Meals for the Week of October 10, 2011

It’s probably the end of your summer garden, but many people find themselves at this point with lots of produce and needing ideas of what to do with it.  Here’s a video with recipe on making oven dried tomatoes from America's Test Kitchen, who I consider one of the best sources for recipes as well as for the home cook to learn cooking methods.  You can store these tomatoes in oil and use them in all sorts of ways, sort of like sun dried tomatoes.

I found this little blog post with some ideas for what foods are freezable.  I was glad to see that I pretty much do the same as the author of the post.  If you like to shop in bulk, this info is handy for eliminating any waste of perishable items.  You can find that article, here.

This week I have again listed quite a few vegetarian dishes as we enter the second week of my husband eating vegetarian.  So far it’s going pretty good and I wanted to share some of the recipes I’m looking to make.  Plus I included some recipes with great fall flavors like sweet potatoes and butternut squash.
Earlier this week on my other blog, I posted a recipe for a healthy kid snack, No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls.  They are a hit in my house, I am happy to report and actually very easy for older kids to make themselves. 

 Meals for Week of October 10, 2011

Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms- Many stuffed mushroom recipes are gooey and cheese-filled and often intended as an appetizer.  This one has only a little cheese and using large Portobello mushrooms, it can be a main dish. 

Sweet Potato Burritos- A unique twist on bean burritos; mashed sweet potato combined with kidney beans, chili spices and cheese. 
 
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos- Not feeling like burritos?  Try these sweet potato tacos instead. 

Tortellini with Mushroom Sauce- Easy weeknight dish with pre-made tortellini. 

Thai Chicken Salad with Peanuts and Lime- Not actually a Thai recipe, but a yummy main dish salad using the great Thai food combination of peanuts and lime.

Parmesan Chicken- Crispy, from-scratch chicken nuggets that your kids will love. 

Polenta Pizza- Instead of the usual pizza dough, try polenta.  You can make the polenta crust ahead of time and then do your toppings and bake it right before you want to eat.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta- Do you like bubbling hot and creamy spinach and artichoke dip?  This pasta is sort of a spin on that, but not quite so heavy and cheesy.  It can be vegetarian, or add cooked, chopped chicken. 

Baked Rigatoni with Sausage, Butternut Squash and Kale- Make it healthier by looking for a nitrite-free sausage, but this is a complete meal with vitamin rich squash and kale. 

Pan Seared Rib Eye Steak- This is THE BEST way to cook a steak.  Less expensive cuts other than rib eye could be fixed the same way but would benefit from more seasoning such as Montreal Steak seasoning or some garlic powder because they are not as naturally flavorful as a rib eye.

Grilled Zucchini Pizza- Great idea if you need to be low carb or gluten free.  Large slices of zucchini grilled or broiled, then topped with pizza sauce, cheese and whatever you want, then broiled again. 

Fall Salad with Maple Vinaigrette- This recipe can really just serve as inspiration for your own version of a fall salad.  Apples and blue cheese are always great in any salad.