Menu Plan – 19.0

 Menu 19:

Sunday – Nacho Chicken

Monday – Sausage Stuffed Manicotti

Tuesday – Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadillas.

Thursday – Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Friday – Salt and Vinegar Fish Sticks

Friday- No cooking for you!

Sunday –  Nacho Chicken.  I found this recipe in last month’s Food Network Magazine.  It is actually called Nacho Chicken Drumsticks.  If you know me at all, you know that I don’t ‘do’ chicken on bones.  Therefore I prepare this with chicken breasts or chicken tenderloin.   Such a yummy, creative way to do a breaded chicken.  

Monday– Sausage-Stuffed Manicotti,  This recipe from Cooking Light is one of my faves.  I love it because it freezes well.  I like to double the recipe, freeze one of the casseroles and have it again in a couple of weeks.  Or you can make this on the weekend, freeze and bake during the week. Anything to save time.  Sidenote:  I cannot stand green peppers, so I either omit or replace with red peppers.  

Tuesday– Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadilla.  Um. Yeah.  This recipe (from Fitness Magazine) had me at goat cheese!  Flippin’ fantastic and so easy.  Plus, you can just make plain quesadillas for the kiddos.  Serve with black beans and Spanish rice.  Yum!!

Wednesday–  Cheater Chicken Parm – This is my easy go-t0 mid-week recipe (from the kitchen of MincedReviews :)).  Cook frozen breaded chicken patties according to package instructions.  Make spaghetti noodles as directed while the chicken cooks.  Warm a jar of your favorite sauce then layer as follows:  spaghetti (tossed w/a little olive oil and garlic salt)/chicken patty/slice of mozzarella cheese/ladle sauce over/sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese.  Not the healthiest of recipes but sooo good and sooo easy.  Serve with a salad and garlic bread.  The whole family loves this recipe.

Thursday– Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice.  Sigh.  I love the slow cooker.  I love red beans and rice.  So excited about this recipe (minus the green pepper of course).  This will be a new one for me.  I found this on Cooking Light when I was looking up the Monday recipe that I love.  I am going to serve this over jasmine rice.   

Friday –  Salt and Vinegar Fish Sticks.  So, now that we are in Lent, Fridays will become meatless Friday.  I am all about using creative choices for coatings (i.e. not just boring old bread crumbs all the time) so I was immediately drawn to this recipe by the Food Network.  Seriously.  Doesn’t this sound amazing!  It is!  Serve with The Pioneer Woman’s Crash Hot Potatoes. (i.e. my latest obsession).  

Saturday–    Dinner and a movie night?! 

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking and have a great week!

Menu Plan 17.0

 Menu 17:

Sunday – Baked Chicken w/Parmesan Crust.

Monday – Quesadilla Night!

Tuesday – Crock Pot Black Bean Chili

Wednesday – Spaghetti w/Sun-dried Tomatoes and Spinach

Thursday – Buffalo Chicken Salad!

Friday- No cooking for you!

Saturday – Grilled Salmon

Sunday –  Baked Chicken w/Parmesan Crust.  This recipe by Ted Allen is featured in this month’s Food Network Magazine (my favorite magazine).  It looks so good that I must try it!  I am going to serve with Baked Kale Chips (thanks Kristen for the recipe).  You will see over the next few weeks that I am sort over doing it on the kale.  Whenever I discover a new food, I tend to obsess focus on it too much.  I apologize in advance.  This meal is an easy meal that can be done on the weekend or even during the week.  Lots of protein and vitamins! 

Monday–  Quesadilla Night! If you click on the ‘quesadilla night’ on your left it will take you to one of my favorite recipes for quesadillas, but really this night is about making your own quesadilla.  The boys love just plain cheese.  I love black beans and Eric pretty much requires meat in everything he eats.  Serve with black beans and rice.  Such a simple night but everyone has fun deciding what to put on their own quesadilla.  

Tuesday–  Slow Cooker Black Bean Chili. This recipe (by AllRecipes) is technically not a slow cooker recipe but you can make it one.  Just brown the meat with the olive oil and onion, throw it all into the crock-pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Serve with cornbread.  Delicious!

Wednesday–Spaghetti with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Spinach.  This recipe is from a really cute website/blog called two peas & their pod.   It is ridiculously easy,  healthy and delicious.  What more could you want, really? Serve with a good salad and maybe garlic bread (if you have the calories to spare).

Thursday– Buffalo Chicken Salad- This is just a copy-cat recipe of a salad that I used to eat ALL the time at my last employer’s cafeteria.  I had worked there off and on for 12 years and it was always my go-to salad.  Chop romaine lettuce into bite sized pieces, add tomatoes, cucumbers and breaded chicken breasts soaked in buffalo sauce (to save time, we use heated chicken patties dipped in Frank’s Red Hot Sauce).  Top with a little shredded cheddar and a few fried onions (like the kind you put on green bean casserole).  Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.  Fantastic!!!  

Friday –  No Cook Friday!

Saturday–   Grilled Salmon.  This recipe from AllRecipes is one of my favorite go-to Salmon recipes.  It is easy and full of flavor!  I do use olive oil in place of the vegetable oil.  I just can’t do vegetable oil.  This recipe also points you in the direction of the grill.  No can do right now, so I just throw in a glass dish and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  I like to serve with thin spaghetti (w/olive oil and garlic) and frozen green beans (they taste fresher to me than the can).   

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking and have a great week!

Menu Plan 16.0

Week 16:

Sunday – Mexican Casserole

Monday – Barbecue Roasted Salmon

Tuesday – Herbed Chicken Nuggets

Wednesday – Healthy Breakfast Night

Thursday – Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream

Saturday- Rest and Relaxation Night

Saturday – Hearty Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Sunday – Mexican Casserole. For those of you familiar with weight watchers-this recipe from Food.com is only 6.5 points!   The only changes I make are omitting the cilantro (not a fan) and I use plain Greek yogurt in place of the nonfat sour cream (yuck.  No offense to those that dig it).  The portions are big so you are definitely feeling full after this dinner!

Monday–  Barbecue Roasted Salmon.  I am forever looking for new ways to prepare salmon.  We love salmon and love to have it once a week but I get tired of the same recipes over and over.  This recipe by Cooking Light was full of flavor!  I didn’t change one thing.  Serve with Easy Zucchini Parmesan.   Perfect.

Tuesday–  Herbed Chicken Nuggets – I am not sure why it took so long for me to try this recipe (from AllRecipes).  I ALWAYS buy frozen nuggets for the boys and they always seem questionable at best (if you know what I mean).  These are fantastic!  They are easy, you can control the level of seasoning, you control the type of chicken you use AND they are baked not fried.  I am going to make these again next week and test making extra, freezing and reheating.  I’ll keep you posted.  Serve with sweet potato fries.  

Wednesday– Healthy breakfast night.  Omelets with 3 egg whites/1 yolk, turkey bacon and whole wheat toast!  Delicious.  Click on the link below to see my blog on how to make the perfect omelet.

How to make a perfect omelet.

Thursday– Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream – In keeping with my New Year/New Healthier Recipes theme, I sought out a fish taco recipe that would come close to replacing my unhealthier but delicious breaded fish/avocado tacos that we have come to love on a semi-weekly basis.  This recipe by Ellie Krieger tastes light, fresh and definitely a step in the right direction.  Serve with black beans and rice (if you really want to get crazy healthy, go for brown rice instead of white).

Friday – Rest and relaxation night.  Yeah right.  Just don’t cook!

Saturday–   Hearty Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup – Aaah.  Who needs a warm, comforting soup night?? Me, that’s who! So excited to make this again next week!    This soup recipe from The Food Network is one of my faves.  If you make a big enough batch, you can freeze in smaller portions for lunch during the week.

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan 15.0

Week 15:

Okay, I admit it… I have failed all of you, my faithful followers.  I had BIG plans to help you as you approached the Holiday season (cookie recipes/holiday dinner recipes/desserts) but life became crazy busy and something had to give.  The blog was the first to go BUT I am back on track.  As we approach the New Year, I wish you all a year filled with peace, happiness, health, love and of course good food. 🙂

(For my new followers, click on the name of the recipe (not the pic) to get to the recipe details.)

Sunday – Beef Carnitas Tacos

Monday – Crab Legs

Happy New Year from Minced Reviews!

Wednesday – Black Beans and Chicken

Thursday – Chip Crusted Fish Fillets

Friday – Take a break night

Saturday – French Onion Soup

Sunday – Beef Carnitas Tacos. This recipe by Cooking Light is soooooo fantastic.  It is a little more complicated.  Good for a Sunday meal.  You do have to make the Beef Carnitas first to use for this recipe.  You can buy beef carnitas already prepared at the store if you need/want to save time.  I have bought the beef from Trader Joes and it is really good.

Monday–  Happy New Year’s Eve!!   Hopefully, you are going to spend the evening with loved ones.  If you are going out for dinner… enjoy!!  If you are staying in… I highly recommend a decadent night of king crab legs w/real melted butter, scallops (sautéed in garlic/butter) and shrimp cocktail.  (my mouth is watering)  Click on the link below for more info on how to buy/cook crab legs.

How to cook crab legs??

Tuesday–   Happy New Year!!  I am going to be adding healthier recipes to the weekly menu blog so that we can have a better balance in our diets.  I have been guilty of adding ‘not so healthy’ recipes that we love to the blog and I still will but I am striving to create healthier dishes.  This may mean that I will alter a recipe to make it healthy and will give you the tips/changes or I will post healthy recipes that I have tested as is.  

Wednesday– Black beans and Chicken Breasts – This AllRecipes dish is actually for pork chops but I am recommending that you substitute chicken breasts for the pork chops for an even healthier twist.  This is such an incredibly easy, healthy one pot meal that I keep coming back to again and again.  

Thursday– Chip-Crusted Fish Fillets.   This is a crazy easy but delicious mid-week meal by Cooking Light.  It is only 5 ingredients!  It calls for Canola mayonnaise.  I had olive oil mayo and it worked just fine.  I also don’t do light Ranch.  A 1/2 cup of ranch is crazy bad for you so I just used a tiny bit to dip the fish in.  The fish has so much flavor as is.  I personally love salt and vinegar chips so I loved that crunchy taste on my fish but if that flavor is too strong for you, try another flavor chip!  

Friday–  Take a break from all this cooking night!!!  Eat leftovers, go to dinner, make someone else cook, something, anything!!  🙂

Saturday–   French Three Onion Soup.   This soup from Food Network takes a bit of work but is well worth it.  It is a far healthier version than my original post for French Onion Soup a couple of months ago.  Per serving, this soup has 317 calories, 10.5 g of fat and  357 mg of sodium.  As a crazy point of reference, my original recipe packed 618 calories per serving, 36 g of fat and 3433 mg of sodium.  Yikes.  Double yikes.  Try this one for a MUCH healthier version.  

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy New Year and happy cooking!

Menu Plan 14.0

Week 14:

Sunday – Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale.

Monday – Fish Cakes

Tuesday – Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Wednesday – Breakfast Night

Thursday – Mexican Chicken Casserole.

Saturday – Risotto with Pesto and Peas.

Sunday – fettuccine with Sausage and Kale.   Lately I have been obsessed with Kale.  This recipe was too easy not to try.  Loved the combo of noodles, sausage and kale.  Especially as an alternative to spinach.  Note that on this link to Rachel Ray’s recipe, it calls for 12 cups of water.  This is a TYPO!  It should be 1/2 cup.  Also, it is a little vague how small to chop the kale.  Err on the side of smaller pieces.   I recommend adding a little olive to the fettuccine noodles after you drain them to prevent sticking.

