Weekly Meal Plan 3

It's good to hear that some of you are trying a recipe here and there. I'm excited to head into fall; just something about cooler weather makes cooking more fun. Plus, I love comfort foods (which are just much more suited to colder weather)! Here's another weekly meal plan that has some great early fall dishes, as well as late summer ones. I hope something catches your interest and motivates you to try a new recipe!

1st Meal: Soup

From Dream About Food

Turkey Chili Verde

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I always prefer green sauce when it comes to enhiliadas, etc., so green chili sounds great to me! I'm going to half the recipe, since 4 lbs of turkey seems like it would make a ton. Also, this isn't noted in the ingredient list, but the chipotle peppers are optional, since they are added in at the end. Based off my recent meatloaf experience, I think I'm going to be leaving them out.

I came across the below recipe and couldn't pass it up. Make these for dessert or for breakfast! If you read the blog entry, you'll learn there is a shortage of canned pumpkin (which was confirmed when I went seeking it in a few grocery stores). A little cruel to entice with such a recipe only to be unable to make it. However, I did purchase a danish squash and might try making a puree with that and see how it turns out.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusal Rolls

From Back to the Cutting Board

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2nd Meal: Quick and Easy

From Gimme Some Oven

Peach, Chicken and Jack Quesadillas

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This is a great end-of-summer recipe. Peaches are still around in abundance and I love the mixing of sweet and savory. If you have chicken cooked and shredded ahead of time, it'll make it even quicker.

3rd Meal: Ethnic (Possible Vegetarian)

From No Recipes

Curried Ratatouille

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I've never made ratatouille, and wonder if I should start with a traditional version, but this one sounds like it will be delish so here goes! It also is a great late summer dish that utilizes a lot of seasonal vegetables. This can be a vegetarian main course or a side dish. I'm actually planning on adding in some chicken/turkey sausage and serve it with the below recipe.

Grilled Stuffed Naan

From Fine Cooking

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I've never made any kind of homemade bread, so I'm a little nervous to try it. I don't have a grill, but will see if I can get the same results using a grill pan on the stove. I love naan though, so hopefully it works out!

4th Meal: Seafood

From Our Life in the Kitchen

Pecan Crusted Tilapia and Vanilla Rice

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Pecans are definitely my favorite nuts, but I imagine you could use walnuts, almonds, or macadamia nuts if you prefer. There is a sauce recipe in the same blog entry that you can use the for the fish if you so desire. I'm intrigued by the vanilla rice, but will skip the vanilla bean and just use the extract.

5th Meal: Pasta (Vegetarian)

From These Peas are Hollow

Tagliatelle with Brown Butter & Butternut Squash

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I love squash (even as a child it was my favorite vegetable) and I love tagliatelle (if you've never had it go somewhere that serves real Italian and try it), so this pasta dish is right up my alley. In the post, there is a recipe for homemade tagliatelle, but I don't really have the equipment or room to make it. There used to be a gourmet grocery store near me that sold it for a reasonable price, but has since stopped carrying it. Sadly, I may have to substitute it for fettuccine or wide egg noodles.

And since it's both the Mr. and my birthday week, this little number has made its way to the menu. We are both big fans of the peanut butter- chocolate combo, so this should be perfect!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

From Smitten Kitchen

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Happy cooking! Excited to hear from any of you who try these.

Meal Plan Update

Did any of you make an item from the last meal plan post? If so, I'd love to hear about how it turned out, if you liked it or not, etc. Please share!

Heirloom Tomato Tart

The picture for this is just so amazing (the original one -not my picture) that it had a lot to live up to. Did it do it? Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say "no". Now the crust has a lot of butter in it, but before you have a coronary, it does make two crusts. I wrapped half in plastic wrap and foil and put it in the freezer for future use. It was filling, but my husband used the word "rich" to describe it. I'm not sure if that's the right word, but it gets the point across. The combination of the crust and the cheese filling are pretty heavy together and while the tomatoes and arugula do their best to balance them out, they can't quite do it. Although I did like it, I was a little disappointed.

Chipotle Glazed Meatloaf

As I mentioned in the original post, for some reason I just can't make a meatloaf right. I had high hopes for this one, but my track record did not improve. I'm not sure what I did wrong because the meatloaf just wouldn't hold together when I went to cut it. Also, this meatloaf is very SPICY! My husband even thought so and he always orders things "Hot" when we go out. It's mainly the glaze, but the meatloaf definitely has some kick too. Not recommended for the faint of heart (or mouth). Maybe if you took the time to de-seed the chipotle peppers, it would cut out on a lot of the heat. Besides the spiciness and lack of binding, it had good flavor. However, the meatloaf recipe hunt continues.

Spicy Mash

Now these were good. Really, really good. Just the perfect amount of kick. I didn't want raw onions mixed in, so I sautéed them for a few minutes after the butter and spices became fragrant. I will definitely have to make these again! I also made the roasted carrots. They were yummy although I only cooked them for about 30 minutes and they could have used the extra 10.

Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese

Surprisingly, this was probably my favorite meal out of the bunch. I'm not usually "wowed" by pastas, but this one was really good. Once you start eating it, you don't want to stop! I loved the zucchini mixed in and that it still has a bit of crunch to it. Definitely give this one a try if you haven't already.

Pulled Beef Sandwiches with Blackberry Chipotle Sauce

A correction to the original post, I had boneless beef ribs, not pork, in my freezer so I used those. Doing so, I found you need to braise the meat for at least a half hour longer than what you would do for the chicken, but it wouldn't hurt to do another 15-20 on top of that to get it really tender. I made these for a dinner with some friends and they were a hit. The blackberry chipotle sauce is really tasty and just the right amount of heat (very little - although it was too spicy for our 2 year old). I really had no idea what liquid smoke was, but after looking it up on the internet to know what to look for, I found it very easily in the same area as BBQ sauce in the grocery store. Since fresh blackberries weren't on sale, I used frozen blackberries (thawed) and they seemed to work just fine. Also, I didn't strain the sauce, just used my hand blender to puree it really good. I had quite a bit of extra sauce, so I froze it to try on something else later on.

Also, I was surprised that the Cilantro Lime Slaw was so well accepted. My husband loved it and he hates coleslaw. It was a really light and refreshing side dish - and super simple to make!

Creamed Corn with Bacon and Rosemary

This side dish received mixed reviews. I thought it was good, although definitely had a unique flavor, but there were people that left some on their plates, so that speaks for itself. It did have a strong rosemary flavor, so cut back on that if it isn't your thing.

And one final recipe... (in this case it's true that the best is saved for last).

Chipotle Flourless Chocolate Cake

From Simply Recipes

You MUST try this recipe! It is sooooo good (and very simple). It is now one of my favorite dessert recipes. Even if you think you don't like dark chocolate, try this. Don't be scared off by the chili powder - it's so slight that it just adds another dimension to the chocolate. When I made it, I used half semisweet chocolate and half dark chocolate (around 70% cacao I think). Also, I didn't have chipotle chili powder so I just used the regular stuff. Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want to go bake another one right now.

On that sweet note, I'll bid you happy cooking!