Menu of the Week #2

This menu of the week is in line with every typical January meal plan, don't you think? You will find lots of veggies, exceptionally healthy leafy greens and lean proteins. If you are looking for healthy and delicious dinner ideas, here you go!

20 Minute Dinners are the Best

I am usually skeptical when a recipe says it takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and consist of more than bread, peanut butter, and jelly.  This recipe from Cooking Light promised to be a 20-minute dinner and I put it to the test. I did more than that though, I changed the recipe, made it better, and also made it in under 30 minutes, keep reading to find out how you too can recreate this meal on a weeknight.

Menu of the Week

The menu of the week was mostly "hit" and one big miss. Keep reading to see which night bombed!

Pan Roasted Chicken Caprese Salad

"Two salads and two fish," that is one rule of our weekly meal planning I'm trying to stick to. It's not too difficult to have a salad entrée when you focus on tried and true flavor combinations. Fresh is best, and this caprese salad with pan roasted chicken brings bold flavors while sparing us from an unhealthy meal.
  

Hamachi Shooters

Last Saturday we had some dear friends over for dinner. It's so fun to get together with Anthony and Tara because like us, they enjoy and appreciate good food and great wine. The four of us always have such a fun time together. Jim and I prepared a simple burger bar for our dinner while Anthony and Tara wowed us with an amazing appetizer of Hamachi Shooters. 

After begging for the recipe (not really), they graciously agreed to allow me to share this on HWM.

Massaged Kale Salad

I knew that Kale was a superfood, but until now I had only made kale chips with the green leaf. Like it's cousins, broccoli and cauliflower, kale is a descendant of the wild cabbage and is a nutritional powerhouse that deserves to be on every Top Ten list.


My good friend Paulina (a health food junkie with an affinity to processed cheese) introduced me to this delicious massaged kale salad soon after I gave birth to Harper. Knowing the health benefits I thought I would "choke down" the salad she provided. After all, I would do anything for my Harper. Well surprise surprise, this is so yummy. An even bigger surprise was how simple it is to make. Calling this a "recipe" is a little of an overstatement. This post has everything going for it. Yummy, Easy, Fast, Healthy, Filling, Few Ingredients. I call that WINNING!

Krispy Kale

I don't know what convinced me to give oven roasted kale a try. I honestly did NOT believe kale could be this addicting, but another food blogger compared them to salty chips...and who doesn't like salty chips? You too will be surprised at how easy and tasty these Krispy Kale chips are. With just three simple ingredients the kale will bake to a delish crackly snack.

First, wash and dry the kale leaves. Then tear or cut the thick stems off and chop long leaves into smaller pieces.

Make sure the kale is very dry, any water on the leaves may make them steam in the oven, leaving you with soggy, not crunchy kale. Drizzle on just a small amount of olive oil (1/2 teaspoon for this one tray) and massage the oil all over.

Then spread the kale out on a cookie sheet. You don't really even have to worry about the leaves overlapping because the kale will shrink in the oven. I simply sprinkled on some course sea salt, but you can certainly get creative and add whatever flavors you like. Minced garlic would be good as well as a cajun seasoning perhaps.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Check after five minutes and adjust your time if you need to in order to keep them from burning. These are great for people like me who like crunchy salty things. Krispy Kale is so much better for you than a bag of processed chips!

Now that they are baked until crisp, you can do so many things! Instead of standing over the cookie sheet and eating them all myself, next time I want to crumble these up and stir in with some popcorn to up the nutritional value. I love gourmet popcorn!

Here is what I found out about buying and storing Kale:
BUYING - Kale should have a fresh green colour with moist, crisp, unwilted leaves. Young, small-leaved specimens are more tender; bigger leaves are well suited for use in soups.
STORING - Keep in a plastic bag in the fridge. Kale becomes increasingly bitter and strongly flavoured the longer it is kept and so is best eaten soon after buying.

One of my readers sent me this awesome tip:
"I really enjoy reading your blog posts. Just wanted to share something I tried recently. I found that seasoned kale chips go really well with grilled fish. If you haven’t tried kale chips before, they are so simple to make. I like to season mine with either smoked sea salt or kosher, black pepper and a tiny bit of malt vinegar. When you bake them, the texture is almost like dried leaves. It is a great balance for a delicate fish and a healthy boost! I also like to fry cilantro leaves in browned butter. Not quite as healthy but soooooooo good."

