Posts tagged ‘Meal Planning’
Recipe of the Week – Seared Scallop Small Plates
From the Fish Entrée Collection at emealsforyou.com
Seared Scallops
My sister-in-law dropped in for a weekend visit on her way home after a visit to the East Coast. As she doesn’t eat meat but enjoys seafood; we had to come up with a menu plan that fit our schedule as well as provide an interesting and palate pleasing treat. We decided on small plates; our version of several great recipes prepared as partial recipes. We usually make about 4- 5 different entrées to choose from.
To make sure the scallops are fresh, buy only those from a vendor who moves a lot of product daily. The scallops should be off-white to creamy in color and not sitting in the white milky substance you sometimes see them sitting in. Avoid those that are “swimming” in this fluid. As we were having 5 small plate entrees I made 2 large (10 -20 count) scallops per person. I also added a few golden raisins to the brown butter sauce for an added touch.
Our other small plate entrées included Grilled Steelhead Trout on Cucumber Slices with Hollandase Sauce, Cantaloupe with Crab Salad, Individual Yellow Tomato Caprese Salad, and Toast Points with Goat Cheese and Fig Jam.
Pan-roasted Sea Scallops
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 2 |
| Category: | Fish Entrée |
| Meal: | Dinner in the Round (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 8 | large | scallops, sea |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 4 | Tb | Panko breadcrumbs |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 8 | leaves | sage, fresh |
| 2 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 0.5 | medium | lemons |
Note: This recipe takes very little time to make and therefore be sure to have the rest of the meal ready to go before starting the scallops.
Dry scallops thoroughly on a paper towel. Salt and pepper both sides of the scallops. Place Panko breadcrumbs in a shallow dish, salt and pepper breadcrumbs. Dip one side of scallop in breadcrumbs. Place butter and olive oil in pan; heat pan until oil begins to smoke. Place scallops, breadcrumb side down in pan and cook until light brown (about 3 minutes); flip scallops and cook for three minutes on reverse side. Remove scallops to a side plate. Lower heat to medium, place sage leaves and butter in pan and swirl, cooking for three minutes. Plate scallops and drizzle brown butter sauce over scallops, serve with a lemon wedge on the side.
Shown here with baby Yukon Gold potatoes and peas.
More small plate ideas at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Spinach Salad
(From the Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Spinach Salad
This was the weekend of “food”. The trip to NJ to pick up my mother-in-law went without any problems with the exception of an hour delay on Rt. 70 for a truck accident. We planned the meals in advance; after all this is a meal planning website, so in line with my mother-in-laws love of everything “salad” they were a big part of the weekend. We started with a refreshing Watermelon Salad on Friday with grilled burgers. Saturday was a 2 salad day with an Italian Salad with lunch and the Spinach Salad with the dinner of Chicken Piccata. Rounding out the weekend was a wonderful Caesar Salad with grilled porterhouse steaks; served with a Gorgonzola cheese sauce.
The spinach salad is always a favorite with the tart dressing mingling with the sweet sour cranberries and toasted pecans. My brother-in-law came out to spend some time with us and drove my mother-in-law back to NJ. As a special treat for their ride back I made, you guessed it, chicken salad sandwiches.
Spinach Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | Guest Who’s Coming to Dinner (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 1 | lb | spinach, fresh baby |
| 3 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.5 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | tsp | garlic powder |
| 3 | oz | cheese, feta, crumbled |
| 2 | Tb | cheese, Romano, grated |
| 0.25 | cup | cranberries, dried |
| 0.25 | cup | pecans, halved |
| 0.25 | cup | mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Lightly toast pecans. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss.
Catch these salad ideas along with a bunch more at emealsforyou.com.
Worth the re-print- Now more relevant than ever- Meal Planning – Why Now and Why emealsforyou?
Okay, so you have made it this far in your search for an understanding on why you should begin to plan your meals. This proves that you know your should be planning meals:
- To save money and time
- To feed your family better foods with less additives and preservatives
- To gather your family together to establish communication
- To make your family healthier and happier
Why emeals and why now?
- You want to begin planning but you just can’t get started
- You want to feed your family healthier meals
- Tough times mean you have to eat at home more
- Every time you go to the grocery you spend more than you wanted to
- You can’t decide what to cook
- You are tired of the same old recipes
- You know you will be better organized if you had a shopping list
- You really want to establish “family time”
- You feel guilty about all that “fast food”
With an emealsforyou membership you get the structure and support you need to make meal planning work. Recipes and meal plans are only a quick click away, complete with recipes scaled for the number of people you are feeding for each meal. A few more mouse clicks and you have your shopping list printed, in your pocket and are on the way to the store, and on the way to feeding your family healthier meals and saving money: the time savings and family times are added benefits.
