MEAL PLAN - The End

Wrapping up this meal plan were two of the yummiest dishes of all!  Since Mommy was preparing for her first ever half marathon (that will be a later post), the carb loading pizza dish was well timed.  The final dish of skillet poached eggs was surprisingly delicious and pretty easy to make.  All in all, we were very happy with the four weeks of meal plans!


Thursday's Meal: Salami and Brussels Sprouts Pizza

We love our Brussels sprouts in this house.  Our favorite way of cooking them is sliced thin, and then sauteed in olive oil with kosher salt.  This pizza calls for them to be sliced thin and tossed in olive oil with kosher salt (along with the salami and mozzarella cheese) and then sprinkled on the pizza dough.  WIN!  We chose a whole wheat pizza dough that I left out on the counter from morning til early eve so it was completely defrosted and mostly at room temp...it was still pretty cool to the touch.  Thank goodness for Wegman's!  Our mozz, salami, and pizza dough were all Wegman's brand, and all awesome.  I love that they use wholesome ingredients, and let you know what they do to keep you safe and healthy.  I'm a big believer in farm-to-table, but unable to put that into practice as much as I'd like.  Back when we were making Evie's baby food, all of the produce came from the farmer's market, but it's tough to get there now. Wegman's helps make up for that!

Friday's FINAL meal: Skillet-Poached Eggs with Braised Peppers and Onions

Friday nights are our usual pizza night with "Grandpa Gipe."  He was game to try our final recipe with us.  Of course, when those three start playing, I'm left to fend for myself...thank goodness this was an easy one! (Evie was dressing Daddy up again - each of us took a turn with those bunny ears that night). 

I didn't get any pictures of the eggs cooking in the pan, but I have to admit it was pretty cool.  I cracked each egg into a ramekin first, then slid it into it's "well" in the pepper and onion mix.  This was a nice, simple, hearty meal. 

Thus ends my blogging on Real Simple's four week meal plan.  I am very proud of us for sticking to it and completing all 20 recipes.  We learned a lot, from new foods to new skills.  Looking forward to the next set of new recipes!

MEAL PLAN - BEST Chili EVER + The other dish...

Catching up on this, our last week of the four week meal plan.  Monday was dance night, so Mark made the chili recipe, and he's not into taking pictures during prep and cooking.  I was so hungry and tired when Evie and I returned that I just chowed (you'll find out why as you read on).  Tuesday night I worked late, so my Mom, Mark, and Evie did a night out together.  Wednesday I made the chicken and slaw recipe.  The slaw worked, chicken was bleh.


Tuesday's Meal (made on our crazy Monday night): Chipotle Beef and Beer Chili

The chili recipe we made on Monday was AH-MAY-ZING.  We had never even heard of chipotles in adobo, but WOW did they make a difference.  WARNING however, this chili had some major kick for those of you with little ones.  Evie contented herself with the corn bread.  The recipe only said "corn bread, for serving" - so I used the recipe in Fannie Farmer's Baking Book for corn bread sweetened with honey, not sugar.  Very yummy and (with apologies to Bryden and Aimee) very moist.  At any rate, the chili recipe will be repeated, but of course, Mark will put his own spin on it and make it even better next time.  I do not know which beer he used, but we have quite a variety, I'm assuming he went with the closest to a dark Mexican beer if we did not have that exact kind.  Not being kidney bean fans, I'm sure they'll disappear the next time, but not the beef and fresh cilantro!

Wednesday's Meal: Lime and Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

Two words: Sesame Oil.  I love sesame oil.  The cabbage slaw made with it was wonderful.  I didn't have enough fresh mint, but I think it worked out okay, if I had had the full 1/2 cup I think it would have been over powering.  The chicken glaze was very tasty, but the cooking method left the chicken bland and the skin soggy.  We cut the chicken off of the bone and dipped it in the sauce from the pan.  The slaw did save this dish for me, the fresh crisp carrots with the cabbage, scallions, and mint tossed with fresh ginger, lime juice, sesame and canola oils with kosher salt and pepper was yummy.  Did I mention I love sesame oil?  I have a tendency to go overboard with it (especially when making fried rice), but I behaved this time and only added a bit more than was called for, only because the lime was so overpowering.  I think an equal ratio would have been better right off the bat. 

MEAL PLAN - One more week!

We have arrived at the fourth and final week of this meal plan!  I am alternating between the following things:

1. horror that I will have to go back to my own meal planning
2. excitement to write about something other than food on this blog again
3. laziness - but I fight that all the time.

