Menu Plan: Week of November 18

• Monday- I want to go exercise with Husband Jeff, there's an exercise facility at the office park where he works.  For dinner we'll have leftover Glass Nickel pizza from Sonny D's third birthday on Sunday, salad, and egg rolls.
• Tuesday - We'll still have loads of food to clear out of the fridge and freezer, so we'll have an open box of Trader Joe's roasted red pepper soup (Sonny D loves it!), leftover tots, and pan-fried or baked fish.
• Wednesday - I've got PiYo class at 6:45 (only four classes left including this one!), so we'll have a quick dinner of salads with black pepper caramel shrimp or shrimp risotto.
• Thursday - we've got a daycare event at 5:30, maybe we'll have dinner out afterwards. 
• Friday - We had our slow cooker prep day last Saturday, maybe we'll pull out one of those meals for Friday.
• Saturday - I've got core fusion exercise class in the morning but we don't have any other plans all day. There are several holiday craft fairs around town, maybe I'll go to one of those.  I was also thinking it would be great if we could go through Sonny D's toys to remove the things he doesn't play with or are too young for him. 
• Sunday - We didn't go tot the farmers' market last week because we didn't need anything, but maybe we'll go this week. We're also talking about maybe having brunch at Samba Brazilian Grill. 

Crispy Green Curry Fish

I selected this recipe partially with my son Sonny D in mind since he likes fish, but I knew as I was making it that he wouldn't eat the spicy green sauce (he's suspicious of pretty much everything green unless it's grapes or avocado) so I left one of the pieces of fish plain for him to eat and he loved it.  

I must confess that I don't understand why it's called crispy fish when you end up submerging it in the sauce and cooking it for several minutes.  All of your hard work of pan-frying it earlier in the recipe seem pointless since it can't stay crispy after that long of a submersion, but it was a tasty way to make the fish.

I was a bit hesitant to pan fry the fish since it seems like so much oil and I always want to get away with cutting down/out the oil as much as possible, but for this recipe I figured I would try it out.  

Inspiration

The Wanderlust Kitchen crispy tilapia in curry sauce

I buy frozen swai filets at Target instead of tilapia because they're cheaper.  And I used green curry sauce instead of red because that's what I picked up on a recent visit to the Asian market.  But otherwise I don't know enough about curry dishes to modify them much, so this is pretty much followed to a T.  Plus it's a pretty simple set of ingredients even if the cooking method is a little more involved. 

I tasted my green curry sauce since this was my first time using it and I'm glad I did, it was really spicy!  I only used half of the amount.  From my research, apparently green curry paste is made with fresh chiles, which makes it hotter than a red curry paste made from dried chiles.  Ah.  I might need to pick up a jar of red curry as well.

 Ingredients

• 4 swai fillets
• 2/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• 1 (14oz) can light coconut milk
• 2 Tablespoons red curry paste (1 Tablespoon green curry paste)
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 Tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (next time I would use only 1 Tablespoon since it was so salty, but that could just be my brand)
• Jasmine rice for serving

Directions

Dry your fish filets off with paper towel and cut into about thirds or quarters, depending on the size of your fish filets and how big you want your chunks.

defrosted fish and flour for dredging.

Blend the flour and black pepper in a shallow bowl (I use a pasta bowl, it's perfect for breading/dredging) and coat both sides of the fish in flour.  Set the dredged fish onto a plate. 

Husband Jeff caught my hands in action, with Sonny D wanting to help with his fork and measuring spoon.

Dredged fish on a plate, waiting to pan-fry.

Heat your oil over medium-high heat and when it's hot, add as much fish as will fit without crowding and cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.  You're just browning it right now, you'll finish cooking it later in the sauce.  

First side down into the oil.

Flip the fish and brown the other side for a couple minutes.  When it's done, move it to a plate and finish cooking the rest of the fish in the same manner. 

Second side down, check out that golden-brown goodness!

When all the fish is browned, remove any extra oil from the pan and add a small amount of coconut milk and the curry paste and stir well to ensure all of the paste gets dissolved.  Then add the rest of the coconut milk, water, sugar, and fish sauce.  Stir to fully blend.

Green curry sauce. 

Then add the fish filets and simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes. 

Fish boiling away in the curry sauce.

To serve, put some rice on your plate, add a piece of fish on top, and spoon on some sauce. 

fish with curry sauce and brown rice.

I wish I had been cooking this for myself because I would have sauteed a bunch of spinach and mushrooms and added them to the sauce, but Husband Jeff is anti-mushroom.  As it was, I only had spinach, which I sauteed and put on my plate. 

check out the spinach. 

Verdict

Spicy and different than my normal curries.  

I normally make a vegetarian curry or chicken curry, so I really liked how this was different by using  fish.   I could have actually used more coconut flavor, would be nice to try to incorporate unsweetened flake coconut somehow, maybe cooked into the rice. I've tried cooking rice with coconut milk, but it doesn't really add much flavor. 

The only drawback was this was too salty, I think next time I would reduce the amount of fish sauce to be at least half or even less.

 

I loved the cooking method of dredging the fish in flour and then pan-frying it.  I'm totally going to do that again for us.  I picked up some walleye at the winter market with that in mind, I can't wait to try it!  Of course that won't end by cooking in sauce, so I'll have to look up how long to cook the fish to ensure it's done.     

Mexican Beef over Polenta

This is a Weight Watchers recipe but you wouldn't know it.  It doesn't feel like a diet recipe at all.

Inspiration

Weight Watchers Mexican beef over polenta

I used one of my batches of pre-cooked frozen ground beef, added a can of black beans, added garlic, skipped the Kalamata olives, used a tube of pre-cooked polenta from Trader Joe's, added a little salsa cream cheese and chicken stock paste to flavor the polenta.

This would be dairy-free if you use a vegan cheese or leave out the cheese altogether.  And it's gluten-free.   To make it vegetarian, you could use a vegetarian crumbles, add some roasted veggies  instead of the meat, or just use beans.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 1 pound(s) 93% lean ground beef 
• 1/2 onion, chopped  
• 2 cloves minced garlic 
• 1 can Mexicorn (ours was a chipotle blend)
• 14 oz canned diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel)
• 1Tablespoon chipotle in adobo
• 14 oz can black beans, drained  
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin   
• 1/8 tsp black pepper   
• 1 tube (18 oz) pre-cooked polenta
• 2 Tablespoons salsa cream cheese (optional, or light plain, it adds a creamy richness)
• 1/2 teaspoon chicken stock paste (optional, just a good way to flavor polenta)
• 1/2 cup water to thin out polenta
• 1/3 cup fat free salsa   (I used canned salsa casera)
• 1/3 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican-style cheese

Directions

If you can remember to do it, defrost the frozen ground beef ahead of time.  I throw the gallon bag in the fridge the night before and it's defrosted by dinner the next day. 

If your ground beef isn't cooked, cook it until browned and add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add the corn, tomatoes, black beans, and cumin.

Open the tube of polenta, put it in a medium pan and heat it over medium heat until softened. Add the cream cheese and chicken stock paste.  If you're not adding those things, add a couple tablespoons of water to thin it out enough to spread. 

When all the ingredients are warm, put the polenta mixture in the bottom of a pie plate or 8x8 pan and top with the meat mixture.  Add cheese.  You could put under the broiler for a couple minutes to melt the cheese or bake for about 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Top with salsa.

Verdict

You'd call me a liar if I said this was a light recipe, but it totally is! 

This was so good!  Husband Jeff and I liked this a lot.  We both really like Mexican food.  Sonny D isn't a fan, I don't think he even tasted it.  I was so glad we had leftovers for lunches later in the week.  The recipe makes 6 servings and I was afraid they would be tiny, but they were actually really good sized and more than enough for a lunch.

I would totally make this recipe again, it was quick and easy to throw together, especially with the tube of ready-to-eat organic polenta from Trader Joe's.  I was afraid it would be a little bland since it didn't use a packet of taco seasoning, but it was great after adding a little chili powder.   

Smashed and Roasted Potatoes

I'm not really a fan of standard white potatoes (love sweet potatoes though).  Sometimes potatoes are ok, like mashed potatoes and gravy are pretty good and sometimes fast food salty-and-greasy french fries can tempt me, but otherwise potatoes don't thrill me much.  But this recipe for roasted potatoes got me interested.  I liked the concept of boiling some small potatoes, smashing 'em, and then baking 'em.  I figured let's try it, so I bought potatoes from the farmers' market and gave it a shot.

Inspiration

Shrinking Kitchen's lightened up crash potatoes
 
This is a lightened version of the Pioneer Woman's recipe for crash potatoes. The Pioneer Woman isn't known for having light recipes, so I probably would have passed this recipe by on her website.

I used smaller new potatoes while the original recipe used more of a full-size potato.  

Directions

Wash your potatoes under running water and rub them with your hands to get any dirt off.

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with water and bring them to a boil.  Cook until they are tender.

When the potatoes finish, drain them and heat your oven to 450 degrees.

boiled potatoes on the baking sheet.

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray, pour out the potatoes onto the sheet and smash them.  I don't actually remember what I smashed them with, maybe a glass? A large fork?

smashed potatoes, sprayed with olive oil spray.

Spray them with a little more cooking spray (I use Trader Joe's olive oil or coconut oil) and sprinkle with herbs, spices, and salt and pepper.  I used salt and pepper, Penzey's Mural of Flavor, and seasoned salt.

Seasoned smashed potatoes, ready to go in the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

golden brown smashed potatoes.

Verdict 

Good but not great.  Could have used more of everything.  

I should have smashed them more, we liked the parts that were thinner and crispier, otherwise they were like a boring baked potato. 

They also could have used more salt and seasoning.  Maybe I should have boiled them with some herbs or garlic to infuse them?   More salt while boiling?  I'm always scared about the amount of salt I use, I tend to be really restrained because I know I like a lot more salt than some people, so I don't want to over-do it, but instead I under-do it. More salt on them once they were smashed would have been good, too.

I don't recall seeing Sonny D eat any of these, but Husband Jeff and I liked them well enough.  Definitely try to eat them all the first time around because I don't think they reheat very well.  But we didn't really try to reheat them since we ate them in the back of the car while stopped at a gas station on our way driving up to Minneapolis.  Not much tastes good in that situation. 

To make this not dairy-free, you could throw some shredded cheese on at the end and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes.  Or make a sauce of sour cream and a packet of ranch dressing, kind of like a hot potato salad.  Yum!  Another version would be to smash them out nice and thin and treat them like nachos by adding ground beef taco meat, nacho cheese sauce, salsa, onion, pickled jalapenos, etc.  Man, kinda sad when I come up with these better ideas after the fact. 

Weekly Menu: Week of November 11

• Monday - I'm making my mom's chicken rice soup (quite similar to this recipe but with lots of black pepper) and we'll have salads and baba ghanoush with crackers.  I'm going to roast vegetables for later in the week.  I'm going to roast Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets (in a separate pan for Husband Jeff), leek, cauliflower, portabello mushrooms (in a separate pan for only me), eggplant, sweet potato, and fennel. 
• Tuesday - Husband Jeff and I are planning to go out to a movie and his parents are taking care of Sonny D.  Maybe we'll go to Qdoba for dinner after the movie!
• Wednesday - Yet a other PiYo class (only four more left after this one) and I want to try making pepperoni pizza rice (it's what you think, rice with pizza ingredients) with roasted veggies and salads.
• Thursday - We're talking about having fajitas at Nau-Ti-Gal (a waterfront restaurant, not a strip club as the name might seem to suggest).  I recently received one of their recent promotional emails and kids eat free on Thursdays and they've got a chicken or steak fajita special that night, so we figured we would try it out. 
• Friday - I'm taking the day off from work because I have time off that I need to use before the end of the year.  My mom and I are trying to come up with some plans for getting together for the day.  Husband Jeff might go out for a Dads' Night Out in the evening so I'm trying to decide what I should make for Sonny D and myself for dinner.  Right now I'm thinking about penne pasta with tuna and spicy mustard, tuna quesadillas, or pan-fried fish.  Seems obvious that Sonny D likes fish when it's part of every meal I'm listing for the day.
• Saturday - The weekends are pretty busy and typically we end up changing plans, so I'm getting to the point where I don't want to plan much.  The afternoon is my slow cooker prep day with my friends, so I'll probably be tired of making food by that point, so I'm only planning a can of soup with bagels and potato crowns (like tater tots). 
• Sunday - Today is Sonny D's third birthday and we're having family over for dinner of Hmong egg rolls (Sonny D's favorite food), pizza, and chocolate cake (his choice).  Now I've got to look up a recipe for chocolate cake. 

Breakfast Variety: Cornmeal Pancakes

I'm going to be right up front with you about this recipe for cornmeal pancakes, they didn't turn out very good.  I think it was because my cornmeal was coarse ground, not fine ground.  So the pancakes were gritty and not very appealing.  I wish I had thought to check our cornmeal beforehand because I wouldn't have tried this recipe with it and would have made regular pancakes instead. 

Inspiration

Slender Kitchen Polenta Berry Pancakes

I made ours without berries since we didn't have any and I'm not the hugest berry fan. I was glad because I had buttermilk in the freezer, that's something I highly recommend freezing if you have extras from making a recipe.

I used two full eggs because I hate using only part of an egg and then either needing to find a use for it or throwing it away.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup polenta (corn meal)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 Tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoon Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients (polenta through salt) in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, blend the wet ingredients (buttermilk through oil).  Add the dry to the wet and mix only until just combined.

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray or grease with butter if you're into that.  Pour out 1/4 cup measurements of batter and cook until the bubbles stay open. Flip and finish cooking the other side.

Pancake batter on the griddle.

Verdict 

Gritty and not very good.  

Sonny D is normally a fan of pancakes, but he only had one or two bites of these.  It was understandable, they were pretty gritty and just not enjoyable.  Husband Jeff commented that the later pancakes were better, probably because the cornmeal had time to hydrate. The only good thing about how these turned out was since they weren't very good, I didn't eat much.  Normally it's pretty easy to eat a lot of pancakes and not realize it. 

We had some left over, so we'll see if they're better after being frozen. If they're not, they were bad enough that I wouldn't feel bad throwing them away.  I would like to try this recipe again once I get fine-grain cornmeal because I've had cornmeal pancakes and thought they were great. 

Menu Plan: Week of November 4

This week's menu plan was hurriedly thrown together on late Sunday evening because I've been busy with work and then we were away on Sunday evening having dinner with friends.

• Monday - salads with slow cooker beef tips and noodles
• Tuesday - salads with lasagna soup
• Wednesday - leftover soup and roasted veggies I bought at the farmers' market.
• Thursday - frozen homemade pancakes and scrambled eggs
• Friday - soup and bagels
• Saturday - Our Breakfast Club group (our family plus our friends Chuck and John) is getting together for breakfast at the Prairie Diner. For dinner maybe we'll have black pepper caramel shrimp with rice.
• Sunday - My best friend and I are celebrating our birthdays, we're going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Packer game together.