Menu - Week of 12/15

It feels like I blink and a week goes by.  Am I that busy that I don't even notice the days passing by?  That is kind of sad.  Winter is supposed to be a time to slow down.  With the short days and the cool weather, I should spend more evenings reading by the fire.  I need to restart my annual tradition of reading the entire Little House on the Prairie series over the Christmas break.  I used to do that before the kids came.  N loves those books; D not so much. 

Anyway, I am forgetting that this blog is about food.  I am looking forward to cooking a lot of dinners this week.  I love sitting down at the table, giving thanks for our meal, and lighting the advent candle this season.  So for this week's menu:

• Monday -  Party Leftovers (Chinese Egg Rolls, Queso Dip, Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, fruit)
  
• Tuesday - Broiled Salmon with Herbs, Mexican Rice, Edamame, Corn on the Cob (on sale), Orange Wedges
  
• Wednesday - Baked Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, Carrots, Grapes
  
• Thursday - Sweet Potato Soup, Rolls, Cheese and Apple Slices
  
• Friday - We're ordering pizza.  After dinner, we are caroling around the neighborhood and coming back home to hot cocoa, and we're roasting marshmallows by the fire (it's supposed to be 70's degrees, but we'll pretend it's still cold!).
  
• Saturday - Paella, Raw Veggies
• Sunday - Grilled Steaks, Potato Wedges, Grilled Asparagus

Broiled Salmon with Herbs:  Rinse 1 lb. salmon fillet.  Pat dry with paper towels.  Rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon sage, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.  Broil for fifteen minutes or until done.  I am serving this with Rice, but  you can also use this fish to make fish tacos.  Just serve in corn tortillas and add pico de gallo and thinly sliced cabbage. Delicious!

Provecho!

Menu - Week of 12/8

Last week was awful in terms of eating out and eating unhealthy.  We were at school most of the day because of the book fair and we got home fairly late which means we ate out at places such as McD's a lot.  Not good for the checkbook or for the body.  Must start the body cleansing process tomorrow.   

We still have tons of turkey leftovers, but I am getting tired of turkey, plus we are trying to eat less meat.  So here is what I am planning for dinners this week:

• Monday - Potato pancakes, steamed broccoli, watermelon
  
• Tuesday - Turkey stroganoff with egg noodles, carrots with dip, strawberries
  
• Wednesday - Bean burritos, rice, tangerines
  
• Thursday - Gypsy Soup (from Mollie Katzen's, The New Moosewood Cookbook), grapes
  
• Friday - Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe at Mexic-Arte Museum - must eat Mexican food there!
  
• Saturday - We are hosting David's faculty party at our house.
  
• Sunday - Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and tossed salad (so much for not eating as much meat!!!)  You can't live in Texas and not eat steak.
  

Potato Pancakes (from Healthy Meals in Minutes): I love this recipe.  The pancakes taste so much better with sweet applesauce.  This recipe makes 12 pancakes.

3 russett potatoes, peeled and coarsely shredded

1/2 a small yellow onion, grated

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespooons chopped fresh parsley

1 large egg

1 egg white

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided

Nonfat plain yogurt or unsweetened applesauce (optional)

1. Place potatoes in colander and rinse.  Squeeze dry on paper towels.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine onion, flour, and parsley.  Stir in egg, egg white, salt, and paper. Add potatoes; mix well.
   
3. Spray a large non-stick skillet with vegetable cooking spray.  Heat skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 1 teaspoon of butter.  Place about 3 tablespoons of potato mixture in skillet; flatten into pancake with spatula.  Make 3 more pancakes in skillet as directed.
   
4. Cook until browned on the bottom, about 7 minutes, pressing with spatula.  Turn carefully; cook until golden on other side, about 6 to 7 minutes.  Place on a plate and cover to keep warm. Repeat twice with the remaining butter and potato mixture.  Serve with applesauce or yogurt.
   

Provecho!

Menu - Week of 11/24

We have plenty of leftovers and we are going out of town Wednesday so I used some of this week's grocery money to buy house supplies, such as diapers, tissues, laundry detergent, and freezer bags.  I spent $35 just on diapers and laundry detergent!!!!! Six more months of diapers - yippee!!!!

