes, and carrots
Friday: Taco Salad
Saturday: Chicken enchiladas and salad
Over the weekend I stopped at an estate sale. I haven't been to any type of sale in quite a while. I didn't see anything for myself but saw a lot of tools that I thought Matt might be interested in. We went out later and stopped so he could check it out. He found a bunch of tools and a metal toolbox that he bought. While looking through one of the rooms I found an box for a massaging foot bath. I was really disappointed when I picked it up to realize it was empty. I was rather surprised to see the foot bath sitting by a table as we were checking out. It looked brand new. The man assured me it wasn't any body's stash so I immediately grabbed it for $5. I was at Meijers later that night and they had the exact same one for $49. My chiropractor recommended a massaging foot massager for my plantar fascitis.
Last week I scored chicken leg quarters for $.25 lb / 20 lb. maximum so there will be a lot of chicken recipes.
Sunday: Terriyaki pork chops, scalloped potatoes, and green beans
Monday: Venison and barley soup and biscuits
Tuesday: Brats and macaroni salad
Wednesday: Venison stew and biscuits
Thursday: Chicken leg quarters, cheesy mashed potatoes, and carrots
Friday: Taco Salad
Saturday: Chicken enchiladas and salad
Saturday, February 4, 2012
NEW COMPUTER
I've been fighting bronchitis and pneumonia for the past three weeks. I was finally able to get out and buy a new computer today so I can use Blogger again. I will attempt to get a post up in the next day or two. Hopefully I can get this blog back on track again.
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