Menu of the Week

Happy Friday everyone! I'm excited to be sharing our weekly menu with you. I feel like a few disclaimers are in order before we get started:

:: The menus I post are what we hope to be eating this week. It is what I grocery shop for and try my best to plan for. That being said, there are often weeks when I can't make it happen. For example, last week before our kitchen was really up and running we ended up eating frozen Costco lasagna, frozen Costco pizza, frozen PF Changs, frozen you get the idea.

:: I try to make one vegetarian meal per week. My arsenal of vegetarian meals is growing all of the time, but when I first started doing this, it was a stretch. Sometimes we eat vegetarian more than once a week, especially if we have run our to meat.

:: Speaking of meat, all of the beef that we eat (unless otherwise noted) is from my dad's feedlot. He gives it to us for free and we are incredibly grateful because it frees up a huge amount of money for our food budget. The beef is not grass fed, free-range, organic, or antibiotic free but it is delicious. And as far as being close to the source of our food, I can't think of anything closer.

:: Speaking of organic, we tend not to buy organic food, but we do try to buy fresh, quality, in-season produce.

:: Okay! Is that enough disclaimers? On to the menu!

BLT's (no explanation needed)

Spinach Pie (recipe below) and roasted beets + goat cheese

Pioneer Woman's tomato cream pasta and roasted broccoli (Fast and delicious. I've made it with shrimp, chicken, or no meat at all and loved it every time. I consider this to be one of those pantry meals. That is of course, if you consider cream a fridge staple, which you should.)

Chicken and rice with broccoli and scallions (one pot meals, at least one night a week, always seem like such a relief.)

Homemade Pizza (toppings: pesto, bacon, tomatoes, red onions or scallions)

Dessert: Sweet & Salty Cake (aka: The Epic Cake—more about this later)


Spinach Pie
(Courtesy of Rachel)

Crust
1 cup cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix well. (I pulse in food processor) Pat into a greased 9 inch pie
plate and set aside.

Filling
1 frozen 10 oz package chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup half and half (I just use all milk)
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 C. Feta (optional)

Cook spinach, drain well, combine other ingredients

Pour filling into crust. You may want to put the pie plate on a
cookie sheet to make moving easier, and it catches drips. Bake at 400
for about 45 minutes.

Image 1 & 2 via Martha Stewart, Image 3 Miranda Walker