I am pretty proud of myself. I think this is the 3rd week in a row that I have had my menu plan. We are trying to keep our food budget as low as possible, so this is helping a ton. Weird week ahead. I will be gone for a long weekend, Friday – Monday and the family will all be gone Thursday night. So 3 family dinners this week.

Monday

Hamburgers on the Traeger
Sweet Potatoes Fries with Chipotle Mayonnaise

Tuesday

Baked Turkey Cutlets in Panko
Roasted Cauliflower OR
Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

Wednesday

Pasta Carbonara
This uses cream, as does the cauliflower mash. That should use the whole container. Also considering trying this with spaghetti squash instead of pasta. We’ll see.

Thursday
I’m home alone, but making a huge pot of Chicken Tortilla soup to last through the weekend.

Friday – Monday
I’m gone.
Left over soup
Pizza on the Traeger
Sandwiches

Check out what others are eating this week.

I am trying to keep up with my menu plans because::

1. It gives me future ideas

2. We all know it saves money

3. You can think through how to buy a special ingredient and use it up before it’s spoils and has to be thrown out. For instance Basil or last week I had Kale with a couple of uses.

Sunday
Breakfast Burritos – never got to these last week
eggs, sausage, hash browns wrapped in flour tortillas

Monday
Lemon Chicken
over pasta or spaghetti squash
roasted veggies or salad

Tuesday
Pork Bulgogi with Rice

Wednesday – I don’t want to cook day
Sausage – like Trader Joe’s Mango Chicken
Saute onions and red pepper -toss in sliced sausage
add can of black beans and corn – saute till warm
Serve over rice

Thursday – Girls night, boys are snowboarding
Roasted Veggies over Quinoa
needs a sauce and I’m taking suggestions

Friday
Pasta Carbonara
Bread
Caesar Salad

Saturday
I’m going to the Roller Derby, so dinner out!!
That’s right the Roller Derby!!!!!

Find out what others are eating this week.

I had a friend ask on Facebook what people were serving for dinner on a regular basis. It’s a good question. You get stuck in a rut and you want to find out what others are doing, because their rut is different than your rut. And before you know it you have 5 new meals.

Here is how I have avoided the rut, well for the most part.

I started menu planning about 1 1/2 years ago. I have my little notebook and I write my meals down in it. I also have a page of meals that were hits. I am always trying new things, and with Pinterest I have recipes for days, and many I have tried and like.

So now what I do is when I go to work on my meal plan for the week, I look over all my meals from the past year or so. It jolts my memory of something I made and everyone liked. Therefore making my list of “hits” even longer.

You will have more than one list if you are like me. The things you serve in the winter are different than the things you serve in the summer. I don’t use my oven in the summer and I don’t have grill to use in the winter. Since I try to cook with seasonal food I like to keep those lists separate.

Over a  year ago I sat the family down and asked them of the things we eat, what would you put on the weekly menu?  From that I not only got my question answered, but it has continued to work for me. I will try a new recipe and they will say “Don’t add this to the weekly list” or “You could add this every other week” and then some times I hit the home run and get the “add this to the weekly list.”

The nice thing is I no longer ask the question if they like it, they just offer up their opinion. It’s a great way to keep building on the weekly meal plans.

Here’s what I’m eating this week.

Monday :: Zuppa Toscana soup with bread and maybe a Caesar salad

Tuesday :: Butternut Squash Gnocchi with salad

Wednesday :: Beef in a Red Wine Sauce,  over mashed potatoes served with roasted carrots

Thursday :: Family all gone, me home alone. Either left overs or out with a friend.

Friday :: I’m out with the girls meaning my family will eat out.

Saturday ::  Breakfast burritos – hashbrowns, eggs, bacon/sausage, little bit of cheese rolled in a flour tortilla.

My Monday soup has kale in it. I will be making some green smoothies this week to use that up. Green smoothies is just a blend of fruits with kale.

My Tuesday meal has sage in it. I will use the extra sage in my lunches when I heat up my Butternut Squash Bisque.

Wednesday will always have left overs. If I wasn’t making the butternut squash gnocchi the day before I would make extra mashed potatoes to go with the Beef in a red wine sauce so I could make gnocchi with the left overs, but Gnocchi once a week is enough.

Just maybe if I plan it right I could have some left overs for the everyone on the Friday I am gone.

