menu planning – Peaceful Reader

Christmas menu; save for future please

We always wish we had more down time with our three children; there never seems to be enough and often times when everyone was younger we didn’t always cherish the time because we were together more often. Now at best we are a family of five maybe twice a year and that seems not enough. Everyone has work schedules and time lines of their own and we haven’t even added more family into the mix. The blessing is that when we do get together everyone gets along! I’m happy they’ve turned into adults who care about each other. There is something very special about siblings because you have all this shared history; some good, some bad, some awesome experiences that all can relate to in shared conversation. We always have some moments of shared stories, “remember that time…” and it’s good to be able to laugh about even the bad times, the tough times we came through as a family.

That’s what Christmas has become to me. Add some fantastic food and a couple of gifts and I’m quite merry! The past three years my son and his girlfriend have been eating vegan and each year I’m a little more successful for creating a diverse menu that everyone will like. I don’t like a table where sides need to be separated; vegan/non-vegan. So to break it down we have one no-red meat eater, one mostly only chicken eater, one who eats everything but is allergic to garlic and shellfish, the two vegans, and myself, a flexitarian/vegetarian. We make it work.

This year I had three Alaskan sustainable-fished salmon filets, and three Beyond Burgers for our main course. And then my two friends helped with the sides: Jaime Oliver’s smashed potatoes and his make-ahead vegan gravy, and Giada’s Mediterranean couscous with apples and cranberry was a huge hit. Jaime Oliver says something like we all need to get used to a little more plant-based cooking because at everyone’s table there is probably a veg-head or two and a vegan, throw in a gluten-free cousin and you’ve got an amazing adventure in menu-planning. Everyone loved the smashed potatoes as an alternative to mashed; we loved how crispy the edges were and next time I think I’d leave them in even a little longer. Several of us loved the couscous and I would make this again especially for book club. Enjoy the above sexy food video for gravy recipe. When I heated our gravy back up the next day I added a bit more flour to get it to the right consistency. It was amazing. Jaime has about 40 vegan recipes on YouTube so if this is a food choice you are interested in take a look.

{my brother and sister-in-law

I hope everyone else found merriment over the holiday. After a fantastic and relaxing two-day trip to Minnetonka to visit my brother and his family it is time to put the house back in order and get ready for our Iowa caucus.

Weekend Cooking; Guests!

If you’re having guests you need to plan a menu and that is one of my favorite chores. My in-laws arrived on Thursday and are staying through Tuesday. My husband directed a play in town, The Good Doctor by Neil Simon, and they’ve come to see it.

Making life easier for me my mom prepared lasagna at her house then brought it to my house and baked it so we could enjoy dinner before we all headed to the dress rehearsal of the show. We came back to the house after the play and had raspberry pie made by mother as well. I did make the fresh whipped cream for the top yet the truth is the women in my life really take care of me! Last night we ate at our new local Ginger Thai restaurant making Friday night’s meal easy on me again. Whew. And the taste sensation that is Ginger Thai doubled the food joy.

This morning, though, we shopped at our downtown Farmer’s Market-always beautiful, making preparations for a few meals we will cook together. We found two fat pumpkins, a bunch of kale, an eggplant, and a big head of broccoli to use. Our next stop was Cup of Joe’s, one of our favorite hangouts. We had a warm drink and played a quick game of Candyland.

Tonight we are having a roast chicken adapted from this Ree Drummond recipe. With the chicken I am serving this Israeli Couscous recipe I made this week. It is marinating into a perfect dish and I love that I will just have to toss it and serve it! My mother-in-law shared with me several new recipes that we are also going to try. She loves to cook as much as I do! One is a recipe for baked broccoli which looks simple yet delicious.

My mother-in-law makes amazing pies which prompted me to ask her if she would walk me through making a pie crust-I suck at making crusts but love pie. We turned that crust into a ground cherry apple pie using this recipe from a Minnesota blogger. Groovy Girl helped weave the lattice pie top. My grandmother had a patch of ground cherries and was an expert pie baker. I cannot wait to eat dinner tonight. The house smells like pie and soon the farm-fresh chicken will be roasting away stuffed with lemon, rosemary and butter. Hmmm.

