Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Chicken cacciatore

Tuesday: Stuffed peppers

Wednesday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Thursday:  Italian sausage spaghetti

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Limoncello Cake

I have been wanting to make this cake from  Technicolor Kitchen  for a long time, but now that I am doing in home daycare again I don't get as much time to bake as I used to, so when I had a few days off last week the first thing I did was find some new recipes to make for Randal to take to the office.  This limoncello cake was my favourite, it is no secret that as much I enjoy baking cakes I really do not enjoy eating them, but if there is a kind of cake I love it's one like this, not too sweet, lemony with a simple lemon glaze poured over it.

Cake:
1 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
½ cup  limoncello
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking power
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Glaze:
¾ cup icing sugar
½-1 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, eggs, canola oil, lemon zest and juice. Add vanilla, sugar and limoncello and mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir into the yogurt mixture.  Pour into a greased 9 x 12 baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

To make the glaze, put the icing sugar into a small bowl and gradually add the lemon juice, mixing until you get a pourable consistency. Pour over the cooled cake. Set aside for 20 minutes for glaze to set.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday:  Lasagna rolls and salad (Randal loved this so much last week, he requested it again)

Tuesday: Herb roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans

Wednesday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Thursday: Spag bol and salad

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Magic Cake

I have seen this magic cake many times recently on pinterest or other blogs,I thought it looked really interesting but didn't think it would be something I would like so didn't really plan on making it, although Randal was definitely interested in it so I thought I would include it in some treats I was making for Randal to take to work.  It is a fun cake to make, you just prepare a simple cake batter and after it has baked it turns into a 3 layered dessert with a custard layer in the middle and the cake layer on top.  I will be honest and say that I did not really enjoy this, but that's because it really reminded in both flavour and texture of the egg custard tarts we used to have back in England, and I did not care for those either.

 

4 eggs (separate yolks from whites) at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter, melted

3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups milk lukewarm

icing sugar for dusting cake

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 8 inch x 8 inch baking dish.

Separate eggs and add the egg whites to a mixer and mix until egg whites are stiff. Place egg whites in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light. Add butter and vanilla extract and continue beating for another minute or two after which you can add the flour and mix it in until fully incorporated.

Slowly start adding the milk and beat until everything is well mixed together. Add the egg whites, a third at a time and gently fold them in using a spatula, repeat until all egg whites are folded in. Another variation to folding in the egg whites would be to add a third of the egg whites and gently whisk them in to the cake batter, then reverse the process and add a bit of the cake mixture to the egg whites and gently whisk in, repeat until all cake batter has been whisked in.

Pour batter into baking dish and bake for 40 to 70 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. The baking time could vary greatly depending on the oven, so take a peek at around 40 minutes and see how it looks.

Sprinkle some icing sugar after cake has cooled.

Lasagna Rolls

I have seen lots of recipes for lasagna rolls and thought these would be a good way to use up some homemade pasta sauce I had in the fridge.  We both really loved these and they are so much easier to make and eat than actual lasagna, as my lasagna usually ends up quite messy and never holds together well.  We put cream cheese in ours instead of ricotta as that's what we usually put in regular lasgana.  I used 4 large fresh pasta sheets and cut them in half to make 8 rolls, and the sauce recipe will make a lot more than just the lasagna rolls.

Sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
1 tsp worcester sauce
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

Brown the ground beef in a large pan, drain the fat and add the onion to the pan, cook for a few minutes, add in the garlic, bell peppers, celery and mushrooms, stir together and let cook for a few minutes.  Add in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, red wine and seasonings.  Mix well and let cook for 45 minutes.

Lasagna Rolls
4 lasagna sheets
Pasta sauce
Cream cheese
Provolone cheese
Mozzarella cheese
1 tsp italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 and place a little of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.

Cook the lasagna sheets in boiling water for a few minutes, cut each sheet in half length wise.  Place around 3 tablespoons onto each pasta strip and cover evenly.  Add about a tablespoon of cream cheese and a sprinkle of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, roll the pasta and place in the baking dish.  Do the same for all the lasagna rolls, top with some more of the pasta sauce.

In a small bowl combine about 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella and shredded provolone cheese with a teaspoon of italian seasoning and mix together.  Top the lasagna rolls with the cheese mixture and bake for 30 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday:  Lasagna rolls and salad

Tuesday: Thai sweet chili glass noodles with shrimp and egg rolls

Wednesday: Tamarind chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans

Thursday: Chicken tikka, jasmine rice and naan bread

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Curried Rice Salad

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal. This month I was assigned the blog Fit Mama Real Food .   Heather's blog is filled with so many healthy recipes that it took me a long time to decide what I was going to make.  I found her recipe for Curried Grain Salad and thought it looked really good, and as I have been wanting to make a rice salad for a while I decided to just go with just the rice and not any other grain.  I hope Heather doesn't mind that I took inspiration from her recipe but I changed it slightly to make it a rice salad that tastes a little like my coronation chicken salad.

2 cups cooked jasmine rice
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 spring onions, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup hot mango chutney
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 tbsp curry powder (I like the penzeys sweet curry powder)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup dried cherries
salt and pepper

In a medium bowl add the mayonnaise, turmeric, curry powder, mango chutney, apricot preserves and mix together.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a large bowl add the cooked and cooled rice, diced bell pepper, celery, spring onions and cherries.  Add in the mayonnaise mixture and mix well.  Keep refrigerated.

Piri Piri Chicken

Piri Piri chicken is really popular in England and you can find that flavour in everything from ham to hummus in English supermarkets, not so much here in the states though. I really don't know why I have never tried to make it myself before, as it was so easy to make and so good.

6 chicken thighs
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 red onion
1 orange
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp dried coriander leaf
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix together the chopped bell peppers and chopped red onion with the ground coriander and a tablespoon of oil, place in a large baking dish.

Mix the coriander leaf, red chili flakes, garlic powder, paprika, lemon pepper and salt with the remaining oil and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add the chicken and coat evenly, place on top of the vegetables.

Cut the orange into wedges and squeeze over the chicken then place in the baking dish.  Cook for 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

 

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Tacos

Tuesday: Zuppa toscana soup

Wednesday: Spag bol and salad

Thursday: Herb roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Mint and Feta Lamb Burgers

We made these for the 4th of July. Not as American as a hamburger, but so good.  We had lots of fresh mint from Sue so I added lots more mint on top of my burger, and served them on our favourite onion rolls.

1 lb ground lamb
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
6 oz feta cheese
1 garlic clove
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper

Put the lamb into a large bowl, add in the chopped fresh mint leaves, the crumbled feta, the smashed garlic clove and the spices.  Mix together well and form into patties. Season the burgers with salt and pepper and grill for 8-10 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Mango beef and fried rice

Tuesday: Pizza burgers

Wednesday: Italian sausage spaghetti and salad

Thursday: Lamb burger for me, hamburger for Randal, baked beans and corn on the cob

Friday: Randal's going to Tulsa for the weekend, so something simple for me
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie