Meal Plan for the Week of 12/27

Last week for Christmas Eve, I made a delicious meat pie…

I didn’t think I’d like it because I’m not a huge fan of meat, in general, so a pie that mostly consisted of it did not sound appealing. However, the potato mashed into the pie, spices, and grated veggies made the texture and flavor very different from anticipated. YUM.

Sunday night, we went to Chili’s to watch the Patriots game. Since we ate such a filling meal at lunch, we only had snack items for dinner on Sunday.

Monday night (tonight), I made a chicken Caesar salad with homemade croutons.

Tuesday night will be a Tex Mex Calzone.

Wednesday night will leftovers of the Tex Mex calzone.

Thursday night (New Year’s Eve) will consist of a variety of appetizers starting around lunchtime. I’m serving chips and veggies with French onion dip, crackers with a cheeseball, cream puffs, bruschetta on slices of baguette, soft pretzels with a mustard dipping sauce, Parmesan nut melts, and blue cheese and pear tartlets.

Friday will be leftovers of the above (or a frozen pizza if there isn’t enough).

Saturday will be grilled cheese with tomato soup.

 

If you’d like to see more photos, please donate to my Patreon (as little as $1 a month) so I can upgrade this site- I’m running out of space!!! Cat videos will also happen if I get enough donors. 🙂

 

Thanksgiving Meal Planning

Thanksgiving Planning

Time to start figuring out what I’m making Jimmy & I for Thanksgiving! Since it’s just the two of us (the cats only like the turkey), we can’t have as many options…for example, we have to choose only one pie!

Let’s see…

Brined Grilled Turkey

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes

Blueberry-Cranberry Pie

Applesauce

Cranberry Sauce

Relish Tray

I’ll definitely be making a cookie, too. So, I need to pick what kind.

Jimmy doesn’t like stuffing, so I need to decide if it is worth making or not. I may just opt for dinner rolls of some sort.

I’d also like to make a recipe I haven’t tried yet. Not sure what that will be.

What sorts of things do you cook on Thanksgiving? Any interesting dishes your family makes?

Menu this Week

This week I wasn’t supposed to be in Virginia, but car trouble kept me here. Consequently, I had to throw together a meal plan (and didn’t get around to posting it on the board) and do some last minute shopping.

Sunday- Salami Roll-ups, Dill Pickle Bites, Sausage Squares

Monday- Chow Mein Noodle Casserole

Tuesday- Leftover casserole

Wednesday- Jimmy’s chicken, salad, mac n’ cheese

Thursday- Hot Dogs

Friday- Pedros

Saturday- Leftover Pedros

 

Meal Planning: Week of November 8th, 2015

The reader poll shows that you’d like to see more posts related to food, recipes, meal planning, etc…

Here’s my meal planner for this week:

Sunday- Autumn Salad (herbed goat cheese, walnuts, apples, craisins, spinach, raspberry vinaigrette)

Monday- Chicken Caesar Wraps & Rosemary Fries

Tuesday- Mom’s Chicken, Salad, Bread and Roasted Cauliflower

Wednesday- Pasta with a creamy tomato sauce, Garlic Bread, Salad, and Meatballs

Thursday- Leftovers from Wednesday

Friday- Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Celery & Carrots

Saturday- Leftovers from Friday

Lunches- Chicken Nuggets & Fries, Cottage Cheese with veggies & crackers, PBJ sandwiches

What are you making this week?

Thanksgiving

Kitchen helper: Miles

Menu:

Afternoon-

Relish tray (see photo)

Cheese & crackers

Chips & onion dip

Sugar Cookies

Cream Puffs

Evening-

Grilled turkey

Mashed potatoes

Applesauce

Cranberry sauce

Stuffing

Winter salad

Buttermilk thyme biscuits

Pumpkin pie with (homemade!) whipped cream

The peanut butter pie (so good) was served on Wednesday, and the blueberry on Friday.

The day consisted of cooking, cleaning, playing Civilization V, fire creation and football.

Day Before Thanksgiving: Brine, Cats, and Johnny Sausage

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, so this morning we made this delicious-smelling brine:

And now I am working on a peanut butter pie- which we’ll eat tonight. Since it’s just the two of us, we are getting a head start on all the food-eating.

The cats are getting really good at the toilet-paper-roll-on-door enrichment. I had to replace the old roll with a new one, this one is more complicated with less holes for the treats to fall out of.

Fred took the lead and was able to get about half the treats out. Miles took over the second half. Fred’s tactics were elegant and swift.

Miles was more clumsy and forceful.

But, in the end, they were both victorious.

It snowed in Yet-to-be-named Lego Winter Village.

Johnny Light Sausage was confused by the snow. It makes sense that it snows plastic in a Lego world. Johnny inspected the snow carefully with his tongs.

His new neighbors will be arriving shortly- that will be even more confusing.

 

 

 

My May Naturebox

Surprisingly, we’ve stuck with Nature Box since November. This month, I opted to make my own decisions on what items to get instead of the surprise.

Despite them screwing up my request, this was definitely my favorite box so far- I enjoyed every option. Nature Box lets you make a “pantry” of item you’d like and then they pull from that list, in order. I made the list, but when I looked at my box pistachio “power clusters” and cashew “power clusters” were back-to-back. So, I went in and swapped the list around. They said I still had several days left to change it, but apparently that wasn’t true. They were both good though. Jimmy also like the entire box- which was unusual! My favorite was the yogurt-dipped pretzels.

More Sunday Night Comfort Foods: Chow Mein Noodle Casserole

This past Sunday we had yet another of my Sunday night comfort-food-that-creates-leftovers-for-Monday favorites called “Chow Mein Noodle Casserole”.

This is another one of those meals that you can easily swap around ingredients or add to in order to make it suit your personal preferences.

 

Basic Ingredients:

• Rice (I use white, but you could replace it with another kind)
• Ground meat (I use turkey, but pork or beef would do fine…you could also go sans meat and ramp up the veggies)
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 2 cans Cream of…. (I use cream of mushroom, but easily swapped, try to picky a yummy one though, it can make a difference)
• Soy Sauce
• Chow Mein Noodles (leftovers from last week’s haystacks?)

Extras I use (you could easily leave these out):

• Slivered almonds (you could swap these for another nut, or just leave out)
• Water chestnuts
• Shredded Carrots
• Seasoning: ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder
• Celery (only when I have it in)

Other ideas:

• Mushrooms
• Bamboo shoots
• Bean Sprouts
• Baby Corn

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cook rice according to package directions.

3. Brown meat and onion.

4. Get a big mixing bowl and combine: seasonings, soups and soy sauce.

5. Slowly toss in everything else (except the chow mein noodles), mixing as you go.

6. You’ll have a giant sticky, delicious mess.

7. Pour said mess into a very large casserole dish (9×13 works well).

8. Flatten and sprinkle with lots of chow mein noodles.

9. Bake for around 20 minutes.

10. Eat leftovers bits in bowl while you wait (maybe that’s just me).

 

Sunday Night Dinner: Hawaiian Haystacks

A couple weeks ago, I posted about making a Chicken Alfredo Casserole and in that post, I mentioned a dish I make often that generates good leftovers called Hawaiian Haystacks. Someone asked about the Hawaiian Haystack, so here is a post about it.

First off, there is nothing Hawaiian about a Hawaiian Haystack. The Hawaiian is merely a reference to one of the ingredient- a pineapple. It is a western US dish that also goes by the name of Chicken Sundae.

Hawaiian Haystacks are an odd mix of ingredients, but oh-so-good. Additionally, I put them in the same category as “tacos” they are super flexible and are easily customized to fit your personal taste.

Here’s what you do:

– You cook up some chicken, however you’d like (last night, I baked mine with some seasoning); you can also buy a cooked chicken from the store

– Make a pot of rice, I use white rice, but you could use wild or brown to make it a tad more healthy

– Layout your spread of delicious toppings. Here is what I use: Craisins, olives, chow mein noodles, pineapple, green onions, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and slice almonds. However, there are loads of variations on this…I’ve seen celery, raisins, coconut, mandarin oranges, sauteed mushrooms, peas and bell peppers. Likewise, you can use any sort of cheese you’d like. The chow mein noodles and pineapples are sort of staples (as they are the “haystack” and the “Hawaiian” part of the equation). Jimmy prefers his without the “hay”, but extra “Hawaiian”…I like lots of “hay”.

– Now, it’s time to make the gravy. I use butter, flour, chicken broth and sour cream, but there are plenty of other variations out there….some use cream-of soups and milk for example. It’s sort of like the taco seasoning and salsa, if we were to continue that comparison. The chicken is shredded and added to the gravy/sauce.

I follow this recipe: Picky Palate. And I would suggest that for your first attempt, leaving out the ingredients you don’t like. After that, experiment!

– Next you assembly….take a bowl, add a couple heaps of rice,dump the chicken/gravy mixture on top to flavor the rice, add a bunch of toppings- each person can choose their own, like a taco, and enjoy!

Sunday Night Comfort Food

On Sundays I try to make something that will generate leftovers for Monday, since Jimmy observes on Mondays. Casseroles, Hawaiian Haystacks, and Tex Mex calzones are the norm. This weekend, I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest for a Chicken Alfredo Casserole.

Normally, I’m not a huge Alfredo fan…I mean…it’s fine, kinda plain, but I’ll eat it.

This dish came out really good for me. I loved it. It hit the comfort food spot nicely. I wanted to curl up on the couch under a blanket and watch tv.

 

You can find this casserole at Mommy’s Kitchen.

I opted to serve mine with a spinach salad (got add some healthiness!) and a dinner roll.

 

Can’t wait for tonight’s leftovers!

NatureBox Review: December Discovery Box

What is NatureBox?

You may have seen NatureBox, or something similar, advertised on Facebook. Subscription Boxes are a fairly new (and awesome!) trend and are popping up literally everywhere! In the past, I have purchased from FairIvy, a subscription service that specializes in handmade goods. However, since FairIvy boxes are pricey, I have only purchased a couple individual boxes. NatureBox is the first subscription that I’ve actually signed up for.

NatureBox delivers 5 full-sized snacks to your door every month for $19.95 (there are other plans available as well). The snacks are quite healthy and minimally processed. You can choose a “Discovery Box” (5 random snack items) or you can pick your favorites to be included in your box.

Why Did I Get a NatureBox Subscription?

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a sucker for the subscription box idea. It’s like getting yourself a monthly present! Particularly, when you have no idea what is going to be inside! On the other hand, I am frugal and skeptical. I’ve wanted to try out NatureBox for a long time, but didn’t want to signup for the $19.95 a month.

Their Black Friday deal got me! $1.97 for my first box (shipping included). It was my only Black Friday purchase. How could I refuse that?

I signed up for the $1.97 box, fully intending on canceling the subscription after the fact. I have the will and organizational powers to do so, so I wasn’t worried.

Our First Box (December)

Our first box contained:

• Acai Berry Crunch Granola
• Praline Pumpkin Seeds
• Oat Bran Dippin’ Stix
• Citrus Chipotle Chickpeas
• Dark Cocoa Almonds

All packages were around 4 to 5 ounces which was several servings for each of us (if you don’t eat a ton all at once). The snacks are pretty filling and flavorful, so they lasted awhile for us. The sizes are comparable to similar snacks at the grocery store.

The Value

Obviously, for $1.97 this was a steal! For their normal price of $19.95, I’d say the box was price pretty fairly. Granted, it’s not as cheap as your everyday snacks…but for the kind of snacks these are…containing nuts, gourmet ingredients, healthy, etc… I think the price is actually pretty good. The flavors aren’t always ones you’d find normally. It has the added benefit of getting you to try new foods, and guarantees you will find healthy snack alternatives in your cabinet!

The Yummy Factor

Obviously, the most important part of the review! I personally liked all the snacks. There wasn’t one I wouldn’t eat. The Oat Bran Dippin’ Stix were my favorite. But the cocoa almonds and praline pumpkin seeds were delicious as well. The Chipotle Chickpeas could have had some more kick, but were still pretty good. The granola was a bit too sweet, but perfectly enjoyable nonetheless.

Jimmy really liked the granola and the pumpkin seeds, but he didn’t like the chickpeas all that much and hated the dippin’ stix. Both do have a certain flavor that I could see easily not liking if you are normally not a fan of these things. If you like other dried chickpeas or any sesame sticks you’ll probably like similar snack in this box.

Will We Remained Subscribed?

I was pleasantly surprised by the snacks in this box. I wasn’t anticipating liking *all* of them, but I was expecting to be disappointed with the amounts. We are going to stay subscribed for at least another box. If the snacks start appealing more to Jimmy, I will replace $20 of our monthly grocery budget with this subscription. If Jimmy remains unconvinced, we will cancel.

Coupon!

If you decide to sign-up for NatureBox anytime soon, please use this coupon code: 9H28A. It should get you 50% off your first box (and it’ll get me a discount on my next box too!).