Spring Check In

Hi. It's Me.

Popping in for a visit at least.

Not making any promises.

We'll see.

I miss you.



Much to my delight, I/we went hiking three times this week. Spring has definitely sprung here in green Oregon. I would have gone a couple more times but it was just too wet to risk one of my kids falling. I am thankful this long winter is past and we have the next 6 or 7 months of being-outdoors-kind-of-weather to look forward to. I can't wait to get our first camping trip in!




Spring also means some shifting around for our last term of school. My girl's math is wonderful, but I have switched her to Aleks for now just to make sure she is ready for the same language and styles she will see on her first achievement testing coming up in May. I also started a couple of the kids in 4H for goats last fall so they are working on getting the goats used to being handled the same way they will be when they are shown. Two of my kids are just about to start play practice for Cinderella, and three of them are practicing, practicing, practicing for their voice recital in early summer. We have decided to drop our full day of outside classes, leaving only one morning per week for a P.E. class, so we can tie up some loose ends scholastically, work on "perfecting" our character (ahem), and also so we have more possible flex times for outside learning adventures. I am loving getting more acquainted with Charlotte Mason's thoughts on this.





I am also trying to get back into a routine for meal planning and more purposeful in our traditional style food habits. I have been spoiled with the meals I made when I ordered from Zaycon Foods. They have been so helpful during some tough times when meal planning was not on the top of my agenda, but I knew that telling the kids to "throw a Cheese Quesadilla on the George Foreman and grab a few baby carrots or an orange" should not be a daily happening.






This week I started a new batch of Kombucha and I am very much looking forward to the results. I also made Kefir and have yogurt and chevre multiplying their bacteria as we speak. I have a few other things burning in my mind that I'd like to make this week too, so we'll just see.

I am working on a compilation of the chicken recipes I used when I ordered 120 pounds of chicken breast the first time and 80 pounds the second time so my friends and family who ask will have one tidy place to refer to. I will be using my blog as the posting place so my faithful blog readers will see it first;).

Unfortunately, one of my main freezer shelves is broken and the food slides off each time I open the door and I have to be careful and strategic when trying to pile it back on so the door will close. I have nowhere else to put it, so I am going to have to plan to eat the things that take up the most freezer space first in order to get to the shelf and figure out what needs to be done to make it right again.








Well there's my blippet about life today.

Here's some of what we are planning to eat this week:

BREAKFAST:

Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal Pancakes (if I can locate the cord to my griddle. Urgh.) These babies are so filling that my big boys can usually only eat 2 or 3!

My Favorite Muffins

Baked Oatmeal baked in crockpot (using alternative sweetener, probably real maple syrup which is our favorite sweetener of choice) Baked Oatmeal was one of my favorites growing up and I have made it for my family from the beginning. But I have not tried making it in the crockpot, so this will be a tester.

Migas using truly free-range eggs . I might throw in some basil because I just love basil.

DINNER: (most of the links are the basic recipe, which I adapted so I could make them as freezer meals)

~ Enchiladas using the frozen Mole Chicken Burritos I made previously

~ Buffalo Chicken Mounds served on homemade buns (I have to let them raise longer where I live)

~ Praline Chicken

~Butterflied Whole Chicken Breast cooked on the grill, with mushrooms and asparagus

~ Chicken Marbella


(For tons more recipe links and menu ideas, visit www.orgjunkie.com, where lots of ladies like me link up every week to share ideas)

Keeping It Simple

If you look at my menus for Thanksgivings past, you will see that I am keeping it simple this year.

There has been so much going on; we have icy weather, and our three youngest have been sick with bad colds all week as well, so we decided to stay quiet this year. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day as a family, with no extended family or friends, for the first time ever. My menu will be simple, but full of tradition for us.

I usually try at least one new thing but I am not sure if I will this year. I am trying to be mellow. But old habits die hard so, we'll see.

We all need some time to relax and just give ourselves permission to sit around and play games, do puzzles, play Wii or whatever.

If everyone is feeling well enough, we will have some company for brunch on Friday. I will make a breakfast strata I have made for years. This Farmer’s Strata is one of my favorites. Stratas taste wonderful and are convenient because you make it the night before, so your morning is pretty easy.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and be blessed!

Homemade Cranberry Salsa over cream cheese, served with a variety of crackers

Lemon and Tarragon Turkey (this just sounded good so I am coming up with a recipe)

Cashew Swiss Salad

Scalloped Potato Casserole or Frufru Mashed Potatoes (I will take a poll of my family) with gravy (one of my sons reminded me to make PLENTY of gravy!)

Dilly Rolls

Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing (and some with no cranberries for a few people)

Sparkling Peach Punch

Sparkling Juice

Pumpkin Pie with homemade whipped cream

Spice Cookies and dip (one of my faves ever!)

