Weekly Menu: Jan 28

I am starting a new strategy to hold myself accountable for posting about the meals I make, as well as making myself actually cook unique dishes most nights. To be honest, it's hard to plan much right now, with all the work on the house and having to use someone else's kitchen. So sometimes meals will get pushed back and I may not actually make all of these this week, in which case I will save them for next week. But in general, each week I will create a dinner menu and try to stick to it. I will post each recipe individually as I make it.

{monday} feta, red onion, corn, broccoli, sausage pizza

{tuesday} red lentil coconut soup / salad w onions & feta cheese

{wednesday} roasted med chicken with lemon parmesan pasta

{thursday} leftovers

{friday} island inspired jerk shrimp over noodles

{saturday} eat out

{sunday} creamy baked potato soup

Spicy Black Bean & Corn Burgers

There has been one vegetarian dish I have ever made (and forced The Mister to eat) that he has ever actually asked me to make again. Not that I make vegetarian things very often- I’m no vegetarian myself. But I do happen to find things once in a while that I like that don’t involve meat. This has never happened for him. Anyway, that in itself is a big enough accolade for this meal. It’s definitely one that is going to be a regular dinner in this household from now on. Especially in fresh corn season.

{pulse in food processor}

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves
1 can black beans, drained
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
2 ear yellow corn, kernels and milk removed from husk (or 1 can)
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt

pepper

Once it has reached desired texture (I like it a bit course still, but you may want it smoother and less chunky) gather into a ball and place in the fridge in a bowl covered in plastic wrap. Let sit for two hours if possible, but it doesn’t have to be that long if you don’t plan very well in advance. Once you take it back out:

{stir in}

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

more salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet and heat. Form bean mixture into patties and cook for 5-7 minutes each side or until the outside forms a crust and they are heated through.

Place into buns and top with whatever you choose, or even eat them plain. We have even been known to fry up leftovers in little balls and make fritters. 

Corn Casserole

Lots of cheese one top!  (Would have looked better if
I cleaned up the edges before cooking..)

I do not come from a casserole family at all. I wasn’t quite sure what a casserole technically was until a few years ago. I don’t know why, we just never made them. Or if we did we didn’t call them casseroles. Since I have been on my own and finding my own recipes though, I have totally fallen in love with them. The ease, the one pan meal, the comfort! While my casserole love has recently almost always been in the form of pasta, my newest obsession is based entirely on corn.

I found this recipe in The Sunday Magazine of the Boston Globe of all places, a few weeks ago. My cousin actually mentioned how good it looked and that we should make it so I kept it all this time until I ended up at the store and saw corn recently. I wish I had ended up doing it sooner when there was all that fresh corn at the store for pennies every day over the summer, but c’est la vie. Anyway, we finally made it last weekend and it was actually so delicious. Cheesy. That always helps. We ate it as our whole meal, but it would definitely make a great side dish to a more well-rounded meal as well. You don’t come across such a comforting and satisfying vegetable dish all that often. So go make now!

{heat in a pan}

½ tablespoon butter

½ tablespoon oil

8 medium ears corn cut off the cob (I used 3 fresh ears and a can of corn)

Cook until the corn gets darker, a bit browned. Then take off heat and set aside.

{now heat}

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, chopped

½ teaspoons salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

{add}

2 tablespoons bread crumbs and stir for a minute

1 2/3 cups milk

salt

pepper

paprika

to taste

Stir and cook until thickened.

{stir in}

¾ cups parmesan cheese

the corn from before

Pour it all into a baking dish and sprinkle more cheese on top if you’d like. Bake on 425 until the top starts to brown and the edges are bubbly, about 30 minutes depending on the size of the pan.

Personal Banana Breads

We’re currently staying at the mister’s Aunts house for an undetermined amount of time. This makes cooking and baking a little bit more difficult because I don’t have all my supplies and my kitchen, but also fun because there are always people to eat the things I make and I seem to be having a lot of time to spare!

We happened to have a lot of rotting bananas in the last few days, because his Aunt bought a bunch of bananas and nobody ever ate them. I guess she maybe got them thinking everyone would have some but then we never had any because we’re (or at least I am) consciously trying not to eat everything that is in this house and stick to mostly the things we buy. I’m not sure why nobody else had any, but nevertheless, they were eventually all rotting and I figured they were just going to get thrown away so I may as well use them. I have trouble letting things go to waste even if it wasn’t really mine.. So I found a great recipe on Pinterest and of course modified it for what we wanted and had on hand and got this as the final result! They ended up being individual banana breads (that look like muffins—and I suppose kind of technically are!) because I couldn’t find a bread pan :)

{mix together}

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

{in a separate bowl, cream together}

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

{then add}

2 eggs

1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons spiced rum (optional)

Lastly, add the flour mixture into the wet and mix well. You can also add crushed walnuts and/or chocolate chips if you want, which I highly suggest although I didn’t have any. Then pour into a baking dish that has been buttered and floured, or lined with cupcake papers! Bake for about 45 minutes or until browning on top. Let cool a little.