New 5-Day Weekly Meal Plans at www.emealsforyou.com
For those of you who prefer weekly meal plans we have 20 weekly plans for you to chose from, that’s 5 months worth of headache-free meals, complete with scalability and shopping lists. To see the post regarding the new 5-day Weekly Meal Plans click here!
Add comment November 5, 2009
Recipe of the Week – Clams, Shrimp and Mussels
(From the Appetizer category at www.emealsforyou.com)
Clams. Mussels and Shrimp
Come over and bring an appetizer. To some that sends terror, some it means a stop at the local market for one of those “shrimp rings” but to me it opens the door to bring a great dish. I like this dish because it sends wonderful garlicy smells throughout the kitchen. It is perfect because most people will find something they like in the dish. Whether you like shrimp, or mussels or clams they are all in there soaking up all the garlic and white wine.
I serve this in a large bowl surrounded by crunchy bread to sop up the juices. This is a great appetizer or serve it over pasta and call it a meal.
Pour the wine, please.
Greek Mussels, Shrimp and Clams
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | Small Plates Please (Picnic Meal Plans) |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.5 | cup | carrots, diced |
| 0.5 | cup | onions, diced |
| 0.5 | cup | celery ribs |
| 1 | Tb | thyme, fresh |
| 6 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | 15 oz can | tomatoes, diced |
| 12 | oz | wine, dry white |
| 2 | lb | mussels |
| 1 | lb | shrimp, deveined, shelled |
| 12 | medium | clams |
| 2 | Tb | cilantro, chopped |
| 1 | Tb | lemon zest, finely chopped |
| 0.5 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Clean and rinse mussels and clams. Add oil to hot pan, sauté carrots, onions and celery (diced) until soft, add thyme, garlic, sauté for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine, clams, shrimp and mussels, cover pan, cook until mussels and clams open, discard unopened mussels and clams. Place on serving platter, sprinkle with zest, lemon juice and cilantro.
Add comment March 10, 2010
Getting Organized – Now Where Did I Put That Recipe?
(From www.emealsforyou.com)
I was reading an article in the New York Times today that was announcing a new app that allows I-phone users to look up recipes and then save recipes; as they called it a breakthrough. No offense here but we have been doing that for over a year with our website: www.emealsforyou.com. So it got me thinking about how most people are unorganized and are constantly looking for recipes that they and their families liked.
This is one of the core requirements that our focus group told us was important 5 years ago. Not only do we have hundreds and hundreds of recipes and meal plans, all automatically scaled to the number of people you are feeding, but you may simply “park” any recipe or meal plan in your Favorites Box. No more looking for the folder with all the recipes falling out to get to the one you wish to make. No more searching through all those index cards for the right one. Simply go to our site, sign in, go to your Favorites Box and pull down the recipe or meal plan. If surprise guests are coming for dinner; just update the recipe to that number by clicking on the drop down menu. That’s it.
Maybe the Times needs to look beyond the I-phone only apps.
Add comment March 4, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Beef Vegetable Soup
(From the Soups Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
Beef Vegetable Soup
I will try not to jinx it but hopefully we are in the last days of this cold, snowy winter. For this post I will get back to my soup making recipes, although my wife reminds me that soups are good all year long. A hot bowl of soup on a cold day really hits the spot. My father used to make a huge pot of this soup on Saturdays in the winter when we were growing up. He would use up all the small portions of vegetables in those plastic bags in the back of the freezer. It’s a good excuse to clean out the frozen vegetables that have been taking up space.
If your grocery doesn’t have any beef soup bones in the case just ask the meat cutters for some, they always have some in the freezer and should charge you a small amount per pound. As for the soup meat, you can usually find this in the case but any beef will do; I usually look for the least expensive cut as it will cook for a long time and will be tender. Don’t add the salt until you are just about done cooking it as it will reduce and any salt added early will become more pronounced when done.
Give this soup a try, your family will like it and the house will smell great as you watch the last of the ice melt outside.
