What's for Dinner?

Shana- aka Conn Hens - posted asking for ideas and recipes of what people were making this week for dinner -

I don't have an entire week but I did actually make a few good things this week. The recipes will follow.

Sunday - Honey Ribs (cooked in the crock pot)
White Rice
Steamed Broccoli

Monday - a baseball day so we had left over ribs, rice, and broccoli but also added a can of corn

Tuesday - Tostadas with refried beans, meat and all the fixins
Leftover Canned corn -I get the giant ones
Canned pears

Wednesday - Cream of Cauliflower soup (the recipe came from my friend from Spain and it's delightful) Open face broiled sandwiches, fresh strawberries and mini bananas.

Thursday - another baseball night - so more leftovers. We used the leftover tostada fixins to make Nachos Grande, finished the ribs and had steamed corn on the cob.

Friday - ?? usually Digiorno's Pizza or anything I can make to go with Chili's Chips and Salsa, like grilled chicken and homemade potato salad or brats and hot dogs and baked beans - any hang out in the backyard kinda food.

Here are the recipes:

Honey Ribs and Rice

2 pounds boneless ribs

1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed beef consomme - Whatever that is -and 1/2 cup water, I use 1 cup water with 1 beef bouillon cube

2 TBSP maple syrup

2 TBSP honey

3 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP barbecue sauce

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 1/2 cups quick cooking rice - I always just make my rice on the side with a rice cooker

Combine ingredients (except rice) in Crock Pot, stir to mix. Add ribs. Cover and cook on Low 8-10 hours or High for 4-5.

It says you can remove ribs and cook the rice in the left over juice if you use the quick cook rice. I just do my rice separate and let people pour the sauce over the rice and ribs if they like.

Shred and serve on or with rice.

Tostadas

We just use the Mission brand tostadas which is a round corn chip circle - like a flat hard taco. We season our refried beans with taco seasoning and season our meat with taco seasoning too. We then just build a taco on top - beans then meat, followed by cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sauce, sour cream etc... We like them because no one cries that their taco's cracked or broke or everything fell out. And I'm all about a taco with a crunch.

The sandwiches we made were also inspired by my friend from Spain. They are very Mediterranean.

Open faced Bikini Sandwiches

I buy bakery bread - sometimes Italian, sometimes whole grain rounds but this time it was Portuguese Saloio which was delectable. I think it has been my favorite.

We slice the bread and lightly butter it. Bake in the oven for just a few moments to toast just slightly. Take out of the oven and then top with cheese followed by thinly sliced ham or this time we used turkey and ground pepper. Then top meat with thinly sliced tomatoes - lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and top with ground sea salt. Broil on Low til cheese is melty. I don't like my tomatoes too mushy cooked so I only broil 5 or so minutes. I watch the whole time. YUMMY!! Everyone in the family loves it and I think they are pretty healthy.

This next recipe was great as well but I couldn't find saffron at the grocery store the day I was making this so this is what I did .... we love saffron rice. We buy it by the package so I opened one of these packages extracted just the seasoning and poured it into the broth. It worked I guess because the soup was wonderful. Now I'll have to visit a specialty spice place to buy saffron for the next time.

I also froze 1/2 the puree without the half and half cuz this recipe makes alot. Now we'll have another dinner we just have to reheat and add cream. All but one in the family loved this! And pureed soup TOTALLY reminds me of being in Spain.

CREAM OF CAULIFLOWER SOUP WITH SAFFRON

Ingredients:

4 C water

4 C low-salt chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon coarsely crumbled saffron threads.

6 Tablespoons butter

4 C chopped onions

3 pounds cauliflower, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces

1 1/2 C half and half

Thinly sliced fresh chives

Preparation:

Combine 4 C water and 4C low salt chicken broth in medium saucepan. Bring mixture just to simmer. Remove from heat. Add saffron threads. Cover and steep 20 min.

Melt 6 T butter and sauté onions until very tender but not brown, about 10 min. Add cauliflower pieces and stir to coat. Add saffron broth. Bring to simmer over high heat. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until cauliflower pieces are tender, about 20 min.

Working in batches, puree cauliflower mixture in food processor until smooth. Transfer cauliflower puree to large saucepan. Stir in half and half and bring to simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with sliced fresh chives and a few cauliflower florets that we should have kept, which we can boil to al dente and saute with some butter, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This soup can be made 1 day ahead.

Hope this inspires a few of you and if you decide to try any of these recipes - let me know how they turned out and what you thought of them. If you have any questions - just give me a call.