So, I got this thing started with my sisters about quiet books and I said that if Amazon had the pattern books for sale that I use, then I'd post a link here. And so I'm doing that with this caveat: Don't buy these books from Amazon. Do not pay 49.50 for a $1.50 book. I will hook you up, sisters. I'm just putting these up in case you wanted to laugh and swallow your own tongue at the same time by viewing these ludicrous listings.
This one is for How to Make an LDS Quiet Book by Ann F. Pritt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877471169/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974503&sr=8-1&condition=used
and this is for the Child's ActivityBook by Rhonda Schomas and Linda Alvstad. It's not as big of a tongue-swallower, but it's still a little pricey. My copy originally cost someone 2.50:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0877477108/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1264974775&sr=1-1&condition=used
I love these books. They're Number One! And I'll hook you up, sisters, so no worries.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
January 20th
Planned breakfast: scrambled eggs and sausages. Ahh! Now I remember what we had last Friday morning. I had had to skip the eggs and sausages on my first Strike day, so I stuck it in on Friday. But I was only going to have the eggs and sausages on the wednesday because I didn't have the ingredients yet that I needed for my actual planned breakfast, Huevos Hyacinth, from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. And so, I swapped it in for this week. So it was just going to be a simple wednesday-to-wednesday swap until the strike. Got that? So Actual Breakfast: Huevos Hyacinth. This was an adventure in trust, because it's ham with tomato slices, an egg, and cheese over the top, broiled in the oven. The surprise: Eric had to eat his first, since he goes to school early on Wednesdays for choir, and as he was eating his little remekin's worth of Huevos Hyacinth, he actually said, "Hey, this is pretty good, mom!"
Dinner: Potato Soup. It's good we made this, because the children went to the dentist and were advised to eat soft foods for dinner. This is good and soft. And because we went to the dentist, we had to make the dinner early and I went the extra mile and made the butterhorns to go with.
Potato Soup:
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. minced onions
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
Cook vegetables in enough water to cover them. Sautee onions in butter, in another pan. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Then stir in milk and keep stirring until it thickens. Add this sauce mix into the vegetable pot and simmer until the buns are done, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.
Wib's Buns: (This is just the recipe in the Better Homes cookbook)
1 T. yeast
1 c. milk, warmed up
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. shortening or butter
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
4-5 c. flour
Proof yeast with milk and sugar. When it's foamy, add remaining ingredients, with just 2 or 3 cups of flour. I do this in the Kitchenaid mixer. Mix, adding remaining flour gradually until the dough isn't really sticky anymore. Knead for 6-8 minutes. Let rise one hour (or until double) then punch down. Divid the dough in half, and roll out each half into a 12-16 inch circle. Butter each circle, then slice into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter. Roll up each wedge from the fat edge toward the point, lining them up on a tray with each sitting on its point. Let rise one hour or until nearly double. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until goldeny brown.
Dinner: Potato Soup. It's good we made this, because the children went to the dentist and were advised to eat soft foods for dinner. This is good and soft. And because we went to the dentist, we had to make the dinner early and I went the extra mile and made the butterhorns to go with.
Potato Soup:
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. minced onions
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
Cook vegetables in enough water to cover them. Sautee onions in butter, in another pan. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Then stir in milk and keep stirring until it thickens. Add this sauce mix into the vegetable pot and simmer until the buns are done, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.
Wib's Buns: (This is just the recipe in the Better Homes cookbook)
1 T. yeast
1 c. milk, warmed up
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. shortening or butter
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
4-5 c. flour
Proof yeast with milk and sugar. When it's foamy, add remaining ingredients, with just 2 or 3 cups of flour. I do this in the Kitchenaid mixer. Mix, adding remaining flour gradually until the dough isn't really sticky anymore. Knead for 6-8 minutes. Let rise one hour (or until double) then punch down. Divid the dough in half, and roll out each half into a 12-16 inch circle. Butter each circle, then slice into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter. Roll up each wedge from the fat edge toward the point, lining them up on a tray with each sitting on its point. Let rise one hour or until nearly double. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until goldeny brown.
January 19th
Planned breakfast: Oatmeal. Yeah, well, I haven't sat down and made the packets up yet, plus Seth said an unprovoked comment about how much he likes the Bob's RedMill hot cereal, so I made that instead. It was the apple-cinnamon variety. It didn't all get eaten, but that was mostly Russell's fault; there was no whining, I'm pleased to report.
Dinner: Chicken and Fruit Salad Pockets. Trying new recipes. Thank you, Narda Dudley (her real name). This one turned out to be really delicious, especially since I left out the celery. Nothing ruins really delicious chicken salad for me like celery.
Salad mixture:
3 c. chopped cooked chicken
3/4 c. seedless grapes, cut in half
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted (I forgot to toast them and it was still good)
11 oz. can mandarin orange segments, drained
Dressing:
2 1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 c. light mayonnaise
1 T. vinegar
Combine chicken, grapes, celery (bleah), almonds, and oranges. Mix sugar, salt, pepper, yogurt, mayonnaise, and vinegar for dressing. Pour dressing over salad mixture; toss gently. Serve in 6 pita pockets, cut in half.
I used sour cream instead of the yogurt, because that's what we had. I also used full-strength mayonnaise. Again, Narda Dudley, I thank you for this recipe.
Dinner: Chicken and Fruit Salad Pockets. Trying new recipes. Thank you, Narda Dudley (her real name). This one turned out to be really delicious, especially since I left out the celery. Nothing ruins really delicious chicken salad for me like celery.
Salad mixture:
3 c. chopped cooked chicken
3/4 c. seedless grapes, cut in half
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted (I forgot to toast them and it was still good)
11 oz. can mandarin orange segments, drained
Dressing:
2 1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 c. low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 c. light mayonnaise
1 T. vinegar
Combine chicken, grapes, celery (bleah), almonds, and oranges. Mix sugar, salt, pepper, yogurt, mayonnaise, and vinegar for dressing. Pour dressing over salad mixture; toss gently. Serve in 6 pita pockets, cut in half.
I used sour cream instead of the yogurt, because that's what we had. I also used full-strength mayonnaise. Again, Narda Dudley, I thank you for this recipe.
January 18th
Planned Breakfast: pancakes. Every monday, pancakes. We really like pancakes. Please find our pancake recipe below:
Planned Dinner: Alphabet Meatball Soup. Actual dinner: I was at Dorothy's all day making "chocolate" candy to use up the candy stuff that's been on my counter and in my china cupboard for a year, so I didn't do the alphabet meatball soup. It's good, though, so I'll get the recipe up here in the future. What we had for dinner was the leftover Penne alla Wib, except that Seth had that for lunch already, so I made him his own dinner of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. The children were jealous, but as per our agreement, they didn't whine.
Pancakes: everybody has a recipe and most are pretty good, but we make this one. Many times we double it and have no problem eating them all.
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 beaten egg
1 c. milk
2 T. oil
I mix together the dry ingredients, add the liquid ingredients, stir, and cook on a hot griddle. And I NEVER add leftovers (love you Mom!)
Planned Dinner: Alphabet Meatball Soup. Actual dinner: I was at Dorothy's all day making "chocolate" candy to use up the candy stuff that's been on my counter and in my china cupboard for a year, so I didn't do the alphabet meatball soup. It's good, though, so I'll get the recipe up here in the future. What we had for dinner was the leftover Penne alla Wib, except that Seth had that for lunch already, so I made him his own dinner of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. The children were jealous, but as per our agreement, they didn't whine.
Pancakes: everybody has a recipe and most are pretty good, but we make this one. Many times we double it and have no problem eating them all.
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 beaten egg
1 c. milk
2 T. oil
I mix together the dry ingredients, add the liquid ingredients, stir, and cook on a hot griddle. And I NEVER add leftovers (love you Mom!)
January 17th
Sunday. My planned breakfast on Sundays is: cold cereal. I don't eat breakfast on sundays because of having to wait an hour after popping my pill and also getting grumpy Russell ready for church.
Planned dinner: Honey Mustard Chicken. We'll have to visit this one later as well, because it's not what we made. I guess the whole Strike thing really threw me off my game plan. What we actually made was the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but Wibisized, so Penne alla Wib. She puts dang shrimps in hers, and I'm gaining more of a shellfish allergy the older I get. So I swapped out the shrimps for pretty delicious Italian Sausages. I've never bought fresh basil before, and it was dang expensive, but in all, this was a pretty good dinner and I'll probably make it again in the future. It's a special dinner, though, since it takes that pricey herb plus the pricey sausage, plus heavy cream.
