THIS WEEK ON A STOVE NEAR ME

It really feels like autumn now, though the temperatures have been swinging a little pendulum-style. I really need to remember things like sunshine in the morning does not always mean warm, and sometimes coats are a good idea. Yesterday I was fighting a shivery chin as I crossed the street to my building and pushed the revolving door, even though I had a turtleneck sweater on. Yes, coats are useful.

So, soup was on my mind as I planned this week's menu over the weekend. Plus: tacos, always tacos or chili (or, in this week's case, both!).

I made the Hungarian Ham & Bean soup this weekend, and it's worth the time. It makes a huge amount, and is also yummy. I have found there to be a plethora of smoked pork product choices available here, and decided to make it a little easier by buying some "ham pieces for flavoring" which were -- you guessed it! -- irregularly sliced pieces of ham, probably from making more uniform slices. I subbed that for the ham hock, though I'm sure that would be more authentic and even yummier. However, I'm happy with it as it was and would reuse the ham pieces.

Aside from the recipes above, the old standby ones like tacos, chicken with red beans and rice (leftover chicken to go in chili), and spaghetti with meatballs round out the week. Lame, but comforting. :)

THIS WEEK ON A STOVE NEAR ME

It's been kind of gray--okay, it's been super gray here. Rainy. Bleh. So, I've been wanting soup... and tacos are a given. (almost always tacos, mmm.)

I made the chicken soup last night and added... KALE. (I put kale in half our meals. Hey, it's nutritious and in season!) The fried rice was never made last week so it's been pushed forward to this week. I made it once before, or as close a facsimile as I usually make, since I tend to think of recipes that are not pastry/baking as a general guideline, and the rice is yummy. I have a couple of salmon filet left from a large package of frozen salmon, which will be good for soup, and I may add some shredded cooked chicken to the bean/posole soup... The stroganoff is a favorite of Bunny's.

COMING THIS WEEK TO A STOVE NEAR ME

Along with some regulars (hello, tacos... I ♥ you), I have some pinned recipes in the works.





The Marcella Hazan sauce will be with sausages & peppers... it's the best sauce EVER. EVER!

COMING TO A STOVE NEAR ME THIS WEEK

I really do make the recipes I pin! These are the ones on for this week.

Menu—A Long Haul Edition

Maybe it was all the times I had to bring everyone  to the store over Christmas break, running amok, making me play the role of *that* grumpass, hissing mom.  Or the time Cole forgot his new stuffed animal (which was found and kept safe until our next trip, yay!).  Mostly it was that it was Friday morning and I decided I did not want to go grocery shopping at all the next week.  That’s why I decided I would make an 11-day menu, from Friday the 14th through Monday the 24th.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to truly avoid the store for that long—we’re already down to only 4.5 gallons of milk, which might not be enough for my milk guzzlers.  All hail the garage fridge!  A woman in the parking lot spied my cart with 6 gallons of milk and about 8 big sturdy grocery bags and asked how many boys I feed.  :)  We bonded over the miracle that is the garage fridge and scoffed at the PG&E ads that suggest they’re a waste (not if you keep it full of food!).  Funny, we think we’re so unique, but find common ground with strangers in the oddest places, like a parking lot.  :)

Anyway, here ‘tis—the 11 Day Long Haul.  It’s Day 5, running strong.  We’re down to one banana, which I would buy more of *if* I get milk, but otherwise, oh well ~ not like we’re having muscle cramps here and need potassium STAT!  ;)

Friday: Beef-Vegetable Soup
Saturday: Salmon, Palak Paneer, Purple Cabbage (just with a little butter, salt, pepper~last of co-op)
Sunday: Crock Pot Carnitas, Black Beans, Cornbread
Monday: Moroccan Garbanzo Bean Stew w/ couscous
Tuesday: Brats & Red Lentils, Salad
Wednesday: Pasta Bolognese
Thursday: Sausage & Zucchini crustless quiche
Friday: Chicken Divan
Saturday: leftovers *or* Low Carb Picadillo, Homemade Mac & Cheese for Kids
Sunday: Carnitas Enchiladas
Monday:  White Bean & Black Olive Soup, fresh bread

Phew.  For some reason links won’t embed today.  Pardon the old school method, just in case you’re interested in trying one.  :)

Black Bean & Olive Soup: http://www.digthischickmt.com/2011/01/hump-day-nuggets-composition.html
Crock Pot Carnitas: http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/10/13/cooking-with-kelle-hampton-easy-pork-carnitas/
Chicken Divan (a repeat because we all liked it, all being a non-Carter, relative term): http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/chicken-divan-casserole-from-scratch-129235
Garbanzo Bean Stew: http://www.formerchef.com/2010/05/24/moroccan-garbanzo-bean-stew/
Bolognese—the one I have used faithfully for 7-8 years: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/fettucine-bolognese-sauce-10000001049373/index.html

