This weekend

Friday was karate night and we wound up eating pizza again.

Saturday, I had karate lunch as well - the Red Rooster in Damascus, the BEST fried chicken around.

Saturday night, TMOTH and I went to a retirement party for a colleague at my boss' house ~ my contribution was bringing the samosas from Il Forno/Metro Dhaba. There were also Costo min-quiches, stuffed mushrooms (another colleague has promised to share the recipe), a pork loin, black beans and rice, and a pretty green salad. And dessert! I brought plenty of cake home for the kids.

This morning we got up and went to breakfast at the local fire house. Pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, fried apples, orange juice - even the coffee was good!!! I was completely stuffed!

Tonight, the Lovely Daughter had a "thing" in Baltimore - a dog-and-pony show from Florida Southern College, one of the schools she's applied to and seriously considering. We had snacks at the reception - hot pretzels and Cracker Jacks - and then I fed her at Subway after finally escaping from Baltimore. Why the heck cities WILL NOT put up signs telling you how to get to the major interstates is beyond me. It just makes me hate driving in Baltimore (and DC is even worse!) so I don't go as often as I would otherwise. I think the boys back home had pizza.

The menu planning process has gone well and really reduces my stress level in the evenings. So for the coming week, we'll have:

Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: leftover lasagna
Wednesday: Fish
Thursday: Burgers
Saturday: Chicken
Sunday: Cheese and crackers

Subject to change without notice, but at least I have a plan :)

Lasagna

Mmmm...home-made lasagna. Not too much sauce, NOT chunky. We didn't seem to eat very much of it, so we'll be having lasagna next week as well. Probably Monday, since it's Scout night.

I stopped at Panera and bought baguettes, so we had reasonably good bread to go with the lasagna. (And probably why not so much lasagna got eaten!)

Tonight, we tried this recipe: Border-Style Shrimp

We scaled it back a bit - with two of us eating shrimp, we used half of a one-pound frozen package. It's not clear in the recipe whether you should shell the shrimp first or not, but I DID - makes them much less messy to eat! It was quite yummy - if a big lacking in spice. I didn't want to overdo it, since TMOTH doesn't like TOO much spice. Even with adding a bit of chopped jalapeno, it needed a bit more. Next time (and there IS likely to be a next time) I'll add some more jalapeno, a little more hot sauce, maybe some pepper seeds. The Lovely Daughter had her leftover tofu; boys had fish/chicken.

I also made yellow rice - I stock up on MSG-free Sazon seasoning when I visit Florida - and added onion and green bell pepper and a tiny bit of jalapeno.

We had quesadillas and chips and salsa as well.

Pork chops

TMOTH found a recipe that called for brining the pork chops, then serving with caramelized onions. He also made boiled potatoes and salad! (I LOVE boiled potatoes- much better than mashed to me.)

Stuffed Peppers

I made these on Sunday and left them in the fridge for TMOTH to put in the oven. A pretty much totally invented recipe~ I had a bag of 10-minute barley from Trader Joe's (the only barley they had!!) and cooked it up. I cooked up about half a package of chopped mushrooms, the first inch or so off the top of a red pepper, and most of a chopped onion until soft, added the barley and some tomato sauce, then some Italian seasoning and a couple teaspoons of grated Parmesan (what was left in a shaker can).

I filled one green pepper with the vegetarian mixture and put it in a dish for the Lovely Daughter. Then I added some browned ground beef from the freezer and put that in a couple of peppers for me and TMOTH. I could tell I'd have filling left over, so I have little bins of vegetarian and meat filling in the freezer as well!

TMOTH cooked as per directions and they came out great - AND I have leftovers for lunch.

Sriracha-Glazed Chicken or Tofu

http://www.marthastewart.com/335370/sriracha-glazed-chicken

I used this Martha Stewart recipe, with modifications - I didn't have any fresh ginger, so added ground; I didn't have any toasted sesame oil, so used a bit of canola oil. I know I lost some flavor there, but I wasn't going to the store just for toasted sesame oil! The chicken was still good, and the Lovely Daughter even liked the tofu.

Served with roasted potatoes and veggie sticks.

Pancakes and Next Week's Menu

Tinted green per the Karate Kid's request :) We also had bacon and veggie sausage, and fruit: cantaloupe, strawberries, and mango.

Menu:
Sunday: Chicken
Monday: Stuffed Peppers
Tuesday: Grilled pork of some sort
Wednesday: Shrimp, rice
Thursday: Lasagna
Friday: Karate night
Saturday: Party at the boss' house

Pizza!

