Menu Plan Monday 6/7 - 6/13

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend :)

We had 1 nice day of sunshine on Saturday and then back to getting rained out on Sunday but that was OK because my husband scored on 20 lbs. of 81% lean ground Beef for .99/lb on Friday. So we did a Meatloaf/Meatball freezer cooking day!

Meatloaf is one of our favorites around here and it is nice to have 4 of them ready to go in the freezer :)

Here's what we will be eating this week:

Monday:
Meatloaf
Mac-n-cheese
Steamed Broccoli or Broccoli Salad

Tuesday:
Tacos (last bag from my previous Freezer Cooking Day)
w/ all the fixings

Wednesday:
Taco Pie
Taquitos
Salad

Thursday:
French Dips
Oven Fries
Orange slices

Friday: Breakfast for dinner! This is becoming 1 of Colby's favorite dinners so we have decided to have breakfast for dinner at least 1 night a week.

Sourdough Pancakes
Fried eggs and Potatoes
Sausage Patties

Saturday:
Dinner with the in laws

Sunday:
Spaghetti and meatballs
French Bread
Salad and or fresh Veg - depends whats on sale this week. I'm hoping for fresh green beans. I am very excited about the fact that they are coming up in the garden and it has made me start craving them.


As always, many thanks to Laura the Org Junkie for hosting the weekly mpm event. Even if you don't make regular menu plans, this is a great place to find recipes and menu inspiration!

Menu Plan Wednesday!

I know, normally I do this on Sunday evening but we were still out in the woods with no wifi and on top of that, I didn't know what was going to be left over to eat when we got back.

As it turns out, quite a bit. Instead of camping in tents and cooking over the fire as we had planned, we ended up in a cabin (thankfully, since it rained like crazy). But I wasn't able to prepare some of the things we had planned because of no fire and now we need to eat them up or toss them out, and I don't care to waste that much food!

Tonight:
Oven Roasted Game Hens
Pasta (Knorr's Spinach Alfredo - one of Colby's favs)
Broccoli

Thursday:
Breakfast for Dinner! I promised Colby I would make Sourdough pancakes since we didn't get to have them for breakfast this weekend.
Fried Ham - left over from camping
Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

Friday:
Grill Hot Dogs (if the weather permits, otherwise I might do pigs-in-a-blanket)
Laura's Mac Salad - left over from camping
Maryann's Baked Beans - also left over
Watermelon -yes, left over

Saturday:
Finish off what ever left overs are around! Grilled cheese sandwiches and chips.

Sunday:
Hopefully the left overs will be gone! And, Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to grill something, like some Chicken!
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli and Carrots

Make sure to check out the MPM event over at Orgjunkie for great recipes and meal inspiration!

Menu Plan Monday~Camping edition!

You can tell from the lack of chatter around the blogasphere and the few and far between posts that everyone is getting excited about the Memorial Day weekend and going camping. We are for sure!

Our Monday through Thursday meals will be focused on getting the fridge cleaned out because I don't want to come home to a bunch of nasty festering left overs after spending 4 days in the woods. It's basically YOYO week here :)~

But come Friday through Tuesday of next week we will be cooking over a fire (fun! Really, I love campfire cooking) and trying out my new Dutch Oven. It's got legs so that you can set it over hot coals and a rimmed lid for putting hot coals on. Just like the ones the pioneers used while traveling the Oregon Trail.

I have learned over the summers of camping that planning out the menu is a big part of being able to have a good camping experience, especially when you go camping in the places we do. Most of our favorite camping spots are considered Primative, meaning no drinking water, garbage service, flushing toilets or showers. We are talking deep woods here. Menu planning for these spots requires thinking out every meal, snack and beverage as well as proper food storage arrangements. Food must be kept at the correct temperature to avoid spoilage and in a safe place that will keep wild animals out of it. Skunks rummaging around for a snack in the middle of the night in camp are not pleasant (we know from experience.) For this trip we are actually going to a small camping resort up at Tiger Pass so there will be flushing toilets and showers. We decided to do this instead of risk not getting a spot at all since it is the first camping holiday of the year and every spot will be taken by Thursday.

Of course, there is always a lake nearby because my husband, dad and son aren't ones to just sit around a campsite all day, they want to hunt the wily fish. And, contrary to what you would think, fish really are quite wily. you would not believe the lengths they go to while trying to catch them, but that is a whole nother blog all together.

