The plan for this week is full of awesome. I'll be out of the house Monday to have my picture taken with the Stanley Cup. Wednesday we have friends coming over to watch hockey related stuff on TV to celebrate the beginning of hockey season. Thursday is the Bruins home opener and they play Saturday. Hubs is home alone Monday and Saturday but is coming with me on Thursday night. So as I typically do when hockey starts, I try to prep to have some stuff made or easy to make for Hubs on the nights I leave him home alone for hockey.
This week's meal plan & ingredient list
Sunday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes (leftovers) & Turkey Bacon
Lunch: Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries
Dinner: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli
Monday:
Breakfast: Antioxidant Smoothie
Lunch: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli
Dinner: Tequila Lime Turkey Chili
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes
Lunch: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Dinner: Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Noodles
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cran Raspberry Smoothie
Lunch: Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Noodles
Dinner: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Thursday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Out
Friday:
Breakfast: Cran Raspberry Smoothie
Lunch: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli
Dinner: Hamburgers & Sweet Potato Fries
Saturday:
Breakfast: Bacon & Eggs
Lunch: Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad & Baked Brown Rice
Dinner: Tequila Lime Turkey Chili
Sunday: I do a lot of planning & meal prep for the week, so a lot of times a crock-pot dinner is the way to go, I had planned to make this a LONG time ago and had bought frozen lemonade concentrate in anticipation of making it, so when I tripped over this recipe again I decided it was time. Chicken was at my buy price ($1.99/lb) , so chicken makes two appearances this week!
Monday: Out for the evening, Hubs love chili and this can sit in the crock-pot all day and be used for another game later in the week
Tuesday: I found a recipe online that used a rotisserie chicken in it, but I thought I could do better, so we'll see what it comes out like.
Wednesday: We're having company and keeping it simple but also tying in to a line in the movie I'm looking forward to watching Slap Shot
Thursday: We are off work and out all day, meeting up with other Bruins fans for lunch and enjoying the end of the summer long celebration
Friday: We are off, anticipating sleeping in and relaxing!
Saturday: Hockey game for me, Hubs will be on his own for dinner, but he's looking forward to having some more of that chili.
End of week update: I was less than impressed with most of the meals I tried new recipes for this week, so there won't be a lot of sharing of recipes from this past week, not till I go back to the drawing board. We also wound up off plan on Friday because we just wanted to enjoy a lazy day after a late night celebrating the raising of the Stanley Cup Champion banner. :)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Pumpkin Pancakes
Pumpkin Pancakes
Yields: 20 pancakes (5-6 servings)
Printable Recipe
Who doesn't love fall? I'll tell you...jerks. Fall is great, so many delicious flavors. Anyone who doesn't like fall should have their head examined.
This is one of our fall favorites, Pumpkin Pancakes. We usually stock up on canned pumpkin when it's on sale, but I couldn't wait to have some pumpkin pancakes and to try a recipe for pumpkin spiced latte that everyone of my pintrest peeps have been pinning.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups milk
- 1 Cup pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons vinegar
- 2 Cups all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
In a bowl, mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, oil & vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a separate bowl. Stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop batter on the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
The verdict: We've made these before, we'll be making them again, because they are awesome. On Saturdays if possible we make a big breakfast and typically have the same thing on Sunday, because we can just reheat it. This weekend we made a big tray of turkey bacon and then just reheated enough pancakes for breakfast along with the rest of the turkey bacon, far less work on a Sunday morning suite for reading the paper and drinking coffee.
The leftover pancakes (if you have any!) can be frozen, but we will use them during the following work week
Vitamin C Smoothie
Vitamin C Smoothie
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cook Book
Yields: 2 Servings
Printable Recipe
This is another of my favorite cookbooks. Again ATK. They have bunch of good smoothie recipes. Super easy and quick in the morning to help us stop heading to the Dunkin' Donuts drive through. I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, mainly due to texture. So this is away to get some of that in.
I wait until frozen fruit is on sale to stock up. This week I got most of my fruit 2/$4.00 a bag. This will be multiple smoothies.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups orange juice
- 1 Cup frozen mango
- 1/2 Cup frozen strawberries
- 1 Tablespoon sugar, plus extra to taste
- Pinch salt
Combing all ingredients in a blender, with juice on bottom. Blend on low speed until mixture is combined but still coarse in texture, about 10 seconds. Increase blender to high speed and puree until it is completely smooth, 20 to 40 seconds longer. Season with additional sugar to taste and serve immediately
This is one of our favorites and if I ever have extra storage, I would like to pre-measure the ingredients in an effort to speed up the process in the morning. But that's likely a ways off for us.
BBQ Pulled Pork
BBQ Pulled Pork
Adapted by America's Test Kitchen - Slow Cooker Revolution
I love this cookbook and if you are from the school of thought that all crock-pot meals taste the same (I was) or don't like that a lot of crock-pot recipes have a lot of ready made or processed ingredients (I did) but want to use your crock-pot, this is worth picking up. I love ATK, I know some people have hard time with it because their tends to be a lot of steps, but I find the show & cookbooks fascinating. The adjustments I made to this recipe were to use boneless pork loin (the recipe calls for boneless pork butt) and less of it (recipe calls for 5lbs and I used 2.5)
Ingredients:
- Barbecue Rub (see below)
- 1 (2.5 lb) boneless pork loin roast
- 1 cup Barbecue sauce
- Cider Vinegar (to taste)
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- Brown Sugar (to taste)
BBQ Rub (makes enough for 5lbs pork)
- 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
- 1/4 Cup sweet paprika (I used regular)
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon onion powder
- 1 Teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
Using a fork, prick pork all over. Rub the pork loin with 1/2 the rub noted. Save the rest of that rub for another time. Wrap pork loin in plastic wrap and refrigerated from 8 to 24 hours. Unwrap pork and place in crock-pot.
Spread barbeque sauce evenly over pork, cover and cooke until pork is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.
Transfer pork to bowl, let cool slightly, then shred into bite size pieces. Discard excess fat; cover to keep warm. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon. Season with salt, pepper, sugar & vinegar to taste.
Toss shredded pork with 1 cup of braising liquid, add more liquid as needed to keep meat moist. Serve with barbecue sauce
The verdict:
We'll be using this recipe for years to come. It's great for prepping the night before we have it (10 minutes tops) and while the coffee is brewing in the morning the prep is super easy (maybe 3 minutes) Getting home from work to the smell is priceless and in less than 10 minutes its on the table. As noted, we used this in a variety of ways, we had it on the night we made it as a sandwich, we brought it to work with a side salad for lunch, and it arrived in pizza form later in the week. What other ways can you use this dish?
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