Menu Monday

I don't have a long post today, but if all goes well, I should be posting more than once this week!
This week, I'm working on eating more simply. It's easy for me to pick meals that take a couple of hours of preparation. See I LIKE piddling around in the kitchen. But I've been thinking lately, it's ok for me to spend the afternoon cooking once in a while, but perhaps I should come up with some "faster" ideas!
This week we'll be having spaghetti and meatballs, leftover split pea and barley soup with bread, bbq sandwiches with mashed potatoes and green beans, and burritos. On Tuesday nights, Tim heads out to a local English corner, and he usually eats in the stalls near there. I usually either cook fried rice or get noodles from the corner. This week, I'm letting them eat leftovers, and I'm having pesto pasta....I love pesto! Also, we are heading to a birthday party for a couple of our friends. I get to bring eggplant parmesan. So it's starting up to be a busy week.
In thinking about faster ideas, I've been thinking about those who have a cooking day once a month and cook many meals to freeze for the month. I'm wondering if any of you do this and if you do, what kind of things do you cook, beside casseroles, I have a hard time finding a lot of those kinds of things.

Menu Monday, a New Favorite and Pictures

So my New Year's Resolution to post more on my blog has really been hit and miss. So here I am cramming a week's worth of blogging into one post. Sorry, I suppose it's a bit long...

This week we have decided to eat out a couple of times. One night we are headed to a local minority street for some "pulled noodles." It's really neat to watch the men make the noodles by stretching them out. And then we decided it was time to have some Mexican food at Peter's (whoo-hoo!). Other than that we'll be having split pea and barley soup, shrimp salads, and bbq chicken sandwiches. I figure that telling you all what we eat for breakfast and lunch is getting a little redundant. We'll also be celebrating a birthday at a friend's house.

And lastly, I'm going to try my hand at corned beef and cabbage on Wednesday. I figure that I might as well celebrate St. Patrick's Day. If it's worth eating, I'll post more details on it next week!

I have to admit that I love Rachael Ray recipes. I'm not a huge fan of her talk show, but I love her recipes. This week I stumbled upon a new(er) recipe of hers for Chicken Divan. I'm posting it below with a few changes.

• about a 1/3 sliced almonds, toasted and then set aside until serving
• 1 qt chicken stock or broth
• 1 zested lemon or 3-4 tblsp lemon juice
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, or about a tblsp thyme (I'm guessing, I didn't measure)
• 4tblsp butter, divided
• 11/2 cups white rice
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 lbs chicken breasts or tenders
• a little more than 1/2 cup all purpose flour...again, I didn't measure
• 1 tblsp poutry seasoning
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• a large bunch of aspargus (alas, I couldn't find it, we had peas with it instead)
• 6-7 button mushrooms
• 1/3 cup white wine (you can substitute chicken broth if you don't have it)
• 1/3 cup whole milk, half and half, or cream (I had whole, the other is expensive here)
• generous tblsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tblsp fresh tarragon or 1 tblsp dried
• 2 scallions chopped

Bring 2 3/4 cups of chicken broth, zest of lemon, and 1 tblsp of butter to a boil. Add rice. Cover and simmer on very low heat for 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, season chicken with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Dredge in flour. Heat in a large skillet 2 tblsp olive oil and 1 tblsp butter. Over medium to medium-high heat, cook the chicken until the juices run clear. Remove from the pan and set aside, covering to keep warm.

While cooking the chicken (if you have more than two burners, unlike me) bring about 1-2 inches of salted water to a boil in a shallow pan. Add the asparagus and cook for about 4 minutes until just tender but still bright green.

In the skillet used to cook the chicken, melt 2 tblsp of butter. Add the mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes. Whisk in about 2 heaping tblsp of flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the white wine and burn off the alcohol by cooking for about a minute. Then add the remaining chicken stock and the milk (half and half or cream). When the sauce bubbles and starts to thicken stir in the mustard and tarragon.

This really is one of the best recipes I've had in a long time. The only complaint I have is that I had enough meat for another adult, but no where near enough rice! Next time I will double the rice recipe. It sounds a little complicate, but it's really not. She said the recipe could be done in 35 minutes, and I think it took me about 45. I will admit that I re-wrote her directions because hers were not very clear. I hope that mine are clearer and that if you try this you will enjoy it as much as we did!

And last, but not least, here are some pictures from this last week.

Ellie's new make-up application technique. This is lipstick on the cheek.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but Lydia's hair is very, very curly. One night after bath, I styled Lydia's hair VERY big. The 80's are back, baby!

This week I washed the girls' sheets. While they were off, Lydia grabbed the mattress saver and played with it. She was doing her "workout" on it. And when she was all done, she rolled it up neatly and put it on my yoga mat.

Menu Monday and More!

We're back to Menu Monday. Finally, our house is back to "normal" whatever that might be. So it's back to eating actual meals instead of stuff just thrown together! So here's what we're eating this week:

Monday

Oatmeal with bananas

Noodles

Lemon Pepper fish, spinach, rice pilaf

Tuesday

Bagels

sandwiches

Orange pork chops, mashed potatoes, veggies, applesauce

Wednesday

Eggs and Toast

Chinese

Chicken Divan, rice, asparagus (please, Lord, can I find some?) or peas

Thursday

Bagels

Grilled Cheese

hamburgers, fries, green beans

Friday

muffins

noodles

Broccoli cheddar soup, bread

Saturday*

Cereal

Sandwiches

Chicken Nuggets and fries

Sunday

Eggs and Toast

Eating out

leftovers

* I wanted to make a note, Saturday, March 13, is a day of fasting for our company as they are choosing a new president. Whether or not you choose to fast, please try to think about it on that day. It will be a decision that will change things all around the world! Hope you all have a great week!

