Menu for August 11, 2013 through August 17, 2013

Sorry for no new dinner recipes this past week. It's been busy and I've been enjoying some of my old favorites!  I do hope you tried the banana pudding though.  Still loving it and have some currently in the fridge!

Mark and I made some cookies for him to bring in to work.  As we made them he commented that he thought it was his first time using our stand mixer-- it's about time!  We made gluten-free dark chocolate cookies (recipe coming soon!) and oatmeal raisin cookies.  Both of these cookies are excellent and I highly recommend them (though neither of them are healthy).

The oatmeal raisin cookies are from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.  The best part of the recipe that I wanted to share is that the raisins are soaked in hot water for 30 minutes before using them in the cookies.  This causes them to plump up and have a great texture.  I bet this technique would improve any oatmeal raisin cookie recipe!

And in case you had any doubts about whether or not these cookies were good.... they were all gone by 8:30am the day Mark took them in... haha!

Menu for this week... Pearled Barley Salad with Cherries and Arugula (or use dried cranberries!).  This salad uses the same technique of soaking the cranberries/cherries as the oatmeal raisin cookies does!  Also Quinoa Burgers (with sweet potato fries?), Sesame Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Chickpea Kale Salad, and Thai Peanut Tofu.  I don't know how I can have so many favorite meals, but these are all some of my favorites!  Hope you enjoy too. :)

Dinners for the Week

Sunday:  Sesame Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Chickpea Kale Salad

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  

Monday:  Pearled Barley Salad with Cherries and Arugula (used dried cherries or dried cranberries)

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday:  Thai Honey Peanut Tofu served over grain of choice with vegetables of choice on the side.

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday.

Wednesday:  Leftover Sesame Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Chickpea Kale Salad

Thursday:  Leftover Pearled Barley Salad with Cherries and Arugula

Friday:  Leftover Thai Honey Peanut Tofu

Saturday: Quinoa Burgers served over salad with Baked Sweet Potato Fries on the side

• Make half the recipe.  Or, make the full recipe and have leftovers for lunch on Sunday.

Have a great week!


Bonus Picture! I've been seeing lots of deer around our house this past week.  This is outside my office window: