Menu Plan: Week of September 11th

Another busy week is upon us. I have two nighttime work events and then we're headed to a Royals game later in the week. We have a couple of new recipes on the list that we've added to our old standbys, but none of these have been shared on the blog so some new posts will definitely come from this week.

Sunday: Chicken Piccata
Monday: Reuben sandwiches with sweet potatoes
Tuesday: Pork chops with a leek-mustard sauce and asparagus
Wednesday: Spa night--I'm getting a massage, so the hubs is on his own
Thursday: La Bodega, one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City
Friday: Guacamole burgers
Saturday: Royals game

What do you have planned for dinner this week? Trying anything new in your kitchen?

Berry Breakfast Smoothie

Saturdays are the day that the hubs and I run around town, getting all of our errands taken care of. We try to get everything done in the morning so that we can spend the afternoon either doing fun things or projects around the house. So that we can get those errands ran in a timely manner, we often make breakfast smoothies that are quick, filling, yummy and require little clean up in the kitchen. This particular morning, we made berry smoothies but have tried everything from chocolate and peanut butter to "Orange Julius" style.

Berry Breakfast Smoothies

4 servings

1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

2 cups mixed berries (I used raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries)

1/2 cup skim milk

1 scoop protein powder

2 cups ice

Add all ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth.

This recipe makes four servings, so we just put the leftovers in either the refrigerator or freezer and grab for breakfast before work during the week.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

There are good things and bad things about celebrating birthdays at work. The good--the abundance of treats and goodies. The bad--the abundance of treats and goodies. Wait, did I just repeat myself? Luckily, I'm not in a huge department so we don't typically celebrate birthdays more than once or twice a month.

Since it's cooling down and the temps are feeling a bit more like fall, I felt like breaking out one of my favorite things--pumpkin! The birthday girl requested chocolate, so what's better than pumpkin and chocolate together?

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

adapted from Duncan Hines

1 package Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Spice Cake Mix

2 large eggs

1 cup water

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tub Whipped Cream Cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour Bundt pan. Combine cake mix, eggs, water and pumpkin in large bowl, beating for two minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in chocolate chips and then add to pan. Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for at least 30 minutes and invert onto serving plate (I used my cake stand). Cool completely before frosting.

For this cake, I wanted to achieve the above look of the frosting pooling off the cake. I actually heated about 1/4 cup of the frosting in the microwave for 30 seconds and tempered another 1/4 cup into the heated mixture to thin out the frosting. Once it comes to the right consistency, spoon one tablespoon over the top of the cake and let run down the sides. Continue this process with the remainder of the frosting in the container. The first layer or two may be thinner than desired, but with the addition of each layer, it will become thicker and reflect the above consistency.

Before frosting cools completely, top with additional chocolate chips and enjoy!

Weekly Menu Plan

Getting back to things after the super long weekend. I was so fortunate to actually have a four-day weekend...nothing is better than getting an e-mail from the head honcho saying that instead of a half-day Friday, we were all getting a full day off! It was a fantastic way to start the weekend. Since it was a pretty busy weekend, we actually just got to the grocery store this evening and don't have a ton of cooking planned this week. Here is what we have in store this week:

Sunday: Shrimp, cheese and french bread
Monday: Sporting Kansas City game--it was my first time at Livestrong Park, which was not only so much fun but I got to see David Beckham in the flesh!
Tuesday: Beer Mac and Cheese (which you'll see in an upcoming post!)
Wednesday: Avocado BLTs
Thursday: Happy hour at Harry's in Westport
Friday: Shrimp with Romesco and Goat Cheese Polenta

In even better news, I actually made my own DIY lightbox tonight. We're celebrating a birthday in the office tomorrow, so I tested it out with the birthday treat I'm bringing. Let me tell you--it makes a world of difference in the quality of the pictures. So look for that upgrade soon!

Simple Saturday Breakfast

During the week, my breakfast staple is pretty much oatmeal out of a pouch. I actually never leave myself enough time in the morning to make breakfast at home, so oatmeal is the easiest thing that I can make right when I get into the office. So when it comes to the weekend, I try to make something that's a bit more flavorful but still is easy to prepare and clean up. Eggs are usually our go-to, but we try to make them a bit different each weekend so that it's not the same old, same old. This weekend I added an Italian flair by combining scrambled eggs with pancetta, parmesan cheese and fresh thyme.

Eggs with Pancetta, Parmesan and Thyme

Serves 2

1/2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T diced pancetta (or more to your liking)

4 eggs

1/4 c. milk

2 T parmesan cheese

Salt

Pepper

1/2 T fresh thyme

In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and bring to temperature. Add pancetta to pan and saute until crispy. While pancetta is crisping, add eggs, milk and cheese to a bowl and whisk to combine. Once combined, add egg mixture to skillet and cook with pancetta until eggs are properly scrambled. Remove from skillet and sprinkle with thyme. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!