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lhamo
5-1-11, 8:41pm
Looks like I get to start this thread for May. Yippee! It has been really great for keeping me motivated to cook at home more and try new things.

DH and kids are away, so I've been cleaning out the fridge and freezer and planning some new meals. Today I am going to experiment with a barley mushroom risotto recipe from Urban Pantry -- one of my grantees brought me a big bag of highland barley and I've been wanting to see if it will work as a substitute for regular barley. I have a bunch of mushrooms I need to use up and all of the other ingredients, too, so thought it worth a try. I think I will probably make a big pan of roasted veggies, too -- have some things in the fridge I need to use up, and roasted veggies I can eat as a side either hot or cold.

Got some pasta sauce out of the freezer and will use that with my last package of whole wheat pasta later this week.

I was thinking about making a bean salad, too, but now that I think about it that can probably wait -- only so much food I can eat in one week!

Goal is to get the fridge emptied out enough that I can give it a good cleaning before everybody gets back. Tossed a bunch of stuff that was past its expiration date/past its prime, so that cleared out a lot of space.

lhamo



Wow. Now

Rosemary
5-1-11, 8:59pm
Dinner tonight was baked tilapia, roasted brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potatoes. Baked extra sweet potatoes; DD wants one for breakfast tomorrow.
Made some vegan coconut macaroons and a pot of lentil soup. The lentil soup will be lunches tomorrow.

danna
5-1-11, 10:14pm
May 01
Dd and I are challanging ourselves to not buy and eat from stockpiles until the end of May so this is a good thread for me to follow.
Very busy week but had leftovers from last night for lunch and soup (from freezer) and a sandwich for supper.

Maxamillion
5-2-11, 12:43am
I made a squash casserole for supper tonight. Will have some for lunch tomorrow. Breakfast in the morning will be the last of the leftover chili.

Wildflower
5-2-11, 4:51am
I cook most everyday, DH sometimes cooks, and we go out about once a week to inexpensive ethnic restaurants close to home. Weather is warming up here and we are cooking outside on the grill more often these days. What yummy flavor it adds to everything!

Bastelmutti
5-2-11, 8:30am
Hi everyone! cow-hi

I know this will be a busy week, so I've asked the kids to be easy on me! :~) I do cater to them a bit food-wise (and like to), but they'll have to deal this week!

Went shopping yesterday for ingredients - 3 of us will be having wraps for lunch, 1 the usual PB sandwich. Last night's dinner was chicken, crockpot baked potatoes (love these - thank you SL boards!) and corn. Also planning a stir-fry, tacos & pasta this week.

Thx for the kick-off into another month!

Stella
5-2-11, 9:24am
Bastelmutti, how do you make crock pot baked potatoes?

I am so in. We've been doing quite well at this lately. Tonight is pork roast, mashed potatoes and carrots. Tomorrow is chicken a la king on homemade biscuits or wild rice, I haven't decided yet.

Wednesday Zach is gone for a church thing, so I am going to use the leftover pork roast in tacos. That's as far as I've gotten on the menu planning.

Bastelmutti
5-2-11, 5:49pm
Crockpot baked potatoes (I think I got this tip on SNL)

Wash & dry potatoes in skins. Wrap in foil. Pop in crockpot - DRY, no water. Turn on high. Done in 3-4 hrs.

They sometimes turn a bit brown if you leave them in too long, but they taste fine. This is great for me because I tend to forget stuff that has a longer cooking time in the oven/on the stove and burn it.

PS They really taste "baked".

PS2 Speaking of which, I went off plan & have a peanut stew in the crockpot now & am about to put rice in the rice cooker. The less stovetop cooking the better when I'm busy.

Stella
5-2-11, 6:51pm
Oooh that seems easy! Thanks Bastelmutti!

Kat
5-3-11, 5:52am
Thanks for sharing your baked potato method, Bastelmutti!

I am hoping to rock out this challenge this month since we will (hopefully) be getting our kitchen back soon. We did eat out over the weekend, but we managed to stay in Sunday and yesterday. Last night we used up the last of the lettuce and made dinner salads. For some reason I was really thirsty yesterday and stuck mostly to water.

I am hoping to make a meal plan using up our freezer/pantry stockpile this week. That will help me from feeling like I don't know what to cook.

lhamo
5-3-11, 6:09am
My barley risotto turned out pretty good. I deviated from the original recipe and added some bacon for extra flavor, and you pretty much can't dislike any recipe with bacon in it! Not sure if the rest of the family will like it or not, but I may make it again to take for lunches. The roasted veggies turned out ok, but not as flavorful as I would have liked. I think I am going to throw them in a quiche as a way of making them more interesting. I also made a big fruit salad with mango, strawberries and apple. that was really tasty and fresh, and also very filling and satisfying.

I didn't want to have the same thing for dinner as for lunch, so I made a bean salad for dinner. Ate it with tortilla chips, which is not exactly low carb, but at least the beans bring down the glycemic load a bit. And it tasted really good!

Today was leftovers -- risotto and fruit salad for lunch, and I'm eating the bean salad now for dinner.

lhamo

Bastelmutti
5-3-11, 10:15am
Help! Tomorrow is a short day @ school & I need ideas for a very quick & easy gluten-free lunch for 5 kids + me. I may default to tostadas w/ refried beans, but even that makes a mess for 6 people, and I am completely exhausted & tapped out right now. Maybe crackers, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, cut veggies & fruit? That way I don't have to cook anything, really. Anyone have any tips? I have some Lara bars I can cut up for a snack.

Rosemary
5-3-11, 10:57am
Making another pot of bean soup for lunches, as DD took the last of the lentil soup for her lunch today. Also roasting the rest of the sweet potatoes that I had in the pantry - we are loving those for snacks and breakfast (with cinnamon and/or pecans).

Bastelmutti, if your kids eat soup, you could do that - that's one of our easy meals, especially when done in the crockpot. Or salad - I usually have lots of different veggies prepped for snacks in the fridge, so a salad becomes a simple matter of getting out the various containers, putting them on the table, and letting everyone create their own salad. It's hard to determine what might be quick & easy for other people, because of food preferences and cooking methods!

Bastelmutti
5-4-11, 11:05am
OK, I'm capitulating today & taking the kids out - they have a half-day & it's my babysitting day, so there's 5 of them. Been working far too much (no two consecutive days off since January - and I'm really feeling it), so this is my compromise.

Tonight, back to it, though! - Spaghetti frittata w/zucchini & salad
Also on the menu for the rest of the week:
* Japanese stir-fry w/ choice of tofu or chicken, veg, soba noodles
* Chicken (probably BBQ) w/ french fries
* Tacos? Pasta w/cheese sauce?

Stella
5-4-11, 11:35am
I went grocery shopping this morning at 5AM. I'm on an asian kick right now, so there are quite a few asian inspired meals this coming week. Some of the meals on the list right now:

pork tacos
mom's chicken casserole
chinese chicken salad
peanut noodles and veggies
hoisin chicken lettuce wraps
chicken paprikash
stir fried beef and greens with brown rice
veggie quesadillas
veggie fried rice

lhamo
5-4-11, 5:05pm
I had some fun in the kitchen last night. Was getting a bit weary of the bean salad, so made some whole wheat pasta and used up a container of sauce I had in the freezer. There was some leftover rice from a few days ago that needed to be used up, and I wanted to do something creative with the leftover roasted veggies I made the other day, so I decided to try the TWG quiche recipe again. Haven't made that in over a decade, I think. Used the rice for a rice crust, pulled some frozen grated cheese out of the freezer and off I went. It turned out great! really a beautiful dish - the top got all golden and crispy but the eggs were still tender in the middle and the veggies made a really tasty filling. I actually couldn't help myself and had a piece. The rest will be breakfasts for the next few days. The only downside was that the rice crust was not as crunchy as I would have liked it. Next time I will pre-cook it longer to let it start getting a bit brown/crusty before putting in the filling.

lhamo

Stella
5-4-11, 5:55pm
.

