Weekly Menu

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This week will be kind of quiet -- a welcome respite from past weeks with my back injury and multiple birthdays. College boy is coming home for the day on Sunday and he requested Chicken Parmesan. He also requested Linguine and Clam Sauce for the same dinner, but I do have my limits. I have a funny story about the Supreme Chocolate Cheesecake that was supposed to be served on Thursday for my birthday boy. I'll get around to the story, but in the meantime, I've scheduled the cheesecake again for Sunday. Dessert on Tuesday and Wednesday is to celebrate the feast that day.

If you see something you'd like the recipe for, just holler.



Saturday
Lunch: Skyline Chili
Dinner: Homemade Pizza, milkshakes

Sunday
Lunch: Cinnamon Bun Bread, Ham and Egg Cups
Dinner: Chicken Parmesan, Linguine and sauce, bread, salad, Supreme Chocolate Cheesecake

Monday
Lunch: leftover pizza
Dinner: Brown Sugar Pork Chops, Mashed Winter Squash, Cornbread

Tuesday -- Feast of St. Katherine Drexel
Lunch: Macaroni and Cheese
Dinner: Tortilla Soup, Cheese Quesadillas, Indian Pudding

Wednesday -- Feast of St. Casimir of Poland
Lunch: Wendy's chili
Dinner: Eggs Benedict, fruit and yogurt, Polish Sugar Cookies

Thursday
Lunch: Scrambled Egg Sandwiches
Dinner: Grilled chicken, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, bread, fruit

Friday
Lunch: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Dinner: Bechamel Lasagna (meatless), bread, green beans

* Tried and true
* New to me

Crab Cakes

Yesterday's birthday boy requested, for his birthday dinner, crab cakes, garlic mashed potatoes and salad. Pretty easy supper, but not cheap. I swallowed my inner cheapskate and hardly looked at the price. Well, it was less expensive than dinner out, at least a nice dinner out. The recipe I use for crab cakes makes really good crab cakes, not those crab cakes you sometimes get that are just breading and egg and a little crab. These are not Krabby Patties. These are real deal jumbo lump meat crab cakes. They are most definitely reserved only for celebratory occasions.

They are, however, Simple Simon to make. Just start ahead of time because they need to chill for a while. The recipe calls for 24 hours, which I think is a little excessive. I would say 6 to 8 hours is good. This recipe comes from a fine local eatery, Cameron Mitchell's. Mitchell's has many restaurants, but they recently sold our favorite restaurant, Fish Market, to Ruth's Chris, and I was lucky to find the recipe (And it is the authentic recipe, in case you are wondering. No knock-offs.). The sauce is not Mitchell's, because I couldn't find it, but it was very good.

My birthday boy was in crab cake heaven, and the rest of us enjoyed them, thoroughly, as well. I doubled the recipe and fed 6 of us very well. You could easily serve 8.

Sorry -- lousy picture. Awesome crab cakes.

Cameron Mitchell's Crab Cakes

½ pound of jumbo lump crabmeat
½ pound lump crab meat, shells removed
2 T. mayonnaise
1 T. Guldens brown mustard
dash of Worcestershire Sauce
dash of Tabasco
1 T. Italian parsley, chopped
1 T. scallions, chopped
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of white pepper
1 whole egg
dash of lemon juice
1/3 cup (plain) breadcrumbs
4 T. vegetable oil (or butter or, even better, butter/oil combination)


Combine all ingredients, except crab meat.
Stir in crab meat; let mixture sit 24 (6 to 8) hours in refrigerator.
Form into 4 oz. crab cakes (I used an ice cream scoop)
Sautée cakes for 2 minutes on each side (or until golden brown)
in oil.


Dijon Sauce

1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/2 c. Sour cream
1/2 c. Mayonnaise
1 tbsp. white wine
1/4 tsp. mustard powder

Mix mustard, sour cream and mayo.
Add dry mustard and white wine.
Stir to combine and refrigerate until ready to use.




