What's For Dinner? Week 4

A couple friends of mine asked if I would give an example one week of what my prep work looks like. So I'm going to try to break it down this week and give details, while still being brief so as not to bore you to tears. I hope this helps if you're considering adopting one night a week for cooking too!

Sarah, you asked for the recipes. I'm going to just put them at the bottom of this post for organization sake. Actually, I'm not sure if this week in particular is the best example just because it's not a big week and nearly everything can be done in advance. Oh, also, I'm fulfilling my other two National Nutrition Month goals this week with a menu involving spinach and also my favorite quinoa salad. So here you go - the menu for this week:

1) Quinoa salad. If you like Mexican flavors but want something healthy, you have got to try this. I picked the recipe up at a conference for work. The speaker (who was awesome) cooked it right in front of us and we all got to try it. Quinoa (pronounced: "keen-wa") is literally a "super grain". It is an ancient crop originating in South America with an unusually high protein content for a grain, making it an excellent food choice for vegetarians and vegans. Also, unlike other grains, it contains a complete set of essential amino acids making it a "complete protein". (Remember my little nutrition lesson awhile back?) Anyway... this salad contains cooked quinoa paired with black beans, corn, jalapeno, and is dressed with a mixture of lime, oil and cilantro. I am such a sucker for lime and cilantro. Pretty sure you could offer me liver with lime and cilantro and I'd eat it. I add fresh, diced tomato just before serving this salad.

2) Fresh tomato salsa. Like the quinoa salad, this is just a refreshing, summery recipe. I'm begging for spring weather to arrive and, quite opposite of the fall, it puts me in the mood for lighter dishes... hence this week's menu. This is (once again) Craig's Aunt Cathy's recipe, given to me by his cousin (and my good friend) Julie. More lime. More cilantro. Enough said.

3) Spinach lasagna. This is sooooo easy and sooooo fancy looking! You won't be able to tell from my pictures yet but I'll try to take one of a cut piece so you can see the layers. It looks professional and you hardly have to do any work. A great dish to serve to guests... that aren't picky about spinach. The recipe takes a hand from jarred spaghetti sauce and frozen, chopped spinach (a super great deal and short-cut) so really, you just mix the spinach/cheese mixture together and layer everything. You wouldn't believe the bargaining I had to do with Craig in order to put this on the menu this week. He has become such an ogre with food picky-ness. Will and I really like this recipe and ate it quite a bit while I was on maternity leave. It's easy to bake and then freeze in portions, which is what I did on leave. I'll probably do that this time too and pack it for my lunches so we don't eat leftovers all week. Anyway, when you read this last meal on our menu this week, you'll know what I had to agree to in order to settle our little marital bargain. It's all about compromise...

4) Hot dogs. With white buns. And Tony Packo's hot dog sauce from a can. Yep... that's the deal. For those of you not familiar, Tony Packo's is a Hungarian chain near us that's pretty famous. They serve (of course) hot dogs with special sauce, mac 'n cheese, and chicken paprikash among other things .

So here's the set up for my first prep item: the salsa. Time: 9:32 p.m. All ingredients layed out. Recipe at eye level. I made A LOT. We'll definitely have this as a side with our quinoa salad on Sunday, but will also munch on it all weekend with quesadillas for a lunch or something.

10:00 p.m. - Done. My kitchen smells like garlic and lime. Yum!

Next, I got set up for the lasagna, but then ended up working on both the lasagna and quinoa simultaneously... and never really took a set up pic for the quinoa. Oops. I boiled the liquid for the quinoa while thawing the spinach in a bowl in the microwave. Then quinoa cooked while I chopped veggies to go into quinoa salad and spinach cooled on counter. Next, mix up the cheeses with spinach and layer in pan while quinoa sets to cool before fluffing with fork (like you do with rice). Finally, dump all other ingredients into quinoa and toss before mixing up dressing in separate container to be added later before serving. I'm choosing Sunday to serve the quinoa salad because it is the freshest menu item (along with the salsa) and want to eat it first.

Completed (unbaked) lasagna. We'll probably have this Monday night - or maybe Tuesday - with a salad made the night before and garlic bread. LOVE, love, love my Emile Henre baker. (Pronounced "a-meal on-ree".) It's so pretty and reminds me of the two-tone brown dishes my mom used to have when I was a kid.

Here's the quinoa I buy. The bag's almost empty but you can see the little grain seeds at the bottom.

When the grain cooks up, it looks like tiny circles of rice.

So here's the salad and prepared dressing, before adding the tomato and tossing it all together. I'll obviously do that just before serving. With the black beans for protein and the salsa on the side, this is a complete meal! I may even add some avocado to either the salad or the salsa (or both!) for a little something extra.

Obviously, the hot dogs won't require any prep work. I just stab 'em with a fork and simmer them in a skillet for a few minutes, while warming the sauce in a pan. I always keep fresh fruit washed and/or cut up in the fridge so we'll probably just have fruit and some pretzels/fishy crackers to go with.

A couple other tips:

1) I always take a look at the calendar for the following week to see if there are any unusual scheduling things I need to accommodate with menu planning. Then, I plan tentative days for each meal and consider leftovers when applicable. Sunday is typically the meal that has the most last-minute prep work - or I also like to do crock-pot meals on Sunday. I occasionally just make the whole meal on Sunday if I'm feeling lazy on Friday night. Then I typically plan a ready made casserole or other "complete" dish for Thursday night - or Wednesday night with leftovers to follow on Thursday - because I grocery shop on Thursdays and get home a little later. Other meals fill in during the early part of the week and then Friday/Saturday are almost always left for possible outings and/or easy throw-together things like quesadillas, grilled cheese, paninis, etc... stuff we always keep on hand. And then I pretty much start thinking about the next week immediately. I'm usually assembling my list and organizing coupons between Monday-Wednesday. We keep a running list on paper by the fridge for Craig or I to add things we need as we think of them too.

2) It is imperative in my house to have a plethora of fruits and veggies at the ready. I've said before that they are a large majority of Will's diet, and now Sophie's too... as well as my packed lunches for work. Plus, they account for most of the unmentioned side dishes each week when I'm serving the meals I discuss here. Other things I keep on hand for easy lunches/snacks/sides: chunk cheese, cheese sticks, dried fruit, crackers, cottage cheese (mainly for Soph), yogurt, frozen whole wheat waffles, fixings for a couple types of sandwiches, etc. Then, it almost never happens that we sit down with only one food item (i.e. the main dish) for a meal. That would be disastrous because if it's refused (which I allow after a "no-thank-you-bite") there is nothing else to fill in. I don't get up and make something else when Will refuses a dish. I just typically have a variety of sides that will have to suffice until his next meal or snack.

Hopefully all my ramblings (my apologies!) have helped give some ideas for how to get prepared for meals with your family. It can be a daunting task if left to the last minute, and likely then involves too-frequent take out.

I may also start incorporating a segment of these weekly posts to the most helpful kitchen tools each week. Obviously my awesome knives were put to good use with all the chopping. And really, none of these dishes required any fancy equipment. But these two tools - the Microplane zester and the citrus juicer - are my favorite for this week just because of all the zesting and juicing of limes that went into this meal. I also used the Microplane for Parmesan cheese on the lasagna. It can be used for LOTS of purposes: zesting any citrus rind, zesting fresh nutmeg, grating hard cheeses, zesting onion and garlic, etc.

One day, I would like to get an electric citrus juicer/press so I can make fresh lemonade or orange juice. I have a killer lemonade recipe - so good! - but it takes forever to juice all the lemons with my current tool.

Okay, following my meal prep, I take all the prepared dishes out to our extra fridge in the garage, take out the recycling and the trash, wash all the dishes, and clean the kitchen floor. Obviously some of those things are optional, but some were getting a little past due for me. I also diced up and steamed some apple and pear combo for Sophie...

...and bagged the frozen squash cubes I'd made the night before.

And let's not forget the dishes...

By the time I started cleaning the floor, it was 11:20. So, just shy of two hours. Totally worth not having to scramble when I walk in the door from work next week...

Last thing, here are the recipes if you're interested:

Tomato Salsa

3 large tomatoes, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

3 green onion and/or 1 small wedge of red onion, chopped (I used a little of both)

handful of cilantro, chopped

green pepper finely chopped, if desired (I desire it - haha)

1-2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2T lemon or lime juice

1/2 tsp salt + 1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

-Mix and enjoy! I know I used more of everything that's listed - just make it your own taste.

Quinoa Salad

2 cups quinoa

3 cups water or stock (I used a combination of leftover vegetable and chicken stock from my fridge)

1 cup of green onion, chopped

LOTS of cilantro, chopped

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (8.5oz) can of corn, rinsed and drained

2 jalapeno peppers, minced

2 limes, zested

s&p

*I also add fresh, diced, plum tomatoes just before serving.

For dressing, whisk:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 limes juiced

more cilantro to taste

-Bring liquid to a boil. Add quinoa, return to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer (covered) for about 15 mins or until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 mins before fluffing with a fork. Fold in remaining ingredients. Toss with dressing just before serving, being careful not to over dress.

Spinach Lasagna

2 (10oz) boxes frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

2 eggs

18 oz (4 1/2 cups) of shredded cheeses of choice (Asiago, mozzarella, marble, sharp cheddar, Italian blend)

Parmesan cheese in addition to these (just a little)

15 oz Ricotta or cottage cheese (I always use Ricotta)

parsley, pepper and oregano, to taste

50 oz marinara sauce with mushrooms

1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles (uncooked - and don't add extra water, there's plenty of moisture in the spinach)

-Mix together in large bowl: thawed spinach, ricotta cheese, eggs, 6 oz each of 2 types of cheeses of choice, seasonings. Spread thin layer of marinara sauce on bottom of baking dish. Place 1/3 of lasagna noodles on sauce. Then 1/2 spinach mixture. Then sauce, noodles, spinach mixture, sauce, noodles, sauce, and remaining 6oz of shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese to top. Sounds confusing but looks pretty! Bake at 350 for 60-90 mins.