Please note: The giveaway in this post is now closed. Recipe is below!

Well, that 10 years sure went by quickly.

Today is This Week for Dinner’s 10th birthday! Happy Birthday, Blog! I seriously can’t believe it. If we’re going by birth order, the blog is technically my second child. 😉 I didn’t start a blog to start a blog, I just wanted to share my weekly menu with my brother if I happened to plan one. That’s it. And then it grew. And then I made a logo. And then I promised my friends my secret hot fudge recipe if they told their friends about the blog (and, yes, the recipe is still a secret). And, just like that, 10 years have passed, with over 520 weekly menu posts, oodles of recipes and so much other crazy stuff that has happened because of the blog it blows my mind. I feel incredibly grateful for the gift this blog has been in my life and look forward to many more blog birthdays. And of course I am eternally grateful to all of you who keep it going, with your comments and your weekly menus and your simply being here to read my words and make my recipes. Thank you!

To celebrate I have food. And a KitchenAid giveaway. Are you ready? Here we go!

Normally for the blog’s birthday I share some sort of chocolate. But today we’re going with my second favorite food group…French fries. Well, actually, French chips. Or should that be chip fries? Or French fry chips? Whatever you decide to call them (I’m going with French chips), these are your new favorite homemade French fries. They are basically French fries shaped like chips, although much thicker chips, which is why they are not really chips at all. Unless you’re in England. Then, yes, they are chips. Anyone confused yet?

Nate and I recently took the kids to Liberty Public Market by the San Diego harbor for lunch (which, by the way, is our new favorite place to eat. It’s awesome.) One of the food vendors, Mastiff Sausage Company, serves French fries that are shaped like discs and they are amazing. (Click here to see a picture!) No, really, why doesn’t everyone make French fries in this shape? The disc gives you the perfect proportion of potato to crispiness. It’s genius. If you’ve been around the blog for a while you know that when I get obsessed with a food from a restaurant, I generally have to figure out my own version. Enter today’s recipe for French chips. Which, coincidentally, leads into today’s giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU! To celebrate the blog’s 10th birthday, KitchenAid is generously giving one of you lucky commenters their brand new KitchenAid® Artisan® Mini 3.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer in Honeydew (to match This Week for Dinner’s colors! So cute!) along with the Food Processor with Commercial Style Dicing Kit attachment, which will work on standard-sized stand mixers as well.* Where do I even begin? First, have you seen the new mini stand mixers? THEY ARE SO CUTE I CAN’T STAND IT. Also, this food processor is my first stand mixer attachment and, well, I’m a believer. Slicing my potatoes for the French chips was crazy fast and easy. I was ready to make 10 pounds of fries. The retail value of today’s giveaway is $649.98, so, um, yes you need to enter! (And a huge thank you to KitchenAid!)

Here’s how to enter the giveaway!

• Simply comment on this post to enter! That’s it!

Of course we have bonus entries! You must leave a separate comment for each bonus entry that applies to you:

• Bonus entry: Like This Week for Dinner on Facebook
• Bonus entry: Follow This Week for Dinner on Pinterest
• Bonus entry: Join the This Week for Dinner email list
• Bonus entry: Like KitchenAid on Facebook
• Bonus entry: Follow KitchenAid on Pinterest

Please note: Winner must be a resident of the United States. All comments must be posted by Midnight PT on Tuesday, February 28, 2017.

The giveaway winner was comment #174, Christie! Her bonus entry for following This Week for Dinner on Pinterest got her the win, but here’s her original comment: “10 years! I know I’ve read since near the beginning, so that is just crazy. Congrats!”

Let’s get to those French chips, shall we? They are crispy on the outside, perfect on the inside, not quite a fry and not quite a chip. Also, mine are not shaped like discs because my potato was too big for the food processor’s feed tube, but I like my triangle-shaped French chips. They’re cute! In addition to the French chips, I also have a recipe for a seasoned salt to go on top. It’s a little salty, a little smoky, a little sweet…and a lot delicious. Enjoy!

And Happy 10th Birthday, This Week for Dinner!

French Chips

 

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French fries shaped like chips are the best French fries ever. You're welcome. (Thanks to Mastiff Sausage Company in San Diego for the inspiration!)

