Today is Monday Menu Plan and I have to change it up. I have signed up to start receiving a box of produce from a CSA farm [Community Supported Agriculture] which is a great way of supporting your local farmer and get quality produce and here is the website of where you can look up to see if there is a CSA farm in your area: Local Harvest. I will be trying out Hood River Organic because they allow for me to pay weekly or at a discounted price when I pre pay 10 weeks verses paying in advance for the whole season which didn't work with all my summer travel plans. The only thing I liked about Hood River Organic verses some of the other CSA farms in my area is that Hood River is all year long instead of just the "typical harvest time". So now I don't know how to make a menu without seeing what I get in my produce box which I pick up tomorrow so my menu plans will be made and posted tomorrow although I'll confess that I am craving Middle Eastern/Lebanese and Thai foods. Plus we are in the 100 degree weather here which is hot so I use to take advantage of cold dishes and using the bbq grill.

Cream Scones

Recipe from Joy of Baking:
We enjoyed them with Lemon Curd- Yum!

Happy Thoughts...

I go to this very special place everyday...

Tastespotting

Everyday there are pictures of beautiful food that are linked up to blogs with recipes or reviews and it is just so yummy. I have been getting very inspired there for my Menu Planning... Go check it out!

Happy National Chocolate Cake Day

Yep- there really is a National Chocolate Cake Day and that is today!

I made Beatty's Chocolate Cake by Barefoot Contessa but used marshmellow creme for the frosting. The cake was moist and very good but only one layer of marshmellow creme should have been used and maybe a dusting of powdered sugar on top. Amazingly baking a chocolate cake makes me a hero to the boys...

Monday Menu Plan

After a trial of keeping food post separate from this blog it got to be too much work so *drumroll* Please welcome back Menu Mondays and recipes here!!!

If you want to see last week's go here! I made some changes- we ate out Friday night at a fish place, had Turkey soup Saturday, and never made the Bourbon Beef Noodle bowl even though it sounds so good!

Monday [today]: Quiche [Bacon, onions, bell peppers, and spinach...]

Tuesday: Whole roasted chicken, carrots, and bread

Wednesday: Leftover chicken into a Chicken and Dumpling soup

Thursday: Homemade pizza [Have I mentioned my wonderful father-in-law got me a Pizza Baking Stone so I can make my own bread and pizza crust!- I am just delighted]

Friday: The fabulous Chicken Carbonara Pasta that I made last week that got rave reviews from all the boys.

Recipe Spotlight: Chicken Carbonara [courtesy of Cuinsine at Home special Pasta edition]

Bread Crumb Topping:
Toast in 2 T Olive oil-
1 c. fresh bread crumbs [I used a packaged of bread crumbs from Trader Joe's]
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley
2 teaspoon lemon zest

For the Carbonara:
Saute and Drain-
1/2 lb diced thick-sliced bacon
Add and Saute-
1 lb chicken tenders, seasoned with salt and pepper [I used cut up chicken breast and seasoned with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning]
1 t garlic, minced
Deglazed with-
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 T fresh lemon juice

Cook-
3/4 lb dry spaghetti [NOT the whole 1 lb package!]

Whisk together-
3 eggs
1 c. frozen peas [I ran mine under warm water as Trader Joe had these HUGE peas in their frozen section]
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese shredded
1/4 c. heavy cream
Toss with-
Sauteed chicken
Reserved bacon pieces
Hot cooked spaghetti
Garnish with-
Bread crumb topping

Large pot of salted water to a boil for the spaghetti.
Toast bread crumbs and walnuts in oil in saute pan then toss with parsley and zest. Set aside.
Saute bacon in large pan until crisp. Remove cooked bacon to towel lined plate and remove all but one 1T in drippings.
Add chicken to the pan and saute over med-high heat until cook through and add garlic. Then deglaze with wine and lemon juice, reduce until nearly evaporated [3-4 mins]. If you don't have wine on hand, chicken stock would be a good substitute.
Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
Whisk eggs, peas, Parmesan, and cream together in a large bowl. Add the just cooked and hot spaghetti and toss- the heat of the noodles will cook the sauce. Add chicken and reserved bacon. Garnish with the lovely bread crumb mixture.
Enjoy! [This week I'll be sure to take a picture!]


As always- more menu ideas are found at Organizing Junkie

Food

I was thinking about blogging and how my devotion to food really should have its own blog so I have started a food blog: Fluttering In the Kitchen which is where I'll be posting my weekly menus, favorite recipes and cookbooks, food blogs that I follow, and anything else related to food/eating. It also gives me an opportunity to do a blog with Wordpress which I love.
Hope to see some of my readers over there especially as I continue to add entries to my food blog.

I am the bomb today

[I'll go back to taking pictures of everything eventually, really living without a camera for a couple of weeks got me out of a really good habit...]

I made two great meals today and I thought I would share a recipe:
For lunch [I was at the Farmer Market for breakfast] we had Buttermilk Waffles- a favorite around here with a raspberry syrup made locally and sold at the Farmer Market [strained raspberries with a little bit of added sugar] and smiley faces made out of whipped cream- can't you tell how much the boys loved me. I was Queen for a day!

Williams-Sonoma provided the orginal recipe:

2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon [I sprinkle in a teaspoon or two of pumpkin pie spice]
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour [I use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup all purpose flour, at least 1 Tablespoon each ground flax seed and wheat germ]
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt [I don't add this- butter on top of the waffle is a better source of salt]

Mix it up. Pour indvidual amount of batter on your heated waffle maker and they'll be eaten as soon as they are made.

