This week's meal planning ideas

Sheppard's Pie

Lentil and Sausage Stew

Avocado Potato Salad

Scallion Cilantro Rice with Habanero and Lime

Perfect Tuna Sandwich

Heavy duty, super packed Whole Foods Fourteener Bread (lightly toasted with butter in the oven), mixed greens, tuna w/ mayo, and fresh sliced tomatoes from Tita and Papa's garden.

Super yummy for a Sunday afternoon lunch. We paired this with yogurt and fresh, mixed berries.

Beef Shells Supreme with Veggies

I made the Beef Noodle Supreme recipe from this site and of course I had to modify it (just because I wanted to use my veggies on hand and add a little spark). My mom used to make this recipe but instead of green onions, she'd use parsley.

I followed the recipe but added fresh spinach and asparagus to the sauce as well as fresh parsley to the cream cheese mixture. It turned out so well!! I like the canned tomato sauce rather than using a pre-made "Prego-type" sauce.

It wasn't a total kid pleaser, but honestly, what is these days? My kids don't like pizza, so don't bank on your kids not liking this (I loved it as a kid).

Ingredients I used:

1 lb ground beef

1 tblsp olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

3 small (8oz) cans of tomato sauce

1 package of cream cheese (spreadable is easiest, but if you get regular, let it sit out for an hour before making this meal)

1 small jar of sour cream (about 1 cup)

8-10 green onions (whites and greens, chopped)

handful of chopped fresh parsley (or about 1 tblsp of dry parsley)

handful of fresh spinach* (optional)

5 stalks of asparagus (cut into about 1/2 inch pieces) * (optional)

12-16 oz noodles (I've used egg noodles as well as medium shells)

2 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar or colby/jack)

First start the noodles in boiling water. While the water is boiling, brown the ground beef with the garlic and olive oil (if needed). Cook until it's no longer pink, then add the pasta sauce, salt and sugar. Let this simmer for a few minutes. Add the spinach and asparagus * (optional) and cook until the spinach has shrunken down.

While the pasta is simmering, mix together the softened cream cheese with the sour cream until smooth. Fold in the onions and fresh parsley. Set aside.

Once the pasta has cooked to al dente, drain, then layer on the bottom of a casserole dish.

Add the cream cheese mixture to the pasta and spread it out in an even layer on top.

Top with the meat sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 (or 340 for convection oven) for about 30 minutes. Watch to make sure the cheese doesn't burn or dry out.

Serve with salad and a nice Malbec or Chianti wine.

This is a great meal to double up on and freeze some for later. Just cook about 1 hr - 1.5 hours from a thawed state. With the recipe above, this made dinner for 4, lunch for 2 adults the next day, and a meal for 4 in the freezer. A pound of ground beef goes a long way.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Garbanzo Beans!!

Oh my lordy this is probably the best chocolate cake I've ever had!! And it doesn't have gluten!

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

4 eggs

3/4 cups white sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Put the chocolate chips into a microwave safe dish and nuke them for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 20 or 30 seconds to make sure they're mixed together and melted.

Mix the beans with the eggs in a food processor until smooth. Add the sugar and baking powder and give it another whirl to mix it all together.

Fold the beans into the chocolate and mix well. Pour into a greased and flour powdered 9 inch round cake pan and bake for 40 minutes on 350 degrees (or 340 in a convection oven).

Cool for several minutes in the pan and then reverse dump onto a large plate. Top with sprinkled confectioner's sugar, whipped cream, strawberries, or frosting.

So perfect!

Freezer Meals I'm Trying

BBQ Beef - Crock Pot - this was fantastic and so easy to thaw and eat!!

Beef Noodle Supreme - haven't tried yet but it is very similar to one my mom used to make.

Greek Style Fava Beans - scroll down. This was fantastic fresh with Lima Beans - will have to see how it freezes.

Beefy Rice Casserole - this was pretty good but got too crispy on the top cooking it after it was frozen.

Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients (this feeds a family of 4)

8 uncooked lasagna noodles (can use more or less)
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
1 1/2 cups washed baby spinach
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella


Cook the noodles 9 minutes, drain and set them out on a platter (cutting board, work surface, etc). Once they've cooled to the touch, spread two scoops (about two tablespoons) of ricotta on each noodle.



Next, spread about two spoonfuls of marinara on each noodle.



Now, spread some of the baby spinach on top.


Now roll.


Fill casserole pan (that you have already sprayed with non-stick spray).

Top with remaining marinara sauce and shredded mozzarella. Cook at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.


Bubbly goodness!!

The best Brussels sprouts EVER!