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• Russet Potatoes (1 large potato per 2 servings)
• Canola or Vegetable Oil

Instructions

1. Place a cooling rack over a cookie sheet lined with paper towels and set aside.
2. Slice the potato into thick discs. Alternatively, use the KitchenAid food processor attachment with the slicing disc. You want medium-thick discs. If you are using the food processor attachment and your potato is too wide for the feed tube, cut the potato into quarters lengthwise - your final fry shape will be a triangle instead of a disc, but it still works beautifully. The thickness on the food processor should be set around the center point for thickness.
3. Soak sliced potatoes in water for 30 minutes up to overnight (put the bowl in the fridge if you're going for a long soak). Remove potatoes from the water and pat dry with a towel or paper towel.
4. In a heavy-bottomed medium-large pot, heat 1-2 inches of oil. (For 1 potato I did 1 inch of oil.) Monitor the temperature of the oil with an instant read thermometer and bring the oil to 325º F. (On my stove the knob was around 6 on a scale of 1-10). It's okay if the temperature goes a little over 325º as the temperature will drop when you add the potatoes.
5. Carefully add about ½ potato's worth of the fries/chips to the heated oil. Keep an eye on the temperature, adjusting the heat on the stove if necessary. Cook the fries for 4-6 minutes, until they just barely start to brown. I stir them fairly regularly while they cook.
6. With a large slotted spoon, remove fries from the oil and place on the prepared cookie sheet with the cooling rack. Cook the next batch of raw potatoes, repeating the process above.
7. Once all the potatoes have been fried once, raise the burner's heat to bring the oil to 350º F (about an 8 on a scale of 1-10 on my stove). Cook the fries in batches once again, this time cooking the fries for 2-5 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown color. Remove from the oil and drain on the prepared cookie sheet with cooling rack.
8. While the fries are still hot, pat gently with a paper towel, sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt (see recipe below), flip and repeat.
9. These fries are obviously best served hot, but they are still really good even after they've cooled. Enjoy!

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French Chips Seasoned Salt

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Mix everything together! All done!

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*All colors are subject to availability. The prizes include:

1. Artisan® Mini Stand Mixer in Honeydew (KSM3311XHW)

1. Food Processor with Commercial Style Dicing Kit (KSM2FPA)

Hello again! We’re almost at the end of the first month of 2017 and I am consistently sticking with our dinner meal plan each week. And I am sooooo much happier these days. It’s just better to cook at home for so many reasons and I’m grateful I’m back in the groove! Okay, so let’s get onto the next menu!

MONDAY:
– Indian Tacos with Easy Tandoori Chicken and Raita

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Marsala
– Salad

WEDNESDAY:
– Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Breakfast for Dinner: Roasted Vege
table Scrambles + Smoothies

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Super Bowl: Nachos, 7-Layer Dip, Chips and the like! I think I’ll throw a salad in there, too. 😉
– Sweet Chex Mix

Click here or on the image above for a free printable PDF with the meal plan and ingredients list for this week!

Your turn! Tell us what you’ve got cookin’ this week! Thank you! (Oh, and GO PATRIOTS!)

This recipe for Indian Tacos is pretty much a simplified version of my beloved Indian Burritos recipe. I seriously love those burritos, but the tacos involve a few less ingredients, which is welcome on a busy weeknight.

I can’t tell you how much I love these tacos. The tender tandoori chicken (don’t worry, I have a shortcut way to make it that does not involve a tandoor oven) topped with delicious Indian raita sauce and just a few simple vegetables is so tasty. It’s been a while since I’ve made these and really there is no good reason for that!

Click here to get the recipe for Masala Salsa, which, in addition to raita, is a great topping for these tacos!

Indian Tacos with Tandoori Chicken

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• ¾ cup plain yogurt (for a great non-dairy option, use cashew yogurt)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 12 flour tortillas (smallest size you can find)
• 1 cup shredded red cabbage
• Raita sauce (recipe below)
• Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Instructions

1. The night before: mix together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, ginger, coriander, salt, cayenne pepper, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper. Stab the 2 chicken breasts with a fork on all sides, then place in yogurt mixture. Let marinate overnight.
2. The next day: Preheat oven to 450º F. Cook chicken in oven for ~20 minutes, or until juices run clear and internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 F.
3. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.
4. Sautee onion and pepper in a large frying pan over medium heat in canola oil, until veggies are softened.
5. Top tortillas with tandoori chicken, grilled onions and peppers, red cabbage, raita sauce, and cilantro.

