Menu 2-7

We ate well last week...
Monday night we had a wonderfully easy Crock Pot meal, Chicken Tortilla Soup. This is one of our favorites.

Alongside the soup we had Grandma's Potato Salad. Maybe a slightly odd combination but it worked.

Tuesday night was another Crock Pot recipe, this time Shepherd's Pie. I've decided this will not be my go-to recipe for Shepherd's Pie. I'm confident there's a better one out there. I didn't care for how strong the tomato soup taste was. Also, I think next time I won't necessarily be looking for one that cooks in the crock pot.

I also experimented with Butterhorns. While the end result wasn't bad it definitely wasn't what you expect from a roll shaped like this. Again, the search will continue.

Wednesday night I had a special treat: my husband cooked dinner! The Pasta with Broccoli and Ham turned out great, just as I predicted. Our one year old especially loved it and wanted more and more. :)

Thursday we had Orange Chicken which is near the top of my list of favorites. It's so simple to put together and absolutely wonderful!

For our Friday Night Pizza we had Pepperoni Pizza/Salty Dog Pizza (my husband puts black and green olives on his pepperoni pizza). We love pizza night here!

Another experiment this week was these Maple Bran Muffins. I'm always looking for new kinds of muffins to add to our breakfast rotation. Unfortunately, these are not it. They were fine but not something we want to eat on a regular basis.

We threw together an impromptu Super Bowl spread for ourselves. It wasn't anything over the top but we had everything we needed and it worked.

Lil' Smokies in BBQ Sauce, Chicken Tenders, Sausage, Crackers & Cheese, Apples with Caramel, 4 1/2 Layer Dip (Sour Cream, Salsa, Spinach, Cheese and a few Olives)

Recipes for the Chicken Tortilla Soup, Pasta with Ham and Broccoli, Orange Chicken, Pizza Sauce and Waffles will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

This week is all new recipes except for the pizza. Hopefully we find some good ones!

• Monday: Soup Night! Chicken Pot Pie Soup: This looks delicious and hearty; I'm planning on adapting it a bit based on ingredients I have. Also, instead of the puff pastry it calls for I'm going to make Fancy Dinner Rolls.
• Tuesday: Apple Bacon Hamburgers with Homemade Baked Beans: The hamburgers will be based on this recipe and the baked beans are an old favorite.
• Wednesday: Broccoli Three Cheese Pockets: I made a recipe similar to this soon after we got married. However, I have no idea where that recipe is now. Hopefully this will be as good as I remember the other one being.
• Thursday: Chicken Fajitas: I cannot remember the last time I had fajitas. I do know that it wasn't homemade sauce though so this will definitely be an experiment!
• Friday: Pizza Night! Pepperoni Pizza: Yes, this is the same kind we had last week but that's okay.
• Saturday Brunch: French Toast
• Sunday: Leftovers 

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



Pancakes

I've been using the same pancake recipe for years. I have no idea where I got it from. I always thought the pancakes were pretty good. This week I decided to try a new recipe because I was just in the mood to try. Well, I am so glad I did. That old pancake recipe is out the door and replaced with this one!

I've always wished I could make pancakes that were fluffy like at a restaurant and these are pretty close. They were easy to throw together, puffed up nicely and tasted excellent!

Pancakes
 Print Recipe
Yields: 8-9 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1 T sugar
2 T butter, melted
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
   1.  Preheat griddle.
   2.  In a medium bowl beat egg with hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.
   3.  Grease griddle (if necessary). Pour 3 T batter per pancake onto hot griddle. Cook until bubbles start to appear; turn. Cook until golden brown.
   4.  Keep warm in low oven until ready to serve.

Source: Betty Crocker 1988 Cookbook

Spaghetti Pie

Spaghetti Pie holds a "special place" in my husband's heart. That's probably because this recipe is from his mom! When we got married he wanted to make sure that I had this recipe because he loves it so much.
The first time I made this it took me forever. I realize now that had a lot to do with me not reading the recipe through the whole way before starting (a bad habit of mine). Now it goes much quicker. I put a note at the bottom of the recipe about what I've learned to help speed up the process.
To sum up this recipe it's all the elements of spaghetti in a pie. But you could probably guess that from the name.

Spaghetti Pie
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Yields: 3 pies, 6 servings each

Ingredients:
1 lb spaghetti
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sour cream
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 lb bulk pork sausage
2 cups water
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
   1.  Cook spaghetti; drain and place in large bowl. Add eggs and Parmesan cheese and mix. Transfer to three 9 inch pie plates, pressing onto bottom and up sides to create a crust.
   2.  In a medium saucepan, melt butter and saute onion until tender. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and Italian seasoning. Spoon into crusts.
   3.  In a skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain. Stir in water and tomato paste; simmer, uncovered, 5-10 minutes or until thickened. Spoon over sour cream mixture.
   4.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.
   5.  Cover and freeze two pies. Cover and bake third pie at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.
   To use frozen pies: Completely thaw in refrigerator (overnight). Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake as directed.
Notes:
   I've found the easiest way to make this is to start steps 1, 2, and 3 at the same time. That way each layer is ready at about the same time, making it easy to assemble the pie.

