Chicken With Rice Pilaf Soup

Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 20 mins | Makes: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white rice
• 1/2 cup orzo
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 T butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leave, chopped
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 quart broth
• 2 lbs chicken tenders, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1 lemon, juice of
• hot sauce

Directions:

Bring chicken broth and butter to a boil. Stir in rice and orzo. Cook for 15-18 minutes until done, set aside.

Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf, and thyme, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Add the stock, bring up to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and continue to cook for 10 minutes.

Add the parsley, dill, the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste. Remove the bay leaf.

Divide the cooked rice among 4 serving bowls; ladle the soup over the rice, making sure to distribute the chicken and veggies evenly among the bowls.

Adapted from: 365 No Repeats – Rachael Ray

Chicken in a Fresh Tomato and Eggplant Sauce With Spaghetti

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Makes: 4-6

Ingredients:

• coarse salt
• 1 lb spaghetti
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small firm eggplant cut into a small dice
• 2 small summer squash or zucchini cut into a small dice
• 1 1/3 lbs chicken tenders, cut into small bite-size pieces
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 4 tomatoes cut into chunks
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• crusty bread

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; when boiling, salt the water and cook pasta al dente; drain pasta, but reserve ½ cup pasta cooking liquid.

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with 3 tablespoons oil; add in eggplant and squash; cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes

Add in the onions and garlic; season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes; continue to cook 3-4 minutes.

Add in the chicken and cook to lightly brown, about 4-5 minutes.

Add in white wine and chicken stock; bring to a simmer; cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add in the tomatoes and pasta water; cook until the tomatoes are warm

Add in the parsley and cooked pasta; toss to coat, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce tightens up around the pasta.

Turn off the heat; add in grated Parmigiano-Reggiano; toss to coat the spaghetti.

Serve warm with crusty bread.

Adapted from: 365 No Repeats – Rachael Ray

Ham and Swiss Crepes with Chopped Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Coarse salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 pint red cherry tomatoes
• 1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
• 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse black pepper
• 1/2 seedless cucumber, quartered lengthwise and chopped into bite-size pieces
• Vegetable oil, for cooking crepes
• 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced Black Forest ham, chopped into ribbons

Directions:

For the crepe batter, combine the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the eggs and milk to the well and whisk to combine. Stir in the melted butter. Cover the batter and set aside for 20 minutes

While the batter is resting, halve the red and yellow cherry tomatoes and add them to a salad bowl. Add the basil, parsley, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat. Add the cucumbers and onions.

Preheat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat with a drizzle of vegetable oil. Cover the bottom of the skillet with just enough batter to coat, lifting and shaking the skillet to help the batter along.

Let the crepe cook and lightly brown on one side, just about 1 minute.

Turn the crepe with a rubber spatula, lifting up the edges, then use a toothpick or your finger to flip it over. Once it is flipped, scatter some of the cheese and ham on top.

Season with a little salt and pepper, then fold the crepe over and continue to cook until the cheese starts to melt. Transfer the crepe to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat this 7 more times to serve 2 crepes per person.

Adapted from: 365 No Repeats – Rachael Ray

Chicken with Satueed Brussels Sprouts with pancetta and Balsamic Vinegar

Ingredients:

• 10 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• juice of 1 lemmon
• 6 tablespoons EVOO
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 lbs chicken breasts
• 6 slices pancetta (or bacon)) chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 pints brussels sprouts (I used cabbage sprouts), thinly sliced
• 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°

In a shallow dish, combine the sage, half of the parsley, the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the EVOO, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken, coat thoroughly, and marinate for 5 minutes. While it marinates prepare the ingredients for the sprouts.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO. Add the chicken and brown 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a shallow baking dish and bake another 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of the EVOO. Add thet pancetta and cook until crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced Brussels sprouts, 1/2 cup of the chicken stock, and the balsamic vinegar, stir to combine, and continue to cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the Brussels sprouts are tender.

Adapted from: 360 No Repeats – Rachael Ray

BBQ Pot Roast over Cheddar Ranch Grits

***FAMILY FAVORITE***

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 (4-5 lb.) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• 1 (12 oz) can coke or pepsi
• 1 (12 oz) bottle chili sauce
• 2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup quick cook grits (not instant)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp Ranch dressing mix
• 1 1/2 - 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper over roast. Place roast in 6-quart slow cooker. Combine coke, chili sauce, worcestershire and hot sauce; pour over roast. Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or on low 8-9 hours.