Menu Monday

This week we are still eating up all the vegetables and meats we bought last week. That's great for the budget, though! I'm hoping I can find some blueberries this week. That would really make my week!

Monday

oatmeal with bananas

pb sandwiches for the kids, salads for the adults

Split pea and Barley soup and bread

pineapple

Tuesday

bagels

turkey salad sandwiches

eat out

Wednesday

bagels

pb sandwiches for the kids, salads for the adults

chicken wraps with whole wheat tortillas

watermelon

Thursday

mexican omlettes in whole wheat tortillas

grilled cheese sandwiches

Thai chicken and vegetables

brown rice

mango (can't have Thai without mango)

Friday

whole wheat waffles

noodles with cabbage

jerk chicken

saffron rice

spinach

tropical fruit salad

Saturday

whole wheat pancakes

sandwhiches

sausage and barley soup

bread

apples

Sunday

muffins

eat out

kielbasa and corn hash

strawberries or mandarin oranges

As I was writing this, I was imagining some of the reactions to Monday's meal. Most people the thought of Split Pea and Barley soup conjures up the image of pasty, baby poo looking like food. I happened to try it at one of our favorite restaurants on a trip to HK, California Pizza Kitchen. Despite being a pizza place, they have the BEST salads and soups! Anyway, someone else ordered it and let me try. I was in love! Don't buy the canned stuff, I can't vouch for that. I do know that made with fresh vegetables, chicken both, and quick cooking barley makes all the difference. It will take a while to cook, though. And about kids, at first, they turned their little noses up to it, but now they love it! And speaking of barley, I have not found a better ingredient than barley to put into soups. Both rice and pasta bloated and disintegrate into such a mess. Barley only gets better and is a whole grain! Hope you all have a yummy, delicious week!

Menu Monday...a day late

So, I've found that when I get home from vacation late Sunday night, it's really hard to get my menu for the week up and running by Monday. So Tuesday night will have to do. We are, as many people are, trying to eat a little healthier. A feat not so simple in a country that believes that all meals should be soaked in oil. All has virtually no whole-grains...granted, vegetables and fruits are cheap and plenty--save blueberries, $3 for about a cup! Anyway, here's what we're eating this week.

Monday

eggs and toast

pb sandwiches

leftover beef vegetable soup

cornbread

strawberries

Tuesday

oatmeal

pb sandwiches (yep, not much variety, I'm working on that)

Paprika chicken, cabbage, potaoes with onion and red peppers

dragon eyes and mangos

Wednesday

omlette and toast

Chinese

baked eggplant parmesan with whole wheat pasta (yes, I found some!)

strawberry desert (not too much sugar)

Thursday

bagels

chicken sandwiches

shrimp pasta with vegetables

oranges

Friday

apple and blueberry (maybe) muffins

noodles

sausage barley soup

bread

pineapple

Saturday

biscuits and sausage (not really a low fat food, but Elijah's been begging for it)

sandwiches

chicken in whole wheat wraps with veggies

apples

Sunday

bagels

banana bread for meeting

eating out...or leftovers

baked sweet potatoes and broccoli

This week and next is the biggest holiday of the year here. Everyone is supposed to go to their home town and celebrate it with their family. This is our first year being in country during the celebration...so we're not sure how it works. We've heard rumors that EVERYTHING in town shuts down. We've recently heard that the big supermarkets are still open, but everything is more expensive. We don't quite know what to expect. I've been stocking piling food for the last couple of days and have one more store to go to before I will feel like I can survive even if everything shuts down. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post of the celebration later in the week.

Also, as I noted earlier, we don't have much variety for lunches. We have pb or our friend cooks lunch for us. I'm looking for suggestions for lunches...what do you eat or feed your kids...other than pb?

Menu Monday

I should have known this would happen. I finally decide to start something more regular on my blog and I have menu block...seriously, this almost never happens to me. Well, I've got most of my meals planned out and most likely we will have noodles or some other cheap Chinese food on the day I can't come up with anything.
Here's the true problem: I have the pre-vacation blues. I'm so excited about next week. All of the being warm, Indian food, Gloria Jeans, being warm, water parks, amusement parks, being warm, pizza, Thai food, being warm, aquarium, planetarium, TGIFridays, and of course, being warm! With all of this on my mind, everything I cook pales in comparison!
So, here's what's cookin' in the Sperduto house this week!

Monday

eggs and toast

sandwiches and popcorn

cheddar broccoli soup and bread

Tuesday

oatmeal

sandwiches and crackers

homemade chicken nuggets, roasted potatoes, green beans

Reese's pieces brownies (thanks, mom)

Wednesday

bagels

leftovers

chicken tacos and homemade tortillas

Thursday

eggs and toast

Chinese

beef and barley soup

Friday

Waffles

noodles

cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, cabbage

Saturday

pancakes

sandwiches

????

Sunday

leftover breakfast stuff

eat out

finish off the leftovers cause we are leaving!!!

Now that I've started this, I will immediately be taking a couple of weeks off. But hopefully, we get to eat lots of cereal and other stuff that's just too expensive to eat here. I'm off to clean up the table and work on my "no idle hands" projects (to be discussed in a later post!).