Anyway, back to the Menu plan.

Dad and hubs are planning on going up on Friday and setting up camp. I will send up a picnic dinner with them or they can eat at the Resort Cafe. Mom, the boy and I will be going up on Saturday. This is the plan right now, but they are lobbying rather aggressively for us all to go up on Friday so we will see. As far as the Menu goes....

On which ever day I get there, a big Longhorn BBQ Spiral Cut ham will be placed in the Dutch oven over foil wrapped potatoes and we will have that for dinner. The left over ham will also provide breakfast and sandwich meat for the remaining days. It will be the first time I have ever used the dutch oven so I am keeping my finger's crossed and hoping it turns out well.

Maryann's Baked Beans - best on the planet and she said I could share the recipe! I made up a double batch a few weeks ago in anticipation of our first camping trip of the season.

Corn on the cob - I might stick it in the dutch oven as well if there is room, if not, it will be put on the grill.

Breakfast - day 1

Cereal and Yogurt

Campfire Frittata! This is so easy and uses some of the left over ham and the left over baked potatoes.

Chop the ham and potatoes, heat some bacon grease (if you got it, I have been saving it for the trip), when the grease is hot, add the potatoes, once they start to brown a bit, add the ham, stir to keep from burning. Crack and scramble and season 4-5 eggs, pour over the ham and potatoes, cover and let cook until eggs are set, sprinkle with shredded cheese, or place a few slices on top and let melt. Slice like a pizza and serve.

Lunch: Ham or Egg Salad Sandwiches, PB&J for the boy. Chips and veggies with dip. Laura's Mac Salad and Jello salad.

Afternoon Snacks: PB Cookies, crackers, summer sausage and cheese.

Supper:
Rib Eye steaks on the grill!
Baked Beans
Fire Baked Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Marshmellows for dessert!

Breakfast: Day 2

Cereal and Yogurt
Royce's Breakfast Sandwich. Basically, an open faced bacon cheese burger on a fried egg over fire toasted Sour Dough bread. Its simple but so yummy!

Lunch: More Sandwiches, Mac Salad, chips, veggies and dip.

Snacks: Summer Sausage, cheese and crackers, cookies.

Supper:

Roasted Game Hens. I might do them in the Dutch oven but will probably split them and roast over the fire.
What ever is left of the baked beans and Salads.
Roasted Marshmellows of course!

Last Day:

Breakfast at the Resort Cafe. Then packing it up and coming home.

Don't miss out on getting in on my Yoplait Greek Yogurt and Spa Set Give away! I will be choosing the winner on Wednesday, May 26 and its easy to enter, just leave a comment here :)

And make sure to see what everyone else has planned for dinner at the Org Junkies weekly MPM event!

Easy raining day baking, Peanut Butter Fudgy Bars

I have been thinking about doing a regular series on recipes that have 5 ingredients or less because I love recipes that have few ingredients, are easy to make and have some wiggle room in them.

For whatever reason, we have a TON of Cake mix and the truth is, we aren't really Cake people. We are Pie - Cookie - Brownie people.

So I was really pleased when I found this recipe on the side of a Pillsbury Moist Supreme Golden Butter Recipe Cake Mix.

1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. Pillsbury Moist Supreme Golden Butter Recipe Cake Mix

1 C. Jif Crunchy Peanut Butter
1/3 C. Water

1 Egg

As you can see, I don't have the specific ingredients per say, but this is where the wiggle room comes into play. I had a Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix, and crunchy Skippy Peanut Butter.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, peanut butter, water and egg on low speed, continue mixing for 2 minutes on medium spead. This is a very stiff mix so I use the bread hooks with my hand mixer. Much easier to clean up since the batter is so stiff that it tends to get stuck inside the regular mixing paddles.

Spread into a well greased 13x9 cake pan. I use my hands for this, patting it down evenly to the edges of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until puffy. I recommend that if you are using a Chocolate cake mix you might want to reduce the cooking time to 18 - 20 minutes to keep the bars from drying out around the edges. Cool Completely and then frost with:

1 Can of Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Chocolate Fundge Frosting

1/2 C. Jif Crunchy Peanut Butter

I had Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate Frosting. Same dif, right?


Even though the original recipe calls for frosting the cookie bars with a whole can, I only use half of it. It's alot of frosting! And, this way I can make another batch later on and use up the other half of the frosting.


