Menu for the week of June 29, 2009

So this was to be the week I ate down my fridge (EDF). The problem is that I have a very tiny freezer; I picked some meals that work their way through my staples, but I was almost completely out of produce and protein; so I went shopping. I didn't exactly save any money and now my fridge is full again.

Sunday 29	Day of leftovers. Leftover roast chicken (deli purchase), leftover soup (from the freezer), leftover baking (energy bars, chipolte hummus, 5-layer jello).
Monday 30	Breakfast: Cereal, skim milk, fruit Lunch: Chopped Mediterranean salad with chicken BBQ hamburgers, all dressed with tomatoes, lettuce & cheese
Tuesday 31	Breakfast: Cereal, skim milk, fruit Lunch: BBQ hamburger (all dressed), with bell pepper sticks BBQ Memories of Szechwan chicken breasts & Southwestern colslaw
Wednesday 1	Breakfast: Eggs, bacon & toast with PB&J Lunch: Salmon over mixed greens with cheese, crudite & hummus Not-quite Pierce street Vegetarian chili & polenta
Thursday 2	Breakfast: Toast, PB&J Lunch: Chili & polenta Seven grain dirty rice and beans
Friday 3	Breakfast: Toast, PB&J Lunch: Salmon over mixed greens with cheese, crudite & hummus Beef tacos (with salad & salsa)
Saturday 4	Breakfast: Out. Lunch: Freezer leftovers (either chili or seven grains) Carne asada (tacos made with marinaded skirt steak), beans & rice

My pantry inventory (and pictures) should be up soon-ish.
Sunday - I went through and used up what I had in the house for meals. I still have a lot of staples and a few odds and ends that I really want to get rid of.
Monday - Forgot to make the salad to go with the burgers (so we'll have it Tuesday); finished off the goat cheese making lunch. I opened the bottle of artichoke hearts I've had in the pantry for ... a while. It's not quite expired. They're tasty atop salads.
Tuesday - The bottle of Memories of Szechwan has enough for several meals yet. When it's empty I'm pretty sure we'll buy more. Maybe I can hold off until we're out of chipolte slam and chipotle dipping sauce.
Wednesday - It's a holiday up here, so I have time to make stove-top chili (even if the weather's not perfect for it). It's a good way to use up the beans I have in my pantry & freezer. It won't quite be vegetarian, as I intend to use up the last of my spaghetti sauce (which has beef). Corn meal is another staple, so I'm not too worried about finishing it off. The canned fish for lunch is nothing new, but it will get rid of one more can from my pantry.
Thursday - I have guests, so rice and beans (while maybe not seasonal) fits the bill. It's cheap to make, not too time consuming, and best of all -- it tastes wonderful. It also helps me use up more canned goods. Breakfasts this latter part of the week are my attempt at getting through the jam in my fridge.
Fridays - I love tacos. Fortunately I have the ingredients just "laying around" in my pantry.

A lunch-time salad

A brightly colored and crunchy salad that doesn't use lettuce. A great summer time lunch or a side-dish for grilled meats.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Serves: 5 (main course), 10 (side dish)
Version: 2.0
Original: Colorful black bean and crab salad.
Posted by Just Call Me Martha on Oct 2, 2002

Notes/Modifications

I was looking for a low-gi lunch salad that didin't use lettuce. I'm really not sure how well I did, but I do enjoy this salad.

The salad recipe originates on Recipezaar. I liked the idea of the salad, but not the corn or the jalapeno peppers. The sauce is very strong and not office-friendly. In future I'd cut the garlic down to 1 clove, and grate it instead of mincing. I'm currently serving the salad with an extra-virgin olive oil based Italian dressing, although it goes well with almost any vinagrette.

Equipment required

• Cutting board & knife.
• Measuring cups & spoons.
• Non-reactive salad bowl & salad tongs.
• Non-reactive mixing bowl and whisk.

Ingredients

2 cups	cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 cups	black beans, drained and rinsed
1	red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1	chili, I used a cubanello, seeded and chopped
1/8 cup	cilantro, minced
1/8 cup	parsley, minced
4	green onions, chopped
12 ounces	artificial crab meat
1 clove	garlic, grated
1 teaspoon	cumin
1/4 teaspoon	black pepper, freshly ground
2 teaspoons	white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons	lime juice
2 teaspoons	water
3 tablespoons	extra virgin olive oil
1 cup	sugar snap green beans, chopped

Directions

1. Mix together thecauliflower, black beans, red pepper, chili, cilantro, green onions, sugar snap peas, and crab meat.
2. Add the cumin and pepper to the grated garlic.
3. Mix into a paste.
4. Add the vinegar, lime juice and water to garlic mixture.
5. Mix well.
6. Whisk in olive oil.
7. Pour dressing over bean mixture and stir well.

Menu for the week of 21 June 2009

Last week was warm, I worked late, and we ate out a lot more than we should. The past few months we've tried to use the BBQ as much as possible. The only BBQ tools I have are: a wire brush (to clean the grills), a silicone brush (to spread oil on the food/grills), and aluminum foil (to wrap vegetables to steam them). Hopefully this week will go better.