Source: My mother-in-law, Joan

Chicken Pot Pie

Growing up, I always loved pot pie night. I insisted on eating mine out of the tin and stirring my applesauce in. My siblings would dump their pie pot out on the plate and then stir in the applesauce. Well, now my pot pie has no tin and while I still enjoy having applesauce with pot pie, I definitely don't stir it in!
This recipe has quite the list of ingredients and can take a little bit of time to prepare but that's okay, becuase there's a whole lot of taste to make it worthwhile!

Chicken Pot Pie
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Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup diced, cooked chicken
1/2 cup diced, cooked carrots
1/2 cup diced, cooked potatoes
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup green beans
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

double pie crust (not pictured)

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 375.
   2.  Combine chicken, carrots, potatoes, peas and green beans in a large bowl.
   3.  In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Add onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.
   4.  Whisk flour in and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thick.
   5.  Stir in spices and pour over chicken mixture.
   6.  Place one pie crust in baking dish. Pour chicken mixture into pie crust; top with second pie crust. Crimp edges and cut vents.
   7.  Cook at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Source: Life as Mom



Toscana Soup

Whenever we go to Olive Garden I always choose a salad. My husband, on the other hand, always chooses soup. He used to order the Zuppa Toscana but no longer! He's decided that this homemade Toscana Soup is so good he doesn't need to get it when we go out anymore.

This is a fairly easy meal to put together and because of the simmering time it doesn't have to be made right before dinner. It can have a fair amount of kick to it so be mindful as you add the seasonings.

Toscana Soup
 Print Recipe
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 medium russet potatoes, unpeeled & chopped
4 cups chopped spinach
1 lb Italian sausage
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I don't like things too spicy so I use a scant 1/8 tsp.)

Directions
   1.  Cook sausage until done. Wash and chop potatoes. Roughly chop spinach.
   2.  Combine chicken stock and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sausage, potatoes, spinach and seasonings.
   3.  Let simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally.

This is linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods.

Menu 1-31

Last Sunday, January 23rd, was National Pie Day. I noticed that on a few blogs last weekend but didn't think much of it as I wasn't really planning on making any pies. Evidently, deep down I had a desire to as three (four if you stretch the definition) of our five dinners this past week were pies: Pot Pie, Spaghetti Pie, Tuna Melt Pie, and (possibly) BBQ Chicken Pizza Pie. Rather ironic in my opinion.

The odd man out in regard to pies was the Toscana Soup. That's okay though, it was still pretty tasty. I fried up the sausage for this and spaghetti pie together on Monday morning. It was just lovely to go to make dinner both of those nights and not have to worry about cooking meat.

Chicken Pot Pie- talk about homey deliciousness! This turned out wonderful and is already on a recipe card for my personal file.

One of our old favorites, Spaghetti Pie, it was good as always. And the best part about this meal? There's two more waiting in the freezer!

The Tuna Melt Pie was a one time affair in our house. Here's the irony: Dan thinks tuna is okay, I like tuna. Guess which one of us liked this more. Dan. Well, they can't all be good.

 BBQ Chicken is possibly my favorite pizza and it didn't disappoint, once again. All day Saturday I was looking forward to the leftovers for dinner.

 We tried a new pancake recipe Saturday morning and decided it will replace our old recipe. The pancakes were fluffy and reminiscent of ones you would get at a restaurant.

I also tried these Peanut Butter Cookies with Butterscotch Bits. They were good but not to the point where we need them again. The dough was crumbly and hard to work with and the cookies were crunchier than we like. But peanut butter and butterscotch? Delicious!

Recipes for the keepers and favorites from this past week will be coming this week.

On the menu this week is another good mix of new recipes and tried and true recipes. I like that combination-we know we'll have at least one or two meals we really like.

• Monday: Soup Night! Chicken Tortilla Soup: A crock pot recipe that is simple but tasty.
• Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie: This is also a crock pot recipe. I've never made a shepherd's pie before but have tasted some pretty good ones. I'm still working on using up my 15 pound bag of potatoes.
• Wednesday: Creamy Pasta Shells with Broccoli and Ham: Ham is quite possibly my favorite food so combined with pasta I don't see how this dish can go wrong!
• Thursday: Orange Chicken and Rice: We've had this a few times before and have changed it a bit to get it to a point that we think is quite delicious.
• Friday: Pizza Night! Pepperoni Pizza: It's time for "regular old pizza" but it's still great.
• Saturday: Leftover Pizza
• Sunday: Leftovers 

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



French Toast

This is one of our favorites for Saturday brunch. French toast is incredibly easy to make and tastes so wonderful. I love how you can take bread that is a little past its prime for sandwiches and not be able to remember that when you take a bite of this french toast.
One trick I've picked up on is to keep the oven at a low heat and keep the cooked french toast in there until it's all ready. This is especially handy when you're making larger batches.

French Toast
 Print Recipe
Yields: 7-8 pieces

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
7-8 slices bread

Directions:
   1.  Preheat griddle or frying pan.
   2.  Combine all ingredients, except bread, in a medium bowl. Mix well, being sure the eggs are completely incorporated.
   3.  One at a time, dip slices of bread into the egg mixture, flipping to coat both sides. Fry at once until browned on both sides.
   4.  Serve warm with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

Source: St Paul's Lutheran Church, Fairmont, MN Cookbook

This is linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap.