Menu Plan Monday...

Okay.

So here's the deal.

Every week I come up with a menu plan fully thinking that I'm going to follow it exactly as written, and each week, things change. Unexpected errands or outings come up and I flake out on the menu. Then I feel like an unorganized loser.

But honestly.

My week can not revolve around a menu. The menu must revolve around my week.

So, I'm going to continue to plan a menu based on what I have in the house, but I'm only going to follow it when it's going to work in our schedule.

Cause really, life can't be planned, it has to happen.

Monday: Crock pot pork chops (scroll down for recipe), brown rice, steamed broccoli, Oreo pudding.

Tuesday: Tofu and veggie stir fry, rice, fruit.

Wednesday: Salmon cakes, brown rice, steamed veggies, fruit.

Thursday: Lazy girls pasta primavera (recipe coming on Thursday), salt and pepper crostini, fruit.

Friday: Errand day, getting take out at our fave Vietnamese place.

Saturday: Photo shoot and a meeting, supper out for mama and dada.

Sunday: Burgers on the grill, potato salad, fruit.

Crock pot pork chops


4 boneless center-cut pork chops
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

Arrange chops in bottom of crock. Cover with onion slices. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over pork and onions. Cover and cook on low for 6 hrs or until tender.

Pesto tortellini salad with roasted grape tomatoes....

I have to admit that at first I felt a little ripped off about shelling out nearly three bucks for a tiny jar of sauce. Then I brought it home and discovered that that one tiny jar contains enough sauce for numerous dishes. It can be spread on sandwiches and used as pizza sauce or a marinade for grilled chicken or baked fish. But it's the pesto pasta salad that has become a favorite meal around our house over the last few weeks. It is just so versatile and easy to make. It can be made with any type of pasta, red or green pesto, any kind of veggies and can be served hot or cold! What's not to love?
For this particular salad, I roasted up a pan of grape tomatoes. If you have never tried roasted tomatoes, what the heck have you been waiting for? They are so sweet and intensely flavored. My faves for roasting are these little grape tomatoes or Roma's slit lengthwise. I just toss them with a bit of olive oil and salt and roasted them in a 400˚ oven for about 30-45min or until wrinkled and slightly browned.


I also used tomato pesto to keep with the tomato flavors...


While I was boiling the tortellini for this dish I tossed a handful of frozen peas and a package of frozen artichoke hearts into the past water. When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, tossed it with a touch of olive oil and let it cool. When it was cool I mixed in a tablespoon or so of pesto, the roasted tomatoes and a bit of salt and pepper. If I was going to serve it hot, I would have done exactly the same, but skipped the cooling part... but I guess that was pretty obvious...

Depresssion cooking: eggs and peppers...

I have to start by saying that I usually do not get sucked into the hype of viral YouTube videos, but ever since I saw my first episode of Depression Cooking with Clara, I have been hooked. This woman is adorable, lovable and wise with a buck! What's not to love? Her eggs and peppers recipe looked too delicious to be ignored, so guess what we had for lunch yesterday. You can start by watching her peppers and eggs episodes and if you get hooked like I am, you can visit YouTube to see more.





I started pretty much the same as Clara, by slicing my peppers. I bought these three colored bell peppers at Aldi for 2.79$ so this recipe is pretty thrifty...


Instead of making our own bread we cheated and warmed up a loaf of rustic Italian bread in the oven while my olive oil and butter were heating in a pan on the stove top...

When the pan was hot, I added a few of each color of pepper to my pan and seasoned them (pretty lightly, compared to Clara and her salt shaker) with salt and pepper...


So what did I do with all the leftover peppers? I stashed them in a freezer bag and stowed them in the freezer for a later use. Peppers freeze beautifully and I like to do this so that they are always fresh, ready and on hand for a recipe...


When my peppers started to brown and soften, I added 4 scrambled eggs to the pan, reduced my heat a bit and started stirring...


We ate these for lunch with some of the bread and some olives...


This was a simple, filling, cost effective lunch and it was so yummy. The peppers were nice and sweet, and it was so good spooned over the bread, it really would make an awesome sandwich! And if you're not on a budget, or have a budget-friendly bottle or eco-friendly box of wine laying around, this would make a fantastic rustic style Italian dinner! Gotta love that Clara!

