Week of November 30, 2008

I did make it through last week without spending any extra money. And now that I purchased Quicken and am tracking my groceries more carefully, I'm hoping to be able to save more and more money each week.

I'm on the look out for a really good recipe for baked spaghetti. I have one I make but it's plain and boring - noodles, tomato sauce from can, cheese - and bake it. If you know of a really tasty - but easy - recipe, please let me know! I found the link below and will try it mostly because it is really cost-effective and I wanted something with no ground beef.

Last week's Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon, Tomatoes and Pecans (which I found completely by accident) was possibly the best salad my husband and I have ever eaten. We are not huge salad eaters and this was just amazing - seriously the tastiest salad I've EVER had. He's begged me to make it again. Not exactly low-fat with the bacon, but full of spinach and the flavours are truly perfect.

The Grilled Salmon with Citrus Sauce was also a surprising big hit. I'm not always an expert at cooking salmon from the freezer - obviously I would have preferred it fresh - and this worked out very well. The sauce was light, tangy and just subtle enough not to be overpowering.

My parents are coming to visit next weekend from Nova Scotia, so I'm planning to do another roast chicken on Friday for my dad's birthday. Hope I can impress him.

Sunday: Sausage and Bean Casserole
Monday: Potato Leek Soup
Tuesday: Lemon Chicken from Rox
Wednesday: Baked Spaghetti
Thursday: Turkey Soup with fresh bread (freezer)
Friday: Roast Chicken, potatoes, vegatables
Saturday: Out to dinner with my parents!

I got this recipe from my friend Rox, who says it's very kid-friendly and her son liked it!

Lemon Chicken

Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 T honey
A little soya sauce
A little grated ginger
3/4 cup chicken broth (or more to make the sauce less zingy)
generous tsp of cornstarch

Pound out the chicken breasts and add salt and pepper and lightly cornstarch both sides.
Heat a little EVOO and butter in a non-stick pan, when quite hot cook chicken. Brown chicken on both sides, put on plate. Remove hot pan from heat, add lemon slurry - whisk quickly and then pour over chicken. She also added that she might try adding some garlic before the slurry, maybe fresh parsley or some toasted almonds.

You can tell from her description that she is a real cook, and not someone just learning like me. I stumbled upon an episode of Jon&Kate+8 last night and Kate was telling Jon he was "not a real cook because a real cook doesn't measure the ingredients". That is SO me! I measure everything and follow my recipes like they're scripture. I am a long, long way from having a real knack for foods and ingredients, so for now I will continue to happily follow others' delicious recipes.