Remove roast from slow cooker, reserving juices in slow cooker, keep warm.

Combine cornstarch and milk, stirring well. Stir into slow cooker.

Cook uncovered on high for for 15 minutes until thickened. Serve sauce over roast

In a medium pan, bring chicken broth to a boil. Stir in grits. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in ranch mix and cheese. Cook until cheese is melted.

Modified from: https://sites.google.com/site/plainchicken/bbq-pot-roast-over-cheddar-ranch-grits?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F&showPrintDialog=1

Zucchini Chili

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min | Makes: 4 servings | Difficulty: --

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey, chicken or beef (your choice!)
• 4 poblano peppers [for bonus flavor, char these over a gas stove or in the broiler, put them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, then peel the skins off and chop! I personally don't care to go through the effort, so I just use them raw]
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds firm small to medium-size zucchini, chopped into small dice
• 1 onion, chopped into small dice
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 red or green pepper
• 1 tablespoon cumin, palmful
• 1 tablespoon coriander, palmful
• A few sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/3 palmful
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans
• 2 cups chicken
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup long grain white or light brown rice
• 1/2 jar of pesto (a few tablespoons)
• Toppers to choose from: crushed tortillas or warm soft tortillas, sour cream, shredded cheeses, scallions or finely chopped onions, lime wedges

 

Directions:

Heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat and sautéed your choice of turkey, chicken or beef until browned. Add zucchini, onions, garlic, all peppers, cumin, coriander, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper, stir frequently for 10 minutes. Add in the tomato paste, and stir 1 minute more. Deglaze the pan with beer, stir in beans and about half of the stock, bring to a bubble then reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes to combine flavors.

While the chili heats make the rice. Melt the butter in a saucepot over medium heat and add the rice, toast a minute or 2, then stir in 1 1/2 cups stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook covered, over low heat 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, stir in pesto and serve in shallow bowls with zucchini chili and toppings of choice to garnish.

Modified From: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/zucchini-chili-recipe/index.html

Week 1 - Menu Plan Monday

Here is what’s for dinner this week!  Don’t forget to stop in every day for the recipe, or better yet – add me to your RSS feed so dinner just pops right into your in box!

At the end of the week you can find direct links to each recipe in the "Weekly Meal Plan" tab up top.

Monday – Zucchini Chili
Tuesday – BBQ Pot Roast over Cheddar Ranch Grits
Wednesday – Chicken with Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Balsamic Vinegar
Thursday – Ham and Swiss Crepes with Chopped Salad
Friday – Chicken in a Fresh Tomato and Eggplant Sauce with Spaghetti
Saturday – Chicken with Rice Soup

Welcome back to menu planning!

So I know it’s been awhile since I’ve done any menu planning.  Truth be told, I still menu plan every single week, I just haven’t been posting much about it because I wasn’t really sure if anyone used it or not.  Low and behold I’ve had a handful of people asking me about it lately and quite a few people asking me for specific recipes so let’s see if we can get back into it!

I’m going with a new format this time around.  Every Monday I’ll post the master list of what I’m cooking this week.  Then as the week goes by, I’ll post the recipe of the day.  I get most of my recipes from cookbooks and around the web, but I very rarely make them exactly as written so you’ll find my version of the recipe here as well as a link to the original recipe. When the next week comes around I’ll repost the list with my thoughts on how they tasted as well as next weeks list. 

Most likely you’ll find about 5 or 6 recipes each week.  Every Sunday we eat with the in-laws and every now and again we just plain go out.  I am going to *try* to take a picture at the end of every meal, but no guarantees. If ever you have a question on a recipe just ask!

You can even Pin a recipe to your Pinterest with the “Pin it!” button at the bottom of each recipe. 

If you ever just want a random week of recipes you’ll not be able to find them on the Weekly Menu Plan tab.

This is a work in progress, so if it doesn’t work please let me know!

Oh the Life Before Kids ...

I love my kids, especially in light of recent events, but do you ever miss your life before kids?  Do you ever wish you could have it back just for 10 minutes?

Lets set the stage.  It's dinner time.  A and I prepared a lovely steak dinner with some lovely vegetable sides courtesy of the plethera of vegetables we have been getting from our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - more on that later!)  I was so excited about the cucumber and watermelon salad.  Very refreshing with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and some Parmesan cheese.We just sit down to eat.  Jacob poops and needs a diaper change.  He comes back and starts throwing a fit - literally.  He doesn't want steak, he doesn't want the pasta and it is pure torture to eat the cucumbers.  Only the watermelon will do but not with the "ickies!" mixed in - AKA parmesan cheese. Food starts to get thrown, the plate gets overturned, the dog gets hit with a fork, then a sippy cup.  Andrew is jumping up and away from his dinner to stop the throwing.  All of this happens to the tune of "MELON!!!!!  MELON!!!!  NO CUMBER! YUCKY!!!" {Translation - Watermelon is good, cucumbers suck, parmesan cheese does not belong on watermelon. 

You might feel sorry for Andrew in all of this, but what is happening at the other side of the table?  Logan has woken up and is screaming.  First off he is hungry, but then he gets the hiccups, which for a baby that just had open heart surgery - makes him really, really mad.  I quickly cut up my food, and end up nursing while eating, multitasking at its finest.  There I am with my shirt half off, boppy and baby on my lap sitting 2 feet from the table trying really hard not to drop pasta on poor Logan. 

In that moment, I yearned for the past.  A quiet dinner for two.  We enjoyed every bite, glass of wine included.  There was conversation, maybe a little music.  Dinner continued on the back deck, wine in hand.  Life was easy, luxurious even.  Relaxing.  Quiet. Very, very quiet. 

But the moment passes as quickly as it came as I hear this tiny voice say "Thank you, Mommy, I you!" {Translation I love you!} The other little one stops to take a breath from his dinner and shines those huge blue eyes at me and gives a great big smile, milk dripping out the sides of his mouth.  Suddenly it doesn't seem so bad.  

      

iPad Apps that Changed My Life

So I just got an iPad a few weeks ago.  I never really thought I needed one.  I had a smart phone, so what could an iPad give me that my phone couldn't?  I work at home so if I needed a computer I could just go downstairs to my office and use one.  I certainly couldn't work on an iPad and I really had no need to surf the net and play games all day.

Wow, was I wrong.  I am here to say that a month later, I am pretty sure my iPad has changed my life.  It is so much more than just games and the internet.  We are talking some serious productivity changes and a move to make my world completely paperless.  How?  Here are a few of my favorite apps and how I use them these days:

Targus Versavu Keyboard Case - In my estimation, productivity with an iPad can't happen without a keyboard. Maybe you can type on an iPad, but I certainly can't type nearly as fast or as accurately without a keyboard.  I also really like that with the Versavu you can turn your screen to be either portrait or landscape.  It really makes a difference in some apps. 

Blog Docs - That is the app I am currently typing on as we speak.  Love it.  You can type your blog post just like you would in a word processing program.  You can add in links, pull in pictures, change the layout.  Hit post, give it a title and your blog post is done.  Maybe I'll blog more now??

Evernote - By far my favorite app to organize my life.  Evernote allows you to create notebooks and add individual notes into them.  OK, so how do you use that?  Let me share what I have in a few notebooks.  The best one I have is for family information.  You don't just have to type notes in, you can also scan them.  Every important piece of information we have gets scanned in - birthday invitations, wedding invitations, letters pertaining to doctors appointments.  Anything we don't physically need to keep gets scanned into a PDF and put into Evernote.  How does that help anything?  You can access that note on any device.  Andrew can see it on his computer at work, my computer in my office, any smart phone or the iPad.  We will never again wonder, "Now where did I put that wedding invitation again?" AND I don't have to have piles of paper or binders to store it in.  

My other favorite is the freezer inventory list.  We recently went through our deep freeze and wrote down exactly what is in there and what shelf it is on.  No more digging through to find something or spending 15 minutes searching for the lost loaf of garlic bread only to realize it isn't there.  You have to remember to take that item off the list when you use it and add in new items, but this has been a real game changer for us.

I also love having a list ready for items that I need to buy.  I run out of paprika, I add it to my spice list.  No more guessing on if I need more of anything.

Work productivity is another big hit for Evernote.  Now that business is booming (YAY!!!) I have a lot going on.  At any given moment I will have 2 clients that are pending, another 3 that are in the design process, another one that I am doing custom work for, another 3 that are on hold until we get closer to their wedding.   It was starting to get really hard to remember what was going on with each without going through the entire string of emails.  Now I have a notebook for each phase in the project.  As I work with someone I can jot down notes on what we have done, when things were emailed or sent for approval.  It is also a handy place to jot down the color of each part of their invite and what size it is so when I am working on the final print job I have it right there and I don't have to go to my computer and sort through to find the file there with the info.  As I finish part of a project I can just drag and drop them into a new category.  Fabulous!