Try our site and see the huge difference it will make in your life. Start saving with your next trip to the grocery store. We’ve lowered our price; now a full year membership is only $17.95.
Sign Up NOW! Take control of your family’s well-being.
Neighborhood Dinner – Bolognese Sauce
From the Easy Recipes I Can Cook Category at emealsforyou.com.
- Bolognese Sauce
I was reading the NY Times this morning and saw an article on cooking magazines and how they are struggling to find a theme that works. Seems Rachael Rays’ magazine is outperforming Bon Appetit. I had to laugh to myself that it took some consultant to figure out that with today’s economy people are more interested in finding ideas they are comfortable cooking than snails from the south of France.
We here on this blog and for more than 5 years on our website, emealsforyou.com, attracted our customers and readers by providing good, wholesome, easy recipes and mealplans that don’t require three chefs, a specialty grocery and 14 hours of intense labor in the kitchen. We have always provided the type of meals that you can serve your mother-in-law, your husband’s boss or the neighbors from across the street. Comfortable, affordable recipes that could have come out of Bon Appetit, but come out of your kitchen. Have the neighbors in, catch up on what’s happening, and enjoy a good, old-fashioned dinner together.
Bolognese Sauce
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Easy Recipes I Can Cook |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 3 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 4 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.75 | cup | carrots, diced |
| 0.75 | cup | celery, chopped |
| 1 | large | onions, chopped |
| 6 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 4 | slices | bacon |
| 1 | lb | beef, ground, extra lean |
| 1 | lb | pork sausage |
| 3 | Tb | tomato paste |
| 1.5 | cup | milk, whole |
| 1.5 | cup | wine, dry white |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
| 4 | Tb | cheese, Romano, grated |
Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add olive oil. Add carrots, celery and onions and sauté until onion is translucent. Add garlic and bacon (chopped), add ground beef and sausage, with casing removed to the pot. Cook for 15 minutes, add tomato paste, cook for 10 more minutes. Add milk and wine and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper taste, sprinkle grated Romano on top. Serve over pasta.
If the sauce is too thick add some pasta water to loosen it.
Look for more recipes and mealplans at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Gluten Free – Flourless Chocolate Cake
(From the Gluten Free Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Flourless Chocolate Cake
As you may know we are adding new areas to our website. Besides expanding our Vegan category we have added a Gluten Free category. It seems everywhere I go someone says they are gluten intolerant. Being the huge “bread” person I am that really bothers me. Along with registered Dietitian Lisa M. Ronco, MS RD CDN, we will endeavor to develop recipes and meal plans for our readers and members of our website: emealsforyou.com, who have problems planning meals around their eating preferences.
Most of us consider gluten free foods to be bland and tasteless; not so around here. This cake is wonderful, smooth and chocolaty without a speck of flour. As with all of our recipes in the Gluten Free category this is a keeper that you will find the whole family will enjoy, even without flour.
Dessert – Flourless Chocolate Cake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Gluten Free |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 8 | Tb | butter, salted |
| 16 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 9 | large | egg, separated |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 3 | Tb | cocoa |
| 10 | oz | chocolate, semi-sweet bar |
| 1 | cup | cream, heavy |
Preheat oven to 350. butter a 9” springform pan; line the bottom with buttered wax paper, dust with cocoa powder. Melt chocolate and butter together, allow to cool slightly. Separate eggs; beat yolks on medium for 1 minute, add sugar and beat until light yellow. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until just peaking. Blend cooled chocolate with egg yolks, add cocoa; fold in egg whites. Pour into pan, bake for 40-45 minutes. This is a very moist cake and an inserted knife should come out barely wet. Allow to cool for ½ hour prior too removing from pan.
Heat cream until just below boil, remove from heat, and stir in chocolate until melted.
May be reheated slowly to melt.
Pour chocolate ganache over top, leave on counter until ready to serve.
If you refrigerate this cake the ganache will lose its shine.
·Note: This is almost a souffle; it will rise and drop, if the center caves in don’t panic. Fill with berries and pretend it was on purpose. It happens to all of us.
Find more recipes like this at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Uncommon Results from Common Ingredients – Grapefruit Sorbet
(From the Appetizer Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Grapefruit Sorbet
I’m big on “pantry cooking.” I believe you should be able to make wonderful meals from what you have around the kitchen, whether in the pantry, frig or freezer. With just a little imagination you should be able to cobble together an easy appetizer, meal or dessert from items you have on hand. At emealsforyou.com we give you a list of what we consider essentials for stocking away.
This weekend we were running a little short on appetizers so I went to the pantry and started looking for a quick, easy appetizer to make. A can of black beans from the shelf, some fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden, some pickled pepper rings from the frig and some frozen pita bread all went together to make a very good relish and chips. Add a few spices and herbs to your taste and you will wish you had written the recipe down for future use.
Along these lines I give you the easiest recipe I can think of. Serve this grapefruit sorbet between courses at a formal dinner or have it following a salad for lunch to make it special. So the next time you are in the store pick up a can of frozen grapefruit juice to save for a “rainy” day.
Grapefruit Sorbet
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Appetizer |
| Meal: | J & B’s Silent Auction Dinner (Distinctive Dinners) |
| 12 | oz | grapefruit juice, frozen concentrate |
| 24 | oz | water |
Combine frozen concentrate and water and process in ice cream maker until frozen. May be made in advance. Use as a palette cleanser between courses.
Recipe of the Week – Hot Fudge Sundae
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
We are having a going away party for a couple in our neighborhood group this weekend and I am responsible for the desserts. I have over 100 dessert recipes on my website (emealsforyou.com) so finding something to make wasn’t the problem, deciding what to make was. After kicking around several ideas we hit on having an old-fashioned Ice Cream Social. We will set up a dessert station with ice cream, hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream and of course cherries to top it all off. The perfect finish for the neighborhood party.
This hot fudge sauce is extremely easy it make and has always elicited rave reviews. Make a double batch, it lasts forever in the frig, well almost forever depending on your families addiction to chocolate.
Hot Fudge Sauce
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | Santa Fe Feast (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 0.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 0.5 | cup | corn syrup, light |
| 1 | Tb | vanilla |
| 1.5 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.25 | cup | cream, heavy |
| 0.5 | cup | cocoa |
Heat sugar, syrup, vanilla, cream and butter in a heavy sauce pan until blended. Mix in cocoa and stir.
Hint: may be kept in the refrigerator for weeks. Re-heat in microwave.
It’s on the site! – A Rant and a Rockin’ Recipe
(From the Misc Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Our friends and old neighbors were here this weekend. It was great to catch up, great conversations over good food and wine. One thing stood out; after our week-long trip to New Jersey last week and their visit this week I found myself saying over and over again, “it’s on the site.” I provide free recipes here on the blog but I have hundreds of recipes and meal plans on my website: emealsforyou.com. If you like what you see here you should go over to the website and give it a try. The goal is to get you and your family and friends sitting down to good food and great conversations.
Here is a really good recipe for margaritas provided by our friend Laura from her father. These are smooth, delicious and deadly. Thanks Rick!
Rockin’ Rick’s Margaritas
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Misc |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | 12 oz can | limeade |
| 4 | 12 oz can | water |
| 1 | 12 oz can | Triple Sec |
| 1 | 12 oz can | tequila |
| 0.75 | 12 oz can | vodka |
Pour limeade into a blender, add 4 cans of water, 1 can of Triple Sec, 1 can of tequila and .75 can of vodka. Blend well and serve over ice.
Recipe of the Week – Panzanella Salad
(From the Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Panzanella Salad
We have a salad with just about every dinner meal, so making different salads is important. We are on our second planting of lettuce in the garden and the tomatoes are just now turning; but I found some great plum tomatoes at the market. So when my wife asked if we could have a Panzanella salad for dinner; I was more than ready.
Panzanella salad can incorporate any number of ingredients. Make it with fresh veggies, grilled yellow squash or even substitute canned tomatoes. Add capers, olives or just about anything else in the fridge. Toast the bread if it is too soft or fresh. This works well when you forget to put the bread in a bag after dinner the night before and now you have all this stale bread laying around. Need to fill those teenage boys up, this is the thing; using inexpensive ingredients and they will be eating veggies without complaining.
Give this a try and I bet you will come back for more.
Panzanella Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | Thursday Comfort Food (Quick Meals Planner) |
| 6 | slices | bread, Italian |
| 3 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | 16 oz can | tomatoes, diced |
| 0.25 | small | onion, red |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 3 | Tb | vinegar, red wine |
| 1 | Tb | capers |
| 1 | small | squash. yellow |
| 2 | Tb | cilantro, chopped |
| 2 | Tb | cheese, Romano, grated |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Slice bread in ¾” slices, then into cubes. Place in bowl, add tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, capers, and garlic. Dice yellow squash and add to bowl. Add oil, vinegar, romano cheese, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.
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