Meal Plan: Week of August 5

Weekly update on my progress on our virtual mountain climb - 292 steps so far, 7.9% of complete.  I'm averaging about 58 "steps" per day.  It's definitely much easier first thing in the morning when I'm fresh and a lot more difficult if I do it after I'm worn out from exercising. 

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• Monday - We didn't have the crab cakes that I planned for last week but I've got some fresh green onion that I bought for that recipe so I need to use them up before they go bad.  So we're having crab cakes, salads made from greens from the farmers' market, avocado for Sonny D, leftover steamed carrots and beets from Sunday's farmers' market, maybe more corn on the cob from the farm stand, cantaloupe from the farm stand, and Door County cherries from the farmers' market.
• Tuesday - Husband Jeff is taking Sonny D to his swimming lessons and I'm going to Zumba class with my friend Jessica so another night of something quick and easy.  I was recently enticed by the idea of the breakfast sandwiches since it's such a tasty combo and quick, so I'm making us egg-sausage-cheese bagel sandwiches, Trader Joe's tomato & roasted red pepper soup, cantaloupe, and cherries.
• Wednesday - I might attempt pizza stew in the slow cooker, fingerling potatoes cooked in foil packets, and geek yogurt soufflés, but I'm really enticed by the idea of pizza at the new Grampa's Pizzeria. 
• Thursday - My Total Toning exercise class is right after work (6 p.m.), so I usually want something really small, like a peanut butter sandwich or random leftovers.  Grandma and Grandpa might watch Sonny D.
• Friday - Last week we met up with friends at Dane dances and we might go again this week if we're not feeling too overwhelmed and busy. If we do, we'll pack some food for dinner and supplement it with some things from the food stands.
• Saturday - Our friend Jessica's husband might be out of town so we're planning dinner with her at Red Lobster.  Three cheers for the Cheddar Bay Biscuits!
• Sunday - I love my weekly tradition of going to the Northside farmers' market.  Last week I tried the spring roll from the smoothie cart at the market and it was huge and tasty, so I can't wait for another one this week!  For dinner we're having friends over for a barbeque.

Breaking Tradition: Turkey Salisbury Steaks

I recently admitted that I like "light" frozen entrees for lunch.  I know they're loaded with salt, unpronounceable chemicals, don't include many vegetables, etc., but they taste so good! Plus they're quick -- a few minutes in the microwave, another couple minutes of cooling-down time, and you're good to go.  I've been weaning myself off them over the last year or so, not for any particular reason but I'm just finding healthier lunch items I like better, like sauteed mushrooms and wilted spinach with a couple soft-cooked eggs on top and some hot sauce.  Or yet another bowl of oatmeal for the day. 

One of the frozen entrees I always liked was the salisbury steak.  I don't think I've ever had salisbury steak other than those little entrees, so that's the only version I know.  Hopefully the combination of these two recipes gets me somewhat close! 

Inspiration

My Bizzy Kitchen Salisbury Steak for Two (5 oz patties)
and Cooking Light Hamburger Steak with Onion Gravy (4 oz patties)

I combined these two recipes, mainly the patties from the first one and the gravy from the second... plus the packet of instant gravy. 

I used ground turkey for this recipe because it's what I had in the freezer.  I was a little unsure of that replacement, but I looked for other turkey salisbury steak recipes and they exist, so I went with it.  Since my ground turkey was 1 pound, I made this into 4 patties. I was disappointed when I pulled out the ground turkey because it was 85% lean (15% fat!) and you can get packages of leaner beef. 

I was a little shy about adding the salt to the patties since I had heard Dijon can be salty and Worcestershire sauce is definitely salty, but I felt I could have definitely added it without any problems.  I also added some dry red wine because a reviewer for one of the recipes said it really made it.

If you want to make this gluten-free, you can probably skip the bread crumbs, cook the patties gently on the stove or countertop grill to ensure they don't fall apart, and serve it on mashed potatoes or quinoa.  

Ingredients

makes four patties

patties

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper

gravy

• 1 tsp canola or olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup vertically-sliced onion (pole to pole)
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 packet brown gravy mix
• 1 cup water (or whatever amount needed for the gravy mix) 
• 1/2 cup dry red wine (I used pinot noir since that's what Husband Jeff had open)

Directions

Gently mix the patty ingredients and shape into four patties. 

Shaped turkey patties.

Grill the patties 4-6 minutes on the George Foreman grill or probably about the same amount of time on an outdoor grill over medium heat.  You can also cook them in a pan on the stove.  Please just do a better job than I did, I forgot to time both batches of meat in the grill and had to guess if they were done or not. 

Grilled up meat.