Finished product! By using the Devil's food mix, it was more like a nice Chocolate Brownie and who doesn't love that?

This post is Linked to http://savingtowardabetterlife.blogspot.com/2010/04/recipe-swap-and-giveaway.html

Yummy Scotch Eggs

Since I got such an awesome deal on breakfast Sausage yesterday, I decided to make some Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. breakfast Sausage
8 Hard boiled eggs, peeled
1 C. bread crumbs.

Divide the sausage into 8 equal portions for patties. I used my Tortilla press (well wrapped in plastic) to get them to about 1/4 inch thick.



Place one of the eggs in the center and wrap the Pattie around it, sealing the edges.



Once all the eggs are wrapped....


Roll in the bread crumbs.



Carefully brown the sausage in a hot skillet, turning the Scotch Egg as each side browns.


Transfer to a casserole dish, cover with foil and finish off the Scotch Eggs in a 350 degree oven for 20 - 30 minutes until the juices run clear.

Serve hot, with catsup and mustard if you like.

I had originally intended for these to go in my husband's lunches this week but we ended up having them with hash browns and green salad for dinner instead. Good thing I have more sausage :)




This post is linked to A southern Fairy Tail recipe linky 4/26! Go check it out!

Menu Plan Monday

Good evening/morning Ladies :)

Good grief, I am tired! Errands and lunch with the Ladies on Friday (way to much fun girls, did we really get kicked out of the High Nooner?)

Yard work, some freezer cooking (made 4 batches of Taco filling) and 2 loads of towels that were dried on the line, and another load of clothes on Saturday :) Plus, they are all folded and put away!

2 Shepard's Pies for the freezer, 2 Mashed Potato Casseroles (for later this week) and 1 1/2 lbs. of Italian seasoned ground beef for the freezer, plus another load of laundry (sadly, unfolded at the current time)

Here we go!

Monday-
Spaghetti with meat sauce (from the meat made on Sunday)
Green Beans
Garlic Muffins

Tuesday-
Chicken Cordon Blu Casserole
Green Salad

Wednesday - full on from the freezer!
Meatloaf muffins
Mashed Potato Casserole
Corn

Thursday-
Pizza, YAY!!

Friday-
Chicken Bundles (new, can't wait to try them! Thanks Connie :) You really got to go check out her blog, she is making some seriously good food!)
Baked Sweet Potatoes

Saturday-
Left overs, clean out the fridge for Sunday's...

Sunday- Easter Dinner
Turkey
Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Scalloped Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
The Bestest Dressing I ever ate! (gosh, I'm sorry Ladies, I keep forgetting to ask Jody if I can share the recipe, will try to get to that this week because it is soooo good)
And all the other fixin's that go along with Easter Dinner.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has planned for Dinner this week! What? No plan! Go check out the MPM hosted by Laura, The Organizing Junkie for menu inspiration :)

Menu Plan Monday

I don't know about everyone else, but I am actually looking forward to Monday. Whew! We had a busy weekend!

I have mentioned before that my parents and my family live in the same house. It's not like they live with us, or we live with them, but that we live together. Someday I will explain how it all came about....Anyway, we did a ton of yard work this weekend that should have been done last fall but I couldn't do it because I had been sick. Our backs are killing us! Hopefully we will have recovered by Friday because the weather is suppose to be good that day and we still need to get the garden spots ready for planting.

Before I went back to work a few weeks ago, I did most of the cooking (because I do most of the shopping) but now my mom is doing the bulk of the family meals on the weekdays. We have been relying quite heavily on the Freezer Cooking Stash I put in about a month ago while my mom was over on the coast helping my gramma out, and the crockpot as well. I don't go into work until around noon most days so I can start the main dish before I leave or we can pull it out of the freezer and then all she had to do is the sides.

Here is this week's menu:

Monday -
Penne Pasta Bake w/meatballs - made three pans today (Sunday), 2 for the freezer.
Cottage Cheese
Green Salad

Tuesday -
Chicken, Broccoli Rice Casserole (from the freezer)
Garlic Toast

Wednesday -
Leftovers - always exciting :)~

Thursday -
Savory Pork Roast, from the *Fix-It-and-Forget-it Cookbook.
Rice
Baked Sweet Potatoes
* I expect that at some point I will be getting a Cease and Desist letter from Phyllis Pellman Good for sharing the recipes we use from her book, but they are just so darn good and easy I can't help myself :)

Savory Pork Roast
4 -5 lb. Pork Loin Roast
1 large onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 TBLS soy sauce
1 TBLS garlic powder

1. Place roast and onion in the slow cooker. Add bay leaf, soy sauce and garlic powder.

2. Cover. Cook on high 1 hour and then on Low 6 hours.

Friday - Stuffed Cheese Burgers w/bacon (from the freezer)
Parmesan Noodles
Salad

Saturday -
Tacos w/ Indian Fry Bread

Big Freezer cooking day! My DH brought home some big packages of short dated hamburger last week but we didn't have time to break it up before freezing so we will be making bunches of stuff up. And, if you have an awesome Hamburger recipe that freezes well, I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT! Please leave me a comment w/your link so I know where to find it :)

We plan on making:

Taco filling
Shepard's Pie
Italian Seasoned Browned Hamburger (for Spaghetti and such)
Cheesy Mashed Potato Casserole

Sunday -
Breakfast for Dinner, either these delish Sourdough Pancakes or Christmas Breakfast (bacon and cheddar version), not decided yet.

So, what you eating this week? Need some inspiration? Go check out the MPM at the Orgjunkie for great dinner ideas!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Sunday night/Monday morning everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend :)

I didn't realize that last week was my 20th time participating in the MPM! I must have been distracted by my anxiety over my new job. Which, so far, has been good. I have already received a raise, and might be getting another one this coming week :) Turns out, I have more skills that they want to use then originally considered. It has been quite the adjustment going back to work, even part time, after 6 years of staying at home. I could really use some new Crock Pot and Freezer Cooking recipes, please leave a comment with a link to your tried and true favorites!

So, check out these fish! The boys went fishing on Saturday out at Sprague Lake and brought home 2 very nice Trout. The big one is 4 lbs.! Now, my dad wants me to tell you about what kind of lures they used but I don't give a rat's patootty so if your interested in what caught these beauties you can go read about it HERE on his blog.

Ironically, these fish were captured on the same day that we were suppose to have a fish fry, but they didn't get back until after dark. I wasn't told that they planned on staying out all day, was rather irritated with them for leaving that little detail out and in no mood to fry up a mess of fish. They got stuck with Grilled Cheese w/Turkey sandwiches and Tater Tots for dinner. Like they cared, my husband said that big one was the second largest fish he ever caught! Thus, the Fish fry has been moved to next week.

Here is the meal plan for this week. Chores are being done on an "as it gets done" basis until I can get adjusted to my new schedule. We are living in a pig sty.

Breakfast: Yogurt, Cereal, Eggs and Toast

Lunch: Sandwiches, Left overs for the DH.

Snacks: Apples, Cuties, crackers and cheese.

Dinner:

Monday -
Home made Mac-n-Cheese (from the freezer)
Smoked Sausages
Green Salad

Tuesday -
Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken
Mashed Potatoes (did you know you can freeze Mashed Potatoes?)
Dilled Green Beans

Wednesday -
Pork Chops
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Green Salad

Thursday -
10 Layer Slow- Cook Dish, from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook by Dawn J. Rank and Phyllis Pellman Good. We are making a double batch, one for dinner, one to stick in the freezer for later.

Recipe:
6 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
15 oz. can of corn (we are using frozen)
15 oz can of peas (also frozen)
1/4 C. water
1 1/2 lb. ground beef, browned
10 3/4-oz can of cream of mushroom soup

1. Layer 1: 1/4 of potatoes, 1/2 of onion, salt and pepper.
2. Layer 2: 1/2 can of corn.
3. Layer 3: 1/4 of potatoes.
4. Layer 4: 1/2 can of peas.
5. Layer 5: 1/4 of potatoes, 1/2 of onion, salt and pepper.
6. Layer 6: remaining corn.
7. Layer 7: remaining potatoes.
8. Layer 8: remaining peas and water.
9. Layer 9: ground beef
10: Layer 10: soup

Cover, cook on High for 4 hours.

Friday -
Our 6th Wedding Anniversary! Dh and I are going to PF Chang's, those stuck at home are having left overs, or what ever they want. I don't care, I am going to PF Chang's!

