Menu for the week of 11/18

Well, another week, another menu. Last Thursday, our house got hit with a stomach bug, so we spent the weekend subsisting mostly on saltines, animal crackers, rice cooked in chicken broth, and chicken soup. We’re pretty well mended up by now, so here’s to a healthy week!

Monday – I just popped the ingredients into the crockpot for this Homemade Enchilada Sauce. It’s a solid, basic recipe (I puree the onions into the sauce instead of picking them out), and it makes a lot, so I’m making a half-batch right now. You could make a full batch and freeze it in quart bags, which I’ve done before. We’re going to use some burritos that I froze a few weeks ago using pork taco meat to have enchiladas. For dessert, I’m thinking of trying Gwyneth Paltrow’s Sweet Potato Muffins, since I have some baked sweet potato I need to use up. The five-spice + maple syrup thing kind of weirds me out, but I’m willing to give it a try. (update: these are in the oven right now, and the batter was delicious!)

Tuesday – We have a meeting at 4:00 on Tuesday and need to be out the door for small group by 6:15, so this will be an easy and fast meal: chicken sausages from Costco (I think I have their “southwest” flavor in my freezer right now) and roasted broccoli.

Wednesday – We have youth group, where they feed us dinner, so no plans.

Thursday – JR will be out of town hunting, so I’ll probably eat with my mom. Salmon, maybe? Given our stomach bug last week, I didn’t make what I was planning to do last week, so maybe I’ll just plan on that same menu this week.

Friday – We won’t do Happy Hour because JR is gone. Some friends are having a birthday party, so maybe I’ll just graze there. Or, I’ll move Saturday’s menu up by one day.

Saturday – Butternut squash soup. I don’t have a recipe picked out yet, but I absolutely love sage, so I tend to lean in that direction rather than the apple/ginger direction for butternut soups (although I think both are delicious). I might also make up some sausage patties out of elk burger or a mixture of elk and turkey (nothing against pork, I’m just working with what I have in my freezer) — to compliment the flavor of the soup, I’m thinking of a sage-forward version, like this one. (Have you guys ever made your own sausage? I find that breakfast sausage is super easy to make, and it’s delicious, and then you know exactly what’s in it!)

Happy cooking, friends!

Menu for the Week of 11/11

I’ve been contemplating sharing my weekly menu with the Internet world (all 15 of you who read my blog, anyway). I love food. I love cooking, I love thinking about different flavor combinations, I love shopping for food, and I love knowing that I am providing my family and friends with generally nutritious, flavorful meals.

However, I know that this is not the case for all of my friends, and so I wondered if people would find it helpful if I published my weekly meal plan on an occasional basis (I don’t know that I could promise to do it every week, but you could always go back into the archives to get inspiration from the past). Would anyone find this helpful? Let me know!

In the meantime, here’s what I’m planning to have my family eat this week:

Monday – elk steak kebabs (elk steak because that’s what I have in my freezer and it’s the ultimate organic, free range meat!, cut into cubes and marinated and then grilled on skewers), turmeric-garlic roasted sweet potato cubes and broccoli (I seriously can’t get enough of veggies roasted this way — I think I ate carrots like this three times last week!). I might also do some marinated tomatoes because I bought some fresh tomatoes and Costco the other day at Tito’s request.

Tuesday – crockpot chicken tacos. I am providing “take out” meals to a couple of families who are sick or have new babies, so I’m going to throw a bunch of chicken breasts in the crockpot with a few cans of Rotel and some taco seasoning (I will probably try to find a more precise recipe but that’s the general idea right now). I was going to make crockpot refried beans to go with them, but since my crockpot will be occupied, I’m just going to throw in some black beans with the chicken. We’ll eat these with corn tortillas, shredded cheese, sour cream, green onion slices, cilantro, and Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant Style salsa. I’m thinking of doing Pumpkin Pie Dip with apple slices for dessert, but I’d need to buy more apples first.

Wednesday – no meals; we eat dinner every Wednesday at church youth group (I think they are serving us gourmet grilled cheese, tomato soup and salad)

Thursday –salmon (seasoned simply with butter and lemon pepper), Thomas Keller’s baby leeks (this will be a new recipe to me), and probably some quinoa or rice pilaf as a side. I really like this quinoa recipe, and I haven’t made it for a while, so this might be it.

Friday – We normally have Happy Hour on Friday nights, when I do chips and salsa and a big pot of soup. I’m not sure if we’re going to do Happy Hour this week, but I’ll probably still do some soup. My mom brought me a recipe from an airline magazine for a beer-chipotle chili, so maybe I’ll give that a try. We also haven’t had split pea soup in a long time, and the weather is right for it, but I don’t know if Lili would eat it because she usually rejects mushy stuff. But, I might just have to give it a try sometime to see if her palate is changing. Either way, I’m not going to make another trip to the store, so I’ll just have to go with whatever I happen to have in my freezer/pantry for this meal.

So there you have it, my meal plan for the week!

Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

This chili was a little bit of a leap of faith for me since it prominently features two flavors that I’m not typically wild about: pumpkin and parsley. However, I was feeling adventurous and wanted to celebrate some fall flavors. Plus, I was feeding it to a crowd, so there were good odds that I wouldn’t be eating the leftovers for days by myself. And, the recipe came from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, a food blog that has never left me anything but supremely happy with her recipes. She strikes the perfect balance between a variety of flavors, but not-too-out-there (she is feeding a houseful of kids after all), and reasonable amount of preparation. Remember that white chili recipe you all love? That’s from Mel.

So, pumpkin black bean chili. I doubled this recipe and used 4 cups of dried black beans that I quick-soaked and then boiled for about an hour before adding the partially-cooked beans to the pot of chili. I didn’t saute any of the veggies; I just browned the meat and dumped everything else into the pot together. I had to cook it in a big pot on the stove because I overflowed the slow-cooker, but I think it benefited from being at a low simmer on the stove for 5 hours, just like it would have been in the crockpot. And, I used ground turkey since the original recipe called for “leftover turkey” and I didn’t have any of that. I thought the ground turkey would add a nice texture and flavor, but I think a lot of different meat choices would work here.

Ingredient-wise, I followed the recipe exactly, even when it called for way more parsley than I would normally choose to use in any recipe. I’m glad I did, and, pumpkin-lover or not, I think you’ll be glad if you try this recipe, too. (btw, I was right about not having too many leftovers – I had just enough left for one bowl of soup for lunch today or tomorrow.)

Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

1. 1 medium onion, chopped

2. 1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped

3. 1 tablespoon olive oil

4. 3 garlic cloves, minced

5. 2 cups chicken broth

6. 2 cans (15-ounce each) black beans, rinsed and drained

7. 2 1/2 cups cubed cooked turkey or 1 pound round steak, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, OR 1 lb ground turkey

8. 1 can (15-ounce) solid-pack pumpkin

9. 1 can (14-1/2 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained

10. 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

11. 2 teaspoons chili powder

12. 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

13. 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

14. 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large 12-inch skillet, heat the oil until hot and rippling over medium or medium-high heat. Add the round steak or ground turkey (if using already cooked turkey, proceed to adding the vegetables) and brown the pieces lightly. Transfer the meat to a 5-quart slow cooker, leaving oil in the skillet. Add the onion and yellow pepper to the skillet and saute until barely tender, 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute longer. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker. Stir in the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

#BlackBeans #chili #pumpkin #turkey