meal plan brainstorm

write it out baby, let's work it out:


THIS WEEK (Thur 18-Tue23)(already in the fridge)
*adobo chicken
-marinating as i type this
*slow cooked cajun red beans
-cooking as i type this
*pork fried rice
-marinate pork, cook rice, make later this week
-works better with old rice
-may need to pick up some soy sauce 0.o
*spiart dip chicken
-brought a BUCKET of it home from work
-do it like lazy-chicken alfredo (frozen thighs)
-maybe make another meal out of dipping into this with a loaf of french bread
*quiche
-fish loves it, easy pie crust, may need crisco but i can use grated frozen butter too
-do not buy pie crust, it takes less time to make than it does to purchase and unwrap, if you think about it
-egg, cheese, broccoli, sure
*fried chicken legs 
-need potatoes to mash, have green beans
*blackened chicken caesar salad
-fish likes it a lot, may have it with the spiart bread?


NEXT WEEK (Wed24-Tue30)
***MAKE SURE GABERS GETS FISH QUALITY DINNER WHILE IN SPFD 
(W1-S4, can cook Su5)
NONE OF THIS HOTDOG MAC N CHEESE BUSINESS***

*pumpkin
-trending, making me crazy
-pumpkin-ricotta gnocchi?
*cheesesteak
-was craving it last week, every time i look at that can of ez cheese in my cabinet my neck tics and i can taste cheesesteak
-may cost too much to manage unless dad goes in on it with me
-i'm not flat broke, but i'm pinching pennies for my trip
*chili?
-i always tell myself it's too expensive, it's really not though
*mushroom swiss something
-because those BASTARDS at hardees were closed at 2am today like WTF I NEED MY SHIT
-also may be too expensive, i will need to see
*hamburger helper
-i can SMELL it right now at work and it is making me CRAZY
-cheaper with kielbasa? maybe! saw a badass recipe with green chiles and green onion omg
*pierogis
-cheeeeap and fish loves helping me with it
*homemade pasta
-mom wants me to use the pasta maker she got me
-i could use spinach and carrot and purple cabbage to dye it?
-hella cheap, too
*calzone
-coworker was eating a hot pocket and i was all, huh, calzone baby
-mentioned it the other day when another coworker got half off papa john's pizza because the cards won, wanted calzone
-can make them hot-pocket size, too!
-not too expensive, it's cheese and whatever filler, what, pepperoni or olive or something and sauce?
*four days of dinner for gabe+fish 
-i'm sure he can handle it
*lunches for 2 weeks
-may do chicken salads for me and fish and sammies for gabe, need chicken though

lots of ideas! no flavor or texture ruts, no eating the same thing three days in a row, can stretch it out with some leftover days or breakfast days (especially when gabe's with fishers), cheap enough, too. i feel much better having a rough framework of what i'm feeding my family while not spending all my monies.

turkey sliders

This all started with a photo that popped up on my Facebook feed earlier today:

I love the meat letters! I had mentioned a desire to try this, warning that my burgers would likely be lewd phrases like "BUTTCHEESE" or something equally awful and inappropriate. A buddy of mine suggested I make a Tumblr about it, and I became so taken with the joke that I planned four meals out of ground meat, bought some turkey and pork, and started the damn blog. He's thrilled about it, I'm still in stitches playing with meat like some sort of mental patient with kitchen access. I figured sliders for labor day, right? So sliders it is!

These are a mix of pork and turkey, purely for economic reasons. Four bucks a pound for beef, when turkey and pork are half that? Make that switch, man. I buy the big triple pound tube of turkey and a couple pounds of discounted pork and mix them together before dividing them up for storage, to be used in meatballs and cabbage rolls later on this week. 

After shaping some choice four letter words out of the meat mix and snapping a couple photos for the Hamburger Swears blog (again, gasping for air as I do this), i grabbed out enough meat for twelve sliders -- think golfball size -- stuck the meat back in the fridge and started the buns. These were soft yet firm, and went from dough to done in under a half an hour. I think I'll make them again. 

Just add yeast to a cup of warm water, then oil and salt, then an egg and a little sugar, and like three cups of flour, until the dough's no longer sticky. Turn onto a floured surface and knead a couple minutes, not too much or they'll be tough buns, baby! Divide the dough in half, then half again, and into thirds for twelve total. Put them in an oiled pan for ten minutes then bake at 425F for 8-10m. I used a whoopie pan for round buns and brushed egg wash on the tops. 

Burgers were too cinch, too. Heat a chopped onion in a big skillet, then add some oil to them (I heard somewhere doing the onions with dry heat first helps them cook faster? could be wrong though). Take the twelve balls of meat and mix them with some panko, a couple egg whites (i used the yolk to wash the buns), salt and pepper, paprika, oregano and some cayenne powder and form the twelve meat wads again, pressing each flat. Set six patties on the onions and add a little water or bouillon or beer (or grated onion juice for classic sliders) and let the burgers cook a bit. 

Ideally, your buns would be done, and you can cool them, slice them and stagger them over the cheesy patties, but my timing was a little off today and my buns were still baking as the patties cooked. This traps the steam and makes the cooking time faster while adding a little flavor to the meat. Scrape off the patty with some onions and place it on a bun, serve immediately (or don't, but you'll eat one and then two more, just own up to it, it's okay man). 

The fries weren't nothing, just some sliced spuds shaken in a plastic bag with some oil, parmesan and seasonings (salt, pepper, onion, garlic, cayenne powder) and baked alongside the buns until crispy outside, chewy inside. 

I'll make the rest of that meat (and some more dirty, meaty words) into meatballs and cabbage rolls, photo it and blog it for another post. If you have any tweaks to this recipe, as well as suggestions or requests for dishes you'd like to see me make for you virtually (and perhaps personally someday! your kitchen, though), put it in the comments, or hit me up on Facebook. 

Stay Hungry!