Menu Plan: Week of December 2

It's a nice quiet week after I had five days off for Thanksgiving. I'm not looking forward to going back to work after all this time off. I like not doing much and shopping a bit. :)

For Thanksgiving we went to Fugu restaurant, it was so good! As far as I understand, it's quite authentic Chinese.  They were one of the few restaurants open on Thanksgiving and I'm glad they were because we loved it.  Husband Jeff had the Singapore noodle, we shared the spicy string bean, I had the fish filet with scallion, and Sonny D had two egg rolls and rice and helped eat a lot of my fish.  We had a ton of food, enough left over for a decent lunch the next day.  I can't wait to go back! 

Sonny D requested cupcakes after seeing one in a book, so I'm aiming to make them this week.  I've been looking up recipes that make only six cupcakes so we don't have to figure out what to do with the rest of a big batch.

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This is a week of dinners that I mentioned previously but never actually happened. 

• Monday - I've had the recipe for black pepper-caramel shrimp picked out forever, so I think I'm finally going to make it.  Guess I should check the recipe to ensure I've still got all the ingredients!   We'll also have egg rolls left over from Saturday's Thanksgiving at my mom's and some steamed beets for Husband Jeff.
• Tuesday - I'm really fond of breakfast for dinner, and I want sweet potato or banana pancakes, eggs, and roasted Brussels sprouts. 
• Wednesday - I've got PiYo class at 6:45 (if I don't skip it like I did last week!). This is the second-to-last class for the semester, so I should probably go.  Dinner will be salads and homemade pepperoni pizza because I found a box of instant crust in the pantry, no idea where it came from.  I might make my side untouchable by adding mushrooms since Husband Jeff doesn't like them, it ensures I get to eat my half of the pizza rather than him stealing it. 
• Thursday - Fajitas/kids' night at the NauTiGal, last time it didn't happen because Sonny D was ill the day we had planned to go.  And today is the day we can pick up our family photos from JC Penney's, I hope the look as good in real life as they did on the computer screen that day. Family and friends will see how they turned out when they get our New Year's card. 
• Friday -Dinner will be almond-Parmesan crusted fish and one of the bags of corn I froze over the summer, can't wait for that! After dinner we're going out for our friend Natalie's birthday.
• Saturday - We're going to brunch at the Green Owl Cafe with friends using a Groupon deal. I like their lunches and dinners, so I'm excited to try their breakfast items. We'll have tofu parmesan for dinner. 
• Sunday - I'm planning that we'll have one of our slow cooker prep day dishes of Char Siu pork with veggies and rice or maybe I'll be even lazier with a can of soup and sandwiches. 

Pantry's Empty? Make Tuna Patties

I needed to make dinner for Sonny D and myself while Husband Jeff was away one night for a work meeting.  I figured I would make something that Sonny D likes that Husband Jeff wouldn't typically eat, canned tuna.  Husband Jeff eats it but doesn't prefer it. 

Inspiration

Green Light Bites simple tuna burgers, Food.com tuna-patty burgers, and LaLoosh pan seared tuna patties

I had these three tuna patty/burger recipes bookmarked so I combined them to make my version.  My blend was based on what I thought sounded good along with what Sonny D might eat, that means no obvious vegetables like bell peppers.  Plus I didn't have any bell peppers, carrots, scallions, etc. 

Ingredients

makes 4 patties

• 2 5oz. cans of water-packed tuna, drained
• Sprinkle onion powder
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced (1/4 tsp from a jar)
• 2 eggs
• 40 grams of oats, ground up (or about 1/3 cup crushed crackers, any flavor)
• juice of 1/2 lemon (1-2 tablespoons)
• Sprinkle paprika (optional, add your own choice of spices)
• black pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed, optional
• 1 tsp oil (olive, canola, etc.) or cooking spray

Directions

Mix all ingredients and shape into patties.

Sonny D mixing it up.

Heat a skillet to medium-high medium heat (medium-high was too hot on my stove) and add oil or cooking spray.  Wait until it's hot before putting the patties into the pan.

Shaped into patties.

Cook for 3-5 minutes per side depending on how brown and crispy you want it.

Patty on top of my salad greens. 

Verdict

Boring canned tuna turns into something even better, and I'd say classier. 

