Menu for the Week - June 5th

Summer is here!  Which means more time outdoors, more fun with friends, and many places to go and see!  So I am planning our meals accordingly!  Hope you get some ideas for your meal plan!
Share what you will be serving this week!

Sunday
Lamb Chops with Tzatiki sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli
Salads

Monday
Bacon and Spinach Quiche
Strawberries

Tuesday
Barbecue Jack Chicken
Cheesy Cauliflower
Salad

Wednesday
Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Salad

Thursday
Leftover Night

Friday
Stuffed Zucchini with Italian Sausage
Pasta
Cannelloni Beans
Salads

Saturday
Burgers on the Grill
Fries
Grilled Pineapple

Taste of Spring - Strawberry Coffee Cake

If you are looking for a quick and yummy treat to bake some of those freshly picked strawberries, this is a perfect recipe!  After enjoying an outing with one of my preschool age sons, we had 12 lbs of strawberries.  His playschool class visited a local farm and picked strawberries.  It was a delight to watch as these 4 year olds found "a big one" and "whoa, look at this one"!  And the field was full of gorgeous red ripe strawberries.  It literally took about 20 minutes - with the help of a 4 year old - to pick 12 lbs of strawberries.
Needing a sweet treat for an afternoon with friends, I found this recipe on Allrecipe.com (one of my most favorite food sites).  It was perfect!  I added a touch of lime and vanilla and of course more strawberries.  Hope you try it out! Will be trying it in the winter with frozen strawberries.

Strawberry Coffee Cake (from Allrecipe.com)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups thickly sliced strawberries
2 tsp vanilla
juice from half a lime (or 1 TBSP)
2 tsp melted butter

Topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 sugar
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 - Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2 - In a seperate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vanilla, lime juice, and butter.
3 - Combine the wet and dry ingredients till just blended.
4 - Pour into a sprayed
5 - Toss sliced strawberries with vanilla and lime juice.

6- Cover batter with strawberries.
7 - Mix together topping - sugar, flour,cold butter - till crumbly.  Add chopped pecans and mix thoroughly.  Top strawberries with this mixture.
8 - Bake 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Allow to cool for about 15 minutes.  Serve warm or room temperature.  Great alone or with a side of whipped cream.

Sharing this with Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday, Strawberry Recipe Roundup at Susieqtpies Scraps of Life.

What's on the Menu May 9 - 15, 2011

Finally gaining a bit of control on the craziness called life!  Keeping a decently stocked pantry and freezer, last week I was able to "wing" most of our meals as we were absent from home for several of our meals.  This week our warm weather schedule begins to kick up a notch - and we don't even have "scheduled" sports activities like so many families - just other commitments!  Keeps us hopping!

Monday
Honey Soy Broiled Wahoo (fish)
Stir fry veggies
Asian Noodles

Tuesday
Steaks
Baked Potatoes
Salad

Wednesday
Cranberry Pork Tenderloin (new recipe)
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Salad

Thursday
Leftover pork for those meatlovers
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese (new recipe)
Steamed Broccoli
Salads

Friday
Zuppa Tuscana (using collard greens from the garden instead of kale)
Rosemary Bread (bread machine recipe)
Salad

Saturday
Caribbean Beef Stew
Sauteed Cabbage
Leftover Mac and Cheese
Salads

Linked up to Menu Plan Monday

Tiramisu - A Twist on the Classical

Tiramisu conjures images of sitting outside an Italian bakery, savoring the creamy yumminess of this dessert while enjoying the Italian scenery.  I decided very last minute - literally IN the grocery store - to make this dessert for our Easter Family Luncheon.  INSIDE the grocery store meant I was going off the top of my head to recall possible needed items to make this dish.  I knew I had a package of Lady Finger cookies in the pantry.  Coffee - check (ALWAYS at home!).  Picked up some Whipping Cream.  Thought - let's make this an EASY dessert to make - grabbed a large box of Vanilla Pudding mix.  Could NOT for the life of me find Marscapone Cheese - even with asking for directions from the employees, still could not.  And if you happened to be in the chaos of grocery shopping on Saturday - THE DAY BEFORE EASTER - you can understand why I just threw in the towel, grabbing a block of Cream Cheese. 
Having checked my plan with several versions of Tiramisu, I forged ahead.  And the end result was SO GOOD!

Tiramisu - a Twist on the Classic
Ingredients:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp Vanilla
1/2 cup STRONG brewed coffee (instant is fine)
2 Tbsp Kahlua (can be omitted)
16 oz cream cheese
large box of Vanilla Pudding mix (sugar free is fine)
1 Package Lady Finger Cookies
Cocoa Powder for dusting

1 - In mixer, pour whipping cream.  Add sugar.  Beginning on low, start whipping the cream.  Beat till whipped.  Add vanilla pudding mix.  Add cream cheese in small portions.  Blend well.  Set aside.
2 - Combine coffee and Kahlua.  Pour into a shallow dish for dipping Lady Finger cookies.
3 - Dip cookies 2 at a time in coffee.  Leave cookies on each side in the coffee for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  They absorb the liquid quickly. Only do 1/2 at this time.  Line the bottom of an 8X8 dish with the cookies.
4 - Top with 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture.  Save other 1/2 for next layer.
5 - Dip the rest of the cookies in coffee, layering on top of the cream cheese mixture.
6 - Dust with cocoa powder if you would like.
Enjoy!
6 - Top with rest of cream cheese mixture.

Shared over at Mouthwatering Mondays, Mangia Mondays

Do you feel lucky???? Check out these giveaways!

There are so many awesome blogs that have even more awesome giveaways (can you tell I have my 4 year old stuck in my head at the moment!).  I just have to share some of them.  Go check them, enter, and if you win, come back and tell me!

The Gone with a Handsomer Man Stonegable Giveaway over at StoneGable.
 * a copy of Michael Lee West's Gone with a Handsomer Man
 *a $100 Horchow Gift Certificate
 *a set of American Atelier Stoneware Dinnerware
 How AWESEOME!  (ok, I'll try to stop saying that word!)

Over at MommyMandy, check out the Cooking With Coke "Giveaway"
For a chance to win a Coco-Cola oven mitt and the Ingrid Hoffman  12 qt Tamale Pot and Steamer with Lid by T-fal.

Deviled Eggs - easy side dish for any potluck

 

Deviled Eggs are one of those side dishes I often forget.  If you have an hour to prepare something (or less, just need some time for the eggs to cool), this is a crowd pleasing delight!  And so easy!  Got to love that combination!

If you don't have an egg platter, no worries.  A shallow baking dish will work or a pie dish.  You just need something with a slight "lip" around the egg so these little buggers don't go slipping and sliding off your plate!

Deviled Eggs

6 Hard Boiled Eggs (need to know how to make the perfect hard boiled eggs?  CLICK HERE)

1/3 cup Mayonnaise

1 Tsp Mustard

2 TBS Sweet Pickle Relish

Paprika for a dash of color on top

Note - I typically try to plan ahead, hard boiling my eggs several hours ahead of time to allow them to cool a bit on the stove top then in the fridge.  I will admit, I have been rushed before and Iced those eggs down to spend up the cooling process.  I was stilling juggling warm and a bit steaming eggs.  Makes for some HOT cracking!

1 - Crack and Peel hard boiled eggs.  My eggshells go to our wonderful compost area.  The plants love them!
2 - Cut each egg in half with a sharp knife.  You want a "clean" cut.
3 - Empty the yolk of each half into a medium size bowl.  Set empty cooked whites aside.
4 - Smash the yolks a bit with a fork till yolks are broken into small fluffy pieces.
5 - Add mayo and pickle relish.
6 - Mix together, breaking apart any more lumps of yolk.  Blend till smooth.
7 - Using a table spoon, fill egg cooked white shell with the yolk mixture.  I typically have a small bit of mixture leftover.
8 - Sprinkle a touch of Paprika over the filled eggs.
Enjoy!
 



Baked Banana Oatmeal - almost Too Sinful to be called Breakfast!

Baked Banana Oatmeal - I spied this recipe at Kath Eats Real Food.  Confession time - I LOVE oatmeal for breakfast.  Period.  I used to eat Instant Oatmeal and was happy.  But I didn't know any better, I had not experienced the wonderful goodness of Old-Fashioned Oatmeal.  Oh My - I just savor the creamy goodness!  I LOVE bananas as well.  So the combination of Oatmeal and Bananas - had to be a winner!  And it was!  The smell alone was delicious!
Note - I used Steel Cut oats only because I had them, needing to be used.  Had bought them to try out, just wasn't Wow'd.  I really like my Old Fashioned Oats so much!  BUT with that being said, this recipe made the Steel Cut Oats SO YUMMY!

Banana Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients:
2 Bananas sliced
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats (I use Steel Cut in the pics)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 Bananas - mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar, plus 1 TBSP
1 1/2 cup skim milk


1 - Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place parchment paper inside 8X8 baking dish.

2 - Place sliced bananas over bottom of parchment paper.
3 - Mix together oatmeal, brown sugar (less 1 TBSP), salt, and baking powder.  Set aside.
4 - Beat egg.  Add mashed bananas, milk and vanilla.
5 - Add dry ingredients to wet mixture.
6 - Pour over banana slices. 

7- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, sprinkle extra brown sugar over oatmeal.  Bake another 12 minutes.
8 - Remove from baking dish and allow to cool for 5 - 10 minutes.
Serve alone or with milk poured over.
Enjoy!
Shared at Melt in Your Mouth Monday