food

i pretty much just stopped cooking.  or preparing any food.  or even keeping our kitchen stocked with things to eat.  and it's getting a little out of control so i'm attempting to redeem myself... even if it's only for a few days.  waiting until 5:00 to check out our fridge/freezer/pantry to see what i can throw together for dinner (normally not anything and then i welcome my honey home with a "how nice to see you!  would you like a bowl of cereal for dinner?!) is proving to be extremely stressful and taxing for me.  it is my least favorite time of day.  i'm still trying to get over how annoying it is that our bodies need food on an ongoing basis... and want it every few hours even.  a little high maintenance for my tastes (no pun intended).

so here's a post i started forever ago... recording the two times i've prepared food in ummm the last month or more?  pathetic, i know.  but i also added my intended meal plan until i go shopping next week.  we'll see how it goes.

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a thursday way back when- lemon pepper pork chops and oven roasted asparagus
i bought two bunches of asparagus because that pricey stuff was on sale for more than half off... and i prepared it all because, why not?  and we downed every last bit of it... no leftovers.  it was that good.  seriously incredible.  i don't want to prepare asparagus any other way ever.  the pork chops were good but they didn't blow my mind.  i probably won't make this recipe again unless i happen to just be specifically in the mood for it or something.  although i didn't use boneless thin cut chops like i usually do, so maybe that's why i didn't like it as much?  who knows?

a wednesday way back when- six sisters chicken bacon ranch taquitos
i was at my friend's house and she was telling me about how these were a big hit with her family.  she showed me the recipe and i actually already had everything (except for green onions but she had extra that she sent me home with) and made it that night.  it took me forever because i had a migraine so bad i felt like i was on drugs BUT it was super simple and i think next time it'll come together super fast... especially if i have precooked chicken that i can just thaw in the microwave.

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friday- six sisters slow cooker lasagna with garlic bread, salad, and maybe peas.

saturday- crock pot teriyaki chicken with stir fry veggies with chinese fried rice.

sunday- mother's day dinner with the hilliers!

monday- turkey meatball sub sandwiches and salad.

tuesday- leftovers... or crock pot 7up chicken and rice

because all day i dream about food

here's the lineup to last til baby girl and i leave town A WEEK FROM TODAY.  i'm so excited i can hardly stand it!

wednesday- toasted almond chicken with rice and broccoli cheese soup (the pioneer woman recipe)
thursday- leftovers and spinach salad with feta, craisins, and pecans
friday- pork chops, recipe tbd
saturday- costa vida pork salad
sunday- leftovers or breakfast for dinner
monday- stuffed peppers
tuesday- leftovers

extras
brown sugar glazed carrots like these
sweet potatoes with cinnamon
spiced baked apples with last weeks ice cream

review

wednesday- toasted almond chicken with rice and broccoli cheese soup (the pioneer woman recipe)
thursday- leftovers and spinach salad with feta, craisins, and pecans.  i actually made this salad for a relief society activity on wednesday night and so we just ate the leftovers.  i don't have a salad dressing shaker to make the vinaigrette so i actually just used the creamy poppyseed we had on hand, which conveniently, my pregnant heart prefers above all other dressings.
friday- pork chops (adapted molasses recipe) i was really in the mood for the molasses grilled pork recipe from my easy weeknight favorites cookbook but i wanted to use the chops i'd gotten on sale.  so i kinda made up my own recipe.  i halved the measurements in the book, didn't marinate (because i was lazy), put a few spoonfuls of sauce in the pan, put the 8 pork chops on that (i had to really smoosh them in there but it worked just fine!), and poured the rest of the sauce on top.  covered with foil and baked for an undocumented amount of time until we got too hungry to wait any longer and thought they looked like they'd been cooked to the "safe enough" category.  only time will tell if we were correct on that count!  anyways, they were delish and oh so tender.
saturday- i stuffed my face at a baby shower.  like literally went back for more food about six times.  the girl next to me just kept laughing.  we'd never met before and i think the amount of food i was consuming alarmed her.  and i'm not sure what honey ate.  whoops.
sunday- leftovers for lunch (soup or pork), costa vida pork salad for dinner
monday- stuffed peppers
tuesday- leftovers

from wednesday on, i'll be in atlanta!  but honey won't join us til later so i'll have the fridge filled with enough costa vida pork, stuffed peppers, and salad fixings to last him til the weekend.

i better get cookin'!