Meanwhile, over medium heat, heat up a medium-large skillet and add the oil.  When the oil is hot, add the onion slices and cook 5-8 minutes stirring occasionally, until they're nicely softened but not dark.  Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Add the gravy packet, water called for with your packet, and the red wine and stir well to incorporate.  Add the patties and bring it to a boil.  Once it's at a boil, turn down the heat and let it cook for 3-4 minutes until the gravy thickens.

Patties going incognito nestled in the gravy.

Serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.  I served mine over egg noodles since I'm not really fond of potatoes. 

The salisbury steak lounging on a luxurious bed of egg noodles.

Verdict

So amazingly tender and delicious!  Comforting home-style dinner.

It was pretty dang close to that "frozen entree" flavor, but of course the meat was so much better (and more of it).  I know this uses a packet of salty gravy mix, but I really wanted that "frozen entree" flavor, so I figured I would try it out.  My next attempt will probably use real ingredients by thickening up some beef broth.  I'm glad I made a game-time decision to add the red wine, it added a depth and complexity that I'm sure the packet of instant gravy wouldn't have had on its own.

The onions were a little sweeter than I wanted even though I tend to buy regular yellow onions, not sweet onions.  So I'm not sure why they were so sweet.  I could have used a lot more mushrooms, but Husband Jeff doesn't like mushrooms.  He said I could use them in this dish, but he painstakingly picked out every bit from his plate.  I should have left them as slices so it would have been easier to pick out, but I didn't think of that when I was making it.

Next time I won't be shy about seasoning the meat, it was pretty bland on its own. Maybe I would increase the Worcestershire sauce and the Dijon mustard. 

 Husband Jeff liked it (aside from the mushrooms).  Sonny D loved the meat and ate all but a few bits of a whole patty, but he didn't want the noodles in the gravy.  Things like that always surprise me, I would think most kids would love noodles and would have eaten those first.  Instead my son eats the grapes and avocado first.  Based on the feedback from the family, I would definitely make this again. 

Personal Grocery Store Shopping Lists

I created a couple custom grocery lists for my local grocery store.   They're essentially an aid to help me write up the items I want to buy at the grocery store, but it helps keep it in order of the way I go through the store.

Background

I used to write up a grocery list in this way: whenever I came up with something we needed, it went next on the list.  Naturally that list was not in any sort of order since it was jotted down as we ran out of things and as came up with ideas for dishes we wanted to make.  So when I went shopping, I would be strolling through the aisles, having a great time looking at food products, and then I would realize that an item I needed was 4 aisles back and I had even been standing right next to it!  Ugg, now I need to backtrack to go get that item!  I hated that wasted time and figured there was a way to be more efficient.  Plus with a toddler either at home or shopping with me, I needed to make things even quicker. 

Initial Design

It took me a few visits to the grocery store to scribble down notes and refine it, but now I've got this spruced up so it matches the way I shop in my local grocery store, Copps.

My Copps grocery list maker (Word doc on Google Drive)

 It's organized by the aisles and sections of my local store's layout, so your store is probably different. Feel free to grab this and use it as a template to make your own.

Evolution!

Then I progressed to a more advanced version, the master grocery list.  This is the same basic idea, but it includes the main products we buy on a regular basis. It's even so specific that it mentions brand names and preferences so conceivably I could hand this list to Husband Jeff and he could buy the groceries without issue. 

Master Grocery List (Spreadsheet on Google Drive)

This took a lot longer to make.  I had to go through the groceries we had in the pantry, cupboards, fridge, and freezer to figure out what we buy and if we have any preferences.  I also browsed all of the grocery store fliers that came to our house to help ensure I had everything on the list that we typically buy. 

My Admissions to You

I'm a little hesitant to admit...

• that I ate gross "non-food" as a kid, like I drank Sunny Delight and ate Cookie Crisp cereal.  Why did my mom let me do that??  She would even occasionally pack s'mores Pop-Tarts in my lunches.  Total crap.  But I ate pretty decent otherwise.  Umm, not counting the Dinty Moore Beef Stew or the Hormel chili I ate often.  Eeep!  Luckily I had a great metabolism even though I didn't play sports.
• that I wouldn't mind drinking a big glass of Sunny Delight right now.
• that I enjoy eating sodium-bomb low-calorie frozen lunch entrees.  Sometimes I just really want a little plastic tray of ranchero braised beef in a spicy red chile sauce served with a side of chipotle mashed sweet potatoes.  So tasty, quick, convenient, and portion-controlled.
• that I'm irrational with money -- I'm a tightwad in some ways, but relaxed with money in other ways.  I rarely decline a meal out with friends and occasionally treat them to fun appetizers because I think they need to try something.  But when it comes to something like a $15 shirt that I think is cute, I "hem and haw" over it for a long time!  Husband Jeff is usually pretty good at pointing out when I'm being irrationally frugal with money and that I should go ahead and buy whatever I'm hesitating over. 
• that I eat non-dairy creamer every morning on my oatmeal.  It's chemicals and artificial everything, but it's a low-calorie non-dairy choice.  Although I did look and find that coconut milk has less calories than I thought, so now I'm excited to try making my own coconut milk creamer. 
• I get a little paranoid about food warnings, like arsenic in your rice, the dangers of soy, carrageenan in everything, etc. 
• I'm a box hoarder.  When I buy things, I save the boxes that they come in.  Sometimes the reason is because things are easier to move in their original box rather than attempting to find a new one that the item will fit in, like the microwave. Although we've lived in our house for 8+ years and have no plans to move, but I still hang on to those boxes.  Another reason I save boxes is to know what the ingredients are, which helped a few years ago when I had an itchy allergic rash to sunscreen and I could determine which ingredients were likely causing it.

