Meal Plan Monday – August 31st

I have to admit that I’m feeling a bit unprepared heading into this week. I didn’t get as much done this weekend as I wanted to, but life goes on. So once again, I came up with an outline for the week that is subject to change. There are a couple of recipe that I’ve been wanting to try, and still haven’t gotten to them. One them is some sort of Thai Green Curry. Another is Guy’s Cauliflower Croquettes. They had some really nice cauliflower at the Farmer’s Market last week, so I may go ahead and get some this week.

And on with my menu…

Breakfast ideas:
Muffins (we really like these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins)
Oatmeal
Cereal
Smoothies or Fruit to accompany

Lunch:
Leftovers from the night before
Rice Cooker Mac & Cheese (with tuna)
Corn Dog Muffins (from previous post)
Pasta Mama (also from last week’s post)
Sandwiches
Tortillas with cheese
veggies and fruit to accompany

Dinner:
Spaghetti Sauce & MB (didn’t get made this weekend)
Fish & Chips (didn’t get made last week)
Chicken Cacciatore… from freezer
Pizza… possible THIS RECIPE
Roast Chicken
Chicken Sandwiches
Accompanied by lots of veggies from the Farmer’s Market.

Remember to stop by orgjunkie.com to check out hundreds of other menu plans. Thanks for stopping by, and have a flavorful day.
Antoinette

New recipes this week…

Hi all! I always post my Meal plan for the week and it never fails, shortly afterwards I find new recipes to try. Sandra Lee or Guy Fieri are usually the ones responsible for messing up my menu plan.

Sandra had a show on Monday called, One Pot Meals. I absolutely loved what she did with Beef Stew to turn it into Shepherd’s Pie. But I was even more excited about her Tuscan Soup with Tortellini. I decided to make that after a trip to the Farmer’s Market yesterday. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I kind of made my own take on it. Here’s what I put in…

6 cups frozen chicken stock
1 T beef base
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
2 cups frozen, chopped, cooked chicken
1 T Italian seasoning
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 tsp salt
1 (16 oz.) frozen box/bag cheese tortellini

Drop the frozen blocks of chicken stock into a Dutch oven and turn on high. Once the broth is thawed and warming up, add your beef base and stir to mix in. Add your onion and garlic powders. (I normally don’t use just the powders, but we had been at the Fair all day and I needed to get dinner done FAST. Didn’t have time to saute the onion and garlic. No one complained.)
Add tomatoes, peppers, chicken and spices. Bring to a boil and add your tortellini. Return to a boil then reduce to a simmer until the tortellini is done (5 minutes or so).

I started this soup sometime past 5:00 and it was on the table by 5:30! Gotta love a recipe like that. Here’s a picture of the leftovers…

We have a Farmer’s Market right by our house, and I have not frequented it enough. We decided to stop there after the Fair yesterday and I promised myself that I would go back next week. One of the first vendors we came across had a selection of zucchini, bell peppers, and cucumbers mix and match 5 for $2. When I saw the zucchini I was reminded of a wonderful chocolate zucchini brownie that a friend gave to me last Sunday. Yum! I had to get one. Then I searched for a muffin recipe. Luckily for me I found THIS ONE. Yummy!!! And the recipe makes 24 muffins instead of 12, which I love.

And for the final recipe: My daughter, a.k.a. my protege, wants to make SMORE BARS later on today. She’s 7 and 1/2, and I’m thinking that she’ll be able to make these all by herself. I will do my best to remember to take a picture.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted if I try anything else in the next couple of days.
Thanks for stopping by and have a flavorful day!
Antoinette

PS – I remembered! Here’s a picture of our Smore Bars…

Meal Plan Monday – August 24th

I can not believe how fast these last few weeks of summer are flying by. At least I think I’m done school shopping, with the exception of getting shoes. And we’re off to the state fair on Thursday! The kids have been talking about seeing and petting the animals for weeks now.

On to my menu… discovered a new meal on the Food Network last night and had a chance to make it for dinner tonight. It’s called Pasta Mama, made at Hugo’s Restaurant in LA, CA.

So simple, yet so yummy. I was shocked to find their recipe on the web site! I’m pretty sure they make this for breakfast, but you can have it anytime of the day.

