Feeding the troops

Since eventually this blog will be more about food and less about kitchen construction, I thought I'd get a jump on things and start posting our weekly menus, which you may find helpful or perhaps just mildly entertaining.  We generally don't eat a lot of convenience foods, but you'll see that we've had to make a few concessions during the remodel.  Often our kitchen is completely inaccessible, or too dirty, or too dangerous to be in for long.  I'm grateful it's as functional as it is, but the day is rapidly approaching that we'll be eating pizza 14 days straight.  ;o)

With the exception of Sundays, I shoot for dinners that are in the 500-800 calorie range.  I always make extra so that the "Mom-I'm-STARVING" among us can get their fill, but I worked too darn hard to get myself into shape to serve lasagna at every meal, and I want our kids to learn good eating habits and to have healthy attitudes about food.  We aren't obsessive about eating particular kinds of foods (or avoiding them either) and just try to go with the idea that most things are OK in moderation.  We very rarely eat any sort of hunk-o-meat dinner, like roast or steak.  With the exception of this kitchen remodel time, we don't generally eat a lot of fast food, but we do feed the kids pizza on Fridays (our date night)- usually from Pizza Hut or Little Caesar's, and sometimes the Wal-Mart take-and-bake kind.  

We eat a lot of foods from other cultures and parts of the world, in part because we have a multi-racial family, and also because those are just our tastes.  Our favorites are probably most Asian foods (Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, etc.), middle eastern, African, Caribbean, and Mexican.  Really, we'll eat just about anything, and will try anything once.  And even though I love all sorts of foods, my very favorites are simple things - a good bagel.  Dark chocolate.  A bowl of oatmeal with pecans and dried cranberries.  A slice of toasted homemade bread.  (Clearly I'm a carb lover!)  

I'll write about this in more detail in another post, but part of the reason I can feed my large family with the variety I do and without breaking the bank is because I am Queen of the Coupon.  I stock up on things when they are at their very lowest prices, and have amassed quite a stockpile of foods and other necessities.  I can easily feed all 14 of us on about $200 a week, and that includes toiletries and other non-food items.  

I am a cookbook junkie, and I love websites like food.com and allrecipes.com.  I think the iPad was invented for the kitchen, and I believe my recipe-loving mother-in-law smiles down on me from Heaven as I gather and tweak and organize my treasured recipes.  :o)

Here is this week's plan, which is subject to change should I find my kitchen filled with volatile chemicals or without plumbing.  Any relevant recipes follow.  Just click on "Read more" below.

27	28	1	2	3	4	5
SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
Asian lettuce wraps*, rice, broccoli, chocolate pie	Potato bar	Tzatziki turkey pita sandwiches*, fruit salad	Zuppa Toscano*, breadsticks	Egg McMuffins, hash browns	Little Caesar’s	Fend for yourself

SUNDAY – ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS

Ingredients

16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves

1 pound lean ground beef

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)

1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set.

aside.

In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon

of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and cooked beef; continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.

Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!

This serves 4, so I quadruple it.

MONDAY – POTATO BAR

Ingredients/Toppings

Enough potatoes for your family

Diced ham

Shredded cheese

Chili

French fried onions

Diced tomatoes

Broccoli

Butter/sour cream

Sliced mushrooms

Directions

Scrub, dry, poke and bake your potatoes.

Assemble toppings in bowls and let each person top his/her own potato.

TUESDAY – TZATZIKI TURKEY PITA SANDWICHES

 

Ingredients (sauce)

8 ounces plain yogurt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

3 cloves pressed garlic

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill and garlic.  Blend thoroughly.

Other Ingredients

2 lb diced cooked/cooled chicken or turkey (I’m cheating and using ground

turkey this time)

4 pita breads

lettuce or spinach

feta cheese

Sliced Greek olives

Directions

Mix sauce with chicken/turkey.  Stuff pita halves with meat mixture, and add olives, cheese, and lettuce or spinach.  

Serves 8


ETA:  I made chicken after all.  And please excuse the fine china - another consequence of endless kitchen remodeling...  :o)

WEDNESDAY – LIGHT ZUPPA TOSCANA (Slimmed-down Olive Garden copycat recipe)

 

Ingredients 

2 lbs ground turkey

1 teaspoon black pepper 

1 teaspoon ground sage 

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning 

2 teaspoons garlic powder 

2 teaspoons onion salt 

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 

12 potatoes, sliced 

4 cups kale, washed well torn up 

2 (28 ounce) cans fat free chicken broth

4 garlic cloves or 4 fresh crushed garlic

2 onions, chopped 

4 cups skim milk

2 tablespoons pepper

12 cups water

Directions

In a big soup pot, cook ground turkey with 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground

sage, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, onion salt, red pepper flakes, and

salt.

Add water, broth, potatoes, garlic, 1 tbsp pepper, and chopped onion. 

Simmer until potatoes are getting tender.

Add the skim milk, and kale.  Simmer (do not boil!) until kale is tender.  Serve.

Serves 6-8

THURSDAY – EGG MCMUFFINS - sorta

Ingredients 

12 eggs

12 slices Canadian bacon

12 slices cheddar cheese

12 English muffins

butter

Directions

Poach or fry eggs.  (You can also cook them in the microwave.  Just spray a small ramekin with Pam and break the egg into the bowl.  Scramble lightly.  Cover with a paper towl [trust me] and cook for about 60 seconds.  Watch to be sure it doesn’t explode.)

Place English muffin halves, cut sides up, on baking sheets.  Lightly butter each half.  Place in 450 degree oven for about 3 minutes.  Remove from oven and place Canadian bacon on 12 halves, and cheese on 12 halves.  Return sheets of muffins to oven for 3-4 minutes, or until cheese melts.  

Remove from oven, add eggs to every other muffin half, and assemble sandwiches.