Ahh! I love that pairing idea, and we've been on such a fish eating frenzy around here that this is a perfect new twist on "Fish and Chips." Get it? Thanks Jessica, keep the ideas coming!

Steak and Egg Salad

Steak and Eggs don't have to be reserved just for breakfast anymore. This spin on the standard AM food came together quickly for a deliciously fancy lunch salad.

I bought 3.5 ounces of the best filet mignon at Whole Foods and pulled it out of the fridge to bring the meat to room temperature for about 30 minutes. I seasoned it with only a sprinkle of salt, and then seared in a medium-hot skillet for two minutes on each side. This was a small piece of meat, so it didn't take long to hit that perfect medium-rare temperature. When the meat was cooked (only 4 minutes) I put it on a plate to sit while I prepared the rest of the salad.

There were just a few elements to this salad, but each addition was chosen carefully - like the pieces of Humboldt Fog. It has got to be my favorite cheese - creamy and slightly tangy. Believe it or not, I was actually asked today if Jim and I have a cheese. I had to ask for the question to be repeated.... and my co-worker restated that some people have a song and wanted to know if we have a cheese. Well, the answer is no. Jim and I don't have a cheese, and I personally think that would be weird if we did.

The mixed greens are Organic Girl baby green romaine lettuce, baby red romaine lettuce, lolla rosa, parsley, cilantro, baby greenleaf lettuce. I love this herb mix because it is delicious on it's own with just a toss in olive oil.

That brings me to my new favorite olive oil that I am so excited to discover at my Farmers Market: Texas Hill Country Olive Oil Company. I tried the Texas Hill Country Miller's Blend on a whim. It's made from Mission and Arbequina olives and has a grassy and buttery flavor with a nutty finish. This is 100% organically grown and 100% natural, cold pressed & unfiltered, 100% hand harvested. And you can taste the quality. I don't have to have anything else on my salad greens but this olive oil.

The piece de resistance, in my opinion, is the perfectly poached egg on top. When cut open, it's adds a richness to the already decadent filet mignon and a creaminess to the light olive oil on the salad greens.

My current obsession with poached eggs started two weeks ago when Jim came home from a business trip and I wanted to make a special breakfast for him Saturday morning. Learning how to poach an egg for the first time was a frustrating task. I went through nearly a dozen eggs before I got two that I was proud of. Now that I feel like I have the hang of it, I'm just LOOKING for reason to poach eggs. I now how a step by step post on how to poach an egg.  For now, I will leave you with a finished shot of my first Eggs Benedict made with strips of baked bacon and a homemade hollandaise.

Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak

You may have noticed that this is the first recipe post since I attended BlogHer Food in Atlanta. The conference was fabulous!!  The education top notch!! I left energized and (I have to admit) a tad intimidated by what my next move would be. After meeting so many fab bloggers I questioned where my little slice of the blogesphere would fit in.

Around the same time I was trying to figure out what to do with Home with Mandy... Jim accepted a job in California, with the plan to commute two weeks on and two weeks off. He left this month for a three week observation/training period and when he left...so did my muse. The whole reason I cook is for my love. I enjoy preparing meals for the two of us. I cherish the look on his face after his first bite and he looks over at me (almost in surprise) to say to me every night, "Wow, this is GOOD!"

I've been cooking (a little), but I have not been inspired to take photos this month. I haven't been inspired to take notes or to post about my meals at all.

Until now...

I returned from a business trip today and spent a few hours with my sweet mother in law. She prepared lunch for the two of us and for once, I was the recipient of a lovely homemade meal. It was thoughtful and beautiful and most of all tasted delicious. She is such a sweetheart that she even sent me home with leftovers so I can take some to the office for lunch this week.

Champagne Vinaigrette

I've been on the road a lot lately, and it's SO hard to eat healthy while traveling. Jim and I both have been very busy and I’ve settled for convenience foods instead of foods that fuel my body. This week, we have decided to get back on track so I started looking for ways to make dinner salad more interesting. There are some fabulous all natural salad dressings at the grocery store, but I often find myself getting bored with the same dressing three days in a row.