Saturday -
Pan fried Trout
Home made oven fries
Fresh veg (what ever is on sale this week)

Sunday-
Creamy Chicken Italiano served over pasta - again from the Fix-it and Forget-it cookbook.
Green Salad


Here is the recipe for the Creamy Chicken Italiano:
4 boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 C. water
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
10 3/4-oz. can cream of chicken soup
4 oz. can mushrooms, drained (we will be leaving these out!)

1. Place chicken in slow cooker
2. Combine salad dressing mix and water. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low for 3 hours.
4. Combine cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in the mushrooms. Pour over chicken.
5. Cover. Cook on Low for 1 hour or until chicken juices run clear.
6. Serve over noodles or rice.

So, what are you eating this week? Get recipe inspiration over at The Organization Junkie's MPM event!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy March everyone!

Whew! Last week was a doozy! I got the Freezer cooking bug big time and its a good thing because in the middle of it, I got a job offer! So, as of 3/01/10, I am a working momma again. I am excited, and nervous. But, jobs just don't fall out of the sky like that every day so I am taking it and thanking God that I got the opportunity :)

Here is this week's menu and chore plan. Since I won't be getting home until after 5 it will up to my mom to start meal prep but we have a good head start with our freezer meals and Menu Planning, of course.

Monday - Vacuum, dust.
Meatloaf (from the freezer)
Baked Squash (still have some from last year's garden that we need to use or lose)
Roasted Broccoli

Tuesday - don't know, what ever needs to be done and it's going to be like that for the rest of the week.
Cranberry Pork Roast
Scalloped Potatoes
Sweet Potato Biscuits

Here is the Recipe for Cranberry Pork Roast, from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook.

3 - 4 lb. Pork Roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 C. ground, or finely chopped cranberries
1/4 C. Honey
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1. Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker.
2. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over roast.
3. Cover, cook on low 8 - 10 hours.

Wednesday
Chicken Pasta Bake
Green Salad

Thursday
Pizza!

Friday - shopping, laundry
Left over Pork Roast
Rice (making enough for 2 nights)
Fresh Veg

Saturday- put away laundry
Pan fried Trout
Fried Rice
Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sunday - Get garbage out, clip coupons
BBQ Steaks (DH scored on some Rib Eye)
Baked Potatoes
Finish off left overs in the fridge.

Check out more recipes on the MPM, hosted by Laura, the Organizing Junkie!

I have been freezer cooking my what off?

A couple days ago I got the freezer cooking bug.

I thought it was because I knew I was getting another freezer. I had visions of having it stuffed with ready to go home made meals. How this came about was around 2 months ago my daughter's dryer died. Well, she and her gonna-be-my-grandbaby-daddy are young and struggling to make a house payment (yes, my kids are 20 and buying a house!) they don't have spare cash just laying around for these types of problems.

So, we made a deal, she had a freezer she wasn't using and I needed another one. I called my BIL down at Fred's Appliance and see if we can get hooked up with a deal. Which we did, no prob. The deal between me and my girl was, give us the freezer and some cash (when they happen upon it), we get them a new dryer. It took a while to get the freezer home, with schedules and what-not. We made plans to get it today.

I made:

3 pans of Chicken Enchiladas
3 pans of Penne and Cheese
1 pan of Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole
1 pan of Chicken, Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole
2 Meatloafs
12 Meatloaf Muffins
and, 3 containers of Broccoli w/Cheese sauce.

I am thinking, this is a nice way to go into a new to me freezer :) Life is good, yes?

YES!!

I am in the middle of powering out some chicken in my pressure cooker for the Casseroles yesterday, just minding my own business and doing my own thing. The phone rings....

It's my sister...

She says, "What are you doing today?"

I say " Cooking."

She says, " Can you come to my office this afternoon?"

I say, "Why?"

She says, "Mr. Boss wants to talk to you."

I say, "Ok, I will be there after I drop the boy off at school."

Back story here, Mr. Boss is my Insurance Agent. I'm thinking, Oh Shit!
What did I do? Am I getting Sued? Did I actually talk that much Trash about Safeway that they are suing me?

So, I go in, and to my relief I am not being sued for talking trash about Safeway, I got a job offer! And, now you all know, I don't care for Safeway.

It has been 6 years since I have worked outside our home. I had planned on going back to work when our boy started school full time, but given how the economy is I was really freaking out about it. To have a job just fall in my lap, so to speak, is miraculous.

