Menu Plan

I know, I know, it's been a while.  Holidays kinda had me all wrapped up, we hosted both Thanksgiving dinner AND Christmas dinner and we got WAY off course with the menu planning and grocery shopping.  Hoping to put all that back on course now that it's a new year!!  So here we go...

M ~ Salad with Chicken
T ~ Sheppard's Pie
W ~ Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Crockpot Apricot Chicken with Broccoli and Rice
F ~ Ravioli
S ~ Burgers with Turnip Coleslaw
S ~ Dinner with Gramma Lynn

M ~ Slow Cooker Jambalaya 
T ~ Apple Pie Chicken and Stuffing
W ~ Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Inside out Chicken Pot Pie
F ~ Pizza
S ~ Crockpot Chicken Sloppy Jose's
S ~ Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

M ~ Crockpot Ranch Chicken
T ~ Chicken Curry with Vegtables
W ~  Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Spaghetti and Meat Balls
F ~ Grilled Cheese (on Panera Tomato Basil...)
S ~ Pizza
S ~ Meat Pie

Now to make up a list and hunt for some coupons :)

A Month (Plus) of Menu Planning...

We really tightened our budget so I am going to try to do a majority of our shopping twice a month now, with a budget of $650/month for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and toiletries for 5 people, lets see how this goes!

*Disclaimer...wherever I say sandwiches, I really mean something quick since we wont be all together as a family...be it PB&J, Grilled Cheese, french toast, etc...

22 Something quick... (shopping day)

23 Spinach Pita Pizza

24 Apple Pie Chicken

25 Crockpot Chicken Enchilada

26 Farm Share Stir Fry

27 Sandwiches

28 Sandwiches

29 Tater throw together

30 Pizza Puffs

October

1 Sloppy Joe Chicken

2 Inside out Chicken Pie

3 Farm Share Stir Fry

4 Sandwiches

5 Sandwiches

6 Corned Beef Quesidillas (shopping day)

7 Chicken nuggets and tots

8 Pizza Hut for my Bday :)

9 Out

10 Steak

11 Sandwiches

12 Sandwiches

13 Spaghetti and Meat Balls

14 Spinach Pita Pizza

15 Inside out Chicken Pot Pie

16 Sheppard Pie

17 Farm Share Stir Fry

18 Sandwiches

19 Sandwiches

20 Italian Chicken (Shopping day)

21 Hot dogs

22 English Muffin Pizza

23 Soup and Grilled cheese

24 Apricot Chicken

25 Sandwiches

26 Sandwiches

27 Tacos

28 Meat Ball Subs

29 Burgers

30 Out

31 Stirfry

Things to try DIYing this month to save on

Cream Of Whatever Soup

Cheese itz

Granola bars

Menu Planning

So I have been on a recipe finding binge on pintrest and it reminded me I need to do my menu plan! Here it is...

Wednesday ~ Tomato Soup

Thursday ~ Sheppard's Pie

Friday ~ Egg and Cheese Muffins (Breakfast for dinner we need a break from the pita pizzas! Going to freeze them and try them out for breakfast on Sunday so we can see how well they really taste after being frozen)

Saturday ~ Cheddar Crusted Chicken

Sunday ~ Tacos

Monday ~ Inside out Chicken Pie

Tuesday ~ Apple pie chicken

The farm we get our farm share from took a pretty hard hit from Irene so this week we see the last of the tomatoes and some of the less hearty greens. Good news is though the broccoli and cabbages and other sturdy greens didn't get hit that hard so we will be seeing more of them in our box.

I have gotten in the habit lately of just throwing out what I have no idea how to use, hoping to really break myself of that this week.

Menu Plan

Wednesday ~ Coldcuts

Thursday ~ Creamy Bail Pasta

Friday ~ Spinach Pita Pizza

Saturday ~ Hamburgers and coleslaw

Sunday ~ Inside out chicken pot pie

Monday ~ Italian chicken

Tuesday ~ Spaghetti and meatballs

Ktloo's Carrot Cake

So sorry for the lack of posts lately...things have been just crazy lately...BUT I do have a recipe to share!

