Menu Plan Monday ~ Oct 26th

Posted by Laura on October 25, 2009 · 33 Comments

Hello! Hope everyone had a nice weekend :)

Did you get a chance to check out all the delicious appetizer recipes? Oh my was it hard to choose just one recipe for my potluck but I did AND I was not disappointed either. This recipe combined cheese, roasted garlic and bread, a combination that got my mouth watering just thinking about it. The winning entry is #32 – Lori of Not The Mother of The Year for her Roasted Garlic Brie in Bread recipe!!! Boy how I wish I had a picture to share with you all but we actually didn’t get around to eating it until about 1:00 in the morning and then we absolutely devoured it in about 10 seconds flat. It went over really really well :) Thanks Lori for making me shine!

So next on my list of exciting things to tell you is the recipe highlight of last week. My entire family LOVED the Ham-Noodle Bake. It was easy to prepare and it had a nice little kick to it due to the added horseradish.

How about you? Any recipe highlights from last week?

Here is what is on our menu this week:

Monday: Company for dinner ~ Baked Teriyaki Chicken (family favorite) served with Special Twice-Baked Potatoes (ff)

Tuesday: Apple Cinnamon Pork Tenderloin (new) served with rice and broccoli

Wednesday: Black Bean Quesadillas

Thursday: Leftover buffet

Friday: Spaghetti

Saturday: Oven Chicken Fingers (new) and french fries

Simple Supper Sunday

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?

Menu Plan Monday guidelines and banner selections are here.

Filed under Menu Plan Monday · Tagged with menus, Recipes

Appetizer Recipes

Posted by Laura on October 20, 2009 · 122 Comments

I so need your help. I’ve got an event to attend this weekend and I need to bring an appetizer. Now I’ve got my list of old stand by’s (this Surprise Spread recipe is one of them) but I’ve made them so often that I’m bored silly with them. I need to branch out, to be wild and crazy. I’m looking for something new and exciting with some wow factor and that’s where you come in. I’m hoping you’ve got a tried and true recipe to share with me. I’m looking for an appetizer recipe that wherever you serve it people always gobble it up and ask for the recipe. In other words I want to bring an empty dish home with me.

My only other requirement is that it can’t contain green peppers. The green pepper and I aren’t friends so it’s best we avoid each other at all times :)

Oh and to be on the safe side it probably shouldn’t be to complicated to make. Remember this is me, the queen of recipe disasters, we’re talking about here!

Leave the recipe or the link to the recipe in the comments of this post, prior to Wednesday evening at 9:00 pm PST, and I’ll select one recipe from the list of entries to make for my potluck. As a thank you I’m going to personally send the person whose winning entry I select this lovely Taste of Home Holiday Gifts & Crafts magazine. It’s packed full of tasty treats and crafts to take you through the holidays.

So what do you say? Can you help make this girl shine?

Filed under My Life, Recipes · Tagged with appetizer, Recipes

Menu Plan Monday ~ July 20th

Posted by Laura on July 19, 2009 · 46 Comments

Welcome to another week! Have you heard the exciting news yet? The famous Pioneer Woman has started a new recipe/community site called Tasty Kitchen! I’ve been hanging out there for the past couple of days drooling over all the delicious recipes and trying to decide which ones I wanted to add to my menu plan. So great, be sure to check it out!

This week I’d like to make a freezer meal for a friend that is just getting out of the hospital and would love your help figuring out what to make. I have a number of recipes that are your standard spaghetti sauce/mozza cheese pasta type dish but I’d prefer to do something a little different. Do you have a favorite go to freezer meal recipe that you make for a family in need? Please share the link in the comments if you can. Thanks!

Our recipe highlight of last week was the Tortellini Marinara recipe. Such a quick and simple meal to throw together and it was yummy. Next time I’d probably throw in some peppers as well just to add some veggies. Did you have a favorite recipe from last week?

Here’s what we’ll be eating this coming week:

Monday: Enchilada Casserole

Tuesday: Heather’s Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

Wednesday: Teriyaki Tenderloin served with perogies and broccoli

Thursday: Leftover buffet

Friday: Mexican-Style Ravioli

Saturday: Company’s coming over ~ Steak and Vegetable Kabobs served with Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad and Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies for dessert (the last two are new recipes for me)

Simple Supper Sunday

Need some more dinner ideas?