These are absolutely the best Brussels sprouts I've ever had!!

Leave it to Simply Recipes to find me another great recipe! I think it's definitely important to blanch them first, as this seems to really add to the taste and texture of the sprouts. We'll definitely be making this one again!!

Cucumber and Pimm's

Ice
1/2 Pimm's
1/3 Ginger Ale
Slices of cucumber and lemon

Super tasty on a nice cool evening.

Shrimp and Grits - my own combination!

So the Whole Foods Shrimp and Grits didn't satisfy me and the amount of work to accomplish that "bleh" was way too monumental.... soooooo I decided to make my own recipe - or rather combine a few. I ended up making grits (with garlic and butter) and topped them with shrimp scampi and peas. This turned out better than I expected. Kudos for spontaneous thinking!!

I basically made the grits like this:

Southern Grits

2 cups water (I used 4)
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grits (I used 1 cup)
1 Tbl butter

Added* 2 cloves of chopped garlic

Use small heavy pot with thick bottom and tight fitting lid. Pour water into pot followed by remaining ingredients. Bring to full boil and immediately reduce to simmer. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. The longer it simmers, the better it is.

And I made the shrimp like this (although I added an onion to the olive oil sauteing):

Ingredients

Method

• One standard sized bag of Shrimp (I used about 10 large shrimp for two adults)
  
• Half of Garlic bulb (approx 5-6 cloves)
• 4 tbsp of butter (I used about 2.5)
  
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• Few sprigs of freshly chopped Parsley (I omitted this and added a half an onion instead)
  
• Dash of Olive Oil and S+P

*Optional- Dry White Wine (Pinot Grigio- I definitely used this!!)

How to make Easy Shrimp Scampi (Garlic Butter Shrimp)

Method

• First rinse and peel your shrimp.

• Chop the Garlic Cloves and Onions (or Parsley)
  

• Start to fry shrimp in dash of olive oil (I actually sauteed the onions for about 3 minutes first), add Salt and Pepper and lemon juice. Pour 2 ounces of wine if desired, simmer for two minutes

• Add the garlic, butter and Parsley (if using), let fry for 2-3 minutes (or until shrimp are pink and garlic is cooked)

• Remove from heat and dish onto grits (be sure to smother the grits with the butter sauce)!

I also threw a bag of frozen peas onto the burner with a little bit of water (of course in a pan). When these were heated, I put them on the side of the main dish. These turned out to be a great addition to the entire meal because once the shrimp was gone, the extra grits and butter sauce went well with the peas!!

Sorry, we ate this faster than we could take a picture.

Mommy's Little Helper

Do you ever have one of those nights that you just wish you were without kids again? Well this was one of those nights. I have to say, I prefer the Topo Chico to the sugar filled or diet tonic waters.

Whole Foods Muenster and Jalapeno Sliders

We bought the pre-made mini sliders at Whole Foods (they're a pretty good deal) as well as their mini buns. These turned out sooo good topped with fresh jalapeno slices and then Muenster cheese on top. Of course we left the jalapenos off for the boys, but they loved them!!

This week's Menu

Monday - Ravioli
Tuesday - Peruvian Soup al la Minuta
Wednesday - Asparagus Pesto Pasta
Thursday - Spaghetti w/Meatballs
Friday - Pizza night

Lunches:
Black Bean Soup (leftovers)
Turkey Sandwiches
Bean and Cheese Soft Tacos
Banana Bread
Carrots

Grandma's Famous Banana Bread

My kids love this. The neighbor kids ask for these banana muffins every time they come over. I had to make another batch tonight. My grandma and mom always made these into loaves of bread. This makes for having to figure out how to keep the chocolate chips spread evenly throughout the bread (mine always fall to the bottom) and how to get the bread to fall out of the pan easily (I usually lose half the loaf to the oiled and floured pan - WTF?). Anyway, these silicone cupcake liners have been wonderful for us over the years. Here's a run down of the recipe from memory:

Mash 2-3 bananas in a bowl (old frozen bananas work well as do fresh ones)
In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup of warm butter (my grandma called it spry - love that word) and 1.5 cups of sugar (I use a little less and use turbinado or pure cane sugar).
Mix in two eggs
Add 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix mix mix.
In a small measuring cup, combine 1/3 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar (to sour the milk).
Alternate adding bananas, then milk, then dark cocoa chips (optional) into the flour mix. Once you've mixed it all together, spread into about 18-24 muffin/cupcake tins and bake 350 for about 45 minutes (my oven is convection, so the timing may vary). When doing a loaf, it calls for an hour and 15 minutes cooking time (another reason to do the cupcakes).

