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life{in}grace

live with more presence, passion, & purpose

from my kitchen

November Meal Plan, 2013

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I wrote about cooking and meal planning during the 31 Days series and apparently I have passion and feelings about the topic. Large feelings. What can I say? I’m a foodie and I love to feed people. I want you to love it too, so I’m making it a tad bit less daunting.  Because those people we live with?  Are ALWAYS hungry.  Every. single. day.  Hope this helps your 5:00 stress!

Visit my full meal planning guide for busy moms!

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  • Monday, November 4—Balsamic Pork Tenderloin , Cooked Apples, Roasted Brussel Sprouts (just drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, roast at 400 for 40 min then drizzle with a little maple syrup!)
  • Tuesday, November 5—Quiche Lorraine and Farmer’s Salad  (For the salad, I use spinach, apples, and celery, then make an apple vinaigrette by cooking a few pieces of bacon, removing them and using the bacon fat (~2T), 1 T. dijon mustard, 3 T. apple cider vinegar, a splash of apple juice or apple cider, 1/2 cup olive oil, salt, pepper and 2 T. honey—this is my FAVORITE salad of all time in the history of ever. Sprinkle the salad with the bacon you just cooked and if you’re having it for lunch one day without the quiche, add a fried egg on top!)
  • Wednesday, November 6—Latin Beef Stew
  • Thursday, November 7—Leftovers, (Use beef or pork leftovers from yesterday to make simple beef tacos and serve with salad and cilantro lime vinaigrette)
  • Friday, November 8—Homemade Pizza (we made a new flavor this weekend with pesto, spicy eye-talian sausage, feta, spinach and sun dried tomatoes—SO GOOD!)
  • Saturday, November 9—Roasted Butternut Bisque with leftover pizza (a surprisingly awesome combination!) recipe to follow this week!
  • Sunday, November 10—Rocky Top Chili  (Make a full batch and use leftovers for baked potato bar tomorrow!)

Week 2

  • Monday, November 11—Baked Potato Bar (Wrap large potatoes in aluminum foil, adding salt, pepper, and a pat of butter before you wrap them up.  Bake at 400 for 1 hour, 45 minutes.  Serve with leftover chili, chives (don’t forego the chives!!), cheddar cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and butter.  I usually make a salad and bread to serve alongside. 
  • Tuesday, November 12—Pumpkin Chipotle Soup with barley and chicken
  • Wednesday, November 13—Skinny Italian Meatballs, served on pasta or italian bread
  • Thursday, November 14—Leftovers plus Salad of mixed baby greens, gorgonzola and pomegranate seeds
  • Friday, November 15—Crock Pot Chipotle Burritos (use the leftover chipotle from Tuesday!)
  • Saturday, November 16—Onion Bisque Soup with Cheese Toast Floaters (recipe coming!)
  • Sunday, November 17—Colossal Club Sandwiches and all the leftover soups from the week!

Week 3

Week 4 (Thanksgiving Week!)

  • Monday, November 25—Creamy Mushroom Soup 
  • Tuesday, November 26—Rotisserie Chicken salad with Homemade Caesar dressing
  • Wednesday, November 27—Shrimp Fried Rice (I like something totally un-Thanksgiving-like and this recipe is awesome!)
  • Thursday, November 28—(posted separately, later this month!)
  • Friday, November 29—Leek and Potato Soup, Turkey Pesto paninis (recipe coming!)
  • Saturday, November 30—Turkey salad  (I do a version of this recipe, adding interesting leftovers from Thanksgiving!)

I have used emeals a lot in the past and their program coordinates with the sales at various grocery stores, so click on the link below and check out their plans, too!

Hope your November is off to an awesome start!

