Week's Menu Plan & Blueberry Muffins

I'm particularly excited about this menu plan. Not just because I like testing out new recipes and different cuisines (I've only had Vietnamese pho once but liked it...and I know my husband is a fan). But it's also using up all the extras that we have in our fridge, freezer and pantry. I had stocked up on pasture-fed ground beef when it went on a great sale and I got a great deal on cauliflower at the farmers market on Wednesday. I also have quite a bit of parsley, cilantro and basil left so I'm using each of these. It did take a little more time to plan this one but it was definitely worth it to use up all the extra ingredients we already had in the house.

Also, I wanted to bring something to my husband and his co-workers and what better thing to bring than breakfast food? They work long hours and I happened to find a highly recommended blueberry muffin recipe. Muffins are easy to grab and go and in my opinion, they don't have to be just breakfast food.

Week's Menu Plan

Saturday: beef enchiladas with black beans

Sunday: ham, basil and mozzarella panini with corn on the cob

Monday: tilapia & cauliflower

Tuesday: lemon chicken with tabbouleh

Wednesday: pasta primavera (from the Everyday Italian cookbook)

Thursday: Vietnamese chicken pho

Friday: homemade pizza

Blueberry Muffins
Taken from: Smitten Kitchen
This makes about 10 muffins but could be easily doubled.

• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup low- or full-fat plain yogurt (I only had low-fat vanilla yogurt on hand); low- or full-fat sour cream would work well, too
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

-Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.
-Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest.
-Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick, closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. Fill no more than 3/4 of the way full.
-Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean.