Tag Archives: food

menu plan monday, feels like spring edition

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Well it seems that spring is impatient and is sneaking her way into the northeast early this year! Of course I’m no fool – I doubt we’ll enjoy these warm temperatures for long. There’s bound to be another bout of chilly air, but for now I am so happy to sit on my deck with an iced coffee while watching my daffodils peek up through the ground! Having a meal plan means that I can have a little extra free time to do that because I’m not running around to the stores trying to pick up dinner at the last minute. Here’s my plan for this week.

  • Sunday: Leftovers
  • Monday: Roast chicken, cole slaw, green beans, spaghetti squash gratin
  • Tuesday: Beef curry over jasmine rice, cucumber and onion salad
  • Wednesday: Kielbasa, spinach, and white bean soup; green salad
  • Thursday: Turkey burgers (sans buns), black bean salad, baked sweet potato spears
  • Friday: Fish tacos or grilled cheese (for picky kids)
  • Saturday: Corned beef, cabbage, carrots

For more menu ideas, visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday feature.

sauerkraut, take one

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raw sauerkraut

A few years ago I started reading about the benefits of lacto-fermented food, but it all sounded so complicated and, honestly, a little strange to me. Leave jars out on the counter for days or weeks? Really? But as I’ve expanded my culinary skills and learned the arts of canning and pickling, I figured that fermenting had to be next.

I read Diane’s tutorial for raw, fermented sauerkraut on her blog Balanced Bites and realized that this was pretty easy. It just required a little babysitting. And as I thought about it, it dawned on me that my childhood was filled with this type of food. My Babci regularly made traditional Polish fermented pickles, and we ate homemade sauerkraut all the time. I had to get over my fear of bacteria. Seriously, people have been doing this for hundreds of years. It’s no big deal.

So I set about to shredding my cabbage and carrots, adding garlic and then the salt, and massaging the cruciferous veggies until they started to weep like little babies. I was amazed how much water came out! I kept saying to Drew, “Isn’t this so cool?” I don’t think he was as excited as I was, though.

I packed it in quart-sized Ball jars, covered the top of each with an outer cabbage leaf, then set a half-pint jelly jar filled with water on top of that to weigh everything down and keep the water level above the cabbage.

Then I put the jars in my dining room, covered them with a clean dish towel and waited. And waited. And waited. If you’re anything like me, you will become giddy with excitement when you see those little bubbles appear that let you know fermentation is happening! After a week and a half, I no longer saw bubbles. I think that it was too cold in the room to encourage the process, so I called it quits for this batch.

It is quite tasty, but definitely not there, if you know what I mean. But it goes great with my morning eggs! (Please forgive the horrible quality of this photo – morning light is not great in my kitchen and I wasn’t going to sacrifice hot eggs for a good shot, LOL!)

kraut & fried eggs

Next time around I think I’ll keep the jars on top of my fridge. I’ll also add the caraway seeds so I don’t get that sideways glance from my dad again. Anyway, don’t be afraid of fermenting food. If it’s going bad, you’ll know it. And the benefits of eating sauerkraut and other fermented foods are overwhelming! So give it a shot – you’ll be glad you did.

indian spiced chicken meatballs

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indian spiced meatballs with savory tomato sauce

Earlier this week I finally had a chance to try Cinnamon, a new (well, new-ish) Indian restaurant in Rhinebeck. The food was delicious and I’ve had curries on my mind ever since. Yesterday I had some ground chicken in the fridge, and an idea in my head: meatballs simmered in a creamy sauce, infused with all of my favorite Indian spices.

If you use a food processor, this recipe comes together lightening-fast. And even if you chop everything by hand it shouldn’t take too much longer.

Indian-Spiced Chicken Meatballs
in Savory Tomato Sauce

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground chicken
1 med. onion
1-2 jalapenos, seeded
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. coriander powder
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. salt

Coconut oil (or fat of choice)
1 Tbsp. cumin seeds

* Sauce:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 Tbsp. garam masala
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt to taste

For the meatballs, combine onion, jalapenos, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the vegetables are finely minced. Add the ground chicken and spices and process to combine. Shape into meatballs of your desired size. Melt coconut oil in a pan over med-high heat and add cumin seeds. Turn heat down to medium and let the seeds sizzle for just about 30 sec. – 1 min. until you can smell them. Add the meatballs to the pan

While meatballs are cooking, combine the tomato sauce, yogurt, garam masala, and cayenne in a bowl. Add salt to taste. (You can also add more yogurt or tomato sauce, adjust the spices, etc. The sauce is pretty forgiving.)

When meatballs are about halfway done, add the sauce to the pan and finish cooking until the chicken meatballs reach an internal temp. of 165 degrees F.

Garnish with cilantro.
Serving suggestion: cucumber and onion salad dressed with a squeeze of lemon juice; basamati rice (if you eat it) or riced cauliflower.

* PALEO OPTION
I realize that many people who follow a Paleo diet do not eat dairy. If that’s the case, my suggestion would be to add some fresh chopped tomatoes and extra onions to the coconut oil and cumin seeds, along with the garama masala and salt, allow it to cook down a bit, and then add your meatballs.

These meatballs were delicious, considering I threw them together at the last minute (since the kids ate all the taco meat I’d made!). I’m making another batch today for the freezer. I think this is a pretty versatile recipe that is easy to adapt to whatever diet you follow, whether it’s a standard diet, low-fat diet, low-carb diet, or Paleo. A little something for everyone 🙂

menu plan monday, 2.20.12

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Well, after several days of decadent eating last week on our vacation at Woodloch Pines, we are back to the usual menus here! I admit that I overindulged on breads and desserts. (By most people’s standards I probably didn’t do so bad, but for me it was a lot). Nevertheless, I savored every bite and don’t regret a spoonful 🙂

Lent begins this week, and that gives me an incentive to work more fish dishes into our meal plan. We ate quite a bit of fish on vacation, so that was a great way to get inspired! Of course, I only post my dinner plans and I realize there’s not much fish here this week, but I’ll be making it for lunch. I might try stuffing tuna fish into cucumber cups for a quick bite, or a quick marinated shrimp salad.

Here’s what I’m planning for this week:

  • Sunday: chicken fajitas, fruit salad
  • Monday: pesto chicken, riced cauliflower, green salad
  • Tuesday: mushroom-swiss burgers (buns optional), tomato basil soup, green salad
  • Wednesday:  onion soup, hard-boiled eggs, green salad
  • Thursday: cube steaks with mustard gravy, mixed vegetables, green salad
  • Friday: salt & vinegar baked cod, steamed broccoli, cole slaw
  • Saturday: Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts ~ no cooking!

For more menu ideas, visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday feature.

friday favorite finds

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It’s Friday! So that means it’s time to link up with Finding Joy in My Kitchen‘s Friday Favorite Finds. Here are my Pinterest food finds for the week. I haven’t participated in a while, but I have lots of great recipes to share this week.

Raw Mango Lime Tarts – I think these sound so yummy and refreshing! I’d love to create a raspberry version, based on this one!

 

Frozen Coconut Limeade – Can’t wait to sit on the deck this summer while sipping on one of these.

 

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps – We made these one night this week and they were delicious! I added more onions and water chestnuts to the chicken, and I basically made a big salad with lettuce, shredded carrots, and scallions instead of dealing with the wraps. Definitely a keeper!

 

Spicy shrimp and Cucumber Salad with Mint, Lemon, and Cumin – This looks like a delicious light lunch!

 

Low Carb Lemon Meringue Custard – I am totally making these for Easter dessert! I don’t like crust much anyway, and this recipe gives you the best part of lemon meringue pie!

Source: foodie.com via Carol on Pinterest

 

(Finally, I am including a shameless plug for my Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Banana Brownies — my kids have devoured these! They are so yummy, easy, and much healthier than a regular brownie! I hope you try them!)

Be sure to head over to Finding Joy in My Kitchen and see what inspired everyone else this week!

gluten-free peanut butter banana brownies

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gluten-free peanut butter banana brownie

Last week I was craving something cakey. And chocolaty, but that goes without saying. Naturally, I headed over to Pinterest for a little inspiration and decided to try this Paleo mug cake recipe from The Wannabe Chef. It was delicious! Honestly, it was the first mug cake that I ever truly enjoyed. The only problem is that it was too much cake. So I set about to tweak it a little to my liking and to better feed a family of 5.

This recipe makes a standard-sized pan of gluten-free brownies. The best part? It doesn’t require any exotic specialty flours — I think most people have all these ingredients in their pantries right now! While you can certainly mix everything up by hand, I highly recommend using a food processor. It makes the batter silky smooth and as someone sensitive to texture, I think chunks of banana would ruin this recipe for me. (Just make sure you cover that opening with your hand because the cocoa powder flies everywhere!

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

gluten-free peanut butter banana brownie
Ingredients:

3 medium bananas
3 large eggs
1/3 c. smooth peanut butter
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3 packets of stevia *
1/2 c. chocolate morsels *

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine bananas, eggs, peanut butter, cocoa powder, and stevia in the bowl of a food processor. Combine until smooth (be sure to periodically scrape down the sides). Pour batter into a buttered 8×8 baking dish. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and gently mix them in. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool.