My lunches will consist of lunch meat, soup and green smoothies. My son will get a sandwich and fruits and veggies and my daughter will have whatever she makes for herself since she is home for lunch every day. My husband will either have a sandwich here or out to eat.

Here is what others are eating this week.

I have been on a mission to not only eat brussel sprouts to like them too. So many people rant and rave about them, but when you grew up having them boiled there is no way you can ever imagine them tasting good.

The best way to find a good recipe is to post on Facebook and ask your foodie friends how they prepare them. Take all those suggestions, mix them up and come out with one great recipe of your own.

Here is my most favorite way to eat them and a few variations on that even

Roasted

Cut brussel sprouts in half
drizzle with olive oil, I used garlic olive oil
dice up some sweet onion – couple tablespoons or to taste
Sea salt – don’t use table salt…ever….on anything
Pepper
1 piece of bacon diced or pancetta
1-2 tblsp. Pine Nuts
Balsamic Vinegar – I used 18 year old balsamic

I add everything except the pine nuts and balsamic, toss to coat, then make sure all the cut sides are down. It helps them to caramelize.

Put in them in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. About the time they look done, toss in the pine nuts, a little drizzle of balsamic and cook another 2 minutes.

Other options ::
1. Omit the bacon and pine nuts and finished it off with Parmesan cheese.
2. Once out of the oven drizzle with fresh lemon juice instead of balsamic

Brussel Sprout Pizza

Yep, I heard about it from a friend who had it at a restaurant (we have great restaurants here in Portland) and I knew I had to try it. Or at least figure out how to make it. How hard could it be? Right?

I started with Trader Joes whole wheat pizza dough.

I par baked the pizza dough at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes

Drizzle it with garlic olive oil
Top with the leaves of the sprouts
A little bacon
finely chopped sweet onion
Parmesan cheese

I finished cooking it another 10 minutes or until everything was melted and crispy.

This was delicious. I couldn’t stop eating it. You can see from the picture that I only made half the pizza brussel sprout, the other half was a capresse. I regretted not making more.

Other Pizza Option ::

I did how ever make a little mini pizza with shredded brussel sprouts, garlic olive oil and chevre.  Does anything not taste good with chevre?  This was another great combo and much simpler.

Since I ate so many brussel sprouts today I had to know exactly how good they were for me. I mean good things don’t always taste bad. Sure enough, they are loaded with tons of things, like antioxidants, fiber, vitamin A & K. They are also highly recommended for weight loss programs. Want to know about these little gems…read on.

I got my whole “stick” of brussel sprouts for just $1.99 at Trader Joes. It was enough for 2 meals and pizza.

These are a winter veggie and I intend to keep on eating them. So please share with me how you fix brussel sprouts.

I think I checked out there for a few weeks. Sorry, I have been busy just dealing with life, holidays and life. I don’t have many Christmas parties this year and 2 of them are catered, so I have just haven’t had to bring many food items, but nonetheless I have a few goodies tucked away just in case I need something last minute.

Right now my favorite quick appetizer is Olive Tapenade.  I like this because you can actually be missing some ingredients and still make a great dip.

The ingredients that you need are ::

1 cup Kalamata Olives – I buy these at Costco
1 Garlic clove
1 Tbls Capers
1 Tbsp. Parsely
1 Tbls Fresh Lemon

In a food processor chop all ingredients well. Serve with chevre cheese.

I have made this without any capers and it was fine. Another time I was missing the parsley, again it was fine. There was even a time I was missing the lemon and it was still very good.

My other favorites is the blueberry vanilla chevre cheese from Trader Joes. Just add crackers. Yum!!  All you have to do is show up with that appetizer. Well actually you will have to unwrap it first.

It’s been a while since I have put up a menu plan, but the truth is I do them all the time. Even if you have no desire to coupon to save money, you can still save a ton of money by meal planning.

I have ruined my family. I love to cook and the family, in their craziness, never help, so if I am planning on being down at all I have to plan ahead for my own meals, and theirs too of course.

I bring you my menu plan courtesy of Pinterest. I have saved all my food ideas there and love just looking at the pictures as a reminder.