Paprika - Not a free app, but another game changer for me.  If you are like me, you have recpies everywhere.  Cookbooks, binders, note cards, online bookmarks.  No more!  Paprika has been the best recipe organizer I have found so far.  It reads recipes from a large number of popular websites and pulls all the information you need right into a screen that looks like a recipe card.  It takes out all of the adds, comments and other junk on the page and saves just what you need - the recipe.  If the site you are on isn't supported, you can requst that it be added to their list, then you just highlight each section of the recipe and click on the appropriate label.  You tell it where the info is going to go and it puts everything right into your recipe card.

You control the organization by putting each recipe into categories.  You can also scale the recipes up and down to adjust to your family.  My favorite part though is the meal planning. 

 I find a recipe I like, add it to the calendar, then add it to the grocery list.  The list of ingredients pop up.  I uncheck the ones I have and the rest go straight to the list that is also organized by category.  Need 3 potatoes for one recipe and 2 in another - it adds them together for you!  

You can see the grocery list on the right, arranged by category.  You just tap the box to put a check mark in it (Note - as a bonus it also grays out the items you have purchased because if you are like me just a check mark doesn't do it and time and time again you leave the store without buying stickers for the garbage bags).  On the left hand side is a list of the recipes that are included in the grocery list.  A nice and quick way to make sure you added them all in. I also really like that it includes the quantities.  I don't know how many times I write "buttermilk" on my list and then have no idea what size I need.

Total game changer for me.  I am even going through old cookbooks and looking up all of the interesting recipes (you can find almost any book recipe somewhere online) and saving them here into one large cookbook.  Lets be real, I have all sorts of cookbooks that have about 10 recpies that I would actually try.  No sense in sorting through a whole book of things I don't want for the few recpies I do.  I create a category for each book so I can still browse that particular book,  just abbreviated.

Dropbox - Dropbox itself has been a lifesaver, app or no app.  Dropbox is a coud based system to save your files.  You can get a small amount of space for free.  Since I have a lot of larger files and a very large number of them, I opted to purchase the larger space and now all of my work and personal files are backed up in the cloud.  I can access them from any computer anywhere.  I know it makes me a bit of a work aholic, but never have to close my shop down because wherever I am I can still give people quotes and more information because my files are always with me.  I actually don't use the app much, but it proves me a gateway into using other apps such as ...

Cloudon - Cloudon is a free app that you can use to work on Excel, Word and Power Point documents.  It doesn't have the full array of functions that the actual programs do, but for a free app it certainly does all of the basic math and that I need to do to say get a quote to a customer.  Woah.  Life changer.  I get a few emails a day that are requests for invitation quotes.  Each one is unique so there rarely is an easy answer.  I have created an Excel document where I enter in the colors, sizes, printing, cutting and assembly items as well as and it tells me what that invitation costs.  It doesn't take that long so it was kind of a pain to go down to the office and was either mucho hard or impossible to do while I was watching the boys (I know, poor, poor me that has to go down to the basement for 10 minutes to email a customer). 

Now if I get an email I can promptly reply to it, which actually has helped me retain customers.  Everyone wants to feel like I have nothing better to do than reply instantly to emails all day right?  Like I said, it isn't a perfect app.  There is no "save as" function and you can't sort data, but I consider it good enough to do what I need it to do.

Splashtop - Splashtop has proven to be the most valuable app for me.  Splashtop is used to create a remote desktop connection.  What the heck does that mean?  It means that I can literally log into my computer from anywhere and use it on my iPad.  It is a little cumbersome, but I can access all of my programs and files and get a bit of work done. Lets be real.  Jake is 2 and a pretty independent kid.  He doesn't want you to play with him.  He is happy to be playing with his trains or blocks but not yet old enough to be left unattended to play.  Logan sleeps a lot and enjoys his playmat so if I can log on to my computer from afar, I can get a bit of work done here and there while they play.  It isn't good for use all of the time and it is a challenge, but it works in a pinch for a few easy things.  While Logan was in the hospital back in June, I actually got a few invitation designs done this way.  Life changer. 

So really what these apps have done is make me a real work aholic.  No, I don't want to think I'm a work aholic, I think I am just getting better at using the time that I have in the day wisely.  If I can get a few work things done here and there throughout the day, I don't have to give up my evening or get up extra early to reply to emails.  It is so much easier to work for 10-15 minutes when I can, than to spend 2 hours at the end of the day getting to everything.

Are there other great apps that I haven't stubbled upon yet?