Meals Week 9: Friday, 2/25 through Thursday, 3/3

This week did not turn out to be one of my best weeks for cooking as MTH and I were out of town from 2/25-2/27 for a wedding.  My Mom thankfully went grocery shopping for me and there were leftovers from her visit.  But, even after the leftovers were gone, I made things like pasta and spaghetti sauce.  I just was not in the mood for cooking.

Friday, 2/25 - Stir Fry Vegetables and Chicken with Noodles or Rice
Saturday, 2/26 - Meat and Potatoes Japanese Dish
Sunday, 2/27 - Eating Out for Me and Aunt Shan and probably pizza for MTH and LTH
Monday, 2/28 - Leftover Meat and Potatoes
Tuesday, 3/1 - Pasta with Sauce and Veggies
Wednesday, 3/2 - I don't recall
Thursday, 3/3 - I don't recall

Waffle Toast - How to get your kid to eat

LTH sometimes wants waffles during the week but there's no time to make them.  One day, I decided to put some toast in the waffle iron to make "waffle toast".  It is now his go to breakfast almost everyone morning.  The downside is he isn't eating as much oatmeal as before but at least it's whole wheat bread.

Week 8: Friday, 2/18 through Thursday, 2/24

Whole Foods One Day Deal this Friday was $1 off per pound on air chilled organic whole chickens.  I bought two!  One is in the freezer for another day.  Tonight, we'll have roasted chicken with roasted fennel and whole wheat bread.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get into the habit of baking bread so this bread is from Whole Foods.  One of my goals is to bake our own bread but it just doesn't fit into my schedule right now. Note that the page numbers are for my reference and I do hope to post most of the recipes here at some point.  It's helpful later when I'm trying to quickly use previous weeks for future weeks!

Friday, 2/18 - Simplest Whole Roasted Chicken (p. 644), Braised Fennel, Bread - COMPLETE
Verdict: This recipe is the simplest for making a whole roasted chicken.  It's from my beloved cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.  I also highly recommend the braised fennel (or as LTH says, "fendel").  It was simple but tasty (and different from our normal vegetables).

Saturday, 2/19 - Chicken Tacos and Sauteed Broccoli and Garlic - COMPLETE
Verdict: Great use of the leftover chicken from Friday's meal.  We also had chicken nachos for lunch that day that were very yummy.


Sunday, 2/20 - Bean and Cheese Empanadas (p. 174) and Pureed Parsnips - COMPLETE
Verdict: Very good and easy. I even made the refried beans myself (using canned pinto beans - next time I should make the beans from scratch too).  MTH commented on how good the beans were.  The good part is that reheated empanadas are also very good.

Monday, 2/21 - Bolognese Risotto and Pureed Parsnips - COMPLETE
Verdict: Same as before - yummy! I think I'll make another batch of bolognese just for making this dish.

Tuesday, 2/22 - Leftover Bolognese Risotto and Pureed Parsnips - COMPLETE

Wednesday, 2/23 - Macaroni and Cheese and Baked Sweet Potato - I made cheese quesadillas, green beans and baked sweet potatoes instead.

Thursday, 2/24 - Bulgar Pilaf with Broken Vermicelli and Pureed Vegetable - I made the homemade stovetop mac and cheese standby as well as maple carrots instead
Verdict: LTH loves mac and cheese and will eat carrots very easily.  Although it's definitely not as easy as making Kraft mac and cheese, homemade stovetop tastes so much better, it's worth the extra 10-15 minutes of preparation in my opinion.  Plus, you know what all of the ingredients in it are!

Multigrain Waffles

These days when I make things with flour, I like to experiment with different types of flours and whole grains.  My cookbook, good to the grain, has a nice multi grain mix that can be used in the place of some or all of the flour called for in other recipes.  I did just that in my old standby waffle recipe.  This recipe comes from my very first cookbook, The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (copyright 1980).  It was given to me by my mother in 1988. A nice way to describe its appearance is well worn.  Not only did I learn to cook from my mother but also from this cookbook.  Every recipe in this cookbook has a picture to go with it.  That enabled me to envision what I was trying to make.  Anyway, that's a different story and maybe I should write about that in another post.  Below is my go to recipe for waffles these days.  One thing to note is that almost no published waffle or pancake recipes call for vanilla but in my book that is the secret ingredient that makes them taste so good!

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup multigrain flour mix (see below or click here)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk (you can also use plain yogurt thinned with some milk)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (make sure it is a neutral oil)
3 tablespoons milled flaxseed
2 eggs

Multigrain Flour Mix:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup rye flour

Instructions:
Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just incorporated. I usually let the batter sit for a few minutes in order to let the flours absorb some of the moisture.  For the waffle iron, I only spray with a little oil before putting in the first waffle.  For me at least, I don't have any issues with sticking for the rest of that batch.

Also, if we don't use all of the batter, I put the leftover batter in the refrigerator.  When I use it the next day, I whisk in a little more vanilla as it seems to evaporate while sitting in the refrigerator.

Week 7: Friday, 2/11 through Thursday, 2/17

Friday, 2/11 - Lobster Tail with Lemon and Butter with Garlic Broccoli - COMPLETE - should have bought a small steak for MTH and I to share as well.  We didn't have enough to eat.  I ended up making a batch of brownies afterward!!

Saturday, 2/12 - Black bean tacos with steamed carrots and corn - We made turkey meatball pizza sandwiches instead.  These were really good!  Pizza sandwich just means we used pizza crust as our bread for the sandwich.  These sandwiches also had yummy caramelized onions on them.

Sunday, 2/13 - Out to dinner with MTH - We ended up not going out to dinner as LTH did not sleep well the night before.  We at takeout from a local sushi restaurant.  LTH and I shared the salmon teriyaki and MTH had the sushi.

Monday, 2/14 -Couscous Casserole with Cauliflower and Ricotta (p.480) - LTH loved this meal; MTH was not come home the night we first had it.  On Tuesday, we had it for leftovers and he wouldn't taste it.  I think he would have liked it.  Maybe next time.

Tuesday, 2/15 - Leftovers
Wednesday, 2/16 - Macaroni and cheese sauce with sweet potato fries - LTH loves this meal always! It's definitely a stereotypical toddler meal.  But, I like it too.
Thursday, 2/17 - Hashbrowns with cheese and baked sweet potatoes - LTH is not as into hashbrowns as I am but he does love his baked sweet potatoes plus he loves cheese.

Week 6: Friday, 2/4 through Thursday, 2/10

Friday, 2/4 - Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Pureed Vegetables and Spaetzle - COMPLETE - LTH loved the tenderloin but not the spaetzle
Saturday, 2/5 - Ate at Tallula with a friend; LTH had macaroni and cheese and carrots
Sunday, 2/6 - Super Bowl - grilled buffalo wings, blue cheese, guacamole, corn tortilla chips, celery and carrots - COMPLETE - LTH said no thank you to the blue cheese and guacamole but said yes to the celery and carrots
Monday, 2/7 - Chicken and Celery Pot Stickers, Steamed Carrots with a touch of butter - COMPLETE - LTH loved these pot stickers.  He loved helping to make them!
Tuesday, 2/8 - Leftover Pot Stickers - COMPLETE
Wednesday, 2/9 - Celery Root and Parsnip Puree, Half Recipe of Cheese Biscuits - COMPLETE - As usual, LTH loved the puree.  He ate the biscuit but didn't devour it.
Thursday, 2/10 - Leftover celery root and parsnip puree and biscuits - COMPLETE

Week 5 - Friday, 1/28 through Thursday, 2/3

Friday, 1/28 - Broiled Salmon with Cauliflower Puree - COMPLETE - LTH loved the salmon!
Saturday, 1/29 - I was out of town so LTH and MTH ordered pizza
Sunday, 1/30 - balsamic chicken with carrots and turnips cooked in marsala
Monday, 1/31 - leftover balsamic chicken with carrots and turnips cooked in marsala
Tuesday, 2/1 - bulgar pilaf with broken vermicelli and pureed parsnips
Wednesday, 2/2 - leftover pilaf and pureed parsnips
Thursday, 2/3 - hashbrowns with onions and cheese with pureed carrots