I like canned tuna well enough but this recipe turned out way better than I thought it was going to be. I ate mine on top of salad greens with light Parmesan peppercorn ranch dressing and the last few cherry tomatoes. Sonny D had his plain on a plate.  He probably would have eaten the whole thing but I snuck a few bites since I was sad mine was already gone. I also tried it dipped in a little buffalo sauce and that was delicious as well. 

I'm totally going to make these again, and soon.  They would be perfect for lunch. I would consider making them smaller, four patties out of this made them quite large, 4-5 inches across. Smaller seems like it would be thinner and crispier and just generally more enjoyable.  But if you do make it into 4 patties (approx 1/2 can of tuna each) they're definitely big enough to fit nicely on a bun if you want to eat them as a sandwich. 

The only thing is that medium-high was too hot on my stove. Mine were quite dark (just shy of almost-black in spots) by the time 3 minutes as up on the first side. Next time I would switch it to medium heat to hopefully achieve a crispier outside and hotter inside.

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I only made two of the four that first night since my skillet didn't have room to cook all of them at once, so I had leftover tuna patty mixture for later.  The next day for lunch I split a single serving of the mixture into two smaller patties, pan-fried them and put them on another salad in a repeat of the previous night's dinner.  So good!  Even at medium heat the skillet was too hot to really leave them in for 3 minutes on the second side.  Not that they were burned, but a little darker than you might like.  I'm not sure how to fix it other than cook for less time and put a lid on to ensure they get hot enough. 

Menu Plan: Week of November 25

Woohoo, short holiday week! Mine is actually shorter because my company gives us Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, and I'm taking off Wednesday too since I've got vacation time I need to use up before the end of the year, so this week I'm only working Monday and Tuesday. Can't beat that!

And in other big news, Sonny D went poop on the potty on Sunday morning!  He declared he had to go potty, and when we got in there he said he had to poop, so we read a book and hung out for a couple minutes and then he pooped.   Totally awesome.  And then he wore underwear for the rest of the morning until it was nap time.  He used to go poop on the potty but then he stopped when he went to daycare last November. 

• Monday - chicken fried rice with carrot, peas, cauliflower, onion, garlic, etc. I want to make English muffin bread and crustless pumpkin pie but I think I might only accomplish going grocery shopping with Sonny D instead. Maybe Husband Jeff will be in charge of making the bread and taking the pie out of the oven while we're out.
• Tuesday - Happy birthday to my friend Renae! Husband Jeff and I are planning a date night, starting with a workout together.  We were talking about seeing a movie out, but it doesn't look like there's anything we want to see, so maybe we'll get a movie from Red Box or watch something on Netflix.  Maybe we'll grab some dinner out that Sonny D would never eat, that mainly means Mexican/spicy. 
• Wednesday - I'm taking the day off since I've got time off I have to use before the end of the year.  I've got PiYo class again in the evening, so for a quick dinner I'm going to make a frozen entree of shrimp risotto.
• Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!  Since we don't have any family plans on actual Thanksgiving day, we're planning to go out to Fugu for a meal at some point.  It's supposed to be authentic Chinese food, not the American stuff you get everywhere else.  I wanted to go the non-standard route, I didn't want the typical restaurant buffet that tries to recreate a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  They've got a lot of spicy interesting dishes, so I think I'm going to order a variety so I can try more than one thing.  
• Friday - This is another day off for us.  We're taking Sonny D for his 3-year-old checkup and they said he's going to get at least one shot.  Poor kid.  I think we'll reward him with a trip to the play area at the mall afterwards.  We've been going there a lot, I love it since it's free and he really enjoys playing there.  We need to take advantage of it now, before he only prefers the expensive places or he's too old for it.  For dinner we'll pull out some of the pesto I froze over the summer and have pesto pasta with chicken.  I keep forgetting, pesto is one of the few green things Sonny D will eat, along with avocado and green grapes. 
• Saturday - My family is celebrating Thanksgiving today.  I'm hoping to visit our friends Mike & Emilie on the way since they live near my parents. For our meal we're having a partially traditional meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, but we're also having ribs and making egg rolls. 
• Sunday - The weekly northside winter market is happening in the morning, maybe we'll go since we haven't gone for the last couple of weeks. Later we're planning to go get a Christmas tree and have lunch with Husband Jeff's parents. For dinner we're having homemade chicken tikka masala that I froze, along with a couple pouches of Indian side dishes and rice. 

