Tag Archives: apple pie

Here is my suggested meal plan for the upcoming week. This is the Week 2 menu. You can access the meal plans for Week 1 by clicking here, Week 3 here, Week 4 here, Week 5 here, and Week 6 here.

I am a big fan of meal planning – it takes some coordination and effort upfront but the payoff is great. Find tested and reliable recipes with ingredients you know your family will like, read through the recipes to see what’s involved in their preparation and how long it will take to prepare them, make the shopping list, shop for the ingredients, and set aside the time to make the recipes. If you have helpers in the household, assign them tasks to help with the preparation.

Rather than spend time aimlessly perusing recipes in books or magazines or searching through the internet for a recipe that might pique your interest, I recommend first thinking about what main ingredient might appeal to you – is it ham, beef, poultry, fish, pasta, vegetables, etc. Are you looking for a casserole, a pot pie, or a main entrée, a one-time meal recipe or one that leftovers could be frozen for another meal or transformed into another dish altogether? Once you narrow down what you are aiming for, your search for the recipe will be more focused and concentrated and you will spend less time on the recipe search and more time productively spent actually making the dish.

To help you with that search, I hope you find some, or all, of the following recipes of interest and ones you will add to your weekly meal plan.

I’ve provided a list of the main ingredients that, for the most part, would probably involve a shopping trip to the supermarket for most. However, as always, read each recipe thoroughly and carefully to create your own personalized list as I have not listed what I consider to be “staple” items like regular milk, butter, eggs, flour, sugar, butter/shortening, oil, spices, etc.

Make sure you read through the menu suggestions for the entire week as some require some leftover meat or gravy, etc., from a previous day’s dinner so you will need to know what amounts of ingredients need to be set aside for a subsequent day’s meal.

Click on the green hotlinks to access the recipes.

MONDAY

Granola – My recipe for granola is nut free. So tasty, it’s actually yummy eaten as a trail mix treat, too!

Best Zucchini Granola Muffins – These are great breakfast or coffee break muffins and they freeze very well. Great treat to start off the week!

Shopping List: Granola (click here for my recipe), zucchini, applesauce

Dinner: Roast Beef, Potato Patties, Turnip Puff Casserole

A roast beef dinner is so tasty (and the house smells so great when the beef is roasting). Be sure to save some of the beef and make some gravy for the beef pot pies for Tuesday night’s dinner!

The potato patties are a change from traditional mashed or boiled potatoes and these are super tasty. Turnip goes particularly well with beef and is transformed into a lovely flavorful casserole to serve as a side dish. Jazzes up a roast beef dinner for sure!

Shopping List: Roast of beef, cut of choice. For Potato Patties – Potatoes, sour cream chicken bouillon, breadcrumbs. For Turnip Puff Casserole – Rutabaga, applesauce, onion, parmesan and cheddar cheeses.

Turnip Puff Casserole

Dessert: Rustic Apple Pie

Who can say no to a homemade apple pie! Add a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream to make this an even more special treat!

Shopping List: Apples, pie pastry for double-crust pie + enough for a single crust pie (needed for tomorrow’s Beef Pot Pie)

TUESDAY

Dinner: Beef Pot Pie – This is a great way to use up leftover roast beef and gravy from Monday night’s dinner.

Sometimes, depending on the size of roast, after a couple of days of leftover sliced cold roast beef, it can be a little boring, shall we say. That’s why it’s important to find other uses for the leftover roast beef, like this Beef Pot Pie, so it seems like a brand new idea for dinner!

Shopping List: Rutabaga, carrots, potatoes, onion, mushrooms, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, red wine summer savory, frozen peas and corn, fresh parsley, pastry for single crust pie

Dessert: Leftover Apple Pie

WEDNESDAY

Dinner: Potato Leek Soup with Whole Wheat Biscuits

Sometimes you just need a plain old-fashioned silky smooth cream soup and this Potato Leek Soup fits that bill nicely. Serve it with some warm homemade whole wheat biscuits, with a slather of butter, of course!

Shopping List: For Soup – Potatoes, leek, celery, onion, garlic, chicken/turkey stock, milk, white cheese blend (e.g., mozzarella, provolone, parmesan) For Biscuits – All purpose and whole wheat flours, buttermilk

Dessert: Chocolate Drop Cookies

These are a great chocolate cookie and sure to find their way into the heart of any chocolate lover.

Shopping List: General baking supplies + cocoa

Chocolate Drop Cookies

THURSDAY

Dinner: Chili Con Carne served with Pan Rolls

This chili is packed full of flavorful ingredients. While I think it’s perfect any time of the year, it’s especially inviting on cold winter days! Make a batch of homemade pan rolls to accompany this chili.

Shopping List: For Chili – Ground beef, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, 1 – 28oz can diced tomatoes, 2 – 14oz cans red kidney beans, 1 – 10oz can tomato soup, 1 – 5.5oz can tomato paste, chili powder, balsamic vinegar, liquid beef bouillon, mushrooms. For Pan Rolls – Yeast + standard baking supplies

Dessert: Creamy Coconut Rice Pudding

Baked rice pudding is a comfort food and many will remember their mothers and grandmothers making this treat. I’ve jazzed up my recipe with coconut milk and raisins that have had a little “nip” of amaretto!

