Reckoning Week 3

So...how did the menu plan work out this week?  Let's take a look...

	Breakfast	Lunch (Snacks)	Dinner
Monday	6 Leibniz biscuits, an apple, a string cheese, and coffee	Grandma's 15-Minute Soup (peas/carrots/grapes, tea)	Baked Brie, (serve w/chocolate, an apple, crackers, & some wine)*
Tuesday	Slice of Poppyseed Cake, Coffee**	Avocado w/S&P, peas, carrots, grapes (6 biscuits w/tea)	Edamame and Pad Thai**
Wednesday	Scone and Coffee	Treated by a friend!	Sweet/Savory Squash (dessert: a slice of fudge)
Thursday	Hot Rice Cereal and Coffee	15-min. soup, crackers (6 biscuits + tea)	carrots, peas, grapes (not eaten at lunch) + the last of the Leibniz
Friday	I'm stuck in New York this weekend, so today was kind of off...Hot Rice Cereal and Coffee	Plane food + half a turkey/avocado sandwich split w/a friend.	Dinner out in Midtown: Sushiya, not bad.

*This was pretty awesome.  My neighbor, who reads the blog, made the baked brie recipe posted earlier last week.  This became (a rather unhealthy if frugal...read: free!) dinner.  I'm kind of touched...and one step closer to an early death via heart disease.  Yum.

**Drove through a Caribou Coffee while taking care of DMV stuff with my car. :(  Should have woken up earlier...and then went out to dinner w/a friend before going to a (free!) author reading/signing. :(( this was not the most food-budget conscious of days.

Recipes and notes for this week after the jump...


My style of menu planning:
Breakfast:
Whatever is ripening too quickly in the kitchen gets thrown into my lunch bag for breakfast at work where I eat it at the coffee break.  Also, breakfast is where I throw in leftovers I don't know what to do with and food that finds its way to my home. Not traditional fair (usually) but I like it.


Lunch:
I am a total nibbler.  I would much rather eat several small snacks throughout the day than a few big meals.  Often, I'll throw together a no-cook lunch and nibble from 11am-2pm as the mood strikes.  This usually consists of whatever vegetables were on sale in bulk at the farmers market, a few pieces of string cheese, and Rich Tea biscuits, surprisingly not very rich.  Otherwise I'll pack up a bento of leftovers.

Dinner:
This is where I'll try to cram as much cooking as possible into a little space.  Recipes below.


Grandma's 15-minute Soup
I doubt my grandmother made this up; it is probably a recipe from somewhere else.  It is classic Americana -- lots of cans, wonderful easy recipe.  It is the soup my grandmother would throw together as the family was arriving at her house.  Cheap, easy, delicious.
Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef (+seasonings)
• 2 cans veg-all
• 2 cans corn
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans beef broth
• 3 oz. egg noodles

Brown the beef (with seasoning if desired).  While the meat is cooking, dump all the cans, water and all, into a large stew-pot and heat up.  When beef is browned, add to the soup with the noodles.  Simmer for 10 min. or until noodles are al dente.  Serve with crackers.

To make this a healthier meal -- use low-salt: crackers, veg-all, corn, broth; no-yolk egg noodles; and when browning the beef, drain the fat and rinse the beef.  My personal twist is to swap out the tomatoes for Ro*Tel diced tomatoes with chilies.

Multigrain Scones
I am so psyched this recipe is online!  This recipe is straight out of the first cookbook I ever bought while living on my own.  Before this cookbook, I had pretty much learned everything I needed to know out of the Joy of Cooking my mother gave me upon leaving for college.  That being said, The Healthy Kitchen is also really good (but the ingredients required can be a little more expensive).

Sweet and Savory Squash
This was posted earlier on the blog...I love it as a simple meal midweek!

Easy Fudge
This recipe was actually one I found on the back of a Ghirardelli 100% Cacao baking bar ($2.19).  I changed the amounts: I used the whole bar, plus a package of Kroger white bark coating, 1 14oz can of condensed milk, and a dollop of vanilla extract)  Because I was using some baking supplies gotten on clearance an entire 8x8 pan of fudge cost under $5 total.  I took most of it in to work as a thank you for letting me off for DMV stuff (time-off goes over much better with an office oblation) and stuck the rest in the freezer.

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 bar of unsweetened baking chocolate (aka 2 oz.), chopped
• 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• (optional 1 cup chopped walnuts)

Line an 8x8" square pan with waxed paper. Place all chocolate and condensed milk in a double boiler over hot, but not boiling, water.  Stir the mixture occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the vanilla extract (and nuts).  Spread fudge evenly in prepared baking pan.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.  Store uncovered at room temperature.

Hot Rice Cereal
This is a recipe straight off of Hillbilly Housewife.  It is one of my favorite recipes and whenever I have leftover rice I love to make it the next morning!