Menu Time

I'm just jumping right into the menu this time. Here we go!

Monday - apple pancakes, bacon
Tuesday - cabbage and turkey sausage soup, baked Korean sweet potatoes
Wednesday - pepper steak (green peppers, onions, thinly sliced steak, asian(ish) sauce, served with rice)
Thursday - turkey chili, Irish soda bread (for our Bible study group)
Friday - some form of cheese-stuffed fresh pasta from the market tossed with parmesan and olive oil, olive bread (also from the market), and whatever vegetable looks good at the market : )
Sunday - homemade spaghetti, homemade French bread, maybe a salad...?

Korean sweet potatoes - so sweet! Went camping this weekend (will post about that later this week) and picked up some of these at H Mart on the way to the park. I was introduced to them last year when we went camping with our neighbors, Bundo and Kyungsun. I'm not a big fan of the "regular" sweet potatoes that most people buy. These on the other hand are fantastic! Both times we had them camping we just wrapped them in foil, threw them in the fire, pulled them out, and ate them with a fork. toppings/condiments? None. They taste fabulous by themselves. I have purchased these advertised as Korean, Japanese and Oriental sweet potatoes and they were the same. They are purple on the outside and white on the inside. I don't think they're easy to find, but if you can find them I wouldn't pass up the chance. SO easy and SO delicious!

I'm really looking forward to eating fresh pasta and olive bread from the market. I have picked this up for dinner once before and it was so yummy. The pasta is great, the bread is so flavorful, and it makes for a very quick and easy meal after work. That's a win-win-win if you ask me!

The favorite on this menu is definitely spaghetti! What's not to like about homemade spaghetti and bread? No matter how many new recipes I try, and no matter how many of them we love, this will always be a favorite! Tag on homemade bread, a rainy/snowy day, sun going down at 5:30, and you have for yourself the perfect, cozy environment for making memories around the dinner table : )

Poached Egg and Bratwurst English Muffin Sandwich

This is delicious! Period. Or I guess I should say exclamation point. Marshall and I have made a few variations of this sandwich. We have used different types of sausage, cheese, and sometimes sauces. Every time it has been so tasty that your lip sticks out a bit when you see that your plate is empty. But I must say that I would rather experience that than frowning because you still have more on your plate! Not that I really know what that's like since my Mom and Mother-in-law are excellent cooks. Anyway, to the sandwich.

Homemade sourdough English muffins (toasted), caramelized onions, bratwurst, poached eggs (technique video for poaching eggs), a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt on the broken egg yoke. And yes, we had cute little cups of applesauce on the side : )

I realize this isn't a fabulous picture, but I hope the combination of words and picture give you an idea of how yummy this sandwich is and how excited you should be about trying it. We thought that cheese was unnecessary for this variation that already had the egg and sausage (yes, even Marshall), but play around with it to cater it to your taste. We've used kielbasa, Italian sausage, brats, bacon, cheese instead of egg, a lot of onions, a few onions, etc. I think you get the point. We eat these open face (and I usually eat my other half muffin with just butter...the muffins have such a nice flavor). I keep mentioning the fabulous English muffins but I know that most people don't have a sourdough starter. I've seen sourdough English muffins in the store (with white flour), but obviously any kind you like would work. And if poaching eggs is not your thing you could use some other form of egg. I highly recommend picking up poaching though! Marshall is the expert in our home : )

A Belated Menu

I try to post my menus on either Sunday or Monday, but this week that didn't happen. Oh well! Here it is a tad bit late : )

Monday - BLT's and applesauce 
Tuesday - baked lemon-herb salmon, roasted broccoli and potatoes
Wednesday - apple maple turkey burgers with maple mayo and bacon on top, sweet potato crisps
Friday - BBQ chicken pizza
Saturday - steaks (not sure about sides yet)
Sunday - knephle soup

So I buy unsweetened applesauce for baking with, and now we've also been in the habit of eating it. Marshall has suggested tagging it onto a couple of meals such as BLT's, and an English muffin sandwich that I'll be sharing with you soon.
I sent Marshall with a list to H Mart, and the list included him being able to pick out a couple of things himself that looked good. He chose steaks....surprised? No. Happy? Yes!
Knephle soup is an all-time favorite of mine! My Mom has been making it for as long as I can remember and I always always always enjoy it. Can't wait to eat it on Sunday : ) 

Just a quickie today. Happy cooking!

Let me just call this one "Stuff"

Today I want to do a recap of our past two dinners (caramelized sausage and onion pasta and chicken pot pie turnovers), and also show you what I bought at Trader Joes on Monday when I unexpectedly got off of work early!

Yesterday I made the caramelized sausage and onion pasta. This was something that I made up randomly, and when I get an idea in my head that I think will be great it makes a very strong presence there until I try it! The results were satisfying. It was simple, pretty quick to make, and tasty to eat. My first proof of it's simplicity will be the following picture.

 What you see here is all the ingredients to make this dish (except the bit of olive oil I drizzled on at the last minute). I like it when you can make a delicious meal with so few things! Here is the process (which is my second proof of simplicity):

-Heat a large skillet over medium heat (I used stainless steel). Remove sausage from casings and cook until browned. Transfer sausage onto a plate with a paper towel or two, but leave excess fat in the pan. Sauté the onions in the fat. When the onions have become translucent add the sausage back to the pan. It may stick and that is fine. When the sausage and onions have become very brown and caramelized add the rosemary and garlic. Give a quick stir and pour in ¼ cup of Marsala to deglaze the pan. Once you have deglazed the pan and the Marsala is gone add your pasta (which should be not quite finished cooking when you add it to the pan). Pour over an additional ½ cup of Marsala and give a good stir. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and allow the wine to reduce down until almost completely gone. This process will allow the pasta to finish cooking, and it should pick up the wine flavor. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil and serve. 

So basically saute, saute, saute, serve. This was the result. 

I served it with roasted brussel sprouts and leftover hamburger buns that became garlic bread. I hope it sounded simple because it really was. 

Onto the next topic. Trader Joes has become one of my favorite grocery stores. What I love about it is that they have such great prices on things that would normally be expensive and/or hard to find. Such as brussel sprouts, bell peppers, figs, ground turkey, wine, fancy cheeses, and I can't leave out natural peanut butter. And that is just a few examples that I decided to mention. Anyway, moving on. I walked in on Monday planning to get peanut butter and white wine for a couple of recipes coming up. I always plan to "spend more than expected" when I go there. I love picking up little surprises I find along the way. Today was no exception.

Most exciting? MY FIRST PUMPKIN OF THE SEASON!!!

Just in case you didn't see it....here it is : )

Now I just need to manage to make a decision on what fabulous pumpkin recipe I should start with. The good news is that I should probably get 3-4 cups out of this, so I can do a healthy pumpkin muffin experiment AND make one of the anticipated favorites!

Onto the chicken pot pie turnovers. No pictures this time though. I had a bit of trouble with these because there was too much liquid and because I didn't let the chicken mixture cool enough before starting to form the turnovers. My dough was getting soft way too quickly and I needed to stop and wait for the mixture to cool before making them. Marshall helped me a lot as I was getting frustrated and not coming up with a solution. In the end (thanks to Marshall!) we had beautiful pies! We both enjoyed them, but I think next time I will do more of a traditional pot pie (individual size though) because the filling can be more soupy that way. 

And just for fun I wanted to share one of my new favorite songs. Please listen : )

Menu - so excited about this one!

It is not uncommon for me to be overly excited about our menu. There are a couple of reasons for this, which you might be able to guess. First, I love food. Second, I love cooking. If you ask me that's a good recipe for being excited about creating menus!

Monday's dinner is something I came up with that is based off a recipe from a cookbook of mine. It combines some great flavors and I also get to use some fun cooking techniques (like caramelizing sausage and finishing the cooking of the pasta in the wine!).

I have been wanting to make chicken pot pie for a while now - with crust on the top and bottom, not using bags and cans - real homemade chicken pot pie. Then I found a recipe for chicken pot pie turnovers and knew that would be what I tried out first. I found a super easy, super delicious pie crust recipe that I'm expecting to go splendidly with these turnovers. It certainly won't be as healthy as chicken soup because of all the butter that makes the crust so delicious, but I'm okay with that.

You may be surprised to notice there is no soup on this menu. I'm a bit surprised as well, but Marshall loves pasties and was very happy to give up his soup this week to have them! 

Monday - caramelized sausage and onion pasta with fresh rosemary finished off with Marsala to deglaze the pan and create a bit of a sauce

Tuesday - chicken pot pie turnovers - I'm basically using this recipe, but I'm not using puff pastry. I'll be using a pie crust recipe with very little sugar (so excited to make and eat these!)

Wednesday - brats, broccoli (steamed and then a quick saute in olive oil), and probably something else. We'll be grilling with a couple of friends.

Friday - Simply baked chicken (lemon, salt, pepper) over orzo tossed with lemon juice/zest, olive oil, and garlic - this is quick, yummy, and quite fresh tasting.

Saturday - I'm expecting to have leftovers around. If that doesn't happen we will probably have some form of an English muffin sandwich with poached eggs for lunch.

Sunday - pasties (miner's lunch - dough filled with pork/beef, potatoes, carrots, onoins, and spices, baked until crispy on outside, and HOT on the inside). Making these with a couple of cooking friends! 

I will definitely be reporting how Monday and Tuesday turn out. 

Can't wait to get cooking! : )

Dinner and a Movie

Today Marshall and I shared our pocazzia (explained in This Post) while watching "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne. Kind of a date night without leaving our home. Thought I'd show you the pocazzia, which looks basically like pizza but was quite different.

Half of this has sauteed fennel and onions and half of it just has cheese and oregano. The focaccia became quite crispy and tasted so yummy. I hope you like this short video that should get the point across concerning the crispiness!

 

And since I know pictures with us are even more appreciated than those of food, here is another picture that includes the pocazzia AND Marshall! (And as you may notice by looking at our sink, I made more muffins! I'll be sharing that recipe soon. I'd probably consider it a new favorite...ya know, somewhere in the top 5)

We decided that this would be a nice appetizer/party snack too. Maybe we thought of that because we cut the pieces so small!