Coffee

Salted Caramel Cocoa

Soup's On Saturday: Like Grandma Used To Make

(Due to problems with my writer this weekend, I am combining SOS (top half) and MPM (second half) . Come back on Saturdays for Soup's On Saturday, and Sundays for Menu Plan Monday.)

S.O.S. "Like Grandma Used To Make"

When I think of soups my grandma used to make, the first thing that comes to my mind is a bunch of slimy shellfish floating around in milk with a pat of butter. Not really my cuppa tea, but it is a family tradition and I do see the value in it. I just don't want to eat it!

The next soup I think of is my Gran's Chicken and Dumplings. But it's been awhile since she made the old fashioned kind. It was replaced years ago by canned Cream of Chicken Soup, and dumplings made with Bisquick.

I do, however, remember my Great-Grandma, as well as my Grandma, making Chicken Soup with Homemade Noodles. If you've never had homemade noodles before, you probably can't imagine the taste or the texture accurately.

My GG's noodles are made with white flour and I have not had much luck, so far, in revamping them with whole wheat. Truth be told, I sorta want to just leave them as they have always been - a pretty basic recipe. For every ONE egg, you add ONE cup of flour and ONE pinch of salt. Mix together until all ingredients are combined and knead until smooth. Roll to about 1/4 inch and cut into slices, however long you prefer your noodles to be. Add them slowly to your boiling bone broth (I add veggies too) and let them cook until done. Purty easy alright!

If that's not easy enough for you, Costco sells a brand of egg noodles that are very good and, in the absence of homemade, will do just fine.

Sorry I don't have pictures this time. I had hoped to get some of my grandma making them but can't find any so far.

If you have a favorite soup your grandma used to make, I'd sure love to see the recipe. Feel free to link it in my comment section. Make sure you come back next Saturday for my next installment, "Soup's On Saturday:Making and Using Dry Soups and Mixes". I gave dry soup mixes for Christmas one year and I still hear about how delicious and handy they were!

Menu Plan Monday:(for lots more menu ideas, visit OrgJunkie each Monday)

Note: Last week I planned to make Slow Cooker Curry Chicken with Quinoa, only not in the slow cooker. When I went to cook it up, I found that all of the apples I had planned on using had been eaten. Well, in this house of eight people, this is sometimes unavoidable -- items I purchase for a certain recipe get eaten. So, you have to learn to make do! I did have on hand a pint jar of pearsauce I made and canned last year, so I threw that in as a substitute and LOVED IT!

As for my MENU PLAN this week:

Monday: Rice and Sausages

Tuesday: Sloppy Joe's with Homemade buns we did not get last week

Wednesday: Cream Cheese Chicken over rice

Thursday: Nacho Spuds

Friday: Older and Wiser Sister's Taco Soup

Saturday Leftovers

Sunday OUT to eat

Have a wonderful week!

Menu Plan Monday, October 11-17

I hope to have a bunch of apples to use this week so our house should be full of the aroma of baking apples, slow cooked apple butter and the like all week! We also plan to visit our CSA farm and a neighbor with a pumpkin patch, so who knows what else we’ll end up with?

If you are coming over from MPM, please come back and visit me on Saturday, and maybe share your own recipe, for my Soup's On Saturday blog carnival. You can click my button below for more details, or even put it on your blog by using the code in my sidebar.

I don’t usually list out my side dishes in my MPM post, but this week I am hoping to try a few recipes for using squash in hopes that I can find at least one my family likes. Butternut Squash Fries, Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash, and Butternut Squash, Apple and Onion Au Gratin are a few of the recipes I am considering.

MENU PLAN:

Monday -- Slow Cooker Chicken Curry with Quinoa, I have two cooked chickens and will be using the bones and some of the meat to make my soup on Tuesday and the rest of the meat for today. Obviously, my chicken will already be cooked, so I will be adapting the recipe and not using the slow cooker.

Tuesday – Soup for Soup’s On Saturday, the theme this week will be Family Favorites (“Just Like Grandma Used To Make” – Or the ones you make which your grandkids will one day say that about).

Wednesday –- Something yet-to-be-decided using the crockpot. I will decide after I go to Farmer’s Market on Tuesday and/or today (Wednesday).

Thursday – Sloppy Joe’s on homemade buns (I have to let mine rise for about 2 hours). We will probably make a quadruple batch as we love these. If we have leftovers, we enjoy toasting them at breakfast time and slathering them with real butter and honey or maple syrup.

Friday – Leftovers before I rush off to an evening wedding

Saturday – I will make a nice breakfast of Baked Blueberry Apple Oatmeal this morning since all or most of my kids will be home at breakfast and not at dinnertime. Baked Oatmeal is something I grew up with and I’ve experimented with different ways to make it. This recipe is different and sounds wonderful! We’ll eat light at dinner, probably bean and cheese burritos or sandwiches.