This Week’s Specials, Jan 10

I’m sitting to type out this week’s menu as I stuff my face with Monday’s dinner.  It’s Monday, so it’s meatless.  After yesterday’s pizza and cake (plus about half a yummy ale—half because I kept forgetting Paul ran into BevMo when he went to retrieve the ‘za and Paul finally drank it, saving it from a later trip down the drain, I am sure), after all that, I am more than happy to skip the meat.  Ironically, since I didn’t make any ‘big batch meals’ this weekend, I also had to make a pot of chili so that Pablo will have something to take for lunch tomorrow (and likely eat tonight since what I made is awesome, but riddled with noodles.  So much for being meatless, huh?  Last week he did well, and gobbled two bowls of red lentil soup, though… baby steps, I s’pose.

Monday:  Tofu Peanut Udon Noodles (HERE – I added some red pepper flakes and also a shot or two of Tapatio)
Tuesday:  Salmon, Braised Greens, Tomato Soup (HERE) —with the last of this summer’s put-away tomatoes
Wednesday: Cube Steak with Rich Onion Gravy, salad
Thursday:  Brats & Peppers w Simple Tomato Sauce (Best sauce evah – HERE)
Friday:  Rich Onion Soup (can’t find link at moment, but in Jan Whole Living mag and GOOOOOD)
Saturday & Sunday:  TBD after I grocery shop

 
I’m remembering to eat breakfast at nearly the correct time every morning, too.  Wahoo, me.  ;)

Weekly Menu, A Little Late :)

Sunday night—or I guess it was really very early Monday morning, Cole woke and it took me a while to get him back to sleep, then a lot longer to go back to sleep myself, so I was running on fumes yesterday.  Planning the weekly menu never happened, and I regretted it when I was sitting at the computer that night plugging ingredients into recipe finders trying to find something both interesting and quick enough to let this tired mama spend as little time as possible in the kitchen.  I found a dinner we liked, but it reinforced my conviction that dinner time is NOT the time to be deciding what to make.

I think I dozed off by 9:30 last night, trying to stay up late enough to at least mumble goodnight to my husband, who has a late night Mondays.  I was watching a show exploring the consequences of a hypothetical utter disappearance of every human on earth, and I only vaguely remember something about mass nuclear meltdowns a week or so later…  at any rate, I got a much better night’s sleep and am getting that menu planned so I don’t face my own meltdown at about 6 p.m.

Monday: Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta (subbed fauxtatoes)
Tuesday: Steamed Clams, braised chard
Wednesday: Cabbage Rolls (huge CSA cabbage begs for this)
Thursday:  Carnitas & chicken enchiladas (two kinds, not mixed (ew), carnitas left over from last week)
Friday:  Salmon, green beans, kabocha squash
Saturday: Mexican Chicken-Hominy Soup
Sunday: Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Meal Plan Monday, Nov 29

Another Thanksgiving under the belt (and perhaps on the hips, too)!  The kids and I had a nice long weekend, and a great time at Thanksgiving, hosted by our friends.  It’s the first time since a year or two before Bun was born that we went to someone else’s house for Turkey Day, and I have to say I liked it!

Today is the back to life, back to reality Monday, and I also like that.  After dropping kid #2 at school #2, the big baby and I have been enjoying a quiet morning—and I really do think he also enjoyed the quiet after his schedule being all change-a-rooed for 5 days in a row.  We’ve been doing simple chores and playing with play dough.  Since he’s not quite 3, keeping the colors separate is still an impossible, pointless task, but he’s starting to play a bit more creatively—we made lots of fruit salad (yummy, yummy).

Since we have a lot of leftovers and some frozen stuff in the freezer which needs to be saved from the heartbreak of frost burn, the plan is heavy on makeover meals or pulling out frozen tomatoes, etc.  It’s been DAMN cold (by my standards) and I am craving wintry foods… it really feels like winter now (by our standards).

