Meals in a Week, Ep. 6 and 7
Food truck season, Easter Feast Ham, 3 ingredient recipes, how-to tofu, a perfect pasta hack, home cooked comfort and sweet treats!
My Cuties,
It is 7:01 on Sunday and we are back! Thank you for allowing me to be inside your inbox. These episodes are packed with efficient food tips, 3 ingredient recipes, my chicken stock contents, delicious meals (and treats!) that embody the embracing of effortless and comfortable home food.
Meals in a Week Ep. 6
I don’t think we could dream up a more quintessentially Easter Feast(er).
M- Baked Ham, Scalloped Potato & Asparagus
No-Fuss Ham: Gingerale and Orange Juice as the cooking liquid for the bone-in ham. Covered tightly in tin foil at 375°F for 1.5 hours.
Ground Ham Sandwiches: Humble Leftovers
Coarse ground ham
1 cup Mustard
2 Bread Heels
1/4 cup Pickle Juice
2 tsp Pepper and salt to taste.
If you have a meat grinder, this sandwich will get your family fed on those busy weeks. Here it is open faced with even more mustard. I love this sandwich.
T- Panko Baked Tofu with Ginger-Garlic-Soy-Sugar Stir Fry Vegetables (Cabbage, Celery, Peppers and Sweet Potato)
Using firm tofu, press to remove excess water.
Dredge in rice flour first, egg wash next and finish in a combination of panko, rice flour & nutritional yeast.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkled salt.
Bake at 375°F for 35-45 minutes, flipping half way through.
How-to: Press Tofu
Slice tofu in half to achieve two (slim) slabs.
Line a large ceramic plate with overlapped paper towels. Add tofu slabs. Stack a second plate over top, with paper towel and tofu sandwiched inside. Place a sturdy and heavy object on top. Let press for a minimum of 30-45 minutes and maximum of 6 hours.
*Optional: Marinate your tofu for 30min before dredging.
W- Pub Night: Wing Wednesday
T- Baked Chicken, Pierogis, Lemon-Ranch Cucumber and Romaine Salad.
F- Farfalle (Butterfly) Pasta, Three Ingredient Tomato Sauce, Parmesan, Grilled Chicken
Homemade Pasta Tip: If your pasta dough is on the dry, crumbly side. Add 1 tsp olive oil + 1-2 tsp cold water while mixing.
Pasta Scraps Hack: Let dry, crumble into inch sized pieces and freeze in an airtight container. Added to boiling soup 2 minutes before serving. I‘m calling it Rustic Pastinetta.
Three Ingredient Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 head of garlic, top chopped, face down in the oil, low and slow. Then add:
8 oz high quality tomato pulp, simmered for at least one hour.
Garlic removed before serving.
Add salt, pepper and chili flake to taste.
S- Barbecued Steak & Shrimp Skewers with, Dennis’ Horseradish (the best horseradish product on the market).
S- Combination Meal: Shrimp, Horseradish Cream Sauce, Pierogi and Peas.
+Chicken Nuggets and Rice.
Chicken fingers paired with leftovers seems to be a weekly repeat for us. I know my toddler will eat the chicken nuggets and allow us to finish the leftovers. Combination meals for the win - finishing humble leftovers and reducing our household food waste footprint.
Weekend Treats:
Soft Cookies topped with Whipped Cream and Lemon Curd. For small batch:cook half the batch and tightly roll the other half into a saran wrap log and freeze. To bake: thaw for 30 minutes, slice and bake as directed.
Brioche Bread that made two loaves. One was baked as a loaf and the other half we kept in the fridge for two days. We split the dough into muffin tins, wrapped up with ground ham, egg whites and cheese for a savoury pastry-worthy bread roll.
Date Square Pie - I’m dreaming of these (few) leftovers blitzed together with silky vanilla bean ice cream and chopped almonds.
Local Bakery: Lemon Meringue Tart and Almond Frangipane Croissant from Chez Angela in Brandon, MB. Their Almond Croissant is the heartiest, freshest and possibly the most delightful croissant I’ve had in my entire life. This statement is not to be taken lightly.
Meals in a Week Ep. 7
M - Tacos: Ground Beef, Taco Kit, Lettuce, Cheese
Monday Meal Prep: Homemade Chicken Stock - ingredients taken from the freezer from the last 3 months of saving almost everything.
Freezing Vegetable Stock Scraps: Onions, Peppers, Celery, Garlic, Broccoli Stem, Mushrooms, Lemons, Limes, Cilantro, Parsley.
Thanks for reading Meals in a Week by Cuisinique! Share this page with a busy someone who loves to cook!
T - Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup (easiest ever):
Pulled Chicken (leftover from Friday), Green Onion, Carrot, Celery, 2L Chicken Stock, Homemade Rustic Pastinetta, Soy Sauce, Lemon Zest, Lemon Juice. Salt and Pepper to taste.