A whole week for you (plus an easy recipe)

Hi there, well that past week flew by. Let me recap my meals for you – First, let me start by saying that my planning was awful!! I spent too much time at the grocery store, but the meals were still made at home and delicious. It can’t always come together perfectly with the planning and the shopping – that’s the goal.
Friday – Pizza, which we made w/a salad.
Saturday – Date night in!! Baby is too young for a sitter, so we put the kids to bed early and ordered in for dinner. The kids got mac’n cheese with carrots & green beans. Good bottle of wine for us and everyone was happy!!
Sunday – Roasted chicken, brown & wild rice (I sauteed carrots & onions into the rice, as I wasn’t sure the veggies would be embraced.), roasted brussel sprouts & steamed spinach.
Monday- my 4 year old’s b-day party. We made basic cheese pizza (didn’t use whole wheat flour) for everyone w/pea pods, carrots & grapes. Of course cake was on the dessert agenda!!
Tuesday – I had a dr. appt 45 minutes away @ 5:40. I made black bean soup earlier in the day and reheated it when we walked in the door – starving! Served with sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped avocado & crushed tortilla chips. Easy to make.

Black Bean Soup
1 lb dried black beans
1 onion – chopped
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 jalapeño – top chopped off, seeds removed. (Keep the pepper whole, as this will add flavor and some spice with out it being too much for the family.)
2 teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 28oz can of petite diced tomatoes – undrained
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt, to taste

Boil black beans in water for 2 minutes, let it sit for 1 hour in the water. Drain and set aside.
Sautee onions for 5-6 minutes then add garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes. Add 12 cups of water the jalapeño, chili powder and cumin with the beans and simmer for 1 hour, add the canned tomatoes and continue to simmer another 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the beans are tender. (If the soup is too thick at this point, add water to adjust consistency). Stir in chopped cilantro. And add salt to taste. (You may need to add quite a bit, as you haven’t added any to the recipe up to this point.)
Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips, chopped avocado & cheddar cheese.

Wednesday- The plan was maple/apple pork chops, but dinnertime came upon us quickly and I wasn’t into cooking too much. I fired up the grill and made barbeque pork chops, whole wheat noodles with butter and did a quick sauté with garlic, olive oil and baby carrots, pea pods & shredded purple cabbage (all veggies I had on hand and wanted to use up.) Dinner took less than 20 minutes to make and was well received.

Thursday- Piano & football right around dinnertime. I’m making chicken burritos before the kids get off the bus. I baked some chicken breasts and will shred with a fork and then roll it into flour tortillas with frozen corn, black beans, cheese and salsa. Roll them up and top off the rolls with more cheese. I can fit 6-8 in a 9×13 pan and will bake it about 20 minutes @ 375 when we get home. The kids requested this meal on the way to the bus this morning. I will serve it with some steamed yellow wax beans, which Charlie picked out at the farmer’s market this morning.

Plans change

Just today, I was teachng a class and a great question came my way – “so, how often do you fall away from  plan because you get to, say, 3:00 and decide you are just not going to make what you planned?”  Well, just today that happened – I was going to make a risotto, but decided that it wasn’t worth the efforts tonight.  We had back-to-back activities and weren’t going to have a family dinner, per se.  Also, I had lots of the pasta with fresh tomatoes leftover from last nights meal.  So —- I made up a quick tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, wine & oregano.  Mixed some ricotta with egg, mozzerella & parmessean and assembled it all together to make a baked pasta dish.  My little guy with food allergies couldn’t eat it, but he wasn’t feeling too great anyway. So, I heated some chicken broth and used leftover bowtie noodles and cooked carrots & pea pods to make a simple soup.  Both meals took less than 20 minutes total to assemble and used up food in my fridge.

2 easy nights of dinner

Tuesday night – Breakfast for dinner – one of my kids’ favorite meals.  Dad was out of town and we did french toast with fruit.  Whole wheat bread, eggs, milk, cinnamon & vanilla – what could be better? 

Wednesday night – I made a variety of items that ended up being well received.  Penne pasta tossed with fresh farmer’s-market tomatoes, basil and garlic sauteed in olive oil.  We topped it with parmessean.   I also served steamed brocolli and the hit of the evening “mom’s version of chicken nuggets” - named by the kids.  As you know, chicken nuggets are not an item kept in our freezer.  I took regular chicken tenderloins and dredged them in flour that was seasoned with lemon pepper salt.  I pan fried it in olive oil and vegetable oil until browned.  I would not consider it a recipe, but the kids were so thrilled with it, I thought I would share it with you here.

Weekend

Saturday night, we had friends over for dinner.  We had grilled steak and salmon with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus & patty pan squash (drizzled with olive oil & sprinkled with sea salt).  There were 6 kids there that also ate this – 1/2 wanted “pink fish” and the remainder wanted steak. 

Sunday – bowtie pasta with shrimp.  Kids had mixed veggies (frozen variety) and we had a salad.  The kids were not into the pasta dish, but they ended up eating enough of it to fill their bellies for bedtime.  I personally loved it.  I pureed, in the food processor, marinated sundried tomatoes and green olives to create a “pesto-like” consistency.  I sauteed the shrimp in olive oil and white wine.  Mixed the cooked bow tie pasta with the shrimp and juices with the pesto.  Topped with parmessean.  Yum! 

Monday – lots of leftovers in the fridge, husband out of town.  The kids had plain bow tie noodles with diced steak, pea pods and cut up fruit.  I had the shrimp bow tie leftovers.  Quick, easy and nourishing.   (For lunch, I made for myself a delicious salad with the leftover grilled “pink fish”.  Arugula, tomatoes, avocado, corn, scallions with olive oil and lime juice. )

homemade pizza

Friday is always pizza night.  Today, when the baby was sleeping, I measured out the flour (whole wheat & white bread mixed), yeast & salt and had it ready in the bowl.  I also made the sauce.  That way, after the older boys got off the bus, I added the water, kneaded it for a few minutes and let it rise.  Other than that, dinner was ready until assembly time (which takes less time than ordering pizza and waiting for delivery).  Plus, it always blows me away how much pizza orders can add up to when you want to add a number of toppings.  We made one tonight with feta, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, fresh basil & pepperoni – so yummy.  The kids version was your typical cheese & pepperoni.  Probably cost me less than $20 and we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Piano, football & cub scouts – oh,my….

we did hamburgers (which I had grilled the other night with the chicken kabobs) on whole-wheat buns, corn on the cob and watermelon.  Ryan and I had a salad.  Quick, easy & nutritious for all.

“but I don’t like mushrooms”…

….is how dinner prep started tonight.  The boys were helping me cook and they saw that mushrooms were part of dinner.  I told them that they actually like the flavor, just not biting into a big hunk, so I gave them the task of chopping them up (thanks to the pampered chef chopper) so little that they wouldn’t know mushrooms were in the dish.  They took that on with avengance – which just goes to show you that even when kids say they don’t like something, there may be ways to get them to see it differently. 

Dinner tonight was a “grand slam”.  (A term we use when everyone likes dinner).  I made up the recipe with some inspiration from a picadillo recipe that was given to me.  (although, it’s now nothing like picadillo)  Here’s the recipe, which I served over bow tie pasta with parmessean on top.

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced onions

2 cloves garlic

1 cup carrots – chopped

8 oz mushrooms – chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons balsalmic vinegar

2 bay leaves

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce

salt & pepper to taste

sautee turkey with olive oil until cooked, drain and set aside

sautee onions in olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) until soft, add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes more.  Add carrots & mushrooms and cook until carrots are softening and mushrooms have released their juice.   Return turkey to pan, add remaining ingredients and cook, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper and serve over pasta.  (don’t forget to remove bay leaves before serving!)

house construction, new baby &; yes, still nourishing family

Honestly, it’s been insane in my world.  On any given day, I have 1 – 10 workers at my house completing our addition.  I’m constantly having to run to the store or answering questions.  We are in complete filth and the baby is so little.  Luckily the older 2 are off at school and that leaves charlie with the baby and I to get through the days.   I’m struggling to say the least, but I’m trying to stay true to what matters.  I will recap our food for the week, because I am still trying to make dinner a time when we come together to hear about the day!  Here is the food we enjoyed together.  And, yes, it’s worth it.  In our busy world, it’s still important to sit down to hear about what everyone’s favorite part of the day is.

Last week at a glance…

Sunday night dinner – we ordered out pizza!  We skipped our weekly friday night pizza & hubby was involved in a fantasy football draft – so, I took the easy road tonight!

Monday – Hawaiian salmon from my cookbook  (see www.makingtimefordinner.com) with corn on the cob and green beans.  (soaked the pintos for tomorrow night’s dinner and made the rice)

Tuesday – Pintos & rice with corn chips and cheddar cheese.

Wednesday – can’t remember what we ate????  I know we didn’t order out or go out, but I can’t recall this one.  moving on…….

Thursday – tacos!  whole wheat tortillas, ground turkey sauteed w/onions, cilantro, black beans & corn – plus, guacamole made by my 4 year old (his personal favorite!)

Friday – pizza night.  Again, ordered out.  I typically make my own pizza, but I have to say that house construction has challenged me.  We had painters in all day, which made getting into the kitchen a no-go.  Good news – this is the end of the major parts of construction.  yippee!!

Saturday – Pork Fried rice.  I made the rice (brown jasmine) earlier in the day and used the leftover pork chops from Thursday night.  Added bean sprouts, baby corn, pea pods, bok choy, brocolli and scrambled eggs.  My kids love fried rice.  The eggs & baby corn are essential to them. 

Sunday – neighborhood block party.  I brought a pasta salad from my cookbook. (see www.makingtimefordinner.com) I boiled the pasta when I was making the rice yesterday.  The boys got their share of hot dogs & picnic fare.  Good times had by all!

Monday – Chicken kabobs using a lemon garlic marinade.  I made the marinade on Saturday when I made the rice and pasta.  We spent the afternoon at the pool and the kabobs came together easily when I got home.  Summer squash, mushrooms, peppers, onions and pineapples joined the chicken on the kabob.  I served with brown rice.

Tuesday – Taboulleh, hummus and homemade flatbread.  Charlie and I had fun making the bread this afternoon.  It’s always a hit with my entire family.  We had football tonight, so this is an easy meal to come home to, plus, I felt like we were lacking in the veggie category.  This meal helps even it all out, and it’s my personal favorite.