Sunday – Restaurant for Little Man’s 4th Birthday. Of his choosing, so likely to be McDonald’s or some other nutrition free zone which we do not frequent except for on very rare occasions such as these!

I'd love it if you'd pllleeeaaase share with me your recipes and ideas for making squash the whole family will love (and I do NOT mean in desserts!).

I am likely to be in bittersweet mode this week with my baby turning four. So many mothers in the world don’t even get to have their little ones to their first birthday, so I am exceedingly grateful for healthy children. But he is growing up so quickly, as they all are, and no more babies on the horizon.

This is quite a different side of life for me!

Be Blessed!

For tons more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit OrgJunkie.

Menu Plan Monday: How Could It Be October 4-10 Already?

Fall definitely happened upon us this last week. When we arrived at our camping destination there were a few yellow leaves on the ground. When we left it was a carpet! If I had known this was the week, I would have taken before and after pictures. I did enjoy the contradiction of beautiful leaves though, floating by us on the water, displaying their fall colors even as we were splashing around in the summer-like weather.

Soup’s On Saturday began this past Saturday with “The Basics” and will be all about “Yummy Veggie Soups” next Saturday. Post your favorite veggie soup recipe on your blog and I’d love to have you link up. I am especially interested to hear about your favorite seasonal soups, made from local ingredients. It doesn’t have to be for this current season, but there sure are some great seasonal squash soup recipes in season right now…

This week is a busy one. In addition to homeschooling the kidlets, daily activities, and playing catch-up from being gone all week, I have a conference this weekend, so will be gone at dinner time both Friday and Saturday nights. Giving a clap for Jesus that I have some frozen dinners in that freezer!

At our house this week:

Monday: Leftovers from camping (includes biscuits, burritos, and Chicken Masala which my kids are sad to eat without naan bread!)

Tuesday: Fish Tacos (I made the filling ahead and it is in the freezer)

Wednesday: Veggie Soup (I will post about it for Soup’s On Saturday)

Thursday: 1 Dish Taco Bake (except I have too many people in my family so it takes 2-3 dishes, heehee)

Friday: BBQ Ribs and Rice

Saturday: Turkey Almond Casserole from the freezer (the recipe calls for chicken but I used both turkey and chicken as I had both to use up)

Sunday: Eat out? Maybe? I hope?… (Otherwise, I will come up with a crockpot meal because everyone is famished by the time we get home from church).

(For lots of links to other blogs with weekly menus this week, visit www.orgjunkie.com)

Have a cozy week!

Menu Plan Monday: Some of My Favorite Fresh Produce Meals

Yummy. This week I get to use some items I got at Farmer’s Market. This week contains some of my favorite recipes because I am crazy about tomatoes, zucchini, and green beans!

I love Farmer’s Market. It is one of my favorite Saturday activities. I am sure I have posted about it before. I just love the energy of all of those happy people walking around, listening to music, and looking at beautiful produce and flowers made by Someone pretty creative.

Many of the vendors, who are the actual farmers most of the time, do such a beautiful job making and/or displaying their wares.

We’ll be having Caprese at least once this week (I don’t use a recipe but am including it here in case anyone doesn’t know what it is) to take advantage of tomatoes while they are fresh. Many people never got ripe tomatoes around these parts this year, due to a very short summer. I feel bad for the farmers who count on that crop.

This week I will be eating freeze dried food for three days as I go backpacking with a group of friends somewhere in the state of Oregon. I’ll tell you about it next week. Since I got some big, woody zucchini for cheap at FM, I am going to make some of my Oatmeal-Zucchini Breakfast Cookies for my family to eat for breakfast on Saturday. They will be eating dinner meals I have ready-made in the freezer. Love that they are already made because it will be hectic enough getting ready to leave!

Campfire pic from last year’s trip. We all liked the Chili Mac the best.

Monday: BLTAs with bacon bought from a local farm and fresh tomatoes on homemade bread made by my daughter. Yummy. I can’t wait!

Tuesday: Zucchini Basil Casserole Ohhh YUM! My mouth is watering!

Wednesday: Pork Chops with Apples and fresh green beans made with bacon

Thursday: Something with steak and zucchini

Friday: BBQ Ribs from freezer, rice or baked potatoes, grilled zucchini

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Family out to eat

I hope you have a fresh and colorful week!

For more great meal ideas, view this week’s links at Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie

Menu Plan Monday, Not-Goin’-Campin’-After-All Edition

For more menu ideas, check out MPM at Orgjunkie.com

Seriously, I am so disappointed. First the mechanic was closed Friday so I could not pick up the batteries we need in order to go camping, pushing back our trip for a day.

Now, the skies read that the calendar says it is Back To School week in the Pacific NW and decided to provide stereotypical fall weather.

I had to decide – go or stay?

