18 June 2012

Menu Plan for the week of June 18, 2012

Hi everyone, I'm sorry that I've been MIA lately. I'm still baking and cooking up a storm but with it being so nice out there, I try to get outside with the kids as much as possible. Plus we are looking at houses, which takes up some more time...but no more excuses!! I'm also taking the "no more excuses" point of view on my eating habits. So this week, I made a point of eating a little lighter. Not all my meals are light this week, but I may still change them up.

Monday - Uncle Frankie's spaghetti sauce and noodles

Tuesday - Chicken and ribs on the BBQ (chicken for me!), salad, veggies

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore (recipe to come)

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Salmon, broccoli and rice

Saturday - Steak on the BBQ, salad, veggies

Sunday - Ragout de Boulettes / Meatball stew

4 June 2012

Menu Plan for the week of June 4, 2012

This is going to be a bit of a crazy week, ok when is it not a crazy week LOL. But we may have an extra little person in the house for a day or 2 so I'm going to be having fun making fun foods for the kids.
We have our DD's first soccer practice of the summer on Tuesday, so it's definitely going to be something quick and simple.

Monday - Leftovers from the weekend

Tuesday - Broiled salmon, fun rice and steamed broccoli (maybe some salad as well)

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Chicken (a la criolla) (recipe to come)

Thursday - Hamburgers on the BBQ

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Chicken on the BBQ

Sunday - Pulled beef sandwiches (from a friend's blog - will link it up)

3 June 2012

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

I wanted to go out for brunch today but my hubby wanted us to go to a movie so we decided to eat somewhere close to the movie theatre. I opted, at the last minute this morning, to try a quick and easy recipe that I have been looking at for about 2 weeks now. It's quick in that you use a baking mix instead of complete "from scratch". I did find a "from scratch" recipe that I will try very soon, especially after trying these quick ones and loving them.
There are also recipes out there to replace the purchased baking mix, but until I use up my bought mix and try it out, I won't be posting it.
Ok, back to these cute, tasty and light mini pancakes. Love them. They took NO time to put together and baked up in 10 minutes. I will definitely keep these in mind the next time I don't know what to make the kids for lunch. The super fun part is dipping your mini pancake muffins into your bowl of pure maple syrup. We all enjoyed that LOL.


Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins
source: www.kirbiecravings.com

Ingredients
1 cup of baking mix (I use Bisquick)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (approx. I just sprinkled some on. A little goes a long way)

Grease a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. I used 1 pan with 24 mini slots. Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a bowl, combine the baking mix, egg and milk. Don't over mix, it should still have some lumps in it.
Pour the batter into the muffin tin, approx 2/3 full. Drop a few mini chocolate chips on each pancake muffin.
Bake for 10-14 mins or until a tester comes out clean.
Don't judge by the colour as the tops of the pancake muffins will be pale.

The mix made 23 mini pancake muffins for me. I'm sure I could have managed 24.
Next time, I will try a similar recipe totally from scratch. Can't wait!!

Happy baking!

1 June 2012

Hot Wing Sauce

This recipe is from my brother who LOVES anything spicy. And any kind of spicy food. This hot wing sauce recipe has been floating around my family for a little over 20 years. I'm not sure where it came from or how my brother got it (did he make it up?) but I know that it's good. I've made it for quite a few Grey Cup parties and Super Bowl parties as well as every day get-togethers. My hubby even insists that I make it as a meal for him!! We BBQ chicken drumsticks and then slather on the sauce at the very end. There's always a ton of sauce leftover and he dunks the chicken in it before taking a bite. Way too spicy for me to do that, but I enjoy it off the BBQ or out of the oven.

Hot Sauce
source: my brother G.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups Red Hot hot sauce
2 1/2 tsp melted butter
2 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tbsp ketchup
cayenne pepper to taste (a little does go a long way)

5 lbs chicken wings/drumettes or chicken pieces

Bake wings in greased pan @350F for about 30-35min then broil them until they are brown and flip them. This takes about 15 mins. Or you can cook them on the BBQ (less mess lol). Now you are ready to add the sauce! For the oven method, I actually heat them in batches in a fry pan on the stove. I just add some sauce until they are coated and the sauce is heated. Transfer back to the pan (after removing the leftover grease) and then once they are all coated, I add a little more sauce and pop them back in a 350 oven for just a little bit. Not too long because the meat will fall off the bones before you can eat them. So maybe 10 min. I put them back in so that the sauce will "bake" onto the wings. If you are BBQing, just slather on the sauce towards the end of the cooking so that the sauce doesn't burn.
You will likely have leftover sauce which can be used for dipping. If you are BBQing, take about half the sauce outside with you to BBQ and keep the other half for dipping :)

note: We made these recently but I didn't manage to get a picture. I should have taken a picture of my hubby enjoying these but I don't think he would have been happy LOL. I will update with a picture soon as I know we will be eating these again!

Happy cooking!