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lhamo
2-8-12, 4:54pm
Someone posted on jennipur's food thread that they got a lot out of previous month's iterations of this "how many times can you cook at home this month" threads, so thought I'd start one for February -- better late than never!

We are doing pretty good so far this month, and I am particularly happy because our life and daily routine was kind of upended when our helper left last week. She had a friend who was interested in working for us, but that only lasted a few days due to an unmanagable commute (something I know from experience is really hard). So we have been helperless since Sunday. Nevertheless, only had one meal out so far this month, which is pretty regular for us.

This week I have made the following:

Monday -- chicken tacos (used chicken breasts I had cooked on Sunday)

Tuesday -- DH's birthday, so I kind of went crazy. Cream of mushroom soup (made fresh, not from a can), steak, mushrooms stuffed with green peppercorn cream cheese, and sesame-coated snap peas. Oh, and I made a little red wine sauce to go with the steak, using the leftover marinade and a bit of a bottle of merlot we got from the Embassy as a new year's gift. the wine was really nice, too.

Wednesday -- Spicy tofu, stir fried green veggies, and rice. I worked from home part of the day and had some bonus eat at homes -- leftover steak and green peppercorn cream cheese on crispbread for me for breakfast and lunch, quesadillas for the kids for breakfast (DS ate some of the salsa leftover from monday's dinner), and a tuna sandwich for DS for lunch (he had a sore throat and ear ache so I let him stay home).

Tonight I will probably do Chinese style again -- finish up the tofu from last night, and make a dish my kids both really like (stir fried garlic tops with bacon -- how can you not like bacon, after all?)

Friday night I'm planning french bread pizzas for the kids, but DH and I will probably just finish up the mushroom soup. Might have one small piece of the pizza each.

Still haven't thought through the weekend plan, but I think we're doing good so far. On Tuesday night, my son offered to go to the office to do my job for me if I could stay home and cook like this every day. With the kind of month I've been having so far at work, I am actually tempted to take him up on it...

lhamo

leslieann
2-8-12, 5:08pm
Last night's desperation dinner was sausages and pancakes. I am supposedly eating no gluten and low carb, but I scarfed down my digestive enzymes and poured on the maple syrup and we ate at home.

Tonight might just be cheerios. It has not been a good week for meal planning and preparation but eating out just isn't a viable option. I can't think of any food I can get out that is worth what it would cost. I'd just as soon boil an egg. Or have those cheerios.

Better news next week, I hope. Got to get out to the store. I did have some leftover asparagus-leek soup from the freezer for lunch.

treehugger
2-8-12, 5:38pm
Thanks for getting us started, lhamo. I definitely enjoy participating in this topic, but February has started off extremely busy for me and I hadn't even noticed there wasn't a February Cook at Home thread yet.

To report: my first attempt at homemade kimchi was successful! On Saturday night I made an all-Korean meal with vegetable pancakes, spicy pork, cucumber salad, rice, and kimchi. All was delicious (yes, if I do say so myself).

Sunday I cleaned out my pantry and set aside a few things that have been in there too long and need to be used. One was a bottle of bourbon glaze/marinade (I did not buy this). So Sunday night for dinner I defrosted chicken thighs and baked them in the marinade. Served it with steamed broccoli and leftover rice from the night before (I always cook extra rice whenever I make it).

So, this weeks lunches and dinners have so far been combos of leftovers from those two meals and standard the-fixings-are-always-in-the-fridge things: bean burritos and sandwiches.

I think tonight I will make pasta with white beans (from the freezer), spinach (fresh), and tomatoes (canned). That will get us through the rest of the week.

Haven't gone grocery shopping in 3 weeks, so that needs to happen this weekend.

Kara

Rosemary
2-8-12, 5:47pm
Today's lunch & craft time soup was a vegan corn chowder. I used about a quart of chickpea cooking liquid as the base, along with a little soy milk and some veg broth.
Dinner tonight is leftovers.
Last night, chicken sausage, roasted potatoes, and various sauteed and raw vegetables.
Monday was a tofu & broccoli stir-fry. For the sauce, instead of using water or broth as a base, I used some cooking liquid from black beans that I made last week. It was very good.