{Wee baker with perfect pie!}

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click to her link for more food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Recipes Galore

My new trick is searching for recipes on my Kindle while standing in my kitchen. Who knew this would be my new favorite thing? My only wish is that I could figure out how to put a pin-button on my kindle-there must be a way so if any of you smarties out there know how it’s done I would be pin-happy! It’s been a busy week and yet I’ve accomplished some good meals throughout-even some that everybody liked.

Last Sunday I cooked the last of our farm chickens from Shamrock Farms. We had a very traditional meal of roasted chicken, baked potatoes, and a salad. I love grabbing potatoes from our pantry in the basement. They arrived a few weeks ago as my mother dug the last of her potato piles up, tossed them in a box, dirt and all, and brought them to me. I have a hard time ever purchasing store bought potatoes after our supply runs out.

From the leftover chicken scraps I made this Chicken Alfredo which made the family absolutely swoon. They were mesmerized by the carbs and chicken combination as I don’t usually make this dish. It was far from the overly-drenched saucy thing I picture in my mind, the recipe was easy to follow, and it took me less than 30 minutes to make since the chicken was already cooked. I didn’t have fettucine noodles but I didn’t let that stop me and just substitution another pasta shape and I’m pretty sure my peeps didn’t even notice. Obviously not my photo then above either for those quick thinkers. On the side we had these delicious zucchini oven chips-which took longer to make than the pasta but were pretty worth it. It was our last zucchini from our very own garden also so we celebrated that.

My mom brought me venison steaks from well, a deer, my step-father shot with his manly bow and arrow last season. For a girl who’s been vegetarian her whole life this was a reach but you can’t get more local than his farm so I gave it a try. Other than some jerky he shared with us last year none of us had ever had venison before and yet it was a winner. I found this great marinade recipe and soaked the four steaks overnight. My mom gave me very specific instructions that I should cook them only 3 minutes on each side or they get too dried out and I didn’t listen. Or more accurately I didn’t believe her. I did 5 minutes but I think the marinade counter-balanced that a little bit because except for the smallest piece they were all moist and readily eaten up even by the ever-picky Groovy Girl. I only ate half of mine, choosing to focus on the leftover salad from Monday. If my mom chooses to share again I will take them because the family ate them up, especially Teenage Boy. I thought they were gamy tasting but then I’m happy with salad and potatoes.

Yesterday I used the chicken bones and made a delicious chicken noodle soup for dinner. I had my own recipe in my head and yet I have to admit I googled a recipe just to check if I was missing anything major and found this great post and Hyacinth’s recipe @ PW. I might go back to that recipe next time I want to make broth-I loved that she left the onion skins on! Bold move.

I also whipped these cookies up last Sunday night to serve at our Teacher Preview book fair event. I made these into stars with yellow frosting for the theme of Every Reader’s a Star! I wanted a super easy recipe that would not require two hours of refrigeration and this recipe rocked. Making Christmas cut-outs will be so much easier this season.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click to her site to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

It’s up! It’s up! My guest post about Joan of Arc is up at Shelf Employed. Click over and read mine as well as others. Jen Bryant (author of A River of Words; the story of William Carlos Williams) shares the ideas that connect Emily Dickinson and Georgia O’Keefe.

Ah, Spring Break has been a treat of restorative time at home to heal and get some projects done. We invited friends over for dinner on Wednesday night to socialize which gave me the first few days of break to ponder what to make. One of their daughters eats gluten-free so I was looking for something that would be versatile without making my own kids blanch from a lack of carbs. I also had a pile of sweet potatoes on my counter begging to be used so I went to my Pinterest board, Eat Drink and Be Merry to search for something I’d drooled over previously. I’d pinned it from the The Novice Chef via Janssen.

Doesn’t it look delicious (see photo below). Mine were served on a bed of greens as well but I didn’t make the delicate creme fraiche laced on the top All I did to make it gluten-free was to lightly toast a few corn tortillas and add the filling in. I opted to make my own black beans by soaking them a day before and cooking them in my slow cooker the day of; they simmered with bay leaves and half a diced onion. I made a lot and plan to freeze a batch of them in packets of 2-3 for future lunches. I had one yesterday and it was even better than Wed. night. I love leftovers but my family does not; so perfect for me to take to school and reheat.

