Weekly Menu for Feb 4 - Feb 9, 2013

Breakfast
Cinnamon oatmeal; finely diced apples or cantaloupe; mandarins; and greek yogurt

Lunch
Pasta Salad with leftover baked chicken, black olives, cucumber, tomatoes, and pesto served with kiwi or applesauce
Leftovers

Dinner

Grilled Cheese with pesto topped with avocado and spinach and a side of Tomato Soup (3 stars)

Really, this is too much of a staple to not like it but certainly not life changing. I did like the addition of pesto and I cook mine on a really old George Foreman. I don't have a problem with sticking so I usually don't use any butter on the outside either.

Baked Pesto Dinner (4 stars)

We had this in the freezer so it worked perfectly for Cam and I to thaw and bake. For a freezer meal, this is something I want to do again. 

Kashi Frozen Pizza (3 stars)

I wanted a simple, toss in the oven option since it was just two of us. This was on sale and pretty tasty. 

 Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas (4 stars)

I added black olives to the recipe just because I had some on hand. I even made my own vegetable stock for the enchilada sauce. I highly recommend saving your produce scraps in a ziplock bag in the freezer until you have a gallon size bag filled. Then just simmer the scraps in water, strain and freeze. Very easy process with incredible added flavors to simple dishes. 

Disclaimer: Photos are from linked sources; not my own work.

Breakfast Egg, Sausage, and Cheese Bagel

Photo from Once A Month Mom

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Once a Month Mom posted this yummy delight earlier and I knew it would be perfect in the mornings and quick to reheat. I stocked our freezer with 12 with little effort. I'm sure once the baby arrives these will be gone in a flash.

Ingredients:

18 each eggs
2 cups Evaporated milk (you can substitute regular milk if you would like)
Bacon, cooked and chopped or a pound of crumbled breakfast sausage
2 cups vegetables, chopped (I used green onion, mushrooms, and green peppers)
12 slices Cheddar cheese
12 bagels, sliced in half
cooking spray

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add in additional ingredients except bagels. Spray an 9x13 pan and add egg mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the eggs from the oven, stir, and return to oven to bake for another 10-15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool.

2. Cut egg into 12 pieces and add one piece to each bottom of a bagel. Top with sliced cheese and top of bagel. Wrap in plastic wrap. Place in a gallon freezer bag. To serve: Separate the egg and bagel, reheat the egg in microwave and toast your bagel.

Whole Wheat Waffles

Rating: 4 out of 5

We got a fabulous waffle maker from Brian's mom (thank you!!) so we can now leggo our eggos whenever we want! This recipe is courtesy of Tammy's Recipes and was a breeze to whip up. The even better part, I put the batter in the fridge for a day and finished cooking the waffles without any problems. My freezer is now stocked and ready for a week of toasty warm waffles.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, beat wet ingredients and then add to dry, stirring just until moistened.

3. Cook on pre-heated waffle iron until waffles are browned and test done.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Rating: Unknown

I haven't actually had a muffin yet, but they sure smelled good coming out of the oven. We only have two egg muffins left in the freezer so I decided it was time to try out a new recipe from Annie's Eats. I still wanted some protein in the muffin but also wanted it to be a bit more fun, so this fit the bill perfectly. 

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
½ cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each to the top.

4. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Egg Muffins

Rating 3 out of 5

I wanted a quick, on-the-go breakfast option so I thought egg muffins would do the trick. Although these are tasty and easy out of the freezer, I think I can find a better recipe. Ideally, something like an Egg McMuffin. The cleanup for us is also a big minus for this dish. My muffin pan is still soaking in the sink two days later.

Ingredients

10-12 eggs
2 T fat free half and half (we just used milk)
1-2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 1/2- 2 cups diced meat: canadian bacon, ham, cooked sausage (we used sausage)
1 1/2- 2 cups grated cheese (we used cheddar)
Optional, but highly recommended, 3 green onions diced small (we didn't use)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Use regular or silicone muffin pan, 12 muffin size. If using silicone pan, spray with nonstick spray. If using regular muffin pan, put two paper liners into each slot, then spray liner with nonstick spray.

3. In the bottom of the muffin cups layer diced meat, cheese and green onions. You want the muffin cups to be 3/4 full, with just enough room to pour a little egg around the other ingredients.

4. Beat eggs well with the half and half (you could use milk). Pour egg into each muffin cup until it is full to the brim, nearly overflowing.

5. Bake 25-30 minutes until muffins have risen above the rim of the muffin cups and are slightly browned and set.

Freezer Directions

After baking the muffins, flash freeze and then bag. Once ready, pull out muffins and microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Rating 4 out of 5

This is a cross between cinnamon rolls and sopapillas. It was time-consuming but worth the wait. It's not something we will make on a regular basis but it was a perfect compliment to our easy bacon, egg, and cheese burritos. The recipe is from Annies Eats (again).

Ingredients
For the dough:
2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed (we used Wheat flour)
¼ cup granulated sugar
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
½ tsp. salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
¼ cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg


Directions
1. To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.

2. Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted.  Set aside and let cool briefly, until the mixture registers 115-125˚ F on an instant-read thermometer.

3. Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms.  Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky. Knead about 3-5 minutes.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.  (After the dough has doubled, it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.  Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before proceeding.)

5. Towards the end of the dough rising, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned.  Set aside.  Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.

6. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate.

7. Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes.

8. Roll the dough out into an approximately 12 x 20-inch rectangle.

9. Brush the dough with the browned butter.  Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer.  (Yes, really, use all of it.)

10. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

11. Slice the dough vertically into 6 even strips. Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices. (You basically want strips that are the same height and width of your pan)

12. Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.

13. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.)

14. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate.  Serve warm with breakfast burritos.