MPM Week of November 16

Having my meals all planned really saved me....I was busy busy but I knew what I was doing for dinner, so one less thing to thing about, YAY!

This week is not quite as hectic (until Thursday and Friday) so I am doing some Christmas Baking on Tuesday with a friend...shortbread, butter tarts, fudge and truffles - plus a few other things.

This week's menu...

Monday - Asian Beef and Noodles
Tuesday - Tex Mex Chicken and Rice bake
Wednesday - Sliders
Thursday - Homemade mac and cheese, salad
Friday - Pizza night
Saturday - chicken fajitas
Sunday - Roast beef with yorkshire pudding

Have a great week everyone! And of course, for more menus, click on the happy face at the top to take to you orgjunkie :)

Menu Plan Monday - Its BACK

And ohhhh boy, do I need to plan!

I'm working almost full time and dinners have gone to pot. Too much take out, not enough veggies, too many chicken fingers! So I'm bringing menu planning back...sing about that one Justin!

Monday - beef and broccoli stir fry, rice
Tuesday - get-yer-oni (I am out for dinner, the husband is in charge)
Wednesday - angel hair pasta with shrimp and snow peas
Thursday - Slow Cooker French Dip (just like OrgJunkie!)
Friday - pizza night
Saturday - meatloaf and cottage potatoes, carrots
Sunday - chicken fajitas

Baking this week....mmmmmmuffins! I found this chocolate chip muffin recipe on Recipezaar and its sooo good....I make it every few weeks in bulk, I'm out, so I'm baking, probably on Wednesday (we are off for Remembrance Day)

Food Networkers Challenge for October

Its been a crazy month (hell, what month isn't crazy, we are all so busy), but I managed to get 3 of the 4 recipes done. I haven't done the apples yet, but I will, they sound good :)

Sweet lovely Clorie picked the recipes for this challenge, all by Rachel Ray. I'm not really a fan of Rachel Ray, she annoys the heck out of me, but I will cook anything once ;)

First up Open Faced Calzones. They had artichoke and spinach, which I love, but recipe was a little disappointing. I actually bought the wrong cheese, I bought feta instead of ricotta, and I think that probably made it better than it would have been, because ricotta is a little mild and bland on its own. I dipped it in marinara and it was fine.

Next I made the Turkey and Bean Burrito Burgers.
as they are cooking in the pan...

and all dressed up


Honestly, I was afraid to try these!It sounded all wrong to me, lol! I didn't think my kids would eat it...Brendan covered it with ketchup and cheese and ate it,

Alex had a bite and made himself a peanut butter sandwich


Connor had a few bites, Michael actually ate it all (I am really surprised by this!) and I ate it, because it had guacamole on it. I didn't care for the guac though, I don't think you should add sour cream and still call it guac.

I found the burgers a little dry (I am not a turkey fan) and the seasoning was not spicy enough for my liking. I would make this again, but with ground beef and I would use refried beans, no rice, and I would use my own seasoning blend that I use for tacos.

The last recipe I made was the Crispy Mashed Potato Cakes. My kids liked them (except for Connor, he could taste the sour cream, and he does like sour cream) which was great, because now I feel I can make potatoe pancakes for them, and I love those. Michael did not enjoy these, he is a mashed potato purist, and I thought they were *okay*. I wouldn't make again.

The recipe I did not have a chance to make yet, I promise I will make, was the Super Stuffed Baked Apples. I bought the ice cream, we ate the ice cream, and then I ran out of time ;)

If you would like to see Heidi and Clorie's takes on these recipes, please click on their names to check out their blogs! They might even have photos...which I will have by Tuesday October 27....I'm on vaca right now in Arizona :)

Food Networkers Challenge #3

I can't believe its been two weeks since my last post, life is really getting in the way ;)

So we are back again with the Food Networker's Challenge...this time Heidi picked the recipes. First up, we are getting figgy with it...

Prosciutto Roasted Figs

Very simple ingredients...figs, prosciutto, cheese, and honey



So simple to put together



Its a wrap - all ready to pop into the oven...

Out of the oven, drizzle with honey and pepper...oh my! SO GOOD

I loved the appie, I love figs, cheese and prosciutto, its a no brainer. I would make this again, and again, and again....

The main dish was a Roast Chicken with Herbed Mushrooms

The chicken was draped with bacon before roasting, and a tonne of mushrroms were surrounding it....I didn't even add the amount listed in the recipe, and I had way too many mushrooms.

I forgot to take a pic when it came out the oven...but here it is on the plate.

So...wrapping it in bacon didn't do much flavor-wise. The mushrooms were great, really excellent, but the chicken itself, once you took the bacon off, was just average, nothing special. I like crispy skin on a roast chicken, and the skin was not crispy at all, it was pale and blah. I would omit the bacon next time.

The side dish Heidi chose was Honey Roasted Cipollini Onions.



It sounded amazing! But I had disappointing results.
I put onions and marinade in the saute pan, I'm sure now that I should have discarded the marinade. The onions did not caramelize at all (how could they, swimming in marinade?) so they weren't that tasty. I mean, they tasted good, but not great, not like I'm sure they would have if I didn't muck it all up. I'll try again for sure.

And finally, dessert! Heidi chose a simple chocolate pudding.