Yield: 16 servings

* These are both optional ingredients, but I like the extra sweetness they deliver. You could could use fewer chocolate morsels to cut down on the sugar.

As prepared here, there are about 97 calories per serving and 10.4 grams of carbs.

So there you have it! A delicious, guilt-free, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free (if you omit the chocolate morsels) treat that is chock-full of healthy fats and protein (and potassium). You can certainly substitute another nut butter for the peanut butter and I’m sure it would be just as good!

menu plan monday, 1.16.12

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It’s finally starting to feel like winter around here! And as much as I want to hole up in front of the wood stove, the fact is that I still need to plan and cook dinner for the family. So it’s a good thing I have a plan!

  • Monday: Roast chicken thighs, steamed broccoli, wild rice (leftover) tossed salad with fresh mozzarella and mustard vinaigrette.
  • Tuesday: Broiled steak with gorgonzola butter, sauteed zucchini and onions, salad
  • Wednesday: Veal parmesan meatloaf, salad
  • Thursday: Spiced beef ribs, steamed veggies, cole slaw
  • Friday: Pesto chicken breasts, small side of pasta, salad
  • Saturday: Probably take-out

For more menu ideas, visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday feature.

homemade banana chips

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DSC_0067

For Christmas I gave Drew a food dehydrator. One of his favorite snacks is beef jerky, and he’s been talking about making it at home for a long time. I also thought it would be useful for preserving produce and herbs. (Go ahead – make the joke that this was really a gift for myself, I’ve already heard it!)

Anyway, I was really psyched to try this thing out, but didn’t want to go too crazy for my maiden voyage into the world of dehydrated foods. I had a bunch of bananas that were on the brink, so I thought banana chips were the perfect choice.

Making them could not be easier. Basically, it went like this:

1) Cut the banana into thin slices.
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2) Give the slices a quick run through some lemon juice. You can add honey, cinnamon, or jazz it up in some other way but I opted to keep it simple. While this step is technically optional, it helps prevent the banana slices from getting too brown.
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3) Place the slices on one of the dehydrator trays, leaving plenty of room for airflow. Three bananas filled almost two trays (I also threw a little cantaloupe on there just for giggles.)
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4) Turn the machine on and wait. And wait some more. And wait a little more. And just when you think they might be done — no — wait a few more minutes. All told I think it took about 6 hours of drying.
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And that is really all there is to it! When the bananas felt done, I carefully took them off the tray and stored them in a canning jar. For long-term storage you want something airtight, and you want to store them in a dark, dry place. But I knew these would not last that long.

DSC_0052

I don’t normally buy banana chips, but 2/3rds of my kids now love them. Jake and Noah both asked to take some for snack at school so I guess I will be making them more often. Honestly, it’s a great alternative to banana bread when those bananas are just a little too soft to eat. The dried cantaloupe was delicious, too!

I’m excited to experiment more: apple slices, zucchini chips, pears, watermelon, and of course herbs once the summer rolls around. Who knows, maybe I’ll even try making my own herbal tea mixes! So many possibilities!

menu plan monday #1

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I never got my meal plan up yesterday, but that’s not because I didn’t write it! I actually had it all set, but never wrote up the post. So here you go. A quick & dirty list to start the year, but hey — better than nothing!

  • Monday: Leftovers
  • Tuesday: Slow Cooker BBQ ribs, twice-baked potatoes (from the freezer), roast butternut squash, salad
  • Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chicken tacos (lettuce, cojita cheese, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, corn tortillas if you want one), spicy black bean soup
  • Thursday: Sausage Parmesan, salad
  • Friday: Turkey burgers, salad, zucchini chips
  • Saturday: Pizza night! Cauliflower crust with chicken, broccoli, onions, peppers & black olives or traditional crust with pepperoni. Salad.
  • Sunday: Chicken Parmesan meatloaf, steamed broccoli

For more menu ideas, visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday feature.

countdown to 2012: best main dishes

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Countdown to 2011 with Finding Joy in My Kitchen

This week I am counting down to 2012 with SnoWhite from Finding Joy in My Kitchen. She is inviting readers to join in the fun by sharing their very best recipes of 2011. Today’s theme is main dishes. I’m cheating here a little bit because I really wanted to include this recipe, but couldn’t figure out where to put it, so… it’s going here 🙂

My roasted garlic and sunflower pesto was such a fun recipe to create from our bountiful CSA basil share last summer. You can use pesto in a variety of ways with your main dishes. Naturally, you can use it as a pasta sauce, but it’s also wonderful on pizza, with chicken, or thrown into a batch of roasted tomato soup. I hope you enjoy this one!

Roasted Garlic and Sunflower Pesto

roasted garlic and sunflower pesto