Planned dinner: Honey Mustard Chicken. We'll have to visit this one later as well, because it's not what we made. I guess the whole Strike thing really threw me off my game plan. What we actually made was the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but Wibisized, so Penne alla Wib. She puts dang shrimps in hers, and I'm gaining more of a shellfish allergy the older I get. So I swapped out the shrimps for pretty delicious Italian Sausages. I've never bought fresh basil before, and it was dang expensive, but in all, this was a pretty good dinner and I'll probably make it again in the future. It's a special dinner, though, since it takes that pricey herb plus the pricey sausage, plus heavy cream.
January 16th
Planned breakfast: waffles? I wrote the question mark on the planning sheet. You just never know if you're going to feel like it on a Saturday morning. Actual breakfast, made by Seth while I slept in just a little bit: waffles. How's that for being on the same page?! Plus we had a super-old jar of strawberry jam, out of which the sugar had migrated, so that it actually looked like a jar of bacon grease in the fridge, and we melted it down and had the kids eat it on their pancakes. They wouldn't eat it as jam in that condition, so GOTCHA AGAIN!
Planned dinner:Pioneer Woman Twice Baked Potatoes. ...and this is what we had. I actually worked hard and made a delicious dinner on a Saturday. She said they freeze well, so I made her full 8-potato recipe and froze the leftovers for lunches. I'll be the judge of whether they freeze well or not.
Here's our waffle recipe:
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
Beat eggs, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Bake in preheated waffle iron.
We sometimes swap out 1/4 c. of the oil for applesauce. This is actually from Betty Crocker. Our waffle iron is pretty big, like almost Belgian, and these rise up and fill it no problem.
Planned dinner:Pioneer Woman Twice Baked Potatoes. ...and this is what we had. I actually worked hard and made a delicious dinner on a Saturday. She said they freeze well, so I made her full 8-potato recipe and froze the leftovers for lunches. I'll be the judge of whether they freeze well or not.
Here's our waffle recipe:
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
Beat eggs, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Bake in preheated waffle iron.
We sometimes swap out 1/4 c. of the oil for applesauce. This is actually from Betty Crocker. Our waffle iron is pretty big, like almost Belgian, and these rise up and fill it no problem.
January 15th
Planned breakfast: German Pancakes. We'll catch up with that one later, because I already bought the special fruit-topping ingredients. Instead of this, though, we had what? Cold cereal? Pancakes again? I honestly can't remember. I do remember getting up and making something, because I had to get the little boys up and go volunteer at school that morning.
Planned dinner: Calzones. Actual dinner: mac-n-cheese for the children, before we dropped them off at the babysitters club. For our date, we had a frozen pizza followed by cream-cheese-and-salsa dip (all you can eat) and an apple pie we threw together. Not at all healthy, but a pretty good date night. It made me feel TERRIBLE!
Planned dinner: Calzones. Actual dinner: mac-n-cheese for the children, before we dropped them off at the babysitters club. For our date, we had a frozen pizza followed by cream-cheese-and-salsa dip (all you can eat) and an apple pie we threw together. Not at all healthy, but a pretty good date night. It made me feel TERRIBLE!
January 14th
Planned Breakfast: fruit and toast. I think Seth got these things out and helped the children. I certainly didn't.
Planned dinner: "Chinese" chicken with rice. I have a jar of Hoisin sauce left over from the big Blue and Gold banquet a while ago and I was going to whip up something vaguely chinese yet distinctly delicious. Here's what happened instead.
After reassuring my family that I was absolutely serious about my demands and my refusal to go any further under the current conditions, and after some tearful hugs and at least one apology (from the barfer, thank goodness), I relented. We discussed the demands and how truly un-demanding they really are, and I think we all agreed that going forward, we can do better. I made them promise and double-promise that the demands would continue to be met. And then I pulled the Greatest Culinary Trick of the year! I made dinner: chicken quesadillas using the scorned Southwest Chicken leftover from Monday night! Haha!, Children! You ARE eating it! I got you!!! And they loved it. Because I DON'T MAKE GRODY FOODS!
