The Menu

Can I brag on myself for a little bit? I'm pretty proud of my dinner planning. I've gotten quite a bit better since my first year of marriage. (In my defense, my crazy work hours that first year and having no oven in the house seem to be pretty good excuses in my mind.) Admittedly, I do have weeks that are less successful than others, but I feel like I've gotten into a pretty good habit over the past year or so. I usually plan about four dinners for a week, knowing that Cameron and I often just want to be lazy, or splurge and eat out about once a week or so. 

I have such fun trying new recipes, often I am inspired (cliche-ly) by Pinterest finds. One of my acquaintances from BYU keeps a blog that I like to stalk. She shared a recipe a little while back that I just adore. I finished my meal planning for next week, and in the spirit of passing along good finds, I thought I'd share what I've got on the menu this week, since I ended up returning to some of my tried and true favorites. 

Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup

(Warning, Adobe gives me warning messages when I go to this website, I'm not sure why, but I wanted to give readers a head's up in case they are more concerned than I.)

Photo from the recipe website. 

http://picky-palate.com/2010/03/18/green-chili-chicken-and-lime-soup/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PickyPalate+(Picky+Palate)&referrer=my-wedding-concierge.com

I feel like I fawn over this soup whenever I make it. Perhaps it's my love for anything with green chili in it. (Probably a throwback to my missionary days in New Mexico).  Since authentic green chilies are hard to come by back east, I resort to the canned stuff. This recipe is pretty easy, and definitely delicious. 

Enchiladas

I went to look up my next recipe for the week, and I can definitely tell I'm craving mexican food (and green chilies,) because I'm adapting a Pioneer Woman's enchilada recipe to include green chilies and steak. I haven't tried it yet, but I thought I'd share my inspiration. Pioneer Woman rarely leads us astray.

I'll basically use this recipe, but with steak. (I sometimes worry that we need to eat more red meat than we do.)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/06/chicken-enchiladas/

I saw Pioneer Woman show a method for roasting your own chilies at home. I'm excited to try this method out, and think it might work well in these enchiladas if I can find the right produce.

See here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/08/green-chile-chicken/

Thai Peanut Sauce

Photo from the recipe website.

http://shesimmers.com/2009/03/how-to-make-thai-peanut-sauce-my-moms.html

I LOVE Thai food. I wasn't introduced to it until I was at college. (Bless my roommates for introducing me.) Asian food is tricky, and this is the only curry recipe I've ever had success with. It's so easy and fast, and absolutely delicious. The trick is to buying the red curry in the jar. It's a little pricey, but worth it! I think that most recipes that call for the yellow powdery stuff don't have enough flavor.

Cameron think's the recipe is too sweet (I think it's fine as is though). So I'm going to try to reduce the sugar this time and see how it goes. We usually make plain chicken and rice and then just drench the stuff with this sauce, but when I looked at the recipe again this morning, I saw that the author suggests using it on chicken sandwiches. That could definitely be a winner!

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Again, courtesy of my girl Ree. I saw that the recipe called for cilantro in the slaw and I was hooked. Put cilantro on just about anything and I'm a happy girl. When I made this before, I was impatient and couldn't wait for the slaw to marinate for the appropriate time (key step, I know), so I just ate it prematurely. I still thought it was great! But then again, I love cabbage.

I cheat and just cook the chicken on the stove and shred it afterwards. I bet this version is better, but timing a slow cooker to work its magic while I'm at work is problematic for me. I think the key is to get a good sauce. Cameron's favorite is Stubbs, and he's finicky about BBQ at times, so it's a compromise. 

I hate wasting food. I'm hoping I can find a bagged cabbage mix at the store. If not, I might either just go with a small head of green cabbage, or save the recipe until I have more cabbage recipes in the line up. 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/05/barbecue-chicken-sandwiches/

Now i'm hungry! What recipes have turned out to be winners for you?