Live. Laugh. Love.: What's For Dinner? Week 2

We've had bananas and apples and oranges/clementines coming out of our ears the past few weeks as that seems to be all that's "seasonal" or on sale these days in the way of fruit.

And, of those, apples are the only thing grown semi-locally (probably Michigan). So again, as I'm learning more and more about fresh/safe/local/clean food, I question how I am to feed my family on local produce in the winter in Ohio. I need to learn to can, I guess. And then just survive on frozen produce? I suppose in our country's founding years, people didn't mind repetition so much because they would eat what they could get and that amounted to only the things that were seasonally available or prepared ahead for the winter. Now we have become accustomed to the luxury of variety year round and have the ability to purchase a pineapple or a tomato or a carton of strawberries or a bunch of asparagus any time we feel an inkling to have one. I also can't imagine just stopping eating some of the foods that are not local to us all together, like avocados, bananas, oranges, etc. But I am paying closer attention of the labels of my produce now as to where they come from. I choose not to purchase the fancy, organic tomatoes that hail from Mexico for example. If I'm not going to buy local, I would at least like to buy within the U.S. I also know that I won't be able to keep up on that 100%... but hey, every little amount helps. Whenever I'm able, I'm going to purchase all produce from our local farmers at the farmers market. At least there, food doesn't come with "labels" because you know just where it came from.

On the menu this week:

1) On Saturday morning, I wanted to make a hot breakfast that wouldn't leave a lot of leftovers since I knew we'd be having our big brunch on Sunday. So I went with simple French toast prepared with a batter of egg, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. It went over very well.

I mentioned already that I made three loaves of cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread during nap time on Saturday. I have been very impressed with the Fresh Loaf website for great bread recipes and information. I've been thinking I'd like to make more of our breads homemade lately and this was one I knew Will and Sophie would enjoy. I do love the process of making bread, but I think if I were to prepare our loaf bread a lot more frequently, I might appreciate a bread machine. Does anyone have one and/or have any advice? From what I understand, they're rather large and bulky and I really don't have a lot of space for more appliances. But if it were something I'd get good use out of and it meant buying less bread from the store, I might consider it. I've been doing a lot more label reading these days and you wouldn't believe the number of ingredients that go into a shelf-stable loaf of bread from the grocery store. Especially when any baker knows that a basic loaf of bread consists of flour, water, salt and yeast... and sometimes honey. That's it.

Our group of friends came over both Saturday night to watch the fights (UFC) and Sunday morning for brunch. It was nice! We ordered pizza as we often do on fight night.

2) Sunday - pajama brunch in a.m.!

I served a sausage and egg casserole along with apple pancakes and cider syrup. The latter is a recipe from my bloggie friend, Kelly, and it's from Taste of Home just like those yogurt pancakes we like. I actually just used apple juice instead of cider and I thought it was very tasty. I also added pecans to some of the pancakes and raisins to some others per our friends' preferences.

Sunday afternoon was the kids Christmas party I mentioned earlier and in the evening, it was mostly just Sophie and I eating dinner. Will had filled up on garbage at the party so he just had a light fruit and veggie and yogurt supper. And Craig was pouting about a fantasy football mishap and "wasn't hungry at the time"... silly boys. Well I wasn't going to let their drama spoil Sophie's and my appetite and dinner! So I tried a new Weelicious recipe that has easily debuted itself at the top of my favorites list from that website. (Right up there with the pulled pork tacos!) It's called Chinese chicken salad and it tastes just like something you'd eat at an Asian restaurant stuffed into lettuce wraps. It's A.MA.ZING!!! And it's so healthy too.

I just ate it with a fork, but the lettuce wrap would be a fancy way to dress them up for company or a potluck. It says to do everything in the food processor. I did find that helpful, but I ended up doubling the recipe and therefore had to put the cabbage in separately by itself. Working in two batches was much easier so that everything was pretty uniform. Then I just pulled the chicken into shreds with my hands instead of chopping in the processor. The salad has red bell pepper, carrot, Napa cabbage, shredded (cooked) chicken, cilantro and sesame seeds. And the dressing is sooooo good. I used whatever brand soy sauce we had on hand and peanut butter instead of almond butter. You really HAVE to try this one!

Along side, I made a quick complimenting side dish of lightly steamed broccoli (still a little crunchy) with a light dressing of soy sauce, honey, a splash of orange juice and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Fantastic!

This was one of the best dinners I've had in awhile! And I loved having leftovers to pack for lunches this week. For Sophie, I just set aside some of the same salad ingredients without the dressing: chicken, red pepper, carrot shreds. And she really liked the broccoli with the dressing. Yum.

3) On Monday I served a steak stir-fry that Craig likes with broccoli, carrot "coins" (as Will likes to call them), water chestnuts and green onion over brown rice. I had every intention of using long grain rice that takes 45-ish minutes to cook, but time got away from me and I ended up using the instant brown rice. Whatever. I was very pleased with how well this meal went - everyone ate it pretty well.

Such a lovely, graceful eater, eh?

Steak Stir-Fry:

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 tsp sugar

6 Tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup white wine or water

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger (I used fresh, minced)

1# boneless sirloin steak cut into thin strips

3 cups broccoli florets

2 medium carrots sliced

1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts

5 green onions (this seemed like a little too much)

-Combine first 6 ingredients and pour over beef to marinade.

-Stir fry vegetables in oil until tender. (I held the water chestnuts and green onion until the end.) Remove and keep warm.

-Stir fry beef IN marinade (do not drain).

-Combine with vegetables and served over rice.

4) On Tuesday, school was cancelled for Will due to weather conditions, so I didn't have to pack his lunch. Also on Tuesday I had a holiday party at work. I took in my favorite white bean dip with pita chips, green pepper and cucumber slices. Our party was mid-afternoon so I wasn't all that hungry at dinner time, but Craig and the kids ate up the stir fry leftovers.

5) Wednesday was an easy dinner day. I had the beef and bean chimichangas already made and ready to pop in the oven. So all I did was steam some corn and slice some bell peppers for sides. And, again, everyone ate this well. Hooray for a good week!

Kids plates: I added some diced/sliced apple in the 4th compartment after taking this picture.

Beef & Bean Chimichangas:

1 # grd beef

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 16oz can refried beans (I used refried black beans)

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 tsp chili powder

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp grd cumin

12 10" flour tortillas (only makes 10 for me usually)

melted butter

-Brown beef with onions and drain. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, garlic and seasonings.

-Brush one side of tortillas with melted butter. Spoon ~1/3 cup mixture on unbuttered side and fold/roll up like a burrito.

-Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. These freeze well - just freeze unbaked and then bake before serving.

6) Thursday - school lunch for Will: peanut butter banana panini on my homemade cinnamon raisin bread, dried apricots and raisins, raw snap peas and carrots, mini candy cane. I would normally put a drizzle of honey in the pb banana panini, but between the dried fruit and candy cane, I figured he'd have enough sweetness.