Monday Meal Planning 8.6.12

Although we were out of town for the weekend, and that usually precludes me from assembling a meal plan for the coming week, I actually had a chance to put together a plan while stuck under a sleeping toddler yesterday afternoon. She was so exhausted from all the fun we had on Saturday that I couldn't keep her awake no matter how hard I tried. Then, when we got home, the September issue of Food Network Magazine was in our mail box, and so I edited a little as I looked through the magazine.

Here's what we're eating this week!

Monday: Chicken with Arugula Pesto

Gabbie wanted chicken for dinner, and this recipe looked fantastic, so it took the first place in our meal plan for the week.

Tuesday: Blackened Tilapia with Black-Eyed-Pea Salad, Baked Sweet Potatoes

Aaron and the girls really like fish, and I'm trying to like it, so we've decided to incorporate one fish dinner per week into our menu. Last week we had some fantastic salmon with lemon butter caper sauce (I actually went back for seconds, it was so good), and so I thought we'd try this recipe for our fish dinner this week.

Wednesday: Taco Rice

A family favorite, that we haven't had in a while. I'm looking forward to it this week!

Thursday: Grilled Brats, Broccoli, and French Fries

Simple, delicious grilled meal for Aaron to prepare while I'm out running.

Friday: Bacon Pizza Pasta, Salad

I've been eyeing this recipe for a couple of weeks now. It's actually supposed to be cooler this weekend, so it is the perfect chance to try it out!

I haven't decided on meals for Saturday or Sunday, yet, and chances are we'll actually be out and about so I won't have to cook (bonus!).

Monday Meal Planning 1.6.12

I don't know what it is about 2012, but both my husband and I have started out this new year with renewed motivation. However, this has led to schedules that are way more crazy-busy than normal. This is also conference abstract season, which means I'm doing a heck of a lot more writing than normal, and, due to a very sad and unfortunate situation at work I'm possibly taking on a little heavier workload than normal for a couple of months. (Oh, and my favorite member of my team is taking on another, well-deserved role in our program, but that means I have to hire another person, and that takes months too, so even more work.)

So, what this all means is that I am having to find meals to make that are even quicker than usual. There are a couple repeats on this menu from last week, because I made last minute substitutions a couple of times when I wasn't in the mood for what we were planning on eating that night. (We had cheeseburger salad instead of squash, and spaghetti and turkey meatballs instead of tomato soup.)

On to the plan!

Monday: Broccoli Cheese Soup (half recipe), and fruit
Tuesday: Salsa Verde Chicken tacos (using my Foodie Penpals salsa from Elizabeth) and refried beans
Wednesday: Tomato Parmesan Soup, salad, fruit
Thursday: Butternut Squash Coconut Curry, Naan
Friday: Homemade Pizza (I'm thinking of doing something different this time using some fun ingredients from my pantry)
Saturday: Pappardelle Bolognese, Salad, No-Knead Bread
Sunday (brunch): Piggy Pudding (an old favorite that I haven't made in a long while - Aaron will be super excited!), smoothies

Monday Meal Planning 1.2.12

Today is the last day of my 11 straight days off of work, and I am growing increasingly sad about this. I think that calls for a warm, homey meal tonight and quick, easy meals for the rest of the week, don't you?

Here's what we're eating this week!

Monday: Clean out the fridge soup, a salad, and pretzel rolls

We have so many little bits of leftovers from the past week or so, and they are just begging to be added to a big pot of soup. This one will probably contain: chicken and apple sausages, diced tomatoes in juice, chicken stock, red and green peppers, diced onion, carrots, celery, garlic, beans, and rice or pasta to be added at the end.

Tuesday: Spicy Thai Noodles, steamed broccoli

I pinned these a while ago and have been wanting to eat them ever since. This is my week!

Wednesday: Cheeseburger Salad

From The Pioneer Woman. I think that about says it all.

Thursday: Brinner

I think we'll be having breakfast burritos for brinner this week: eggs, sausage, peppers, onions, salsa, hash browns, and cheddar all wrapped up in a flour tortilla (or separated out for the kiddos).

Friday: Homemade pepperoni pizza, raw vegetables and fruit

We have some sandwich-sized pepperoni, which I think will be fun on this pizza. On mine I'll add either black olives or tomatoes and banana peppers.

Saturday: Balsamic Roasted Chicken, basic parmesan risotto, steamed broccoli

Sunday: Leftovers

We've been doing a big breakfast on Sundays as our main meal, and then snacking or eating leftovers the rest of the day. This is how my mom did things when I was growing up, and it seems to be a nice way to round out the weekend. I understand why she did this now. :)

And now that I'm all done typing this, I'm starving. Good thing it's just about lunch time!

