Meal Planning

I've sort of been planning our meals out the past two weeks. I needed to do it because I bought proteins at the store without planning. I needed to make sure they get cooked before they expire, so then I planned out our meals based on what I bought. A little backwards, but whatever.

I went to PCC Natural Market last Friday and bought a whole chicken, a chunk of pork loin, and some turkey breakfast sausage. Then, I went to Mutual Fish and picked up some prawns and rockfish. It's a lot of pressure to make sure these things get cooked!

With the prawns, I made a pasta dish Friday night. First, I made a clarified prawn butter with the shells. Then, I used that butter to cook the prawns. Some garlic, red pepper flakes, the prawns, white wine, chopped fresh parsley, all tossed with whole wheat spaghetti. Ooh, and a sprinkling of toasted bread crumbs. Mmmmm.

That same night, I just baked some of the rockfish in the oven, wrapped in foil. Just salt and pepper for a few minutes. That was for the kids. Tyler loved it, Vincent was so-so. I did the same thing, again, last night with the remainder of my fish. After letting the meat cool, I broke it apart and tossed it with cannellini beans, shallots, chopped parsely, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. It was my lunch today.

I roasted the whole chicken for dinner on Sunday night. I served it with mushroom risotto. I used this fancy mix of cultivated mushrooms I found at PCC. They weren't super mushroomy flavored, which was a little disappointing. Nonetheless, this was a delicious meal. The legs and thighs of this organic chicken wasn't as juicy as the non-organic stuff. My chicken skin came out nice and golden crispy. The boys loved the skin.

Tonight, I cooked the pork loin. First, I brined the meat for 2 days. A couple hours before cooking, I took it out of the brine, rinsed it, and patted it dry. I left it out at room temperature until I was ready to cook. All I did was sear it on both sides before popping it into a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes. After letting it rest, I sliced the meat thinly, and served it along side balsamic glazed onions, for build-your-own-sandwiches. I put a sliced up loaf of Columbia City Bakery's filone on the table with a bowl of extra virgin olive oil and a pastry brush. We had our friend, Jill, and her kids over for dinner. Each adult would take bread, brush it with olive oil, pile on the onions and sliced pork. The kids ate the pork, too, along with homemade skillet mac and cheese. Tyler actually didn't finish his pasta, and Vincent asked for more. Guess who's he got to finish. Dessert was the bakery's Super Chip cookies.

Tomorrow, I'll be making chili with the turkey breakfast sausage. I don't know, it sounded much easier than adding my own mix of seasonings into chili. We'll see. I think it'll be tasty.

Gadget Removed & CSA Update

Yup, I removed my gadget with my weekly menu ideas. It was a short lived addition that I failed miserably at. Oh well.

But, let's talk about last week's CSA. I did end up roasting my sunchokes and turnips, like I said I would. David and I ate them like a snack, but they were also served alongside some homemade chorizo chili and grilled chicken (for the kids). I used my roasted beets in a salad with the greenleaf lettuce on Friday, when a couple of girlfriends and I got our children together and cooked together while our husbands were away. The broccoli is kept simple. Steamed with water and some salt. That's the way my boys like it. And, finally, my friend, Jean, cooked up the spinach for us with sesame oil and garlic. Dee-lish.

We still half the box left. I don't see any fancy cooking in the near future, but you'd better believe it'll still be healthy, wholesome, fresh and delicious.

Already February

Time is just flying by. I am feeling a bit old as I think back to 6th grade when my teacher talked about how each year seems to go faster and faster for him. I was like, "huh?" Well, Mr. Bisetta, I think I am starting to understand you.

Anywho, I received our shipment of fruits and vegetables from Full Circle Farm today. We get a box every other week. As I was going through its contents and washing the leafy greens, I felt inspired by the fresh produce. I thought to myself, "What if I post about what I do with the stuff in this box?" So, let me try it...

Box Contents:

1lb purple top turnips

.75lb sunchokes

3 ea Cameo apples

3 ea Gala apples

1.5lbs garnet yams

1lb Chioggia beets

1 bunch broccoli

1lb zucchini

.4lb cremini mushrooms

1 bunch Lancinato kale

1 bunch spinach

1 bunch green leaf lettuce

As mentioned, I washed the leafy greens. For the kale, I took the leaves off the stems and tore them into bite sized pieces before washing. For the spinach, I just picked the leaves off the long stems. And, the green leaf lettuce was torn into bite sized pieces as well. Now I have those greens washed, spun dried, and ready for use when I need them.

I also put the Chioggia beets into a pan, drizzled with EVOO, added salt & pepper, covered with foil, and they are in the oven (350F) at this very moment. I think it's about time to pull them out, actually. I will let them cool a bit, then rub the skins off with paper towels, cut them up and store them in the fridge for munching on later. Yeah, I would just eat them like that, or I many dice up a little shallot and toss it with EVOO, vinegar, salt & pepper. Better yet, I have some herbed goat cheese in the fridge. I'll make a salad with the green leaf lettuce, beets, and the goat cheese.  Ooh, and I made croutons the other day. Yum.

I'm really looking forward to the turnips and the sunchokes. I never really liked turnips until a couple years ago when my dear friend, Julia (and I don't mean Child) gave me some baby white turnips from her garden. I didn't really know what to do with them, even though I've used them plenty of times as a line cook. Her advice, roast 'em & eat 'em. Wow. It's truly amazing. All this time I was trying to think of what to cook them with, when they can stand all on their own. And, that day I first tried roasting them, my mother-in-law was in town, and she fell in love, too.

As for the sunchokes, same thing. I eat them like a snack!

Tonight's Dinner Plan

Right now, I have 15 strips of sliced been marinating in a balsamic vinaigrette, waiting to be skewered and grilled. Served alongside will be new potatoes tossed in pesto, probably a baby greens salad, and maybe some sauteed spinach.

Oct. 11-17th

Last week I decided to add a gadget to the blog: Dinner This Week. Sadly, I've already fallen behind on keeping it up. But, I do have some results of last week's dinners, and I will be adding this week's to the gadget.

Monday, Oct. 11 - Panacea cooked us up a delicious, comforting meal of Mac 'n' Cheese, with a salad of iceberg lettuce, frozen peas, bacon, shredded cheddar, water chestnuts, some other stuff, and a super light (as in fluffy, not low fat), and creamy dressing. Oh, and roasted broccoli.

Tuesday, Oct. 12 - I have been forgetting that David and I have dates on Tuesday nights now. I had planned on making flat iron steak sandwiches. I decided to proceed with it, even though we had originally planned on tacos at Licorous. I bought potato rolls at Essential Bakery, and made super simple mini sandwiches of flat iron steak & arugula, with a drizzle of olive oil for me, and some butter for David. I also make a roasted chioggia beet salad. With the remainder of the meat, I had our sitter make the boys steak quesadillas, which they enjoyed. Though this meal was super delicious, we still had to go try out those $1 tacos!

Wednesday, Oct. 13 - For my chicken legs, I braised them with mirepoix (onion, carrots, celery), a couple bay leaves, sprigs of thyme, white wine, and water. After the legs were cooked, I removed them, then added chopped Lucques olives, and allowed the liquid to reduce a little. YUM. I served this over some whole wheat pasta.

Thursday, Oct. 14 - Braised short ribs, sauteed crimini mushrooms, and apple/parsnips puree. What a labor of love. This was a simple meal, but it did take some time, and a full dishwasher of cookware. The night before, Vincent and I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper, and added some aromatics. The day of, I pulled the meat out of the fridge and allowed to come to room temperature. When it was time to cook, I patted the pieces of meat with paper towels to dry. Then, in a dutch oven, sear the meat on all sides. Ideally, you would remove the meat, then cook your vegetables in the pan, then add the meat back in. I didn't. I just deglazed my pan with red wine, put the vegetables (leeks, carrots and celery) on top with garlic, thyme and bay, brought to a boil, then reduced the heat and covered. I cooked the meat for about 3.5 hours.

As the meat cooked, prepare the other items.
*mushrooms: sliced. Sauteed in olive oil with garlic and shallots
*parsnips puree: Peel and cut apples to large dice. Cook in a little water, lemon juice and a pinch of salt until the consistency of apple sauce. For the parsnips, peel and cut to uniform pieces. Place in a sauce pan and cover with milk. Pinch of salt. Simmer until tender. Remove the parsnips from the milk and puree in a food processor with the cooked apples until very smooth. Pass the puree through a sieve.

Friday, Oct. 15 - Dinner out.

Saturday, Oct. 16 - With the leftover short ribs, I pulled the meat off the bone, shredded it, and stored it in a container with the mushrooms and cooking liquid. On Saturday, I reduced all of this on the stove by about half. Then, I put it into an oven-safe dish, topped with the leftover apple-parsnips puree, and sprinkled leftover breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, from Panacea's mac 'n' cheese, on top. Broil that up until nice and golden brown...Heavenly.

Sunday, Oct. 17- David took Vincen to his hockey game, so they ate out afterwards. Tyler and I had noodles with broccoli and tofu. Oh, wait, that's what he had. I had a Gardern Burger on a whole wheat english muffin. Simple.