Friday is karate night in the Frazzled household. Both boys - one at 5 pm and the other at 7 pm, so we eat dinner at 6 pm in the bustling metropolis of Damascus, MD. Not a whole lot to choose from, and we often eat and J&P New York Pizza. Their Sicilian pan pizza is pretty awesome, and we have plenty of leftovers.

Bacon-Wrapped Monkfish

Mmmmm. I bought the monkfish at Harris Teeter on the way back from taking the Lovely Daughter to school after her eye appointment. I had shrimp on the schedule - BUT - I'd forgotten to take it out of the freezer (not actually a dealbreaker) and we had pasta last night.

TMOTH also made roasted new potatoes and roasted broccoli with parmesan cheese to go with it. It was yummy.

Pot roast

YUM! It was a lovely roast - and I don't know what it was! Just a hunk of beef that I found in the freezer...with onions and the surviving vegetables from the fridge (celeriac, two sad mushrooms, carrots), beef broth, and a small can of tomato sauce. Served over pasta.

A very nice (for January) cantaloupe and kiwi, and sub rolls to round out dinner.

Garam masala grilled chicken

Biscuits, cheesy broccoli, and strawberries as well.

A new year, a new plan

PLAN being the operative word.

Menu planning is, for some reason, difficult for me, but life is SO much easier when I do it.

For the remainder of the week:

Tuesday: Grilled chicken thighs, vegetables, biscuits, strawberries, maybe salad
Wednesday: Crock-pot roast beef, french bread (This is ready to start tomorrow!)
Thursday: Pasta with shrimp, salad
Friday: Karate night!
Saturday: Pancakes, bacon & sausages, fruit
Sunday: TBD, planning on Friday or Saturday

Leek and goat cheese frittata

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/leek-goat-cheese-frittata.aspx

I made a few changes - I only had two leeks, so that's what I used. And 6 eggs looked a bit skimpy, so I used eight. But it was most definitely yummy.

We also had bruschetta - I used a chopped basil in a tube that worked out really well - and cantaloupe. The cantaloupe was remarkably tasteless for coming from the Farmers Market. The Lovely Daughter and I turned it into a smoothie, with frozen peaches, a banana, and a tiny bit of yogurt.

Menu planning

Man, I suck at menu planning.

Tuesday: we had pasta
Tonight: leftover fajitas and tacos
Thursday: Farmer's Market - may be some egg dish
Friday: Karate/pickup from Hershey Park
Saturday: Roasted chicken
Sunday: Pancakes

Pulled pork sandwiches

With cheeseburgers for boys, and a veggie burger for The Lovely Daughter.

I made coleslaw again, but this was MUCH better! I started with this:
A Bobby Flay recipe for Coleslaw with Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette - but of course didn't really follow it.

I shredded up about a cup of cabbage, maybe 5 baby carrots. Added the juice of a lime and *maybe* a teaspoon of canola oil. A dash of salt and a smidge of honey. Then a scant spoonful of my new favorite ingredient: Sambal oelek.

I am in heaven. Almost like green papaya salad - I'll have to try adding bean sprouts and chopped peanuts the next time :)

Shrimp scampi

YAY! Shrimp that actually taste like shrimp! These were either from Ecuador or Honduras (they had some from both places, and I can't remember where the ones I bought were from). The important thing is that they were wild-caught, and very fresh. Not gulf shrimp, but also not $20 a pound either. Some of the last of the asparagus roasted, some grilled summer squash, yellow rice, and bread. And there's plenty of fruit for dessert.

Misc.

Boys had hotdogs and leftover pizza; TMOTH had sausage and eggs; I had a salad. BUT I made pound cake this afternoon, and sliced strawberries from the farmers market to go on top. Mmm.

Banana pudding

OK, it's for dessert, not dinner :)

But dinner - Chinese takeout - just wasn't that good :(
The soup was pretty good, spring rolls OK, pad thai was weird, and ginger chicken that was pretty good as well. But WAY too much MSG. I took three advil and two benadryl, and hopefully will escape a major migraine.

Farmers Market Dinner

The farmers market is back!!! One day a week, in the parking lot of the church across the street from work, there is a farmers market from May to November. It is a weekly ritual for a number of us to walk across to the market on Thursday morning.