Monday–  Fish Cakes. Yikes… okay, I admit it, the name of the recipe sounds a little ick.  This is a simple Kraft recipe that I love because you can tailor the taste by using your fish of choice.  I personally like to use crab meat. I also love to make a spicy Thai chili sauce to serve on top of the crab cakes.  I don’t have an exact recipe but basically I use about a cup of mayo, a couple of tablespoons of Thai chili sauce and I squeeze the juice out of a 1/2 a lemon.  I recommend that you make the sauce before you make the fish cakes so that the flavors have a little time to meld.  

Tuesday–  Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  This is a great mid-week slow cooker recipe.  If you really need to cut corners, you can by the beef stew kit in the produce section of your grocery store, buy the beef stew slow cooker packet in the spice aisle and call it a day.  If you have a little more time on your hands, the link above is to an easy recipe on AllRecipes that I have used for quite some time.  I serve with biscuits.  Aah, comfort food.  Easy and it smells wonderful when you get home.  

Wednesday– Breakfast night!!!  We haven’t had one in awhile.  Such a fun, family dinner kind of night.  Pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon.  Yum!!

Thursday– Mexican Chicken. This recipe from Paula Deen is not healthy.  I repeat.. not healthy.  At all.  BUT…delish. Once in a while that just has to be a priority, right???  **Recipe Notes** I use Rotel in place of tomatoes.  I cut down the soup to two cans of cream soup instead of three.  It was a little soupy the first time I made this with all three cans.

Friday– Fun family night?  Date night?  Whatev.  Just DON’T cook!  

Saturday–   Risotto with Pesto and Peas.  This recipe.  Wow.  This recipe.  At a loss for words.  After making this once, this has already become one of my most favorite recipes.  You definitely need to be a fan of pesto to dig the this recipe.  It does dominate.  BUT I am fan AND I do love it.   Really, the picture should say it all.  🙂 

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan 13.0

Week 13:

Sunday – Chicken Fried Steak

Monday – Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken.

Tuesday – Trader Joe’s General Tsoa Stir Fry Sauce

Wednesday – Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Thursday – Spicy Bean and Cheese Burrito.

Saturday – Baked Shrimp and Feta.

Sunday –Chicken Fried Steak w/Gravy – I found this recipe in the November edition of Food Network Magazine. It is a recipe from one of my most fave chefs, Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman) so I knew that I HAD to try it!  I love that it is true comfort food.  Especially when served with mashed potatoes and steamed corn.  Yum!  ** Don’t skip the tenderizing step! It seems like an easy thing to skip over but don’t.  This will prevent the meat from getting too tough.  Also, make sure that you are using your silicone whisk when making the gravy directly in the pan.  🙂

Monday–  Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken. This recipe is a classic recipe from AllRecipes.  I haven’t made this recipe in a while but it is a tried and true recipe that I always seem to come back to.   With the lemon and garlic, it has a fresh light taste.   Especially for a slow cooker recipe, which in my opinion, generally tend to be heavier.  Remember to use fresh lemon juice (not bottled!).  It makes a big difference.  Substituting bottled lemon juice can leave a fake lemon taste. 

Tuesday–  General Tsao Chicken –  This is such an easy weeknight meal.  I cut up 3 chicken breasts into pieces and cook in the wok with olive oil until no longer pink.  Dump an entire bottle of Trader Joe’s General Tsao sauce.  Add red, orange and yellow peppers (1/2 of each pepper) cut into skinny strips, cook until tender, add jasmine rice (already cooked). Voila.  Easy, delicious AND cheap.

Wednesday– Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup – I love love love tomato basil soup.  This is such a fantastic recipe (I found this recipe on a great site called Today’s Mama).  My initial pull to try it was that it was a slow cooker recipe.  I am always on a quest for good slow cooker recipes. I love to serve Tomato Basil soup with croutons on top and sometimes I will add rice for a twist.  Delish!