We’re staying home, starting school, and working slowly on getting packed for camping so we can leave at the first signs of nice, warm weather. Why go and freeze, then waste the sunny weather doing school? I am keeping my fingers crossed that there is still some 80+ degree weather in the forecast and NOT only the two weekends we can’t do it.

To make this week more festive for the kids, I will be including special breakfast favorites on a few of our menu days this week. Usually each person chooses from a variety of foods I keep available and eats what sounds good. Our staples include peanut butter toast, yogurt (often with a spoonful of peanut butter in it), fruit for smoothies and kids who love using the Vitamix, granola, eggs and oatmeal. If they do not choose an option with protein, they are required to eat some nuts, a spoonful of peanut butter, or something that does include protein and healthy fat for some brain food.

Some of the breakfast foods we will be having are:

~ Breakfast Cookies ( I will decide which ones, both are linked here)

~ Lazy’s Ultimate Muffins (I darn well better have saved this in my recipe box because my link shows that either Lara is not blogging anymore, or she has not yet started her Wordpress blog and linked her old one. OH NO!!! This is my favorite recipe by far! Gonna have to go check my box and hope I obeyed my instinct and copied it down…)

~ The Migas we tried last week were a hit. Even Mr. Picky Pants liked it. I didn’t really follow an exact recipe. You pretty much make a corn tortilla crispish in the frying pan, break it into pieces, cook scrambled eggs over it and then add cheese. I also fry ham for the kids and add veggies for mine. It’s kind of like making some breakfast nachos.

Gotta admit, last week I had so many irons in the fire I did not even look at my Menu Plan. I went from memory, used alot of leftovers and freezer finds, and we got pizza on Friday. Do you have weeks like that? It’s all about having a plan, but being flexible.

I WISH it was this kind of iron I had in the {camp}fire!

Monday, Labor Day: BBQ Pork Ribs leftover from meals I made and froze for my family to eat while I was in India. Sounds like good labor Day fare to me. I think I will make some potato salad to go with it. I’ve made potato salad for years but am always willing to try something new and wonderful. Do you have a wonderful potato salad recipe I should try?

Tuesday: I have Fresh Tuna Taco filling in the freezer, also leftover from meals I made for my family when I went to India. I hope it froze well and will be yummy this night!

Wednesday: BLTA’s on skinny hamburger buns or maybe homemade, if we have time to make them

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Creamy Crockpot Chicken Nachos

Saturday: Potato Pancakes with Indian Flair, homemade Green Chutney

Sunday: Fly By The Seat Of Our Pants (leftovers or go out to eat after church)

Have a great Back-To-School -- or in our case, NOT Back-To-School (since we homeschool) – week!

Oh, and if you are visiting me from MPM, I want to make sure you know about my Soup's On Saturday carnival starting in October. Click my S.O.S. button below for details -- and I'd love it if you grab my button and tell your friends too!

<center><a href="http://butihadatiara.blogspot.com/2008/10/soups-on-saturday-info.html"><img src="http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/GDest07/Tiffany%20Tiara/SoupsOnbutton.png" /></a></center>

Menu Plan Monday, August 30-Sept.5, 2010

My daughter has been showing an interest in antiques and vintage items for the past couple years. She sometimes goes “antiquing” or “garage sale-ing” with me, and has even ventured to the huge antique expo with me a couple of times. So I was pretty excited when, at the Goodwill a couple weeks ago, I found an old recipe card club file box from 1971with a complete set of recipes, including a section entitled “Recipes Children Can Make”.

Making sure that my daughter knows how to run a household is very important to me. She needs to know how to care for others, take care of babies, clean, do laundry and etc. for sure, but I really, really want to make sure she understands how to cook, develops an instinct, and has confidence with it. She is 9 years old now and knows some basics, but I am excited to take her through some more formal training.

So, starting once our family schedule settles down a bit (when we are done with traveling and camping trips), we, along with my 11 year old son at least some of the time (yep, boys need to know too!), are going to start some purposeful cooking lessons, using this vintage Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library.

Some of the recipes are not as wholesome as I prefer to serve my family regularly, but they are recipes that she will be able to do by herself, and can give her a good foundation for confidence building.

She and I are both pretty excited about getting started. I’ll be using the recipes in my MPM posts and linking to the blog where we will have posted about making it (I will also be teaching her some computer skills during the process) so you will all get to see how it is going.

With that in mind, I have also planned to use several recipes this week which the kids can make with me, just to whet our whistles. Amidst all of the projects, I am trying to spend time with the kids and involve them as much as possible in whatever I am doing. I am trying to make the most of every summer minute we have left. I hope you are doing the same!

Have a great week!

Menu Plan Monday

I have found so many new recipe ideas through people who have posted their menus and links to recipes on Menu Plan Monday. I don’t have time to look at every link, but I do look through at least several almost every week. I make a note of recipes I’d like to try on my private blog space, where I hyperlink recipes, and make a note of which blog I found the link on so I can give credit if/when I actually use it in my Menu Plan. I love MPM:)

Monday: Apple and Chicken Sandwiches with this recipe which OrgJunkie shared on MPM as inspiration.

