Planning Meals Week 18: Friday, 4/29 through Thursday, 5/5

Friday, 4/29 - Grilled chicken chorizo sausages on Portuguese buns, spiced grilled sweet potatoes
Verdict: The sausages are always good as they're made fresh at the Whole Foods.  The grilled sweet potatoes had to be broiled as MTH was late getting home.  They were pretty good but I think that cooking them on the grill would be better.  Also, I'm not sure I like the cinnamon in there with the other flavors.  I may leave it out next time.

Saturday, 4/30 - out to dinner at Boulevard Woodgrill

Sunday, 5/1 - homemade pizza and sauteed asparagus and garlic
Verdict: We used our new super peel from SM.  It's great.  It helps a lot with getting the pizza on and off the pizza stone. We were using the parchment paper method so now we're not wasting parchment paper!


Monday, 5/2 - leftovers

Tuesday, 5/3 - veggie stir fry with lo mein noodles

Wednesday, 5/4 - leftovers

Thursday, 5/5 - cheese quesadillas, veggie

Planning Meals Week 17: Friday, 4/22 through Thursday, 4/28

Friday, 4/22 - Broiled Salmon, Pureed Cauliflower and Bread

Saturday, 4/23 - Easter Cookout with Visiting Friends - Burgers, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Potatoes with Mustard Vinaigrette and Chips

Sunday, 4/24 - Grilled Chicken and Pureed Parsnips

Monday, 4/25 - Deviled Eggs and Pureed Parsnips

Tuesday, 4/26 - Out to Dinner

Wednesday, 4/27 - Grilled Cheese and Veggie

Thursday, 4/28 - TBD

Banana Nut (or without nuts) Mini-Muffins

We hosted a brunch back in March for St. Patrick's Day.  As part of the menu, I made mini-quiches and blueberry mini-muffins.  I borrowed several mini-muffin pans from a friend.  But, I was hooked so I bought my own pan soon after.  I have now made two different versions of banana mini-muffins two weekends in a row.  The second batch turned out much better so I will only share that recipe here.  This recipe is adapted from two different recipes - Banana Walnut Muffins from my Totally Muffins Cookbook by Helene Siegel and Karen Gillingham and Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.  The muffin recipe is from the muffin cookbook but with part of the flour substituted by the multigrain flour mix from the Good to the Grain cookbook.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) (optional)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup multi-grain flour mix
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease mini muffin tin.  If using, spread nuts on a tray and toast in oven for 8 to 10 minutes.  In a bowl, combine flours, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Note: I used a spoon for this step and it worked great - plus I didn't have to get out my mixer and then clean it up when I was done!  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add mashed bananas and beat until combined.  Stir dry ingredients into banana mixture just until flour disappears.  Lightly stir in nuts.  Spoon batter into muffin cups to the top.  Note: I use a mini ice cream scoop for spooning in the batter.  It is much easier than using two spoons.  Bake 15-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Meals Week 16: Friday, 4/15 through Thursday, 4/21

Friday, 4/15 - Tartines a la Le Pain Quotidien

Asparagus and Goat Cheese
Turkey and Cheddar with Cilantro Pesto

Saturday, 4/16 - Rice Balls with Sweet Potato or Carrot filling (made by Aunt SM and LTH)


Sunday, 4/17 - MMH and Aunt SM out to dinner; MTH and LTH will probably have pizza

Monday, 4/18 - Hashbrowns

Tuesday, 4/19 - Irish Skillet Dinner

Wednesday, 4/20 - Leftovers

Thursday, 4/7 - Potstickers

Meals Week 15: Friday, 4/8 through Thursday, 4/14

Friday, 4/8 - Grilled steak and vegetable

Saturday, 4/9 - Out to dinner with friends

Sunday, 4/10 - Take out sushi

Monday, 4/11 - Pan fried pork chops with onions and broccoli sauteed with garlic

Tuesday, 4/12 - Ground chicken tacos with tomatoes, avocado, grated cheese and cilantro and leftover broccoli

Wednesday, 4/13 - Leftover tacos and veggies

Thursday, 4/14 - Potstickers

Multigrain Flour Mix

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup rye flour

Directions:
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.

Meals Week 14: Friday, 4/1 through Thursday, 4/7

Friday, 4/1 - Grilled chicken bratwurst sausages on Portuguese buns, salad with tomatoes and cucumbers and broccoli sauteed with garlic
Verdict: These sausages are made in house at Whole Foods. They were quite tasty although I wouldn't call them Bratwursts.


Saturday, 4/2 - MTH and I went to Columbia Firehouse in Alexandria.  LTH had salmon, salad and broccoli with Grammie and Grandpap.
Verdict: I tasted the salmon made by Grammie and it was yummy. She used the Scottish salmon instead of the Atlantic wild salmon I've been buying.  I may have to change over to the Scottish salmon.  Also, MTH and I enjoyed our dinner at Columbia Firehouse.  I would like to go back and try some more dishes.


Sunday, 4/3 - Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Molasses and Mustard, Pureed Parsnips and Patatas
Verdict: We were supposed to make the pastrami'd pork tenderloin but I was able to get whole coriander at Whole Foods on Friday. Then, I forgot to go to a different store.  I'll try it soon though!


Monday, 4/4 - Leftovers

Tuesday, 4/5 - Stovetop Mac and Cheese and Vegetable

Wednesday, 4/6 - Leftovers for LTH and out to eat

Thursday, 4/7 - Hashbrowns and Vegetable

Lexington-Style BBQ Sauce (Adapted from epicurious.com)

I had some leftover pork a few weeks ago and wanted to make something different out of it.  BBQ sandwiches sounded like a good idea but I didn't have any BBQ sauce.  At first, all of the recipes I found required it to sit for days before it would be ready to eat. Then, I found this one that was ready within a few minutes.  Not only was it fast but it was also yummy. And, LTH dipped all of his foods in it for about a week.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lexington-Style-Bbq-Sauce-242264

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (reduced from original recipe)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar (original recipe called for dark brown sugar but I did not have any)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup

Mix the ingredients together and let sit for 10 minutes. If it seems too watery, add a little more ketchup.