Meals This Week

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Monday – We’re starting the week with leftovers from the weekend because I’m out late.

Tuesday – Trying out a pesto and prosciutto chicken recipe I found online. If it’s good, you will, of course, be the first to know, and I’ll bring it to a group of people next week for a meeting I have.

Wednesday – Leftovers. Again. Because all that chicken (and this chicken) isn’t going to eat itself, and I’m out late. Again.

Thursday – My go-to, “I didn’t really cook, but it sort of feels like I did,” meal. Tortellini and pesto.

Friday – Chinese food before I dash out to a Christmas party. Cheers!

Saturday – The best meatball subs ever. (Not an exaggeration.)

Sunday – Trying out a new, homemade Sunday gravy. Wish me luck.

***If my son recovers from this illness that causes him to be attached to me at all times, I will make time to enjoy this oatmeal one morning for breakfast, or, “brekka,” as it’s now known in our house.

What You Should Bring When You Don’t Know What to Bring [snip doodles]

These snip doodles, a predecessor of everyone’s favorite cookie, the snickerdoodle, are amazing.

I brought them to big group of people who confirmed what I already knew upon first bite, and begged for the recipe. I’m happy to report they couldn’t be easier to make. When you find yourself with a bake sale, or book group, or holiday who-knows-what, and you’re supposed to bring something for dessert, you know what to do.

Fridays are for Chicken [baked chicken with tomatoes and cheese]

Hallelujah, praise the Lord, I have found another “forget about it” chicken. You know, the kind of chicken which is almost effortless. And flavorful. And the kind that will go into heavy rotation in this household, I already know. Here is how you, too, can make this chicken.

You’ll need:

• A glug of olive oil
• A glug of your favorite boneless, skinless cut of chicken
• salt
• pepper
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped
• 1, 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 3 T mascarpone cheese
• a giant sprig of fresh basil, or a tsp. of dried

Brown your chicken, plus salt and pepper, in the olive oil in an oven-proof dish. Remove to a plate. Add onion and garlic to the pan, and saute for a couple of minutes, until fragrant and soft. Add the tomatoes (+ juice), and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Add chicken back to the pan, and pop that sucker into the oven. Cook 10 minutes, flip the chicken, and cook 10 more. Done and done.

It should come as no surprise that this chicken comes from DALS, weeknight dinner champion.

 

Meals This Week

Dear readers, this week is a doozy. Let’s all take a deep breath, and do the best we can, okay? This meal plan is not glamorous in the slightest, but it will do the job.

Monday – Pioneer Woman’s chicken spaghetti

Tuesday – Boboli pizza (I’d love to feel ashamed, but I can’t! It’s my husband’s favorite. I think it’s gross.)

Wednesday – Fettucine similar to this with some leftover grilled chicken, and arugula if it lasts that long without wilting.

Thursday – I’m out with Ali for a fun night, and my husband can fend for himself!

Friday – Burgers and tater tots (We have so many burgers in the freezer. Why?)

Let’s Talk Leftovers [classic tater tot hotdish]

The alternate title for this post could be, “Eat Your Hearts Out, Duggars!” Because they make this tater tot casserole, and it’s Internet famous, and I tried it and thought it was gross.

But ever since then, it’s stayed in the back of my head that the idea of tater tot casserole is far from wrong. I found this one over the summer and promptly made it a billion times in a row for any event for which I was required to bring food. It’s darn good, and easily adapted to fit whatever is in your refrigerator, as long as you have enough eggs.

But that’s decidedly a breakfast casserole, and my vision of a hearty, dinnertime tater tot casserole, just wouldn’t go away.

ugggggh, the picture I want to use isn’t loading, and I really want to get this recipe up today, so …. insert mental picture here!

So when Molly Yeh posted her classic tater tot hotdish, I knew the time was ripe for a second try. That it’s called a hot dish and is not made with cream of anything soup meant that my hopes were high, and boy was I thrilled with the results. If you aren’t a native midwesterner, you may not know that tater tot casserole is basically a pot pie filling with tater tots on top.

Her recipe calls for ground beef, but I kept thinking how great this would be with leftover turkey. You could so easily swap in mushrooms, bell peppers, or any of those half-used-up bags of frozen veggies that seem to multiply in the freezer (that can’t just be me, can it?).  Try it for me, dear readers, and let me know how it is!

Thanksgiving, 2017: The Plan

Normally, you all get a free preview of my meal plan on Tuesdays, but Thanksgiving has us all kinds of out of order, and with a few days ahead of us to start prepping, I’m sharing this year’s plan today, in hopes it may give you inspiration if you need it.

Spoiler alert: Dear guests who are also readers – don’t keep reading if you want to be surprised, but also, we’re mostly having what we always have. (These photos are from Thanksgiving, 2015)

Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Green bean casserole (made two days before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Stuffing (made the day before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Sweet potatoes (made two days before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Brussels sprouts from my sister-in-law (usually roasted with pancetta, and whoops, now I’m drooling)

Cranberry sauce (made whenever my husband wants)

Biscuits (made in the morning and warmed up before dinner)

Apple pie (gifted by a friend)

Pumpkin pie (sold by a neighbor who is a far superior baker)

And this pecan praline sauce because I’m not making the usual bourbon pecan tart (made a day or two before)

And ice cream, because, duh

And orange cookies, because I can’t not bake anything. Hopefully they’ll be amazing, and you’ll see them before too much longer. (made the day before)

The rest of the week, if you’re interested:

Sunday – Sausage and tomato risotto, which is a forever favorite.

