meal planning menu - bbq week

lots of leftovers for lunches from asian week and this week
hot weather, bags of sunshine = lots of bbq!

supper
veggie burgers with baked and bbq fries
bbq salmon on pita with tomato and onion
steak and salad
pulled bbq chicken sandwiches
pulled bbq salad
night off - delicious proscuitto and sun-dried tomato sandwiches from dirienzo's with rigatoni in a spicy carbonara sauce

bean veggie burger

now frozen patties!


have continued with my theme of trying to come up with recipes using beans
so veggie burger seemed a natural fit

i made sort of an asian flavoured patty that kind of also worked as a big falafel style patty - don't seem to match but they do

ok
what i used
1 can chickpeas
1 can white kidney beans both rinsed
handful of cilantro
3 spring onions
3 end pieces of 12 grain whole grain bread
about 3 tbsp soy sauce
about 1 tbsp fish sauce
about a tsp of curry powder
tsp of minced garlic
two eggs
- i used the hand blender to chop up the bread/cilantro and spring onions into bread crumbs
- i mashed the beans with my hands...fun with food!
and mixed everything together and made patties - bigger than meatballs, smaller than my palm
- fried them in a bit of olive oil
and delicious!

for the asian style take
- put patty in lettuce leaf with steamed bok choy, spring onion and siracha sauce

for the middle eastern take
- put patty in lettuce leaf with mushrooms (cooked in chicken stock), spring onion and tzatziki

yum! this recipe invention was delicious and lots of good bean fiber!

i should have taken a better pic, but froze half of what i made (made about 15 patties)

even the 7mth old loved it!

chinese take-out night made at home

i thought this would be fun
so i used several re-usable aluminum containers (the kind that comes with the lids that are cardboard like on one side and aluminum on the other)

so
the menu for chinese take out night

cashew chicken
lemon chicken
squid and baby bok choy in black bean sauce
lo mein noodles in soy sauce
rice noodles (thai twist)

the first two were inspired by other recipes
the others are mine

cashew chicken
here is the recipe
i did this recipe almost to the letter except that i did a whole bunch of chicken breast in the slow cooker in chicken broth (so that the leftovers could be used in other recipes) and pulled loosely.
everything else was done in the wok and i added the chicken in a few minutes at the end.

this was DELICIOUS - yum yum yum am making this again.

lemon chicken
here is the recipe
this is a recipe i have made several times before so i had pre-cut some chicken breast into big chunks.
i modify this recipe to be more asian - i add about 2 tbsps of garlic/chili sauce and a tbsp of red chili paste.

squid and baby bok choy in black bean sauce
this is simple
1/4c water
black bean sauce
squeeze of hoisin sauce
tbsp rice vinegar
1/2lb squid
3c baby bok choy
quickly whip up in the wok or a pan

quick, easy and tasty - reheats pretty well for squid

lo mein noodles in soy sauce
another simple but tasty dish
pack of lo mein noodles (soak in hot water til al dente
3-4tbsp soy sauce
1 finely chopped spring onion
1 tsp minced garlic
a little bit of water to quickly fry all the ingredients in

easy, simple and doesn't overwhelm the other dishes for the night.

rice noodles (thai twist)
soak 1/2 pack of flat rice noodles (whatever width you prefer) til al dente
in a warm wok
3tbsp soy sauce
1/4c water
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp minced garlic
1 chopped spring onion
1/4c chopped cilantro
- the last two ingredients go in last, everything else including noodles get tossed until the noodles are coated in sauce - then add the last two ingredients

this is a staple in our home...i vary it up a little but it's my simple, thai-inspired noodle that reminds me of noodle stands in thailand - sans the grease


...this was a feast with LOTS of leftovers - the boys enjoyed the noodles and the cashew chicken.

chicken and tortellini in a carbonara sauce

i took the inspiration from this recipe.
i used the leftover chicken breast from the slow cooker in this one.
i skipped the heavy cream and basil and added a few tablespoons of pesto instead.

this turned out great. really tasty and super easy to make.

meal plan - some asian inspiration

breakfast, lunch and snacks are not part of the theme week

breakfast
fruit/yoghurt
omelette - pesto and pepper
oatmeal
rotated

lunch
pulled chicken wrap
leftovers
salad
soup and salad
and a lot more leftovers

dinner
several nights worth when i prepped my version of chinese takeout - i put each dish in re-usable aluminum containers with lids
so
squid and pepper and baby bok choy in black bean sauce
lo mein noodles in soy sauce
rice noodles - a bit thai inspired
lemon chicken
cashew chicken
quick dry fried noodles with chinese greens
pad thai (w/ scallops)

snacks
much like the week before
but a lot of rice crackers and dip
and cuttle fish snacks from one of the thai grocery stores

chicken and black bean enchiladas

this recipe made tonnes of leftovers that i was able to freeze and use another day.

