Hearts of Palm

I heart hearts of palm.  Here's a salad for the record books.  My last ingredient challenge was this almost non-heard of ingredient and wow, what a salad topper it is.  It's found in the canned food section and reminds me of water chestnuts, but saltier with a more sinewy texture.  I chopped it finely and sprinkled it generously over our salad.  This scrumptious side dish sat next to grilled stuffed chicken breast and fresh bread.  This dinner sounds complicated, but the only complicated part really is being organized enough the have the ingredients.  Here's the recipe(s):

Salad:  A bed of lettuce topped with cucumber, split cherry tomaotes and avocado and drizzled with a creamy garlic dressing.

Creamy Garlic Dressing:

1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons oil

Directions:  Combine salt and garlic in small bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon to form a paste. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Cover and chill 1 hour.

This made enough for this evenings salad, with enough left over to store in an air tight container for the rest of the week. 

Pan Fried Shrimp
TIP:  I buy frozen shrimp when it comes on 2 for 1.  It's often not peeled or deveined but a small price to pay for really cheap shrimp.  It's ready in my freezer to fanici-fy a salad on a moments notice.   

Sprinkle shrimp with coriander, cumin and oregano.  Pan fry 3-4 minutes on each side on med in 2tbsp of heated olive oil.  

I prepared the chicken, shrimp, salad dressing in the afternoon while she slept.  Just before dinner all I had left to do was  toss the chicken packets on the grill and throw the salad together.  I think I'd made the bread the day before.  It was extra delicious because Tim was so impressed with the fanciness of it all, when in fact it was really simple.       

Meal planning is my friend

My goal is to go grocery shopping once a week.  In order to make this happen I need a plan.  (My plan didn't work out so well last week.  I flushed as the grocery packer boy said to me - weren't you here yesterday?)  Nothing makes more difference in my week then my meal plan.   It requires sitting down for half and hour or so and looking at our schedule for the upcoming week then planning our meals accordingly.  With our schedule posted on family board (meal and activities) I avoid overbooking myself and I never wonder what's for dinner.  

This has become my schedule/menu board:

Here are my ten tips for a successful meal plan: 

1. Scan cupboards and fridge for food that's in danger of expiring.  That can of beans I bought 2 months ago and didn't use turns into next weeks meal project. 
2. Plan quick meals for rushed nights.
3. Remain flexible.  To hot to turn the oven on or something else comes up, toss what's in the fridge into the freezer and switch the meals around. 
4. Plan for the number of meals eaten at home on average.  I plan five meals week, we almost always end up somewhere else for 1 or 2 dinners. 
5. Have a "quickie" meal on stand-by just in case no one invites us over :) 
6. Write out my plan and include where the recipes are.  I can't tell you how many times I have grocery listed with an online source only to find that 3 days later I have no idea where the recipe is. 
7. Don't give up on planning when it feels like none of it worked.  No matter how good the plan is, I'm bound to periodically miss that the recipe was a 2hour bake time not 20min.  Oops.
8. Schedule time to plan.  A good weeks schedule and thoroughly checked grocery list takes about 1hr to complete.   It's become one of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities. 
9. Don't get too ambitious.  I challenge myself once (or twice) a week (but I often end up regretting the #2) and I always make sure my challenging meals show up on days I have time to enjoy the process.  
10. Include baked goods.  I never seem to remember my good intentions of baking fresh bread or muffins for a particular day unless I write it down. 

Planning somehow makes my whole week prettier, more relaxing and more productive all at once.  I've been practicing this on and off for years, but have gotten really good at it since...I've had nothing else to manage.  I didn't reliably remember to take meat out of the freezer before, let alone to marinade it.  I knew I'd gotten better at this when yesterday a family friend stopped by and spontaneously stayed for lunch ... then dinner.  May I quote her?

"This is the most gourmet meal home cooked meal I've had in who knows how long.  Can I get the marinade recipe?"  (lemon thyme)

It was one of my 'easy' meals.  Literally meat from the freezer (frozen with marinade) defrosted and thrown on the grill.  Sided with grilled mushrooms (doesn't get easier) and coleslaw.  I had planned to make something else, but when company came I adjusted.  It felt so, organized.  Like, how my mom must feel all the time.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm getting awesome.

Cornmeal

Cornmeal Coated Chicken Wings. 

When I served tables I never remembered to bring out the finger bowl, but now I'm a pro.  Finger bowl and all.  These wings were goooooood and tasted as crispy deep fried as you can get without deep frying.  Here's how it's done:

Whisk together:

1c Milk

1T vinegar

1 egg

1t salt 

1t hot sauce

Pour mix over wings to soak in a sealed container for 4hrs or overnight.  Before cooking, mix the following into a large Ziploc bag.  Dump in wings a couple at a time and transfer to baking sheet.

1/2c cornmeal

1/2c flour

1.5 chili powder

1.5 cumin

Roast wings at 400F, turning once, for 45min or till juice runs clear.  Serve with blue cheese dip (or ranch if you don't have any). 

Yum.