Menu Planning, week of 1/9/12

I usually am pretty good about making a menu for a week or two, before I go shopping. I have to say, though, that I have been in a menu rut; making the same old things. So I'm trying to think of new stuff to make or things that I haven't made in awhile.

Monday: My mom babysits and cooks something.
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin soft tacos with lime and cilantro, side of refried black beans.
Wednesday: My husband is home with the kiddies so I will usually fend for myself when I get home.
Thursday: Hungarian Goulash (from the freezer) over egg noodles, roasted brussel sprouts on the side.
Friday: Baked Pesto Chicken (trying a new recipe from allrecipes.com), pasta, steamed broccoli
Saturday: Eat out or takeout
Sunday: All-American Chili in the crockpot (recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen cookbook).

Turkey Meatloaf (Or: How I Got My Kids to Eat Onions!!)

Meatloaf is one of those things that Mom used to make. It's the essence of "comfort food". Whenever I try to make it now for my kids, they get all weirded out by the onions. My mom always uses raw chopped onions in her meatloaf and I always loved the cooked bits of onion scattered throughout the meatloaf. My kid see one onion piece and won't eat another bite. My husband says his mom had the same problem when he and his siblings were growing up, so she used onion powder...but that's just not the same. The following recipe worked so well, since i first sauteed the onions and then pureed the heck out of them in a mini food chopper. The resulting meatloaf was enjoyed by all without any whining!

Turkey Meatloaf

serves 4

1 lb. ground turkey
2 tbsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
black pepper
1 egg (I realized I was out of eggs while making this last week and used 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1/2 cup whole wheat plain breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil.

Saute the onions in the olive oil until translucent. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Then put the onions in a mini food chopper or food processor and puree until no pieces of onions are visible. In a large bowl, mix the ground turkey, Worcestershire, garlic powder, ketchup, salt, pepper ("to taste"), egg, and pureed onions. Add breadcrumbs and mix. If the mixture seems too liquid, add more breadcrumbs. (Note: If you want to check the seasoning, cook a teaspoon of the turkey mixture in a saute pan until browned and then try it). Shape the turkey mixture into a loaf and place on a broiler pan. Cook at 350 degrees until browned and until the internal temperature is 160, about 1 hour. Leftovers freeze well.

Penne and Broccoli

My husband usually eats reheated dinners, as he gets home too late to eat with me and the girls. Last night he really enjoyed this dish. If it's reheated and still really tastes good then it's a keeper!

Penne and Broccoli

8 ounces penne, uncooked
1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
grated Parmesan cheese (or your favorite grated cheese...I used up various cheeses in my house including Grana Padano and a Pecorino Romano/Reggiano blend)
heavy cream, about 1/2 cup

Cook penne in salted boiling water until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, sautee the garlic in olive oil but don't let it get browned. Before you drain the pasta, add the broccoli florets to the cooking pasta and cook for about 2 minutes. drain pasta/broccoli and add to garlic in sautee pan. Add heavy cream in small amounts until pasta and broccoli is coated but not swimming in the cream. Add cheese to taste (at least 1/2 cup to start). Toss until heated through and season with black pepper, red pepper flakes and salt to taste. If the cheese is salty be careful not too add too much salt. top with more grated cheese and serve.
makes 4 servings.

An Oldie but Goodie

I dug up this recipe the other day:

Roasted Chicken Chimichangas (from Cooking Light, April 2004)

This is a recipe I used to make often for my husband and myself, pre-kids. I always liked it since we love Mexican food, this is really easy to make, and it makes leftovers that freeze well. I tried it out again on the family this past week. The original recipe does call for ingredients I know my kids won't eat, but it was really easy to leave those things out of their portions.

These chimichangas are oven-browned instead of deep-fried. The filling uses queso fresco, but I've always used shredded Mexican blend reduced-fat cheese.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 1 chimichanga and about 4 teaspoons salsa)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled queso fresco cheese
  
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans (Spicy fat-free refried beans are really great in this!)
  
• 6 (8-inch) flour tortillas (I usually use whole-wheat tortillas, burrito size)
  
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup bottled green salsa

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well.

Spread 1/4 cup beans down center of each tortilla. Top each tortilla with 2/3 cup chicken mixture; roll up. Place rolls, seam sides down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of chimichangas with cooking spray. Bake at 500° for 7 minutes. Serve with salsa.

For the kids, I reserved some plain roast chicken and I topped smaller (fajita) sized whole-wheat tortillas with refried beans and then the chicken and then some cheese. I cut the finished chimichangas in half, which the kids picked up and dipped in mild salsa. My finicky five-year old proclaimed that I needed to add this dish to her "favorites" list, which I was very happy to hear!

Best. Frosting. Ever.

