Lindy - Menu Plan 4/27/2014

Last week I didn't post a menu plan, because I had to go out of town on business.  I literally did not make a single meal in its entirety for my family.  I was so blessed, because my parents took care of Little Miss and Roo so that the men could stay here and do baseball.  K-man's parents came to watch baseball and then to watch the girls for a day.  His mom made the men a couple of good meals, which meant leftovers only needed to be re-heated. 

This week, it is back to normal, though.  And I am thankful for that.  I really missed getting to cook for my kids.  I am also very thankful because K-man is now ABD (all but dissertation), which hopefully means more family dinners. 

Last night, I wanted to use up the rest of the leftover ham from K-man's mom, so I made biscuits.  They turned out pretty poorly.  I think I ended up adding too much flour (because the dough was just REALLY sticky), which also meant I worked the dough too hard.  The kids liked them okay.  K-man barely choked down two.

Little Man was supposed to have a make-up baseball game tonight, but due to the predicted weather it was cancelled again.  He has practice (or maybe the make-up game) on Thursday night and a game on Friday night.  All that to say that I only have three items on our menu plan this week:

Crusty Oven-Fried Chicken (Southern Living 1979) [Very good; I'll post later]
Green Enchilada Casserole (Southern Living 1979)
Asian Glazed Chicken (but I'm thinking I might bake this instead of doing the slow cooker, just because of timing...)

Lindy  

Sauteed Asparagus (Southern Living 1979)

As Chery said in an earlier post, we challenged one another with an asparagus dish.  I have never prepared asparagus and cannot remember ever having it before.  This is very strange to me, because I tend to like vegetables, which is why I was a little excited about this challenge.  However, I wasn't too sure how my family would react to asparagus. 

K-man agreed to give asparagus a try with Sherried Baked Chicken Breasts (instead of Lemon Fried Chicken), so I looked up what it meant to "snap off tough ends of asparagus" and "remove scales with knife" and I was good to go. I used closer to 1.5 to 2 T butter and that was plenty for us, and other than that I stuck to the recipe.  K-man liked it (he surprised himself with that one as evidenced by the three lonely asparagus spears on his first helping), as did Roo and I.  Little Man and Little Miss were not sold on it, but I didn't get any fusses about it.  I think Little Man liked it better than he thought he would, and I think that Daddy liking it so much did help some.

An easy recipe + little to no complaints = winner.

Lindy  

Sherried Baked Chicken Breasts (Southern Living 1979)

We chose this chicken recipe to try with the Sauteed Asparagus.  K-man said that the gravy is a must.  I really liked it without.  This meal, overall, was very good - according to everyone in the family.

Sherried Baked Chicken Breasts (SL 1979)
4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup white cooking wine
1/2 cup water
2 T butter, melted
1/4 t dry mustard
1/4 t basil leaves
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t salt
dash of pepper
1 T white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 375.
Lightly brown chicken breasts in lightly sprayed skillet, then place in 9-inch baking dish.
Combine remaining ingredients, except flour; pour sauce over chicken.
Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.
Place chicken on a serving platter.  Pour pan drippings into a small saucepan.  Make a paste with flour and a small amount of water; add to pan drippings and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Serve hot over chicken breasts.


Lindy  

Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Southern Living 1979)

Little Miss wanted pancakes one Sunday brinner.  Even though this recipe was for May, I made it for the first time in April with the cottage cheese from my poorly chosen purchase of unsalted cottage cheese.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Southern Living 1979)
4 eggs
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 cup low fat sour cream
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt

Beat eggs in small mixing bowl.  Add cottage cheese and sour cream; mixing well.  Stir in remaining ingredients, and beat until thick.
We like bigger pancakes, so I used a little less than 1/4 cup for each pancake which was poured onto a lightly sprayed skillet.  Turn the pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

These ended up being well received by the kids but definitely had a different, cheesier flavor.

Lindy

Hot Cross Buns (Southern Living 1981)

 

When I saw the recipe for Hot Cross Buns in my Southern Living, I knew I needed to make it! I thought they would be oh so appropriate for Good Friday. I got my two helpers and we got to work on the Thursday before.

Here's the original recipe:

I did not use currants. I bought raisins to use instead (can anyone help me find a currant?), but decided to leave them out as I quickly tire of raisins in my baked goods. I mean, really...does that happen to anyone else?

I did everything else pretty much according to direction!

 I had my two trusty assistants for the mixing.

It was fun!

Helpers at work!

We got the dough mixed up and then left it to rise. For a million hours. That was the only real mistake to this. J-Boy had a baseball practice so we ended up leaving it to rise for a million hours. Give or take. 

Here's the math:

Original rising time + baseball practice + making dinner + dinner + the million years it always takes the boys to eat = a million hours rise time

We shaped the dough into balls (18 exactly) and left them to rise. They didn't rise very much. I'm attributing that to the million hours initial rise time.

 

Coming out of the oven... The Hubs and I ate one fresh from the oven plus butter (of course). I liked them. He said it would make good pizza dough. Hmmm...

I scored a cross into the foreground and did not on the tray in the background. I found no difference in icing-ease-ability in either case. I say do what you do. And if I was to do it again I'd skip the cross cutting. 

The next morning I added the frosting. Both boys liked them. With butter. And honey. They both said they would like them more if there was icing all over the surface not just in the "x" shape. I was like...guys...hot CROSS buns. 

Oh well.

I told them that next time we would make extra icing for dipping etc. Help me. I think we'll make them again. It might be a fun tradition!

~Audry

Asparagus Supreme (Southern Living, 1980)

Lin and I realized when we were picking our April meals, both of our years have quite a few Asparagus recipes to choose from... and neither one of us had ever had asparagus.  We are both over 30 years old.  How is it possible that we have not had asparagus?  Mom?  Dad?  You reading this?  Any answers?  I'm sure it dates back to not eating anything green and complaining about everything that went into a dish... but, really, I should have tried it as an adult before now.  It was wonderful!

Asparagus Supreme

1 lb fresh asparagus spears

1 tbls butter

1 tbls cornstarch

1 cup milk 

1 tsp lemon juice

dash of salt

dash of nutmeg

2 tbls mozzarella cheese

Boil asparagus.  

Melt butter, add cornstarch.  Slowly add milk, stir until thick and remove from heat.  Add salt, nutmeg and cheese; stir until cheese melts.  Pour sauce over asparagus.  

Just to make sure everyone who knows me knows that I'm still me - I couldn't do the ham.  Even with my expanding vegetable horizon, I still don't think I'll be able to ever do the whole 4-legged animal thing (much to my husband's dismay).  Other than the ham, and cutting it in half, I left the rest pretty much the same.  We had quite a bit of sauce left over.  And... my "dash" of nutmeg came out REALLY fast, so it was a lttle nutmeg-y.  Still really good.  

Until next time,

Chery

French-Fried Cauliflower Au Gratin (Southern Living, 1980)

For those of you who don't know me, bear with me for just a minute.  For those of you who DO know me, hold on to your hats.  What I'm about to say may shock you.  I made cauliflower... and I LIKED IT!

I know, I know.  You're thinking who is this girl?  Keep wondering.... I not only made cauliflower, I also made asparagus and I LIKED IT, TOO!!  (see my next post for the details!) What can I say, I'm branching out.  You need to do some shocking things every now and again.  Like make vegetables with cheese sauce.  

Cauliflower Au Gratin

1 small head cauliflower

1 tbls butter

1 tbls cornstarch

1 cup milk

dash of slat

dash of pepper

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Boil cauliflower flowerets.  Melt butter, add cornstarch.  Slowly add milk, stir until thick and remove from heat.  Add salt, pepper and cheese; stir until cheese melts.  Pour sauce over cauliflower.  Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes on 350.

So... I eliminated the whole "french-fried" part.  Not sure if you can really say that I made the recipe, since I took out half of the title - but, I did make the sauce (with a little less cheese).  I'm counting it.  Deal with it.  The real winner here was that I truly liked the cauliflower.  Winner, winner.

Until next time,

Chery