Chicken Cordon Blue

Here's how we do it:

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
About 1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/2 pound sliced deli ham
4 slices Swiss or provolone cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Slather the mustard on both sides of each peice, then place in a glass baking dish (probably should Pam the pan here). Divide the ham into four even portions and place on the chickens. Bake for 20 minutes, then add the cheese slices and continue to bake, probably about another 10 minutes or so.

Spicy French Dip

I have another swing shift tonight, and our fridge is (finally) empty of leftovers, so I needed something quick and easy to prepare for separate dinners (my husband and son will be eating at home, while I will be eating at work). All of the Arby's commercials for 2 for $5 French Dip sandwiches got me hungry for, well, French Dip. So I made some up. It probably cost just as much to make it at home, but by fixing them at home I was able to buy natural roast beef and add a salad to make it a bit healthier.

Here's how I made our sammies:

Spicy French Dip

4 bakery rolls
1 pound roast beef
4 slices pepper jack cheese
Spicy prepared horseradish
Butter, if desired

1 packet of au jus mix 

1 bag of mixed greens/pre-washed salad mix

Set the oven to broil.

Prepare the au jus mix per package instructions. While it's cooking, start the rolls.

Split the rolls in half, spread with butter if you like (I skipped this) and then the horseradish. Put 1/4 of the meat on the bottom side of each roll. Add a slice of cheese to each. Pop into the oven (open faced for now) and broil for 1-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the edges of the rolls begin to brown. Watch them like a hawk, unless you like charcoal sandwiches.

Serve with a cup of au jus and a side salad.

If you are watching calories and/or carbs, you can make these open faced, therefore approximately halving the carbs and dropping the calorie count by a bit.

Gratin Recipe to Try

Several years ago, my husband and I were invited to his then-boss' house for a holiday dinner. His wife made this freaking amazing cauliflower dish. Seriously, nobody hates cauliflower more than me. But this was so cheesy and downright naughty, it more than made up for the sin of cauliflower inclusion. I have been lusting over a recipe for this ever since. Thankfully, I turned the TV on a bit early on Thanksgiving for the parade and happened to catch Bobby Flay making this. I haven't tried it yet (we are still trying to eat our way through the pile of leftovers in the fridge) but I am hopeful. Here it is, in case the link stops working:

Recipe: Cauliflower and goat cheese gratin

Bobby Flay

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole milk, plus more milk if needed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• 6 ounces soft goat cheese, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large head cauliflower florets, each floret sliced into 2-3 pieces

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter a large baking dish. Place the milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Melt butter over medium heat in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk in the flour and let cook for 1 minute (do not let the mixture get brown). Slowly whisk in the milk, increase the heat to high, and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the Monterey Jack and half of the goat cheese and half of the parmesan cheese until melted, season with salt and pepper. If the mixture seems too thick, thin with a little extra milk. Transfer the sauce to a large bowl, add the cauliflower and stir well to combine. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and top with the remaining goat cheese and parmesan and bake on a baking sheet (in case the mixture bubbles over in the oven).

Serving Size

Serves 6 to 8

Striped Delight

This dessert is super yummy. The Double Musky in Girdwood, Alaska does a similar-tasting dessert, with nuts instead of graham crackers. This is very easy, plus it looks really pretty in the trifle container. Enjoy!

Striped Delight Trifle

Ingredients:

1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. sugar

2 small boxes instant pudding (your choice of flavors), plus 4 c. milk to prepare
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 16 oz container heavy whipping cream
2 T. milk
1/3 c. sugar

Mix one box of pudding and 2 c. of milk together per package instructions. Pour into trifle dish, put in refrigerator.

Put whipping cream into stand mixer bowl and whip until stiff peaks form.

Meanwhile, put the graham crackers in a ziploc bag, crush with a rolling pin. Mix the crumbs together with 1/3 c. butter and 1/3 c. sugar.

Remove the trifle dish from refrigerator, add half the graham crumb mixture, and lightly press into an even layer.