EMEALS EASY AND DELICIOUS DINNER RECIPES

If you’re new around here?  Thank you for visiting my blog!  I’m honored you’re here and I hope you’ll find some encouragement (and some laughter!) for your days.  Visit my about page, which highlights some of my popular posts or will at least show you a peak into my crazy people.  You can subscribe to this blog by email here.  I am currently addicted to Pinterest, so follow at your own risk.  I also post updates to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

October Menu Plan

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octobermenuplan

We’re entering into one of my favorite months, beautiful October.  Starting tomorrow, I’ll  be busy doing my 31 Days series on Less and More, so I thought a well planned month of eating all our favorite fall foods would be a great way to start a busy month.  It seemed like the perfect little gift to you, too, for meeting me here everyday and being so encouraging and supportive!  And since I like to call myself the Soup Whisperer, I couldn’t be more excited about the arrival of soup season! Maybe this little list will  ease some of your meal planning stress!  I have a 4 post series on meal planning, so make sure you check it out, too!

Beautiful October, Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Check out my What’s For Supper Pin board for more ideas!

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(found on Pinterest, of course!)

Fresh Apple Cake {with caramel glaze}

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apple cake with caramel glaze

I start to get panicky when the signs of fall arrive.  There are so many things to see and do and make and read and bake.  I’m all aflutter and can’t decide what to do first.  I’m dreaming of books by the fireplace, pumpkins on the porch, and the fall mantel bedecked with twigs and feathers and golden David, and antlers.

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So, I started last week with pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and the best chili ever.  This week, I’m crazy over homemade honey wheat bread and apple cake.  Make it this weekend, lovelies, and let me know how it turns out!

apple cake with caramel glaze

What You’ll Need:

for the cake:

  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 3 cups chopped apples  (about 6-7 small/medium apples or 3-4 large ones)
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/2 buttermilk (if no buttermilk, use more apple juice or mix milk with a tsp. or so of vinegar)

for the glaze:

  • 6 T. butter
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

Making the Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour the pan.  You can use a springform pan, bundt pan, tube pan or two loaf pans.
  • Combine the sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, apple juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract; and mix well.
  • Fold apples into the batter

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean.  (About hour to an hour and ten minutes, depending on the pan you use.  Loaf pans won’t take as long, maybe 45 minutes.


Making the Glaze:

  • Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
  • Add brown sugar and cream.
  • Bring to boil and boil for 1 minute
  • Let cool and then spoon over cake.

apple cake with caramel glaze

And guess who’s coming out with a new release this fall?

Eddie Vedder, that’s who.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Edited to add the healthier version below!!

pumpkin muffins

I don’t know about y’all, but three weeks of school has got me begging for mercy.  Labor Day couldn’t have come at a better time. Hats off to all you mamas for dealing with this homework issue all these years.  When you homeschool, the deadlines are a little soft, as in, “I’m sleepy, let’s finish this tomorrow.”   What with the early morning breakfast and hairstyle drama, the subacute viral infection that seems to be going around, and the overall exhaustion of the schedule, making some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins is my feeble attempt to cope this week.  They are perfect for breakfast or afternoon snack or as a reward for finishing all *our*  homework before 10 pm.

Uncle is what I say.

I give already. I throw myself into the arms of the 3 day weekend.

And to add to the long weekend joy, Stevie and I are going to see the big orange play this weekend.  He went in with some of his partners and got box seats this year, which means I’ll be yelling for my alma mater in the comfort of air conditioning, while chomping on some Southern style barbecue. I like to call that win-win.

We like our football here in the South.  Big fans is what we are.

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But, you came here for the muffins, so here goes.  This recipe makes about 20-24 muffins and they are some kind of dee-licious. Use cupcake liners and fill them 2/3 full of mix and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes.

