Week of May 6th

Kryssa and I thought it would be fun to pick one of Mel's Kitchen Cafe's weekly menus and make all the recipes during the same week for our families.

We chose Menu #2.

Click on the Menu link above to see all the recipes but they are:
Smothered Pork Chops- 5 Stars. AMAZING
Black Beans and Rice- 3 starts. OK
Poor Man's Stroganoff- 5 Stars. AMAZING
Creamy Green Chili Enchiladas- 4 Stars. A great recipe (I used my dad's roasted green chilis)
Butter and Garlic Shrimp Penne- 3.5 Stars.

Week of April 29th, 2013

Lots of dinner swap meals this week. Can you tell it's the end of the month budget-wise? :)

Hawaiian BBQ sandwiches- dinner swap meal. We loved them!

*Chicken Apple Sausage Couscous- Anything you make with the Aidell's sausage from Costco is going to be a homerun!

*Chicken Coconut Curry Soup- dinner swap meal. I liked it and will make it again. I think I'll leave the fish sauce out next time.

Chipotle Black Bean Burgers (from Costco) with homemade buns and roasted broccoli

*Quinoa Black Beans and Corn Tacos- dinner swap meal. Totally yummy!

Leftovers

Family dinner at the Mobile Food Rodeo in Fremont

Snacks
*Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins- AWESOME

Week of April 22nd, 2013

More cleanse food at the beginning of the week...
Ground turkey taco salad
Roasted salmon and broccoli
Chili

Then...

Pizza at Sorellis!

Broccoli Cheese Cornbread and Butter Beans- YUM

*Fresno Potatoes- I made these for dinner swap this month.

Dinner at birthday party

Week of April 15th, 2013

This week we are doing the advocare cleanse again (we did one last year at this time). We like doing it once a year to get rid of toxins and waste, jumpstart our metabolism, get back to better portion sizes and break our sweets addition. My good friend Emilie sells it if you are interested in getting your cleanse on! (emiliemcfarlane@gmail.com)

So our meals were simple:


Taco Salad (ground turkey, black beans, over lettuce)
Salmon (Lemon, Rosemary), Grilled Zucchini, Brown Rice
Grilled Chicken/Onion/Pepper Kebabs (Cilantro,Lime,Cumin), Asparagus, Brown Rice
Turkey Chili (Black Beans, Diced Tomatoes, Turkey, Veggies)
Chicken Stirfry (Liquid Aminos), Brown Rice
Sliced Turkey Breast, Grilled Veggies, Quinoa
Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps (onion, peppers, green beans,spices)

Week of April 2nd, 2013

This week I had surgery to remove melanoma in my arm. Friends graciously brought meals to give Mark a break from full-time caretaker. Here's what we had:

Italian Chicken with stewed tomatoes and kalamata olives

Quiche with broccoli and ham

Roasted Chicken with roasted red peppers

Chipotle Burritos

Roasted Vegetable Panzanella

Chicken Tostadas

Thank you dear friends!

Week of March 25th, 2013

Shredded Mexican Pork

Community Group

Mark and Jessie out to eat with Laramas, kids had quesadillas. Toulouse Petit was amazing. We will have to go back again. Gumbo, jambalaya, homemade gnocchi, cauliflower truffle soup with fresh crab, beignets....mmmmmmmmmm

Fajitas (with steak from double d meats)

Baked Potato Soup- made this for meal swap this month. Gotta have one more hearty soup before the cold weather is officially over!

*Smokey Bean Soup with Ham- Emilie's soup from last month's meal swap

Easter dinner- ham, mashed poatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, and cake!

Snacks
*Dave's Killer Bread Sin-Dawgs- SO good. Chrisse made one of these for us when I had pneumonia last year. I've been thinking about them since and decided to try to make them myself. I found vital wheat gluten in the bulk section at Fred Meyer. It is a multi-step process so I would recommend making them on a weekend :)

Week of March 18th, 2013

*Creamy Homemade Mac and Cheese- Mark made this for his work's mac and cheese cookoff. Of course he put it on top of a hot dog (in a hot dog bun) and sprinkled bacon on top :)

Blue Chips Chicken Salad- A classic Heaviland meal

Broccoli and Sausage Pasta- Another oldie but goodie we make at least once a year

*Salmon in Lemon Brodetto with Pea Puree- this was kind of odd. But we all liked it. I found the recipe from Conrad Weekly Dinners which is a gal's menu plan that I enjoy getting ideas from. I bought all the ingredients before really knowing what it was and it turns out a Brodetto is kind of like a soup? So it was salmon on top of a pea puree sitting in a lemony-broth soup. Weird right? But we all gobbled it up. The kids ate as much as I did and we all agreed it was different but tasty.

*Bean and Cheese Enchiladas- perfect for community group and cooked up great after being frozen

Roasted Cauliflower and Carrot Soup (from Jackie)

1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped 1/2" pieces
2 T EVOO
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
5 c. veggie broth
2 t maple syrup
2 T fresh dill
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cauliflower and carrots in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat and spread out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast until soft, about 20min. Then heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add the roasted cauliflower, carrots an broth. Simmer over medium heat for about 10min. Puree. Add the maple syrup and dill and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.


Snacks
Bran Muffins

*New recipe