Around KJ's Table: September 5th- September 11th

 Let's start out with a moment to remember

It was also the first day of school this week:

And back to prep-ahead meals since all my cooks have been taken away on the school bus!

So here is the menu for this week: 09.05.21-09.11.21 Weekly Menu

Greek Chicken with Dill Yogurt Sauce: in large gallon bag prep chicken thighs with olive oil and greek seasoning all over. Prepare 1 container of plain greek yogurt (d/f for me) and 3 tbsp dill in small container. At dinner time put chicken on sheet pan to cook at 350 for 30 minutes with two lemons cut in half (put half side down on sheet pan).  When chicken is done squeeze 3 cooked lemons all over the chicken and add last 1/2 half lemon to your pre-prepared yogurt sauce.   Serve with romaine salad and warm pitas.

BLT pizza: cook bacon night before or at beginning of week to have crumbled bacon for recipes.  Day of unroll refrigerated pizza crust (Pillsbury is my favorite) brush with olive oil, italian seasonings and garlic powder. Top with baby spinach, thinly sliced roma tomatoes (about 2-3) and crumbled bacon and mozzarella cheese (I use d/f). Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes.

Korean Venison Bowls:  in large gallon bag put 1 lb browned venison, 6 tbsp soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp sesame oil, tiny bit of crushed red pepper, ginger, 3 cloves minced garlic, and 3 green onions sliced. At dinner time, pour bag into skillet, bring to warm simmer. Cook rice and steam broccoli.  Pour venison mixture over rice. 

Crispy Ranch Pork Chops: prepare sheet pan of dredged pork chops (panko bread crumbs mixed with ranch dressing mix (I make my own d/f kind) in one plate, ranch dressing (I use d/f) in another plate) Cover with saran wrap and then at dinner time bring to room temp and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.  Serve with angel hair pasta with herbs and peas.

Meatloaf: Here is my mom's recipe for meatloaf that I love.  I usually add 1/2 jar of salsa to the meat instead of chopped onions and ketchup tho. Just make meatloaf ahead of time and wrap in saran wrap.

At dinnertime, add glaze and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Non-Prep Weekend Meal:

Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Orzo: Cook orzo according to package. Cook chicken thighs and 2 cans of artichoke hearts with liquid on sheet pan in oven at 350 for 35-45 minutes. Zest and juice lemons. Add to orzo along with a handful of spinach.  Serve with cooked chicken. 

**BONUS**

Tequila Sunrise: 

1 1/2 oz tequila (I like vodka better)

3 oz orange juice

1 oz grapefruit juice

2 oz tangerine or orange flavored sparkling water

1 tsp grenadine 

Around KJ's Table: August 22nd- August 28th

 This week was a typical week for us, here, but soon we will heading into school and lots of prep-ahead coming! 

But for now here is the menu: 08.23.21-08.29.21 Weekly Menu

Chef Salad: which is pretty self-explanatory but I do love to make my own homemade Russian dressing for this.  

Venison Stroganoff: I basically used a ground beef stroganoff recipe and upgraded for our c/f home so:

1 pkg egg noodles

2 lbs ground beef (or ground beef if you don't have a cow allergy)

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 can chicken broth (or beef broth if you don't have a cow allergy)

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

8 oz plain coconut yogurt (or sour cream if you aren't d/f) 

Cook noodles.  Brown ground beef with pepper and oil. Whisk together the chicken broth, tomato paste, mustard and worcestershire sauce add to the meat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add yogurt and cook until heated.  Serve with noodles. 

Labor Day Chicken:  which is what my family calls a vinegar based marinade for chicken. Why you ask?  Well...typically will have this chicken at summer holiday picnics.  When I asked them one day what they wanted for dinner they said that chicken you made on Labor Day, and ever since then it has affectionately been called Labor Day chicken in our home.  This recipe has also been known by others as Firehouse chicken, Speadie Chicken, Brook's Chicken, or Cornell Chicken.  All of it is very similar.  As you can see this is a well loved recipe:

Raspberry Glazed Pork Chops: so this is not as complicated as it sounds.  Basically buy some Shake and Bake and boneless pork chops.  Bread the chops and bake as directed on the box.  Then take a jar of seedless raspberry jam and thin it out with some balsamic vinegar and heat it up.  Viola! a nice drizzle of raspberry on your breaded pork chops. 

Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs: this one is a bit labor intensive, but a great prep ahead meal. I have tried this recipe with store bought meatballs... not as good... make the meatballs from scratch... you will thank me.

Taco Pie: this is a recipe I got from a friend years ago:

Creamy Vegetable Rigatoni: this was an older E-Meal recipe.  It was super yummy!

There you have it folks! Have fun cooking this week.

Around KJ's Table: August 8th-14th

 We are home again for a few days and then on a road trip.  But for this week it is mostly normal.

Here is the menu plan: Weekly Menu Plan 08.08-08.14

First off, the kids are cooking again! But there are few mix-ups in here.  Let's start with:

Dumplings (for breakfast?): Yes! My family likes eggs but grows tired of them quickly and they are not fans of cold breakfasts.  So I researched breakfasts from other countries to try and find variety and found that asian cultures sometimes like dumplings for breakfast.  So occasionally I will buy a few boxes of frozen dumplings from the grocery store and air fry them for breakfast (most of the family is ok it- if not they can have cereal)

Homemade Hamburger Helper: My family doesn't like the boxed hamburger helper so I started researching the homemade kinds and came upon this homemade recipe.  Not only is it WAY more cost effective, I like the taste better as well. 

You may also start noticing a pattern here in my menus.  I am blessed to be near both my parents and my in-laws.   The moms will usually provide us with one-two meals a week so we can spend time together as a larger family. When school starts that gets a little bit harder with schedules but we try to make to it work.  

😉You will also see we like Chicken Patties and Chicken Nuggets for our quick "grab and go meal".  

Adios amigos/as we are outa here... going on a fun road trip to see a NASCAR race, visit colleges and see KY!

Around KJ's Table: August 1st- August 7th (Camping Menu)

 We are BUSY this week!! ... like, crazy busy! But a family's still gotta eat right?  So here is our menu this week which is mostly a camping menu: Weekly Menu 08.01-08.07

Again nothing too complicated.  So I will leave it to you this week...

In other news... we painted our living room 

Came out pretty nice, right?

Then we went camping with the little brother and his family.

Around KJ's Table July 25th- July 31st

 The kiddos are all home now! Yay, this mamma is happy to have all her cubs back in the den. But the menus will look slightly different for the next few week as the girls will take over cooking since they are home for the summer and have the time.  You will see some gaps with family vacations.

Here is the menu this week: Weekly Meal Plan 07.25-07.31

This week is not overly complicated as the girls are doing most of the cooking and pretty self explanatory. A few notes for you:

Potato Salad: This is one I will make dairy "ed" and then a smaller bowl of d/f for the eldest.  Here is my favorite recipe: Loaded Baked Potato Salad and then for my d/f kiddo I just boil some cubed potatoes and after cooled I just added vegan mayonnaise, dijon mustard and salt and pepper.  

Fried Venison Steaks: if you are not a familiar with cooking wild game, it is all about the prep.  If you do not want your meat to taste gamey you need to remove all the silver from the meat. We harvest and butcher all our own "catches" both wild game (deer, rabbit, turkey mostly) and fish (walleye, perch, sheep head, bass, etc) so we can guarantee the best quality of end product.  But if you do not do this, try to remove as much of the "silver" you can out of your meat prior to cooking, it reduces the gamey taste of the meat. 

Venison is a very lean red meat, one of the leanest you can find, so you will need to add oil to the pan, or fat the meat if you are making ground meat. If you have harvest deer you will know that you generally do not get large "steaks" as you would from a cow but smaller, thiner pan steaks. You simply fry them in butter (or oil) and your spices of choice (garlic, onion, paprika, etc).  Fry the steaks in a skillet for 2-3 minutes per side depending on size and thickness. (they can easily become leather so don't overcook). This meal is what I grew up on and to this day is still one of my top 5 meals.  

This week when we did the fajitas we used chicken; but I have ever cut the venison steaks into strips and made fajitas or what we affectionally call "slaughter cheesesteaks", but that is for another meal/menu. 😃😉.

Most everything else on the menu this week was from the frozen section or the canned/boxed section.  

Around KJs Ladies Table: July 11-July 17

Here is the newest plan for the week: July 11th-July 17th 

We missed a few weeks in between here.... there is a reason for that.  Our kiddos are gone for a few weeks so not a lot of cooking has been happening around here, more goings out than in. 😃 It was a nice little break for this home chef.  But the kiddos are starting to roll back home this week so back to the stove I go... 

First here are some nice pics of us with our super delish meals...

Lots of good food right there... oh the sushi... yum! But in other news-

Grilled Muffins: one of my favorites.  Blueberry muffins is what I am making and here is the recipe I use

Grilled Chicken Caesar salad: easy summer meal.  Grill some chicken breasts put them on top of a nice Caesar salad.  I usually make my own Caesar dressing.  One big scoop of mayo, one small scoop of sour cream, 3-4 garlic cloves minced, small scoop of parmesan cheese and a good squirt of dijon mustard. 

Sheet Pan Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Chicken: another simple summer meal.  I have lots of basil coming in so I will make a simple pesto with basil, olive oil garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, put that on top of some chicken breasts with mozzarella cheese on top.  Then I will buy some veggies at the store, probably broccoli, zucchini, and carrots, surround the chicken, (drizzle veggies with olive oil and spices) and cook in the oven or electric skillet for about 20-30 minutes. 

Stuffed Pepper Bowls: so here's the thing, my family doesn't care for cooked peppers so I have to NOT make them the star of the meal.  So I am going to make all the things you put in a stuffed pepper, which is basically rice, sausage, tomato sauce, spices and add chopped peppers and onion in the mixture and put them in a bowl. Viola, stuffed peppers that are not stuffed!  This is a new one, I will let you know how it goes. 

Skillet Vegetable Enchiladas: This is one of the eMeals recipe this week. 

Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu: I have made this recipe before a really long time ago.  It was really well liked then, so I am pulling it out of the dusty recipe shelf.  (see I reuse recipes) It is a little bit labor intensive so I will probably prep some of this meal ahead of time.  

•  Pound the chicken thin, dredge in flour, brown (not cook) in skillet. Remove and spread with dijon mustard, top with ham, and mozzarella cheese- at this point I will wrap and leave in fridge
•  Night of dinner I will bake 15-20 minutes in oven and add sides

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches: This is my easiest meal that we have once or twice a month.  Put some boneless chicken breasts in the crock pot with a bottle of BBQ sauce.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred meat and add more BBQ sauce to desired "sauciness".  Serve with hardy roll (hamburger rolls seem to fall apart with this).  Coleslaw also makes a great addition to the sandwich.  

Around KJ's Ladies Table: June 20th -June26th

So here is the Plan this week: Weekly Menu Plan 06.20-06.26

Happy Father's Day! First off here are some cute pics of this blog's namesake: 

KJ with his 3 princess:

The princesses with their grandfathers:

Ok now that we have wished the greatest men in the world a Happy Father's Day... onto the best part, the FOOD! 

Smoked Wings: I know... right??  This is one of KJ's favorites so on Father's Day we smoked a bunch of wings and took them to share with our father's.  I don't really have a recipe, this is the way that my brother did his wings and told me so I just do it similar but slightly different each time.  But I do have pictures and can tell you the general process:

First Rub the wings generously with your favorite rub:  I used Franks Red Hot Spice Mix

Smoked the wings in our smoker for 2 1/2- 3 hours with applewood chips on 225 degrees

Then grilled the wings on propane grill to crisp the skins

Then sauce them or leave them dry, either is excellent.  When I make the sauce, I melt about 1/2 stick of butter, sauté about 3-4 tablespoons real bacon bits, and a tablespoon of garlic,  add about a cup of buffalo sauce, a good helping of parmesan cheese and the blend with immersion blender to combine.  Pour it over the wings (this picture is dry wings)

Egg Bake: Another recipe from my mama's kitchen: this one I actually wrote down since we make this for breakfast on almost every special holiday!  I made a smaller dairy free one for my eldest with this cheddar cheese and coconut milk.

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 slices bread, toasted
• 4 slices process American cheese
• 12 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

• Preheat oven to 325°. Spread mayonnaise on one side of each slice of toast and cut into small pieces. Arrange toast, mayonnaise side up, in a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with cheese slices and bacon.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 2 minutes. Pour over bacon.
• In a large skillet, fry eggs over medium heat until they reach desired doneness; place over bacon.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and onions. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes. Cut in squares.

Crispy Chicken Roll-Ups: This is a new recipe for us this week from Emeals.  Will have to let you know how this goes.

Fish Tacos: ok so this one has a story.  In 2017 we took a road trip down the West Coast from Seattle WA all the way down to Arizona.  It was an amazing 3 week trip, but one of our stops was San Diego, CA and Fins fish tacos. (which I don't think exists anymore) 😕 

We fish Lake Erie for walleye sometimes in the summer, so I have recreated this AUH-mazing fish taco for consumption on the east coast. 

