Learning to Dinner Plan

Menu/Meal planning for the week ahead has never been my strong suit.  I usually prefer to go to the store and see what’s on sale or what looks extra good that week.  This doesn’t always go well for me though, and sometimes can result in wasted food….which I hate.

However, last week was actually pretty good as far as meal planning goes!!

We only really cooked 3 days (out of 5, I don’t count the weekends in this), but I knew what was on the menu from Monday to Thursday.  It really did take a little weight off my shoulders knowing exactly what we were going to cook each night!

Monday: not technically a meal but I asked Brian go cook up some chicken however he wanted (grilled, sautéed, etc...), while I was at Crossfit. I love that he’ll cook if I ask him :) 

We each made our own meal with some of the chicken. I'm actually not sure what he had but he's very resourceful in the kitchen so I don't have to worry about him not having a good meal without me there to help.

I knew I wanted to make a salad that I saw in Cooking light that had arugula, tomatoes, chicken, and some crispy cooked prosciutto. It was a nice quick meal, and the salty crispy pieces of prosciutto were the best part.

(source)

Tuesday night I was going to make some tomato sauce. Brian requested it that weekend, so we bought some grass-fed ground beef and 2 Italian sausages to add to it for some protein and extra flavor. (side note: wasn’t a huge fan of the sausage, next time I’ll leave it at the ground beef, still tasty but not my favorite)

I don't really have a sauce recipe per say, but it almost always involves:

• lots of garlic, minced, added to the pan with the olive oil first.
• Then maybe some diced onion, possible carrot
• I add my meat here if I'm using it...usually ground turkey or lean beef
• A can of tomato paste, stirred in.
• A splash of red wine if I have it around
• Seasonings and herbs (whatever I feel like... dried basil, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper).  I don’t add much herbs though because I don’t want to take away from the tomato flavor.
• 1 or 2 cans of ground tomatoes, preferable San Marzano (I always stock up when they are on sale at Whole Foods)
• Bay leaf

Simmer on low, covered, 20-40 minutes, or longer if you want.
If its tasting too acidic for me, I'll add a teaspoon of sugar.
That's basically it. I'm not Italian, I don't have some secret family recipe, but this always comes out delicious.

I had a big salad at lunch that day so I was less worried about veggies tonight. I had a big bowl of sauce with some whole wheat penne.  I like less pasta and more sauce when I make a sauce like this!

Wednesday is usually dinner on your own as I go to Crossfit, and Brian has basketball.

Thursday we had Shrimp and Soba Noodles with Peanut Sauce!

I saw the peanut sauce/soba noodle recipe when Tina had it a couple weeks ago and it just sounded really good to me.

The recipe was from Runner’s World.  I sent Brian the link to start it, and I’d finish it when I got home.  Somehow he ended up at a different Soba Noodle with Peanut Sauce recipe on Runner’s Word…what are the odds!?  So I just adjusted it slightly when I got home.  The final recipe for the sauce was:

Peanut Sauce:

• 3T Peanut Butter
• 2T Water
• 4T low sodium soy sauce
• 1T honey
• 2T Chinese Rice Wine
• 1T champagne vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2T sesame oil
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

In a large sauté pan I seared 1lb of shrimp on med/med-high heat for about 2 minutes per side.  Set the shrimp aside, and cooked up 1 bag of broccoli slaw.  Once the slaw was tender I added the sauce, cooked for 1 minute, and added back in the shrimp, and the cooked soba noodles. 

Toss all together, and serve topped with chopped scallions.

BIG FAN of this!!!  SO flavorful!!  Plus pretty easy.  I can definitely see this one added to the rotation.  Plus you could add so many different veggies/proteins!

I need to figure out how to get better at this. 

Sometimes I’ll even sit down, go through cookbooks, magazines, blogs…etc, and nothing strikes me.  Or I can’t remember where I saw something.  It really depends on the week.

How do you keep track of recipes you see online that you want to try??  Everyone says “oh I flagged this”  or “bookmarked” it…what exactly do you do??  Do you just add it to your “favorites”?  Or is there some website that keeps track of these things??  Right now I even have just a Google document where I’ll copy/paste a link of a recipe I want to remember…but there’s GOT to be a better way??

We’re on the downhill side of the week!!  2 more days till the weekend!  Easter Plans??  What are you making for Easter??  Any good ideas?

Sesame Noodles

Like Glee last week…I feel like I’m in a funk.  My hunger/eating has been out of whack the past couple days and I feel like I have nothing to write about…so this is going to be a very sporadic post, in fact I think it will be a list!

