June MoMe

Here is June's Month of Meals it is also posted below.


The monthly meal is the plan, but I’ve found myself severely distracted in the past month. When I had posted May’s MoMe, I had just landed in the states and was trying hard to keep my mental goal of posting a month of meals. As that visit eventually turned into a full move back to the states, I’ve been distracted by the abundance of these ingredients: cilantro, black beans, corn tortillas, jalapenos and peppers, jars of various brands of salsa, American craft brews, and my in-laws’ well stocked bar. I picked up a lot of healthy looking squash at the farmers’ market (patty pan, summer, zucchini) which makes its way into several meals. The shared meal plan is without the accompanying grocery list.

I recently picked up and read through Jennifer Reese’s (aka The Tipsy Baker) Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. I liked it, a lot. Her writing style is quirky and funny, and her approach is less about the whole organic experience, and more about just trying because if you’re already a pretty good home cook, why not try to make things that were probably not processed and made readily available 30 years ago? So far yogurt making has gone homemade. Peanut butter is made from scratch by roasting and grinding peanuts with a bit of a neutral oil, and I made two batches of brine pickles and vinegar based pickles (out of summer squash and zucchini). Beer was brewed, a sourdough starter thrived, and peanut butter cookies along with half a dozen bread loaves were baked.


June MoMe
Week 1:

1. Black bean soup and cornbread. To the batter of the cornbread add 1 chopped jalapeno and 1 cup of shredded cheese. Garnish black bean soup with yogurt or sour cream.  
2. Fish tacos.
3. Hummus and tabouleh with pita bread.
4. Mushroom etouffee with lightly grilled summer squash.
5. Pan-fried cornmeal crusted patty pan squash with blackened seasoning served over a salad.

Week 2:

1. Greek zucchini fritters.
2. Soba with edamame, tofu, and greens.
3. Asian-style tofu served over stir fried summer and zucchini squash served over brown rice. (replace salmon with tofu in recipe, or prepare as is).
4. tex-mex veg burgers.
5. Pizza with salad.
6. Lemon risotto rice pudding with rhubarb compote.

Week 3:

1. Black bean empanadas with a salad and salsa.
2. Thai-tuna cakes over salad (leftovers can be used as taco filling the next day).
3. Thai-tuna tacos with sprouts, radishes, and fresh lime.
4. Chile con queso, mixed bean chili, and margarita night
5. Greek-style cappellini pasta with pan-fried cornmeal crusted patty pan squash.

Week 4:

1. Indian-style lentils with zucchini and steamed corn tortillas (sub in lentils instead of yellow split peas).
2. Tacos with Indian-style lentils as stuffing served with normal taco fixins. I won’t judge you if you make margaritas again.
3. Belgian beer braised mushroom stew your choice to serve with fries or not. Tastes good with a salad and farmers’ market green beans.
4. Vidalia onion soup with wild rice.
5. Burek with yogurt. What a lovely blog check out her strawberry and pistachio galette.

May MoMe

In the spirit of moving and relocation here is May's Month of Meals.

Week 1 is brought to you by Neil. I've spent the better part of my life lecturing Neil on how and what to eat. His creativity impresses and inspires me. For someone that could easily eat out all the time, his choices to prepare foods at home impresses. I'm proud of you Neil.

I highly recommend the pizza method. To go with all the falafel that keeps showing up on month after month of meals we started baking our own pita bread around here. Oh, and go and check out my friend Stephanie's awesome Etsy shop.

April MoMe

Here's April's Month of Meals.

Here's a screen grab, hit the link above for the online doc.

Last month was mixed in with half the meals featured for April and last month's. I like the variety. I hope you do too. April's MoMe has many unlinked meals. Many meals have been thrown together without needing a recipe. Here are my thoughts/approaches on it, numbers coordinate with meals on the shared monthly meals:

2. Asparagus frittata; I use a recipe from my Deborah Madison cookbook which I've never blogged. Any frittata recipe that you like would be good. I finish some of it on the stovetop then put it in the oven to finish. Here's what it has looked like:


6. Moroccan tagine with baked eggplant slices. There are a lot of good tagine recipes online. I like lots of veggies and beans served over rice or couscous. It just depends on what I have on hand. Slice eggplants lengthwise, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with cumin, mint, and salt (I was gifted with a lovely Moroccan spice blend) and those are the main flavors. You can bake the tagine and eggplant at the same time. I love multi-tasking.

7. Pan-seared portobellos with wilted garlic spinach and goat cheese. Another throwing it together meal. I marinaded portobellos in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I put them on a hot cast-iron pan. Meanwhile, I wilt down washed spinach and chop up garlic. As soon as the mushrooms are done cooking (reduced, cooked, and looking nicely sauteed) I throw in the garlic to soak up the sauce and cook the garlic a bit. Serve the mushrooms with some spinach and goat cheese. Easy!

12.  Beets in brown-butter sauce with chard-mushroom cream pasta. I made this dish from a variation of the link I posted along with it. For the beets, I browned butter, set it aside once it was done, and cubed up some beets and cooked them on low-medium heat in a cast iron while I assembled the pasta. It took a lot longer because of prepping the chard and mushroom. A fancy meal, give yourself an hour:


13. Oven-eggs with oats and mustardy brussels sprouts. Oats are so good when served savory. In oven-proof custard cups, drizzle a bit of olive oil and crack an egg on top; crumble blue cheese on top, and top with tomato sauce or salsa. Place in oven while sprouts are cooking at 220º C/ 420º F; cook up some plain oatmeal. Serve the egg on top with everything. Clean and quarter Brussels sprouts. Place them in a pan with an almost naked drizzle of olive oil. Bake them along with the custard cups (props if you can use the same pan). Stir together a bit of olive oil, white wine vinegar and some water, and add capers and mustard. Roast the brussels sprouts  for 20 minutes and then cover with mustard sauce, continue cooking 10 minutes. Whole grains. check. Veggies, check, healthy protein, check. Minimal processed foods, check.

15. Stuffed bell peppers. One of five of Karlos' signature dishes. This turns out so good each time. He stir fries onions, mushrooms, garlic, and whatever we have on hand. He seasons with Indian spices, sometimes Italian, and this time with Moroccan spices. He adds beans to the mixture and smashes everything together with cream cheese or sour cream. He spoons them into cut bell peppers and bakes them. He cooks rice while the bell peppers bake (about 40 minutes baking at 180º C/ 350ºF). Prep usually takes 15 minutes or less.

17. Eggie sammiches. I hardboil 6 eggs, peel them once cool, and dump them into a bowl. To this bowl I add yogurt (I never ever add mayo, this is just how I roll), mustard, chopped capers, green onions or red onions, salt and pepper, and finely minced parsley. Mash, mash, taste, adjust, and serve.

20. Semi-sunny side up eggs. I hate runny yolks. Heat up some olive oil in a cast-iron pan. To the pan add chopped herbs, and red chili flakes, and some fresh or dried garlic. Crack the eggs on top of the herbs. Season with fresh pepper. Turn the heat to low and let the eggs cook until the yolks begin to get the white coating on top. Sprinkle with some water. Add whole cherry tomatoes to the pan, and cover for as long until the yolks set. I flip them, but you don't have too. Serve on top of toasted whole grain bread along with the hot tomatoes.