Sunday - prep day

Maybe some people are wondering what "Durban Chicken" is on my plan for this week. I'm going to try to post a scanned JPG of a newspaper article on it. It's a dish we used to get at our favorite South African restaurant in Charlottesville, VA. It is worth the trouble, trust me. Click on the image and it will blow up enough for you to read. In keeping with my format of reviews along with recipes:
*****Durban Chicken is a hit every time we make it. I line a baking sheet with foil and just lay out the chicken strips on the foil and bake them at 400° for about 5-6 minutes on each side. At the end, turn on the oven's broiler to "dry" it out a bit. We usually make about 4 chicken breasts of strips so we have lunch leftovers.



Prep day means pre-cooking and thawing and making sure everything is ready for the next week. Baby, Parents, etc.

1. soak the beans. I've really found that dry beans are SO MUCH better than canned. They aren't salty (the husband has high blood pressure), they are firmer and less like a pile of mush if you cook them for a long time, and they generally taste better in my opinion. I'm using pinto beans for my beans and rice recipe later in the week, so I rinsed a 1lb bag 3 times, and they are soaking overnight in a bowl with about 3 inches of water covering them.

2. cook the rice. We try to eat brown rice whenever possible, since it is higher in fiber, healthier and tastes more nutty and yummy. But it takes forever to cook on a weeknight when you need to use it in a recipe. So I'm cooking up 2 cups of brown basmati rice for the beans and rice recipe, and with leftovers to puree for the baby and to freeze. I wash my rice well and cook in Penzey's vegetable broth.

3. make some combo dinners for the baby. I'm trying to make sure she gets a wide range of fruits and vegetables. To that end, I am going to puree some frozen corn (ingredients: corn) to combine with green beans (wholesomebabyfood.com recommends this combo, sounds yuck to me). I will also thaw some squash and sweet potato for these combinations: squashy sweet potato, sweet potato pie (apple/cinnamon yogurt with sweet potato) and squashy peas.

Planning for next week

This past week was a bit of a mess. I was supposed to make Carnitas Burritos on Friday morning but I didn't. Baby got up at 4:30AM to eat and I slept in after taking a "nap."

Saturday - pork carnitas burritos
Sunday - out with friends
Monday - spinach salad with chicken, goat cheese, walnuts and homemade dressing
Tuesday - durban chicken and mashed potatoes
Wednesday - cheddarwurst (the husband wants to try this) with rice and beans
Thursday - pasta e fagioli soup with sauteed spinach
Friday - looking for a recipe to use a ham steak that I have, will update later.

If any of my approximately 1 readers has a ham recipe they want to share, leave it in the comments, please. :)

So much for Supermom.

The baby is almost out of food. I am MOTY (Mother of the Year for those non-Moms!) ONE more package of baby fruit left (prunes, no less) and then the applesauce and frozen squash. All of the barley and oatmeal cereal is gone, only the rice that she doesn't like left. I have to go to the store but I cannot find time. Being a mom is hard.

I was supposed to be earth-mother cooking all her own organic baby food. Hello? What was I thinking. Postdocs don't do Supermom.

Still riding the election high!

Isn't this beautiful??? NC was officially called for blue too. Virginia? North Carolina? Pennsylvania? Florida? Ohio? Colorado? All BLUE????????

OK, sorry, this blog is not meant for politics. But it is MY blog so you have to deal. ;)

Tonight we had takeout, because I didn't have an orange to make my pork carnitas burritos. I'm putting it together in the crockpot for Saturday. I will serve it with whole wheat tortillas from Trader Joes, black beans and cheddar cheese.



Pork Carnitas
from Cooking Light
Yield: 4 cups (serving size: 1/2 cup)
*** we liked these burritos, but in the future I would kick them up a notch. I would add some more seasonings and some nice salsa to the burritos.

Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (i'm using a pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch chunks)
1 cup less-sodium beef broth (I'm using vegetable broth)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 large unpeeled orange wedge

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add beef; sauté 5 minutes or until beef is browned on all sides. Stir in broth, sugar, salt, and pepper; nestle orange section into beef mixture. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Remove and discard orange. Continue simmering, uncovered, 8 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.

ELECTION DAY!

I will go down in history as an election day scrooge. I am sick of all of the coverage, and I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHO WON! I want it to be over so I can either move to Canada (that was a joke, Jenelle! xoxo) or be excited for CHANGE.

Last night we had Tortellini Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. YUM. I lurrrve this tortellini soup recipe and it's so easy and quick. I highly recommend the Trader Joe's ingredients we used, they definitely added something!

Tortellini Soup
Serves 4-6 dep. on serving size
*****this is quick, easy, flavorful and not too bad for you. Love it! I've revised the recipe from what I've made before with my additions/changes.