I told Mr. Boss that I had to talk to my DH and mom about it. We got the details for maintaining the household worked out and as of next Monday, I got a job! I will be working M-TH in the afternoons and I am actually very excited. Not so much about working, but that even after 6 years of not working, my skill set is attractive to someone who has run a successful business for 30+ years in Spokane WA.

So, as it turns out, I wasn't freezer cooking to stuff my "new" freezer, I was doing it because God was cluing me into my new circumstances.

I am not - by any means- a religious person. But, signs are what signs are. And I am thankful to God for kicking my butt into gear so that while I transition into being a worker bee again, we will still have good meals to eat :)

Menu Plan Monday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Thanks for coming by and be sure to enter my Mahatma Rice Give-away HERE! There will be 3 winners chosen on 2/20!

I was out in my yard, the weather was beautiful around here yesterday so I thought I would get a bit of a jump start on some of those weeds that are ALREADY coming up in my Herb Garden and a BEE tried to get me! What the??? It's the middle of February! It's just so weird, last year we were literally buried under 60 inches of snow and this year, there are weeds and bees....

Anyway, since it looks like garden season is early this year some of my chores this week will be related to getting my garden spots ready (as the weather allows) and I think I might plant some lettuce and see what happens. It will be the first time I have ever planted something in February. If this keeps up, I am going to plant some Watermelon this year - another first since our growing season is usually too short for it. I am getting excited!

Here is what we are going to eat this week:

Breakfast will be Cereal, Orange slices and Toast. On Saturday and Sunday I try to make a big traditional breakfast (since my husband has the weekend off now) of Fried Eggs, Sausage or Bacon (sometimes both), Fried Potatoes and Pancakes or Toast.

Lunches will be Trout Salad (like Tuna but with Trout), Hot Dogs and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for us at home, DH will get left overs for work.

Dinner Menu - Most of the main dishes are still being made from items out of the Pantry and Freezers.

Monday - Vacuum, dust, sort huge basket of clean socks and put away.
Tacos (making enough for 2 nights)
All the fixings

Tuesday - Mop, clean windows.
Smoked Sausage
Baked Beans
Corn bread muffins
Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday - Change beddings, wash.
Macaroni Taco Bake (from Org Junkies menu last week)
Green Salad
Cottage Cheese

Thursday - whatever is left around the house that needs to be done.
Pizza (of course!)
Snack Buffet
Green Salad (yes, again)

Friday - Clean off desk!
Baked Trout (the boys are fishing again so we need to start eating up what is already in the freezer)
Brown Rice Pilaf
Baked Squash

Saturday - Work and School laundry
Hamburgers w/all the fixings
More roasted Sweet Potatoes (use em or lose em)
Left over Baked Beans

Sunday - Get garbage out...try to get clothes put away - Im really bad about this part of the laundry process :(
Roasted Chicken (making 2 - we are having Chicken Enchiladas next week)
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Fresh Veg (what ever is on sale this week)

See more menus and recipes at the always awesome MPM event, hosted by Laura, the Organization Junkie!

Bzzzz....Meet Mahatma, Enter my give away for Free Mahatma Rice!

This Give-away is now closed :(


A few months ago, I became a BzzAgent after finding my blog listed on their site by another BzzAgent. That was a nice surprise! An even nicer one was the one I got in the mail yesterday, 2 full size bags of Mahatma Rice (formerly known as S&W Rice) for me to review and tell everyone what I think about it. So, here goes...

Well, it's rice and I myself am not a huge fan of plain rice, though my husband is (he will eat it with butter and Ketchup on it.) I cooked up a big batch of it last night to add to our Game day Leftovers and have extra to make some Rice Pudding and a Cheesy Sausage Rice Bake for later this week.

The Rice Pudding turned out very good. My dad - Mr. Smarty Pants - said he couldn't give me his opinion on it until he ate several more bowls. I actually liked it, and I am not usually into the custardy style desserts. In hind sight, I should have added Cinnamon, but I was worried that it would compete with the Almond and Orange flavors.

I followed a basic Baked Rice Pudding Recipe, primarily for the ingredient portions but I don't like cooked raisins so here is my recipe for Baked Cranberry Orange Rice Pudding.

4 Eggs
3 C. Milk
1/3 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Almond Extract
2 tsp. Orange Zest
2/3 C. Craisins
3 C. cooked Rice

Beat the Eggs, Milk and Sugar, add the Almond Extract and Orange Zest and mix well. Add the Rice and Craisins, stirring well. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 Casserole dish and place in a water bath. Bake at 350 for an hour, or until the eggs have set. Here is what it looked like before the boys got into it.


