Menu Tuesday

Oops. I had no intention of taking an almost month-long blog hiatus, but as it sometimes does, life just got in the way. I had a major project at work due on January 16, cohosted a baby shower the next day, and then woke up last Tuesday with the flu. I haven't had the flu in probably 10 years and I forgot how it just sucks the life out of you. Yuck.

But here I am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to get back into my routine. First things first: catching you up on all the recipes I've made in the past month. Brace yourselves, because this post is a doozy.

 Flounder Piccata with Spinach (Cooking Light March 2008)

This one is an old standby. I'm not sure I've ever made it with flounder; I usually use tilapia since I always have frozen tilapia filets on hand. I served this with a box of Near East pine nut couscous.

  Black Bean and Cheese Tacos (Everyday Food, June 2011)

I have several binders at home in which I've filed all the recipes I've torn out of magazines over the years. Every time we have a meal from Everyday Food I go through a mini-period of mourning for the magazine's untimely demise. It was the BEST. Martha Stewart, I am still a little pissed at you for pulling the plug on it. Please bring it back. Please?

Anyhoodle, M actually made this recipe and declared it to be very easy. It was quick and really filling, although I thought it could've used just a little bit more salt.

 Pepperoni Bread (I have no idea...I need your help!)

Our next-door neighbor and his girlfriend gave us the BEST Christmas gift in the form of the pepperoni bread. It was readymade with instructions for baking. I put it in the freezer and as soon as we had a night when I just didn't feel like cooking, I fired up the oven. I know I'm going to enjoy anything that comes with the instructions "baste with butter." In the interest of trying to be health-conscious, I basted with olive oil instead.

OMG IT WAS SO GOOD. Does anyone have a recipe for pepperoni bread? Our neighbor travels all the time and his girlfriend lives out of state, so I haven't been able to track down her recipe yet. This would be such a great Super Bowl food. Help a girl out!

 

Burrata Pizza Pie (What's Gaby Cooking)

I'm not sure I even need to tell you how good this was. My favorite homemade crust + burrata + prosciutto + basil. Yeah. That speaks for itself.

 

 Camarones Al Mojo De Ajo (Summer is a Verb)

Another old standby around here. Also this is shockingly popular on my Pinterest. It gets repinned all the time!

I happened to have everything on hand to make this and it always tastes like a little plate of summer to me. This time I took the seeds out of the jalapeno and that was a mistake. We both like it better with the spicy kick.

 

Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon (Skinnytaste)

I used thyme instead of rosemary because I had some leftover fresh sprigs on hand. I'm always surprised by how good (and easy!) a simple roast chicken is and this one didn't disappoint. M was SO EXCITED to have roast chicken on a weeknight, which was cute and hilarious. The leftovers make excellent chicken salad.

 

Chicken, Shiitake Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup (Skinnytaste)

This recipe is in my top-5 favorites from Skinnytaste. I've been making it for us since before we were married. It's so yummy and comforting. It was made even better with the leftover brown molasses rolls I had stashed in the freezer.

 Oven "Fried" Breaded Pork Chops (Skinnytaste) and Braised Red Cabbage with Vinegar (Bon Appetit October 2010)

The pork chops were great, but holy goodness, the cabbage! Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I have always loved cabbage. Such an underrated little vegetable. There are so many recipes for braised red cabbage out there, but I wanted one that was simple and not too heavy on the caraway. This recipe from the inimitable Lidia Bastianich was perfect.

 

Skinny Spaghetti Squash Alfredo (The Comfort of Cooking)

Another repeat for us. Now that I feel like I have finally mastered cooking spaghetti squash, I really need to branch out, but this preparation is just so freaking good! It's so filling and easy and tastes much more decadent than it actually is. I knew it was a good sign when I pulled these out of the oven and M said, "Oh yeah, you've made these before!" If he remembers a meal, it's only because it was worth remembering.

 

Creamy Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli (Budget Bytes)

Yet another home run from Budget Bytes. For those of you with kids, I would imagine this would be a hit. It's almost got a ranch type of flavor profile going on. It's a one pot meal and it's so darn simple.

 

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili (Budget Bytes)

I love white chilis. They're my favorite. And while this recipe isn't quite as good as my favorite (Texas White Lightening recipe from Southern Living a million years ago...this says February 2003, but my recipe is from a cookbook published in 1994), it was still pretty delicious. And spicy (which we like)!

 

Three Cheese Zucchini Stuffed Lasagna Rolls (Skinnytaste)

These are great, although I have a bone to pick with lasagna rolls. These type recipes are always advertised as SO MUCH EASIER than regular lasagna and I'm calling bullshit. Regular lasagna is way easier. You just layer. What is easier than that?  When you have to roll, I inevitable end up with a few noodles that fall apart (see the middle roll on the bottom) and filling starts seeping out the sides and it's a mess. I love this recipe, but honestly, I think it would just made it as a normal lasagna in the future. Anyone else feel this way?

  

Salsa Poached Eggs and Grits (Budget Bytes)

M was trying to so hard to be helpful when I was sick and he offered to make dinner one night. This was one of the recipes that I had planned and I thought it would be pretty easy for him to execute. That was not the case. (I love you, honey! You are really awesome at making breakfast!) The eggs ended up being overcooked and I was so exhausted from helping in the kitchen that I only ate a little bit of it.

I wasn't super impressed with the meal, but I'm not sure if that was the recipe's fault or just extenuating circumstances. It gets a second chance.

 

 Bagel Bites

After the previous night's disaster, I just really wanted Bagel Bites for dinner. WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD?

 

NOT PICTURED:

We hosted a few friends for New Year's Eve and I made a batch of Ina's Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya. A few thoughts:

1. The fact that Ina's estimated serving size is 6-8 helps me understand why she is such a large woman. Seriously. One recipe of this filled two Dutch ovens, fed 5 adults for dinner, and we still had enough leftover for 2 dinners and 2 lunches. And we are not a group of dainty eaters. Ina, I'm impressed. And horrified.

2. I used a can of diced tomatoes in placed of the cup of seeded, diced fresh tomato. This was a mistake. The extra liquid made the rice a little overcooked, gummy, and wet. It bothered me. Next time I would either reduce the amount of other liquids, or just use the diced fresh tomato.

3. I am the only person who was bothered by this. Everyone else loved it. Especially topped with the bacon hot sauce my MIL put in M's stocking.

 

Last Friday we had tickets to a hockey game, so we scarfed down Budget Bytes' BBQ Beef Stuffed Baked Potatoes in a hurry and I forgot to take a picture. Lucky for you, I've written about these before, so you can see a picture and read my review there.

 

If you've made it this far, congratulations on suffering through an epic amount of terrible food photography!

Menu Monday

 Tomato Soup with Bacon Grilled Cheese (Martha Stewart)

Last week we officially turned the corner from glorious fall weather to what I call pre-November weather. November in Vermont is gross. (Clearly I am an expert, having spent all of one November here). But that impression has been confirmed by many others who have seen more than their fair share of Vermont Novembers. It's just gross and cold and rainy/sleety/not-pretty snowy. So what was supposed to be last week's Soup Sunday got bumped to Monday night. It was soup weather and this hit the spot. Note that the recipe only makes one serving, so I doubled and found that the soup actually made more like 3 servings.

 

Farro and Sausage Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash (Skinnytaste)

Gina can do no wrong in my eyes. This was easy and delicious. I used finely chopped Trader Joe's sweet chicken apple sausages because it seemed extra fall-ish. Only complaint is that there wasn't enough stuffing. I would double the stuffing next time (although that would clearly negate some of the skinny status).

 

The Best Lasagna Ever (Pioneer Woman)

 It really is the best lasagna ever. I've written about it before. M pretty much always requests this for his birthday dinner. So when we had 3 of his players over for dinner last week, this was what I made. Normally I split the recipe into 2 8x8 pans: one for us to eat now, one to freeze for later. Even then, we typically have leftovers (it's so rich and heavy). I made a full pan this time and we had one tiny piece left. Not pictured is the two boxes of garlic knots that they demolished, an overflowing bowl of Caesar salad that disappeared in record speed, and last week's peanut butter pie. College athletes eat a ton of food.

Vegan Red Beans and Rice (Budget Bytes)

 I feel like including vegan in the title of this recipe may scare people off, but it really shouldn't. There's no frankenfauxmeat or any funky ingredients involved. It's just a naturally vegan recipe when you leave out the sausage and use vegetable stock. I made this last year for Mardi Gras and honestly it's kind of shocking how much meat-like flavor the smoked paprika adds. It seriously tastes like there's some sort of delicious smoked pork product in there, but it is completely animal free. I highly recommend you take up Beth on her suggestion to add a little bit of coconut oil to each serving.

Spicy Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce (Martha Stewart)

This recipe was huge in the preppy blogosphere in 2009. It's an old fall favorite in our house. I struggle to get the right balance of spice. If you leave in all of the jalapeno ribs and seeds, it's a little too spicy for me. But if you take them all out, it's not hot at all. I'm still trying to figure out the perfect amount. I use half of a rotisserie chicken here.

Also, I apologize for the gross picture, but WARNING: do NOT use Trader Joe's canned pumpkin for this. For some reason, their canned pumpkin has a lot more liquid than other brands and it made for a really soupy sauce. Hence the gross picture. Normally the sauce is much thicker. Lesson learned.

