Ruby, She Wrote

Meals for April 2-6

Ruby — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:30:07 +0000

So my weekend looked like this:

Yeah. I don’t like teething. I don’t even want to talk about it.

So, let’s talk about this week. This week is my husband’s birthday! I’ll be frying up some chicken and mixing up a pan of mac n cheese in his honor.

This man is the best damn thing that has happened to me. Everyday, he gives me the best life. I didn’t even know that I could be this happy. Seriously. He puts up with my crap and treats me like a princess. I am so lucky. That is why he gets fried chicken and texas sheet cake.

Our Menu:

Monday: Alton Brown’s Fried Chicken, Andrew’s Macaroni & Cheese, Salad (and Joy the Baker’s Texas Sheet Cake)

Tuesday: The Pioneer Woman’s Chili

Wednesday: Grilled Pork Chops with Salad

Thursday: Man Pleasing Chicken Thighs with Salad

Friday: Spicy Citrus Wings with Cilantro Scallion Dipping Sauce

A few notes, if you are looking for a mac-n-cheese recipe: MAKE THIS ONE. It is the best damn recipe ever. EVER.

If you make this fried chicken recipe, I highly suggest you find the “Good Eats” episode Fry Hard II on youtube. Alton does a great job of explaining how to do this recipe properly. I follow his instructions to the tee every time and every time, I have good chicken.

I hope you all have a delicious week!

Meals for 3/26-30

Ruby — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:40:59 +0000

This post is quick and dirty. Just the facts, m’am.

I am super exhausted from the past week, which included 2 visitors, a date night and lots of sugar, bacon and alcohol. Not that I am complaining.

The point is that I have very little energy for today and I am saving it for monster baby and for getting my ass out for some walks or a run (pfft, let’s be honest, a walk.)

So, here is our menu for the week. I promise, next week, I’ll be more fun. I will say this, make the roast chicken recipe below. It will change your life.

Our Menu:

Monday: Pasta Fagioli

Tuesday: Thomas Keller’s Favorite Roast Chicken with Parmesan Green Beans

Wednesday: Baked Pork Chops with Salad

Thursday: Rotisserie Chicken with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Friday: TBD

Meals for 3/18-23

Ruby — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:27:34 +0000

You guys, my kid is trying to stand. I can’t handle it. This is too much, too soon. I am still getting over the crawling every which way and opening drawers and smiling and laughing to himself. I feel like he just got here.

Well, he will turn seven months on Friday. I just can’t believe it. The truest things anybody told me about motherhood is this: “the days are long, but the years are short.” So. Freaking. True.

This week, we have a visit from Uncle Ryan on the calendar, which means: FREE BABYSITTING! So, we have a little date night planned! We are also going to have hamburgers, fries and ice cream at a favorite seasonal spot, Boehringer’s!

Our Menu:

Sunday: Grilled Hamburgers with Sweet Potato Fries (and Sriracha dipping Sauce!)

Monday: Spinach-Tomato Orzo Soup

Tuesday: Mexi-Chicken Campenelle Dinner

Wednesday: Grilled Pork Chops with Roasted Veggies

Thursday: Boehringer’s

Friday: Date Night at Emily’s Pub

Hope you have a great week!

Meals for 3/12-16

Ruby — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:12:44 +0000

Oops. I think I might have overdone it last week. I mean, everything was delicious but I am too poooped to pop this week! We had a wonderful weekend with my friend from grade school and her fiancé. Monster baby was a doll and managed to convince our guests that he is the most mazing baby ever. Little do they know…ha!

This culinary exhaustion combined with the fact that it is going to be flat out gorgeous this week, means my meal plan is going to be basic: grill, baby, grill!

This is going to be a boring week for you but a delicious week for me! However, we are going to be having beef bourguignon on monday since we didn’t have it on Friday. Other than that, we’re grilling every meal!

