Meal Planning

For the last couple of years I have been pretty bad about meal planning, but latley after chats about staying on budget and watching trips to the grocery store, Andrew and I have agreed to try the once a week shop to cut down on the frequent triops with hungry impulse buys.

This weeks meal plan with hyperlinks when possible goes like this

Sunday-Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Fennel, mashed potatoes and green salad
Monday -Thai Chicken Soup (with leftover chicken from Sunday)
Tuesday-Perogies and farmer sausage
Wednesday Goulash, rice and green salad
Thursday Baked Potato Soup, and green chef's salad
Friday- Capatavi pasta with Alfredo sauce, chicken and bacon (Andrew's favorite-no recipe as the sauce comes out f a jar, its pretty much a heat and serve dinner).

I don't usually predecide which days will be which meals, usually I pick 5 recipes based on ingredients I currently have so that I don't need to pick up as many ingredients when I shop; I also shop the fliers and usually manage to save 30% off my bill each week with sale items or coupons. In this case I had to cook the chicken first as it was fresh so that decided meal order a bit. In general we're not big on leftovers in our house, but I do try to have some leftovers for the next days lunch.
I like to have at least one new recipe and a few quick dinner ideas for the nights when I don't have much time (Perogies or pasta).

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

This was my version of the pumpkin pasta recipe on the Jaime Oliver site.

This has a very mild flavor. You could make it without the wine, but I would substitute apple, orange juice or stock for more flavors. You could also add a pinch of cinnamon; I just prefer to have a very savory taste myself.

• ½ small Pumpkin cooked (about 1 & 1/2 C)
• 1/3 cup Dry white wine
• 1 whole roasted garlic *
• Salt
• Fresh Basil (4-5 leaves)
• 2-3 T milk/cream
• 2 T butter

 Blend the first 5 ingredients in the blender add milk as needed to get desired consistency, pour into sauce pan heat and add butter. Cook until heated through (do not boil).

 

Mix with favorite cooked pasta and veggies.

NOTE: As this sauce is just heated through and not boiled, it is not reccomended that you serve this to children as the alcohol will not have cooked off.

*(to roast garlic, cut top off, pour olive oil over/in, wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes).

All Things Pumpkin

One of my favorite things about fall, is all the pumpkinny flavorued things that are available, pumpkin spiced lattés, pumpkin scones, pumkin ravioli…to name a few of my favorite.

I thought I would list of few of my pumpkin endeavors and one that I plan to try when I carve up my pumpkin that has sat on our dining room table for all of October as our decorative centre piece.

Pumpkin WafflesThese I tried last year or the year before and they were a keeper. They are absolutely delish with butter and maple syrup. This year I made and froze some for Lochlan and then I can just pop them in the toaster for a quick yummy snack or lunch.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins with Streusel Topping
These I made a few mini ones, and a few loaf shaped ones and I have to say they were so rich, I should have stuck with a smaller size, the mini loaves were waaaay too intense. Also the Streusel topping was a bit much, they would be just as tasty without it I think.

Pumpkin Pasta from Jamie Oliver's website
I may make some adaptations to this, but will post later on how it goes.

Lemony Chicken Linguine

Delicious dairy and tomato free pasta dish (my son is allergic to both).

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive or canola oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced thickly
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
4 chicken thighs on the bone
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 yellow pepper, sliced
cooked linguine for 4 people

Heat oil on medium high heat in frying pan. Add garlic, rosemary, basil and salt and saute for a few minutes until garlic is lightly browned. Add chicken, turn down to med. heat and cover, flipping occasionally until chicken is cooked. Add a tiny bit of water, if needed, to stop chicken from sticking. Let simmer for 10 min.

Add peppers and let simmer for 10 more min.

Remove chicken. Add sauce ingredients and stir until blended. Pull chicken off bone and add back into the pan. Stir until covered in sauce, then simmer for another 2 or 3 min. Add cooked pasta. Stir everything together and serve with salad.