Meal Plan Week 11

As the semester reaches its last month, I find I have more events and happenings in the evenings, so meal planning has become more sporadic. Such is life!

Saturday: we went to the Texas Wine and Rogue Art Fest so we had dinner in Salado

Sunday: ^^beer can chicken with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts^^

Meatless Monday: Jalapeno and mushroom quesadillas with black bean and corn salad

Tuesday: leftover beer can chicken for Kyle (I'm speaking at a Baylor event in the evening!)

Wednesday: Glazed pork chops with roasted asparagus and garlic pasta

Thursday: leftovers or take out or Kyle cooks

Friday: tacos, probably!

Have a lovely week!

- S

Meal Plan Week 10

Sunday: ^^Shepherd's Pie^^ (I would do this on Monday for St. Patty's day, but I'm going to happy hour with some friends and not sure how late I will be in Waco)

Monday: leftovers or other

Tuesday: baked barbecue chicken with asparagus

Wednesday: curry turkey and rice

Thursday: roasted red pepper pasta with brussels sprouts (I don't know if Monday will be meatless, so going meatless a different day this week)

Friday: lemon and herb baked tilapia with mashed potatoes and garlic green beans

Saturday: beer can chicken with veggies and leftover mashed potatoes

- S

Meal Plan Week 9

It was nice having a week off of cooking duty, that's for sure. I ate some tasty food at a few restaurants, and also cooked by my friends.

I was too tired to cook on Friday, but on Saturday I made these three-ingredient brownies that turned out quite well and were super easy. I recommend eating them with ice cream or milk.

Saturday: steak, sweet potato fries, sauteed brussels sprouts and garlic, glazed carrots

Sunday: turkey chili with sourdough bread

Monday: bruschetta, sesame noodles with broccoli

Tuesday: turkey chili leftovers

Wednesday: slow cooker chicken fajitas

Thursday: honey chipotle crusted salmon with balsamic roasted cauliflower and garlic broccoli

- S

Meal Plan Week 8

I was having an off-weekend, so I didn't do too much meal planning before Monday, though I knew we were pretty well stocked from grocery shopping the previous weekend.

Sunday: Kyle ended up making garden pasta with turkey meatballs, and it was very good!

Monday: ^^white bean and pasta soup^^ (I'll probably take this for lunch during the week, too.

Tuesday: salmon with mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts and broccoli

Wednesday: spaghetti squash with veggies and chicken sausage

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: out to eat, leftovers, improvise

I'm heading to DC on Saturday and return Friday, so no meal plan for next week! But I will surely take lots of photos of the tasty food I hope to eat. :)

- S

Meal Plan Week 7

Last week I didn't plan lunch for the week, and that resulted in me bringing this for lunch on Friday:

A pear and a bell pepper, yep that's right. So, I'm trying to get back into the planning, with another quinoa salad dish this week. I'm going to make it on Monday, since I'm able to work from home that day, and I will be out for lunch on Wednesday, so I'll make a smaller batch. 

Sunday: HEB roast chicken with ^^baked zucchini fries^^ (and leftover mashed potatoes for Kyle)

Meatless Monday: vegetable stir fry (broccoli, mushroom, onion, red and yellow bell pepper, snap peas) with brown garlic sauce and brown rice (update: the sauce is delicious! I substituted gin for the rice wine.)

Tuesday: pork loin with parmesan roasted potatoes and asparagus

Wednesday: leftover pork loin with brussels sprouts (leftover potatoes for Kyle)

Thursday: breakfast for dinner (eggs with veggies, bacon or turkey sausage, toast), or just leftovers

Friday: salsa chicken with brown rice

Lunch: Asian Quinoa Salad

- S

Meal Plan Week 6

Check out this cheddar bacon beer bread I made to go with dinner tonight:

Sunday: turkey chili with bacon cheddar beer bread

Meatless Monday: Pad See Ew

Tuesday: chicken sausage with mashed cauliflower, brussels sprouts and corn

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: pork loin with parmesan roasted potatoes and veggies

Friday: leftovers or out to eat

- S

Meal Plan Week 5

Nothing too exciting to report this week. I didn't make a lunch as I will be out of town for meetings and events in Austin two days of the week, and had lunch with friends scheduled for two other days; no point making anything!