Bastelmutti
2-9-12, 11:02am
Yesterday I noticed several items close to expiration in the fridge, so I made tofu chocolate pudding (soft tofu blended with melted semi-sweet choc chips - good!) and daikon/carrot salad (the kind to put on bahn mi sandwiches). I stored that salad in a mason jar, so I will have to put bahn mi on the menu soon. Then I used up a stray cauliflower with dinner, which was fish curry loosely based on this recipe:
http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/2009/05/indian-fish-curry-recipe/

Tonight will be bulgogi and vegetable chap chae, kimchi on the side. If I get ambitious, then also green onion pancakes, because I have some green onions to use up, too.

Stella
2-9-12, 1:33pm
I have been struggling a bit more lately with meals. I am hitting my third trimester and I am just tired some nights.

Today at my church women's group Sister Rose, an elderly Vietnamese nun who is a member of our church, came to speak about her charity to help orphans, unwed mothers and lepers in Vietnam. She makes the most fantastic homemade Vietnamese eggrolls, which I have been craving like mad lately, and she was taking orders. She said they freeze well, so I ordered two dozen at $1.25 each. It's not the cheapest food in the world, but all of the proceeds go to her charity and they are sooooo good. It's still about half the cost of Vietnamese eggrolls at a local restaurant and it's always helpful to have some freezer foods in the third trimester. It seems pretty win/win to me.

Rosemary
2-9-12, 2:10pm
Tonight and tomorrow night we'll have turkey tacos with black beans and red cabbage.

babr
2-9-12, 5:15pm
we have done great so far; since its just dh and i it makes it easier and i am on a special diet so my choices are limited; dh usually eats a salad at night and cereal; i had chicken for myself cooked ahead of time so i could just pull it out and eat it cold with veggies such as broccli potato mash; squash; etc.

dh usually splurges on weekends; but its take out once or twice and usually just one item; again very fortunate as he tries to eat very healthy

Bastelmutti
2-9-12, 11:43pm
Oh, man, if I had a ready source of fresh Vietnamese egg rolls, I would get them all the time!

Stella
2-13-12, 5:13pm
I think those eggrolls are going to be amazing. I can't wait to get them!

Tonight I'm making panko crusted pork chops, roasted fennel and baked sweet potatoes.

Rosemary
2-13-12, 6:39pm
I made a really good lentil soup over the weekend, with roasted onions and carrots. Made a big difference in the flavor.
Tonight and tomorrow night we're having Hungarian goulash with some grass-fed beef that I got at the natural foods store's birthday 10% off everything event. Will put some potatoes in it and serve it with salad and steamed green beans.

Rosemary
2-15-12, 8:22pm
Today's Wednesday soup was a yellow split pea daal with spinach. With that for dinner we had collard wraps with a quinoa-vegetable-feta stuffing that was very tasty.

treehugger
2-15-12, 8:27pm
Not much interesting to report; been eating a lot of leftovers at home lately. Work is suddenly much busier and I am putting in a lot more hours. Plus, plans changed on the weekend, and I didn't get any big batch cooking done (except for some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that I need to bring to work on Friday; they are in the freezer now).

But I did throw together a big pot of chili last night after I got home from work, and while I was continuing to do some more work at home. I used up ground beef, black and kidney beans, and chopped onion that were all in the freezer. Will eat that tonight with leftover rice.

I have a pork shoulder (really good sale!) that I need to do something with by tomorrow. Maybe pulled-pork sandwiches, if I can find time to make some buns.

This weekend I really need to juice my lemons (they've been ripe for awhile) and make lemon curd.

