I'm On a Roll!

Wahoo! 2 weeks in a row! :) Maybe I can get the hang of this consistency thing yet...I'm still not perfect, but I'm getting there. I think once I tackle all my big projects, I will be able to keep on top of the regular, every day things. Last week my big project was my closet and my craft area, both of which had lost their floors. I am proud to say that both have found them again! This past week I finally took down all the Christmas stuff and cleaned out under the stairs, which is now holiday central. I also pulled out all the clothes that were too small for the kids. This week I want to get rid of all the piles I have formed throughout the house. So, by this time next week, I should be pile-free!

OK...this is supposed to be a cooking blog, not a cleaning blog, so I'll get back on topic. The previous week we had some winners! I already mentioned some of the dishes I made, but there were some more good ones! I liked the flavor of the ratatouille with sweet Italian sausage, and the picture on Facebook got great reviews. There was a TON of ratatouille leftover though, and I'm not sure how much I would care for it without the sausage (I am for sure a carnivore).

The roasted chicken turned out great! I wish I could have enjoyed it fresh and hot, but I pulled it out of the oven right when I had to run out the door to a church meeting. But even eating it cold when I got back was good. it was very tender and perfectly cooked.

The minestrone was OK...but, like I said, I'm a meat-lover, so it could have used some browned ground meat in there...I think that would have put it over the top...of course, then it wouldn't have been minestrone soup anymore.

I did not have a chance to make the no noodle lasagna because we ended up having a guest who specially requested my tacos. Any visitor who has a favorite dish that I make, I try to please! :) So, I will be making it this Sunday. I also didn't make the cauliflower crust pizza because my husband went out of town, and I wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good low-carb recipe without him, so I made frozen pizzas instead ;) I moved them onto next week's menu.

The Parmesan chicken bake was good. As my sister suggested, I just eyeballed the ingredients. I did make my own marinara sauce instead of buying premade, and I thought it was pretty tasty. It is a nice alternative to the full-on Parmesan chicken, which takes a lot of effort. This way, you get the same flavors without all the work! I would recommend having extra sauce on hand to pour on top if you are serving this over spaghetti, as traditional Parmesan chicken is served.

The Chicken Paprikash was different. I didn't have the chance to make my own noodles, so I just cooked some egg noodles really quick. I liked the different flavor, and the kids loved the meat too! There was a lot of sauce, so I don't think it needed the extra broth. The sauce would have been good over the leftover noodles (there was no leftover meat), but, alas, I have a super efficient, wonderful husband who poured all that delicious sauce down the drain as he cleaned up from dinner...I guess I really can't complain too much!

Asian lettuce cups are always a big hit in my house. Unfortunately, my grocery store didn't have any fresh ginger, so I used powdered. I also just eyeballed all the ingredients and added as my taste buds seemed fit. I added shredded carrots and it was the perfect splash of color that the dish needed. We topped the lettuce cups (actually, more like a lettuce bowl) with chopped peanuts, scallions, and fried rice noodles. YUM!

Here is the next week's menu:

Sunday

TDF Roast Potatoes Carrots rolls

Monday

Crispy Cheddar Chicken (use roasted vegetable ritz and buttermilk) Penne pasta Green beans

Tuesday

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Wednesday

Lemon Chicken Garlic Rice Pilaf (brown rice?) Broccoli

Thursday

Slow Cooker San Francisco Pork Chops (double sauce) Mashed potatoes (twice baked) Garlic carrots

Friday

Carne Asada salad/nachos (romaine lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, shredded cheese, avocado, tortilla strips, sour cream, salsa, jalapenos, olives) Low carb “chips”?

Just a quick note. As you are planning your meals and looking through all the recipe websites and blogs, always read the reviews or comments. I got some great ideas for variations of certain dishes this week that I'm excited to try! I'm especially looking forward to the carne asada salad/nachos, the twice baked mashed potatoes, and the crispy cheddar chicken! YUM!

Back on the Band Wagon!