Today, because it's FAT TUESDAY, I'm posting about a delish homemade Champagne Vinaigrette dressing. To make salads more interesting, I’ve decided to start making my own when possible. There are endless variations on vinaigrettes, but it basically boils down to a vinegar, an oil, and some flavorings. I’ve discovered I like the tart/sweet balance in vinaigrettes so I pulled together ingredients that will give me a salad dressing that keeps me and the hubby both interested and satisfied.

Here are the ingredients that I gathered to make my HWM Champagne Vinaigrette:

1 clove garlic
1 shallot
1 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Honey mustard
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
3 dashes Tabasco
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

Using a food processor, I add all the ingredients except for the olive oil. Blend until the garlic and shallot have been minced. With the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a continuous stream until the dressing has emulsified.

Fettuccine with Brussels Hash and Pine Nuts

Even though I love brussels sprouts, I honestly was not excited about this recipe. I was super hungry this afternoon and didn't think such a simple recipe would be filling and satisfying. I found the recipe on a Healthy Dinner Recipe list on Epicurious and tweaked it a little as I went. The flavor profile is genius I tell ya!

The natural nuttiness of Brussels sprouts is greatly enhanced by the addition of pine nuts, and sauteing the sprouts deepens that flavor. Tossing them with al dente fettuccine will make you wonder how anyone could dislike them.

Trim the bottoms off the small cabbages and peel off any outer leaves that are brown or wilted.

The next step is to slice these. If you have a cuisinart blender with a blade attachment, then send the brussels sprouts through the dice to make a cabbage hash.

Alternatively you can hand slice the brussels sprouts.

Shredding in the cuisinart will result in a finer slices, but I liked the chunkiness of slicing by hand.

I sliced one onion and set it over medium heat to caramelize with a small drizzle of olive oil. I cannot resist these, and end up munching on them while I put together the rest of dinner. I should have sliced two onions, because the sweet caramelized flavor was excellent in this dish.

This is about 1/2 a pound of fettuccine, cooked until al dente in salted boiling water.

Because we eat a lot of chicken in this house, I cooked two chicken breasts stove top.

After the chicken was cooked, I added a knob of butter to the pan and we are going to start building our flavors here.

Meanwhile, on a back burner I toasted the pine nuts - don't walk away these brown fast.

When the butter melts and begins to bubble, add the shredded brussels and let them brown for a 30 seconds to a minute before you stir.

Add minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Add caramelized onions and1/2 cup of white wine, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, turn heat to low and keep warm until the pasta is ready.

Toss with fettuccine and top with chicken breast and garnish with toasted pine nuts and a fresh zested parmesan.

{Fettuccine with Brussels Hash and Pine Nuts}

Easy Chicken Stir Fry

A stir fry meal is one of the most versatile dishes ever. This is definitely one meal you want to have in your back pocket. You can customize it on the fly depending on your personal taste or based on what you have available in the fridge and pantry. This is usually what I cook when it's about time to grocery shop again and I have a lonely onion and a few asparagus or almost dead bell pepper hanging out. This post will show you how simple it is to whip up a very filling and healthy dinner fast.



I find packages like this in my grocery store and bought this one because it was on sale - deeply discounted.

I'm not saying these pre-packaged meals don't taste good, but I am really turned off by what I found inside. Just look at the ingredients! Noodles that are par cooked and packaged. The vegetables made me want to barf. It just isn't right that these vegetables can have a shelf life of a year. The sauce had SO many ingredients, most of which I didn't understand.

It is so simple to make your own stir fry. Here are the Basics of Stir Fry. I pulled out all the fresh veggies I had: onion, green bell pepper, carrots, asparagus and garlic. You can add WHATEVER veggies you like or have on hand. Broccoli would be great, scallions, cilantro, bean sprouts, zucchini or squash would be wonderful too.

Protein: We eat a lot of Chicken in our house, but your favorite protein would work here. Sliced beef and tofu are very popular stir fry meats. Be sure to buy the pressed firm tofu. Or you can opt for a fully vegetarian stir fry.

