miscellaneous

Pickles last weekend: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/pickled-cauliflower-carrots-red-bell-pepper.aspx

Then made more peach-ginger jam. MMMM.

Tonight I made an herbed pork loin roast for dinner - I ground up garlic, rosemary, basil, and sage with some salt and pepper in olive oil, smeared it over the pork loin, made some shallow slashes, and rubbed it in, then roasted it. Also MMMMM.

Tentative meal plan for this week:

Monday:
Bacon
Waffles
Fruit

Tuesday:
Chicken/fish sticks
Frozen vegetables
Salad/crudites
Bread/rolls
Fruit

Wednesday:
Chicken fried steak/hamburgers
Mashed potatoes/gravy
Broccoli
Biscuits

Thursday:
Fish/shellfish
Farmers Market vegetables
French Bread

Friday:
Pizza

Saturday:
Hot dogs
Smores if the weather is good

Sunday:
Pasta
Breadsticks
Salad

canning today

Mint jelly, from the recipe in the Certo box, made from the exploding mint on the patio, and pickled peppers, made from this recipe from peppers from the garden. TMOTH planted some kind of "hot" pepper but it is NOT AT ALL hot - but I planted jalapenos, and they ARE hot. Each jar of pickles got one hot pepper :)

Crab cakes

recipe here

We had steamed crabs for our anniversary dinner, and had picked crab left over. I wound up with 5 crab cakes from what we had; we each had one for dinner and I'm freezing the rest. (We being TMOTH and me ~ no way the boys would try it.)

I mostly followed the recipe, except for the Old Bay. I just hate it. So I subbed in Zatarain's instead.

Fried fish

Actually, cod pieces from Trader Joe's. Cod pieces. *snerk*

I used this recipe, mostly: Alton Brown's Chips and Fish
Although- I didn't fry chips; I roasted potatoes in the oven, and I didn't use Old Bay. Because it's awful. I used a dash of Zatarain's instead, and it was yummy.

No hushpuppies. We were out of cornmeal, and TJ's didn't have any, and I wasn't about to stop by Safeway on a Saturday afternoon just for cornmeal. TJ baguette instead.

Coleslaw with a ginger-sesame dressing made by Marie's. Tasty, but too thick. I added some lime juice to thin it a bit and spark up the flavor.

Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge

The Lovely Daughter and I made this last night - recipe is here.

I made some changes.

- I used graham crackers for the crust. A full sleeve made about 1.5 cups, and I wound up using 5 Tbsp butter to get it to hang together properly
- I didn't actually measure anything other than the graham cracker crumbs :) I poured about half a bag of white chips (I used Nestle because they were on sale!) in one bowl, and used the other bag and a half in the other bowl.
- I tried the trick in the comments of adding some of the condensed milk mixture to the marshmallow cream mixture. I don't think there would've been enough white, otherwise.

King cake

So, a couple of weekends ago I made king cake. It was extremely good, although the glaze called for a LOT of lemon juice. I cut it back as I was making it, and it still seemed overly tart. You can occasionally get a king cake at the groceries here, but they're just not very good. The dough from this recipe is really workable; I think I might tweak it some to see if I can get it to work in the dough cycle of the bread machine and use it for cinnamon rolls.

Beer-braised chicken thighs

Tonight's dinner was a recipe from Rachael Ray for chicken thighs.

I had boneless skinless thighs, and parsley-in-a-tube rather than fresh, but it still turned out OK. I would say it is good, not great - not sure I'd make it again without tweaking. Maybe half beer and half chicken broth to braise? and more seasoning, I think, and possibly rice to soak up some sauce.

We also had roasted potatoes and roasted asparagus.

menu planning

new year, new plans

Sunday: chicken
Monday: quilt guild night AND cub scout night - soup!
Tuesday: fish
Wednesday: Leftover pork tenderloin with THIS sauce
Thursday: Cheese and crackers
Friday: waffles
Saturday: lamb chops/hamburgers

Bacon-wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This was a recipe from Bobby Flay:  Bacon-herb-wrapped Pork Tenderloin

I followed the hints in the comments and left it in the oven for 30 minutes and it was cooked perfectly.