When the whipped cream is finished, remove half into a small bowl. Into the remaining whipped cream, add the package of cream cheese, 1/3 c. sugar, and 2 T. milk. Mix on medium high until smooth. Add this as another layer to the trifle dish.

Next, add the remaining graham crumb mixture and press into another even layer.

Mix the remaining box of pudding and remaining 2 c. of milk together, again per package instructions. Pour on the trifle, and put the dish back in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.

When the pudding layer is set, spread the remaining whipped cream on top. If desired, garnish with some chocolate shavings or a sprinkle of cocoa powder. Return to the fridge and cool for several hours.

The whipping cream, all finished

Layer one: pudding (chocolate)

Layer two: graham/butter/sugar mix, lightly pressed

Layer three: cream cheese/whipped cream/sugar mix

Layer four: graham/butter/sugar mix, lightly pressed

Layer five: pudding (white chocolate)

Layer six: whipped cream

Turkey and Ramen Soup

This is quick, easy, and cheap. Great use for leftover turkey.

Turkey and Ramen Soup

4 packages Top Ramen
1 c. chopped leftover turkey
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
2 eggs
3 green onions, chopped*

Cook the ramen according to package directions. While it's cooking, chop the leftover turkey and warm it in the microwave. Once the ramen is cooked, add the remaining ingredients. Stir (the hot soup will cook the egg; if you are not cool with this just omit the egg). Serve.

*optional

Turkey and Butternut Squash Bake

This recipe is gooooood. Even if you have never had squash, or if you think you don't like squash, this is really tasty. I altered a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens to make more of a casserole (and use up leftover turkey).

Turkey and Butternut Squash Bake

2 c. chopped turkey (cooked)
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 T. olive oil
8 oz. dried extra-wide noodles
4 T. butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T. lemon juice
1 package light cream cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 c. panko or bread crumbs (maybe a good use for leftover rolls?)

Preheat oven to 425. In a bowl, toss the squash cubes in the oil. Place in a rectangular baking dish and cook for 30 minutes, stirring twice.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain, set aside. In the same pot, melt 2 T. of the butter. Add the onions and stir. Cook the onions over medium heat until translucent. Stir in lemon juice. Add noodles to the onion mixture, then stir in the cream cheese, 1/2 of the Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the cooked squash cubes and chopped turkey.

Put mixture in a baking dish, and top with the panko/bread crumbs and remaining butter and Parmesan. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Green Turkey Enchiladas

This is a green enchilada recipe, adapted for use with Thanksgiving leftovers, from a recipe my in-laws were kind enough to give to us. It's really good with some roasted Hatch green chiles (my in-laws are from southern New Mexico) but canned green chiles will work just fine.

Green Enchiladas

2 c. chopped turkey
4 small cans green chiles (or about 1 c. chopped frozen or fresh roasted)
4 c. chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T. flour
24 corn tortillas
canola oil (for frying the tortillas)
about 1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Put broth and chopped turkey into a large pot, put on medium heat. Meanwhile, saute onions and garlic in butter over medium heat in a medium pan until onions are translucent. Add onions and garlic mixture to the broth pot.

Add a bit more butter to the pan and melt, then whisk in the flour and cook to a golden brown color. Whisk in enough of the broth to make a thin gravy, then add the contents of the pan to the broth pot.

Set the pot to simmer and fry up the tortillas, one at a time, in a thin layer of oil in a fry pan (if you have a helper, they can fry the tortillas while you are working on the previous steps).

Start layers, in either a large crock pot or a large baking dish. The broth pot goes first, then a single layer of tortilla, then a thin layer of cheese. Repeat until done.

If using a crock pot, cook on low for about 3 hours. If using a baking dish, cook at 350 for 1 hour.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Continuing on the Thanksgiving theme ... my pumpkin pancake recipe. This is easy, yummy, and is easily adaptable. So if you need to swap the flour for a gluten-free variety, or want to add some ground flaxseed or wheat germ, the pancakes will still turn out awesome. Try pouring some of the batter into a greased pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter for a fun fall breakfast for your kiddos.

