Friday, February 29, 2008

Monthly Menu Plan epilogue

How did I do with the monthly menu plan for February? Not so good. I didn’t have the energy to both cook and clean up after cooking. Looking at a really messy house when you are sick is doubly depressing. So take out/order in became the pattern for most of the last two and a half weeks.

Whatever was not made for this month will roll over to the next, since most of the ingredients are on hand either frozen or canned. The detail on what little was cooked versus what will be rolled over, along with comments, is below.

Actually cooked:

Cornmeal Fried Catfish – As I mentioned, loved the fish, hated the smell of fried food. Next time, light an Oust candle before starting to cook!

Shrimp with Wild Rice casserole – Yummy, but I need to do some tweaking. The dish is really salty, which can be fixed in part by eliminating the seasoning packet that comes with the rice. I would also like to substitute a home made béchamel for the condensed soup, if I can make it thick enough. There are plenty of fun things in the spice/herb cabinet that can be used for flavor.

Salmon Risotto – Again, yummy, but it takes more patience than I have to stand there and add broth and stir for forty-five minutes. A heavier pan (so I can stir without needing a hand on the pot handle) would free a hand to hold a book, which would make the process more bearable.

Pioneer Woman's husband's favorite sandwich - OH. MY. Words fail me.

Hearty Vegetable Stew Seasoned with Beef – This is a cheat, as I didn’t actually make this dish, but I DID make the pot roast I needed to get the beef with which to “season” it. The pot roast was eaten as was for two meals, then the leftovers were frozen in smaller containers, two with gravy for quick over-noodles dinners, and two without, to use in this particular dish. Didn’t get around to wanting to make the dish until mid-month or so, and at that point, discovered that my onions had sprouted (!). I had already made one special trip to the store to get the peas, and at that point was already feeling icky; a second trip just did not happen.

On the docket for March (not necessarily in this order):

Chicken Balsamic
Chicken-Rice Casserole
Chicken Biscuit Casserole
Pioneer Woman's Spicy Chicken Legs
Creole Catfish
Potato-Broccoli-Cheese Soup
Vegetable Stew seasoned with Beef
Mushroom Risotto (have to use up the rice!)
Tuna Casserole
Salmon with a Pecan Crust
Cajun Skillet Chicken
PW's husband's favorite sandwich

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