Always thankful...

I was reminded this week how lucky I truly am. I was privileged to be able to help a twitter friend work on a special project for one of the most amazing Mommies I have had the honour to stumble across. If you haven't met Heather Hamilton yet, I HIGHLY recommend you do. Heather is one of the strongest, kindest, sweetest people I've encountered on the web. She has shared the trials and tribulations of parenting a child with special needs and has recently been dealing with the loss of her little Zack. I've read her blog and it made me so thankful for the things I have in my life. I truly believe the world is better place because of people like Heather and even though she doesn't know me I will be keeping her family in my thoughts. If you are looking for a great cause to donate to help her family make Zack's Dream room come true at Toronto's Sick Kids :)

So remember, cherish the people in your lives. Make it a priority. One great way to take time for each other is to sit down and eat together or get the (older) kids involved in cooking! This weeks meals lend room for both. I'd love to hear someways you spend time together, or share your meal plans with me and as always, happy planning!


Monday - Maple soy salmon with asparagus and cous cous

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Pineapple-Pork Tacos

Wednesday - Cheater chicken souvlaki with veggies

Thursday - Sesame ginger pork tenderloin, jasmine rice and garlic baby bok choy

Friday - Fancy nachos (ground beef, peppers, and cheese)

Saturday - Homemade burgers on the BBQ with ceasar salad and these homemade garlic croutons (thanks Tiffany!)

Sunday - Day off/Leftovers/ take out

"A recipe is merely words on paper..."

"...a guideline, a starting point from which to improvise." (Michael Smith, Chef at Home) And improvise is EXACTLY what we have been doing with this recipe since finding it a few weeks ago. We have used pureed strawberries, lemon rind and blueberries, added flax seed, extra cinnamon, well you get the idea :) It's a great basic recipe and It comes HIGHLY recommended from the house of Meal Planning Mama, so ENJOY my friends!


Adapted from Michael Smith Chef at Home

Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 1 cup oatmeal
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup oil
* 1 1/2 cups yogurt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup grated carrots (about 3)(We have never used them as we didn't have them!)

We usually add lemon rind and the juice of 1 lemon PLUS 2 cups blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Mix eggs, oil, yogurt and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Stir in carrots and then dry ingredients.
4. Spoon into 6 large or 12 regular sized muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes.

So MPM is a SLACKER this week. I know how the heck am i ever going to get followers and KEEP them if I am a SLACKER? Oh wait, I think that's called life and yep, sometimes it gets in the way of the other stuff. So I'm begging forgiveness and giving you a plan. Better late than never....


Wednesday - Taco Soup ( we have some in the freezer from the last time we made it)

Thursday - Veggie stir-fry (peppers, baby bok choy, onion, ginger, topped with cashews or peanuts)

Friday - Chicken ceasar salad

Saturday - Smokies over a bonfire with some friends!!!

Sunday - Homemade burgers with pureed spinach, jalapeno, and carrot puree in the meat mixture (Hubby's idea and DELISH!!!)

I wonder...

I often hangout on twitter and wonder how many of the tweets are "censored" and no, not by some Big Brother patrolling the cyber world but by the posters? How do people balance their public personas with their private ones? Or do you just let it all hang out there? I often fear that I will lose followers if I am "real", you know the let it all hang out there sometimes not politically correct, or even PG-13 kinda real. But I guess then I need to decide exactly what kind of blogger I want to be. For now I will muddle through the big bad cyber world in search of my identity, pausing along the way to plan a few meals :)

Enjoy my friends! And a big welcome to my new followers!!!


Monday - Red Thai chicken curry on jasmine rice(chicken, coconut milk, pineapple, red pepper, red curry paste)


Tuesday - Some kind of tortilla pie or mexican casserole (any suggestions?)

Wednesday - Curried chicken with ginger and yogurt


Thursday - Pork Scallion (recipe below) with salad

Friday - BBQ buffalo chicken ranch burgers

Saturday - Beer butt chicken, salad and rolls

Sunday - Use leftover chicken to make either BBQ chicken pizza, or chicken pesto pizza

Red Curry Chicken and Jasmine rice
Ingredients

3 tbsp red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 tbsp salty sauce (oyster or soya)
1 can bamboo shoots
1 can pineapple
1 red pepper

Directions

In a saucepan mix red curry paste, salty sauce and coconut milk together, pour over chicken, add veggies. Simmer for 5 mins. Serve over jasmine rice.

PORK SCALLION RECIPE (Thanks Nicki!!!)
1 pork tenderloin, cut into 18 medallions, pound out so thin
Marinade for at least 30 minutes in:
2 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Honey (I didn't use the honey)
1 tbsp fresh Ginger, grated

Cut scallions into 18 spears slightly longer than your pork medallions. Wrap pork around scallions. Broil for 5 minutes or until cooked through (depending how thin your pork is. I sprinkled mine with sesame seeds.