It's still early in the season, but I got enough for dinner - a dozen eggs from "happy hens" for scrambled eggs, a ginormous apple, potatoes for hash browns, and a quart of strawberries. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

Crockpot pulled pork and coleslaw

http://www.crumblycookie.net/2008/05/30/crockpot-pulled-pork/

I made this today, and it was wonderful. I (of course) tweaked it a little bit.
1. I added about half a teaspoon of ginger to the spice mix; I also didn't have white pepper so just added extra black pepper.
2. The only pork shoulder at the grocery was about 4 pounds, so I used about half the spice mix, then let it sit overnight (I put the rub on last night after dinner, then started the crockpot this morning before work (~7 am).
3. I added back about half the cooking liquid, after skimming off the fat. And I think I probably added more BBQ sauce in the heating the shredded meat phase, but I'm not sure because I just poured it in until it looked right. I used Stubbs, and was happy with the results.

Very carroty coleslaw on the side, potato chips because I was too tired to make potato salad, and YUM. The only downside was the slaw dressing - I bought Marzetti's (again, the only kind at the grocery. Grrr.) and it's a little more vinegary than I like. OK, but not great. Any recommendations for a sweet dressing, or a recipe?

(As an aside, I shredded my thumb while making the coleslaw. I walked into the living room holding a paper towel around it, and when TMOTH looked a question at me, I said "I shredded my thumb." The Lovely Daughter just erupted - WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK TO SAY THAT! DON'T SAY THAT! SAY YOU CUT YOUR FINGER! It was highly amusing.)

Chicken cacciatorre

A good dinner for a change - the pasta dish, salad, garlic bread.

And I put the spice rub on a small pork shoulder for this recipe:
Crockpot pulled pork

Cheese and Crackers and Fruit and Veg

I spent the day at the quilt show (except for driving The Lovely Daughter to and from her art class) so no cooking tonight. We stopped by Magruders ( LOVE those local groceries) for fruit, assorted raw veggies, and supplemental cheese and crackers for dinner.  We found some celery & onion flavored crackers that we both agreed *could* be interesting, and they were AWESOME. I will definitely buy them again.

Salad and pasta

Stopped by Trader Joe's for milk and eggs and discovered pesto at TJ's. Not as good as homemade, but not too shabby for a weeknight dinner. Also french bread from TJ's. Leftover strawberries sliced and sugared with tiny cupcakes for dessert.

Chicken pot pie

I had a couple of frozen mini-pies in the freezer (home-made, even!).

Last night we had Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff - the Karate Kid LOVES the stuff. Sigh.

Soup night

Leftover bean soup with sausage for DH and me and The Lovely Daughter's BF; tomato with pasta for my boys, and Trader Joe's Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper soup for The Lovely Daughter - she practically lives on the stuff!

Omelettes

Omelettes are nice because they're individually made and easy to put things into one person's and leave them out of the next :) So TMOTH and I can have lots of fillers; the boys can have JUST CHEESE with bacon on the side, and the vegetarian Lovely Daughter can have veggies and cheese.

And I made a key lime pie this afternoon, so there'll be yummies for dessert tonight.

Pot roast

Broccoli from the freezer, mashed potatoes, biscuits from a can...and lots of macaroni and cheese for the don't-eat-potroast crowd. The Lovely Daughter had friends over, and I actually had enough to feed them dinner as well :)

French toast

with bacon and strawberries for dinner last night. Tonight we had pizza since it was karate night again.

Karate night

Karate nights are hard to have meals at home. Class times are just not the *right* times to allow cooking.

Last night we grilled burgers with the in-laws. Yum. Tomorrow will most likely be French toast.

Pasta with scallops, artichokes, and roasted red peppers

This is an adaptation of a recipe from the back of a bag of frozen shrimp in garlic sauce. Which as far as I can tell they are no longer selling :( BUT, I had scallops, I had garlic, and the artichokes, pepper, and shredded parmesan to make a good fake. Also focaccia bread to go along with it.

I also managed to get navy beans soaking to make bean soup for tomorrow. It's not at all clear if the in-law invasion will be here by dinnertime or not, so a recipe that makes plenty is a big bonus.

I need to go pick up a roast for Monday, and some chicken in case they're still here for dinner on Tuesday - it seems that when they were talking about this trip, it was going to be really quick. I'm just glad they're coming.

Mini-quiches

It was time-consuming, but the results were GOOD. I combined a Kraft spinach cheese bake recipe with a quiche recipe for the filling, and then used various additives in the different cups. Half were vegetarian with spinach, for my daughter; half had ham or bacon; half of the meat had vegetables added.

The mid-kid actually tried one of the no-vegetable ones, and even ate all of it - but then had a hot dog. Small man stuck with a hot dog.

The Lovely Daughter approved, and that's really what I was going for.

