Menu Plan Monday April!!

It is Monday again!  We had a great week last week and even stuck mostly to our meal plan, minus a few meals that we ended up at relatives homes :)  Now we need a plan for next week. 

Sunday - Pork Chops, Rice, Green Beans, Drop Biscuits
Monday - Chicken Alfredo, herb bread, vegetable
Tuesday - Roast, Green beans, Drop Biscuits
Wednesday - Family Night
Thursday - Italian Chicken, broccoli, Pasta
Friday - Birthday Party
Saturday - Terriyaki Chicken, stir-fry veggies, white rice

For more great plans check out orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday

Welcome Back!!

It is a new week and time for a new plan. I need to be a little tight with budget this week, so I'm going to try and eat from the stockpile, but I also found a great new shrimp recipe I'd love to try, so if shrimp is reasonable when I go to the store this week I'll try it out too.

Monday - Lasagna, salad, rolls. I'm going to do 2 at the same time so I can stick one in my freezer for later. I'm sticking with my standby recipe, but I saw this cool recipe for a zucchini lasagna that you may want to try. :)

Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie- chicken, cream of chicken soup, and veggies all warmed up in the oven, and then put refrigerator biscuits on top and cook for another 20 minutes or so at 350 degrees.

Wednesday - Church

Thursday - Tacos w/ lettuce, corn, and beans on the side, or in your taco.

Friday - Tortellini in a pumpkin cream sauce

Saturday - Family night

Sunday - shrimp (Maybe?) I think I will do grits if I get to make shrimp. Got to love shrimp and grits!! If I can't buy any shrimp or decide to just keep eating from my freezer I'll be doing Chicken Parmesan.

I am also going to be making carrot bread at the request of my toddler, and maybe some other baked goods. We'll have baked oatmeal, oatmeal, and of course cheerios for breakfast this week, and leftovers for lunch.

PS Last sunday we tried this macaroni, cheese, and chicken bake and it was great. It'll go on the family favorite list :)

Menu Plan

Sorry this is so late...I debated not putting it up at all, but that doesn't seem like a great way to start the year. :)

So...

Breakfasts for my toddler and I will be:
1) Cinnamon rolls
2) Pancakes - I have a favorite recipe. 1&1/2 c flour (I use Whole Wheat (spring wheat)), 3&1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspon salt, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1&1/4 milk, 3 Tablespoons butter, and 1 egg. It is great!
3) Oatmeal
4) Cheerios

Lunches:
Leftovers

Dinners:
Monday - I grilled my first TriTip Steak yesterday and it was yummy! We just did a dry rub of Kosher Salt (2 T), fresh pepper(2T), and garlic powder (1/2 T) and grilled 8 -10 minutes on each side. It is pretty hard to mess this one up, so I recommend it, even for beginners. :) Use a meat thermometer to check doneness and let it sit under a foil tent for a few minutes so that all the juices can go back into the meat. I made some rice and green beans to go with it.
Tuesday - Broiled Chicken (From Mark Bitman's How to Cook Everything Essentials)
I'm using chicken breast. You can pound to a uniform thickness if needed
3T olive oil, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic slivered, salt, freshly ground pepper, and a lemon. I have a veggie medley to go with it, a salad, and maybe some bread or rice.
Directions: 1) Heat Broiler to Med Heat with rack 4 in from heat. 2)Put chicken in pan w/ oil and garlic and then add salt and pepper. You can cover and set aside this for up to an hour to let the flavor develop) 3) no more than 3 to 4 minutes on each side, turning only once. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.
Wednesday - Church :)
Thursday - I'm going to do a Balsamic Chicken from the South Beach book (you know, resolutions and all that!)
Friday - Family night!
Saturday - I will be doing something with beef. If the hubs sticks to his work out plan I may reward with hamburgers :)
Sunday -

For more great menu ideas check out orgjunkie.com

Smoked Turkey and Pasta

Another Leslie Sansone hit at our house!
We tried this pasta recipe and it was great. (Well, I tweaked it with what I had available)

First I roasted a pack of grape tomatoes and 1 vidalia onion in olive oil, salt and oregano at 450 for about 20 mins.

