Dinner is Served

Tonight we enjoyed burgers/grillers and bulgur salad.  To prove that the recipe is good I thought I would try to take a picture...

Mmmmmm, bulgur

Now that you have seen it, I know you can't wait for the recipe!

Bulgur Salad with Edamame and Cherry Tomatoes

---Cooking Light Magazine June 2009---

1 cup uncooked bulgur

1 cup boiling water

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

1 pound yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved***

1 cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint (didn't have mint - but don't think I needed it)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (used 1 teaspoon of dried dill instead)

1 cup chopped green onions

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1.     Combine bulgur and 1 cup boiling water in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 1 hour or until bulgur is tender. (Mine was actually ready after 30 minutes)

2.    Cook edamame in boiling water 3 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain.

3.    Add edamame, tomatoes (peppers), and remaining ingredients to bulgur – toss well. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

***there is a tomato hater in the house, so I jarred roasted red bell peppers instead

you know you want some!

I highly recommend this recipe. While the bulgur does it's thing you can get everything else put together.  I left the salad on the counter, while I went to the gym, and when I came home it was good to go. Very easy, and delicious.

 

Week 5 Dinner Menu

I'm ba-ack. Yes, it's the second post of the day, but it is the most important post for the week - The Menu. Now as I mentioned before, when your freezer looks like this...

The tree hugger in me really hates seeing all of this plastic. Oh my!

...you really need to build a menu around what you already have. 

As you can see, the top two contenders are the box of Morning Star Farms Grillers, and underneath that Hefty bag is a huge box of buffalo chicken meatballs that the huz found at Costco. There are also some pork loins, or some kind of chop in there, that I know my ever lovin' carnivore would love to have this week.

Seeing this treasure trove of frozen delights forced me to put on my thinking cap, and pull out my binder of collected recipes.  Because some of these recipes actually go back to 2003 (hold the gasp) I will have to manually type (stifle second gasp here) each recipe as the week progresses.  This little exercise will be really good because it will force me to [1] write in my blog each day and [2] allow me to review the recipe before I make it  (the huz would call that having a very "glass is half full" attitude by the way). Oh, and did I mention we have been having some crazy spring-like weather here, and I think the sun has put me in a salad kind of mood?

Monday: Burger/Griller on Roasted Garlic Bread with Bulgar Salad

Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Meatballs/Prawns on Caesar Salad - presumably with the last of the roasted garlic bread

Wednesday: Pork Loin and White Bean Casserole, with a green salad

Thursday: Salmon with Soba Noodle Salad

Friday:  The famous "Chicken" Parmesan from Week 3.  The beauty of this is I have a container of frozen marinara from when I previously made this recipe, which means 3/4 of the work is already done.

Saturday: It's my birthday, no cooking for me. I see a restaurant in my future.

That's it. Tomorrow I will give you the recipe for the Bulgar Salad (don't make a face...it's really, really good).  Sweet dreams!

Week 4 Follow Up

I'm beginning to realize that I probably need to write more than once a week. I have no choice but to write two blog entries today.

I wanted to follow up on last week's menu - because I really should have called it "That's Life."  Here's a recap:

Monday: Spinach Salad with Salmon, Barley, and Oranges. FANTASTIC!  I was afraid this was going to be really boring. I don't know why. It was really flavorful and texturally very interesting. I've never had barley on a salad and now I want to put it on everything. Two thumbs up!

Tuesday: Sesame Noodles with Tofu. I was supposed to make the Escarole (Kale) and Leeks recipe too. Completely spaced it. Just focused on the sesame noodles - I think the carbs were calling me more than the kale was calling. In actuality I was looking in my fridge and saw some vegetables I really needed to cook up (broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onion) so I used them instead. Oh well. Anyone want some kale? Or leeks?


Wednesday: Steak Fajitas with Sweet Potatoes/Peppers. Again, this was a recipe I somewhat questioned - but I love trying new recipes. The huz gobbled it up. I think you can put sour cream mixed with chipotle peppers on a shoe and eat it - it is so yummy (spicy, yes - but so good). I actually had the sweet pepper mixture on top of leftover cooked barley (from Monday), mixed with diced tofu (from Tuesday). This was another great surprise (very easy by the way).

Thursday: I didn't cook. Nope. Completely forgot the huz had a work/banquet thing for us to attend, so somebody else cooked for me. It's always nice being served, and not doing dishes, but the salmon was overcooked.  Oh well.  Bumped Thursdays recipe to Saturday.

Friday: This is life. The huz wanted to cook. Cooking for him is either Thai take out, or pizza by the slice. Thai  won. It was actually a blessing because I've been fighting a cold, and Thai noodle soup was warm and comforting. Sometimes it really is nice when he "cooks."

