What we’re eating this week.

Last week’s meal plan was…. not really a meal plan now, was it?  But I promised pictures of anything fun, so here are the meals I made an effort with:

Grilled teriyaki shrimp kabobs:

Goat cheese, caramelized onion and artichoke heart pizza (thin, whole-wheat crust):

And the actual reason this became a thin crust pizza…. my utter failure at pizza dough:

The story is…. I created this lovely dough (which really was lovely) the morning of, not sure if I’d be rolling it out that night or the next day.  I suspected we’d be waiting, so instead of letting it rise on the warm counter top, I put it in the fridge to rise slowly.  Only we did end up wanting it that night, and it didn’t rise.  I read some articles online that told me I could speed up the process by microwaving at a very very low power.  Well, that definitely didn’t work, and I ended up with a mostly cooked dough ball aka GIANT, tough yeast roll.  So, so sad.  So I thought quickly and prayed vigorously and made Smitten Kitchen’s Really Simple Pizza Dough, subbing half whole wheat flour and adding a little squeeze of honey, and skipped the rising, which turned out a really tasty thin crust with a great texture.  Definitely recommended for quick pizza in a bind.  If this is even more awesome with rise time, it will be my go-to pizza crust recipe.

I also tried out her zucchini bread recipe this week, and it was killer.

For the shrimp kabobs (above), I marinated shrimp with some variation on this recipe from Bobby Flay (I think) — I added pineapple juice, didn’t use peanut oil, and changed some other stuff, so I can’t even say I used his recipe. Just a guideline. I cut up onions and a green pepper and skewered them with some canned pineapple chunks (so much cheaper I couldn’t resist).  Since I didn’t count out pieces per skewer I wasn’t sure about proportions, and I just went ahead and grilled all the shrimp together and the veggies together.

Today I’m trying out a different teriyaki recipe: oven-baked basted teriyaki chicken, using Ellie Krieger’s highly-rated teriyaki chicken thighs recipe.  I am following reviewers’ recommendations and doubling marinade, boiling and basting the chicken with it as it cooks.  Hopefully this turns out okay since we’re feeding it to people other than our family!

This week, my meal plan isn’t exciting, other than learning how to make teriyaki sauce from scratch and hoping it’s as good as I think it will be (review later!).  But it’s not because I’m lazy — it’s because dinner food just doesn’t sound that good.  Why make a well-rounded meal when I could make Rosemary and Thyme Candied Pecans, and Easy Pumpkin Cheese Danishes, and Apple and Cheddar Scones??  Why??  Expect some baking to go down this week in between my bottled marinara sauce and very Americanized “Mexican” food.  (For sure on the agenda:  Mrs. Fields Peanut Butter Dream Bars, secret recipe from my mother-in-law!)

Monday: Teriyaki chicken thighs, brown/white rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Butternut squash soup (using up half a squash… this might end up being a side dish.)

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan

Thursday: Soft tacos.  Because refried beans make me happy.

Friday: Pizza! (Because we must have this at least once a week. Maybe I’ll make it fancy for you.)

Weekend: Leftovers, simple pasta, Halloween candy.

 

Happy eating this week.  And please leave comments with any awesome recipes I should try. :)

Challenge: Leftover meal plan.

Ah, macaroni and cheese.  One of my favorite budget meals.  We like to stir in a can of chili or chopped up hot dogs.

This has been a bizarre month, budget-wise.  In order to compensate for all our weird expenses with getting to Spokane and back at the beginning of the month, I cut about $75 off our grocery budget.  I went grocery shopping yesterday and spent the last $40.  I could cut into other budgets because I may have gone a little crazy cutting back, but we can make it — and I like the challenge.  So here’s this week.

Tuesday: Wil and Kristen are coming over to make fancy fried chicken with for us! (Who am I kidding?) We bought the chicken on Sunday but realized when we were making dinner that there was no way we could eat fried chicken AND pulled pork sandwiches, especially after a big delicious lunch of  shredded pork and chicken burritos.

Wednesday: Leftover pulled pork and fall minestrone.  If we end up eating those for lunch, we’ll do breakfast for dinner — we have bacon and sage sausage to use up.

Thursday: Chicken, rice, and zucchini casserole, made and frozen a couple weeks ago.

Friday: Sandwiches on the road — headed to Sisters for the weekend!

Saturday/Sunday: We’ll be with Eric’s parents, who graciously bestow gifts of awesome food on us.  Sunday night we’ll probably eat at home, though, so leftovers/various it will be (see Monday).

Monday: Leftovers/various.
Quick options: Annie’s organic macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, grilled cheese with tomato soup (cheese theme?), more breakfast for dinner, pizza (leftover dough in the freezer).  Or there’s always frozen chicken breasts with frozen veggies and a grain from the pantry.
Less quick options (i.e. probably will never happen):  Take inventory of fridge, pantry, and freezer.  Match ingredients (more or less) to recipes.  Create something magical out of seemingly nothing.

Pschh…we got this.

[photo credit.]

One thousand gifts, and a meal plan.

I really need a catchier title for these combination thankfulness/meal planning posts…..   I also don’t like how one is relaxing and refreshing and spiritual, and the other more business-related (which yes, I know, is still spiritual).  I suppose being thankful for my food is a good way to approach buying and making it, which are both stressful topics!

Today I am thankful for:

One thousand gifts: nesting. (+meal plan)

Today I’m thankful for….
(#1-20 can be found here.)

One thousand gifts. (+meal plan!)

As I’ve mentioned, I’m reading Jerry Bridges’ excellent book, The Discipline of Grace.  Although I’ll try to remember to do a full review when I’m done, here’s the premise:  discipline and grace are two of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life to pin down and approach correctly on a consistent basis.  The grace of God draws us, saves us, and transforms us; he truly does it all and full credit is his for our every success. And yet we are commanded to be disciplined, to be faithful, to “work out our salvation.”  Bridges wrote this book to explain our responsibility in the context of grace.  How we “through Christ” and “in Christ” and “by His grace” fulfill our obligations.  Striking the right balance keeps us from becoming perfectionists, striving to earn God’s love, and from being lazy and excusing sin because grace has already paid the price.  The chapter I finished today talked about putting sin to death and putting on Christ-like character to replace it.

Monday: meals and money

A new week is upon us.  It’s sunshiney, breezy, perfect summer weather.  We got the grill going last week for some simple barbecue chicken and corn on the cob, and we’ve been enjoying reading in lounge chairs by our little bitty apartment pool.  We don’t get in it, though — it’s really cold.

This new week is upon me.  Here I am reminded to stop feeling guilty, stop doing things if they are irritating, work hard, and take breaks throughout the day.  This is so much easier on days like today when I place myself under living water, letting it pour around me. I am the servant of the Lord;  may it be to me according to your word.

Today so far, I have accomplished waking up, reading from The Disciplines of Grace, journaling, and reading my Bible, helping a friend jump start her car, running at Gabriel Park, and toasting a bagel, which I am now eating with Good Earth White Tea. (Not the best tea, but I don’t want to waste it and it has lots of antioxidants….)  My running goal was 30 minutes but it was more like 22, partly because I was in unfamiliar park-trail territory and it was difficult to do a true out-and-back.  I really need a new BIG goal — otherwise I think my body defaults to, “You wanted me to do 30.  I did it.  Leave me alone.”

Left on the agenda today?  Lots of logistical things to keep our little home running smoothly:  I need to call and inquire about a health savings account I might start, talk to someone about self-employed tax preparation, go to the bank, plan meals for this week, and go grocery shopping.  Here’s a little glimpse into my Monday….