The end of last week was pretty "meh" in my opinion.  I was a lot more excited for the mole sauce than I was once we were eating it.  That might have had something do with the fact that having never bought "enchilada sauce" before, I apparently did not get quite the right thing.  Whatever I did get was so over powering with the cinnamon, you got none of the peppers or the heat. I also committed a rookie mistake in that I did not read the entire recipe and instructions through thoroughly.  Therefore I missed the part where you start with an oven proof pan to transfer the chicken directly from stove top to oven AND you only cook it on one side on the stove top.  The meal wasn't bad, the salad was actually quite nice, but over all, the week went out with more of a whimper than a bang.

FOURTH AND FINAL WEEK OF REAL SIMPLE'S MEAL PLANS

Monday Night's (made on a Sunday) menu:  Pan-Roasted Cod and Fennel with Spinach Couscous

Right off the bat I knew Evie would be excited, she loves couscous.  In following our self-imposed rules, I did not buy "some other firm white fish", rather I purchased the listed Cod.  We'll be taking a second mortgage out any day now...  I kid (sort of).  For those of you doing this to save money as well as time, I would suggest something like tilapia instead of the $20 per pound cod.  Did I mention I purchased a pound and a half?  I don't pay that much for a fish dish in a better restaurant!  Mark and I were in a lets-just-get-this-shopping-trip-done mode and didn't really pay enough attention to 1. the cost 2. the fact we really do not need the full listed amounts since we're only really feeding 2 1/2 people.

Thankfully, my in-laws were up for trying something new and took the leftovers for dinner the next night.  The meal turned out well, but was a little on the bland side.  However, Evie ate ALL of her couscous with spinach. 

 She didn't care for the fish, but then again, neither did her Mommy.  It wasn't my favorite, I think I would have thrown the fish back in a saute pan after the oven and been happier.  My first experience with fennel wasn't bad, but I expected it to impart more flavor.  Haven't heard from the in-laws on their take yet.

MEAL PLAN - Fighting over broccoli, and other fun foods

Posted with apologies for the delay in menu/recipe reviews this week.  I took a break Tuesday night to take my wonderful and handsome hubby out to dinner for his birthday.  If you're looking for a restaurant in the Harrisburg/Hershey area that isn't too stuffy, but is yummy and has the added bonus of being a farm to table type establishment, then look no further than The Harvest at the Hotel Hershey.  It was soooo good.  Six words: hanger steak with birch beer reduction.  You will not be disappointed. I promise you.

Back to your regularly scheduled programing after our commercial break.  Wednesday night we were right on schedule with Real Simple's prescribed meal for that evening.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Menu: Lamb Chops with Roasted Broccoli and Feta.

I was not kidding in the title line.  We were semi-fighting over who got to finish the broccoli.  It was the best broccoli I've ever had, hands down.  Think it's ridiculous to get that excited over broccoli?  Try this recipe, then talk to me.  The lamb was yummy, but lamb usually is and it's hard to mess it up.  However, it can be a strong taste for many and it's really on the expensive side, so it will not be a mainstay of our weekly meal planning.  Other than that, not much else to say about this meal...except new and different salt shaker + curious daughter + alone in the dining room = really salty water.

THURSDAY

Thursday Menu: Lemony Tuna and Olive Oil Pasta

This meal was timed perfectly for hosting my sister and her three children.  The pastas in these weeks are WAY more than four people would really need to eat, unless I'm having serious issues determining ounces of pasta (which, in retrospect is a distinct possibility).  The pasta was yummy, but not very lemony I do have to say.  It did have a very white-clam sauce flavor, very pleasing.  Everyone that was served this concoction loved it (Evie's cousins prefer butter and cheese. Period.)  Warning for novices of either cooking or just cooking with tuna in oil:  once the garlic and crushed red pepper were cooked and fragrant, I dutifully went to add the tuna in...talk about OUCH.  The oil in the can mixed with the already heated olive oil in the pan added up for A LOT OF SPUTTERING. I believe that next time I'll put in the pasta first, then the tuna and lemon zest.  Oops.  There were also four children, all 6 years old and under, running around my house, so no pictures were taken.  Leftovers were sent home to the brother-in-law, so no proof exists of this meal!

MEAL PLAN - week three, Mediterranean Night

Yum. Yum. Yum.  I might be the only person in this house loving tonight's dish, but seriously, it was delish.  I have no idea how hard it was to make, since it was dance night and Mark stepped in again (thank you honey), but I arrived back home in time to help throw together the yogurt cucumber sauce and that was pretty simple.

Tuesday's Menu (Made on Monday): Chickpea-Spinach Curry with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce
                                                         

Mark does report that the listed hands-on time of 15 minutes must be for chefs and people with better knives than us.  Of course, if either of us had any idea how you're supposed to seed cucumbers, that would have been a bit faster too, but, we worked it out.  It also turns out that we had less curry left than we thought, so instead of 2 tablespoons, we had a little less than one.  But, the ginger helped carry it.  I will say that the yogurt sauce made this dish for me.  I could have sat with a spoon and the bowl of that!  Evie was satisfied with the naan, so there was something for everyone.  Probably will not often be repeated, but it was a good, healthy meal for our little family, so that made us happy.  Well, Mommy and Daddy were happy anyway....I can't explain the tic tacs.  Maybe she was worried about the garlic and curry.

MEAL PLAN - THIRD WEEK!

I am happy to report that so far we've stayed on course for half of this plan, and we're so pleased we did.  The first two weeks have flown by, I'm actually starting to panic now for when this ends and I have to come up with my own meal plans again.  I'll just try to enjoy the next two weeks...because living in the moment without worry and no advance planning is SO me. Riiiight.


Monday's (Made on a Sunday) Menu:  Pork Loin with Sauteed Cauliflower and Capers

Anyhoo, tonight's dinner was pretty good!  We pulled the peppers out of Evie's portion of cauliflower, but just the bit tossed in the saute pan at the end was enough to give them a kick she didn't care for, so heads up for those of you with young ones.  She did eat all of her pork though.  It was pretty tasty, Mark and I augmented ours by putting a dish of Dijon mustard with kosher salt and pepper to dip our pork pieces in to, very yummy and it added some extra flavor.  The pork itself was very moist and was probably the easiest time I've ever had working with a pork loin, chop, what have you.  Didn't do much in the way of prep, browned the meat, slathered on the mustard, pressed in the panko with oil, and popped it in the oven.  The cauliflower, after being cut into florets, was simply sauteed in oil with kosher salt and pepper.  After it's been cooked, you toss it with the capers and peppadews. Made the dish once, can recite the recipe.  That's the only time that's happened so far with these plans.  So, for those of you perhaps a little intimidated by the meal plans, this would be a good one to try!  Just remember, don't mess around with pork, make sure it's at least 145 degrees all the way through.

My kitchen table was taken up by this afternoon's puzzle....

...so we had "fancy dinner" in the dining room!

MEAL PLAN - Thursday and Friday of Week Two

Way too tired last night to post about Thursday, so today's blog is two for the price of one!  I know. You can't contain yourself.  Let's get to it, shall we?

THURSDAY'S MENU: Shrimp Tacos with Black Beans

I'll post a few pictures, but since Evie couldn't be around this one (spitting frying oil and all that), I recognize Mark and I just aren't as cute, so we'll keep it to a minimum.  That, and this was so far my least favorite meal.  I enjoyed the black beans, we all do in this house, but corn tortillas are not on the favored list.  I also liked the idea of the cornmeal crusted shrimp, but the taste was bland, bland, bland.  I'm always up for a way to include cilantro, but I think something a little more fresh, like sauteed shrimp would have worked better for this.  We would have been happier skipping this recipe and going to El Rodeo for shrimp fajitas.

FRIDAY'S MENU: Pasta with Sausage and Tomatoes

You had me at pasta.  Seriously though, this was GOOD.  Pretty darn easy too.  The hardest part all night was cleaning the behemoth Al Clad Multi-Pot (thanks again Honey).  Not a lot for my sous chef to help with tonight either.  I guess I could have had her break up the tomatoes, but I had enough of a mess with just me doing it.

Mark got a new toy today in the mail, so I lost BOTH of my helpers. (He is by the way, still raving about the darn thing as I sit here and type 3 hours later.  That and rambling about non-linear equations or something or other.)

This is me pouting about it.

Enough of that.  I've never made sauce this way, it turned out really well though, so I might try it again.  We do have an entire freezer full of tomato sauce from our garden to experiment with all winter, but no canned whole tomatoes. This way was pretty darn easy, and no fuss.  A really cool way for a novice to make homemade "gravy" for guests. 

The sausages I got were very sage-y, a perfect compliment to this dish.  I'm very thankful I have a dual oven, but I suppose I could have cooked them in the same one since they were all destined for the same pot.

My dear Hubby is not a fan of cooked spinach, but the fact that the raw stuff goes in with the drained pasta, 1/4 cup cooking water, sausage, and tomato right before serving and therefore keeps some of the crunch saved it for him.  Personally, I could have done without it in the dish and, as Mark suggested, had a side salad with this meal. I also drizzled some EVOO prior to serving, I think that made a difference too.  Well, that and the shredded parm.  This one will most definitely be repeated in this house!

MEAL PLAN - Wednesday of Week Two

Tonight's recipe: Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad with Pistachios

This one was by far the easiest prep, only one pot and one baking sheet used.  I've never made quinoa before...much less eaten any, but it was super simple and very tasty.  I'm sure most directions will include this tip, but just in case: make sure you thoroughly rinse the quinoa before cooking.  I used my strainer.  There is a naturally occurring substance on the seeds that is rather bitter.

My sous chef returned this evening after goofing off during prep last night (see the post on Tuesday's meal for picture evidence).  After she announced that taking the thyme leaves off of their stems just takes too long, I put her on lemon duty. 

 

We had the quinoa cooking, the thyme and lemon ready for later, so it was time to take care of the veggies.  Evie was beyond proud to have a job all to herself...the mushroom de-stemming!  It offered some giggles too, those suckers get slippery after they've been washed!

You'll often find the dog near Evie when she has food

Ta Da!!

I think this meal has been the only one that was prepped and cooked in the time advertised.  I also felt the best about this one in terms of what I was feeding my family.  Mind you, this is the one Evie ate the least amount of, but in defense of the meal - she tasted it all, nothing was deemed "bad", and she's working on a cold.

MEAL PLAN - Week Two, Night Two

Having cooked Monday's meal on Sunday, then skipping the actual day of Monday, well, the plan - I didn't skip out on the whole day, but that would have been nice - we're now at Tuesday and actually cooking Tuesday's meal ON Tuesday.  Still with me?  I kidnapped my mom when I picked Evie up at her house, so we had enough people for the 4 servings for once.  Of course, this meant we lost our little sous chef, but I think we can let it slide this time.

TUESDAY MENU: Steak with Cognac Sauce and Salad

This meal was a pleasure to make and an even bigger one to eat!  We did have a little whoops in that while we like our meat med-rare, it was a little too rare, so on the grill it went.

You do have to do it at least a little in a saute pan so you have the drippings and juices to make the cognac sauce.

Mmmmm...cognac sauce.  My mouth is watering again just typing about it. The salad was fresh and with the homemade vinaigrette, very bright.  Even my 3 year old liked it! The waffle fries were good, but didn't seem to go with the rest of this meal, we'll probably leave it off next time.  And believe me, there will be a next time with this one!

We were so excited to sit down and eat that I can only share the aftermath, no plating pics this time...

MEAL PLAN - WEEK TWO

The first week of Real Simple's Easy Meal Plans went very well.  Very happy to report that all meals were successes in the house, and with only a few future plans for modifications (ugh, those oranges). 

We went shopping Saturday morning for the ingredients for week two (plus a few non-plan items).  This bill was under $200, a little more on the affordable side.  Still a lot of fresh produce, which did my heart good.  This week I think the big kids in this house can't wait for the steak, cognac sauce, and bleu cheese salad night.  We did manage to reign ourselves in and started with the suggested night one meal. 

Monday's Meal: Chicken with Wild Rice and Grapes (made on a Sunday instead)

A BIG note to all of you out there who, like me, were previous Minute Rice people: the wild rice blend that we purchased was DELICIOUS, but it also takes AN HOUR TO COOK.  Therefore, those of you coming home and relaxing briefly before starting your weeknight dinners might want to get this pot on the stove and going before putting your feet up!  Evie had her Daddy confused for a bit over it as well.

Evie: "Daddy! We're having crazy rice tonight!"

Mark looks at Mommy for help

Mommy: "Yes, Daddy, it's the WILD rice blend"

I hated making this meal, I wasn't feeling well, it's all of a sudden hot and humid again around here, and this meal felt like a thousand things at once going.  However, the end result was so good, I've decided to take back the "hate" and go with "much dislike."  I'm not sure how this would have gone after a long day at work, truth be told, but perhaps the more experienced cook would not have as many timing issues.  My sous chefs were immense help as well. 

Pulling the thyme leaves off of the stems

Seriously, are they not the cutest?!

The green beans were supposed to be steamed according to the recipe, but the bottom pot to my little steamer was being used by the rice and I didn't feel like pulling out my mega-Williams-Sonoma multi-pot.  Therefore, we did the saute pan, olive oil and kosher salt bit. 

YUM.

The Peanut's plate

Best quote of the night "Mommy, this chicken is so good that I can't stop eating it!!"  Good enough for me!  Not only did she devour her chicken, but she ate over half of her wild rice, two of the grapes, and most of her green beans. 

MEAL PLAN - Friday of Week One

The final night of the first week: A Pictorial Essay