Five on Friday

source

1. I had big plans last Sunday for doing some fall decorating at our place, but ended up spending the day watching a 7 hour marathon of 'The Killing' and nursing a painful hangover. That little project has been moved to this weekend and I'm kind of leaning towards a white vibe. White mums (although I am majorly digging the dahlias here) in the window box planter and white pumpkins flanking the door. I will probably chicken out at the last minute and stick with the more traditional autumnal palette. Martha makes this look tres chic, but I'm afraid it will just look tres boring and uninspired.



2.  We are just few hours away from Quebec City and I am DYING to stay at the Hôtel de Glace. There's something very James Bond-meets-Dr. Zhivago chic about ice hotels. They just seem so cool (har dee har har).

3.  I once read an interview with Ina Garten where she mentioned her favorite cookbooks and immediately added them to my never-ending Amazon wishlist. I am a bit of a cookbook collector (my husband would probably use the term 'hoarder') so I'm always curious to see what is on other people's shelves. My sister-in-law gave me this particular tome for my birthday this year and it is delightful. As the weather has started to get cooler here, I've been cozying up with it on the couch the past few evenings. I have yet to cook anything from it, but Sarah Chase's tone is kind of hilarious. She's endearing and quirky, but also a bit of a snob. Somehow it just works, like she's one of those friends who is a bit ridiculous and you roll your eyes at, but love anyways because they're just so genuine and darn likeable. Also, I can see why Ina is a fan. Girlfriend is not afraid of butter and cream.

4. I bought all of the materials necessary to try my hand (again with the puns) at galaxy nails this weekend. I am thinking this is going to be a disaster of epic proportions.

5. Totally reasonable to spend $800 on this guy, right? I mean, he is just so charming and fun, I'm sure Sallie Mae won't mind if we skip a month of payments to buy an impractical, yet adorable home accessory.

Menu Monday

Panera Stove Top Mac and Cheese (Smells Like Home)

If you can bring yourself to actually purchase and use American cheese, please go and make this right now. It was so, so good. Some notes:
*I used all 2% milk and I warmed it on the stove before adding it. My béchamel sauces have a tendency to seize up and get lumpy if the milk is straight out of the fridge or room temp.
*Next time I would only use 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard. I loooove Dijon mustard so I went whole hog and added between 2 tsp. and a tablespoon. It was still yummy, but I think reducing it to 1 tsp. would be the difference in "Yeah, this has mustard in it" to "What IS that delicious flavor that I can't quite put my finger on".
*Don't leave out the hot sauce. I was skeptical, not because I don't like spice, but I just couldn't imagine it would taste good. I was wrong; it was delicious.
 

Baked Eggs and Tortillas in Creamy Tomato Sauce (Martha Stewart)

 This was a surprise two thumbs up from both of us. I tore this out of Martha Stewart's Everyday Foods magazine many moons ago (RIP...I'm still recovering from that cancellation. It was the BEST.) I just couldn't imagine how this was going to come together, but I was pleasantly surprised. Meets our his and hers weeknight dinner requirements of minimal clean-up/dishes and easy to make. Notes:
*I'm so glad I read the reviews. The original recipe says it serves 4 but several reviews commented that the original recipe could easily serve 6-8. I'm not sure how great these leftovers would hold up over a few days (although I had a small amount reheated in the microwave the next morning and it was still good), so I halved everything except for the cheese.
*I forgot to add the flour. Next time I make it, I'll add it to see if it makes a noticeable difference, but we certainly didn't notice anything off in the texture.
*Mine was set with about 16-17 minutes of bake time. I would watch it starting around the 15 minute mark, because I can't imagine this taking 25 minutes to fully set the eggs. 

 

Zucchini Pizza (Rachael Ray)

As I said on Instagram when I posted this on Friday, this is one of only two Rachael Ray recipes you will ever see me make. I can't find the recipe online, but it's from her 365: No Repeats cookbook. Since I make a decent number of changes anyways, here is my version:

*1 ball of pizza dough (I use Smitten Kitchen's Lazy Pizza Dough and use all white whole wheat flour)

*8oz ricotta cheese

*3-4 garlic cloves, minced.

*1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

*2-3 zucchini, sliced into thin round

*coarse salt and pepper

 

Preheat oven to 500F. Roll out pizza dough into desired shape and prick all over with a fork. Bake pizza dough for 3-4 minutes. While dough bakes, mix together ricotta, minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. When dough comes out of the oven, top with the ricotta mixture and most of the mozzarella and return to oven for 8 minutes. While dough bakes, sauté zucchini in a dry nonstick skillet over medium high heat until just tender. When the 8 minutes is up, arrange the zucchini on the top of the pizza and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is browned.

