Coming tomorrow...

Due to the late hour (and the fact I wasn't feeling well yesterday) I will be waiting until tomorrow to post this week's recipe. It will be a double recipe - Whole Wheat Waffles and

 Whole Wheat Pancakes (a variation of the waffle recipe.)

Menu: Jan 17-23

Some good news in our house this past week - my husband has finally gotten past the big problems he's been having with his Masters Thesis and the end is in sight... sort of. He still has to analyze and write up, but hopefully he'll be done with that by the end of February. Until he finishes writing I'll still be only posting menus and the Thursday recipe. I do want to post a great recipe for cooking with toddlers/children sometime this week though. Hopefully I'll get to take control of the computer long enough to edit those photos ;). On to our menu:

 Monday: Poppyseed Lettuce and Pasta Salad

Tuesday: Frozen Pizza (I added bacon and green pepper)

 

Wednesday: Turkey Veggie Soup

Thursday: Spinach Quesadillas

Friday: Taco Salad with Berry Smoothie

Saturday: Steak, Garlic Toast, and Asparagus Artichoke Soup

Sunday: Beef Fajitas

Don't forget to vote for the recipe you want to see next Thursday. This week I'll be posting the recipe for Wheat pancakes.

Peanut Stir Fry

While grocery shopping two weeks ago I found some reduced produce - it was pre-packaged and reduced for quick sale. I chose the best looking two packages, it was a combination of broccoli, carrots and snap peas. I decided to use it that day to make a stir-fry and I really wanted to use peanuts in it, so that's what I did. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the process, but I do have pictures of most of the sauce ingredients that I used. The ingredients that I used for this stir fry are typical of most of my stir fry sauces. The amounts just change a bit each time.

Peanut Stir Fry

First, you'll need some vegetables. I usually use a frozen stir fry mix, but this time I used fresh - works great either way, although with fresh veggies you'll need to cook them a bit longer. This recipe is for about 4-6 cups of vegetables.

 Olive Oil,

Then you'll need some Soy Sauce, Honey, 

 Sesame Seed Oil, Hot sauce (optional), Rice Vinegar, lime juice (also optional), fish sauce (not pictured)

Chicken Broth and cornstarch.

In 1 Tbsp Olive oil, cook the veggies until crisp tender. Next add: 2-3 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp Sesame Seed Oil, 1/2 tsp Sriracha (or other hot sauce), 1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Add 1/2 cups peanuts. Bring to a boil and then add 2 Tbsp chicken broth mixed with 1 tbsp cornstarch. Stir until well mixed. Simmer until thickened. Serve over rice and sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts.

ENJOY!

Menu: Jan 10-15

Today it actually got above freezing! A far cry from the weather we were having two weeks ago! To celebrate I took my son sledding again, it was great until the wind picked up and the sun started setting. Here's a shot of us at the bottom of the hill.

We had a blast! There's one thing about this cute little boy - he LOVES being outside. He could just walk and walk and walk, whether its summer or winter. It's good for his Mommy too, she loves being able to take walks with him, although in the snow it's a little harder!


 Now for the Menu:

 Monday: Meatloaf

Tuesday: Church Women's Group Dinner

 Wednesday: Baked Potato Soup (Tried something new, didn't work out so great...)

Thursday: T-Bone Steak, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Garlic Bread

Friday: Wheat Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon

Saturday: Italian Seasoned Burgers

Sunday: Turkey Breast, Mashed Sweet Potatoes (with brown sugar and cinnamon), and stuffing (Mostly made by my Mom)

 Vote for the recipe you want to see next Thursday. Peanut Stir Fry is the recipe that won this week's slot!

Pecan Crusted Chicken

I have some random scattered memories associated with the recipe I'm going to post tonight... You're warned they are random and the only thing they have in common is Pecan Crusted Chicken.

1. Three and a half years ago, my husband and I were on a trip to see my sister who was just about to have a baby (13 hour drive). We stopped at a convenience store (gas station, partial grocery store and fast food joint in a VERY small town.) I saw the book that this recipe came from and just had to buy it. We were just about to move 1300 miles away so my husband could go to grad school. Not the best time to be splurging on some recipe magazine found in a store. Can I just say I'm so glad I bought this book? It really helped me through the first month while I was unemployed as the recipes are more involved than the cover suggests (I've never completed their recipes in the 15, 30 or 45 minute times)!

2. The first time I made this recipe I burned the chicken... rather I burned the breading. The original recipe calls for frying it in 2 cups oil. Needless to say on our small oven the temperature control wasn't exactly perfect. Gotta love grad school housing!

3. Our local congregation ladies group had a 'service auction' and one of the services I said I'd give was a meal. When the meal was redeemed I had morning sickness (luckily it was one of my better days - I hardly ever actually vomited, mostly I just couldn't stand to think of eating anything) and was running behind (as I tend to do when I'm making a more elaborate meal for others... still working on that one!) {I highly suggest re-reading that last sentence without the items in (), it may make more sense. Just sayin'} We knew the couple that came over so it wasn't really awkward, but later I got to know her a lot better and she confided in me that she wondered if I was unhappy at them being there... I luckily got to confess that I had morning sickness at the time so she felt better about it. (At the time we weren't telling anyone we were pregnant until we hit the second trimester because we'd had a miscarriage a half a year before.) Oh and just in case you care to know, we had this as an appetizer. And I did not burn the breading as bad, although it was still a little too done for my tastes, but undercooked chicken is always a worse thing than overcooked breading.

4. Due to the issues I've had with overcooking the breading I decided to try baking these and use Panko (I like the crispiness) instead of fresh bread crumbs. I'd have to say that it worked VERY well and this is how I'll be making this dish from now on.

5. I just overcame a serious writing block to write this post.

6. #5 and 6 have nothing to do with memories of this recipe, just thought I'd make that clear.

7. Now for the recipe:

Pecan Crusted Chicken

(Adapted from Cuisine Weeknight Menus Vol. 2)

 Mix together 1-1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs and 3/4 cup crushed pecans.

 Next add the zest of one lemon and the zest of one orange.

 You'll also need 1 tsp salt. Mix well.

 Next, you'll need some flour with salt and pepper just toss some salt and pepper into about a half a cup of flour.

 Oh and chicken, did I mention the chicken? I use 2 or 3 chicken breasts cut into pieces. Dip the chicken in the flour.

 Then you'll dip the chicken pieces in an egg mixture (2 eggs and 2 tbsp milk, blended well.)

 Coat both sides.

 Then add to the panko-pecan mixture.

 Press the chicken into the crumbs to coat.

 Place each breaded chicken piece on a cookie sheet.

 Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

 Remove from oven, let sit for 5 minutes.

 Serve warm.

 We had it on a wonderful salad (the recipe comes with a delightful dressing recipe!). But I have to admit I ate the leftovers plain (and cold) the next day.

Enjoy!

Menu: Jan 3-9

 Happy Monday everyone (except those of you who are reading this on a day other than Monday, in which case Happy Whateverday!). This past week I've started one of my resolutions - namely to lose weight. More specifically I want to lose enough weight that I don't exceed 200 pounds if I get pregnant this year... what can I say, I'm baby hungry ;). Not completely though, my toddler still is not sleeping through the night - some nights he does, others he doesn't. We're working on it - the thought of being pregnant and not being able to sleep at night frankly scares me, A LOT!  But as far as my resolution goes, I've lost about a pound and a half... I need to get a more accurate scale.

So I mentioned the goal because I want to hear from you as to which day you think I started my diet this week... I'm just curious what you'll all say. To help you, Sunday night was a 'free' dinner. I get one free meal per week - there is no way that recipe would fit my diet, but it was an experiment and I am going to improve it and cut out a bit of the fat...

Other than that, here's the weekly menu:

 Monday: Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

 Tuesday: Peanut Veggie Stir Fry

Wednesday: Chicken Taco Salad

Thursday: Chef Salad

 

Friday: Rib Steak with Spinach Pear Salad

Saturday: Beef Stew (Broth, leftover steak cut up, celery, onion and carrot)

Sunday: From scratch Cheesy Potatoes (aka Funeral Potatoes) with ham (Somehow I missed taking pictures of this...)

Vote for the recipe you want to see next Thursday. This week I'll be posting the winner of last week's poll: Pecan Crusted Chicken.

Fruit Cheesecake Muffins

While we were at my in-laws for Christmas, my mother-in-law made delicious muffins with strawberry jam in the centers. While I was eating them, I remembered these wonderful muffins that I had made over a year ago and had forgotten about. My sister-in-law wanted the recipe and I decided to share it with all of you! They are such a great treat for breakfast, or any time for that matter!

Cheesecake Muffins

Adapted from Taste of Home Holidays and Celebrations Cookbook

 First mix together 5 ounces of softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and set aside.

 In a large mixing bowl, combine the following: 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt

 and 1 Tbsp sugar.

 Mix dry ingredients together.

You'll also need: 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter and 1 tsp grated lemon peel. The butter does need to be melted.

 You'll also need about 1-1/3 cups milk

 and one egg. Beat the egg in with the milk.

 Then add the lemon peel, brown sugar and melted butter.

 Mix the milk mixture in with the dry ingredients.

 Mix until combined.

 Spoon enough batter to come up to 1/3 of each muffin cup.

 Then you'll need to get the cream cheese and sugar mixture as well as 1/3 cup jam - any flavor you wish - however, if using strawberry/raspberry you'll want seedless.

 Place about 1 Tbsp cream cheese mixture in the middle of the batter in each cup.

Then top with about 1/2 Tbsp jam. In the photo below I have strawberry, raspberry and orange marmalade. Next time I make these I'll be using blueberry jam - YUM!

 Top with remaining batter.

 Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

 The original recipe says to insert a toothpick into the center to check for doneness, but guess what... the toothpick will NEVER come out clean because of the cream cheese and jam in the center ;).

 Remove to a wire rack for 5 minutes to cool.  Makes 12 muffins.

  Enjoy!