Tuesday: Easy, Creamy Mexican Skillet which was referred by Vanderbilt Wife via MPM

Wednesday: BBQ Sloppy Chicken Pan Pizza also referred via MPM

Thursday: Pepperoni Bread also found via MPM, when I followed additional links

Friday: Indian Flair Potato Pancakes

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Burger Thing

In addition to menu plans for dinner, I am hoping to try Migas as something new for breakfast.

Menu Plan Monday, August 16-22, 2010, Camping In A Trailer

If you are just popping in to look at my menu, I'd love it if you joined my SoupFest starting in October. Find out more by clicking on my button below.

MENU PLAN MONDAY

Since we’re camping, I figured I’d share with you one meal per day from my trailer style camping menu for this week’s meals with you. You will notice that I use my crockpot and rice cooker. When you have electricity, both of these items come in handy to save time in the kitchen and/or space in the cooler.

In addition to some of our main meals, I use the crockpot to make desserts using fresh produce I find in the local area where we are camping. This week I have pre-measured and brought with us the dry ingredients I need for both Nutty Apple Streusel and Black and Blue Cobbler and I will decide which to make when I see which ingredients I can find most cheaply have most readily available. (To skip my ramblings about cooking in a dutch oven or over a campfire, scroll down to menu plan).

Another thing I love to do for my family is to make food in my cast iron dutch oven with charcoal briquettes. I dig a small pit (or one of my menfolk digs it for me) and put some heated briquettes on the bottom of the hole and on the lid of the dutch oven. This week I plan to use it to take advantage of fresh peaches. I will rub a cube of butter all over the inside of the pan to help prevent food from sticking too badly. Then I will throw into the pot about 12 peeled and sliced peaches, some tapioca beads, and a little cinnamon. I learned about tapioca from my aunt a few years ago, when we were having a family campout. It was the first time I attempted to make anything in a pit in my dutch oven and it turned out very juicy and wet. The tapioca helps to absorb that peachy goodness. Then I dump a (partial) box of yellow or butter cake mix on top of the peach mixture and at least an entire cube of some butter, cut into pats and evenly distributed over cake mix. I find cake mix to be very sweet, so I only add enough to cover the top, and I don’t add sugar. Cooking time varies, depending on which dutch oven I use, how many and what kind of briquettes, etc., so check it often as you are first trying it. It’s done when the peaches are tender, but not too mushy.

At the campfire, we will be roasting biscuit dough. If you buy the pre-made biscuits in the pop open tube, roast half a biscuit at a time by stretching it all around your roasting fork, pretzel style. It takes some practice but you will eventually get the hang of it. After it is roasted, we dip it in melted butter, then cinnamon and sugar. We love this tradition!

If we make S’mores, we often use Reeses instead of chocolate bars. I don’t like marshmallows, so I roast my Reeses over the fire for just a few seconds so it gets gooey and then I put it between two graham crackers.

Do you enjoy camping? Do you have any shortcuts or tricks you use to save time cooking while you are at the campground? Do you have any favorite camping or campfire recipes? I’d love to use them! I am especially interested in recipes which call for cooking on, in (foil packets, etc.) or above a campfire.

Monday: Taco Soup - I brown the beef before we leave home. Today, before we leave for the lake, I will throw all of the ingredients into my crockpot. When we come back to our little trailer, it will smell good, and dinner will just be minutes away from being served.

Tuesday: Sausage Skillet Supper – I brown the sausage before we leave home. In the morning ,when I first get up, I start the rice cooker. Once again, I throw all of the ingredients into the crockpot, and set it to low, before we leave for that day’s activities. This recipe was originally found, years ago,in one of my Taste Of Home magazines. I substituted brown rice for white and made it my own:)

Wednesday: Burritos and Taco Salad – I have already browned and seasoned the ground beef, so all I have to do is heat up the beef and refried beans then put out a whole bunch of other choices and let everyone build their own.

Thursday: Turkey Wraps – I like the pre-made jalapeno artichoke dip from Costco spread on a tortilla with turkey added, then heated. When it comes out, I add tomato and a few Kettle BBQ Chips (Kettle does not use MSG). Little kids or those who don’t like spicy food can substitute cream cheese or cheddar.

Friday: French Dips with grilled onion and mushrooms, served with melted cheese on toasted bun (we use our trailer oven for this)

Saturday: Chili Haystacks: Premade or canned chili, topped with Fritos and cheese, then melted.

Sunday: Clean out the ice box!

I hope you can squeeze in at least one more camping trip this summer. Well, unless you are like some of my friends who "don't camp" and "prefer 5 star resorts". In that case, I hope the bedbugs don't bite.

You totally know who you are.

