Monday – Crockpot Carnitas Rice Bowls. We’ve gotten a carnitas roast from Aldi a few times before and it is SO good and so easy. You just toss it all in the crockpot and cook like a normal roast. I’ll make rice and a side of black beans when I get home from school and we’ll top with fresh salsa, guacamole, cilantro, drizzle sour cream thinned with lime, and a few dashes of sriracha and a dash of tajin on top if we’re feeling snazzy.
Tuesday – Carnitas Tacos. Kind of like yesterday, but on soft tacos that have been warmed in the oven and with pickled onions and a heap of taco slaw on top. Oof, yum.
Friday – Pizza night! Plus family movie after, obviously
Saturday – Charcuterie Board. My favorite kind of dinner. I’ll pick up whatever looks good, but I do have a pinterest board for inspiration! It only has six pins, so I really need to go add some more. I think I’d like to master the fine art of charcuterie board building.
Sunday – Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup. Grilled Cheese on my sourdough, tomato soup from a can because call me crazy – that’s my favorite tomato soup. I think it just takes me back to my childhood! I’d be happy to hear suggestions for your favorite tomato soup – but don’t be offended if I don’t try it.
Treat – Molasses Cookies. I think I’ve put this on a couple past plans and haven’t gotten to them. I’m committed to them this time!
Cocktail –September Heatwave. I also had this on last week’s, but we switched to our pumpkin beer date night instead. Having this alongside a big fall puzzle on the coffee table for our weekend date & cocktail pairing.
Make anything good lately? Please share, so I can drool!
Monday – Flank Steak, roast brussels & crispy potatoes. My husband makes the best flank steak marinade. I dream about it! Doing Labor Day right and wrapping up summer with all the good stuff.
Tuesday – Chicken Enchiladas. We don’t really follow a recipe for this one. Put the chicken in the crock pot in the morning with taco seasoning, and use canned enchilada sauce for ease. All you have to do is shred the chicken and heat up some black beans on the side. To assemble – shred the chicken, spread a bit of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish, into each tortilla shell put chicken and some shredded cheese (we like either Monterey Jack which melts really well, or taco cheese here), roll up and place seam side down into the dish, top with more enchilada sauce and shredded cheese. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes. Serve with sour cream, sliced avocado, tajin seasoning, cilantro, and a side of black beans.
Wednesday – Harvest Skillet. But with chicken sausage instead of bacon! But also looking at this recipe that I think I’ve used before, my recipe is actually not all that similar to this one. 😂 I usually do Brussels sprouts, bite size potatoes sliced in half, sweet potatoes diced, chicken sausage all cooked up in the cast iron skillet. Top with fresh parm and serve with a side of sourdough.
Thursday – Leftovers always!
Friday – Pizza night! Plus family movie after.
Saturday –Pulled Pork Tot-Cho’s for husband and I, pulled pork sandwiches for the boys.
Sunday –Whole roast onions, pork chops and mashed potatoes. Excited about this one. I’ve been thinking about those onions since I found them on Pinterest.
Bake –Salted Maple Pie. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Treat – Apple Chips. The boys will love these! They’ll be the perfect after school snack.
Monday – Beef ragú over egg noodles. We’re having this today over parmesan polenta with Caesar salad and garlic bread. We’ll have the leftovers on Monday with egg noodles and more bread for the boys.
Tuesday –Taco Soup. A recipe from my mother-in-law. I’ll post the recipe this week on Instagram, but the recipe I’m linking to looks identical! Liz (my mother-in-law says “It is very forgiving…. can substitute anything…. I just give it a shake or two of ranch powder… I use 2 fire roasted tomatoes and 1 stewed… and I add about a can of water. It’s so easy. The hardest part is opening cans!”
Wednesday – Sheet pan salmon and tons of veggies (zucchini, squash, broccoli, onion). Mixed with lemon pepper seasoning, garlic, oil and lots of butter. Spread in a single layer and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
Thursday – leftovers always!
Friday – Pizza night! I’ve confessed that we’ve been picking pizza up from our favorite local spot lately and I have zero regrets as we’re still getting into the swing of being back in school!
Saturday – Date Night! Our anniversary is the 30th, so we’re hitting the town and the boys will most likely have hot dogs or chickens nuggets.
Sunday – Spaghetti Bolognese. A Sunday favorite, and the perfect weekend cooking project. It’s not hard, but it takes a long time.
Bake – Sourdough. It’s happening! I’m getting my poor languishing starter revived this week. I use Tartine’s country bread recipe and it’s not the fastest, nor easiest, but it’s easily the best.