Tuesday Lunches

I am pairing these with some organic peanut butter and jelly whole wheat bun sandwiches. I am also hoping that I can find these "all natural" cheese puffs again. They even came with a $1 off coupon! I should have bought all of the bags they had! I think the boys will eat the green cauliflower too. I'm not sure why they don't really like it when it's white... I guess it's not broccoli enough for them then?

Sockeye Salmon with Sunshine Rice

This Salmon with Sunshine Rice recipe from Whole Foods had such a cool name that I thought, "How can I not love this?" Well, I guess it's kind of like that really snoozer book that had the cover that just called your name. I don't think I'll make this one again :( I must admit, I made too many changes (cooking changes) and I don't usually like brown rice, so I think those are two major reasons for my unhappiness about this meal. Plus, it just took way too long. I didn't have a dutch oven (nor any type of big pot that could go in the oven) so I thought I'd research and find out how to do it in the crock-pot. That worked, but I just wasn't pleased with the overall taste and combination of the ingredients.

Without a step by step detail, I'll just post the pictures I took along the long, hungry journey.

If I would have left it here, it probably would have been good.

Adding the tomatoes was a bad idea for the recipe (in my opinion). I think a can of coconut milk would have done wonders for the flavors though!

I cooked the salmon separately in the oven and it actually came out just fine (I sprinkled it with salt and curry powder and drizzled with olive oil).

Recipes I'd like to try!!

Pea Hummus
Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Gazpacho
Green Curry Broth
Summer Succotash with Bacon and Croutons
Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint
Crushed Peas with Smoky Sesame Dressing
Asparagus Pesto Pasta

Shrimp and Grits with Sweet Peppers

Pretty yummy Shrimp and Grits with Sweet Peppers from start to finish! I cheated and microwaved the bacon though - I used olive oil and butter to compensate for the lost bacon grease. It was still yummy though!!

Creative lens on the grits (thanks hubby)!

Onions, garlic and two bell peppers (red and yellow are my favorites!!)

Mixing in the shrimp, lemon and hot sauce.

Sprinkled bacon on top!

Waalaah! Edible to the nth degree!

This Week's Menu

You'll notice a few meals that we were supposed to cook in the past two weeks that we didn't end up doing because of potlucks, etc that we have been going to.

Crock Pot Refried Bean Soup
Shrimp & Grits with Sweet Peppers
Ravioli
Spaghetti and Tita's Meatballs
Coho Salmon with Sunshine Rice

Lunch Ideas:
Tamales
Turkey Sandwiches/Wraps
Crackers and Tuna
Grapes

Sides/Veggies:
Asparagus
Broccoli
Salad with Champagne dressing

Vegetable (not) Fried Rice

We had the Vegetable (not) Fried Rice tonight from Budget Bytes website. Of course, I have to change it up, so we didn't add the bell peppers (yuck - too much burping for me thank you!), but instead doubled up the carrots and added some edamame and two eggs (instead of just one). We need lots of protein in this house of growing boys!!

Also, here is what I'm serving up for tomorrow's lunch for the boys. I think they'll dig it. It's basically celery with ranch dressing (we'll see if they actually use the ranch), some Whole Foods turkey in tortillas with mayo and grated carrots, some homemade carrot bread with cream cheese (yum!), Annie's bunny choco chip cookies, and a Stoneyfield Farms YoKids Yogurt. I'm pretty sure these boxes will be cleaned out (as long as my 4 year old's teacher lets him eat the cookies - they usually let them keep those around for after school snack).




Oh- and I'm so mad that my husband's iPhone 4 takes such better pictures than my mere year old iPhone model. Can you tell which picture he took and which one I took? Yea, me too.

Second day of second grade lunch

My son came home without a crumb (well, maybe one or two) in his lunch bag from his first day. This is a first for skinny-malinky-dinky-dink. Hopefully tomorrow (turkey tortilla wrap) will make him just as happy. I know he'll dig the banana bread muffin with choco chips, he loves celery sticks (go figure) and how can you turn down squeezy yogurt, grapes, string cheese and a cookie?

Grits 'N Greens

Oh my goooooodnesssss!!!

Why have I not found this awesome recipe before in my 21 years of life (haha)!!???!!!
This Grits 'N Greens was so yummy tonight!! I did a few variations (didn't have instant grits- cooked them from scratch the first time ever!!! and I had to cook the collard greens on the stove top) but overall, this recipe was really easy, very satisfying and super tasty!! I'm definitely adding this one to my rotation and to my top 50 list!! Thank you Budget Bytes! You never fail to make my family happy!!

