Menu January 30

Recap from Last Week:
Chicken Tortilla Soup: The kids and I ended up not coming home until Tuesday due to bad weather and bad roads on Monday so Soup Night got pushed to Tuesday. My husband did a great job of putting it together and it was wonderful to walk in the door to supper waiting!

Three Cheese Ziti: I made a double batch of the Ziti and put half of the breadsticks in the freezer so now there's a complete meal waiting for the future.

Orange Chicken: I'm not sure if I did something different this time but my husband could not stop raving about the Orange Chicken this week.

Chicken Fajita Pizza: I took a slightly different approach than normal for the Chicken Fajita Pizza and it turned out great. {Recipe coming Wednesday}

We had company Saturday night so our daughter and I made Apple Crisp. It was easy to put together and quite tasty!

I've been working on building a supply of muffins for the freezer so this week when I made Banana Muffins I made a double batch, half of which is in the freezer. It's been wonderful to have a stash in the freezer!

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese: I'm back on the hunt for the perfect homemade tomato soup. This week's trial will be a combination of this recipe and this recipe.
• Tuesday: Sausage and Pasta: I bought some smoked cheese sausage on super sale a few weeks ago with no real plan. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to but something with pasta and possibly a cheesy sauce.
• Wednesday: Cheesy Broccoli Pockets: Third week's the charm? These got bumped again last week since we weren't home Monday.
• Thursday: Warm Chicken and Cheese Sandwiches: Simple and delicious. We'll also have some side with them, possibly Apples & Green Beans.
• Friday: Sweet Hawaiian Pizza: I'm excited for this as it's been a long while since we've had it.
• Brunch: French Toast: Maybe I'll try and make the cinnamon bread early in the week. That way I'll have plenty of time to forget and then remember!

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Friday Foreshadowing

Well, after two months of bookmarking I had quite the selection of recipes to choose from.

• Cinnamon Roasted Chicken from Better Homes & Gardens: It's really such a simple concept, just cinnamon, salt, pepper and oil but it really sounds appealing.
• Green Beans with Dried Cranberries from Martha Stewart: Another simple recipe but I can't wait to try this.
• No Bake Cookie Bars from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures: These look great and easy, however, it would require buying quick oats as opposed to my normal old-fashioned so we'll see.  
• Turkey Wrap with Cucumber Cream Cheese from Rachael Ray: I love anything in a tortilla and this looks like it would be no exception.
• Coffee Bean Cookies from Cooking During Stolen Moments: Coffee taste, cookies, sounds good!

This is linked to Friday Favorites.

Menu January 22

Recap from Last Week:
Lasagna Soup: I had forgotten how wonderfully easy this soup is to put together. Such a great result from such little work!

Apple and Ham Grilled Sandwiches: These sandwiches, based on Ham & Peach Grilled Sandwiches, turned out perfectly! The apples were the perfect softness~not too had, not too soft.

 Life got crazy on Wednesday so we had leftover Lasagna Soup instead of Cheesy Broccoli Pockets.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Chicken Tortilla Soup: The kids and I will be driving back so my husband will be putting this in the crockpot for me.
• Tuesday: Three Cheese Ziti: Pasta, spinach, and three cheeses~ a lovely combination.
• Wednesday: Orange Chicken: I think I have the celery for this in the freezer, if not I'll add it to my grocery list. I know I have everything else on hand.
• Thursday: Cheesy Broccoli Pockets: Since we didn't get to this last week we'll try again this week.
• Friday: Chicken Fajita Pizza: This is also a carryover but from two weeks ago.
• Brunch: We're having company this weekend. I haven't figured out yet what to serve so... TBD.

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Menu January 16

Recap from Last Week:
Toscana Soup: I forgot that this soup is supposed to simmer for 2 hours before serving but even with little simmering time it still turned out great.

Chicken & Twice Baked Potato Casserole: I struggle with roasting a whole chicken. It turns out fine in the end I just need to not plan on serving "chicken" the night that I roast it. Eventually I'll learn.

Stromboli: There is something so wonderful about the combination of all these ingredients. I love this more each time we have it!

Chicken Pot Pie: It took me all afternoon to put this together but that's because I did it in many stages. The best part is I made two so now there's one in the freezer for sometime in the future!
We had a plethora of leftovers this week so we ended up not having pizza. Also, I forgot to make bread for the french toast so my husband made eggs and hashbrowns after church on Sunday {which I forgot to take a picture of}.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Lasagna Soup: Cottage cheese was on sale last week so we're having Lasagna Soup, a favorite around here.
• Tuesday: Apple and Ham Grilled Sandwiches: It's basically going to be Ham & Peach Grilled Sandwiches but with apples instead.
• Wednesday: Cheesy Broccoli Pockets: Again, I choose this recipe basically because cottage cheese was on sale.
• Thursday-Sunday: The kids and I are going home for the weekend. My husband will fend for himself {mostly on convenience type foods but that's okay}.

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Baking Powder Biscuits

I believe the first time I made these I was in need of something to go with dinner that I could make with what I had on hand. Baking Powder Biscuits worked great because the six ingredients are ones that I, like most people, typically always have in my kitchen. If you have a food processor this recipe is incredibly easy but even if you don't it is still an easy recipe.

Baking Powder Biscuits
Print Recipe
Yields: 12 biscuits

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (one stick)
2 cups flour
1 T sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 450.
   2.  Cut butter into small cubes. In a medium bowl, or bowl of food processor combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into dry mixture until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
   3.  Stir in milk until dough comes together (this is a soft and sticky dough).
   4.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead gently 10 times. Pat into a 1/2 thick rectangle. Cut into 12 biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
   5.  Bake until slightly brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

Source: Betty Crocker Cookbook

Menu January 9

Recap from Last Week:

Baked Potato Soup: I struggled getting the soup to thicken properly but it eventually worked. We also had Baking Soda Biscuits {recipe coming Wednesday} alongside.

Apple Chicken: Wonderful!

Modified Tater Tot Hotdish: It worked great to use hashbrowns on top. I will definitely repeat this method again.

Corn Dog Muffins with Homemade Fries: We were going to have this Wednesday but I realized I didn't have any ketchup so it got postponed until Thursday, after I went grocery shopping. We love our ketchup!

Pepperoni Pizza: I've been having problems with the dough sticking to one of my pans. I'm thinking it's probably time for a new pan.

Pumpkin Pancakes: We've had these twice now and enjoyed them both times so I'll be copying the recipe onto a card and sticking it in my keepers recipe box.

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Toscana Soup: My husband was pretty excited when I told him this was on deck for this week. I don't think we've had it since early 2011 so it's definitely time!
• Tuesday: Chicken & Twice Baked Potato Casserole: I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to cook the whole chicken but we'll enjoy potatoes {from the freezer} alongside.
• Wednesday: Stromboli: I've wanted to make this for a while but never had ham on hand. I bought some last week so Stromboli it is!
• Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie: This should use up the last of the potatoes. If I have enough time {and ingredients} I might make one for the freezer as well.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Chicken Fajita: I might cook the chicken in fajita seasoning but that will depend on how much time I have.
• Saturday Brunch: French Toast: We are long overdue for some good french toast!

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Apple Pie Coffee Cake

I borrowed the book Bread for Breakfast from the library and though there were many recipes I wanted to try I was only able to make a few of them. Thankfully this Apple Pie Coffee Cake was one of them because it would have been a shame to miss the chance to try this.
This is a quite simple recipe but the outcome is delicious. The apples make the cake wonderfully moist and the sugar sprinkled on top adds a slight crunch that complements it perfectly.

Apple Pie Coffee Cake
 Print Recipe
Yields: 12 servings

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 T vegetable oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg or allspice
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups apples, thinly sliced (I use ~4 apples)
1 T sugar, for topping

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 10 inch pie plate.
   2.  Combine eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar until well mixed. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice, and salt; mix until crumbly.
   3.  Add apples, stirring until apples are coated.
   4.  Pour batter into pan; sprinkle with 1 T sugar.

   5.  Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 Source: Bread for Breakfast

This is linked to Tasty Tuesday and URS.

I'm Back! Menu January 2nd

I'm back after a longer than intended break. We were blessed with a beautiful baby boy and then moved into our new house so it's been a busy time around here. Life is starting to return to {a new} normal and I'm ready to jump back into Feed My Family.

Since I Last Posted:

I made Cream Cheese Danishes as something different for breakfast. I was extremely skeptical as I was making them but they turned out wonderful. It was a fun treat that we'll have again sometime.

Because of the new baby and moving I unfortunately didn't get a lot of Christmas baking done. One of the things I did make was Hot Cocoa Cookies. They definitely lived up to their name and are a perfect wintertime (but realistically anytime) cookie.

I had never made cranberry sauce so I tried making this Mulled Cider Cranberry Sauce. I ended up using a little cornstarch to thicken it and when I make it again I would up the sugar to 1/2 cup instead of 1/3 cup. It was good on it's own and also as a topping on yogurt.

As part of some Christmas gifts I made Caramel Corn. The final product was tasty but it took a while to get there. I burnt the first batch in the oven, the second batch I burnt the popcorn and then finally the third batch turned out!

Onto This Week:

• Monday: Soup Night! Baked Potato Soup: I have a big bag of potatoes to use and this is one of my husband's favorite soups so it's a good combination.
• Tuesday: Apple Chicken: I've realized this is one of my "go-to" meals since I usually have all the ingredients on hand. That's fine with my family though because it's a meal we all enjoy.
• Wednesday: Corn Dog Muffins with Homemade Fries: Again, using up some potatoes. This is definitely a meal that makes you feel like a kid again, in a good way!
• Thursday: Modified Tater Tot Hotdish: The hamburger is already cooked and in the freezer. I'm going to use hash browns on top instead of tater tots. I'm hoping that it will work and be acceptable.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Pepperoni/ Salty Dog: This is probably the easiest pizza we make and quite tasty as well!
• Saturday Brunch: We've been trying to figure out brunch. It's hard to run errands on Saturday morning and still have time to make brunch. I've thought about just doing Breakfast for Dinner one night a week or possibly doing brunch after church on Sundays instead. Whenever we end up having it this week we'll probably do either Pumpkin Pancakes or Apple Cinnamon Pancakes.

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