Menu Plan Monday...

Monday: Orange Roughy with tomato, caper, olive and lemon sauce over brown rice, with peas and fruit for the kids, and spinach salad for us.

Tuesday: Peruvian chicken from Rachael Ray's Magazine, roasted root veggies, and fruit.

(Click on the photo to make the recipe larger)


I followed the basic recipe, up to the point of marinating it in the storage bag, and then I adapted the cooking portion of the recipe to the Crockpot by lining my crock with two small inverted ramekins, like this...


And then placing the seasoned chicken on top of the ramekins, covering with the lid and cooking on high for 5-6 hours (I've since discovered that by placing the chicken breast down in the crock, it will come out much more tender).


Wednesday: Tamale pie made with leftover chicken from Tuesday, fruit.

Thursday: Working out of the house without the kids so we will be going to a quiet dinner at our fave restaurant (Anthony's) alone. Mmmm, I can taste the wine and creme brulée already!

Friday: Pork Chops and Potatoes in Mustard Sauce (made in the crock-pot) with brussel sprouts and fruit.

Saturday & Sunday: No real plans. Depending on the weather we want to take the kids out one day and on the other day we will be eating leftovers from Friday with some veggies and fruit.

Baked tofu with sun butter cilantro sauce...

I found this recipe at Chick in the Kitchen's blog during one of our Menu Plan Mondays and was immediately intrigued. Since having the kids, I have been pretty much obsessed with any recipe than can be done in the crock pot or the oven. Who has time to stir and watch over a pot on the stove top with two babies under two running around like wild monkeys? Not me!
Dara over at Chick in the Kitchen already adapted this recipe a bit from the original, which she found at Swell Vegan. She started by leaving out the mint and instead of half regular and half smoked tofu, she changed it to only regular tofu. Both moves were good ones in my opinion, but I had to change it a bit more to suit our family.
One of my children is completely appalled by cauliflower, so that had to go, and since I don't like almond butter, I swapped it for sun butter (made from sunflower seeds in a peanut-free facility, so it was safe for my toddlers who have not yet been introduced to peanut products).

Baked Tofu in Sun Butter & Cilantro Sauce

1 large sweet potato, cut into 2-bite size pieces and microwaved until mostly tender
1 package extra-firm tofu, drained & cut into bite-sized cubes
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. pre-shredded carrot

2/3 c. sun butter
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 1 heaping tsp. minced jarred garlic)
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 c. fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
3/4 c. hot water

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place sweet potato, tofu, peas and carrots in a casserole dish and set aside.

To prepare the sauce, combine the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until the combined (the hot water is easier to stir into the sun butter, cold will make it clumpy)

Pour the sauce over the tofu and veggies and gently toss to combine. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve over brown rice or noodles.

I served up the grown-up plates with lime wedges and Sriracha sauce for a bit of kick.

This was soooo good! In fact, the only thing that would have made it better was if my son didn't freak out every time he got the slightest fleck of cilantro on his tongue. Overall, he liked the flavors, but the cilantro just wasn't for him. My daughter, on the other hand, just plain gagged over this. She ended up eating Cheerios, cheese and a huge pile of fruit.

Salmon cakes...

My daughter just turned a year old and has been eating just about everything we eat, but we have yet to try her on fish. I think that I will be making my salmon cakes for lunch today so that she can finally try some. Hopefully she will enjoy them as much as we do!
Do any of you have a favorite child friendly fish recipe?


Salmon Cakes
Makes about 6 cakes
Serve them on buns or as is with a side of rice and veggies.

2 teaspoons old bay seasoning
1/2 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (optional)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 14 oz can salmon, skin and bones removed ( I buy wild Alaskan at Aldi for about 2$ a can)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Dijon or yellow mustard
1 cup soft bread crumbs (about 2 slices white bread)


Combine all ingredients thoroughly and form into patties. Broil on
an oiled baking sheet about 5 minutes each side or until golden
brown.

These can be served with mayo or tarter sauce, but for a grown-up taste, my husband and I eat them with Chipotle Cream dipping sauce. We make the Chipotle Cream by combining equal parts mayo and sour cream and seasoning to taste with bottled chipotle hot sauce and salt. This sauce is also excellent with sweet potato fries.
Enjoy!