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground ginger
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. milk (nonfat will work fine)
3 T. melted butter
1/2 c. canned pumpkin

Mix the first 8 ingredients together. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in the milk, butter, and pumpkin. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix just until incorporated (don't over mix). Grease your griddle with some Pam and cook up some pancake goodness. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

This week, instead of publishing a weekly menu, I'm going to publish some Thanksgiving-related posts. I'm going to start with a dessert recipe and work my way towards leftover recipes.

I did this Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle last Thanksgiving, and it was a hit. It's a Paula Deen recipe, and surprisingly doesn't require seven pounds of butter. The awesome thing about a trifle is the presentation; trifles look really cool (and this one, like most trifles, is really easy).

Bloody Mary mix+spaghetti sauce=yum!

Tonight we had spaghetti (which if you recall from this week's meal plan was originally planned for Wednesday ... anyway). My husband made it, which was terrific since I was operating on about 2.5 hours of interrupted sleep. He decided to add, beyond the usual tomato, garlic, onion, and red wine ... Bloody Mary mix. He had some leftover in the fridge and splashed some in the sauce. I have to admit, this was genius. It was really good, one of the best red pasta sauces I've had in a long time. I had some ground pork to go in too, and together, with the aforementioned ingredients, it was A-MAZING. Watch the amount of salt you add; between a salty commercial Bloody mix and pasta sauce you could potentially oversalt your sauce and not realize. But try it, and let me know what you think.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

This recipe was pretty good. I adapted it from one from Saving Dinner, one of my favorite meal planners/cookbooks. It's quick, it's easy, and it's pretty sweet (which is pretty nice if you are following a low-carb plan where refined sweets are off-limits). If you like spice, add some cayenne or Rooster sauce (sriracha). We served this over rice for a super-filling dinner, but if you are minding the carbs, obviously you would omit this part.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Place the following in the crockpot:

1 small bag baby carrots
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 medium sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper
1/2 t. rosemary
2 c. apple cider
1 c. chicken broth

Cook on low for 8 hours. Add a can of green beans.

When carrots are tender, strain liquid from crockpot. Mix part of the liquid with 1 T. corn starch, stir, then add the corn starch mix to the rest of the liquid. Cook this liquid over medium heat until the sauce is as thick as you like. Place some cooked rice on the plate, then the chicken/veggie mix, then top with the cornstarch/liquid mix.

Crocked Picante Venison and Carrots Recipe

Crocked Picante Venison and Carrots

This picture is the "before" shot. Like most crockpot recipes, this one is so easy my two-year-old can easily help, too.

Dump these ingredients into a crockpot:

1 small bag baby carrots
1 pound venison stew meat (chopped into big bite-sized pieces)
salt and pepper
1 c. chicken broth
3 T. lime juice
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 T. olive oil
2 T. Sriracha or "rooster" sauce
1 T. sugar
1/4 c . dried minced onion (fresh would be better)
1/2 t. dried oregano

Cook on low for 8 hours.

Weekly menu

OK, here's this week's menu. I'm feeling a little winter sluggishness so I planned for two crock pot dinners. No new recipes to try, either. Just plain old, quick and easy comfort food.

Monday: Crocked Picante Venison with carrots, green side salad

Wednesday: Spaghetti, salad

Thursday: Crocked chicken and sweet potato stew

Friday: BBQ salmon, steamed broccoli, quinoa.

Beans and Greens (and Ham) Recipe

Here's my adapted version of the Beans and Greens recipe. I will say it was pretty good, and I think it would be good without the ham (but I would definitely use a nice, sharp cheese as a garnish in that case). The good thing about this recipe is it uses a whole head of green leafies, but it doesn't taste like you just ate 1/4 of a head of green leafies. I personally find just plain braised greens to have a tendency to taste a bit swampy. Of course, that could just be me cooking them incorrectly. The downside to this recipe is it's fairly hands-on and time consuming, so while it's super easy and cheap to make, you have to be around the house for over an hour before dinner time.

