This Past Week

My meal plans start on Sundays so that will be the first time I will be able to post something with a full recipe, review, and picture.  But I thought I could start you out with a review of this past week (or of what I remember about this past week... sometimes the week gets so chaotic that what we ate becomes a bit blurry).

Monday
On Monday my meal plan called for Pulled Pork.  I defrosted my pork tenderloin the night before and put it in the slow cooker at 10:00 am so that it would be ready for our 6:00 pm dinner.  Around 2:00 pm I smelled burning from the crock pot but chose to ignore it because, you know, I was following the recipe.  Finally, around 3:00 pm, I couldn't ignore the smell any longer and looked into the slow cooker.  What I saw was a charred pork tenderloin about half of its original size and black crystallized barbecue sauce.  I decided to turn the crock pot off (and cut my losses) and as I pushed the "off" button I saw what had happened.

Apparently (and I'm going to say that my uninvited sous chef - my son - whose true goal is to grab as many things as possible off the counter) when I went to turn on the crock pot instead of cooking the pork tenderloin on low for 8 hours, I cooked it on high for 6 hours.  So I completely scorched it... but it turns out I only scorched the outside of the tenderloin.

For dinner I had to think on my feet.  I had some meatballs in the freezer (I had made meatball subs the night before) so I made pasta with meatballs.  I fed that to my husband and gave my son a meatball and some pulled pork.  For me, I ate the pulled pork with red onions (I scraped off the char) and I think it was delicious!  My son liked it as well.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Red Onions, and Pasta and meatballs (I'll have to share my meatball recipe at a later date)
Rating: Evan (I can't give it a "Brian" because due to the cooking)
Future Recommendations: Cook it low and slow as it is called for and add more barbecue sauce to the pot



Tuesday
My Tuesday meal plan was a slow cooker chicken parmesan because my husband had been begging for chicken parmesan (he doesn't understand how I can only eat certain foods in certain weathers and chicken parm is definitely a winter meal to me).  However, my crock pot was still caked on with crystallized barbecue sauce (which would actually end up being the end of that crock pot) so I had to modify my plans.

Instead I made an oven baked lighter version of chicken parmesan and it was well worth it.  For me, since I'm still trying to lose my baby weight from my daughter AND my son, I had one serving and some salad.  My son had the chicken parmesan and cucumber.  My husband had the chicken parmesan, salad, and leftover pasta (without the meatballs).

Recipe: Baked Chicken Parmesan
Rating: Brian - it was rave reviews from everyone
Future Recommendations: There is nothing I would change from this recipe



Wednesday
My meal plan called for BBQ Chicken Fingers (recipe from an online e-book so I can't really share).  Then Brian told me he was going to be out of town and I don't do a full cooking gig when he is out of town.  Thankfully I had to go to Trader Joe's (one of my favorite places in the world) to get a snack for my son's pre-school class (I need something gluten-free and Trader Joe's has some good snack and since I had already brought in almond butter hummus with crudite, I wanted something pre-packaged) and decide to pick up something for dinner.

Evan and I ate chicken and cheese tamales with creamed corn and roasted red pepper soup.  We loved the tamales and Evan loved the soup but it actually wasn't my favorite (the Creamy Tomato soup and the Butternut soup at Trader Joe's are to die for) but it was still good.

Recipe: Trader Joe's Pre-made Tamales and soup
Rating: Evan (even though I didn't love it he sure did)
Future Recommendations: I would get the tamales again but I'd try a different soup


Thursday
On Thursday I was going to use the ribs I got on sale at Publix and make Crock pot Country Ribs (apparently I was having a crockpot week).  But, as you recall, no crock pot.  So, I had to completely change my plans.  Additionally, Thursday morning, while my son was at preschool, I cleaned out my pantry (thus the organization you saw in my photo) so I wanted to use something I had found in there.

I decided to defrost some chicken breasts and make Two Mustard Chicken, broccoli, sauteed baby portabella mushrooms (about to go bad in my fridge), and Near East mushroom couscous.  I've made this chicken recipe a lot - it's easy and flavorful.  I usually use whatever mustard I have on hand, in this case it was country dijon and Trader Joe's sweet and hot mustard, and I've even made it with just one type of hearty mustard.  It always pleases and it is one of my son's favorites.

Additionally I learned two things at this meal: 1) Evan L-O-V-E-S couscous and ate all of his up with seconds, 2) Brian, who swore to me he didn't like couscous, actually likes couscous.  I like the Near East products a lot. For a boxed product I think they still taste good, especially if you are new to couscous and aren't sure how to cook it or what flavors to pair with it.

Recipe: Two Mustard Chicken
Rating: Brian (everyone ate this up)
Future Recommendations: I loved the Trader Joe's sweet and hot mustard in this and will definitely use it again


Friday
And here is a total fail as a meal.  I was going to make Pasta with Creamy Walnut sauce (which is a weight watchers recipe so I can't share it with you unless you are a member) because when I organized my pantry I found out my walnuts were going to expire soon but Evan woke up at 4:00 am, didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 am and then woke up again at 5:30 am so there was going to be no cooking.  Instead, we all ate something bad and barely nutritious.

Ellen: Trader Joe's chicken tamale with some leftover Bush's baked beans
Brian: 3 Perdue breaded chicken patties, Kraft mac and cheese, leftover Bush's baked beans
Evan: Frozen mac and cheese meal for kids with corn and a brownie

And, each of us cleaned our plates.  Don't judge me... I know you don't feed your family a balanced meal every night.  Sh*t happens people. 

Saturday
I plan on "cooking" chicken burgers from Trader Joe's that I have in my freezer.  I'll let you know what I really cook and how it tastes.