Thursday– Spicy Bean and Cheese Burrito – I found this recipe last month in Rachel Ray’s magazine.  This is a fantastic mid-week recipe!  It’s quick.  It’s easy.  The added bonus is that it gives you a little break from meat.   I do not change anything about this recipe.  Perfect as is.  🙂

Friday– Take a break, will ya?  Order in.

Saturday–  Baked Shrimp and Feta – This recipe by Rachel Ray had me at feta.  Seriously.  If the recipe title has the word ‘feta’ in it, I either have tried or will try it.   This recipe is so simple to make.  Serve with angel hair pasta and a salad.  

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking!

Menu Plan 6.0

Week 6:

Saturday – Tomato Pesto Pizza

Thursday – Soy Glazed Salmon

Wednesday – Chicken w/ Feta Cheese

Tuesday – Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps

Monday – Ham and Cheese Bowties

Sunday – Cheesy Chicken Shells

Sunday –Cheesy Chicken Shells.  This is an old but good recipe from Weight Watchers.  It takes a little longer to prepare so I usually make it on the weekends.  It is fantastic!  Hardly seems Weight Watcher-ish.  Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Monday-Ham and Cheese Bowties. I found this recipe because Brady is always picking out the turkey ham at Aldi.  I am not a huge ham fan (thank goodness he picks out the turkey version) so I am constantly trying to find a different way to make it.  We had this for dinner last night and it turned out great.  The big negative to this recipe is how incredibly unhealthy it seems.  I am going to keep playing with the recipe and see if I can make this lower fat.  So….tbd. 

Tuesday– Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps.  The only thing that I change on this recipe is that I use ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Serve with sweet potato fries (from the frozen section of course-this is the middle of the week!) and corn. Yum!

Wednesday–Chicken with Feta Cheese.   This base of this recipe is from Martha Stewart but I do make a few slight changes.  I use flavored feta (love the feta with sun-dried tomatoes), I pound the chicken breasts flat, put the feta in the center and roll.  Secure with toothpick and place seam down in the skillet.  Cook as directed.  Serve with linguine drizzled with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper.  

Thursday–Soy Glazed Salmon with Cucumber-Avocado Salad.   I found this recipe in my Food Network Magazine (July/August 2012).  This is a recipe even the boys will eat.  Well, the cucumber-avocado salad, not so much but the salmon they love.  This is a great Summer recipe when it’s hot and you want something light to eat.  I like to serve with Trader Joe’s Jasmine rice (takes just a few minutes to throw a pouch in the microwave. The boys love the rice with a little butter).  

Friday– Fun Friday.  “Cook it yourself!” Friday.  or you could just make it leftover night.  You should have plenty leftover from all the cooking you’ve done all week!

Saturday – Tomato Pesto Pizza.  Four ingredients!  Seriously only four ingredients!  I found and fell in love with this recipe from a great website called Semi-homemade Mom.  The link above will take you to the site.  This is crazy quick and delicious.  Serve with a salad.  Done and done.

As always, here is a link to a printable menu so that you can print out and write your meals on it and stick on the fridge. Then when you’re ready to cook, just click on the link for the recipe.

Menu Planning Templates

Happy cooking!

Grillin’ and Chillin’.

Aaaah. Is that BBQ I smell? It is the smell of summer officially starting. Grilling out is definitely NOT my area of expertise. I’m not 100% sure that I even know how to turn the grill on. Pretty sad but luckily Eric has got it covered. I am, however, digging all of the new grilling tools and grilling recipes that I have been coming across lately. My fascination started at the Houseware’s Show in March. Tons of grilling accessories everywhere I looked. You can literally cook your entire meal on a grill. Appetizers, main dish, side dish AND dessert. It blows my mind a little but I am very excited to try some of this new stuff. (and by ‘try’ I mean make the food, put it in or on the new grill accessory and hand to Eric to actually grill).

• Nordicware Chicken and Jalapeno Griller– This handy little accessory grills up to 17 chicken legs without having to turn them and also makes them much easier to baste. Or you can use it to make yummy stuffed jalapenos or tortilla rolls. Love it! This is available for @$20 at Walmart but I did find it on sale on Amazon.com for $15.97! Made in the USA!