i used this recipe
http://themealplanner.blogspot.com/2008/10/creamy-chicken-black-bean-enchiladas.html

and made the following modifications...i put about a 1.5lbs of chicken breast in the slow cooker with one cup of chicken stock and then did 2hrs on high, 2hrs on low. chicken was of course beautifully moist and pulled the chicken with 2 forks - that shredded chicken was perfect for enchiladas!

plus, the bonus is the extra chicken i packaged and used for another recipe later that week...chicken and tortellini.

salmon and potato pancakes

i had lots of leftover potato from making enough potato skins as part of supper and as leftovers.

growing up i always loved potato pancakes, and traveling - especially through china, seems potato pancakes are popular in other parts of the world too.

so in order to make potato pancakes - what i did do with the potatoes when i was making the potato skins was put the potato in a bowl with butter and mashed them.

so i divided the mashed potatoes into two bowls (and mixed an egg in with each half). then this is how i made variations...

asian style pancakes
- mashed potatoes (about 4 med/large sized potatoes worth
- egg
- tsp of minced garlic
- tsp of soy sauce
- tsp of fish sauce
- 1 green onion chopped
mixed all these ingredients together and made into patties/pancakes. pan fried in a tiny bit of oil. serve with siracha sauce if you want spicy, or soy sauce for savoury.

irish style potato pancakes
even simpler!
- mashed potatoes and egg as above
- 1 tsp of sugar
pan fry
serve with jam (yum!) or butter
i love these as a snack and great because they are gluten free so no chance of heartburn either!

salmon
i make a simple teriyaki sauce - ginger, soy sauce, minced garlic, and honey
marinate for about an hour
cook on foil in the oven at 375 until salmon flakes. use the marinade and pour on top of salmon before placing in the oven. use enough foil to tent the fillets so that they are covered enough to not dry out.

okay - this was a delicious supper. i love potatoes done as pancakes...seriously i could eat them all day.

baked wings and potato skins

chicken wings were on special and the game was on
so wings and skins it was
i don't often make chicken wings and i made modifications to the following recipes...

baked chicken wings - i added honey as the sauce didn't have enough flavour as posted in the recipe. these were okay/good, but i would have also used less flour than called for.

potato skins - these were time consuming but tasty. the only modifications i made was using one of the shredded cheese blends (kraft nacho cheese mix), and turkey bacon. my 3 year old liked these too.

what did i do with the extra potato? i saved it for the next day and made asian style potato pancakes.

I am a Mother

...sweet little video

one of my past weeks of meal planning

breakfast
rotation of
yoghurt/fruit
omelette - pesto/cheese and salsa/mushroom
pancakes
eggs/fruit
oatmeal

lunch
chicken caesar salad
pasta with turkey meatballs
leftovers
pita pizza and salad
soup and salad
grilled cheese and soup
leftovers and salad

dinner
baked wings with veggies and potato skins
salmon in a teryaki sauce and asian style potato pancakes
chicken and black bean enchiladas
turkish style meatballs on pita with tzatziki and salad
leftovers
chicken and tortellini in a carbonara sauce

snacks
cucumber salad
cucumber and dip
hummus and crackers
black bean cake
rice cakes
rotate

so a mish mash - some are my own recipes, some inspired by other sites
will add the links later

meal planning - time to start posting

not the most exciting thing, but i have done meal planning with various levels of commitment over the years.

sometimes, living oh about 40 or 50 feet from our closest local restaurant is tempting - mmm pho. and inexpensive for takeout. so it can be an excuse to not plan out meals

but this year i have really recommitted to it. so i am posting the meal plans i've done starting now so that i can not only share my meal plan ideas, but to have an easy way to get back to them.

so let's start with the essentials...

i print up the weekly meal planner form from $5 dinners and use it because it has room for breakfast/lunch/snacks/dinner

here's the link

when i can't line dry

looks like a wet weekend in store for us

but with two bubs, one still in diapers (and we cloth diaper), the laundry doesn't end. from april to november-ish we try to line dry as much as possible

but sometimes the rain does interfere.
i don't use dryer sheets, i don't use any cleaning or laundering products with phosphates or petroleum in them. those things do emit off-gases - and can irritate the nasal passages. i left those products behind years ago.

in any case, when i have to use the dryer, i use two things to decrease static - wool dryer balls and aluminum foil. in terms of aluminum foil, i simply scrunch a bit of foil into a ball and toss it in - no static cling, no emissions - all good.