Our Menu:

Monday: Beef Bourguignon with Crispy Potatoes

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Legs with Roasted Parmesan Green Beans

Wednesday: Grilled Steaks with Grilled Asparagus

Thursday: Grilled BBQ Rubbed Pork Chops with Salad

Friday: TBD

We hope you have a great week! We’re certainly looking forward to the warm weather and sun shine!

Meals for 3/5-9

Ruby — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 07:30:28 +0000

I usually write this post on Saturday evening after I have dutifully written out the meal plan and grocery list.

But, it didn’t happen. For few reasons, one of which is that this past week sucked a whole bunch. I was in this weird funk and so over all of it. Part of the reason was that I started comparing myself to all these other amazing moms I know and feeling as if I was just not doing all I could to be prepared or whatever.

I don’t know what got into me, but I was just all sorts of yucky. Thankfully, that passed and I realized that no matter what, I am doing my best, I am there. I love my kid. He is healthy and boy, oh boy, is he happy.

The other thing that happened is that my kid really took off. He is certifiably crawling and in to EVERYTHING. I was so anxious that he would get into something or hurt himself. I am also feeling much better about that now that we installed a new entertainment center (which keeps the cords away from monster baby) and a gate at the top of our stairs.

So, things here are good. We’re busy preparing for house guests and upcoming travels! This weekend my good friend that I have known since third grade is coming with her fiancé to meet the monster. It’s going to be a quick trip but there is going to be cake! I like cake.

Our Menu:

Monday: Spinach-Tomato Pasta Shells

Tuesday: Crocpot Honey Roast Pork with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday: Chicken Fajita Soup

Thursday: Pasta Fagioli

Friday: Beef Bourguignon with Crispy Potatoes

Here’s to a better week and hopefully some spring weather!

Meals for 2/27-3/2

Ruby — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:00:04 +0000

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

Last weeks meals went REALLY well. The spinach orzo soup was fantastic & surprisingly filling. I would add even more spinach than the recipe calls for since I love spinach & have a more is always better philosophy when is comes to super foods!

The chicken wings were amazing. The dipping sauce was a huge bonus. I would save the extra and make some oven roasted sweet potato fries to dip in it! It was a pretty easy recipe and didn’t take too long, which is always a good thing on busy nights. I will just say that I, personally, hate butchering chicken pieces. I just have a huge sensitivity to having raw chicken in my kitchen.

The steak house pasta and poached egg dishes were also big hits. My husband couldn’t believe that both recipes were from Cooking Light! So, I claim success.

This upcoming week we’re going to go with spicy. The weather is going to be somewhat unseasonably warm and we might get a storm on Wednesday. I always look at what the weather is doing when I plan meals. This is especially true in the summer when we mostly grill our meals, but in the winter, I try to plan comfort foods on snowy, grey days. My husband is a HUGE fan of any and all soups, so we do loads of that when it is cold & nasty out.

Our Menu:

Monday: Pasta and Beans

Tuesday: Healthy General Tso’s Chicken with Brown Rice

Wednesday: Cilantro Lime Tilapia Tacos

Thursday: Corn Chowder with Roasted Corn Guacamole

Friday: Pasta with Black Beans, Kale and Chicken Sausage

Have you tried any recipes lately that you LOVE? Do tell! I am always looking for ideas!

Monsterbaby at 6 months!

Ruby — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:30:07 +0000

If you follow me on twitter, you know all about my little, er HUGE, monster baby. Zachary Francis was born August 23, 2011 (the day of the east coast earthquake). He was 9 lbs 14 oz at birth. He is now 22 lbs. Yes, 22 lbs.

I seriously love this kid. I know all mothers love their babies, but I do sometimes think because of all the horrible things we went through to have him, maybe I do love him a little extra. He is such a pleasant baby. He sleeps 10-12 hours at night, he naps like a champ, he is not a huge crier. I know, right now, other moms want to punch me in the face. I understand. I’ll stop bragging.

He loves his puppy, Colby. He loves rolling around on the ground. He currently is doing this weird soldier crawl which seems as if he has no legs. He can get up on all fours but hasn’t quite figured out the mechanics of moving his legs.

