Menu #17

The menu for these two weeks is a little short. This is a busy time for us. We are in the middle of choir rehearsals for Good Friday services at church, so we have practice twice in these two weeks. We go grab a bite on those nights. We are also  going to one of the gymnastics meets at U of A as well as a production at Walton Arts Center. Those are nights out as well, at least for a quick burger or pizza. By the way, if you ever get a chance to attend a college gymnastics meet, you really need to do that. They are super-fun, and the athletes are amazing! Anyway, hopefully there will be enough suggestions here to help you at least get started on your planning.

Teriyaki chicken, fried rice, egg drop soup

For the chicken, I mix up the teriyaki sauce. The recipe from food.com that is linked is actually for some pork. I just use the proportions to make the sauce. I also usually make it ahead of time so that it is ready for me to use. Mix it up in a jar or some other container that you can just shake. The fried rice was some that I had frozen from an earlier meal. This is another one that I don’t quite have a “real” recipe for. I have a modified recipe that I use. I have linked one from therecipecritic.com that is similar to mine. I usually don’t put veggies in it when I am cooking the stir fry, but I will probably add some in this time since I am just doing the teriyaki chicken. I also add some white pepper and sesame seeds in mine. As far as the soy sauce goes, I don’t measure it out. I pour it in until it gets the color and consistency I want. Start small and work up. The biggest key to good fried rice, in my opinion, is cold rice. I cook mine the morning of and put it in the refrigerator until I am ready to cook it that evening. Trust me – it will make all the difference. I have made egg drop soup, but usually we purchase this from a local restaurant to finish out the meal.

Brown Sugar-Glazed Salmon, Creamy Spinach Noodle Toss

I enjoy fish that is not too “fishy”. Salmon is one of those. I buy a bag of individually packaged filets from Sam’s. These are just the right size and thickness. This recipe from tasteofhome.com is a nice, easy way to create a delicious weeknight dinner. It only has a few ingredients and you probably have these on hand already. 

The side dish comes from the 2011 Taste of Home Cookbook. I could not find a link to the recipe, so here it is:

1 ½ cups uncooked egg noodles

2 bacon strips, diced

2 tsp. Finely chopped onion

6 ½ tsp. All-purpose flour

¾ tsp. Salt-free seasoning blend

⅛ tsp. Salt

Dash of pepper

1 ¼ cups 2% milk

1 pkg. (9 oz) fresh baby spinach

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon and onion over medium heat until bacon is crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels to drain. Stir the flour, seasoning blend, salt, and pepper into drippings until blended; gradually add milk. Bring to boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add spinach, cook and stir until spinach is wilted. Drain noodles; add to the spinach mixture, along with the cheese; toss to combine. Sprinkle with the bacon mixture. 

I will say that I usually use a few more noodles than this and I have used regular fresh spinach as well. You might want to cut it up just a little. The recipe says it for 4 servings, but I think it is closer to three or less.

Maple Pork Chops, rice and gravy, broccoli

This is another one of my Taste of Home recipes out of one of my cookbooks. It’s a nice, easy pork recipe that’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The recipe is linked from blogger.com. I don’t plan for rice and gravy very often, but my husband really likes it. You can cook rice or use instant rice, and I just use a package of brown or turkey gravy. Some steamed broccoli can round out this meal.

Breakfast (french toast, bacon, hash browns, eggs)

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal, especially if I can go out for it. However, I do like to cook it for dinner occasionally. We usually do this on a Sunday evening before heading back into the work week. The carb I fix varies. Sometimes it’s pancakes. Other times it’s waffles. This time it is french toast.

