Halloween Preview

What do you get when the kids raid the dress up clothes chest?

Mornings

So the newness of school has worn off for Rachel.  We are back to grumpy mornings, which involve alot of hurrying.  Here's the latest pic of her sleeping during breakfast.

Alex on the other hand is bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Weekly Menu

Yeah I don't know what the date is off the top of my head, and don't feel like getting up so that's that.  Another great week of no take out and for the most part sticking to the menu.  Moved a few things around and one night it was fend for yourself since I was still stuffed from the CEO luncheon.  Hopefully this week will go well also.

Sunday-Stuffed Cabbage Casserole in the crock pot (going to Canobie for the day, this will be good when we get home)
Monday-White Bean Chicken Chili (new recipe I'll post later)
Tuesday-Lemon Chicken Pasta
Wednesday-Ropa Vieja
Thursday-Firecracker Shrimp and what not
Friday-Hot Dogs & Mac & Cheese.

Weekly Menu 9/20/09-9/26/09

Wow, did a great job of sticking to the weekly menu, even for what night was what.  Only change was Friday, and I still cooked, no take out.  Here goes this weeks

Sunday-Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff
Monday-Chicken Fried Rice
Tuesday-Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla for me/Meatball sub for Allen
Wednesday-Breakfast for dinner
Thursday-Crockpot Ropa Vieha
Friday-Beans & Hotdogs
Saturday-Grilled Chicken & Individual scalloped potatoes

PF CHang's Mongolian Beef

This is a rip off recipe off one of the many sites I peruse.  I made it last night with a side of rice and it was very good.  I did alter from the recipe and added a bunch of veggies near the final step.  I used broccoli, edamame, and onions and it was a hit.

Ingredients

1 tbls. chopped garlic
1/2 tspn. ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 lb flank steak cup into thin strips
1/4 cup corn starch


Make sauce by heating up some oil in a sauce pan, don't let it get too hot.  Add garlic and ginger, followed by water, soy sauce and then brown sugar.  Disolve sugar and let it boil for 2-3 minutes until it gets thick.  In the mean time sprinkle the meat with the corn starch and let it sit for a few minutes. 

Heat up a cup of oil in a wok or fry pan.  Add beef and cook for about 2 minutes.  Remove meat and discard oil.  Put pan back on heat and put meat back in (this is where I added the veggies) now add the sauce and cook for a few minutes.  That's it.

Quesadillas de Camarones

Wow!  That's all I can say.  I'm a quesadilla girl, I just love them, but I'd never had shrimp ones.  I saw a recipe for them on a site that's never steered me wrong, so I decided to try them.  They are delicious.

Ingredients

Tortillas
8-12 large shrimp, peeled & deveined
8 oz. Mexican red sauce
1 large onion, red pepper, green pepper
2 cups shredded cheese


Cover the shrimp with the red sauce and set aside.  I used the Old El Paso enchilada sauce because it was all I could find and it worked great.  Chop up the veggies and add them to the skillet.  Cook them over high until the soften up and get brownish.  Remove them from the skillet, or use another one if you feel like dirtying up a bunch of dishes.  Now dump the shrimp in the skillet with the sauce.  Cook stirring occasionally until shrimp are opaque.  Remove the shrimp and chop them up.
In a new skillet heat some butter, or butter spray or whatever your fancy is.  Place tortilla down and layer ingredients starting with and ending with cheese.  Top with another tortilla.  Remember to flip it to cook the other side.  I do a terrible job on the flip and this time was no exception.  Serve with whatever side items you like, guac, sour cream, salsa etc.

Weekly Menu 9/13/09-9/19/09

Wow stuck to the menu last week, except one night the chicken chop suey never happened.  We got take out from Friday's instead, but it was a deal.  Their Jack Daniels Chicken Sandwiches are only $5.00 right now.  But take out and extra's will be coming to a halt because we are heading to Florida in April so I need to save money.  Here goes for next week.