Treat – Molasses Cookies. Feels very end of August-y. A follower shared this recipe with me and I have to try it! I have so many cookie suggestions from a story chat the other day, so I’m going to share a blog post with all of the links because I need to try them all.
Cocktail – Coffee Old Fashioned. Can you tell I’m already easing into September?
Make anything good lately? Please share with everyone in the comments!
Monday – BLTs with tater tots and salad – I always try to keep Monday nights easy, so I’ll make the bacon in the oven (at 400 on a foil lined pan for about 20 minutes), slice up some heirloom tomatoes, add iceberg lettuce because it has the best crunch, husband will put a fried egg on his, I’ll throw a quick salad together and there will be clementines and tots with ketchup for the kids. If I have a little extra time, I’ll make this very yummy herb mayonnaise, or maybe I’ll just sit back with a drink and a book with that extra time instead.
Tuesday – Sweet Potato Tacos with black beans, quick slaw and pickled onions – I buy frozen chopped sweet potatoes and this is basically the easiest taco Tuesday ever.
Wednesday – Lemon Ricotta Pasta – I’ve wanted to make lemon ricotta pasta since reading One Italian Summer (which wasn’t all that good, but the food descriptions took me there!) and I searched high and low for a recipe that seemed worthy. This one has great reviews. I’ll probably add some pan fried chicken for my husband and some pillsbury rolls with jam for my little guys.
Saturday – Cheeseburgers on the grill with sliced veggies & dip (we usually mix one container of cottage cheese with a packet of ranch seasoning) and oven fries (just slice up potatoes to the size you like best, roll around in olive oil and seasonings – we either use steak seasoning or garlic salt with Parmesan, place in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes, mixing around half way through.).
A few months ago, I put a little question box on Instagram and asked for cookbook suggestions from you guys. I’d like to build up my little cookbook collection, but I’d rather not have cookbooks sitting on my shelf that I don’t use. I knew you guys would have the best suggestions, and wow. You all came through. I had hundreds of responses of books you all say you use over and over again. I had to get all of this crowdsourced cookbook knowledge down here. I’ve separated by Baking, Weeknight cooking, Weekend/Date Night Cooking, Cooking Basics, and special dietary cookbooks. Each cookbook is listed by title, author, and then if you click on it, it will take you to amazon to look at the description. They are affiliate links so if you choose to purchase, I will get a little kickback (like 10 cents. just trying to put dinner on the table here. lolol.) This list makes my librarian heart sing! I’m going to start requesting one from the library every week and I’ll browse through, pick a couple recipes to try and see if it’s worth purchasing to have and to hold forever and ever. I thought you guys might like to see the list if you too are looking to beef up your collections! As always, I’ll share reviews on Instagram, and I’ll share any I decide to buy too. Side note: can’t believe the number of vegetarian cookbooks suggested!
Something about the school year starting just turns me into this kitchen monster. It’s like I have to spend time in the kitchen. I think it’s being out of the house all day, and the fact that our kitchen is one of my favorite places on earth and cooking and baking is one way that I say “I love you” to my family. Anyway, lots of good things happening in the kitchen. Here’s this week’s meal plan just in case it might inspire your meals this week!
Monday – Crock Pot Gyros – crock pot Mondays are truly a gift during the school week. I come home to dinner being pretty much made. I’ll buy tzatziki from the store to make it easy, and if I’m especially productive, I’ll chop up the veggies on Sunday night.
Tuesday – Taco Salad (I don’t really use a recipe for this – just crushed Doritos, taco meat, lettuce, and a whole bunch of toppings) – served with an ice cold margarita with salt on the rim for me, and no salt for my husband. I’ll have the boys cut up the iceberg lettuce for our after school transition activity while I brown the meat and Lukey terrorizes us all.
Saturday – Churrasco Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce – served with roasted fingerling potatoes, a big green salad and that rosé punch you see below. Throw in a board game after the boys go to bed and it’s basically a date night at home.
Sunday – Street Corn Chowder – served with crusty sourdough and all the mix-ins. Do not skip the cream sauce in the recipe. Amazing.
Bake – Peach Pound Cake – I think that I’ll make this in a Bundt pan with a glaze on top. Yum.
Treat – Fluffernutter Cookies – we usually make a treat on Thursdays as it’s leftovers night, so the time spent in the kitchen for dinner is low. This recipe will be a great one for the boys. I have a bag full of stale marshmallows and I think I’ll put them in charge of wrapping the marshmallow up with the dough.
Bon appetit, friends!
What are you making this week? Anything I need to know about? You know I’m already thinking about my next meal plan!
A couple of years ago, my mom made everyone in our family beautiful bound books with recipes from the whole family. Grandma’s sugar cookies are in there, a whole bunch of my mom’s recipes (cheesecake, meatballs, crab dip, spice cake, etc etc etc.) my dad’s buckeyes & golden cadillacs (wait until the holidays roll around and I’ll talk more about those), my sister’s shepherd’s pie, my banana bread, my cousin’s mexican layer dip, my aunt’s bourbon slush. You get the idea. If it’s a recipe from the Brown family – it’s in the book. She handwrote all of the recipes, had them copied and gave each one of us kids one. A rather beautiful heirloom sort of gift if you ask me. It’s cherished and I pull it out more than several times a year. Especially on the holidays where we can’t make it home to Indiana – I just need those recipes from home.
Well, having that recipe book (my sister and I refer to it as “The Family Bible”), made me start thinking about my own family and the recipes that I make over and over again. You guys know I love to try new recipes, but there’s nothing like making a food your family knows and loves. Well, I decided to start our own family food bible. Calling it a cookbook just sounds too official, doesn’t it? And it’s not as if I’ve made these recipes up. They’re just ones we love. When I find myself reaching for a recipe more than once, or if my family especially loved it, into the book it goes. My favorite vanilla birthday cake recipe is there, my favorite biscuits, dinner rolls, chocolate chip cookies, and the like. It’s largely full of baked goods. I should probably start jotting down some of our dinners too. I’ll get there eventually!
I’ve mentioned my little recipe book several times on Instagram – usually a comment like “This is so good it’s going in the recipe book!” and I always get questions. “Tell us more!” “Where is your book from?” “What’s the recipe book?” Well, I’m sorry to break the news to you that it’s nothing very pretty or fancy at all, it’s just a blank sketchbook from Michaels. You can probably get them anywhere art supplies are sold, or any type of office supply store, but over the years, I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those precious “grab in a fire” items for our family. There’s something about a handwritten recipe, isn’t there? I use a smaller sketchbook as my gardening book too – I jot down what I’ve planted, dates, outlines, notes on how things are growing.
Do you have something like this? My sister has a binder where she prints off recipes and puts them in, and I know lots of people have little recipe boxes with cards inside. I do love this book though. Over time, I’ll tweak recipes and include notes or maybe put in some little memories. I can imagine jotting down what Charlie first bakes on his own, or Ben’s favorite pizza toppings, or that Luke would only eat yeast rolls when he was two. The cover will get worn over time and years of being pulled out for the Birthday Cake recipe and the Christmas Cinnamon Rolls, and the First Day of School Blueberry Muffins, and I think that will make it even more precious to me. Watch my boys not care at all about it when they get older. HA! Maybe their wives will. Or maybe we need to go for just ONE MORE baby, perhaps a girl?? (insert a heart attack from my husband.)
Recipes inside the Metroka Family Cookbook (so far)
I woke Monday morning with just the twinge of a wine headache. My normal weekend limit of two glasses had been stretched to three as a result of flickering candlelight, a table full of friends, and my kids blessedly entertained by people other than me. Twelve of us gathered around two long tables pushed together, on chairs and benches that my husband and I have collected from dumpsters, curbs, and thrift stores over the years. Little jars gathered in the same way were all filled up with wildflowers that Luke and I picked early in the morning down the road from our house. Old glass yogurt containers had votive candles burning, the wine was decanted that morning, more candles burned around the house, lamplight filling the rooms, soft music (Louis Armstrong) tinkled in (And I think to myself, What a Wonderful World) on a small speaker in the kitchen. Mismatched glasses and napkins lined the table set with our white dishes and to top it all off, the windows were cracked to let in the most delicious winter breeze.
I’ve craved gatherings like these over the last few covid-ruled years. Big family style dinners where the food is so dang good, but no one actually cares if it’s fancy or just chili with cornbread because they’re just happy to be there. The fear of gathering together has held me back from creating these special memories (current health crisis and all). We’re still being diligent and of course we still wear masks when out and are vaccinated and and and…but I also know that before I know it my kids are going to be grown or too cool to hang around us and they’ll have missed out on gatherings with loved ones and community and how much longer is this going to last anyway (I fear the answer may be forever)? But anywho – I’m not actually here to talk about the virus. I’m here to talk about the warm feelings that gathering around a table brought. And of course the FOOD! Ahh what I wouldn’t give to be able conjure up for the smells filling the house on Sunday night. Of braised beef cooked for hours in the oven, of herbs I picked fresh from my own little garden, of brownies iced while still warm, of farmer’s market carrots roasted until sweet and topped with carrot top pesto.
