Dinner Meal Plan for May 11-17:

• Saturday: Chicken take-out

• Sunday: Mother’s Day Lunch at Pizza House (love their Buffalo Chicken Salad!):

…and for dinner, leftovers with mashed sweet potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.

• Monday: Spicy Cheese Grits with Shrimp and Sausage

• Tuesday: Cheesy Beef Macaroni Scramble

• Wednesday: Grilled Brats, Asparagus, Baked Beans

These are the brats we grilled!

• Thursday: Kung Pao Chicken Tacos

• Friday: Night on the town with the huz

–

Upcoming Week:

Dinner Meal Plan for May 18-14:

• Saturday: Satchel’s
• Sunday: Grilled Chicken, Dilled Potato Salad, Green Bean Salad
• Monday:  Salmon, leftover potato salad and green bean salad
• Tuesday: Tomato, Basil, & Cheddar Soup, Grilled Cheese
• Wednesday: Spinach, Bacon, and Swiss Quiche with Hash Brown Crust
• Thursday: Corn Chip Pie
• Friday: Out

–

Grocery List:

• Produce:
• Bananas
• Lemon
• Cucumbers
• Green Onions
• Garlic
• Red Onion
• Sweet Onion
• Dill
• Basil
• Garlic
• Spinach
• Cherry Tomatoes (the ones I bought were terrible, sad face)
• Green Grapes
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Red Potatoes
• Dairy/Eggs:
• Greek Yogurt
• Fat-Free Half & Half
• Cheddar
• Mozzarella
• Swiss Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Eggs
• Sour Cream
• Kraft Singles
• Meat:
• Chicken Thighs
• Chicken Breast
• Ground Sirloin
• Canned Tuna
• Bacon
• Pantry:
• Diced Tomatoes
• Banana Pepper Slices
• Bread
• Kalamata Olives
• Fritos
• Better Made Potato Chips (splurge!)
• Frozen:
• Lean Cuisines
• Amy’s Indian Entrées
• Desserts:
• Cookies
• Weight Watcher’s Ice Cream Bars

My first experience dining at What Crepe? was during my participation in Ann Arbor’s Dishcrawl Launch event. What Crepe? is located downtown on Liberty Street within these bright red awnings.

The owners of What Crêpe? have created a lovely, unique dining space in Ann Arbor, studded with crystal chandeliers juxtaposed with warm reds, purples, and wooden elements.

During Dishcrawl, we sat at a long low table, pictured below. When the huz and I visited on Friday evening, we sat at a high top table along the bright white wall, as can be seen below.

Before I tell you about my Friday night crepes, let me first recap the crepes I tried on my first visit, just to give you a few more tastes of the types that are offered.

During Dishcrawl, our first plate included half of two different savory crêpes, with my favorite of the two (by a landslide) being the:

• MUSHROOM MADNESS – “savory blend of mushrooms, swiss, truffle zip” <- This one was FANTASTIC! Swoon-worthy. I love mushrooms.

I also enjoyed (but wasn’t blown away by):

• THE MEXICAN – chorizo sausage, eggs, cheddar, orange jalapeno sauce

Several diners (including us!) commented on the deliciousness of the sweet jalapeño sauce on the side. What a clever little sauce. It definitely grew on me, as it was a little odd at first. By the end of the meal I was dredging up every last bit of it with my crêpe!

And for our Dishcrawl dessert crêpe, we had the pleasure of trying a sweet crêpe filled with custard for dessert. Pretty simple, but good.

• WHAT? CHOCOLATE ÉCLAIR

Alright, and now I will tell you about our date night last Friday night (note: we had a Groupon to use toward the meal!).

To drink, I started with a Cranberry Manhattan cocktail which was much sweeter than I prefer my cocktails to be, and also pretty weak for the steep price. Next time I’ll just get a regular Bulleit Rye Manhattan.

The huz and I selected two crêpes to split. The first was the:

• GARLIC PARMESAN CRUSTED SMOKED SALMON – garlic parmesan smoked salmon, capers, red onion, avocado, tomatoes, house made dijon dill sour cream.

First off, BEAUTIFUL presentation! Gorgeous. This crêpe, which is served cold, was fantastic. I didn’t much pick up on the “garlic parmesan crust” of the salmon, but regardless, the smoked salmon was delicious. So was the house made dijon dill sour cream. I had expected a stuffed crêpe, and was a little surprised when this deconstructed plate of ingredients was presented to me. However, it ended up being fun assembling each bite of food to my liking.