Rosemary
5-4-11, 6:22pm
Tonight we're having summer rolls with chicken and vegetables. I made a dipping sauce that complies with our allergy elimination diet using dried apricots and prunes soaked and then pureed, added almond butter, coconut aminos, and a little sesame oil.

I spent about 2 hours today prepping veggies as we had cleaned out the fridge again. We're all set for lunch soup and salad for a few more days. I also made a broccoli salad with a dressing comprised of pureed cashews, sweet potato, and rice vinegar. Usually it has a mayo or yogurt-based dressing. I have to say, I was having fun experimenting in the kitchen today.

Also made some chickpea crackers and vegan coconut macaroons in the last couple of days. DD likes to take the crackers with her soup at lunch.

Rosemary
5-4-11, 8:35pm
Following up to say that DD said it was the best dinner EVER. Spring rolls and broccoli salad, with creative dressings. Now I need to write down what I did!

Bugeah
5-5-11, 12:19am
We had an Ethiopian lentil stew over jasmine rice. Everyone loved it. I've been cooking a lot of foreign foods lately, especially African dishes. Kids seem to be loving it, but DH isn't always pleased. The food usually tastes pretty good so I tend to win him over after he tastes it. He just complains when he hears it's another "weird food" night. Tomorrow I think will be chicken with snow peas.

lhamo
5-5-11, 6:15am
Your allergy elimination recipes sound fab, Rosemary! I wish I was eating at your house this week :)

Can you post the chickpea cracker recipe? I'm trying to cut back on carbs and would like an alternative to carrot sticks when I get the munchies. that sounds like a great option and one the kids might like, too. DS loves hummous and chickpeas are one of the legumes that DD will actually eat with some gusto...

lhamo

Bastelmutti
5-5-11, 10:12am
You guys have made me put summer rolls and hoisin lettuce wraps on my list for the next week or two! Yum!

Rosemary
5-5-11, 7:52pm
Lhamo, here's the chickpea cracker recipe:
http://rosemaryevergreen.blogspot.com/2011/05/crackers-muffins-cookies-for-allergy.html

danna
5-5-11, 9:17pm
May 05
--have not eat out and have spent $5.00 on groceries so far (I know it has been only 5 days..lol)

Kat
5-6-11, 8:51am
We have eaten out the last two days. Sigh. Supposedly Sunday will be the day I can start cooking again. Can't wait.

Rosemary
5-6-11, 11:10am
Using the rest of the poached chicken to make a chicken salad with a vinaigrette dressing tonight, which we'll have with some roasted brussels sprouts.

domestic goddess
5-6-11, 5:36pm
Since I was in the hospital the first few days of the month, I am starting late. But since I am now on a low-fat, low-Na diet, I won't be able to eat out much or eat any commercial frozen dinners anyway I will be cooking at home this month. I'll start over the weekend, I think, since my hip still hurts too much to stand or walk on for any length of time. Last night, dd's boarder cooked hamburgers and they were really good. Not exactly on the diet, but since I can't do much I haven't been really hungry, so this still falls within the day's parameters for both salt and fat.I'm really committed to following this diet and getting my blood pressure down to something that approximates "normal" so I'm really going to work on this.

Kat
5-6-11, 7:19pm
@domestic goddess--I hope you are feeling better!

DH wanted to eat out again (!) for the third day in a row, but I managed to convince him to eat at home. I made him a sandwich and I ate leftovers from yesterday's take out.

danna
5-6-11, 8:40pm
Dd gave us a gift card to eat out...so I took DH tonight
bought home enough of my fish for a sandwich tomorrow..not too bad

Bugeah
5-7-11, 12:02am
Domestic Goddess, I hope you get to feeling better soon! That's really great that you are ready to stick to the diet! We are rooting for you :)

I didn't have to cook tonight since the kids are gone and DH fed himself before I got home, so I just ate a whole wheat roll and some homemade canned cherries. Not very exciting, but I didn't want to cook anything.

lhamo
5-7-11, 1:13am
Lunch was our typical weekend fare of baked chicken, hummous and cucumber/carrot sticks.

Dinner will be hot and spicy tofu, broccoli and rice.

I got some steaks to have for lunch tomorrow, DS's request -- tomorrow is his birthday (he was born on Mother's Day 10 years ago, best Mother's Day present ever and pretty hard to top!). We'll have those with mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas. And 'll make chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, DS's request.

Not sure what the dinner plan will be, maybe we'll splurge and go out. Or maybe I'll make something easy like pasta or bean soup with rice.

Thanks for the cracker recipe, Rosemary! I found a source of chickpea flour -- a little Indian grocery here. I had looked for chickpea flour there last week, but didn't know its Hindi name so walked right by it.


lhamo

Stella
5-7-11, 11:11am
We ate out for the first time in a month last night. We got dollar sandwiches at Wendy's on the way to our outing at the Mall of America. I made up for it this morning by making a lovely breakfast of homemade eggs Benedict. So good!

Today is a big cleaning day so I promised the kids we'd ha e a make-your-own pizza party tonight.

Anne Lee
5-7-11, 11:27am
I'm joining late. Last weekend we got bagels. On Monday night I worked late unexpectedly so I punted to pizza. This week one of the local restaurants is having a fundraiser for a friend so we'll eat there or at least do take out. DS is home on break so I imagine we will go out for steak.

This weekend:
Sat: Pork chops, potato salad, homemade rolls.
Sun: Boys are having Hutterite chicken pot pie.

Our plans changed rather abruptly.

Kat
5-8-11, 5:31pm
Last night we ate macaroni and cheese from a box. I know...but it was made on the STOVE, which we have hooked up now (finally!). So it tasted pretty darn good. :p Today we made a light lunch for my MIL. Breaded pork sandwiches, fruit salad, corn on the cob, and cinnamon rolls. I love that we can cook again!

Rosemary
5-8-11, 5:42pm
We visited my aunt this weekend and I took food along because she has a very wheat-and-dairy-focused diet. For lunch today I made a great salad for all of us - with mixed lettuce, sliced, raw brussels sprouts, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a random kiwi. Steamed some waxy potatoes to slice on top and used a small can of salmon. Mustard vinaigrette dressing. Everyone devoured it.

Tonight I'm making chicken soup, Asian-style, with lots of ginger and some broccoli and pea pods.

lhamo
5-9-11, 5:28am
YAY! Glad you are back to cooking again, Kat -- hope you love your new kitchen and get tons of use out of it over the years.

I started out cooking up a bunch of beans so that I could make bean soup for dinner last night (my first batch of dried beans cooked from scratch EVER -- used the recipe from How To Cook Everything and they turned out fine), but then as I thought about it decided that I could use the leftover pieces of steak that the kids didn't eat to make a modified fajita kind of thing. So I whipped up some corn tortillas (my most successful batch yet -- finally getting the hang of how much water needs to go into the masa to keep them moist while the dough sets) and a bean salad. Used up some red and yellow peppers that were starting to go off and it turned out really good. DH and DS both ate a ton, but the tortillas were the side, not the main with the salad as the main focus and the steak as an accent. Had enough for lunch today, and still some left for my lunch tomorrow.

I ended up putting the beans in the freezer, but that was easy to do. I just need to remember to thaw them out if we're going to use them for meals.

I am LOVING my enamelled cast iron roaster from Costco. It has gotten so much use already, and now that I have experimented with cooking a large batch of beans it will get even more. I was a little bummed that the kidney beans kind of discolored the interior lining a little bit, but then I figured that just shows it is getting lots of use. I don't even mind the fact that there are a couple of little scratches on the bottom outside of the pan. SHows it is a well-loved, well-used piece.

lhamo

earthshepherd
5-9-11, 6:23am
It's Meatless Monday again! I may do spaghetti with veggie crumbles tonight. Unless I get more creative by suppertime!

Anne Lee
5-9-11, 10:22am
Tonight will be chicken caesar salad. I'll prep the sloppy joes for tomorrow night as I will be returning from out of town, not arriving till just before dinner. Since I want to use home made sloppy joe sauce rather than store boughten, I'll make it up this afternoon.

Stella
5-10-11, 12:12am
Hooray on your kitchen finally being functional Kat! That will help a lot.

I made a chinese chicken salad tonight that tasted almost exactly like the one we used to serve on Tuesdays at the restaurant I used to work at. It was my favourite day of the week, Chinese Chicken Salad Day. I used Trader Joes ginger soy dressing. Both James and Bella ate the salad. Until two weeks ago Bella hated salad, but then she discovered poppyseed dressing and it has gone from a hated food to a loved one. Apparently she's branching out on the dressings now. James...I'm just speechless. The only way he eats greens is in green smoothies.

Tomorrow is chicken paprikash.

lhamo
5-10-11, 6:26am
Recipe, please, Stella -- there is a restaurant we used to go to a lot in Seattle that had a great ALmond Chicken Salad. I already had dinner, but my mouth is watering just thinking of it....

lhamo

Rosemary
5-10-11, 7:40am
It was a happy day for me when my daughter began eating salads, too, Stella! It makes summer meals very easy.

Last night I turned the leftover chicken broth into a daal with spinach. I'm having those leftovers for breakfast today. Tonight I'm making baked salmon with steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Kat
5-10-11, 7:48am
Thanks, guys! I am excited about the kitchen, too. I tried to be a good sport about it and have a thankful attitude, but after about month two, my patience was wearing thin and I felt the whole thing (i.e. our contractor not having it done) was just getting ridiculous. Cooking is my favorite thing to do in the world--it has been hard not being able to do it.

@Ihamo--I have an enameled cast iron dutch oven, and I LOVE it. It is the prettiest shade of red, cooks evenly, and cleans nicely. The only downside is that when it is ful of food, it is really heavy! ;-) A cast iron roaster sounds lovely!

Last night I made salisbury steak with mushroom gravy and served it with herbed over roasted potatoes. Leftovers for lunch today. Tonight a friend of ours is taking us out to dinner, so I won't need to cook supper tonight. I am trying to decide what to make tomorrow. I am thinking maybe homemade macaroni and cheese. I have some Irish cheddar in the freezer calling my name.

SiouzQ.
5-15-11, 6:55pm
It was such a cold, wet rainy day here that my red lentil soup was a great idea. It is really easy and quick to make. then I sauteed onions and kale with a splash of red wine vinegar and a slice of toasted pumpernickel rye bread to round it out. Very satisfying and I am ready to hunker down for the night with a book and a DVD and a couple of calls to friends just to catch up. It is my "Friday" night but after the hectic week and half I've had, I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere! A nice bath could also be in the works...

Kat
5-16-11, 7:29am
I did make homemade macaroni and cheese on Wednesday; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we ate light using up some stuff we had. I made tuna salad and a Mexican hamburger helper. I'll need to cook again tonight, so I am going to roast a couple of chickens. Tonight and tomorrow we will have roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing. I'll make other chicken dishes with the rest--taco soup, chicken pot pie, etc. I might bake some bread today, too, f I have time. We are out. Or I might just use up the English muffins we have in the fridge.

Rosemary
5-16-11, 10:37am
We've been eating nowhere but home for 4 weeks now, on the allergy elim diet. I've been posting our meals on my blog. Everyone's been pretty happy with the food. My daughter likes the broccoli salad so much (with a cashew-prune dressing) that she eats it for snacks! Although we've not spent money on eating out, we've probably used that budgeted money for groceries, because we're eating more organic poultry, low-mercury fish, and tons of produce.

Kat
5-17-11, 8:20am
Last night I roasted two chickens at 250 degrees for five hours. They turned out so good! Last night we had roasted chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob. Lunch will be leftovers for DH and for me. Tonight DH wants hot chicken sandwiches, so I may make some bread today. Later in the week, I plan on making stock and gathering meat for other chicken dishes. If we are sick of chicken by then, I may just freeze it.