In case you wonder where your food comes from, walleye is a sweet white fish from the Great Lakes,  you cannot really buy it anywhere, if we run out of walleye, I have ever substituted cod, haddock, or tilapia:

 It is a blend of a lot of recipes I mashed up together, I like to sprinkle the meat with the grilled recipe and then coat it with the fried recipe, but if I am in a "healthy mood" then I don't fry it, so you can either grill your fish or continue on and fry the fish as well... good luck!  😂

Grilled Fish Recipe 

Sprinkle the pieces of fish all over with the cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1/3 of the fish and sauté until almost cooked through, turning it as needed, about 5 minutes in all. The pieces may fall apart a little as you cook them; that’s perfectly fine. During the last minute of cooking each batch, add about 1/3 of the garlic and toss over the heat. Place the fish on a serving plate as it is cooked and sprinkle each batch with 1 teaspoon of the lime juice. Keep going, adding a bit more oil as needed, and then adding the fish to the same plate as it is cooked, until all of the fish is sautéed and sprinkled with juice.

Fried Fish INGREDIENTS  

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/4 pounds walleye, perch or pike fillets
• 1-1/2 cups mashed potato flakes
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

In a shallow bowl, combine flour, paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Dip both sides of fillets in flour mixture and eggs, then coat with potato flakes.
In a large skillet, fry fillets in oil for 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with tartar sauce and lemon if desired.

Sauce INGREDIENTS 

1⁄2 cup mayonnaise

1⁄2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, plain (plain coconut yogurt)

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon capers, minced to taste

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin

1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano

1⁄2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste 

Blend mayo and sour cream (or yogurt) together; blend in lime juice, then capers, cumin, oregano, dill, and cayenne; it can be served immediately or can be made ahead

Coleslaw INGREDIENTS:

Buy shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix.  Stir in mayonnaise to taste.  Drizzle with maple syrup for sweetness

Pico de Gallo

Avocados

Cilantro

Tortillas 

I assemble my tacos by putting 1-2 fish fingers (depending on the size of tortilla), add a sprinkle of coleslaw, pico de Gallo, avocado, fresh cilantro and a drizzle of sauce, then roll up.

Biscuits: I make biscuits many ways, but this is probably my favorite.  Strawberries are in season as well... so there might be strawberry jam for these as well!  😛

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted {plant} butter, cubed

3/4 cup cold buttermilk, {coconut milk with lemon juice}

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until well combined. Add the in the cubed cold butter and cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter (you may also use a food processor for this step) until you have small pea sized pieces of butter. Pour the cold "buttermilk" into the mixture and gently work it together until the dough starts to come together.

Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently work it together with your hands. Pat the dough into a rectangle and fold it in thirds. Turn the dough, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat this process two more times.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it down into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Continue to gather any scrap pieces of dough, patting it back down to 1/2-inch thickness, and cutting it until you have 12 biscuits. 

Arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet touching each other. Brush the top of each biscuit with a little bit of "buttermilk."

Bake at 450°F for about 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. 

I happened to take pics of this when I made it... (see I already showed you my kitchen)

Southern BBQ wraps: this was a new recipe for the week as well and we didn't really like it so no recipe to share

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry:  take out night! 

2 (12oz) pkg broccoli florets

1 1/2 lb flank steak, thinly -2 packages venison steaks

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp cornstarch

Cook broccoli according to package directions.  Set aside

Cook steak (venison) in hot oil for 5-7 minutes or until browned.  

Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and cornstarch.  

Add broccoli to skillet with meat Stir soy sauce mixture into skillet.  Cook 1-2 minutes until thickened.

Serve with rice.

Around KJ's Ladies Table: June 13th- June 19th

 Here is the plan: Menu Plan for June 13-June 19

Chicken Chow Mein: this is a recipe from my mama's table

BLT Bowls:  this is one of those eMeals recipes but it is simply bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and pasta with balsamic dressing. 

Italian Sausage, Peppers, Onions and Potatoes: this is a sheet pan meal, I love these because they are easy prep ahead meals and just dump and cook on day of eating.  

I am going to play off this one from the Lemon Bowl website

Blackened Walleye: we have lots of walleye left over from our Lake Erie fishing trip last year, so I will use a recipe from eMeals that is for Cod and substitute walleye for the Cod

Baked Beans: this is another one of my mama's recipes (she cooks like me just keeps better records):

Pepper-Jack Burgers: picked this recipe because we can get a good d/f pepper jack from Whole Foods to use! We will use venison instead of beef and plant butter

Also not on this menu since we just found out we are having company for lunch I will make this Gathering meal with naan and rice and probably use the InstaPot instead of crock pot. I will use plain coconut yogurt and coconut milk in this recipe. (I have also found coating the chicken with spices and searing the chicken before adding to slow cooker or pressure cooker helps with flavor- if I have the time and patience.)

There ya have it folks... the food plan for the week.