Meal MAYhem is coming

Here's my idea (I want your thoughts!!!):

Have you ever seen the show "Chopped" on the Food Network? Click the link to read about it.

I'm thinking of doing something similar in the month of May. Last year I tried to photograph each night of dinner...that got overwhelming really quickly. This year I want to do something weekly instead.

Each Sunday I'll make a list of food items in my house. I'll randomly select one protein, one starch, and 3 fruits/veggies and then have to make dinner using those items. I'll only be "allowed" to add on 2 items (not including spices) to round out the meal. I'll do a post listing the required (not add on) items for you all to see. The challenge will be for you to take the week to figure out meal options with those items! Saturday I'll share what *I* chose and offer a link-up for my readers!

Does that make sense? Will you participate?

19th Meal MAYhem

We're back!

Tonight's dinner is one I got from the label of the Tomato Sauce Can! It's called Lasagna Sausage Rolls. (Sorry in advance for poor photo quality...I'm using my cell phone)

You need:
- Italian sausage (sweet or spicy is your choice)
- Lasagna noodles
- Either 2 cans of tomato sauce OR one tomato sauce and one can of tomatoes
- Italian seasoning of some kind...I used oregano
- Cheese if you want

Cook the noodles to package directions.

Cook the sausage. Now, you can slice them in half and cook them like that or cook them whole...just make sure you have a noodle for each piece of sausage.

After draining the noodles and pulling the cooked sausage out (and draining the pan) let everything cool enough to handle.

Now, wrap a noodle around each link and place it back in the pan.

Cover it with your tomato products.

Heat everything through and serve!

And if you're serving a 13 month old make sure you have a rag handy!

12th Meal MAYhem

Another throw together meal I made up! Sausage and Potato

You'll need:
- potatoes (one if it's just you)
- link sausage (amount depends on how much you like sausage)
- onion finely chopped if you want
- any other veggies you want to add
- salt (lightly)
- pepper (black, white, OR cayenne)
- garlic powder

Basically, you chop everything up and cook in a pan. Cook the potatoes first (VERY LITTLE OIL) if you buy your sausage pre-cooked. Season everything to taste (be careful with the spicy because it will sneak up on you!)

Potatoes. Secret: If you cook with a lid it cooks better because the heat gets trapped and cooks on both sides!

 Sausage added. 

 Very important!!! DRAIN IT! The sausage will leech a lot of fat.

 See? BLECH!

I dont' do it but I bet this would be great with cheese on top...

11th Meal MAYhem

Tonight's Dinner: Chicken Fried Steak (yes, Dani, another meal with "fried" in it! lol)

I didn't get this one to work like I usually can....but it was good nonetheless.

First you cut potatoes into chunks and put them in water to boil. They're ready when you can spear them with a fork (soft).

Normally my steaks don't look as...dead. ALL of my breading stuck to the pan and came off. 

I promised I'd teach you gravy.  

 Step one is to drain off pretty much all of the oil/grease. Then, carefully sprinkle flour in the pan. The amount of flour you use depends on how much gravy you want. Stir it up.

 I add chicken stock (homemade of course) and stir it up. I also added a splash of milk. 

 Just keep stirring and adding flour or broth until you get the consistency you want.

If your gravy is a huge failure the first few times just keep trying. It takes PRACTICE.

I added butter and milk to the potatoes.

 

10th Meal MAYhem

Tonight's dinner: Fried Tilapia.

This is another favorite of mine. It's quick and easy to make and tastes oh so good.

First, you're going to want to heat oil in a large pan. It can be vegetable oil or, like we use, peanut oil. You want just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and then a small splash more. You know it's hot enough when you toss a sprinkle of flour and it actively sizzles.

Next, in a small bowl, beat an egg. You can add a splash of milk if you want, but it's not necessary.

Pictured: Egg

Next step is to make up your breading. This is a bit of a secret. I like the crunch of breadcrumbs but they don't stick very well when pan frying. So, I add flour! I used about 1/2c of breadcrumbs and a 1/4c of flour. Season with whatever you like. (I used garlic, salt, and Old Bay) Note: You want it to taste a bit OVER seasoned  because you'll lose a lot of it in the frying process.

Seasoned and ready to go!

Your oil should be pretty warm by now so go ahead and dip the fish in the egg and then the breading. Make sure and coat it pretty heavily.

  See how the oil doesn't cover the fish?

Another note: This fish is fragile. It only takes about 4mins a side (max) to cook all the way. You only want to have to flip it ONCE!

  Doesn't that look amazing? Such a pretty brown color!

This is a versatile food. My husband had macaroni and cheese with his. I chose potatoes and green beans. You can do whatever sounds good to you.

These were my potatoes pre-oven. Drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. I baked them for 10mins and then broiled for 10mins (I was impatient)

My finished plate. SO GOOD!!!

There are no changes to be made to make this dairy free! 

So...I noticed that my blog counter is going up but only a couple of people post comments. I LOVE to hear from you guys! If you make a dish that you've seen here let me know! And if you have a modification that makes it even better I want to know that too!  I want to know what you guys are eating!

