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Basket Breakdown – 2/11/2012

12 Feb

This week, I got the conventional basket for $15, organic 9 grain bread for $12, and DIY cookie pack for $10, plus the $1.50 handling fee for a total of $38.50.  I didn’t take a picture of the bread, since I’ve shown that before.

Here is what I got in this week’s conventional basket:

Corn, tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, asparagus, celery, broccoli, Romaine lettuce, lemons, oranges, and apples.  Not pictured are bananas, not sure why I didn’t get them in the picture.  Also, not pictured is my pineapple, I traded that for the 2nd asparagus shown.  Oh, and there are 2 apples missing that got eaten by 2 little monsters.

 

Tomorrow, when we get out the cookies to decorate, I will post a picture of what is included in the DIY cookie kit.

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how the ends of produce cases are distributed after everything has been distributed evenly.

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Spinach Lasagna Rollups

10 Feb

I had some lasagna noodles in my pantry that I wanted to use, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do lasagna.  Then, I remembered the Cheese Lasagna Rollups my mom used to get from Market Day, and decided I wanted to try to make some of my own.  It worked out that cottage cheese was on sale, and I had spinach, basil, and oregano in my fridge that I needed to use.  The filling I made just like my Spinach Manicotti recipe, and the sauce was the Tomato Sauce I made a couple of days ago.  It turned out great!

Spinach Lasagna Rollups

What you need:

9 lasagna noodles
2 eggs
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb fresh spinach, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 2 tsp fresh basil)
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 tsp fresh oregano)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
4 cups Tomato Sauce

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on box.  Drain water and cool on a piece of aluminum foil.

Meanwhile, beat eggs in a medium bowl.  Stir in the ricotta (or cottage cheese), 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, garlic, spinach, basil, oregano, and parsley.  Pour 1 cup of the Tomato Sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish, or enough to make sure to cover the entire bottom of the dish.  Spread filling on each lasagna noodle and roll the noodle.  Place seam side down in the dish.  Pour the remaining sauce over the rollups, then sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan and mozzarella.  Cover tightly with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil, and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until sides are bubbling and the cheese is melted.

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Guacamole Turkey and Roast Beef Wrap

9 Feb

This afternoon, I finally got around to making Guacamole using all the ingredients from my guacamole pack.  The avocados were beautiful, and the guacamole turned out amazing!  I ended up with about 5 cups of guacamole.

So, I needed to find a use for some of the guacamole, besides just eating it.  I ended up not having a lot of time for dinner prep tonight, so I decided to make some wraps.  I had recently gotten some large flour tortillas out of the freezer, so they were thawed and ready to go.  I briefly heated up each side of the tortilla, spread some guacamole at one end, laid down turkey and roast beef deli meat, then some sliced swiss cheese, and some lettuce.  I rolled it up, cut it in half, and had a very delicious dinner that my husband and kids were very pleased with!

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Tomato Sauce

9 Feb

You may remember a little while back I made Pizza Sauce.  I had tomatoes that I wasn’t sure what to do with, I decided to make Tomato Sauce again, but wanted to try to cook it instead.  It was a bit more time consuming than the other recipe I tried, but still very good.  I plan to use this for dinner later this week for Lasagna Rolls.  I still don’t have a deep red sauce like you see in jars, but it’s still very good, much better and fresher tasting than the jarred sauce.

Tomato Sauce
Makes approximately 4 cups

What you need:

4 lbs tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
Any other vegetables you want to add, peppers, celery, carrots, all finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh basil

How to make it:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato and place in boiling water.  Keep in water for about 30 seconds, long enough for the skin to peel of easily, but not too long so that tomatoes become mushy.  Carefully remove from boiling water and place in a bowl of ice cold water.  Skin should peel off easily, if not, return to boiling water a few seconds, then back in the water a few seconds.  Squeeze tomatoes over a sieve to remove excess juice and seeds.  Chop up the tomatoes.

Next, heat olive oil in a sauce pan.  Add onion, any additional veggies, and garlic.  Cook until onions and garlic are translucent, veggies are soft.  Add in chopped tomatoes  and basil, and allow to simmer over medium-low heat.  As tomatoes cook, you can mash them with a masher or use an immersion blender on low to achieve your desired consistency.  (I don’t mind mine a little chunky, so I just mashed them slightly.)  Simmer for 30-45 minutes, until you reach your desired taste.  Use immediately in a dish or store in an airtight container in the fridge for another time.

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Cheesy Spinach Burgers

7 Feb

I first got this recipe from a cookbook from my mother-in-law, Favorite Brand Name Recipes.  The original recipe calls for a pouch of Lipton onion soup mix.  I don’t normally have Lipton onion soup mix on hand, and I always seem to forget it, so I improvise.  The ground beef, spinach and cheese are the same, I just out other things in place of the soup mix.  And I think the results are fantastic.  Tonight, I made this on my outdoor grill (have to keep using it to get my money’s worth out of it, right?), but I have made these on the George Foreman indoor grill and they are great as well.

Cheesy Spinach Burgers
Based on recipe here

What you need:

2 lbs lean ground beef
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 cup diced onion, optional (or less, depending on your level of taste)
1 cup shredded cheese, I used cheddar or Mexican blend usually, but mozzarella would work too

How to make it:

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Form into 8 patties.  Cook as desired, until no longer pink.

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Coleslaw

7 Feb

 

I had 2 heads of cabbage in my fridge, waiting for me to make something with them.  I had originally thought of making Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with them, but my husband said he wouldn’t eat them.  So, since I was thinking of making the fish and Oven Baked Potato Chips, I thought Coleslaw would be a nice addition.  I doubled the recipe below, so we have a lot of coleslaw.  The picture above is just a small part of all we have.  But it’s going fast since it turned out so yummy!  I didn’t cut mine very fine, I was too lazy to pull out the food processor to finely chop it, so I left it in larger pieces.

 

Coleslaw
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1 head cabbage, shredded
3 medium carrots, shredded (or in may case, 1 large carrot from Bountiful Baskets)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar

How to make it:

In a large bowl, combine cabbage and carrots.  In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients.  Mix well and pour over cabbage and carrots; toss to coat evenly.  Serve.

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Oven Baked Potato Chips

7 Feb

 

Yummy, yummy, yummy!  These turned out pretty well.  Some were a little overdone, some were a little underdone, but overall they turned out well.  I used the russet potatoes that I got from Bountiful Baskets this week to make them, and used my mandolin slicer to get them nice and thin.  I had gotten some Beer Battered Alaska Cod from Schwan’s, so decided it be best served with some chips and cole slaw, since I had cabbage to use (post coming on the cole slaw!).

 

Oven Baked Potato Chips
Based on recipe here

What you need:

2.5 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Olive oil (I used about 1/4 cup)
Seasoned salt (I used 2 tsp, probably could have used more)

How to make it:

Soak sliced potatoes in a bowl of water for 20 minutes.  Drain and dry potatoes on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Place potatoes in a large bowl.  Pour in olive oil and seasoned salt, toss to coat evenly.

Line 2 baking sheets with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay potatoes on baking sheets in a single layer.

Bake both baking sheets of potatoes in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, then rotate the pans top to bottom.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until potatoes are browned and crispy.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Weekly Meal Plan: 2/5/2012 – 2/11/12

6 Feb

This week is still a work in process as far as a meal plan.  I’ve been busy with some other commitments, so I haven’t been able to really sit down and plan.  Here is what I have so far:

Sunday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken for pizza and sandwiches
Monday: Schwan’s Beer Battered Alaska Cod, Oven Baked Potato Chips, Cole Slaw (see picture below, it was yummy!)

Tuesday: Cheesy Spinach Burgers, Crash Hot Potatoes
Wednesday: Eat out with a friend
Thursday: Lemon Herb Chicken, Asparagus, Guacamole Turkey and Roast Beef Wraps
Friday: ???, Spinach Lasagna Rollups
Saturday: Pizza, Grilled Steak, Oven Baked Potato Chips, Grilled Asparagus

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Baked Tortilla Chips

5 Feb

 

One of the extras this week from Bountiful Baskets was a bag of pre-cut, ready to bake tortilla chips.  Since I knew that I definitely wanted to get the guacamole veggie pack that was also an extra, I was going to need some chips to go with it.  I have gotten this as an extra before, as well as the tortillas that have been offered, all of which I have been happy with.  And I was very happy with these, very pretty colors, perfect to go with the teams in the Super Bowl today.  These chips were very easy to make, and you could make them with any corn tortillas.  Just cut the tortilla to the size chips that you want.  Then, lightly spray a baking sheet with oil, lay out the chips in a single layer, lightly spray the tops with oil, then sprinkle with some salt (I use sea salt, but salt can be omitted).  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F.  Start checking them at 5 minutes, and bake until you get your desired crispness.  I cooked 2 baking sheets full at a time, 18 chips on each baking sheet.  Mine took about 15 minutes to fully cook, but my oven takes longer to cook most things.

So far, the ones that I have made, have disappeared in less than 10 minutes.  I haven’t had time to bake all of them, so I went ahead and put some in bags to go in the freezer for another time.  We’ll be enjoying these for a while!

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Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

5 Feb

A while back, I saw a pin on Pinterest of a shredded buffalo chicken sandwich, and the chicken had been cooked in the slow cooker.  A friend had recently made it too, so I know it was something to try out.  It also reminded me of a Buffalo Chicken Pizza that I haven’t made in a while.  I also had a loaf of ciabatta bread in my freezer still, so it was a tough choice to make pizza or to make sandwiches.  So, I made both!

 

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Based on recipe here

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 1 – 1.5 lbs)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce)
2 Tbsp butter

How to make it:

Place chicken and onions in slow cooker.  Pour in hot sauce.  Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Remove chicken and shred.  Return shredded chicken to the slow cooker.  Stir in 2 Tbsp butter.  Cook on low for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.    Serve on pizza or sandwiches (see below).

 

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

What you need:

1 12-16″ pizza crust, either pre-made, a pouch mix, or your favorite recipe for pizza crust
1/2 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
1 cup shredded buffalo chicken (either as made above or 1 cup cooked chicken mixed with 1/4 cup hot sauce)
1 Tbsp greens from top of green onion
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

How to make it:

Spread ranch dressing on pizza crust.  Next, spread chicken, then green onion tops, then cheese.  Bake according to the directions for your pizza crust, in general, 425 F for 10-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

What you need:

Shredded buffalo chicken (from recipe at top)
Bread of your choice (I used ciabatta bread from Bountiful Baskets)
Cheese of your choice (I used swiss)
Ranch or blue cheese dressing
Other sandwich toppings, like lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, green peppers (I used just lettuce)

How to make it:

Lightly toast the bread.  On the bottom half, place the amount of chicken that you want.  Add ranch or blue cheese dressing, cheese, and sandwich toppings.

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