Pancakes

Bacon for the carnivores, faux sausage for the vegetarian.

I was going to have grapes for the illusion of balance, but forgot to wash them and put them on the table. We can have them for dessert :)

Yesterday was a grab-whatever dinner, adjusting to the new karate schedule. I think in the future that on Fridays, I'll have to have diner with the mid-kid before leaving, and then let TMOTH and and Small Man eat when they get home. The Lovely Daughter can pick who to eat with :)

Steak and the trimmings

For some reason, I *really* wanted asparagus today. So when I arrived in the produce department and they had some that looked nice, I bought it, even at $2.99 a pound.

We also had salad, baked potatoes, mushrooms & onions, and crescent rolls. Boys had tube steaks :) and the Lovely Daughter had some marinated tofu with her salad.

Ham

I bought a big chunk o'ham yesterday, and sliced it up today. Two bags of slices and a little bag of chunks went into the freezer. I was making ham stock, but it burned :(

We also had mac-n-cheese, green beans, cucumber, and sliced apples.

Burgers

With strawberries and cantaloupe on the side. Yum.

Garlic Shrimp

From this recipe. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We also had fried potatoes and foccacia bread (yeah, a bit carb-heavy) and apple pie for dessert.

I had hoppin' John and greens at lunchtime :)

I got chicken thighs out of the freezer for tomorrow.

Tuesday: Pizza
Wednesday: Pork tenderloin/ham, broccoli & cheese sauce
Thursday: Steaks/burgers, baked potatoes
Friday: Cheese and crackers
Saturday: Quiches, salad
Sunday: BBQ pork sandwiches

Pepper Steak and Rice

I forget how much I like pepper steak. Our blasted refrigerator has decided AGAIN that it wants to freeze everything, so I had a frozen bell pepper to slice up and use. Too bad that won't work with the frozen cucumber :( Maybe I can make cucumber soup if the weather is bad tomorrow - as long as I have yogurt.

Cheese and crackers

We had KFC last night since I had to drive the Lovely Daughter about half an hour away to a Mystery Dinner. I tried the grilled chicken for a change of pace; it was actually pretty good. LOVE their green beans.

Omelettes

Mushroom and bacon with cheese for us; just cheese for the kids.

I actually got a good cantaloupe today at the grocery.

Fish and shrimp

Salad, flaky layers biscuits. Easy-peasy.

Good, since I couldn't do my pre-work shopping at the Safeway. NO manned checkout lanes. I just left my cart and went to the Giant. Who didn't have blueberries on sale :(

Steak!

TMOTH fired up the grill tonight, so we had steak, with burgers for the boys. French bread and scalloped potatoes for starch, sliced cucumber and baby carrots.

Pork Tenderloin

Sliced into medallions, browned a bit, then added Thai Green Curry Sauce from Trader Joe's. Made yellow rice using the Sazon I have to get in Florida because they don't carry it here! Veg from the freezer on the side.

I've come up with worse dinners on the quick :)

Cheese Ravioli

From the freezer, with jarred sauce and bread from Panera.

Julliano's pizza

Yummmmm. And garlic cheese bread (a.k.a. Julliano's crack). Even more yummmmmmm.

Soup and grilled cheese

I was supposed to have a meeting tonight, starting at 7, 30 minutes away. So I went and met the other committee members and the clubhouse door was locked. Since there wasn't anything critical on the agenda we went home.

Hushpuppies!

We had fish and shrimp REALLY because I wanted hushpuppies. The quick waffle dinner that we were supposed to have on Thursday happened early in the week, so now I still have to come up with something bast and good for then. Likely soup and sandwiches.

Waffles and bacon

The middle kid has scouts tonight, so it had to be a fast dinner, and one that TMOTH could do on his own.

Chicken stir-fry

I used frozen Safeway stir-fry veges with asparagus - which seemed to have all of the vegetables TMOTH really hates! Nevertheless, *I* liked it, and the Lovely Daughter ate the chicken and rice, at least. And the sides- shu mai and spring rolls from the freezer case.

The Karate Kid found this cherry tonight that looked like a duck:


I ate it anyway.


I also made some really yummy cookies today, from a Martha Stewart recipe: Lemon Icebox Cookies. They were easy and GOOD.

Leftover beef stew

I made biscuits to go with this. Yummmmmm....I LOVE biscuits. Must be the southern upbringing.

Of course, this was not as planned :)

The chicken wasn't thawed, so I went to Plan B. We'll have the chicken tomorrow night, as a stir-fry.