Still trying to use up a lot of things in my freezer, so any title you see in {brackets} is something from my freezer.
And remember, for hundreds of more menu ideas head on over to I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Monday
Breakfast – Applesauce Muffins
Sunny Morning Muffins and smoothies
Lunch – Rice Cooker Mac & Cheese with tuna and peas
Dinner – {Turkey Taco Bake}
Cleaning – Kitchen

Tuesday
Breakfast – Cereal & Fruit
Lunch – leftovers
Dinner – Kids eat free or take out (decorating and delivering a cake that day)
Cleaning – LR/Entry way

Wednesday
Breakfast – Vanilla Spice Oatmeal (We prefer dried apples in place of the raisins.) and fruit
Lunch – Corn Dog Muffins and carrots
Dinner – {Chicken Soup} and Bread (Will use frozen chicken stock and chopped cooked chicken… recipe to follow)
Cleaning – Bathrooms

Thursday
Breakfast – Muffins
Lunch – State Fair!
Dinner – Leftover Soup and Bread (if we’re hungry!)
Cleaning – will have to wait a day

Friday
Breakfast – Oatmeal & smoothies or fruit
Lunch – Sandwiches or cheese tortillas
Dinner – {Fish & Fries} using THIS RECIPE
Cleaning – Family Room

Saturday
Breakfast – Pancakes, Eggs, & Sausage w/ fruit
Lunch – Pancake Sandwiches & Fruit
Dinner – Spaghetti Sauce and MB with broccoli
Cleaning – Bedrooms/Mop/Vacuum/Dust

Sunday
Breakfast – Pasta Mama! & smoothies
Lunch – Sub Sandwiches
Dinner – Grilling

Chicken Barley Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 stalk celery, chopped
1-2 potatoes, diced
3-5 carrots, chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 c barley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp lemon pepper
8 cups chicken broth or stock
2-3 cups chopped cooked chicken

In crock pot layer, onion, potatoes, celery, carrots, & barley. Add seasoning and broth/stock. Cover and cook on low 6 hours (high 3 hours). Add chicken meat; adjust seasonings and cook another 2 hours on low (1 hour on high).

I think that’s it! You might have noticed that I’m decorating and delivering a cake on Tuesday. I will do my best to post pictures of it when I’m finished. I’m using THIS CAKE as my inspiration, made from Pink Cake Box. They make the most amazing cakes!!!

OK, I’m off. Thanks for stopping by today… and may you have a flavorful day.
Antoinette

Lunch plans have changed

When I make out my meal pan for the week, I use it as a guide line. It’s never completely set in stone in case something changes… or I find a really awesome recipe! That would be the case today. When I posted my link over at I’m an Organizing Junkie last night, I ended up checking out some other menus that were already posted… one of them being Laura @ Heavenly Homemaker.

When reading through her menu I noticed that she had Homemade Corn Dogs on her list. Curious, especially since my children have been asking to make corn dogs lately. So, I clicked on the recipe. Not only did she make corn dogs, but someone else recommended that she try making Corn Dog Muffins. And someone else recommended making them in a mini muffin pan to get a better muffin to dog ratio! My poor neglected mini muffin pan has found a purpose!

I had 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Bread mix in the cupboard, so I pulled both out and mixed them up. I also had 3 hot dogs in the fridge, slotted for lunch on Wednesday. Wednesday will now have to change! I cut each dog into 8 pieces, filled up my muffins tins, and here’s what they looked like…

Here’s a picture of them after baking (& boy waiting with anticipation for them to cool)…

I thought maybe they would bake up more and cover the hot dog. But, whatever… as long as they taste good. The boy from the picture has already eaten 8 of them (a total of 1 whole hot dog) and I think could easily eat 8 more. I’m already thinkin’ school lunches here. Yummy!

Well I’m off to get some more stuff done. Just had to share my new discovery with you.
Have a great day!
Antoinette

PS – Problem solved… frost them with Ketchup and Mustard. Tee-Hee!

Meal Plan Monday – August 17th

What? Is it seriously the 17th already? Woah, that took me a little by surprise. I suppose I should get our school supplies soon! :-O

Any ways, on to our meal plan. I’ve decided to throw in some breakfasts, lunches and snack ideas this week to give you some more to go on.
{Anything with brackets around it means that it has come from my freezer}

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal & Fruit
Muffins & Eggs
Pancakes & Eggs
Smoothies

Lunches (usually served with raw veggies):
Sandwiches
Tortillas with Cheese (and some times w/ leftovers thrown in there)
Rice Cooker Mac & Cheese (my new favorite recipe!) with hot dogs
Pancake sandwiches
{Pintos Beans} & Rice (for me and my hubby that a dear friend made for us)

Dinner:
M – Lasagna Toss w/ Herbed Broccoli
Tu – Brinner: Pancakes, Eggs, Sausage, & Fruit
W – {Honey Lime Chicken} w/ Rice and Green Beans
Th – {Mini Meat loaves} w/ carrots and broccoli
I already made my meat loaves, but really want to try THIS recipe.
F – Leftovers or Burgers
Sa – Spaghetti Sauce & MB (Time to make the big batch!)
Su – Grill something

Snack Ideas:
Lots of fruit!
Popcorn
Corn Muffins or Corn Cakes
Ants on a log
PB crackers
(would love to hear some of your favorites)

I also pick 1 room to focus on each day, to clean and declutter. I’m not always the best at this, but it does seem to help. I also do at least 1, if not 2, loads of laundry a day. That way I hardly ever feel “behind”.

