Menu Plan Monday.

{Linking up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday}

{Dinners}:

Monday: Hotdogs with grilled veggies (onions &, peppers), macaroni & cheese and beans

Tuesday: Lasagna with green beans and garlic toast

Wednesday: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with fries & a steamed veggie

Thursday: Tuna Casserole

Friday: Hubby's work party

Saturday: Pulled Pork Sammies, Baked Beans, Corn

Sunday: No meal planned yet

Wahoo! I finally made the 15 Minute Vegetarian Chili! We had an odd week, things didn't go as planned but many of our meals did. I forgot to defrost the pork for Sunday's dinner, so we scrounged and came up with some spaghetti fixings instead and the pork got moved to Saturday.

I threw today's menu together in a hurry. I forgot to plan it last week and I just wasn't feeling it today. So it's an odd mix (that's what you get when you menu plan while you have zero desire for food) but it should work out!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Menu Plan Monday.

{Linking up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday}

{Breakfasts}:
Monday: Oatmeal with fruit
Tuesday: Toast with butter & jam & yogurt
Wednesday: Waffles/Pancakes
Thursday: Cereal with sliced banana
Friday: French Toast & yogurt
Saturday: Scrambled eggs, bacon & toast
Sunday: Waffles

{Lunches}:
Monday: PB&J with a fruit cup
Tuesday: Ham & Pineapple skewers with cottage cheese
Wednesday: toast, cottage cheese, apple sauce & carrots w/ dip
Thursday: sliced strawberries, steamed carrots & cauliflower, kidney beans & cheese
Friday: peanut butter banana dogs with fruit cup
Saturday: Subway
Sunday: Chicken nuggets, steamed carrots & applesauce

{Dinners}:

Monday: Eggrolls, White Rice, Steamed Carrots

Tuesday: Waffles, Eggs, Hashbrowns

Wednesday: Burritos, Chips & Salsa

Thursday: Thanksgiving

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Rummage

Sunday: Pulled Pork Sammies, Baked Beans, Corn

I recycled last weeks breakfast & lunch menus. Those ideas worked out fairly well (I didn't actually make what was on the menu that given day necessarily, but I did refer back to my blog several times over that week to see what we should have for lunch).

In anticipation of Thanksgiving this week, I tried to plan light meals with little to no left overs. I'm assuming we'll have left overs to rummage through, which is why I left Friday & Saturday as unplanned meals. At the very least we can forage for sandwiches & soup. :) Happy Thanksgiving!!

{Ben: First Thanksgiving last year}

Menu Plan Monday

{Linking up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday}

I finally did it! I've been pinning lunches on Pinterest for a few weeks now and I finally remembered to plan for both lunch and breakfast in addition to my routinely planned dinner menu. Yay me! :)

{Breakfasts}:
Monday: Oatmeal with fruit
Tuesday: Toast with butter & jam & yogurt
Wednesday: Waffles/Pancakes
Thursday: Cereal with sliced banana
Friday: French Toast & yogurt
Saturday: Scrambled eggs, bacon & toast
Sunday: Waffles

{image}

{Lunches}:
Monday: PB&J with a fruit cup
Tuesday: Ham & Pineapple skewers with cottage cheese
Wednesday: toast, cottage cheese, apple sauce & carrots w/ dip
Thursday: sliced strawberries, steamed carrots & cauliflower, kidney beans & cheese
Friday: peanut butter banana dogs with fruit cup
Saturday: left over calzones with cottage cheese
Sunday: left over lasagna soup

{image}

{Dinners}:

Monday: Packer's Game ~ Dad's bringing dinner

Tuesday: Beef Stew with biscuits

Wednesday: Stroganoff with steamed broccoli

Thursday: Bruschetta Chicken with salad & steamed veggie

Friday: Easy Calzones with salad & steamed veggie

Saturday: Lasagna Soup with French Bread

Sunday: 15 Minute Vegetarian Chili with corn bread

• That dang 15 Minute Chili keeps getting moved back and back. :) It's all canned goods, so it's an easy meal to push back til later when you get a sudden & fierce craving for Chinese food (that your husband is oh so very happy to indulge, since I don't often want to eat Chinese).
• Isn't it funny how after you plan a menu you see what sort of a mood you're in? I had no idea I planned so many Italian-style dishes until I was writing this post. 3 meals in a row! :)
• The beef stew I linked to is a similar recipe to how my mom made hers - I haven't tried this version yet, but since I've had my mom's before, I'm hoping it's good!
• The Bruschetta Chicken is a bit of a time commitment to make but it's so absolutely worth it. This is one that I can prepare ahead of time during nap time, so it's a great fit for our family.