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Meatless

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I am republishing my post from Lent last year, and have added to it the meatless meals I have posted since then.

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Cooking during Lent is a challenge for most people (well, Lent is suppose to do that to us, isn't it?). We all grew up with a handful of meatless meals to choose from, some of which we'd rather forget. And, if you're like me, you don't go for those pricey, but delicious, pieces of fish, when your Friday meal is supposed to be sacrifice. I know I'd love to dive into a steamed lobster with clarified butter on meatless Fridays, but I don't indulge in that normally, so I won't indulge during Lent either.

I've listed here some of the meatless meals that I go to all year long. Some of them are "mine" (i.e., I've posted them before) and some are links I've saved. I've tried them all, though, so I know that they are good.

Seafood:
Deviled Crab (serve with toast points or rice, and a salad or green vegetable)
Paula's Cajun Fiery Shrimp (if shrimp is not so expensive for you)
Linguine and Clam Sauce (we just have a loaf of crusty bread for this dish)
Incredible Tuna Pea Salad
Salmon Tetrazzini (very budget friendly, serve with a green salad)
Penne and Vodka Sauce (try Deborah's Farmhouse Cheddar Muffins with this)
Shrimp Fried Rice and Egg Rolls
Asian Salmon (maybe you'll find a good deal; I serve this with white rice and some stir-fried veggies)
Cornmeal Crusted Catfish Nuggets (serve with macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes and a vegetable)
Salmon Nicoise Salad (the use of canned salmon in the recipe makes it not an indulgence in my book)
Shrimp Scampi Pizza (there are very few shrimp on this pizza, so it's not really very indulgent)
Hot Pepper Shrimp (again, if shrimp are abundant where you live, this is not a splurge)
Light and Spicy Fish (very good, serve with some garlic mashed potatoes and a green vegetable)
Salmon Patties (always served with baked macaroni and cheese and peas in our house)

Pasta:
Bow Tie Lasagna (just a salad and some good bread balance this meal out)
Gnocchi and Fontina Cheese Sauce (plan a green salad to go with this dish)
Linguine and Clam Sauce (we just have a loaf of crusty bread to go with this dish)
Noodles with Garlic and Breadcrumbs
Potato Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce
Bucatini and Fontina Cheese Sauce
Stuffed Shells
Cheese Ravioli with Balsamic Browned Butter

Beans:
Cuban Beans and Rice (leave out the ham -- you won't miss it)

Grains:
Grits and Tomato Gravy (just serve these with some scrambled eggs and a fruit salad)

Vegetables
Carrot and Squash Bake


Cheese:
Welsh Rarebit
Chilaquiles (this would be good with a Mexican cabbage salad or a Bean and Corn Salad)

Soup:
Split Pea Soup (just leave out the ham)
Cream of Cheese and Broccoli Soup (use vegetable broth instead of chicken)
Crock Pot Potato Soup (use vegetable bouillon)
Clam Chowder (serve with some good cornbread)

Breakfast for dinner:
Overnight French Toast (serve with a fruit salad)
Blueberry French Toast

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Weekly Menu

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This week we have another birthday -- our second son turns 17. It is so hard for me to believe that my little babies are growing up. If you have little ones around, enjoy their littleness now -- it lasts for such a short time.

Our birthday boy has asked for quite the grown up meal, I think. He has always been a good eater. He tries foods that the others won't and generally eats almost everything (although all my kids have issues with celery -- what's up with that?). I think he has developed what I call "grown up taste buds." He enjoys flavors that most children don't enjoy and I can see that his likes have matured over the past year or two. For his birthday he requested crab cakes. The recipe I use is from the Cameron Mitchell Restaurants based in Columbus. They are awesome, authentic crab cakes, and are very expensive to make. I'll be preparing some budget meals for the rest of the week to allow for such a splurge. Later in the week, I'll post the crab cake recipe with pictures and I'll post the recipe for the chocolate cheesecake he has requested also.

