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! : )