I saw this idea in a Taste of Home magazine this past week and knew that it would be perfect to go with the oven roasted salmon (that I just posted).   Here’s what I did….be creative

Green Beans Provencal

Serves 6

• 1 pound green beans
• 1 cup cherry tomato halves
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced thinly
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. olive oil

In non-stick skillet heat oil, add garlic and onion slices.  Add green beans and basil (and if necessary a little water to keep green beans from sticking and burning).  Saute until green beans and cooked to your liking.  Add cherry tomatoes, toss a couple of times and then turn the heat off.  Serve.

On Thurs of this past week I made oven roasted salmon filets using my friend Andrea’s recipe.   The week before one of our friends went salmon fishing and brought me some amazing salmon fillets….just enough for a dinner for our family.   It was the absolute perfect amount of fish, and was probably THE BEST salmon I’ve ever eaten.   It was very fatty and so smooth and wonderful.   Oh my!   The fish was very much enhanced by the seasoning/sauce……ok, so enough “talking”…..now onto the recipe.

Oven Roasted Salmon Fillets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• salmon filets
• kosher salt
• pepper
• garlic
• dried dill weed
• mayonnaise

Place salmon fillets on baking sheet or in baking dish.  Sprinkle with  salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and dried dill weed.   Spread a layer of mayonnaise on the top and sides of each salmon filet (the seasoning will mix in with the mayo).

Bake in oven for 15-20  minutes or until they are fully cooked and flaking apart.

I served this with barley pilaf and a very yummy green bean dish (I will post that recipe next).   It was definitely a hit with the whole family, even our non-salmon eaters

Well part of this week will be more proteins from the freezer and grains from the pantry.   This  week is also H’s birthday (on Friday) and we are having family over for dinner on Thurs….we will be celebrating H’s birthday as well as Auntie P’s birthday (her birthday is on Tues).   The weather is supposed to cool off this week too, so I’m looking forward to doing some baking.   I have several friends that I really want to bless with some homemade yumminess this week   Plus I REALLY want to get in the habit of baking again.   My family deserves it!

So here’s the menu plan:

Sunday, 9/27/09

• burgers with grilled onions
• oven roasted potatoes
• green salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and whatever other veggies I can find in the fridge

Monday, 9/28/09

• shredded beef tacos
• green salad
• corn on the cob OR  glazed carrot slices

Tuesday, 9/29/09

• salsbury steak OR roasted sticky chicken
• multi-grain pilaf
• corn on the cob OR glazed carrot slices (whichever one we don’t make on Monday)
• sourdough spelt rolls

Wednesday, 9/30/09

• chili colorado
• tortillas
• tex-mex cole slaw

Thursday, 10/1/09

• HORS D’OEVRES–mini caprese salad skewers, hot artichoke dip with wheat thin crackers, and POSSIBLY stuffed mushrooms
• DINNER FOR THE BIRTHDAY GIRLS–2 lasagnas…one meat and cheese and the other veggie lasagna
• caesar salad
• garlic bread
• birthday cake and ice cream

Friday, 10/2/09  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET H GIRL!!!!!

• H’s choice!
• Dessert will also be H’s choice (I’m secretly hoping for Marie Calendar’s pie :))
• Chicken Parmesan with WHITE spaghetti noodles (not whole wheat please)
• green bean casserole (and no other vegetables, please :))
• caesar salad (if I HAVE to have a salad)
• garlic bread
• cantaloupe
• pie from Marie Callendars (triple cream blueberry)

About a week and half ago I made a wonderful roast in the crockpot.   It was fantastic!   I am not sure if I have shared a recipe on here before or not for how I do my roasts in the crockpot.   This time I used a cross rib roast, but you can really use any inexpensive roast.  Here’s what I did……in my 7 quart crockpot I put a layer of baby yukon gold potatoes (they were small enough that I left them whole), 1 pound of carrots cut into 2 inch chunks and seasoned those with fresh garlic, salt & pepper.  I VERY GENEROUSLY slathered my cross rib roast with fresh garlic (probably about 3 tablespoons of the stuff from the jar), and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Placed it on top of the veggies, turned the crockpot to HIGH and let it cook for 5 hours. No liquid. I rarely use liquid when I’m cooking meats in my crockpot unless it is a recipe with a sauce. SO, at the end of the 5 hours I took out my perfectly falling apart roast, and spooned out the veggies and what remained was about 2 cups of beautifully seasoned pure beef broth. I put in about 3 tablespoons of a cornstarch slurry and had instant gravy. DELISH!!!!

This past Monday I made a large batch of refried beans in my crockpot.   I used my immersion blender to make quick work of pureeing them, but if you like whole beans or chunky beans you can leave them whole or remove some and mash them and then add them back into the whole batch.    Part of the batch of  beans was used for dinner that night to go with our tamales, another part of the batch was used to make the tostada casserole on Wed night, and the remainder went into the freezer for future meals.   I love cooking something once and getting multiple meals from my efforts!   Woo hoo!!!!

Large Batch Refried (or not :))  Beans (crockpot recipe)

• 2 pounds dried pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
• 1 large onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 tbsp. cumin powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp.diced jalapenos (I use canned, but you can use 1 whole fresh pepper sliced or diced if you’d prefer)
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce

Soak beans in crockpot overnight.   In the morning drain water and rinse beans.  Place beans back in crockpot and add all other ingredients.  Barely cover with water.  Cook on high for 8-10 hours.   When beans are cooked through, check seasoning and adjust as necessary and mash, blend, however you choose to treat them :)   Serve and enjoy!  Let cool completely before freezing.