Highly Recommended: Knife Skills Class

If you're around Madison, WI, I highly recommend the knife skills class at Wisconsin Cutlery and Kitchen Supply.  They sent out a recent email offering a class on January 14.  Husband Jeff and I went to the knife skills class together a couple years ago and totally loved it. Chef Paul Tsang is an awesome teacher and demonstrator, plus he's just funny and entertaining. 

Here are the details
Cost: $30 per person, which includes supplies
When: Tuesday, January 14, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Where: 3236 B University Avenue, Madison, WI
RSVP: Call (608) 204-0560 to reserve your place

Whether you're looking for the perfect gift for someone, or want to practice your own skills with the experts in a fun, informal learning environment, this class is it. In addition to learning valuable techniques, which will increase your efficiency and safety in the kitchen, class participants always receive 10% off purchases made during class. Classes are limited to 16 people and always fill up quickly. 

If you're interested, call them immediately since the classes do fill up quickly.

If you're not in the Madison area, I recommend looking for a knife skills class anyway.  You might see them through your local schools & community recreation department, grocery store, kitchen supply store, specialty food store, cooking school, etc. 

Slow Cooker Palooza - Prep Day

This past weekend myself and three lovely ladies got together for our Slow Cooker Palooza.  We prepped slow cooker meals and froze them for quick meals later.  Read more about the background in my first post about it. 

My Prep

Recipes

I researched what healthy recipes would work well for freezing (slow cooker recipes and those that could easily convert to a slow cooker) and listed them out.  As a group we voted for the recipes we wanted and I made the final call on what specific ones we were going to make. Two recipes came from online and three from some healthy slow cooker books books.

Our final recipe selections

• Classic beef stew with beef roast, onions, celery, and carrots.
• Char siu pork roast of pork shoulder with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ketchup, and garlic.  
• Fajita chicken of chicken breasts, lime juice, salsa, peppers and onions.
• Indian-style chicken with pureed spinach and lots of spices.
• sweet potato-chipotle soup - chicken stock along with sweet potatoes and a little chipotle pepper for kick. 

I photocopied the recipes so each guest could have their own version to keep for later in case they wanted it for reference or to make the recipe again. I wrote up a summary sheet of all the recipes with instructions on how to cook them, suggestions for things to serve with the dishes, and tips on other great things to freeze.

Groceries

1. I wrote down all of the ingredients we needed for every recipe and attributed it to the recipe, like "2 onions for Fajita Chicken recipe (4 batches)".  
2. And then I grouped and organized the ingredients by general section of the store -- Produce, Dry Goods, Meat and put all of the same product together so when you were buying onions you could see the amount and which recipes needed onions.  
3. After that, I multiplied out the number of guests by the number of items to give a count of the total number needed, such as "8 onions for Fajita Chicken".
 

That Day

The four of us met at Costco to do our shopping. We split into pairs and divided up the grocery list.  We couldn't find several things, so after we were done shopping at Costco, we unpacked our haul at Heather's house where we were doing all the prep work and Natalie ran to the local grocery store to buy the remaining ingredients.

Huge piles of ingredients as we start to get ready.

While she was gone, we set up stations for each dish so we could allocate the ingredients and the printed recipe.  Each gal was responsible for prepping the ingredients for four sets of the recipe and putting it in the gallon freezer bag.

Martha and Heather trying out the chopper!  Slap-chop!

We each grabbed a glass of wine and set ourselves up with some snacks of artichoke-jalapeno dip, quinoa tabbouleh, and tortilla chips to munch on while we worked.

Natalie in action with the Char Sui Pork.

We chatted and listened to music and sang along.

Heather at the Fajita Chicken station with her glass of wine and Martha peeling sweet potatoes for soup.

And chopped, sliced, prepped and worked our way through the five recipes. 

Natalie leaning in close while I open the outrageously huge can of diced tomatoes.

 As we were winding down one of the girls totaled up all our bills and divided them up.  I ended up with a slightly higher bill since I bought a few temping items for myself at Costco, crispy seaweed for Sonny D, yogurt-covered granola balls for Sonny D's daycare snacks, and some fabulous snacking dark chocolate with pumpkin seeds and sea salt. 