Then for dinner I made a lasagna. I use Trader Joe's no boil lasagna noodles and they worked out great. I didn't use a recipe and I don't measure anything so I'll just let you know what I put in it:
Tiny bit of olive oil in the heated pan, one large walla walla onion chopped, 3 cloves of garlic minced, decent amount of seasoning [my favorite Trader Joe's 21 Salute All Purpose Seasoning Blend], 2 punds of 99% fat free ground turkey, 9 ounces shredded carrots, and 12 ounces frozen chopped spinach. Layered the noodles with red sauce, little layer of small curds cottage cheese, layered zucchini, and fresh mozzarella with the pan filling. Top with parmesan cheese. I bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes- all estimate since I use my nose for when things are done. Voila- even something Cyrus likes and has been requested on the menu in the future. Lucky for me there is leftovers for tomorrow and extra filling that I added red sauce to save in the freezer for Dan's lunch next week.

Menu Plan Monday

Alright I am going to join a few hundred people who post their menu plan on Mondays- it is so inspiring to be a part of a community even just for one idea. This is hosted by Organizing Junkie [please click on the link at left to see other Menu ideas]:



Monday: Quiche that will be made of eggs, bacon, spinach, mushroom, onions, various cheese including parmesan, in a pie crust...

Tuesday: Baked Chicken Breasts, mashed potatoes, and salad

Wednesday: Chili on top Baked Potatoes with carrots or salad

Thursday: Zuppa Toscana with recipe coutesy of The Food Slut! Also

Friday: Chicken Fajitas with Grandma's recipe for rice and pot of black beans...

Notice I have three nights with potatoes?! I got a 5lb bag of potatoes from the Farmer Market for $2!!!

Want a slice of pie?

Made another pie: Raspberry and Marionberry
I have to confess- learning to make pies is an awesome new year resolution and I can't believe I didn't like pies growing up- it was the packaged stuff that I don't care for. Recipe from my favorite book: Pie
My next adventure will be bread...
Yummy!

Rice

I found this great website:

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Basically it is a vocabulary challenge one word at a time and each time you guess what other word out of 4 means the same as the given word- you donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger...

20 rice grains a correct answer meaning adds up fairly quickly! So click on the link:

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

and use and expand your mind power while giving rice out to those who need it!

What we eat

One of my struggles with living in the NW verses southern California is that Farmer Markets don't go year round like they do in California *sighs* so I have to rely on the grocery store for my produce during the winter months. So how do I maximize my dollar for the healthiest produce because buying all organic just isn't in this family's budget so after some research I found this list [provided by Greenthinkers: http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2006/06/organic_dirty_dozen.html]:

12 Most Contaminated also known as the Dirty Dozen- Buy These Organic
• Apples
• Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Cherries
• Imported Grapes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Red Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries

12 Least Contaminated
• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Corn (sweet)
• Kiwi
• Mangos
• Onions
• Papaya
• Pineapples
• Peas (sweet)

More pie!

I have really been enjoying my adventures with making pies! I made a peach and blueberry pie with a pecan crumb topping [a little bit like a cobbler] that turned out delicious! It has fruit in it and only eaten after all their dinner is done :) I need to get my courage up to try the top crust! Email me if you are interested in the receipe! Very easy- just as they say, "Easy as Pie!"
Before the crust went on, it looked like this [Isn't it pretty!]:

Yum Sunday

Since I love food I though it would be great to share recipes which may be a regular series of Yum Sunday [my other name choice was Tasty Tuesday]...
I saw this movie "Waitress" which is a great movie and the main lady role has this talent for making pies- as I am watching the movie and the main character is describing different pies [also works in a pie shop] my mouth began to watered [Dan's taste buds were salivating] so I decided to make my first homemade pie!
The boys had gotten some wonderful Barnes & Noble gift certificates for Christmas and they allowed me to get a pie cookbook [nothing like getting Mama a cookbook for something you want to eat]. Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich and made the pie on page 84: Peaches and Cream Pie using the homemade single crust flaky pie pastry crust on page 31. I used local frozen peaches [Willamette Valley Fruit] that are outstanding and within my "green" resolution of buying food grown/raised within a 100 miles or less. It was declared "Yummy" by the family. This picture was selected by Solomon [and Cyrus agreed not caring].

Addiction

I probably go to Trader Joe's for most of my food- I adore that place. I probably should work there so maybe I can get sick of it but after trying one box of the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's [yes you read that right- I ate ONE box by myself] I am hoplessly addicted. Then I behaved after my sugar induced coma with a very sick stomach- I did feel better after sleeping through the night, having eggs and hearty toast for breakfast, vegetable soup for lunch, baked chicken with vegetables then I ate another box- this time Dan helped me. You are incapable of stopping at 4 or even 10 cookies and reading the label while eating doesn't stop me nor anyone else for that matter. So I will be thankful when it sells out [Trader Joe's employees have promised me] and the holiday cookies are gone then I will work off those sugary, minty, chocolately, candy cane bits, cream and a crunch in the same bit, goooey goodness- well ummmm now that I am thinking about it- there is another box in the kitchen..... So do not buy a box or make sure you have to share with 5 other people so your portion will be shorter than a box of holiday cheer!