Food on Friday

I have a fairly open day today - sort of, lots of little things.  Open enough, at least, to think of playing with paper.  It has been on my mind since last Friday, when my 7 y.o. was looking through my 17 y.o's baby book - I pull their baby books out on their birthdays.  After the party, for said 17 y.o.'s birthday, last Friday night, the 7 y.o. wanted to look at his book.  With a huge lump of mom-guilt stuck in my throat, I had to tell him he didn't have one.  My youngest doesn't have a baby book.  The boy has exactly three pages.  Three.  Pages.  Three!  

So, this week when I was doing my planning (menu and things-to-do) I added "Create Mo Page" to my list.  I think today, I'll go find a stack of photos for him and a kit to work with and set it out on my dining table, which is already piled with popcorn orders - and in a week it'll be staged for Thanksgiving dinner.  Guess I better work fast and efficiently.

I was crazy productive this week, must be seasonal nesting.  I was less productive with the cooking though - odd.  You'd think not posting last Friday I'd have more food, but I don't.  The menu from last week became this week's.  The two nights I did cook last week were soup and a Taco Bar for the boy's birthday, the rest was just leftovers reworked.  So, I had an entire menu, already planned and shopped for, that I just moved to this week.  But, that's just one of the perks of meal planning - flexibility.

I knew Monday was going to be cold, with a chance for snow, so something warm seemed like a good idea.  Creole Shrimp and Sausage had a good spicy warmth to it.  It came together really quickly, but you could also make it ahead and just leave out the shrimp until just before serving.  I opted to leave out the Bulgar, because I had lime rice from the party left over, which I seasoned according to the recipe.  I made my go-to Corn Bread to go with it.

I'm still trying to work through an overstuffed freezer and I had two open bags of fish.  I had two filets each of cod and tilapia, which are good substitutes for catfish as they are both firm white fish.  The Cajun Pecan Catfish was spicy and crunchy.  I served them with Spiced Sweet Potato fries.  I chose to use fresh sweet potatoes, instead of frozen, that I fry-cut, roasted and then tossed in the seasonings.  I could also have tossed the fries and seasoning in oil before baking them.

I have made these Sausage Sliders with Cran-Apple Slaw before.  They are just really good and so easy; chopping the apple is the most difficult thing.  I also whipped up my go-to 40-Minute Buns.

I have had these Frosted Chocolate Chip Brownies on my menu for at least three weeks and finally got to them this week.  They are awesome.  Moist, cake-like and really, really chocolaty.  However, remember to toss the nuts and chips in a bit of flour so they don't sink to the bottom.

I'm off to deal with those pesky little things on my to-do list that I can't seem to get scratched off.

Happy Friday,