Rosemary
5-22-11, 6:57pm
Friday night, cooked a chicken in the pressure cooker, ate with roasted potatoes and carrots, steamed broccoli. After dinner, used the PC to make brother from the carcass, and on Saturday night we had Asian-style noodle soup using bean thread noodles and steamed green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.
Tonight we're having lettuce leaf tacos with more of the chicken and various chopped veggies and salsa, rice on the side for DH and DD.

Somehow we got through the past week of cat health issues without any problems in our own food routine - this surely must be due to the planning I always do. I spent an hour today chopping veggies and prepping lettuce for salads and other things for the next few days.

Kat
5-23-11, 9:20am
We've done well eating every meal at home except for Friday night, which was a planned and budgeted date. Last week we ate leftover chicken and spaghetti and meatballs. I froze some of the chicken for future meals and stock. This week I plan to make BLTs (since we have leftover bacon from my Dad's party) and use up some things from the fridge and freezer. I really need to make DH a chicken pot pie, too. He's been dying for one!

Florence
5-23-11, 12:28pm
Leftover beans and rice and sausage for lunch. Will be making Beef & Bok Choy for dinner. Also baking muffins (bran with raisins). Since I retired and am cooking at home, we are certainly eating better and spending less $$$.

Kat
5-26-11, 7:34pm
I did make the BLTs as planned. I also made some pasta to use up an abundance of sauce from last week (I can never seem to get the sauce to pasta ration right!). Today was a challenge because I was out of milk, but I managed to make some sloppy joes and reheat some onion rings I made with the BLTs.

I am making a huge meal plan to try to get me through the next three to four weeks. DH gets an extra paycheck (I mean one that isn't budgeted for) twice a year, and I want to save all of his June one for the baby's arrival. So I'll be using up my pantry and freezer and trying to only shop for perishables as needed.

Zoebird
5-29-11, 11:12pm
Rosemary,

I'm so glad to read that the AE diet is going well for your family. In time, when everything is thoroughly comfortable and sorted with it, you'll find a way to redistribute your budget. When we went organic, at first our budget went up about 15%, and then when we were able to find good sources for what we loved, it dropped below the original amounts we were spending. When we switched to grass-fed, etc, same deal. Every time we move, too, we have to find new sources. But, we did find a new butcher (whole sale, free range!) about 1 km from our place where we can get our meats for less than we are currently paying, so we are psyched about that! And, the organic fruit/veggie boxes can be delivered for a lower price, too. Much happiness.

We have not been eating at home as much as I would like, but that is because of the move. High stress, lots of change. So, we dine out a fair bit. I keep it simple as I can, and we eat only two meals out a week (if that), and hopefully in the next two weeks, we'll be back to normal. I much prefer dining at home anyway.

Kat
5-30-11, 8:14am
I did make some dinner for DH and his friend and sent DH to work with leftovers for lunch on Friday. Friday night we wanted to go out but came home and had fried egg sandwiches instead. Also had my sister and her family over for BBQ chicken Saturday but did eat out Saturday night. Yesterday we ate lunch at my dad's and then dinner at my sister's (niece's graduation party).

This week we have to do better, both with meal planning and with food choices. I have really been eating a lot of junk food the last week and need to cut it out. It isn't good for the baby.

Stella
5-30-11, 11:10am
I have been doing so well at this the past two months. I am in the mood to cook. Saturday I made pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy and a butterscotch pie. Last night was taco night. Tonight we are having lemon dill turkey meatballs with egg noodles and a salad. I also made homemade chocolate pudding last night.

JaneV2.0
5-30-11, 2:35pm
I haven't cooked much lately, so I'm trying to make up for it today. I have corned beef brisket in the pressure cooker and am considering making turkey-garlic-chili seed burgers and maybe a meat loaf. Also sugar free macaroons and/or lemon muffins. Or maybe I'll take a nap...

Kat
5-31-11, 8:11am
@stella--yum! I haven't been able to get homemade chocolate pudding right. I tried a couple of recipes--once it came out too bitter and the other time it was too lumpy. What is your secret?

