Greek Grain Salad

This is a nice, light and refreshing salad.  It will keep nicely for a couple days in the fridge.  This recipe makes a good amount so if you don't want leftovers, you might want to halve it.  

2 medium cucumbers 
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes 
4 oz feta cheese 
+/- 0.25 cup red onion, finely minced 
1 cup barley (I used Bob’s Red Mill hull-less barley, but you can use regular or try another whole grain like farro or freekeh.) 
Greek style feta salad dressing from Trader Joe’s 
Olives if desired 
Salt, pepper, oregano, garlic to taste

Cook barley or other grain according to package directions. 
Seed and chop cucumbers. Cut tomatoes in half. Crumble feta. Mix cheese, tomatoes, cukes and onion (and olives if you like) together in a large bowl. 
After grain is cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Shake as much water off as you can. Add to bowl. Pour a small amount of dressing (not much, maybe 1/4-1/3 of a cup). I use some dried Greek oregano from our garden. A little pepper. Salt only if needed, most feta is quite salty. Taste it and season as you like.

Yogurt marinated Greek Chicken

Used this marinade last night and let the chicken sit in it overnight and all day until I cooked it for dinner in the air fryer.  It was so flavorful and juicy!  I used this recipe on about 4 lbs of chicken drumsticks. I also added a little an extra bit of oregano from our garden!

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBSP Penzey's Greek Seasoning
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Blend well.  Coat chicken and let sit as long as you can but not more than 24 hours.

Before cooking, wipe off excess marinade.  Sprinkle with extra seasoning, if desired (I didn't bother).

Air fryer:  360* for 20 minutes per 4 drums
Oven: Bake at 400* for 25 minutes, turn over, cook another 10 minutes.  Check for doneness with a meat thermometer - 180* internal temp is safe for dark meat chicken (legs & thighs), 170* for white meat (breasts).

Serve with: Greek salad, pita bread

Unstuffed cabbage casserole (Crock Pot)

Love stuffed cabbage but don't want to take the time or turn on the oven?  This gives you the flavor without all the work!

1/2 medium head of cabbage, chopped (1 bag of coleslaw mix will work if you are short on time!)
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup minute rice (I use minute brown rice)
1 lb ground beef, pork or turkey
28 oz can crushed tomatoes, tomato puree or sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice 
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tsp each:  Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, thyme (If you are using no salt added tomatoes, you might want to increase the salt a bit)

Mix sugar, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, and seasonings into the tomatoes in a separate bowl.

Put about 1 cup of tomatoes on the bottom of the pot.  Add 1/2 the cabbage, 1/2 the onion, 1/2 cup rice, crumble half the raw meat on top, then cover with 1 cup of the tomato mixture. 
Repeat the layers, topping with what's left of the tomatoes. 

Cook on high 3-4 hours. Stir well before serving. 

Crock-Pot Corn or Clam Chowder

1 onion, chopped
3 large potatoes, about 1.5 lbs, diced
2 cups corn
2 cans creamed corn
5-6 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into pieces (or 5-6 oz of real bacon bits)
2 cups +/- water to just cover vegetables
Salt & pepper to taste

Cook on low for several hours.  About 30 minutes before serving, add 1 can of evaporated milk OR 2 cups of half and half (or if you really want to be decadent, use heavy cream.)  Add 1/4 cup of butter.  Stir and let heat up for 30 minutes and serve.

For clam chowder:
Omit the corn and creamed corn.  Add 2 cups chopped celery and increase potatoes to 2 lbs. Use clam juice or seafood stock instead of water.  Add 4 cans of chopped clams when you add the half and half & butter.

TIP - use yukon gold or red potatoes, not baking/russet potatoes.  They will hold their shape better.  Mash some of the potatoes if you want a thicker broth. 

Zucchini bread/muffins

Got lots of zucchini in the garden this summer?  This recipe on Allrecipes.com has 5 stars and over 7,000 reviews for a reason - it's good.

Mom's Zucchini Bread Recipe

Now of course I like to tweak things.  I use 2 cups of white whole wheat flour and only 1 cup of regular AP flour.  I use half a cup of oil and a half cup of unsweetened applesauce.  I reduce the sugar to 1.5 cups of brown sugar, and if I'm adding mini chocolate chips, I'll take it down to 1 cup.  You can add as much as 3 cups of zucchini, so if you have a little over the 2 cups don't sweat it.  I also find it needs a bit longer than the 55 minutes.

You can also make them as muffins.  Bake for 30 minutes instead of 60.

**Tip - Those little cups of applesauce like you send in your kid's lunch bag are great to keep in your pantry for baking.  They don't need refrigeration, and one of the little cups is exactly a half cup!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats

7 Ingredients

• 3 serving, Bananas, raw
• 2 cup, 1% Lowfat Milk
• 2 cup (8 fl oz), Yogurt - Plain, whole milk
• 3 cup, Rolled Oats

• 0.25 cup(s), Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 8 tbsp, Chocolate peanut butter powder
• 3 cup (40g dry), Quick Oats

Combine all ingredients except oats.  Add oats and stir well.
Portion out into 8 containers, put into fridge overnight or for up to 4 days.