Monday, November 14

• Crockpot Roast
• Roasted Veggies
• Crusty Bread

Tuesday, November 15

• Dutch oven Carnitas

Wednesday, November 16

• Beef Stroganoff
• Crusty Bread
• Salad

Thursday, November 17 -  I have a medial procedure today, so I will be out of it. I have made soup for myself and I will bank on lots of left overs from the other meals for the family.

Friday, November 18

• Meatballs
• Baked Potatoes
• Rolls
• Green Beans or roasted carrots

Saturday, November 19

Chili – I will try and get a recipe up soon.

Menu Plan Monday

If you can make peach salsa then you most surely can make grilled peach salsa right??

A few weeks ago we picked up 72 lbs of peaches. In my mind it seemed like a much smaller amount than it actually was. Nonetheless, we froze some of them and we are now eating and cooking with the rest.

I went online to look at some recipes for peach salsa. Now here’s the thing I love about cooking. Recipes are like guide lines. Follow them once and after that just wing it.

I had to improvise since I was missing a few things, but for the most part I was able to put together a pretty good grilled peach salsa that I used on my fish tacos.

So here is my attempt at a recipe for you.

• 4 large peaches – I drizzled mine with chipotle olive oil for some kick
• 1/2 cup walla walla sweet onions finely chopped – it’s all I had
• 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon juice – I didn’t have a lime

I got out my handy dandy Pampered Chef food chopper for this. Let me tell you why.

I am one of those people that if I even touch a jalapeno my skin catches on fire. The first (and last time) this happened I tried everything I could think of and everything that I read about on the internet to make it stop burning. We even made a store run for aloe vera. The only reason we didn’t go to the ER is because there is nothing they can do and I am incredibly frugal, do you know how much that would have cost?????

Anyways, I finally took a sleeping pill, had my husband take out my contacts and went to bed with my hands in ice. It did finally go away.

So for now on I chop jalapenos with the food chopper. Ok back to the recipe of sorts.

• Grill peaches for about 5 minutes or until you have grill marks. Let cool, then chop finely.
• Add all the other chopped ingredients and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes, the longer the better.

This will keep for a few days in the fridge. This is great served with chips, but I served mine with fish tacos.

Enjoy!

If you planted even one zucchini plant you are looking for ways to use it. If you planted more than one, you are probably the one dropping them on neighbors doorsteps at night, desperately trying to get rid of it.

Don’t worry, there are so many ways to use zucchini, millions of things even, but I am going to show super easy uses for Zucchini.

Zucchini has such a mild flavor it can be used almost anywhere and in the process you can get your 3-5 servings of veggies in daily.

You can bake and cook all kinds of things, I mostly just find meals I can add them too, since I am not much of a rule recipe follower, so no casseroles in here.

DINNER ::

Grilled Zucchini Side Dish (get this down because it is the base for a lot more things)

1. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Not just any salt and pepper, use freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
2. Grill for about 4 minutes per side or until you have grill marks.
3. Always make extra
4. If using a grill pan, mix it with other veggies like green beans, snap peas, onions, peppers, baby carrots sliced thin, broccoli, cabbage or any other favorite.

Fajitas - When sauteing onions and peppers, add in zucchini.(I use Chipotle Olive Oil for a bit of kick.) Top Fajitas with veggies. Heck, forget the meat and make tons of veggies and fill fajitas with veggies and beans.

Zucchini Pancakes - love these as a side dish.  This one has a great tutorial if you are still questioning the process.

BREAKFAST ::

Farmers Market Frittata – These change all summer long, but they always seem to have zucchini in them diced up real small.

Veggie Scramble - If the frittata sounds to overwhelming then just do a scramble.

1. Saute 1/4 c. onions and 1/4 zucchini (take some of the work out by grilling or sauteing extra from another meal) in 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
2. Add 2 beaten eggs
3. Continue to cook until eggs are cooked through
4. Top with 2 Tbsp. cheese
5. Serve

LUNCH ::

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches - take some of the work out by grilling extra the night before.

Quesadilla - Finely chop any left over veggies from dinner.(I made these the other night and couldn’t make them fast enough for my family.)

1. Add to flour tortillas
2. Add cheese
3. Cook until cheese is melted.

Zucchini Bread - this is a great treat, but I won’t lie, I think my mom thought the only use for zucchini growing up was zucchini bread. Therefore, I have only made it a few times as an adult. I would just make sure the recipe had yogurt or sour cream in it to make it extra moist.

Smoothies - Kids love smoothies and they are good for you, so that’s ok. But make them even better by adding veggies. The beauty of zucchini is it’s the one veggie that is so bland it can’t be tasted in a smoothie, yet you will be getting your veggies.

1. 1/2 cup frozen or fresh fruit (if using fresh add ice cubes)
2. 1/4-1/2 cup fruit juice
3. 1/4 cup yogurt
4. 1/2 small zucchini
5. Blend and serve

Slice and serve – Believe it or not you can actually just eat these raw. Dip them in your favorite veggie dip or hummus.

Plus the beauty of zucchini is that is so super affordable and available all year long. Don’t be afraid, just embrace your zucchini.

What other things do you do with zucchini?

I haven’t been around a lot lately and I do apologize. I have been trying to take full advantage of summer.

PROJECTS ::

I have worked on hard on 2 outdoor projects, redoing my outdoor table and spray painting my plastic chairs. I finally got the projects done and was so excited since I had company coming, then it rained for 3 days, then the company left…..such is life.

3 FAVORITE SUMMER MEALS ::

My frugal meals during the summer consist of anything from the Farmers Market and lots and lots of grilling. I will grill almost anything. My newest grilling favorite is grilled avocados for grilled guacomole.

But grilled pizzas has always been a favorite for our family. Sound to difficult?  Then try my grilled appetizer pizzas. Much easier.

I have an ever rotating Farmers Market Frittata.  In the spring it was asparagus, onions and squash.

Then it went to sugar snap peas and shelled peas (one of my favorites). I didn’t blanch the peas, I just shelled them and added them to the skillet and sauteed them along with all the other veggies I had.

This week I will leave the peas behind and switch to green beans. I still have lots of sweet Walla Walla sweet onions. The squash will continue all through the summer, so those go in nearly every time.

I just love the frittatas because they are an easier version of an omelet. No flipping experience needed.

ACTIVITIES ::

We also love to hike. We have done the 5 Easy Columbia Gorge Hikes. We usually do bigger hikes, but some days it’s nice to do easy ones, and these are so beautiful.

My kids are involved in a month long conditioning camp. It keeps them busy and they LOVE it. My son won’t wake up for school, but he will get up to be tortured for the day. What gives???

Again, I am sorry I have been gone. I do have a few things I need to share with you. I still haven’t share how I haven’t shampooed my hair since April. I need my daughter to slow down long enough to take pictures. I blame her.

So what has you busy this summer?  It might just be watching your garden grow, and let me tell you, I get that!!

Any of you that follow my blog know that if it can be cooked, I am pretty sure it can be grilled.

I had also heard of grilling avocados to make guacamole, so I thought I would give it a shot. It was so easy, anyone can do this, and I make lazy man’s guacamole, so this is super easy and very yummy.

• Cut the Avocado in half and drizzle with olive oil, I used Chipotle Olive oil, leaving skins on.
• Grill for about 5 minutes or until you see good grill marks. I grilled mine on a medium/medium high heat.
• Let cool for a few minutes. You don’t really want hot quac.

Once it’s cooled add ::

• 1 tsp sour cream
• 1 tsp salsa ( we use Emerald Valley)
• Garlic powder to taste
• juice of half a lime

All these ingredients are according to taste. If you like it creamier use more sour cream. More spice and chunkier, use more salsa. You get the idea. The lime keeps it from turning brown. When you are done, throw the seed in also to keep it from turning colors.

Mash it all together. Whala!!

This was by far the creamiest quac I have ever made and the smokey flavor was amazing. The thing I really like about this is for those days you get home and realize that you have chosen a avocado that was not quite ripe. This really does soften things up. My avocado was actually perfect (that never happens) and it was extra creamy. Wow!!

Needless to say it was a big hit. My son had a friend over and he was scraping the bowl.

Sorry no end result pics. I got it made and they were dipping right away.

Yep, if it can be cooked it can be grilled and in this case even if you didn’t think it could be cooked, it could STILL be grilled.

I will also admit to you right now I have been holding out on you. We have been grilling cabbage and it’s to die for. Everyone in the family scarfs it down. Olive oil, salt and pepper.

Enjoy!!

Linked to Ulitmate Recipe Swap.

I love food, so I am also adding this to Things I Love Thursday