Yesterday we had some running to do, but I convinced DH to wait for lunch at home and made sweet potato pancakes and eggs. I used up the last of a few eggs bought on super sale as well as some sweet potatoes from the freezer. Then for supper I made scalloped potatos and ham from some leftover ham my dad gave me back in March (obviously that was from the freezer, too LOL). I made a little side salad to go with--need to use up the leftovers froms BLTs last week!

Sent DH to work with leftover scalloped potatoes for lunch and I will finish off the food from Saturday's BBQ. Not sure what I'll make for dinner tonight. Possibly chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes...

Florence
5-31-11, 8:25am
This evening I am making chicken and snow peas stir fry. Once you get everything chopped, it goes together quickly and makes enough for lunches for tomorrow.

Kat
6-1-11, 1:21pm
Last night I made chicken pot pie and a side salad. The crust just wouldn't come together right, but we ate it anyway! Then for a snack I used up some less than stellar berries to make a smoothie. It was pretty good!

Rosemary
6-1-11, 3:46pm
Last night we had summer rolls. DD loves them and now is a master at putting them together. It's a labor-intensive meal, and really sort of a salad in a rice wrapper, but anything that gets DD and DH to eat that many vegetables stays on the permanent meal rotation!

Tonight I'm making a curried rice-green bean dish, cooking the rice in some chicken stock that I made while cooking chicken the other night. The chicken was meals for 3 nights - it appeared in the summer rolls, on some beautiful salads, and with some homemade barbeque sauce alongside steamed veggies and potato salad.

I'm excited to introduce eggs into our allergy food rotation this week. It was supposed to be today, but the store didn't have any organic eggs and I didn't want to go somewhere else. I'll pick them up tomorrow on another planned errand.

Stella
6-1-11, 5:41pm
Kat I messed around with my great aunts butterscotch pie filling recipe and made it chocolate instead. Here's the recipe.

In the bowl of a double boiler mix 3/4 c sugar, about 1/4 to 1/3 c cornstarch ( I didn't really measure this too closely) and two squares melted unsweetened chocolate. Slowly add 2 c milk. Cook until it thickens, whisking constantly. Beat two egg yolks. Temper the egg yolks and add them to the pudding. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 Tbsp butter until butter is melted.

I am totally cheating tonight and ordering a pizza. Zach went back to work today for a 10+ hour shift with one evenings notice. I have been a very good girl for two solid months, so one night won't hurt.

Kat
6-2-11, 7:58am
Thanks, Stella! :-) Sounds delicious!

We cheated last night, too. I had four hours of blood tests at the doctor's office, and DH was sick. I gave in and we ordered some sandwiches. I felt too crappy to care. LOL

lhamo
6-2-11, 5:31pm
IN case anybody wants to try my sesame ginger roasted chicken recipe, here goes -- it would probably taste better with a bit of brown sugar or molassas in the marinade, but my low carb approach means I left that out. It was still pretty good, though, just more savory/sour:

2-3 lbs chicken pieces -- I used drumettes but legs or thighs would probably work. White meat might get a bit dried out.

Marinade:

2-3 tbsp of lemon or lime juice
2-3 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1-2 tbsp of cooking wine (I used Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine, but sherry or even red wine would probably work)
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp salt (I didn't add this -- wish I had)

Marinate the chicken pieces for 12-48 hours (not kidding about the latter -- it really soaks up the flavor!)

Heat oven to 425 F
Put some sesame seeds in a plastic bag and throw the chicken pieces in to coat them
Place chicken pieces in a roasting pan -- I like to turn the rack upside down in my roaster and put them on top of that so much of the fat drips off as they cook and they don't get all goopy
Cook on one side for 20-30 minutes, until tops are nicely browned, then flip pieces over and cook another 20-30 minutes

Finished chicken will be golden brown. Watch the sesame seeds toward the end to make sure they aren't getting burned.

Let cool for 5 minutes -- this also lets the juices redistribute into the meat.

Enjoy!

lhamo

Bastelmutti
6-2-11, 6:16pm
That sounds good!

Stella
6-2-11, 8:39pm
Lhamo that sounds yummy!

kally
6-2-11, 8:56pm
just a simple baked cauliflower cheese for dinner with yogurt for dessert.