Hey there. Here's another week of Menu Planning fun. For more great menu planning ideas, see I'm an Organized Junkie.
What are everyone's plans for Valentine's Day? It looks like my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew will be moving into their house on Valentine's Day! So we may be helping them out. I'm so excited for them!!
Other than that I'm not sure what we'll be doing. I'm going to have vanilla bean creme brulees made for dessert though and perhaps some bubbly!
Monday - leftovers or grilled cheese (Brownie Meeting)
I'm trying to have us eat up some of the meals in our freezer this week. So, I'm not going to be doing much cooking. Maybe I'll get some extra things done this week, like cleaning. :-)
For more Menu Planning, see I'm an Organized Junkie.
Breakfasts: Today, the kids and I made a crockpot full of Irish oatmeal (I used a combination of 2 different recipes. We'll be eating this throughout the week.) & a batch of Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. Recipes are below.
Snacks: We also made some Gingerbread cookies today from a mix that Honey (the name our kids call my mom instead of calling her Grandma) gave us.
So for snacking, we'll be eating those cookies, celery and carrot sticks with ranch (I might make a hummus dip again to dip veggies in also), pretzels dipped in almond butter, and yogurt.
Lunches:Roast beef sandwiches, PB&J, bean & cheese burritos, & baked 'taters with chili
Dinners:
Monday - Quesadillas and leftover green beans (weird combo but we need to eat these before they go bad)
Awana Meeting for the kiddos & Date Night for hubby and I (We just got the kids enrolled in Awanas 2 weeks ago. They love it, and we have 2 hours to go out to dinner alone!!)
The problem with some crockpot oatmeal recipes is they don't use enough liquid. So by the time you wake up in the morning, the oatmeal is crusty and stuck to your slow cooker. This crockpot oatmeal turns out just the way oatmeal was intended to taste and can cook 8 to 9 hours without sticking.
Important: You must use steel cut oatmeal, such as McCann's Irish Oatmeal, not rolled oats or instant oats. Otherwise, your oatmeal will cook too fast and end up sticking to the crockpot. If you don't want to use the milk and cider, just substitute 8 cups of water.
2 cups steel cut oats (not instant or rolled oats)
4 cups milk
4 cups apple cider
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split but not scraped, or use 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped dried apples
1 cup raisins
Spray crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. If you're planning to cook the oatmeal 8 hours or longer, use 8 cups of liquid. If you want to cook it less than 8 hours, use 6 cups of liquid. Put first seven ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low. Just before serving, Stir in raisins. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar and add cream if desired.
Serves 8.
Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
12 muffins
350 degree oven, 25 minutes
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup all purpose flour (or half and half with whole wheat)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add sugar and mix until well blended. Add in egg and applesauce, and beat together. Without stirring, add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Once they are all added together, stir the dry ingredients a bit, then incorporate into the wet ingredients; you could just use a separate bowl, but why do more dishes? Stir in the chocolate chips.
Spoon into medium sized muffin tins, well greased or lined with liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degree oven.
We have a busy week this week. My daughter had a Brownie meeting tonight. It's cookie sale time again. Cookie prices went up this year, $4 a box. Can you believe it?
Anyhow, I'm going to take the kids to an Awana meeting for their first time on Wednesday night. So, I think Wednesdays will have to be leftover nights.
Thursday - Chicken Tortilla Soup (Southern Living Slow Cooker book)
Friday - Mexican Potato Casserole
Saturday - Amish Chicken and Rice Casserole
German Lentil Soup with Frankfurters
Preparation Time 7 mins.
Cooking Time 45 mins.
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
8 cups water
1 cup lentils
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound hot dog, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
In a kettle saute chopped onions, crushed garlic clove, chopped carrots, and chopped celery ribs in heated oil for 5 minutes.
Add water, lentils, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook slowly, covered, for about 30 minutes, or until lentils are just tender.
Add thinly sliced hot dogs and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in cider vinegar. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
Last week was pretty busy. I didn't get around to making two of the meals. So we'll be having them this week instead. I'm going to try to get all the presents wrapped this week. I have one wrapped so far.
How's everyone doing with their shopping? I tried to get done early because I hate shopping during the madness. So I only have a couple things to pick up, and I can grab them when I do my regular errands this week. Yay!! I'm not usually this far along. I've been a lot more organized this year around.
QUICHE LORRAINE · 1 (9−inch) pastry shell · 1/4 lb. sliced bacon, cut into 1−inch pieces · 2 C. cream or milk · 3 eggs, well beaten · Salt and freshly−ground pepper, to taste · A grating of fresh nutmeg · 1/2 C. diced or shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese
Prick the bottom of the pie crust thoroughly with a fork to prevent it from bubbling up during cooking. (I'm going to pre-bake the crust for about 8 min.) Fry the bacon in a large skillet over high heat until much of the fat is rendered out, but do not fry it until it is crisp. Drain the bacon on paper towels. Combine the cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a bowl and mix well. Place the bacon in the bottom of the pie shell, followed by the cheese. Pour the egg mixture into the shell and bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool and serve lukewarm. Serves 6 to 8.
I'm excited about this week's menu. There's 3 new recipes I'm trying out. So I hope they are successful. It's been a busy week. I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. Woohoo!!
I can't believe it's December already. It's a very busy month for us. First, my birthday is on the 7th this coming Sunday. My daughter's birthday is the 21st. Our anniversary is the 23rd. Then we have Christmas stuff all month.
