Weekly Menu and a Recipe: Sausage and Rice

Here I am with another post so soon! I am very sporadic that way. Sometimes life gets ahead of me and I do not post for a month, other times I'm firmly entrenched in our routine and I can spare a few minutes for blogging. C'est la vie, as they say. Isn't it marvelous?

I am back to my weekly menu plan after a brief hiatus. While the kids were with their dad over Christmas, I did not make a menu plan, and then, naturally, it took a few weeks to get back into the habit. Do you ever feel like a break is more of a nuisance than a blessing? Perhaps it is just that they were gone for a whole week. An afternoon break would have been nice, a week....well. Let's just say I keep myself plenty busy while they are away.

Again, I don't actually know what dish I will make when. Mostly it depends on how long the ingredients will stay fresh. I always have all three kids in tow, and so I do one trip to the farmer's market, and one trip to the grocery store, and that is it. If anything is forgotten, it's just too damn bad. You can tell by the expletive how firmly I adhere to this motto.

Sausage with Rice and Vegetables (recipe below)
Chicken and Rice, arugula and spinach salad with sliced radishes and feta cheese.
Roast Chicken,  roasted brussels sprouts with herbs de Provence
Baked Ziti with Kale (will post this recipe soon, as it's a good one!)
Broiled salmon, sauteed broccoli with almonds
Braised turnip greens with potatoes, carrots, and turnips (I used my own Briased Kale recipe, but substituted turnips greens for the kale, onion for the leek, and beef stock for the chicken stock, plus added smoked bacon and turnips. It was a hit)

Recipe: Sausage with Rice and Vegetables
This was originally my mother-in-law's recipe, and it's a good one, although I've changed it a lot from her original. Cheap, easy, quick, and flexible. I love recipes where you can really play around with the ingredients. I have found that this recipe is a fantastic vehicle for getting vegetables into my kids' tummies. I have often cleaned out the vegetable crisper with this recipe, as it is very forgiving if the ingredients aren't exactly picked the same day. Some of my additions at various times have included frozen mixed vegetables, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, parsnips, peas, and corn and it's always good. My kids love sausage, and it's cheap and easy to find good pastured sausage (even I can find it at my very small local farmer's market), but you could do it entirely without meat if you wanted to. For the sake of simplicity, I'm giving you basic recipe, and you can add whatever vegetables you want, but you'll need to use your own judgment about when to add them. Just remember that harder vegetables probably need to be added with the celery and onion so they have time to cook, while softer vegetables, like mushroom or peas, really just need to be heated up and can be added towards the end.

3 ribs celery, diced
1 small onion (use your favorite kind or whatever you have on hand: red, yellow, white, or even green onions), peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)
1 pound breakfast sausage (I use mild)
1 cup uncooked long grain brown or white rice
2 eggs
your favorite vegetables, diced, or 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (harder vegetables, like carrots, need to be diced small so they will cook faster)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil, several turns of the pan

Cook rice separately, according to package directions.  In a large dutch oven, cook the sausage over medium heat until done. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add celery and onion to the dutch oven and saute until caramelized, about 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the sausage, cooked rice, (frozen vegetables) and Worcestershire sauce and stir well. When mixture is thoroughly heated, break eggs into the dish and stir to break up and mix well. Cook until egg is done and no longer runny. Salt and pepper to taste.

Weely Menu and Recipe: V-8 Soup

Here is my dinner menu plan for the coming week, plus my recipe for V-8 Soup. This was originally my mother-in-law's recipe, and it's a good one. There are so many ways to vary it to your taste! The recipe I'm posting here is not her original, but contains my own additions, like fresh root vegetables rather than canned potatoes. I like my soups to be so full of vegetables that it's almost a stew (or a "stewp" as Rachel Ray would say). Recently, I have learned that you should not stir ground beef as it browns. Instead, flip it once so it can brown on both sides, but other than that, leave it alone. My absolute favorite ingredient to add is orzo pasta, but since I'm cutting back on carbs, I've been leaving that out. If you do add pasta or rice, cook it before adding to the soup.

V-8 Soup
1 48-ounce can V-8 Juice
water- half a V-8 can's worth
1 family-size bag frozen soup vegetable medley (or two smaller bags)
1 10-ounce bag frozen sliced okra
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound fingerling potatoes, washed and diced (I leave the peel on, but you could peel them if desired)
2 large turnips, peeled, tops and root ends removed, diced
olive oil, about a tablespoon, for sauteing the onion and garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender and translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds more. Add ground beef. Break the beef up into a thin layer, but then do not stir it while it browns! When it is thoroughly brown on one side, turn it over to brown on the other side. This allows it to build up more flavor.  

When beef is browned, add V-8 juice, then fill the can 1/2 way up with water (should be about 24 ounces) and add the water. If using turnips, add them next and bring soup to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes before adding potatoes and frozen vegetables. If you're skipping the turnips (and you're missing out if you do!), go ahead and add the potatoes and frozen vegetables and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and let the soup simmer for about 45 minutes, or until veggies are tender. Salt and pepper to taste. V-8 contains quite a bit of sodium, so start out lightly with the salt and add more as needed. If adding cooked pasta or rice, add 10 minutes before the end.


Weekly Menu, December 6th-12th
note: I don't actually plan what meal I'm going to make each day, because it inevitably changes. I just write out six or seven dinner plans, then usually decide each day which one to make. I've linked the recipes when applicable.

Roast Chicken (a la Alice Waters), Creamed Spinach, Orange-Maple glazed Carrots

V-8 Soup

Baked Ziti, Roasted Broccoli

Melissa's Chicken, Arugula-Corn Salad

Lamb Shank, Beet and Pomegranate Salad, Baked Sweet Potato

Broiled Salmon, Buttery Mashed Potatoes and Turnips, Peas

Real Food for Weight Loss, or How I've Lost 25 Lbs (and counting)

A quick hop on the scale the other day brought the rare good news that I have lost weight! Almost twenty-five pounds in the last six months, to be precise. I always shut my eyes as I step up on the scale, not able to bring myself to look at the number until it stops spinning. This time, I just starred at it in disbelief. I have not been at this weight since before I was pregnant with Darling, five years ago.  I am also a mere six pounds above my my first goal weight! The astonishing thing is that after five years of feeling like I had to starve myself to simply not gain any weight and constantly losing my battle with sugar cravings, the weight has just melted off without exercise or restricting calories in any way. It has happened very steadily these last six months. So what's changed? Well, my diet has changed, yes, but also my mentality. See, I decided to only eat Real Food. When I say "real food", I mean Nina Planck's definition of real food. In my own words, I eat the food that God made. Lots of grass-fed beef and dairy, pastured pork, chicken, and eggs. Tons upon tons of vegetables. As much fruit and nuts as I want. I sweeten things with honey and real maple syrup. Salad dressing is olive or hazelnut oil and balsamic vinegar. I never count calories. In fact, I way upped my fat intake so I wouldn't get hungry. Just between you and me, I eat insane amounts of butter. In the morning, I have a slice of sprouted-grain cinnamon raisin toast with a huge pat of butter, along with two scrambled eggs and half of a pink grapefruit. I eat pasta or rice only occasionally. I indulge in dessert at least four times a week. Usually it's a small scoop of all-natural ice cream (the closet kind to home-made that I can find), or frozen berries topped with heavy cream and sprinkled with real maple sugar. Carbs and sugar are the only thing I monitor, and I still eat plenty, I am just careful not to over-do it. But I don't eat food unless it tastes good. I just enjoy food too much to starve myself. I found that once I brought my meals into balance, the food cravings vanished. I don't snack anymore. I finally gave up all sodas and haven't missed them. I no longer have those unbearable moments of, "I need sugar!" that used to plague me every night. And meanwhile the weight is coming off very steadily, at about a pound a week.
While I am doing so much better, I do find that some foods are hard to eliminate totally. Damned if I don't love Pepperidge farm goldfish!

Anyway, I have just been so flabbergasted by my results that I had to share. If you are wondering what in the world we eat, here is my menu plan from last week:

Sunday: homemade chicken soup with celery, carrots, potatoes, and turnips
Monday: apricot chicken, bok choy with cashew
Tuesday: meatball stroganoff, roasted Brussel sprouts
Wednesday: home-made tacos
Thursday: pot roast with celery, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes, roasted cauliflower
 Friday: girls were with Nana and Papa for dinner and I ate leftovers
Saturday: Ratatouille with zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, green peppers, and tomatoes

If you are interested in learning a little more about real food for health, I would highly recommend:
Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck
The Schwarzbein Principle by Diana Scharzbein
I have read a lot of books about real food, some better than others. Those are my two favorites.

You know, of course, that this is just my personal experience. If you want to know what you should eat, do your own research! Don't listen to a rambling hobbyist like me.

Here's What's Cookin': March 21st-28th

I'm trying to get back into the habit of a weekly menu. I'd forgotten how much work it is! I think the key to being frugal with food is simply to eat your leftovers and not be wasteful. If you plan out what you are going to cook and then stick to it, you will probably end up saving money, even if you spend more on the ingredients, because you won't throw out wasted food. I used a menu last week and it worked out pretty well. Here is the menu for this week:

Monday
Breakfast: 
banana pancakes, stewed plum with walnuts, grapefruit
Lunch:
Out to eat (will be out for haircut)
Snack:
hummus with carrots, olives
Dinner:
Pita pockets with roasted red peppers and avocado, salad

Tuesday
Breakfast:
yogurt, clementines, blueberries, and almonds
Lunch:
 Out to eat (more appointments!)
Snack:
avocado salad with feta, olives, and lemon
Dinner:
chicken salad over greens

Wednesday 
Breakfast:
steel-cut oatmeal with raisins, grapefruit, grapes
Lunch:
Chinese rice with peas, eggplant, and mushrooms; roasted carrots
Snack:
roasted eggplant and red pepper spread; pita crisps
Dinner:
Homemade pizza, salad

Thursday
Breakfast:
scrambled eggs, English muffin, grits, strawberries
Lunch:
Bell peppers stuffed with Chinese rice, salad
Snack:
hummus and pita crisps
Dinner:
leftovers

Friday
Breakfast:
yogurt with granola, frozen berries, grapefruit
Lunch:
veggie fajitas of zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and onions; guacamole
Snack:
cottage cheese and grapes
Dinner:
black beans, veggies, seasoned rice

Saturday
Breakfast
oatmeal with walnuts and dates   
bacon
banana
Lunch
creamy chicken and vegetable soup, salad, French Bread
Snack:
yogurt
apples
Dinner:
leftovers

Sunday
Breakfast:
fried eggs, biscuits and jelly, grapefruit
Lunch:
If you can find it, you can eat it!
Snack:
olives and cheese
Dinner:
cottage cheese and fruit 

As you can see, I try to do the largest meal at lunchtime. It is healthier to eat a large lunch and light supper: you burn more calories that way! It is much better to not consume your largest meal before you go to sleep!