Dinner this week.

It's the time of year when I tend to plan meals a week or two at a time - then switch days around as needed. This usually happens in spring (not that we are quite there yet - it snowed this morning) and because the weather in NY is notoriously un-predictable and if I plan for soup & rolls weeks in advance it will undoubtedly be 75 degrees that day!

Also, Corinne requested I be better about putting the recipes on here, and I might be able to manage that better a week at a time.

March 6th - 12th

SUNDAY

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken. Pear & Gorgonzola Salad.

This chicken is a family staple. It's easy, and everyone likes it. I especially love that Rick and the kids can whip it up on a Sunday afternoon while I am taking a nap (that certainly adds to the deliciousness.)

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken

2 C crushed Ritz crackers
3 Tbs Parmesan cheese
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp seasoned salt

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8oz plain yogurt (I use Greek)
1/4 C melted butter

Combine cracker crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and seasoned salt in large large Ziploc bag. Set aside.
Coat each piece of chicken in yogurt, then toss in crumb mixture. (I slice the breasts into strips - about 4 per breast).
Arrange chicken in 9x13 pan and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until tender.

See the post below this for the Salad recipe.

MONDAY

Linguine with Lemon & Olive Oil.

Super fast, super yummy and super easy. What more could you ask for? We ate this with leftover salad from last night. I followed the basic recipe from smitten kitchen but doubled the ingredients for the sauce (with 1 1/2 lbs linguine) used all the zest from 3 lemons and didn't add any reserved water (it seemed wet enough.) I also added a very scant amount of Parmesan cheese to the finished dish (I've decided that I should try and reduce the MASS amounts of cheese we consume around here!)

We love lemons and this was so yummy & lemony. Mmmmm.

1 pound linguine

Salt

3 lemons

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus additional for serving

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus additional for serving

Ground black pepper

Small handful fresh basil leaves, shredded

Cook linguine or spaghetti in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large, wide-bottomed pot. (You’ll have fewer dishes to wash if you use this pot to assemble the dish as well.)

While pasta is cooking, zest lemons until you have a little shy of a tablespoon of zest. Juice lemons — you’ll have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water. Dry out your pot, then boil the olive oil, cream, zest and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water together for two minutes over high heat. Return pasta to pot and stir until coated. Add the cheese and 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss, toss, toss everything together. Add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, if you’d like your dish a little looser. Quickly taste a strand of pasta and see if you want to add the remaining lemon juice (we did). Stir in basil or arugula and season generously with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, drizzling individual portions with a bit of extra olive oil and sprinkling with extra Parmesan. cheese.

TUESDAY

Bronzed Sea Bass with Lemon Shallot Butter

From the Pioneer Woman

• 6 ounces, weight (to 7 Ounces) Piece Of Sea Bass, With Or Without The Skin On
• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium-sized Shallot, Minced
• 1 whole Lemon, Zested And Juiced
• 3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• Kosher Salt And Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season both sides of the fish generously with salt and pepper.

Heat canola oil in a medium-sized oven-safe pan over high heat for a few minutes to let the oil get nice and hot.

Once the oil has heated up for a couple of minutes, drop the sea bass into place and let it sit there untouched for two minutes. (Don’t overcrowd the pan, as this will kill our ability to create a tasty crust on the fish.) Sear over high heat for 2 minutes, then transfer the pan into the 375-degree oven WITHOUT FLIPPING THE FISH OVER. Set the timer to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin making the lemon shallot butter sauce. Melting the butter over a medium-high heat. Add in the minced shallot and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.

When the shallots have become a little softer, squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon. Whisk together and reduce the heat to medium until you’ve got an incredible-smelling sauce. (Skipping the shallots in this process will make a super-simple lemon butter sauce.)

Once the fish has been in the oven for 8 minutes, remove it and let it rest for a moment before serving. Take this time to remove the pin bones if your butcher didn’t do it for you.