Happy 6 months, dude. I can’t wait for all the trouble we’re about to get into & the adventures we’re going to have!

Weekly Meals for 2/19-25

Ruby — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:30:54 +0000

This week is going to be fun! On Monday, Monsterbaby gets his 6 month shots and check up. Tuesday is Fat Tuesday and the week is pretty much down hill from there.

Since having Monsterbaby, I have made early Sunday morning my grocery shopping time. My husband stays hime with the monster and I get to shop quickly and alone. It is lovely. My favorite part is that my nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away, so I get to listen to NPR’s Weekend Edition on the way. It’s the little things, people!

Saturday evenings are when I plan my meals and make my lists. We shop once a month at Costco for meat and bulk canned goods, so my grocery trips are usually just for fresh produce, dairy or miscellaneous things I need depending on the recipes I am using that week.

I try, for the most part to keep Monday’s meals completely meatless. We’re not huge health nuts but I do agree with Sir Paul McCartney on trying to help lessen our impact on the earth. This week, our Wednesday meal is also meatless since my mother-in-law observes Ash Wednesday. (More on her and eating with us in another post.)

So, without further adieu, here is our meal plan for the week:

Monday: Poached Eggs with Spinach & Walnuts

Tuesday: Steak House Side Mac n Cheese

Wednesday: Spinach Tomato Orzo Soup

Thursday: Spicy Chicken Wings with Cilantro Scallion Dip (and side salad)

Friday: Chili

Homemade Orange Cranberry Sauce, yo.

Ruby — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:13:52 +0000

So, this Thursday…yeah, exactly. It’s sorta my Christmas. The reason is mainly because our Christmas is smaller and less chaotic. The scale of our Thanksgiving is always bigger, better and baller. I am not joking. We take it very seriously over here at Casa de Romanik. I do all the shopping a week before. We order our turkey from a local farm. We. Have. A. Thanksgiving. Recipe. Folder. And if you know me in real life, you know that I am NEVER EVER EVAAAAAAAAH that organized.

So, the shopping is finally done and now, it’s time to cook. I somewhat intend to reveal our complete menu with recipes. But, as you can imagine, things here can get a little cray-zay. So, grin, bear it and we’ll see if I can manage to share the whole meal with recipes. Cross those fingers.

Now, confession time: I am not the hugest cranberry sauce fan. I know that some people (cough, cough RON) feel that cranberry sauce is practically the cornerstone that holds the Thanksgiving meal together. I, however, could care less. For me, it’s all about the gravy, baby. More on that part later. But for now, the cranberry sauce.

I am not going to dip my toe into the canned jelly version versus the homemade version. I will say that when my Aunt Sara comes from North Carolina, we have the canned on hand since that is her preference. At the end of the day, I don’t really care. The whole point is, homemade is not hard to make…at all. The best part is that you can make it WAY before you even start cleaning your house. Side note: my house is clean.

All you need: sugar, fresh squeezed orange juice and whole cranberries. Observe:

I use 2 packages of fresh cranberries, 1 cup sugar and 6 whole oranges. I put it on in a pot on low. I stir, I wait until the cranberries all pop and/or explode. Then when it’s sorta red-ish looking and cooked down, I pour the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until dinner time on Thursday. Observe:

There you have it! Tomorrow is baking day! Get excited, people!

Oh, No! Risotto!

Ruby — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:30:48 +0000

I know. You are freaked out. Risotto can be really intimidating. In fact, I have made this recipe 4 or 5 times now and even I some times hit a wall during cooking where I think, “What the hell have I gotten myself into?” But you know what? This. Is. So. Worth. It. YUM.

You can find the amazing recipe here: RISOTTO IS AWESOME!

Some fun risotto tips:

1. Stir, Baby, STIR! and just when you start to get tired, STIR SOME MORE.

2. Have some one help you. Ron chops the mushrooms and sautes them for me.

3. Drink the wine after you add the amount to the pan. It makes everything more enjoyable.