What I learned

• Don't offer so many recipe options from the start.  I wanted to allow for each family's food preferences and tastes, but we didn't get any consensus on which recipes to make so I had to take everybody's votes into account and just make an executive decision. 
• Don't expect to get many ingredients at Costco.  They either didn't have the products we were looking for or it was in such a absurdly large amount that it wasn't worth buying in bulk. The only things it truly worked out for was the meat and the stock for soup. Next time I might send someone on a shopping trip ahead of time to get the meat at Costco, but otherwise we'll do most of our shopping at a regular grocery store.
• It takes a lot longer to grocery shop than you might think!  I had no idea where anything was at Costco, so I had to rely on my partner Heather to direct us. 
• Everything in general takes a lot longer than you think.  When I prep things in the kitchen it's not like an episode of Rachael Ray's "30-Minute Meals", but I think I'm pretty decent at getting things set up efficiently since I've been doing it so long and so often.  I need to remember that when you're making four batches of a recipe at once, it's going to take a lot longer, even if it's just chopping up a bunch of onions and dumping all the ingredients in a bag.  I had figured that we would meet up at 1:30 and be done around 4, but I think we didn't leave until around 6 or 6:30.
• Since everything takes so long, maybe buy more prepped ingredients like pre-chopped onions and take advantage of time-saving equipment like food processors.  
• I highly recommend gathering up as many 2-quart pitchers as you can get.  You put a gallon freezer bag in them so they stand upright as you fill them.  We only had the two I brought and could have used four at each station.  
• Ensure your freezer isn't full when you start this.  I kind of forgot this bit of advice even though I had told the girls ahead of time.  Both of the freezers in our house were so super full that there was barely room to add these five bags.  Oy! 

I have no idea how much we spent, but I'm guessing we spent maybe around $6-7 per recipe.  Cost wasn't important to me though.  But they certainly weren't expensive recipes. 

I had a great time and at least one of the girls mentioned that she was having fun during our prep time.  Someone asked when we'll be doing another one of these, but I need to find out how this one worked out before we plan any more.So as we cook up our dishes, it'll be nice to get some feedback on how it turned out and the rest of us can make adjustments if needed. 

I'm planning to dole out my dishes about one per week until the end of the year. It's nice to know you've got tasty, easy meals waiting for you in the freezer. 

Sweet Potato Gratin

layer up close.

This dish originally comes from the cookbook "Casserole Crazy" that I borrowed from the library.  I've made the recipe a few times and totally love it, but it's a ton of work so I don't make it too often.  This recipe is the entire reason I bought a mandoline slicer, it makes it quicker and easier to cut the sweet potato into even slices.

Inspiration

Casserole Crazy cookbook sweet potato not-pie

I make this recipe MUCH lighter without sacrificing any flavor.  A huge amount of calories comes from the 3/4 cup of olive oil it calls for, which I tame way down to only a few teaspoons (1 teaspoon per layer).

My jalapeno was gross when I pulled it out even though it wasn't that old, so luckily I had a red bell pepper I had bought for roasting that I could pull into service here.  

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 1 bell, habanero or jalapeño pepper, depending on how much spice you like
• 6-8 ounces fresh goat cheese or feta
• approx 3/4 cup olive oil way too much!  I use only 1 teaspoon per layer (4-5 total, which is less than 2 Tablespoons)
• salt and black pepper

Directions

Once you've got all of your veggies prepped, this is pretty quick to pull together, but the getting all the sweet potatoes sliced and onion and pepper diced takes a long time. 

Ingredients lineup.

It took me about 10 minutes to slice up the sweet potatoes using my mandoline. I didn't even cut myself this time! 

massive pile of sliced sweet potatoes.

Now finally at this point you should preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  

In a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish (I used a 2 1/2 quart and a second slightly smaller one because it makes a lot), layer the sweet potato, onion, pepper, cheese, salt & pepper, and olive oil. Keep layering until you've gone completely to the top.  It will shrink a good amount as it cooks, so don't be afraid to layer it really high. 

layers in progress.

I try to finish with just a layer of sweet potatoes on top.  Cover with foil or lid and bake for an hour and a half (no need to adjust the cooking time if you've got two casserole dishes, it works out fine). 

finished dish.

Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before digging in. That's just good advice for casseroles and pizzas so you don't burn your mouth by being too zealous. 

Verdict

A heavenly mixture of salty-tangy, sweet, and richness all on your plate.  

I think this recipe would be good made into a vegetarian lasagna by adding layers of noodles and spinach. I was afraid to tinker with it this time because we were taking it to a friend's house for dinner.

I  was sooooo glad I split this into two casserole dishes.  We took one to our friend's house and kept the other one at home for later.  I wish I had paid more attention because our friends sent the leftovers home with us and they really deserved to keep them.

Once again, Sonny D didn't try this, but I didn't mind since I kind of wanted it all to myself!  

Creamy Lemon Tortellini Spinach Bake

closeup of creamy pasta. 

This recipe is a family favorite for Husband Jeff and I.  I've made it several times over the years and love the entire concept.  You cook up packaged pasta, some bacon (this time I used ham), spinach, lemon and cheese to make a creamy casserole.  So good!  We're always happy it makes a lot so we can have leftovers. 

Inspiration 

Our Best Bites tortellini spinach bake in creamy lemon sauce

One huge note - the Barilla pasta doesn't come in the 12oz size mentioned in the recipe, I think it's been pared down to only an 8 oz. package, but it's probably marked at the same price though!  I proceeded with it anyway.

For other substitutions, typically I use bacon in this, but this time I used a package of Budig ham lunch meat since I didn't have any of my pre-cooked bacon.  And I skipped the red pepper flakes since we were feeding this to a toddler.  I've never really noticed it to be spicy before, maybe I've always skipped it?  And I skipped the Parmesan cheese since I'm too lazy to get both mozzarella and parm out.  But I did add a can of quartered artichoke hearts because I like them.

You could easily make this without the meat for a vegetarian dish.  The meat is nice, but isn't required.

I use the zest and juice from a full lemon because I like a lot of lemon flavor.  Also, I have no idea what I would do with only a partial lemon.

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)
• 4 oz bacon or pancetta (about 4 strips bacon, or a package of Budig ham lunch meat)
• 1 teaspoon canola oil, olive oil, or bacon drippings
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 C milk -- I use almond milk
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry basil
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts
• 1 medium lemon
• 2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped (I just use part of a bag until it looks right)
• ¾ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  

Make the pasta according to the package.

boiling tortellini pasta.

Meanwhile, get out a large skillet with tall sides or a large pot because you're going to be putting all of the ingredients together in it at the end.

In that large cooking vessel, cook the bacon or ham over medium heat until browned.  I wouldn't have minded two packages of ham since it's so thin. Remove the meat from the pan.

Tiny shreds of ham. 

If you're using bacon and have any grease left over, reserve only about 1 teaspoon to cook the garlic and get rid of the rest.  Chop the meat.  If you aren't cooking fatty, delicious bacon or don't have any leftover grease, add 1 teaspoon of oil and saute the garlic for 1 minute.

After the garlic has cooked for 1 minute, add the flour and slowly incorporate the milk by adding only a tiny bit at a time.  Be sure to stir a lot to ensure there are no lumps now because they will be harder to attack later when there's more milk.  Add the salt, pepper, and basil and bring it to a simmer.

Then carefully zest/Microplane your lemon directly into your pan of cooking sauce to ensure you get every last tangy bit.  I was afraid I'd drop the lemon right into the sauce!  And then cut your lemon in half and juice it and pour into the sauce as well.  Continue to stir and simmer until thickened, about 2-3 more minutes.

When your pasta is done, drain it and add it to the pot along with the chopped spinach, chopped/diced meat, and shredded cheese. 

pasta, spinach, sauce, and cheese. 

Pour everything into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish and cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until everything is hot and bubbly. 

baked casserole.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Verdict

Creamy, cheesy, and comforting with a good punch of lemon.

Sonny D only ate the pasta part, but that's to be expected from a toddler.   Husband Jeff and I totally chowed down on this for a couple meals and loved every bite.

I think you could remove the lemon and easily add other veggies, like a California blend of cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli would be nice.  Or add swiss cheese and mushrooms if you can get your family to eat them.  Maybe roasted sweet potato chunks and Brussels sprouts with goat cheese or feta.  Or instead of bacon add a couple cans of tuna and add peas and asparagus.