Saturday: Asian Rice with Vegetable Bowl (the recipe says Eggs - the huz hates eggs, so he had chicken breast). This is what his plate looked like:

Mmmmm, Asian Rice Bowl...on plate!

I don't even eat chicken and I thought it looked good. Mine had eggs - not as pretty.

So there you have it. A wrap up for last week. I will be posting this week's menu later today (here's a hint: my freezer overfloweth and needeth to be cleaneth outeth asapeth!).

Now go out and enjoy some sunshine!!!

Week 4 Dinner Menu

First I have to give a quick shout out to the last two dinner items from last week. The huz proclaimed the lemon angel hair pasta "the best pasta ever." Coming from a man who does not consider pasta a meal - I'll take it. He even told me I need to make it again this week, so I will.  The veggie chicken parmesan was beyond words, so here's a picture...

Cheryl, you HAVE to make this!!!

I have to say I feel tremendous pressure this week because I'm not gonna lie, I nailed it last week. I feel like this week is going to be a little bit lighter and healthier perhaps, but should be equally tasty. Most of the recipes this week are from Real Simple magazine (I just received the February 2011 issue). Here we go:

Monday: Spinach Salad with Salmon, Barley, and Oranges. This is a new recipe (as most usually are for me). Typing the title it sounds pretty boring - BUT, we have this fantastic three cheese sourdough artisan bread that we need to eat up, and I thought this would be the perfect companion.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spinach-salad-with-salmon-barley-and-oranges-00000000051140/index.html

Tuesday: Sesame Noodles with Tofu, and Escarole with Leeks. I have made this recipe MANY times.  I love it.  The Escarole with Leeks is new, and of course I could not find escarole at the grocery store today, so I bought kale (have I mentioned I really like kale?)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sesame-Noodles/Detail.aspx
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sauteed-escarole-leeks-00000000044579/index.html

Wednesday: Steak Fajitas with Sweet Potato and Poblano (refried beans and brown rice for me). I'm going to make a lot of brown rice, because it will be useful on Thursday. http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/steak-fajitas-sweet-potato-00000000044696/index.html

Thursday: Asian Rice wth Vegetables Bowl with Eggs and Chile Sauce - the huz will be having chicken because he hates eggs. Ironic.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/asian-rice-and-vegetable-bowl-with-eggs-and-chili-sauce-00000000051136/index.html

Friday: Veggie Chili with Veggie Burgers. I'm waffling between two chili recipes that I'm partial to - I'll keep you posted.

Saturday: Lemon Angel Hair Pasta (the same recipe from Week 3). Yes, it was that good. We had it with seared scallops, which we loved, but I would really like to try it with prawns. We will see what looks good this week.

Here's to the week ahead!

Blog Update

My goal was to actually write yesterday, but it seems since I started this blog we have had some spam issues with our e-mail account (which can only be attributed to my starting this blog). Right now everything seems to be okay, so we will keep our fingers crossed. If we continue to have issues I may have to pull the plug on this little adventure (it's exactly why I had to get off of Facebook).

Since my last blog I have cooked three dinners, and even though the huz says "self praise is no recommendation," I have to really recommend all of them. We have been eating really well this week.   Here are a few notes about each recipe though:

Pad Thai - I think it's actually the best pad thai I have ever made, and I have tried everything from packaged sauces, to recipes from scratch (like this one). The only word of warning I would give is be careful with the chili sauce. I tend to like things between mild/medium, and this definitely has a little heat. I would almost cut the chili sauce in half, and add more afterwards if you feel the heat is lacking (you can always add it, but you can't take it away once it's in there).  I think the next time I make it I will actually do 1 teaspoon ketchup (yes, ketchup - it will add a little color and depth of flavor) and 2 teaspoons chili sauce.

Rock Fish with Cucumber Salsa - Again, winner, winner, chicken dinner. This was beyond my expectations. The rock fish as a substitute for sea bass was great. Rock fish is essentially snapper, if you didn't know. It's a really tasty fish. What I found so interesting about this recipe is that you dredge the fish in some flour before you brown it. The magic happens when you add the sauce, and let it cook for 4 -5 minutes, covered. I think the flour from the fish acts as a thickening agent for the sauce, and it created this BEAUTIFUL glaze. I was genuinely surprised when I uncovered the fish.  I will definitely be making this again. Probably sooner rather than later.

