I am currently recovering from a no-sleep week, so this week's menu reflects a little bit of that laziness! This week's menu is also a nod to the cooler weather we have in store for this week. Finally, comfort food sounds good again. Hello, fall food! I've missed you.

Monday
Beef and Peas over Savory Herb Noodles

Tuesday
Steak
Baked Potatoes
Salad with homemade croutons

Wednesday
Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday
Hot Chicken Salad
Salad

Friday
Ribs
Baked Mac n Cheese
Corn Dish

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Chinese takeout, hopefully!

Spicy Orzo

A girl I know had cravings for Long John Silvers' hush puppies when she was pregnant. Ordinarily, this wouldn't seem odd. But she had, in fact, never eaten a hush puppy before in her life, so the sudden desire for them was inexplicable. It turned out that she loved them. Go figure.

I am no longer pregnant, but I can totally relate with the inexplicable-craving phenomenon. I once craved sweet-n-sour sauce even though I'd never had it before, and I, too, loved it. It was as if my taste buds had become ready for it and let me know when it was time. A similar thing happened with this dish: I woke up one morning craving orzo. I'd had orzo before, and all it is is rice-shaped pasta, so it was strange that I would crave orzo and not a pasta more familiar to me, like farfalle or rotini. But there it was: I HAD TO HAVE orzo.

Wouldn't you know it? I couldn't find orzo anywhere. I didn't think it was that uncommon of an item until I was craving it and couldn't find it in any store I visited. I even visited stores I don't usually frequent in the hope that they would carry these tiny little bits of pasta that were driving me slowly insane. They didn't.

Then some WEEKS later, when the craving had subsided, I was making my routine pass through the pasta aisle, and there they were, plain as day. Maybe they had been there all the time. I will never know. But I was still ready for them, so I purchased three boxes. I didn't want to be caught craving them with no recourse.

I still didn't know what I wanted to do with the orzo, but garlic sounded good. And butter. And my garden was exploding with basil; that sounded pretty good, too. And you know what else? Heat. Heat sounded good. When all is said and done, this recipe is probably closer to authentic Aglio e Olio than my actual Aglio e Olio recipe. But I think it works better here in this application with orzo than it would with any other pasta. The resulting dish is creamy, reminiscent of a risotto, with a lot of heat and flavor. AND it only takes about 12 minutes to make! Now, not only is the original orzo-something-or-other craving satisfied, but I've created a new item for me to crave. Let's get started, shall we?

Spicy Orzo

3 Tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed or very finely chopped
1/8-1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (depending on your preferred heat level)
ground black pepper
1 1/2 c. uncooked orzo
2 c. chicken stock or broth
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. finely chopped fresh basil, or 1 Tbsp dried basil

Melt butter in a saucepan and add garlic, dried red pepper flakes, black pepper, and he dried basil (if using--if you're using fresh, WAIT.). Saute over low-ish medium heat for about 30 seconds, just to infuse the butter with the flavors, then add the orzo. Saute for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Slowly pour the chicken stock into the orzo mixture, and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for about 8 minutes, or until the stock is nearly absorbed and orzo is tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat, stir in parmesan and fresh basil (if using), and serve immediately. You may add a tablespoon or two of olive oil if you wish to keep the grains more separate or don't plan to serve it in the next three minutes.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Menu what?

Hello mom! Yes, I have not posted plans in two weeks. Last week, I was simply too lazy to come up with one, but here were some highlights: Scalloped potatoes with ham, Taco soup with cilantro-lime rice, and pot roast with carrots and garlic and dill potatoes. Also, we had a County Fair meal which I will blog about later. Fall is here, no matter what the thermometer says.

This week is a different story. This week a deadline I had not been thinking about presented itself. Also, I have a bushel of corn shoved into my fridge awaiting its time for freezing. Yesterday afternoon, I babysat for a friend's kids. And last night, I was up until 1:45 with kids who were having sleeping/obedience issues. So far this week's meal highlights have been take-and-bake pizza, frozen pizza, frozen chicken nuggets, and Kraft mac'n'cheese, and I sense that similar things will show up on the menu later this week, too.

But after the craziness subsides, I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things with some smoked and grilled spareribs with my homemade BBQ rub, chicken pot pie, steak and smashed potatoes, fruit-glazed pork filets with herbed noodles, and Korean braised short ribs. I also need to make about 12 more batches of pesto to freeze, and we'll probably have a chicken/pesto cream sauce/pine nut/parmesan pasta dish to use some of it up. And I've been dreaming about a chicken gyro I had at the fair, and the delicious oregano/garlic/butter potatoes that came with it. I'll probably try to tackle those soon, too. Oh, man. I can't wait.

But I have to wait. I have other things to tackle this week, and I wouldn't enjoy cooking with guilt.

Back soon, and I've got some recipes up my sleeve, including a really tasty tzatziki sauce and a spicy orzo dish that is my new favorite! I've also noticed some gaping holes in my recipe collection that need to be plugged with some of our family favorites, like taco soup and chicken pot pie. So when time allows it again, I'll get those up! See you then!

Magnum Opus

Last night, I went nuts and made a meal for our history books. To quote Abe, "I love it when we have ribs, grilled chicken, red potatoes and green beans, baked beans, fresh corn, corn muffins, and a peach and blueberry tart...on a Thursday."

It started out simply--I had a rack of ribs that I wanted to smoke on our charcoal grill, and I thought I'd pair them with some baked beans, fresh corn (because I'm freezing bushels of it this week), and corn muffins. Then I decided to invite Abe's sister's family over, so I added the other stuff to the menu. It is probably Abe's favorite meal of all of the meals I have prepared for him thus far.

Along the way, I tried some new recipes (like a bbq rub and the potato and green bean dish, and the ribs themselves) andd perfected some old ones (like the barbecue sauce and grilled chicken) and I will be posting them shortly! Stay tuned!

Post-Labor Day Menu Plan

Labor Day. It's a funny holiday, really. It was first conceived to honor workers who labor for the union (like my hubby), but in recent years, I've seen lots of Happy Labor Day commercials that honor mothers who have gone through labor (me--three times). In reality, it's really a farewell-to-summer celebration and has nothing to do with either of the above anymore. Do you ever take a moment during YOUR cookout to remember your local Union leaders? Probably not.

This year's labor day, for us, featured a lot of actual labor. My house was a mess and people were coming over, so I labored all morning to get it picked up. And my hubby had several friends and family members over to help him labor on the house--namely, putting up the trim on the windows, a step that precedes siding installation. And there was no cookout. We had Subway sandwiches for lunch. And really, we had Subway sandwiches for dinner, because "lunch" didn't happen until about 4. Then our renter and his fiancee had a grilled pizza/nacho fest in our backyard that night, which we totally crashed. So no cooking for me yesterday! Viva Organized Labor and ambitious renters!

Without further ado, here's the plan for today and the rest of this week.

Tuesday (it's gonna be a hot one today)
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Caprese Salad
Chips

Wednesday
Strawberry Grilled Chicken Salad with feta, almonds, onion and raspberry vinaigrette over Organic Herb Mix greens

Thursday
Ribs (forgot to thaw them last week)
Baked Beans
Peach Cobbler

Friday
Burgers
Oven Fries tossed with fresh dill

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Pasta Salad with leftover chicken, basil, shredded mozarella, and grape tomatoes

Menu Plan Monday

Sorry about last week. It was Thursday before I realized I hadn't posted my menu plan, and by then, I figured it was too late anyway. Here's what's on deck for this week:

Monday
Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops
Salad
Cheesy Herb Loaf

Tuesday
Crock Pot Smoked Sausage
Crock Pot Potatoes
Roasted Green Beans

Wednesday
Turkey Club Sandwiches on Homemade Challah
Caesar Salad
Peach Cobbler

Thursday
Ribs
Baked Beans
Broccoli Salad

Friday
Barbecued Chicken
Dilly Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Melon

Menu Plan Monday

A couple of holdovers this week after plans changed last week. Nothing earth-shattering, just family favorites! Have a great week!

Monday
Aglio e Olio with Chicken
Salad

Tuesday
Stuffed Burgers
Grilled Yukon Golds
Sauteed Zucchini with garlic

Wednesday
Calzones
Watermelon

Thursday
EATING OUT!!!

Friday
Brinner:
Pancakes
Bacon
Hashbrown casserole
Strawberries

Saturday
Leftovers/Sandwiches, etc. (Clean out the fridge day!)