I'm not afraid to admit...

• I like pop songs by artists like Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift and don't feel bad about it because I agree with Sarah Von, there's no reason to feel guilty about it!   
• I totally love '80s music.
• I can't live without my lip balm. Sometimes I get anxious if we're leaving the house and neither my husband or I have lip balm. 
• I'm weirdly obsessed with sets of nested mixing bowls.  Off the top of my head I can think of at least five sets that I own.  I can't buy any more because I have nowhere to put them.
• I have planned a vacation around food -- I went from Wisconsin to Santa Fe, New Mexico, by myself to take some cooking classes.  And any time we go on vacation, I look for restaurants first. 

I'm proud...

Husband Jeff and I on our wedding day.

• that we recycle a major portion of our household waste, so much that the every-other-week pickup schedule for recycling is usually not often enough and the recycling bin tends to be overflowing.  
• that we compost in our own compost bin.
• that we live in a neighborhood where we can walk to our library, grocery store, hardware store, drug store, a big park, the lake, a farmers' market, and several good local restaurants and cafes.
• to provide my toddler son with nutritious protein-filled afternoon snacks to supplement what they already provide at daycare.  Daycare tends to give the kids snacks like crackers and milk, so a lot of carbs and maybe a little protein if he actually drinks the milk, with no fruits or veggies.  I don't want to pack items that would cause a lot of work for the lady that runs his room and items that need to stay cold are a pain.  I send things like hard-boiled eggs, freeze-dried edamame, Chunks of Energy protein nuggets, peanut butter sandwiches, faux trail mix of peanuts and raisins, etc.  His daycare lady has commented that we send along such good food, compared with what the other kids have.  Apparently the other parents send along things like boxes of cheesy crackers.
• that I eat healthy oatmeal for breakfast every morning... and sometimes for lunch too. It's kind of an obsession. 
• that I've never smoked and I rarely drink.
• that I read a lot.  And get books from the public library rather than buying them, but that's because I'm cheap. 
• to say "no" to artificial sweeteners.Well, it's not solely because they're creepy and weird, they also give me gas!
• that I plan ahead for meals so my family can eat healthy foods.  It's a lot of work every week, but I love the planning aspect and I love cooking.
• that my wedding dress was pink/red plaid (check out the picture!).   

So there, now you've checked out some random things about me.  To read more about who I am, check out my profile. 

Mountain Climber Challenge Starts Today!

Today marks the start of the virtual climb of Corcovado Mountain. I did my 40 reps of mountain climbers first thing this morning after getting out of bed at the usual 5:45 a.m. It was ok, it certainly got my blood flowing, but I wasn't really any more awake.  I timed myself and it took less than a minute to do all 40. Tomorrow I will see how many I can do and then try to increase it each day.

It's not too late for you to join us!    Try this fitness challenge and see what you're made of!

Spicy and Different: Korean Chicken Burgers

Tangy chicken burger.

I liked this recipe so much that I attempted to bookmark it twice.  I saw it in my Eating Well magazine and went online and bookmarked it.  Then a few days later I saw it featured in one of their email newsletters and I tried to bookmark it again.  Luckily Google Bookmarks shows when you've bookmarked something before, so I didn't double up.  Since it seemed I was really interested in this recipe and it was easy to make and we had all the ingredients, I decided I should probably make it soon! 

Inspiration

Eating Well magazine Korean turkey burgers

I was happy this recipe was so simple, it was only a few ingredients and only a little bit of work.  And luckily we already had gochujang (red pepper paste) and kimchi since we occasionally cook Korean dishes in our house.

I usually can't seem to leave well-enough alone and typically tweak (read: enhance!) most recipes I make, but surprisingly I made only a couple changes in this recipe.  I substituted ground chicken instead of turkey because the package of ground turkey is reserved for turkey salisbury steaks.  And I used sandwich slims instead of hamburger buns because we already had them.