Menu Plan Monday, August 2-9, 2010

For a ton more menu and recipe ideas, check out this week's Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie.

Who out there does Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)? Do any of you use your own recipes and make them work for your big cooking day? Or do you use a prescribed menu created by someone else? What are some of your favorite meals?

Before I left to go to India (you can read a couple posts where I reflect about that here and here if you are just popping in from MPM and you’d like to), I cooked and froze enough meals for my family to eat dinner each day with leftovers for lunches. However, apparently, many of the dishes had enough for 2-3 meals. So we still have a number of meals in the freezer, which I now get to enjoy as I get caught up on sleep, housework, school planning, family and friends, and work on some other projects I have brewing.

Those meals sure are coming in handy, and I do believe I want to make it a habit to pre-make at least two weeks worth of meals each month. I am looking for suggestions on healthy, yummy, good-for-the-freezer meals to add to my growing list, so please do tell if you have some you really love!

My meal plan this week is a feeble attempt at re-establishing some sort of routine. All three of my older boys will be out of the country at a couple different orphanages. That cuts down on how much I need to make for dinner by half. I am hoping that means I can also cut down on my time in the kitchen by half! Yep, it’s all about quick and easy while, hopefully, still being healthy. Please forgive the fact that I am not including very many recipe links this week.

In addition to meals I made previously, I will be adding some items (frozen) I bought at Costco, some fresh items I buy at Farmer’s Market and some fresh, seasonal, local produce. I love me some grilled veggies! And, ohhh, do we ever love Oregon blueberries this time of year!

Monday - Grilled Nut’N Berry Sausages (locally made with local ingredients)and seasonal grilled veggies (probably potatoes, corn and zucchini)

Tuesday - Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon in Wine Sauce and **Last Minute Addition (see below)

Wednesday – Hamburgers with fresh, local green beans seasoned with local pork and onions, watermelon

Thursday – Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon in Wine Sauce (based loosely on this recipe)

Friday – Pizza from Costco

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Burger Thing at church

Have a great week – and take it easy along with me!

**Last Minute Addition: I clicked on a link I found at this week's MPM, which took me to this cute blog, which I think is dedicated to Pioneer Woman cooking, which, of course, linked me to Pioneer Woman, who I love but don't read because, well, because everyone else does.

So, anyway, I am totally making these on Tuesday night. Because I have not started back on my super strict diet yet since I got back from India. And I am soon, so I wouldn't be able to eat these. And I wanna eat them.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Menu Plan Monday on Wednesday: Easter Edition

Okay, so I had a busy weekend and I've had a weird week. Thus, no menu plan. Oopsie.

I did switch food around in fridges and freezers because I found a good deal on craigslist for a fridge. So there was some stuff to use up.

I had an activity last night with one of my kids, so we had Papa Murphys. Note to self: I do not like their pizza sauce.

 

I asked friends on my Facebook what they are eating this Easter and got some fun responses including eating out or ordering in from Cracker Barrel, Marie Callendars and La Provance. One of my friends listed out almost exactly my menu, sans the Stained Glass Cake. She is going to serve Key Lime Pie for dessert instead.

One friend is going greek (should I capitalize that?) so I imagine she is making lamb. Several friends are making lamb actually. But I can't stand lamb so I did not add it. When I said as much, that same friend, who knows I'd never, ever eat it, suggested rabbit. Of course then we joked about hossenfeffer (sp?).

No can do Mr. Elmer Fudd.

My Menu:(underlined titles are clickable links which will take you to the recipe) 

Tri-Tip Roasts made on Traeger Grill. I am using a delicious and simple recipe from a friend. It’s top secret so I can’t give you the recipe. But do imagine something mouth watering. Because even I love it and I am not a meat lover). We are having company so I will make 2 of these.

Spiral Ham (My family loves leftovers and there will be no tri-tip leftover)

Avocado Strawberry Salad
I got the basic recipe from Frontier Foods and adjusted it with my own preferences and also to include spinach (see very end of post for recipe).

Dilly Rolls with real organic butter (if anyone asks me why organic is important for butter I will post about it later). I have served these for years. I usually make at least a triple batch as my family loves using them to make ham sandwiches with leftover ham. If I am running short on time I will substitute with Costco's Potato Rolls.

Potato Casserole
SHORTCUT: Buy frozen cubed, usually called O'Brien, potatoes at the store rather than peeling and dicing or slicing my own. I add sour cream, cream cheese, ranch dressing mix and cheddar and bake in a casserole dish. For holidays I often buy the disposable aluminum pans for quicker clean up and more enjoyment of the day.

Gravy (because I like to use the juice from the ham and my family loves gravy leftovers)

Tangerine Grilled Asparagus 

I have tried an asparagus and melon dish before. I hate melon but thought it might be good. It tasted like melon. I did not like it. I have also tried a soy and sesame one and I liked it. But I wanted to try something new and this sounded interesting and yummy. We'll see how it goes.