Sunday-Maple Glazed Chicken & veggies
Monday-Shrimp Quesadillas
Tuesday-Crock Pot Chicken Chop Suey (let's try this once again)
Wednesday-PF Chang's Mongolian Beef (rip off recipe I'll let you know how it turns out)
Thursday-Pork Chops, hmmm...can't remember why I bought them.  Must have a recipe around here somewhere, if not good old shake & bake will work
Friday-Chicken, not sure how but there's some in the freezer so we're using it.

Eating Sushi

Allen and I love sushi.  up until a couple of years ago we'd never really eaten it, with the exception of California rolls.  It's easily one of our favorite meals now.  We decided to try the new restaurants Wasabi in Salem.  Rachle was adamant she wanted to try sushi, or shushi as she calls it.  Alex wanted nothing to do with it, h ate fried rice instead.  She tried a bite of the salmon roll but couldn't get past the seaweed on the outside so she passed on that one.  She did try the California roll, ate mostly rice but did try the other parts of it.  Here are some pics.

First Day of School

Somehow in all the chaos of life I forgot to post pictures and an update of the first day of school.  So lat Wednesday the kids started school, Alex 2nd grade and Rachel Kindergarten.  She was super excited.  No tears, fears or anything simply waved goodbye and headed in with her teachers and new friends.  Here's some pictures. 

Cowboy Stew

This is not healthy, but it's easy and usually does a good job of clearing some cans out of my cupboard and well, we like it. 

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion chopped
1 can cream style corn
1 can chili with beans
1 can baked beans with pork
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced green chiles

Brown ground beef and add in onion.  Drain off grease, add back to pan and add in everything else.  Simmer about 30 minutes stirring occasional.  That's it, dinner is done.

Carne Asada Tacos

Needed to make some modifications but otherwise was good and I'll make again.

1& 1/2 lbs top sirloin cut into thing bite sized strips.  I think I used a flank stead or something like that
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tspn. peper
juice of 1 lime
tortillas
1/2 red onion chopped
1 avocado diced or sliced however you like it
1 tomatoe chopped
clinatro chopped
another sliced or wedged lime
cheese

So basically you thinly slice the beef then sprinkle the salt & pepper on it.  Toss it well with the juice of 1 lime and let it sit about 30 minutes.  When it's done marinating cook it in a skillet till it's done.  Then serve in tortillas with all the fixings.  I liked it better than regular tacos from a box.  It was fresher tasting.  And best of all it was easy to make.

Weekly Menu 9/6/09/-9/12/09

Wow last week went well, with the exception of moving just about everything around.  This week we get into the regular schedule, with the exception of Allen's school.  That starts next week. This week I was determined not to spend a ton of money at the grocery store so I thoroughly inventoried what we had and worked every recipe around it.  For the most part I only needed to buy a few items for dinner to make recipes complete.  By weeks end my cupboard that has al the canned goods, rices, pasta etc. should be pretty bare. So here goes

Sunday-Bob & Gail came over, spaghetti & meatballs
Monday-Carne Asada Tacos
Tuesday-Cowboy Stew
Wednesday-Crockpot Chicken Chop Suey
Thursday-Polynesian Pork Chops
Friday-Jerk Chicken
Saturday-I am working so Allen's on his own

Bugs!

Since the start of the summer Rachel has had an issue with bugs.  She's never been a big fan of bugs but was not the type to screech or run if they landed on her.  That has now changed, and for good reason.  We start the summer off with Rachel getting bit on the butt by a tick.  According to her it bit her there because she has a big butt.  Next, and throughout the summer, was the mosquitos.  Those things love her, and of course she is allergic to them and develops these enormous welts when she gets even the smallest of bites.  Then we had the infamous swarm of wasps.  Bit 5 times the poor thing.  This past weekend was out latest incident.  She left her shoes outside, crocs to be specific.  Allen went out and got them she proceeded to put one on.  There's a rock in my shoe she announced and lifted up her foot.  It was sticking out of the hole, stange looking rock I said and went to grab it and it slithered back inside.  It was a slug.  She screamed so loud she could have broken glass.  Just once I'd like a ladybug to land on her or a butterfly to flutter around her head.  No she gets slugs in her shoes and we wonder why she now hates bugs.