I may or may not be rationalizing baking yummy things because the oven warms the house nicely.  :)

Monday:  Ham & Green bean casserole (adapted from THIS recipe), cooked just to save extra Thanksgiving green beans and not for dinner, and Low Carb Picadillo with fauxtatoes
Tuesday: Butternut Squash-Leek Soup, Pioneer Woman’s Meatloaf (froze half last time I made it)
Wednesday: Easy Pork Carnitas, Black Beans, Rice
Thursday: Bratwurst, Kale with Sundried Tomatoes (adapted from THIS)
Friday: Yam and Black Bean Burritos
Saturday: Bunny’s Choice
Sunday: Not. A. Clue.  :D

I plan to shop later this week, Thursday or Friday, depending on when the milk levels reach critical here, and am going to figure out the rest when it’s time.  :)

Menu Monday ~ Nov. 15

Last week my eldest had a 4-day weekend, Veteran’s Day being a school holiday and Friday being a teacher workday… what a coincidink the two were next to each other when the other 3 days of the week were modified short days for parent teacher conferences!  ;)  This week we have 3 modified days, too, then next week is a whopping 2 day week… November and December are SUCH weird months!

Anyway, what with schedules practically nonexistent, and a cold insinuating itself in my head and throat, I am pretty happy to be able to shove off real (aka not just picking up milk to tide us over) grocery shopping for a day or three because I have 2-3 nights of meat needing to find its life purpose ASAP.  Yay!

The great thing about a good meal plan is this: you can always shift around meals if you plan well.  Obviously I plan any fresh seafood to be cooked within a day or two of shopping… ditto for any super-perishable fruits or veggies.  Without anything lurking to make me feel angry at myself when I have to pitch it out, I get a lot of wiggle room for those evenings when I realize I really need to use up a leftover—a meal makeover, as it were… I like to incorporate a leftover meat into a new dish so we don’t die of boredom and depression eating “leftovers”—I can do that and not totally muck up my genius system.  (She said ironically…)

So anyway, wiggle room is good.  Some people put a ‘use it up’ night into their plan every week.  Whichever works, is the way to do it, I figure.  Better is better: all the time I say or think this.  Progress is better than perfectionism: I tell myself that, too.  If I’m trying, then I have to cut myself slack sometimes.  :)

With all that said (phew!) here is my plan, Stan.

Monday:  Sausage, Potato and Cabbage Stew
Tuesday:  Pork Chops, salad, fresh baked bread (making with Bunny)
Wednesday: “My” Chicken Enchiladas, homemade refried black beans, spanish rice
Thursday: Pioneer Woman Meatloaf, mashed cauliflower, braised collard greens (don’t judge—it’s awesome)
Friday: salmon, sides TBA when I know what the veggies are in the share this week
Saturday: Cube Steaks with Rich Onion Gravy, creamed spinach, roast acorn squash
Sunday:  Lentil Soup, chicken salad “salad”

Menu Plan Monday

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted a menu, but that doesn’t mean I have not been planning them.  :)  For my family, the only way to ensure I am able to consistently get a healthy, homemade dinner on the table 6 or 7 nights a week is to take about half an hour and plan it all out.  I write each night’s dinner on the calendar, because by about 530 I am likely to be unable to remember my own name, much less what I’d decided to make for us perhaps a week earlier.  It also helps me to use all the vegetables we get from our CSA share (only 3 more weeks, waaah).  I don’t really like to rehash the same meals over and over, though I know a lot of people feel exactly the opposite.  To me, cooking is as much about fun—albeit practical fun—as the end result.  So, I do have a dozen or so meals we have probably at least once a month when the right season, but I’d die of boredom if I didn’t torture my kids with mostly new foods try out lots of new recipes.  To avoid end-of-the-day-tired-mommy-brain-confusion, I choose one magazine or cookbook and pull any new ‘tries’ from that for the week, along with bookmarked online finds.  I also make a point of asking my husband if he has any specific requests, and sometimes will also have Bun choose a recipe that she will make with me.

Having said all that, this week we’re having the following:

Monday:  Undone Cabbage Roll Skillet with CSA red cabbage, and fauxtatoes.
Tuesday:  salmon, Sesame Cabbage & Green Beans
Wednesday: Chicken and Parsnip Soup
Thursday:  Crustless Swiss Chard Pie, Bratwurst
Friday:  cottage pie (with cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes)
Saturday: Roasted Chicken Pieces, braised collards greens, green beans
Sunday:  Pork Chops, Roast Herbed Eggplant, salad, fresh baked bread

I try to mix up larger meals that will provide leftovers for lunches/snacks with ones that’re likely to be all eaten that night, and also keep in mind that it’s not the end of the world if I call it a ‘forage’ night, when I make something super simple for the kids and expect us adults to fend for ourselves.  We probably do that a couple of times a month, especially if there are a lot of leftovers already in the fridge.  :)

Menu Monday – Produce, Produce, Produce

Monday already? I guess it is time to plan what we’ll eat, then. :) I have a bounty of produce to plow through, having been camping with Bunny from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, and then choosing to make a simple chili for dinner last night.

Here is what we got last week in the CSA share.

So much remains, and Thursday evening pick-up looms… Yowzer! We’ve eaten all but the two largest artichokes, which I’ll steam for dinner tonight. I’ll make broccoli soup with the broccoli and one leek. I’m itching to get up and roast those beets right away. There are a couple of new-to-us greens, one of which is tatsoi. I found a recipe for Chilled Wilted Tatsoi Salad Recipe with Sesame-Ginger Dressing that I’m also going to make today…

Must keep brain storming! Bear with me as I think aloud. :)

Monday: Salmon, artichokes, tatsoi salad, roasted beets
Tuesday: Sausages, braised collard rapini, green salad (oak leaf lettuce, radishes)
Wednesday: Zucchini ‘ribbon’ “Lasagna” (strips of lasagna in place of noodles)
Thursday: Roasted chicken with mizuna & roast pear salad
Friday: Crust-less Pizza Quiche, braised chard
Saturday: Beef & Veggie Soup
Sunday: Grilled Eggplant & Capicole Parmigiana, salad (based on linked recipe)

Menu Plannin’ Monday: Under the Wire

With all these veggies hanging out ‘round these here parts, I have to get my act together making sure to include them all in the meals—no point in getting fresh, organic CSA veggies if we don’t eat ‘em! :) So far we’ve done pretty well with last week’s haul: artichokes were steamed and eaten both fresh and with the hearts scrambled into eggs on Saturday morning, green garlic has been standing in for regular garlic whenever possible, we had undone cabbage roll skillet, the beets & greens were pretty tasty, rutabaga was roasted and mashed into cauliflower (honestly, we didn’t like it much), and braised collard rapini played nicely with the Easter ham.

Can you believe we still have a good bit more to eat before Thursday’s pick up? The cool thing about how fresh these veggies are is they KEEP. Unlike the produce at a major grocer, this stuff was picked only 1-3 days before I had it in my grubby hands, so sometimes it’s fine to let it linger in the fridge for a couple of weeks (Russian Kale, I might be talkin’ to you).

Here’s my menu plan so far, with recipes linked where possible.

Monday: Mixed Greens & Sprouts w/ Oranges & Balsamic Chicken (this will help with the sprouts and radishes)
Tuesday: Vegetable Beef Soup in Crock
Wednesday: Ham & Leek Crust-less Quiche w Braised Yellow Chard
Thursday: Roasted 8-Piece Chicken w/Onions and veggie TBD
Friday - Sunday: TBD

While the pickup is not until Thursday evening, the weekly newsletter from our CSA is emailed on Tuesday, so I will be able to plan more fully tomorrow morning before grocery shopping. I’m thinking of making a gumbo and working in a salmon dinner somewhere… we shall see.

Menu Monday, Dec 7

Another Monday, another menu.  :)

This week I’m trying two  recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks for Sunday dinner.  The soup in particular sounds really tasty!

Monday: Roasted Sausages with Tomatoes and Onions
Tuesday: Undone Cabbage Roll Skillet
Wednesday: Salmon, acorn squash, veg TBD
Thursday: Belgian Beef and Beer Stew w/rolls
Friday: Kebabs (but I am using beef instead of lamb)
Saturday:  leftovers or take out burritos (swim meet that day)
Sunday: Sherried Tomato Soup, Spicy Shredded Pork – PW recipes of the week

Menu Plan… Tuesday?

I planned my menu yesterday, but didn’t get a chance to sit down and write it up.  Anyway, today is my new grocery day, as it’s been working well to drop Carter off at school and then for Cole and me to go directly to the store… one less child to amuse during the trip, and Cole enjoys the outing—plus he gets to eat a banana and try whatever they’re serving in the demo part at Trader Joes.  So, I do plan the menu on Monday to be ready on Tuesday.  Make sense?  ;)

Monday:  split pea soup with leftover ham & bone
Tuesday: beef enchiladas from Pioneer Woman Cooks
Wednesday: salmon, asparagus, butternut squash
Thursday: Pioneer Woman’s simple chili
Friday: Cobb salad
Saturday: maybe out to celebrate Bunny participating in the Christmas parade (I’m still working on figuring out how she can ride with both groups she’s in that are in the parade).
Sunday: probably leftovers

Menu Plan, Monday Nov. 23

This week, of course, has Thanksgiving on Thursday. We plan a little bit of a special meal here, and we’ll enjoy it among us 5, but it’s not a ‘going crazy’ meal this year. We don’t like turkey, so we're having ham—I know, how DARE we! Well, we really don’t like turkey, so there!

