This week I planned the meals, made the grocery list, and Daniel did the grocery shopping on Sunday. It worked out! I am so glad I got back to meal planning this week.

There are a hundred ways to meal plan, but this is what I have found that works for me:

1. I meal plan around what proteins I have on hand and what proteins are on sale.  (Occasionally we do have meat-free meals like pasta.)

2. Once I pick the meats I look up recipes based on the protein and think about what sounds good.

I get my recipes from:

• My printed recipes stack. (I am currently working on putting all my favorite recipes in a binder.)

• The Pioneer Woman

• $5 Dollar Dinners cookbook and website

• Tasty Kitchen

• A Southern Fairytale Recipes

• AllRecipes.com

• I have heard good things about the recipes from Real Simple, but I forget to look there.

• Good ol’ Google. Google is where I found my favorite whole chicken recipe on E-How.com.

3. Once I have the recipes I want to make I then write all the needed items to make them on the grocery list.

4. I also assign a meal to a day of the week and put the list on the fridge, I don’t always make them on their assigned day, so I cross them off as I make them. I also don’t usually plan on the weekend, because we tend to eat out on the weekend,  get by on leftovers or meals of breakfast food.

My whole family are happy campers when I have meal planned and we have bought groceries. It’s nice knowing what meal options we have!

Do you meal plan? How do you do it?

Here are 10 ideas that I pull from when I cook chicken breasts.

1. Chicken Parmesan

It is really easy and a family favorite. I love that you coat the chicken and bake it. No browning, then baking or complicated steps. I don’t follow the brands listed in the recipe, but it gives you the steps to follow.

2. Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

I have my husband grill the chicken breasts with a little olive oil. salt and pepper while I prepare the romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, croutons, and our favorite Caesar dressing. The kids eat the grilled chicken and I usually make a different side for them.

3. Curry Chicken with Rice

I made this recipe from A Southern Fairytale a few weeks ago. My kids ate chicken curry! The rice is amazing. I used plain ol’ McCormick curry spice, so it was a little bland for my husband. The recipe also calls for saffron which can be expensive. I had some in the pantry that I bought at an Indian market for ten bucks.

4. Creamy Chicken Mushroom Spaghetti

I made this last Saturday and it was so much better than I thought it would be. It is made in the crockpot. I used my electric hand mixer to blend the cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup to make sure that the cream cheese didn’t have lumps. You can cut the chicken with a fork. I even loved the leftovers, but then I love almost any pasta dish that is creamy and has mushrooms.

5. Chicken Stir Fry

Every time I make stir fry it comes out differently. Sometimes I use the stir fry sauce at the store and sometimes I don’t. I like to cook mine with broccoli, carrots, snow peas, and onion. It is great served with Japanese rice or Jasmine rice.

6. King Ranch Chicken

One of my husband’s favorites! I used one recipe for years and recently switched to this one on tastykitchen.com. However, I am still in search of the best King Ranch Chicken recipe.

7. Tequila Citrus Chicken

This is another recipe from A Southern Fairytale and I LOVED it! The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but I am sure it would be wonderful with chicken breasts. It is perfect in the Summer months. I haven’t made it in a while since I can’t have a margarita to go with the chicken, but even if you don’t use tequila I am sure it would be lovely.

8. Thai Honey Peanut Chicken

I made this a few weeks ago when my in-laws came over for dinner and everyone, including my kids, enjoyed it. I served it with Jasmine rice. You could probably steam or cook some broccoli in the sauce too. It was really easy to prepare and didn’t create a lot of dirty pots and pans.

9. BBQ Chicken

When we are truly desperate I bake some breasts in the oven with some BBQ sauce and cracked pepper for half an hour. Maybe we have had this one too many times, but it isn’t my favorite. Now I like it better when Daniel grills the BBQ chicken. I serve it with mashed potatoes and a veggie side.

10. Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of my favorites to serve to a large group. This recipe is Espinoza approved. I like the amount of heat in the soup. It is spicy, but not too spicy. I boil the chicken first and shred it by hand before making the soup. The hand fried tortilla strips and monterrey jack cheese are delicious on top!

Chicken breasts can be cooked in so many different ways! How do you like to cook them?

Here is the recipe I used to make them: Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins at the Curious Foodie

The Broadway Daily Bread version has small chunks of banana in addition to the chocolate chips. So I added some of the mushed banana to the dry ingredients and used the rest to mix the wet ingredients. Overall, I think they turned out well. I also baked them for a shorter time than the recipe called for. I think that is part of baking – getting close to the end of time and watching for that perfect moment to pull out the baked item from the oven.

I reserved at least 4 muffins for myself and took the rest to Bible study. I had to be somewhere that afternoon and when I got home I found out that Daniel had fed the muffins to the kids. So since I only ate about 2.5 of them, I will be making these again!