Tonight we had smoked salmon enchiladas (a request by the huz). It's a recipe that I make up as I go, but he really likes it. He actually gave it a 9 out of 10 (he only gave the other two recipes an 8 out of 10, which really surprised me). But honestly, his high marks may have been the beer we were drinking too. Everything tastes a little better with a little pre-dinner cocktail. I'm just sayin'.

So, so far, so good this week. Tomorrow we are dining out, then back to cooking on Friday. I hope everyone is having a really good week, and that my e-mail does not send any random spam your way.

Week 3 Dinner Menu

Even though this is only my second post, this is technically the third week of the year...and the third week of my menu planning. I contemplated posting the first two weekly menus - but decided against it. This is going to be a learning process for me, I'm sure. 

I have to say that I have been heavily influenced by television cooking shows this menu.  Here we go.

MONDAY: Veggie Pad Thai and BBQ Chicken Wings (for the huz).  I have to admit I am not a huge Sandra Lee fan, BUT I happened to be watching her on Saturday, and she made this recipe. I am a sucker for Thai food, and figured it would be worth a shot. She also made this ridiculous Thai iced tea cocktail that looked really good.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/pad-thai-recipe/index.html

TUESDAY: Rock fish with Cucumber Salsa and Brown Rice.  I have recently discovered Cristina Ferrare's show on OWN (Oprah's network), and I'm really liking it. Now I have not tried any of her recipes, so this will be a first. Cristina's recipe is for sea bass, but I bought rock fish, and we will see how it works. I'm afraid the rock fish may be a little delicate - not as firm - but it's worth a shot (it was a great price at Roth's).
http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Sea-Bass-and-Cucumber-Salsa-Recipe

WEDNESDAY:  Smoked Salmon Enchiladas with Sauteed Kale (warning I am LOVING kale right now).  This is actually a recipe that I have made up. If anyone really wants to know how I do it, just ask and I will share the "recipe."

THURSDAY:  The huz and I are heading to the beach for the weekend, so we will be dining out on Thursday. To be honest, if the huz wasn't so excited about going out to dinner we would probably be packing soup and sandwiches. We are planning on eating at the Hawk Creek Cafe, in Neskowin. It is one of our faves.

FRIDAY: Veggie Chicken Parmesan with Steamed Broccoli and Carrots (  I have had the Morningstar Farm "chicken" patties several times, but never in a million years would I have thought to do this. Again, this is a new recipe and I'm really excited to try it. With "fried chicken," marinara sauce, and lots of ooey gooey cheese, I know the huz will love it.
http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Vegetarian-Chicken-Parmesan-Recipe

SATURDAY: Lemon Angel Hair Pasta with Fish/Seafood  I'm going to see what looks good locally and play it by ear. I figure any type of fish or seafood will go with Lemon Angel Hair Pasta. I'm sure I will saute some type of vegetable to go with this as well (probably kale :-)
 http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Lemon-Angel-Hair-Pasta-Recipe

I will let you know how the recipes work, if we give them a thumbs up or down, and maybe even pictures. Now I've got to go make dinner! Have a great week!

Jumping in with both feet!

I'll be honest.

I've been thinking about doing a blog for two years. The funny thing is, I did not think it would be about food. I thought it would be about interior design (I'm addicted to design blogs).

Then I watched the movie "Julie and Julia" (yes, I know it came out last year, but I'm a little slow about seeing movies  - and starting blogs for that matter) - and it really inspired me. I love cooking. Actually, I really enjoy eating.  And I like the process of planning meals, and knowing what I have to look forward to during the week ahead (again, because I really love eating).

I believe this blog will help me (and hopefully you) in the following ways:

1.  Meal planning - It's time saving and it makes it so much easier to answer the
     inevitable "what's for dinner tonight" question.

2.  Save money - Because I plan my dinners according to how my week is looking
     between work and my social life, I always have leftovers for lunch. Always. I take my
     lunch to work everyday, except for the one day of the week that I work out of the office.
     It's a beautiful thing - saving money, that is.

3.  Time management - Planning ahead really saves me time. I usually do a bulk of my
     grocery shopping on Sunday, and then pick up more perishable items during the week
     as needed (ex. if I know I'm cooking salmon on Thursday I won't buy it until
     Wednesday or Thursday). I take these finer details into consideration in my meal
     planning as well (I think they refer to that as Type A personality).

4.  Make my friends happy - My friends are very important to me. Happy friends make
    me happy. My friends really seem to like the recipes I find and I hope that they find this
    blog helpful as well. I'm really doing it for them. If I had my way I'd still be doing my
    meal planning in a spiral notebook. I think I might be entering the 21st century (although
    you still won't find me on Facebook).

I think I have officially started my blog!  Coming tomorrow: What's for dinner this week???