Meal Plan 3

Okay, so remember when I made a meal plan 5 months in advance and said I would have to be flexible? This is one of those "flexible" weeks.  This week we have done a lot of various dinners with friends, etc.  Then one day we realized that we were swamped up to our eyeballs in leftovers and needed to cease all cooking until we could get said leftovers under control.  We hate wasting food, so we wanted to be sure to eat what we had before we started making new stuff.  Long story short, we only really made 3 solid meals this week.  But what a yummy 3 meals they were! 

A quick point of clarification:  This is not a food blog.  I know that every week that I am typing out the meals that Danny and I eat, but I am not attempting to recreate Julie and Julia, cook through an entire cookbook in a year, etc.  I'm not a fancy chef, nor do I plan to dissect an entire lamb.  I just love my husband, and my husband loves food, and therefore we make food and then we eat it.  Call me outdated, but I think that cooking is one of the important (and fun) components of being a wife....or someone who likes to eat!  Hopefully some of you are benefitting from these recipes, but if you aren't just let me know and I will stick to my sappy posts about the importance of love and unrequited optimism in the midst of a cold, dark world.  Ha ha.  Some of you may be thinking, "If this isn't a food blog, why have your last 3 posts been recipes?"  Touche.  I will try to post more non-food related posts!  But for now, here comes the food!

 

Meal Plan 3

Chicken Noodle Soup

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serving size: 4

Ingredients
• 2 cups egg noodle pasta
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
• ½-3/4 lb. cut-up boneless chicken meat, uncooked
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 celery stock, diced
• 1 cup peas
• 6 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add the pasta and cook it until it’s just about done—there should still be a light chew to it. Drain it and rinse in cold water until cool; set aside. (If you’re cooking the pasta in advance by more than 30 minutes, hold the pasta in a bowl of cold water or toss with a couple tablespoons of neutral oil).
2. Put the oil in a deep saucepan or casserole over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the cut up chicken meat to the pan, simmering until just cooked through. Add the stock and peas, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.
3.  Stir in the cooked pasta and heat until the pasta is hot and cooked through. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with the parsley and the Parmesan if you’re using it and serve.

Note from Allison and Danny: This soup was really yummy and had a very “clean/fresh” taste to it. By FAR much better than the canned stuff, and it really doesn’t take a lot of time.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Total Time: About 45 minutes
Serving size: 4-6

Ingredients

• Salt
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound elbow, shell, ziti, or other cut pasta
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups sharp cheddar grated cheese
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup or more bread crumbs

Directions

1.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.
2. Heat the milk with the bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When small bubbles appear along the sides, about 5 minutes later, turn off the heat and let stand. Cook the pasta in the boiling water to the point where you would still think it needed another minute or two to become tender. Drain it, rinse it quickly to stop the cooking, and put it in a large bowl.
3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter; when it is foamy, add the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture browns, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves from the milk and add about ¼ cup of the milk to the hot flour mixture, stirring with a wire whisk all the while. As soon as the mixture becomes smooth, add a little more milk, and continue to do so until all the milk is used up and the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the cheddar cheese and stir.
4. Pour the sauce over the pasta, toss in the Parmesan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to grease a 9x13-inch or like-size baking pan and turn the pasta mixture into it. Top liberally with bread crumbs and bake until bubbling and the crumbs turn brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve piping hot.

Note from Allison and Danny: Yum! When I told Danny what I was making, he said “Ugh, why? You can’t beat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, don’t even try!” After dinner he was singing a different tune. Kraft Mac and Cheese, there’s a new sheriff in town.

Simple Green Salad

Total Time: 10 minutes

Serving size: 4

Ingredients
• 6 cups torn assorted greens
• About 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• About 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Croutons
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Put the greens in a bowl and toss them with the oil, vinegar, a pinch of salt, and some pepper. Toss and taste. Adjust the seasonings as needed.
2. Add the croutons, top with parmesan cheese, and serve immediately.

Note from Allison and Danny: We’ve made this salad before (recipe listed in meal plan 1), but we can’t get enough of it!

Zesty Meatballs and Rice

Total Time: 25 minutes
Serving size: 4

Ingredients
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 6 Tbsp (1/2 of the pouch) Shake ‘N Bake Crispy Seasoned Coating Mix
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• ½ cup shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
• ¼ cup Catalina dressing
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 ¼ cups water
• 1 ½ cups instant white rice, uncooked

Directions

1. Mix meat, coating mix, carrots, and cheese. Shape evenly into 16 balls.
2. Cook meatballs in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 8 minutes or until evenly browned, stirring occasionally.
3. Add dressing, soy sauce, water, and rice; mix well. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 1 minute. Cover. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Note from Allison and Danny: This is one of our favorites! Danny did a great job cooking this meal, it has lots of flavor and can be made pretty quickly and painlessly!

Dessert of the Week

Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Cookies

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups oatmeal and chocolate chips

Directions

1.  Cream brown sugar, white sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs together with mixer
2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt
3. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Note from Allison and Danny: Us + cookies = LOVE

Appetizer of the Week

Homemade Guacamole

Ingredients
• 3 Haas avocadoes, halved, seeded, and pitted
• 1 lime, juiced
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp cayenne
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Directions

1. In a large bowl, place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat
2. Drain and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocadoes have been coated
3. Using a potato masher, add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash.
4. Then fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic.
5. Add 1 Tbsp. of the reserved lime juice.
6. Let sit at room temperature for one hour and then serve with tortilla chips.

Note from Allison and Danny: There is nothing in this world that’s better than homemade guacamole. Try it, I promise it will convert you!