• Nordicware Meatball Griller- This Griller allows you to get the smokey BBQ taste in your meatballs. Great for an appetizer. Plus it has holes in the bottom so the grease drains out. (hate the word grease for some reason). You can also use this to make cute dinner rolls or stuffed mini tomatoes. Yum. This retails for @$18 at retailers (jcpenney currently carries this). Made in the USA too!

Nordicware Meatball Griller

• Sur La Table Potato Grill Rack– this is great because you puncture the potatoes when putting on the rack which allows the potato to cook from the inside out. Delish! It retails for $12.95.

Sur La Table Potato Grill Rack

• Lodge Grill Press-Everyone should have a grill press! It cooks both sides of the burger (or bacon) at the same time. This helps take your burgers from good to perfection! Lodge is known for its cast iron and is a brand that I am happy to recommend. They make their products in the US as a huge added bonus. $22.95 at Crate and Barrel. $14.95 at Amazon.com and Walmart.

Lodge Grill Press

• Foil– Good ol’ fashioned foil. Foil is such an excellent tool to use in grilling. In this month’s edition of Food Network Magazine, it has tons of ideas. Click on the link below. It is incredible the things that you can cook on the grill in foil!

Food Network Magazine ’50 Things to Grill in Foil’

Foil

Happy Grilling everyone!!! and Happy Memorial Day!!

Oh and the ‘chillin” part? Pop. that’s the sound of an ice-cold bottle of Corona opening. The other sound of summer.

Taking risks.

As we approach Easter, I have had eggs on my mind.  Hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, chocolate eggs, candy filled eggs.  Eggs.  Eggs.  Eggs.  Everywhere.  Literally.  Really.  They are all over my living room floor. Behind me as I type this.  Well, plastic ones. Empty plastic ones post-neighborhood egg hunt.

About ten minutes before my husband was heading home from work today,  I was irritatingly lackadaisical in trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  My first thought, always in this predicament, is to make breakfast.  I love it.  The boys love it.  Husband though?  Not so much.  For those of you that know my work out/protein-loving-husband, you know that he eats scrambled eggs (6 egg white/2 yolks) EVERY morning.  For TEN YEARS.  EVERY DAY.   “Most important meal of the day” he says.  Ok, well this most “important” meal has to be at DINNER for the rest of us.  Short story long, I decided to spice it up a little.  I decided to make omelets for dinner.  The intimidating omelet.  I had attempted many times before but was painfully disappointed every time and always ended up turning them into faux scramble eggs.  I had just read the April issue of Food Network Magazine (sigh… love) and Alton Brown breaks it down.  I was willing to jump in head first and risk another omelet failure.  There’s only four adorable men patiently (im) waiting for dinner, right? I did mention I was running behind, didn’t I?  I followed it to the letter and they tuned out perfectly  (they looked exactly like the picture above)!  Wahoo.  Success.  I had to share this with you all.  While not a typical product review blog, file this under Tips and Tricks.   The link below is to the recipe for the Perfect Omelet.  I highly recommend you try it.  Silly little feats of accomplishment are the best, aren’t they?

Perfect Omelet on the Food Network.

I am going to try a few other Egg tips in the next few days, I’ll be sure to pass along any other helpful info.

Happy egg cooking everyone!

The Chocolate Blog

I just received the latest Food Network Magazine in the mail yesterday and the whole issue is dedicated to chocolate.  I thought to myself, what a perfect topic to blog about with Valentine’s coming up.  Who doesn’t love chocolate??  Come on.  Let’s all pledge to make chocolate covered something for our Valentine’s this year!