Nutrition Facts

Servings 8.0

Amount Per Serving

calories 364

Total Fat 8 g

Saturated Fat 2 g

Monounsaturated Fat 2 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g

Trans Fat 0 g

Cholesterol 10 mg

Sodium 95 mg

Potassium 517 mg

Total Carbohydrate 62 g

Dietary Fiber 9 g

Sugars 14 g

Protein 14 g

Calcium15 %  Iron19 %* 

Meal Plan for May 26

Memorial day weekend for us meant grilling outside, just like it does for many of you I'd imagine.  The weather was beautiful and we were excited to cook outside for the first time this summer.

Breakfasts - Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats (recipe in blog)

Lunches - Turkey Sandwiches, pasta salad for him, mini peppers for me, fruit

PM Snack - Banana, almonds

Dinner - Leftovers from Memorial day Cookout!

• Grilled chicken (some were marinated in a black pepper marinade others I put a rub of mesquite seasoning from Costco) 
• Sausages w/ peppers and onions
• Potato salad
• Corn on the cob
• Grilled zucchini & onions

Recipe - PC Cheeseburger Macaroni

This is sort of a knock-off of the cheeseburger hamburger helper I used to love as a kid!

1 large onion, chopped
1-1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1 qt beef or chicken broth, low sodium preferably.
1 lb pasta (rotini, elbows, or small shells I would recommend, but you can use others)
Small amounts of:  Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce
8 oz block of cheese of your choice OR 2 cups shredded cheese (I used the Kraft extra creamy blend with cream cheese in it for this but I usually shred my own. I like a nice smoked cheddar.)
Splash of milk
2 tbps butter

Brown onion and ground beef on Saute mode.  Turn off pot.
Add broth, pasta and squirt a little ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce in. Stir well.
**If the broth does not completely cover the pasta, add water until it does! **
Look at the back of the box of pasta.  Whatever it says for how long to cook it, set the pot for half that time.  High pressure.  (For example if it says to boil it for 10 minutes, set timer for 5 minutes.)
Lock the lid, set valve to closed and press start.
While it's cooking, if you are using block cheese, shred the cheese.
When done, wait 5 minutes and then open valve to release the rest of the pressure.
Open and splash in a bit of milk (maybe 1/4 cup?) and a couple TBSP butter and stir.
Add cheese and stir well until melted.

Busy busy!!

So for the last couple of weeks, I didn't have much time for cooking and meal planning.  

Mother's day weekend was very busy!  Saturday we went to buy some seedlings for the veggie garden at Rutgers Garden's plant sale.  We bought 6 pickling cucumbers (I believe they are all National Pickling variety).  2 each of cherry tomatoes (1 we tried last year - Juliet, and a new one - Midnight Snack) and 4 tomatillos.  We are trying again (possibly for the last time) to grow peppers - we bought 2 sweet (Gypsy and California Wonder) and 2 hot peppers (Garden Salsa and Aji Rico). We haven't had much success with peppers so we are hoping what we learned will help us grow them better. We also got some flowers and herbs.  

Sunday I baked rye bread for the first time.  I thought it was kind of salty but my father in-law loved it and so did my husband's grandmother.  I had lunch with my husband's mother and grandmother, along with his uncle and step-father for Mother's Day. That was nice.  I'd planned on having pizza that Sunday night,  but instead I was very full from lunch and so George ate most of what I brought home and I had half a sandwich. Pizza was made on Monday night and was excellent.  My own dough that I'd frozen.  George picked Greek stuff to put on it - gyro meat, red onion, feta, he put olives and tomatoes on his side as well. So good but salty!  I made black bean burgers later in the week and they came out great too.  (I more or less followed this recipe.) For lunches we just had sandwiches, veggies and fruit.

Last week was HOT.  I had another busy weekend that weekend and also did not feel like cooking much when it was so hot! Saturday we did a lot of gardening and fixing up the yard.  George's uncle fixed up our greenhouse and we planted our herb garden in there, then put down some fabric and got things set up for the veggie garden.  Sunday was Pokemon community day, so I braved the 85 degree temps to play for both me and George.  Got my steps in and came home to shower and throw something in the pressure cooker before Game of Thrones.  I'll post the recipe for the cheeseburger mac.  George loved it. 

Meal Plan for week of May 6

Well today was a busy day in the kitchen! 
-Last night I started instant pot yogurt and strained it this morning
-I whipped up a batch of biscuits this morning for breakfast
-Baked 2 dozen apple oat muffins
-Made some shrimp scampi with tomatoes and broccoli over lemon pasta (My lunches for the week.  Honestly I didn't care for the sauce or the lemon pasta so I won't make it again.)
-Cooked down the fruit for jam (will be made later in the week.)
-Made fresh guacamole and taco meat for our Cinco de Mayo dinner
-Took the leftover taco meat (made with onions & spices), some beans, rice, and peppers and cooked them all in the instant pot to make burrito bowls for the rest of the week.
-And of course washed a ton of dishes!

Meal plan:

Breakfast: Biscuits or muffins

AM Snack: Yogurt with strawberries & granola

Lunch: Shrimp scampi with broccoli and tomatoes and lemon pasta, apple

PM Snack:  Banana, 1/4 c almonds

Dinner:  Burrito bowls (rice & beans with taco meat, veggies, guac, cheese)