Seasonings: The basics consist of soy sauce and a chili garlic hot sauce if you like food spicy. Both are found on the asian food aisle of your grocery store. I got a little fancy and used both dark and light soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, peanut oil and sesame oil.

Toppings: I like to use peanuts and sesame seeds.

The filler: You can eat stir fry plain, or you can add "filler" which would be something like noodles or rice. I like it both ways, and usually let Jim decide which kind of starch he prefers that evening.

That's it. Simple. I started by adding 1 T peanut oil and 1 T sesame oil into a skillet. Olive oil or another oil would work here too. I like the flavors of both sesame and peanut oil. And guess what? You DON'T have to have a wok to make stir fry. Just before the oil began to smoke, I added two chicken breasts that I cut into one inch pieces. Let them brown on one side, then flip and brown on the other - about a minute and a half, 70%. These are added back to cook longer later in the process, so you don't need to worry about completely cooking the chicken through...just get a good color on them. Remove to a plate when done.

Veggies! If you have tough veggies that need to cook longer, then add those first and stir around to give them a head start. Then begin adding your veggies until you reach the really dainty stuff, like scallions. I had one onion, 2 cloves of garlic minced, 8 asparagus that I sliced on the diagonal in one inch pieces and 4 baby carrots which I julienned.

Now it's time to add the sauce. I added 2 T light soy sauce, 2 T dark soy sauce, 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T fish sauce, 1/4 t celery salt, 1/2 T chili garlic sauce.

Stir and saute until vegetables are about cooked the way you want them (2 minutes). I like the onion to still have some bite to it, and not be translucent.

I add the chicken back in and stir it around in the hot skillet together. The sauce doesn't coat the way I want it to, it's a little thin. So I take 1 T of hot water and dissolve 1 t of corn starch, then pour that into my pan. The cornstarch acts as a thickener and the sauce starts coating all the veggies and chicken like I wanted.

If you go the noodle route, then I like to boil the noodle until al dente, then throw it into my stir fry so the noodles get mixed in and coated with the sauce also.

I finish it off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and peanuts for crunch. Fast, easy, yummy and healthy. It's the ideal weekday dinner.

Now here is the BEST tip ever! You can repurpose leftover stir fry by making soup! Toss your leftovers into a saucepan and add chicken broth, beef broth or vegetable broth. Heat through, and eat. It's the best ever. I almost prefer the leftover soup to the stir fry. It makes a great lunch the next day.

{Printable Recipe}

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes

There is nothing like homemade blueberry pancakes, warm, fresh, earthy and flavorful. They are truly simple to whip up, add a side of bacon or breakfast sausage and it's also a great way to wake up the household.

This is my recipe. It makes about 8 pancakes.

In case you can't read my chicken scratch:
1 C flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda (make sure it's fresh)
1/4 t salt
2 T sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 C milk
2 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon

And BLUEBERRIES!!!!! We have a new Sprouts grocery store near me and these organic beauties were only $1.50. It's unheard of!

Combine all the dry ingredients, mix well.

Beat the egg, add the milk.

Add the vanilla, mix well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix the two together, but don't over mix - lumps are okay.

My griddle is set to 350 degrees. Once hot, I pour about a 1/2 cup of mix onto the griddle. THEN, I plop my blueberries on top and let them settle in.

When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over.

Serve with butter and maple syrup. Smitten Kitchen has a great post on blueberry pancakes.

Did you know you can freeze leftover pancakes? What Jim and I can't eat, I place on a baking sheet to cool.

Once cooled, stack them with a sheet of wax paper between each. Finally wrap the stacks in plastic bags, label and freeze.

To serve: Put the frozen pancake in a toaster oven, the microwave or heat briefly under a broiler.

Research has proven the blueberries are an important part of a healthy diet. I toss a handful into my cereal for a morning boost. It keeps life interesting.

One cup of blueberries contains 14% DV of fiber 2.41 g per 100g. They are a source of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, phenolics, and flavonoids. Blueberries are very low in fat and sodium.

Based on data from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (Boston, MA), blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity. Using a test called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), researchers have shown that a serving of fresh blueberries provided more antioxidant activity than many other fresh fruits and vegetables. Source: http://www.blueberry.org/