May Menu Week 1 (vegetarian!)

So for the month of may we are eating vegetarian. First time ever for us as a family. I am interested in seeing if this helps our picky eaters (ahem everyone but me) branch out and learn to like new foods.

Now since we don't have a ton of vegetarian recipes we make on a regular basis, I am making a menu plan. It will be the only way we don't eat Mac&Cheese from a box way too often. Snacks will consist on popcorn, granola bars, fruit, cheese cubes, peanut butter lollypops, etc. I will not list them seperate.

Saturday May 1:
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Pancakes
Lunch:
Dinner: Lentil Tacos (will need to cut back on seasoning), grapes, sliced cucumber

Sunday May 2:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs on toast
Lunch: Bean Burgers, french fries
Dinner: Veggie Pie

Monday May 3:
Breakfast: cereal, milk, fruit
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie, fruit

Tuesday May 4:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Lemon Pepper Pasta (minus the spicy)

Wednesday May 5:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Black Bean Nachos
Dinner: Taquitos, guacamole, salsa, chips

Thursday May 6:
Breakfast: peanut butter toast
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Pasta with Alfredo, veggie, fruit

Friday May 7:
Breakfast: breakfast burritos
Lunch: Beans and Rice
Dinner: Fried Rice with Japanese 7 spice (if I can find it)


Subject to change, but at least I got the planning out of the way. Off to work on the grocery list so we can go grocery shopping!

Garden Update

Photo from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wild_strawberry-Amorodos.jpg

I cleared out the square foot garden in preparation for planting. The soil is about soft enough to work. Once we add a few bags of composted manure to the top, I will plant lettuce and spinach seeds.

Also, we started seeds indoors yesterday. We have two varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, sevreal different herbs, and wild strawberries. I am most excited for the wild strawberries. They will go out front and fill the place that currently houses weeds near the curb. That probably means they will be eaten by the neighborhood riff raff, but as long as they think they aren't strawberries I am home free. As you can see in the photo, they aren't like typical strawberries you buy in the store.

Sickies

We have had a bit of the sickies going around. That means we have eaten a lot of frozen pizza, Mac&cheese from a box, and spaghetti. Oh yes, its exciting times around here. Thank goodness I am gonna get some more food in the freezer. We have almost used up the food from my cooking day in December. Plus, what is remaining are things not loved by the establishment (as in my husband). I gotta find me some good Chinese food freezer meals. I guess that will be my goal for the weekend when I might have time to do things. You know, other than the middle of the night after feeding the baby.

Chicken cabbage stir fry

More chicken. I must be in an eating slump. I mean, I have a theme! Anyway, cabage has been on sale, and bok choy (also called Chinese cabbage) is great in this dish, but I have made it plenty of times with regular green cabbage. In fact, the first time I made it, I used cole slaw mix that I had forgotten about. Poor cabbage.

2 cups cooked chicken
1/2 head of cabbage or coleslaw mix
2 tsp canola or vegetable oil (not olive oil, it needs to get hot)
1-2 tsp fish sauce (clear stinky sauce on the Asian aisle of most large supermarkets)
1 Tbs soy sauce
salt & pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage. For the truly lazy, buy coleslaw mix. I prefer the slaw mix since I never know what to do with the other half of the cabbage.

Heat the a wok or large skillet on medium high. Add the canola oil and warm it. Then dump in the cabbage. Toss it around with tongs until the colors get nice and bright and the cabbage softens.

Add in the fish sauce and stir the whole mess around. Open the windows cause this stuff is fragrant and the husband will start complaining about dinner not being 'good.' Once the cabbage starts getting browned bits on it, add the chicken and soy sauce and heat them through. *For those that like the heat try adding sriracha sauce, its a garlic-y hot sauce.*

I always eat my stir frys with rice. Its the Asian in me. No, I am not really Asian, just adopted by a college roommate's family. She would encourage me to use pork loin instead of chicken. I would probably agree to if I didn't have so much chicken in the house.

Guh, guh, guh Garden!

So on Valentine's Day we had a nice romantic evening...ordering seeds on the internet. Yes, we are THAT romantic. Anyway, we ordered from Baker Creek cause I wanted to try some hierloom stuff and I figured Missouri was local (well as local as you can get when ordering seeds on the internet).

I was going to actually inventory the seeds, but apparently its bedtime and someone is whining that the light is on. Little whiner. I will do the inventory and the plan for the squarefoot garden, as well as my container plants soon. I love to dream of the non-frozen Tundra.

The seeds arrived THREE days after we ordered. With Monday being a holiday, I say these people ROCK. Now if only it would get warm enough that I feel ok dragging the kids outside. Oh, and I will have to want to be outside too.

March 1st I will be planting our sugar snap peas. Yes it will still be cold, but pea seeds don't care. They germinate when it warms up. Oh, and March 1st isn't a promise. I have a 6 week old and a 2 year old. Plus with my luck it will be snowing that day. As soon as i can work the soil I will be out there encouraging the toddler to run in circles and wear herself out. I need me some dirt therapy.

*now back to your regularly scheduled program*

PS, Baker Creek, if you want to show us the love and give us things we don't mind. For any readers out there...we didn't get any compensation from Baker Creek since they only know me as an order of random seeds made over the weekend. But I might be one of the few people that are planting beet seeds, so perhaps they do know me.

Chicken Farmer's Pie

I know, strange name. Its really what happened one night when I had cooked a bunch of chicken breasts and wanted something that could work in the freezer. Thus Chicken Farmer's Pie was born. Its not really a pie, but that's ok.

1 - 1.5 lb cooked cubed chicken breasts (2-3 cups if that helps)
1 (16 oz) bag of frozen broccoli
1 (10 oz) cream of broccoli soup
4 cups cooked mashed potatoes
Paprika to garnish
2 T butter, optional

Mix the chicken, frozen broccoli, and cream of mushroom soup together. I find cream of broccoli soup to be extremely stinky, and almost pitched the whole thing then, but decided to hope for the best.

Put into a 9x13 pan. Top with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle paprika on top.

Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes until hot and the potatoes and paprika start to brown.

Add a couple of table spoons of butter to the top, if desired, right out of the oven to melt.

To make for the freezer. Don't bake it. Cover and freeze.
To serve: Thaw. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes (it takes longer chilled than when you make it room temperature).

Verdict: Strange, but good. Go figure. Awfully white on the plate though.

Marinated Asparagus

Its just about time for asparagus to be in season. There is a local pick your own farm that we went to last year in April/early May. Yum, asparagus. Way better fresh than canned.

From All You magazine, November 2004
Serves 6, about 5 spears each

2 lb fresh asparagus
2 T olive oil
1 t sugar
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 t red pepper flakes

1. Snap off woody ends. Place asparagus in enough water to cover. Boil for 3 minutes or until tender crisp and drain.
2. Plunge asparagus in ice water. Arrange in a 9x13 baking dish.
3. Wish together olive oil, sugar, vinegar, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cover and chill for 8 hours. Drain before serving.