Shopping List: Arborio rice, amaretto, raisins, coconut milk, maple syrup, shredded coconut

FRIDAY

Dinner: Honey Garlic Spare Ribs, Twice-baked Potatoes, favorite side vegetable

Nothing beats honey and garlic to add some life to spare ribs! These ribs can be served with rice or choice of potato but my favorite is to add a twice-baked potato to the plate. Super yummy.

Shopping List: For Spare Ribs – Ribs, apple juice, honey, soya sauce, garlic, onion. For Twice-baked Potatoes – Baking potatoes such as Russet variety, sour cream, whole milk or cream, liquid chicken bouillon, garlic, cheddar and parmesan cheeses

Garlic Spareribs served with Turnip Casserole and Baked Potato

Stuffed Baked Potato — Twice-baked Potato

Dessert: Jelly Roll

Lovely sponge cake rolled with red jam or jelly. Yes, this is indeed an old favorite with many.

Shopping List: Cake and pastry flour, favorite red jam or jelly

SATURDAY

Dinner: Moussaka with green salad

While I have made Moussaka for years, recent visits to Greek islands reignited my love for this dish. As a nod to my Prince Edward Island heritage, my version uses potatoes instead of the traditional eggplant. A little time-consuming to make but the end result is so worth it!

Shopping List: For Moussaka – Ground beef, onion, celery, garlic, 14-oz can crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, beef broth, russet potatoes, milk, Gouda cheese, breadcrumbs. For green salad – favorite lettuce and salad fixings of choice, dressing.

Dessert: Vintage Tomato Soup Cake

I grew up with this cake being frequently made. Bet you can’t tell there is a can of tomato soup in it!

Shopping List: Tomato soup, molasses

SUNDAY

Sunday Breakfast: Special Treat – Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Sunday mornings call for something just a little more special than you might make on busy weekday mornings. Try these Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes with maple syrup or a rich blueberry sauce for double the blueberry flavor.

Shopping List: Buttermilk, blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Dinner: Leftover Moussaka

Dessert: Leftover Vintage Tomato Soup Cake

So, there you have it – the Week 2 Meal Planning Menu from My Island Bistro Kitchen.

For other meal plans from My Island Bistro Kitchen, click on the links below:

Week 1 Meal Plan

Week 3 Meal Plan

Week 4 Meal Plan

Week 2 Meal Plan from My Island Bistro Kitchen

Pin Me To Pinterest!

Week 2 Meal Plan from My Island Bistro Kitchen Food Blog

General, Pies and Tarts, Recipes

Rustic Apple Pie

October 26, 2017 Barbara99

There is something warm, inviting, and nostalgic about walking into a kitchen to the tantalizing scent of an apple pie baking. In my opinion, one of the best desserts is homemade apple pie, especially when topped with a nice round scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream! Fall is a great time to make apple pies (and some extras for the freezer) because the apples are so fresh and there is a great selection. The house smells so divine while the apple pie bakes! Continue reading Rustic Apple Pie →

General, Local Culinary and Beverage Events, Out and About

An Acadian Lobster Feast

October 12, 2017 Barbara99

At the PEI Fall Flavours 2017 event, "Le Festin acadien avec homard" — At the PEI Fall Flavours 2017 event, “Le Festin acadien avec homard”

If there is one consolation to summer’s end on PEI, it’s the anticipation that September brings the annual PEI Fall Flavours Festival. The Island’s emerging culinary scene with all its fine foods is showcased each September in an array of culinary events that comprise the festival. What started out in 2008 as a small 10-day festival consisting of a few culinary events aiming to extend the Island’s short tourism season into September, the festival has grown into a full month-long feast extravaganza.

September is the perfect month for a PEI food festival as the produce is at its prime, potato harvesting is getting underway, and the fall lobster season is open in certain zones around the Island. We are lucky here in PEI – we have a wonderful array of fresh local foods from the land and sea and the festival is a great celebration of our love of local foods. Culinary events are spread out in communities across the Island and each tends to highlight foods that come from a particular area and/or that are associated with a certain region’s culture.

The “Festin acadien avec homard” (or lobster feast) at Abram-Village, west of Summerside, is always the first PEI Fall Flavours Festival culinary event of the season and it signals a tasty month ahead. Tickets for this event sell out weeks in advance and it is one Fall Flavours event that is certain to draw a lot of Islanders to the Evangeline area. In some respects, it’s almost like a homecoming weekend as family members travel home to the Island’s Evangeline region for the annual Evangeline Agricultural Exhibition & Acadian Festival. There is no better way to learn, first hand, about the culture of a region than to partake of the regional foods and entertainment. “Le Festin acadien avec homard scores high points on both counts.

This year marked the second year that I attended this event – that’s testament to how much I enjoyed it the first time! While the menu remained almost identical to the previous year, what changed was the entertainment and the headline celebrity chef who, in 2017, was Chef Danny Smiles, Chef de cuisine at Restaurant Le Bremner in Old Montreal. This was Chef Smiles’ debut at the PEI Fall Flavours Festival.

