Menu Monday

What a wonderful weekend!

I spent Friday night with the lovely James and Natalie, along with Megan and Amber.  James was our chauffeur while we enjoyed a fun girls’ night out. We ate wonderful pizza at Ted’s Most Best, drank delicious drinks at The Globe and Manhattan, and danced the night away at 9e’s bar. Our trip was topped off with Saturday brunch at Mama’s Boy.

Sunday morning (after an extra hour of sleep!), David and I headed to Flying Biscuit…where we dined with a CELEBRITY! Brenda Wood!  An Atlanta celebrity!

On the menu this week….

Sunday–Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (DELICIOUS.  I’ll share the recipe later this week!)

Monday–Panko Crusted Salmon Cakes

Tuesday–Lasagna Soup

Wednesday–Chicken Stir Fry

Thursday–Burrito Bowls

Friday–Leftovers!

Hope you have a great start to your week!

Scone love.

I love a good scone.  Finding a good recipe has been difficult, though.  I want it to be crisp, flaky, and fluffy.  I’m pretty sure there are some opposites in there.  After playing around with lots of recipes, I think I’ve found the perfect combination.

• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar + 2 Tablespoon sugar divided
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 10 oz. chocolate chips (You could also go with cinnamon chips, as well!)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Combine flour, 1/3 c. of sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in the cubed butter.  The mixture will be dry and crumbly.  Mix in the buttermilk and chocolate chips.  I just mix this by hand.  If you use a mixer, it can get over-mixed quickly.

Dump half of the dough onto a floured surface.  Knead it a few times.  Roll into a circle and cut into 8 wedges. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Place wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle a little sugar on top.

Bake at 425 for 13 minutes.

This?  Is scone perfection.

 

Granola.

I love granola.  It is darn expensive to buy.  So, I went the homemade route.  And I don’t think I’ll be buying granola anytime soon.  It was incredibly easy, and I had all the ingredients in my pantry.  I used this recipe from the Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook. The nuts and berries are all the extras…you can just use what you’ve got! This recipe has lots of good ideas for what you can add.

Some things I learned while making this granola…

• The granola isn’t going to be crunchy when you take it out of the oven.  I kept adding two more minutes because I thought it would harden.  Nope!  It won’t do that until you take it out and let it cool.
• I didn’t do it on purpose, but it ended up working well.  If you want big chunks of granola, don’t spread it too thin in the pan.  Make more of a ‘sheet’ of granola.  Then, once it has cooled, you can break it up into chunks as big (or small!) as you’d like!

Menu Monday-ish

Ahhh…we’re back from Vegas, and we’re trying to get back into our daily routine.  Nothing too fancy this week as we try to catch up with work….and I try to limit a bruised ego from eating at fancy restaurants!  We ate some of the best food while on vacation, so I’m kind of afraid to jump into the kitchen this week.  I’m quite sure that none of my meals are going to measure up to a Bobby Flay restaurant.

Here’s what we’re cooking….

Tuesday–Potato (not sweet for us!), black bean and beef chili with my attempt at the Bobby Flay corn muffins that we had at Mesa Grill.  So good.

Wednesday–Pasta with marinara, artichoke bruschetta.

Thursday–Quesadillas using Chicken Ropa Vieja.

Friday–Burrito bowls using leftover Chicken Ropa Vieja.

 

Blueberry Lemon Breakfast Cake

I had some leftover blueberries that need to be used, so I searched to find a breakfast coffe-type cake with blueberries.  Luckily, I stumbled across the best recipe.  The topping is perfectly crisp, and the cake is perfectly moist.

[mominml]

The tartness of the blueberries and lemon zest matches the bit of sweetness from the topping.  And, it was really easy to make.

If you try it, be aware that the ‘batter’ is definitely thick and much more like a dough.  I thought I messed something up, but it was delish!

It’s definitely a nice change of pace, and it’s the perfect weekend breakfast treat!

Feta & Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed Chicken

Of course…I didn’t get any pictures of this, but it’s definitely our favorite recipe from the past few weeks.  I couldn’t find any recipes that included exactly what we wanted, so I ventured out on my own for this one.

