Menu November 14th

Recap From Last Week:

I completely forgot to thaw chicken for the Fiesta Chicken Soup so I just put the already cooked chicken breast in the soup as it cooked and then shredded it closer to dinner time. It worked out great and I think I liked the shredded chicken better than the typical chicken pieces. I decided to make Onion Cheddar Rolls to go along with the soup and they were wonderful! The cheese flavor didn't really come through so I will probably leave that out the next time.

I used cranberry juice instead of apple juice for the Apple Chicken because it's what I had on hand. It worked just fine. The flavor wasn't significantly different, it just gave the dish more of a pink hue than normal.

While my lasagna didn't really hold it's layers once it was dished up it tasted wonderful anyway. There is something so delicious about lasagna that just cannot be beat. We also had Breadsticks alongside. I was on the phone while I was putting the garlic butter on so the amount was rather scant but we had no problem eating them anyway!

I am so proud of this meal for some inexplicable reason. I think it's because I thought of something pretty basic but worthy of being called a meal without having to search the internet or cookbooks. The bread, chicken and cheese, while simple, came together quite nicely. Also, my husband declared that I did a great job my first time making German Potato Salad.

For Pizza Night it was Pepperoni/Salty Dog week. As a refresher, my husband and his friends developed this pizza while they were in school: pizza sauce with pepperoni, black olives and green olives. They love it! I don't since I don't care for olives so I just have pepperoni and am quite content.

For the first time in quite a while we had French Toast on Saturday. I think the fact that we hadn't had it in a while just added to the wonderful taste of it.

I made Cinnamon Streusel Muffins for breakfasts {but didn't take a picture}. The jury is still out on whether or not they'll be repeated. It was a little bit more of a hassle than normal muffin recipes and much of the streusel topping ended up on my muffin pan instead of the muffins.
We also celebrated our daughter's second birthday this week. I made Double Fudge Layer Cake but in cupcake form topped with Vanilla Frosting. Because I changed it to cupcakes I had to guess on the time and I think I may have slightly over baked them. They still tasted great, just perhaps a bit crumblier than they should be.

Onto This Week:

I am actually going to be taking a bit of time off. We're expecting our second child any day now so while we're adjusting to a new normal I'm going to free myself from this responsibility for a little while. We'll still eat {obviously} but it will definitely be more laid back planning wise than normal. I'm not committing myself to a certain date to start posting again but I'm hoping sometime in mid-December.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Friday Foreshadowing

I found a whole bunch of soups I'd like to try so that's the theme for this week. We might have to have soup night more than once a week so we can try them all!

• Corn & Potato Chowder from Mama Loves Food: This is a crock pot recipe, which I'm always searching for more of. Also, I don't have any soups similar to this in my repertoire so it'd be a big change of pace.
• Crock Pot Bacon Corn Chowder from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures:Yes, this is pretty much the same as the first recipe. However, I always find it interesting to see how different people have their own twist on similar dishes.
• Ground Beef Stroganoff Soup from Cooking During Stolen Moments: Ironically it was just last week that I found a recipe for Beef Stroganoff that I'd like to try and now I also found a soup. Something about the flavor combinations must really be appealing to me right now.  
• Creamy Tomato Balsamic Soup from My Recipes: This tomato soup has cream in it, which, as I mentioned last week, is what I think has been missing from all the others I've tried. Now I know I have at least two tomato soup recipes with cream to try; hopefully one of them will be the winner!
• Cheesy Vegetable Chowder from Lulu the Baker: This soup looks wonderful! It has so many tasty ingredients and I'm sure it will be nothing but delicious.

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Burrito Pizza

Burrito Pizza--the first time we had it we were definitely a little apprehensive. The whole thing is so very different from most pizzas we enjoy. Well, it's a good thing we tried it anyway because it has turned out to be quite a delicious pizza. It took a few tries but we've finally found what we enjoy as Burrito Pizza.

Burrito Pizza
 Print Recipe
Yields: 2 medium pizzas

Ingredients:
pizza dough
1 can black beans, drained
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup chicken, cooked and chopped
1 onion, diced
2 tomatoes (or 1/2 can diced tomatoes), diced
olives (optional)
1-2 cups shredded cheese
1/3 cup sour cream

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 400. Roll out pizza dough to desired shape.
   2.  In a food processor combine drained beans and 3-4 T salsa. Pulse until it reaches a thick sauce consistency. Spread over pizza dough.
   3.  Top with chicken, onion, tomatoes, olives and cheese.
   4.  Bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.
   5.  Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Adapted from: Good Cheap Eats

Menu November 7th

Recap From Last Week:

Using frozen spinach in the Lasagna Soup worked perfectly. We all loved this soup. My husband even declared that he thinks he likes it more now than he did last year. I predict Lasagna Soup will make frequent appearances this winter.

The Apple Onion Cider Chicken on Tuesday was only okay. One major flaw was that one of the apples I used {I can't remember what variety it was} was so soft that it was practically applesauce by the time it was done cooking. We decided we much prefer my Apple Chicken instead {probably why it's on the menu for this week}.

Wednesday's Raspberry Marinated Chicken with Crispy Potato Bake was half success half failure. We loved the Crispy Potato Bake but the chicken basically just ended up being pink and thus not all that appetizing looking.

Instead of making the Cheesy Salsa Meatloaf in muffin cups as the recipe calls for I tried doing it in a loaf pan. {We found the muffin tin was ridiculous to clean but worried about the meat drying out by doing it in the loaf pan.} In the future I will definitely be doing it in a loaf pan. The Fried Potatoes were tasty but not quite how my mom would make them. I guess I'll have to keep trying!

The Burrito Pizza was splendid. It's been a long time since we've had it so it was nice to remember how well everything works together. {Recipe coming Wednesday}

While I was making the Apple Cinnamon Pancakes my husband was wondering if the apples would be too crunchy in the pancakes. It turns out they were perfectly soft. We really liked these pancakes so I'll be adding them to my recipe file.

For breakfast this week we had Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Chips. Unfortunately, I'm out of cinnamon chips now but will be watching for a sale again {or waiting until next year I suppose as I heard that they are only available for a short time in the fall}.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Fiesta Chicken Soup: We'll also have some type of bread with this, I just haven't decided which yet.
• Tuesday: Apple Chicken: I just can't have the Apple Onion Cider Chicken we had last week be stuck in our memories for too long so we'll have this better version this week.
• Wednesday: Lasagna with Breadsticks: We have leftover cottage cheese from the Lasagna Soup and since it's been a long time since we've had lasagna this will be well received. The leftovers will go in the freezer for an easy meal once Baby is here.
• Thursday: Warm Chicken & Cheese Sandwiches with German Potato Salad: This is definitely a meal catering to my husband as he loves warm sandwiches and German Potato Salad. It'll be my first time making German Potato Salad so hopefully it turns out.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Pepperoni/ Salty Dog: Traditional sauce with semi-traditional toppings.
• Saturday Brunch: TBD: Not sure right now and honestly, I'm not feeling inspired to look right now. :)

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Friday Foreshadowing

Pulling up all these recipes again to add them to this post is really makes me wish that I could stop everything and make each of them right now. They each look {and sound} so good to me. Sometimes I feel as though I have so many recipes to try and just not enough meals each week to try them at.

• Peanut Butter Banana French Toast Enchiladas from The Sweets Life: A combination of all the things in the recipe title that sounds like an interesting idea. I like all the components and it seems like a relatively easy dish to put together.
• The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake from Food Wishes: My husband really likes Chicken Parmesan but I have never actually made it. This appears to be an easier than normal version so maybe this will be my first attempt.
• Beef Stroganoff from My Homemade Happiness: Beef Stroganoff has been mentioned in our house a few times in the last months so when I saw this recipe I knew I should mark it. Like her kids we don't care for mushrooms so our version will be sans mushrooms.
• Apple Pie Bagels from Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees: These look delicious and with such a classic combination of apples and cinnamon I'm sure they taste delicious as well.
• Tomato Soup from Kate's Great Crafts: I've finally found a recipe for homemade tomato soup that has cream in it, which I think has always been the missing element. This will definitely be the next tomato soup recipe I try on my search for a keeper!

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Breakfast Rice with Fruit

It just so happened that while I had Not Your Mother's Casseroles from the library I ran out of oatmeal (the typical breakfast for my daughter and me). Needing to try something else for breakfast turned out to be quite a pleasant happening because this Breakfast Rice is now part of our breakfast rotation. The dish turns out creamy, filling and comforting.
The original recipe recommends using short grain brown rice. All I have is long grain but by increasing the cooking time (as noted in the recipe) it is no longer an issue. I've used dried cranberries and dried apples and enjoyed both versions. With the dried apples I also added cinnamon, which I find is always a pleasing combination.

Breakfast Rice with Fruit
 Print Recipe
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup dried fruit
1 tsp cinnamon (if using apples)
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups water
1 cup milk
2 T butter
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 375.
   2.  In a 2 qt baking dish stir together rice, fruit and salt.
   3.  In a medium saucepan bring water and milk to a boil. Pour over the rice.
   4.  Cover baking dish with a lid or tinfoil; bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
   5.  Remove dish from oven; sprinkle brown sugar over top, stir to combine. let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
   -This also reheats well. I like to warm it up and then stir a splash of milk in.

Adapted from Not Your Mother's Casseroles.

This is linked to URS.

Menu 10-31

Recap From Last Week:

While the Baked Potato Soup was as delicious as always the Soda Bread (from Not Your Mother's Casseroles) was really not that great. The flavor was just a little odd and the outside was really hard. The saving grace of the bread was the inside was wonderfully soft. However, it was not so wonderfully soft that I'll make it again. It did make great breadcrumbs though!

I tried something new with the french fries this time. Instead of drizzling them with olive oil, as the orginal recipe recommends, I just sprayed the top layer with a light coating of cooking spray and then salted them. They turned out great that way. They were crispy yet still soft: perfection!

Tuna Noodle Casserole: one of those stereotypical dishes that everyone remembers. Ironically, neither my husband nor I recall having it growing up. It's too bad because we both enjoy it now.

I pulled two pizza crusts out of the freezer for pizza night this week. I had never frozen pizza dough before so I was a little apprehensive. Thankfully it turned out just fine. Although the crust was maybe a little thinner than normal it held our BBQ Chicken toppings just fine!

We liked the Pumpkin Pie Baked French Toast but I don't think I'll be hanging on to the recipe. I definitely recommend trying it though because it was an easy, tasty dish and just right for the season.

 

I turned my Cranapana Bread into muffins and we loved them. It's a combination of cranberries, apples and bananas. Typically the banana would overpower everything else but in this case all the flavors played nicely together. We will definitely be having these again.

I've had the ingredients for this Ice Cream for over a month now and finally got around to making it. That was a lot of simple fun that we are thoroughly enjoying eating.

I also made a second batch of yogurt this week and it turned out much thicker due to two things: I added 3 T of powdered milk along with the starter and also (because of an unexpected crazy morning) it sat for about 16 hours instead of just overnight.

We were running low on granola so this week I tried Pumpkin Spice Granola. The result was more of a typical granola texture and the taste was wonderful.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Lasagna Soup: This was one of our favorite finds last winter. I'm going to try using frozen spinach instead of fresh; hopefully it won't be too much of a disaster.
• Tuesday: Apple Onion Cider Chicken: I have been finding so many awesome apple deals recently so this will be a great time to have this dish.
• Wednesday: Raspberry Marinated Chicken with Crispy Potato Bake: I have some raspberry dressing sitting in the cupboard that I doubt we'll ever use on salads.
• Thursday: Cheesy Salsa Meatloaf with Fried Potatoes: A little double twist on the classic meatloaf and potatoes.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Burrito Pizza: Yet another pizza that we've not visited in quite a while.
• Saturday Brunch: Apple Cinnamon Pancakes: Again a recipe using apples. As a bonus my husband loves cinnamon so this should be a winner with him.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Friday Foreshadowing

I can tell I've been busy this week doing things other than computer stuff because I only had six recipes bookmarked {usually I have to eliminate quite a few to get down to five}. That's okay though because 1) it means I got stuff done and 2) these 5 recipes look amazing!

• Cinnamon Roll Bread from Parenting Miracles: I know I've said this before but I've marked so many cinnamon roll recipes without actually trying them. Maybe since this seems a little easier I'll actually make it.
• Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie from Mo' Better: Realistically I doubt I'll get around to making this before Baby comes since I'd have to make apple butter before the pie but I will definitely keep this recipe around for the future. It sounds wonderful!
• Homemade Pasta from Finding Joy in My Kitchen: I've tried making pasta once before and it was a total flop (like throw it in the garbage flop). I'm willing to try again though.
• Crockpot Pizza Soup from A Year of Slow Cooking: I don't think I've ever come across a recipe for pizza soup but we're willing to try it.
• Sweet and Sour Chicken from Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees: I love Sweet and Sour Chicken but have yet to find a good homemade version. Perhaps this will be it?

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Cranberry Chicken Sandwiches

The first time we had this sandwich my husband was not that impressed. However, after I made a few tweaks to the recipe he said there was a night and day difference. Now everything blends nicely together to create a fantastic sandwich.
This sandwich is different from many similar sandwiches because it doesn't have mayo or extra sauce in it. It goes without saying that this would be an excellent recipe to keep in mind for after Thanksgiving as turkey would work just as well as chicken.

Cranberry Chicken Sandwiches
Print Recipe
Yields: 8 sandwiches 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup onion, diced
olive oil (not pictured)
1 lb cooked, shredded chicken
1 can cranberry sauce
2 stalks celery, diced (not pictured)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup dried cranberries
bread or rolls (not pictured)

Directions:
   1.  In a small fry pan heat 1 tsp olive oil. Saute onion until softened.
   2.  In a medium bowl combine all ingredient except bread. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
   3.  Serve on bread or rolls.

This is linked to Good Cheap Eats and Tasty Tuesday.

Menu 10-24

Recap From Last Week:

Monday night we finished up the Broccoli Cheddar Soup from last week and it was just as delicious a week later. If I wasn't sure before I am now-this will be definitely be repeated in this house!

Tuesday night we had breakfast for dinner, something we don't do often enough I'm realizing. My husband made it, which was a nice treat. We had scrambled eggs with hashbrowns. I also have at least one more meals worth of hashbrowns in the freezer.

We haven't had Chicken Pot Pie since last winter and had forgotten how delicious it is. I used the 58c pie crust for the bottom crust and a traditional crust for the top. They were both great, though it's hard to truly judge since the bottom one ends up so soaked with the sauce from the pot pie.

I experimented with my Cranberry Chicken Sandwiches again and the experimentation worked. My husband said he hadn't been all that excited about this meal but when he tried it he decided he had been wrong. {Recipe coming Wednesday}

Friday night we had Fajita Pizza. I ended up freezing part of the dough and sauce so hopefully I'll remember this Friday to use that from the freezer instead of making more. {I know I could save it but I don't have a whole lot of freezer space and would rather use it for something else.}

I made Kitchen Sink Crunchers to take to a family gathering on Saturday. They have coconut, cocoa powder, Heath pieces, chocolate chips and cinnamon in them. I liked them but found that the Heath pieces got completely lost. On the other hand, the cinnamon {even though it's a small amount} really stands out in a good way. While I won't make this exact recipe again I might try it again, keeping some aspects of it the same. We'll see how ambitious I am.

I've thought about trying to make my own yogurt before but it always seemed like too much work. A couple weeks ago one of my friends posted about making yogurt in a crockpot. It seemed easy enough so I tried. While I think I'll try adding a little dry milk the next time {per suggestions in the comments} I was really pleased with the first attempt. We've been having it for snack this week sprinkled with granola.

As I promised my husband {who adores cinnamon} I made Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Chips. When I first tried one, fresh out of the oven, I thought they were just okay. However, once they were chilled I thought they were excellent. The cinnamon chips add something so unique.

I've been finding some great deals on apples recently {finally} and have thus been trying some different recipes. I tried making Apple Chips and enjoyed them but don't know that I'll make them again. It seemed like a lot of work for an okay result.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Baked Potato Soup with Soda Bread: We still have potatoes to use so I'm making one of my husband's favorite soups. The Soda Bread is another recipe from Not Your Mother's Casseroles I'm looking forward to trying.
• Tuesday: Hot Dogs with Homemade Fries: A simple meal but sometimes those just really hit the spot.
• Wednesday: Out to Eat: I have a late doctors appointment so we're going to go out to eat afterward.
• Thursday: Tuna Noodle Casserole: I picked up a few bags of egg noodles for a great price a few weeks ago. I can't remember the last time we had this but I know it's always a hit.
• Friday: Pizza Night! BBQ Chicken Pizza: I don't think we've had this wonderful pizza since this summer which is really a shame since it's one of our favorites.
• Saturday Brunch: Pumpkin Pie Baked French Toast: We didn't have brunch this past week so we'll just move this ahead to this week.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Friday Foreshadowing

I started off with a "learning" recipe but then basically ended up with a meal: a (could be) appetizer, soup, bread and dessert. I guess technically I'm missing a protein/main dish but I could eat these four dishes and consider it a meal, albeit a slightly random meal. :)

• Cooking Dried Beans from Money Saving Mom: I tried once to cook dried beans and it did not end well. I was making baked beans and it ended up really dry. I want to try again though.
• Pizzadillas from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes: How fun does this look! Easy, different but familiar. It could be easily adapted to your favorite kind of pizza as well.
• Cheeseburger Soup from Newlyweds: What is it about taking a dish and changing it into soup form that always sounds so intriguing?
• Wheat Oatmeal Quick Bread from Finding Joy in My Kitchen: The latest addition to my list of breads to try.
• Cranberry Crunch Bark from Christmas Your Way: I'm not really a huge fan of nuts nonetheless I really want to try this recipe.

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Mom's Sloppy Joes

Growing up we always called these BBQs but somewhere along the line I've evidently converted because I now call them Sloppy Joes (as it seems most people do). Whatever you call them though this is a delicious sandwich. It's so simple to make with just a few ingredients but the combination is wonderful. I love how moist the sandwich is while still having a little bit of crunch from the celery.

Mom's Sloppy Joes
 Print Recipe
Yields: 4-6 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T mustard
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
3 T tomato paste

 
Directions:
   1.  In a large skillet brown hamburger, onion and celery until hamburger is no longer pink.
   2.  Add remaining ingredients; stir to combine.
   3.  Simmer 15 minutes. (If the mixture isn't wet enough add a small amount of water at a time until it reaches the right consistency.)
   4.  Serve on hamburger buns or bread.

Source: My mom

Menu 10-17

Recap From Last Week:

We found a winner! As I was making the Broccoli Cheddar Soup I was already thinking that we wouldn't like it and I wouldn't make it again. Well, one spoonful changed my mind pretty quickly. It's a nice thick soup with lots of flavor. We also enjoyed the Herb Focaccia Bread which I will also make again.

The Easy Noodle Stir Fry is a different dish than usually appears on our table. It was nice though because, as the name states, it was really easy to make. It took me less than thirty minutes to make. With Baby arriving soon dishes like this will definitely be appreciated! Our version had broccoli, green peppers, onions, corn and chicken.

Wednesday night we had Sloppy Joes. I used my mom's recipe and was pleased when they turned out pretty close to when she makes it. This is another easy dish and one that reheats extremely well. {Recipe coming Wednesday}

The Corn Dog Muffins were, as expected, once again a hit and therefore will be getting added to my recipe box. We also had Homemade Oven Fries along with the muffins.

Oh, how we love Pizza Night! This week it was Pepperoni Pizza for me and Salty Dog (pepperoni, green and black olives) for my husband. For some reason it seemed especially tasty this week, perhaps because it had been so long since we had had basic pepperoni.

For Saturday brunch we had Tropical Waffle Bake, something I was not expecting to be so well liked. But it was! My husband really liked it and said we should have it again.

We also tried Baked Apples with Cream Cheese from Not Your Mother's Casseroles. We liked the apples and I like this cookbook. I have a bunch of recipes marked that I'm hoping to try before I have to return it to the library.

I also made Homemade Butterfingers this week that tasted amazing! However, my chocolate dipping skills are seriously lacking resulting in a poor looking product so I didn't even bother taking a picture. This is definitely a recipe worth trying!

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Broccoli Cheddar Soup: We have a lot of this left from last week and haven't eaten it yet so I'm taking the easy route for Soup Night this week.
• Tuesday: Eggs with Hashbrowns: I bought two 5 pound bags of potatoes last week for 69c each which is the best price I've gotten in a long time. Anyway, I'll make a whole bunch of hashbrowns, use some for dinner and freeze the rest.
• Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie: Again, using some potatoes and also carrots which I got for 33c a pound. I'm finally going to get to try this pie crust which I've had bookmarked since July.
• Thursday: Cranberry Chicken Sandwiches: My first attempt at this back in September was pretty good so I'm planning on a few little tweaks which will hopefully produce a great sandwich.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Fajita Pizza:What happens when you put pizza sauce, onions, green peppers, chicken and cheese on pizza dough? A fajita pizza! This is definitely one of our favorite pizzas (although we pretty much like any pizza). The combination has just enough bite and crunch that work well together.
• Saturday Brunch: Pumpkin Pie Baked French Toast: A pumpkin version of french toast sounds delightful. Also, since it has to sit for at least six hours that means it will be really easy on Saturday.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Friday Foreshadowing

More seasonal flavors and meals this week with the exception of one dish. We had a stretch of warm weather the past two weeks but it's finally starting to feel like fall again so these all sound perfect right now.

• Apple Pie Muffins from Finding Joy in My Kitchen: As is typical, I'm always on the hunt for muffin recipes. I just bought 15 pounds of apples this week so I'll likely make these sometime late next week.
• Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Chips from A Day in the Life: My husband loves cinnamon so when cinnamon chips were on sale last week I picked up a bag with no real purpose in mind. How perfect that I ran across this recipe a few days after getting the chips. I told him I'd make these on Monday.
• Pumpkin Pie Baked French Toast from Cooking During Stolen Moments: This looks divine! It's also a make-ahead dish which might just add to the appeal. We might have to try this for Saturday brunch next week.
• Classic Minestrone from My Recipes (All You Magazine): I used to have a go-to Minestrone recipe but the last time we had it it turned out awful. I love the concept of minestrone so I'm hoping to find another good one.
• Fajita Style Quesadillas from Better Homes & Gardens: These look like a fun twist on both fajitas and quesadillas. I'd like to try making my own tortillas again and this would be a good recipe to use them.

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Cinnamon Sugar Bread

This Cinnamon Sugar Bread has been a hit with everyone who has tried it. There's something about it that is just a little different than your typical quick bread that makes it absolutely delicious.
This bread is the epitome of quick breads; it comes together quite rapidly. Since it's best after resting overnight it provides an impressive breakfast addition with no work required in the morning. What a great recipe for that reason alone! {Also, notice my helper's hand in the picture of the ingredients. She was so eager to help put the bread together.}

Cinnamon Sugar Bread
 Print Recipe
Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:
BREAD:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (not pictured)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk (not pictured)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
FILLING/ TOPPING:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
cinnamon & sugar

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 350.
   2.  In a mixing bowl combine all bread ingredients, mixing until just moist.
   3.  Pour half of the batter into a greased bread pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 T cinnamon over batter. Spread remaining batter. Sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.
   4.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Let cool, cover and rest overnight.

Source: A Whisk and a Prayer

Menu 10-10

Recap From Last Week:

We were at my parent's house this last week so I don't have much to recap. While we were there I did try these Ham & Cheese Pockets. We liked them, especially the dough. However, I think it's one of those recipes that just reminds you of some different options you can try with a method (dough with some sort of filling). I'll probably keep the recipe just for the dough, which was very tender.

I also made Cinnamon Sugar Bread again, with a few changes from the last time. The bread was a big hit! {Recipe coming Wednesday}

Before we left for the week I also made a batch of Banana Muffins, with the addition of pumpkin spice. Honestly, you couldn't tell the pumpkin spice was in there. I wonder if I would just need to add more the next time I try that.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Herb Focaccia Bread: The return of Soup Night is coming after a week with 80 weather~ a little ironic but we're going forward anyway. My original plan was to make bread bowls to serve the soup in. However, once I looked at the calendar and saw how my busy my day was going to be I decided to try something that wouldn't take quite so long. The bread bowls will appear eventually though!
• Tuesday: Easy Noodle Stir Fry: I'm not sure yet what vegetables will actually be in our Stir Fry. It will depend on what I find Tuesday when I open the freezer. (How's that for planning?) I'm hoping this dish is a hit as it seems pretty easy to put together.
• Wednesday: Sloppy Joes: I'm going to use my mom's recipe so it could be one of the classic situations where mine doesn't seem quite right just because it's not my mom making it.
• Thursday: Corn Dog Muffins: We really enjoyed these last time. Assuming we like them again this week this recipe will be added to my recipe box.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Pepperoni Pizza: Time for a good old classic pepperoni pizza. I'm sure my husband will request black and green olives on his.
• Saturday Brunch: Tropical Waffle Bake: I'm really looking forward to trying this, with a few adaptations. The waffles have been waiting in the freezer for a few weeks so it's time to get them out of these and try this recipe.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.