Breakfast for Dinner | 07.16.2013

We love breakfast around here and breakfast for dinner is always a good thing. Last Friday, we had lunch with our good friend, Sarah. She made us these delicious egg sandwiches and monkey bread. Well, this week I had to have a repeat. It actually worked out great that I had them on the menu because on Tuesday I needed something quick and easy. 

I also decided that we needed something sweet with our breakfast dinner so I made donuts. Snickerdoodle Crumble donuts. I put the topping in the bottom of the pan as well as on top of the batter. I also left off the white chocolate – yuck.

I highly recommend both of these recipes for breakfast, brunch, dinner or a midnight snack. Enjoy!

Menu | Week of 07.15.2013

Monday | Roasted Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Tuesday | Chicken and Gruyere Turnovers

Wednesday | Salmon Tacos & Mango Salsa

Thursday | Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce with Sausage and Eggplant over brown rice noodles

Friday | Cheesy Spinach Baked Egg Sandwiches

Saturday | Leftovers

Sunday | Breakfast for lunch – pancakes, eggs

Menu | Week of 07.08.2013

Monday | No trip to HEB but it worked out ok since it was James’ birthday. He and I went to South Congress Cafe. We shared duck confit tostadas, James had scallops and I went for the beef milanesa with a crawfish gravy. They have a great atmosphere, good service and delicious food.

Tuesday | My sister and her husband are coming for dinner. They leave tomorrow for their overseas adventure! We’ll be eating later than usual so I want to keep it light. I think it’ll be a salmon dish with some mashed potatoes and a salad.

Wednesday | Quinoa Patties with a fried egg and simple salad

Thursday | I have a photo shoot at Zilker so I think roasting some chicken before I leave will be easy for the boys to handle on their own. Since I didn’t roast chicken this past Sunday, I’ll ‘steal’ it for this day.

Friday | Sausage and Veggie Toss

Saturday | Lunch – Mozzarella Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
And for dinner we’ll be with friends.

Sunday | Our Sunday is going to be weird, James may be helping a friend move all day so I will probably stick with sandwiches or something easy like leftovers or beans and rice.

Menu | Week of 07.01.2013

I fell off the wagon again…last week was so lazy in terms of meals. Don’t worry, we still had food and ate. I just didn’t have a menu. I also went to the grocery store with a small list. I was so afraid of spending $200 again! I am seriously considering putting beans and rice on the menu multiple times this week but won’t (you’re welcome, James).

Monday | Well, I didn’t make it to the grocery store today. We goofed off instead so that will happen tomorrow. So for dinner, it was chicken salad. I’ve actually been enjoying a lighter dinner here lately.

Tuesday | Couscous Crusted Salmon with a veggie side

Wednesday | Quesadillas – My friend had one today with goat cheese and spinach. It sounds really good. Maybe I’ll try that with some chicken and mushrooms.

Thursday | William and I are off to Castroville for a night.

Friday | Going to a wedding!! I get to dress up!

Saturday | Personal Pizzas – I use Naan bread and make a few different toppings – mushrooms, red onion, seasoned ground turkey, feta or goat cheese or mozzarella, broccolini. I’ve also use red pepper pesto instead of sauce for a nice change.

Sunday | I may marinate some of the frozen chicken I have and then roast it with some veggies on the side. Maybe some mashed potatoes or mac n’ cheese too.

Sorry, not too many recipes this week. I am going to try to keep things simple.

Menu | Week of 06.09.2013

This is a very exciting week for us – James’ parents are coming for a visit! They haven’t seen William (other than FaceTime) since last October. He is quite a different boy…and way more active.

This weeks menu will be small because I know we’ll probably eat out a couple times while they are here (because what else do you do in Austin with out of towners?).

Roasted Salmon with Caribbean rice and salad

Buttermilk Roast Chicken with Crash Hot Potatoes and maybe some fresh green beans

Crockpot Zucchini Lasagna (because it was so good last week!) and salad

Baked Chicken Taquitos with rice and guacamole

The weekend may call for donuts….these or these. Or both.

Snacks and Sweets | Almond Flour Brownies | Maple Banana Nut Muffins | Almond Chocolate Muffins

Menu | Week of 06.03.2013

The past couple weeks have been bad. Well, I’ve been bad. No menus, incomplete grocery lists and spending too much. Not this week. I need to get back on track. My goal for this week is healthy and easy. Quick is also important because when William is hungry he can be a bear so I’ll be pulling out the crock pot more too.

Monday | Crockpot Zucchini Lasagna and salad

Tuesday | Chicken Cacciatore with brown rice noodles

Wednesday | Beans, rice and cornbread (perfect comfort food!)

Thursday | Spinach, Mushroom and Feta Crustless Quiche

Friday | Pan Seared Honey Glazed Salmon with Browned Butter Lime Sauce,

Saturday | Annual Family Reunion! We do a theme every year and this time is Asian… Saucy Asian Meatballs

Sunday | Honey Soy Stir Fry Chicken

Snacks | Paleo Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffin

From the Menu | Dinner for Family

My brother, James and his wife, Romina are in town for a stop on their road trip back to the east coast. It’s been great seeing them again and I am glad William finally got to meet his Zio and Zia.

Last Thursday, the whole gang came over for dinner and I knew I wanted to make something that would be easy and that I could make ahead of time. It also needed to taste good! Here’s what I came up with…

Menu | Buttermilk Roast Chicken | Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese | Green Bean Casserole

You’ll have to excuse the bad photo and presentation. I didn’t get a shot of my plate on Thursday..this is a plate of leftovers on Friday. Regardless of the bad photo….it was GOOD food! I was so happy with all the recipes and how everything came out. The chicken was so easy to make and quite tasty. The mac n cheese was the same one I made for Easter and only one small portion was left at the end of the night. And the green bean casserole was no where near a casserole. Delish! I highly, highly recommend you try one or all of these recipes. Enjoy!

My Thoughts on eMeals

I recently subscribed to three months of eMeals. A friend told me about it and at the time, it was exactly what I needed. A week of meals emailed to me with a grocery list. Quick and easy. They have many different meal plans but I went with their Clean Eating option.

For the first couple of months, we really enjoyed it. The meals were tasty, easy to prepare and healthy. I briefly tried their Low Carb option as well as their Natural and Organic (which didn’t seem to be much of either) but preferred the Clean Eating.

It’s a great service but I cancelled my subscription. Of the menu they sent each week, I maybe used 3 or 4 out of the 7 meals. Some of them were things we wouldn’t enjoy and I don’t cook curry at home. There seemed to be a lot of curry dishes…I felt like some of the meals were not meals but side dishes. I also ended up having to doctor a few of them because they had no flavor. Clean Eating does not have to equal boring.

This was one of the dishes I made last week – a zucchini frittata. Their idea was good but I jazzed it up with more fresh herbs. I also wish I hadn’t cooked them in the ramekin like they suggested. A muffin tin would have been better. We scrubbed those things for a week! For sides, I did sausage links and a fruit salad topped with agave, lemon juice and fresh mint.

This was a quinoa dish with chicken, peas, asparagus and mint. I cooked the chicken on the side instead and left out the peas because I didn’t have any. It was very fresh and pretty good.

One meal was a risotto. No meat, that was it. The risotto was really good and I was pretty proud of myself for my first ever attempt. But as an entree? It would not have been enough for us. I made it a side and cooked up some salmon as well. A lovely pairing.

Another meal were turkey sliders. Fun idea that I turned into my take on the Magic ‘Shroom Burger from Hopdoddy minus the “shroom”. These were really good!

In conclusion, eMeals is a great idea and service. They recently launched an app and a menu of crockpot meals. You can also add on lunch and breakfast menus. I definitely appreciated it for getting me out of my menu/grocery list rut but will be going back to my old menu making ways (Pinterest and Clean Eating Magazine). If you decide to try it out, check out retailmenot.com for a coupon code. 

Menu | Week of 4.29.2013

I thought I’d start sharing my weekly menus with you all. Sometimes I mix up the order but at least this gives me a starting point for each week and for my grocery list.

Monday | Baked Chicken & Cheese Taquitos

Tuesday | Ground Turkey Stroganoff

Wednesday | Dinner Out

Thursday | Polenta with Eggs

Friday | Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Saturday | Lunch with Friends, leftovers for dinner

Sunday | Breakfast for Dinner – eggs, pancakes

Baking | Maple Syrup Muffins (GF)