Last night was pizza night

So we picked up some Pizza Hut on the way home. NOT my favorite, but the kids like it, especially the middle kid who got stuffed crust pizza (a rare treat for him).

Menu planning for the week:

Tonight: Something chickenish/saucy over rice
Sunday: Pasta (alfredo?) with garlic breadsticks
Monday: Leftover beef stew, salad, french bread
Tuesday: Fish or seafood from the freezer; hush puppies
Wednesday: Soup from a can and grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday: Waffles (FSQ Board meeting at 7)
Friday: Pigs in blankets

cheese and crackers

Man, I looove cheese and crackers. I know it's not the healthiest dinner in the world, especially when we don't manage to have much fruit or veg to go with it, but with flat champagne left over from New Year's, on an evening when I REALLY don't want to cook, it's heavenly.

Pork chops

with sauteed onions. Leftover dinner rolls from the weekend. Roasted potatoes. The Jolly Green Giant made the vegetables for me :)

Bean soup

Very good.
They didn't have ham hocks at the grocery this weekend, but they did have smoked pork neck bones. They worked quite well.
I also didn't have any onions for the initial cook, so just browned some tonight and added them while reheating. Also worked out well, there was more definition to the onions.

Spaghetti and meatballs

And still plenty of time left before Boy Scouts and Quilt guild!

Pancakes

And bacon. Giant brand bacon. Not awful, but not too bad either. Still, on the post-dinner grocery run, Smithfield bacon was on sale at the Safeway. So I bought 4 pounds.

Not sure why I didn't post last night - we did indeed have beef stew, and "the good rolls." Both were yummy.

New year, new resolve

Poor neglected blog.

One of the new year resolutions is menu planning. Again :)
Hopefully it will sink in this year.

For this week:

Weekend prep work: Grocery shopping
Make meatballs and garlic breadsticks for Monday
Soak beans and cook

Saturday: Hoppin' John for lunch for me, at least - nobody else likes black-eyed peas.
Dinner: beef stew with the "good" rolls

Sunday: Pancakes, breakfast meat, fruit

Monday: Pasta, breadsticks, maybe salad

Tuesday: Pork - depends on what's on sale; vegetables; roasted potatoes

Wednesday: Chicken in some sort of simmer sauce, rice, broccoli

Thursday: Bean soup

Friday: Pizza night

Chicken Rotini Alfredo

Just like Stouffer's, only better :)

4 T butter
2 T flour
1/2 t crushed garlic
2 c half-and-half
1/2 c Romano cheese
1 c Parmesan cheese
1 lb rotini pasta
1.5 c mozzarella cheese

Next time, I'll make a little more sauce and back off on the mozzarella. Maybe a little less butter as well.

A bit calorific for every day, but for an occasional treat, yum yum yum.
And garlic bread, of course.

Steaks

T-bones, which TMOTH doesn't especially like for some reason. (He likes rib-eyes, which I don't especially like because of the huge chunks of fat.) We had mushrooms, biscuits, cucumber, canteloupe, and strawberries.

The Lovely Daughter's rehearsal schedule is making dinnertime more hell than usual. She doesn't get out until close to 6 (they got released at 5:30 today, so we got home at 6).

No clue what to have tomorrow night. Maybe fish.

Lasagna Pong

What happens when the pan is too big for the microwave.

Leftover por roast

Cut into chunks, added to Korma simmer sauce from Trader Joe's, served over rice.

Last night was chicken alfredo pasta. We had strawberries, but they weren't all that great.

Cheese & Crackers

With a nice cheap Italian red wine. Ahh.

Scrambled eggs

The mid-kid has decided he wants to learn to cook, so tonight he did the scrambled eggs. There were only a few shells :) Bacon and sausage and toast, oh my.

Last night he heated up the soup and boiled the pasta for dinner.

Maybe tomorrow night I can get him to form hamburger patties!

Pizza Hut

We lost power tonight from about 5 minutes after I got home, just before 6, until after 8. The leftover gumbo that was on the menu wasn't gonna happen, so we went with Pizza Hut. The kidlets were happy they told me to order thick crust, and I was happy everybody got fed with a minimum of fuss and bother.

We can always have the gumbo tomorrow :)

Chicken shish-kababs and rice

Boys, of course, would have nothing to do with the chicken. The Small Man tasted a pieced and pronounced it "good" but wouldn't eat any more of it. Karate Boy had corndogs; they both had rice and bread. Small Man will probably be hungry later, although he's been eating pretty steadily all day long.

Menu planning has fallen off. Not much choice this weekend!

TMOTH has chili makings for one day - it will likely be Sunday for the SuperBowl, although he may make the chili tomorrow and then we'll have snacky bits on Sunday. Anyway, that's the weekend covered, one way or the other.

Monday, we're likely to still be snowed in. I have plenty of choices for soup, though. There's also lots of pasta in the house, and if we're snowed in on Monday I can make breadsticks to go with them. If we're not snowed in, and I have to go to work, it'll be garlic bread instead.

Eggs one night as well.

Aack - long time no post

Tonight - we had butterfly shrimp. Not something I would buy again - the breading was a little too thick and weird.

Last night was cheese and crackers; we'd stayed at home all day for a snow day. I had a beastly headache that didn't help matters any.

Tuesday night was the Small Man's birthday, and he chose pizza for dinner. It was snowing by then, so we chose to have Pizza Hut deliver :)

Monday night we had a Stouffer's chicken alfredo pasta bake that was actually pretty good. I think I could make a home-made version better, but the whole pick it up at the grocery/throw it in the oven thing is nearly irresistible some nights.

Grilled chicken

I marinated the chicken with some teriyaki marinade and lime juice, then grilled. Broccoli with cheese sauce and challah bread to go with it. AND I remembered to take the burgers out of the freezer for tomorrow!

Hot dogs!

I don't think I've kept up with menu planning very well the past couple of days. Today was very busy, and I've been fighting a headache pretty much since I woke up. So it was a stop for hot dog buns on the way home from taking The Lovely Daughter to a birthday party. She needs picked up at 10:00, and it's about half an hour from home.

Last night, we ordered pizza from Julliano's. Yum.

Beef and bell peppers over rice

With a spring roll from the freezer, even. The bell peppers were on sale for $1.00 a pound at Magruders, and the sirloin was also on sale yesterday at the Giant. AND it was quite tasty. Buying sirloin can be iffy sometimes - a good sirloin is really good, but there's the occasional dud out there.

Kids had pasta tonight, so we probably won't have the soup planned for tomorrow night. Maybe pizza instead?

Leftover Pork Loin

With crescent rolls from a can. Kids had chicken fingers or fish. (I got home late. It was the best I could do.)

Eggs

With bacon, sausage, toast, and coffee. Yummy.

Last night we had pasta. I had a stressful afternoon with The Lovely Daughter, and pasta was about all I could manage.

I need a new menu plan.
Wednesday: leftover pork roast
Thursday: Stir fry - beef with peppers and onions
Friday: Soup and sandwiches
Saturday: Burgers
Sunday: Chicken

Crockpot pork loin roast

This was a pork sirloin roast that I used a recipe for one of my online friends (Thanks, Micki!!) gave me. Green onions, garlic, soy sauce, cinnamon, and allspice in addition to the usual crockpot stuff. It also called for fresh cilantro, which I didn't have. I added a little dried chervil instead. It came out pretty well, I think - I was afraid it would be too salty, but the meat itself wasn't. We also had biscuits, roast potatoes, and broccoli. The boys had hot dogs/corn dogs.

Tacos, etc.

I made taco filling using (1) ground turkey, and (2) shredded leftover beef. The mid-kid also made burritos, and the Small Man had a lettuce (!) burrito. We did get him to try a taco, but he didn't want to eat it for some reason - likely because it falls apart when you bite into it. He finally wound up eating a "cheese and ham" sandwich.

Last night we wound up having cheese and crackers. I had to drive to Poolesville to pick up The Lovely Daughter and didn't get home until fairly late. I had Mexican food for lunch yesterday and didn't want tacos last night!

I bought a pork roast today to try a new crockpot recipe tomorrow.

Fish

Not "real" fish, but from the freezer case. TMOTH and I had Phillips Panko-coated crab cakes. Not bad for freezer crab cakes. The mid-kid had crispy fish filets. The Teen Diva and Small Man had chicken fingers. Baked potatoes and cantaloupe to go with all of the fishy and chickeny goodness.

Last night was freezer food too - lasagna, and garlic bread to go with it.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken fast food
Wednesday: Pasta - hopefully lasagna
Thursday: Tacos Fish
Friday: Fish Tacos
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes (Pork loin)
Sunday: Chicken
Monday (MLK holiday, so time to cook): Homemade bread, for sure, some kind of meat?

Fast Food

Subway and McDonald's. Small Man had a "Winter Gala" at his preschool that started at 6(!), so most of us ate Subway before while Small Man had McDonald's afterward. He really likes the Alvin and the Chipmunks toys they have right now :)

Stew/soup

We had the leftover pot roast with added broth, with seashell pasta. Tomato soup for the boys.