Monday Meal Planning 11.21.11

I both love (3-day work week!) and hate (I can't believe November is almost over!) that Thanksgiving is this week. We'll be making the trek down to Ann Arbor yet again (we've gone at least once a week since early this month) to spend the day with family. I can't wait to dig in to all that great food! In the meantime, though, here's what we're planning to eat this week:

Monday: Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos, Not-So-Quick Spicy Rice

These are a big hit with everyone in the family. Even Sophie gets one, except hers just has sweet potatoes with a side of unseasoned, smushed beans. As unappealing as that sounds, she LOVES it. She has finally decided to eat real people food and is happy to try anything and everything that's placed in front of her. Ask me how she feels about pumpkin pie! (Hint: It disappeared in no time flat.) The rice is not-so-quick because I've been using brown rice lately. The family is not so hot on the brown rice version, but I'll win them over eventually!

Tuesday: Hot Browns, Broccoli

I make a variation on the above similar to what my mom has always made with leftover turkey (and, I hear, the same as my grandma used to make). We had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Aaron's mom's mom on Saturday, so I have leftover turkey to use even before the actual holiday this week. I'll hopefully post the recipe later this week, but it's basically an open-faced turkey, bacon, tomato sandwich with a beer-cheese sauce over top. It's good enough that I look forward to this once-yearly meal all year, and am very, very sad if there's no leftover turkey to use.

Wednesday: Taco Chicken

I wanted an easy meal for the evening before Thanksgiving, as I'll be making pies and an appetizer, and didn't want to have too much extra mess around.

Thursday: The Big Day!

I always make pie for Thanksgiving with Aaron's family, because if I don't they're stuck with store-bought pie, and I'm of the belief that everyone should be able to deal with making pie at least once per year, and this is the perfect day for it. (Also, I make pie on the regular, because it's really not that hard.) This year I'm bringing the standard pumpkin, as well as apple-cranberry-raisin, and a banoffee pie!

In addition to the pies, dinner is always about 2 hours later to the table than estimated, so I am thinking ahead this year and bringing some artichoke dip and crackers to snack on so I don't starve waiting for dinner (while smelling all those delicious foods cooking - it nearly kills me every time)!

Friday: Pierogis, Chicken Sausages, and Green Beans

Another easy, comfort food-type dinner. My favorite kind!

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Sunday: ???

This is the start of my birthday week, and I'm hoping for a few dinners out (and that this will be one of them)!

Monday Meal Planning 10.17.11

My life has become so out-of-control crazy busy lately, that I have to admit that I am incredibly proud of myself for continuing to cook a dinner for my family nearly every night. Especially since what I really want to do is crawl into bed, throw the covers over my head, and hide, but that's neither here nor there. Onto the meals for this week!

Monday: Wild rice stuffed acorn squash, bread, salad
Tuesday: Grilled chicken breasts, macaroni and cheese, roasted purple cauliflower
Wednesday: Taco Rice
Thursday: Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, salad
Friday: Pizza and salad
Saturday: Butternut Squash Enchiladas, Quick Spicy Rice
Sunday: Chicago dogs, french fries, roasted beets

Monday Meal Planning 9.19.11

Just a quick list this week - September is about to swallow me whole!

Monday: Chicken Fajitas and quick spicy rice
Tuesday: Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches, fries, watermelon
Wednesday: Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic, and Kale (except with swiss chard this time)
Thursday: Chicken Strips, green beans, watermelon
Friday: Homemade pizza - individual style (i.e. everyone gets to top their own) - I cannot believe that this is the first time I've posted this link here. I love this pizza dough and it makes a pizza that I think is better than any takeout or delivery we can get near our house. So yummy!
Saturday: Dinner w/Aaron's family - I'll probably take a dessert as usual. Peach pie sounds fantastic.
Sunday: ??? I've been leaving Sunday dinner up to Aaron lately, so who knows what we'll end up with this week. I'm fully expecting something grilled; he wants to use up the last of our propane before grilling season is over.

Monday Meal Planning 8.22.11

Last week was a week of easy, dad-doable meals like sloppy joes, hot dogs, french fries, and macaroni and cheese, because I was out of town for most of the week. Then we were bad and ate out all weekend (except for breakfasts; I  made awesome breakfasts), so I'm forcing us to eat in all week, using all the wonderful produce we have from the CSA,the meat we have stocked in our freezer, and ingredients from my overflowing pantry. Even though I'm (really not, because I have a lot) limited to what I have on hand, we're eating pretty well.

