Meal Plan Monday June 17

Just like anyone else I can be particular about certain things, but overall I'm really pretty easy to please. Give me a summer office? I'm thrilled. Give me a hammock chair? Even better. I spent as much time as possible in the hammock chair after we put it up on Saturday. I'd have done the same thing on Sunday except rain got in the way.

Have you ever had one of those trips to the grocery store where you think, "Hey, this list is pretty much all vegetables? This should be a fast and cheap run!" That's what I thought this week. Then we tossed this in the cart. And two of those. And a bunch more birdseed because the deer eat it all. The next thing we knew it was the most expensive grocery store trip we'd had in several months. Oops? But we have good eats lined up for this week so we're kinda okay with that.

Monday: Shrimp and grits.

Tuesday: Barbecue baked black-eyed peas (I'm pretty sure we have black-eyed peas... if not we definitely have navy beans) and corn bread.

Wednesday: Grilled pork chops and sweet potato salad.

Thursday: Just me at home. Leftovers? Something from the freezer?

Friday: Grilled chicken burgers with peanut sauce and coleslaw.

Saturday: Donairs and whatever salady things we still have kicking around.

Sunday: Grilled bread with mint pea dip and sweet chili chicken thighs.

Extras: We made baked eggrolls on Sunday. It was our first time making them. They were a bit more spring roll-y than eggroll-y but I think that was the filling. And I really needed to have rolled them a teeny bit tighter but overall they were a success. And way faster to assemble than dumplings. I still need to make more granola since I didn't get around to that last week. I think I'm going to make more energy bites as well.

What are you cooking this week?

How to Store Green Onions

It used to be that I'd see a recipe I wanted to make that called for green onions and I'd groan. We try to only go to the grocery store once a week and our green onions were usually limp by the time they'd been in the house for 24 hours. We tried storing them in the refrigerator. We tried storing them on the counter. It didn't seem to matter.

As it seems we like a lot of recipes that call for green onions I was determined to find a way to make them last more than 24 hours. A bundle of green onions doesn't cost much but I was tired of wasting them and tired of having to make last minute trips to the grocery store. (I'm sure the fact that we've never really succeeded in going in and ONLY picking up the green onions had something to do wit that. Hello impulse buys!) After a round of internet searches and some trial and error this what we do now.

Fist, you want to take a few sheets of paper towel -- or a tea towel would work -- and get them damp. You want to leave the paper towels attached. I usually use several sheets, which turns out to be about the length of a standard tea towel.

Next, you want to lay the dampened paper towel down on the counter. Separate your green onions.

Then you want to place one green onion near the edge of the power towel, wrap the edge of the paper towel over it and roll the green onion toward the center. After one full revolution add a second green onion and roll both of them together toward the center.

Then you keep adding green onions after every revolution. It's a bit like making a jelly roll.

Usually when I reach the end I have enough excess paper towel to roll a few extra layers around the whole bunch. If the green onions are much taller than the paper towel you can angle it a bit as you roll to cover the tips. Or you trim them off. I'm generally too lazy to do that.

Once you've got your bundle of green onions, stick them in a large resealable plastic bag, pop it in your refrigerator and done!

Green onions will last for several days this way. We have some that have been in the refrigerator for a week and while they are not in perfect condition with a bit of trimming here and there (mostly the tips and small shoots) they are still useable.

I hope that helps you as much as it has helped us.

Do you know another way to store green onions? Please share in the comments!

Gone Swinging

In May we set up the summer office. Now we're got my summer reading spot. 

Now if we could just do something about the mosquitoes... 

Monday Meal Plan, June 10

I will be smarter about the meal plan this week than I was last week. Last week was a busy week for both Lee and I and I was a tad too ambitious with some of the items. It did not help that we were both fighting off colds and it seems my body's way of fighting off germs these days it to descend into complete exhaustion that leaves me on the edge of tears for days. And ok, the weather didn't help. There's not much that is more depressing than turning on the heat in June.

