Meal Plan Monday

I'm going to need you to brace yourself.  Sit down.  Grab a glass of water.  Whatever you need to do to prepare yourself for the content of this post.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am bringing you a true Meal Plan Monday post.  And not one of those fake ones that I tried to pass off on you the first couple weeks of December.

Finally I feel like I am back to normal life.  Planning out meals, going back to school, doing laundry...Oh wait.  Why am I excited to be back to normal life?  That stuff sounds horrid.  Oh well, we will be back to traveling soon I suppose.

Alright, let's get started...and please remember these are not my beautiful photos!  All photos have links below them to the recipe and their original homes!

 Monday:

 

Tonight we will be having leftovers. Last night I made pasta with roasted peppers, butternut squash, chicken sausage over whole wheat penne.  It was scrumptious.  To go along with it tonight, I am going to make this Parmesan and Black Pepper Whole-Wheat Focaccia.

-from Flour Cookbook

Tuesday:

 There has been a request from Ashley over at The Uniqueness of Being for a little Chicken Marsala this week.  Not wanting to disappoint, I found this recipe just for her.  But I must say...I'm pretty excited about it myself.

-from Smitten Kitchen

Wednesday:

 Wednesday is going to be a salad day.  I can already tell.  And even though it pains me to abandon my Ginger Vinaigrette (which you can find here) I'm going to try something new.  I'm not exactly sure what to call it, but from the way it was described by Emily at DesignHer Momma it must be heavenly.

-from DesignHer Momma

Thursday:

 I have been on a real mushroom kick lately. (Especially since Kaston's mom made us some delicious stuffed mushrooms at home, but more on that later)...Needless to say I picked up some massive portabellos the last time I went to Trader Joes.  This shrimp stuffed mushroom recipe is filled with cheese, fresh herbs, and french bread (to name a few) and it seems like the perfect fix for my mushroom kick.

-from The Kitchen Sink

Friday:

Winter time automatically means soup.  I find myself searching and pondering soup recipes for hours, which is completely unproductive, but these two are my favorites from the last search.  I haven't quite decided which one to make yet so I'm going to give you both.

- on the left: Sweet Potato and Sausage soup from Smitten Kitchen

- on the right: Chicken Veggie soup from Country Cleaver

for Sunday breakfast:

 Shhhh....don't tell Kaston.  It's one of his favorites.  Ooh Eggs Benedict, you are a wonderful thing.

-from Simply Recipes

for a snack:

 Hello perfect snack!  How delicious do these Spice Roasted Crunch Chickpeas look?

-from The Cottage Home

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

It's official.  I'm back.  Back in lovely Boston.  Back to somewhat of a normal schedule.  And although it's absolutely freezing, I'm soaking in these last days of break like it's nobody's business.

As you might have seen in my last post, we actually arrived late Monday night.  However, for the last couple of days we have had the pleasure of entertaining some guests from home, the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Ruble.  It was an absolute blast having them here and showing them around "our" city.  Showing people around always allows me to take a step back and open my eyes back up to all of the beautiful aspects and pieces of this city that get shoved out of thought during the hustle and bustle of every day life.  It's quite refreshing.

In light of the busy week we have had...I haven't exactly gotten around to making some of the yummy dinners I have planned.  However, I plan on all of that changing tomorrow.  I'm thinking a nice whole wheat pasta with sausage, butternut squash, and roasted peppers.  Yum?

While I haven't gotten around to making dinner...I did get around to making a sweet little treat.  And oh me, oh my.  These are heavenly.  Kaston is quite the connoisseur of coconut macaroons and I believe he was impressed.  Beyond that, I have no better description.  Only a demand.  Make these.  And share them with all of your friends.

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Makes: 24 Macaroons   Prep Time: 15 minutes   Baking Time: 20-25 minutes   Total Time: 1 hour

Print Me! 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• two 14 ounce bags sweetened shredded coconut
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

1. Gather your ingredients.

 2. To make the pastry cream: In a small saucepan, scald the milk over medium-high heat.  Bubbles will start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk will not yet be at a boil.

 3. While the milk is heating, stir together 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.

 4. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks until blended.

5. Slowly whisk in flour mixture.  The mixture will be thick and kind of lumpy.

6. Remove milk from the heat and slowly add it to the egg-flour mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly.

 7. When all of the milk has been incorporated, return the contents of the bowl to the saucepan and place over medium heat.  Whisk continuously for about a minute until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.

8. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

 

9. Cover with plastic and let it cool completely.

 10. Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or rub with butter.

11. In a large bowl, combine coconut, egg whites, sugar, salt, and pastry cream.

 12. Stir until well combined.

 13. Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup or large spoon, scoop dough in rounded mounds onto the prepared baking sheet.

 14. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown all over.  Remove from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes.

 15. Once cooled, dip the bottoms into a bowl of melted chocolate.  Set on wax paper to harden.

 16. Grab a glass of milk...

17. ....time to eat!

 18. Enjoy!

19. Oh and don't forget to share!  This is his "Ohhh they are so good." face.  Deceiving I know.

Simple Chocolate Cupcakes

Here I am 10 whole days after the new year, without a blog post, still riding the excuse that I've been at home and didn't have time.  How lame is that?

Well, I departed the great state of Missouri yesterday afternoon and hopefully being back in Boston will return me to the blogging world on a regular basis.  Especially since I have so many fun new kitchen toys that I'm dying to show off.

Until I can get back into the groove of things...I'm going to fill you in on this little gem of a cupcake recipe.

After Christmas my momma's side of the family comes to town to celebrate the holiday as well as a few birthdays.  This year for the birthday celebrations we planned on being super lazy and running by the local cupcake shop to grab the treats...only to have the plan destroyed by the *CLOSED* sign hanging in the window.  Inevitably I got put in charge of whipping up something sweet and this is what happened.  They were pretty darn delicious and I even got some help from my precious little cousin Madison.

They're simple, sweet, and super easy.  A tried and true crowd pleaser.

Simply Wonderful...Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

Print Me! 

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners.

 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps.

3. I enlisted the help of this cute little thing.

 

4. And she did a great job.  No clumps.  Future chef wouldn't you say?

5. In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee, vinegar, vanilla, and olive oil.

6. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

7. Stir just until they come together.

8. Ladle batter into liners, filling them about two-thirds full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.

9. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from pan and cool on a rack.

10. I whipped up a chocolate and a vanilla frosting.  (Which I don't have the recipes for...sorry!)

11. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, slap some frosting on 'em!

12. Finally hand them out to the birthday boys!

13. Enjoy!