Upcoming Meals for the Week

Sunday: baked red snapper
Monday: Beefy Tomato Mac
Tuesday: Chicken and Dumplings
Wednesday: S/B pork chops
Thursday: Chicken Cacciatore
Friday: Slow Cooker Brisket
Saturday: out or leftovers

Paella

This is a really easy recipe that ends up being pretty fancy schmancy. I was always scared to try and cook mussels, but this one is foolproof!!

Paella
Serves 2

1 teaspoon EVOO
3 ounces turkey sausage, cut into rounds
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white rice
1/2 cup frozen peas
10 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Heat EVOO in a pan over medium high heat. Add ingredients through thyme. Cook about 5 minutes or until veggies are softened. Add broth, rice, and peas. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir and add mussels and shrimp. Increase heat to medium high and cook 8-10 minutes more (when rice is done). Discard any unopened mussels.

Warm Potato Salad

We are grilling italian sausages tonight...a super easy thing when you don't feel like cooking. I discovered this recipe in a cheap-o magazine this month and made some changes to suit this household's tastes. YUM!

Warm Potato Salad
Serves 2

3/4 lb red potatoes
1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 finely chopped shallot
2 teespoons Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Cut potatoes in quarters. Put potatoes and salt in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until potatoes are fork tender. Drain when potatoes are done.

While potatoes are boiling, saute shallot in 2 teaspoons olive oil. In a small bowl, mix shallot, oil, mustard, parsley, and vinegar together. Toss potatoes with dressing. Serve immediately.

Deviled Chicken Strips

I fould this recipe in my Good Housekeeping this month. I adapted it, of course!

Deviled Chicken Strips
Serves 4

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/3 c panko crumbs (Japanese style breadcrumb, can use regular bread crumbs)
1/4 c loosely packed parsley, chopped

Heat broiler in oven. Line broiler pan with foil. Mix mustard, sauce, garlic, and pepper. Add chicken strips and mix until all chicken is covered. Place strips on pan and broil for about 8 minutes. While chicken is baking, combine panko and parsley. Remove pan from oven and top with parsley/crumb mixture...do not flip chicken. Pop back in broiler just until crumbs start to brown.

Upcoming Meals for the Week

I'm back from TX. It was a wonderful trip! I even came back with recipe ideas.

W: Deviled Chicken
Th: Grilled Italian Sausage with warm potato salad
F: Paella
Sa: either out or beefy tomato mac

Monkey Bread

I'm headed back to the homeland on Tuesday! So, there won't be much from me this week. I did make breakfast this morning though. We usually have some type of "cooked" breakfast on Sundays, but we didn't have any cinnamon rolls and I didn't feel like eggs, so I modified a very not healthy recipe for monkey bread. Now, it's still not all that healthy, but it's better. Kinda.

Monkey Bread

2 tubes biscuits (just the cheap ones, 10 to a tube)
1/4 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 stick margarine or butter, melted
1/4 c brown sugar

Heat oven to 350. Spray a glass baking dish with nonstick spray. I used a round deep Pyrex bowl. The original recipe calls for it to be done in a bundt pan...so have at it if you'd like!

Cut biscuits into quarters. Mix cinnamon and sugar. Coat biscuits in cinnamon/sugar mixture and put into baking dish. Mix butter and brown sugar. Pour over biscuits. Bake 30 minutes.

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Chicken Enchiladas

These are quick and simple and yummy! They are a favorite at our house...Nicky included. The Goya seasoning is usually found in the Hispanic foods section of your grocery store...but, I don't know if your store will carry it b/c we can't get it here in Arkansas. I had to stock up when we went to Florida the last time. It's a very good all purpose seasoning. I use it to make my taco meat as well. If you can't find it, you can always just use a blend of salt, cumin, coriander, pepper, etc.

Chicken Enchiladas

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (Rotel)
1 packet Sazon Goya with coriander and annato
1 c frozen chopped spinach
1 can green chili enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand)
8 oz reduced fat sour cream
8 flour tortillas (We use the carb balance Mission fajita size)
1 c cheese (I use whatever we have on hand...usually mozzarella or monterey jack)

Preheat oven to 375. In a skillet, cook chicken, tomatoes, and spinach until the chicken is done. Add the seasoning. You should simmer this until most of the liquid is absorbed. If it has too much liquid, thicken using cornstarch or flour. You don't want it runny b/c it will make your tortillas fall apart.

Mix the enchilada sauce and sour cream in a separate bowl. Pour a little of the mixture in the bottom of a glass baking dish. I usually use 2 8x8 square dishes...4 enchiladas in each. Divide the chicken among the tortillas. Roll up and place in baking dish, seam side down. Once you have all 8 rolled and in the dish, top with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Put in oven and bake until cheese is melted.