While that was cooking I boiled a pot of pasta and cut up a few ounces of Gouda cheese and some smoked turkey. I just went to the deli and had them cut a smoked turkey about a 1/4 lb in one thick slice and then there was no extra cooking. By the time the tomatoes and onions and pasta were all done I threw it all in one big pot and stirred it together until the gouda started to melt (YUM!) I added a little red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and then a little bit more olive oil. It was great. My daughter loved it (of course on hers I covered her pasta in parmesan cheese) and so do my friend Mrs. Hazel (she's in her eighties) so I think I covered all age spans. Try it out! It was great.

Tortellini in a pumpkin cream sauce w/ toasted walnuts and dried cranberries

This was a recipe we got out of Leslie Sansone's EAT SMART, WALK STRONG book and I loved it. Now the rest of the house could have gone either way, and I would say that it meets the "fru-fru" food test at our house. It isn't something that we normally see and it doesn't have meat, therefor my husband classifies it as "girl food" or "fru-fru" food. It was really filling and I never missed the meat, but you could do it with a chicken tortellini or ravioli if you wanted it.
Here are the basics -

Cook your tortellini or pasta (about a pound)
Toast your Walnuts (1/2 cup) at 400 degrees for around 3 minutes (until you hear it sizzling) and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt 1 Tbsp Butter in a skillet on medium heat
Once it's melted add minced garlic (I think the recipe said 2 T but whatever you like is probably fine) and saute about 1 min.
Then add a bit of sage (2 t dry or 2 T fresh) and saute for another 30 seconds or so.
Once you can smell all of that cooking add 1 can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie!) and about 1/2 cup of milk and heat until it is bubbling.
At this point add milk until it is your desired consistency and salt and pepper to taste.

Combine pasta and sauce and sprinkle with the walnuts and dried cranberries.

I served my two year old with everything separate and told her that the sauce was dip. Works for us. :)

Chicken Fried Steak Results

So, the results are in on my Chicken Fried Steak experiment, and I would say they were mixed. The multiple dippings definitely made for more crunchy sticks, but I could have done with a bit more flavor in my strips, and I don't really know how to fix that. We all ate them, and they didn't take that long, but I am not sure that I will make them again. Have you tried these before? What were your results?

Freezing - Again :)

I have absolutely got to have a freezer plan this month. I am out of pretty near everything, cooked, uncooked, prepared, or parts, so I have a lot to do. I won't be doing this all in one day, but hopefully I will get it done. I have talked with my buddy about doing another cooking day together, but I don't know whether or not we'll make it work next week. Thanks to Jessica at LifeasMOM for helping get me motivated by getting the post up today :)

Breakfast Plan:
Baked Oatmeal - Peanut Butter and Chocolate for breakfast, need I say more?
Carrot Bread - Simple mix and match recipe
Banana Bread - Simple mix and match recipe
Oatmeal packets

Dinners:
Sloppy Joes x4 - Beef, a little bit of brown sugar, a little bit of mustard, and a can of tomato soup. Super Easy!
Lasagna x2 (or possibly 4 smaller ones)
Chicken Pot Pies x2
Penne Rustica x2 (probaby 4 smaller ones)

I'm ready for some new recipes, but I haven't found any that I've been interested in (and that my husband will eat) recently. Any ideas that will get me out of my rut?? Post a comment here :)

Homemade Hot Chocolate

I found a hot chocolate recipe on the back of my powdered milk and made it this week, and it is pretty good.

It is just 2 cups Nonfat Milk Powder
1 Cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1.25 t salt.

Just mix 1/4c of the mixture into 1 cup of boiling water.

Great with those little marshmellows. :)

A few fun kitchen extras this week!

I am going to get a few fun kitchen extras done this week, at least that's the plan.
I'm going go make
1) Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix.
2) a Pound Cake
3) Mix and Match Bread (probably Carrot) - I'll get the recipe up soon. It's from Frozen Assets.

I'd also like to so some other basic breakfast meal set up like
1) Oatmeal Packets
2) Baked Oatmeal (Peanut butter and Chocolate)

Yum - Baked Oatmeal with Apples.

My daughter and I love oatmeal in the mornings, especially baked oatmeal. When I saw this version I had to try it. We both loved it the first morning, and I was able to eat it for a few in a row, even after she had tired of it. I'll post my picture later, but here is the link.