At the table I served them with my own homemade salsa from last summer (made with my mom), chopped avocado, and a spicy sour cream and green chili dip I created to take the place of the fancier (and more time consuming creme fraiche). They were a hit and this recipe will easily become one of my favorites-it would help if I could just get Teenage Boy to like sweet potatoes. I can imagine this as a great potluck meal.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads. Pop over and see what every one else is cooking up!

Source: thenovicechefblog.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Weekend Cooking; New Year's Day Brunch recipe

photo courtesy of whatwhatwhat.com

This is what is cooking at my house right now!

I was a whirlwind yesterday; trying to get everything done. My goal was to begin the new year with a clean house and with the help of my new vacuum cleaner I accomplished that. I made three trips to various grocery stores to pick up items I needed. After shopping together husband and I made a light lunch for all five of us and then I set to the task of pretty much spending the rest of the day in the kitchen. I wanted to make the breakfast casserole that my mother-in-law created once before in my kitchen. My thought was to have something pre-made and extra yummy so I could properly relax today. After I finished making that I moved on to making dinner; my “family-famous” eggplant lasagna and two loaves of bread.

I got almost everything done on my list yesterday. I finished my 100 books in time; spending the whole morning immersed in Selznick’s Wonderstruck. I’m excited because last year I didn’t make it and really it seemed like such an attainable goal. It’s not unless you really read all the time or count picture books, which I choose not to. I also didn’t get my weekend cooking post completed yesterday like I’d planned but hey, I did what I could and feeding the family is pretty high up on the to-do list.

Here is the breakfast recipe we will be eating in about 30 minutes, if I can get the teenagers up…

Cinnamon Apple Baked French Toast Casserole

1 loaf French or Italian bread
8 farm fresh eggs
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 1/2 cups milk
1 T. real vanilla
6-8 Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (McIntosh or Cortland, preferred)
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. butter
Maple syrup (warmed) for serving

Slice bread into 1 1/2-inch slices. Place the bread tightly together in a greased 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish. In a bowl beat together the eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour half of egg mixture over bread slices. Place sliced apples over bread to cover and pour remaining egg mixture over the top. Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle over top of dish. Dot casserole with butter slices. Cover and refrigerate over night.
In the morning remove foil or pan cover. Bake at 350* for 1 hour. Place a cookie sheet under glass dish as casserole may overflow a little. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Cut into big squares and serve with maple syrup.
Yum!

Later today we’re having black-eyed peas, salsa and spinach over brown rice for dinner. How many others participate in this tradition?

This post is connected to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme-drop by and check out all the food-related posts gathered there.

Happy New Year. Happy Reading.

Weekend Cooking; Weekly Menu

Tomato Pie

Oh so many recipes to share! This week my menu planning for has been very exciting. We ate leftovers (garbanzo pesto soup) from last week’s guest menu two days out of the week. Then I made a Sweet Potato Soup inspired by this post at one of my favorite new blogs, Sweet Mama Jane’s. On Thursday night I made this amazing Tomato Pie that I discovered on Janssen’s Everyday Reading and she via Perry’s Plate. This pie was delicious and because I didn’t think my kids would really enjoy the combination of flavors I made them something else and served the pie just to my husband and I, date style, after he got home from a late meeting. He loved it and I shared a piece with my co-worker, Janice, and she asked for the recipe. This pie was quite perfect as it was but I could imagine it with sprinkles of local bacon under the cheesy/mayo topping. The pie had a BLT quality and this got my mind thinking about bacon.

It is a virtual cornucopia of recipe sharing out there. It is so easy to pick and plan when there are such a wide variety of recipes around! I find much of my inspiration on the internet, googling ingredients to find a recipe or from blog posts but I’ve also turned inward toward my own cookbook collection to new and favorite recipes. Friday night, with a little extra time on my hands, I used the last of Janice’s cherry tomato bounty, which she shared with me, to make Giada’s Cheeca Sauce and tossed it with spiral pasta. Shocking was the fact that Groovy Girl hated it. She said the orange cherry tomatoes taste funny to her. Seriously.

I found this Potato Pancake with Cinnamon Apples in a Tyler Florence book from my own cookbook shelf and I plan to make it this coming week. I love apple season.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads-pop over and see many other food related posts.

