March 31-April 6 Mealplan

Ahh…Easter. I know there are actual historical reasons why we have this holiday on the calendar but I’m just so looking forward to giving my son an Easter basket and watching him hunt for eggs in the yard! In addition to the personal ‘cheffing’ I do every week I’m also catering a lunch tomorrow, so today was a pretty hectic one. (This glass of wine tastes reeeeaaaallly good:) Anywho, here’s what I have going for this week…
*Sausage and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers
We had these tonight and they were incredible. I’ve attempted the Stuffed Pepper before and never had great success, but I did a little research to help me out this time (which is very rare for me since I’m independent to a fault:) so that shows how blah my other versions have been!) I used lean sausage, brown rice, fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, sour cream and cheddar cheese for the filling. And baked them with a foil cover, in a little beef stock bath, for 30 minutes. I feel that the use of sausage (which already has such tremendous flavor to begin with) really helped the dish along.
*Seared Duck Breasts with Champagne Risotto and Roasted Asparagus
This will be our Easter Dinner. It’s tough to come across duck breasts at ‘regular’ grocery stores, like the ones I tend to frequent, but if you look closely you can find them frozen near the fresh meat department and they’re actually quite good. You can bet that on this day, I will be drinking some bubbly, so I will be happy to give a glass to the risotto in place of the normal white wine. We thought this meal screamed Spring and although we haven’t decided on the sauce for the Duck yet, I know it will be tasty.
*Carne Asada with a Corn, Tomato and Avocado Relish
Friday Night-Steak Night 🙂 G will do his magic on this meal. I’m sure he’ll do some sort of magic adobo marinade on the Flat Iron steaks and then grill them beautifully. And I still have a truck-load of avocados that remain delightfully firm so we’ll have one of them, diced and mixed with some very early corn of the cob, even earlier red tomatoes, fresh lime and cilantro.
*Cod Picatta with Roasted Potatoes and Spinach Patties
I got a great deal on some Cod today and I thought it would be great to make it into Cod Picatta, which I suppose it a bit unusual, but fish done this way is a big winner so I encourage you all to give it a try. And I think we need some type of potato to soak up all the yummy capers, lemon and white wine so I’ll roast a couple with some whole garlic cloves until creamy on the inside and crispy on the out. My spinach patties (that I’ve posted the non-recipe for) will really help round out the meal.
*Baked Gnocchi Florentine
So we’ve all had baked Ziti and Lasagna, and I’ve certainly done a heck of a lot of other baked pasta dishes but it never occurred to me to use gnocchi in this way. We love gnoochi in my house and being able to have it with extra, crunchy cheese on top will make it even better. I’ll just make a marinara for the gnocchi and add some defrosted, frozen spinach and lots and lots of mozzarella cheese, then bake it until bubbly and golden brown.
*Navel Orange and Rosemary Chicken with Roasted Beets
I have a good bit of boneless, chicken thighs in my freezer because I always buy a lot of them when they go on a big sale (they’re my fave). When the chicken comes out of the oven, I’ll de-glaze the pan with some fresh orange juice and throw in some minced garlic, rosemary and orange supremes until it looks like a sauce. And who doesn’t like a roasted beet? Find me one and we’ll have a chat.
*Thai Noodles with Broccoli and Red Peppers in a Spicy Peanut Sauce
I’ve made a lot of different variations on this meal. My mom made it a lot when I was little and as long as her peanut sauce and the pasta are there, then the other ingredients can be changed for an equally splendid dish. Usually we have it with chicken but we’re going veggie this time. Just freshly roasted red peppers and broccoli, corn and peas (from the freezer), onions and garlic will be added to the pasta and peanut sauce.
Have a wonderful Easter weekend and Happy Eating, Everyone!