My goal is to have all Christmas shopping done by the middle of next week. Good luck me!
Dinners
Monday -Quick Chicken Curry, brown rice, and steamed green beans
Breakfasts - I made a huge batch of whole wheat waffles this past weekend and froze them. So we'll be having waffles, bagels and oatmeal.
Lunches - Sandwiches, soup and leftovers
Snacks - Granola and yogurt, fresh fruit (my kids have been gobbling up those mandarin oranges), crackers and cheese, whole grain pretzels dipped in almond butter
I love this time of year! Here's another week of meal planning. I didn't have to plan too much because there were a couple of meals I didn't get around to making last week. So I put them on this week's menu.
Well, here we are again. I'm getting my Menu Planning done early this week. I got caught up on a lot of cleaning last week. I was also able to stick with my menu's which was nice.
This week I'm going to try to go through all of the kids and my clothing. I want to get all the cooler weather clothing out and get rid of everything that we won't be using/fitting next year. I'd also like to take the kids to see Madagascar 2. My daughter is on break from school so it's a good time to do these things.
It's definitely fall! I love it!! I can use my oven without worrying about it overheating the kitchen. I pulled out my slow cooker last week and made some awesome Chicken Taco Soup. It was delicious and so easy. It was great since we were all still sick last week. I had leftovers for lunch a couple days after. I passed the recipe on to a friend, and it was a total hit with her family. I don't think I posted my menu last week so if anyone wants the recipe here it is.
I want to try to slow cook at least once a week. I love the smell of a slow cooked dinner in the house.
Monday - Frozen chili or something
Tuesday -Homemade Baked Mac & Cheese & green beans
My son has the croup again. He just had it 2 months ago. I went to bed with a really sore throat last night. It feels a little better this morning. I had some spice tea while I looked up recipes online for this week's menu. Well, I'm off to take a late shower, pick up my daughter from school (minimum day), and then go do my grocery shopping for the week. :-)
Monday - Tex Mex Mac and Cheese My daughter has a Brownie meeting tonight, so we needed to have an easy meal.
Well, here's my Menu Plan again. I had a menu plan last week, but I forgot to post it. We had just come home from vacation the day before. This week every recipe that sounded good to me was Mexican. But I restrained myself and put a couple non-Mexican style recipes on my plan.
Monday - Cheesy Chicken & Red Bell Pepper Quesadillas and rice and beans
You can make your own tostada shells by frying 5-inch corn tortillas until crisp with just a little corn oil or canola oil.
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded, deveined,
finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, divided
4 (5-inch) tostada shells
6 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup refrigerated salsa
1 small avocado, diced
1. Heat broiler. Whisk eggs, milk, chile, salt and pepper in small bowl. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Cook eggs 2 minutes or until softly scrambled, stirring frequently. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro.
2. Place tostada shells on small baking sheet. Divide scrambled eggs among shells; top with cheese. Broil 30 to 60 seconds or just until cheese is melted and bubbly.
3. Sprinkle tostadas with remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro; serve with salsa and avocado.
2 servings
PER SERVING: 515 calories, 36 g total fat (13 g saturated fat), 23 g protein, 28 g carbohydrate, 460 mg cholesterol, 1180 mg sodium, 7.5 g fiber
Wednesday- Spicy Green Bean Stir Fry with Brown Rice (Family Fun October 2008)
Thursday- * Fajitas * (This is our family favorite.)
Friday- Turkey Chili and Corn Bread For the fajitas I use Trader Joe's-Pollo Asado. I have a fajita grill that I use, but you can use a grill pan or a regular grill. I grill the chicken for about 4-5 min on each side. Then I remove the chicken and start grilling one red bell pepper cut into strips and 1/2 to 1 whole onion sliced into half circles. Slice the chicken into strips while the peppers and onion are cooking. Remove peppers and onions after they are done and serve.
To serve: We warm the small fajita or soft taco tortillas. Then we pile the chicken, peppers, onions, cheese, sour cream and guacamole on the tortilla.
For more menu ideas and Family Favorites this week fo to Laura's blog.
Wow, last week went by so fast. There was only 1 meal from my Menu Plan last week that I didn't make. I think I might make it tonight, not sure yet. Well, here's my menu for this week. My daughter helped me plan this afternoon while my son was napping.
Breakfasts- Whole-wheat bagels w/ nut butter or cream cheese, cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat, and cold), scrambled eggs w/chives from our herb garden.
Lunches- soup, sandwiches, salad, leftovers and veggie chili baked potatoes
Snacks- Smoothies and crackers, popcorn, or pretzels
I've decided to try out some recipes this week from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I checked it out from my local library. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go ahead and buy it. I already cooked and pureed a few vegetables last week.
Breakfasts- muffins, waffles, cold cereal, oatmeal, and banana bread
Lunches- sandwiches and salads
Snacks- carrot sticks and ranch, fruit, banana bread, and crackers with peanut butter
Dinners-
Monday- Freezer meal or something simple like grilled cheese
I'm a little late posting this. I was so busy today. I have lots of Mexican type meals planned this week. My family's favorite!! I have a lot of tortillas to use up.
Monday- Leftovers (We have a Brownie meeting tonight, so there's no time for a special St. Patrick's Day meal. :( Oh well)
Tuesday- Homemade Pizza w/ whole wheat dough made with bread machine
Wednesday-Tex Mex Chicken Soup and tortillas (it's supposed to rain this day so I thought soup would be nice)