Summer Projects

Okay, I’ve survived the school meetings and have had the opportunity to work in my library and that is the best part. I’ve created a new schedule and checked out some books to a few teachers. I’m working on some lessons plans; long range and the next week or two. Things are coming together.

At home I had two summer projects that I wanted to accomplish:

1.Bring less packaging home by buying in bulk using my own containers

2. Menu Planning so I’m not crazy during the week.

The packaging project has gone quite well and I now have half a shelf in my pantry dedicated to my bulk buying. I planned on practice menu planning this summer but I never got to it!! We DID eat over the summer but it was just fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants-eating. We ate a lot of food from the farmer’s market over the summer and I did a lot of food-related posts for Weekend Cooking but the actually writing out of a plan did not happen. Sooooo…. Beginning of the school year is the perfect time to do this.

I’ve copied off the cute little menu plans from The Sister’s Cafe and I’m reusing a pink binder of Groovy Girl’s. She’s into lime green now and so the pink binder has been tossed out of her room and into my recycling hands.

This week’s plan:

Monday: Pasta with red sauce (prepared by husband because I had Good Spirits Book Club)
Tuesday: ~~Mushroom Soup~~ from She Likes Bento. Take out Pizza purchased by husband because I’m not feeling well and am slacking on the sofa.
Wednesday: Mushroom Soup-I have all the ingredients and it begs to be made.
Thursday: Tofu Stir Fry with garden produce
Friday: White Beans with Garlic and Herbs (from In The Green Kitchen; Alice Waters)
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Roast Chicken with garden potatoes

My plan is to only try two new recipes during the week. The tofu stir fry is an easy recipe for me that I improvise all the time. Just like lesson planning helps me to stay organized at work so to should this menu planning for my after school time.

How is your week shaping up?

Weekend Cooking: Highlights of the week.

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Anyone with a food-related post can play along. Click to her blog and read about Man with a Pan.

I made several great recipes this week, amid the chaos of going in many different directions, that I’d like to share. I have three categories:

Adult Favorite: Pearl Couscous Gratin with Goat Cheese and Spinach. This was so refreshing and light. My husband and I loved it plus I shared it with a friend at work and she ate it cold right out of the container-she liked it so much! It was easy to make and I’d never toasted couscous first. I write in my cookbooks and this one I starred. Loved the flavor combination of lemon, goat cheese, and fresh spinach.

Kid Favorite: Micah’s Mac and Cheese. This was a huge hit which is saying a lot as my kids like one type of mac and cheese…box after box of Annie’s. For years I’ve only had Annie’s in my cupboard which has been okay except for the children who chose to spend time with my children over the years! When that bowl of mac and cheese arrives in front of them and it is not bright orange, they are truly confused and more than a little disappointed. This mac and cheese is pleasantly creamy, white and flavorful. Husband and I added more freshly ground pepper on ours.

Best Hot-Hot Bites: I also made these Rachel Ray baked poppers tonight. A friend made them, said they were good and passed on the recipe. I followed the directions to a T except for that one important line that said to scrape the seeds out using a spoon…I used my hands! I’ve done it before but then again I have never scraped 12 JALAPENOS @ one time!!!! Note to self…use the spoon next time. The poppers though were cheesy yummy spicy bites. I burn myself frequently and I found the solution by tweeting about my pain. @joellewrites told me to make a paste out of cayenne and water and apply it to my hand. It worked. Really. It. Worked. This was the very first Rachel Ray recipe I’ve ever made and I liked it. I’ve never been a big fan because I like making things from ingredients not boxes. This one, other than my hand burns, was a winner. And the burns, of course, are my own dang fault.

And last but not least I set a food-related goal for my summer. A free summer is one of the MAJOR reasons I was drawn to teaching because I love love to spend all that quiet time with my children.(At least I used to feel that way until peaceful boy became teenage cranky) Standing in my kitchen at the end of a long teaching day and wondering what in the dickens to cook is one of my least favorite feelings. Summertime is the perfect time to implement menu planning so we can all get adjusted-the kids will have two days to plan as well. I found these fabulous menu plans at The Sister’s Cafe blog…through Mel and the Boys. If you haven’t stopped by their foodie family blog-you must give it a try.

Happy Eating and Reading this rainy Saturday. We’re eating our cereal, watching the 1st Harry Potter.