Monday – hot dogs and tater tots, and some sort of veggie. Yep. That’s it.

Tuesday – A veggie and chicken stir-fry (love this teriyaki sauce the most) if I’m home early, and leftovers if I’m not.

Wednesday – whatever we didn’t do on Tuesday

Thursday – LOL, see above

Friday – PIE and only pie.

Saturday – Oh gracious, I don’t know yet.

Meals This Week

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Monday – I don’t know! And I’m out till late, so we’ll see if we have any good options from Trader Joes in the freezer.

Tuesday – My husband is at a meeting till late, which likely means avocado toast and Everything But the Bagel seasoning for me. But it’s absolutely worth mentioning that for him, this particular meeting requires he prepare a meal for about 15 people beforehand. I’m so excited for him. He practiced the dish on Saturday night, and it was amazing. (And I just searched my blog looking for a link, only to find I haven’t posted it? Not sure how that’s possible, and I wonder if I can get him to snap a picture of it so I can share.)

Wednesday – Thanks to a bit of advanced prep this past weekend, I’ve got some beef stew ready to reheat.

Thursday – We don’t have a friendsgiving on the calendar, so I’m getting in the Thanksgiving spirit by using up a loaf of bread in this stuffing I’ve never made, and I’ll make a green bean casserole too, because there’s never a bad time for green bean casserole. Why do we only eat green bean casserole on Thanksgiving?

Friday – Classic Tater Tot Hotdish – If you didn’t grow up knowing that tater tot casserole is a food (or, perhaps, a food group), then I bet you learned about it from the Duggars.*  That’s where I was first introduced, and in fact, I made it myself many years ago. Though that one was underwhelming, I knew when I saw Molly post a tater tot hotdish recipe, it couldn’t be bad. We’re trying it out Wednesday night.**

Saturday – We’ve got plans in the evening, so if we’re still hungry, we’ll graze when we get home.

Sunday – Sunday dinner! Hopefully whatever I make is blog-worthy, and you’ll see more soon.

*Also, I know you’ve watched the Duggars because one time I clicked on one of their Instagram accounts to see who else I knew followed them, and Instagram told me it was this person, that person, and about 50 other friends. Not even joking. It’s okay, we don’t have to acknowledge it in public or anything.

**I’d be remiss if I didn’t also point you toward this all-star tater tot recipe, which I make frequently.

Meals this Week

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Monday: Just stocked up on chicken at Costco, and we’ve got half a bottle of Wishbone left from all of our summer grilling. One more round of Wishbone chicken before the weather turns frigid and it doesn’t seem seasonally appropriate anymore.

Tuesday: We are down to the very end of a bag of corn chips. When it gets to just the crumbly bits that means it’s time for Parmesan Ranch chicken.

Wednesday: Two nights in a row with no pasta on the menu means we’re due. We’ve got some tomatoes to use up, so I’ll probably just make a simple sauce with tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms.

Thursday: Leftovers!

Friday: Something meaty will go in the slow cooker. We didn’t love the short ribs we had a couple weeks ago, so I may call for a re-do with red wine instead of beer.

Saturday: I’m eyeing this pasta with brussels sprouts and bacon, but it doesn’t have the greatest reviews. (3 stars?!?!) We’ll see.

Sunday: I don’t know what’s on the menu, but we haven’t hosted anyone for a Sunday Dinner in way, way too long, so let’s hope we can have friends over that night.

 

In Praise of Thanksgiving [shaved sprouts salad]

It should surprise no one that the very minute I flipped my calendar’s pages to November, I started seeing HOLIDAY posts across every blog I read. And I have to tell you, dear readers, that I have a soft spot in my heart for every single person out there who takes at least a post or two to dedicate to Thanksgiving before jumping headfirst into Christmas.

Thanksgiving is my favorite.

And sprouts are a great side for the Thanksgiving table. Of course, I think sprouts have a place on the table all year round, which is why this shaved sprouts salad showed up for a recent Sunday dinner. And then again a few nights later. And likely at least once, if not twice more, before.

In Which I am Lame [smitten kitchen confetti cake]

It’s confession time, dear readers.

I don’t get funfetti.

 

I mean, I get it. Sprinkles in and cake and on a cake. What could be more festive?

But is it that big a deal to throw sprinkles in a cake? I guess it is because you can find funfetti versions of just about anything. But I never got into it.

Which is why when an old college friend asked if I’d made Smitten’s confetti cake, I answered no. I remember watching Deb’s Insta story this summer, when she deftly iced Muppets on her daughter’s second birthday cake (because of course she did), but I wasn’t overtaken with a need to replicate the cake itself. I signed up to bring birthday snacks at the end of every month to a group of women I love to hang out with, and right as the end of October rolled around, I got that question. I completely trust this friend’s foodie opinions, so there we go. Decision made. Confetti cake was on the menu.

Gooplet and I cranked the cupcakes out on Monday, iced them on Tuesday, and we served them on Wednesday. I used the little non-pareil rainbow sprinkles that no one really likes (Seriously, does anyone have a place for these in their heart?), and guess what? Still some seriously wonderful cupcakes. Deb will never leave you astray. I doubled the cake recipe and baked 20 cupcakes for 22 minutes. Double the frosting was plenty for icing them.