Food

This is actually the menu from last week. I mostly made up this stuff, so I will only put down the recipes that were successes. I won't bother to write down the ones that were failures.

Sunday: ginger mushroom-potato soup, Greek salad

Monday: poppyseed chicken casserole with rice, green beans with shallots

Tuesday: mango chicken pasta

Wednesday: Chinese broccoli beef (SUPER YUMMY!)

Thursday: lemon-garlic chicken, spaghetti-basil soup

Friday: Thai green curry

Ginger Mushroom and Potato Soup serves 2-3
8-10 oz of sliced mushrooms (about 2 ½ cups)
½ red onion, diced
1 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed
½ pint whipping cream (1 cup)
1 large baking potato (1 ½ cups)
1 can beef broth (2 cups)
1 ½ tsp ginger
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat butter over medium heat and sauté mushrooms and onion till tender, about 10 minutes. Peel, wash, and cut potato into small chunks, about 1½ cups. Heat beef broth in a pot over medium heat. Add potatoes and bring to a boil. Boil till potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Turn heat to simmer. Add cooked mushrooms and onions to the potatoes. Stir in cream and ginger. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Greek Salad serves 3-4
1 head of romaine, red leaf, or green leaf lettuce
6 large fresh basil leaves
½ cucumber
2 Roma tomatoes
2 slices of red onion
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
1/3 cup feta cheese
Dressing:
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Wash and spin (or let dry) the lettuce. Tear or cut into bite-sized pieces. Place on a plate. Peel and dice the cucumber and sprinkle over the lettuce. Dice the tomatoes and sprinkle over cucumber. Take the onion slices and cut into 1-inch pieces; add to salad. Cut the olives in half length-wise and add to salad. Sprinkle 1/3 cup feta cheese over the top. Finely chop the basil leaves and add to the top of the salad. Cover and refrigerate till ready to serve.
For the dressing, whisk together the olive oil and the vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and whisk again.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole serves 4-6
4 large chicken breasts
freshly ground black pepper
1 (10 ½ oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 ½ oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (16 oz) carton of sour cream
3 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 sleeve Ritz (or similar) crackers, crushed
1/2 cup melted butter
Heat oven to 375. Cut chicken into strips or bite sized pieces and place on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Sprinkle the chicken with black pepper. In a bowl, combine the soups, the sour cream, and the poppy seeds. Pour this mixture over the chicken.
Cook at 375 for 30-35 minutes, till chicken is cooked through. Turn oven down to 350. Take baking dish out of oven and sprinkle the crushed crackers over the top. Drizzle the butter over the crackers. Return to oven for 5 minutes; then remove.
Serve over rice.

Green Beans with Shallots serves 3-4
1 bag frozen green beans
2 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place beans in a pot with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil. Boil until beans are tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan, and slice shallots. Saute shallots over low heat. Just before shallots are done, add one pressed clove garlic to the pan.
When beans are done, drain and return to pot. Add the shallots and garlic to the beans. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir and serve.

Mango Chicken Pasta serves 3-4
½ lb whole wheat rotelle (spiral) pasta
2 large chicken breasts
2 fresh mangoes
½ cup + 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
½ cup sweet mango chutney
2 green onions
¼ cup chopped cilantro
freshly ground black pepper
Heat oven to 350. Place chicken breasts in a baking pan and drizzle both sides with olive oil. Sprinkle both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Take out, turn the breasts over and cook 15 minutes more. Place aside.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain and place in a bowl (or return to pot). Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the pasta. Peel mangoes and dice; add to pasta. Add mayonnaise and chutney (you can vary amounts to your taste), green onions, and cilantro. Mix together well. Sprinkle with pepper, mix again, and serve either hot or cold.


Chinese Broccoli and Beef      A NEW FAVORITE      serves 3-4
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp oil
2 shallots
2 lbs beef chuck steak (or similar)
2 cups frozen (or fresh broccoli), cut
1/3 cup stir fry sauce
rice
Trim fat off of steak and cut into 2-inch long slices, as thinly as possible. Place the meat onto a plate. Pour soy sauce over meat and mix. Return to refrigerator and let it marinate for at least one hour (or overnight).
Place broccoli in a pot with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and let steam till broccoli is tender. Drain.
Heat oil in a large pan. Slice shallots and add to pan. Cook for one minute before adding beef (drain soy sauce from beef first). Cook beef until no longer pink in the middle, (8-10 minutes). Shallots will be soft by this point.
Add broccoli to beef. Pour stir fry sauce over beef and broccoli. Cook 2 minutes more; remove from heat. Serve over rice.


Lemon-Garlic Chicken
FAILURE. It was way too dry, so I'll have to try that one again...


Spaghetti Soup with Basil serves 2-4
(ONLY MAKE THIS ONE IF YOU REALLY LIKE BASIL. IT'S PRETTY BASILY)
5 oz spaghetti, broken in half twice
¼ onion (white or yellow)
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
1 Tbsp butter
freshly ground black pepper
Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain, return to pot, and cover with lid.
While spaghetti is cooking, dice onion and press garlic cloves. Heat butter in a pan, and sauté onion and garlic until tender (about 7 minutes).
Add chicken broth to the pot of spaghetti. Add in onions and garlic and bring to a simmer. Add in basil and pepper to taste; stir.

Thai Green Curry
We tried this pre-made jarred curry from Trader Joe's. It was too spicy for me, but really flavorful. We ate it over chicken, rice, and broccoli.