It's a new year...time to get back on track! Any good New Year's Resolutions? Mine is consistency...I want to stay more on track with cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. So far, so good...of course, we haven't even made it a week yet...hopefully I won't burn out too quickly. My husband asked me where Tansy was the other night. I told him she stayed behind in 2011!

OK, so along with my resolutions, the hubsters wants to lose 25 lbs by the time his grandpa comes to visit in a couple months. So, back to no/low-carb meals. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I just did a search for "low-carb" and there were a ton of yummy-looking ideas to try out. I tried looking up low-carb recipes on AllRecipes, and their search engine for that category was seriously lacking...most of what you get is condiments.

As usual, I get to splurge on Mondays since it is just me and the kids, so we typically have an Italian something with noodles. Also, since Saturdays are usually a bit hectic, and we usually have a ton of leftovers in the fridge, I'm designating Saturdays as leftover day. If we don't have enough leftovers, we can order pizza or go out to eat. Or, if we don't get to something planned during the week, I can make it on Saturday instead.

Here is this week's menu:

Sunday

Black eyed pea gumbo Buttermilk cornbread salad

Monday

Pesto chicken Florentine with sun dried tomatoes salad

Tuesday

Tacos

Wednesday

Greek chicken salad Dressing

Thursday

Rotisserie chicken Carrots potatoes

Friday

Minestrone soup

So far, I've made the gumbo, chicken Florentine, tacos, and Greek chicken salad. The gumbo was OK. I used dried beans that I started soaking the night before and I added creole seasoning to the gumbo. The rice needed more liquid and more cook time, even though I cooked it much longer than it asked for. The chicken Florentine was a good, quick meal. I used jarred Alfredo sauce to make it one step easier. I think it would be really good if I used home made Alfredo and pesto sauces. I think Our Best Bites has a good Alfredo sauce, if I remember correctly....I also used a full bag of spinach and added sun dried tomatoes. Unfortunately, I had to deal with a kid with the stomach flu right as we sat down to eat, so I had to eat mine cold. I bet it would have been really good when it was hot!

Tacos is always an interesting discussion in our house...and it was when I was growing up too. We currently have a German exchange student living with us, and he asked me how my tacos always looked so perfect and the filling never falls out...why, thank you! For starters, you eat tacos from the side, not the top! ;) But, the rest, I believe, is all in the construction. There were quite a few heated debates at the dinner table when I was younger about the proper taco filling order. I still stand by my order: meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, scallions (most folks call them green onions, but they're really scallions...), sour cream, salsa. Really, there is no other way, no matter what other people try to tell you!

We had the Greek chicken salad yesterday. I scaled back the dressing to 10 servings, but then had to make a second batch. I used one batch for marinading the chicken, and the other for us to put on the salad. I used equal vinegar to oil, and I emulsified the oil into the rest of the dressing in the blender. I did add lettuce to the salad to make it more filling. The dressing was good...but I like the Our Best Bites Greek dressing much better. But, for a quick, easy dressing with me having all the ingredients on hand, it wasn't too bad!

The chicken for tonight's dinner is setting up in the fridge right now, and in a little while I'm going to pop it in the oven to roast nice and slow. I have a feeling that my house is going to smell amazing for the rest of the day! Too bad I got the kids' cold, and I can't smell much of anything right now.

Part of my resolution is to plan my menus on Thursdays and shop on Mondays, so I'm not stressing on getting my grocery list together before I go to the grocery store, leaving me plenty of time to shop while the older 2 are in school. So, here is next week's menu:

Sunday

No noodle lasagna (add sliced zucchini, use fresh spinach) Marinara sauce (double batch) Garlic bread salad

Monday

Parmesan Chicken Bake Spaghetti salad

(Idea courtesy of Cecily...she said to ignore the bad reviews it got...she loved it! I'm assuming she did some sort of GF breadding for it instead of the croutons.)

Tuesday

Italian Sausages with Ratatouille

Wednesday

Chicken Paprikash Nokedli salad

Thursday

Asian lettuce cups

Friday

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Next week I'll let you know how the foods have turned out!

Gobble, Gobble!

Mmmmmm...I love Thanksgiving dinner! I could eat it year-round! I get so excited when I'm planning it. We have it at our house every year (we have for the past 10 years or so). Some years we have a ton of people, and other years just a few, but we always have plenty of food, and everyone is always welcome! My menus have been everything from traditional to gluten-free and vegan. I try to make sure everyone is stuffed (except for the turkey...I don't like to stuff the turkey) and happy. Last year, I was shopping for some vegan ingredients for a friend who was joining us when there was a small accident involving my kids and a shopping cart, 2 days before Thanksgiving. The good thing is my baby is still alive. The bad thing is I ended up with a broken finger, and I'm still not back to "normal" a year (and a surgery on 3 fingers) later. My mom ended up making Thanksgiving dinner last year! Fingers crossed that we don't have any more accidents!

So, here is this year's menu:

Appetizers
	Relish/Vegetable Tray	Cucumbers, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, black olives, Greek olives, baby dill pickles, sweet pickles
	Cheese ball & crackers	Use bacon bits instead of nuts, Ritz and wheat thins
Drinks
	Apple Cider (hot)
	Hot chocolate
	Sparkling cider
	Egg Nog
Main
	Turkey	Attempting to brine a fresh turkey for the first time. This brine recipe has the highest ratings all over the internet.
	Gravy	A recipe without using any strange turkey innards. Using the drippings from the turkey, separating the fat off.
	Stuffing	Believe it or not, I actually like Stove Top stuffing, but it really isn't that hard to make your own just like it, and it is a lot less expensive too.
	Mashed Potatoes	Garlic potatoes…we love garlic in our house!
	Turtle Rolls	I can't make things with yeast for the life of me…that is what my mom is for!
	cranberry sauce	I'm also one of those people who like canned cranberry sauce (not whole…yuck), but I want to make some fresh too.
Sides
	Sweet Potatoes	A necessity at every Thanksgiving, but a little more sophisticated than the canned with the marshmallows on top. No nuts (we will be having someone with a nut allergy)
	Green bean casserole	This recipe does not have a "cream of" soup in it, which I like. I will be adjusting the recipe per the popular reviews.
	3 Bean Salad	A family recipe…a can of green beans, a can of wax beans, and a can of kidney beans (all drained). Add some bacon bits and Italian salad dressing. Let it sit over night for best flavors.
	Scalloped potatoes	I've made this for a few years, and it is really good. I also like that it is gluten-free (although Cecily won't be here this year)
	Brussels Sprouts	This recipe almost makes them tolerable. My husband loves Brussels sprouts, so he requests them every year.
Desserts
	Pumpkin Pie	Traditional, and my husband's favorite.
	Cranberry Cheesecake	I have been making this every year for over 15 years. I found the recipe in a magazine my grandma had, and it sounded really good! It isn't Thanksgiving without it!

Of course, now that this is planned, I have to plan my menu for the week before Thanksgiving...that is so anticlimactic...

The Sky is Falling!

OK...it isn't really, but it is Fall, and we have rain in the forecast (I'm terribly sorry that Cecily actually experienced snow this week..yuck!). So, that means lots of soups in my future! Let's get my newest menu plan out of the way first. Like I said, lots of soup! I love soup...there are so many different types of soup out there, and I rarely find a soup I don't like. My favorites are Zuppa Toscona and Hot & Sour, neither of which are on my menu. I've managed to duplicate the Zuppa Toscona (use kale instead of spinach), but it is not a very easy recipe, so I save it for special occasions. And the Hot & Sour...yeah...there are so many unusual ingredients (most of which are mushrooms, which I technically don't like, but I'll tolerate for a good Hot & Sour soup) that I haven't attempted to even try to make it yet. But I do know one thing...never use black pepper to spice your Hot & Sour soup. That is a big turn off to me, and if I go to a Chinese restaurant that does this, I do not go back. Always use white and red pepper to spice your Hot & Sour soup. OK...that is enough of a rant for a recipe I've never attempted myself, haha!