My kids loved it. I'm not a pudding person, I had a spoonful. My mum made a delicious chocolate pudding that was rich and creamy, I think I need to dig up that recipe. This one was okay, but not great, it had a bit of a harsh bite to it.

Its Clorie's turn to pick recipes next, so stay tuned for that! In the meantime, check out the blogs of Heidi, Clorie and Steena for their reviews. Happy Eating!

Food Networkers - Challenge #2

One of my favorite chefs on the Food Network is Giada de Laurentiis. I love Italian food and one thing I really enjoy about Giada is that she showcases what I consider to be the real Italian food, not just pasta.

For this, our second challenge, I chose Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce, Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parmesan Crust, Pizza Pockets, and Lemon Thyme Bars.

I made both the roast beef and the zucchini/potato dish for dinner, and most of the produce came fresh from my garden, I was so pleased with that :)

The roast beef was super easy...I love a good roast.

The sauce was spicy, true to its name....sadly, no one in the family enjoyed it except for me.
I cooked the roast so it was medium rare, and it was delish.

The sauce was easy to make, too bad my food processor died!



I ended up using my hand blender to make it, and it worked out fine.

Nice to know that a food processor is not a kitchen necessity.

The zucchini and potatoes were awesome.

I have so much zucchini in my garden that I will be making this often, with or without the potatoes! The parmesan cheese added a lot of flavor and helped to brown the dish really nicely.

The pizza pockets were a huge hit.



I didn't add the arugula because it tends to cause some burning and tickling in my throat, so I used green peppers from the garden. Then I realized...its not arugula I can't have, its radicchio! So next time I will use the arugula. The filling was creamy because of the cream cheese (duh!) and everyone in the family loved them. They have been added to my rotation of favorite recipes.

I personally loved the lemon thyme bars, but my kids did not.

I think they are more of adult taste...I served them to a few friends and they enjoyed them.
I did think the thyme flavor was a bit too much, if I were to make it again, I would half the amount. It was an easy recipe, I loved the glaze.



So there you have my reviews...now check out the blogs of the other *chefs* involved in re-creating recipes from our favorite chefs of the food network...Heidi, Steena, and Clorie!

Today's Harvest

I had really planned to do more gardening posts this year but somehow the time slipped away, and here we are in September already. The weather is weird, we had no summer to speak of, the temperature barely rose about 70F and for the past week we've been hovering around 90F...crazy! But its good for my garden, I'm not complaining :)

Check out what I picked today.



4 big cukes, 2 luscious red tomatoes, another giant zucchini (I have had so many zucchini this year, all from one measly plant!) a huge bowl of green beans, and a jalapeno. There are more jalapeno in the garden, I just needed one for the nachos I'm making :)

Food Networkers

A few weeks ago 2 friends of mine and decided to do some cooking together...even though we all live all over the place! The original thought was a cookbook, but I couldn't find anything I would actually spend money on :/ I would have loved a Nigella Lawson book but they are always sold out around here, and I really need to look thru a cookbook before investing :)

So, after much deliberation, we decided to cook from the food network. Each of us would take our turn picking the chef and the recipes....this was Steena's turn, and here is what she picked:

Mexican Potato Skin Bites, Creamy Baked Pumpkin Risotto, Braised Paprika Chicken, and Dessert Pizza, all by Aida Mollenkamp.

The first recipe I attacked was the chicken...any excuse to use my Le Creuset braiser,
I tell ya, I am there!



It was a very easy recipe, and it turned out well. The kids loved it, the husband loved it,
I'll make it again. It uses smoked paprika, which I first fell in love with while reading
Cooking For Mr. Latte.



Next up was the dessert pizza.



It called for a plain focaccia, which I could find absolutely no where. So what's a girl to do, but bake her own? The first recipe I used was a disaster...omg, it was a sloppy gloppy mess that I had to add 2 extra cups of flour too....and then I baked it at the wrong temperature. It was listed in celsius, and I guess with all the stress of all that extra flour, that fact escaped me. I tossed that sucker in the garbage. I made another one after dinner, turned out much better, and did the pizza. Meh. That's all I can say. It asked for cloves, and that ruined the apples, in my opinion. Cinnamon and nutmeg, that's what you put on apples. Plus using a focaccia made for a thick crust...I would not make again. There are too many good dessert pizza recipes out there to waste your time on this one. Next!



The mexican potato skin bites were a big hit. B has already requested I make them for our next party :) The chorizo added a nice kick, and they were quick to assemble.



And finally, the risotto.


First of all, its not made as a risotto should be. I admit, I can be a bit of a food snob, especially when I have had a really excellent version beforehand. Secondly, pumpkin and squash in the risotto did not appeal to me much, but that's a personal preference. Thirdly, the recipe took an additional 20 minutes to cook, so it was not served with dinner, so no one in the family even tried it. I did, I took a bite, and it was meh. It was not as creamy and flavourful as risotto should be. Baking it in the oven is supposed to be short cut I guess, but I felt shortchanged instead. Obviously won't be making this one again.

Its my turn next to pick the recipes, the only thing I will reveal right now is that I have chosen Giada de Laurentiis as the chef.

Check out Heidi and Steena's blogs for their take on these recipes!