Kara

lhamo
2-17-12, 6:18pm
What's on everybody's weekend menu? here's ours:

sat am: quesadillas and salsa for the kids, typical breakfast stuff for me and DH (in my case that includes smoked salmon -- yum!)

sat lunch: tacos

sat dinner: hot pot (using up the rest of the meat and veggies we bought for hot pot last weekend)

sun am: probably pancakes for the kids, or maybe muffins. Kind of toying with the idea of a visit to a waffle place in the neighborhood

sun lunch: calzones and mushroom soup

sun dinner: chicken and roasted veggies. I think I'm going to switch it up with eggplant this time -- getting a bit tired of the standard cauliflower/broccoli rotation.

Not much experimentation, but DH has a big project due on monday and will be working most of the weekend, so thought it best to stick to what is simple/easy/fast.

lhamo

Rosemary
2-18-12, 9:02pm
Sat breakfast was steel-cut oats with banana and walnuts for me; quinoa with butter and peanuts on the side for DD; a cheese sandwich on homemade whole-grain bread for DH.
Sat lunch: spinach salad with avocado, chickpeas, roasted asparagus and roasted carrots for me; tomato-rice soup for DD & DH with lots of cut raw veggies on the side.
Sat dinner: chicken-broccoli-carrot stir-fry with a curry sauce; with rice for DD and DH.

Sun breakfast: yogurt and granola with walnuts for me; roasted sweet potato with peanuts for DD; sandwich for DH.
Sun lunch: same as Saturday.
Sun dinner: spinach frittata, steamed broccoli.

Bastelmutti
2-19-12, 7:58am
Nothing much interesting to report here, either. I did try a new recipe I liked the other day - sweet-potato black-bean enchiladas with salsa verde. Very good. Tonight it's a big stir-fry for family coming over. My SIL has celiac, so it will be GF.

Stella
2-19-12, 9:42am
My plan for last week is mostly shifting to this week after everyone had a stomach bug last week.

Last night we had chicken taco salad. Tonight we are having hoisin beef lettuce wraps. Tomorrow is pot roast, mashed cauliflower and carrots. We should have leftovers for Tuesday of the pot roast.

treehugger
2-20-12, 1:13pm
We got taken out for dinner Saturday (yay!) but I did cook a pork shoulder all day in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce that was just taking up room in the fridge. Yesterday, I made buns and coleslaw and served pulled pork sandwiches last night for dinner.

I made pizza dough Saturday, so pizza is on the menu this week. Still need to make lemon curd. Weekends go by too fast!

Kara

Stella
2-20-12, 5:44pm
I'm going through round 2 of the stomach bug so tonight will be matzo ball soup.

Bastelmutti
2-22-12, 9:13am
How awful about the stomach bug - hope you guys are better soon, Stella!

Again nothing too exciting here. Made the big stir-fy for family with bulgogi beef. Sun. DH cooked so it was pasta with sauteed spinach and a fried egg on top. Mon. I made chickpea curry with rice. Last night we had roast chicken, mac & cheese and sauteed kale with garlic. Have plain chickpeas, kale, chicken and mac & cheese left over. I think the kale and chickpeas will turn into soup, the chicken into sandwiches and mac & cheese for kids.

Love this roast chicken recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-rapid-roast-chicken/

Anne Lee
2-22-12, 10:32am
I made red beans w/ bacon last night in honor of Fat Tuesday. I threw in a chicken breast as well since I had one that needed to be cooked. I checked Mark Bittman and he used thyme in his bean and meat dish so I did too. I served it over potatoes since we aren't really a rice family. Carnivore, aka my 18 year old son, went back for seconds, stating it was better than he thought it was going to be. I am adding this one to rotation.

treehugger
2-23-12, 11:34am
I had a horrible day at work yesterday and ran away at 3:30 (been working till 7:30 an awful lot lately). I ran some much-needed errands, then came home did some much-needed housework and still had time (and energy) to make dinner: thin crust pizza (with Artisan Bread in 5 Minute dough made on Sunday), light sauce (from a bit left in the freezer), procuitto (pack was on sale for $2, couldn't resist!), fresh spinach, and goat cheese (also on sale last week; score!). It was so delicious and restorative to have the time to make and eat something delicious.

Dinner tonight will be leftover pizza.

Kara

lhamo
2-24-12, 8:50pm
Going to experiment with rice cooker bibimbap today, using up some thin sliced beef we have leftover from hot pot and some miscellaneous leftovers in the fridge.

But I think I might be bad and order pizza, too. Made calzones last weekend, which were a hit, but it took much longer and was more work than I feel like putting in today. And we haven't ordered pizza for weeks.

lhamo

Azure
2-25-12, 2:09pm
So far my menu for the next 2 weeks is:

Burger & oven fries
Pizza bread (sort of a stromboli)
Sunday I am making dinner for the youth group. I think it'll be chicken spaghetti, homemade garlic bread & an apple blossom cake
Baked potato soup
crockpot simple coq au vin
crockpot broccoli & beef pasta
tortelloni & salad
veggie beef soup
I have some cooked shrimp that I'm not sure what to do with. But it sounded good & was on sale lol

I'm about 5 meals short right now but I'll figure it out.

Breakfasts are find it yourself deals. But I think tomorrow I'm going to make waffles & bacon. I am going to make a triple batch of waffles & freeze the leftovers. And I bought some uncured bacon to try.
We also have some chorizo.

Lunches are find it yourself meals too. Got lunch meats, pb&j, leftovers, etc.

Rosemary
2-25-12, 8:04pm
Thurs/Fri nights we had turkey tacos with pinto beans, red cabbage, avocado, and other vegetables and toppings. Turkey was the little scraps that came off the turkey I roasted last month, which I had frozen, reheated and seasoned.
Today's lunch was the last of the pinto bean-roasted vegetable soup for me, a small turkey burrito each for DD & DH, and sliced raw veggies.
Dinner tonight was a French lentil soup, homemade soft rye pretzels, and spinach salad with roasted asparagus, red pepper, and feta.

lhamo
2-26-12, 1:04am
Kids had quesadillas and salsa for breakfast yesterday. I had smoken salmon on crispbread with sundried tomato flavored cream cheese.

Ordered lunch for the kids yesterday, but had leftovers myself (1/2 a leftover calzone, a hard boiled egg, and some pomelo).

Dinner last night was Chicken Curry and Chana Masala. Yummmmm. I love curry....

Made the kids pancakes for breakfast. I had my usual (see above)

Lunch today was rice cooker bibimbap -- MEGA YUMMMMMMMM! I have had the recipe in my "to try" list for ages (possibly since it was first published in the NYT in 2008!), but never got around to it. Decided to use the left over thin sliced beef we had from hot pot and improvised a bit more -- added some julienned carrots and cucumbers, left out the kimchee (would have liked it, but we didn't have any in the house) and hot pepper (had one, but was afraid DD wouldn't eat the whole thing if I put peppers in). It was sooooooo good. Definitely not low carb, but for an occasional splurge I can deal.

Dinner will be baked chicken, sweet potatoes, and I'll probably make a red cabbage slaw since we have a head that's been waiting to be used in the fridge.

lhamo

Rosemary
2-26-12, 6:50am
lhamo, did that bibimbap recipe include a sauce for gochujang? I really like bibimbap but prefer not to use bottled sauces, so I'd appreciate it if you could post the sauce!

Azure
2-26-12, 9:41am
I'd be interested in the whole bibimbap recipe!

Bastelmutti
2-26-12, 10:01am
Yes, also intrigued by rice cooker bibimbap! Rosemary, here is an easy recipe: http://www.workingmomcookfusion.com/2011/10/01/my-secret-handmade-gochujang-recipe/
I haven't tried it myself, but I might because the stuff I buy at the Korean market inevitably has some creepy ingredients.

