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Menu plan for the week

As I go back to being a stay at home mom (now to 3 instead of 1) I have to rework my cooking/grocery shopping habits again. I was successful for a few weeks cooking down all the food in our freezer and pantry and still working on the pantry. The twins who are now 8 months old are still eating pureed food, but starting to eat little pieces of things like cheerios, steak and brownies :) Luckily for now, they eat anything I put in front of them. Let's hope that keeps up! Karina, who is 3, is a pretty good eater. She, like all kids, goes through stages of I hate "x" and then loves "x" the next week.

We just came back from a trip to Boston, so our fridge was fairly empty. I made an easy pantry meal last night for our first night before our groceries were delivered this morning from AmazonFresh - Pasta with a tomato pumpkin sauce. For the sauce I just poured a jar of tomato basil sauce into a saucepan, added about 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin, 1/3 cup of fat free 1/2 and 1/2, 1/2 tsp ground coriander and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until heated through and pour on cooked pasta. I added some frozen peas as well for a little more veggies. However, Karina has decided this week that she doesn't like peas (used to be her favorite!). At least she got some veggies from the pumpkin + tomato. I got the highest praise, "Mamma, I like the sauce. I'm going to eat all my pasta!"

Tonight, we are having some chicken with rice and edamame. I haven't decided yet how I am going to cook it, but probably will bake the chicken with a soy glaze (soy sauce, molasses and ginger), make the rice in the slow cooker and microwave the edamame. Simple and quick.

Tomorrow night is frozen pizza with salad and some frozen corn heated up in the microwave, Sunday is going to be ground turkey with some curry + apricot jam on top of couscous to which I'll add some frozen peas + diced dried apricots. Monday I'm going to go for some salmon, risotto and edamame.

Tuesday night is going to be Thanksgiving night. Whole frozen turkeys were on sale for .88 per pound so I bought a 14lb one that is in my fridge defrosting. Will make enough food for many meals, which I will post about later.

I am trying out various menu planning tools and this is the one I'm using this week: http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html I'll let you all know how it works. Hopefully more posts to come now that I am not working outside of the house!

Everyone seems to be talking about kale this week :) One blog I follow, Frantic Foodie, recently highlighted a recipe for Kale chips. At my bookclub last week the conversation was all about kale and cauliflower. So I've never been a big fan of either, but in the spirit of getting Karina to eat healthy food I'm willing to try new things. My guest blogger for the day is my friend Amanda (mom of 2). Here are some recipes she uses. I plan to try them out soon...I tasted the cauliflower delight and it was delicious (and I don't usually like cauliflower or mayo)! Thanks Amanda!

Cauliflower delight!
Cut the thick stalk from the underside of Cauliflower
Place in microwave safe dish and add 1/2 cup of water
Cover and microwave for 6 minutes.

Prick with fork to check for tenderness...
if cooked to your liking, spoon a mixture of 1/4 cup mayo and 2 TB dijon mustard on top of cauliflower and then 1/4 cup grated cheese (cojack or mild cheddar)
Return to microwave for 45 seconds to warm topping and melt cheeeeeeeeeezzzzeeeeee
yum.


Easiest Kale Salad EVER (also from Cynthia Lair -- below)

One head of Kale, rinsed and chopped
tsp cooking oil (oil is optional-- you can cook kale with the water left on it from rinsing. This sort of steams it. Just as good and even easier)

dressing:
3 TB seasoned rice vinegar
1 TB sesame oil
1 tsp hot pepper oil
1 tsp maple syrup

2 TB sesame seeds

Cook over med-high heat stirring around the pan until bright green and 1/3 original volume.
toss with sesame seeds and dressing. good hot and cold

**If kale is a little strong in flavor for you when you first try it, you can toss it in boiling water for a few minutes (like 3)... just until the bitterness goes away. Keep tasting it. there seems to be a magical minute where it still tastes fresh, less kale-y, but not blah from being overcooked.

Massaged Kale and Currant Salad

Recipe reprinted with permission from "Feeding the Whole Family" (third edition) by Cynthia Lair (Sasquatch Books, 2008). FeedingFamily.com. *** the above cookbook is so good--- totally changed how I cook and shaped my ideas about feeding kids.. Cynthia Lair is awesome.

Serves 6

Bastyr University adjunct faculty member Jennifer Adler contributed this recipe. Jennifer likes to make a large batch of this salad to ensure that she has dark leafy greens ready when busy days are ahead. It tastes better as the days go by.

Preparation time: 15 minutes.

1 bunch of kale

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/3 cup dried currants

3/4 cup diced apple

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons unfiltered apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

De-stem kale by pulling leaves away from the stems. Wash leaves, spin or pat dry. Stack leaves, roll up and cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade). Put kale in a large mixing bowl and add salt. Massage salt into kale with your hands for 2 minutes.

To toast sunflower seeds, put in a dry skillet over low to medium heat and stir constantly for a few minutes until they change color and give off a nutty aroma.

Stir onion, currants, apple and toasted seeds into kale. Dress with oil and vinegar. Taste for salt and vinegar, adding more if necessary. When at desired flavor, toss in cheese. This salad will keep for several days and still be great!

The other favorite recipe from childhood (that takes about 20 minutes start to finish) is .....

"Pepper steak!!!!!

put 11/2 cups rice/ 3 cups water on to cook

SAUCE:

mix 1 TB maple syrup and 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 water and 2 TB corn starch in a bowl--

cut up 2 carrots, 1 crown of broccoli, green peppers (or red or orange) onions, a few small thin matchsticks of ginger.

thinly slice a small serving of beef...

Stir fry veggies in a pan or wok with a little oil over high heat. Keep moving in pan so they cook but don't burn.

Remove veggies from pan and set aside.

Add beef and stir fry that around until barely undercooked.

Add Veggies and sauce to beef and continue to cook until sauce thickens.

Serve over hot rice and enjoy