Plan day... Tuesday? 3/31

Boy are we off this week! We were on a trip all weekend and rolled back into town after dark last night. Needless to say, we're a bit behind. Our organic order arrives today with bananas, kiwi, plums, mangoes, oranges, beets, carrots, chards, and red potatoes.

Tuesday - Thai curried chicken (a crock pot recipe I've been wanting to try, perfect for busy or tired days and will use carrots and the peas and onions left from last week's order, cheese we got last week, and chicken from our freezer).

Wednesday - Stuffed portobello mushrooms (vegetarian) along with baked root vegetables (uses beets, carrots, onions, and potatoes - all of which are being delivered or we already have on hand)

Thursday - Leftover chicken

Friday - Leftover mushrooms

Saturday - We are having company on Saturday and I plan on making homemade pizzas (using cheese we got on sale last week, and sauce and onions from our stock)

Grocery list - Our dinner list includes coconut milk for the Thai chicken, portobello caps, and more pizza toppings (uncured pepperoni and mushrooms).  Just OJ on our breakfast list, and no lunch list this week.  Organic flour is on sale this week at Meijer so I will buy a couple of bags each, white and whole wheat, to stock up, and I will be watching for the pasta sauce to go on sale as well, since I will be using lots of that on Saturday and will need to replenish our stock.  As usual I will check the deli and meat counter for organic meat sales or specials (last minute price drops on same day sell-by meats are a great way to save money - I just bring them home and freeze them for later!), and as a special treat the organic strawberries are also on sale this week at Meijer, so maybe I'll even grab some organic cream and make strawberry shortcake for Saturday's dessert (it's just too bad we weren't in town in time to add that to our dairy order - their cream is so, well, creamy!).  Oh, and our edamame and brussels sprouts supplies need to be replenished, too.

Have a happy week!

Goulash, the way I learned to make it

A quick and easy dinner! Cheap, too, even when made with the best ingredients - as usually we use all organic ingredients, and whole wheat noodles. I'm sure there are a number of recipes out there for this Hungarian dish, but this is the way I learned to make and love it.

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cup macaroni pasta, uncooked
• 3-4 tbsp sugar, to taste
• 1 dash salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Cook macaroni pasta to al dente, rinse and set aside.
Meanwhile, fry meat and onion in large skillet until no longer pink; drain; add tomato, sugar, salt, and pepper; stir in macaroni, allow to cook to desired consistency.

For added indulgence, this is wonderful when served with fresh, warm bread on the side (mmmmm, carbs).

Plan day, 3/22

Our organic order this week is bringing: bananas, apples, kiwi, red plums, beets, baby carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, green onions, collard greens, roma tomatoes, english peas, and asparagus.

This is an off week for us for many reasons.  First, we have two meals leftover from last week, in part because the Irish dinner made more than we thought, and also because we had a last minute dinner engagement that postponed Friday's meal.  Second, we actually have dinner engagements planned for each night of the coming weekend that will take us away from our usually planning and arrangements.

Sunday - Leftover Irish dinner

Monday - Leftover pasta

Tuesday - Goulash (using ground beef from our freezer, and onions left from last week's order), and asparagus

Wednesday - Chicken with capers, collard greens (also uses green onions and roma tomatoes), cous cous

Thursday - Leftover goulash with zucchini

Friday & Saturday - dinner engagements

Grocery list - Our dinner list includes capers, noodles, and crushed tomatoes.  The organic meat is on sale at Meijer this week so I will replenish our stock of ground beef and possibly some chuck roast, and the hormone free cheese is also on sale there, so we will stock up on various cheese items.  I made english muffins again, so just OJ on our breakfast list.  We will need more peanut butter for lunches, but that actually concludes our family meal list for this week!

Irish Soda Bread

We tried this tonight to go with our Irish boiled dinner. The bread is definitely yummy - not overly sweet but definitely belonging to the sweet bread category - but we had some problems with the recipe as it is written, so I'll give you the recipe as I found it (on www.elise.com) and also tell you where it didn't work.

• 4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk

Add 4 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Using a pastry cutter work butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then stir in raisins. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk and mix until dough is too stiff to stir. Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in some more flour. Do not overknead! Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf.

Even with the alloted amount of flour I could not get this to be anything but a gelatinous mess. I think I finally added an additional cup of flour (total 5 cups, so only 1/2 cup more than the max called for).

Transfer dough to a lightly greased baking sheet and score top of dough about 1/2'' deep in an "X" shape. Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped with a knife, about 35-45 minutes. Check for doneness also via toothpick method.

At 50 minutes my bread was still raw at the center - completely raw - but it was browning on the outside, so I covered it in tinfoil and cooked it an additional 20 minutes (totalling 1hr 10min) before it was ready to come out.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or toasted with butter. This we had no problem with. Yummy!

Plan day 3/15

Our organic order this week is bringing: bananas, pears, apples, kiwi, grapes, beets, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, onions, yams (we'll be saving for next week), and arugula.

Sunday - Stir fry (vegetarian). This was supposed to be last Thursday's meal, but we ended up with far more leftovers than we'd anticipated (both from last Sunday's stuffed squash and from Tuesday's Zuppa) and got two more nights out of those meals, pushing the tofu and bok choy stir fry to tonight. Just as yummy tonight, though!

Monday - Grilled lemon-mustard chicken, brussels sprouts (Calvin's choice), curried quinoa (uses ginger root we have left from the stir fry, as well as some frozen vegetables we need to use up)

Tuesday - Corned beef, of course (we'll be experimenting with this recipe again, which will use up the last of last week's parsley)! Along with cabbage, potatoes, and carrots (all of which are coming in our organic order) and Irish soda bread.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wednesday - Leftover stir fry (vegetarian)

Thursday - Leftover chicken

Friday - Leftover corned beef

Saturday - Penne, chicken sausage, and arugula pasta (we've got the sausages to be used in our freezer, the dried cannellini beans already on hand, and arugula coming in our order), plus this will probably leave us with leftovers for Sunday night.

Grocery list - Our dinner list includes corned beef (on sale at Busch's) and Irish beer (gotta have it!) for Tuesday, and tomatoes, penne, pesto ingredients, goat cheese, and white wine for the pasta. We will also add buttermilk (for the soda bread) to our dairy order this week (we'll use the rest of it for special pancakes next weekend - we make pancakes once a week, storing enough to plop in the toaster for Calvin each morning, since that is his favorite part of breakfast - this is cheaper and healthier than buying the boxed frozen pancakes at the store). I made english muffins and whole wheat bread this week, so the only other breakfast item we need is OJ. We will also need to restock our frozen peas, brussels sprouts, and edamame, and organic unbleached white flour. Since Busch's has the corned beef sale, and they also sell a better selection of organic cheeses and nicely priced wines, that is where we will do our shopping this week.

I should mention, because I don't think I have before now, that our weekly dairy order brings us two 1/2 gallons of milk and a pint of cottage cheese (all organic, local, and very fresh) every Tuesday. On Mondays we can call to make changes or additions to this order, as we will be doing this week by adding salted butter (to restock for general use) and buttermilk. We also purchase our eggs (cage and antibiotic free) and several other dairy items from them when needed.

Happy week to you all!