Monday: Aloo Gobhi, vegetable rice, naan (and possibly baba ganoush to use up an eggplant before it goes bad)

I'm making the rice slightly more fancy than plain basmati, because I have a feeling Gabbie won't eat the cauliflower and potatoes. I'll start by sauteing onions in butter, use broth instead of water to steam the rice, and add in carrots, peas, and possibly corn to give it a little more nutritional punch. Because otherwise, my carb loving child would eat just bread and rice, and I just can't let that happen.

Tuesday: Stuffed zucchini, bread, fruit salad

We're down to our last gargantuan zucchini, and I plan to stuff the whole thing (it's seriously about 18 inches long) with all sorts of tasty vegetables and sausage. Aaron didn't notice the turkey sausage last time, but I'm a little wary of buying any right now due to recent ground turkey recalls, so he gets the full fat version this time. Really, though, it's only about 1/2 a pound at the most that I usually put in, so it could be worse.

Wednesday: Pepperocini beef sandwiches, sweet potato fries, cole slaw

There was a buy-one-get-one sale on roasts at the store last week, so I have 4 roasts to use up now (it ended up being about $2 per pound, I really couldn't pass it up!). I also have a jar and a half of pepperocinis in the fridge, so this works out perfectly. I've been making my sweet potato fries seasoned lately, using paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and they're fantastic.

Thursday: Marinated hot dogs, potato salad, fresh vegetables and dip

I read about marinated hot dogs a while ago, and was completely intrigued, so they're on the menu this week. I'm also making Aaron's grandma's recipe for potato salad, and if she told me the truth and it works out, I'll share the recipe. She's famous for leaving out "the secret ingredient," so you can understand why I'm feeling a little dubious.

Friday: Baked sweet potato and black bean burritos, quick spicy rice cheesified

I was looking for a second vegetarian recipe to add for the week, and these just look fantastic, plus they got great reviews, so they're going on here. I made a "cheesified" (TM Aaron) version of my quick spicy rice last weekend, and it was a hit, so I'll probably make it to go with these. Basically, I made the rice, then mixed it with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and a little softened butter, and baked it for 20 minutes, and then we all devoured the entire caserole dish worth in ten minutes flat (we had help from my parents and sister, lest you think we are complete gluttons).

Saturday: Pasta with pepperoni sauce, foccacia, salad

This is what you make when you have plenty of pepperoni and pizza dough left over from recent pizza making experiences, and a sick-of-pizza husband. (I really think he's just sick of the mess I make when I make pizza. I manage to get corn meal everywhere, I admit.)

Sunday: ???

Either leftovers, brinner, or a last minute, what do we have that needs to be used type meal. Or beer can chicken, because I've really been wanting to make that.

Monday Meal Planning 7.25.11

We are back! We survived camping and had three fun meals made over the camp fire (and then got rained out and had to leave a night early, but still! Fun!). We didn't get extremely creative this time (hot dogs, s'mores, bacon and eggs, biscuits and grilled cheese in the pie iron), but we will definitely be heading out again sometime soon and I'll try some more adventurous campfire meals next time.

Since we didn't get home until about 9:00 last night, we still have most of our unpacking to do, so the week starts out slow, food-wise. However, my parents shared some of their garden bounty with us, so I can't wait to cook those amazingly fresh vegetables.

Here goes:

Monday: Grilled BBQ chicken, dilly potatoes, and carrots

Usually I peel and slice the potatoes for our foil packet dinners, but since I have a bunch of new red potatoes, I'm just going to wash and quarter them before adding butter, fresh dill, and salt. I'm going to try baby carrots in a foil packet tonight too, topped with butter, honey, and salt. I can't wait to see how these turn out!

Tuesday: Stuffed zucchini and rice pilaf

My parents had some huge zucchinis already, so I took one and we're filling it with all kinds of good stuff (except I'm using turkey sausage instead of regular - shh...don't tell Aaron!)

Wednesday: Spicy Garlic and Lime Black Bean Enchiladas, corn bread

I usually make some sort of rice to go on the side of Mexican dishes, but since there's rice in these enchiladas, I'm going to try corn bread or something similar on the side.

Thursday: Cowboy Quesadillas, chips and guacamole

This will use up any leftover BBQ chicken from Monday, and any leftver black beans from Wednesday. That's what a call a win-win kind of dinner!

Friday: Pizza Rolls, fresh vegetables, fruit salad

I've been making pizza of some sort every Friday that we're home lately, and this week I'm using some dough I have frozen for pizza rolls. I'm filling mine with pepperoni and black olives, Gabbie's will have straight up pepperoni, and I'm guessing Aaron will want his favorite - ham and pineapple. I love that these can make all three of us happy in one baking dish!

Saturday: Out

I have actually been really good with making and sticking to meal plans lately. In fact, we've only been out to eat twice in the past two weeks, which is pretty good for us (this includes lunches!). So, of course, I want to reward myself for being so good by heading out and ruining my streak. I'm totally craving Asian food of some sort, so I'll have to convince the rest of the family that they are craving it too.

Sunday: Dinner with the extended family

Once a month Aaron's family gets together at his grandparents' house for dinner. We've promised to make it to this one (we actually got more than a couple of days notice for this one, so we can plan accordingly), so I don't have to plan dinner for Sunday. However, I do have to make a pie, because that's one of the main reasons his family likes me (besides my winning personality and ability to create adorable babies, of course), and his grandpa gets disappointed if I show up without one of my "famous" pies (famous only to them). This week will probably be cherry crumb, since they're so delicious right now.

Monday Meal Planning 5.2.11

Now that it’s May, I feel like the weight of a winter coat has been lifted off of me. I’m all kinds of crazy motivated, which resulted in our house being much more of a mess today than it was on Friday. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but what happened is that I wanted to organize everything (much more than I had time to organize, what with two little girls who decided they wanted to be on Mommy all day yesterday) so I took everything out and have yet to put everything away, all re-organized like.

This included my pantry, so has turned into a minimal-grocery shopping week, meaning all we had to purchase was milk, fruit, and a few veggies. I like minimal-grocery shopping weeks.

Also, we bought a grill this weekend, so it’s a meat and veggies for meals type week.

Monday: Chicken Kabobs, Evolution Carrot Salad, Asparagus

For the world’s easiest chicken kabobs, I marinate chunks of chicken breast or tenders in Italian dressing for 30 minutes to an hour before threading on skewers to put on the grill. We also skewered up some grape tomatoes and chunks of onion.

P.S. The evolution carrot salad is amazing, and you can add as many or as few of the extras as you want. We went with mint, clementines, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, and some almonds. Delicious!

Tuesday: Clean out the pantry soup, salad, hot pimento cheese and crackers

This week the soup will contain: chicken broth, lentils, tomatoes (from the batch I froze in the fall), spinach, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and whatever else catches my eye and needs to be used up.

Also the hot pimento cheese? Awesomeness in a bowl. Make it.

Wednesday: Spicy pulled pork tacos with homemade tortillas and all the fixin’s, rice pilaf

I cannot wait to try these tortillas. Cannot. Wait.

Thursday: Barbeque chicken, cucumber salad, evolution potato salad

We have some bone-in chicken breast halves in the freezer that are just begging to be grilled and topped with some homemade Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce, also in the freezer.

Friday: Grilled pizza

Another thing I have been wanting to try for FOR. EV. ER. I have no idea what I’ll top it with, but I’m sure I’ll find something. (Actually I want mine brushed with garlic oil and topped with black olives and feta, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only person in the house who will eat it that way. We also like this version, and I think that with halved grape tomatoes instead of the romas and adding the olives in my salad, we’ll be all set.)

Saturday: Leftovers

We’re planning on some major house cleaning this weekend in preparation for my husband’s big birthday blow-out the next weekend, so I’m sure I won’t want to cook. Plus it’s my mother’s day gift to myself to not have to cook this weekend.

Sunday: Cheeseburgers, fries, fruit salad with yogurt dip, and some sort of pie

This is what I’ve planned for my family to make me for Mother’s Day (along with some sort of breakfast in bed, of course). However, I’ll probably have to make the pie, but that’s fine with me. I’m thinking maybe some sort of strawberry/cream cheese pie. YUM!

Toddler Lunch Ideas
Monday: Waffles, yogurt, mixed berries
Tuesday: Leftover grilled chicken, rice, peas, mango
Wednesday: Cheese, crackers, green smoothie, carrots
Thursday: Pulled pork, tortilla, cheese, cucumbers
Friday: Bean and cheese quesadilla, carrots, banana

(Also posted on I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday post)

Monday Meal Planning - 3.14.11

I was planning for this, my first week back to work full-time, to be a crazy week, but it's already proving to be more crazy than I had planned. To say this morning was hectic would be a drastic understatement. I was actually relieved to get to work this morning so I could relax, as weird as that sounds.

Our meal plan has already been revised due to the hectic morning (no time to even throw dinner in the slow cooker), but it should still be a delicious week!

Monday: Brinner

We bought farm fresh eggs on Saturday, plus we have some local, thick cut bacon, and fresh homemade sourdough bread (I can't wait to post about my starter). You can't really have a bad meal with those items at your disposal! Add in some hash browns and fruit salad, and I'm already ready for dinnertime.

Tuesday: Pearl Couscous "Risotto" with Butternut Squash, Salad

I bought a really big butternut squash, apparently, because we have enough left over from last week to make another vegetarian dish this week.

Wednesday: Italian Chicken Sausage and Mushroom Pizza

I have a pizza dough started, using my starter, and I can't wait to see how this crust turns out! We also usually use this recipe for sauce, and definitely will use it this week. Typing out our meal plan is making me HUNGRY!

Thursday: Corned Beef Brisket with Veggies, Irish Soda Bread

I'm curing my own corned beef (using this recipe from Foodmomiac), but adapting it to cook in the crockpot along with the veggies, and adding in a can of Guinness stout to the cooking liquid. I wanted to make this for St. Patty's Day last year, but for some reason I wasn't feeling up to handling raw meat, and the spices sounded horrible to me. A year, and one 3 month old baby later, I now know why!

Friday: Take Out

We're heading to my parents' house for the weekend (Sophie is being baptised at my parents' church), so we'll probably have pizza or Chinese, as is my parents' Friday night tradition.

Saturday: My Dad is making ribs!

Sunday: Brunch

Our big meal on Sunday will be a post-baptism brunch. I'm thinking some sort of egg casserole , cinnamon rolls, and fruit salad. Possibly also a cake, we'll see. Although I love my recipe for cinnamon rolls, I equally love the Pioneer Woman's recipe, and due to transportation issues with my dough I'll probably make her's instead (half the recipe though; we don't need quite as many as the whole recipe makes).

Toddler Lunch Ideas

We're being more organized when it comes to Gabbie's lunches lately (getting two kids ready and out the door in the morning is quite the undertaking!), so I'll start posting these here again.

Monday: Chips and salsa, cheese cubes, mandarin oranges
Tuesday: Waffle, strawberries, yogurt
Wednesday: Pretzels, sliced ham, sliced cheese, mango
Thursday: Quesadilla, peas, strawberries
Friday: Leftover Corned Beef, carrots, yogurt

Monday Meal Planning 11.15.10

When I sat down to plan our meals for the week yesterday morning, I could not think of a single thing to put on the list. That rarely happens to me, as there are usually a few recipes I'm dying to try. So I surfed around the 'net for a while, then I surfed around my archives for a while, and I managed to put together several recipes that should suffice. This whole thing is made doubly hard since I can barely fit any food in my stomach lately, as it's being squished by the baby. Being able to only take a bite or five of food kind of kills my will to cook. However, there's the whole having a family to feed thing that takes precedence, so I will soldier on.

Monday: Taco Rice

Quick and easy tonight since we have tumbling class. I saw this recipe a few weeks ago and then again yesterday when I was surfing for ideas, and it sounds like some amazing comfort food. Now I just have to try to avoid mixing the rice with melted butter, sour cream, and cheddar cheese before adding the toppings, even though I think that sounds totally better.

Tuesday: Pot Stickers and Sesame Noodles, Edamame

We still have pot stickers in the freezer (I apparently made a HUGE batch), so we'll be eating those with a side of sesame noodles. I'm halving the recipe for the noodles because it takes us forever to make it through a whole pound of them.

Wednesday: Coconut Curry Butternut Squash, Rice, Naan

We have approximately a dozen butternut squashes (plus assorted other squash) from our CSA so it's time to start using them up. This recipe has become a total comfort food in our house because it's so good and filling.

Thursday: Egg Salad Melts, Fruit

I didn't get to these last week, but the craving is strong so they WILL be happening this week.

Friday: Leftovers/Take-out

Saturday: Pizza

I still haven't gotten around to making this pizza recipe, but it needs to happen soon, and I'm thinking Saturday will be the perfect day for it. I'm planning to top it with pepperoni and black olives (my current favorite topping combination).

Sunday: Something in the crock pot.

I haven't decided what to make for Sunday yet, but there are a few possibilities, including Italian Pot Roast, Split Pea Soup, and Jamaican Red Bean Stew

And now, for Toddler Lunch Ideas:

(As an aside, do you know what kills me? It's when my child will scarf something down at dinner time, eating second and even third servings, and then when I send the same thing to lunch for her two days later, she won't even touch it. I just don't get it.)

Monday: Bagel and cream cheese, mandarin oranges, peas
Tuesday: Soy dog, cheese slice, carrot sticks, grapes
Wednesday: Grilled cheese, green pepper slices, strawberries
Thursday: Edamame, naan slices, yogurt, sliced peaches
Friday: English muffin pizza, yogurt, fruit strip

Our Very Serious Problem

I have an admission to make, but it's not exactly shocking. It's probably pretty common, even. My admission is this: I love pizza. I do! I love plain cheese pizza, supreme pizza, and every kind in between. Thin crust, regular crust, deep dish, Chicago style (especially Chicago style); I love it all.

But I, or rather we the people living in our house, have a problem: there are no good delivery places near where we live. Sure, a new place with pizza that is fairly edible just opened up and I LOVE their cheeseburger pizza, but they're also very expensive, so it's only a sometimes treat. There are a couple of decent pick-up places semi-nearby, but I like my pizza hot, steaming hot even, so I either have to commit to eating there or deal with cold pizza if I want something from them. And I really, strongly prefer hot pizza.

To combat this problem, we've tried making pizza at home, but nothing has been quite what we're looking for. We found a pizza sauce recipe we really like (it's seriously delicious - try it!), but we haven't been able to master the crust or toppings.  What I really want are two good recipes - one regular crust and one deep dish - to add to my repertoire so I don't have to deal with crappy pizza any more.

The other day I was reading Serious Eats, because I love that blog and Slice is a blog all about pizza (um, don't go there if you're hungry), so of course I was reading over there. (I seriously am considering installing a wood burning pizza oven in my back yard one day in the not too distant future because of that blog.) Anyway, while I was reading, I came across this: New York Style Pizza. It looks fantastic, and it looks like it will end up being made in my kitchen someday very, very soon.

I really hope this turns out to be as spectacular as I think it will. Now, off to look for the deep dish recipe of my dreams.

Monday Meal Planning 9.20.10

Another Monday is here and even though I'm completely sick of spending my evenings making meals that my toddler REFUSES TO EAT, I still have a meal plan ready to go. We tried to do a mix of "Things that Gabbie Will Eat" (which changes from moment to moment) and "Things that Mom and Dad Like" which does not include things like plain rice separated from plain peas. I mean, those things are okay and all, but I prefer a little more flavor in my meals.

(Can you tell it was a difficult weekend eating-wise?)

Anyway, on to the plan!

Monday: Swiss Chard Stew, Rice, Naan, Fruit Salad

We have a beautiful bunch of swiss chard from our CSA share last week, and this recipe is perfect for using up a lot of swiss chard. Both Aaron and I have been craving Indian food for a while and instead of dealing with another infuriating toddler/restuarant trip, we thought we'd make a few meals at home (hence why there's two Indian-style meals this week).

Tuesday: Pasta with Smoky Bacon and Pea Sauce, salad

We didn't get to this last week because we never made the trip to the specialty butcher to get the pancetta. Aaron picked some up on Saturday morning for two reasons - one, the meatballs I made on Saturday contain pancetta, and those were a much higher priority, and two, the specialty butcher is also the best place to buy a six pack of micro-brews. Priorities! He has them!

Wenesday: Three Packet Pot Roast, Fruit Salad

Last winter I made this pot roast a few times and Gabbie couldn't get enough of it. Unfortunately Aaron is not fond of pot roast, to say the least, so I don't get to make it as often as I'd like. This one is so easy and delicious, and I can't wait to dive in on Wednesday night!

Thursday: Indian Style Curry with Potatoes, Caulflower, and Chickpeas, Rice Pilaf

I asked Aaron for a meal idea to make up for the pot roast, and his answer was "Something Indian-ish with Cauliflower." I had just downloaded the Cooks Illustrated app for my phone, and when I searched for cauliflower, this came up. We'll try it and see how it goes. It certainly sounds delicious!

Friday: Beef Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Salad

The purpose of these is to use up the pot roast leftovers, since my usual leftover eater is certain not to touch them with a ten foot pole. He loves these enchiladas, however, so it's a win-win!

Saturday: Chicago Style Pizza, Antipasta, Fruit Platter

Lately I have been dreaming of the pizza I ate at Pizza Due in Chicago last year, once during each of my two Chicago trips, and I decided it's high time to try to make something similar at home. Now, I just need to find a good recipe.

Toddler Lunch Ideas
Due to aforementioned crappy eating this weekend, Gabbie is restricted to healthy choices (aka no treats or ice cream), with her only sweet choices being yogurt and fruit. Not that this makes a big difference to what she eats for lunch, since we don't usually serve up treats at lunch time. We've decided that the best we can do is offer her a variety of healthy choices and hopefully she'll learn that if she's hungry she has to eat what's available to her, and also that there aren't rewards for eating your dinner except that you are full.

Monday: Soy Dog, Broccoli, Cheese, Banana
Tuesday: Bean and Cheese Quesadilla, Carrot Sticks, Mandarin Oranges
Wednesday: Cheese, Crackers, Raisins, Kiwi
Thursday: English Muffin Pizza, Broccoli, Yogurt
Friday: Pot Roast Leftovers, Roll, Kiwi

Monday Meal Planning 6.28.10

This week is going to be more than a little crazy, so recipes we've planned are quick, easy, and pretty much dictated by my recent cravings. Being pregnant has it's perks; all I have to do is say I'm craving something and no one complains about the plan for that day.

Monday: BBQ Pork, Cole Slaw, fresh veggies

I made so much pork last week that we're still eating it this week. That's fine, though, because it's delicious! The bonus this week will be some pickles that I just bought for an extra side.

Tuesday: Prosciutto Pasta, Roasted Green Beans

So, the one craving that's been a constant my entire pregnancy so far? Green beans. I want them all the time. Luckily I love my family enough to not make them eat green beans at every meal. They can deal with once a week, and it gives me something to look forward to.

Wednesday: New York Dogs, Sweet Potato Fries

Based on this month's Food Network Magazine feature, New York dogs are steamed hot dogs (we'll probably boil then pan fry ours), topped with saurkraut and spicy brown mustard. Yes please! Pickles on the side again with these.

Thursday: Pan Braised Chicken with Chimichurri, Rice Pilaf, fresh peas from my parents' garden

(I would totally make the skirt steak linked to with the chimichurri sauce, but I can't deal with well-done steak, so I'll happily wait until after September for medium-rare goodness.)

Friday: Pizza and fresh veggies

Again, using the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe, and I'm going to give this sauce recipe a try. Toppings will be whatever leftover veggies or meats we have in the fridge (although, right now, sausage and mushroom pizza sounds pretty darn good). We might also make something with our CSA share for the week (so excited its finally starting!).

Monday Meal Planning 6.21.10

Woohoo! It's the first day of summer! I don't know if you can tell, but I'm pretty darn excited! I also am feeling so much better these days, now that about 90% of the first trimester yuckiness is gone, and so I've been much better about cooking again. We're still on our kick of trying to reduce the amount of food we end up throwing away, so this week is full of meals that get double duty, with the leftovers from one meal showing up again in another meal. One last thing before I get to the plan: Our CSA finally starts next week and I could not be more excited. Be prepared for lots and lots of vegetables showing up in our plan soon (even more than normal; I know!).

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken, Green Beans, 60 Minute Rolls

If I were really on top of things this week I would have made my own "fauxtisserie" chicken. Alas, I am not quite back up to 100% yet, so straight from the store it is. Plus I usually only make those when whole chickens are on sale, and I haven't seen them on sale for a while now. We're roasting the green beans this week instead of steaming them (that way we can get away with telling Gabbie they're green bean "fries" and she'll eat a ton of them (hopefully)), and I promise, promise, promise I will share my rolls recipe this week. Promise! They're so good and easy.

Tuesday: Cold Sesame Noodles, Egg Rolls

I'll make the noodles tonight so they'll be ready for dinner when we get home tomorrow. The egg rolls are of the frozen variety, which work just fine for me! Although, Aaron will probably convince me to let him pick up egg rolls from our favorite Chinese restaurant, because they're just so much better.

Wednesday: Spicy Shredded Pork, Tortillas and taco fixings, Spanish Rice

Aaron requests this pretty much every week, but I only give in about once every month or so. He's lucky this week, because he's getting exactly what he wants. This recipe has topped our previous favorite smoky beef tacos on his list of favorite Mexican dishes I make.

Thursday: BBQ Chicken Pizza, Salad

For the pizza I'll use The Pioneer Woman's pizza crust recipe, and top it with bbq sauce, shredded leftover rotisserie chicken, thinly sliced red onion, a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, and top it with green onions when it comes out of the oven. I cannot wait to dig into this!

Friday: Pulled Pork and Coleslaw Sandwiches, cucumber salad

I know, barbeque two days in a row. I guess my excuse is I'm dragging our Father's Day celebration out into a week-long man-pleasing-food party. We'll mix the leftover pork with BBQ sauce, and throw it on a bun with some cole slaw. Man, I love that combination! Slightly spicy and vinegary tender meat, plus the creamy sweet crunch of the cole slaw. Food heaven, I swear.

Saturday: Vegetable Jalfrezi, Basmati Rice

I have been craving a good curry lately, and I'm really hoping this one fits the bill. It looks fantastic, and reading the recipe leaves me practically drooling, so I'm really looking forward to making this. Mmmm....

Monday Meal Planning 5.31.10

Oh, my goodness, has it been a long time since I've made (and subsequently stuck to) a meal plan, but this week I am determined! It's a week full of extra-curricular activities, but I'm not going to let that stop me. We have been doing a horrible job of cooking at home and eating real dinners, and it's time for that to change.