M – Kitchen
Tu – Living Room/Entry Way
W – Bathrooms
Th – Family Room
F – Bedrooms (can carry over into Saturday)
Sa – Mop/Vacuum, wash windows, & dust

Favorite Food Network episode this week: Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade menu on Friday. Click HERE for the links. Although Guy Big Bite on Friday was a close 2nd. Click HERE if you want to see his recipes.

And please go to I‘m an Organization Junkie for hundreds of other menu ideas!
Thanks for stopping by today, and please leave a comment if you end up trying any of these recipes. I’d love to know your reaction!
Antoinette

On a pie kick (and no one’s complaining)

On Wednesday I was just in the mood to make a pie. I had some strawberries and some rhubarb to use up, so I thought I would make a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Then I thought, maybe I should make 2 pies because I’m not sure everyone likes rhubarb. I always keep pumpkin and evaporated milk in my cupboard so I pulled one of each out. That’s when I noticed the expiration date on the milk: Aug 14, 2009. Back to the cupboard to check the other cans, and found another one that expired the same date. So, I’m making 2 pumpkins pies and freezing the strawberry rhubarb filling. Not a problem. We’ve been enjoying those the past couple of days.

Now I want to make another one. I still have strawberries to use up, so I pulled out my American Cooking Cookbook. This bad boy is over 900 pages long and I adopted it when I married my husband. The thing goes alphabetical by ingredient… I kid you not. Starts with Abalone…Almond…Ambrosia, etc. Ends with Yogurt…Zabaglione (?) …Zucchini. I did find a copy of it on amazon if you want to take a peek. That version is from 1972, but mine is from 1986. So if you’re wanting to make something out of, say, strawberries you would look for that ingredient and find a bunch of recipes to choose from. And when it comes to strawberries there are many pies and cakes to choose from. I, however, decided on a recipe called Mile-High Strawberry Pie. I was shocked to find a very similar recipe on Recipezaar so that I could share it with you. You can find it HERE.

Shall we get to the pie now? I followed the instructions… mostly. It says to beat the strawberries, egg whites, et all for 15-20 minutes. It’s supposed to look like a meringue when you’re done. I didn’t time it, but it looked good enough. The recipezaar recipe calls for Cool-Whip. My recipe calls for heavy whipping cream, beaten. I would recommend the Cool Whip. I whipped my cream and it got too thick. Then I tried to fold it into my “meringue” and got chunks of cream throughout. Something in my brain said, “Hey, you used the mixer for both the strawberry mixture and the cream… why not just stick it back in there to mix in the cream?” I know, I know… I should’ve known better. I watched as it beat in my cream and sank my meringue. Oops. However it still tastes fine, it’s just not going to be “Mile-High.”

You want a picture? It’s in the freezer right now, but I’ll take one once it’s frozen. Oy! A learning experience indeed! (And don’t think I won’t try to make another one tomorrow. I’ve still got strawberries to use up!)
Now I need to make lunch. Have a fruitful day!

Antoinette

New snack/side dish for us.

I’ve been watching the Food Network lately… a lot. :-O And I keep seeing people making corn cakes. So I searched for a simple recipe and found one from Rachael Ray that you can find HERE. Haven’t tried the chili. Have had problems with spices this pregnancy. :-L

Any ways, her recipe couldn’t get any simpler.
1 box Jiffy Cornbread Mix
Ingredients to make cornbread
1 1/2 cups cheese
(she recommends pepper jack, but I didn’t think the kids would like that so I substituted cheddar)

Mix that all together and cook them in a griddle for 3 minutes per side. Yum-O!
I even remembered to take a picture this time.

The cornbread is naturally sweet, so the cheese adds a nice flavor to the cakes. And honestly, they’re ready in about 10 minutes. I made a double batch and we’re having the leftovers with dinner. It’s the little things.

Have a great one!
Antoinette

Meal Plan Monday – August 10th

Good Monday morning!

We were on Stay-cation last week and the menu plan went out the window. However, I’m glad to be back at it this week because we have a lot of stuff in our freezer that needs to get eaten up.

Monday – Pork Carnitas with black beans, taco shells, tortillas and veggies

Tuesday – Dinner at a friend’s house (bringing a pie or cake)

Wednesday – Chicken Caccitori with mashed potatoes and veggies

Thursday – Maple Soy Chicken (on the grill) with rice and veggies

Friday – Leftovers or Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner)

Saturday – Pasta and Meatballs with veggies and garlic bread
I already have some sauce and mb in the freezer, but found this recipe that I’d like to try some time.

Sunday – Lasagna Toss with veggies and garlic bread

MMM – This week was my week to make a Meal Makin’ Mamas meal. I decided on Touch of Orient Chicken. It was really easy to throw these together and toss in the freezer.

Check out I’m an Organizing Junkie for literally hundreds of other menu ideas!

Hope you have a wonderful week!
Antoinette