Dinner for the upcoming week

I may have a bit too much planned for dinner this week. It depends on my plans and Mike's plans. He is having his friends for work over on Thursday and I am going out a with a friend this week after work. If it happens to be the same night, then the dinner plans are perfect, if not, I will have to scratch something.

• Ribs with BBQ sauce (something I have never tackled before)
• BLT Bow Ties (one of Mike's favorites)
• Spinach/Apple Salad with grilled chicken
• Sesame chicken
• Ziti with gorgonzola sauce

Any suggestions on what to scratch?

Maple Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

This one tastes so great, your guests would be surprised at how easy this is. The trick is marinating the pork overnight and using a bit extra of the marinade compared to the original recipe (another great one from Cooking Light). I was originally going to serve this with steamed broccoli with a vinaigrette, however it was so nice this evening when I got home from work. I wanted to maximize my time outside so I made a salad instead. The payoff was great, more outside time with Mike while he was grilling and more conversation with our great friend James. We lucked out with the grill tonight, it ran out of gas just as the pork was done on the grill.

1/2 cup tomato juice
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (I have used fresh and the dried version. Fresh tastes best)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 minced garlic cloves
2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins (Cooking Light suggests trimming the pork, however I think it cooks better with a little bit of fat on it)

1. Combine all the ingredients except the pork and stir with a whisk.
2. Rinse the pork (trim it if you would like).
3. Save 1/4 cup of the balsamic mixture in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator.
4. Place the pork and the remaining mixture in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator overnight.
   
5. Remove the pork from the marinade and place on the grill. Grill each side for 8 minutes on each side or until a thermometer registers 155F.
6. At the same time, place the remaining balsamic mixture in a small saucepan and simmer until syrupy.
   
7. When the pork is done, pour the mixture over the pork and enjoy.
   

I highly recommend making this dish. It is so easy because all the prep work is done the night before.

Baked Turkey Chimichangas

This is another one of my old favorites, it is quick, easy to make, and tasty. The recipe calls for refried beans and salsa. I can be pretty lazy and use the canned beans and jarred salsa for this dish. I do make my own salsa, however after working all day, I didn't feel like making my own salsa and making dinner. You can also put in a lot of different ingredients to switch up the dish. Quick confession, I never do, why mess with what works for me?

1 pound of ground turkey
2 cans of refried beans (I used fat free)
1 teaspoon of chili powder
3 tablespoons of green onions
1 cup salsa (fresh or your own recipe)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 burrito tortillas
cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cook the turkey in a skillet, either coated with olive oil or cooking spray. Cook the turkey until thoroughly browned. Add in the refried beans. Stir the turkey and beans together. Next add in the chili powder, green onions, salsa, and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Assembling the chimichangas in next. Take the skillet off the stove and put the mixture into each tortilla and place in a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake the chimichangas in the oven for 20 minutes. Top them off with sour cream and salsa. Again, I love spicy food while Mike does not. The original recipe does call for peppers to be cooked with the turkey/bean mixture, but out of love for my husband, I omit this ingredient. Instead, I overcompensate for the peppers on my dish and top my chimichangas off with several slices of jalapeno.

Lemon Chess Pie

I decided to use the leftover buttermilk for pie instead of pancakes. We really don't eat a lot of huge breakfasts and the pancakes would have just made us feel too full all day long.

I hate making pie crust, not because I don't like the way that it tastes. I hate the way it always falls apart on me. I really need to practice perfecting the transfer of my crust to the pie plate. This time, I tried to freeze the crust for a bit, thinking it would be easier for me. It wasn't...

The pie was a great dessert and we shared some of it with neighbors instead of keeping the whole thing for ourselves.

Pastry for a Single Crust Pie
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut up into small pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons ice water
Cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Combine flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle surface with ice water, one tablespoon at a time. Toss with a fork until moist and crumbly (do not form into a ball).
3. Press mixture gently into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered into a 12-inch circle. Freeze 10 minutes or until plastic wrap can be removed.
4. Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Fold edges under. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until edge is lightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 350F, cover with foil, and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Lemon Chess Pie Filling
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup buttermilk

1. Combine sugar and next six ingredients in a bowl. Stir with a whisk until well blended. Gradually stir in buttermilk. Pour mixture into crust. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until set. During the last 10 minutes of baking, cover the pie with foil.