I made this last Sunday for our parent meeting for the youth department at our church.

Crockpot Bean and Bacon Soup

I used a 4 quart  crockpot.

• 1 pound navy beans, sorted & rinsed
• 1/2 pound bacon, diced and cooked until crispy
• 3 whole carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tsp. chicken boullion powder
• pinch of red pepper flakes

Soak navy beans overnight.  Drain and rinse, then place in crockpot.   Add all veggies, chicken boullion powder, red pepper flakes, and pour water over everything to cover by about 1 1/2-2 inches.   Sprinkle cooked bacon over the top, cover with lid and cook on high for 6-8 hours.

It can cause you to buy $7 worth of chicken leg quarters (at $0.69 per pound), and cook them up for lunch for chicken and veggies for lunch, the remaining chicken picked off the bones to be used for chicken salad sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunches.   The bones, skin, and $1 worth of veggies and a cup of vinegar went back into my 18 quart electric roaster with 3 gallons of water, and simmered away for 18 hours to make LOTS of flavorful, and nutrient rich chicken stock for future meals and soups.

It can also cause you to buy $11 worth of beef back ribs (at $0.99 per pound) and roasting them, picking off the meat for tacos, and then putting the bones, another $1 worth of veggies, and another cup of vinegar again and of course another 3 gallons of water, back into the 18 quart electric roaster.  Simmer for 12 hours, and you get a very rich flavorful beef stock that has more calcium and minerals than you can shake a stick at!    It’s all in the freezer in 2 cup portions just waiting to be made into wonderful, delicious meals.

That’s what happens when you read the ingredients on a can of chicken broth that you innocently picked up to make barley pilaf!   Anyone else do that?

This week I am using meats and proteins from the pantry and freezer.   The produce will come from my CSA basket which is delivered on Monday, and I am determined to bake this week!   I haven’t baked breads since the spring, and I am going to bake bread this week even though it will be in the high 90s and low 100s all week.     I have sourdough starter going right now, and am going to do play with that this week, as well as making our standard whole wheat and multi-grain breads.   I’ll do breads as needed this week, not scheduling a specific day for baking like I used to…..my days are too full to do that.   I’d rather bake when I really want to

So, here’s the menu plan for this week:

Sunday, 9/20

• soups leftover from the youth parent lunch meeting today (I was SOOO glad to have leftovers! )
• bread
• salad

Monday, 9/21

•  beef tamales
• beans
• mexican rice
• salad
• corn on cob or other veggies

Tues, 9/22

•  roasted turkey
• cornbread
• smashed potatoes or potato salad
• veggies
• salad

Wed, 9/23

• easy tostada casserole
• green salad
• fruit

Thurs, 9/24

• panko crusted salmon filets (using freshly caught salmon from a friend of ours!)
• quinoa pilaf
• veggies

Friday, 9/25

• caprese salad
• spaghetti with marinara or bolognese sauce
• sourdough french bread
• cupcakes or brownies for dessert

As many of my longtime friends and readers know, I have dealt with chronic vertigo for 8 1/2 years.  It comes and goes, but the past 2 years it has gotten to be more persistent and lasting longer per “episode”.    I really had learned to live with it, and have adjusted my life to incorporate it into my life.    Well, through a series of events that actually began 3 1/2 years ago, one of my best friends from high school and I have gotten back in touch with one another and when our oldest daughter R hurt her back in May he took on a new role in the life of our family.   He became our chiropractor.   I have been taking R to Dr. M through the entire summer, and he has asked me at every appt how I’m feeling, etc.   Well, about 3 weeks ago, he and I were chatting on facebook and I mentioned that my vertigo had been going on for about 3 weeks and that I was also having problems with my neck and that I felt like I was falling apart.   I asked if he thought he could help me and he said he’d like to try, so I made an appt for the next week when R was going in again.    He adjusted my upper back and neck and within 4 hours I was completely symptom free!   I am praising God for the healing that has come through the hands of one of His people.   I have been(mostly) symptom free for nearly 3 weeks now and am feeling great!    I say mostly because this morning during the music portion of our worship service, the music was very loud, and I started feeling dizzy.   I’m going to try to get an appointment with my family practitioner to have my ears checked and see if there might be a reason why when the loud music was going I was dizzy, but once the service was done, I was fine.     But I am so excited to be feeling so great after so many years of dealing with this

I made these for dinner on Friday night and served it with steamed rice.   It was DELICIOUS!!!!     Really enjoyed the recipe.

Crockpot Sweet & Sour Meatballs
from Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook

original recipe serves 4, I’m posting this as I made it…to serve 8 (we had some leftovers that D used to make meatball sandwiches for lunch today)

2 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tsp. worcestershire sauce

Sauce:
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 tbsp. cornstarch
2 13 1/4 oz. can unsweetened pinapple chunks, undrained
2/3 cup vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar, because that is what I had)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 bell peppers, cut into chunks
2 medium onions, sliced
2/3 cup water

1. Combine meatball ingredients. SHape into 3/4-1″ balls. Brown in nonstick skillet. Drain. Place in slow cooker.

2. Add brown sugar and cornstarch to skillet. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, stirring contanstantly. Pour over meatballs.

3. Cover. Cook on low 3-4 hours.

This was truly deliicious and every one of us enjoyed it! We served it with steamed rice, but the leftovers even made great meatlball sandwiches.