Stained Glass Cake, a family tradition since my big kids were little

Maybe:
Blackberry Jam Cake With Caramel Icing My friend K'lyn suggested this one. She found her recipe via Rachael Ray. But I could not locate that one so my link is one I found by using good ole Google. If I make it, I will use this recipe. It sounds awfully moist and delicious.

Costco Cookies (I love dipping things in my coffee or milk like a raccoon. Prefer homemade but will be at church all morning and don't want to rush around too much the day before)

Other things I considered:

Kouign Aman My friend K'lyn told me about this also. It's one of the things she's thinking about making. I didn't choose it for this time only because it sounds like something I want to practice before I make it for company. But it sure sounds yummy. I hope K makes it so she can tell me how it turns out.

Trifle of some kind. It looks so pretty in the trifle dish. I have made several kinds. I love using fresh berries in summer. But would probably make a chocolate coffee one I made once before. Now that I'm thinking about it I am kinda sad I am not making it.

Do any of you have a special food tradition or something interesting and new you are trying? What are you doing for Holy Day? I love new ideas for recipes and for traditions.

Well, there's lots more I'd like to say about Easter and Passover and my thoughts on them this year. Hopefully I will get to at least one more post this week.

In the meantime, I am hoping each of you has a blessed Holy Day,

STRAWBERRY AVOCADO SALAD:

2 Avocadoes and 2 Oranges, both peeled and cut into bite sized chunks.

2 Cups Strawberries, sliced

2/3 cups Pecans, Toasted

Toss with about 1/3 of dressing (below) or to desired amount

Fill Salad bowl with spinach leaves

Arrange fruit mixture on top of spinach.

Sprinkle with pecans just before serving to keep them crisp

Drizzle with a little more dressing

Serve additional dressing on the side

DRESSING:
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
3 Tablespoons Honey
1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon cardamom seed powder
1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder
3/4 teaspooon dried peppermint leaf, more if fresh

Menu Plan Monday: March 22-28, 2010

Between leftovers, food I discovered that needed to be used from the freezer, the fact that I forgot to include our traditional St. Patty's Day menu last week, and the trays of {delicious} staff leftovers that my oldest son brought home, I only made a couple of my menu items this week. So, needless to say, it was easy to plan this week's menu.


Because things are always changing around here, I do not include my breakfast or lunch menus in my menu plan. But please do stay tuned this week because I am doing more with green smoothies. I am taking a challenge from The Smoothie Queen for 10 days, just to give me more ideas. And I'll be posting my very favorite green smoothie. It has 2 cups of spinach in it but I DON'T EVEN TASTE IT!


Now for my dinner plans for this week:

Monday: Jerky Chicken with Quinoa

Tuesday: Moroccan Root Vegetable Stew over Couscous (cook whole chicken, debone and include chicken in this recipe then use broth for Tortellini Soup)

Wednesday: Basil Tortellini Soup with Homemade Bread

Thursday: Freezer Surprise

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: CONCERT, dinner on the go

Sunday: Eat Out

Have a wonderful First Week Of Spring!

Menu Plan Monday: March 15-21, 2010

I never did go in last week and make my menu any prettier or any more interesting. But I DID get it up there and that helped me stay on track this week. As usual, being purposeful gave me, Ms. Flexibility, something to flex, as I did not make everything -- and certainly not on the nights I had planned them. But a menu gives me a starting point and a safety net when my days get busy or I get distracted, which I do have a tendency to do.

One of my current distractions is that I have started making Green Smoothies the last couple of weeks. I thought maybe I'd be the only one drinking them. I acted very possessive and like I did not want to share. Of course, that made them very desirable. And, whaddaya know? Many mornings I end up sharing. Hmm, how'd that happen? (I know you are exchanging a knowing smile with me right now.)

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I hope to get at least one blog post in this week about Green Smoothies. After all, I am married to an Irish Guy. So, if you are interested, then tell your people to contact my people (i.e. alert your blog reader to alert you when I post) and we'll getcha hooked up.

In the meantime, here's what's for dinner:

Monday: Loaded BBQ Potato Casserole
Tuesday: Freezer Surprise (Thanks for the idea Dragon Musings)
Wednesday: Jerky Chicken
Thursday: Basil Tortellini Soup with Sister's Homemade Bread
Friday: Moroccan Style Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew served over couscous
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Eat Out



Have a healthfully green week!

Menu Plan Monday: March 8-12, 2010

Please do check back in the next day or so for a much nicer MPM post. I at least want to get this linked at OrgJunkie before I am number 5,846 -- but I am going to add more detail as soon as I have a chance. Have a great week!

