Week of 1/23-1/29/11

This weeks menu was a bit more difficult. Mostly because I am sick and thinking of food while I have a cold is just unfair. But I am getting better so I hope to be able to enjoy some of this weeks food. Here we go

Sunday- Today is a mixture of a couple recipes. You'll also find that Sundays tend to be crock pot days. This is because I go to church this year from 1-4 and want dinner to be done when I get home. Here it is
Broccoli-Cheese Soup
2 16 oz.pkgs frozen chopped broccoli or about 4 cups of fresh broccoli
2 10 oz cans cream of celery
2 12 oz cans evaporated milk or 2 soup cans milk (you refill the cream of celery cans with milk)
2 cups grated American cheese (this means good old cheddar for us)
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1. Combine all ingredients in crock pot.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours.
As a personal side note you might want to make sure you make enough time to cook this on low. The milk in this is easily scalded and therefore if cooked on high will burn the sides of your pot and make the soup a little funny. After this post I will be running to make it myself so it has enough time to cook!

Monday- Today will be a sort of oriental night. In our basket we got purple kale. I decided it would be good fried up, so we are having stir fried kale with almonds. For this recipe I will be changing the olive oil to sesame oil which will give it more of an oriental flavor. I also don't have fresh ginger so I will change that to 1/2 tsp powder ginger. I don't have tamari so we are just going to leave that out. I might even add a pinch of red pepper flakes to add spice! Along with this I will be cooking up some chicken breasts in a sweet and sour sauce with chunks of fresh pineapple.
Sweet and sour Sauce
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 c ketchup
2 Tbsp cornstarch
Put this all in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir continuously until you feel the mixture is thickened.
I am going to pout this over the chicken while it is cooking and put some pineapple chunks in it too. I have never done this sauce before so I hope it turns out okay. Here's to experimenting!!

Tuesday- Tonight is burrito night. I need to finish off the last of the spinach so I can use that instead of lettuce. I make my own refried beans by taking 2 cans of black beans in a skillet and using my pampered chef potato masher (and yes this one is better because it has little holes instead of metal wires which gets everything mashed no chunks). I then add a little garlic and onion powder. If we have taco sauce I add that too so that it thins out the beans and adds a little flavor. We'll probably have a fruit salad with this too.

Wednesday- I am excited to try a new way to cook my asparagus. We will be trying a breakfast version called scrambled eggs and roasted asparagus. It sounds easy and delicious which are mommies 2 favorite things for dinner.

Thursday- Asparagus Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
1 Tbsp Orange juice (ok it called for dry sherry but I don't have this so I substitute)
4 tsp. soy sauce, divided
5 tsp. cornstarch divided
1 tsp Oriental sesame oil
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves , cut into bite-size pieces ( I'll just be using my canned chicken)
1 tablespoon fermented, salted black beans (these I learned are not black beans but soy beans, I haven't decided if I will be hunting these down or just replacing it will a little extra salt)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp powder ginger)
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 c chicken broth
1 Tbsp oyster sauce (ok I don't have this so we'll be leaving this out)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and diagonally cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium yellow onion, cut into 8 wedges and separated
2 Tbsp water
For marinade, combine orange juice (sherry), 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp cornstarch and the sesame oil in large bowl: mix well. Add chicken and stir to coat well. Let stand 30 minutes.

Place black beans in sieve and rinse under cold running water. Coarsely chop beans. Combine beans, ginger and garlic; finely chop all three together. Combine chicken broth, remaining 2 tsp soy sauce, the oyster sauce and remaining 3 tsp. cornstarch in small bowl; mix well and set aside.

Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry about 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove and set aside. heat remaining 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in wok. Add asparagus and onion; stir fry 30 seconds. Add water; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until asparagus is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Return chicken to wok. Stir chicken broth mixture and add to wok with bean mixture; cook and stir until sauce boils and thickens.
This recipe is thanks to Great Tasting Stir Fries and More.
I think with this intensive dinner we will be just having a salad.

Friday- This will actually be my leftover pasta night. This is where I take whatever vegetable is left in our fridge and make a sauce out of it and poor it over pasta. Hopefully this will clear out my fridge of some veggies we have not quit finished the last couple weeks. And this is another salad dinner. Due to the fact that I have 3 heads of lettuce in my fridge!

Saturday- This will be leftover night. If the weather is good like yesterday. We will be slaving away in our yard again.

Hopefully tomorrow night I will have time to post about our family activity. You will see how it applies to cooking and eating!
Hope you enjoy the menu, and bon appetit!