Menu for October 27, 2013 through November 2, 2013

Hi everyone! So the big news at our house yesterday was that we finally turned the heat on.  (Okay... that may or may not qualify as big news, but it is getting cold!)  We also recently got some soft flannel sheets from LLBean which are warm and amazing.  I highly recommend them. :)

Last week I got a reconditioned VitaMix.  I've had my eye on a VitaMix for a few years, and decided whenever our blender gave out we would get one since then it would hopefully last us decades.  Last week was the week!  I've loved making smoothies in it, but I've also enjoyed looking through the cookbook that came with it (it's a big hardcover book).  I tried a pot sticker recipe where you cut up all the veggies for the pot stickers in the VitaMix.  What was especially interesting was it used a "wet chop" method. You put all the ingredients in and covered them with water and then pulsed.  After everything was chopped, you just drained out the water.  I think it did an even better job than a food processor would have done.  Another great thing about the VitaMix is that it is quieter than our previous blender.  Both Mark and I can be sensitive to noise, so that is a great bonus for us.

For dinners this week we have creamy vegetable chowder, sesame spiced turkey meatballs with chickpea kale salad, salmon with minty yogurt sauce, and broccoli and potato nuggets.  I haven't had any of these meals in a long time, so I'm looking forward to them all! And I apologize for the lack of pictures for the salmon and broccoli and potato nuggets- they were from the early days of the blog and I never snapped a photo of them. :)

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:  Broccoli and Potato Nuggets with BBQ sauce for dipping if desired and salad on the side.

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

Tuesday:  Creamy Vegetable Chowder with bread on the side

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

Wednesday:  Leftover Sesame Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Chickpea Kale Salad

Thursday:  Leftover Broccoli and Potato Nuggets (And candy for dessert? Happy Halloween!)

Friday:  Leftover Creamy Vegetable Chowder

Saturday:  Wild Salmon with Minty Yogurt Sauce with salad/roasted vegetables and brown rice.

• Make the full recipe.

Looking for dessert?  Give these cookies a try!