Chef Danny Smiles at the PEI Fall Flavours "Le Festin acadien avec homard" event 2017 — Chef Danny Smiles at the PEI Fall Flavours “Le Festin acadien avec homard” event 2017

The lively musical entertainment was provided by Vishten, a trio of talented musicians (two from PEI and one from the Magdalen Islands). Rooted in traditional music from the two east coast islands, their indie-folk style fuses Acadian and Celtic genres and motivates foot stomping and hand clapping. The performers are multi instrumentalists and they easily transition between various musical instruments that include violin, guitar, accordian, and keyboard. The trio tours and performs internationally and has five albums and more than 1000 performances to their credit.

Vishten entertaining at the PEI Fall Flavours "Le Festin acadien avec homard" event 2017 — Vishten entertaining at the PEI Fall Flavours “Le Festin acadien avec homard” event 2017

The “Festin acadien avec homard” event has been running for several years and organizers have it well organized and they are very efficient in carrying it out. MC Georges Arsenault is a very capable and effective Master of Ceremonies.

Georges Arsenault, Master of Ceremonies at the PEI Fall Flavours "Le Festin acadien avec homard" event 2017 — Georges Arsenault, Master of Ceremonies at the PEI Fall Flavours “Le Festin acadien avec homard” event 2017

Georges had lots of fun in store for the evening that included a demonstration of different ways that lobster can be cracked and eaten.

Chef Danny Smiles Demonstrates How He Opens A Lobster

Georges selected a young person from the audience who had never cracked open a lobster before, celebrity chef Danny Smiles, and Odette Gallant from the Evangeline area who has been cracking open lobster with her teeth all of her life – yes, her teeth! I wondered how many sets of teeth she might have gone through because those lobster shells are hard!

Young Man Gets Some Professional Instruction from Chef Danny Smiles on How to Crack Open A Lobster

Georges also had audience participation on stage as a member of Vishten taught Chef Danny and others how to step dance.

Stepdancing Lessons at Le Festin acadien avec homard (PEI Fall Flavours Event 2017)

All of this entertainment took place in between courses of the meal. Oh yes, the menu……

As this event took place in the region of the province that has a high concentration of the Island’s Acadian population, it is obvious that the evening’s menu would focus on Acadian fare along with lobster and potato salad since the region is known for its farming and fishing industries.

Serving up Steamed PEI Mussels at Le Festin acadien avec homard (PEI Fall Flavours Event 2017)

Like many PEI gatherings, the evening started off with steamed PEI mussels. Patrons were then invited to sample three new soda flavors produced by Upstreet Craft Brewing in Charlottetown.

Sampling New Line of Sodas from Upstreet Craft Brewing of Charlottetown, PEI at Le Festin acadien avec homard (PEI Fall Flavours Event 2017)

Known for their craft beer, making soda is a new venture for Upstreet. The event proved to be a great opportunity for the brewery to showcase their new products – Strawberry Rhubarb Basil, Apple Ginger Elderflower, and Malt Spice Cola.

New Line of Sodas from Upstreet Craft Brewing of Charlottetown, PEI at Le Festin acadien avec homard (PEI Fall Flavours Event 2017)

Dinner was served, family style, at long communal tables. Servers, garbed in traditional Acadian dress, brought bowls or platters of food to both ends of the table and the food was then passed from one diner to the next with each person serving him or herself.

Serving Chicken Fricot at Le Festin acadien avec homard (PEI Fall Flavours Event 2017)

The first course was Chicken Fricot, a traditional Acadian broth stew made primarily of chicken, onion, and potato and seasoned with summer savory.

Every time I have a bowl of this stew, I’m always amazed at how tasty it is given that so few ingredients are in it. I maintain it’s the summer savory herb that makes this dish. Summer savory is used a lot on PEI and most Island cooks add it to their poultry dressing/stuffing.

This was followed by the second course comprised of Râpure and Acadian Meat Pie.

Acadian Meat Pie (left) and Rapure (right)

Some may know the grated potato dish, râpure as “rappie pie”, a name that stems from the French verb “râper” which means “to grate”. The grated potatoes are squeezed through cheesecloth to remove the liquid which is then replaced by adding broth (usually chicken) and baking it, casserole style, with onion, and cooked meat such as chicken or pork. The end result is a hearty and tasty dish.

The second course also included Acadian meat pie or, pâté, as it is sometimes called.

This is a very common dish in Acadian communities and is an integral part of Christmas Eve celebrations in many Acadian homes on PEI, though it is now commonly served at other times of the year as well. Molasses is often drizzled on top of the meat pie to add a touch of sweetness to this savory dish.

Our server, Velma Durant, was very pleasant and most accommodating to me with my camera clicking away throughout the evening!

Server Arrives at Table with Platter of PEI Lobster (at the Le Festin acadien avec homard event, PEI Fall Flavours Festival 2017)

Then, of course, it was time for the pièce d’résistance – PEI lobster in the shell served with true, authentic homemade PEI potato salad – these folks know how to make a perfect potato salad!