Meal Plan for the week of 2/2/13

I am borrowing a friends cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker, this week so all of my meals are from it.  I love the variety of recipes in the book, so I have already decided to purchase it.

Saturday: Pork roast with apples and sweet potatoes (never got around to making this on Thursday)

Sunday:  Leftovers

Monday:  Moroccan Chicken Thighs from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker

Tuesday:  Leftovers

Wednesday:  Slow cooker turkey meatloaf (using a ground beef meatloaf recipe in Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker)

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Carrot Soup from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker and boule bread from Artisan Bread

*See this post for more info on the cookbooks I use.

My Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes

I'm not sure how moms of two survive without crockpots.  Before Matilda, I could get a dinner together most days, but since Matilda was born I use my slow cooker at least twice a week.  These are a few of my favorite slow cooker recipes:

• Chicken Chili (I make my own ranch seasoning)
• Coq au vin (I would suggest boneless thighs)
• Mac n Cheese (I used 3 cups milk and 1 cup chicken broth)
• Tikka Masala (the suggested cucumber salad went well with it)
• Coconut Chicken Curry
• Honey Garlic Chicken   (it doesn't get easier than this!)
• Whole Chicken (I made a big batch of this spice rub and just keep it on hand for any time I want to just throw a whole chicken in the slow cooker)
• Pork Roast

Breaking the Bread Myth

Making bread is really easy with a Kitchen Aid mixer.  You can do it, too!  The hands on time is seriously only 5 to 10 minutes.  I use the recipe for whole wheat bread in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook.  Here's an outline of the steps to show how easy it is.  First, I toast the wheat germ by just putting it in a pan over medium heat.  

Next step is to whisk the dry ingredients (wheat germ, bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt, and yeast) together in the Kitchen Aid bowl and then use the same whisk to whisk the wet ingredients (milk, water, melted butter, and honey) together right in the measuring cup.

 Start the mixer on the "stir" speed and pour the wet ingredients into the dry while the mixer is spinning.  Increase the speed to medium low (I actually just do it on one notch up from "stir") and let the machine knead the bread for 10 minutes.  During this time, you can work on dinner prep, do your dishes, have a cup of coffee and check your email.  

 When the mixer has done it's job, knead the dough by hand for one minute and then shape it into a ball and put it into a bowl that you have sprayed with PAM.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and just let it sit for about 90 minutes.  This is when the dough will do it's first rise.

 Take the dough out of the bowl and press it into a rough rectangular shape on the counter.  This looks more like a circle, but I think it looked more like a rounded rectangle in person.

Roll your dough into a tight cylinder and put it into a bread pan that you have sprayed with PAM.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for another hour and a half.

 Finally, turn on the oven and bake it for about an hour!  Your house will smell wonderful and you will have the best sandwiches and toast!

What we are eating 2/18/12

Saturday: We were supposed to have dinner with friends, but Shelby has a fever, so now we are in for the evening. Luckily, I never needed to cook the slow roasted beef with all purpose gravy, glazed pearl onions, and roasted red potatoes with rosemary and garlic (Test Kitchen348, 136, 141) that I had planned for last week, so that will be tonight’s dinner.

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: salmon & leek pot pie (Test Kitchen 250), salad

Tuesday: roast lemon chicken, broiled balsamic asparagus, creamy rice casserole (Test Kitchen 318, 121, 154)

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: seafood bisque, salad, crusty bread from Artisan Bread(another meal we never did from last week)

Friday: take out

Saturday: dinner out for our anniversary

Lunches: French onion soup and chicken salad (if I get around to making broth, I’ll use the chicken from that), grilled cheese & tomato soup, something TBD with ground turkey

What we are eating

Saturday: Out to dinner on a double date! (What? I need to feed the kiddo? Thank goodness for leftover chicken and broccoli.)

Sunday: Burgers with bourbon, mustard and chives; salad with honey dijon vinagrette (Test Kitchen 51 & 383)

These burgers were really good!

Monday: Seafood bisque (made by my husband and frozen in the freezer), Artisan Bread boule (you can google this recipe and find it on the authors' blog), salad

Tuesday: Mom is making dinner for my birthday: grandmonther’s deep fried tacos, enchiladas, and lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting! Yum! I will be making my own birthday cake because I enjoy baking.

Wednesday/Thursday: slow roasted beef with all purpose gravy, glazed pearl onions , roasted red potatoes with shallot, lemon, and thyme (Test Kitchen 348, 136, & 141)

Friday: take out or leftovers

Saturday: dinner in with friends (menu TBD)

Lunches: egg salad with bacon & radishes on whole wheat bread (Test Kitchen 83 & 457), salmon patties, grilled cheese on Test Kitchen whole wheat bread (457) & tomato soup (Baby 140)

To cook like me, use the cookbooks I use.

Cook Like Me

80%ish of what I make comes from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

15%ish comes from one of these cookbooks:

The Baby and Toddler Cookbook by Karen Ansel and Charity Ferreira

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

The remaining 5%ish? I occasionally use a recipe from the The All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook (2006) or The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (1997). Once in a while I use an altogether different cookbook, but that is pretty rare.