Menu Monday

Skillet Greens with Eggs and Mushrooms (Martha Stewart)

M bought me the Martha Stewart 'Meatless' cookbook for Christmas, since I've been trying to cut back on my meat consumption. This was the first recipe I tried from the cookbook, and it still doesn't disappoint. I use coconut oil instead of olive oil since it has a higher smoke point and I skip the sage-chile butter in favor of just sprinkling on crushed red pepper flakes at the end.
 

 

Baked Garlic Lemon Tilapia (Skinnytaste)

Meh. Not great, not terrible. Honestly, I had some frozen tilapia that had thawed in the fridge and needed to get used ASAP, so this did the job. Not the most flavorful recipe, so I doubt we'd make it again.

 

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde (Skinnytaste)
Admittedly not the prettiest of pictures, but these were great! The recipe was a little more fiddly and time-consuming than I normally like on a weeknight, but my guess is that you could prep these on the weekend, freeze them, and then just bake them for about an hour and you'd be fine.  

 Baked Sausages with Apples and Potatoes (Dinner: A Love Story)

Another really unappetizing photo of a really delicious meal. This is one of my favorite fall recipes. It is so easy and there's only one pan to clean up afterwards. I used an entire package of Trader Joe's sweet apple and maple chicken sausages, which are 5 to a package instead of 4, and used dried thyme instead of fresh (maybe a teaspoon?). Make sure you serve it with the grainy mustard! 

Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup (Giada De Laurentiis)

Remember when Giada didn't suck? I mean, she always has done her annoying pronunciations of Italian words and had an abnormally large head, but back when it was just Everyday Italian? I loved that show so much and wanted to be her cooking BFF. Then she switched over to Giada At Home and I cannot stand her. There is just something about her now that makes me want to punch her in the teeth. M has a theory that off-camera, she is a total bitch to Todd. I'm inclined to agree.

 

Anyways. The point of all of that is to say that this recipe is vintage, good Giada. I used to make this soup for myself when I was just out of college and broke and living by myself. It felt tres gourmet, but because it is basically beans with some broth and cream, it is tres budget.

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That's it for last week's meals. A few notes on my current way of meal planning:

For the most part, I'm still doing things the same way as I was in this post. Instead of printing off and filling in the menu planner each week, I just have a dedicated menus notebook in Evernote and I create a note for each week.
 

Last year, I realized that I was making almost all of my meals exclusively from Pinterest recipes. Not that that's a bad thing per se, but I have all of these great cookbooks and tear-outs from magazines at home that I wasn't using. So I challenged myself to start cooking more from those. Ever the lover of rules, I also introduced Tex-Mex Tuesday and Pizza Friday into our lineup, in addition to Meatless Monday and Soup Sunday (during the fall and winter). I don't follow those rules to a T, but they've definitely helped me cook through more of my magazine tear-outs and conquer my fear of homemade pizza.

Friday Favorites

It's been awhile since I've done a Friday Favorites and after all that money talk, I'm ready to indulge in a more frivolous post!

This peplum sheath dress may be my first purchase with my freshly budgeted fun money {and a discount code!}? Perfect for work AND for spring and summer weddings.

Pretty sure I need to order this kit and have this little guy sitting on our bar. 

Mmmmmm.....I love cannoli! Cannoli ice cream? Can't even handle it.

I die. So great for Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July.

I want to get my hands on Martha's new book . There was a sneak peek in the latest Martha Stewart Living and it looks wonderful, just like everything she does. 

What are you up to this weekend? We're celebrating my little sister's college graduation!

Cutting Back

We're cutting back around here...on spending and on calories. So naturally that means all I can think about is buying stuff and eating junk.  Indulge me in a little make-believe splurging?

In my virtual closet:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4

In my virtual tummy:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4

Anything you're indulging in these days, virtual or otherwise? 

Eau de Tar-jay

While shopping in Middleburg this weekend, I finally smelled the classic fragrance Fracas by Robert Piquet {Martha Stewart's signature scent}.  I absolutely loved it and started nosing around {pun intended} for the best place to purchase it online.  I was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to discover that you can order it from Target!  Did you know that Target carries high-end fragrances through their website? This was news to me.  Not only that, but it's a steal! At Target, a 3.4 oz bottle of Fracas eau de parfum is $84.99. The same bottle of Fracas eau de parfum is $135 at Neiman's!  

How is this possible? They carry Burberry, Chloe, YSL {including my hard-to-find high school scent, Babydoll}, Narciso Rodriguez, and a host of other designer fragrances {including Hermes}.  Is there something I'm missing?  Have you ordered fragrance through them?  I would assume they're the real deal since you're going through a national retailer, but it seems a smidge to good to be true!