Weekly Menu 10/31/10-11/6/10

Did an awesome job sticking to the menu or at least eating what was in the house.  Forgot during the planning stage that we had plans Friday night to go out for Allen's birthday but that ended up getting postponed so we just got some takeout.  Let's stick to the plan next week and stick to the budget.

Sunday-Roasted chicken w/the fixings Soft Tacos
Monday-Irish beef sterw w/colcannon
Tuesday-PF Chang's Mongolian Beef w/rice Spanish Rice Casserole
Wednesday-Boilermaker Tailgate Chili (adapted to a crockpot recipe) PF Chang's Mongolian Beef w/rice
Thursday-Spanish Rice casserole Roasted Chicken
Friday-Hotdogs & Mac & Cheese Shake & Bake Bork Chops
Saturday-Not sure yet

So we have 2 new recipes (Chili & Irish Stew w/colcannon)  On a high from last week with the multiple new recipes that all came out great.  I just realized with the exception on Sunday we're not eating chicken, that is so not like us.  I may switch out the Mongolian Beef for Sesame Honey Chicken.  We'll see when I food shop and compare prices.

As you can see from all my changes it's not a good idea to make the menu before you food shop.

Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls

I've never tried stuffed cabbage leaves,or as I found out last night golomki's, (you should have seen me online trying tolook up the spelling of that-I thought they were glumpky's-I'm not Polish).  These were awesome.  My only revision next time will be more tomato sauce, other than that they were perfect and according to Allen the 2nd best he's ever had.  I'll take 2nd best to an old Polish lady anytime.

Ingredients


12 leaves cabbage

1 cup cooked white rice

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup minced onion

1 pound extra-lean ground beef

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1.Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cabbage leaves 2 minutes; drain.

2.In large bowl, combine 1 cup cooked rice, egg, milk, onion, ground beef, salt, and pepper. Place about 1/4 cup of meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf, and roll up, tucking in ends. Place rolls in slow cooker.

3.In a small bowl, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over cabbage rolls.

4.Cover, and cook on Low 8 to 9 hours.

Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken

Trying a few new recipes this week so I will review each one.  This was a good one, chicken was very moist.  Even the kids ate it (they complained but they ate it).

1 clove crushed garlic


1/4 pound butter, melted

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 (4 pound) chicken, cut into pieces

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.In a shallow glass dish or bowl, combine the crushed garlic with the melted butter or margarine. In another small bowl mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.

3.Place coated chicken pieces into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Halloween 2010

We have a busy Halloween season this year.  Y Halloween party, Aislings bday, and trick or treating.  The costumes are worth the money this year.  Here are some pics form the Y party.

Alex as Ron Weasley from Harry Potter

Rachel as a vampite queen

Weekly Menu 10/24/10/30

Going to seriously try and use up what is around the house this week, emptying out the cabinets and freezer.  Kind of bored making the same old thing all the time so adding in a couple of new recipes.

Sunday-Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken and some other stuff
Monday-Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Tuesday-Lemon Pasta Chicken
Wednesday-Breakfast for Dinner
Thursday-Not sure, there's more chicken in the freezer so probably that.
Friday-Tacos
Saturday-Crockpot Baked Chicken

Old Pics

I love coming across old pictures of the kids.  They've changed so much over the years.  Here are a few I found while surfing around the photoshare file at work.

Beef & Beer Stew

This recipe is amazing.  Seriously it's one of the best I've ever made.  It's not my recipe I stole it, well borrowed it, it's not like I'm claiming I came up with the idea so it's not really stealing.  We didn't even talk during dinner, there was just eating going on.  Well, I talked, I kept asking Allen if it was okay because he wasn't saying anything.  All I got back was a grunt.  Then when he was so stuffed he couldn't stand it he said that was awesome. 

Ingredients

5 lbs. beef brisket cut into 2 inch cubes
salt & pepper
1 stick of butter
4 lbs of onions slices
6 Tbl. flour
1 bottle of dark beer -I used Guiness
3 cups beef broth


Now to start this is an enormous amount of food, I cut the recipe completely it half but the above amounts are the originals. 

Preheat oven to 325.  Saeason brisket with salt & pepper.  In a large skillet melt 1 tspn butter and working in batches cook meat for about 8 minutes.  Transfer the meat to a large dutch oven or some sort of pot that can go in the oven.  Add more butter and start cooking all those onions.  Once those are done add them into the pot with the beef.  Add about 3 Tablespoons of butter to the skillet , melt then add the flour.  Let this cook for a few minutes until golden then whisk in the beer.  Follow that by the broth and bring to a boil whisking until smooth.  Pour the sauce over th beef & onions, put a cover on it and cook inthe oven for 2 hours.  Remove lid and cook for another 30 minutes, remove from oven let stand another 15-30 minutes and serve over mashed potatoes.