Monday
Lunch: Macaroni and Cheese, chicken nuggets
Dinner: Cornmeal mush, Scrambled eggs, canned peaches

Tuesday
Lunch: Shrovetide pancakes
Dinner: Ragu alla Bolognese with Pasta, bread, green beans, King Cake

Wednesday -- Ash Wednesday
Lunch: Cheese, bread, and fruit
Dinner: Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowls, yogurt and fruit

Thursday -- Birthday Boy
Lunch: Baked potatoes
Dinner: Crab cakes, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, salad, Chocolate Cheesecake

Friday
Lunch: Grilled Cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Dinner: Chilaquiles, Bean and Corn Salad, Lime jello with shredded carrots

* Tried and True
* New to me


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Happy Birthdays

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I've been a lousy blog host this week and I apologize. I completely wrenched my back last weekend and I've been in pain all week. I tell ya, there is nothing like back pain to put pain in perspective. Though I managed to get a dinner on the table there was nothing fancy going on in the kitchen -- we ate to live last week, and nothin' extra.

I'm feeling a bit of relief today and am hopeful that I will improve each day.

Peach had her birthday last week and Joshua has his birthday this week. So, in the middle we planned a joint party with the grandparents. Pizza was the plan but there was no way I could do homemade pizza with my backache. We ended up ordering chicken fingers and cole slaw, and one grandma brought potato salad, while the other brought a fruit salad. I managed a cake. It was all good and I was glad we went ahead and had the party.

Originally I was asked to make cupcakes (Peach placed the order). She wanted cupcakes that looked like ice cream sundaes. Cute concept, but at the last minute I realized we had only 2 cupcakes papers. I switched to a bundt cake pan and frosted it to look like an ice cram sundae. The kids were happy and the cake was tasty.



I used this recipe for the cake (it's just a doctored up cake mix, but it has a good taste and texture -- and it gets nice and high). Since it's a cupcake recipe -- just pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes. The recipe for the frosting was a standard decorator frosting*. I added a little extra milk so it would be really fluffy and creamy -- to look like whipped cream. To decorate with cherries, make sure you drain them on paper towels for about an hour so all the juice runs out before you put them on the cake. Add some chocolate jimmies and you have an ice cream sundae cake. We had the real ice cream on the side.

*The frosting was roughly, 4 T. butter, softened, and 4 T. Crisco, beaten together with 4 cups powdered sugar and 1 t. vanilla. Add enough milk (several tablespoons) to make a fluffy, soft and creamy frosting. If you go overboard on the milk just add some more powdered sugar to get the consistency you want.


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Weekly Menu

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This week is Peach's birthday. My baby is turning seven. I swear it was just yesterday that I told my husband that the rabbit died (at the time we had a pet rabbit, so he was very confused!). She chose her own meal, and we'll all have to choke down hot dogs, just for her. I'll have mine with chili sauce, please!



Saturday
Lunch: Skyline Chili
Dinner: Pizza

Sunday
Brunch: grab a bite after Mass
Dinner: Porcupine Meatballs, mashed potatoes, steamed cabbage, applesauce, Creme Brulee

Monday
Lunch: Bagels and cream cheese
Dinner: Fast White Bean Stew, bread, Lincoln Log Cake for President's Day

Tuesday -- Peach's 7th Birthday
Lunch: Chili
Dinner: Hot Dogs, French fries, cole slaw and Chocolate Cake with Pink Cherry Frosting
(this meal choice is clearly the work of a seven year old)

Wednesday
Lunch: soup and sandwiches
Dinner: Deep Dish Shrimp Scampi Pizza, Salad, Rice Krispie Treats

Thursday
Lunch: Tuna Bean Salad
Dinner: Paula's Hash Brown Quiche, Lemon Poppy Seed Bread, fruit

Friday
Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas
Dinner: Bechamel Lasagna -- meatless with salad and bread, sherbet and cookies

* Tried and true

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I promised I'd post this recipe this week, and I'm squeezing it in before I get to my weekly menu. This is a really yummy version of Sweet and Sour Chicken, and I think pretty authentic, at least as far as American-Chinese goes. It does not involve an unnatural red sauce, which is a plus in my book. It does involve ketchup, so if you're a purest with ingredients, better keep moving. Ketchup doesn't bother me much.