Beans and Greens and Ham (oh my!)
2 c. soaked white beans
1 onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
salt and pepper (lots of it!)
1 c. chopped cooked ham
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
2 T. olive oil
grated sharp cheddar cheese, for garnish

Cover the beans with fresh water and bring to a boil. Throw in the onion and clove and bay leaf. Gently boil (partly covered) the beans about 30 minutes, until they are semi-soft. Stir occasionally.

Salt and pepper the beans, add the ham, and stir. Add water as necessary. Stir occasionally as you cook until the beans are cooked (another 20-30 minutes).

Add the greens and cook until they are tender, about 10 minutes more. Again, add water if necessary. (I ended up over cooking the greens waiting for my husband and one of my sons to get home, and it still tasted good and not swampy or slimy at all).

Remove the onion, add more salt and pepper as needed. I added an additional sprinkle of ground cloves. Stir in the olive oil. Serve it in bowls and garnish with the cheese.

Fried Rice Recipe

Tonight's menu calls for fried rice. This is a family favorite around here. We've been using this recipe for years, and it is goooooooood. There's a bit of chopping involved (try to do this before starting the cooking), and it's definitely a hands-on recipe, but it's fast and good for a weeknight. I am using some leftover ham from a holiday past that was stuffed in my freezer, but you can use anything ham-like; usually I buy a little Jennie-O turkey ham. Another note, I think it tastes good with brown rice, but my husband vehemently disagrees.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1/3 c. oil, like canola or corn
1/3 pound cubed ham
1 onion, diced
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 green onions
1 1/3 c. (6 oz) frozen peas and carrots (don't use more--you'll have a soggy mess!)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
4 c. cooked rice

Heat a large non-stick pan over high heat. When it's hot add 1 T. of the oil. Add ham and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the onions to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook 2 minutes, until onion is fragrant. Add the garlic, ginger, and whites of the green onions and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add the frozen veggies and cook until just defrosted, but not mushy. Transfer to a bowl.

Add two more tablespoons of the oil to the pan. Add eggs and season with salt and pepper. Stir the eggs constantly until almost set, then add the eggs to the bowl and break them up with a spoon.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan (you can get by with a little less here than the recipe calls for if your non-stick pan is of good quality). Add the rice to the pan and break up any clumps with a spoon. Salt and pepper and stir to coat the rice evenly with oil. Let the rice sit undisturbed until it gets slightly crispy, about 2 minutes. Stir the rice again, breaking up any new clumps. Add the greens from the green onions. Turn off heat, add contents of bowl to the pan, and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Chicken and Cabbage Stir-Fry

Don't go running just by the title. This dish, from the How to Cook Everything iPad app, was mega yum. It didn't even make the house reek too badly from cooking cabbage smell, probably thanks to the quick cooking time. I served it over plain rice, and it was very filling. I am posting an edited version of the recipe, as I cooked it.

Chicken and Cabbage Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

3 T. canola oil (or other high smoke point oil, like corn or grapeseed)
2 T. minced garlic
1 T. minced fresh ginger (about a two inch piece)
5 green onions, chopped
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and chopped
1 head cabbage, cored and shredded
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
1 t. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 c. chicken broth or stock

plain cooked rice

Put 2 T. of the oil in a big medium-hot pan. Add half the garlic and ginger, stir for 15 seconds, then add the green onion, yellow pepper, and cabbage. Raise heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage scorches a bit and becomes soft (this took about 7-8 minutes for me). Transfer to a plate.

Turn heat to medium, put remaining oil in the pan, and add the remaining garlic and ginger. Add the chicken, turn heat to high, and let chicken cook for 1 minute to brown. Stir occasionally for another 3-5 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink.

Turn heat back down to medium, add the cabbage mix back to the pan. Add the sugar, soy sauce, and broth, plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir, move heat back to high and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Continue until liquid is mostly absorbed, then serve over a bed of steamed rice.

Review of 'How to Cook Everything' App

Mark Bittman, whose How to Cook Everything cookbook (and its vegetarian counterpart) have been on my shortlist of coveted cookbooks for forever, released an iPad app of the same title early this year. Here's the short version: I love it!

