Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The best cooked brocoli

So, my intentions to have asparagus were quickly dissolved when not only was it $3.99 a pound, but the tips were mushy. Ugh. No thanks. So I bought some organic broccoli florets instead. This is how I cooked it (both of my kids wanted MORE). There was leftover chicken, but 16 oz of broccoli florets were gone: ) Success!

Get a large saute pan HOT. Add 1Tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp butter and broccoli. Also add about 1/4 to 1/2 C water. This will steam your broccoli. Now for the best part. Salt the broccoli to the normal desired taste and add about 4 Tbsp of honey. I use local raw honey because of the many benefits but I'm sure generic honey will be good too. Stir all this up and let it steam until the broccoli is bright green and softish but not mushy. Sweet and salty and healthy. Try it!

Monday, May 24, 2010

My first blog

I am a food lover. I thought it would be a good idea to post a blog entry about what I am cooking. From time to time I will post recipes, but the idea here is to help other moms struggling to not cook the same thing week after week, and to motivate myself to cook up something different and wonderful more often. When I have time and when something motivates me to do so, I will post meal specific posts. But my goal is to post a weekly entry with a list of what I plan to cook for the week. (Evening meal only.) I'm hoping this will motivate others to make suggestions for my menu also!

Week One

Night One:
Grilled chicken breasts (I buy split breast because the skin keeps the meat from getting dry) fresh steamed asparagus with a lemon, garlic, butter sauce (and a splash of white wine when we have it)
harvest multi grain side dish from Trader Joes


Night Two :
Home made pizza's
Two pizza doughs, all natural pizza or pesto sauce, 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced, 12 oz monterey jack cheese, various toppings (we commonly use some of these: marinated artichokes, garlic stuffed olives, black olives, jalapenos, mushrooms, chicken, salami)


Night Three:
Salads, pita bread, hummus (this is my lazy night)
Bag of butter lettuces, celery, carrots, little tomatoes, cucumber, olives, onions
whole wheat pitas, cooked until warm and soft for me and Dom and until crispy for Aaron and Cass.

I buy hummus. I know it's easy to make, but my hummus stinks. I've tried so many times and I just can't get the right recipe. So I let Trader Joes do it for me. I like the Mediterranean best.

I also started buying Bolthouse Farms yogurt dressings. My kids love it, I can tell a difference in taste but it is a good difference compared to the nasty shelf stable preservative filled crap I used to buy. Yum! If I'm feeling the need to go extra light I will just drizzle my salad with Balsamic vinegar with no oil, a sprinkle of garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper. Not too bad for no calorie dressing.


Night Four:
Rubens
Oh so bad but oh so good, this is a unanimously favorite sandwich to my family.
Rye bread buttered, toasted and filled with corned beef, sour kraut, Swiss cheese, and home made thousand island dressing. Better get a good jog in today!!!


Night Five:
Fried chicken (this is due to my husbands pleading for some and because we have a new fry daddy and he just can't help himself- and HE will be cooking the chicken! Yay, another take it easy for me dinner!)
potato salad (mine is the best and my husband will kill me if I share so this recipe has to be kept top secret. But I will hint: don't use sugar and DO use pickle juice!)
breaded and fried cauliflower
Another good jog day!


Night Six:
Butternut squash bisque similar to this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-Bisque/Detail.aspx
Turkey Sandwiches on multi grain bread with melted smoked Gouda, tomato and avocado slices.


Night Seven:
Chicken tacos
soft flour tortillas warmed and filled with chicken breast slices, lettuce, sour cream, avocado monterey jack cheese and salsa.