And I must not leave out that after our dinner we had ice-cream! It's been a while since we've had icecream and one of our favorite brands (Mayfield) was on sale buy one get one free. Marshall requested moose tracks. Oh so tasty! I wish I took a picture of our ice-cream in our cute little cappuccino mugs. Oh well. Sometimes you just have to thoroughly enjoy an experience and not worry about documentation. After all, it was just icecream. Hope you found some enjoyment from my silly video : )

Menu

Monday - Trader Joes vodka sauce on linguine with Italian sausage (1 jar of sauce is 2 meals for us, so I'm repeating last week's meal since we liked it!)

Wednesday - burgers stuffed with extra sharp cheddar cheese, honey mustard and onion pretezels, and whatever fruit/veggie I have around

Thursday - baked lime-herb salmon, simple roasted red potatoes and brussel sprouts (olive oil, salt and pepper - simple and tasty)

Friday - blueberried French toast (Thanks for the idea Mom S.!) 

Saturday - pocazzia....do I have anybody confused? This is a name Marshall and I made up for a twist on a recipe idea from my Mom. This will be pizza-style focaccia with drizzled olive oil instead of sauce and sauteed fennel and onioins as toppings. And of course there will be a lot of mozzarella : )

Sunday - wonton soup - this is delicious and highly recommended!

I haven't had a burger for a long time and I'm really looking forward to it. Especially since I just lugged home a 16 lb. bag of charcoal so that Marshall could grill them : ) ...the lugging wasn't as bad as it could have been since I was able to hop on the grocery shuttle and had to walk a minimal distance with it compared to if I had to walk the whole way!

After we have pocazzia I'll give a short review of what we thought. I can't imagine it being anything but good, but I guess we will find out on Saturday : ) 

Before you miss the obvious hyperlink for wonton soup, commit to making

it (wonton soup!) soon! It will be worth the effort of all the wonton wrapping.

And mostly for the sake of sharing a picture, here is a picture of Marshall and I that our friend just sent to us a couple of days ago from when we went to the aquarium.

Muffins Muffins Muffins!

Over the past week or two I made a lot of muffins! I basically always have muffins around because I have found several healthy kinds that I really enjoy for breakfast or an afternoon snack (or anytime at all). And as I mentioned in my last post, they are so great for travelling with.

 The first recipe I'll share with you today is for Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Muffins.

I have never made this exactly according to this recipe though. I use white whole wheat flour (link for anyone who is un-familiar with it), and have also reduced the brown sugar and raisins and added a mashed overripe banana in their place. They've turned out well every way I've tried them. I quickly pulled these out of the freezer to snap a picture for you and threw them back in! 

The second recipe I'll share is for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.

These are basically the opposite of why I normally have muffins around. But they were requested by Marshall and oh so delicious! Nothing healthy about these, but I'm all for everything in moderation! I recommend these....and don't leave off the glaze if you make them....I think it's a fabulous and important finishing touch.

I am not actually going to share the next recipe...but I'll show a picture!

I know I seem mean throwing a picture of a tasty muffin with a bite out of it at you and not giving the recipe, but it's not perfect. These are based off the recipe I shared for Fig and Chocolate Bread but I modified the recipe as promised and made them into muffins instead of a bread. Now, the reason I am not sharing it yet is because I didn't have the ingredients necessary to make these the way I wanted to. I didn't have unsweetened applesauce or bananas. That being said, though the fig season may pass before I get to make these the way I planned, I will still try out the changes with other add-ins and share the completed version of the modified fig and chocolate muffin in the future. This particular batch was made with fresh figs, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts. Tasty combo! 

Does anybody else think muffins are as great of an invention as I do? Shout it out if you agree! (you can literally do that if you would like, though that wasn't my original intent)

Another Menu (and certainly not the last)

Here is another menu for you. This will happen frequently since this blog was created as a way of sharing our menus : ) 

Today's dinner (Halal Chicken) has received rave reviews by my Mom, who makes this quite often now. I haven't made it yet but my expectations are high. Excited for dinner (making the pitas now)! Wednesday's dinner will be shared with friends, and is an all-time favorite from childhood. It is still a favorite of mine. Ever tried Trader Joes jar of vodka sauce? It's delicious for a quick weeknight meal! And if you have my kind of humor, check out the blueberry method link for a funny video recipe, as well as a fantastic method for making blueberry pancakes. SO much better than how I used to do it!

Monday - Halal Chicken

Wednesday - pork chops, dumplings and gravy, kale and peas

Thursday -  Trader Joes vodka sauce on linguine with Italian sausage

Friday -  three bean turkey chili

Saturday - blueberry pancakes (here is the link for the blueberry method)

Sunday - Irish potato soup

Coming up I'll be sharing some muffin recipes that I've made in the past week. Muffins are a favorite homemade baked good of mine to keep around since you can make them really fast, they can be healthy and delicious if you choose the right recipes, and they're easy to eat on the go (I almost always have them with me in airports!), AND they freeze well! Can't wait to share some recipes : )