One of my boys is a real fan of all things Chinese and this is one of his favorite recipes. He eats about three portions -- it's that teenage boy hollow leg thing. It takes a while to make, because you have to fry the chicken in smallish batches, but it's worth it when someone you love enjoys it so much.

I think I got the recipe way back when I was a new bride, from an international cookbook, but I've altered it so much over the years, I think it's mine now.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

1 egg, beaten
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. dry sherry
1 t. sesame oil
½ t. salt
4 chicken breast halves, cut in 1"pieces

2 T. cornstarch
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup sugar
4 carrots, sliced crosswise
1 red pepper, diced in 1" pieces
15 oz pineapple, drained (reserve juice, above)

½ cup flour
½ cup cornstarch
2 cups oil + 1 T.

Mix together egg, 1 T. soy sauce, sherry, oil and salt.
Add chicken and stir.
Refrigerate 30 minutes or more.

Dissolve cornstarch in red wine vinegar and
mix with chicken broth, sugar, pineapple juice, ketchup and 1 T. soy sauce.
Set side.

Preheat 2 cups oil in wok at 375.
Mix 1/2 c. flour with 1/2 c. cornstarch.
Drain chicken and dredge in flour mixture in small batches
(about one quarter of the chicken at a time)
Fry chicken in hot oil, in small batches, until lightly golden browned
and done in the middle.
Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels.

When all the chicken is cooked,
drain oil from wok and wipe with a paper towel.
Add 1 T. oil and heat over high heat.
Stir fry vegetables for 1 to 3 minutes until slightly softened.
Add chicken, pineapple, and sauce.
Cook until sauce is thickened.

Serve with white or brown rice, or Chinese noodles.


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Bread Pudding

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A few weeks ago, I posted a cake recipe that I mentioned would be great if your husband is inclined to call and say he's bringing the boss home for dinner (does anyone do that anymore?). It's also great for weeknight dessert, potlucks, and birthdays.

This recipe, however, is for when your husband calls and says he's bringing home the boss and the boss' wife. Because no matter how good a cake is, I wouldn't serve a doctored-up box cake to the boss' wife. I'm just that insecure.

This recipe is just as easy as that cake, and just as yummy, but it most definitely says homemade. You likely have all the ingredients in the house, too. I use any old bread (and old bread, as long as it's not moldy, is great in this recipe), even buns or cinnamon bread. I wouldn't use savory bread, like something with garlic or strong cheese, but just about anything else is good. When I was making it the other night, I had some buns leftover and some almost-stale sandwich bread.

The original recipe called for putting pieces of banana in the pudding (in fact, it was called Banana Bread Pudding) -- probably two cut up bananas. But, my kids are not big banana eaters and so, after the first time, I have never included banana. If your gang likes bananas, include it -- it's a great combo and a nice way to get fruit in them for dessert.

Bread Pudding

4 cups day-old bread, cut in 1" cubes
¼ cup butter, melted
3 eggs
2 cups whole milk
½ cup sugar
2 t. vanilla
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. salt




Place bread cubes in a buttered 2-quart casserole.
Pour butter over bread and toss.


In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs;
add milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.


Pour over bread cubes and stir to coat.
Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 50 minutes
or until knife inserted in centered comes out clean (not wet with liquid custard).
Cool slightly and serve warm with vanilla sauce.


Sauce:

3 T. butter
3/4 c. milk
2 T. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan.
Combine sugar and cornstarch and add to butter.
Stir in milk and corn syrup.
Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil.
Boil for one minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla.
Serve immediately over warm bread pudding.