What you’ll need: (for the regular version)

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups sugar (I’ve recently reduced it to 1 1/2 cups and it’s still great!)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups of vegetable oil
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. soda
  • 1/2 t. baking powder
  • 2 t. vanilla flavoring
  • 1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix) (14 ish ounces)
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

What you’ll need: (for the healthier version)

  • 3 cups Einkorn flour (I get my Einkorn berries from Young Living and grind me and it is AMAZING!!)(Just call me Ma Ingles!)
  • 3/4 cup erythritol
  • 10 drops natural Stevia
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 sticks softened butter
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. soda
  • 1/2 t. baking powder
  • 2 t. vanilla flavoring
  • 1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix) (14 ish ounces)
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

 What to do:

Mix the sugar, eggs, and oil together in a mixer until light and smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients, except the chocolate chips and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips and bake in muffin tins for 14-18 minutes at 400.  This recipe could be halved to make only 12-15 muffins but I always make plenty and share!

Enjoy your first football weekend!

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p.s. My memoir, All the Pretty Things, is available for preorder and you’ll get a FULL digital copy of the book now and some other goodies! Order here and then claim your bonuses here!

 

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

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So, in case you didn’t know, I call myself the soup whisperer. I even bought the web domain so that someday when I launch my Soup Whisperer book, I’ll already own the web page. That might be what you call putting the cart before the horse. If soup’s not my specialty, then putting the cart before the horse certainly is.

But I basically take dishes, which would normally be main dishes, and make a soup of them. I’d rather make a big pot of soup than do almost anything in the world.  It’s big fun.  I hope you’ll try it!

I finally did chicken pot pie soup and it was a hit, so I thought I’d share.  And I served it up on the chalk board placemats!

chicken pot pie soup via lifeingrace

Here’s what you need:

  • 3 T. butter and a few swirls of olive oil (about 2 T.)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 15 baby carrots, diced
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • 1 t. nutmeg
  • 6 cups good chicken stock (I always use Kitchen Basics, it’s rich and hearty and tasty)
  • 1/2 box mushrooms (optional, I add them when I have them on hand!)
  • 1/2 bag of frozen peas (add as many as you like but I usually use half of a regular bag, thawed for about a min in the microwave)
  • 3 Yukon gold potatoes, diced
  • 3 cups cooked chicken (I usually cook 3-4 breasts in the crock pot all day with a little broth but you could use rotisserie chicken, too!)
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 bay leaves
  • A few springs of thyme (could use dry a teaspoon of dry poultry seasoning instead)
  • 1 T. honey

Here’s how I do it:

  • Melt 3 T. of butter in a big soup pot, along with a few swirls of olive oil.
  • Saute the onions and carrots and add salt and pepper to taste (you will adjust the salt/pepper at the end but add some now!)
  • Add the flour and let it cook for about a minute, as you stir it around the pan
  • Add the chicken stock and stir well, to deglaze the flour bits from the bottom of the pan
  • Add the potatoes, chicken and mushrooms and cook for 10-15 on medium heat, until the potatoes start to soften
  • When the potatoes are slightly soft, add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 15 min or so and then it can sit with the lid on until you’re ready to serve.

chicken pot pie soup via lifeingrace

I always make my soups in the morning and then they sit all day, which deepens the flavor.  You could serve this with biscuits, rolls, or any kind of bread really. I love Rhodes frozen dough balls for this. You just spray a muffin pan with Pam, add two dough balls to each muffin tin and let them rise for 4-5 hours. It’s an easy shortcut to homemade rolls (or faux-made rolls, if you will) and my kids go crazy over them.

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Let me know if you try it.  And since we’re gearing up for fall, try some of my other soups!

Late Summer Vegetable Soup

Chicken and Dumplings

Cheese Tortellini Soup

Chipotle Pumpkin Barley Soup

Rocky Top Chili

Italian Sub Soup

Cheeseburger {in paradise} Soup

In geekier news, I’m working on a master schedule to make the most of my time at home.  It’s a color coded spread sheet, dear friends.  And I only allowed myself until 8:30 to finish this post and it’s 8:33.  You may need to intervene.  But from 9-12 today, I’m working on blog projects, so maybe you’ll benefit from my tendency to overdo things in the beginning.

Okay, I’m five minutes late for my date with the laundry.