So, besides getting 2 free bags of Mahatma Rice for myself, BzzAgent sent me a bunch of coupons for FREE bags of Mahatma Rice to share! I already sent a couple over to Michele at Happy2bFrugal and we are going to have a Mahatma Rice Throw Down in a week or so. But, I still have a few more and I want to give them to you!

3 people will win 2 FREE ITEM coupons, 1 coupon for a totally FREE 2 lb. Package of Mahatma White Rice and 1 coupon for a totally FREE 28 oz. Package of Mahatma Brown Rice and there are 3 ways to win!

1. Leave a comment that says what your favorite Rice dish is, or your favorite Rice recipe. Don't forget to leave me a way to identify you (anonymous comments will be discarded if there isn't a name or email address included).

2. Become a Follower of my blog! (make sure you leave another comment so I know it's you).

3. Tweet or Post about my give-away on your blog (just leave another comment with the Tweet or Blog URL so we all can see it).

On Saturday, February 20, 2010, I will randomly select 3 of the entries and post the winners, who will have until Tuesday, February 23 to contact me to claim the prizes.

Good Luck Everyone! Can't wait to see some new Rice recipes!

Menu Plan Monday

Going into week 4 of Eat from the Pantry Challenge and I have learned that my shopping habits and my family's eating habits don't really mesh. Something I been thinking really hard about.

My Eat from the Pantry progress report for this last week is HERE. We did pretty good for the first part of the week, but kind of lost it toward the end. While my husband and I went out of town, the mice around here ordered Pizza and had a party. The good part was they ordered enough that there were left overs so on Saturday, when I planned on either left overs or Pizza, there was left over Pizza! Haha!

Our menu this week is, again, based on what is in the Pantry, but I will be buying some items that are on sale this week to re-stock, things like Apple juice, shredded cheese...Fred Meyer has them on ad at good prices so I am going to take advantage of it.

My major organizational goal this week is to go through my closet and dressers and get rid of the clothes that no longer fit me - I have lost close to 30 lbs in the last 3 years - and ones that I just don't wear any longer. They will be donated to the NW Christian Thrift Store. I have been putting it off, mainly because I was afraid that I would gain back the weight and have to buy more clothes, but if that happens, oh well!

Breakfast this week is the same as always, cereal, toast, eggs, sausage this week (got a great deal on Fletcher's links at the Yokes on Indian Trail)

Lunch will be Grilled cheese sanwiches, Oranges/Apples, snacky stuff.

Sunday Recap from last week: Appetizer and munchie day! The guys around here really like this, they get to munch and watch the games. The Disappearing Buffalo Chicken dip was a hit! The mayo mellows out the hot sauce so it has flavor without too much heat. It's yummy, try it :)

Dinner menu and chore list for this week:

Monday - Vacuum and dust, polish wood in front room.
Frito Pie
Salad
Cottage Cheese

Tuesday - Mop, polish kitchen appliances, finish sorting out kitchen drawers.
Christmas Breakfast - family recipe!
Fried Potatoes

Wenesday - Errands and Laundry
Hamburger Helper
left over salad
Garlic Muffins

Thursday - Clean office and Colby's room ( I have to do this while he is at school or he has a Fit!)
Left overs

Friday - Go through Closets and dressers, start a donation box.
French Dips
Homemade Oven Fries - I'm using Crystal's recipe from Frugal Chic Living. We can testify, they are delicious!

Saturday - More laundry, drop off donation box.
Crock Pot BBQ boneless Pork Ribs
Baked Beans - not sure if I got any of MaryAnn's left, might have to make some more...
Laura's Macaroni Salad

Sunday - Put away clean laundry, get garbage out.
Shepard's Pie

Many thanks to I am an Organizing Junkie for hosting the MPM, go take a look at all the recipes!

That Pizza Penne Pasta Bake

Since it seemed to generate the most interest on my meal plan this week I thought that I would talk about it a bit more.  As everyone knows, we are participating in the Eat from the Pantry Challenge and going into week 3 of it has presented opportunities to become more creative with the smaller selection of food stuffs we have in the house and be less wasteful with it as well. 