The MM Sandwich

When I meal plan for the week I check the grocery store ad and my favorite food websites. The Pioneer Woman had a recipe that called for cube steak and cube steak was on sale earlier this week. Also, for whatever reason I had a ton of cooking sherry in the pantry. Done deal. These were being made.

I followed this recipe for MM Sandwiches. Oh my gosh, they were divine! The meat, veggies, and melted provolone also worked wonderfully on flour tortillas as leftover tacos heated in the microwave. They only thing I did differently was use 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper, instead of 2 each. There was more than enough bell pepper for our taste. Make this for your husband and I can guarantee you a happy man.

* P.S. I usually take photos of food with my phone, since it is probably in my pocket or near me right before I consume my food. Therefore, I don’t take pretty, in focus, arty photos of my food. I can’t wait to eat whatever I made!

I had never made it before last week. Here are a few things I learned in my biscotti discovery:

• Biscotti is an Italian cookie and it means twice baked. Baked once as a log, then as slices. It is meant to be a hard cookie and it can be dunked in coffee or wine.

• True biscotti is not made with butter. Butter makes it fall apart while dunking.

• Should be hard enough to withstand dunking, but not too hard that it will crack your teeth while eating it dry.

• It takes over an hour to make them.

• When rolling out the very sticky dough, lightly flour the rolling service. Roll into 1 or 2 logs, depending on your cookie sheet. Then, flatten with your hand or roll a plastic cup over the top.

• A good serrated knife is helpful when slicing the loaf.

• Great as gifts, because they are very easy to transport. Also, they can last anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months in an air tight container.

I made three different types. The titles are linked to their recipes.

1. Traditional Anisse Biscotti Dipped in Chocolate

The anisse extract gives these a licorice flavor. I didn’t love the flavor, so I dipped them in some chocolate bark I had. I let them cool on wax paper and they turned out beautifully. Next time I would like to dip them in a higher quality chocolate.

2. Almond Biscotti

My husband loved these! This recipe doesn’t make a whole bunch. The process takes a while, because you need to toast the almonds before chopping them. They were really good and tasted exactly like an almond biscotti should taste like.

3. Chocolate Biscotti

These were my favorite! They almost didn’t get baked a second time, because I wanted to eat them all while I was slicing them. I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips and Hershey’s Dark Chocolate cocoa. After reading David Lebowitz’s blog post I really want to try these with a higher quality cocoa powder. I do believe that quality of the cocoa will greatly impact the flavor. They turned pretty hard within a day or two, but still tasted wonderful with my coffee. I will definitely be baking these again!

Have you made biscotti? Do you have a favorite flavor?

Foodie Fridays will be my place to share what I am learning, links to recipes I enjoy creating, kitchen tools, and anything that deals with food.

My first topic:

French Oven Recipes

I LOVE my French Oven. Daniel gave it to me for Christmas 2009. My friend, Jennifer, got a French Oven for Christmas this year and asked me what recipes I use with mine. Here are my favorite recipes that use a French Oven.  I have made all of these and can vouch that they are wonderful!

1. French Onion Soup

This is the reason why I wanted a French Oven in the first place. I love browning onions in the pot. I once thought I could double the recipe, so I doubled the butter at the beginning. Huge mistake! The onions never browned. So be sure to follow the recipe as it is. For the record, I think French Onion soup with Swiss is just as good as Gruyere.

2. Beef Drip Sandwiches

The link lists Beef Drip Sandwiches in two different ways. I have made both, but prefer the regular recipe over the Italian version. The Italian version has all that dried Italian seasoning that gets stuck in your teeth. My husband likes them both the same. I wanted to make this at home, because I love the Beefeater Sandwich at Jason’s Deli.

3. Chicken and Dumplings

I made this for the first time last week. I about died when I went to drop in the dumplings and the batter disintegrated into the broth. I scooped out the goopy mess and re-added it to the batter I hadn’t dropped yet. I added more flour and cornmeal to give it a thicker texture. This time they didn’t fall apart! Phew! Also the dumplings then had a bit of the chicken stock, onion, celery, and carrots inside them. They tasted great. The entire pot was quickly eaten up by 4 adults.

TIP: Let the chicken simmer longer than the recipe calls for. A lot of the chicken was still raw when I went to shred it. The entire process will take you longer than you think it will, but it is worth it!

4. Spinach Cheese Strata

The web page for this recipe doesn’t exist anymore, so here is the recipe below. It is delicious, but not entirely cheap. A block of Swiss is about $5. I like making this when we have French Night.