We also split the:

• SIGNATURE RIBEYE TRUFFLE – pan-seared rib eye steak, spinach, wild mushrooms, swiss, signature truffle zip.

This was okay. Honestly I didn’t find the steak to be very flavorful at all. Nor did I taste the Swiss cheese in this crepe. The mushrooms were the highlight. I wouldn’t order this one again. A little disappointing.

A close up:

For dessert, the huz and I each picked out our own crêpe and pretty much stuck with eating our own, though we did share a couple bites. The huz’s selection:

• NUTTY MONKEY – fresh bananas, warm nutella, vanilla ice cream, candied pecans, powdered sugar, whipped cream.

Obviously this was good. How could it be bad!?

Aaand, THE best part of the meal, in my opinion, was (by far!!!) my dessert crêpe:

• BANANA EXOTIQUE – caramelized bananas, toasted coconut, caramel sauce, powdered sugar, whipped cream.

YES, YES, and YES. Oh, I was totally That Girl going “Oh My God” and “Mmmm!!!!” after every single swoon-worthy bite. The caramelized bananas in caramel sauce were mind-blowingly sweet, tender, rich, and foodgasmic. The only element that didn’t blow me away was the toasted coconut (one of my favorite ingredients typically) because I think it was overwhelmed by the bananas and I didn’t really taste it. But it doesn’t matter, because this was Awesome with a capital A.

So, in conclusion, my experience is that What Crêpe?’s food is hit or miss. You’ve got to find the crêpes you like. Or create your own! There were highs and lows in both of our What Crêpe? experiences, in terms of food quality.

The service during our Friday night visit was super slow, which was annoying because we arrived extra early, with a reservation, and needed to leave on time to see The Great Gatsby with our pre-purchased movie tickets. The young wait staff were all pleasant enough yet seemed rather inexperienced, and overworked, in that they just had too many tables to wait on, which left us neglected and in need of refills and attention many times.

Without the Groupon, the meal would have been crazy expensive and not worth the cost. While the experience of ordering crêpes is fun and somewhat unique, if I come back again, it will probably just be for a dessert crêpe!

..And, on to the food. (Smooth segue, I know.)

–

Recap of Last Week:

Dinner Meal Plan for May 4-10:

• Saturday: Biercamp Brats, Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese, Grilled Asparagus

• Sunday: Grilled Chicken & Veggie Quesadillas, Avocado Butter Lettuce Salad

• Monday: Apple Chicken Sausage Sweet and Sour Stir Fry <- unfortunately this recipe was a dud

Luckily, despite the blah dinner, my Tuesday evening improved immensely when I met up with Five Star SexiMexy (and Gabi) for one last one tasting at Bar Whole Foods before Five Star’s moves away from the mitten state. A fantastic cheese platter was involved! #omgcheese

• Tuesday: Shrimp Fettuccine with Spinach and Parmesan <- success!

• Wednesday: Pho House take-out

• Thursday: Wing it – black bean burger, potstickers, strawberry and avocado salad

• Friday: Date night with the huz – Dinner at What Crepe? (review coming soon) and a movie (The Great Gatsby!)

Cheers to that.

#LeoSwoon

–

Upcoming Week:

Dinner Meal Plan for May 11-17:

• Saturday: Chicken take-out
• Sunday: Mother’s Day Lunch at Pizza House; and for dinner, leftover chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts.
• Monday: Spicy Cheese Grits with Shrimp and Sausage
• Tuesday: Cheesy Beef Macaroni Scramble
• Wednesday: Grilled Brats, Asparagus, Baked Beans
• Thursday: Kung Pao Chicken Tacos
• Friday: Out

–

Grocery List:

• Produce:
• Bananas
• Sweet Potatoes
• Green Onions
• Garlic
• Green Pepper
• Red Bell Peppers
• Brussels Sprouts
• Asparagus
• Romaine
• Mixed Veggie Bowl
• Dairy/Eggs:
• Yogurt
• Cottage Cheese
• String Cheese
• Meat:
• Smoked Turkey Sausage
• Ground Sirloin
• Frozen Wild Alaskan Salmon Filets
• Shrimp
• Pantry:
• Baked Beans
• Canned Soup
• Condensed Tomato Soup
• Soy Sauce
• Ramen Noodles (..don’t ask)
• Elbow Macaroni
• Yellow Corn Tortillas
• Sun Chips
• Frozen:
• Lean Cuisines
• Amy’s Burritos
• Amy’s Bowls
• Michelina’s Mac & Cheese
• Bagel Bites (guilty pleasure)
• Slender Selections Ice Cream Sandwiches
• Beverages:
• Mountain Dew for the huz
• Desserts:
• Cookies

It was a big shopping trip this week!