it's been two weeks since my last shopping trip to walmart.  that's a long time!  honey gets back in town tomorrow night so i've been working on my meal plan for the week so that i can go shopping tonight and leave tomorrow morning free to do fun stuff like story time at the library or something.

trouble is, i've spent forever online scouring pinterest and allrecipes and i'm just not in the mood for any of it. ugh.  why does that seem to happen so often on my menu planning days?!  i've had trouble this pregnancy repeating foods.  it seems like i always "just ate that."  sooo, anyways, i've got enough ideas to keep us fed for the week although i think we'll also have our fair share of breakfast for dinner because who doesn't love that?!  especially because i've only been eating eggs and toast for breakfast for the past several months so i can't even remember the last time i had something like german pancakes or waffles or crepes.
monday- parmesan baked potato halves and leftovers
tuesday- crock pot lasagna or this cheese lasagna but with meat in the sauce
wednesday- spinach, carmelized onions and feta pizza with this alfredo sauce recipe halved.
thursday- toasted almond chicken with rice
friday- leftovers
saturday- breakfast!  maybe german pancakes or waffles!
sunday- leftovers or breakfast for dinner!  or one for lunch and one for dinner.
monday- pork chops... recipe tbd

extras
ice cream without an ice cream maker
garlic knots or cinnamon sugar bites with leftover pizza dough.
baked apples with ice cream?


reviews

monday- the parmesan baked potato halves were great.  they would taste way better though without the potatoes though.  a baked butter, spices, parmesan cheese patty?  mmmmm.  still, i'd probably make these again... even though regular white potatoes aren't really my thing.  it's a one dish veggie that requires about three seconds of prep time.  that's my kind of food.
tuesday- i made this cheese lasagna with meat.  i browned about a pound of ground beef with one small onion chopped and added it to the sauce.  instead of 30ozs ricotta, i used probably about 20 ozs of cottage cheese.  and i used only one egg instead of two.  other than that... i pretty much followed the recipe as closely as i ever do.
wednesday- i made the spinach, carmelized onions and feta pizza with this alfredo sauce recipe which i actually didn't end up halving.  and thank goodness for that because the sauce was so good i found myself eating it with a spoon before it was even fully done.  i used a lot of garlic and it was amazing.  my first experience carmelizing onions turned out really well and the pizza was fantastic.  i added crumbled bacon at the end because honestly, it just seemed like the right thing to do.  i used pizza dough because i had it on hand but next time i'll try it with a ciabatta bread or something.
thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday i honestly can't even remember what we ate.  maybe we ate leftovers or sandwiches or sweet potatoes all those days because really, we had a ton of food.
monday- honey decided he was in the mood to grill hotdogs for labor day lunch.  they were delish.  that night we had fettuccine alfredo with the leftover sauce.
tuesday- my christopher had a migraine and didn't want to eat so i had a banana sandwich and he had cereal.

what we're eating

here's another week of food.  (click here for previous recipes/menu and reviews)  i'm finding this is easier for me to keep track of (since so many of the recipes i find are online) than just writing out my meal plan on the back of my shopping list.  because then i've written down something like "nacho chicken" and can't remember if it's out of a cookbook or from pinterest or allrecipes or what.  also, this way i can come back to the post later to write my review and then i have both of those things together so i know what modifications to make for next time.

THE PLAN
tuesday- tostada goop served over rice.  no bake cookies.
wednesday- creamy chicken and wild rice soup with french bread
thursday- our best bites glazed pork chops with apricot-ginger sauce (page 145, no link because it's not published online), served over rice.  leftover veggies (baked sweet potato and also broccoli with melted cheddar) on the side
friday- rakott krumpli (a hungarian potato casserole)... honey's request.  he never makes requests so when he does i try to honor them!
saturday- our best bites french dip sandwiches (page 134) with crock pot carrots.  and thrown under the broiler on crusty rolls with provolone.  leftovers for lunch and snacks.
sunday- german pancakes or nutella stuffed french toast for lunch.  mashed potatoes and fridge leftovers for dinner.
monday- taco pizza or just tacos... whichever my monday heart desires.
tuesday-  probably leftovers again.  these are big meals stacking up in the fridge.