Pot roast

Man, I love my crockpot for pot roast! With potatoes and carrots, cheated using mushroom and onion soup mix but added extra onions. Homemade rolls, too!

Pizza night

The Lovely Daughter had a late rehearsal, so I had to drive to Poolesville to pick her up. That meant I didn't get home until about 6, and didn't get to the grocery store as planned. I did take a pot roast out of the freezer to cook tomorrow.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken
Wednesday: Pasta - hopefully lasagna
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Fish
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes

Pasta

Rotelle pasta with sauce, garlic bread, salad. A favorite dinner.

Chicken shish-kebab

Fondly known as "lizard on a stick" at our house. Chicken thigh chunks, mushrooms, green pepper, onion; grilled and served with cous cous.

The menu plan needs tweaking as well, since we had omelettes last night. We can still have pasta tomorrow, but don't want to have soup the next night (since our soup almost always has pasta in it!). Soup can move to Saturday or Sunday. Friday, we can have...pork chops?

Omelettes

TMOTH and I had ours with bacon and mushrooms and cheese; just cheese for the kidlets. Bacon and/or sausage, toast or bagel.

The lizard on a stick will have to wait until tomorrow.

Last night was burgers and tots. The burgers were really good - I bought a pound each of 80/20 and 93/7 beef - for some reason, at Safeway this week, the mid-range beef was way more expensive. The mixture was really really good.

Pizza

I made pizza dough from a recipe I got from a Washington Post online forum about 10 years ago. I added italian seasoning to the dough. The sauce was just tomato sauce from a can with some italian seasoning and garlic added. I'd been using spaghetti sauce from a jar, but it's a little chunky for pizza sauce. One of the small cans was enough for 6 individual-sized pizzas. That way everyone can get what they want! I'd like to grow enough sauce tomatoes this year to can tomato sauce again.

Shepherd's Pie

Made with leftover lamb and chicken, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and celeriac. A little parmesan on top of the mashed potatoes. Just exactly the right thing for a very very cold day.

Menu planning

Saturday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast Shepherd's Pie; pasta for kids
Sunday: Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits Pizza
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.
Wednesday: Pasta of some sort, salad, garlic bread
Thursday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Friday: Soup

Hoppin' John and bok choy

Hopefully the bok choy is "green" enough to work for wealth in the new year!

The rest of the family had hot dogs or corn dogs. Carrot "coins" were their way of ensuring wealth ;^) We also had kiwi as well.

Appetizers - and strawberries

New Year's Eve dinner in the living room of appetizer-y things: pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, rangoons, taco dip with tortilla chips, the summer sausage TMOTH got from Santa, and pickles. Plus, Safeway had Florida strawberries at buy 1 get 1 free, so we had some not-so-terrible-for-winter strawberries as well. I thought about miso soup but didn't get started early enough - nearly everything else was just pull out of the freezer and stick in the oven.

Leftover leg of lamb

Just warmed up the roast lamb. Made broccoli, pasta, and had some summer squash from the freezer. Rolls from a can.

The lamb then got taken apart. We now have a nice-sized piece and a package of big cubes for kebabs in the freezer, and a few leftover bits to combine with leftover chicken for something - shepherd's pie, perhaps?

Menu planning

Wednesday: Not much leftover chicken, so we'll be having the leftover lamb. Probably make a focaccia to go with it. Sauteed bok choy and broccoli. Au gratin potatoes or rice.
Thursday: Appetizer buffet (goes well with the champagne!)
Friday: ? Hard to plan for this - we'll be in DC most of the day at the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit, and don't know what time we'll get home. Maybe dinner out at Red Hot and Blue or takeout from somewhere. Need to have hoppin' John!!
Saturday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Sunday: Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.

Stuffed flounder

It was...interesting. I made the filling with some onion and celery, chopped shrimp and artichoke hearts, and crushed wheat thins. I went to add some sherry to the mixture, and - what the HECK just went into my pan?!?! That's a little too dark and thick for sherry!!! Turns out the last time TMOTH bought sherry, he bought the wrong kind - some kind of sweet sherry that didn't turn the dish inedible, but didn't help all that much. A little bit too sweet. I think I'd make it again, only with a dry sherry.

I also made coleslaw, even though I'm the only one that eats it, and hushpuppies. Heathen kids had frozen fish filets or frozen chicken fingers (well, they were cooked, but they started out frozen).