Menu Anniversary.

Yesterday marked my 1 year anniversary of menu planning.

Okay, that's not quite right.

I've menu planned for ages. I just used to be really sporadic and haphazard about it.

One year ago yesterday, I started a new way to menu plan and I've stuck with it.

Some times I menu plan for a week. Some times for a month.

Which ever way I do it, I think it saves us big time money.

I don't wander aimlessly through the stores anymore, stocking up on stuff at random.

Gone are the days of eating spaghetti and burritos every single week.

{I don't take pictures of my food. Here's a picture of Ben eating an apple. You're welcome.}

I menu plan in an Excel spreadsheet and I keep adding to the same sheet.

Planning this way has really diversified our menu.

I pay attention to how many nights a week we eat ground beef and work in more chicken dishes and even better, more meatless dishes.

I pay attention to what we're eating and when we last had those burritos and I don't plan them weekly anymore.

I'm loving Pinterest to keep track of the meals I want to try (rather than my really long list of bookmarks I had before).

Our menu has had some hits (Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken) and some misses (Orange Chicken in the crock pot). I'm trying loads of new recipes. I try at least one, if not two, new recipes as week.

I'm not strict with when we eat our meals. I shuffle them around and eat them out of order, but I almost always cook the meals I've planned. If we happen to eat out or go to family's for dinner, the meal that would have fallen on that day gets either pushed back a day or added to next weeks menu.

My next goal is to start planning for lunches. See, I grocery shop from my menu plan.

I plan my menu, I type out (under the meal name) every single ingredient that goes into that dish.

When I go to make my list, I compile the ingredients and check to make sure I'm not out of something (like a random spice I only use for one dish).

That list gets copied over to Cozi (where I keep my household calendar and our shopping list).

{feel free to click this guy and make it bigger - the purple fields are meals I've made, so I know where I am. This isn't actually quite accurate - tonight I made the tortellini dish instead of the BBQ Cowboy Beans dish but I haven't marked it off yet.}

Unfortunately, the only grocery items that make the list are those needed to make dinners. And since I only buy what's needed to cook my menu (I don't stockpile - couponers gasp now!) this doesn't leave a lot of options for lunch items, unless we have leftovers.

My friend Susan and I have started a challenge and we invite you to join us.

For 30 days (ours started Monday) we're on a No Dining Out Challenge.

We want to see if we can go one whole month of eating from our own kitchens.

It should save us big bucks + it should be a lot more healthy for us.

So, I'm striving to take my menu planning to the next level (oh yeah, this just got real lol) and plan for lunch.

I know several of you menu plan. What method do you use? Do you plan by the week or the month? Do you batch cook or cook daily? Do you plan for all meals or just dinner?

Twofer.

Two recipes in one blog post - got yerself a twofer. :)

No pictures because I'm still mourning the loss of my camera lens. Don't shed too many tears, a lovely replacement is en route and should be here tomorrow (hopefully in time for our play date in the afternoon) and consider it a lesson learned to be more careful with my things (and the new case we got for it should help as well).

First up - last night I made pulled pork: yum. Normally when we've made it in the past, we just dump our pork shoulder in the crock pot, smother it in BBQ sauce and call it good til it's done. This time, I followed a recipe I found on Lil Blue Boo:

Southern Style Vinegar-Based Pork BBQ (Slow Cooked)

Ingredients:
4 lbs of pork roast
2 white or yellow onions
2 cups of apple cider vinegar
2 cups of apple juice
1 tsp of liquid smoke (I used Stubb's Hickory Liquid Smoke, found with the BBQ sauce)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 a bottle of regular/classic BBQ sauce (about 9 oz) (I used Stubb's Original BBQ)

1. Cut up both onions. Place half the onions in the bottom of the slow cooker or crock pot. Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and top with the rest of the onions.
2. Place half the onions in the bottom of the slow cooker or crock pot. Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and top with the rest of the onions.
3. Mix together 1 cup apple cider, 1 cup apple juice and 1 tsp of liquid smoke and pour over the roast and onions.
4. Set the slow cooker to cook on low for approximately 6 hours. The roast should be ready to fall apart when you stick a fork in it. Remove the roast and discard the remaining liquid and onions.
5. Shred the roast and add it back to the slow cooker.
6. Mix 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 cup apple juice, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and half a bottle of BBQ sauce in a bowl.
7. Pour over the shredded pork and cook on low for another 2 hours.

I served mine on Rhode's Dinner Rolls (I would have put it on hamburger buns but I didn't buy any, so the rolls worked) with corn on the cobb & baked beans. YUM. I thought the pork needed more sauce (but I always do) so I poured more BBQ sauce over mine when I served it.

* * *

Next up is a Ham & Lentil Soup I made tonight - this one I found on Cozi's Live Simply Recipes:

Ingredients
1 smoked ham bone (e.g., ham shank) or 2 small smoked ham hocks
1 lb lentils (about 2/12 cups), picked over and rinsed
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 onions, chopped coarsely
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf

1. In a kettle or soup pot, add 8-10 cups water. Add ham bone and lentils and turn burner on high heat.
2. Chop mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery and add to soup pot. Bring to a boil.
3. Add cinnamon stick and bay leaf and reduce heat. Simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove ham bone or ham hock, remove meat and dice or shred the ham. Add meat to soup and stir.
5. Remove cinnamon and bay leaf, add salt to taste, and serve.

I omitted the cinnamon stick (I didn't have one on hand) and changed the two chopped onions to 4 tablespoons of onion powder (I had a terrible shopping list and didn't have enough onions on hand for this recipe). This was really good, but Ben disagreed. He refused to eat any of it but did chow on the corn bread I served with. I'll make this again but I'll halve the recipe for our family. I have loads of left over pork and now left over lentils.

Crock.

Well, it seems fall has hit our region quite quickly. We went from upper 80 degree weather to mid 50 degree weather over night. A part of me is totally loving the rain. I miss the rain (but not the chronic headaches that come with it) - the way it makes the earth smell, how fresh and clean it makes everything look, how quickly it greens up everything. As a mother, though... I'm hating the rain. My poor boy wants to go outside all the time. Usually I indulge. These last three days though, I blame it on the rain.... and now I have Milli Vanilli stuck in my head.

In any case, fall is here and this year I'm going to be putting my crock pot to work. It's simply too hard to try to prepare a meal with Ben underfoot. That child... I tell ya. He'll be off doing his own thing, but the moment I attempt to even begin doing anything even remotely related to food preparation, he comes running and insists on me picking him up. If it can't be assembled during nap time or thrown together during the 10-15 minutes Baby Einstein will hold his attention - it ain't getting made in this house lately.

So, the point of this post. I thought I'd share some of my favorite crock pot recipes. And perhaps solicit some of yours? Expand my repertoire perhaps? Share and share alike? And all that jazz...

Without any further ado:

1. Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken: this stuff is SO delicious. I serve it over plain white rice. Nick wrapped his in a corn tortilla and said it was equally as delicious.
2. Taco Soup: one of the yummiest soups I have ever made. Disclaimer: I've never actually made the crock pot version of this - it's pretty simple to throw together and is ready in 20 minutes if you do it stove top
3. Black Bean Soup: yum. absolutely yum. It looks pretty gross (at least, I think) but it's really delicious.
4. Chili: I don't really have a recipe for chili. I just throw all my stuff in and do my spices by taste. This is a pretty good one, if you want to follow a recipe.
5. Crock Pot BBQ Chicken: I actually make the chicken, shred it and serve it with extra sauce on a bun.
6. Slow Cooker Applesauce Chicken: Okay... to be honest... I didn't much care for this one. Nick really did though, so that's why I'm sharing it. I thought the chicken was way too dry. Probably cooked longer than it should have.
7. Stew: Again, no recipe. I just buy your standard stew ingredients and eyeball it as I make it.