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Raita

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Indian cucumber-yogurt sauce.

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 1 cup

Ingredients

• ½ cup cucumber, shredded
• 1 cup yogurt (for a great non-dairy option, use cashew yogurt)
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon green onion
• ¼ teaspoon lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• ⅛ teaspoon cumin
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Pinch cardamom

Instructions

1. Peel and seed cucumber, then shred.
2. Mix all ingredients together. Store in fridge and serve cold.

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Can’t believe it’s time for another menu…the weeks go by too quickly! This week we are going with cozy foods. I am absolutely loving that we are having weather in San Diego right now – the best!

MONDAY:
– Chicken Kai Pa Lo

TUESDAY:
– Tortilla Soup

WEDNESDAY:
– Pot Roast
– Mashed Potatoes and Salad

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Pat’s Asian Chicken Salad

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner night: Roasted Veggie Scramble & Smoothies

Click here or on the image above for a free printable PDF of this week’s menu and ingredients list!

I have been absolutely loving all of your menus every week – please keep it coming! And have a great week!

Happy Sunday! We’re cruising right through January and I am so happy that I am cooking so much more again. Seriously, it makes me so happy! Here’s to keeping it up as sports get going again…I have faith I can do it! (Thinking positively makes it so, right?) Here’s this week’s menu…

MONDAY:
– Dinner salad topped with grilled salmon

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Stry Fry

WEDNESDAY:
– I’m going to Disneyland with friends (no kids!), Nate is going to take the kids out to a local restaurant that is doing a fundraiser for Owen’s school 🙂

THURSDAY:
– Baked Ziti (I’m going to cut the meet and try adding fresh mozzarella to the mix)
– Salad

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Sausage, Pepper & Onion Hoagies

SUNDAY:
– Chili

Click here or on the image above for a free printable PDF of this week’s dinner meal plan and ingredients list.

Last week was awesome – so many great menus, and they were a GREAT help as I planned this week’s menu! Thank you! As usual, please share your own meal plans in the comments below!

Hello, friends! The podcast is back! I know I said that two months ago, but this time it’s for real! (And I actually had a good reason two months ago for why things got a bit derailed…listen to this episode to find out what it was…how’s that for a teaser?) I am really excited about today’s interview guest Courtney Carver. Courtney writes and speaks about how to simplify life and work and is known for Project 333, a minimalist fashion challenge. She also appears in the new documentary Minimalism discussing Project 333, which you can stream on Netflix. Courtney’s interview is perfect for this time of year when we are all reassessing our lives and making resolutions. And all of the links in the shownotes below are awesome. Basically, I’m just really pumped about Courtney’s interview, the documentary Minimalism, and all of the great resources below. It’s SUCH GOOD STUFF. Plus, Courtney shares a favorite recipe and a really actionable, awesome kitchen tip. So, you know, be sure to listen to this episode! 😉

Photo credit: Heidi Larsen, Foodie Crush

Shownotes:

• Courtney’s website Be More With Less
• Courtney’s Instagram Account
• The Story of Stuff (20-minute video about “stuff”, stream online)
• Minimalism (documentary, stream on Netflix)
• The True Cost (documentary, stream on Netflix)
• Whole30
• Essentialism (book)
• A Newsweek article about the environmental crisis of old clothes (not the exact article I mentioned in the episode but close enough!)
• Courtney’s Simple Kitchen Post
• Avocado Chimichurri Bruschetta
• Portobello Mushroom Burger with Avocado Chimichurri

It’s easy to listen to the show!

• Via the web: Just click play below!
• Via an app: For iPhone and iPad, subscribe to the This Week for Dinner Podcast on iTunes and listen to it through the purple Podcasts app. For Android devices, use the Stitcher, Podcast Addict or Pocket Casts apps. In all cases, launch the app, then search for This Week for Dinner Podcast. The benefit of using an app: once downloaded, you can listen to the show without an Internet connection.

Other Stuff!

• If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a rating and/or review on iTunes! It helps a lot!
• Big thank you to d&m for providing the music for the podcast!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Email | RSS

Like most parents, I come up short in lots of ways. But there is one thing I am committed to as a mom that I have yet to fail on: birthday cakes. (I probably should knock on wood after making such a bold statement!) I blame my own mother for this obsession, thanks to the truly memorable birthday cakes she made for me as a child. Each year I let the kids choose whatever they want for their cake and then I tackle it. So far I’ve had pretty good success and I love sharing the cakes with you so you can make them, too!

