Sunday, July 22, 2012

Week 58: Garden Goodies!

Check out this basket of goodies our garden yielded yesterday!  We stayed overnight near Augusta, GA on Friday because Alain ran a Tri the Parks triathlon on Saturday and came back to all of this yummy stuff ready to eat in our garden!  He ran a great race and the overcast day made it really pleasant to be an observer!  The storm came just as we were leaving, so that was great for us (not so great for the organizers of the race).  :(



We've been going non-stop in this house for a week and my hubby and I are about to take our first vacation away (alone) in 9 years!  We celebrated our 12th anniversary last week, so we are taking a trip to Oregon primarily to meet our new niece, but with a side trip to celebrate our anniversary on the Oregon coast!  We are really getting excited!

Since I won't be here for the week, I'm making a menu for my sweet FIL who will be watching my children.  I can't guarantee he's going to stick to it, but at least I'll provide everything he needs to make dinner while he's here.


Week 58 Menu

Sunday - Thai basil shrimp, cabbage, asparagus
Monday - Grilled chicken legs, yellow rice, steamed broccoli
Tuesday - Beef stroganoff, egg noodles, steamed green beans
Wednesday - Hamburgers or Italian sausage, baked potatoes & sweet potatoes
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Grilled salmon, pan seared asparagus
Saturday - Out to dinner

There are so many weekly menus that pass where I don't get to everything on my menu!  It happens more often than not, but I always feel better if I've made a menu.  It's not stressful at all if I choose to veer from the menu.  Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Happy cooking and menu planning!

Sarah

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Week 57: Grilled Pizza!

Grilled pizza has always been in the back of my mind since I saw a show on The Food Network years ago demonstrating how the whole thing works.  So, today was my sweet Emilie's 6th birthday and she adamantly begged to have homemade pizza for dinner.  I tried to explain to her that our oven is broken, but that really doesn't mean much to a 6-year-old birthday girl!

This is the photo before it went on the grill.  We ate it so fast that I didn't get any pictures after it came off the grill!  ;)

Wow!  I can't say enough amazing things about grilled pizza!  It tastes just like it does cooked in a stone oven!  It was just the perfect crispness on the crust and perfectly browned.  Each bite was heavenly!  Alain and both felt like we were tasting pizza perfection!  We're such food geeks!  We've made our own pizzas before, but only in the oven and they were always good, but this just really took it up a notch.  The kids made their own pizza and Alain and I made ours (side 1-pesto, pulled pork, artichokes mushrooms, and buffalo mozzarella; side 2-red sauce, sausage, mushrooms, buffalo mozzarella and basil).
Emilie's 6th Birthday!

Week 57 Menu

Sunday - Homemade pizzas
Monday - Mexican beef, black beans, white rice
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Thai basil shrimp, cabbage, green beans
Thursday - Chicken stir-fry, broccoli, white rice
Friday - Grilled salmon, pan seared asparagus
Saturday - Out to dinner

I'm hopeful that the oven will be fixed this week!  I was cooking this weekend and I heard this awful "POP" sound come out of the oven and it looked like there was a fire inside!  I quickly turned off the oven and took out the food, but the heating coil on the bottom seems to be damaged.  So, I tried to keep our menu out of the oven this week!  

Happy cooking!

Sarah