Printable freezer labels...

You can print out some of these cute freezer labels by visiting the Martha Stewart website. They have tons of printables over there, including some darling jam labels which I also saved for the next time I make my apricot chutney. Ideally, these labels should be printed on self-adhesive paper, but since I didn't have any, I used regular paper and packing tape.


The recipe for the Salsa Soup that I have in my freezer comes from Stephanie at A Year of Crockpotting , and it is a-maze-ing! I followed her recipe, but left out the mushrooms and served it with the sour cream on the side for dolloping. This can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the chicken, swapping the chicken broth for veggie stock and adding more veggies. Bell peppers would have been fantastic!

Paprika pork...

As promised from Menu Plan Monday...



That is the original recipe from my notebook...


But lately I have been making this in the crock pot. To make it crock-friendly I eliminate the oil and start by adding the sliced large onion, the sliced pork and the 1 1/2 tablespoons of paprika to the crock along with a splash of water. Then I cook it on high for 2 hours or until the pork is cooked thoroughly. Once the pork is cooked you can add the tablespoon of tomato paste and the 1/2 cup of sour cream, season to taste and cook for another 30 min. on high or until heated. My crock tends to run a little hot, so you may need more time. I find that it end up more tender cooked this way.

Enjoy!

Menu plan Monday and sloppy joes...

Monday: Paprika pork (recipe to come next week) with brown rice and green beans.

Tuesday: Photo shoot - kids are eating with grandma and papa and we are grabbing a quick dinner out (probably Applebee's Oriental chicken salad for me and a burger for my honey).

Wednesday: Leftover pork from Monday with egg noodles and steamed broccoli.

Thursday: Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce from the freezer and salad.

Friday: Errand day - take-out (probably Chicken Tortellini from Mangia's)

Saturday: Going shopping and getting sushi from our favorite sushi shop. That means that the kids will eat Kraft dinner and peas. Yay! Everybody's happy!

Sunday: Anna's Sloppy Joes (eat one, freeze one) and a fruit plate.


Anna's Sloppy Joes
This recipe comes from my husbands grandma. It is delicious and deliciously easy!

1 lb. hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery chopped

Sauce:
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 T. vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup ketchup

Cook meat with onions and celery.
Add sauce ingredients to meat mixture. Heat thoroughly.
Serve hot over hamburger buns or toast.

Menu Plan Monday and cranberry meatballs...

This is my first attempt at Menu Plan Monday! I always try to plan my meals at least a couple days in advance, but I love the idea of planning out the whole week. I hope I can stick to it!

Monday: Pork Chops and Potatoes in Mustard Sauce (made in the crock-pot) with green beans

Tuesday: Savory Cranberry Meatballs (also in the crock-pot, scroll down for recipe) with brown rice. I'll be making enough meatballs in sauce that we can eat one portion tonight and freeze two portions for later.

Wednesday: Leftovers from Monday

Thursday: Stuffed bell peppers with peas for the kids and salad for mama and dada

Friday: Errand day - take-out

Saturday: Mixed baby shower and we are all going!

Sunday: I am planning on trying my hand at homemade mac and cheese! But I have yet to decide on a recipe, maybe I'll go super simple and try this FamilyFun recipe or go gourmet and try this Wondertime recipe. Any suggestions?


Savory Cranberry Meatballs
This is my son's favorite dinner and its super simple to make!

1 can jellied cranberry sauce
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 packet onion soup mix
your favorite store bought or homemade meatballs

Combine first 3 ingredients in crock and add meatballs (this is usually enough sauce for 30-40 mini meatballs). You may need to add a bit of water to make it easier to stir. Crock-pot setting and cooking time will depend on if your meatballs are uncooked, cooked or frozen. I add my homemade meatballs right into the sauce uncooked and it usually takes about 8 hours on low. Frozen would probably be about the same, but cooked and thawed would be much shorter.
This sauce is also excellent with center cut pork chops or pork tenderloin. When I do either of those, I also plunk them into the sauce frozen and cook for around 8 hrs on low.