9th Meal MAYhem

So...I apologize for only having "finished" pictures for you. I've been really off my game this evening (having my phone mess up, ordering a new one and getting charged $50, and then having it start working again ruined my state of mind)

Tonight's Dinner Linguine Arrabbiata 

Ingredients

serves 4

• coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving (optional)
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes in juice, cut into chunks
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound linguine
• grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add garlic and red-pepper flakes; cook until garlic is fragrant and beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and wine. Simmer over medium, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Cook pasta in boiling salted water 2 minutes less than package instructions for al dente. Drain; add pasta to skillet. Cook, stirring, until pasta is tender, about 2 minutes. Season with salt. Serve, if desired, with Parmesan and red-pepper flakes.

My addition: CHICKEN! If using it raw you'll want to cook it FIRST (even before the water) and then chop it up and add it with the garlic and flakes. We cooked ours in the crockpot all day and just stripped the bones.

This is another "it takes as long as the pasta" meal. These are great. I start the water boiling and start making the rest of the meal and it all ends up done together. 

The basic ingredients. I used 2 cans of tomato sauce because Stefan isn't a tomato fan. (You'll see I do this a lot)

 This is the sauce in it's finished state. (with chicken added)

 Note: Obviously, if you want to cut the spicy you should cut the flakes you use. A little goes a LONG way so just experiment. When I first made it, the "called for" was a bit spicy for me. So, tonight I used 1/2 tsp instead...and couldn't taste it at all. It's up to you how much you use.

Dairy Free Readers: The cheese is totally optional. We've made it without twice now and the dish is fine.

Kosher Readers: Dani, correct me if I'm wrong, but this meal is fine right? :) I don't know all the rules! 

Feelin' MAYhem

Quick update for both!

We went out to dinner last night. We usually hit the restaurants the night BEFORE a holiday so that it isn't super packed. So, no dinner photos from me. Tonight's dinner is fun though! Definitely check back later.

And I'm not doing a skirt today. The weather is gross outside. I spent yesterday trying to avoid a Marilyn Monroe Incident:

I was successful, but I really don't want to fight that fight again. I know, buy longer skirts...but until then...

7th Meal MAYhem

So, tonight's dinner was Fried Pork Chops. Quick, easy, not kosher *winks*...a total "I have no idea what else to make" kind of meal...

It was one of those nights where I had no idea what to do for sides...so we ended up having corn and that was it. Kind of a fail night... :)

6th Meal MAYhem

Tonight's dinner: Mexican Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• garlic powder to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8.5 ounce) package corn muffin mix
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can sliced black olives (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place the beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly brown and onion is tender. Drain grease. Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix in the tomatoes, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the taco seasoning and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking 5 minutes, until thickened. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and top evenly with corn.
3. Prepare the corn muffin mix according to package directions. Spread evenly over the corn layer in the baking dish.
4. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until puffed and golden. Garnish with olives and cheese. 

 

Meat browning. I can't use regular taco seasoning (dairy) and I didn't have any made up so I just threw things in. :)

 

Meat in the baking dish.

 

 Corn layer.

 

 Cornbread mix layer.

 

 Side view of the layers.

 

 Toasted! Note: Make sure you check the cornbread for doneness. The liquid in the corn makes it take a bit longer to cook all the way through!

 

 Plated!

 A few notes...

 

- If you're avoiding dairy you can make the cornbread with soy milk. It makes it less fluffy, but it's still good in the dish. (I had raw buttermilk so I used that.)

 

- You can put tomatoes in the meat mixture like the recipe calls for...Stefan doesn't really like tomatoes so I left them out.

 

- We've also put pinto beans in the meat mixture before and had success.  

5th Meal MAYhem

So....I totally spaced out and did photos AFTER cooking and not DURING. In my defense I was juggling dinner and the kid! We did Roast Chicken tonight. That takes 2 hours to cook so I had to start before Stefan got home. (It was supposed to be "Devil's Chicken" but it didn't work out as such)

Yeah, the brown stuff is a pepper and Dijon rub...It goes on best with a brush (one thing I don't have)

 Gravy. I'll teach you guys to make gravy one day, I promise!

 Rice...pretty basic.

 A finished plate. I was in a hurry so no veggies tonight...

And now I get to make Chicken Stock. I was running quite low so I'm glad! 

4th Meal MAYhem

Tonight's dinner is a favorite around here: Chorizo, Egg, and Bean Tacos.

Chorizo is a Mexican sausage usually made with pork. Fear not, my kosher friends, it does come in beef as well! Be sure and READ THE INGREDIENTS when purchasing chorizo. Some brands have salivary glands in them and these are things you do NOT want!

The instructions are pretty simple:

Cook Chorizo. It comes in "links" that you peel the casing off of and break up. 

Cook beans. You can buy them already refried; buy a can of pinto beans, cook through, and then mash; or do like I did and cook the beans in a crock pot and treat like the canned beans.

Scramble up the eggs. The recommended amount is two eggs per "link" of chorizo.

Mix the eggs with the cooked chorizo and cook through.

Then make your taco. We like it with ketchup, but plain is good too. Also, it's good with tortilla chips...


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