A Reverse Menu - What We Ate Last Week AND How I Prepare to Return Home From a Trip

I won't be posting a menu for the next couple weeks, so I thought I'd share last week's menu since I never got around to doing that. After the menu you'll find some tips on how to not waste food before a trip, and how I prepare ahead of time to return home to a kitchen full of good food almost ready to eat. But for a moment, back to last week's menu.


Sunday - broccoli and olive pasta -- I almost skipped Sunday on this reverse menu because this just sounds so boring. But it really was tasty! The broccoli gets broken down into a "sauce", though doesn't taste overcooked, and when mixed with the salty olives has a nice taste.

Monday - penne with steak and rosa sauce -- I used the marinade for the steak from the link, and my easy rosa sauce (1 can diced tomatoes, 3 - 4 oz. cream cheese, splash of milk, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper), tossed together with penne.

Tuesday - Went out to an Italian restaurant called Antica Posta for Theresa's birthday.

Wednesday - tomato bisque and grilled cheese sandwiches

Thursday - House Church Christmas party! I brought homemade spaghetti sauce and Christmas cookies.

Friday - chicken pot pie with butter crust instead of the puff pastry



Whenever I go on a trip I find myself cooking for a week or more beforehand preparing food for the freezer for when we return. Not only do I prepare a couple of dinners, but I usually make a batch of sandwich bread (or in this case, THIS sourdough sandwich bread), and usually some type of muffins or quick bread to thaw for breakfast when we get home.

This time I went a little overboard....Or one could say I was wisely using my resources. After our tomato bisque dinner I put the other half in the freezer, along with the bread for the sandwiches, so all we need is cheese to have that dinner again. Same with the chicken pot pie. Marshall and I were far from finishing that on our own, so that will probably be two dinners! I also made my usual frozen pizza with kalamata olives, and I have almost all the ingredients to make my curried pumpkin pasta with chicken peas and toasted walnuts. So that means with very little time, effort, or grocery shopping, we'll have 5-7 dinners for our first week back.

If it can be avoided, I don't throw out food. I had 2 1/2 bananas that were overripe the day before we left. I didn't want to throw them out so I mashed them up in a bag and put them in the freezer to make banana bread later! Have extra sauce? That can also be frozen for a later time. Even if it's not enough for a whole meal, you can mix it in with more sauce later to avoid wasting it. More vegetables than you'd like to consume? Steam, saute, and freeze them (or simply chop and freeze) for a soup, pasta, or rice dish later. Be creative! Just because your current ingredients don't add up to a whole meal on their own, doesn't mean they can't be saved and used later.

I'm not saying any of these ideas are profound, but I hope you find them useful, and that next time you go on a trip you aren't stuck throwing out a bunch of food before you walk out the door, ordering dinner the night you return, and grocery shopping first thing in the morning because you have nothing to eat for breakfast.

It does make for busy week before a trip, and I know not everyone has the time or interest to go through all the work required just to save a few carrots, but I find joy and pleasure in using what I have resourcefully to avoid wasting food (or in other words, money).

Though it makes for a busy week before a trip, it does provide a much easier week after a trip!

Warm Fall Harvest Salad

Do you ever have those moments where you are doing something totally unrelated to food or cooking and suddenly you get an idea for a recipe in your head? And then when the idea comes it doesn't leave until it has been written down and/or eaten? This doesn't only happen to me, does it?

This is one of those recipes! Sometimes I am disappointed by the results of these random recipe ideas, or they at least need some tweaking, but this one was just right. And so tasty! The flavors represent Fall in so many ways. Apples, cranberries, pecans, and sage to name a few. And for anyone who thinks it's Winter, It isn't yet. Just sayin'.

I'm definitely one who thinks flavor is more important than color when it comes to food, but look at these colors! So beautiful and no food coloring required : )

There are a few steps involved in making this, and you'll need the oven, a couple burners, and a few of pots and pans, but it's really not difficult, and I think it's well worth the mess it creates. 

 I already used the  name Fall in a Slow Cooker, plus this wasn't cooked in a slow cooker, so I was a little bit stumped as far as a name goes. Fall in a skillet could've worked....But then I imagined someone falling into a skillet and I couldn't bring myself to call it that. I hope this Warm Fall Harvest Salad makes it to your table (and then your mouth) and that you enjoy it!

Warm Fall Harvest Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup wild rice

1/2 cup quinoa
2 1/2 cups water

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1/4 lb. ground sweet Italian sausage

1 chicken breast, cooked and cubed

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

10 - 12 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 small apple, diced

3 - 4 Tbsp. dried cranberries

1/3 - 1/2 cup toasted pecans
salt to taste

For the dressing:

1 tsp. honey

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. olive oil

salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put your rice, quinoa, and water into a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer about 30 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, Place diced sweet potatoes on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Roast for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through. While the potatoes, quinoa, and rice are cooking, brown your sausage in a large skillet, breaking it up into bite size pieces. When the sausage is almost cooked, add the onions, cooked chicken, and sage leaves. Saute for a few minutes until the onions are translucent and cooked to your liking. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute, then add the cranberries and apples. When the potatoes, quinoa, and rice are finished cooking, add them to the large skillet. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss everything with the dressing and the toasted pecans. Serve immediately.

It makes great leftovers, too. In fact, I'm eating cold leftovers from yesterday while I write this post ; )

Menu

Monday - sausage potato kale skillet

Tuesday - Massaged kale salad with chicken, olives, apples, manchego cheese, and  orange tahini dressing, bread on the side -- I'm using the massaging method (eliminating the avocado) and the dressing from the link, but adding my own toppings.

Wednesday - sweet potato-apple-carrot-red lentil soup, bread on the side -- This time with spaghetti squash in place of the sweet potato.

Thursday - warm Fall harvest salad -- Recipe coming later this week!

Friday - cheesy dumpling casserole with roasted Brussels sprouts -- Marshall's making dinner : )

Pumpkin Spice Millet Porridge with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries

I'm a morning person. I used to be the sleep in late, skip breakfast, and go right to lunch kind of person, but somewhere between 18 and 22 something changed. Now I'm a morning person, and I'm definitely a breakfast person. Waking up before the sun to make pancakes before work is a pleasure to me. And no, that is not a joke. Of course I do not do that every day, but I do like to have homemade food on the table for breakfast.

I know, I know....I'm supposed to be moving on to gingerbread and peppermint, but I just can't let go until there are no more pumpkins available!

Marshall said he didn't dislike this, which is a win in my book! Yes, of course I enjoy preparing him a breakfast that he loves, but every day does not need to be a splurge. Two years ago he probably would've thought I was kidding if I said that this was his breakfast and turned to a box of cereal, so the fact that he'll happily sit down at the table and not dislike his millet porridge is really exciting! And I'm not just crazy. This tasted good. I'm sure not everyone would like it, but no matter what you've heard about millet, this does not taste like chicken feed. Millet is a great place to start if you're looking to add some variety to your diet and try new things.

The combination of the pumpkin, cranberries, spices, and nuts go well with the millet, and the maple syrup was a great sweetener for this. Of course you can use more or less sweetener depending on your taste. I wanted to find a balance between too much for me and not enough for Marshall. I added about one tablespoon while the millet was cooking and drizzled about half a tablespoon on top each of our bowls.

There are a few steps involved in making this, but it can basically all be done ahead of time so all you have to do in the morning is throw things in a pot. Do the prep work during an hour of the day that you get along with, leaving only a small amount of work for the morning hour. 

Pumpkin Spice Millet Porridge with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries

Ingredients:

3/4 cup millet

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup milk, divided

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 Tbsp. pumpkin

2 Tbsp. dried cranberries

2 Tbsp. maple syrup, divided (or sweetener of choice, more or less depending on your taste)

3 - 4 Tbsp. toasted pecans, roughly chopped

Directions:

Toast the pecans in a dry skillet, tossing frequently, until fragrant and beginning to brown (about 10 minutes). Set aside. Toast the millet along with the pumpkin pie spice in a dry skillet, tossing frequently, until fragrant (about 10 minutes). Add 1/2 cup milk and all the water to a pot, along with the millet and the pumpkin. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, add 1 Tbsp. maple syrup and the cranberries, cover the pot again, and simmer until the millet is cooked through (10-15 minutes). Serve with a pat of butter, the toasted pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup, and split the rest of the milk between the bowls. 

I'm not saying this millet is my favorite breakfast of all time, that it will rock your socks off, or that every human on planet earth will fall head over heals for it, but I am saying that it's nutritious, tasty, and I recommend it if you like to start your day with a warm and hearty breakfast.  And if you're really not a morning person, or you never eat breakfast, I would first recommend you start eating breakfast : ), and if that doesn't work I'd recommend it for lunch!

By the way, this went very well with my coffee! 

Enjoy!

What I Ate Wednesday

I have said many times before that I'm a snacker, and I would still consider myself a snacker, but lately I haven't been that hungry. I've been basically eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and not wanting anything else. So here's a rather short post about what I ate yesterday with peasandcrayons.

Pumpkin Spice Millet Porridge with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries (stay tuned for the recipe!)

I didn't have any good greens for a smoothie, but I still wanted to drink my kefir. More power to you if you can drink kefir on it's own because I can't. I enjoy it in my smoothies but not by itself. This was kefir, cocoa, a banana, a scoop of peanut butter, and a few splashes of water. Yes, that was my lunch.

Dinner was a quinoa and wild rice warm Fall "salad" - This was so good I may just have to post this recipe too. Anyone interested? 

After Thanksgiving and all the leftovers that came with it I was really craving healthy, whole, fresh food. Yesterday's eats hit the spot and I'm so glad to be back on track! 

Happy Wednesday!