Monday Menu Planning 3/11

Howdy! I know I've been away for awhile and I'd like to say I've totally been busy with lots of important projects but really-- not so much. I'm not going to give a bunch of excuses because really I've just been tired and completely unmotivated. I've got a sewing project collecting dust on my work table for the last 2 weeks and the very end of that knitted pillow has been sitting for at least 2 weeks as well. Haven't been doing much of anything inspiring in the kitchen either. Not sure if its just the end of winter blahs or what. But I'm going to try to get it together here and I thought having a little accountability- to you!--would at least shame me into action.

One of the things that has been particularly lackluster has been the meals around here. Unmotivated and tired, my hubby and I have spent many an evening looking at each other (around 4:30) and asking, "what's for dinner". While I always have "options" many of them require long preps or just too much effort (like peeling potatoes, sigh)-- leaving us with poorly planned, partial meals that we can either slap together or...... give up on and go pick something up. Lately there has been a LOT of pick up. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. Now, I'm not saying a dinner out is a bad thing but really once a week (or every other week) should be sufficient. Its supposed to be treat, not a lifeline!

So I've decided to start getting serious about my menu planning. I need to make sure that I have all of the ingredients for each recipe and that I'm being honest with myself about the effort involved and whether I'm really going to do it (or not). Going along with that is planning a meal (or 2) that the hubby can do or help with, so I'm not having to do it all by myself. I know he's willing to help but if the whole week is fancy new recipes or complicated preps, that's just not going to happen.

So first of all, I always plan more than 7 meals because, well, um, I'm kind of a picky eater and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for certain foods-- so I need to have "extra" meals for backup to swap out. That is one of the many reasons my freezer is my favorite appliance at home!

Got this super cute spring menu planning form from: www.heavenlyhomemakers.com
Search their site for other cute seasonal forms!

 

The shopping trip:

This week I've gone to Trader Joe's but most of these items are available at any grocery store (although you might have to go with non-organic).

Breakfasts:

• Milk- organic, whole
• Cereal- Trader Joe's shredded wheat- plain
• non fat organic greek yogurt cups x4
• cantaloupe spears
• 2lb of strawberries
• (already have eggs, frozen homemade whole wheat waffles, will make zucchini muffins)

Lunch:

• mini whole wheat pitas (for the little dude's homemade pizza lunchables-- I add a disk of frozen org. tomato sauce and a small baggie of shredded cheese)
• Loaf of whole wheat tuscan pane (4 ingredient whole wheat bread similar to sourdough but not sour)
• sliced provolone
• sliced black forest ham
• sliced turkey
• organic bananas
• organic tangerines

Dinners:
1) Italian chopped salad:

• Organic romaine hearts (chopped fine)
• Can of sliced black olives
• Jar of yellow/red fire roasted peppers
• sliced pepperoni (chopped fine)
• Organic shredded mozzarella
• Organic sugar plum tomatoes (quartered)
• [uncured salami left over from last week's sandwiches, chopped fine]
• [croutons, left overs if not stale or make fresh]
• [balsamic vinegar + olive oil vinegarette]

2)Seared Tuna + Fried Rice + Stir fried veggies:  going for a teppan style dinner here

• frozen ahi tuna steaks (about 1 lb for 3 eaters)
• frozen org. microwaveable Jasmine rice pouches (3, 2 cup pouches in a box)
• [veg on hand: zucchini, carrots, onion]
• [seasonings, rice add-ons: soy sauce, egg, toasted sesame oil, olive oil, butter, lemon, jarred crushed garlic]

3)Salmon + Baby potatoes + Creamed Chard

• Wild coho salmon- frozen (about 1 lb) (bake or grill)
• Bagged kaleidoscope (rainbow) chard (see previous post for recipe)
• 1lb bag teeny tiny (fingerling) potatoes (roast or boil)
• [butter, milk, flour, garlic, salt]

4)Spaghetti

• 1lb grassfed 80% ground beef
• 1 lb whole wheat spaghetti
• 1 jar organic basil marinara
• romaine salad (leftovers from 1st dinner)
• garlic bread (use tuscan pane)
• [garlic, olive oil, butter, balsamic vinegar]

5)Grilled Chicken + Broccoli + Smashed sweet potatoes

• organic chicken breasts
• bagged organic broccoli
• [bagged frozen smashed sweet potatoes-- 1 ingredient! purchased last week]
• [if steaming broccoli, add butter, if roasting, add olive oil + parmesan]

Swap-outs:
A) Crockpot chicken curry (already in freezer!) see www.mamaandbabylove.com for recipe. Add rice or whole wheat noodles for serving.
B)Cilantro shrimp tacos (uses leftover 1/2 lb of frozen shrimp from last week, corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cilantro)
C)Tacosagna (requires batch of crockpot refried beans that I really need to do this week anyways...) See previous post for recipe!
D) Butternut Squash Lasagna: I've got a recipe pinned and I've got the squash (boy do I have a LOT of butternut squash right now!) and lasagna noodles. Just depends on if I have the time, effort to pre-roast the squash and if the preshredded mozzarella doesn't get used up.


Okay. So I'm all planned out! That's 5 definite meals plus 4 more swap out options. That ought to get me through 7 days. My grocery total (just the items I bought new this week) was $111.60. Perfectly reasonable IF I STICK TO MY PLAN!!!! I will also have some leftovers (both bulk items like the extra rice bags and chicken breasts) and individual meals for hubby's lunches.

I don't know if this will help anyone but me. All I know is that just wishing for a healthy, delicious meal to magically appear on the table at dinner time just hasn't been working out! I'll let you know next Monday how the plan worked and if I really stuck to it (or got lazy).

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Date Night Dinner: Lemon Pasta with Capers & Artichoke Hearts

Hello All!   I guess I haven't posted in longer than it seems! I've been pretty busy with projects around here.... they are not quite ready for posting yet as most of them are scheduled as gifts! I've also taken up KNITTING! I took a 2 night basic class and I've been attempting to finish an "easy" 9 square pillow project kit I purchased 6 (!) years ago-- intending to learn then. I've just about got that sucker finished but I don't think its going to be suitable for public display. On the other hand I've gotten a lot of practice and learned a lot of technique along the way- thank goodness for the internet and youtube! I'm looking forward to finishing this up and moving on to something that hopefully won't look like the dog made it :P

I know Valentine's day was last week (as was our anniversary-- 13 years, yay us!). We went out for our anniversary but I opted to make something special for the whole family for V-day. I paired this up with some beautiful seared scallops (a special holiday splurge) that I seared off with nothing but a small sprinkling of simple salt and pepper. You could also do shrimp or grilled chicken or leave it vegetarian. Completing the simple approach was a nice side salad-- we dressed ours with a homemade blue cheese dressing but a vinegrette would also be good here. Paired with white wine for the grown ups and a sparkling apple cider for the kids, we had a special mid-week dinner that the whole family loved!

Note: For this recipe I actually had "extra" artichokes in the fridge (this is pretty much the ONLY time I've ever had this happen). So, I actually made the artichoke heart pieces BUT feel free to just grab a can from the store-- but be sure to NOT get the marinated ones!

I used 4 smallish artichokes. To prep your own artichoke hearts, first cut off the stem as close to the base of the artichoke as possible. Then, using a firm hand, grasp a leaf and pull up sharply until it snaps off at the base. Discard leaf. Repeat until the leaves are very very thin and you should see a dent or wrinkle between the base of the artichoke and the tip. Cut all the leaves off at that point and discard. Cut the artichoke in half lengthwise (stem to tip) and use a small metal spoon to scoop out the fuzzy, thistle --the "choke". Discard. Cut each half heart lengthwise into 3rds or 4ths and toss into a pan of water. Boil until slightly yielding but not overly soft-- kind of "al dente" - 10ish minutes, depending on how big your heart pieces are.  Drain and set aside.

Recipe: Lemon Pasta with Capers and Artichoke Hearts

8 oz fettucini
2 lemons
2 cloves garlic, crushed (or 1 tsp jarred)
3 Tbs capers, rinsed
14 oz can or pre-prepped artichoke hearts, drained
3 Tbs butter
1/4 cup grated parmesan

1) Cook pasta according to package instructions.
2) Zest 1 of the lemons, set aside
3) Juice both lemons -- be sure to remove any seeds that escape-- I like juicing over my tea strainer!
4) While pasta is draining, melt butter in emptied pasta pan.
5) Once butter is melted, add in lemon juice, zest, garlic, capers, and artichoke hearts.
6) Return pasta to pan and toss to coat. Add parmesan and salt to taste. Toss again.
7) Top with seared scallops, shrimp or chicken, if desired!

Lest you think I am super amazing, there was also a special dessert I made to go with this. Cute little heart shaped strawberry hand pies (all the rage all over Pinterest). Unfortunately, my continued struggles with pie crust and the fact that I only had whole wheat flour in the house yielded some cute but nearly inedible desserts. Thankfully I had purchased some vanilla ice cream to go with the pies. A scoop of ice cream and a sprinkling of chopped strawberries over top and it wasn't too bad.

As always, feel free to comment or leave questions below. I'd love to know how this recipe works for you!

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A Tale of Two Veggies.....

Last year, one of my goals in improving our eating was to include more fruits and veggies.  One way I was interested in doing that was by joining a CSA.

• Those of you who aren't familiar with them, a CSA is community sponsored agriculture--a farm shares type of investment in a local farm. You might pay a set amount for a whole season (and get proportional shares of the crops) or you might pay a subscription amount per week or box of fruits/veggies you get.

Unfortunately, I found that out here, there isn't much active farm left (except for orange groves). But, luckily there are a lot of farm communities nearby (say w/in 50-100 miles). I found a co-op that several farms contribute to and then you purchase a box (paying by the size & frequency). Its all organic and....... it comes delivered to the DOOR! How awesome is that?

We signed up last June and I decided to start small-- a less frequent delivery but a bigger box. I figured that way we'd get lots of variety and maybe enough extra fruits and veggies to put something away for later. We started with every other week but I was quickly finding that with 2 (and a half) eaters, we just couldn't keep up and I didn't want to keep composting it all. So, now we're at once every 4 weeks and that is working out pretty well for me.

One of the most interesting things I've been learning is what's in season--right here, right now. Its really helped me in the grocery store, as I can look at certain fruits and veggies and now I KNOW right off the bat that they've been imported (probably from Chile, our opposite season partner). I've also been learning A LOT about new fruits and veggies. In our box, you get what's being grown at the partner farms. So, quite frequently I've pulled everything out of my box and had to check the packing list just to identify one (or more!) of the items. I'll admit that most of these things are not particularly exotic but with a Midwest/farm based food heritage, my food exposures were pretty basic. Fruits were apples, oranges, bananas. Maybe some peaches or apricots or grapes for excitement. Veggies were iceberg lettuce, canned green beans, peas, corn and the like.

With each box, I've been trying at least one new thing-- some I've liked and some well...... not so much. But I have to say its been a great example to the little people to see Mom and Dad dive into trying all these new foods. We've had a LOT less arguing and complaining when we are ALL trying something new!

Today I'm gonna tell you the tale of two veggies (I bet you were wondering when I was EVER gonna get around to those!) that if you haven't tried yet, you won't be sorry! To those in-the-know, these are AMAZING! But I definitely never would have tried either if they weren't staring me in the face every time I opened the fridge. So, while I can't magically send some to your fridge to stare at you, I will instead send my encouragement to get out there and TRY SOMETHING NEW!!

First up: LEEKS!
 The first leek we had looked about the size and shape of a green baseball bat! It was HUGE!!!! I had NO idea what to do with that thing. And, I'll admit it.... I kind of dithered, then I delayed and then I put it off a bit more until.... OH DARN, too wilted to use. When our next box had 3 of them, I knew I couldn't let them all go. So I flipped on the computer and did some research.

