Menu Plan for Dinner

Sunday-Crock pot

Pot Roast/Turkey/Swiss Steak/ Flank Steak/Pepper Steak/Ham/Beef Brisket		Homemade Rolls		Peas Caesar Salad
Monday-Chicken Chapala/Chicken Alfredo/Lemon Chicken/Swiss Mushroom Chicken/Chicken Foil Dinners/Hawaiian Haystacks/Chicken Lasagna/ Chicken Parmesan/Orange Chicken/Chicken Cordon Blue/ Cream Cheese Chicken/Southern Fried Chicken/Cashew chicken		Muffins: Applesauce Pumpkin Blueberry Oatmeal		Broccoli/Cauliflower	FHE Treat
Tuesday-Easy Sloppy Joes/Swedish Meatballs/Impossible Pies/Meatloaf/Spaghetti/Turkey Roast/Hamburger Helper/ Tater Tot Casserole/Cheeseburgers Tacos		Biscuits		Mixed Stir Fry assortment or Asparagus	Pears
Wednesday-Soup Corn Chowder/Chicken Noodle Soup/Potato Cheese Soup/White Chili/Broccoli Cheese/Vegetable Beef/Stew/Taco/Clam Chowder/Minestrone/Tomato Bisque/Ham & Cheese/Canadian Cheese/ Beef &Bacon		Breadsticks		Raw veggies assortment w/dip Blue Cheese Salad
Thursday-Beef/Seafood Shepherd's Pie, Dinner on a Breadstick/ Lasagna/Beef Stroganoff/Beef Manicotti/ Halibut/Salmon/Fish Tacos/Cod/		Garlic French Bread		Green Beans Veggie Salad	Applesauce
Friday-Quick/Date Night (just for kids) Fish Sticks/Bagel bites/Pizza rolls/macaroni &cheese/pizza/chicken patties	French fries/Tater tots		Ice Cream
Saturday-Sandwiches/breakfast for dinner Pulled pork/Grilled Cheese/Ranch chicken wrapped/Pastrami Sandwiches/BLT/ Caesar salad wraps/ bakes submarines/ hash brown quiche/ham quiche/ stuffed French toast/omelets/ Crepes/ Eggs Benedict/Biscuits and gravy w/ sausage/	Buttered toast	Hash Browns	Popcorn

I taught a class about how to organize menu planning for a Relief Society Enrichment activity and I just wanted to put it on my blog so I can add it to my digital scrap book and so when I am old I won't forget. I am betting there is a chance I very well could! Doing it this way has made my life so much easier and I rarely ask the question at night, "What is for dinner?" I came up with this idea when I was living in Olympia, WA and I have tweaked it to what has worked for me. Since I have done it I have seen a lot of people do variations of it that have worked, my favorite being someone named something Ricks~~there goes my memory. I only did it because I was struggling with dinner and needed help and this was soooooo much easier than what I had been doing.
I really try to go to the grocery store only once a month for my big shopping trip in the beginning of the month and I save a lot of money because of that. I still go once a week for coupon specials and to get produce, but I don't go more than that except for great BARGAINS because I LOVE saving $$$$$ I have some categories where I don't have to make something the same for three solid months. So it gives us a lot of variety!!! Here is the menu for March below:

1. Pasta
2. International nights (Chinese, Mexican, German etc)
3. Vegetarian
4. Seafood
5. Try a new recipe night

March 2010
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1Cream Cheese Chicken	2 Hamburger Helper	3 Chicken Noodle Soup	4 Shepherd's Pie	5 Fish Sticks	6 Pastrami Sandwiches
7 Flank Steak/Red Potatoes	8 Coby's Birthday Celebration	9 Tater tot Casserole	10 R.S Meeting Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches	11 Beef Manicotti	12 Bagel Bites	13 Biscuits and gravy
14 Swiss Steak	15Orange Chicken	16 Spaghetti	17 White Chili	18 Salmon	19 Pizza rolls	20 Stuffed French toast w/ hash browns
21 Pot Roast	22 Chicken Alfredo	23 Swedish Meatballs	24 Tomato Bisque	25 Fish tacos	26 Chicken Patty sandwiches	27 Grilled Cheese w/tomato
28 Turkey Breast	29 Parmesan Chicken	30 Sloppy Joes	31 Taco Soup

Happy April Fools Day!!!