2 c. vegetable broth
1 bag Trader Joe's dried tortellini, cooked acc. to package instructions
1/2 of 8oz. tub cream cheese with chive and onion (I used TJ's and it had chunks of onion and chive, YUM)
1 carton TJ's low sodium organic cream of tomato soup (I think these are like 20 oz?)

In a medium saucepan, whisk the cream cheese and tomato soup together. Add the broth. Bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the tortellini. Voila!

Daylight Savings + Weekly Prep Day = zzzzzz

I think I'm getting sick, AND my lovely little one got up at 4:30AM thinking it was partay time. I'm exhausted. BUT, this weekend I made the Pastitio and the Chickpea Casserole with chicken burgers. Reviews and recipes below. In addition, I remembered this week to take the pork tenderloin out of the freezer along with some leftover mac n cheese (side dish with chicken burgers later in the week), sweet potatoes and squash baby food for the week. Don't forget the shopping and 100 loads of laundry. I'm BEAT.

Pastitio
from: WW Takeout Tonight Cookbook
serves 8
****We really enjoyed this. The ONLY mistake I made was that I used Penzey's nutmeg, and it is way higher quality and stronger than your standard spice. So it was a bit too nutmeggy. Is that a word? In the future I would halve the nutmeg.

3 cups reduced fat (2%) milk (I used skim milk because it is all I buy)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 large eggs lightly beaten
8 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 pound spaghetti
1 TBSP EVOO
1 onion chopped
3/4 pound 10% or less ground sirloin (I used ground turkey)
1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped (about 2 cups) (I used a can of reduced-sodium diced tomatoes)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 7x11" baking dish (who has one of these? I used an 8x8) with non-stick spray, set aside.

To make the white sauce, combine the milk, cornstarch, and eggs in a large saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 7-9 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in 6 tablespoons of the parmesan, 1/8 tsp of pepper, and the nutmeg; cover and set aside.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

To make the filling, heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in the oil, then add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 4-6 minutes. Add the sirloin and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 5-6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, cinnamon and the remaining 1/2 tspsalt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring often, until liquid from the tomatoes evaporates, 4-5 minutes.

Arrange half of the cooked spaghetti in na even layer on the bottom of the baking pan. Top with the filling, then top with remaining spaghetti. Spread the white sauce evenly over the spaghetti. Sprinkle sauce with the remaining cheese. Bake until top is golden brown. 30-35 minutes. Cool at least 5 minutes before serving.

Chickpea Casserole
from "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
* This was just plain not good. It was chalky from the bread crumbs, the carrots never cooked all the way through, and it was WAY too oniony. Eeew.

3 (16-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or equivalent amount cooked chickpeas)
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced (I used a small onion and thank goodness I did)
3 large carrots, grated (about 2 cups) (I used a bag of shredded carrots - which may explain why the casserole was dry)
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (about 4 cups)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
1/2 cup bread crumbs (preferably whole wheat)
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, mash the chickpeas well, using a potato masher or a firm fork (I used a cuisinart food processor); it takes about 2 minutes to get the right consistency. Add the vegetables and mix well. Add the breadcrumbs and mix, then add the oil and mix again. Finally, add the veg. broth and salt, and mix one last time. Transfer all the ingredients to a 9 X 13-inch (glass or ceramic) casserole dish. Press the mixture firmly into the casserole. Cover with foil, bake for 45 minutes. Unocover and bake for 15 more minutes. Serve it hot the day of, but it tastes good cold as well.

Week in Summary - Happy November!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I will put a few baby costume pics up soon, I haven't downloaded last night's pics yet. I have to tell you that my baby is almost crawling! Many of you have seen this already but here is a link to a video of her trying to crawl:
Almost!!

Now down to business:

This week got really busy - so much so that I didn't get a chance to make the BBQ pork tenderloin that I had planned, I just pulled a Shepherd's Pie from the freezer, defrosted overnight and cooked. This was SUPER convenient, I highly recommend to anyone to make 2 of whatever casserole-type meals you're making and freeze one.

Review from last week's recipes:

CrockPot Coq au Vin - Good - but use a lighter wine next time: ***
CrockPot White Chicken Chili - Excellent, I really loved this but the husband said it was kinda bland? Just add some hot sauce, turkey! ****
Ground Turkey/TVP chimichangas - We loved these! ****
Ground Turkey/TVP meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn - always a winner, especially with the homemade mashies! ****
BBQ pork tenderloin in the crock pot on sandwiches - Subbed the Shepherd's Pie for this, which thawed and tasted great. ****

This week's plan:

Pastitio
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup (crock pot, Top Secret Recipe)
Trader Joe's chicken burgers with chickpea broccoli casserole
Pork carnitas burritos
Tortellini Soup with grilled cheese sammies

As always, I will post recipes as I make them.