Sauteed Plantains with Beans and Rice

I first made this dish when the weather was finally starting to get nice enough in Boston to eat outside on the deck. We had friends over for dinner, drinks on the deck, and listened to great music. As the summer winds down, we are trying to eat on the deck as much as we can before we enter into the long seemingly endless Boston winter. I made this dinner tonight, trying to recapture a bit of the early summer fun. Mike and I listened to great music while preparing dinner and ate outside.

I also really like this dinner because it reminds me of the great food that we had on vacation in Puerto Rico four years ago. We love to eat in restaurants with renowned local dishes. I can't remember the name of the restaurant that we had the fried plantains in, but remembered how much we loved them.

Sauteed Plantains
2 plantains, yellow with some black spots
canola oil
sprinkling of kosher salt

1. Peel the plantains; cut into thirds crosswise Cut each piece into 4 (2 inch) slices.
2. Heat the canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add plantains to the pan; cook 3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Transfer plantains to a plate and sprinkle with salt.

White Rice
canola oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 minced garlic clove
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups uncooked rice (I used arborio rice instead of long-grained white rice mostly because I wanted to use up the rice that I had instead of buying more rice)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and pepper to the pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add 4 cups of water and salt; bring to a boil. Stir in the rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is absorbed (about 18 minutes).

Black Beans
You could open up a can of beans and just heat them up, or you can choose to add a little extra to the beans.

Canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
2 (15-ounce) cans of black beans, undrained

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in sugar, garlic, black pepper, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup water and beans; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.

Dinner was great. I think part of the fun of this dish are the delicious smells in the kitchen. I wish there was some way to capture the great smells of cooking.

Chipolte Chili Chicken Soup

I made this for lunch because it was quick and easy. There is not a lot of prep work for it and doesn't use a ton of dishes, a plus for a lazy Saturday afternoon. I think it could use a little bit more salt, but I tend to consume too much salt. Tortilla chips add nice texture to the soup. Lately, I am into the whole grain tortilla chips because of no trans fat (I eat enough of it in other places). I would have liked to garnish with cilantro, but did not buy cilantro because this is the only dish I am making in the near future that calls for cilantro. I did garnish the soup with jalapeno slices. I love spicy foods and they certainly added the spice that I crave.

Canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons bottle minced garlic
1 package of chicken breast tenderloins (not bigger than 1 pound)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
14 ounces of chicken broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can of stewed tomatoes (leave undrained)

While heating oil in a large sauce pan, cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Add garlic and chicken to the saucepan and saute until the chicken is almost cooked. Add the chili powder and cumin, stir after the addition. Add water, salt, broth and tomatoes, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer five minutes.

Pasta with Fresh Herbs

This was not my favorite dinner that I made this week, but Mike seemed to like it. I think that a few mistakes were made, such as not all the herbs used were fresh. I did use fresh basil (and have very few leaves left on my basil plant as a result) and used fresh chives, thanks to the generosity of my neighbor, Amy. I am realizing that next summer I need to plant an herb garden with basil, cilantro, mint, and oregano.

Another mistake was the use of goat cheese as a topping for the pasta instead of using something more traditional like Parmesan. Mistakes made while cooking will be remedied and poor Mike will continue to be used as a guinea pig.

1 pound of penne
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano (I used the dried version instead of fresh oregano)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pints of cherry tomatoes (I may use grape tomatoes next time)
1 minced garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon thyme (I used the dried version instead of fresh)
1/2 cup chicken broth

Cook the pasta according the package directions. After draining, place the cooked pasta in a large bowl and add olive oil, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and tomatoes, saute for 2 minutes. Add the chives and thyme, saute until the tomatoes are slightly charred and the skin is about to burst. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat for 1 minute. Add the mixture to the pasta and toss to combine. Sprinkle with cheese (I used goat cheese which had too powerful a taste for this dish, next time I will use Parmesan).