Sunday 24	BBQ Honey garlic chicken breasts, baked/sweet potato & salad
Monday 25	Grilled Tilapia with Smoked Paprika and Parmesan Polenta Recipe & steamed vegetables
Tuesday 26	BBQ Memories of Szechwan chicken kababs, pan fries & salad
Wednesday 27	Chicken Breasts with Citrus Pan Sauce & steamed vegetables
Thursday 28	BBQ hamburgers & salad
Friday 29	Out
Saturday 30	Steak sandwiches with cheese & salad

The BBQ is a pleasant middle ground between a broiler and a convection oven. If used properly, it gives meat and vegetables a pleasant appearance (grill marks), and cooks fairly evenly (barring flair-ups). Most meats I cook on the BBQ are marinated for at least an hour or so before they go on the grill. Potatoes go on about 10 minutes before the meat, and the vegetables (wrapped in tin foil) go on with the meat. Most times this works. Other times ... well, we order pizza if it can't be fixed.

I bought new lunch dishes this weekend. I finally broke down and shelled out for the glass containers with steam release valves. The covers are BPA-free. I have a box full of Tupperware that I still use. While I do still store food in them, but I no longer reheat food in them in the microwave. Nor do we put them in the dishwasher (not that we have a dishwasher... and putting them in the guy that does the dishes would be ... unpleasant I'm sure).

Meal notes:
The BBQ Honey garlic chicken breasts were from the butcher already marinaded. They are a rather unpleasant orange in color before (and after) being cooked. They are pretty tasty, but I find them to be very acidic. It's a simple enough marinade--next time I'll try making it myself.

The fish dish of the week is the same one as last week because ... last week we went out to eat rather than eating in.

The BBQ Memories of Szechwan chicken kababs is one of the easiest recipes I know. Cut the thighs into generous yet bite-sized pieces. Mix in a bowl with the sauce of choice (this time PC's Memories of Szechwan). Put the meat on skewers. It is best to pack them fairly tightly. Grill on a Hot BBQ until done. Turn once or twice. If the sauce is good--the meal will be terrific.

Chicken breasts with (any) pan sauce is another easy-to-make recipe. I like these type of recipes because they appear quite elegant when presented and very forgiving when being made. The recipe goes very well with something to soak up the sauce. I'll serve it either with leftover polenta (if there is any) or rice.

BBQ hamburgers. Classics. Officially he cooks this one (as opposed to just starting the BBQ for me). The hamburger meat is mixed with bread crumbs, an egg, worchestershire sauce, and Montreal steak spice. Yummy.

Steak sandwiches with cheese. I like mine with additional lettuce & tomato, mustard & mayo. He likes his plain. It takes about 10 minutes with the two of us working together in the kitchen. Naturally, the better (and fresher) the bread, the better the meal.

Menu for the week of 7 June 2009

I don't know what to expect this week. I got my garden basket last week, so I have a fridge full of veggies to use up. The gyros, tilapia, steak and whole chicken will be cooked on the barbecue (weather permitting). Can you tell we love our barbecue?

Sunday I made eggs Benedict for one with this recipe. It was tasty, but I didn't quite get the proportions right. It's definitely too rich to make for just myself again; but it was worth the experiment. I've not cooked much (other than dinner) of late, and Sunday's breakfast reminded me how much I enjoy cooking.

There's a couple of other breakfast recipes that I want to try; but they'll probably end up being done next Sunday when I've got the time to experiment again. I've not left an empty night from cooking this week in a desparate attempt to not. Eat. Dinner. Out this week.

Sunday 24	Steak sandwiches (all dressed) with salad
Monday 25	Chicken gyros with salad
Tuesday 26	Falafal my way with salad
Wednesday 27	Grilled Tilapia & polenta with steamed veggies
Thursday 28	Marinated BBQ steak & southwestern coldslaw
Friday 29	Shrimp in spicy lime sauce
Saturday 30	BBQ Whole chicken, pan fries & salad

Menu for the week of May 24, 2009

It's going to be a very hectic week. I've got great plans for cooking, but I'm sure things will change along the way.

Sunday 24	Steamed vegetables, Basmati rice & Beef Sate with Peanut Sauce
Monday 25	Dinner out at Mirada Restaurant & Bar
Tuesday 26	Dinner out at McDonalds
Wednesday 27	Sloppy Joes & mixed green salad
Thursday 28	Memories of Scheshwan chicken & steamed vegetables
Friday 29	Asian Chicken with broccoli salad
Saturday 30	Dinner out

Menu for the week of June 1st, 2009

I've been using spring pad for the past three weeks to track my weekly menu. For me, there's been a fair bit of a learning curve. I like a lot of its features, but I'm having problems getting away from the habit of having my shopping list and my weekly menu printed. The website allows me to print the pages I need, but the layout isn't quite right for my tastes; and I'm not sure how to fix that just yet. Still, it does provide a nice place online to keep the information.

I hope to be getting a food box (from my community victory garden) this week. I will probably be incorporating whatever I get into lunches and breakfasts, or snacks. I'm hoping for fruit (I get ever so tired of MacIntosh apples), but anything except beets and eggplant would be fine.

Sunday 31	Expert chili dogs with creamy cold slaw
Monday 1	Aztec Couscous & steamed vegetables
Tuesday 2	Chicken thighs with spicy tomato sauce & mixed green salad - for 3 1/2
Wednesday 3	Home made Corn tortillas and beef tacos (with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, guacamole & sour cream)
Thursday 4	Home made Corn tortillas with Refried beans (with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, guacamole & sour cream) - for 6
Friday 5	Steamed vegetables with sesame crusted chicken and soba noodles
Saturday 6