Cajun Flounder Caeser Salad

This is a quick and easy meal that we always love. Dust fish filets (I have used salmon and flounder but I think this would work with just about any fish and would also be great with shrimp) with Cajun seasoning. Put into oven to broil. Meanwhile, make and dress a Caesar salad (I keep it simple with romaine, tomatoes, bottled dressing, and shredded parm). Divide salad between plates and when fish is cooked, place on top of salad. I like serving this with garlic bread.

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with White Beans

I came across this recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine and was surprised at the short ingredient list and even more surprised that I had all the ingredients (this rarely happens for me with a Martha Stewart recipe). I used boneless, skinless breasts and had a little bit of a hard time making the pocket for the bean mixture, I haven't tried that before. This chicken was delicious! It was so flavorful and different. I used kalamata olives which gave the bean mixture a nice strong flavor. I found the cooking time on the recipe to be a little too long but I did have the rack on the lowest level, so that might have been my problem. This is a really tasty way to dress up a chicken breast. I'll definitely be making this again.

This Week's Menu

Monday 9/22:
* Stuffed Chicken Breasts
* Spinach Salad
* Rice

Tuesday 9/23:
* Mexican Lasagna
* Corn

Wednesday 9/24:
* Cajun Flounder Caeser Salad
* Garlic Bread

Thursday 9/25:
* Stuffed Shells
* Steamed Broccoli
* Garlic Bread

Friday 9/26:
* Black Bean Stoup
* Grilled Cheese

Saturday 9/27:

Sunday 9/28:
* Chicken Enchiladas
* Salad

Caramel Banana Cupcakes

Thank you to Erin for sending me this recipe for this amazing cupcakes. If you like bananas and caramel, you will love these. Oh my goodness, the frosting, I can't even tell you how good it is (probably because it's pretty much pure butter, but really, if you're going to have dessert, you might as well really have dessert!). These cupcakes take a lot of work so if you do make them, be sure to have a good amount of time set aside, and know that you will be washing your mixing bowl a few times throughout the process (I don't think I would have made these without my stand mixer). I made the full batch and came out with 16 cupcakes. For the frosting, I cut the butter to 1 1/2 sticks and still had extra frosting. I also needed to cut the cooking time down by about 5 minutes (probably because I have a hot oven and was using a dark, non-stick pan). After you make these you will probably want to stick a caramel in the middle of all of your cupcakes. I loved biting into them and finding the gooey caramel! Let me know your secret if you're able to restrain yourself from sneaking a few caramels while your making these. I certainly wasn't.

Chicken Stir Fry

My mom suggested this recipe. It is really simple and delicious and a new way to prepare chicken. She used broccolini and sliced red pepper and I tried that combination which was great, especially since we're not the hugest fans of mushrooms. You can really use whatever vegetables you want; It's the sauce that makes the dish good. I recommend doubling the sauce and slicing your chicken very thinly. I served this with chow mien noodles.

Baked Ziti

I adapted the recipe on the back of the pasta box to make this baked ziti which turned out really well. You can cut down the ricotta so you only have to buy a 15-oz container. I really like using a bit more, though.

1 pound ziti, cooked and drained

1 28-0z can marinara sauce (TJ's is the best!)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T dried basil

1 T dried parsley

1 t oregano

20 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

1/3 cup shredded parm

Adjust seasonings to taste and combine all ingredients besides 1/2 cup mozarella and the parm in the pasta pot until all fully incorporated. Transfer to greased 9x13 pan. Top with remaining mozarella and parmesan. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.

Feta Chicken with Zucchini

I normally don't love the recipes from Real Simple but since I had all the ingredients on hand, I tried this one. I used on zucchini and one yellow squash. The lemon is really strong in this dish so don't make it if you don't like lemon. The best part is the warm feta cheese on top. The feta I used had herbs and spices mixed in and that added a lot.

Basil Burgers

A yummy twist on turkey burgers: Add chopped basil and Wochestershire sauce (to taste) to the meat before forming into patties. After grilling, top with mozzarella and sliced tomato. Spread hamburger buns with basil-garlic mayo. Yum!

This Week's Menu

Monday 9/15:
* Basil Turkey Burgers
* Fries

Tuesday 9/16:
* Feta Chicken with Zucchini
* Rice

Wednesday 9/17:
* Baked Ziti
* Caesar Salad
* Garlic Bread

Thursday 9/18:
* Chicken Stir-Fry
* Lo-Mien Noodles

Friday 9/19:
* ?????

Saturday 9/20:
* Dinner out?

Sunday 9/21:
* Baked Dijon Salmon
* Boiled Potatoes
* Broccoli

Broiled Sea Bass with Pineapple-chili-Basil Glaze

Thank you to Shireen for sending me this great recipe. She used it with Salmon and loved it. I tried it with Tilapia and it was great. I think it would work well with most fish. It is such an easy recipe and tastes wonderful.

