Weekly Menu

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Good food, good people, good conversation.  Then on to Black Friday (maybe you opted outside instead?) and Small Business Saturday to get your Christmas shopping started.  Then maybe some decorating and cookie baking?  

       

Looking forward to having a normal week of meals this week.  No soups because I'm finally over that darn cold (except for a little lingering cough) and no big meals focused around a giant bird.  We can focus on cooking up some of our favorites this week.  Here's my plan...

salmon burger and crispy potatoes

pizza night

cheesy fajita couscous and enchilada chicken

lamb sliders

broccoli frittata and hash browns

What are you planning to make?

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Weekly Menu

What an awful time of year to get sick! I have that darn cold that seems to be going around and it is quite a doozy of a cold. Hopefully my appetite returns for the biggest food day of the year! 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, you may be on the hunt for some last minute sides recipes. If I can be of some assistance (while coughing my head off), here are a couple crowd pleasers...

crispy roast potatoes - for if you're trying to avoid the mashed potato route
butternut leek soup - serving a first course at Thanksgiving, now that's fancy
brussel sprout gratin - so many brussel haters out there, this will surely convert them
stuffing muffins - two sides in one!  stuffing and the bread basket
butternut mac and cheese - because who can resist mac and cheese??

On this day that is centered around food (and thanks, of course) that home cooks and food lovers look forward to for weeks, I hope everything turns out delicious and your Thanksgiving is filled with good people and fun memories!

As far as meal planning for the rest of the week...  Well my meal plan is the same as last week's due to this annoying cold and some late nights at work which resulted in lots of soup and a quick BIBIBOP run.  What are you planning to make this week?

sausage stuffed acorn squash and broccoli
pizza night
butternut mac and cheese and salad
spaghetti squash and meatballs

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Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash - total time 40 minutes

The fun thing about eating more seasonally (besides eating foods when they're in their absolute prime and tastiness) is that you have something to look forward to every season which keeps your meal plans fresh too. Now that we're halfway into fall, I have a counter full of squash begging to be roasted! There are so many to choose from, they come in all shapes and flavors. You might already have a few butternut recipes, but here's a new acorn squash recipe to add to your fall meal planning arsenal.

This is the perfect comfort food when the temperatures start to dip. Sausage has that smokey flavor that pairs just right with acorn squash. The addition of sage just completes the fall flavors. Baking the sausage in the squash is super cute presentation that is great for a dinner party or a fancy Thanksgiving. It's also pretty easy! :)


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Weekly Menu

It's been a tough weekend on the soul, hearing about the details that happened in Paris and Beirut.  Innocent people in everyday circumstances... eating at restaurants, enjoying a concert, watching a sporting event... it's hard to process or understand the hate.  How do you respond without fear or more hatred, but in a way that is strong and prevents future attacks?  Maybe it is to resume everyday life, but in a different, more cautious way... not really sure.

So this weekend was spent with close friends and family over good meals, coffee, cookies, and zoo lights.

 

 

 

This week's meal plan is a short list because the Thanksgiving festivities start this Friday.  Here's my plan, what's yours?

sausage stuffed acorn squash and brussel sprouts
pizza night
butternut mac and cheese and salad
spaghetti squash and meatballs

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How to Cook Pata Tim Easily

Try this recipe and you will not regret :-). Simple and easy but you can add some star aniseed and bok choy (pechay). I caramelized the sugar for its aroma and thickness of the sauce, but if you don't want to do it this way it's alright.Enjoy your cooking.

Ingredients:
1 pork leg  (pata)
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 tablespoons sugar or according to your taste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 cups water (add if needed) 
1 tablespoon pepper corn (pamintang buo)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. In a big pot, put the sugar over medium heat then caramelized it, after caramelizing the sugar, add the soy sauce, pineapple juice, pepper corn, garlic, water and the pork leg then cook over medium heat until tender.
2. When it's tender, add the oyster sauce and stir well, let it simmer for few minutes then add salt and pepper if needed, allow to simmer for a minute then turn off the heat.
3. Serve hot with a big smile :-).

If the pork leg takes time to cook just add water and allow to simmer until tender, then when almost done cooking increase the heat to high to evaporate it to thicken the sauce.

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Weekly Menu

Back from a weekend in Cleveland celebrating my cousin's wedding!  We went up a day early to meander around town a bit since it has change a little since the last time I spent much time there staying at my aunt's house during the summer when my sister and I were in elementary school.  This time we went and checked out some breweries; Nano Brew, Platform Beer Co., and Fat Head's Brewery.  We also met up with some friend at Jack Flaps in Ohio City, where the menu says their pancakes are sweet and they are certainly not kidding about that, they're pretty much dessert!

Cleveland is such an interesting city.  I would loved to have seen it in its prime!  Now it has several areas that are thriving again with breweries and restaurants opening all of the time... but you still have those areas of abandon warehouses and run down neighborhoods reminding us that the rust belt struggle is real.  

 

  

  

 

Now that we're back in the Cbus and it's the start of another week, time for the meal plan...

sticky drumsticks and irish nachos
sloppy joes and steamed broccoli
crab legs with garlic mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts
shrimp tacos
chicken parm with caesar salad

What are you planning to make?

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Weekly Menu

Hope everyone is nice and rested from that extra hour to the weekend!  Now the sun seems to be setting in the early afternoon and really makes it feel like it is time to hibernate...

Have you seen Sociality Barbie's Instagram yet?  Fox in the Snow always makes me think of that account, which is always good for an ironic laugh.  Fox in the Snow has to be one of the most Instagrammed locations in Columbus...

Finally got around to going to Wolf's Ridge Brewing restaurant after having been to the taproom several times.  The cool thing about a restaurant that has a constantly changing menu is that you get to try new things all of the time.  Unfortunately, it also means good items rotate off the menu.  we'll have to go back, but check the menu first!  I hear their brunch is amazing.

After Wolf's Ridge, we went to see BalletMet's Dracula, which was pretty fun!  I needed to read the program to remember some of the story.  We have been to a couple ballets now, so I should know to read up a little beforehand so everything makes a little more sense without any words... oops!

 

 

  

Alright, it's menu time...

pizza night
creamy dijon chicken and brussel sprouts
shrimp po' boys and green beans
lamb sliders and crispy potatoes
then up to Cleveland for my cousin's wedding!

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