Monday, November 15, 2010

Menu Plan

This week:

Monday
Roast Beef
Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic
Glazed Carrots
Buttered Peas
Cole slaw
Rolls

Tuesday
French Chicken in a Pot
Rice pilaf
Broccoli with cheese sauce

Wednesday
French Dip Stromboli
JoJo Potatoes
Salad

Thursday
Homemade Pizza
Veggie Sticks and Dip

Friday
Sausage and Egg Casserole
Maple Streusel Muffins

Saturday
Leftovers for lunch, dinner with friends?

Sunday
Pasta with Pesto Alfredo Sauce and Chicken

Basic Sweet Dough

This one is a no-brainer: it's a recipe from America's Test Kitchen (foolproof), it's easy (thankyouverymuch), and it is perfect for any sweet dough application, like sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns, or Entenmann's-like danish. Oh, the deliciousness.

This basic recipe makes enough dough for three Entenmann's-sized danishes. My favorites are cream cheese and cinnamon (additional recipes to follow).

But here's where it all begins...

Basic Sweet Dough

3/4 c. buttermilk (or clabbered milk), warm
6 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled until just warm
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) yeast
1 tsp. salt

Whisk together the buttermilk, butter, and eggs.

In a large bowl, whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the buttermilk mixture and mix until the dough comes together. (I use a stand mixer for this, but if you don't have one, you can always do it by hand--it'll just mean more kneading)

Let your stand mixer mix the dough on medium-low for 10 minutes, or knead by hand for 10-15 minutes, adding flour as needed.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured counter top until it's smooth and elastic--about 1 minute. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

How you proceed depends on what you're making next; I divide it into three even portions when I'm making danishes/coffee cakes, but use the whole recipe of dough to make a 9x13 pan of sticky buns or cinnamon rolls.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Menu Plan

Coming soon: Recipe for homemade danish (my new obsession)

This week's menu plan:

Monday
Breaded Pan-fried Pork Chops
Green Bean Casserole

Tuesday
Chicken and Spinach Three-Cheese Stuffed Shells

Wednesday
French Dip Sandwiches
Potato Wedges
Salad

Thursday
Egg Rolls (holdover from last week)
Fried Rice
OR
Beef/Veggie Stir-fry

Friday
Kielbasa
Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Crock Pot Chicken-In-A-Pot
Glazed Carrots
Herbed Noodles

Monday, November 1, 2010

Menu Plan

I'm actually excited about this week's menu plan, which is a nice change! The kids and I went to the grocery store to pick up a prescription today and spent some time meandering the aisles, during which time I was reminded of a whole bunch of stuff I love, but haven't made in a while.

Here's this week's plan. But since there are a few TBA events this week, I've elected not to assign days to the meals; they'll just have to work themselves out according to how much time we have at home!

Taco Night
Spicy Shredded Beef
Mexican Rice
Refried Beans
Tortillas and fixins

Greeky Night
Greek chicken pita sandwiches (on Naan)
Greeky Greek Roasted Potatoes
Zataar and olive oil for dipping (not Greek, I know. but still good)

Italian Night (kinda)
Roasted Chicken w/ pesto vinaigrette
Spicy Orzo
Grilled Romaine Salad

Asian Night
Homemade Egg Rolls
Asian Chicken Wings
Sesame noodles, Lo mein-style

Tex-Mex Aberration Night
3-Bean Chili with cheese and sour cream
Elbow Mac or Rice (depends on my mood)