Made a killer green curry with fish last night. I don't make green/red curry paste myself, either, but the Mae Ploy brand is good and has natural ingredients. Just sauteed a shallot, mixed in some green curry paste + 1 can coconut milk + 1 can water, then when it was simmering, added shredded cabbage and baby corn. When that had started cooking, topped with tilapia filets. Cooked until those were done. Serve with rice and a squirt of lime. Yum!

lhamo
2-26-12, 4:19pm
I didn't make the sauce -- used hot pepper paste we had in the fridge (huge Korean community here in Beijing and my DH likes spicy, so picked this up at some point). It is more processed than I would like, but ingredient list doesn't look too bad (except for the HFCS. Translating from the Chinese:

Wheat flour
HFCS (ugh...)
Spicy bean paste
Water
Rice
Salt
Cooking wine

I can deal with the HFCS for now as you only put a little bit of the paste in each serving. But after we use up this container I'll try to find one without the HFCS. The Korean community here in China seems to be REALLY health/safety conscious, and you can get a lot of organic stuff imported from Korea, just takes a little looking.

Here's the link to the original recipe I was working from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/012rrex.html

lhamo

Anne Lee
2-26-12, 9:26pm
Waffles for dinner tonight. Instead of using the easy recipe where in you dump in the eggs all at once I separated and whipped the whites. Maybe I did something wrong but I don't think it made enough of a difference to do that again.

Rosemary
2-27-12, 7:59am
Thanks for the bibimbap links! I will add that to our menu in the next couple of weeks.
Last night I made a big pot of chili (red bean/turkey/butternut squash/veggies) for dinner, and we'll have that tonight too, as it is a really busy day. I left some in the fridge for dinner and lunches, and put some in the freezer for another busy night. We had that with make-your-own salad assembled from all the prepped veggies in the fridge.

Stella
2-27-12, 6:46pm
In spite of the odds today I made dinner. Baked chicken, squash and salad. It's simple, but simple is good today.

Rosemary
2-28-12, 7:24am
Simple is good every day! That's why we're all here, right? ;)

Stella
2-28-12, 9:00am
:) Absolutely!

Anne Lee
2-28-12, 10:46am
Tonight is our night for baked chicken and roasted veggies. Just put the whole schlemeel in the oven at 350 and an hour later, voila! Dinner.

Rosemary
2-28-12, 4:40pm
I'm making bibimbap tonight, with a homemade sauce. I started with the sauce linked to above, but used a *lot* less hot pepper, since my body doesn't tolerate it well - just used a few sprinkles of cayenne. Also cut down the quantity of the recipe to about 1/16th of the original - just enough for tonight. I added some pureed prunes for the sweetening and a tangy flavor. Using veggies that we have: spinach, carrots, asparagus, cucumber. I cut the amount of oil & vinegar for the veggies as well, as sesame oil has such an intense flavor. Tofu is marinating now... Haven't decided what kind of rice I'll use yet. I have some "forbidden" rice that might look nice with all those colorful veggies...

Stella
2-28-12, 7:45pm
I made scrambled eggs and toast. Again, simple is good. :) We are in major overhaul mode on the kids bedrooms and preparing for the drywalling and closet building in the family room, so dinner is not the top priority this week.

Friday I'm planning on going to Costco and getting some simple stuff to make for dinners while FIL is here. FIL keeps kosher (kosher-ish. I don't have to wash pans separately or anything) so that is one thing to consider.

Rosemary
2-28-12, 8:30pm
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=720&d=1330478973

You can't really see the rice here - it's the black forbidden rice, and it's under the egg. It was delicious! DD chose to eat all of her components separately, despite the fact that she loves fried rice. Oh, that's baked tofu at the top in case it's not obvious.

Bastelmutti
2-29-12, 9:11am
That looks great!

Yes, I agree. Simple is good. This is my busy time of year at work, so last night's dinner was ready in 30 min. flat. Cooked rice in the rice cooker, sauteed broccoli and tofu & served it with baby carrots and a homemade peanut sauce - super easy.

Since I worked late last night, I am trying to take it easy today. If I make it to the Middle Eastern store, we will have chicken, Greek salad & pitas for dinner.

Anne Lee
2-29-12, 9:38am
Wednesdays are always on the fly here as DH has a church commitment. One of the local restaurants is having a fundraiser for a family's medical expenses. I don't know that I fancy pizza tonight. We'll see...