THE REVIEW
tuesday- as i said, not that impressed with tostada goop.  the cookies turned out really well!  set but not crumbly!  didn't even need to put them in the fridge.
wednesday- instead of the "original" rice a roni, i used the "naturally" wild rice because it had less of the unhealthy stuff and i don't think i noticed a taste difference.  i probably used 2 cups carrot, 1 cup celery, and 1 small onion.  next time will do more onion and less celery.
thursday- honey and i both liked it better than the peachy pork chops from weeknight favorites. but it's a little more work.  i just used apricot preserves because that's what i had in my fridge.
friday-  in a 9x13 pan, layered olive oil, sliced boiled potatoes, 16oz sour cream with 1 tsp vegetta and generous garlic powder, regular breakfast sausage cooked with one small onion chopped, 7 or so sliced boiled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, another layer potatoes, what was left of the sour cream, more cheddar cheese.  350* oven til it's hot and bubbly.  i set the timer for 45 mins but it was done after 30 or so. next time i'll try harder to find more authentic hungarian kolbasz instead of breakfast sausage.  although it was really really good, it tasted more like a breakfast casserole and less like actual rakott krumpli.
saturday-  ended up going out to eat with the in laws so the crock pot contents just got put away in the fridge.
sunday-  we have seriously way too much food in the fridge.  french dip sandwiches for lunch and the chicken and veggie kabobs our wonderful neighbors brought over... just because they had more than they could eat.
monday-  we have no room in our fridge and i got a call this morning so i volunteered to take a meal to a family tonight.  sooo, leftovers for us.
tuesday- tacos
wednesday- hamburgers on the grill
thursday- costco freezer ravioli with previously frozen cornbread
friday- leftovers because honey is out of town
saturday- still eating leftovers.  nice not to have to cook.
sunday- birthday dinner at the inlaws

rakott krumpli

french dip sandwiches

this week's menu

can't think of what to make for dinner this week?  well here you go...


thursday- creamy chicken casserole (p.19 wf*), side of sweet potatoes with texas roadhouse butter

friday- honey grills!  steak and veggie kabobs with mystery steak from the freezer and squash, zucchini, and red, green, yellow, and orange bell peppers.  and maybe a bit of pineapple or onion.  also, veggie-herb cheese toast (p.189 wf)

saturday- cinnamon rolls for breakfast!  pioneer woman cauliflower soup.  maybe i'll make this in advance in case i'm feeling lazy that afternoon...

sunday- baked potato with costco's 90 second chili, sour cream, cheese etc. (for lunch right after church) and then veggie pasta and parmesan garlic bread

monday-  brown sugar meatloaf... and whatever veggies are still left in the fridge get grated up and tossed in too because goodness knows this is no healthy recipe on its own...

tuesday- chicken parmigiana with angel hair pasta (p.81 wf)

wednesday- spaghetti sauce and meatball sandwiches with mozzarella and parmesan.

thursday- oven fried fish (p.29 wf) although very subject to change due to my current aversion to white fish (salmon is okay)... has been on the last two weeks of menus and has yet to be made.

friday- molasses grilled pork tenderloin

snack- homemade kale chips

quick backup dinner- costco ravioli with sauce and cornbread already made and in the freezer


you're welcome.


a whole week of dinner planned!  this used to be my most dreaded chore of the week... and though it's still painfully time consuming, second trimester pregnancy has turned this into a wonderful hobby instead!

*wf= southern living's easy weeknight favorites cookbook.  because the whole point of this post is to make my life less stressful when my little menu plan paper seems to go missing and will not force me to keep a million recipe tabs open on my browser all week as has been the case lately.  also hoping this will make future meal planning easier if i can manage to make this a weekly habit.


8.9.12  -  the review

thursday- the sweet potatoes were divine and the butter was a great addition.  wouldn't recommend the creamy chicken casserole though.  neither christopher nor i liked it but he stole my heart again the next day when he texted me from work to tell me he'd taken the casserole pan with him and was eating it for lunch.  he finally brought it back on tuesday or something saying "umm, i think i'm done with this."  ha.  well honey that is much appreciated because i actually never want to eat that ever again.

friday- the kabobs were great although when they were done we just threw everything on a plate and picked what we wanted so next time i'd probably make a stick of meat and a stick of squash, etc. so that everything cooks how it needs to.  i would have prefered the steak more rare and the veggies more cooked.  live and learn but it was still delicious.  i think the veggie herb cheese bread would have been really great but i had honey mix up the stuff for me while i was assembling kabobs and while he was grilling, i spread the stuff on the bread and baked it.  when we ate it we were both overwhelmed with mayo.  then as i looked at the few dirty dishes by the sink it hit me and i had honey recount to me what he mixed together.  i did it right!  1 cup cheese, 3/4 cup shredded carrot, 3/4 cup mayo... and then i had to break it to him that the recipe actually only called for 1/4 cup mayo.  we'll try it again eventually and make sure we're really really careful about it.  but i think honey now has a greater appreciation for my cooking seeing as how it can be very easy to make simple mistakes that can ruin a recipe.

saturday- cauliflower soup.  i made it perfectly i'm sure but it wasn't mind blowing to me.  eventually i realized that i was enjoying the soup, minus the cauliflower part.  apparently this pregnancy i've developed an aversion to cauliflower and never had the chance to know it until now.  good news though is that the soup is better the next day and even better the day after that and i think i'll love it when i go back to loving cauliflower more!

sunday- this is where the menu meal planning went downhill.  on the way home from church i wanted a bacon avocado tomato sandwich which made honey want one too.  so we had that and soup instead of the baked potato and chili.  and then i ended up sleeping all afternoon and being lazy so that veggie pasta didn't happen either.  whoops.

monday- made the veggie pasta!  super simple and easy but i'm finding the biggest downside of cooking with tons of veggies is that it ups the prep time like crazy because of all that washing and chopping!  by this time i'd used up all my roma tomatoes (i only had one left and the recipe called for six) so i used a can of diced tomatoes instead and it made and awesome sauce.  i'll do that on purpose next time because it worked out so great this time around. also, i only used half the amount of meat it called for and cut it in thin half coins to make the italian sausage flavor more widespread but less powerful and it was still a bit much.  honey and i both agreed that italian sausage isn't our favorite.  next time i want to use bacon!  mmm bacon.  and forgot about the garlic parmasan bread i was going to make but we got our carbs in the form of our spiral noodles (i used the garden kind that's three colors and it looked so pretty!).

tuesday- i made the brown sugar meatloaf because i was a day behind on the menu.  a few things came up last minute so i ended up being on a huge time crunch while making this.  sooo, to save time i didn't try to sneak any veggies in (i'll say it again, veggie prep takes too much time!) but i did half the ketchup/brown sugar sauce from what i normally do and honestly... i was eating it and dreaming of more delicious sauciness. next time i'll do 3/4 cup since 1 cup seems to be too much and doing a 1/2 cup let me wanting.

wednesday- i had to get to our relief society activity early since i was in charge of helping with setup so with all the leftovers in the fridge i confidently told honey it was a fend for yourself night.

thursday- still had quite a bit of leftovers in the fridge to the point that we need to clear up space before making anything new... i somewhat told honey it was a clean out the leftovers in the fridge night.  which he first accepted with a less than enthusiastic "hmm, well i had a late lunch so i'll just wait a while" and eventually morphed (after smelling and stealing a bite of my cauliflower soup (i told you it gets better with time) into a "mmm, maybe i'll just finish off the soup..."

friday- okay this chicken parmigiana was delicious!  not the funnest thing in the world to cook (i hate touching raw meat so dipping raw chicken in raw egg wasn't the highlight of my week.  also, it dirtied several dishes and for me, the messier my kitchen gets, the less i'm enjoying my cooking experience.  crock pot stuff = favorite meal to "cook") but honestly it was worth it!  i thought it was as good or better than what i'd get at a restaurant so maybe i'll have to suck it up an make it again sometime.

snack- kale chips.  not a success.  i bought one bunch of kale and half i did with just olive oil and salt and pepper and the other half i did with salsa.  well, the salsa made it too heavy and it didn't really get that crumble in your mouth seaweed texture that the olive oil half got.  sooo, honey said it was all "okay" but he prefers the costco seaweed so i guess we'll just keep buying boxes of that.  we didn't do a side by side test for baby girl so i don't know if she has a preference but i know she's obsessed with costco seaweed but seemed to eat the olive oil kale chips just fine and kept asking for more.  verdict: not worth it for us.

so my biggest fail of the week was that i wasn't in love with the stuff i made except the chicken parmigiana (although that could have to do more with pregnancy cravings/aversions/etc) and that i've been slacking on serving vegetables as a side, especially when the main course is primarily meat.  that is honestly just due to pure forgetfulness (i guess i need to schedule that in my menu so i remember!) because in my baby steps with this whole cooking thing i only require there to be an entree.  making an entree, salad, side, and bread and being able to have it come together perfectly so it's all hot and ready to be served at the same time still seems pretty impossible to me.  eventually i'll get there though.  in a little while... like ten plus years from now.

and because everything is better with pictures...

veggie pasta

kale chips with oil, salt, and pepper

kale chips

kale chips with salsa

baby eating kale chips

they're a hit with her!