Menu Planning in 2009

I am working away on my "to do" list here and one of those things includes careful meal planning and shopping. This is not a strength of mine but I found this great blog here that is full of tips to get you started. I am making my menu plans (3 weeks worth already thank you very much) along with separate shopping lists here to keep me a little less A.D.D. in the supermarket and will also be nice to have on a file backup when I plan on working the weeks into repeat.

It is also going to require me going grocery shopping once a week which I seriously hate to do!! I am hoping since I am going to be approaching this trip in such an organized fashion that it won't be a painful for me :)

So here's week one

Sunday Asian Pork Tenderloin (never made this before but it's a Southern living recipe I found on the Organizing Junkie site- really easy so I hope it's good!)

Monday Spaghetti and Meatballs

Tuesday - sandwich night (Tuesdays are busy with activities and I also refuse to cook when the cleaning lady comes every other week)

Wednesday - hamburgers

Thursday - Chicken cutlets

Friday - make your own pizza

Saturday - we're having friends over for dinner so that's a whole separate trip to the store - a party requires my undivided attention and I can't mix the 2 :)

Of course there will be some sides mixed in there too... which usually means at least a salad so don't worry, we are getting our veggies :D
So there you have it! What's for dinner? xo, Brie

Dinner Party

Here are some recipes that I served at the party this weekend. The recipes were easy and I will definitely make them again!

Salad with pears, Gorgonzola, and candied walnuts (recipe compliments of Keely :)


I used a mix of lettuce for this. 1 pkg of spring greens and 1 head of boston bibb

2 bosc pears, crumbled gorgonzola and candied walnuts (by emerald nuts located in the produce aisle and also the baking aisle at my grocery store)


salad dressing

1/2 cup of fig balsamic vinegar
2 tsp of honey
fresh juice of one squeezed lemon
s/p
(put these in the blender and blend) with the blender running slowly add 1 cup of olive oil




Lasagna Rolls - Recipe below courtesy of Food Network and Giada De Laurentiis


These were easy and delicious! I had hoped to make a few over 12 just to have extra but the filling mix will definitely only make 12. I dried my lasagna noodles on a clean dry dish towel and rolled them up from there - I think it made it easier! Here is what it looked like before it went in the oven! It was great!

Complete recipe can be found here

and for dessert Frozen Key Lime Pie with recipe courtesy of Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) and The Food Network

I don't love regular key lime pie, but this one is completely delicious! It tastes like a great sorbet with whipped cream and graham cracker crust - yum! If the thought of the raw egg kind of freaks you out (like me!) there are side directions to slowly heat them to 140 degrees. I can't stop pulling this out of the freezer and nibbling on it.

Recipe can be found Here

I hope you'll try these because I think you will love them!

BLT anyone?

Another stinker picture here (notice how I was trying to be all photographer like with an interesting angle)! Kay had a basketball game and I wasn't going to count this in my Dinner Challenge, but they were so darn good I decided to take a picture and share anyway! I got this recipe from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa at Home) I really love everything she does, I have never NOT liked one of her recipes and they are usually pretty easy to make. No kooky ingredients that you have to run to 10 different specialty stores etc etc. Here is the link to the recipe, and PS it's not just ANY old BLT - it's a CALIFORNIA BLT, and it was awesome. Also baking the bacon in the oven is the way to go!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_37083,00.html

I am back on track and my cold is gone. I am also back to spinning! Today was great, I like Thur teacher a lot. Her ipod is really good... some highlights included Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes and Squeezes' Another Nail in My Heart! Download them, you'll love them!

xo, Brie

Dinner Challenge Day 2 Lemon Chicken

Am I one lousy photographer or what? (please don't answer that!) This was my dinner for last night's challenge, check out the Flickr group . It was met with mixed reviews but I think it got a solid 7.5-8 on a scale of 10 from everyone in this household. This lemon chicken recipe sauce actually calls for heavy cream in the sauce. It is beyond delicious, but in the interest of saving a few calories here I just did the lemon part hold the cream.

Lemon Chicken

• boneless chicken breasts (4)


• 1/2 stick of butter


• 2 or 3 lemons (depends on the size)


• 1/3 cup of sherry (I cheated and used "cooking sherry" but I bet the real deal would be even better!)


• lemon zest from 2 of the lemons


• s/p

clean and trim up your chicken, pound it out a bit to make it flatter (I just like it thinner and it saves on cooking time) Melt your butter in the frying pan and add the chicken. Cook for 6 minutes on each side or so (I like it to get kind of brown). Remove chicken and set to the side. Add you zest, juice, and sherry to the frying pan and whisk it around a bit scraping up the brown bits etc. Let it bubble for a minute or 2 until slightly reduced. Return your chicken to the pan and coat to slightly reheat and serve.

I served this with a pastina (teeny stars) pasta and a little "I can't believe it's not butter" (I can't believe I LIKE I can't believe it's not butter, but I do!) and some green giant broccoli in cheese sauce. I thought the kids would like this broccoli but they hated it. Mr. KB and I loved it :D

Don't expect any great shakes for tonight, we have a basketball game so I may be doing a blt or something and will probably take the night off. I have big plans for the rest of the week though! Stay tuned! xo, Brie

Dinner Challenge

My new friend Carrie has been really motivating me to try some new recipes. We are all getting tired of the same old, same old. Throw a home business and kids into the mix and cooking becomes less and less of a priority! Carrie has suggested (and you're invited too!) a 5 Night Dinner Challenge . (yes, I had to look up how to do that in html... it was surprisingly easy!) Here is where we will brain storm, try some new and easyish recipes to drag us all out of our rut. We're sharing recipes and encouraging pictures. She even set up a Flickr Group , sweet girl that she is... won't you join us?

This is not an old recipe, this is not a terribly original recipe, but it is something I do not make ALL that often, it's very easy and most importantly, it's something we all like!

Cheese Raviolis with Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

1 medium onion chopped

1 minced clove of garlic (just use the press)

1-2 tbsp of olive oil

s/p

1/4 cup of sugar

maybe a splash of red wine if you have some open

saute onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent (approx 10 min)

mix in everything else in and simmer on low

buy some frozen raviolis that are quick to cook. Read the package b/c I have bought some that say boil for 15 minutes (who has time for that!) I recommend the costco kirkland ones in the blue bag. They are good and cook in 3-5 minutes in boiling water.

Serve Marinara over the top and sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese if you like it!

Make a quick salad and maybe an Italian bread and you are good to go!