I'm excited to try a crock pot lasagna next week. Hopefully it turns out well!

So, do share. What sorts of yummies do you cook up in your crock pot?

Monday: Menu.

I made some switcheroo's to last week's menu with this week's. I realized about half way through the week that I'd planned three ground beef recipes for last week but none during this week. In an effort to break it up, I switched a few things around. That's what I love about meal planning and shopping ahead for two weeks -if we don't feel like Wednesday's meal, we can swap it out for something else! :)

Monday: Rigatoni Bake

Tuesday: Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

Wednesday: Tuna Casserole

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie

Friday: Spaghetti

Saturday: BBQ Cowboy Beans & Biscuits

Sunday: Leftovers

Cider Glazed Chicken & Vegetables

Tonight we were supposed to have spaghetti but I feel like we just ate that (even though we didn't) so I swapped it with tomorrow's dinner, which was chicken stirfry. I knew I wanted to use up a package of stir fry veggies that I'd had in the freezer for awhile but that's really as far as I knew what I was making. As I was steaming the rice, I got to looking at the back of the veggie package and the recipe looked good, so we gave it a try.

It was pretty good! I'd totally make it again - only I'd make it with fresh veggies instead of frozen, which is why I'm copying the recipe down here so I can remember it later. :)

From the back of the Flav-R-Pac package:

• 2 tsp Vegetable oil
• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp dijon-style mustard
• Flav-R-Pac Yellow Carrot Stir Fry

In a large skillet, heat oil over hight heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cooked 3 minutes per side.

In a small jar combine cider, butter, brown sugar, cornstarch and mustard; shake to blend. Add to pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes while stirring.

Add vegetables and cook an additional 5 minutes stirring gently halfway through cooking time.

Makes 4 servings.

I wasn't too sure how it was going to taste but I loved it! Even Ben gobbled it up, and I was sure I was going to have to figure out something else for him to make.

Yum!

Monday: Menu.

Here's what the Beesley's are cooking up this week:

Monday: Connie's Potato Soup

Tuesday: Burritos

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Mexican Shredded Pot Roast

Saturday: Lasagna Soup

Sunday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

What's cooking in your kitchen this week? ;)

PB&J Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies

I found this recipe on Weelicious last night and made them after Ben went to bed (it seems I do most of my baking at night when Nick is at school... I wonder if that will change when school is out) and MY OH MY were these so good!!!

Nick walked in the back door, stopped and said "you baked!" He then proceeded into the kitchen where he stopped again and said "peanut butter cookies!!!" Then he continued talking to me, noticed the cookies again and interrupted himself mid sentence to say "peanut butter thumb print cookies?!?!?"

:) I think that was a nice treat for him after a really long and hard day (I could take total credit and say I made these just for that occasion - but the fact is that I wanted cookies & I wanted to make some that I could share with Ben without too much guilt).

As usual, I'll share the original recipe first and then share how I changed mine just slightly below.

PB&J Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies (Makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick), softened
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar OR 1/2 Cup Honey

1 Large Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour 

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats

1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
Jam, Jelly or Preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the butter and agave (or honey) in a bowl or standing mixer and beat for 1 minute.
3. Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat another minute on medium speed or until smooth.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to incorporate.
6. Drop 1 tbsp of the cookie dough onto a silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet and using your thumb (or index finger if you prefer), make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
7. Fill the indentation of each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool and serve.

Here's how mine were different:

1. I had some agave left from when I made Ben's birthday cake, but not enough. I used as much agave as I had and filled up the rest with honey (probably about a 1/4 cup each).
2. I've been doing this for awhile now with all cookie recipes that want you to put your wet ingredients in one bowl and your dry ingredients in another, and then mix the two: I've always felt it was really stupid to dirty another bowl for dry ingredients, so this is what I do and I haven't noticed a taste difference at all: mix together all the "wet" ingredients as directed. Then mix in the smaller of the dry ingredients (usually the salt, baking powder, etc) with a hand mixer and then slowly stir in the flour.
3. I'm not lucky enough to have a stand mixer, so I mixed all mine with a regular ol' hand mixer.
4. I don't have a Silpat mat or even parchment paper, so my cookies just went on a plain old cookie sheet - didn't seem to bake any differently...
5. There's no way you'll get 60 cookies if you follow the instructions. She says to drop by tablespoon full, which is what I did. I got closer to 45ish cookies (which is plenty).