I am trying to debate what I will make this year for dinner for April Fools day. They had a lot of great ideas in Family Fun magazine. One of them was having dessert for dinner. There are so many choices! Here are some of the ideas I am thinking about and more from the magazine Family Fun. I have been getting this magazine for a couple of years now and can I just say that I LOVE it!



Recipe from FamilyFun.com

Ingredients:
"CHOCOLATE" MEAT LOAF FILLING
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon dark, unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten

"STRAWBERRY" POTATO TOPPING
2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt
1/2 cup canned sliced beets (not pickled)
1/4 cup (or more) warm milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Instructions:
Heat the oven to 350º. In a small saucepan, combine the barbecue sauce, milk, molasses, cocoa, and chili powder. Set the pan over medium heat and whisk the mixture until it is lukewarm and the cocoa is completely dissolved. Set it aside to cool.

Sauté the onions in the tablespoon of canola oil until they are transparent, about 7 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, celery salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. Then add the beef, egg, sauce mixture, and onion. Thoroughly mix the ingredients using your hands or a wooden spoon.

Remove the pie shell from the freezer. (We placed ours in a Pyrex dish to help ensure that the pie would bake evenly.) Transfer the meat to the shell, spreading it evenly with a spoon. Bake it until the meat is cooked through, about 60 minutes.

While the pie is baking, prepare the mashed potato topping. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough water to completely submerge them. Salt the water lightly, cover the pot, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook the potatoes at a low boil until they are tender, about 12 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, puree the beets and 1/4 cup warm milk in a blender until only small bits of beet are left in the mixture. Set aside.

Drain the potatoes and transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and pureed beets and, using an electric mixer, whip the mixture until it's smooth and fluffy. Add more milk if needed and salt to taste.

Spread the whipped potatoes over the top of the cooked meat pie with a spatula, as you would whipped cream, mounding it slightly in the center. Slice and serve the pie while the potatoes are still hot. Makes 8 servings.



These are meatloaf "cupcakes" above. Don't they look delicious?
Recipe again from Family Fun

Ingredients

Meatloaf

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 egg

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• POTATO FROSTING
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• Food coloring

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.
   
4. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Family Fun is one of my favorite magazines. It gets me thinking creatively for fun things we can do as a family. If you want to go there for ideas go here

The recipe calls for a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt and a topping of butterscotch or caramel sauce gravy just before serving for what looks like the mash potatoes! Yummy!

Valentine's Crafts and Goodies!

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holiday's because I am so in love with hearts! Of course I love the other holidays too, but I especially love Valentine's so I can decorate with hearts and focus on LOVE. I have loved hearts for as long as I can remember. Some of my friends use to tease me about it too. But they came through when I got married (hee, hee) because a couple of my friends got me heart dish towels, heart heating pads, a heart cake pan, heart decorations and even heart pillows. It just all kind of goes along with my very girly girl personality. My mother in law even made us a beautiful quilt as a wedding gift in a pink satin material with ahearts all over it. It was and is still beautiful! So here are some of the things I have made for Valentine's day and one project I am still working on!

The Valentine Day Topiary was super easy to make. I found it on one of my favorite blogs---theidearoom.blogspot.com. Amy, who does this blog is simply amazing. And then I also made just made the balls minus the cute bucket and hung them around and they look cute too, also a great idea from her blog too.

Triple Chocolate Bread (a little blurry) I made for neighbors, people I visit teach and for my family. Boy is it yummy. I got this from one of my favorite family recipe web sites.