Meatless Monday : spicy roasted vegetable mac n' cheese (see above)- this was quite good! Not very spicy, though.

Tuesday: I was going to do my curry turkey with rice, but Kyle had a late lunch and we have a couple leftovers, so for myself I just sauteed some brussels sprouts, yellow bell pepper and broccoli to eat with some leftover rice. Simple and delicious.

Wednesday: I'll likely be getting dinner in Austin, or leftovers.

Thursday: spaghetti squash with meat sauce (though the meat sauce isn't sounding very appealing to me now, so maybe I'll just cook a piece of steak for Kyle and have mine meatless)

Friday: I think I'll bring home Tarka from Round Rock on my way back from Austin! yum.

- S

Baked: Sour Cream Pancakes and Blueberry Banana Bread

I like to bake. Mainly because people like baked goods, and I like to make people happy; I also like to make pretty things. In high school I would bring chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin loaf to school for friends and classmates. I didn't do too much baking as an undergrad, due to dorm life and doing other things, but since moving to TX, and with the help of grad school, I have great reason to bake again. Baking for the husband, baking for classmates and friends, meetings and gatherings. Last semester I baked something at least every other Sunday to bring in. I kind of want to open a puffed pancake shop, there I said it. Or just a shop that serves baked breakfast goods- pancakes of all styles and flavors, loafs, muffins, oatmeal and the sort. Don't worry, I'm not dropping out of grad school with three months to go. Just a little day dreaming. Anyway, here's a couple of things I've baked as of late. 

.....

Sour Cream Pancakes

I know- sour cream pancakes sounds weird. My husband definitely made a face when I told him what I was making for breakfast last Saturday morning, but I reassured him by telling him the recipe was from the Pioneer Woman, and with the mention of that magical name, enough skepticism melted away for him to try them. And we both really liked them. They are light and delicious and oh-so-good. Easier than regular pancakes too, somehow (though not quite as easy as puffed pancakes, if you're wondering where they fall on the pancake-ease-of-baking scale). Here is the recipe. I didn't change anything, though I think they would be delicious with berries, or lemon squeezed on top with a dusting of powdered sugar. One batch made an odd 7 pancakes, though, and they are thin, so if you're very hungry and serving more than one, I'd suggest doubling or doing one and a half batches. That would make for a more impressive pancake stack, too. 

^^basking in the morning light^^

Blueberry Banana Bread

Loafs are probably one of the easiest things to make, yes? I like that there are loafs for every season. Pumpkin for fall. Gingerbread for winter. Zucchini for summer. Banana for spring. Something like that. Perhaps for 2014 I will loaf my way through the year- ooh new idea! Well I've made many banana breads, sometimes with chocolate chips, but never with blueberries. This is probably the prettiest loaf I've ever made. And maybe the most delicious (anything beats that gingerbread loaf). I used a recipe from here, but with the following changes:

-I didn't want to buy a big thing of buttermilk, because when would I ever use buttermilk again, so I just used 1/4 c. regular milk with a couple squirts of lime juice (since I didn't have lemon juice). Not sure if the lime did anything, but I'm sticking to it.
- You don't really need to measure out your blueberries. That's just silly.
- I don't have an electric mixer and mixed with a spoon/spatula, and melted the butter a bit to make that easier.
- Since I did the one large loaf instead of minis, I baked it for about 60 minutes. I started with 30 and checked it, then did another 10 and checked it, then another 15ish maybe...it was probably around 60, maybe a little more. Just stick a knife in and make sure it comes out clean, and you're good.

- S

Meal Plan Week Four

My motivation to plan my lunch for this week started waning, but I counteracted that by making something really delicious that I know I would love to eat all week (and taking a break from quinoa or spaghetti squash). It really does feel good to have lunch ready for the whole week on Sunday; my weeks are busy and I sometimes feel all over the place (and I sometimes am all over the place- Houston last week, Austin this week), especially this semester, and having a little consistency helps.

Sunday: chicken, spinach and feta sausage with oriental broccoli slaw

Meatless Monday: stuffed peppers (rice, beans and tomato)

Tuesday: I have a meeting in Austin in the afternoon, so I think I'll bring home Tarka (delicious Indian food) from Round Rock for dinner (and cook up a side of brussels sprouts)!

Wednesday: salmon with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts

Thursday: "general tso's" chicken with rice and broccoli

Lunch: oriental broccoli slaw (sides: almonds and dates)

^^Stored and ready for the fridge! I'm keeping the dressing separate so the slaw isn't super soggy.^^

Oh, I also baked this AMAZING blueberry banana bread today (sub regular milk and a dash of lime juice for buttermilk). Kyle gave it an A+.

- S

Meal Plan Week Three

This week I'm going to Houston for a conference on Thursday, so I'm only planning three meals, which should also cover leftovers for a few of days.

Meatless Monday: spicy peanut noodles (Kyle's idea) with brussels sprouts

Tuesday: turkey tacos

Wednesday: roasted pork loin with potatoes and asparagus

Lunch: greek quinoa salad

- S

Spaghetti Squash Crust Vegetable Quiche

For lunch this week I made a quiche with a spaghetti squash crust. This is actually the first quiche I've ever made though I've been wanting to make one for some time now. I had a half spaghetti squash leftover from the week before, and I thought this would be a perfect new use for it. The recipe I used is from here, but I made some changes. I didn't measure the squash, just used half of one smaller squash. I also wanted more veggies in it, so I used onion, garlic, spinach, asparagus and mushrooms for the sauteed veggie mix, along with chives in the egg mix, plus some mozzarella cheese I had in the fridge. Basically all you need to know for this recipe is: 5 eggs, one cup of milk, press the squash into a greased pan, saute whatever veggies you want, add the seasoned egg mix to the pan, add the veggies, bake at 400 for 40 minutes. Very easy! 

And the finished product...

I'm not sure how well it will hold up through the week (I imagine reheating will make it a bit mushy so it might be better served immediately), but at least I'm trying, right?

- S

Meal Plan Week Two

Last week I made brussels sprouts for the first time (first time making them at home, not eating them), simply sauteed in a pan with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper (oh plus a sprinkling of red pepper flakes), and they were aaaaaamazing, and I wanted them every day after that, so I made sure to work them into this weeks dinners. Maybe twice. I bought three bags. Yum.

Sunday: tonight I'm making Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy, but with chicken because Kyle is not a shrimp person, with asparagus on the side

Meatless Monday: veggie chili

Tuesday: pan seared salmon with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: baked marinated chicken with brussels sprouts

Lunch for the week: spaghetti squash crust veggie quiche (chives, onion, asparagus, garlic, spinach, mushroom)  (based on this)

Week 1

- S

Meal Plan Week One

Now that school/internship is starting back up, and since Kyle is back, back I go to meal planning. I try to plan four meals for the work week in advance, and Kyle can plan the other or we will just improvise or have leftovers. I also want to try to have something planned for lunch for the week for me to pack, whether that's leftovers from Monday or something I make on Sunday to have ready (otherwise I won't really eat lunch). Also, Kyle wanted to try Meatless Mondays, which is fine by me since when he's not here I rarely cook meat anyway. So I thought I'd share my meal plan for the week!

Week 1

Monday: spaghetti squash pesto "pasta" with veggies and Parmesan cheese (bell pepper, asparagus, onion, zucchini, yellow summer squash)

Tuesday: baked bbq chicken with brussels sprouts and maybe spaghetti squash latkes or leftover squash from Monday

Wednesday: shepherds pie

Thursday: seasoned foil baked fish (tilapia) with veggies (squash, zucchini, onion, bell pepper) over rice

Lunch: southwest quinoa salad

- S

Holiday Baking

Since it's just Kyle and I here in Texas for the holidays, I didn't see the need to do much baking, but as I do rather enjoy baking for others (I baked almost more Sundays than not, this semester, making treats to bring in for classmates), I decided to make a little something for our neighbors on both sides. We don't know them very well, but they both have several kids that play around our house and we chat with them when we're in the backyard with Luna (one child thought Luna was my name for several months). I decided to make these salted honey Rice Krispies treats; I figured kids love rice krispies treats (right?), and these have a little twist on them. The recipe is from here.  Kyle even likes them, so it worked out that there's a few extra for us. I'm not sure this actually counts as baking, but it was fun nonetheless!

- From the desk of Mrs. M