Matt picked up some carrots at a local farm stand so I decided to make up some carrot cake, however I couldn't find one recipe that I liked everything about so I just winged it and came up with this...

Ktloo's Carrot Cake

3(ish) cups shredded carrots

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp Cinnamon

4 Eggs

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 handfulls :) Crasins

Preheat oven to 350, mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased (Pam'd?) 9x13 pan and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Neufchatel Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package Neufchatel Cheese (a/k/a philly cream cheese lol)

1 softened stick butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency you are looking for

cream the cheese and butter together, add the vanilla extract and about a cup of powdered sugar, keep adding sugar and mixing until you reach a consistency you like

I was kinda really proud that I whipped this up and it actually came out good/edible/not burned/tasting like carrot cake :) it was rich and super moist and super tasty and everyone ate it! I will definitely make this again!

Baby Turnip Coleslaw

This recipe?? So easy and so yummy... I got the original recipe from here and didn't alter it at all...it was so easy it didn't need any altering. It made an excellent crunchy addition to our burgers and even Cassie ate some :)

Bottom line?? We will definately be making this again, I think that I may even plant some turnips once I *finally* start my garden.

CSA Week 3 and Menu Plan

This week's Farm Share contains...Mesclun Mix, Red Lettuce, Green Lettuce, Baby Pak Choi, Bright Light Swiss Chard, Radishes, Dill and Steaks

Wednesday ~ Sandwiches or Pasta of some kind (Recently discovered that there is a Farmer's Market at the church at the end of our road on Wednesday afternoons so I'm going to have to go check it out...which may have an effect on the meals for the rest of the week :) we shall see what happens)

Thursday ~ Steak and Baked Potatoes

Friday ~ Pita Pizzas

Saturday ~ Cilantro Chicken

Sunday~ Chicken Veggie Gravy over puff toast

No idea what we are going to do with the Baby Pak Choi or the Radishes yet, but apparently the Swiss Chard makes excellent wraps so we will have that for lunch!

We were told by the woman at the farm that there will be basil soon, and broccoli and cauliflower too, finally something I recognize AND know how it should taste lol...

***ETA ~ The more I think about it, the more I think I found a use for the Radishes...will be making this for dessert on Friday ***

CSA Week 2 and Menu Plan

This weeks Farm Share includes... Mesclun, Lettuce, Italian dandelion Greens, Baby Turnips with Greens, Radishes with Greens, Arugula, Cilantro, Dill, and Ultra Lean Hamburger Patties

Tuesday ~ Grilled Pork Loin with Mustard Dill Sauce and Quick Pickled Zucchini

Wednesday ~ Sandwiches

Thursday ~ Sauteed Garlic Dandelion Pasta (Recipe from 8 Mile Creek Farm)

Friday ~ Pita Pizza with Arugula topping...(tried it with spinach last week and it was great, this week the newsletter from the farm suggests putting Arugula as a topping on pizza so we shall give it a shot!)

Saturday ~ Cilantro and Lime Chicken

Sunday ~ Burgers and Baby Turnip Slaw

Monday ~ Radish and Sesame Soy Noodle Salad

Two tips from the farm... 1) Apparently Turnip Greens are extremely healthy and packed with all sorts of nutrients and make an excellent salad when chopped up, and 2) Radish greens make an excellent soup so it was suggested we save the greens from this week and add them to the Radishes we get next week to make the soup...

Farm Share Week 1 and Menu Plan

We got our first Farm Share this week! Lots and lots of greens :) which is something I have virtually no experience with so there will be alot of experimenting this week! So glad we did this, because these are things I would completely skip over at the market, plus we can test things out and see if we want to try and grow them ourselves next summer.

So quite obviously each week this little box is going to dictate what our menu plan looks like! Hopefully it will always look nice and healthy ~ which will make me a very happy mommy :)

This weeks box contains ~ 1 lb (Ultra Lean Corn Fed) Ground Beef, Mixed Green Salad, Spinach, Arugula, Broccoli Raab, Garlic Scapes, Culinary Lavender and Lettuce.

