June 23-27 Mealplan

Ahh…home at last. Our stay at the beach was lovely but when you travel with a toddler it is always a relief when you step through your own door. So this week’s meals are easy, easy, easy-Mama’s exhausted!!
I spent a record-breaking $93 dollars at the store on Sunday and beat myself up about it all the way home (although I did save $70). Did the vacation take away some of my mojo? Maybe I just needed too many things because we’ve been out of town…? I was so disappointed and considered myself a failure at my job. I began unloading my groceries, pouting, and looked carefully over my receipt for possible mistakes (these happen all the time…the wrong produce # is keyed in or a sale doesn’t show up, etc.). It wasn’t until I got to the end of my receipt that I saw the sweetest words I could ever read. “Congratulations! You are a Winner in our Free Grocery Giveaway!!” Oh my Sweet Goodness!! I literally squealed, jumped and bounced my son around like a monkey. It was awesome.
Here’s the plan for the rest of this week-
*Crab Shack!
Snow Crab legs were on a great sale this past week, so we’re having them along with peel-n-eat shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce (the usual fair). But this time I’m also making some homemade sweet potato chips (baked, of course).
*Surf n Turf
Lobster tails were on sale as well so I couldn’t resist the temptation. They’re super easy to prepare, whether you steam or poach them (not sure what I’m doing to them yet…) and I also got some steak medallions to serve along side. A favorite summer side dish for us is roasted, fresh green beans and grape tomatoes. I roast both vegetables together and then before I serve them, add some fresh orange zest and rosemary. Yum!
*Low Country Baby back Ribs with Corn on the Cob and Mom’s Coleslaw
As you’ve probably guessed, babybacks were also on sale… We love cooking ribs in our house. The preparation is a cinch- You season the rack liberally with whatever flavors you decide to use, put it on a large cookie sheet with a splash or so of liquid (stock, orange juice, even water would work), and cover it tightly with foil. Bake/steam them slowly at 250 degrees for about 4 hours or so, until the meat is falling off the bone. Then brush it with your favorite barbecue sauce (I’ve mentioned before how easy it is to make your own…please try it!) and put it back in the oven, uncovered until the sauce tightens up a bit on the meat. And I grew up with my mom making vinegar-based cole slaw, never the mayo stuff. The dressing is made of white vinegar, a little mustard, salt, pepper, sugar and lots of celery seeds. It is the best cole slaw in the entire world.
*Pasta Primavera
This is what I make when I have an abundance of fresh vegetables that I need to use up. It’s basically a light pasta dish with, you guessed it, lots of veggies. Very healthy, very tasty.
*Sweet Potato Panzanella
I love panzanella salad-it’s an Italian bread salad. You make big croutons out of stale bread (I have 1/2 a baguette in the freezer), and usually mix it with fresh tomatoes, basil, and cheese. But great tomatoes are a little hard to come by this early in the season (although our little plant has already produced a couple of beauties!), and since I have several sweet potatoes on hand, I decided to make a totally different panzanella. It will have big, garlicky croutons, roasted sweet potatoes, onions, arugula that I will have to steal from my mothers’ garden, (Hi mom!) fresh sage leaves, dates, prosciutto, and Havarti cheese (brie is what I’ve used before and it’s awesome too). The dressing will be an orange, balsamic vinaigrette. Its a bit out of season in it’s flavors but very, very good.
Happy eating!