Weekly Menu 1/18-1/25

Sunday:
Baked Brie with Crackers
Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette
Lemon Orzo Salad

Monday:
Macaroni and Cheese
Salad

Tuesday:
Italian Casserole
Cream of Tomato Soup

Wednesday:
Veggie Chili
Simple Cornbread

Thursday:
Stuffed Pizza Pie
Salad

Summer Vegetable Orzo

This was SO good! I've been trying a lot of orzo recipes lately and Colin said this was his favorite one so far.

8 oz. orzo
5 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, divided
2 zucchini or summer squash, cut length-wise into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 red or yellow bell pepper, quartered
3 tablespoons pesto
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
8 oz. ball fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Cook orzo in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Rinse with cold water, drain well. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon oil. Whisk 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl. Brush zucchini, squash, and bell pepper with oil mixture, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil veggies until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer to a work surface and let cool. Chop veggies and add to bowl with orzo. Whisk pesto, lime juice, 3 1/2 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons vinegar in small bowl for pesto vinaigrette. Add vinaigrette, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella to orzo and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Source: epicurious.com

Spinach Lasagna with Baked Zucchini Coins

Spinach Lasagna

2 eggs, beaten

1 container low-fat ricotta cheese

1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained

1 cup chopped mushrooms

3 cups reduced fat shredded mozzarella, divided

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce, divided

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

Heat oven to 350. Mix eggs, ricotta, spinach, mushrooms, 2 cups mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Layer 1 cup spaghetti sauce, 3 lasagna noodles and 1/2 the ricotta mixture in a 9x13 pan. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, sauces and cheeses. Bake 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Baked Zucchini Coins

1/2 cup corn meal (I used bread crumbs)

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried basil

Pepper

1 zucchini

1 egg

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Mix flour, corn meal, salt, basil and pepper on a plate. Beat egg in a small bowl. Slice zucchini into 1/4 inch thick coins. Dip into egg and then into corn meal mixture. Coat a parchment lined cookie sheet with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Arrange zucchini coins on cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve with ranch or marinara for dipping.

Autumn Apple Salad

This would be the perfect chicken salad recipe with some chicken added, but it was really good without it too!

3-4 apples, cut into small cubes

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

Chopped walnut pieces

Mayonnaise

Chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and toss.

Source: Parade Magazine

Lemon Orzo Salad

I have been on a major orzo kick lately and this is another super simple, delicious recipe that did not disappoint!

1/2 lb. cooked orzo

1 lemon, juiced

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook orzo according to directions and cool. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a bowl and whisk the lemon juice while streaming in olive oil. Add the parsley, salt and pepper. Add the cooked orzo to the bowl and toss.

Weekly Menu 1/11-1/17

Colin and I aren't eating meat for the month of January (at least), which has been really easy so far. Last week was a weird week though, since I had just gotten my wisdom teeth out I was pretty much just focused on what would not make my mouth hurt and hadn't even thought about meat at all. This will be my first real week trying to cook without any meat, so we'll see how it goes.....

Sunday:
7 Layer dip, as filling for burritos
Lunch Lady bars with vanilla ice cream

Monday:
Twice Baked Potatoes
Salad

Tuesday:
Spinach-Tortellini Bake
Stuffed Mushrooms

Wednesday:
Fettucine with Ricotta and Basil
Oven-roasted red potatoes

Thursday:
Veggie Fried Rice
Veggie Spring Rolls

"Healthier" Loaded Baked Potato Soup

I think "healthier" is probably a relative term here, but this was definitely really good and I'll be making it again.

2 1/2 lb. baking potatoes (about 4 large)

2/3 cup flour

6 cups reduced fat milk

1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup reduced-fat sour cream

3/4 cup green onions, chopped and divided

6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 400. Pierce potatoes with a fork and bake for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes and coarsely mash. Place flour in large dutch oven. Gradually add milk, whisking until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat until thoroughly heated. Don't allow soup to come to a boil. Ladle into serving bowls and top with cheese, onions and bacon.

Source Cooking Light

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos

Fresh jalapenos (I used 10 of them)

1 package cream cheese

About 1 cup shredded cheddar

Bacon slices

Chop fresh jalapenos in half and scoop out the seeds and the membranes. Mix cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Fill jalapenos with cream cheese mixture and wrap with bacon. Secure with a toothpick. Place a wrack over a baking dish (to let the bacon drippings drip down) and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until bacon is fully cooked.

I also made a some of these without bacon for my vegetarian sister-in-law and both versions were snapped up in a hurry!

Pesto Poppers

1 package crescent roll dough

For the filling mix the following in a bowl:
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup pesto
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a mini-muffin tin. Roll the dough onto a flour or wax paper covered surface. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch squares. Place the dough into the muffin cups and press down lightly. Spoon in about 2 tablespoons of pesto mix and top with parmesan. If squares are large enough the corners can be pinched in. Bake according to crescent roll directions.

These were super tasty and they disappeared really quickly at our party.

Raspberry Crumb Cake

I thought that this cake was going to be a total disaster, but even though it didn't turn out exactly how it was supposed to turn out, it was still so good! I'll definitely be making this again (with a few important modifications to make sure that it isn't such a disaster the next time!).

For the cake:
1 boxed vanilla cake mix, prepared according to the package directions

Crumbs for topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup butter

Filling:
Seedless raspberry jam

Prepare cake mix according to directions on box and bake for 20 minutes. Mix crumb ingredients together until crumbs form. Take cake out of oven and spread 10-12 oz. jam evenly over top (this step was where the disaster occurred. First of all, when I tried to spread the jam, it immediately sunk to the bottom of the pan. Next time I'll make sure that the cake is more cooked before adding the jam and I might heat the jam to make it more liquefied so that it will be lighter and easier to spread. Since I didn't do any of that, the cake ended up having random jam pockets throughout it, but it tasted good anyway!). Top with crumb mixture and bake another 20 minutes. Once completely cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

Greek Spiced Baked Shrimp with Greek Orzo Salad

Greek Spiced Baked Shrimp
Source: Gourmet Magazine (suggested by Graham)

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving juice and chopped
Pinch of sugar
1 1/4 lb. large peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 lb. feta, crumbled
2 tablespoons chopped dill

Preheat oven to 375 with rack in the middle. Cook onion and garlic in oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 4 quart heavy saucepan over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in spices and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes with juice and sugar and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Season shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt, then stir into tomato sauce. Transfer to a 2 quart shallow baking dish and top with feta. Bake until just cooked through, 18-20 minutes. Serve sprinkled with dill.

This was so good! It was super flavorful and I will definitely be making it again.

Greek Orzo Salad

Salad
8 oz. orzo
4 cups baby spinach, chopped
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved (I skipped these since I'm not a huge olive fan)
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
4 oz. feta

Dressing
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup olive oil

Cook orzo until tender, 8-10 minutes. Chill 20 minutes. Add remaining salad ingredients to chilled orzo. In a separate container, mix together dressing. Pour dressing over salad and let chill for 30 minutes.

Baked Apple and Brie Canapes

We've gotten on a major brie kick lately and these definitely did not disappoint. These were so good and Colin has already requested them again a few times!

3 tart apples, cored and sliced into eighths
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 wheel brie
24 baguette slices (I used crescent roll dough instead)

Toss apple slices with melted butter and brown sugar. Bake or microwave (about 45 seconds) until tender. Arrange the brie over bread slices and top with apple slices. If desired, broil briefly to melt the cheese (since I used crescent roll dough I skipped the microwaving, then wrapped the dough around an apple slice and brie piece and baked it according to the crescent roll directions).

Hurry Up Pot Pie

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced, optional (I didn't use these)
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots

1/2 cup frozen green peas

(I also added about 1/2 cup of corn and 1/2 an onion, sliced)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups instant biscuit mix

1 cup milk

1/2 stick butter, melted (I only used about 1/4 stick)

Preheat oven to 350. In a greased 2 quart casserole dish, layer the chicken, carrots and peas. Mix the soup, broth and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken and veggies. Stir together the biscuit mix and milk and pour over the casserole. Drizzle the butter over the topping. Bake until topping is golden brown, about 30-40 minutes.

Source: Paula Deen