In any case - these are freaking delicious!!! A bit time consuming but so worth the effort! I'll definitely make these again :)

Shepherd's Pie

I haven't shared this recipe before but it's one I make fairly often and it's quite delicious. I've changed the way I make mine, so first I'll share the original recipe and then I'll share my changes:

Ingredients

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
5 carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ketchup
3/4 cup beef broth
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Mix in butter, finely chopped onion and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside.* Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
• Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Spread the ground beef in an even layer on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

* Here's where I've changed mine: to be perfectly honest, the layer of mashed carrots sounded weird to me. Instead of that, I cooked a package of frozen mixed veggies (like carrots, peas, green beans, corn, etc) as directed on the package and layered that in place of the mashed carrots (so meat mixture, mixed veggies, top with potatoes and cheese).

Photo Credit

Taco Soup.

Made this for dinner tonight, found on Our Best Bites (they blog about such yummy looking food - this was the first recipe I tried from them but my-oh-my was it delicious). I made very minor changes that I don't believe affected the taste at all. This is definitely going in our monthly rotation!

Taco Soup
Recipe from Our Best Bites

1 lb. extra lean ground beef (93% lean or or leaner)
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1.25-oz. packet taco seasoning (about 1/4 c.)
3 c. water, divided
2 28-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
2 15-oz. cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained

Toppings: Pico de Gallo, light sour cream, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, tortilla strips, guacamole, etc.

Heat a large soup pot over medium. When ready, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. When almost brown, add the taco seasoning and 1 c. water. Add the remaining ingredients, including the remaining 2 c. water, bring to a medium boil, then, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. Serve with desired toppings. Makes 10 12-oz. servings.

Yum!!!

Grahams.

I found another new blog.

I'll wait.

While you all gasp in shock.

I know. I know. I find like 10 new blogs a week. My google reader is seriously getting out of control...but it's nice to sit down every morning with a cup of coffee and read my "paper" to see what's creative in blogland.

In any case, I digress.

I baked again, too. Back to the blog I found, it's Weelicious.com (fast, easy & fresh baby food, toddler food and recipes for the whole family!) and I heart it. I've already made her banana bites which were a big hit with Ben and her avocado & cheese quesadilla, which was also a big hit.

What I'm blogging about today, though, are the graham crackers I made. That's right. Home made graham crackers. It was actually the first recipe of hers that I tried and I'm glad I did! Ben really enjoys them (so do Nick & I), they have a nice, mild flavor, they aren't too sweet and they work great as double duty as teething biscuits (who am I kidding - Ben is never getting teeth).

Here is the recipe I followed:

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Butter, chilled & cubed
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor or mixer combine the first 6 ingredients.
3. Add cubed and chilled butter to the mix and pulse/mix until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Add honey and water and continue to mix until it all combines.
5. Remove and shape the dough into a flat disk and place between two pieces of parchment paper.
6. Roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into crackers or shapes.
7. Place cookies on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Cool and serve.

My changes - I omitted the honey since I'm giving these to Ben and honey is a no-no. I also way increased the cinnamon, because we like it. Rolling out the dough was WORK. It's hard to roll out to the thickness she describes - and I don't think I did. I just got it as thin as I could. I used a star cookie cutter on mine so they came out a big larger than hers did, I think, but they're a great size for Ben to hold on to and if he bites off one of the points of the stars, he isn't going to choke (like he does on some other teething biscuits I've bought and quit giving to him).

As you can see, he rather enjoys them:

Potato Soup.

Tried a new recipe again for dinner tonight. This time it was a potato soup recipe. I found it at $5 Dinners and it was really good!

Here's the recipe and then some tips after:

Connie's Potato Soup For 10

You will need:

1 lb. spicy breakfast sausage ($2.50)
10 medium Russet potatoes ($1.30)
1 onion, diced ($.30)
1 can cream of chicken soup ($.89)
1 can cream corn ($.59)
1 cup shredded cheddar ($.50)
Total = $6.08 (Remember this is for a family of 10!)

Peel and cube potatoes. Cover with water in large stock pot and put on to boil.
Brown sausage and onions. Set aside
After the potatoes become soft (15-20 minutes), whisk in soup and corn.
Add sausage and onions.
Stir in cheese.

Enjoy!

Tips: her instructions don't tell you to drain the water from the potatoes prior to adding the other ingredients, because she doesn't want you to (I had to hunt on her page through the comments to confirm - I wasn't the only one that wasn't sure). This is a bit runny, so I added about a tablespoon of corn starch to mine to thicken it up. It's a bit on the bland side, so if I make this again, I might season the sausage with garlic, salt, and what ever other spices I have on hand that might sound good. It makes a LOT. I used smaller sized potatoes and I still have a huge amount of it. Thankfully, we like potato soup and it's a granny grocery weekend, so I'll take her some left overs on Sunday.

Risotto.

Tonight I made the most delicious risotto I've ever had. Perhaps I should clarify and say that I've never had risotto before. HA! I don't know how authentic this is, but I know it's dang tasty. I got the recipe from Once A Month Mom. I made only a few modifications, based on what I had. I didn't use link sausage, I used ground sausage. I didn't use both Parmesan and Romano cheeses - just the canned Parmesan cheese. She has further instructions on her blog if you wanted to make this ahead and freeze it.

Super good!!!

Italian Sausage Risotto

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
16 ounces Italian Sausage links (like Johnsohnville), sliced
1 cup apple juice
1 cup onion, diced
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1.25 cups rice
1 cup Chardonnay or dry white wine (can also sub apple juice)
3.5 cups chicken broth
1 cup peas, frozen
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/2 cup Romano Cheese, grated

Directions:

In a large saucepan, cook the sausage in apple juice. When finished cooking, remove from pan and slice. Heat oil in a large stockpot, add sliced sausage and onion, cooking until browned and softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme, cook for one minute longer. Add wine and rice and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in 3 cups of the chicken broth. Lower the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until broth is absorbed. Add the rest of the chicken broth slowly, stirring until rice is cooked and creamy. Stir in peas and cheeses; cook until heated through. Serve.

Scalloped Potatoes.

Friday night my menu called for ham with scalloped potatoes. I've home made them in the past but mostly we just box it for dinners. Since I'm trying to make my food budget stretch further, making them myself was more of a savings, so I set off in search of a good recipe. We ran out of cheese a few days prior (and I'm trying my best to do without if I mismanage and run short of something prior to grocery day - all those little side trips to the store really add up) so I needed something without cheese. Now, traditionally, scalloped potatoes don't have cheese - if they have cheese, it's potatoes au gratin (because I know you really wanted a lesson in cooking). It seems, though, that about 90% of the scalloped potato recipes I looked through contained some cheese or another. I went back to my old reliable allrecipes.com and picked this one. It received really good reviews and best of all - I had all the stuff on hand. These were so good we didn't even have any leftovers (and Ben enjoyed them as well, and he's iffy on potatoes).

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

5 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Paprika

Directions

· In a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish, layer potatoes and onion.

· In a saucepan, melt the butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add broth, mayonnaise, salt and pepper; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thick and bubbly. Pour over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika.

· Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or until tender.

Menu.

I actually created and shopped for this menu last week. Hopefully this week all we buy are things we run out of like fruit, creamer and coffee. I think we're good to go on everything else! :-)

Texas Beef Skillet

Red Beans & Rice

Chicken Enchiladas

Spaghetti

Ham & Scalloped Potatoes

Beef Burritos

BBQ Chicken

Wooo wee I just realized I planned us a whole bunch of Mexican-ish dinners for next week!

Do any of you menu plan? Tried any new recipes?

Tamale Casserole.

This is one that's been in our family forever. I want to say it came from my great grandma on my dad's side. It's delish, easy to make and feeds a lot.