This week is still going to be busy. I'm trying very hard not to wish these busy times away because I hate to wish time away but we're both ready for a slower pace. We're not quite there yet -- maybe by the weekend -- but in the meantime I'm going to try to keep things simple.

Monday: Chipotle salsa baked chicken with quinoa and salad.

Tuesday: Crunchy baked pork chops and creamed corn.

Wednesday: Ham hash and salad.

Thursday: It will just be me at home for dinner so either soup or pasta. Unless there's leftover ham hash. (Unlikely.)

Friday: Pizza night. It's been awhile since we've made a homemade pizza. I'm thinking there's a bacon cheeseburger pizza in our future.

Saturday: We are supposed to have good weather next weekend (no rain!) so I'm guessing we'll grill something. Or maybe we'll have donairs. We've got a couple of packages of donair meat in the freezer.

Sunday: Cumin-crusted tofu tacos with avocado salad and chipotle cream.

Extras:

I need to make more granola because we don't have enough to get through the week. I think I'm going to whip up some of Burgh Baby's Greek salad dressing, though maybe only a half batch because we're got a rather lot of jars of things at the moment. (We have a lot of jam. What can I say? It's easy to make. Also spice blends because ditto.) I'm going to toss together some of of mango and black bean quinoa salad for lunches. It will probably be a bit like this one from Kim's Healthy Eat's but minus the jalapeno because I forgot to buy them (again). And I think maybe, just maybe, next weekend I might make layered nacho dip. It's so much better when it's homemade and we haven't had it in ages.

What are you cooking this week?

Monday Meal Plan, June 3

A few years ago we had this summer where the weather would be fabulous and warm during the work week. You'd stare out your window and wish you were not working. Then the weekend would roll around and it would rain. Sometimes there would be rain AND thunderstorms. Bonus! That seems to be how weekends are happening right now. I'm tired of rain. Really tired of it. I keep reminding myself that it's probably really good for the local farmers but surely they wouldn't mind if the rain fell a bit more during the week and a bit less on the weekends, right?

So, we've been entertaining ourselves mostly indoors on the weekends. We've hit the large Asian grocery store we only go to a few times a year last weekend. This weekend we hit an Indian grocery store because I was low and/or out of some supplies. We stopped a few other places and hey, more shopping! I bought a new water canner. My old water canner is okay (and I'll still use it for small batch canning) but it wasn't quite tall enough for doing larger jars so I found it kind of limiting. Since I've been snatching up canning cookbooks over the last few years, I wanna can! I'm looking forward to a summer with lots of canning though I expect Lee to roll his eyes when I tell him we need to buy more mason jars and lids. Again. He is always happy about what gets put inside the jars so his eyerolling will merely be an act.

This is what we'll be eating this week. We think.

Monday: Fajitas and taco night rice - carried over from last week because we decided it was too hot to cook on Friday and had sandwiches.

Tuesday: Something grilled and pesto pasta salad.

Wednesday: Indian night! Biriyani and aloo tikki. Note to self: Make the aloo tikki patties early in the day so you just have to fry them. Because that would be smart. I also picked up a Bhel Puri and Paapri Chaat kits and if we're really hungry I may make one of those. (I like Indian snacky street food, I've just never been really sure how to make it on my own. Hence the kits.)

Thursday: Leftovers. I need to cook a chicken in crockpot for Friday enchiladas.

Friday: Chicken enchiladas - maybe these creamy chicken enchiladas. Maybe just something I bing together.

Saturday: We're not sure yet. We usually end up bumping something during the week so I don't mind leaving a hole in the schedule. I could always try this one pot pasta meal.

Sunday: Probably chicken burgers with peanut sauce.

Extras:

We made comeback sauce as it seemed to me something that would be good during bbq season. The ice cream attachment for the Kitchen-Aid in the freezer so we'll be whipping up some Dr. Pepper ice cream. (If you don't like Dr. Pepper you can substitute the pop of your choice. I'm thinking I'll be make some orange soon.)

What are you cooking this week?