Sunday

Tomato Basil Soup Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches

Monday

Chicken Parmesan Bundles Salad

Tuesday

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Wednesday

Chicken Gyros Pasta salad

Thursday

Sweet & Sour Chicken Rice broccoli

Friday

Chicken noodle soup

Saturday

Baked Potato Soup

The chicken noodle soup is based off of the soup I made in my last post. My husband isn't feeling well, and it was his request. The other non-linked dish (besides basic salads or veggies) is the pasta salad. I use tri-colored spiral pasta and add diced cucumber, black olives, red bell pepper, broccoli, pepperchinies, and feta cheese. Make sure you put the bell pepper and broccoli in when the pasta is still really hot so it will soften them up a little bit. Add Italian dressing on top, and you are good to go! You should probably make it a few hours in advance because it is best served cold.

Now for some reviews. By far, Olive, garlic, and lemon chicken, lemon & herb wild rice, and salad was the biggest hit. If I had used a better camera besides my phone, you could really see how beautiful it was. The wild rice was just from the bulk bins at WinCo. The salad was a regular garden salad with romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese (mmmm...I love me some feta cheese!). I got a lot of recipe requests for this one on Facebook.

Other food I've made recently was Chicken tortilla soup (add corn and zucchini), Red beans and rice (the baby ate a full bowl!), Slow cooked spicy Asian beef (I wasn't home for this one, but I heard everyone liked it...I felt it was missing something, but I'm not sure what), and Chili (for a chili cookoff, but I burned it, so I didn't win any awards...). Something I made without a recipe was beef (buffalo) and barley stew. It is based off of the beef stew my mom used to always make when we were little, but improved upon. I just wish I could make rolls like her...those would have been perfect with it! I'm making Curried coconut chicken tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and I can't forget to tell you about my low-carb experiments. Bacon Cheeseburger Quiche was OK. It tasted more like a breakfast food than dinner, but that was probably from all the eggs and bacon. I made my enchiladas with this idea, and while I didn't particularly care for the egg tortillas, we had company over, and he really loved them! I also made zucchini pizza bites. Basically, you make them the same way you would make pizza, but you use medallions of zucchini instead of the crust. I broiled the zucchini before I put any of the toppings on it, then loaded the toppings on (I used pizza sauce, mozzarella, red bell peppers, and these cute mini pepperoni I found), and popped them back in the oven until the cheese was melted and starting to brown. These were another big hit on Facebook.

Now onto desserts...yup, the sweet stuff! I don't usually make sweets (I'm not much of a baker...I leave that to Heather), but I did make a couple sweet things recently. The first were I <3 Cherries Cupcakes. My little girl and I were alone for an evening, and she requested heart cupcakes. I had recently seen a post on Pinterest for how to make heart-shaped cupcakes (put a marble in the tin with the liner), and she picked out a cherry chip box mix. I grabbed cherry pie filling, cream cheese frosting, and a box of cherry Jell-o. I made the cake mix as directed, mixed the Jell-o in with the frosting, and added a cherry on top! I thought they turned out great! And isn't my helper adorable?!

The other dessert is something I've been making every Halloween for the past 4 or 5 years now. There was a sushi place by us that served the most yummy caramel apples ever. I don't like sushi, but I would go with my husband and insist on getting one of these apples every time I went. I thought I would try to duplicate them. I scowered the internet trying to find a recipe, but all I could find was a picture. So, I deconstructed them on my own. They were a hit, and every year my request list grows...I had to make 4 dozen of them this year! I was told that they make these at Disneyland. They are now all over the internet (I'm claiming the trend...it is the sincerest form of flattery, really!). I usually unwrap hundreds of individually wrapped caramel squares, but this year I found a recipe on Pinterest for home-made caramel in the microwave, so I thought I would give it a try. It is very buttery and a little thinner than usual, so it was sliding off some of the apples that didn't get the white chocolate on them quick enough, but the reviews were still great, so I'm not sure if I'll use that recipe again or not. So, once you dip the apples in the caramel, you dip them in melted white chocolate, and then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on them. There are some other tips and tricks I've learned through the years to make them better, but I won't bother posting them here...if you really want to make them, just let me know.

That's enough for now...I'm hungry!