January 16, 2018 menu

Click pictures to open larger. This menu is good for the Dearborn, Michigan area. We will work with you on pick-up or delivery options. If you are out of the Dearborn area, a delivery charge will apply. Use the email address to the right on this page for ordering, or visit us on Facebook at Rm Made 

https://www.facebook.com/pattersonrm/

Menu for the week of January 2-7, 2018

Here is the menu for 2/2/18. In Dearborn, Michigan we offer free pick-up or delivery. Within 20 miles of the Dearborn area, there is a charge for delivery depending on your zip code. We cannot ship outside of Michigan. Email orders at least 24 hours ahead, or message us on Facebook. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Menu for November 27-December 5th

Here is the newest menu. There are a lot of good things on it. Did you know that services like Blue Apron average $34 for a meal for 4? And you STILL have to cook it yourself. Our featured food comes to you freshly cooked the day you want to pick up (or get delivery in the Dearborn area for free…farther there is a delivery cost). If you order the meatloaf or the chili, one of the vegetables, and the potatoes or biscuits, you can feed your family for about $25 and still not have to cook anything or go to a restaurant.

Also, our candy and cookies ship well in priority mail if you pick them up and send them off to your loved ones.

Email at rmp@rmmade.com or message us in Facebook for orders.

Menu for November 14-19

Email for orders at least 1 day before you’d like to pick-up or have delivery. Delivery in Dearborn, MI area is free, farther, there is a charge. We serve the metro Detroit area.

The soup this week is vegan, as are the lentil bites, if that’s your thing. The soup freezes beautifully and you could thaw it out for your Thanksgiving table.

Click on photo to enlarge menu. Email or call for orders. Orders may be picked up or delivered. Delivery fee applies for outside the Dearborn, Michigan area. Contact rmp@rmmade.com or text (313)757-0099 for details.

Got a half hour-ish?

I’m a definite creature of habit. All my life, dinner was on the table by 5:30, starting when I was a child, and I have stuck to that as an adult. As an adult, with kids and a job, that wasn’t always easy to do, especially if you wanted to cook something from scratch and needed it in a hurry. Now that it’s just two of us at home, and I don’t work in the outside world any more, I have more time to make something that may be more time intensive. More often than not, I find I’ve gotten caught up in a project (or guilty binge-watching) and I’m in the same old “must-make-dinner-NOW!” position. Not only does this require having ingredients on hand, it requires timing. Believe me, that sense of timing took me a long time to acquire. This week’s recipe is can be accomplished in just about a half hour. I’ll try my best to explain the timing as I go along in this post.

Pressured by writing for a name, I give you Seared Chicken Breasts with Cherry Cider Sauce. You can serve it with whatever side you like. We had brussels sprouts and green beans on hand. (More about those as we go on) Here are the ingredients for the chicken:

The main ingredients you need are cider (you could use regular apple juice, but the flavor will not be as naturally apple), dried cherries (you could use dried cranberries…or any dried berry), balsamic vinegar (often my best friend in the condiment world), a small shallot (onion’s milder pal…you could use a small onion if that’s what you have), a small clove of garlic, and an 8 ounce chicken breast sliced lengthwise into two cutlets. The other usual ingredients, olive oil, salt and pepper are also used. If you have poultry seasoning or dried ground sage, that would be great also.

The thing that takes the longest in this recipe is the sauce. You are going to be doing some reducing, which is a way to get richer flavor from your ingredients. Before you start doing anything else, in a small saucepan, combine a cup of the cider, 3 tablespoons of balsamic, and 1/2 cup of dried cherries. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, and allow it to reduce by half and the dried fruit has plumped back up. This will take 15-20 minutes of simmering over low heat, and you can do everything else while it’s simmering away. Just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn and then just turn off the heat if it finishes and you’re still working.

As I said, there are only two of us at home now, so that is what I tend to cook for. The sauce will make enough for 3, and you could just double it if you need more. Also, we are conscious of serving sizes, so that is why the chicken breast was thinned. You could purchase the smaller cutlets in the first place if you want to save the step of thinning the breast. The reason for this is 2-fold: right size portions and FAST cooking.

The chicken breast was sliced into cutlets, and pounded to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, then seasoned with some poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper on each side.

Heat up a skillet and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chopped shallots and garlic to the pan, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn’t burn. When the vegetables are softened and slightly browned, add the chicken to the pan. Leave the chicken alone for about 3 minutes on the first side so that it can get that tasty caramelization. Then flip it and cook on the other side for about 3-4 minutes. It goes that fast because of the thinness of the chicken. Remove it from the pan, scraping some of the shallots and garlic to top the chicken.

While the sauce was reducing, and the chicken was cooking for our dinner, the brussels sprouts and green beans were roasting. I buy brussels sprouts already halved (again, we don’t need that many here for 2) and I had already prepped the green beans after I got out all my ingredients (trimming ends and halving them). These vegetables were simply tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted for 20 minutes on 400 degrees while everything else was cooking.

When you are ready to serve, plate a piece of chicken, spoon some of the cherry sauce over the chicken, and add your side dish. Really, it was about 30 minutes to get this:

Click into the RECIPES tab for the full recipe. Enjoy!

Chopped…the sauce episode

I’m very much a spur of the moment cook. This troubles some people I know who always ask me, “Do you have the recipe for that?”
Often, the answer is, “No, but if you give me a minute, I can probably pull one together for you.” I know this is not something everyone does, but it has become the way I think in the kitchen. Cook first, recipe later.  I go back to my Food Network addiction for the reason, I guess. That, and as long as I can remember, my mom would read cookbooks. She went to culinary school, and I’m probably not as appreciative of that fact as I should be, but I think it certainly helped immerse me in food experiences. This gives you a lot to work with if you see similar recipes frequently, you start to learn what goes with what, and how you can combine things. Which brings us to this recipe. I have used and tweaked a recipe for lentil vegetarian ‘meatballs’ (that name bothers me, because I think they don’t need the nod to meat, but that’s another post for another day). So, I made these lentil bites, as we have come to call them, and they reminded me of falafel…sort of. I wanted to take them to a gathering with friends, and needed something that would be quick and dip-like. Welcome to “Chopped the Sauce” episode. I had yogurt, cucumbers, lemons, and some dill weed in the spice rack. I tossed those together and ran out to the gathering, where I was met with the question about recipes again. Therefore, here it is, with some additional herbs that seemed to fit with the lemon/dill flavoring. This is good for dipping just about anything and putting in pita bread with chicken, lamb, or turkey.

Here are the “basket” ingredients. Yogurt, mint, lemon, cucumber, dill, salt and pepper.

Peel as much peel as you want off the cucumber. I leave some peel on for crunch and color. Seed and chop half of that cucumber. Chop the tiniest shallot you can find.

 

Zest the lemon, squeeze some juice, add your seasonings, and mix it up.

Add the yogurt, and that’s it! Yogurt sauce in 10 minutes!

Lemon Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

1 cup yogurt (greek works best, I use nonfat)

1/2 medium cucumber (about 3/4 cup chopped)

1 tbsp. minced shallot (or green onions are nice)

1 tsp. dill weed

1/2 tsp. chopped mint leaves

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste (about 1/4 tsp of each)

  1. Peel (if you wish) and then slice cucumber lengthwise, seed and chop to 1/2 inch dice or smaller. Put in a mixing bowl.
  2. Peel and mince shallot, add to mixing bowl.
  3. Chop mint leaves, add to bowl.
  4. Zest lemon then slice and squeeze lemon juice. Add zest and 1 tsp. juice to bowl.
  5. Add yogurt and mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste.
  6. This sauce gets better as it sits. You can make it up to an hour ahead. The salt may cause the cucumber to “weep” a little. Just stir it back together, and it should be fine.