Menu Plan Monday

Football season has started again, and in our house that makes life a little crazy because of all we have to do, so here is our plan, but no guarantees.

Sunday - We are ordering Pizza with family
Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Popcorn Chicken (Excited to try out a new recipe, I think both my daughter and husband will enjoy this).
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - hmmm...I haven't decided yet.
Friday - Family night
Saturday - Football - we'll need something, but I will probably decide later. :)

for more great menu ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com

Look What I MADE!!

Ok, I forgot to take the pictures, so you can't really look, but I am so excited. I made Vanilla Wafers from scratch. I was checking out everyone's menu plans for Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com and ran across this site with a great recipe. We all loved them. You should definitely try it. : )

A New Freezer Day!

********UPDATED - See the pics from our freezer day here!**********************
My cooking buddy is back. Her beautiful son is now 6 weeks old, and we are ready to attempt another cooking day, this time with 2 kids around :)

Here is our plan so far.

Sticky Chicken - We will try to do this ahead of time and just divide up the meat when we get together.

Stuffed Shells - I am a sucker for Italian, no Fishmama Lasagna this time, so this will have to do!

Banana Crumb Muffins - My baby girl (and her mom) goes crazy over all things bread, so we might have these around for a few mornings :)

French Dip - We'll do the meat on cooking day, and purchase the rolls when we are going to eat them, or when they go on sale and then we'll freeze them.

Johnny Marzetti - chicken and cheesy noodles, need I say more?

Country Captain Chicken - More for my crockpot!

Cinnamon Rolls - These are my favorite, because they are yummy, but still have the whole grain and the oats in them.

I may also make a batch of Baked Oatmeal, but my buddy says they'll pass on that one.



*** I went ahead and made my baked oatmeal, check it out!***

What do you think? Anyother exciting ideas for us. We'll let you know how it goes (and I will try my best to do pictures too.

More Freezer Additions.

In addition to the rest of our freezer meals I am going to do some new "mixes."

Mix and Match Muffins
Brownies
Biscuits
Pancakes - I don't know where I got the original recipe but we have a great one that we do half unbleached flour and half wheat.
All of the dry ingredients are going to be in the mix and then I will add the wet later. It makes about 8 pancakes.
3/4 c unbleached flour
3/4 c wheat flour
3 &1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Wet team - add later
1&1/4 c. milk
1 egg
3 T melted butter.

Freezer Plan! June

This month I have a plan to do some freezer cooking, but my freezer cooking partner is VERY pregnant (think 4 wks to go, but already 3cm dilated and 70% effaced), so I have two versions of the plan. We won't actually be able to have our freezer day until my friend gets off of work which is still 2 wks to go, so I am not actually holding my breath that she will still be pregnant. :) If she is and is up to it we will do an all day cooking marathon with enough for both of us. If she does not make it this long I have an alternative plan. I'd rather do a few meals at a time (and one for that night's dinner) than all at the same time if I am doing it alone, so I'll work out an alternate schedule then and bring a cooler to my buddy after the baby is born. Stretching it out over several days works a lot better when I am working by myself because of my very nearly 2 year old.

Month's Menu - Here is what we are going to try to cook if all goes well. (PS We made a THOUSAND times too much Ziti last month and never need to see it again, at least not for awhile.)
FishMama's Lasagna x4 We did this last month and both families loved them. It easy to add a salad (or green beans) and some bread at the last minute, and it has the added benefit of not needing to be thawed all the way before being cooked.

Lemon Chicken x4 Easy to put together and it can be baked or grilled. A great summer meal.

Grilled Chicken Pesto Wraps x2 (just for Myself and Daughter, no one else seems interested, it will be the last one I prepare in case I just get too exhausted to finish)

Sloppy Joes x4 - We did this last month, and it was a big hit, so we are increasing the size to have more availiable. We just need to remember to buy buns the week we want to eat it. The recipe is from Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough. You can check out her website here. I really recommend the book. It is a great way to get started freezer cooking. We love the mix and match muffins. It was worth the price of the book for that one recipe. We can make just about any type muffin with that one recipe.

There is more to add, but Dear Daughter is ready for me to be done, so I will finish later :)

****Ok, it's later!****
We are planning a couple more things (I know, you were waiting with baited breath).
Calzones x4 - We have done these before too and both families enjoyed them. We used a basic recipe from an old cookbook for the crust and we've been adding our own filling (although we did have a request from one of the hubbies to fill them with MORE). We bake them day of the big cook off, and then warm them as needed (I usually microwave for a few minutes and then stick them in the toaster oven so that they aren't soggy).

Butterhorns x1 - We are using the version here minus the chocolate. We did the by hand version last time, but it took SOOOO long. This one is a bread machine version and a lot faster (I tried it, not on a cooking day).

Southwest Rollups x4 - I am not a huge fan of refried beans, but I can try anything once. :) Everyon else seems to be looking forward to it.

I'll let you guys know how it goes later. :)

Menu Plan Monday May 24

Another week another menu plan. I think I will be taking it pretty easy this next week, because we have a busy week and DH is working long hours and may or may not dinner most nights.
Sunday - We are finishing the final leftovers from last week for dinner tonight. There is enough of a variety there that I am actually looking forward to dinner. :)
Monday - SeaWorld trip! I'm assuming we will have to eat something on the road or at the park.
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - I'm not sure yet, but definitely low maintainence.
Friday - Family Dinner
Saturday- Mushroom Onion Chicken - This is an easy meal and everyone loves it. We serve it over rice and with Green beans, or a salad.

Have a great week, for more great menu ideas check out orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday May 17

Welcome to another addition of Menu Plan Monday

We have a bit of a crazy week, but all things considered I think we can make it. :)

Sunday - We had friends over and one of them brought a lasagna and we provided the strawberry shortcake.

Monday - Mother - in - law's birthday so we will be heading over to their house for dinner.

Tuesday - either Tortellini or calzones.

Wednesday - Church

Thursday - Roasted Whole Chicken, green beans, bread

We use a clay pot to roast the chicken with about 2 tsp of italian spices, olive oil and a couple cloves of garlic. It takes about 1 hr 15 mins in a 350 degree oven.

The bread we will use the bread maker for we've been making the honey grain oatmeal bread that is in the manufacturer directions a lot recently.

Friday - Family Night

Saturday - Tonight will probably be a girls night (with my daughter) and we will probably have something Dad wouldn't eat. A great salad complete with chicken, feta, olives, almonds topped with a balsamic vinagrette.

Have a great week! Check out more great meal plans at orgjunkie.com

Recipe Review- Bacon wrapped Apple Chicken

Have to say that I am disapointed with how dinner turned out tonight. :( I made the recipe from $5 dinners and it was so dry! I have been having that problem lately with crock pot dinners, so I am wondering if my crockpot may be cooking a little bit too high? I put the chicken in for the allotted time, but alas! My husband was not pleased with the sauce either, so for 0 for 2. I knew I had him on the sweet potatoes, how can you resist all the brown sugar! Those he liked. :) Well, better luck next time...one of these $5 dinners will taste great, right?

Cinnamon Rolls!

I tried FishMama's Cinnamon Rolls last night and they were amazing! My husband doesn't do particularly well with eggs, so we tried it just because it was egg-free, but they were great. I also felt a little better feeding my family something so sugary for breakfast since it was also whole grain (by the way, did you know cinnamon can help keep blood sugar from spiking). You should try it.

***update***

Finally remembered to post pictures of the cinnamon rolls before cooking, but alas, totally forgot to take pictures after they had risen and after baking, but here are the before :)

Freezer Cooking Day!

I had my first freezer cooking day with a friend today. We worked from about 9:30 till 3, but we took a break midday for lunch and for me to put my toddler down for a nap. It went really well. My daughter did pretty well (until lunch/naptime) and we got a lot done.

Here is the total list of what we got done (we just split the meals).

Ziti - We made 6 batches (Huge batches - it will probably go for 6 just at my house) I guess we didn't really realize how much we were making, but it will all be eaten I am sure!

2 Lasagnas - We used the recipe here.

Sloppy Joes 1 batch (I didn't realize we weren't really making that much, so I sent it home with my buddy)

12 single serving size Calzones

and 1 batch (32 rolls) of the make ahead butterhorn rolls from here. (Already baked up a couple of those, yum!)

and finally I made my hamburgers for dinner tonight.

There are a few pictures here , but only about half of the food is pictured. :)