Sunday
Subway sandwiches

Menu Plan Monday

...on Tuesday. A wonderful friend of mine gave us a gift card for maid service for after our baby was born. Today, I redeemed that gift card. How nice that things got clean in my absence! Alas, they do not de-clutter, so I spent most of yesterday just trying to get things to their rightful put-away places. Menu Plan Monday fell by the wayside.

I do have a plan, though. I have to--this weekend, we're hosting my brother, sister-in-law, and their son, and also my Mom and Dad. I've got to get my ducks in a row when I'm cooking for a crowd.

Monday
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Mac n Cheese
Broccoli Slaw

Tuesday
Turkey Tenderloin
Potatoes Au Gratin
Salad

Wednesday
Clean-out-the-fridge night

Thursday
Calzones

Friday
Breakfast: Hashbrown casserole, melon
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad
Dinner:Chicken Verde Burritos
Black Beans
Yellow Rice

Saturday
Breakfast: Sausage and Cheddar Quiche, Blueberries, Toast
Lunch: Sandwiches, Chips, Cookies, etc.
Dinner: Grill out-fest: Brats, Italian Sausage, Potato Salad, Baked Beans

Sunday
Breakfast: Bagels, Cereal, etc.
Lunch: Aglio e Olio w/ Chicken
Dinner: Pizza? Chinese? Some sort of takeout

Naan (Indian Flatbread)

Generally speaking, I like to prepare things that my husband will enjoy eating. The kids, after all, are at that stage where they don't really care about food enjoyment--if it's not candy, it's only good to sustain life. (Unless we're talking about McNuggets, which is a different story.) Anyway, I happen to know that one of my husband's all-time favorite sandwiches is a Chicken Pesto sandwich from a local restaurant. I've had the sandwich, and it's good, but it's basic--nothing that couldn't be re-created at home. So this week, I sought out to do that very thing.

The sandwich consists of grilled chicken, pesto, salad greens, and diced tomatoes (which my husband skips), all sandwiched between two pieces of flatbread. Well, grilled chicken is easy enough. Salad greens? Just snip some from the garden. As for pesto? Well, see this other post. I added thin slices of fresh mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes (for me and for the kids), because you can't go wrong with the mozzarella/tomato/pesto combination. That left the flatbread.

I didn't want to purchase flatbread because HELLO, have you seen the prices on that sort of thing? Besides, how hard can it be to make? I remembered a recipe I had tried back in the day from a very old Fleischman's Yeast promotional recipe booklet--called "Arab Bread," it was the nearest thing I've ever had to a flatbread I ate while on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in high school. It was good, but I thought that it might be a bit too thick and dense for a sandwich. Then I thought of Naan. I'd seen it in the grocery store, and I knew that it is traditionally served with Indian cuisine (which I don't like). It looked thin, but substantial enough to hold together for a sandwich--in short, perfect for this application. The main drawback, again, was that it was so blooming expensive, I couldn't justify purchasing it. I'd have to try to make it.

I went online to Allrecipes.com, my go-to for recipe basics, and sorted Naan recipes by rating. The recipe I chose to try was the highest rated recipe, which even readers from Naan-eating countries deemed closest to the real thing. I made the dough on Tuesday for Grilled Pizza and liked it so much, I made it again on Thursday for my Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwiches. The long and the short of it is this: Abe actually thought this sandwich was better than its restaurant-originated counterpart, due in large part to the bread. As a matter of fact, as I was finishing up this post, Abe came home from work, rummaged furiously through the fridge and asked, "Do we have any more of that bread??"

I do not take a compliment from Abe very lightly. This recipe is a keeper! It's also EASY, even if you don't have a mixer suitable for making bread--the dough is very soft and pliable, very easy to work with. And the cooking time is brief--the bread cooks on the stove top, so there's no need to heat your oven or your house. For me, this is a big plus in summertime! So there you have it. I don't like Indian food, except for Naan. Please give this wonderful flatbread a try! It's super for sandwiches, for grilled pizza, or just for eating with spreads like hummus, if you like that sort of thing. Go forth with confidence.

Note: I've just looked over the instructions, and man, am I WORDY. But read through it, and you'll see that even though I used a lot of words to describe the process, it's still really simple. Don't be put off my my inability to self-edit.