For other thrifty ideas and recipes, head over to Ruth’s blog for Thrifty Thursday!

Have a great one!

xoxo,

edie

Shrimp Boil {at the Lake}

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how to host a shrimp boil

This has become my favorite meal to serve when we have company.  It’s more than a meal. It’s an event.  And it’s so EASY and delicious.  And it’s the perfect mix of laid-back and gourmet.  And here’s the best part.  You don’t an ocean, you don’t need a fancy cooker, you don’t even need fresh shrimp.  I’ve tried it multiple ways and it’s perfect with frozen shrimp, cooked right on your stove at home.  You’ve GOT to try it!!  Most fun and delicious meal of the summer at the Wadsworth House!  And we always buy the frozen 41-50 count shrimp when it’s on sale, which makes this meal doable for under $15! The last time I served it was for Ruth and her family and so, in honor of her, I’m linking up with her Thrifty Thursday! 

Then, you serve it right from the pot and let everyone ladle their own yummy goodness.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Spread some newspapers on the table and put on some fun summer music.

Our playlist this summer was Bronze Radio Return but you can pick your own summer favorites. Forget about the fact that you don’t live near water or that you can’t get fresh shrimp. None of it matters.  This is gonna be epic.

2.  Invite some adorable people to your shrimp party.

Especially cute little people. Or those you live with everyday.  Those are perfect, too. Give them party glasses, bandanas, and cocktails.  Wait, hold the cocktails for the shorties.

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3. Cook up a big pot of frogmore stew.  (Shrimp boil aka frogmore stew aka low country boil aka many other names!)

Here’s what you need to feed 4 people:  (I’m never feeding four so I double or triple it)

  •  One pounds of kielbasa, split in half and then chopped into bite size chunks 
  • 4 ears of corn, shucked and cut into thirds or halves (you can usually break it into pieces with your hands, easier than with a knife)
  • 2 boxes of chicken stock
  • 1 can of beer (optional, could omit or use a little water, gingerale, or more stock)
  • 4-6 medium yukon gold potatoes—washed and cut into bite sized chunks
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 pounds of 41-50 count shrimp—(I use frozen shrimp, let it thaw in the sink, and then dry it off good with a paper towel)
  • 1/4 cup  of OLD BAY seasoning (can be adjusted, so I start with a quarter cup and then add a little more if needed for taste)
  • salt, pepper
  • 2 T. honey
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 T. balsamic vinegar

How to cook the stew:

  • Saute the chopped onion and kielbasa in a few swirls of olive oil until it’s nice and carmelized
  • Add the chicken stock and beer
  • Add all the seasonings and the chopped potatoes
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are starting to get soft.
  • Add the corn and cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes.
  • Shrimp should be thawed and dried and then sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning
  • Just before serving, add the shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the shrimp looks pink and floats to the top.
  • Don’t overcook the shrimp!
  • Serve with crusty bread and ENJOY!!

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THE SAUCES  (don’t skip this part, it’s easy and MAKES the meal)

I got these from this website, but have adapted them slightly.  We use the cocktail sauce for the shrimp and the garlic mayo for the potatoes.  And in keeping with the casual party style of this dinner, we spoon each sauce out right onto the newspaper beside each plate!

Cocktail Sauce

  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/2 tablespoon prepared horseradish
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon aged hot sauce, like Crystal or Tabasco

Mix well and refrigerate.

Easy homemade garlic mayo

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Pinch of Coleman’s mustard
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup canola, peanut or vegetable oil
  • 1-2 T of prepared mayo

Mince garlic and then mash to a paste with salt. Whisk with egg yolk, dry mustard, vinegar and lemon. Slowly drizzle in oil, whisking vigorously until emulsified.  Add mayo at the end and mix well.

Serve with crusty bread to sop up all the yummy juice from the stew!

 

Don’t be scared.  Host a shrimp boil this weekend for your very own special peeps!

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