About three weeks ago my 5 year old purchased a book , Pinkalicious, from her school book fair. About every night for the last three weeks the kids have asked us to read Pinkalicious at bedtime. It is about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes so she turns pink. Earlier this week, I decided to make pink cupcakes for the girls since they've been sick and the weather was crummy. I really don't make cupcakes or cakes very often, so I looked for some recipes. Eventually I decided to go the easy route and use a mix for the cupcakes. However, I didn't want to use pre-made frosting since I'm just not a big fan of it. I found a recipe for pink frosting on the Pinkalicious author's website and tried it out. Oh. My. God. The frosting was awesome! I am not a huge cake/frosting fan, but I could become pink eating too many cupcakes, or really more accurately, by eating the frosting right out of the bowl. Mmm.....






Pinkalicious Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 box of confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Don’t forget to add some PINK! ( used 1-2 drops of Wilton's pink gel food coloring)

Directions:
In bowl of electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter, on low speed, until very smooth with no lumps. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat, on low speed, until fully incorporated and smooth. Add food coloring until you reach your desired pinkaliciousness, one to two drops at a time and beat after each addition.

(from www.cupcakesforall.com)
Pinkalicious written by Victoria Kahn and Elizabeth Kahn

Easy Breakfast for the Kids : Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Wow, has it really been 11 months since i wrote on this blog? Oops. Well, life happens. I just wanted to share with you today a recipe that has become a mainstay of my kids' breakfast. It's so tough to find good breakfast items. All of the ready-made muffins or frozen products (waffles, pancakes, etc.) or things like Pop Tarts are just SO bad for you. I cringe when I read the label and see ingredients like sugar, corn syrup, and artificial this and that, and partially hydrogenated crap. I saw the recipe for banana chocolate chip mini muffins on a post on the Cooking Light message boards and decided to try it. I love that I know exactly what's in them, and I can sneak some whole grains into my kids' diets. And it's cheap too.
Over a year later we're still making these muffins. My picky 5 year old LOVES these. I make a batch about every 2-3 weeks and then freeze them. In the morning I can just quickly nuke a couple and voila, breakfast is ready. They are especially good with a dollop of PB on them. This recipe is also good to use up those bananas that you end up having left over from when you bought bananas because the kids said they'd eat them and then that doesn't happen. Amy will usually eat two muffins at a sitting. Samantha (my 2.5 year old) will usually smoosh a muffin and then tear it apart and then most of it makes it into her mouth.


Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins:


1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ or ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed (1 cup)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or butterscotch) (I usually use mini chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350. Oil 24 mini muffin cup pan with cooking spray. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking powder, and salt. Combine bananas, eggs, sugar, oil, milk and vanilla. Pour liquid ingredients into dry; stir until moist. Stir in chips. Spoon into pan and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

A Tale of Two Dinners

Ok, corny title I know. but tonight I made two dinners. One, for me and the kids. And the other, for Bob to make in the slow cooker tomorrow while I'm at work.


The first one is simple: Black beans with orzo. You may say, "what?! black beans again?". This is true. However, it is cheap, super-easy, and the kids eat it. and Bob hates orzo for some odd reason and he is at a Yankee game tonight. This is a dish which i used to make pre-kids, when we'd come home from work at 8 and need something quick to fix. I got Bob to eat it then for some reason.

Basically, you cook 1/2 box orzo according to package directions and drain.
saute 1 small chopped onion and 1 chopped garlic clove in some olive oil until soft. add one can of drained rinsed black beans. add a sprinkle of Italian herbs, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. simmer until heated and then either mix in the orzo or serve on top of orzo.


Dinner #2: Hungarian Goulash

This is not your typical Summer weather dish. It does make a lot, though, so i have a few meals to freeze. I will make this the night before, and then I can trust Bob (usually) to turn the crockpot on so this cooks while he's home with the kids and I'm at work. He just makes some buttered egg noodles and some frozen veggies and we're set. This recipe is a conglomerate of 2-3 recipes I found online.


3 lb. Chuck Roast, trimmed of fat and cut into small cubes
1 beef buillion packet
1 can tomato paste
4-6 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
Hungarian sweet paprika, about 2 tablespoons
one slice bacon (optional)
olive oil
1/2 cup water
thyme
white wine vinegar

First, sear your meat in a hot pan with some fat until browned on all sides;
One recipe i saw says to saute a slice of bacon until cooked and then remove bacon from pan. Use that to saute your meat. I've done this, but most of the time I use a tablespoon of olive oil.
Place meat in crockpot. Saute onions and garlic in a little more olive oil in same pan, until softened and starting to brown. Place them in crockpot. add buillion, paprika, tomato paste, some salt, black pepper if you want. Add 1/2 cup water. Cook on low in crockpot 8 hours low, 5-6 hours on high (depends on the age of your crockpot). When meat is done, add a sprinkle of thyme, and also a sprinkle of white wine vinegar and stir. serve over buttered egg noodles. A dollop of sour cream on top and even some caraway seeds sprinkled over the meat are a good finish.