1.  Just watched the season finale of Glee :)  I miss my performing days!!!

2.  Working later the normal the past couple days = missing workouts:(  Probably part of my hunger issue.

3.  Recipe for the Sesame Noodles I made for the BBQ this past weekend.

• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 T Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 T Brown Sugar
• 2 T Water
• 6 T Chunky PB (the natural kind is best!)
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 6T Sesame Oil
• 1 T Hot Oil

 

Combine above ingredients to make sauce.  I made the sauce in my mini-food processor to make mincing the garlic easier but probably would of been better in the blender.

I made this the day before.  The next day I added:

• 8 oz Linguini cooked (I used Whole Wheat)

• 2 Boneless chicken breasts, cooked (I left this out as there would be meats served at the BBQ)
• 3 Scallions, chopped
• 1 small cucumber, seeded, sliced
• 1 lb asparagus, cooked (steamed) and cut into about 1” pieces, but save a few spears for the top

• 5T Sesame seeds
• I also added chopped salted peanuts as a garnish

Notes:

• I forgot the water in the sauce, it still worked but I’m sure it would of been easier to mix.
• I used low sodium soy sauce as I usually do, but in this case I wish I didn't….I thought overall it could of used more salt.  Also used unsalted PB, so that didn’t help either.
• Overall still Delicious!!  Also very easy to make and assemble…plus it’s one of those dishes that gets better as it sits. 
• Not sure about the nutritionals here, but I’d like to try and lighten this recipe perhaps!
• I Doubled it for the BBQ

   

4. Now watching some DVR’d So You Think You Can Dance :)

5. Started working on a cake for my friends Bridal Shower this Saturday!  Can’t wait to share it…I’m going for a deep chocolate cake with a hint of orange.

Stress

All this house buying stuff is sucking the energy out of me big time!! I mean I knew it wasn't easy but this has got to be one of the most stressful weeks ever!! When lots of questions and information is thrown at you all at once, even not-so-big-deal things can seem like HUGE deals. Combine this with not being able to workout all week, and that just adds another level of stress and frustration.

Well the hard part will be over tonight when we finally sign the purchase and sale and hand over the deposit...then it's done! Hopefully there's not too much between tonight and the closing on June 8th.

I'm planning a big Friday night workout haha...no but really I am!

Now for a little delicious recap of some food highlights this week thus far.

I don't eat as much tofu as some of you guys, but I do like it! I particularly like it marinaded and grilled like my dad used to make. When I found the marinade recipe he used to use I was so excited.

The marinade is from this vegetarian cookbook that my dad bought back in the day when he went Vegetarian for a little while. The book is "The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen" by Marilyn Diamond and was published in 1990 (omg I can't believe that was 19years ago!!). It's funny though because it's called a "vegetarian" cookbook but after looking through it, its definitely more a Vegan cookbook! I wonder if the term "vegan" wasn't as widely used then?

Anywho, the marinade is simple and delicious. I don't remember exact proportions but the ingredients were: (I used 1 block of extra firm tofu)

• soy sauce
• dried mustard
• honey
• molasses
• garlic
• onion
• dash of cayenne pepper

This is a very flavorful marinade! I'll say that I think this time around that it was a little too salty. The recipe calls for low-sodium soy sauce but I had to use half low-sodium, half regular because I ran out! I think next time I may just use less and add some water or maybe orange juice!

The next night I grilled these babies up on my grill pan as it was raining outside :(

I love eating them in a sandwich or bun with a little BBQ sauce.

I've also been enjoying little servings of the Eddy's Slow Churned Mint Chocolate Chip! I still can't believe this stuff is low fat!

Looking lovely sprinkled with some rainbow JIMMIES! Yes they are JIMMIES! I will never call them SPRINKLES...at least never when it comes to ice cream applications. My roommate and I haven't his argument ALL the time.

What do you call them? Jimmies or Sprinkles??

Another delicious item of the week is corn. I am just starting to see corn on the cob at the grocery stores. I can't wait to see the HUGE bins of overflowing corn soon!!

Well I steamed a few ears up and put them in the fridge to eat during the week. I just cut the corn off the cob, added fresh cut tomatoes and enjoyed!

Usually this combination is perfect with some fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil, but I had no basil so I just ate it plain. They were perfectly flavorful on their own.

I enjoyed this corn/tomato salad with a turkey and tomato wrap on Joseph's Lavash bread, and sliced red bell pepper.