Ingredients
1 loaf French bread
1 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter, melted
3/4 cup spinach (1 package frozen, thawed and well-drained)
1 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
12 oz. grated Swiss cheese
4 large eggs, beaten
2-1/4 cups low-fat milk
8 oz. cooked chicken meat (if desired)
Directions
Butter the pan on bottom and sides, and line the pan with French bread cut into 3/4-inch slices. Microwave onion in microwave-safe bowl for up to 2 minutes, or until translucent. Melt butter in large Le Creuset silicone mini-bowl for 20-30 seconds. In large bowl, add spinach, dill, salt, pepper, onion and melted butter. Combine well and spread this over the sliced bread in the pan. (If adding chicken, divide it evenly over top of spinach here.) Sprinkle half of the cheese over all and arrange the remaining bread on top of the cheese. Stir beaten eggs, milk and 1/4 tsp. salt in medium bowl. Pour mixture evenly over the top layer of bread. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and chill 1 hour or overnight, if desired. Bake uncovered at 375ºF for 45 minutes until puffed and golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Cleaning Tip: Scrub baking soda, a little water, and soap to clean inside the grooves at the bottom of the pot.

What do you like to cook in your French Oven?

Here is our recipe for a French Night. The food may not have been completely true to the French culture, but it was fun and delicious!

I made Quiche Lorraine with maple bacon, sweet onions, and Swiss cheese. I love quiches, because they are so easy to make. Here is a link to the recipe I used. Two things I have learned about quiches:

1. Quiches taste better and are easier to cut up when you bake them with  pre-made rolled dough pressed into a glass dish instead of using frozen pie shells.

2. It always takes longer to bake in the oven than the recipe states. At least in my oven. A runny quiche is not tasty.

I also mixed up a Grand Parisian salad from Costco. I don’t really think it is Parisian, but it is my favorite salad with White Balsamic dressing, greens, dried cranberries, spiced walnuts, and feta cheese.

For the main event I made the Pioneer Woman’s French Onion Soup. I got to use my new French Oven for the first time. It was delicious! The Gruyere cheese I used tasted good, but I think the soup tastes just as wonderful with Swiss.

We watched the French comedy “Amelie.” It is sort of like a Wes Anderson French film. It is so quirky and beautifully made. It’s hard not to love Audrey Tatou in the movie. If you have never seen a foreign film this is a great one to start with.

Finally, we made Nutella crepes for dessert. I LOVE Nutella. Daniel and I bought a crepe pan at a Le Creuset outlet a few years ago. It has gotten a lot of use! Here is a link to the recipe I used for the crepe batter.

For me the only French ingredient missing  was watching my favorite cyclist, Sprinter, Thor Hushovd, riding in the Tour de France. I really hope cable channel, Versus, and DirecTV come to an agreement before July so we can watch the tour again this year.

Have you seen Amelie? Did you like it? What is your favorite French food?

A few friends and I get together to eat and watch So You Think You Can Dance. This tradition started with a 13 pound brisket and has been coined MEAT & DANCE. So we decided to cook Wendy’s deer meat at our next MEAT & DANCE party. This is how we did it.

Prep Work

Monday night Wendy dropped off the deer meat at my house. It arrived frozen and I left it out a bit to thaw out.

The meat comes pre-cut into medallion sized pieces of varying thicknesses.

Once the meat is thawed or at least thawed enough in my case, it is time to tenderize the meat with a mallet. I had to borrow one from Zandi, my neighbor. My arm was sore the next day!

Seriously, this takes a while.

I have no idea if I did this right, but this is what the meat looks like in the bowl.

Next I poured some milk in to bowl to cover the meat. I had Organic 2% on hand.

Then I put in some Tabasco. I don’t know how much, maybe 8 squirts.

Stir it up and stick in the fridge to hang out until the next night.

Cooking the Backstrap

Make 2 bowls. One bowl has egg, milk, salt, and pepper. The second bowl is flour.

Be sure to double batter them in this order: egg, flour, egg, flour

Also don’t be skimpy on the salt and pepper. Taste one done and add more if needed.

Enlist some friends to help batter the meat.

So they can do the dirty work. : )

Heat up a big pan of vegetable oil and stick the battered fillets in the hot oil.

IMPORTANT: You have to cook them until they are almost black in the pan. The ones in the back of this photo are almost done. Turn them over every once in a while.

Wendy helped valet the meat into the pan here. She was also teaching me how to cook them.

Perfection! I wish I could eat this photo.

I set up a drying rack over a cookie sheet to catch the grease. Apparently, if you put them on paper towels the meat will re-absorb the oil as it sits on the paper.

Eat!

Delicious-ness. Serve them with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Country Gravy. I used the Pioneer gravy mix which Kara so kindly helped to make.

Here is Ian with his first bite of chicken fried deer ever. I think he was a little scared.

I think this photo means that he liked it!

Yeah, check out these clean plates in front of Zandi and Wendy. Kara already had hers (with ketchup of course.)

Melia is now an Official Member of the Clean Plate Club! Daniel is shocked.

Miss Wendy the hunter herself and Daniel.

Happy bellies! Zandy, Wendy, and me.