First - the trick is in the stirring of the grits (it feels like it's constantly for 20 minutes). I used one cup of grits to 3 cups water, a pinch of salt, and boiling/stirring for about 20 minutes.


Second - I didn't have collard greens already wilted, so I poured myself a glass of white wine (a big one), cleaned the greens, and wilted them in olive oil (about a tablespoon), salt and a hot pan.


Third - the greens are wilted! And oh-so yummy!!


Finally - throw them all together with some butter, salt and pepper, and you've got yourself a super winner!!


Disclaimer : these eggs are from Whole Foods (Texas) and have not been added to the eggs salmonella list yet!! Yay!

Next week's menu ideas

Grits 'N Greens - Budget Bytes
Vegetable (not) Fried Rice - Budget Bytes
Wild Coho Salmon with Sunshine Rice (and Cauliflower) - Whole Foods
Shrimp and Grits - Whole Foods
Spaghetti and Meatballs - In the freezer from Tita!
Salmon Burgers - Costco and dad
Ravioli - in the freezer from Costco

Lunch ideas:
Tuna and Crackers
Turkey Sandwiches
Tamales
Breads (Carrot, Banana, Zucchini)
Cantaloupe
Grapes
Yogurt
Pretzels

Sides/Veggies:
Asparagus
Salad
Broccoli

Peruvian Soup with Potatoes

Last night we made Whole Foods Peruvian Sopa a la Minuta and it was just as good as the first time we made it. I omit the red bell pepper and add two carrots instead (my kids seem to eat more of it this way). It seems as though we had two thumbs up from our guests (my parents) as well. My dad, the cook, is hard to please when it comes to the kitchen, so I'm always happy when he likes a meal I've made!

I popped some cheese bread in the oven and roasted some zucchini slivers in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and served as a side. This is a pretty simple meal after everything is peeled!

Rachel Ray's Oven-Roasted Cod

We decided to make Rachel Ray's Oven-Roasted Cod with Herbs instead of the Fish Fillet Italiano. In my opinion, that was a mistake. The cod was good (I used panko breadcrumbs to make it better) but it was just pretty bland. I had to sprinkle paprika on mine after I cooked it and tried it. I would have liked it to be juicier and spicier. Maybe if I make it again I'll put more than just parsley in the mix.

We paired this with couscous and the famous Chili Roasted Broccoli that has never done us wrong.

Farmer's Market Beer Can Chicken

Okay, so I made my first beer can chicken last week. It was great because it was from the farmer's market. It was also horrible because it was from the farmer's market. Well, not really. I just had to write that because this farmer's chicken made me learn some new techniques (like actually cutting off the neck, trimming the skin, and removing the oil gland - at least I didn't have to kill it, bleed it or pluck it!!).

Defrost time: 5 days
Weight: 4.5 lbs
Cost: $14.50
Cooking Method: With beer can
First: Mom twisting off it's neck (and the beer can thing).

So, I got this Beer Can Chicken recipe from one of my tried and true sources - Simply Recipes. I love this site!

I also sliced up a farmer's market heirloom- type squash, tossed it with some olive oil, and threw it in the roasting pan during the last 20 minutes of cooking. Yummy!

I also feel like I'm getting lazy on my posts. I'm basically just referring you to the websites I find these recipes at. Nothing is original for me anymore these days. Oh well... on to working and playing with the kids instead!!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

So I finally got around to baking these Whole Foods Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies. For some reason, baking on a day that it's a 102 degrees outside is never very appealing, but the end product was very yummy and worth it!!

I did mine with organic peanut butter and added Reeses Peanut Butter chips. The kids love them and I am happy they're getting a little extra protein!

Ramon Bowl Saturday

Boys had plain Ramon (oh mom! you're so healthy!!) and hubby and I made the Quick Ramon Bowl from Budget Bytes. Definitely was much better than just plain Ramon. Now if I could get the boys to eat their vegetables!!

Last week of summer menu

Here are my ideas for grocery shopping and menus this week:

Peruvian Beef & Potato Soup (Whole Foods Recipes)
Spaghetti Carbonara (from a previous post in my blog and Six O'Clock Scramble)
Tortilla Casserole (Six O'Clock Scramble)
Crock Pot Re-fried Bean Soup (A Year of Crock Pot Cooking)
Fish Fillets Italiano (Allrecipes.com)
Quick Ramon Bowl (Budget Bytes)
Bratwurst & Potato Soup (Taste of Home)

Ideas for sides:
Corn bread, Broccoli, Spanish Rice, White Cheddar Annie's Mac and Cheese, Couscous, Zucchini

Lunch ideas:
Tacos, Mac and Cheese, Turkey Sandwiches, Quesadillas