Beef Vegetable Soup
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Soups |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | lb | beef soup bones |
| 1 | lb | beef soup meat |
| 1 | large | onions, chopped |
| 4 | 15 oz can | beef broth |
| 1 | qt | water |
| 2 | lb | mixed vegetables, frozen |
| 1 | 15 oz can | tomatoes, diced |
| 0.5 | tsp | oregano, dried |
| 3 | medium | bay leaves, whole dried |
| 1 | Tb | garlic powder |
| 3 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Heat oil in a large soup pot and soup bones and soup meat. Brown on all sides. Add onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add broth, water, vegetables, diced tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves and garlic powder. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for several hours, skimming off the foam that forms on the top. Remove bones and soup meat to a separate bowl; using a fork shred meat, discarding bones and fat. Place meat back in soup and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Add comment March 2, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Calzone
(From the Easy Recipes I Can Cook Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
Calzone
I like the crust on pizza so it is a natural transition to calzone. These are, excuse me Tony at Aponte’s Pizza, folded pizzas. Just like pizza they are very good with any ingredients you wish to put inside. On this recipe I call for cheese and roasted red peppers. I used the ones in a jar from the grocery, but you can put cooked sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions whatever you would put on top of a pizza tucked inside. Use pizza sauce or any good store-bought tomato sauce that you like.
Served golden brown and steamy, right from the oven, they will give you an alternative to the pizza you usually serve. Your family will love them and you will appreciate the ease of preparation and clean up.
Calzone
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Easy Recipes I Can Cook |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 1 | recipe | pizza dough |
| 2 | cup | cheese, low-fat mozzarella |
| 4 | oz | peppers, red roasted |
| 4 | Tb | cheese, Romano, grated |
| 1.5 | cup | tomato sauce |
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut dough into four pieces, form into rounds. Roll dough into four small pizza sized disks. Divide cheese and red peppers evenly and place on half of each disk. Fold pizza dough over to form a half moon. Seal edges of dough together, cut an X into top and place in very hot oven until brown. Plate and spoon tomato sauce on top.
Add comment February 23, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Aunt Joanie’s Blueberry Muffins
(From the Breads Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
Aunt Joanie's Blueberry Muffins
Still snowing in Cincy, for those of you keeping score this is the snowiest (is that a word?) February in history; and we are only at the 16th of the month. Over the weekend my phone beeped, my neighbor and friend was calling to see if he could stop by with some homemade blueberry muffins. Now this is a guy who prides himself a grill master but claims no skills at all in the kitchen. Long story short, he shows up with a basket full of steaming hot blueberry muffins.
Just looking at the muffins you could immediately tell they were not the standard mix the ingredients from a box muffins. Moist, full of berries, these breakfast treats will warm your bellies and your spirits on a cold, snowy morning. They wouldn’t be bad mid-summer either. Mark suggests using wild blueberries, he is from Vermont, and coarse sugar on top, but they are really great no matter where you got your berries. Mark claims they are his aunt Joanie’s recipe; wonder if he is holding back on any other of his aunt’s recipes?
Aunt Joanie’s Blueberry Muffins
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Breads |
| Meal: | N/A |
| 2 | large | egg |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | cup | milk, whole |
| 3 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 3 | cup | flour |
| 4 | tsp | baking powder |
| 1 | cup | blueberries |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, white, optional |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and sugar together until thickened. Melt butter and add to milk and then to the egg mixture. Reserve 2 Tb of the flour, mix remaining flour and baking powder together. Fold into batter, Mix reserved flour with the berries and fold into the batter. Spray muffin tins with PAM and spoon batter into muffin tins. Sprinkle tops with sugar ( preferably course). Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 1 dozen muffins.
1 comment February 16, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Bean Soup
(From the Soup Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
Bean Soup
So the snow continues here in the Ohio Valley; must be that beaver and shadow thing. I don’t know if I can take it for 5 more weeks. I am back on the soup kick. Nothing beats a hot bowl of soup on a cold and snowy day for warming your body as well as your soul.
This recipe comes by way of my father who would save any ham bones he had and then make a pot of this filling and wonderful soup. As there are just the two of us, I substituted a ham steak for the ham bones he used. This is probably the heartiest soup I make. I usually have a couple of containers frozen for days just like this. Just get a pot started and let the magic happen. Use any beans you have in the pantry; well almost any bean. No baked beans please.
Bean Soup
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Soups |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | large | onions, diced |
| 1 | lb | ham, steaks |
| 2 | large | potatoes |
| 2 | large | carrots, diced |
| 2 | 15 oz can | tomatoes, diced |
| 1 | 15 oz can | beans, white, great northern |
| 1 | 15 oz can | beans, black |
| 1 | Tb | caraway seeds |
| 2 | Tb | vinegar, cider |
| 20 | oz | water |
| 2 | 15 oz can | chicken broth |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 3 | Tb | flour |
| 2 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Cut potatoes and carrots into small cubes. Heat oil in pan, add onions and ham, sauté until lightly brown, and add potatoes, broth, tomatoes, beans, water, vinegar and caraway seeds. Boil for about 10 minutes; simmer for 30 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Lightly toast flour in a non-stick pan, add oil and continue cooking, stirring for an additional 3 minutes to form a roux. Add some of the soup to the roux and mix, add mixture to soup and stir to mix.
Add comment February 9, 2010
Super Bowl Food – Vickie’s Shredded Beef
(From the Easy Recipes I Can Cook Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
It’s Super Bowl time again and you are thinking about what you will serve for munching during the game. Tired of the usual, chili and wings, chips and dips? Here is a very easy recipe, easy to make and easy on the budget. Make this beef a day or two in advance and then sit back and relax and watch the game.
We have included the shopping list for this to make your life easier. All our recipes at www.emealsforyou.com have shopping lists and are completely scalable for the number of people you are serving.
Vickie’s Shredded Beef
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Easy Recipes I Can Cook |
| Meal: | Old Movie Night (Theme Meal Plans) |
| 3 | lb | beef, cubes |
| 1 | large | onions, chopped |
| 1 | Tb | garlic powder |
| 1 | 10.5 oz can | beef consommé |
| 1 | Tb | mustard, yellow |
| 3 | Tb | vinegar, cider |
| 0.5 | cup | ketchup |
| 2 | Tb | water |
| 2 | Tb | flour |
Brown beef in olive oil, add onion, sauté for 5 minutes. Add garlic, ketchup, mustard, vinegar and consommé and simmer for 40 minutes.
Remove meat from pan, let cool, shred by hand.
Add flour to water and mix, add to pan to thicken gravy. Add shredded beef into gravy.
Serve on rolls.
This Shopping List is for the following Meal Plan(s):
- super bowl
| Delete | Qty | Ingredients |
| 10.5 oz can beef consommé |
| Delete | Qty | Ingredients |
| Tb flour | ||
| Tb garlic powder | ||
| cup ketchup | ||
| Tb mustard, yellow | ||
| Tb vinegar, cider |
| Delete | Qty | Ingredients |
| lb beef, cubes |
| Delete | Qty | Ingredients |
| large onions, chopped |
Add comment February 4, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Roasted Asparagus (again)
(From the Vegetables Collection at www.emealsforyou.com)
Flame-roasted asparagus
For those of you who have been readers of this post for a while this may sound like deja vu; but I am a really big fan of asparagus, especially peeled asparagus. I feel vindicated, as most people think I am insane when I suggest peeling the asparagus. That is until they try it. My wife was watching a program on PBS on Saturday about Thomas Jefferson and his garden. A chef was presenting the ways Jefferson had his food prepared and said he always had his asparagus peeled and then roasted; sometimes serving it as an appetizer on toast with butter.
Asparagus is one of those veggies that even kids seem to like. For some reason they don’t “fight” eating it like most vegetables. Besides finding a veggie that the kids eat, think about the positive side of peeling, no more looking through all the asparagus in the grocery for the really thin ones. Just walk up and grab the big stuff, trust me on this, you will be amazed at the taste and how tender it is once you have peeled it. Roasting, either on the grill, in the oven or even in a pan will enhance the taste.