Really though, instead of making you all hungry, I just wanted to share the menu in case it might give you some inspiration for your own gathering. And also for myself so I can refer back to it when I wonder to myself…what did I make for that winter dinner party with our people? And how did I make that perfect big batch of polenta in the crock pot? So here it is. Just click on the text to go to the recipe I used. And of course I took no actual pictures of the food because who has time for photos once the friends arrive and the wine is poured?
Big batch Parmesan Polenta in a slow cooker makes 10-12 servings
9 cups liquid (I used about 4 cups vegetable broth and the rest water) plus another 1 cup or so to add at the end if needed 3 cups fine or coarse ground corn meal 1 cup parmesan
Set slow cooker to low and pour in liquid. Add corn meal and stir. Cook for 3-4 hours, stirring every hour until thick. Just before serving, pour in parmesan and stir together. You may want to add a bit more liquid at the end too depending on how thick it looks. This is for soft polenta. Turn to warm and your polenta will stay nice and soft until serving.
To serve the ragu, I used a large white serving platter and poured polenta and spread to about 1 inch thick or so. Top with ragu, and send everything around the table family style if you’re feeling extra warm and fuzzy.
Pizza night begins on Thursday night for me. After the boys are in bed, the house is cleaned up, the dishes are being whirred clean in the dishwasher, the laundry is tumbling, but generally just before I step into the shower, a little reminder goes off on my phone. *MAKE PIZZA DOUGH*. Yelling at me really. Telling me not to forget or else I’ll have to make an unwanted Friday stop at the grocery store for dough and 20 other things not on my list (though I wouldn’t mind some fresh flowers and a few bottles of Topo Chico). I’m always happy to do it after I get over the initial shock that I almost forgot again. I first trudge to the kitchen, and (most important step) I turn the lamp on that sits on the counter for extra coziness. I may pour myself just a splash more wine and then out of the pantry I pull the flour, the olive oil, the salt, the yeast from the fridge and a mason jar from the shelf to measure out my warm water. It’s a ritual that tells me – the weekend is almost here! All you have to do is just lean forward and momentum will take you right up to that moment you walk through your home’s front door on Friday night. On pizza night! The best family tradition that rolls around every single week with the predictability of clockwork. Wanted to get our favorite recipe down here because I’ve tried so many in the decade that we’ve done Pizza Friday (even before we had kids!) and this one truly is the best. It freezes well if you want to make it in bulk, it comes together in 10 minutes, you can make it the day of, or (if you’re a working mom like me) you can make it the night before and it goes into the fridge for an overnight rise. It tastes even better for the extended rise.
Pizza Dough
2 teaspoons/5 grams dry active yeast 1 3/4 cups/ 420 ml lukewarm water 4 ½ cups/625 grams all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting 2 teaspoons/5 grams kosher salt 2 tablespoons/30 milliliters olive oil
Put the warm lukewarm water in a mixing bowl (use a stand mixer or food processor if you prefer – I always use my kitchenaid mixer). Sprinkle yeast over water and let dissolve, about 2 minutes.
Add flour, salt and olive oil and mix well until flour is incorporated and dough forms, about 5 minutes. It may look a little rough or pockmarked.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Turn dough out onto surface and knead lightly until it looks smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Coat a bowl in oil and place your dough in the bowl and let rise in the refrigerator overnight. You can skip this rise in the refrigerator and use the dough right away, but this cool, slow rise makes it easier to stretch and gives the pizza a crisper texture and more nuanced flavor.) You can also freeze it for future use.
To make your pizza: preheat oven to 475. Get bowl out of fridge (I usually let it sit out for a couple hours first to make it easier to stretch) and pour out onto on a lightly floured surface. Split dough into either two pieces for large pizzas or into four for small. Form each piece into a smooth, firm ball. Flour lightly, cover loosely with plastic wrap and top with a kitchen towel. Leave to rest for about 15-30 minutes. Now is a good time to get your toppings ready, make your sauce.
Now, to bake pizzas stretch into your desired size. If you like thick pizza – make it thick. If you like thin – make it thin! You can do this with your hands or a rolling pin. We use cookie sheets to cook ours but you could anything. You can use either olive oil or fine cornmeal on your pan to ensure that it doesn’t stick. We like a crispier crust so we pre bake the pizza at 475 for about ten minutes before putting any of our toppings on. If you like a softer pizza – just add your toppings before you put it in. Baking time will depend on the thickness of your pizza, so it can vary from 10-20 minutes. Just keep watch the first few times you make it and make a note. We also like to broil for a couple minutes at the end for yummy cheese.
I’ll make another post soon with our pizza sauce recipe and topping ideas! Enjoy!
The Metroka Family 