Menu Monday

Open-Faced Sandwiches with Ricotta, Arugula, and Fried Egg (Cooking Light May 2010)

I had some ricotta in the fridge I needed to use up and I pretty much always have a loaf of Trader Joe's whole-wheat Tuscan pane on hand, so this ended up being pretty inexpensive, in addition to being easy, quick, and tasty. Meatless Monday winner.

 

 Mustard Cream Chicken with Roasted Acorn Squash (Elefantitas Alegres)

 I've had Kate's recipe for chicken with mustard cream sauce bookmarked for ages and I've never made acorn squash before. No time like the present! The sauce was unreal. So, so good. For what looks like a relatively fancy meal for a weeknight, this was pretty quick and easy to put together, once you manage to slice the acorn squash without losing a few fingers. 

 

Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage (Rachael Ray)

 One of my all-time favorite fall meals. I normally make this with ground Italian pork sausage, but in the interest of calorie-saving, I used sliced Trader Joe's Italian chicken sausage instead. I also used a mix of whole-wheat and regular penne, and I used half-and-half instead of heavy cream. I actually first made this recipe out of the Rachael Ray 365 cookbook (same cookbook as my zucchini pizza), and that recipe includes wild mushrooms and slightly different liquid measurements. I've found both version to be equally delicious.

 

Mushroom, Green Pepper, and Onion Pizza

Most Friday nights are pizza nights around here. Sometime we get fancy, other times it's pretty basic, but it's always on Smitten Kitchen's lazy pizza dough (I usually do half whole-wheat flour, half regular all-purpose). This is our favorite pizza topping combo when we order take-out, although I would prefer to add olives (which M doesn't like) and M would prefer to add sausage (which my pants zippers don't like). So our compromise is just to stick with the toppings we agree on.

 

Not pictured is Skinnytaste's Crockpot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili. Another fall favorite. I only use 1 lb of turkey; I think 2 lbs makes it way too thick.

 

I spent pretty much all weekend in the kitchen whipping up some sweet treats which I will be posting about later this week. Happy Monday!