This exact method will work well with halibut, salmon, or any other thick fish. Great results every time.

WEDNESDAY

Grilled Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas

Also from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. I like recipes that can be somewhat individualized, since there are so many varied tastes (AKA picky eaters) in our family. Rick, Jacob & I will eat these just this way. Emily & Jane will have it without the pineapple and Bek will eat hers sans chicken. Everyone is happy & I don't have to work hard to do it. You're welcome family!

• 8 whole Flour Tortillas
• Butter Or Margarine
• 2 cups Grilled Pineapple, Sliced
• 3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 3 cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
• Cilantro
• 3 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce

Preparation Instructions

(To grill pineapple: cut wedges, stick on skewers, and grill over low heat. Cut into slices.)

(To pound chicken, place inside a Ziploc bag and pound with a mallet or large can to flatten to uniform thickness.)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and Cajun spice (or cumin/cayenne, etc.) Drizzle olive oil on a grill pan and grill on both sides until done, brushing with barbecue sauce. Set aside and slice into very thin slices.

Warm griddle over medium heat and put sizzling butter or margarine in the pan. Slightly warm and toast tortillas on both sides, then remove from griddle and set aside.

To assemble, sprinkle four browned tortillas with grated Monterey Jack. Arrange chicken slices evenly over the surface. Add pineapple slices and jalapeno slices. Sprinkle on cilantro. If desired, drizzle extra barbecue sauce over the top. Add second browned tortilla on top of each one. (You’ll have four complete quesadillas at this point.)

Add to oven to warm, or back to skillet to warm, until cheese is melted. Cut each quesadilla into six wedges. Serve with sour cream, pico de gallo, and lime wedges.

THURSDAY

Jacob was having his 24 hour EEG. I wasn't sure how late we'd be so didn't plan dinner. A friend actually made us pasta, bread sticks & broccoli. The bread sticks were wonderful, so I asked for the recipe. Emily LOVED these &has big plans to try making them herself soon.

Bread sticks.

Makes about 20-25 bread sticks.

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

3 ½ cups flour (I usually use a combination of unbleached all-purpose flour and white whole wheat flour but use whatever you have on hand!)

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in a large bowl or electric mixer and knead for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the bread stick dough about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic salt, herbs of choice (I vary this depending on my mood but it usually consists of rosemary, basil, or thyme in some form and crushed finely) and Parmesan cheese. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

FRIDAY

Homemade Pizza

I often make my own dough, but sometimes we just buy it from our local pizza store (they sell rounds of dough for $2.)

The kids love to roll their own and add their own toppings. My favorite is tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and snipped fresh basil. Or my other favorite is fresh mozzarella covered with

thick slices of portobello mushrooms & and chunks of crumbled blue cheese. Mmmmm.

If you want to make your own dough, I love this one.

Emily has been into making pizza dough lately and uses her own preferred recipe. She makes it entirely herself. Honestly. I am usually not even in the kitchen at all and she does a great job! It's a decent pizza dough although a little too "fluffy" for me. I prefer my pizza crust thin and a little crispy on the bottom ... but the kid is making dinner for me, so what can I say?

 Emily's Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon oil

3 cups flour

Pour warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle yeast in and let sit for five minutes. Add salt, sugar and oil and 1 ½ cup flour. Mix then add remaining flour and knead well.

* The munchkin prefers to knead this by hand, but I'm sure 5 - 10 minutes in an electric mixer would be easier. The we usually let it rise for about 30 minutes, or while we go to Lacrosse practice, or swimming, or whatever else we have going on that afternoon! When we get back to it, we punch it down & roll it out ... you know how to do the rest.

SATURDAY

We ate out. We were out late running errands & generally cramming everything that we need to do as a family into the one day we are all home .... we ended up at the pet store to get our "Millie" supplies around dinner time. It was right by a Red Lobster....

I've never eaten there before, so we thought we'd try something new. It was OK and even Bek & Em (my non-fish eaters) enjoyed their meal.