I have one more suggestion when preparing asparagus. Instead of breaking it to take off the white part, try cutting it just where the green begins. Peel it, the green part and then cut about (3) 1/2 inch pieces off the bottom. Put these in a baggie and freeze them. Sometime in the future when you can’t figure out what to have for a Saturday lunch, pull out the pieces of asparagus, add them to 2 cans of chicken broth, some fresh cracked black pepper and some cream, half and half or even a 1/3 cup of instant potatoes for a great quick soap.
For the first 10 readers who sign up for www.emealsforyou.com using the Sponsoring Identifier PEELER-37 not only will you get $5 off the membership price but I will send you an asparagus peeler for free.
asparagus peeler
Flame Roasted Asparagus
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Vegetables |
| Meal: | Backyard Soiree (Picnic Meal Plans) |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1.5 | lb | asparagus |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | oz | cheese, Romano |
Cut bottom 1 -1 1/2 inch off of stem. Peel, yes I said peel the asparagus. Place in bowl, add oil and salt and pepper. Toss, retain bowl.
On a very hot grill, place asparagus crosswise to grill. Grill for 3 minutes. Remove and place back in bowl, toss with oil remaining in bowl. With a vegetable peeler shave the Romano cheese over the top and serve.
Can be made in grill pan on stove top, cook for 4 minutes.
Add comment February 2, 2010
You Can Reduce Your Salt Intact – A Rant
Seems everywhere I look someone is telling me to reduce my salt intake. This is a much easier task then you think. The first step is to stop eating all that fast, takeout food. Sure it taste great; they load it up with salt to make it taste great. Then you ask them to put some extra salt into the bag, just in case they shorted the fries.
Look, I have been telling everyone for over a year that they need to start preparing meals at home. The more you make at home the less you are at the mercy of the 16 year old working the fry machine. The second easy thing you can do is to stop using all of those pre-prepared foods. Again, the companies load these up to make them taste good, taste good but very bad for us. Make meals using fresh ingredients, check out any canned goods you use in cooking. There are low sodium versions of almost everything on the market these days.
So finally let me hit home…do it for the kids. Make their meals and besides healthier meals , you may just have the opportunity to spend some quality time with them. And as an added bonus, eating healthier yourself may just keep you around to see their kids.
Add comment January 28, 2010
Recipe of the Week – Banana Nut Muffins
(From the Easy Meals I Can Cook Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Banana Nut Muffins
In our house we have differing opinions about just when a banana is right for eating. My wife likes it when they are just turning from green to yellow. The bananas are hard and crisp with a slight tart taste, perfect she would say. I, on the other hand, like them when they are getting yellow or even when they are showing some signs of black on the skin, they are sweet and soft and everything you would want in a banana. Which brings me to the reasoning behind this post.
When the bananas begin to go over the hill, soft and yellow/black with spots of brown on the inside, it’s then that most people throw them away. This is a big mistake as they are just right for banana nut muffins. These are quick to make and if you get your timing down just right you can have them out of the oven when your family comes into the kitchen to start their day. No one can resist the warm muffins. If you are having trouble getting your kids to eat something before school; try putting a plate of the muffins out on the end of the counter, where they grab their books and head out. Chances are they will grab one or two on the fly. The muffins are good cold, wrap them in plastic wrap and leave them out and watch them disappear. Just remember to hide one for yourself, warm it in the microwave and sit back for the 3 minutes relaxation you allow yourself.
Banana Nut Muffins
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Easy Recipes I Can Cook |
| Meal: | Comfy Breakfast (Quick Meals Planner) |
| 2 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 1.5 | tsp | baking soda |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 4 | medium | banana, overripe |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, unsalted |
| 2 | large | egg |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
| 0.5 | cup | walnuts, chopped, toasted |
| 0.5 | cup | chocolate, chips |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray PAM in muffin tins. Reserve 1 Tb of flour. Combine remaining flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Melt butter and cool. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl; add sugar and whip until light and fluffy. Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat until blended; fold in flour ½ at a time. Mix nuts and chocolate chips with the reserved 1 Tb of flour. Fold into mixture. Scope into muffin tins and bake for 15- 18 minutes until brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Add comment January 26, 2010
