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Christmas Giveaway 2009

This giveaway looks great!

Menu Plan Monday ~ Feb. 9th

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)

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Easy Chow Mein (with ground turkey)

Wednesday - Awanas / Date Night

Thursday - Spaghetti & salad

Friday - Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, brown rice, & sugar snap peas

Saturday - Creme Brulees for dessert

Menu Plan Monday ~ January 26th

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)

Brownie meeting tonight

Tuesday - Chicken Taco Soup (freezer meal) & cornbread

Wednesday - Grilled cheese sandwiches for kids

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!!)

Thursday - Sweet & Sour Pork & steamed rice (freezer meal)

Friday - Tamales & beans (freezer meal)

Crockpot Caramel Apple Oatmeal Recipe

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.

Menu Plan Monday ~ Jan. 12th

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.

For more great menu planning, see I'm an Organized Junkie.


Monday - Frozen leftover chili

Tuesday - Mexican Potato Casserole

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Amish Chicken Casserole

Friday - Carne Asada Fajitas (meat from Trader Joe's)


I made a delicious snack today. Homemade hummus. I'm going to eat it throughout the week with vegetables and pita chips.

Menu Plan Monday ~ January 5th

I'm posting late this week. We were out of town this weekend visiting family. So here it is. For more Menu Planning, see I'm an Organized Junkie.


Monday - German Lentil Soup (recipe follows)

Tuesday - In-laws house (my brother-in-law is leaving Wednesday morning to go back to Germany)

Wednesday - Szechuan Stir Fry (Trader Joe's cookbook)

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.

Serving Size: 8

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