Naan
adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pkg. yeast (approx. 2 1/4 tsp)
1 c. warm water
1/4 c. sugar, divided (1 Tbsp. and 3 Tbsp.)
3 Tbsp. milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
approx. 4 1/2 c. bread flour*
melted butter
1 tsp. garlic powder

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the warm water and the sugar. Sprinkle yeast over surface of water to moisten, and wait about 5-10 minutes for it to "proof," or get foamy. If it doesn't get foamy, try again--this means your yeast has DIED. RIP.

In the meantime, whisk together the milk and the egg. Combine the remaining 3 Tbsp. sugar, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. When the yeast is done proofing, dump in the milk mixture and combine, then dump in the sugar mixture, and stir to combine. Then begin adding flour. *I don't even measure the flour at this point, because the important thing is just to add in flour until the mixture forms a dough and pulls away from the side of the bowl. I seriously doubt I use 4 1/2 cups, as the recipe calls for, but you'll want to have this much on hand just in case, I suppose.

When you've stirred in as much flour as it will incorporate, knead the dough a few times on the counter just to get it smooth and not sticky. Transfer to an oiled bowl and turn to coat (or just brush it with a little oil). Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour, or until it's doubled in size. [I like to fill a 2 c. measuring cup with water and bring it to a boil in the microwave, then put the dough into the micro. with the hot water, and let it rise there--using this method, I only let it rise 45 minutes, and it's already doubled]

After it has doubled, turn it out on a floured countertop and flatten it, then divide it into 6-8 pieces (depending on how large you want your bread). Shape the pieces into balls, spray with a bit of oil or non-stick spray, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 30 minutes.

Right before you're ready to cook the bread, melt the butter and mix in the garlic powder.

Now, the fun part: heat up a griddle or a large non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Stretch your dough into flatbreads--make them very thin, because they'll puff up quite a bit! Toss the bread right onto the griddle or pan, cook for about 2-3 minutes, then flip, and cook for 2-3 more. Most of the dough will still be very light in color, but it will have darker spots where it bubbled and had contact with the pan. Remove from the pan and brush with the butter. Repeat as needed.

NOW. Last night, I only used half the dough, used the grill side of my griddle pan, and made four nearly dinner plate-sized breads, which I folded in half for the sandwiches. It took all of 10 minutes to cook the bread, and we served it warm. If you're using it for a crowd or for pizza, go ahead and use all the dough--even when I only used 3/4 of the recipe, it made 3 large pizzas. But it's so yummy, you may want to make it all, because then you can snack on it. It's that good.

Pesto

Yet another entry from the "I Thought It Would Be Gross" files. I first had pesto on a sandwich called St. Basil's Delight at a cute little restaurant in Grand Rapids called The Brittany Cafe. Just down a block or two from my place of employment, "The Brit" was a frequent lunch destination for us. We had plenty of opportunity to try menu items, and I personally wouldn't have ordered this one on my own, but my colleague and roommate, Beth, ordered the St. Basil and let me try a bite. I believe I said something along the lines of, "Basil, where have you been all my life?" or "Humminahumminahummina."

Armed with the knowledge that I liked pesto, I felt confident ordering a pesto dish at another Grand Rapids restaurant, this time the Bistro Bella Vita. Bistro Bella Vita is a little swankier than The Brit, so the fact that the pesto/pasta dish was the cheapest thing on the menu also influenced my decision to order. Thankfully, this combination of roasted chicken, bow tie pasta, toasted pine nuts, and a pesto cream sauce was magically delicious. At that point, having tried pesto in a sandwich and on pasta, and having liked it quite well in both instances, I added pesto to the list of Things I Like to Eat, and began seeking it out.

It was only natural, then, that I would want to try to make my own pesto. This summer, with our garden full to bursting with basil, seemed the perfect time to try it. I used this recipe, and it did not disappoint--I've eaten pesto on various foodstuffs three times in the past week. And with the stockpile of pesto I've already frozen using this recipe, I plan to keep on enjoying it for a long time.

Pesto

1 garlic clove
1/4 c. pine nuts or walnuts, toasted in a dry skillet
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 c. basil leaves
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1/4-1/3 c. olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, whirl the garlic clove (sometimes I use more cloves if they're small), nuts, cheese, and basil together until it forms a stiff paste. Then, with the blade running, drizzle in the olive oil until it forms a slightly less-thick paste.

Pesto is great on a sandwich or pizza. To use it with pasta, combine it with about 1/2 c. of the pasta cooking water to thin it out a bit, then toss it with the pasta, and serve.

Yum! Give it a try!