Last week, my boy was jonesing big time for pizza, it is one of two things he will eat.   I had a couple pieces of Indian Fry Bread left over from Taco night and a jar of Margherita style Ragu.  It is seasoned with pizza spices instead of spaghetti spices, so I put together a couple little pizzas for him.  I don't think he really cared all that much for it being on Fry Bread, but it effectively ended his little hunger strike.

Obviously, it is one of those dishes that don't require a recipe, just your basic pantry stuffs like pasta, tomato sauce, a few spices.  It can be seasoned anyway  with any pasta you like.  It's really nothing to brag about.  But, it a good example of  how easy it can be to pull together a cheap and tasty meal without taking all day to do it.

I was very pleased with the way it turned out, I didn't waste the jar of Ragu, used up a bag of pasta that needed to eaten, cleaned out the last of the Mozzarella and parmasan scraps and finished off a bottle of Emeril Italian seasonings (sprinkled on the top) that had been hanging around dying a slow death.

It was delicious, and IMHO, a pantry winner!

It's not eating from the Pantry that's the challenge; IT'S COOKING FROM IT!

That's right...now, I knew last Sunday when I was planning the menu for this week that there were going to be days that we had to get creative.

Today was one of those days. This is what I had to work with:

1 lb. of ground beef, in the form of patties that my husband had been given by a sales rep.

1/2 lb. of Tri-tip that we found in the freezer that had to be used or tossed, it was dated way back to April 09.

A bag of egg noodles.

And after that, I didn't know what was going to happen. So, my mom and I were talking this morning about what was going to be for dinner and she went into the office and found this cookbook.


It's old, published in 1961. I couldn't remember where I picked it up at. Back track for a second here, I am a cookbook whore. I have a big box full of them that I have picked up at Thrift Stores and Yard sales for the last 20 years. I only recently boxed them because I started using Cooks.com, it is so much easier to search for recipes on this site then to dig through a million books looking for one.

So, she started reading it and found a recipe called Burger-Noodle Bake. Perfect!

Here is the recipe:

1 lb. Ground Beef
1/2 lb. Ground Pork
2/3 c. finely chopped onion
2 cans of condensed Tomato Soup
3 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes
2 TBLS sugar
2-3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt

8 oz. wide noodles

Topping:
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs
1 TBLS butter, melted.
Mix and set aside.

BTW, that boy that keeps showing up in my photos was not part of the ingredient list. He's just the resident camera ham.

I didn't have any ground pork, so I just used the hamburger patties (crumbled) and the Tri-tip that I ground up in the food processor. I didn't have any cream cheese, so I used some Mascarpone (Italian Cream Cheese)that was left over from the Holidays. And, I didn't have any corn flake crumbs, so I used regular old bread crumbs. I also reduced to sugar to 1 TBLS since the Mascarpone is a bit sweeter then regular cream cheese anyway.

Here is how it goes together:

Combine the meats and brown in a skillet, drain off the fat. Add the onion and cook till tender. Add soup, cheese, sugar and salt. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles in boiling water until tender, drain and combine with sauce. Put the mixture in a greased casserole dish. Top with the crumb mixture, bake for 20 minutes or until hot at 350 degrees.

Here is the result. It wasn't that bad. It was actually quite good. We had it with baked Acorn squash and green salad. There is enough left over that we can toss some shredded cheese on it and re-fashion it for tomorrow. I think...this might actually be the original Hamburger Helper! What I really liked about this recipe is that it had a lot of wiggle room. It was still tasty even though we didn't have the exact ingredients called for, and as far as I am concerned that makes it a Pantry Winner!!

So, since I am on this Pantry kick, I thought I would share another winner I devised this week.

While inventorying, I found a bag of Peanut Butter Cookie Mix I got when I did my Fred Meyer Give Away last summer. Couldn't let that get wasted. I added some Party Peanuts (purchased at Walgreens a couple weeks ago for .99 cents) and some chopped up little Nestle Crunch Bars left over from Halloween.

Then, I rolled out walnut size cookies and froze them for later use. I don't need 3 dozen cookies just sitting around here waiting to get stuck to my butt.

If I do say so myself, they turned out pretty good too :) I am the first person to admit that I can't don't won't bake, so I actually did impress myself.

If anyone was wondering, here is what that freaky Raisin Cream - aka - Rat turd Pie looks like. My dad loves it though, my poor mom has made 2 already this week, as well as 2 Pumpkin Pies and 1 Apple Pie. The man loves his pie, and I'm sure the ladies down at the Franz store are missing him!