I used the Garlic Scapes last night to make a type of Garlic Scape spread on bread to have with Spaghetti and Meatballs :) soooo yummy I will post the recipe soon.

Speaking of recipes each week the we get a sheet of recipes emailed to us from the Farm to give us suggestions of what to make with our veggies...very helpful and where I am going to be getting most of my recipes from this week.

So anyway on to the Menu Plan

Tuesday ~ Something involving Ground Beef, Arugula and Rice...which will require some experimenting so I will post the results later :)

Wednesday ~ Sandwiches...Maybe soup? Depends on what the weather does.

Thursday ~ Porkchops (that I never made last week...) with Spinach Salad

Friday ~ Broccoli Raab and Chick-Pea Pita Pizza (Recipe from 8 Mile Farm)

Saturday ~ Hamburgers with Salad

Sunday ~ Meatloaf (as Requested by Matt)

Monday ~ Depends on what we get in the Box...I will figure out a way to use something in there :)

Also I am going to use the Lavender in a Scone recipe that came from the Farm :) never made scones before so this will be a first on 2 levels...

Hot Fudge Oreo Sundae Brownies

Alright I made this recipe twice in two days and to be honest they weren't as great as I thought they had the potential to be...

I found the original recipe here which was actually an edit of this recipe from Picky Palate

These definitely weren't the best brownies I have ever made, though the first batch came out a bit better (if not a bit under cooked...) than the second batch I still don't think I would make them again. At least not with the Oreo in them. When I made these I don't know if it was the brownie mix I used or the amount of hot fudge/ice cream that I guesstimated but my Oreos floated in the mix and I think that caused them to get a bit over cooked and rock hard on top. Not cool when the rest of the brownie was nice and ooey gooey.

I think next time I am going to go off of the Picky Palate recipe and just forego the Oreos and see how that turns out.

Pasta with Pesto Creme Sauce

This turned out to be an AWESOME dish! It was light and fresh and easy...perfect for a quick Saturday meal.

We picked up some fresh basil from the farmer's market and I went to town for dinner. Even with the few mistakes I made it was pretty tasty :)

I found the original recipe on Pioneer Woman's website Here

Now for the version I came up with I some how forgot to add the garlic (ahhh the horror!!!!) and somehow I came up with way too much sauce, but it was still awesome.

Cassie ate it, but grudgingly (I think because of the color...) we had to mix it with tomato sauce for her to eat. However, I will absolutely be making this again, except next time I may add some chicken to the mix as well, I think that would make this great dish absolutely fantastic :).

Just a teaser :)

Just put these pretty little bites in the oven, Hot Fudge Oreo Sundae Brownies...recipe and review to come soon!

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Things to try making...

I always seem to be looking for some new recipe or another...here's a list of the top things I am looking for *THE* perfect recipe for...

Red Sangria

Soft Pretzels

Granola Bars

(NON DEEP FRIED) Donuts

Orange Cheesecake

Frappuccino

Stromboli

Brownies

Menu Plan

The theme this week is quick and easy :)

Monday ~ Sandwiches

Tuesday ~ Pineapple Pork Chops

Wednesday ~ Apple Pie Chicken

Thursday ~ Pasta with Pesto Creme Sauce

Friday ~ Meatball subs

Saturday ~ Chicken and Veggie Gravy over Puff Toast

Sunday ~ Sloppy Joes

Menu Plan

Let me just say, trying to find yummy sounding recipes that wont heat the entire house in 90 degree weather isn't very easy plus the littlest Miss and I are sick so I'm not feeling all that inventive sooo this weeks Menu is what it is... :)

Monday ~ Sandwiches

Tuesday ~ Beef and Gravy Noodles

Wednesday ~ Cheese Steaks

Thursday ~ Beef and Been Burritos (Since we didn't get to them a couple weeks ago)

Friday ~ Chicken Nuggets (Movie Night!)

Saturday ~ Birthday Party

Sunday ~ French Toast

Menu Plan

Monday ~ Grilled Cheese

Tuesday ~ Turkey Tacos

Wednesday ~ Meatball Subs

Thursday ~ Beef and Bean Burritos

Memorial Weekend ~ We're Grillin!