Anna had her birthday last month and requested a hamburger birthday cake. (This girl has a thing for cakes that look like savory foods, apparently.) It was her “family year,” which means no party, just a fun night with the fam. Rogue One came out on her birthday, so we went and saw the movie together. She could pick anywhere to go out to eat but decided to do takeout hamburgers and come home to eat in the living room while watching old Gilmore girls episodes. Naturally a hamburger birthday cake was in order!

Anna and I did some searching on Pinterest and found a lot of ugly hamburger cakes as well as a lot of cakes that were just too much work. But then one caught our eye on a blog called Gluesticks. The mom had used unfrosted chocolate and vanilla cakes to make the bun and hamburger patty. Genius!

Here is how I made the cake and a few notes for you if you decide to tackle this project yourself. (Click here for the Gluesticks instructions. She piped frosting for most of the decorating, but I hate washing frosting tips so took a little bit of a different approach.)

• Make 2 yellow cake rounds and 1 chocolate cake round, all the same size, for the bun and hamburger.
• For the lettuce: toss shredded coconut in the green liquid food coloring. Tip: I didn’t let the “lettuce” hang off the edges enough, wish I had concentrated more coconut to hang over the edges so you could see the lettuce better.
• For the mayonnaise: Use white buttercream frosting in between layers 1 and 2 and layers 2 and 3, frosting out to the edge so you can see the “mayo.”
• For the veggies and cheese: Either use marzipan or white rolled fondant. Separate and make a few different colors – red, green and yellow-orange. Roll the fondant/marzipan flat then cut into the shapes you need. I cut triangles freehand with a knife in the yellow fondant for the cheese. I used a medium-sized, smooth-edge round cookie cutter for the tomatoes. I used a small-sized, ripple-edged round cookie cutter for the pickles.
• For the seeds: Pipe white frosting on top for the seeds!
• I recommend using smaller round cake pans. I used my 9-inch cake pans and, well, it was SO MUCH CAKE. Plus I think the dome would have held better if the cake had been smaller. Bottom line: 9 inches was too big, 8 inches probably would have felt too big, too. However, those sizes will work for sure if that’s all you have or if you do in fact need a lot of cake. Otherwise, go with smaller cake pans!
• Make sure you grease and flower the pans REALLY WELL and use parchment paper on the bottom. My cake ended up sticking to the pan a little too much on the edges in some parts. Those parts did not look pretty and I had to hide them in the back.
• Do not use cake strips for this cake, at least for the yellow cake rounds. You want the yellow cake to dome so that the top resembles a hamburger bun. Two quick notes: First, you will still want to level one of the yellow layers and the chocolate layer since they will be stacked. Just the top yellow layer should have a dome. Second, my cakes did dome in the oven but for some reason settled down flat after cooling – I think it was the homemade cake recipe I used. I think boxed cake mix may work better in this instance. If your cake does go flat, I recommend putting more frosting between the 2nd and 3rd layers, concentrated in the middle to make the top layer “poof” up a bit more like a bun. (I didn’t do that and you can see that my bun looks flat.)

Click here for my cake decorating post with TONS of tips for making and decorating cute cakes. That post also includes the buttercream recipe I used.

Happy hamburger birthday cake making!

Happy 2nd Week of January! Last week went great with my menu and I am starting this year off right in the kitchen. I’m actually excited about cooking again, which makes me so happy! Here’s what’s cooking this week…

MONDAY:
– Barbecue Chicken Salad

TUESDAY:
– Cora’s Mexican Ground Beef Tacos

WEDNESDAY:
– Stuffed Shells

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Tuscan Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Pancakes, Eggs and Smoothies

Click here or on the image above for a free printable PDF of this week’s dinner meal plan and ingredients list.

You know the drill! This blog would be nearly as helpful without you all sharing your menus each week, too! Please tell us in the comments what you have cooking this week!

For a while I wrote a fun series of posts on Babble called “3 Kids, A Mom & a Kitchen.” For one of the article the girls and I made a super tasty Barbecue Chicken Salad recipe. I just clicked through to link to that recipe for today’s weekly menu and discovered that Babble did a website update, which means the captions that had the recipe included are missing! So, I’m reposting the recipe here, for posterity’s sake. Well, actually, mostly for my sake so I can have the recipe handy. 😉

This is one of those recipes that’s not really a recipe – no measurements necessary and feel free to add or omit ingredients at will. I pretty much stole the idea for this salad from a restaurant called Croutons. Enjoy!

