Menu Plan Monday- March 28, 2011

I found a meal planner called Dinner Tool. I'm still playing around with it a little but it looks like it might be kinda useful. You can plan your dinners and it will make a shopping list for you. One downside seems to be the recipe archiive didn't have a ton of recipes that I was feeling wild about, BUT they do allow you to add your own and share them. You can drag and drop your meal choices into the planner or click on I'm Feeling Hungry (which totally cracks me up for some reason):

Anyhow, like I said, I'm still playing around with it some so I didn't use it to do this week's menu... but I thought I'd share in case someone else finds it to be of use to them!

Last week:

I made the Quinoa & Black Beans and loooooved it. I only used one can of beans and canned corn instead of frozen. This is a keeper folks!

The Mexican Red Lentil Stew was also really good. I added some chicken to stretch it out a little and chopped up an avocado and added it into the bowls when I served it.

I took some creative liberties with the Lentil Shepherd's Pie. I changed the seasonings up a bit. I made pureed celeriac (mixed with a little instead mashed potato) for the top and sprinkled cheese over it. I really enjoyed the lentils in it and I think I'd make it again if I could remember the alterations I made!

I also made this Strawberry Spinach Salad even though it wasn't on my menu. You should make it too. Martijn even gobbled it up, and he's not much of a fruit man.

This week:

Chicken Chimichangas- These look tasty... I think I'll bake them instead of frying though.

Greek Lamb Kofta with Lemony Rice- Martijn is cooking this one for his dinner group this week.

Pop-Up Pizza Pie- I think I'll toss in more veggies and use real eggs but I think this looks really good.

Apple & Melted Brie Sandwiches with some kind of soup... Any suggestions?

What's on your menu this week?

Menu Plan Monday- March 21, 2011

On the menu for this week:

Quinoa & Black Beans with Salsa Chicken

Egg Foo Yong- I made this last week and it was really really good. The recipe is in Dutch so I'll translate it and post it after I make it again.

Mexican Red Lentil Stew with Lime and Cilantro

Lentil Shepherd's Pie- I'm going to replace some of the potato with celeriac and mashed cauliflower.

Asian-Inspired Slaw

I made this for the NAWC meeting today and I thought there was going to be a fight over who got to lick the bowl (ok, not really but it was pretty popular). I think if you wanted to make a "main course" of it you could toss in some shredded chicken. Someone also suggested shrimp might be good in it (thanks Sarah!).

Salad:
1/2 small head red cabbage, shredded thinly (about 225 grams or 8 oz)
1/2 head Chinese kool (Napa Cabbage), shredded thinly (about 225 grams or 8 oz)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
Big handful cilantro, roughly chopped

Dressing:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (or other hot sauce)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1-3 tsp sweetener of your choice (add 1 tsp at a time and taste it until it makes your tongue happy)

Whisk the dressing ingredients together (or blitz them with your immersion blender).

Mix together the cabbage, green onions, cilantro and peanuts.

Drizzle the dressing over the cabbage and toss to coat. Be sure to serve it quickly or it can get soggy and gross. If you need to transport it somewhere, keep the dressing apart and just toss it in when you're ready to serve it.

This is supposed to make about 4 servings but you might just want to eat it all by yourself.

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Be sure to swing by and visit Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday recipes!

Menu Plan Monday- February 14, 2011

Recap of last week:

The Navy Bean Soup was fab. It makes an enormous batch but we ate all of it over the course of a few days because it was soooo good. Be sure to add in a splash of white vinegar to get the flavors just right.

The Baked Eggs in Tomato Sauce weren't as good as I hoped, but I think that was my fault. I decided to toss in some zucchini and it just made it blergh.

I still didn't get to the cod croquettes, so I'm keeping the recipe saved in case I need an extra meal this week. If not, no harm done since the fish is frozen.

On the menu for this week:

Shrimp Scampi and Raspberry Cheesecake Pots- This will be our "special" Valentine's Day meal.

Baked Polenta with Onions and Bacon- I am finally going to give polenta a try. Plus you can't go wrong with bacon and onions in anything.

Italian Pot Pies

Are you doing anything fun for a V-Day meal this year?

R is for Rose...

"You can complain that roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."

-Ziggy

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This week R is for... (really stretched the limits of creativity on this one folks... sorry) Rose!! Make sure to go check out the other fantastic participants by clicking on the picture below!

Menu Plan Monday- February 7, 2011

We finally got around to eating the Hamburger Buddy last week. It was good but the mushrooms turned everything such an icky color that I might re-evaluate their addition next time... that or NOT grind them up in the food processor. I think if they were sliced they wouldn't have looked so gross.

On the menu for this week:

Navy Bean Soup- If I get REALLY ambitious I'll even bake some bread to go along with it! What is more likely to happen though, is that I will go to the store and buy the "just toss into the oven for 6 minutes" bread.

Pasta "Lasagna"- I'm going to tweak this a little bit and add in spinach.

Cod Croquettes- These didn't happen last week so they're a carryover.

Baked Eggs in Tomato Parmesan Sauce- I just think that this looks tasty.

What's on your menu this week?

The Letter Q, Ramona Quimby Style

Illustration from Ramona the Brave

Growing up, I think one of my favorite book series was the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. I love how she's so REAL... Rereading them now I love that she takes things so literally... just like I must've when I was young.

When she's learning to write her name in Miss Binney's kindergarten class, she notices some of the other children have a letter with a dot after it. Clearly she can't miss out on this!

“Could I have another letter with a little
dot?” she asked, knowing that Miss Binney
would not think she was pestering.
Miss Binney smiled and leaned over
Ramona’s table. “Of course you may.This is
the way to make a Q. A nice round O with
a little tail like a cat. And there is your little
dot, which is called a period.”
- From Ramona the Pest

Eventually we see the evolution of what was once a plain and bare letter with only a tail to keep it from being an O.

"She drew another Q and admired it a
moment before she added two little pointed
ears, and then she added two whiskers on
each side so that her Q looked the way the cat
looked when crouched on a rug in front of
the fireplace."
- From Ramona the Pest

What did you like to read as a kid? I think I may need to do another post with some favorites of mine because it seems like the books I read as a kid are still better than most of what I read today!

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This week Q is for... Q, Ramona style!! Make sure to go check out the other fantastic participants by clicking on the picture below!