I thought the iPad would be a nice kitchen companion, and bought a frame and stand for it with this in mind. I was right (go me). I have a few cooking-type apps that carried over from my iPhone and they are pretty handy. But this app, designed especially for the iPad (he has ones for the iPhone as well), is awesome. It's super interactive, and it gets down to basics with each of its 2,000 recipes, which if you are familiar with his work tend to be on the healthier side. You can search or browse based on ingredient, ease of recipe, or type of recipe. If the recipe calls for a certain technique to be used, the app breaks it down with diagrams and instructions. These instructions can be as basic as using a knife, so this could be a great app to send a kid off to college with if he has yet to take any interest in the kitchen. There's also a section in each recipe where you can add notes, which is super handy.

Downsides? Well, obviously frying and iPads don't mix too well, so there's that. Keep it clear from the stove or fry daddy though and you should be fine. Also, the app is cooking oriented, so don't expect too many baking or sweet recipes.

At $10, this is certainly the priciest app I have ever bought. But at less than half the price of the cookbook, it's a real bargain. In my opinion, it was money well spent. If he does the vegetarian edition for iPad, I will be buying that as well. Now, if only Alton Brown would follow suit.

Pumpkin and Spiced Rum Cocktail Recipe

A friend of mine had a similar recipe, made with white tequila, on her facebook page today. It sounded amazing so I decided to make my own.

Pumpkin Pie Cocktail

Batter:
1 c. canned pumpkin

1/4 c. water
1/4 c. turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw is a commonly-found brand)
2 T. maple syrup
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 dash ground ginger
1 dash ground cloves

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add 1/4 c. batter and one shot (1 1/2 oz) spiced rum, like Sailor Jerry or (my favorite) Captain Morgan Private Reserve. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. If you have jumbo tanker glasses like we do, double the amounts.

This drink was super good by itself. I think it could only be improved by adding some crushed gingersnaps on the edge of the glass and a dollop of whipped cream to the top. Enjoy!

This week's menu

This week I am going to try a couple new recipes from my iPad app, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I plan to review the app later this week, but for now, if you haven't heard of Mark Bittman then you probably have been out of country a while, or at least removed from popular media. Anyway, here's this week's menu:

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Stir-fried chicken with cabbage (from the app), rice, side salad. Because colored bell peppers are on sale this week and the recipe suggested them as a potential substitute item, I will be adding a chopped one to this.

Wednesday: Fried Rice. I'll post the recipe later, but we had some ham in the freezer that was needing to be eaten, so this recipe should be just the ticket. It's filling, but if you need a little extra food you could do a side salad with some Japanese sesame dressing, some frozen egg rolls or potstickers, or a bowl of miso soup (super quick with a mix) to fill it out.

Thursday: Taco Salad. Salad mix is on sale this week so we will be eating lots of the green leafies.

Friday: Beans and Greens (also from the iPad app). I plan to add the remainder of the ham from the freezer to this. If you are into the Meatless Monday thing, this would be a likely candidate (minus the ham, of course). Organic greens are on sale as well this week, which is unusual for my local supermarkets.

Weekend pumpkin muffin recipe

For the weekend, I am offering up one of our family's favorite recipes: pumpkin muffins. These are not sinful, bakery-type muffins; in fact, I would put them closer to the hockey puck side of the muffin spectrum. Don't get me wrong, they are very tasty. But they also won't make you want to shoot yourself for eating a handful of them. Of course, if your weekend plans call for something a little more decadent, I highly suggest these blueberry muffins (they are almost pure butter, and they taste like it. Yum!).

Pretty Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Preheat oven to 400. Pam a muffin pan (these are low-fat, and I've found that paper liners don't work that great. If you insist, I'd either Pam them or add a little more oil in place of a little less applesauce). Remember the asterisked items are optional.

Combine:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. unbleached flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/4 c. ground flaxseed*
1/4 c. wheat germ*

In a smaller bowl, combine:
1 egg, beaten (poor egg)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. milk

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix just to a barely combined status. Don't overmix! Put the batter in your muffin cups and bake for 15-17 minutes.

If you are so inclined, you can add some chopped walnuts to the batter. I am personally not-so-inclined. I have used Splenda in place of the brown sugar with success, so if you are on the fake sugar wagon, feel free to substitute.