Since we have a short week, here's an abbreviated menu:

• Monday - Turkey Noodle Soup, Veggie Tray, Orange Wedges, Leftover Sweet Potato Casserole
  
• Tuesday - Turkey Mole, Rice, Veggie Tray, Grapes, Banana Rounds
  
• Wednesday - Turkey Sandwiches for a picnic lunch on our out of town trip; dinner at my parent's house!
  
• Thursday - Thanksgiving Feast with my family
  
• Friday - Thanksgiving Leftovers with my family
  
• Saturday - Curried Turkey Soup, Orange Wedges
  
• Sunday - Grilled Steak and Shrimp, Baked Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, Raw Carrots
  

Turkey Noodle Soup

De-bone the leftover turkey and use the bones to make turkey broth.  Simmer bones in 4 cups water or enough water to cover about an inch over the bones in the pot.  Add 1/2 an onion, 2 cloves garlic, and two carrots (you can leave the last three things whole since you will strain the broth anyway). Simmer for at least an hour.  Strain the broth and use immediately or freeze. My husband did this last night so tonight I just had to pull the broth out of the freezer and heat it up.  

Add about two cups leftover shredded turkey to your broth, another 1/2 onion (leave it whole), and 1 clove garlic (leave it whole), and salt to taste.  Let simmer for a half hour.  Discard onion and garlic.  

In a separate pot, boil egg noodles until done.  I don't like to boil the noodles in the broth because the starch released by the noodles makes the broth cloudy.  To serve, ladle noodles in a bowl.  Ladle turkey soup over noodles.  Top with fresh ground pepper.

Provecho!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

The food for our early Thanksgiving Dinner last night was delicious despite a couple of fiascos. First, the turkey did not defrost by the time we needed to put it in the oven.  My poor husband had to run to H.E.B., our local grocery store, and buy a fully cooked turkey which cost $22 and took two hours to warm up in the oven. So much for my grocery budget this week!  The turkey was very bland and it felt like big waste of money, but we had guests coming over and they were expecting turkey.

Then, when we added the cornstarch to the gravy, it clumped up and we ended up with many white little balls floating in the gravy.  We solved that crisis by straining the gravy.  It looked beautiful and tasted great.

Other than that, it was so much fun spending all day cooking in the kitchen.  I started off by making the cranberry salad.  I posted that recipe yesterday.  Then we made the green bean casserole, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potato casserole, the stuffing, and the gravy.  

Roast Herbed Turkey

The original 12 pound turkey is finally defrosted and my husband is roasting it.  He rubbed it inside the skin with 1/2 a stick of butter; 2 tablespoons each of sage, thyme, and rosemary; and salt and pepper. He placed a whole apple and a whole onion in the cavity.  He tented it with foil and will leave in the oven for 3 1/2 hours.  Removing the foil tent the last 45 minutes. I can't wait to eat tasty turkey. 

My husband is also making turkey broth with the turkey carcass from last night.  We will have turkey noodle soup tomorrow night using that broth.  Yum!

I have been spending a lot of time checking out other foodie websites and I have to conclude that the people writing them have no children.  How do you make elaborate dishes every evening when you have children underfoot?  Having said that, I think I am going to start using less shortcuts in my meals and making them from scratch.  It is nice to know exactly what you are putting in your food and we can all use less preservatives.  I would also like to start eating less meat.  I'll need to incorporate that into my menu next week.

Provecho!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Well, the turkey was not defrosted completely so it is sitting in water which I am changing every 15 minutes.  I guess we'll have a late dinner.  Note to self:  Start defrosting turkey several days before it is going to be cooked!!!!!

We are making two recipes that we got from David's mom and his Aunt Mabel.  The first is cranberry salad that David's mom makes every Thanksgiving.  It is delicious.

Cranberry Salad

1 pound cranberries

2 oranges, peeled and cubed

2 large apples, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 package cherry jello

1 cup nuts

Grind the cranberries in the food processor.  Place cranberries, oranges, and apples in pan. Add sugar.  Let sit for an hour.  While preparing fruit, make jello per directions on package.  Once jello is half-set, mix with fruit in a mold.  Fold in nuts.  Place in fridge until jello sets completely.  This is best when made the night before you are going to serve it.

The other recipe is for mashed potatoes and it came from David's Aunt Mabel in Ohio.  The potatoes are so rich.  You can also make this dish the day before and heat in the oven uncovered the day you are going to serve them.  I am copying the recipe verbatim.

"Mashed Potatoes

4 large potatoes

1/2 package cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons margarine

(salt and pepper to taste)

Boil potatoes and mash.  Add cream cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, and margarine.   Mix well. Put in greased baking dish. Cover and refrigerate until want to use.  Can also freeze if you like. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until warm. I put in some cutup chives sometimes over.  If you cover them to bake they will get watery." 

The rest of our menu is pretty standard: pumpkin pie, corn, green bean casserole, yams, and rolls.

Provecho!!!!

Leftovers

I hate leftovers.  I can only eat them for a day and then I am done.  I cooked chili two nights ago and had it again last night.  I am ready to freeze the little bit that's left and use it again for something else in a few weeks.   I also froze a burger and chicken thigh leftover from Sunday.  I will need to be resourceful with the recipes to be able to use those.

Tonight we are headed to a friend's house for a Cuban Night Dinner.  I am supposed to bring Sangria.  I thought I had all the ingredients, but now I realized I need brandy and club soda. Here's the recipe:

Sangria

1 bottle of Red Wine (I like Yellow Tail Shiraz Cabernet and it's only $5.99 a bottle!)

Juice of 2 limes

Juice of 2 oranges

1 lemon cut into slices

1 orange cut into slices

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup brandy

3 cups ginger ale or club soda

Put fruit slices in pitcher.  Pour orange and lime juices over fruit.  Add sugar and brandy.  Stir. Chill for at least an hour.  Add chilled wine. Add chilled club soda right before serving. Serve over ice.  Garnish with orange slice.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night and I just started defrosting the turkey in the refrigerator.  I guess if it's not fully defrosted by tomorrow morning, I will have to soak it in water all day like my grandma used to do.  You just have to keep changing the water every 15 minutes.  We'll see!

Lunches

Well, the impulse item I bought at the grocery store was totally worth it, in terms of flavor. Those Eggo cinnamon toaster pastries are delicious.  I had one this morning with my coffee and was pleasantly surprised.  They actually feel, smell, and taste like a real pastry.  They don't quite look like one, but I marvel at Eggo's product design team's ability to create something edible whose outside stays crispy and the inside has gooey cinnamony stuff oozing out after it comes out of the toaster.  Mmmm.  Mmmmm.  Mmmmm.  

As I was putting away the breakfast dishes, I took a look at the list of ingredients for the pastry. That was a bad idea.  I can't pronounce half of the ingredients on the list.  The list contains too many preservatives and processed stuff.  What did I expect right?  My grandma always said that coupons are only offered for over-processed foods that a company wants to introduce or is having a hard time selling.  You will never see coupons for fruits or vegetables.  I am bummed, but I will not buy those tasty things again. 

I have been getting in the habit of packing lunches the night before and it is working for us.  The kids can provide some input and fewer uneaten food items come home in the lunch box at the end of the day.  A friend of mine told me her family packs all their lunches for the week on Sunday.  They have three lunches per day - two girls go to school and my friend goes to work. She said Sunday afternoons they set up an assembly line in the kitchen.  They freeze the sandwiches without any veggies in them.  They also pack 15 baggies of vegetables, such as carrots or red peppers, and 15 baggies of fruit.  Then every morning, they pop a frozen sandwich, a bag of fruit, and a bag of veggies into their respective lunch boxes.  That sounds like a very efficient way of doing things!  I must try it.  

Today our dinner was nice and easy - turkey chili, tossed salad, raw veggies for the kids (they will not eat any cooked vegetables), grapes and orange wedges.  I also made pasta for the kids so they could eat it with butter.  My kids are not big fans of chili.  My girls usually are, but today they dug right into the pasta. 

Turkey Chili:  This is the easiest chili in the world!  Brown one pound of turkey.  The leaner the better.  Drain off any fat.  Add one 15 oz. can of pinto beans, one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes, and one packet of McCormick's Chili seasoning.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Ta da!  Chili is done!  Chili is so versatile.  You can have it plain one day.  Make a taco salad with it the next day, and serve chili dogs the last day.  