Barbecue Chicken Salad

 

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Adapted from a dish served at a restaurant called Croutons

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• Grilled chicken breast
• Barbecue sauce
• Romaine lettuce, chopped
• Shredded cheese, cheddar or mozzarella
• Canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• Canned corn
• Chopped tomato
• Cornbread croutons (if I can find these at the store I toast cubed cornbread in the oven until crispy)
• Chopped Granny Smith Apples
• Ranch dressing

Instructions

1. Shred grilled chicken and toss in barbecue sauce to coat.
2. Toss everything together and serve with ranch dressing. Voila!
3. No set amount for ingredients - plan for about ½ chicken breast per person and adjust ingredients as necessary for the size of the salad!

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Happy New Year!

Today I’m combining the weekly menu with my annual New Years Resolution post because they are closely related. Let’s talk about the resolution first then get on to the weekly menus, shall we?

Every year I choose a resolution that helps our family to Eat Well and Heal the Planet. For 2017 my environmentally-friendly kitchen resolution is to, quite simply, cook more. And while the goal itself may seem simple, the reasoning behind it is more complex.

This will be my eighth year where my New Year’s resolution is focused on how my behavior in the kitchen impacts the environment. These past seven years have been awesome and the resolutions have truly helped me become more conscious than ever about how my food choices impact Mother Earth. It’s been a transformative process for me and I hope my journey has had a positive impact on others, too.

Last year our family’s food-environment resolution was to Waste Less Food. I started a compost bin, which is still going strong, and we’ve tried really hard to, well, waste less food! One of my biggest takeaways last year was that eating out was our family’s biggest source of food waste. Not only did more food get thrown away when eating out, but there was so much more garbage per person with takeout containers and the like. This is contributing factor #1 to this year’s resolution to cook more.

I don’t want to jump on the whole “2016 was the worst” bandwagon, but I will tell you that, for personal reasons, 2016 was at times quite challenging and I cooked less this year than I have in probably a decade. I was dealing with SI joint dysfunction for much of the year, and then I had a crazy car accident in November, just as the holidays got going. Plus, you know, life is busy. Work, kids, etc, etc, etc…we all know how it goes. As a result, this year found me in the kitchen far less than usual. Making dinner became a source of stress and something I thought I didn’t have time for. By the end of the year, my decreased levels of cooking have really had me down. The last two weeks I’ve been cooking a lot more. I visited our weekly farmer’s market for the first time. I’ve thought a lot about my relationship to food and what it means to me. This is contributing factor #2 to this year’s resolution…so let’s talk about the resolution itself!

I want to cook more! I want to feed my family better. I want to feed myself better. I want to care about my food again. I want to enjoy the cooking process. I want to be inspired by food rather than stressed by it. I want to go to my local farmer’s market and be inspired by the local, seasonal ingredients I find each week. And I want to help the environment – the best way I can do that in the kitchen is to simply COOK MORE.

So, that’s the goal! Less eating out. More cooking. More getting back to the love of food and savoring the time it takes to prepare it.

Are you with me? Are you already there? Share your tips if you are! And, in case you missed it, I wrote an article for Mom2.com in October where I shared my friends’ tips for cooking dinner every day, even when life gets crazy. There is some good stuff in there, I highly recommend you check it out!

And now my first menu of 2017! Note: we are still going to eat out, but I’m limiting it to once a week! I will continue to post menus every weekend and hope you all will continue to share yours in the comments! I am beyond grateful for the interaction we have here on the blog and your menus are a true inspiration week after week!

MONDAY:
– Homemade pizza (as per the kids’ request!) – Margherita and Honey Goat Cheese

TUESDAY:
– Pesto Chicken Salad Sandwiches

WEDNESDAY:
– Green Salad Topped with Grilled Chicken

THURSDAY:
– Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Roasted Vegetable Egg Scrambles and Smoothies

Click here or on the menu graphic above to access this week’s free printable PDF of the menu and ingredients list!

Your turn! Please share your menu in the comments…simple, fancy, whatever! And if you have any thoughts about this year’s resolution, please share those as well! Happy New Year and Happy Cooking!