After the bread cooled we cut hearts shapes out and put them between two pieces of wax paper and then ironed them. This is an idea that Martha Stewart has shared. We then delivered the bread in that.

Here is the final look! One of the reasons I L0Ve Valentine's Day!

A very Yummy Recipe I found for Potato Soup

Warm Your Frigid Soul!

I love soups and have been making a lot more of them lately as Matt
seems to be craving them. So here is a really good one!

A great soup when you need some warming up!

You will need:
*4-6 white potatoes (cubed)
*4 carrots (finely cubed)
*6 stalks celery (finely chopped)
*1 large onion (finely chopped)
* 3 T. chicken flavor granules
*1 cup milk (I used 1%)
*1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 cream (I used fat free)
*3 T. cornstarch (for thickening)
*salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Chop celery and onion.
Saute in low fat butter. I sprinkle with kosher salt while sauteing...
and always add a splash of white wine!
No worries if you skip this step! :0)

Peel Potatoes and Peel.
Add to pot of water...just enough water to cover potatoes.
Cube carrots...add to pot.

Bring carrots and potatoes to boil.
Add 3 T. Chicken flavor granules.
Add sauted onion & celery.
Simmer until potatoes are soft.

Add and stir 3 T. Cornstarch.. into 1 cup milk & 1 cup of half & half.
I added just a bit of buttermilk for flavor.
You can also just add 2 cups of milk vs. using half & half.
Gradually...add milk & cornstarch to soup.
Simmer...no boiling...until soup is thick.

Top hot soup...
with cheese of choice.
Serve with love to warm the soul...
Oh...and a slice of crisy sourdough bread!
Do enjoy!
from blooming on bainbridge

It has been a different week then planned!!!

The beginning of our ski lesson
Kara's class (she is in the pink and black coat in the back)


(My ski instructor Sid (who is amazing and who has taught since 1968) and a few of my new friends plus three extra people checking out our class.
Colton also enjoying Alta ski resort with his dad!
Minutes from being sick!!!


We have had a very busy week and had a lot of plans until the awful flu virus came to visit at our home and forced us to slow down. Last Tuesday (12-2) in the evening Kara started getting sick. She said she felt better on Thursday morning so we let her go to school, but then after school when I picked her up she was sick and was throwing up again. Then Colton started to come down with it while we were skiing. And then I caught it early Monday morning and I am thinking I will be much better by this evening. After having the flu it really helps you appreciate a functioning body. And it has also got me very behind in so many things!

Tomorrow is our All Adult Enrichment Dinner I have been working on for quite sometime. When our RS president, Alice called me yesterday and found out I was sick throwing up she offered to go and get all of the food (even after I told her I could do it, but secretly I think she didn't want my germs on it.) Then Natalie offered her help in preparing some of the food I was planning to make. And then my friend Crystal called up today and offered her help too. So after that I got brave (seriously it is that hard for me) and called another mom in the car pool and asked her if we could switch days as I usually pick up today. And she was more than happy to switch. One thing I have always struggled with is asking for help. I've always felt like everyone is already so busy that I never wanted to add more to their already busy life and the unseen burdens they carry. It is funny because I love to help people and it gives me a lot of joy. I learned so much from my mom who was such an example to me of Christlike service. Even when she couldn't physically do things for other people she blessed people by her kind words, note, or call.

We were really sad by the passing of Elder Wirthlin. He has always been one of my favorite apostles. I have loved his talks, book, and learned so much from his humble example. One thing is he also served in the same mission years ago where my son Coby is serving. So it has been nice to hear of some of his experiences there. I loved what Elder Nelson said about him at his funeral, "He cared so little about himself, because he cared so much about others."

Spencer is busy with finals and we will be going to pick him up and all of his stuff this weekend. It will be nice to have him going to school in SLC! We have so much to do for Christmas and hope that you are all enjoying this beautiful time of the year!