Roasted chicken leg quarters

And the chicken was eaten by all but one kid!

Home-made bread (which said kid made up on), mashed potatoes (courtesy of TMOTH) and gravy, cantaloupe, and cucumber.

I think I forgot the leftover lamb on the menu planning. It needs to get re-eaten the next few days.

Soup

Potato soup for me and TMOTH, tomato or cheese for the kids. Yum.

Menu planning

One of the resolutions for 2010. Again.

I have almost a week to "practice" before the rubber hits the road, so I'm going to give it a go. Only the main dishes to start with; no need to go crazy :)

Saturday: Pizza
Sunday: Potato soup
Monday: Roast chicken
Tuesday: Fish
Wednesday: Quesadillas (with leftover chicken)
Thursday: Appetizer buffet (goes well with the champagne!)

Christmas dinner

Roast leg of lamb, macaroni & cheese, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, raw carrot sticks, sweet potato casserole, and home-made rolls. Stocking candy for dessert!

And Jeff - get yourself a g-mail account so I know for sure it's you when you comment!!

Lasagna

Thankfully, DH cooked dinner; lasagna and garlic bread. Dinner planning will be one of my 2010 goals...

Leftover turkey

Probably the last dinner appearance of the old bird :) Leftover dressing, macaroni & cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans, canned biscuits.

Kona got the rest of the cornbread dressing and Cletus got the rest of the green beans.

Last night was pizza, to get everybody fed before Boy Scouts.

Turkey noodle soup

Aaah, leftovers. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving.

Tonight we had a turkey noodle soup - homemade turkey stock from the turkey carcass, onions, celery, carrots, turkey, and egg noodles. The big kind, of course.

I spent most of the day making Christmas cookies. Nearly all of the recipes come from my first edition Betty Crocker, published in 1950. It has a LOT more recipes than the newer edition. My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is an alternative to the "key" recipe.

Merry Christmas Cookies - Light Dough
1/3 c shortening
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
2/3 c honey
2 3/4 c sifted flour (I don't sift and it works fine)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
(the recipe calls for 1 tsp lemon extract, but I like the cookies better without it)

Cream shortening and sugar, add egg and honey and mix well. Sift together flour, soda, and salt and add slowly to wet ingredients. (I do sift at this point so I don't wind up with a big clump of soda in my cookies.)

Chill, roll out and cut into shapes. Bake until lightly browned. Cool and decorate if desired.

This is a very forgiving dough - the instructions call for rolling thick (1/4"), but I usually roll thinner. It holds together very well when rolling - I always roll between two sheets of wax paper - without too much added flour.

I love these cookies, but the rest of my family doesn't care for them much. So, I bake them at Christmas, enjoy and share them.

Cheese & Crackers

Really, who wants to seriously cook the day after Thanksgiving???

Thanksgiving dinner was great - turkey, macaroni & cheese, 2 kinds of dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, asparagus, and raw vegetables. Three pies - pecan, chocolate, and lemon. All taste wonderful, but the lemon meringue filling is not as firm as it could be.

Soup and Salad

Brought to you courtesy of Small Man. I'm not sure what prompted this - it was the Cars soup for the soup, but he told me "I LOVE lettuce!" in the produce aisle, which I had no idea about. And he ate a whole bowl of lettuce. TMOTH and I had fancy greens for our salad, and Phillips cream of crab soup. Yum :)

Dinner has been going steadily downhill lately, and I've tried to reverse it starting this week. Posting on here should at least keep me accountable.

For Thanksgiving, I have the turkey in the freezer and need to go clean out the fridge to make room for it to thaw. I have cornmeal to make cornbread for dressing and Wednesday night bean soup. I have an Oreo crust and humongo chocolate bars from Trader Joe's to make chocolate pie. I have potatoes and sweet potatoes and marshmallows and green beans. (No cream of mushroom soup, though. Real mushrooms and white sauce for MY green bean casserole.) I need to check on the supply of eggs and flour and sugar, and I know I need cream.

Pork

chops & ham. Some like one, some like the other. Fried potatoes, carrots & cucumber, and french bread. Strawberries with vanilla cupcakes for dessert.

Lasagna and chicken nuggets

When one family member is not yet 4, chicken nuggets can be a part of ANY meal.

TMOTH is away, so the lasagna asked for by the teen and endorsed by the mid-kid went over well.

Chicken

Have to give TMOTH the credit - he made this tonight:
BAKED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES LYONNAISE

French bread from the grocery and black grapes to go with. Chicken nuggets and macaroni & cheese for the rugrats.