• 07Feb

    Menu for February 7 though 13th

    There was a change of plans (my getting sick) so the Sausage Potato Salad didn’t get made. No big deal. I’ve got all the ingredients, so I can substitute it in at any time now. Like last week, I’m using up meat in the freezer, and raiding the pantry. I’m working on emptying out and restocking the pantry to reflect how my family’s eating habits have changed. *

    Saturday: Chicken Salad Salad. No, that’s not a typo. This is chicken salad served on a bed of lettuce. Served with fresh baked multigrain rolls.

    Sunday Breakfast: Chocolate Stuffed Baked French Toast – french toasted, filled with peanut butter and shaved semi-sweet chocolate, soaked in a delicious custard overnight, then baked until golden brown.

    Sunday Lunch: I don’t normally cook lunch on Sundays, but whole chickens were on sale this week, and I’ve been waiting for a chance to make The Lady’s Chicken Noodle Soup. I’m actually making a double batch of it, as the chicken we got was 5 lbs. So, that’ll give me an extra 3 quarts of chicken stock, and half a chicken’s worth of meat to put in the freezer for a future meal.

    Sunday Supper: Pulled pork sandwiches, corn, peas, perhaps broccoli and cheese.

    Monday: Crispy Chinese Lemon Chicken

    Tuesday: Lasagna In A Bowl

    Wednesday: Chicken Caesar Pasta

    Thursday: Spanish-Style Beef & Rice (this is a rollover dish – half of it will be going into the freezer for another meal)

    Friday: spaghetti

    * I reserve the right to change, rearrange or modify this menu without notice. :)

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  • 06Feb

    Chicken and Pasta with Mango Cream Sauce

    I can’t remember where I found this recipe, but the kids loved it, and Matt thought it wasn’t bad.

    Chicken and Pasta with Mango Cream Sauce

     
    8 ounces uncooked rigatoni pasta
    1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
    2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed
    1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
    1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
    1 mango – peeled, seeded and chopped
    1 cup heavy cream
    salt and pepper to taste
    1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
    4 sprigs fresh parsley, for garnish

    Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rigatoni pasta, cook for 8 minutes, until almost done, and drain.

    Heat 1/2 the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet, and cook 10 minutes, or until juices run clear. Remove from heat, and set aside.

    Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet, and cook the onion and green pepper until tender. Mix in the garlic, ginger, and mango, and continue to cook and stir 5 minutes, or until mango is soft. Gradually mix the heavy cream into the skillet, and cook 5 minutes, until thickened.

    Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the partially cooked pasta, and season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir 2 minutes, until ingredients are well blended and pasta is al dente. Mix in the cheese. Garnish with parsley to serve.

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  • 05Feb

    Black Pepper and Asiago Scones

    It should come as no surprise to you that I’ve done another Rachael Ray recipe. It’s been a while since I’ve made these, so they might appear on the menu again soon. Matt really liked then, thought the kids were a bit iffy. Their tastes have gotten more sophisticated – especially Ari’s – so they might be more receptive to them.

    Black Pepper and Asiago Scones

     
    1 box biscuit mix (one of the small boxes, like Jiffy)
    2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
    1/2 cup cream
    A couple pinches salt
    1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (or another hard cheese, such as Parmesan)
    A generous grating fresh nutmeg
    1 egg beaten with a splash water
    1 teaspoon sugar

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

    Combine biscuit mix, black pepper, cream, salt, cheese and nutmeg. Pile mixture into 4 large mounds or 8 small mounds onto a nonstick cookie sheet. Brush scones with egg wash, sprinkle with a little sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes for large scones, 7 to 8 minutes for small scones.

    Makes 4 large or 8 small scones.

    If you go with the large version, and form them into rounds, you can slice them in half horizontally and use them to make little sandwiches. Really good with smoked ham or turkey.

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  • 04Feb

    Sausage Potato Salad

    Looking for something a bit different, and I liked one dish meals. This is a Food Network recipe It calls for olive oil and kielbasa. I used vegetable oil (I was out of olive oil) and smoked bratwurst instead.

    Sausage Potato Salad

     

    Salad:

    1 pound red potatoes
    2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
    8 ounces kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
    1/2 cup finely chopped celery
    1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

    Dressing:

    1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

    Directions

    Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes; boil about 25 minutes or until tender. Drain and let cool. Cut potatoes into quarters and place in a large bowl.

    In a large skillet, heat the 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat. Brown the kielbasa. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Add kielbasa to the bowl with the potatoes along with celery and green onions.

    For the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in oil. Add the dressing, celery and green onions to the potato mixture and toss to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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  • 03Feb

    Spent Grain Cookies

    My darling husband, Matt, loves beer. He goes to Original Gravity Brewing Company often enough that they know him on sight. He also dabbles in home brewing. He’s done all extract recipes before, but the batch he just finished used some grains. In my surfing through recipes, I came across a recipe for spent grain chocolate chip cookies at Omnomicon. (Man, I just love the name of that blog!). Since I now have a bunch of spent grains, I thought I’d give this recipe a try.

    Below is the recipe I followed. After the recipe, I’ll write what I did, and what my thoughts were.

    Nutty Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

    1/3 cup peanut butter
    2 tbsp melted butter
    1 cup sugar
    1/3 cup milk
    1 tsp vanilla
    1.5 cups spent grains (or alternatively, 1.5 cups of your favourite grain meal, prepared and still wet)
    2 cups whole wheat flour
    1 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1/2 cup chocolate chips
    1/2 cup chopped nuts

    Mix in the peanut butter, regular butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda and salt. Once that’s all mixed, stir in the nuts and chips.

    Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 425F for 8-10 minutes until the tops are just getting golden, but before the bottoms burn. Let sit on the pan for about five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Serve with love.

    Makes about 2 dozen cookies after batter sampling.

    First, the changes I made from the original recipe. I discovered, to my horror, that I was out of butter. This really wasn’t a surprise, as I stocked up on butter months ago when it was on sale for less than $2/lb. Instead, I used margarine. The Omnomicon’s Aleta Meadowlark said the recipe she based hers on used oil, but I didn’t want to do oil. Margarine got used.

    I made two different kinds of cookies: rounded tablespoons (as the recipe called for, though not in the actual text above), and ice cream scooper. The little cookies needed 8 minutes in my oven, and the big ones needed 12 minutes. The cookies tasted quite good, with a slight toasted coconut flavor. Texture and moistness-wise, the larger cookies were better.

    I will definitely make these again, with the following changes: use mini chips, so the chocolate gets spread more evenly through the dough; and cut the walnuts into smaller pieces (for the same reason as the chips). Matt used Victory malt, so I’ll use that until it’s gone, and then see how the flavors differ from grain to grain.

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