I didn't have fresh rosemary or sage or thyme, so I used dry. I also added a little bit of refrigerated parsley puree.

Overall, it was really good, and there are leftovers - I think I'll look for a simmer sauce for later this week.

We also had fried apples, macaroni and cheese, and The Good Rolls.

caramel popcorn

I used a recipe for "Fancy" caramel popcorn, but I didn't make it fancy - no pretzels, no nuts, no chocolate, just popcorn and caramel.

It was YUM.

We're eating leftovers until we leave for the holidays :)

Tortellini

I buy the refrigerated double-packs of cheese tortellini from Wegman's. They're awesome - the Small Man doesn't like filled pasta for some reason, so I cook some plain pasta for him.

Also made garlic breadsticks - a little bigger this time. I like them both ways!

Menu planning, edit

Today, Monday: Hamburgers

Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches - had these last night (for me) - Grilled chicken

Wednesday: Waffles

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Quarters

Made this: http://www.grouprecipes.com/99352/georgia-peach-puree-bread.html
Tasty, but too moist. Wet, really.

Menu Planning

Today, Sunday: Freezer diving :) Hopefully fish or shrimp

Monday: Grilled chicken

Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches

Wednesday: Waffles

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Quarters

Glorified leftovers

I warmed up the pot roast from last week and made gravy for TMOTH. Macaroni and cheese for the boy-kids.

The leftover mashed potatoes became potato patties, a favorite of TMOTH's and surprisingly a big hit with the karate kid. [Small Man didn't like them at all.]

I made biscuits - and I need to go hide some so I have some for breakfast in the morning :)

Leftover broccoli warmed up, cantaloupe, and strawberries rounded out our meal.

Menu planning - second week of September

The major drawback last week was that Tuesday dinner took too long [we wound up having chicken and it was good, but I missed karate]. We'll see if bean soup works better!

Saturday: Tacos, leftover chicken, rice
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Shrimp
Tuesday: Bean Soup
Wednesday: Chicken
Thursday: Pasta
Friday: dinner out for karate

Lamb shanks

Pulled from the freezer - the lamb had basically fallen off the bones into the sauce. Eaten with elbow macaroni and french bread, plus extra carrots.

Grilled chicken skewers

With rice and biscuits. Kids and I also had fruit - an apple for the Small Man, a peach for the Karate Kid, a white nectarine for me.

Last night was cheese tortellini with fresh basil and parmesan. I also made garlic breadsticks from this recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/soft-garlic-breadsticks

The Karate Kid thought the breadsticks ought to be bigger - so maybe making 16 instead of 20 and a bit shorter next time will help.

Clearly, I'm not following the menu plan, but just writing out possibilities helps with making decisions.

Menu plan for the week

We really need to eat out of the freezer ~ it needs defrosting badly.

Saturday: Cheese and Crackers
Sunday: Chicken
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Bean Soup
Wednesday: Shrimp
Thursday: Pasta
Friday: dinner out for karate

Menu planning for next week

http://www.southernliving.com/food/whats-for-supper/five-days-five-dinner-recipes-august-11-15

I have to say, these recipes don't really do anything for me - but they do let me work on things my own way :)

Monday - grilled chicken (no salsa)
Tuesday - tortellini - without the chicken, tomatoes, etc. - sauce and garlic bread and salad :)
Wednesday - shrimp, whether or not we have asparagus depends on what's in the grocery
Thursday - pizza - last time out, I used pita rounds as the base, and the Small Man was NOT impressed. He requested "regular" pizza dough the next time we made pizza!
Friday - steak, with burgers for the boys. Unless we go out.
Saturday - the Karate Kid's birthday; he's requested French Toast
Sunday - starts a week away, taking The Lovely Daughter back to college. The boys will be batching it for almost a week.

Beef stew

With biscuits-from-a-can and grapes.

Yesterday was pita pizza ~ yummy!