Broiled Sea Bass with Pineapple-chili-Basil Glaze (from Cooking Light)
3 T Pineapple preserves

2 T rice vinegar

1 tsp. chopped fresh basil

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 garlic clove

3/4 tsp. salt

4 (6 oz) sea bass or other firm white fish

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Preheat broiler

2. Combine first 5 ingredients and 1/4 tsp. salt in small bowl

3. Salt the fillets with 1/2 tsp. salt and black pepper. Place the fish on a broiler pan lined with aluminum foil (easy cleanup!) Broil 5 minutes. Remove from oven brush fillets evenly with glaze and broil an additional 5 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Sweet Bruschetta

Thanks to my mom who told me about this delicious sweet bruschetta. She had it at a little Italian restaurant and told me how good it was and how the restaurant made it. It is so delicious and different. The restaurant drizzled the bruschetta with olive oil but I tried honey which really made it sweet and a dessert bruschetta.

Italian bread, toasted (I used TJ's Tuscan pane)
Mascarpone Cheese
Fig Preserves
Thinly sliced apple
Honey

Spread cheese over toasted bread. Add preserves over cheese. Top with apple. Drizzle with honey. Yum!

Erin's Roasted Vegetable Salad

Thank you to Erin for sending me this wonderful recipe of hers. This salad is delicious! Have you ever seen a more colorful salad? I omitted red onion and used balsamic vinegar to dress the salad. I accidentally picked up the Feta cheese with Meditteranean herbs and spices but it was great on the salad!

Erin's Roasted Vegetable Salad
1 carton grape tomatos, halved
1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into thick strips
1 orange pepper, seeded and cut into thick strips
1 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
handful Kalmata Olives, sliced
Feta cheese
Red wine vinegar
Garlic powder or chopped garlic
salt and pepper
olive oil

Move oven rack to its highest setting. Turn oven to Broil on High. Brush Peppers, Zucchini and Squash lightly with olive oil (both sides) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place veggies on baking sheet and place in oven to broil aprox 10-12 min, until spotty brown. Flip veggies once at about 5 min. Remove veggies from oven and let cool. Place tomatos, onion, olives, cheese into a large bowl. Once roasted veggies have cooled, cut into bite sized pieces. Place cut veggies in bowl with other ingredients. Add garlic powder, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss to incorporate.

Eggplant and Tomato Pasta

This is a really wonderful sauce for pasta. The eggplant makes it so hearty and flavorful. The recipe does take some extra time so make sure to plan ahead and do your chopping earlier in the day. Also, it took me about 30 minutes of cooking the eggplant to where it was as browned as I wanted. I used four large chopped fresh tomatoes, served the sauce over rotini (Jack loves this curly pasta) and topped it with grated parm.

This Week's Menu

Monday 9/8:
* Cheese Enchiladas
* Refried Black Beans
* Steamed Corn

Tuesday 9/9:
* Mexican Lasagna
* Salad

Wednesday 9/10:
* Eggplant and Tomato Pasta
* Garlic Bread

Thursday 9/11:
* Erin's Roasted Veggie Salad
* Falafel with Cucumber Sauce

Friday 9/12:
* Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
* Sweet Potato Fries

Saturday 9/13:
* Dinner out?

Sunday 9/14:
* Pan-Fried Tilapia
* Rice
* Steamed Broccoli

This Week's Menu

Sorry for so many repeats on this week's menu. We took a last-minute road trip this weekend so I have a lot of unused food in the fridge that I bought for specific meals. As far as the food on the road trip, I think the funnel cake (at Hershey Park) was the best part. But, the delicious Pennsylvania Dutch meal was excellent, as well. The raisin bread they served with the meal was so good!

Monday:
* Day off from the kitchen, too!

Tuesday:
* Chicken Enchiladas
* Refried Black Beans
* Salad

Wednesday:
* Slippery Shrimp
* Rice
* Broccoli

Thursday:
* Chicken Katsu
* Rice
* Cucumber Salad

Friday:
* Italian Baked Pastina
* Caeser Salad

Saturday:
* Turkey Taco Salads

Sunday:
* Baked Dijon Salmon
* Rice
* Broccoli

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Try this recipe that my friend Taryn posted on her blog. These cookies are delicious! I had no will power when I made these!

Calzones

To make two big calzones using store-bought pizza dough this is what you need:

One store-bought pizza dough
2 T olive oil
2 cups sliced vegetables (zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions, whatever you have on hand)
1 clove minced garlic
1 cups marinara sauce
One cup mozarella cheese

Saute vegetables in olive oil about 8 minutes, until tender. Add garlic and marinara sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes. Divide dough and roll out into two circles. Spoon vegetables onto one side of the circles, top with chees, fold dough over and pinch closed. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.