Anyway, here is the plan, Stan.

Monday: roast chicken
Tuesday: meatloaf (trying out Pioneer Woman’s recipe from book)
Wednesday: enchiladas w left over chicken (then going to PIE PARTY!)
Thursday: ham, fauxtatoes, asparagus w/hollandaise
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: split pea soup with leftover ham
Sunday: Pioneer Woman pot roast

I also decided to work my way through as many of the PW recipes in her book as I can, to ‘cook the book’ as it were. So, this week an extra will be her cinnamon rolls, which is Bunny’s request. I’ll be writing up these PW recipes along the way. :)

Menu, 10-5

Click the linked image for hundreds of inspiring menus. I sometimes flip through the calendar, where I note each day's planned meal, and find ideas for dinners we'd liked but I forgot about. I get in weird ruts, where for weeks I'll make something, then we'll be sick of it and I'll stop and forget we like it. A couple of months later, it's like finding $5 in the dryer to rediscover a meal idea. :) Like quiche...

Anyway, here is this week chez moi:

Sunday: Rib roast, fauxtatoes, green beans, cheese souffles
Monday: sausages and peppers with homemade tomato sauce
Tuesday: Slow Cooked Green Chili Pork Tacos With Fresh Corn and Olive Salsa
Wednesday: Quiche, salad
Thursday: Chicken Paprikash in crock
Friday: C.O.R.N. (clean out refrig night)
Saturday: Salad with Grilled Chicken, Corn, Tomatoes and Blue Cheese

Another Monday, another chance to take a few moments and know what the plan is for dinner this week.

Here's the plan 'round here for the week. You can see my plans from last week made me move ahead one meal. Big deal--I had a plan, and life was easier for it, even so. :)

Sunday: Grilled Spare Ribs, salad
Monday: Pork Tenderloin with Mango Chutney (moved forward from last week)
Tuesday: Cock-a-leekie Soup in crock pot
Wednesday: Sausages and Garlicky Lentils
Thursday: Salsa Chili con Carne in crock
Friday: Undone Cabbage Roll Skillet
Saturday: TBD

The Return of Menu Monday...

It's been a long summer, and, while I have been unable to find (or perhaps, unwilling to sacrifice) the time to write about it, menu planning has remained a weekly must do around here. The couple of weeks I skipped planning sucked! While I had food to make meals, the end of the day, when everyone including me is tired and often cranky, is not the time to be winging it in the kitchen. Now, since school is in full gear and that means scout meetings, sports practices, and all the other fun, yet hectic additions, meal planning is even more vital. The kids and I are not home until nearly 7:00 three nights a week because of Bunny's swim practice, and I'm making sure to make at least one of those nights a crockpot meal that I put together when I 'only' have one child at home earlier in the day. It's SOOO nice to come home and smell dinner ready for us when we're ready for it!

Anyway, enough about how much taking the 15 or so minutes every week to plan for the next week is helping our household run at least a bit closer to smoothly. If you want to see oodles and oodles of menu ideas, click the linked image above.

Soooo, here is our week:

Sunday: dinner out
Monday: Chicken Tacos with Mango Salsa
Tuesday: Beef Daube Provencal in crockpot
Wednesday: Crustless Quiche, sliced tomatoes
Thursday: Shrimp, Sauteed Zucchini, Salad
Friday: Pork Tenderloin with mango chutney
Saturday: BBQ ribs

Menu 04/20/09

Happy Monday!
It's HOT here today and tomorrow, so I am going to be keeping the kitchen cool as I can for a couple of days.

Sunday: Out to dinner
Monday: Burgers/Dogs on grill
Tuesday: CORN
Wednesday: Bolognese sauce
Thursday: Grilled Herbed Chicken drumsticks
Friday: Taco Salad
Saturday: CORN
(CORN = clean out refrig nite--we're not just eating a ton of corn)

Mar 9 Menu

Another Monday, and oh, boy... first weekday of Daylight Savings (the new, improved, early as heck version!)... no one's wanting to do anything here today.

My menu is a bit partial... still working on it.

Sunday: Shrimp Gumbo (made meatball soup on a whim instead last week, so this is that shrimp [frozen])
Monday: Sausages & Peppers w simple tomato sauce
Tuesday: Roast Chicken, fauxtatoes, soycutash
Wednesday: Meatloaf, snap peas, salad
Thursday: Chicken with Lemons and Olives
Friday: TBA (Tacos?)
Saturday: TBA