Menu

Monday - A version of beans and rice using up extras in my fridge

Tuesday - House church gathering - Tim is making a beef roast of some kind and broccoli, and I'm making pretzel rolls
                                                                                                   
Wednesday - Spicy shrimp sauteed with cabbage, homemade bread

Thursday - Caramelized fennel on herbed polenta

Friday - Baked French onion soup

Saturday - Hot ham and provolone sandwiches, peas

Sunday - Corn fritters, sausage patties, fruit


Happy cooking!

Apple Peanut Butter Oats

This breakfast has been waiting a long time to be made. I had this idea months and months ago, maybe even a year, and for some reason I never got around to making it. I have no excuse either because it's rare that I don't have all of these ingredients sitting around.

What actually triggered me to make this (besides the note I've had on my computer all year) was that I wanted to prepare breakfast for the next day the evening before so I could sleep a little longer in the morning. I even prepared most of Marshall's lunch ahead of time (which I typically do in the morning) so that I could get up after he showered just in time to have breakfast with him before he left for work. Muesli is a common make-ahead breakfast around here but I wanted to send him with that for part of his lunch and didn't want him to have to eat it twice in one day. 

That's when I remembered about this idea I had oh so long ago, and I had just purchased some good looking apples for the first time in a while. I typically buy apples year round since Marshall likes them so much, but this year they just really weren't good during the Summer so I mostly stuck with seasonal fruits. These were the first good looking and affordable apples I've seen in a while. 

I wanted there to be just enough milk in this to thin out the peanut butter so that the oats could soak in it. It's not intended to be like a bowl of cereal or muesli, but more like apples and oats coated in a peanut butter "sauce".

The verdict: Love! Healthy, fast, tasty, and ready to go as soon as you wake up if made the night before. Marshall liked it as well so this will be added to our breakfast list. 

Apple Peanut Butter Oats

Ingredients:
1/2 a medium apple, finely diced
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple syrup

Directions:
Add the peanut butter to a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of the milk. Whisk until combined. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk and all other ingredients, stir well, cover, and refrigerate overnight.


Enjoy!

Menu

Monday - Pasta with tomato sauce -- Hadn't gone to the market yet and I had no vegetables. Oh well.

Wednesday - Southwest stuffed sweet potatoes

Thursday - Corn cakes, sausage patties, and fruit

Friday - Kaesespaetzle, sauteed kale

Saturday - Salsa chicken, rice, broccoli

Sunday - Creamy chicken crepes, not sure about a veggie

A 5 Day Menu

Monday - Tuna cakes with creamy chive sauce, steamed cauliflower on the side

Tuesday - Spaetzle (this recipe but without the cheese) sauteed with sweet potatoes and onions, peas on the side

Wednesday - Trader Joe's Mandarin orange chicken served over rice, roasted cauliflower on the side

Thursday - House church night, not scheduled to cook.

Friday - Tuna noodle casserole (no mushrooms or Parmesan, and I won't make it "skinny")


This is the first day of school at Georgia Tech for the Fall semester. It's hard to say "Fall" semester because it's still so hot, but I can still feel Fall coming and it's getting me excited about soup season! Nothing reminds me of my childhood more than eating homemade soup and bread on a chilly day when the sun goes down before dinner. Not to mention pumpkin season is right around the corner! Can't wait to make curried pumpkin pasta with chicken peas and toasted walnuts!

Lemon Shrimp and Herby Cream Cheese Sandwiches - No Cooking Required!

My biggest challenge with this recipe was finding the cream cheese.

Though this recipe is very simple, finding the cream cheese was harder than my previous statement might imply. This is another recipe that I made up while in Bristol, but at the time of my brainstorming I wasn't actually sure if cream cheese was a thing there.

I didn't care if it was popular or if I would peg myself as American by purchasing it, I was just hoping to find it.

After wandering the grocery store aisles (not just one store, but three) a couple of times I was almost convinced it didn't exist there. This didn't make sense to me though because I had been reading a magazine on a previous day that was full of recipes and some of them called for cream cheese. I figured it must be somewhere.

The mission went on.

A couple of days later while walking around looking for something totally unrelated to cream cheese, I stumbled upon an end cap full of little packages that looked like they belonged to Philadelphia cream cheese! There was full fat, reduced fat, and several different flavors. It looked much like a section I might see in any American grocery store, except I had one concern. It wasn't called cream cheese. It was called soft cheese.

I ended up deciding that it must just have a different name and I went forward with my purchase. My pregnant self was skeptical to even taste it because there are many soft cheeses that I do not like and I didn't want to have an unknown and unpleasant taste in my mouth. Much to my delight, after one little lick of the knife I knew it tasted just right. I carried on preparing these shrimp sandwiches wondering what the reason might be that we call it cream cheese and they call it soft cheese.

Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything. But I could also never figure out why we say umbrella and they say brolly, we say eggplant and they say aubergine, and it was hilarious when people called my husband lad.

Oh the joys of England : )

  

Lemon Shrimp and Herby Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:
2 big rolls
1/2 lb. frozen cooked shrimp, thawed
Lemon juice from half a lemon
4 oz. cream cheese
1-2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
Smoked paprika
Salt to taste

Directions:
Toss the shrimp with the lemon juice and some salt. Add the fresh dill and basil to the cream cheese and combine well. Cut your rolls in half, spread on some cream cheese, top with a pile of shrimp, and garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

Enjoy!

Menu

Tuesday - Roast chicken and sweet potatoes, peas

Wednesday - Quinoa sausage bites, roasted sweet potatoes, sauteed kale

Thursday - House church night! I'm not cooking this week

Friday - Knephle soup - A version of chicken dumpling that I grew up eating and love!

Saturday - Whole wheat penne with steak and balsamic Dijon sauce, broccoli - I recently discovered this recipe and this is already the third time I am making it. Love it!


I will be posting another no-cook recipe later this week!

Salmon Salad - No Cooking Required!

After finding out upon arrival in Bristol that I wouldn't have a kitchen, I was shocked.

My first thought was that I wouldn't be able to prepare any food at all, but after some consideration and Pinterest browsing I realized that I actually had quite a few options.

This recipe came about when I decided I wanted to make chicken salad (with canned chicken) only to find out that every grocery I could find didn't carry it. Marshall is not a fan of tuna (though he does enjoy these Tuna Cakes with Creamy Chive Sauce), so I didn't really want to make a tuna salad. Salmon was the next protein to cross my mind, and it turns out there is a plethora of canned salmon being sold in Bristol. Salmon salad it was.

After throwing this together (but before tasting) I realized that I hadn't made something like this before, didn't follow a recipe that claimed to be life-changing, didn't follow a recipe at all for that matter, didn't taste it at all during the process of making it, and I had no idea what it was going to taste like. It is a very simple recipe, but I was suddenly hesitant to taste this fish salad before me. 

Thankfully, after the first taste I loved it! No adjusting required and I was looking forward to dinner.

This was the first meal I prepared for us while we were there, and it turns out that of all the things I prepared during that month, this was definitely my favorite! 

You'll have to pardon the not-so-great pictures since I was working in an area with no windows...

Salmon Salad

Ingredients:
2 cans Salmon, drained (about 12 oz.)
2-4 tablespoons mayo, depending on how creamy you want it
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon capers
Kalamata olives, quartered (optional)
dash of salt

Directions:
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust.

Serving:
I served this on top of a pile of greens with tomatoes and olives that I dressed with balsamic dressing to make a great salad, as well as sandwich style with crescents.

Both styles of serving this were delicious, and we ate this a few times while in Bristol. It will now be a go-to cheap seafood dinner, especially for hot days when I don't want to cook!

I'm Back with a Menu! Recipes to Come

After a month in Bristol with essentially no kitchen (Just a microwave and a toaster) I am SO happy to be cooking again.

 

There was definitely some good that came out of having no kitchen though. First of all, it forced me to take a break from cooking and enjoy my surroundings in the UK.

And second, I now have a few recipes to share with you that require no cooking at all! No microwave, no boiling water, no oven, nothing. Just a few basic tools.

I'm looking forward to sharing those recipes, but in the meantime I will just share my menu. This menu is partially the past and partially the future, so obviously the first part about the past won't change, though I don't have a completely set plan for the coming days. It will be close to this though.

Wednesday (first dinner home after a month away) - Herbed lentils, fondant potatoes, and sauteed cabbage

Thursday - Homemade pizzas with friends -- One deep dish, one thin crust, watermelon agua fresca to drink. and a delicious chocolate pudding for dessert -- Yum!

Friday - Penne with steak and balsamic dijon sauce, sauteed cabbage and homemade bread on the side -- This dish was great, though it may have ruined balsamic vinaigrette on salad forever because I now know how delicious it is on steak and pasta. This sauce is a basic balsamic, olive oil, dijon dressing, so now it will seem boring on salad : )

Saturday - Probably the same thing as Wednesday

Sunday - Turkey quinoa meatballs with a basic tomato sauce, roasted broccoli, and mashed potatoes

Monday - Crockpot cabbage rolls

Tuesday - Broccoli cheddar quinoa


So there you have it. First menu in a long time! And you can expect a recipe in the near future : )