Tales From the Minivan

After such a successful week of meal planning and no last minute scrambling at Dinnertime last week, I decided to take Saturday morning and review the grocery store flyers for sales and plan around any deals. For me this really works well, and I find saves a lot of money. I figured out that we were actually spending less than $100 a week on groceries. I’m curious to see if this number will go up over the next little while as our family “Fixes Dinner” and eats out less often. At our Family Meal Planning Meeting I gave everyone an opportunity to choose a meal (well 5 of us anyway ;)…Finn doesn’t get a say yet!) After the meals were chosen, I used Sandi’s Cooking for the Rushed-Custom Grocery List I made my list of 5 meals, then added any ingredients that I did not have on hand to the list. One thing I did do and made a small star on any items if they were on sale and what store (I normally always go to both major chains as they are very close together.) What I like about this list is that the items were grouped together and it was easier to make sure you didn’t miss anything. I almost always forget something and have to make a trip mid-week to get something I’ve missed.

Off I went Sunday afternoon (all alone believe it or not) armed with my list, and I’m am so glad I had a plan this week! Sunday night the stomach flu hit, first Finn, then two days later Ciaran. Let’s just say, a LOT of laundry has been done this week. In the past something like this would have totally thrown me off and I would have been scrambling at Dinnertime or asking Andrew to pick something up, but since I had everything I needed on the list and my meals set for the week, it was one less thing I needed to worry about! So here’s how the week played out!

Monday- Memphis Rubbed Chicken (recipe below) Roasted with Root Veggies

This was my choice for the week and is super easy. Small whole chickens were on sale, and my plan was originally to make two using our “double beer can stand” (see pic below) but I completely forgot that I was decluttering the kitchen this summer and gave away the only roasting pan that it fit into. So I decided to freeze one of the chickens and roast the other using a dry rub, and throw in some cubed, red skin potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and turnip into the roaster with the chicken. I added some chicken broth to the roaster as well, then baked until my chicken had reached 180°F ( a meat thermometer is a necessity if you cook a lot of whole chickens and turkeys like I do) by then the veggies were nice and tender.

Memphis Dry Rub Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup paprika

1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

DIRECTIONS

In a small airtight container, mix paprika, dark brown sugar, white sugar, salt, celery salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, garlic powder and onion powder. Seal and store in a cool dark place until ready for use.

Outcome: Delicious!!…lots left for lunch the next day, and the left over chicken will be used for Tuesday’s Dinner! Liam, once again wouldn’t try anything. What am I going to do with this boy?

Photo of Beer Can Chicken with Memphis Dry Rub

Tuesday- Chicken Fajitas

This was Andrew’s pick for the week, and was super easy as all I had to do was wash, slice and sauté the peppers. Once they were getting tender I added in some Epicure Fajita Seasoning (for those of you not familiar with Epicure Selections they are a Canadian Company that have fantastic seasonings and spices and offer home parties, I had a party last fall and fell in love with their stuff). After the seasoning was added I threw in the leftover chicken, and that was it! I must add, that I have never been more happy to chop lately. I got a new knife at a Pampered Chef Party, and I love this little green knife called the Color Coated Santoku Knife, I will warn it’s super sharp, but cuts so nicely through everything! I was planning on spending big money on a really good quality knife, but I think I’d rather buy a few of these for $23 each, I’ll let you all know how it holds up.

I served the fajitas with whole wheat flat breads, grated marble cheese, salsa, sour cream, and since there was some leftover jasmine rice, I added some fajita seasoning to it and microwaved it to add into the fajitas.

Outcome: The boys would not touch a bite, by now Ciaran’s flu had set in and anything put in front of him was turned down. Liam, just keep helping himself to the grated cheese!

Wednesday- Rachael Ray’s Spaghetti and Meatball “Stoup”

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Carrot peeled and diced

1 medium onion diced

2 celery stalks

3 cloves of garlic chopped

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 box of chicken broth

Optional Ingredients if making own meatballs:

1 lb of ground beef

1/2 cup grated parmigiano or romano cheese

½ cup Italian season breadcrumbs

1 large egg

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

½ lb of spaghetti broken (or whatever pasta you prefer)

1 cup of fresh basil leaves (I did not add this)

1. Preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat; add olive oil, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and saute 5 minutes.
2. Add tomato sauce, chicken stock and cover pot; turn up heat and bring to a fast boil; while soup comes cooks make meat balls.
3. Mix ground meat with cheese, bread crumbs, egg and parsley; roll into 1 1/2 to 2 inch-balls. ***I used frozen Italian style meatballs)
4. Remove lid from soup and SLIDE balls into soup; bring back to a boil then stir in spaghetti; reduce heat and simmer soup 10 minutes more, until pasta is tender and balls have cooked through; Stir in basil and remove’Stoup” from heat, serve soup with bread and cheese.

This soup was fantastic and Mackenzie’s chosen meal for the week. It’s called “Stoup” as it’s thicker that soup, but thinner than stew. I decided to make it a little more Liam friendly and added tricolor fusili and some organic alphabet pasta. I also threw in a couple of mild Italian sausages to make it a little more heartier.

Outcome- Success finally! Even Liam was asking for more “Stoup”! This will go into the rotation!

Thursday- Breakfast for Dinner

This was Liam’s choice for the week. He wanted Bacon and Eggs! Dinner consisted of a pound of maple bacon, 6 eggs and homemade hashbrowns fried with Vidalia onions.

The bacon, and eggs I did in the oven. My dad showed me this trick as long as you have a pan that is deep, to spread the slices of bacon on your sheet and bake in the oven at 375F the bacon cooks perfectly and rarely burns, and it’s much less messier than frying it on the stove. The eggs I found a recipe in CPO’s- Canada Cooks called Baked Eggs Toasty Cups and baked in the oven along with the bacon. My dad stopped by for a moment and was impressed with the smells coming from the kitchen. I get my love for food from him, thanks Dad! I must show one more gadget that is really useful, also by Pampered Chef. I used this to chop my potatoes to make the hashbrowns, it took just a couple of minutes to dice 8 potatoes and an onion! It’s called the Food Chopper and is amazingly easy to use and can be thrown into the dishwasher. I love doing carrots, celery, and onions with it for soups, it’s so quick!

Tomorrow Friday- Shepherds Pie

This is Ciaran’s pick, well his pick was “Mashed Tatos” but will eat this since the potatoes hide the extras in it! This reminds me I need to go take out my ground beef to thaw!

I really hope that by tomorrow Ciaran is finally feeling a bit better, this has been 3 days now of not keeping anything solid down. It’s days like these when I’m happy he’s still nursing and getting nutrients that way.

I’m always looking for great family friendly recipes, so if you have some send them my way or submit them to Canada Cooks!