2 cans chili with beans (I use Nally's Original but I have used the spicy Nally's for more zing)

2 cans beef tamales (these are generally found with the Hispanic food - I used to buy Nally's kind but WinCo only sells Hormel - they taste the same to me)

1 can tomato sauce

Corn chips (like Doritos, but any kind will really work)

Sliced olives

Onion

Cheddar cheese

• Preheat oven to 375
• In a casserole dish, layer the chips, tamales (remember to take the paper wrapper off - you can leave whole or break into pieces), chili, olives, onions and tomato sauce. Top with cheese. Depending on the size of your casserole, you can make multiple layers. It really makes zero change in the taste.
• Bake about 30 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted.

Easy, peasy and fairly tasty. I don't always put olives or onion in mine (I rarely buy olives and I don't really care for onions). Some times I add in a layer of Mexi Corn. Yum!

Menu.

Happy Halloween!

With out further ado, here is my menu for 10/31-11/06:

Beef & Veggie Stew

Primavera

Tamale Casserole

Tequila Lime Chicken

Meatloaf

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Kung Pao Chicken

Eat at mom's (hey mom...did you know? I assume you did...the Packer's have the night game)

So there you go. A wonderful week of meals. I've actually already made my menu for next week too and shopped for it. So that's a mini update on my goals post of how we're doing on our budget. Still not so great, but definitely getting better. I'm actually balancing my check book. I know some of you just died in shock, and I'll miss knowing that you read my blog. HA!! But seriously, I created a register in Excel and I update it, check it with the bank and I balance to the penny. It's really nice. My bills are all paid, groceries bought so all I have to do is try to not spend the "extra" that we have in the account until the 15th. And it sure would be nice if Nick's job would give him the money from the expense report he turned in over a month ago... just sayin...

And in relation to the picture above - Happy Halloween! Even though it's Ben's first, it's really not all that different yet. We attended Boo At the Zoo yesterday afternoon....meh. Did you know I hate crowds? I do. I hate large groups of people, ambling about in no particular direction (except the one that happens to be in my way) and stopping randomly, blocking the entire pathway and blocking it for those behind them that want to continue walking. Remind me why I went again? ha ha no, it was fun to see all the kiddos dressed up. We saw a lot of dragons, Transformers, Darth Vaders, doctors....I didn't see any pumpkins which surprised me. I figured every other baby would be in a pumpkin costume (Nick said he saw one but I must have gone to my happy place and blocked it out), so that was a nice treat.

Today we're going over to my parents for the Packer game and that's about it. I'm going to set out my bowl of candy with a sign that says something about a sleeping baby so please don't ring the bell. I'll have Nick keep an eye on things and hopefully our trick or treaters are honest and only take a few pieces each.

Hope your Halloween is a good one!

Skillet Lemon Chicken With Rosemary

So here is another new recipe that we tried last night. I'll post how it was written in the book and then I'll show what I did different and my plans for this in the future.

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3 cloves garlic

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, pressed

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon olive oil

• In a blender or food processor, blend lemon juice, wine, mustard, garlic and rosemary until well combined. In a large zipper-topped plastic bag, throw the chicken in and add the lemon juice mixture. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour (or do this in the morning and have it well marinated that night).
• In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of the chicken broth and cornstarch until dissolved; set aside.
• In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken (reserving marinade) on each side, about 4 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet and cover to keep warm.
• Now add reserved marinade to the skillet and, using a wire whisk, stir in the cornstarch mixture and the remaining broth. Bring to a bowl, sirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Return chicken to skillet, heat through and serve with sauce.

What I did different:

• I didn't use fresh lemon juice - just the kind from the little plastic squeezie bottle you buy at the grocery store.
• I didn't have dry white wine, but I did use a sweet dessert wine.
• I used the Gluden's spicy brown mustard for the dijon.
• I reduced the garlic from 3 cloves to 1 (I followed another recipe of hers where she called for 4 cloves of garlic and it was simply too much).
• I also didn't have rosemary so I subbed in thyme.
• I found that 4 minutes was not NEARLY enough time to cook the chicken and I only used 2 breasts.

Over all, this was good. It was tangy and had a good flavor. Here are my plans for next time:

• Follow all of the steps up through the marinade.
• At that point, I plan to add the cornstarch to the entire cup of chicken broth, combine with the chicken and marinade and bake in a 350 or 375 oven, covered with foil, about 30 or so minutes until the chicken is done.
• Then serve over egg or fettuccine noodles.