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Weekly Menu

Saturday
Lunch: Skyline Spaghetti
Dinner: BBQ Chicken Pizza and Pepperoni Pizza for the "old man," Paula Deen's Lime Cheesecake

Sunday
Lunch: Bacon Birds' Nests, Blueberry Smoothies (found here)
Dinner: Santa Fe Pork Chops and Firecracker Salsa, baked potatoes, bread

Monday
Lunch: chicken soup
Dinner: Hamburgers, oven fries, fruit, Brownies
Tuesday
Lunch: Lunch pizzas
Dinner: Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice
(I'll post this recipe)

Wednesday -- Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
Lunch: Pancakes
Dinner: Lemon Roasted Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower, French Bread, Gaufrettes

Thursday
Lunch: Quesadillas
Dinner: Green beans, Potatoes, and Sausage, Beer Bread, Frosted Lemon Cookies

Friday
Lunch: Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Dinner: Ravioli in Balsamic Browned Butter, salad

* Tried and true


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Lettuce Wraps

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This week I tried this recipe over at Mennonite Girls Can Cook. I am surprised by the different foods prepared by the women who contribute to the blog. Really good-looking stuff. I suppose I had a preconceived notion of Mennonites eating plain, simple dishes. There's quite a variety of food there -- stop by sometime.

These wraps were really good. My kids loved them, my husband loved them, and I really enjoyed the simple prep. What an easy dish (inexpensive, too!). And while I don't think it would qualify as real Chinese, it was close enough to get the idea, but far enough away that my kids ate it, no questions asked.

I made a few modifications, to add a little more authentic flavor. My changes are included in the recipe as written below. There was some talk between my husband and my high schooler about wishing it had been chicken and maybe some chopped peanuts next time. I think I'll try 100% white meat ground turkey next time as a happy medium. Also -- I was a little confused by the term "steamed fried noodles." I could find no such product at the store. I did find some stir-fry noodles, made in China, which I used. They were fine but really not much different than Ramen. I might try Ramen next time (you just add them crunchy).

Lettuce Wraps

1 large head iceberg lettuce (or butter lettuce)
1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
2 carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
1/4 c. chicken broth
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. dark sesame oil
2 or 3 cups steam fried noodles
1 bottle hoisin sauce

Core head of lettuce.
Hold upside down under cold, running water;
gently pull the leaves away from the core, one at a time.
Each leaf will form a natural cup.
Remove excess water from leaves and chill in refrigerator until needed.

Brown ground beef in heavy skillet.
Add ginger, garlic, peppers, carrot and onion.
Fry until veggies are tender.
Add chicken broth and
sprinkle with soy sauce and sesame oil.
Add the steam fried noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes longer
(noodles should still be crunchy).
Transfer mixture to serving bowl.

Place bowl on table, alongside a plate of lettuce leaves and bowl of hoisin sauce.
To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf
and top with hoisin sauce.
Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito
and eat with your fingers. Yum!



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Cup o' Tea?

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I have a bunch of yummy foodie posts in my head, or in the recipe box, as the case may be, honest I do. But there are just not enough hours in the day to get them posted here (or maybe I just cherish a long winter's nap too much). I'll (hopefully) get to them this weekend. I always (like in the last 18 months that this blog has existed) swore this blog would not just become a dumping ground for my menus, but, alas, it has become just that.

I promise. I promise.

In the mean time, I'd like to turn you on to a lovely cup o' tea. My friend Deborah sent me a box of this gold last year. I treasured every single one of those tea bags and have thought of them longingly since the last one disappeared. What I didn't know is that I can actually buy this lovely Irish tea in my own hometown, thanks to World Market. I don't shop there much, since it's not a made in the USA kind of place, but they do have California wines, and occasionally there is something that I really like that I can't buy anywhere else (this soap for one -- I like Lavender -- which for some reason is not available online-- but I only use it on my face so a whole bar lasts six months).

Anyway, I was shopping for soap and happened over by the teas where I spotted Barry's. I was so excited, the kids thought I was nuts. And, I have been enjoying a cup every afternoon since. What a treasure! (Get it? Gold? Treasure? Ah, forget about it.)



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