Every week I will share our meal plan for the coming week. Making your own food is a great way to save money, explore new cuisine, and eat healthy (if you choose to make healthy foods). A good meal helps bring people together and as you improve your cooking skills you will impress more and more people! I generally use recipes as a starting off point and then experiment with different proportions or ingredients. Leftovers make great lunches for the 9-5 crowd who might otherwise have to decide between a sandwich or a pricey cafeteria.
This Week For Dinner…
Fried Shrimp w/ Steamed Broccoli, and Mac n’ Cheese
I wanted a break from white fish and due to some dietary restrictions Shae has to be a bit picky about what kind of seafood she can eat. One item that is on the ‘eat as much as you want’ list is shrimp. Tonight we tried a new way of preparing shrimp, we fried it. This is the recipe we followed (you’ll want to read the reviews as the reviewers make some important recommendations). Overall it was a fun experience if not a little time consuming because the shrimp we bought at the store still had shells on.
Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo w/ Salad & Garlic Bread
We’ve made this recipe before and substituted heavy cream in place of half and half. My Cheesehead wife has some strong opinions when it comes to what kind of dairy should be used in a recipe. All I know is that the end result is a rich, creamy, yummy dinner.
Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
While making a pizza at home takes longer than ordering carryout or popping a frozen pre-made pizza into the oven it is a fun experience. For starters, you can put anything you want on your pizza. Getting dinner ready is one of the first things that we do together as a couple after a long day of work. Trying out new recipes, improvising, and working together can almost be a date in itself! The last time we tried to make our own pizza we followed this recipe.
Tacos
I don’t have a specific taco recipe this week. However, I do want to try out a new local supplier of authentic corn tortillas. Here is a newspaper article talking about the new business. At 75¢/dozen I can’t afford NOT to try out some fresh corn tortillas!
Snack Food…
Trail Mix (aka M&Ms with obstacles)
We make our own batches of trail mix because it is cheaper than buying it from the store and we get to decide what goes into it. The great thing about making your own trail mix is that you can decide how expensive you want it to be. If you want a cheaper mix, use more peanuts and raisins. If you want a more lavish mix throw in dried blueberries, walnuts, almonds, cashews, dried pineapple, etc.
Our mix consists of:
- Peanuts
- Raisins
- Dried Cranberries
- Dried Blueberries
- Dark Chocolate M&Ms
The one warning about trail mix is when it comes time to share with others. There are very strict rules in our house that cherry picking (eating just one thing) is forbidden. The easiest way to solve that is to dish out smaller portions and making sure everyone has their own container.
Baby Cupcakes & Baby Brownies (work treat)
Shae has been doing a lot of baking lately. Occasionally she bakes goodies for her coworkers. I usually taste test.