Enjoy!

A Sample Meal Plan

Here's a sample meal plan:

After looking through the ad circular (most stores also put these online so you don't have to run and get the paper), I saw that broccoli and yummy Yukon Gold potatoes were on sale this week. Squash is in season and I like it, so I thought it would be fun to do a dish or two with that. I try to keep easy dishes to weeknights and save new or time consuming recipes for Friday or the weekend. Here's what I came up with for the week:

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: BBQ salmon, steamed broccoli, sweet potato oven fries

Wednesday: Pot roast with carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes

Thursday: Balsamic braised chicken, green beans, quinoa

Friday: Butternut squash lasagna, green salad

Weekend: Butternut squash and kielbasa foil packets (we tend to cook just once on the weekend, and munch on leftovers or go out to eat the rest of the time).

On the grocery list, I just write the ingredients that I need to purchase for these meals, plus any other items I may need, like for breakfasts, snacks, beverages etc. We like to have fresh fruit around for snacks, especially for the kids, so we choose these seasonally (i.e. what's on sale). This week, I bought apples, kiwis and bananas. I buy meat in bulk and freeze it (thank you, Costco) or I use wild caught salmon or game meat so I don't usually have to add those items to my grocery list, and the starchy items I just buy as needed in larger sizes. I try to keep a couple kinds of veggies in the freezer too so we don't have an excuse not to eat them. The same day I shop I also try and pull the meat I need for the week out of the freezer and put it in the fridge.

Tuesday night is BBQ salmon, and my favorite way to fix salmon for the grill is to brush it with BBQ sauce before and during cooking. The big winner in our house, sauce-wise, is a raspberry-chipotle sauce we buy at Costco (if you see this stuff, stock up! It's not always there. It's also good with chicken and REALLY good with baked brie). The more you like the taste of salmon, the less flavorful sauce you will want to use. If you are not really a salmon fan, you might try a stronger tasting sauce, like one you would like to use on ribs. I steam the broccoli in the rice maker. The sweet potato fries are super easy, you just slice the sweet potato into fry shapes, rub with a bit of olive oil, add some salt and pepper (they are good with some heat too, like cayenne, if you like spice), and cook in the oven at about 375 for maybe 30 minutes.

Wednesday is a convenient day to do a crock pot dinner at our house. I load the crock the night before and put it in the fridge, then in the morning pull it out and put it on low. Pot roast is easy because it's not prep-intensive. If you buy baby carrots, you don't even have to wash and chop anything but the potatoes. And it's a really good way to do game, since game meat tends to be so lean.

Thursday's braised chicken is super fast. If you haven't braised before, it's a really easy way to make really moist, flavorful chicken. And it's quick, which is nice for weeknights. For a balsamic version, I just do half balsamic vinegar and half broth for the braising liquid. I buy green beans frozen, and the quinoa can be cooked on the stove top or in the rice cooker. I like to make it with broth instead of water; it makes it much more flavorful that way.

I have two days, both weekend days, with squash. Squash is kind of a pain in the butt to prepare, so buy a big one and use it multiple days. Or buy it frozen and already cubed and save yourself some time. If you have a couple screaming kids latched onto your leg or a good game on, sometimes it's nice to not be fighting a squash peel.

The weekend foil packets are ridiculously easy, you can do them on the grill or in the oven. You are putting cubed and peeled butternut squash, sliced kielbasa (I usually buy the turkey variety, but the real stuff is obviously a much tastier option), and maybe some sliced onions if you like them in a foil square, salt and peppering them, and adding maybe a 1/4 c. of orange juice to each packet. Each packet should be a serving size, so however much your family members eat (at my house, that's about 5 pounds per person). Seal up the packet and grill or bake until the squash is tender, so start checking at about 30 minutes or so.

Leftover Turkey Mac Recipe

I am big on throwing in a little of this or that into recipes (and rarely follow any recipe to the letter, except when baking). Hence the title of the blog. This week I had a little bit of leftover turkey breast from one my husband roasted a few days ago. I also had some leftover canned pumpkin from some pumpkin pancakes. And pasta was on sale this week at the grocery store, so hence ... turkey mac and cheese. It was yummy. And easy. And you can use any combo of meat or veggie that you want, which makes it a good clear-the-fridge recipe. Feel free to tinker! I starred the items that I feel are easily interchangeable (or just plain leave-outable). This would be a nice recipe post-Thanksgiving when you are faced with a fridge full of leftovers.

Preheat oven to 375.

Ingredients:

Sauce:
2 T. Butter
1 T. Olive oil
3 T. flour
(about) 1 c. water or broth or stock
1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 T. dijon mustard
2/3 c. canned pumpkin*
1 can cream of mushroom soup
A couple shakes of the worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. plain greek yogurt (or sour cream, and you can use light or fat free if you like)
Salt and pepper

Guts:
1 package elbow pasta (or whatever shape you like), cooked
1 c. diced cooked turkey breast*
1 c. frozen peas/carrots mix, thawed and warmed*
1 c. frozen broccoli, thawed and warmed*

Topping:
1/4 cup panko or bread crumbs

In a big pan, melt the butter and oil over medium heat. You are making a roux so when it's melted, whisk in your flour. Whisk fairly constantly until the flour mix is a nice shade of light brown. Slowly whisk in the liquid (either water or broth, whatever you have), so there are hopefully no lumps. You can adjust the amount of liquid to make sure this base is a sort of slurry, you don't want a lumpy paste. Add the grated cheese, then all the other sauce ingredients except the yogurt/sour cream. Stir to combine and melt the cheese. Remove from heat, add the yogurt/sour cream and combine, then add the guts you will be using. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish (probably should spray a coating of Pam in the pan before you do this). Add the bread crumbs. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. If you like a brown topping, turn the oven to broil and broil for 2 minutes (watch it like a hawk!).

I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't, so sorry about that. But the mustard and sharp cheese combo was really good together. You couldn't really taste the pumpkin, but it did add a really nice orangey color to the sauce.

The Meal Plan

So in the fall-winter-spring months, when things finally start to slow down a bit around here (snow and never-ending darkness will do that), I like to do a weekly meal plan (versus bi-weekly or monthly like some do). I do this for a few reasons.

First, it's how I first learned to do meal planning, from a great little book called Saving Dinner. Being a creature of habit, I figure why fix it if it's not broken, right? Second, I like to do it after the Sunday ad circular comes out for my favorite grocery store. That way I can tailor the meals I want to cook to the produce that's on sale that week. And third, sometimes I subscribe to a Community Shared Agriculture program here locally, and sometimes to a similar box program out of Washington called Full Circle, where you get a box of veggies and fruits based on what's in season right then. So when I am subscribing, I wait until I find out what produce I'm getting and base meals off of that.

When I meal plan, I just do dinners. I cook big and we eat leftovers for lunches. I also plan for the nights I know will inevitably be either an eating out night or a "fend for yourself/leftover" night and only plan for 4-5 meals. I do this because I know the laziness of my family, and I also know that our crazy schedule doesn't always allow us to eat together, as there are 1-2 nights per week that I work late.

Finally, I post the master meal plan on our fridge after I finish shopping for any groceries we need (I find that limiting grocery shopping to once a week seems to help with impulse buys). I have some nifty little pads that I bought similar to this at Michaels that have a magnetic back and keep track of everything. Next to each menu, I annotate where to find the recipe (for instance, SD p.23 would mean the recipe is in Saving Dinner on page 23) so that my husband or I can find the recipe and not have to guess if the other isn't there to ask. And yes, I have a husband that cooks. I'm very lucky. I know some people use tools like Allrecipes.com which will do a grocery list for you, and there are lots of apps out now for your smart phone or tablet that will do this too. But for now, I'm old school and enjoy flipping through my hard copy cookbooks.

So what do you do, meal planning-wise? Do you like to fly by the seat of your pants? Plan out every breakfast/lunch/dinner for 30 days in advance? Or some happy medium? And do you plan for leftovers, or do you have a house of people that won't eat them?