Take this recipe from Cooking Light, for instance. Nine ingredients. And four of those are butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper, which most people already have on hand.

Pasta. Butter. Olive Oil. Garlic. Shrimp. Salt. Spinach. Parmesan Cheese.

So simple. So delicious. So satisfying. A meal in a dish!

The recipe calls for shaved Parmesan cheese on top, but I used shaved Asiago cheese, which I had on hand. Any hard, nutty cheese would work well.

Cooking Light’s recipe works perfectly, as is.

–

Shrimp Fettuccine with Spinach and Parmesan

Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 8 ounces uncooked fettuccine (or your favorite pasta shape)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 10 ounce medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
• 1 1/4 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
2. Melt butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute. Remove garlic from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a small bowl. Increase heat to medium-high. Add shrimp, salt, and pepper to pan; cook 4 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring occasionally. Add pasta, spinach, and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

–

My rating: 7.9/10

–

• One Year Ago: Hooray for Fridays
• Two Years Ago: San Fran–Day 4: Zoo + Chinatown
• Three Years Ago: Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

On this particular Wednesday evening, I fancied a bowl of pho from Ypsilanti’s new Pho House. So new, in fact, that the signage out front has not yet been replaced. Just look for the Fat Philly’s sign on Washtenaw Ave. for now!

Earlier in the day, AnnArbor.com ran an article reviewing the restaurant, which reignited my desire to try it out as soon as possible. I’ll leave the full review up to them, and give you a quick run down on my first experience at Pho House.

Truth be told, I’ve never had pho before this occasion. But, I have been very eager to try for quite some time now.  So, I took the plunge and ordered the “House Special” pho, which, as the menu indicated, included, “rare beef flank, brisket, tendon, tripe, and meatball.”

My take-out order was carefully packaged and I arrived home with all elements intact, including a giant, steaming bowl of HOT (in terms of temperature!), rich, beefy broth with a great depth of warm spicy flavor, and a box of “goodies,” if you will, including the proteins listed above, rice noodles, bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, scallion, jalapeños, and hot sauce. Gorgeous!

Like I said, I’ve never had pho before, and have only seen pictures of assembled pho bowls in the past, so when I arrived home, I was a little like, “…whaaa?”

#amateur

Well, I did what made most sense and mixed it all together. Not going to lie, I was a little largely weirded out by the tripe, but as you know, I’ll try anything twice. Eventually it was all mixed up in the noodles and I couldn’t visibly distinguish it, so apparently I ate it!

Also, if you’re an amateur like me, you might be interested to know that pho is pronounced “fuh.” Luckily I did know this before I placed my order so hopefully I didn’t sound like a total noob.

All in all I liked the pho but didn’t love it as much as I had anticipated. Maybe it is an acquired taste. I have very little experience eating Vietnamese cuisine and look forward to trying more in the future. With that said, the quality of the ingredients seemed high, everything seemed to be hot and fresh, the presentation was lovely, and the price was affordable. I’d give it a go again, but might go for the less exotic proteins next time. Or maybe I will even try the vegetarian version that is offered!

I was also very eager to try Pho House’s Banh Mi sandwiches! I have enjoyed several Banh Mis in the past (for instance, in San Francisco, and at Zingerman’s and Sava’s in Ann Arbor) and love them.

This is the large size and holy hot dogs, this baby was a big ol’ sandwich.

I ordered the Pork Banh Mi, which the menu describes as, “Vietnamese sub is served with homemade mayo, pate, pickled strips of carrots and daikon, onions, cucumbers, cilantros, and jalapeño peppers.”

Most of this sandwich became my lunch the next day (GREAT as leftovers, by the way!), but I did enjoy a decent portion of the sandwich with my bowl of pho. What a wonderful sandwich! It was full of flavors and textures – savory, tender pork; hot jalapeños; creamy mayo; crisp cucumbers; and crunchy, acidic pickled veggies, all encased by a delicious sub bun. Loved it!

All in all I enjoyed my Vietnamese dinner from Pho House and would like to try more of their affordable cuisine in the future.

Every spring, I am super psyched to start grilling. (Er, ahem, for the huz to start grilling). Once we do, we usually grill once or twice per week for the next several months. Every week I look forward to “grillin’ day.”

This past weekend marked our first grillin’ weekend of 2013, with two grilled meals in a row, on both Saturday and Sunday, and both were amazing!

I have had far too little Biercamp in my life the last few months, due to our lack of grilling, courtesy of Michigan weather. On Friday, I was über-excited to stock up on a few packs of brats from Biercamp, in preparation for the weekend. And, bonus, they had my two favorite kinds in stock!

• Jalapeño Pepperjack
• Smoked Gouda & Portobello Brats

The huz, aka, the Grill Master, grilled up a few brats and a bunch of asparagus for our Saturday dinner.

Meanwhile, indoors, I whipped up a batch of Alton Brown’s Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese.  (Which is The Shiz. Read my raves about it here.)  Ten ounces of CHEEEEEESE, beyotches.

Grilled Biercamp Brats and Asparagus + Homemade Mac-n-Cheese = Heavenly.

There is nothing else to even say about this plate other than Best.Dinner.Ever.

Swoon.

Alright, and then on Sunday, which, conveniently, also happened to be Cinco de Mayo, we made the best quesadillas!

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Quesadillas

Recipe from Cooking Light

Chicken seasonings:

The huz grilled the chicken, red bell pepper, and onions outside on our charcoal grill.

The chicken was fantastic! We used boneless skinless chicken breast, which cooked in minutes on the grill.

Next, the huz delivered the grilled meat and veggies to me, where I finished preparing dinner inside.

To prepare the quesadillas, I placed cheese, chopped veggies, and sliced chicken onto one half of a tortilla, folded it, and then cooked in a skillet coated with nonstick spray.

The quesadillas turned out beautifully! We also had Avocado Butter Lettuce Salad with dinner.

The chargrilled flavor of the veggies and chicken added so much extra oomph to these quesadillas. The extra step of grilling the quesadilla contents was most definitely worth it! I also loved the bold flavors used in the chicken seasoning. These were my favorite quesadillas I’ve ever made! Loved ‘em.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Quesadillas

Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 small onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1 small orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
• Cooking spray
• 3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 3/4 cup)
• 4 (6-inch) flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation

1. Prepare your grill.
2. Combine paprika, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Rub paprika mixture evenly over chicken; let stand 10 minutes.
3. Arrange chicken, onion, and bell pepper on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Cook vegetables 4 minutes on each side or until tender. Cook chicken 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken and vegetables from grill; coarsely chop vegetables. Let chicken stand 5 minutes; thinly slice chicken.
4. Sprinkle about 3 tablespoons cheese over half of each tortilla; divide vegetables and chicken evenly over cheese. Fold each tortilla in half over filling; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray.
5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place 2 quesadillas in pan; cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cheese melts and tortillas are lightly browned. Repeat procedure with remaining 2 quesadillas. Cut each quesadilla into 2 wedges; serve with sour cream.

–

My Rating: 9/10

–

• One Year Ago: Brunch at Grange
• Two Years Ago: San Fran Day 1–Part I
• Three Years Ago: Potbelly’s Chicken Salad Salad and Max & Erma’s Fajitas

Dinner Meal Plan for April 27-May 3

• Saturday: Domino’s Pizza craving!

• Salmon Sunday: Salmon Croquettes, Broccoli and Corn Scallop

• Meatless Monday: Homemade Chipotle Bean Burritos

• Tuesday: Spicy Chicken Shawarma, Grapes

• Wednesday: Five Star SexiMexy’s Going-Away (sad face) Work Happy Hour at Dominick’s. It was sunny and nearly 80 degrees when we arrived – clearly it was packed!

A pepperoni and mushroom pizza was shared. I enjoyed two narrow slices.

Girls from the office! Me, Five Star, and Gabi.

We sat on the upstairs balcony.

Overlooking the Law School.

My co-workers can decimate large volumes of sangria. Two more half gallons were required.

SH enthusiastically read our crew a story.

Later, a few of the evening’s survivors headed to mash to continue the evening. A heated debate was had to determine if flatbread is the same thing as pizza. My vote is no.

This smoked tomato flatbread with goat cheese was fabulous, either way.

And just because I’m sometimes a glutton, I really wanted more pizza at the end of the night, so a stop at Back Room was in order. Plus, this had to be done for tradition’s sake, given that it was Five Star’s going-away happy hour.

• Thursday: I brought home a salad from The Big Salad and the huz brought home a sub from Dibella’s and we split them in half and shared!

• Friday: We had a Red Robin gift card to use and I ordered a Crispy Chicken Salad. Good stuff – love that Honey Mustard Poppy Seed Dressing.

After dinner, we did our part to support a couple local businesses, by purchasing a couple packs of brats from Biercamp, and some cake truffles from Cake Nouveau!

–

Upcoming Week:

Dinner Meal Plan for May 4-10:

• Saturday: Biercamp Brats, Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese, Grilled Asparagus
• Sunday: Grilled Chicken & Veggie Quesadillas, Avocado Butter Lettuce Salad
• Monday: Apple Chicken Sausage Sweet and Sour Stir Fry
• Tuesday: Shrimp Fettuccine with Spinach and Parmesan
• Wednesday: Wing it
• Thursday: Wing it
• Friday: Out

–

Grocery List:

• Produce:
• Bananas
• Red Onion
• Bibb Lettuce
• Limes
• Avocados
• Red Bell Pepper
• Baby Spinach
• Strawberries
• Dairy/Eggs:
  • Yogurt (obsessed with Dannon Oikos lately!)
  • Pepper Jack Cheese
• Meat:
  • Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Halves
  • Shrimp
• Pantry:
• Linguine
• Tortillas
• Frozen:
• Hot Pockets
• Lean Cuisines
• Beverages:
• Cold Brew Iced Tea Bags

First, I mixed together the above marinade, and tossed one pound thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breast halves in it.

Next, I sautéed the chicken in a skillet for several minutes over medium-high heat. The spicy marinade had a bold aroma – so enticing!

Meanwhile, I mixed together a tangy yogurt sauce for the shawarma, consisting of plain Greek yogurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, and hummus (substituted for tahini).

Across the center of each tortilla (or pita – your choice!), I smeared a hefty dollop of the tangy yogurt spread.

Chicken was the next layer in my chicken shawarma wrap.

And, for some lovely color and fresh crunch, the final element consisted of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion.

Pitas would be a more traditional shawarma vehicle, but I am a huge fan of these low-carb whole wheat tortillas.

I found sweet, juicy grapes to be the perfect accompaniment for these bold, spicy, and savory shawarma wraps.

I couldn’t believe how flavorful the chicken shawarma mixture was! I absolutely loved these healthy Chicken Shawarma wraps and highly recommend the recipe.

–

Spicy Chicken Shawarma

Recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
• 5 tablespoons plain low-fat Greek-style yogurt, divided
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
• 3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tahini (or hummus)
• 4 halved pitas, or tortillas
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion

Preparation

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in 1 tablespoon yogurt, 1 tablespoon juice, and 2 garlic cloves. Add chicken; toss to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken mixture to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until browned and done, stirring frequently.
2. While chicken cooks, combine remaining 1/4 cup yogurt, remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, remaining 1 garlic clove, and tahini (or hummus), stirring well. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt mixture inside each pita half; divide chicken evenly among pita halves. Fill each pita half with cucumber, tomato, and onion.

Yield: 4 servings

–

My Rating: 8.4/10

–

For another variation on this tasty dish, check out my previous post featuring Dede Med’s version of Chicken Shawarma.

–

• One Year Ago: May the Fourth and Cinco de Mayo
• Two Years Ago: Chili Tortilla Bake and Mustard Pretzel Chicken
• Three Years Ago: Spicy Black Bean Soup and Chicken & Dumplings Remixed

For this recipe, I dressed up plain ol’ frozen broccoli and canned corn and made them into something special.

Just a few easy ingredients – Meijer brand, for the win:

My first step was to crush twelve Ritz (well, the store brand version) crackers. I happen to own a mini food processor attachment for my immersion blender, and this worked swimmingly; however, this could also be done by placing the crackers in a zip-top bag and rolling a cup over them until crushed.

Next, I sautéed onion in butter, added flour, and cooked for one minute. Next time I would add more onions to this dish than the amount specified by the recipe, because I love ‘em.

Gradually, I next added milk to the onion mixture, and whisked for a few minutes until the mixture had thickened.

Now for the best part: CHEEEEESE.

Cheese sauce. Yum. Half of the cracker crumbs are also added to the cheese sauce at this point.

Next a drained can of corn is added to the cheese sauce. I used a can of “Baja Corn,” which includes a few chiles and peppers mixed it. I’d recommend it, for added flavor and color, if you can find it.

Next I prepared the base of my baking dish by placing frozen and thawed (and thoroughly dried!) broccoli spears at the bottom. I did slice the larger stems off some of the broccoli spears.

Pour the cheese and corn mixture atop the broccoli.

The remaining half of the cracker crumbs are mixed with melted butter, before being sprinkled atop the casserole.

Top with crumbs and bake for 30 minutes.

And then you’ll have something like this!:

I served this Broccoli & Corn Scallop with Salmon Croquettes. This made for a really tasty pairing, though not the most vibrant plate. The two dishes are visually quite similar!

This Broccoli and Corn Scallop recipe most definitely made for a more interesting side dish than plain veggies.

The dish was tasty. A couple changes I’d make next time, for a bolder flavor:

• Add much more onion!
• Seasoning cheese sauce generously with black pepper
• Use half (or all?) sharp cheddar for a bolder flavor

I can imagine this would be a pleaser for picky eaters!

–

Broccoli and Corn Scallop

Recipe from Kraft

• 2 Tbsp.  chopped onions (I recommend more!)
• 2 Tbsp.  butter or margarine, divided
• 1 Tbsp.  flour
• 1-1/4 cups  milk
• 8 oz. Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, or shredded cheese of your choice
• 1 can  (11 oz.) corn, drained
• 12 Ritz Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup), divided
• 2 pkg.  (10 oz. each) frozen broccoli spears, thawed, drained

1. HEAT oven to 350°F.
2. COOK and stir onions in 1 Tbsp. butter in medium saucepan on medium heat 1 min. Blend in flour. Gradually stir in milk; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until thickened. Add cheese; cook 2 to 3 min. or until melted, stirring constantly. Stir in corn and 1/4 cup cracker crumbs [half of the crumbs].
3. PLACE broccoli in 12×8-inch baking dish [thaw, drain, and dry well to prevent a watery dish!]; top with sauce. Melt remaining butter; mix with remaining cracker crumbs. Sprinkle over sauce.
4. BAKE, uncovered, 30 min. or until heated through.

–

My rating: 7/10

–

• Three Years Ago: Salads, Falafel, and Tea; Oh My
• Two Years Ago: Chili Tortilla Bake and Mustard Pretzel Chicken
• One Year Ago: Buffalo Turkey Burgers

Dinner Meal Plan for April 20-26:

• Saturday: Bone Heads Bar-B-Que

• Sunday: Blackened Salmon, Spinach Ravioli Bake

• Monday: Mexican Cornbread Casserole

• Tuesday: Dishcrawl Event!

• Wednesday: Cannellini & Sausage Soup

• Thursday: Sidetrack – Black Bean Tacos with Sweet Potato Fries

• Friday: Dinner at Outback (Pics courtesy of huz’s phone!). We both did the 4-course dinner; I had clam chowder, wedge salad, 6 oz. sirloin, and mixed veggies, with a dessert.

–

Upcoming Week:

Dinner Meal Plan for April 27-May 3:

• Saturday: Pizza craving!
• Salmon Sunday: Salmon Croquettes, Broccoli and Corn Scallop
• Meatless Monday: Chipotle Bean Burritos
• Tuesday: Spicy Chicken Shawarma, Grapes
• Wednesday: Apple Chicken Sausage Sweet & Sour Stir Fry
• Thursday: Wing it
• Friday: Out

–

Grocery List:

• Produce:
• Bananas
• Lemons
• Parsley
• Green Onions
• Garlic
• Cucumbers
• Red Onion
• Sweet Onion
• Red Bell Pepper
• Roma Tomatoes
• Grapes
• Dairy/Eggs:
• Yogurt
• Monterey Jack Cheese
• Meat:
• Wild Salmon (packages of boneless, skinless wild pink salmon)
• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Halves
• Pantry:
• Pineapple Chunks
• Mexi-Corn
• Capers
• Mayo
• Hummus
• Smoked Spanish Paprika
• Italian Seasoning
• Soup
• Frozen:
• Stir-Fry Veggies
• Brown Rice <-such a huge timesaver!
• Lean Cuisines
• Dessert:
• Weight Watchers Ice Cream Cones
• Beverages:
• Bell’s Oberon
• Diet Mountain Dew for the huz