Friday ~ Grilled BBQ Pizza

Saturday ~ Hamburgers

Sunday ~ Steaks

Monday ~ Italian Chicken

Menu Plan

Didn't get to do much grocery shopping last week so we are going to try for this week, pretty much the same menu...

Monday~ Chicken Apple Pie

Tuesday ~ Pasta with Asparagus

Wednesday ~ Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

Thursday ~ Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Friday ~ English Muffin Pizzas

Saturday ~ Sheppard's Pie

Menu Plan

I really need to get on top of this...get into some sort of routine. Actually I need to work on getting some routine down in all aspects of my life...but until that happens random works for now.

Friday ~ Cheesy Egg & Rice Bake

Saturday ~ Schoolhouse Wraps

Sunday ~ Chicken Apple Pie

Monday ~ Pasta with Asparagus

Tuesday ~ Sheppard's Pie

Wednesday ~ Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

Thursday ~ Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Friday ~English Muffin Pizzas

Mini Morning

*I know I have lots of posting to get up on my regular blog, but...I have these pics and this will be much quicker so it's better than nothing!! I will get back over to that blog soon enough :) *

Woke up Saturday morning with the urge to bake something...anything...since I hadn't been in the kitchen for a couple of weeks and this is what I came up with...

Mini cinnamon rolls and mini blue berry muffins... the mini cinnamon rolls because the biscuts were about to expire and the mini blue berry muffins just because :)

The mini muffins came out okay...they were a bit on the sour side for my liking, but Matt liked them and Cassie LOVED them so I guess they couldn't have been all that bad. I got the original recipe from Smitten Kitchen (another of my favorite food blogs)...which can be found Here.

Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar

1 large egg

3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda

1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt

3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.

I used Sour Cream since I didn't have any plain yogurt and I used a couple of squirts of lemon juice since I didn't have any fresh lemons on hand to zest... I think on squirt of juice would have sufficed though (maybe why they came out a little sour for my taste). Other than that the recipe stayed as is.

The mini rolls came out great (then again I got the recipe from Picky Palate a blog from which I have yet to get a bad recipe...) they were perfect bite sized bits of cinnamony sweetness. Original recipe found here...

One can Pillsbury “Simply” refrigerated biscuits, 10 count

5 tablespoons softened butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons McCormick Gourmet Roasted Saigon Cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar

5 to 6 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Unroll biscuits onto a clean countertop and press out with fingers to about 3 inches wide. Spread each biscuit with 1/2 tablespoon of butter then top evenly with brown sugar and cinnamon. Starting at the bottom of each round, roll up jelly roll fashion with seam side down on countertop. Use a sharp knife and cut 1/2 inch slices and place onto prepared baking sheet. I cut 6 slices per biscuit making 60 small cinnamon rolls. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, until light brown and cooked through. Remove from oven.

3. Place powdered sugar and heavy cream into a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over hot rolls. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Best served warm with a tall glass of milk!

Makes 60 itty bitty bites

I changed it up a bit in that I used jumbo butter milk biscuits and I just used about a teaspoon and a half of brown sugar on each biscuit rather than splitting up a quarter cup evenly. Oh and I used plain old cinnamon, but the McCormac Saigon Cinnamon sounds pretty great, will have to remember to put that on my list next time we go shopping. The only reason I used the jumbo biscuits was because that is what I had in my fridge at the time. I don't think I flattened them out enough though since they unrolled in the oven and all the sugary cinnamony goodness melted out...I salvaged them though and they came out pretty awesome!

Menu Plan

Now that the Littlest Miss is here it's time to get back to the planning...going to try to make it so that we are doing our grocery shopping on Saturdays :) we will see how it works out though, may take a little rearranging...

Thursday ~ No clue - We have Nothing in the house and I doubt we will get out to do some shopping so we are going to have to play the next couple days by ear...

Friday ~ No clue

Saturday ~ Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Sunday ~ Hot Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Monday ~ Mac & Cheese

Tuesday ~ Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Wednesday ~ Tater tot Hot dish

Thursday ~ Chicken and Vegetable Gravy over puff toast

Friday ~ Pepperoni Pizza Quick Bread