The Basics:  Melting chocolate vs.Tempering chocolate.  I would recommend melting if you are doing fondue but tempering if you are dipping and drying.  It dries to a smooth, shiny finish.  If you dip your food of choice into melted chocolate, it will come out looking streaky and cloudy.  The main difference between melting and tempering is in melting you raise the temp of the chocolate to a high temp and leave it there.  In tempering you bring the chocolate to a high temp and then bring it back down quickly to specific temperatures.  I will attempt (key word) to explain each technique further.  It is a bit confusing.

• Tempering:  Tempering is a heating, cooling, and stirring process that induces the melted chocolate to set with a glossy surface and smooth texture. Tempering is important because it determines the final gloss and hardness of the chocolate. When you melt chocolate, the fat molecules separate.  In order to get them back together, you need to temper the chocolate.  A quick tempering method  is to melt two-thirds of the chocolate (start with 1 lb of finely chopped choco) to be tempered in a double broiler to a temperature of 115°F, remove from heat and then add the remaining one-third (finely chopped) chocolate to the melted mixture, stirring until the mixture has reached 89°F and is smooth.  (***a portion of this definition is from Epicurious and What’s Cooking America***).  You must have an instant read thermometer when tempering.  It is imperative so that you can understand when you have hit the peak high temp and when you get back down to its workable temp. 
• Melting: You can either use the microwave (my preferred method) or the stove top.  When using the stove, make sure you use a small, heavy bottomed pan.  Place the chocolate (cut into small pieces)  in the pan and heat on the lowest setting possible while stirring frequently.  Remove from heat immediately after the chocolate has reached its metling point (see temperature reference below).  In the microwave, place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl (I use my Pyrex glass bowl).  Microwave at 50% power for 30 second intervals.  Stir and continue at 30 second intervals until melted.  Be careful not to overheat.  

Must have products:

• A double broiler – A double boiler is a specialized set of pans consisting of a saucepan that holds hot water, and a bowl that fits securely over the saucepan. Chocolate is placed in the top bowl and allowed to melt over gentle, indirect heat. If you don’t own a double boiler, any metal or glass bowl that fits snugly over the top of a saucepan can be used.
• Instant read thermometer-this is just what it sounds like.  A thermometer that reads the temp instantly. 

Tips/Tricks:

• Melting temps – Milk chocolate or white chocolate – 110 degrees. Dark Chocolate – 115 degrees. Do not go higher than this or you will risk burning.
• Disaster strikes – Seizing is when water comes in contact with the chocolate (whether dripped from you hand, in the pan or steam in the microwave).  The chocolate becomes grainy and unworkable.  I learned this the hard way with white chocolate in the microwave.  I believe you can try to add canola oil or cream to try to salvage it but I say toss and start over.  It is almost impossible to get the chocolate to fully bounce back.
• Do not rely on appearance alone when microwaving chocolate.  Chocolate tends to hold its shape.  The only way to know if it is fully melted is to stir it. 
• For best results, use at least 1 lb of chocolate.  If that is more than you need, you can temper it, use what you need and let the rest harden and use at another time.
• Block chocolate or chocolate bars (cut into small pieces) will have better results than chocolate chips.  It has to do with the chemical composition so I am not even going to attempt to explain this one.

A Twist on the ‘ol choco covered fruit idea:  What else can be covered in chocolate you ask?  Hmm.  Pretty much the sky is the limit.  A few ideas:

• Dried fruit-apples, bananas, apricots, pineapples.
• Crackers-Saltines, Ritz, Townhouse.
• Candy-Gummy anything, licorice.
• Salty snacks-pretzles (of course), potato chips, Fritos, popcorn.
• Cereal-Shredded wheat, Cheerios, Cap’n Crunch.
• Other fruit-Think outside the strawberry.  Orange slices, apples, grapes.
• Other craziness-Bacon?? Cheese cubes??

***Temper the chocolate as described above.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper and spray the paper with cooking spray (yep, I said cooking spray), dip the chosen yumminess in the chocolate using your fingers or a slotted spoon, let the excess chocolate drip off and set on the wax paper.  Let cool.  You can either cool at room temp or throw it in the fridge to speed the process up.

Happy Dipping everyone!!