Week 70 Menu

Monday - Grilled Corn Salad
Tuesday - BBQ Chicken Pizza
Wednesday - eat out
Thursday - Chicken Cannelloni
Friday - Steak, salad & corn on the cob
Saturday - Roasted Tomato Soup & pan bread
Sunday - Hungarian Chicken

Ginger Pork Pot Stickers

Lately we have been on the hunt for a great (local) Chinese restaurant. A few years ago we found one in San Diego (Mira Mesa to be precise) and we haven't found it's match yet. Meanwhile, I saw an episode of Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network where he made some Ginger Pork Pot Stickers and man did they look good, and not all that difficult.




When I told my husband that pot stickers were on our menu for the week, he was excited. Here's how the conversation went:

Hubby: "I love pot stickers. My mom is great at making pot stickers."
Me: "Oh fabulous. That's not the best thing you could have said. Remember the now famous quiche incident of 2000?"
Hubby: "Oh yeah. Well, I bet your pot stickers will be good too."
Me: "Thanks. Can't wait."

What's the quiche incident of 2000 you ask? Well, I had discovered that my newly acquired husband's most favorite dish was quiche. Being the thoughtful wife I am, I made him a quiche for his birthday. It turns out that it wasn't quite as good as his mom's. That's fine. So I ask her for her recipe, and try again. Still no. I research more quiche recipes. Still no. This goes on for 3 years. I don't make quiche anymore.

Anyway, back to the pot stickers. I've never attempted pot stickers before, but this recipe was easy to follow and very yummy. In fact, the whole family got involved:


My son loved grating the carrots, and was more eager to try out this new meal since he had a hand in it's creation. (The carrots are for the fried rice.) Here are the pot stickers, ready to be wrapped, boiled and fried.




We paired the pot stickers with some fried rice (I'll have to type that recipe up later). The only thing that was lacking were the chopsticks. Oh, I did mix together a few things for a dipping sauce. Sorry I don't have the exact measurements - I just kind of eyeballed it.

Link to Ginger Pork Pot Stickers here



Dipping Sauce for Pot Stickers

In a small bowl mix:
soy sauce (about 1/4 cup)
about 1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp honey



In the end, I was happy with the meal, and we'll be having pot stickers again (probably soon). The only comment from Mr. Dinner's on Me was, "these are awesome!" with no reference to his mom's pot stickers. Either he has wizened up or I won this round. My guess is he's just more careful with what he says. I know I don't hold a candle to Bonnie's cooking!

Week 69 Menu

Monday - school picnic
Tuesday - BBQ Club Sandwiches & salad of some kind...
Wednesday - eat out
Thursday - tin foil dinners
Friday - grilled steak & Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Orzo
Saturday - good ol' spaghetti & meatballs
Sunday - Oriental BBQ Ribs


Need more menu ideas? Check out Menu Plan Monday

Pizza Cake

Ha ha! More cake! I told you I was a big fan of cake mixes. This one was for my nephew's birthday and I have to admit that this is not my original idea. I saw it in a magazine and thought it would be a cute and easy birthday cake. It sure was!




Here is the link to the original. I have a few tips for you though, if you're going to try this one out. First of all, use gel icing color and not the liquid drops you find in most grocery stores. The gel will help get a deeper color, more like a pizza sauce and won't change the consistency of your frosting. I used this size of jar of the regular red color (see image below) and I ended up using the entire little container, and still was not quite happy with the color. Next time I might get a regular red gel and a darker red gel and combine them to get better results.



Also, I wasn't able to find fruit roll ups (for the pepperoni) that didn't have tattoos on them. Finally for serving, I just bought some foil pizza trays and they worked fine. Although if I do this again, I might go to a pizza shop and buy two medium sized boxes from them. It would help protect the pizzas and help with presentation.

If anyone tries out these cute little cakes, email me a photo of it. I'd like to see!

Orange Crunch Cake

I'm a fan of cake mixes. Several times now they have come in handy when I need to whip up a quick dessert. I usually keep several varieties in my food storage along with muffin mixes, cookie mixes, and a brownie mix or two. One of my favorite things to do with a cake mix is a simple cup cake. They're easy to transport, and kids love 'em.

On occasion however, it's good to have alternate recipes available that use the cake mix, but would be more appropriate to serve to adults. One of my favorites has been the Honey Bun Cake but recently I discovered (and tested) a new recipe, an Orange Crunch Cake. This recipe appears on allrecipes.com, but apparently it was originally from a Pillsbury ad in a magazine from years and years ago.





Orange Crunch Cake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs**
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter, softened

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 Tbsp grated orange zest

1 (16 oz) can prepared vanilla frosting
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 Tablespoons grated orange zest
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained

**one sleeve of graham crackers makes about 1 1/4 cups crumbs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch pans. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, walnuts and butter. Divide mixture evenly between the prepared pans. Set aside.



In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, water, orange juice and oil until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the orange zest. Pour the mixture evenly over the crunch layer in the pans.




Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Frost (crunch side up) between layers, on top and sides. Arrange orange sections on top, then refrigerate.

TO MAKE THE FROSTING: In a medium bowl, beat the vanilla frosting until light and fluffy, then mix in the whipped topping. Stir in the orange and lemon zest. Use frosting on completely cooled cake layers.

Week 68 Menu

Monday - something fun.... happy Labor Day!
Tuesday - Southwest Chicken Salads (w/ honey lime chicken...recipe coming!)
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Fried Rice & Pot Stickers
Friday - BBQ Chicken Pizza
Saturday - eat out
Sunday - Potato Ham Skillet




More menu ideas found HERE

Basil Pesto

Back in October I wrote a post about my having to purchase my basil from the grocery store (insert dramatic pause here, while I await your very audible gasp). No, I'm really not that hoity-toity. There's nothing wrong with buying fresh basil wherever you can find it. My reason for this post, is to say that this Summer I found a spot in my flower bed to stick a basil plant and I am so glad I did. It's uh, quite prolific.



I was talking to one of my fabulous sisters yesterday and she was telling me how great her basil plant was doing also. She needed some new ideas on how to use all of that basil and I figured others out there might need some suggestions as well. So I'm sharing my recipe for Basil Pesto along with a list (with links) of some of my favorite recipes that call for basil. (scroll down for list of recipes)




Basil Pesto

about 2 cups of packed fresh basil leaves - no stems
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts **
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Lightly toast pine nuts in a dry pan over medium low heat (optional**). Add pine nuts, basil, garlic, cheese, and 1-2 Tablespoons of the olive oil to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the remaining olive oil until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.


**Toasting the pine nuts is completely optional. My husband cannot eat raw pine nuts, but if I lightly toast them, he's fine. Here's another pine nut tip: In the past I've been able to find nice large bags of pine nuts at Costco for a great price. Buy those, and keep them in your freezer - they'll last a LOT longer. Pine nuts tend to go rancid quite quickly, and no one likes to toss those adorable little golden nuggets in the trash.




Some of my favorite recipes using basil:

Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Orzo
Pizza Margerita
Fresh Pasta Primavera
Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad
Pesto Chicken Florentine