Check out my Family Favorite Recipe Index.

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?

Menu Plan Monday guidelines and banner selections are here.

Filed under Menu Plan Monday · Tagged with menu, menus, Recipes

Menu Plan Monday ~ June 29th

Posted by Laura on June 28, 2009 · 34 Comments

Welcome! Thank you all for the birthday wishes last week, I really appreciated it! Please forgive me if I didn’t get a chance to personally thank you.

The winner of last week’s Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving ebook was Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. Kristen’s Menu Plan Monday post last week included instructions on how to make homemade bagels. That’s something else on my list of things to try one of these days, they looked delicious!

So how’s everyone doing today? I just got home from a bit of a mini road trip with my girlfriend and we had such a glorious time. Well except for the part where she made me stand on a bridge far far above the land for a photo opp. I so wasn’t impressed with that. Have I told you I’m afraid of heights?

Aside for that small moment where I feared for my life, the rest of the trip was great! :) It’s always nice to get away if only for a little while. I mean I love my kids but boy is it nice to carry on a conversation without being interrupted. We went to an amazing Mexican restaurant. I had a yummy tostada with yam fries and for dessert some coconut lime meringue pie. Yep, I had to be rolled out of there.

Now I’m sitting here trying to come up with a menu for this week. Nothing is jumping out at me. Strange how some weeks it’s so easy to select recipes for the week and other times it can be so difficult. Maybe the trick is to do up my menu when I’m really really hungry because that way everything will be sure to appeal to me :) Right now though I’m still full from the weekend!

MPM Tip: I know many of you already do this but if you are featuring a recipe or recipe links in your MPM post be sure to include that in your Mr. Linky info to encourage people to visit your site.

So here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Monday: Fajitas

Tuesday: Pasta and Zucchini

Wednesday: Wienie and Smore Roast as part of our July 1st celebrations!

Thursday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken (I’ll be using a whole chicken) served with perogies and salad

Friday: Leftover buffet

Saturday: Grilled Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin served with baked potatoes and veggies

Simple Supper Sunday

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?

Menu Plan Monday guidelines and banner selections are here.

Filed under Menu Plan Monday · Tagged with menu, menus, Recipes

Menu Plan Monday ~ June 22nd + giveaway!

Posted by Laura on June 21, 2009 · 54 Comments

Updated to add: The winner of the Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving ebook is Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker!

Hey look at that, we meet again! Your commitment is awesome and I’m sure your families are totally appreciating all your hard work!

So I have so much to share with you today starting with my FIRST ever attempt to can something EVER. Canning is something else I’ve been putting off because the thought of it totally intimidated me. One by one I am trying to tackle these silly fears of mine. I was so scared but I followed a very simple recipe and the advice of an amazing ebook and voila, I have Strawberry Rhubarb JAM!!

I’m still in shock that I pulled the whole thing off (with only a few frantic moments of panic) and now I can’t wait to make more! Is anyone else afraid to give canning a try? I’m going to give these away as teacher gifts along with some homemade bread of some type. The preserves recipe I followed was from the food blog, A Good Appetite, and the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. I mean seriously if I can do it, anyone can!

I also followed canning instructions provided in a new ebook I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing from Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers. It’s called Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving and it’s terrific with great pictures and step by step instructions. Very inspiring indeed!

Laura has kindly offered to giveaway a copy of her ebook to one lucky MPM participant this week. The winner will be selected at random from the Mr. Linky list below so link up your menu by Tuesday at 6:00 pm PST and you just may be the winner.

You might also be happy to note that beginning Monday morning Laura’s ebook goes on sale for $4.95 a copy, a great deal!

Okay so I don’t want this post to get too long so I just quickly want to tell you about the Spinach and Mushroom-Stuffed Manicotti being a big hit last week and about the delicious cookies I made today. I went to make my family’s usual cookie recipe and discovered the only chocolate chips in the house were mint ones. So, to be wild and crazy, I decided to make up a batch of these Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies instead and they were just excellent.