Menu for the Week

I put together most of the menu this week, but the kids did help a little.  We have a birthday this week and so the birthday girl got to pick her meal.  We will also be having guests a couple of nights, so we will see if this menu works out or not.

Monday- Chicken, Broccoli & Rice in the Crock pot.

Tuesday- Taco Soup

Wednesday- Bean & Cheese taquitoes

Thursday-Stir-fry over Rice

Friday- Pasta Salad w/tuna, Macaroni & Cheese

Saturday- Beef Roast

One of these nights we are going to have roasted cauliflower.  I’ve never roasted cauliflower before, but I read a lot of positive reviews about it.  I can’t wait to try it!

Strawberries

This is what we ended up doing with our strawberries.  Isn't my husband a sweetie?

Macaroni & Cheese with Broccoli

One of our favorite meals around here is stovetop Macaroni and Cheese.  The kids really love it when I throw some broccoli in there, too.  I love that broccoli is a hardy vegetable and will wait around in my refrigerator for a week before I do something with it.  The actual recipe I got out of Rachel Ray Just In Time, but since then I've adapted it to whatever I want to do with my family.  Here's the basics, though.  All measurements are estimates since I do very little measuring since I've made this so many times.

Macaroni & Cheese with Broccoli

1 lb. noodles (we use whole wheat and vary the shapes)
1 head Broccoli broken into florets (we actually use 2, my kids really like broccoli)
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. spicy mustard
1 cup Chicken Stock
1 cup Milk
2 cups Cheese
1/2 cup cooked squash (butternut works well)

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add salt to season the cooking water, then add the pasta.  Cook according to directions until noodles are al dente.  Add Broccoli to the pot for the last 3 minutes of cooking.  Drain well and return to the pot.

2. In a skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add flour and whisk together, cook for about 1 minute.  Add stock and milk and cook a few minutes to thicken.  Season with salt and pepper, then add cheese.  Stir in mustard and squash.

3.  Pour cheese sauce over pasta and serve!

My husband made some flank steak rolls to go along with dinner since he feels the need to eat meat a little more often than I do.  I'm not sure what all he put in them, but I know there was spinach and feta rolled up in there.  Since he is the one who made them, I can't really tell you what to do, sorry.  We also served this with some more Parmesan Asparagus.

Verdict:  My sauce was a little runny this time, but there was still none left over.  The kids were fighting over the broccoli and I am seriously loving all the asparagus we've been getting :) I also love that I can add squash to this and my family eats it since they won't eat squash many other ways that I've found so far.

This Weeks Bounty

I Love our Bountiful Basket this week.

1 container Strawberries

2 bunches Asparagus

3 Cucumbers

4 Gold Apples

1 bunch Broccoli

2 heads Cauliflower

1 Cantaloup

3 Bananas

10 Roma Tomatoes

8 Oranges

1 head Green Leaf Lettuce

I gave our cucumbers to a friend since we don't really like them in our house.  We like pickles, but I put up a bunch in the fall so we are good for a while.  Our tomatoes will need to sit on the counter for a few days to ripen up, as will the bananas, but the rest of everything looks so good.  The strawberries will be gone by tonight.

Salad Savoy Chips

Anybody else like me and wonder what to do with the purple or white lettuce looking stuff in their Bountiful Basket?  Well, I read of one person saying they cooked it like kale chips and really loved them.  Now, I've never had kale chips, but just a short while ago I tried Kale for the first time, sauteed in olive oil with salt on it.  I loved it and so when I read about this tasting similar to Kale, I had to try it.

1 head Salad Savoy (white or purple, doesn't matter)
1/4 tsp Olive Oil
Sea Salt

Heat the oven to 350.  Separate the leaves from the stems and wash the leaves.  Toss with olive oil to coat and spread out on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (I didn't have parchment paper, but I used a stoneware pan it it worked just fine).  Sprinkle with sea salt and roast in the oven for about 16 minutes.

Verdict:  I LOVED these.  They were crisp, salty and yummy.  I offered one to one of my daughters and when she turned it down, I proceeded to eat the rest.  Another daughter was upset that I didn't save one for her to try.  I will have to make some more, I guess.

Navajo Tacos

We needed to use up some chili and make some kind of salad that I could get my kids to eat, so Navajo Tacos it is.  Normally, I make fry bread for them, but fry bread can be a little hard to cut at times, so I decided to try scones.  I had seen this scone recipe and thought I'd give it a try.  I did modify it a little, I substituted a cup of whole wheat flour for white flour to make them a little healthier, and instead of rolling them out and cutting them, I just took balls of dough and shaped them into circular type shapes.  There was also plenty of dough, so I did refrigerate some of the leftovers to make scones with Honey butter for a snack later :)

The verdict:  I loved these scones.  They took a little bit more preparation than I am used to, I'm the kind of person that wants to just finish something start to finish so breads are not my specialty.  However, these were soft, light and delicious.  My kids really liked them too.  My husband liked them, but he thought they were a little sweet to be having for Navajo Tacos, he would have preferred them with just Honey Butter.

Sweet Potato Blender Pancakes

Awhile ago in our Bountiful Basket we got sweet potatoes.  My kids aren’t too sure about them yet, so I ended up roasting them, pureeing them and freezing them to hide in other recipes.  Well, these were one of those recipes.  The original recipe calls for pancake mix, but since I really love my blender pancakes, I mixed the two recipes.

Blender Sweet Potato Pancakes

• 1 Cup Milk
• 1 Cup Wheat Kernels, whole and uncooked
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. Oil
• 2 Tbsp Honey or Sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Sweet Potato Puree

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender.  Blend on highest speed for 4-5 minutes or until batter is smooth.  Add eggs, oil, baking powder, salt, honey or sugar, cinnamon and sweet potato puree to above batter.  Blend on low.  Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (only one thing to wash!) onto a hot greased griddle or frying pan.  Cook; flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.

Verdict:  I can’t believe how well this went.  My daughter thought I was making pumpkin pancakes, even though I’ve never made pumpkin pancakes.  We served this with bacon, eggs and hashbrowns and only one pancake was left at the end of the night for their dad who couldn’t make it to dinner with us.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

 Okay, so I've never made stuffed peppers before, but my husband likes them and I thought I'd give them a try.  I started out with this recipe, but then I tweaked it a little.  I didn't have the black beans, I thought I did, until I looked in the freezer and remembered I'd used them for chili last week.  I did have some refried beans left over that I used instead, though.  I also added some hamburger since my husband requested it.


 Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 C uncooked rice (can use any kind of rice)
2 C water
Green Bell peppers
2/3 cup refried beans ( I forgot these in the picture)
1/2 lb. Ground beef, cooked
1 1/2 t cumin
3/4 C Plain yogurt
3/4 C mexican blend cheese
1/2 C chopped cilantro
1 C chopped tomatoes
1/2 C chopped green onions
1/2 black pepper
salt to taste

1.  Combine rice and water. Cook rice 5-10 minutes shy of the directions.  Set aside and let cool.

2.  Wash peppers and prepare them for stuffing.  Cut the stem off and clean out the membranes and any seeds. 

3.  Place beans in a large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients, including the rice.  Mix well.  Taste the mixture and add salt and other seasonings as needed.

4.  Carefully spoon the mixture into your peppers filling them quite full.  Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Check pepper with fork to make certain it's soft.  

 The Verdict:  These were pretty good.  I'm the only one who ate all of my pepper.  The kids ate the filling.  My husband tried his pepper, but decided he like the filling better alone.  There was some left so I had it for lunch today and it was just as good re-heated in the microwave.  I think if I make this again, though, I'll leave out the cilantro.  I love the taste, but it doesn't love me so well.  This also made a lot of filling, so I'm thinking tacos for lunch one day, or put it on quesadillas for the kids.  We also used some of our Salad Savoy in our salad with dinner.

Menu for the Week

My kids love helping out with the menu for the week, and of course helping me cook, too.  I have them look at what came in our basket, think about what they like, and figure out how to use what we have.  Here is what we came up with:

Monday- Stuffed Bell Peppers with green salad

I am using a recipe for Anaheim Peppers, but it should be just as good.  The kids aren't too excited, but they can always just eat the filling.

Tuesday- Breakfast for Dinner

I have some frozen sweet potatoes from before and so I'm going to use them to make Sweet Potato pancakes from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

Wednesday- Navajo Tacos
 I also have some chili that needs to be used this week.  Along with all of that wonderful lettuce and Salad Savoy that we got in our basket this week

Thursday- Cheesy Potato Soup

Friday- Pizza and Salad

I'd say that we would use the pineapple for this, but we won't.  None of us like pineapple on our pizza.  Most likely our pineapple will go into a smoothie.

Saturday- Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and salad

I started making homemade stove top Mac and Cheese from one of my Rachel Ray cookbooks.  That specific recipe calls for cauliflower, but we love to put broccoli in instead.  My kids love broccoli and cheese.

My thing I love to do so that I have salad ready for the week is to take my salad, tear it all up and wash it in my salad spinner.  Then, I have a Green Container, from the makers of the Green Bags, and it will keep my lettuce looking great all week.  I can throw extra stuff in for a salad, or it's all ready to put on sandwiches or in wraps.  I highly recommend the Green Bags and Green Containers.  I know I got mine at Wal-Greens, but I've seen them other places too.  They really do work!

This Week Bounty

2 Bunches Savoy Salad

1 Head Green Leaf Lettuce

1 Pineapple

2 Bunches Asparagus

6 Tomatoes

3 Lemons

4 Green Bell Peppers

5 Fuji Apples

9 Comice Pears (one is missing, it got eaten on the drive home)

1 Bunch Broccoli

5 Bananas

I barely got the picture taken before an apple got snagged.

I am super excited about all of the yummy produce that we got this week.  I also love that when you volunteer you get to pick a little something extra for your time.  In my case it was an extra Asparagus.  I found the yummies recipe that my kids also like for Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan.  I'm not exactly certain what all I am going to do with this bounty, but I see lots of salad in the future.

My Favorites

So, I love cooking.  More specifically, I love reading recipes.  I could sit down with a cookbook and read each page like a novel.  It's even better if it has pictures.  I have a lot of recipes and books.  Here is what my counter looks like.  I have the standard Better Homes and Garden cookbook and Betty Crocker cookbook.  I was given a gift subscription to Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine, and I love it!  I also have various other cookbooks from church and school fundraisers, cookbooks that came with kitchen appliances, and vintage cookbooks that I've found at garage sales and book sales.  Then, of course there are the many food blogs I stalk follow and websites like allrecipes.com that cater to those of us looking for what to do with something we are unfamiliar with.  I really should find a better way to organize my collection, especially those magazines, but for now, I love having them out in the open where they are easily accessible whenever I have a few moments to peruse through them.