Seriously good food.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

One of the few meals I actually made last week.  Came out great, made a ton, and will made again.  Great winter meal.

Ingredients

4 cups chooked chicken (leftovers, store bought, however I used 2 large raw chicken breasts and then shredded them once I turned off the crockpot)
1 cup each diced onions,  chopped celery, chopped carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas
4 cans low sodium chicken broth
2 cans cream of soup (you could use whatever, I happened to use cream of chicken, but the recipe calls for cream of mushroom with roasted garlic-but I am not a fan of this)
2 tspns herbs.  Such as tarragon, parsley, tarragon, chives etc.
salt & pepper to tasts
2 cups egg noodles

So put everything in the crock pot cook on low about 8 hours, if you use whole chicken breasts shred and return to soup, add 2 cups noddles, turn off crock pot and let sit about 20 minutes or so stirring occasionally.  There you go.

10/17/10-10/23/10

Well last week was a mess, can't tell you how many times dinner didnt get made or we got take out.  Bad Becotte's.  So this week shopping wasn't bad because I have all that left over food.  Here goes to a better week.

Sunday-Beef & Beer Stew w/mashed potatoes & green beans
Monday-I'm working late, so maybe left overs for Allen or punt night
Tuesday-Jambalaya
Wednesday-Lemon Chicken Pasta (if I remember to go buy lemons because believe it or not the grocery store was out) or Chicken Fried Rice
Thursday-Shake & Bake Chicken, roasted broccoli & potatoes (Allen's birthday!)
Friday-Hot Dogs & Mac & Cheese (major comfort food!)
Saturday-Out to eat for Allen's BDay!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

I;ve been craving broccoli & cheese soup, specificly Panera's because their is the best.  I always try other places, and some are decent Fridays TBones, to name a couple of Panera's in by far the best.  At least to me it is.  But I don't go to Panera often, well, because it's in Andover and I don't go to Andover.  I came across this recipe on the web and decided to give it a shot.  It's good, needs to be a little thicker, and I think I pureed it a bit to much but it's pretty close to Panera, well maybe not, but it's not bad being that it was made at home and it made enough that I have lunch for a couple of days.

Ingredients:

1 T melted butter
medium onion diced
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups 1/2 & 1/2 (I used fat free)
2 cups chicken stock (fat free and I ended up using a bit more probably closer to 3 cups)
1/2 lb. fresh broccoli chopped
1 cup carrots julienned
1/2 t nutmeg
8 oz. grated cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to tasts

Directions:

Saute onion in 1 T butter, set aside.  Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Stir constantly add in the half and half.  Add the chicken stock and simmer to 20 minutes.  Add the broccoli, carrots and onion cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and pepper.  Puree to desired texture.  Return to heat and add cheese, stir in nutmeg.  Turn off heat and let sit a bit stirring occasionally so cheese melts.

Weekly Menu 10/10/10-10/16/10

So last week, not bad.  We did get take out Friday night....damn it.  Everything else went as scheduled.  Here goes to another successful week.  The good news is I have all the ingredients to make at least 3 of these dinners on hand, so shopping will be limited. 

Sunday-Baked stuffed chicken breasts, acorn squash, mashed potatoes
Monday-Pork Chops or Chicken have both in the freezer
Tuesday-Crockpot creamy chicken noodle soup; french bread (new recipe will post later)
Wednesday-Chicken a la King w/rice
Thursday-Crockpot Beef Stronganoff
Friday-Sloppy Joes
Saturday-Baked chicken & veggies

Born to Ride

When Allen and I were kids we rode bikes all the time.  I can remember being younger than Rachel and riding all over the neighborhood.  Those types of days have changed.  We live on a busy street so the kids can't really ride, or learn to, and well I'd never, ever, ever, let the kids just take off on their bikes and be back when the street lights come on.  Too many crazies out there.  Rachel has taken it upon herself to learn.  And considering the poor kid spent the better part of the 45 minutes peddling up a hill she did great. 

Halloween Prep

The kids were digging through their costume chest the other day and decided to try some out in preperation for Halloween. 

Weekly Menu 10/3/10-10/9/10

Allen reminded me tonight that I didn't update the blog.  His exact words were I was so disappointed when I checked the blog and it hasn't been updated in over a week.  So of course I go to load some pics I took and the mattery in my camera is dead.  Those will have to wait for another day.  Instead you get my weekly menu.

Sunday-Potroast
Monday-Shake & Bake Pork Chops, Roasted Broccoli (so good Allen leaves me messages on my phone about it), other stuff
Tuesday-Keilbasa & something, maybe I'll make jambalaya if we have it
Wednesday-Crockpot chili
Thursday-leftovers for Allen and tomato sausage for me
Friday-beans and hotdogs
Saturday-chicken, god knows we have plenty of it in the freezer.