 

What in the heck is a leek? It turns out its a relative of onions. They are kind of like green onions from the land of giants. I don't have a great love of onions-- I like their flavor but they don't agree with my digestion and raw is completely out of the question. So I was a more than a little nervous about experimenting with them. But I gathered my courage and I started subbing leeks into any recipe that I'd normally put some onion into and WOW! great (light) onion flavor and NO digestive problems!

How to prep a leek: As they are often grown in sandy/gritty soil, you will definitely need to rinse these well. It is usually recommended to rinse AFTER you cut since the layers are so tight. You can either do one long cut lengthwise and pull the layers apart to rinse (kinda like celery) or slice them thinly crossways and drop into a bowl of water. Let the grit settle to the bottom and scoop the floating pieces from the top. When you are cutting, you typically only use the white and light green portions.


Veggie #2: Swiss Chard
We've been getting LOTS of leafy greens lately -- lettuces of all types, radiccio, spinach and lately chard. I've seen chard called "swiss chard" and "rainbow chard". If you haven't seen chard before, it looks like a big spinach leaf with a colored stem--this can be either light green or colored with pinks, oranges or purples! When we got a bunch of these leaves, with each stem's leaf around the size of an elephant ear (okay, maybe a baby elephant....) I was certainly a bit nervous. I freely admit that big green leafy things do still make me a bit anxious (the lingering 5 year old inside me, perhaps?) I do like spinach occasionally but haven't gotten on board (yet) with the great kale craze that's going on and not having much for southern relatives, I've not had any experience with many other types of greens (collards and the like).

I was greatly encouraged when several sites on the internet described the flavor of chard as being like a mild spinach. I thought "okay, I can do that!". The best suggestion I read was to blanch the leaves before adding to your recipe-- apparently this will reduce any potential bitterness that may be found in these deep green leafies.

To prep chard: Rinse and pat dry individual leaves. Cut out (or yank) the hard center stem and discard. Chop leaves into manageable strips or pieces. I cut mine into rectangles about 2" x 1" and that worked well. Drop into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain well. Use any place you might use other cooked greens like baby spinach or kale.

I was so excited about chard that I've actually just planted 9 (!!) little baby plants into the beginning of this year's garden (along with some romaine and arugula). I'm very excited to see if baby chard tastes like baby spinach. I'll get to find out in a few weeks!!

Summary: Any place you would use an onion, you can use leeks. Any place you'd use a green like spinach, kale or collards, you can use chard.

One of the things I love about this recipe is that it took an old favorite (scalloped potatoes and ham) which had little nutrient value (besides calories....) and really beefed it up. Loaded with leafy green chard and leeks, it actually resembles a balanced meal!

 

 

Recipe: Scalloped Potatoes and Ham with Leeks and Swiss Chard

(This was for a VERY large casserole, 14" x 10" x 3")

8 medium/large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly (about 1/8 inch)
1 LARGE leek (white and light green parts) sliced thinly and cleaned
8 LARGE ribs swiss chard, ribs removed, chopped and blanched in boiling water 3 min.
8 oz cooked ham, cubed (about 1/2")
8 Tbs butter
8-10 Tbs flour
6 cups milk

1) In your casserole dish, arrange potato slices in a single layer. Add approximately 1/3 of your prepared leeks, chard and ham evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the layer.

 

2) Repeat step one 2 more times (for a total of 3 layers)
3) Spread any remaining potato slices over the top.
4) Prepare thin white sauce:

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over med/low heat.
2. Sprinkle in flour, stirring constantly until all butter is absorbed and a paste forms.
3. Pour in milk and whisk to dissolve any lumps.
4. Cook over med/low heat until sauce begins to thicken slightly (it should be able to coat a spoon)

5) Pour prepared white sauce over entire casserole. Sprinkle salt and pepper over top. Cover casserole with foil.

6) Bake at 350 F for 60-90 minutes (until potatoes are cooked through and easily pierce with a fork or knife). Time will vary GREATLY depending on how thin your slices are-- the thinner you slice, the faster yours will cook!  Remove foil after 30 minutes of cook time. Replace foil if top of casserole begins to over brown. Enjoy!

Feel free to leave comments below. Have you tried either of these veggies? What did you think?

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