My final "item of the week" is PB!! I know nothing new, BUT lately I feel like I've been enjoying almond butter so much that I have sent peanut butter to the wayside! (what does that even mean...'to the wayside'...I don't know but it seemed fitting). I was super excited to open a brand new jar of my FAV...TJ's Organic Creamy Peanut Butter!

I enjoyed this for breakfast yesterday along with my favorite "jelly" TJ's Organic Raspberry Fruit Spread, 1 banana, and 1 slice of Arnold's Double Protein Bread (toast).

Ok so maybe I snuck some almond butter on 1/3 of the toast. What can I say? I love options!!

Mmm melty.

Well hopefully the stressful week is dwindling down, because we sign the Purchase and Sale tongiht so after that we're in! Well not in the house, thats the closing, but we're locked in with our $$$$$!!!

Talk about most expensive year EVER!!!! New house, our wedding, our honeymoon, 3 weddings I am in (so that means showers and bachelorette's), 2 other weddings to attend....and who knows what else!

It's almost friday, just keep thinking that:)

More Mail Box Fun and "Best" Muffins!

Let's start with an Eats Recap! Yesterday morning I had one of my favorite breakfast concoctions...a yogurt waffle bowl!
Oh yeah I added ONE choc chip on the hot piece of waffle (flash back to eating homemade waffles growing up...I ALWAYS put some chocolate chips in the little holes).

I used the remaining 0% Plain Chobani in the big container, added sliced strawberries, bananas, 1 Kashi Heart to Heart Waffle broken into pieces, and REAL maple syrup drizzle!Scrumptious!!

Lunch involved the last of my delish Roasted Veg's! and a half of a Flat Out Wrap with Honey Maple Turkey breast, dijon mustard, and lettuce...
And a mini container serving of TJ's Roasted Gorgonzola Crackers!Dinner! Leftover Pizza!!Plus a garden salad

• Green leaf lettuce
• 1 carrot
• orange bell pepper
• red onion
• crumbled TJ's bagel chips as croutons!
• Annie's Lite Honey Mustard dressing

Best Mail Week EVER!

super cute packaging :)

I first heard about these PB's on Amy's blog and IMMEDIATELY went to order some...like I didn't even think twice!!

These are made by a great little restaurant in San Diego called Spread. They have TONS of PB and AB flavors!!

I had to get three...it was a tough decision!No. 9: German Chocolate Peanut Spread - A delightful blend of milk chocolate, hand shredded coconut, and lightly crushed peanuts. Wonderful with fruit, but better just by itself!

No. 10: Blonde Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Spread - For the true peanut spread fanatic, we hand blend our creamy white chocolate peanut spread with house made peanut butter cups.

No. 69: Cookies & Cream Peanut Spread - A decadent and delightful treat, our cookies & cream peanut spread tastes great straight out of the jar. Make it the base for an adult milkshake!

These are definitely going to be saved as special treats...the jars we're a BIT smaller than expected haha:But I tried each one and they are truly like the most amazing dessert in a jar! Can't wait to further my tastings!

Banana Muffin Mix# 1538435...but we'll just call them
Choco-Coconut Banana Muffins

Roomie: "AMAZING muffins!!!!" and "I think they might be the best ones you've ever made!"

Yay Roomie!! I feel like I make banana muffins the most of any baked goods and I always tweak the recipes...but I always keep them full of Whole Wheat flour, low in sugar and fats and mix in other fun stuff!!

Ready to go in the oven!

Recipe:

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
1/2 c. APF
1/4 c/ ground flax
1/4 c. Almond Meal
1 t. Baking Soda
2 t. Baking Powder
1 t. salt
2 T Sucanant
1/4 c. unsweetened coconut

Combine in large bowl

Wet Ingredients:

1 T. Coconut oil
1 T canola oil
1 T honey
2 1/2 ripe bananas
Mash those together in a small bowl

Add:
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 t. vanilla extract
1 egg

Mix Wet ingredients.

Add Wet to dry, and then I added 1/4 cup of mini vegan chocolate chips!

Mix to combine, but no more!

Spray muffin tin with canola oil spray, fill the 12 cups using all the batter. Top with pinch of Raw sugar and more coconut.

Bake at 375 for 18min.
OMG they were SO SO good! Sometimes when I make my "healthier" muffins I find them to be better the next day when the flavors had time to develop more (specifically the banana), but theses were MONEY right out of the oven...YUM!!

Using the mini choc. chips was great because they got more dispersed even though I only used 1/4 cup!

TGIF! I am off to my mom's house after work to PUPPY SIT for Willow :) YAY!!!