 

• 1/3 c lemon juice
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. basil
• 1/2 tsp. marjoram
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts–I used the thin sliced because they’re easier to ‘stuff’
• 4 oz. feta cheese
• 7-8 large slices of roasted red peppers
• 2 c. spinach leaves

For spinach:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

 

1. Combine the first 7 ingredients.  Pour over chicken breasts and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375.
3. Heat olive oil for spinach in medium size skillet.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
4. Add spinach in 2 or 3 batches.  Cook until all of the spinach fits into the pot.
5. Add lemon juice and stir.  Set spinach to the side.
6. Put roasted red peppers into a food processor and chop until they reach desired consistency.
7. Mix spinach, feta, and chopped roasted red peppers.  If the stuffing isn’t sticking together enough, you can add a little bit of olive oil at this point.
8. Place a portion of the stuffing mixture into middle of each chicken breast.  Roll up ends and sides of chicken, and secure with a toothpick.
9. I had some extra lemon/olive oil/seasoning marinade left over, so I poured this over all of the chicken breasts.
10. Bake about 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink.

 

The lemon, spinach, feta, and red pepper flavors in this dish were so good together.  We had some left over, and they tasted just as good a few days later!

Sidenote: The spinach/lemon/garlic is a delicious side dish as well!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Menu Monday!

We’re back!

I’ve had a busy two weeks at work, so my poor blog took a bit of a back seat to all of that.  We’ve had lots of great recipes during that time, so I’ll be posting those throughout this week.  Meanwhile…here’s our menu for the week.

Monday–Black Bean burgers.  This will be out first venture into black bean burgers.  I’m planning to go with this recipe, simply because I’ve used this site multiple times and really love her recipes.  Does anyone have a black bean burger recipe you use and love?  Let me know!

Tuesday–Chicken with Lemon-Leek Linguine

Wednesday–Polenta Lasagna (without mushrooms…gross!)

Thursday–Chicken with Gorgonzola-Tomato Salsa

Friday–leftovers!

On a totally unrelated note, I finally broke down and purchased the Erin Condren life planner.  As many pieces of technology as we have, there is nothing that makes me feel more organized than a paper planner.  And the Erin Condren planner is the mother of all planners.  I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.  It’s definitely a bit more expensive than regular planners (look for promo codes!), but it’s the only one that combined all of the parts of other planners that I love.

Hope y’all have a happy start to your week!

Menu Monday

I was lucky enough to have a four-day weekend, and David had a three-day weekend.  And, honestly, we didn’t do that much. It was nice to lounge around and get caught up on some reading and TV shows.  Plus, no work means time to try out some new breakfast recipes…I’ll be sharing those later!

I ended up switching out the Baked Lemon Herb Chicken from last week with Potato Chorizo Enchiladas.  The recipe just calls for beef, but we had some chorizo that we wanted to try, so we added that in with the beef.  They were delicious!  I’ll be making the Lemon Herb Chicken this week.

This week in the Klein kitchen….

Monday- Dry rubbed slow cooker pulled pork

Tuesday- Baked Lemon Herb Chicken

Wednesday-Fiesta Chicken

Thursday-Bourbon Street Chicken

Friday-out!

Fresh.

I honestly don’t think that anything makes a dish more delicious than fresh cilantro.  It’s a flavor that you just cannot get with dried cilantro.  And, honestly, that goes for pretty much all of them.  Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, baby.

I’ve determined that I want to grow a few herbs that I can use in the kitchen but living on the third floor of a complex isn’t really conducive to, you know, a garden.  So, I’m trying to find the best way to make it happen.

I know that herbs need lots of sunlight, and, unfortunately, we don’t get much inside our house.  I am not sure of the best way to make this happen on our balcony.

 

{Green Upgrader}

I love this idea of the shoe organizer turned herb garden.  Not sure if I’m crafty enough to pull this off….I would have soil everywhere.

{Apartment Therapy}

 

{Pinterest}

I’m thinking the one pot herb garden might make the most sense for our balcony.  I’m loving the chalkboard markers.  I’ve seen the cutest garden markers around pinterest…that might be another post for another day!

{Southern Restoration}

This is adorable!  A poultry feeder turned planter!  And, for a few extra dollars, they will throw in the seeds for you.  Love this idea.

Do you guys have any tips or tricks for me? Any ideas on the best way to have fresh herbs in an apartment?

 

Menu Monday

Yum.  Last week was a delicious one.  Our favorite new recipe was definitely the Cilantro Lime Chicken, but I changed it up a bit.  I used a conglomeration of recipes to create the dish, and it was fabulous!

I used this chicken recipe, this rice recipe, and the Pioneer Woman’s pico de gallo and guacamole recipe.  Certainly a great combination.

Now, on to this week!

Monday-leftovers!

Tuesday-a romantic dinner at SAGE

Wednesday-Baked Lemon Herb Chicken

Thursday-Pasta with Turkey Sausage and Zucchini

Friday-Homemade Pizza