On to the plan...

Monday: Refried bean dip, tortilla chips, watermelon

This is a quick and easy dinner since we just got back from being away on an impromptu trip to my parents' house. My favorite recipe is a cold dip in which you layer ingredients as such: refried beans, creamy taco sauce (equal amounts (or slightly more sour cream) sour cream and mayonnaise and taco seasoning to taste), shredded cheddar cheese, chopped iceberg lettuce, and diced tomato. So easy and it lasts forever too, so we'll have lunch for tomorrow as well.

Tuesday: Baked potato bar and roasted zucchini spears

Another quick and easy dinner; I'll just throw the potatoes in the oven when I get home and dinner will be mostly ready when Aaron gets home. Toppings I usually include on the bar are: butter, sour cream, seasoning salt, cheddar, green onions, chopped bacon, and salsa.

Wednesday: Pizza Rolls and Salad

We'll make the pizza rolls using this whole wheat pizza dough that I mixed up, and whatever toppings everyone prefers (Gabbie prefers just cheese, I like pepperoni and mushrooms, and Aaron likes ham and pineapple).

Thursday: Pierogis, sausages,  and steamed green beans

We're on the hunt this week for a nitrate-free sausage to eat with our meal, but it seems to be hard to find around here. A special trip to one of my favorite specialty stores may be in order, and I never mind that.

Friday: Stuffed portobello mushrooms and roasted asparagus

I haven't decided on a recipe yet, I just know that I have a major mushroom craving lately and I'm making sure it's satisfied at least once this week.

Monday Meal Planning 3.15.10

I was looking in my refrigerator yesterday, trying to decide what to eat for lunch, and I realized that we have way too much food in our house to justify shopping for anything other than a few staples. So I challenged myself to cook for an entire week using just what we have in our refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Even without shopping, we're going to be eating extremely well this week.

We also had a few things come up last week that pre-empted some of the planned meals so there are a few repeats this week from last week's plan.

Monday: Lentil Barley Burgers with Firey Fruit Salsa, Roasted Broccoli

Tuesday: Ravioli Toss, Bread

Wednesday: Pad Thai with Shrimp, Spring Rolls

Thursday: Brinner - Strawberry Shortcake French Toast

Friday: Pizza, Salad

Saturday: Creamy Pasta with Peas and Bacon

Sunday: Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa, Israeli Couscous Pilaf

Some delicious things I've made that I forgot to write about

Sometimes, like now, when I'm writing dozens of pages a day at work, I just don't really feel like putting together a long, cohesive post. And, even though I haven't blogged here much lately, that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I have! Promise!

Here are some things I made that were pretty darn good:

Tomato sauce with onion and butter

This was amazingly simple and I'm keeping a can of whole tomatoes in my pantry at all times from now on so that I can make it whenever I want. It doesn't have many ingredients, but it's fine just the way it is.

The Pioneer Woman's Pizza Crust

We made a couple of delicious pizzas using this crust (each batch makes enough for two pizzas). I couldn't get it to slide nicely onto my pizza stone the first time (see pizza that ended up as a calzone) so now I assemble it on parchment paper and cook it on the stone on the paper. If you want a crispy bottom crust, slide the paper out from underneath for the last few minutes of baking. So easy and good!

My favorite of the pizzas we made used the leftover tomato sauce from the recipe above (it was hard to save some, but I managed to work up the willpower to not eat it all), mozzarella and cheddar, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and chicken apple sausage. SO GOOD! (And now I'm ready for lunch at 9 in the morning.)

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day - Master Recipe

I finally mixed up my first batch of dough yesterday and I have to say that the result was amazing! Another really simple recipe that has an amazing result - a nice crusty white loaf with a beautiful airy interior. Aaron sang the praises all evening and had to stop himself from eating the entire (fairly decent sized) loaf in one sitting. I told him it would be fine, since I still have the dough for three more loaves in the refrigerator, and it takes no time at all to whip up another one.

Here's how simple it really was - I started mixing up the dough at about 7:00 am yesterday and was finished mixing (using my stand mixer) about five minutes later. I used cold water so that it would take longer for it to rise, because I wanted to leave it out for the initial rise and come back to throw it in the refrigerator on my lunch break. I made it home at about 11:45 am, and it had risen beautifully. I took out a one-pound portion of the dough (can I mention here how much I love my kitchen scale? LOVE!) at 5:00 and we had fresh bread by dinner at 6:30. There really wasn't much work to get it to the table - seriously about 5 minutes of hands on time. This really is just great!