Today is the last day of the grocery sales, so I bought what I needed, and took advantage of the Maxwell House coffee sale.

Here is my menu plan for the following week:

Tuesday: Chicken/ Green Bean/ Potato Bake, salad
Wednesday: Calzones, salad
Thursday: Chicken Ramen salad
Friday: Take Out for Maggie's Birthday
Saturday: Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries, salad
Sunday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches, fresh carrots
Monday: Red Beans and Rice, Cornbread, salad
Tuesday: Tacos, black beans
Wednesday: Brats, Sweet Potato Fries, salad
Thursday: Grilled Cheese, Minestrone Soup
Friday: Pizza
Saturday:  leftovers

The new sales are out tomorrow, but I don't really need anything until next weekend.  Hopefully there'll be some great items on sale so I can stock up.

"Red Beans and Ricely Yours" - Louis Armstrong

We usually have Red Beans and Rice on Monday in order to carry on the tradition of the 19th century New Orleans housewives who started it all.  Well, that and because I love Red Beans and Rice.  From what I know, they put a big pot of beans over the fire to cook while they did laundry.  In those days, they had to do laundry by hand and of course it took all day. Thank God for modern conveniences, huh?  I don't think I would have survived long in the 19th century because I usually have one or two loads of laundry to do every day.

There are very many different versions of Red Beans and Rice out there.  Here's mine:

I like to use andouille sausage because it's a little bit spicy, but the store here hardly ever carries it.  Polska is second best.

Some like it sliced into medallions, some like it chopped small.  I like it this way:

Would it be called medallion halves?

Cook the sausage in a little oil over med-high heat. It tastes best when it's almost charred.

Take out the cooked sausage and place on a paper towel to absorb the fat.  Leave some fat in the pan to cook the vegetables- also known as The Trinity (bell peppers, celery and onion), plus carrots for color.

At this point, I like to grind in some black peppercorns for flavor

After that gets all tender-good, transfer to a dutch oven and add water (or broth), and about 1 lb of cooked red beans....

..and some cajun spice mix and season to your tastes.  My cajun spice mix is homemade.  It has garlic, onion, thyme, oregano, paprika, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper.  I like making all my own spice blends.  I've wanted Blake to make labels for me forever because he's got the best penmanship.  He hasn't been able to, so I just made them myself.

Let it simmer a half hour or so for the flavors to meld and the delicious aroma to fill up the whole house.  Meanwhile, make some rice to serve with it.  I have always used Uncle Ben's long grain white rice.  It's just the best!  I like to make twice as much so we can have rice pudding later in the week for breakfast.

This dish is so filling, there's no need for a side of vegetables or a salad although I've been known to be feeling a little extra starchy and making cornbread muffins to serve alongside.

 

Chicken Fajitas and Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan

One or more of my ancestors must be of Spanish descent because I absolutely love chilies, jalapenos, cilantro, cumin...and all that good stuff.  I can't get enough of it!  Here's how I made chicken fajitas:

Yesterday, I started marinating the chicken.  I mixed lime juice, olive oil, cumin, garlic, chili powder, chopped fresh cilantro, salt, pepper and a half of a jalapeno in a bowl and marinated the chicken breasts overnight.

About an hour before I was ready to cook, I took out the chicken to bring it to room temp and sliced it against the grain.  I cooked in in a splash of oil in batches.

While the chicken was cooking, I sliced up an onion, the other half of the jalapeno and bell peppers.

It was just us three, so we only needed half of the chicken.  I wanted to cook it all so I would have a second dinner ready on the fly.  You know the saying, "Cook once - eat twice".

I love these Pyrex containers almost as much as I love Rubbermaid.  I use Crayola Dry Erase crayons to write on the lid.  It's much easier than guessing what's inside and having to serve 'Mystery Meat'.

It washes right off.  I always like to put the date on as well.

Anyhoo, after the chicken is seared (it only takes about 5 minutes on med-high heat), it's time for the peppers and onions.  Maggie doesn't really care for tomatoes, and I don't like them much either so I leave them out but you could quarter some up and put them in after the peppers cook down a bit.

I actually like my fajita veggies almost burnt, but this isn't all just for me so I had to make them 'normal'.

While the veggies were cooking, I drizzled olive oil and freshly ground pepper over fresh asparagus spears and put them in the oven.  After they roasted a bit, I sprinkled them with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  A very wise person once said, "You can never have enough cheese", and I live by that quote.

I like to do a buffet-style set up because my dining table is very small...too small to put all the food on it AND eat comfortably.  

I served it all with my homemade cilantro-lime sour cream, shredded spinach and of course- lots of shredded sharp cheddar because, well, "You can never have enough cheese".

This is kind of difficult to photograph me making dinners every night.  It's also time consuming.  Maybe I'll resort to videotaping them instead.  What do you think?  Please let me know in the comments.