#9: Weekly Dinners

Seems like it's been a while since I've cooked dinner during the week! Good thing K likes leftovers (from weekend cooking) and sandwiches.

This week is Bacon Week, so earlier in the week I made BLTs for dinner. This month's bacon, Swiss Sugar Cottage Bacon, is made from the shoulder of a pig, which basically means it looks like canadian bacon. It was pretty good, but a little fatty. I'm going to make Bacon Quiche with the remaining half pound.

Tonight, I made a recipe from the August 2008 Real Simple. I only changed it up a little bit, so I've added my revisions in parenthesis below. It was a good, quick recipe. I am a slow chopper, though, so next time I'll pre-chop everything the night before. K, my olive lover, said he was going to kick his up a notch next time by slicing up some olives in his servings.

Summer Pasta Bolognese (from 8/08 Real Simple Magazine)
serves 4

12 ounces fetuccine (3/4 box) (I used wheat pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
kosher salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
(1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped)
1 1/2 pounds beefsteak tomatoes--about 3--chopped (I used roma, couldn't find beefsteak at my HEB, and I weighed them to get the amount right)
1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc (I used chardonnay; that's what we had)
1 small zucchini, coarsely grated
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
(fresh parmesan cheese)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey and season with 3/4 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. (I used extra pepper.) Cook, breaking up the turkey with a spoon, for 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and wine and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the turkey is cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and fold in the zucchini and basil. Serve over the pasta. Add parmesan to taste--about 1/4 cup per serving.

Excellent bonus to this recipe = leftover wine to drink!

#9 Dinner: Parmesan-Crusted Mustard Chicken

Thursday night I decided to change up a recipe I've already made--Parmesan-Crusted Chicken. I've made this chicken dish several times because it's really easy, and quick on a weeknight. Here's what I did:

4 chicken breasts

1 tablespoon Sweet Hot Mister Mustard

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix mustard & olive oil, then spread on each side of each chicken breast. Mix parmesan cheese & italian bread crumbs, then press chicken breasts into mixture to coat each side. Place in baking dish, and cook for 20 - 25 minutes.

I prepped the chicken breasts the night before by trimming off the fat and pounding them to uniform thickness. So I all had to do on Thursday was spread on the mustard mix and press in the bread crumb mixture while the oven preheated. Since the main side I make these days is steamed veggie (frozen bags that I heat in the microwave), I zapped those as the meat was finishing in the oven. Dinner was ready very quickly, and it was delicious. I love that sweet hot mister mustard!