Menu for the week of 11-05

Ok, so we cooked too much food last week and had leftovers that carried over for the next day. This week starts off with the Spicy Panko chicken that was planned for Monday.

Tuesday: Spicy Panko coated Chicken with rice

Wednesday: Chicken and Andouille sausage Jambalaya over rice(leftover from Tuesday)

Thursday: Italian Sausage with spaghetti squash

Friday: Penne pasta with bacon and veggies

Saturday: Take out from Greek Island

Sunday: Football day (every Sunday is until the big game) Most likely pizza, nachos and hot dogs.

My Spicy Panko Chicken

Ingredients:
For the rice:

1 1/2 cups of rice

3 cups of water

For the chicken:

2 chicken breasts (that would actually be 4 halves)

Salt

black pepper

1/4 cup of mayonnaise

3 tablespoons of hot sauce (we like Winston's hot sauce from Austin,Tx)

1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

1 gallon size plastic bag with a zip top

The chicken is best marinated over night, but 15-30 minutes will do too.


1. I usually poke the breasts all over with a fork then season with salt and pepper. Place seasoned chicken in the plastic bag.


2. In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise and hot sauce together. Taste to see if it's spicy enough, if not add more hot sauce, then pour into the plastic bag. Squish everything around in the bag to make sure that the chicken is coated in the spicy mayo. Put back in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.


3. Put the rice and water into a 6 cup sauce pan. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Then lower heat to a simmer and cook for twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for at least 10 before opening the lid.


4. Turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator. Pour the Panko bread crumbs into a plate and season with more salt and pepper. Take one piece of chicken at a time and coat with the panko bread crumbs by pressing crumbs onto chicken. Make sure the chicken is completely covered with the bread crumbs. Finish coating the rest of the chicken this way.


5. Spray a sheet pan (cookie pan) with cooking spray. Place coated chicken breast on pan and put it in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes then flip the chicken breasts and cook for another 10 minutes. The internal temperature should be 165 degrees, if not cook longer. If you don't have a thermometer, cut one of the breasts in half to see if the chicken juices run clear.

6. Serve with rice, extra hot sauce and your choice of vegetable or a simple salad.



This is a picture of the tandoori chicken, mushroom korma, spinach and chickpea masala and brown basmati rice coconut pilaf from last week. Yes, I made everything.

What's for dinner?

That's a question I ask myself everyday. Sometimes I take the time to plan a weeks menu in advanced and sometimes it's just too much work to do with a toddler tugging at my shirt and a newborn crying in her crib. But last night I was able to invent a new pasta dish that consisted of what I had on hand. Onions, garlic, bacon, mixed greens, grape tomatoes, sundried-tomato pesto, parmesean cheese and multi-grain pasta. A dish made in 10 minutes! I'm no Rachael Ray, but I have to cook lots of meals in less than 30 minutes so I have to be creative. The pasta turned out pretty good.

So this is what I did to prepare it. (just a note on how I cook: I don't measure things unless I am baking so it's usually an estimate when measurements are given. That way I have room for adjusting the flavor to my prefrence.)
Put water on to boil. Chop garlic, slice onions, cut bacon into 1 inch pieces and wash tomatoes. When water comes to a boil have the kid season water with salt and dump in pasta. While pasta is cooking heat up frying pan and add bacon. Cook until crispy and remove from fat and set aside. Drain bacon grease and let cool to discard later or save to use for frying eggs for breakfast. Into the pan goes a splash of olive oil along with the onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Cook until grape tomatoes start to pop turn down the heat. Save half a cup of pasta water for pasta then drain the pasta and add to frying pan along with 1/4 cup of sundried-tomato pesto, mixed greens and the pasta water. Toss to mix everything and serve with grated parmesean. This made enough for four.

Yes, my two year old sous chef gobbled up this pasta..so did the hubby. In my house watever my son helps prepare he eats. This kid is amazing. His palate goes beyond mac n' cheese. His favorite cheese at the moment is Gruyere. I'm not saying that he's the perfect toddler who eats everything, but he will eat what he cooks. At the moment he is going through that stage of toddlerhood where he eats well one day and not so much the next. He's testing his bounderies, so I had to teach him about compromise. Yesterday's comprmise was, "If you eat all your dinner you can have a cookie." I know it's a bribe but it's not a bad one. We both got what we wanted.
Now the baby is crying so rescue her I must.