I just use my own recipe. I get some french bread and cut thick slices and put them on a sheet pan.  I mix an egg and about 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk for every two pieces of bread. Once I have that mixed up, I add a little sugar and anywhere from a half to a whole teaspoon of vanilla, depending on how many slices of bread I have. If you have more than about four or five, you will want more sugar and vanilla. I mix all of that together and spoon it over the bread. I turn the pieces over several times to make sure I have it saturated. Then I cover with some plastic wrap and put in the fridge. I usually do this in the morning if it is for that night. If I am cooking it for breakfast, I do this the night before. Take the pan out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to start cooking. Heat a large non-stick pan on the stove or heat up a griddle. Melt butter in the pan or on the griddle. Put several pieces on to cook. Once they are golden on one side, flip them and cook on the other side until golden. Serve with syrup or powdered sugar. Or both!

I like to cook bacon in the oven. I heat it to 400 degrees F. I put the bacon on a rack on a sheet pan. I let it cook for about 20 minutes. It depends on how done you like it.

Sometimes I make homemade hash browns and sometimes I buy frozen ones. It depends on the time you have. I usually add some onion to ours when I cook them. For the eggs, I make scrambled eggs for me and fried eggs for my husband. When you plan for a breakfast, you make whatever you and your family likes best.

Hamburgers, fries

I don’t think this one needs any explanation. We do like to make homemade burgers and season the meat with steak seasoning and Worcester sauce. I usually buy frozen fries and cook them in the air fryer. They come out nice and crispy and there is no mess with the oil. They are also a little healthier for you. Also, if you don’t normally toast your hamburger buns, you might try that. It just gives the burger that little extra flavor component. Also try some sweet and spicy jalapenos on there instead of pickles if you like a little heat. Yum!!

Chicken Lo Mein, spring rolls

I guess I must be on an Asian flavors kick for these couple of weeks! I do love some good Chinese take-out lo mein. Cooking it at home is a good thing too. My original recipe that I use from a cookbook was not available online, so I have linked a similar one from dinnersdishesanddesserts.com. It has mostly the same ingredients. The original recipe does call for 2 cups of fresh baby spinach. It makes a nice addition to all the other vegetables. I do have to say that you can’t beat egg rolls or spring rolls from a restaurant or food truck, so that is what I suggest for this meal.

Ribs, potato salad, ranch beans

This is a meal that does not require a lot of prep or cooking the way we do it. The ribs are some that I have in the freezer.  Anytime my husband uses the smoker, we make sure that it is full since that thing is a pain to clean. We just portion and freeze. So all I have to do is thaw out some ribs. You can also find pre-cooked ribs at the grocery store. The beans are just canned ranch-style beans. We call them Cowboy Beans because that is what my kids’ daycare called them. All that’s left is to make potato salad.

I have shared the potato salad “recipe” before, but here it is again in case you need it. I just eyeball the ingredients. I can tell you the ingredients I use and how I mix it up, but that’s about it. I peel and cut up russet potatoes (you decide how big a batch you want to make) and boil them. I also put an egg in there to boil at the same time (my MIL taught me that). Once they are cooked and drained, peel the egg and chop it and add to the pot. Then I add mayo, mustard, sweet pickle relish, salt and pepper and stir it all up. I start with small amounts and add additional if needed until it is the color and taste that I want. You can always buy potato salad too, but homemade is SO good. We actually like to eat our potato salad warm, but I know many do not. If that is the case, if you are making homemade, just make it ahead of time and chill.

Margarita Chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob

This is a wonderful grilled chicken to have on a warm evening, but it’s good anytime. The recipe is in one of my Taste of Home cookbooks, but it is also online at tasteofhome.com. The recipe requires nonalcoholic frozen margarita mix. If you can’t find that, just use frozen lemon-lime drink mix. Bake some potatoes nice and slow so that they are soft and fluffy – I usually bake mine at 350 degrees F for about three hours – and boil or grill some corn on the cob, and you have a wonderful summer time – or anytime – meal. 

Ham Carbonara, fruit

I decided to try this recipe from, you guessed it, Taste of Home, because I have some leftover ham in the freezer from Christmas. It is pretty heavy on the veggies, so if you want to use a little less, that’s up to you. It is a great way to get a lot of veggies in a meal without fixing an additional side dish. Since it has so many veggies in it already as well as pasta, some light fresh fruit on the side rounds out the meal nicely.