If you want to make it gluten-free, you can easily skip the bun and eat it wrapped in lettuce or just on a plate.  The gochujang should be made without wheat since it's mainly red chili powder, glutinous rice powder, powdered fermented soybeans, and salt, but there are no guarantees since there are many ways to make it. It would be cool to see if I can come up with a vegetarian version, maybe with quinoa and mushrooms. 

Ingredients

makes four burgers

• 1 pound ground turkey (I used ground chicken)
• 3 scallions (green onions), sliced (I took this to mean crosswise into little rings.  The recipe didn't indicate if it was the white or green part only, so I cut up the whole thing and threw it in.)
• 8 teaspoons Korean chile paste (gochujang), divided
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
• 4 small whole-wheat hamburger buns, toasted
• 12 slices English cucumber
• 1 cup kimchi

Directions

Mix up the ground turkey/chicken, green onion, 5 teaspoons gochujang, and sesame oil.  Be gentle but thorough. Shape into four patties.

This is all the ingredients except the mayo.

Ground chicken, gochujang, sesame oil, and green onions. 

Husband Jeff told me to stop moving so he could
take the picture, which ended up with
my hands awkwardly placed. 

Patties waiting to go on the grill.

I cooked my patties on the George Foreman since I was afraid they would be too delicate for the gas grill.  There are no photos of the patties on the grill because I ended up getting raw chicken on the handle and ended up washing my hands so many times after working with the raw meat. Plus I was working on the rest of the meal.

I cooked the patties for about 4-6 minutes on the countertop grill.  They cooked up much quicker than described in the recipe and quicker than the booklet for the George Foreman grill lists.

Meanwhile, mix 3 teaspoons of gochujang and the mayo to make the sauce.  Toast the buns and cut the cucumber into slices. Spread the sauce on the bun, add a cooked patty, top with cucumber and kimchi. 

Finished sandwich.

Verdict

Surprisingly juicy chicken burger.  Tangy, too.
Like others described, this was juicy when you might expect a rather dry sandwich. Yay! Total plus points for that. And the sandwich is tasty, I liked the combo of the cool cucumber, tangy kimchi, and spicy patty.  Husband Jeff was a little leery of the cucumber since he doesn't care for it much, but he ate it and thought it was fine. 

For Sonny D's sandwich, I skipped the kimchi.  He immediately took out the cucumber and later tried a couple bites, but he preferred everything else on his plate.  In typical toddler fashion, he likes to declare if a dish is spicy or not, but he didn't say it was too spicy.  But if you're planning on serving this to people who are sensitive to spicy dishes, you might want to take the gochujang down to 3 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon) and serve it with regular mayo on the bun.    But definitely don't skip the kimchi, it's really needed to finish the dish.

 I was surprised there was no soy sauce or garlic in this recipe since those are elemental to Korean cooking.  Next time I might mess with the recipe a bit to add some more variety in flavors in the patty. 

This was good and something I would make again, but I'm not in a huge hurry to make it right away. 

Join Me on a Virtual Climb!

Join us in the virtual climb up
Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Image courtesy of concierge.com.

In the last few years I've done benefit walks to raise funds for good causes, not because I particularly care about the causes, but as a personal challenge to get out and walk a long way when I normally wouldn't. Just a little personal challenge every now and then to push myself.  I haven't done any of those for at least a year, so it's good I ran across this fitness challenge.

Challenge

Starting Thursday, August 1, I'm participating in Josie's virtual climb up Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

We're doing mountain climber exercises until we've covered the 2,330 feet to the top of the mountain.  I'm going to start with her baseline of 40 reps per day, which will take us 58+ days to complete.  Of course it would be great if I could increase my pace to get there a little earlier, but we'll have to see how it goes. That baseline pace has us ending on September 28, which seems so far away.  Maybe I should come up with a reward for finishing so I have a goal (other than the satisfaction of actually doing it), I'll have to think about that for a bit.

I was afraid I would forget to do these, so I set up an alarm reminder in my phone to go off a couple minutes after my regular wake-up alarm so I'll do them first thing in the morning before my shower.  By aiming to accomplish them right away when I start my day, that also gives me the opportunity to complete them later in the day and not miss anything.

And let me introduce you to Josie.  She is a fitness goddess who has birthed four gremlin-kids and is doing a bang-up job getting in super shape! She runs the Yum Yucky blog  -- which shows you how to "Find balance between fitness and your greedy side".  Plus she's a funny and sassy chick who I wish I could hang out with in real life since she seems so awesome.

If you're feeling up for it, I suggest you join us!  It's a great challenge and a way to push yourself and see what you can do!

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Do you have a suggestion for how I could reward myself if I complete this fitness challenge? Shopping spree for something specific? Mini vacation?  Spa visit?  Let me hear it!