Monday Meal Planning 8.17.09

Hey! I’m actually doing this for once! It’s been a hell of a month, and I’m just finally starting to feel caught up. Or at least caught up enough to plan meals again. So, here we go!

Monday: Enchiladas, leftover Southwestern Black Bean Salad

One of Aaron’s main complaints about my cooking (not that he has many, nor should he since I provide him with healthy, delicious meals on a near-daily basis and he probably doesn’t want me to stop, which I might do if he complains), is that I cook so many different things, that he can’t remember what he liked. One recipe he does like, one I started making for him pretty early in our relationship, is my enchiladas. They’re really easy, full of flavor, and even have a couple of unusual ingredients as requested by him. I’ll post the recipe later (I’m trying to break things up so I have more (and more regular) content), and it’s so quick and easy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try them soon (except if you don’t eat meat, because they’re quite beefy).

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Salad

This was just a throw-together, but it was quite delicious. I used some chicken breasts that I basted in BBQ sauce while grilling, chopped it up, and served it on top of a salad made of romaine, corn, black beans, red onion, avocado, hard-boiled egg, and bacon. I topped mine with ranch, Aaron topped his with honey mustard dressing, and both were equally delicious.

Wednesday: Vegetarian Pot Stickers, Raw Beet & Carrot Slaw

After a day of failed cooking and baking yesterday (my ice cream failed to freeze – I don’t think I chilled it long enough – and we managed to burn a batch of cherry-almond blondies (which were still delicious, and you’ll get the recipe soon)), I was scared for the pot stickers, but they turned out amazingly delicious, as usual. My only edit to this recipe is that I use wonton wrappers. I put the filling in the middle of the wrapper, and then fold the wrapper in half, sealing the three edges. So, my pot stickers don’t really look like normal pot stickers, but that doesn’t mean they’re not really, really tasty. (Oh, and we also use sriracha instead of sambal in the dipping sauce, but I’m not sure it makes that much of a difference).

Also more delicious than I expected was the Raw Beet & Carrot Slaw. That recipe will be coming soon as well.

Thursday: Stuffed Pizza Rolls, Salad

A couple of weeks ago, Cassie sent me the link for a recipe on Our Best Bites, and I’ve been practically drooling over the site ever since. The stuffed pizza rolls made it to the top of my “to-try” list, and I made them this past weekend. To say they were a hit would be a little bit of an understatement, even if I did mess them up because I apparently suck at multiplying. Aaron loved them because I filled them with his favorite pizza toppings (ham and pineapple), and Gabbie loved dipping the cheese-only version I made for her in the tomato sauce (and then licking off the sauce and dipping them again, until she ran out of sauce, at which point she actually and finally ate the rolls). These were very good.

Friday: Hot Dogs w/Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce, Cucumber Salad, Pasta Salad

We (maybe embarrassingly) eat a lot of hot dogs and sausages around our place in the summer. Our usual is hot dogs with ketchup and onions (me), chili, onions, and mustard (Aaron), or a plain soy dog (Gabbie). However, sometimes the usual is just too boring to handle, so we need to try something different. Enter the recipe from Cassie’s site for hot dogs w/Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce. We loved it! And I keep thinking of other ways I can use up the sauce (see the above BBQ chicken), because it made quite a bit. Even Gabbie loved to dip her soy dog in the sauce. That kid is a dipping fool these days!