Provecho!

Grocery Shopping Day

Oh, am I so mad.  I was hoping to just squeeze under $100 today at the grocery store, but couldn't do it.  My grocery bill was $105.69.  It was that darn turkey.  Yes, I bought our entire Thanksgiving dinner for 10 and our groceries for the week with that money.  I did purchase one impulse item.  Eggo's has a new kind of cinnamon toaster pastry that tasted delicious so I guiltily grabbed a box and a 55 cent coupon to go with it.  When it came time to check out, I forgot to use that coupon and the one for a dollar off my Folger's Decaf.  I didn't realize this until I got to the car and felt bad going back in to get my $1.55 back.  I guess I should've.  I will next time.  It definitely helps having a list of items to purchase.  Also, I feel ok about it because the last two shops have both been under $100 so there is room in my budget for spending an extra five bucks.

It was a hard grocery shopping day.  Shopping for items that I do not normally shop for made the grocery store visit twice as long as it normally is.  I kept going back and forth across the store to get new things.  Next time, I have to make my grocery list out by aisle.  That will make my life easier.  

I love going to our grocery store during lunch because they serve all sorts of samples.  The samples are really good!  Today I had beef meatloaf, pasta salad, crackers with salmon spread, corn stuffing with spiral ham, and scones for dessert.  I'm not even hungry right now.  That's one way to save money (by being a cheapskate!).  

Pork Chops: Tonight, I will be making pork chops for dinner.  This is my kid's favorite meal.  I use my grandma's old recipe.  Heat the pan.  Add the pork chops.  Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper.  Let cook on each side (time varies depending on thickness of the chop) until grease caramelizes.  It sounds a little gross but it's delicious.  

Mashed Potatoes: We are also having mashed potatoes.  I save time by microwaving the whole potato with the skin on.  For 8 servings, you need two large potatoes.  Scrub them.  Poke holes in them with a fork, and microwave one at a time on high for 7minutes.  Then check to see if they are done. Once they are done.  Put them in a bowl, add butter, milk, and salt to taste and mash away.  

Menu - Week of 11/17

Well, I must be insane because I just signed up to update another blog - this one!  I love writing about food, but it somehow doesn't fit in to my other blog which is more about parenting and politics.  Although to be quite honest, now that the election is over, I don't feel as motivated to write about politics.  I'm tired of following all the newspapers and reading what they say about the Obamas.   Boring.

So I decided to create a new blog to capture all my thoughts on food: menus for the week, recipes, frugal grocery shopping, restaurant reviews and other culinary what-nots.   For this first post, I am going to start by giving you the menu for this week.  As the week progresses, I'll add recipes and talk about my adventures in grocery shopping.  We'll see where it takes us. 

Menus

I love planning.  It is in my nature to plan.  I love sitting down and just laying out all the options.   Menu planning is my favorite.  I take out my cookbooks and recipe box, do a quick inventory of my pantry and fridge and think about what food I'm in the mood for.  This is what I came up with for this week's menu:

• Monday - Grilled Chicken with Fettucine Alfredo and Steamed Broccoli
  
• Tuesday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans; Strawberries
  
• Wednesday - Turkey Chili, Tossed Salad; Grapes
  
• Thursday - Leftovers
  
• Friday - Cuban Night at a friend's house.  I am to bring Sangria.
  
• Saturday - Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner: turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, green bean casserole, yams, and pumpkin pie.  My husband loves Thanksgiving at home but this year we are traveling for Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years.  He requested we have Thanksgiving Dinner at home anyway even if it's not on Thanksgiving.  How can I say no to that?  
  
• Sunday - Leftovers

Grilled Chicken with Fettucine Alfredo

I was actually out of fettucine so I went with angel hair pasta.  Not a good idea.  It doesn't hold the alfredo sauce that well.  I have a recipe for a good alfredo sauce but find that Bertolli's canned alfredo is excellent.  We grilled the chicken last night with our burgers and we just warmed it up today.  That was a major time saver.  The kids loved the angel hair pasta with butter. 

I am headed to the grocery store tomorrow, but first I must take my baby to the doctor. She is teething, I think, but it is making her a cranky baby.  I want to make sure it is the teething and nothing else. 

Provecho!