Monday: Lentil tacos with Homemade Tortillas
Tuesday:Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Wednesday: Scrabble Soup with bread homemade by my little daughter
Thursday: Basketball Pizza Parties for 2 kids
Friday: Loaded BBQ Potato Casserole
Saturday: Leftover Buffet

Menu Plan Monday: March 1-7, 2010 and A Thought About MPM

I'll tell you up front that this post is going to be way too long. It has four parts. I creatively labeled them Part One, Two, Three and Four. That way, if you are only here to use me for my delicious menu, and have no interest in my really well written review of last week's menu or my informative preview to this week's menu, including some provocative thoughts I have on Menu Plan Monday, you can scroll down to Part Four to see my menu with lots of links (without which, I personally find MPM to be useful only for the writer of a menu).

PART ONE: Thoughts on MPM, Part One (Part One suspensefully hints that I may have other thoughts on MPM and may share them at some later date)

I love menu planning for my own sake. As I have said before, it gets me started on the right foot to be organized for the new week. And I am always hopelessly striving to be more organized. So I encourage all of my friends to do it, whether you do it on a blog, or on your own computer, or on a scrap of paper on the fridge.

I participate in Menu Plan Monday. MPM is the brilliant idea of Laura at

Orgjunkie. com, where bloggers can post their menu plans for the upcoming week, then link their blog post so other people, bloggers or not, can see what other people are making and get good ideas for their own menu planning.

There are literally hundreds of links (last week 479 people linked) and I can never get to them all. Time is money. Well, in my case, not really, because I am not paid in money. But still. My time is valuable. So most weeks I come up with a way to choose like "every 12th link", or "Blog Names That Sound Cute". Then I start clicking. And I pray that the blog I am headed to has at least one recipe or link posted and not just a stranger's menu plan for the week with the names of what they are making.

I understand why people post their menus, but I don't really understand why they link their post if they only provide a list of menu items and do not include links or recipes. Because I don't know them and this does not help me.

Just thought I'd mention.

PART TWO: Last week's menu

~At the suggestion of Laura from Orgjunkie, I made Chicken Spaghetti, which she found at Pioneer Woman. I think PW (or someone) adapted it from this recipe, and I made a few changes of my own, which I will note at the bottom of this post. Simple to make and my whole family loved it.

~1 Dish Taco Bake was also a hit. I doubled the recipe and cooked it in this little beauty (12" Le Creuset Skillet) rather than in two pie plates. This was a mistake. And I knew it as soon as I had all of the ingredients layered in it. Because the recipe uses quick rising yeast, and the food was already at the top of the skillet. So I placed a cookie sheet under the skillet in the oven and waited for the majik, which soon followed. Next time I will double the recipe, put half or two-thirds in the skillet and the rest on a small pie plate. Because there is something so cozy about serving supper out of a genu-wine cast iron skillet.

Part Three: About this week's menu
Last week I explained about why our "Valentine's Dinner" was late. Well, now it is later still. Because we planned to share it with friends, one of whom has a somewhat fragile immune system, and we still have coughers around here, especially my oldest and my youngest (one of my aunts thinks we should go on Juice Plus. I have heard good things and have considered it for years but just haven't spent the money. Do any of you have any thoughts about JP?). Now that it is so far past February 14th, I have decided I am calling that particular menu simply Who Needs February 14th Traditional and Special Show My Love For My Family Menu. You will see it tentatively planned for Wednesday.

The rest of the week you will see me using that wonderful invention called a crockpot and also trying to force myself to make pork or beef, which are not my favorites but my family enjoys.

Part Four: The Menu WITH Links

Monday: Sloppy Joes on Homemade Buns

Tuesday: Honey-Pecan Pork Chops

Wednesday: Nacho Spuds (Or last Wednesday's meal which I have explained above).

Thursday: Taco Soup (crockpot, from my Older and Wiser Sis)

Friday: Salsa Chicken over Rice (crockpot!)

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Eat Out

Have a genu-winely wonderful week!

My take on Chicken Spaghetti


Cut Up Cooked Chicken (instead of PW's whole chicken I used pieces)
Dry cappellini pasta (angel hair), broken into little pieces
2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
2 cups Costco Grated Mixed Cheese
Olive Oil
½ diced red pepper
½ diced yellow pepper
¼ cups diced onion (I sauteed all of my veggies)
1 jar (4 Ounce) diced pimentos
2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
Lawry's Seasoned Salt, to taste
Cayenne Pepper, to taste
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Additional Grated Cheese

Instructions
Cook desired chicken in about 6 cups of water. I used 2 bone in breasts and 2 boneless thighs.

Remove chicken and 2 cups broth from pan, use to cook cappellini until al dente (I used 1.5 pounds and it made a ton). Do not overcook.

Debone chicken and cut meat into small pieces.

Saute peppers and onion in olive oil until tender.

When spaghetti is cooked, combine with all ingredients except the additional cheese, including the 2 cups of broth (start out using less to desired consistency but I used it all).

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar.

Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).