Tasty

With summer approaching what better time for a refresher course on how to slice up a watermelon! Here is how I do it…

1. Slice it in half (horizontally).

2. Slice the bottom rind off (how fun is that heart!).

3. Working around each half of the watermelon, slice off the rind working from top to bottom.

4. Remove any remaining pith/rind.

5. Make 1-inch slices working from top to bottom.

6. Cube each slice.

7. Repeat with the other watermelon half.

8. I’m a big fan of serving with lime slices and a little salt. Enjoy!

I must have been in La La land while I was grocery shopping this week because I didn’t get half the stuff on my list, thus resulting in some difficulty in making my menu for the week.  BUT there was a silver lining – I was forced to use the ingredients i had and and make a menu for the week.  I even (gasp) changed up recipes to work with what I had (I’m an avid rule/recipe/direction follower).  Here is what I put together this week:

BBQ Ribs with Coleslaw and Chili

This is the epidemy of a cheater meal but boy was it worth it. I picked up the pre-cooked ribs at Trader Joe’s (already marinated, you just bake in the oven), grabbed a can of chili (Jeremy’s request – you could do baked beans, cornbread, sweet potato fries, etc), and whipped up some vinegar based coleslaw. The perfect meal for when you want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying these warm spring nights in the backyard.

Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

I was planning on making lasagna but forgot to pick up more ricotta (plus Jeremy and I don’t really love lasagna… so why did it make my menu? No idea.), so I tried to find some good options that used the ingredients I had bought.  I came across this baked pasta recipe from Skinny Taste that is only 398 calories a serving!  I cut the recipe in half and cooked it in a square 9×9 dish and despite the low fat ingredients this meal was a real winner (plus there were leftovers for lunch!).

Seared Scallops with Shaved Fennel, Cucumber and Grapefruit

This was a fabulous meal that took 20 total minutes to throw together!  I would just advise that you swap step 3 and step 2 (with exception of topping the fish which I would recommend you do once the scallops are cooked :), because I prefer to have seafood served hot. Also make sure to really dry your scallops before you cook them (pat them with paper towels to really pull out the water), it will help them to get that gorgeous brown crust.  It was an elegant yet easy meal… fabulous!

So I subscribe to Rachael Ray’s cooking magazine and always love to check our her “3 Great Meals” section that basically has you put together 3 meals with under 10 items.  Unfortunately there tends to be an entree or two that deter me from ever doing it, but this week I thought… why not? One grocery trip and $30 bucks later I was ready to cook for the week.

On the Menu:

Smoky Pork BBQ Sandwiches

Asian Lasagna

Potstickers with Radish Salad

On the Grocery List:

• 10 radishes (1 large bunch)
• 1 1/2 lbs bok choy
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 large bunch cilantro
• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 oz shredded sharp white cheddar
• 2 1/2 lbs ground pork (you could easily sub turkey)
• 1 jar (12 oz) bbq sauce
• 4 6-oz hoagie rolls
• 1 pkg (16 oz) square wonton wrappers

(they assume you have lemon, onion, garlic, butter, oil, white vinegar, mayo, soy sauce, salt pepper, flour, sugar, crushed red pepper)

Comments:

Sandwiches – I like my Banh Mi sandwich recipe way too much to save 20 minutes to make these.  Although it was very nice to have dinner made in like 15 minutes with minimal effort.  If you do follow the recipe and have breadcrumbs on hand, I would add them to the meatballs because they did not stay together very well.

Lasagna – It took FOREVER to make.  That is my own fault because they say it has a 40 minute prep and a 40 minute cook time, but I was not paying attention apparently.  J liked this much more than I did… maybe it was the butter/flour/cheddar cheese that I saw being put into the recipe that made me feel a little guilty.  But I do have to say while making the sauce was a success (key = stir stir stir!), and the bok choy/onion/meat/lemon zest mixture did have some good flavor, I would recommend adding your own spices … it was slightly bland dish overall.

Potstickers – Easy and dare I say fun to make… but the flavor was a little bland.  I good dipping sauce came in handy to help with that.  There was no way that would have been a suitable meal for two people, but we did have those as appetizers and I made a batch of brown rice and cheated by making some Trader Joe’s General Tso’s Chicken for dinner (in the freezer section).

Overall Thoughts: It was definitely 3 easy dinners with a cheap price tag and a quick shopping trip, but for me personally I think I’d rather take the time to shop, cook and really enjoy dinner each night… but if you know you will be short on time this is a great option.  I’d just recommend being more creative with your cooking and adding more spices/herbs to really make the dishes pop.

I have a major sweet tooth.  Unfortunately, my waistline doesn’t appreciate me keeping sweets all over the house, so I make myself work for it if I’m craving a little dessert.  After finding this recipe though, I realized you don’t have to work too hard to make something yummy!

Strawberry Mint Shortcakes

Recipe adapted from: Bite by Michelle

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cold butter, divided into eights
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 45o*F

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and place in large mixing bowl.

Using a pastry blender (or two forks in my case) cut in butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Stir in chopped mint.

Add buttermilk and stir until combined.

Place dough on a floured board and knead 5 times.

Roll out to 1″ thickness (although mine turned closer to 1/2-3/4″ thickness and they turned out fine!)

Cut cakes out (I used a drinking glass because I didn’t have any cookie cutters) and place on a parchment/Silpat lined baking sheet.

Prepare an egg wash of 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon whipping cream…brush tops of cakes with egg wash then sprinkle with sanding sugar (I didn’t have sanding sugar on hand, and it was fine without… but it would definitely amp up the sweetness and presentation).

Place in oven on bottom rack and bake for 12 minutes or until golden.

Top with sweetened strawberries and whipped cream.

Whipped Cream

I was too lazy to pull out our Kitchenaid mixer so I tried a new technique that I learned at the Gold Rush fair in 4th grade/also saw on Pintrest.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to work…. but low and behold it did!

Just pour Heavy Whipping Cream into a large mason jar, add some sugar, put the lid on (tightly) and shake 5-10 minutes. I assigned J this task while I prepared the strawberries.

After about 7 minutes it prepared a light and fluffy whipped cream and minimal clean-up was involved!

Strawberries

I just chopped strawberries into small bites and sprinkled with sugar.  Let them sit for as long as possible (they recommend up to 2 hours)… mine was for about 2 minutes (oh well!).

* So I didn’t really take many pictures, because I honestly didn’t think this was going to work out… but despite the corner cutting, missing tools, and adjusted ingredients this still turned out!!