And so I'm back, full force, and I haven't had a balk incident yet.
Planned dinner: "Chinese" chicken with rice. I have a jar of Hoisin sauce left over from the big Blue and Gold banquet a while ago and I was going to whip up something vaguely chinese yet distinctly delicious. Here's what happened instead.
After reassuring my family that I was absolutely serious about my demands and my refusal to go any further under the current conditions, and after some tearful hugs and at least one apology (from the barfer, thank goodness), I relented. We discussed the demands and how truly un-demanding they really are, and I think we all agreed that going forward, we can do better. I made them promise and double-promise that the demands would continue to be met. And then I pulled the Greatest Culinary Trick of the year! I made dinner: chicken quesadillas using the scorned Southwest Chicken leftover from Monday night! Haha!, Children! You ARE eating it! I got you!!! And they loved it. Because I DON'T MAKE GRODY FOODS!
And so I'm back, full force, and I haven't had a balk incident yet.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
January 13th
Just to be consistent: the breakfast my family missed today by dissing me last night, was scrambled eggs and sausages.
The dinner they'll miss tonight by dissing me last night, is Penne alla Wib.
I'm sticking to my guns. My demands are not unreasonable. Maybe I'll go eat some Pumpkin Roll right now. Maybe that's one of my demands, too, a piece of Pumpkin Roll. I demand cake rolled up with cream cheese frosting!
The dinner they'll miss tonight by dissing me last night, is Penne alla Wib.
I'm sticking to my guns. My demands are not unreasonable. Maybe I'll go eat some Pumpkin Roll right now. Maybe that's one of my demands, too, a piece of Pumpkin Roll. I demand cake rolled up with cream cheese frosting!
January 12th
...my breaking point.
For breakfast, I made delicious Bob's Red Mill 7-grain cereal, and I mix in honey so it's extra tastey. Seth still stirs in even more brown sugar, but whatever. At least he eats it without whining. Jules also does a pretty good job of just enjoying it. Eric, however, started pouting the moment he came upstairs and saw it. This makes me feel angry. It would be one thing, if it were a foul and disgusting meal I was cooking up, like Scrapple. But this is delightful, honey-filled 7-grain hot cereal, not nearly as disgusting as oatmeal. So this day didn't start off that well, food-wise, between me and Eric.
Dinner was Hamburger Soup. I'll give you the recipe if you want to make it, because it did turn out pretty good. But here's what happened. Eric came home from school and saw that in the crockpot. He instantly started pouting and balking, which of course, makes me extremely defensive. Bud, we've never even tasted this, not one of us. You have to at least TRY it before you start making me feel unhappy with your attitude. Every time he saw it he would try to insist that we'd had it before and that it was terrible. When we sat down to dinner, he put his head down and tried to cover his dish. He sat there eating toast but not the dinner. After Webelos, he knew he was going to have to come home and eat that dinner. Well, at Webelos I guess they were talking about Emergency Preparedness or First Aid or something, because he came home saying how he'd almost fainted, and he'd gotten really pale and cold. So, ok. When you almost faint, is it because of the topic? or is it because you haven't had anything to eat since lunch? Hmmm? So you better get in there and fill your tummy with something warm and delightful.
He went in and sulked and pouted until we made a deal. He's not a baby anymore. Still, this is the deal we made: he would eat 11 bites, because he is turning 11 this year. I estimated that would probably just finish off the whole bowl and that's why I agreed to this deal. He got four bites in, then went to the fridge for a drink of milk. I am convinced that he was more than happy about what he did next, which was to barf the whole thing back up, onto the kitchen floor. He did get the next several heaves into the sink, and he rinsed it down, mostly because seeing yuck makes him ralph, not because he's super-considerate. I sent him away to bed. My rage and disgust were rising in my gut, much the same way the soup and vomit rose in his gut. And so now, with that final insult, I am on strike. I will not make food if you are going to pout and insult me and then vomit it back onto my kitchen floor. You can eat the leftovers from the last two nights' dinners until they are delicious to you. I stayed in my bed this morning and did not make the dinner I had planned out, sausage and scrambled eggs (one of Eric's most favorites). I will not be making dinner tonight, which was planned to be a variation on the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but with sausage instead of shrimp. I will not do any of this, until my demands are met.
Here are my demands, in case you were wondering:
An Apology
No more sulking or balking at food. If I were serving grody food, that would be one thing, but I'm not.
Table manners from the whole family, including sitting on your bottom, holding your utensils like civilized people, and using words like "Please pass.." and "May I..."
Spontaneous thanks and praise for the deliciousness of the food cooked
and
appropriate comments to me, such as You look nice, or You smell nice.
This is not very much to ask. I am confident that my demands will be met. I am serious.
Here is the Hamburger Soup recipe:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 c. water
28 oz. can tomatoes (undrained)
2 T. beef bouillon or 6 cubes
2 c. frozen hash browns (I just grated up some potatoes)
1 c. frozen peas and carrots
sour cream (optional)
In a crock pot, combine all ingredients except sour cream; mix well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir before serving. Serve with sour cream, if desired. I also added
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
bay leaf
and I topped it with grated Romano cheese. I'm really digging some Romano cheese lately. Also I would add a smidge less onion, maybe 1/2 cup, and I would grind up the tomatoes in the blender next time, because the chunks really were too large.
For breakfast, I made delicious Bob's Red Mill 7-grain cereal, and I mix in honey so it's extra tastey. Seth still stirs in even more brown sugar, but whatever. At least he eats it without whining. Jules also does a pretty good job of just enjoying it. Eric, however, started pouting the moment he came upstairs and saw it. This makes me feel angry. It would be one thing, if it were a foul and disgusting meal I was cooking up, like Scrapple. But this is delightful, honey-filled 7-grain hot cereal, not nearly as disgusting as oatmeal. So this day didn't start off that well, food-wise, between me and Eric.
Dinner was Hamburger Soup. I'll give you the recipe if you want to make it, because it did turn out pretty good. But here's what happened. Eric came home from school and saw that in the crockpot. He instantly started pouting and balking, which of course, makes me extremely defensive. Bud, we've never even tasted this, not one of us. You have to at least TRY it before you start making me feel unhappy with your attitude. Every time he saw it he would try to insist that we'd had it before and that it was terrible. When we sat down to dinner, he put his head down and tried to cover his dish. He sat there eating toast but not the dinner. After Webelos, he knew he was going to have to come home and eat that dinner. Well, at Webelos I guess they were talking about Emergency Preparedness or First Aid or something, because he came home saying how he'd almost fainted, and he'd gotten really pale and cold. So, ok. When you almost faint, is it because of the topic? or is it because you haven't had anything to eat since lunch? Hmmm? So you better get in there and fill your tummy with something warm and delightful.
He went in and sulked and pouted until we made a deal. He's not a baby anymore. Still, this is the deal we made: he would eat 11 bites, because he is turning 11 this year. I estimated that would probably just finish off the whole bowl and that's why I agreed to this deal. He got four bites in, then went to the fridge for a drink of milk. I am convinced that he was more than happy about what he did next, which was to barf the whole thing back up, onto the kitchen floor. He did get the next several heaves into the sink, and he rinsed it down, mostly because seeing yuck makes him ralph, not because he's super-considerate. I sent him away to bed. My rage and disgust were rising in my gut, much the same way the soup and vomit rose in his gut. And so now, with that final insult, I am on strike. I will not make food if you are going to pout and insult me and then vomit it back onto my kitchen floor. You can eat the leftovers from the last two nights' dinners until they are delicious to you. I stayed in my bed this morning and did not make the dinner I had planned out, sausage and scrambled eggs (one of Eric's most favorites). I will not be making dinner tonight, which was planned to be a variation on the Pioneer Woman's Penne alla Betsy, but with sausage instead of shrimp. I will not do any of this, until my demands are met.
Here are my demands, in case you were wondering:
An Apology
No more sulking or balking at food. If I were serving grody food, that would be one thing, but I'm not.
Table manners from the whole family, including sitting on your bottom, holding your utensils like civilized people, and using words like "Please pass.." and "May I..."
Spontaneous thanks and praise for the deliciousness of the food cooked
and
appropriate comments to me, such as You look nice, or You smell nice.
This is not very much to ask. I am confident that my demands will be met. I am serious.
Here is the Hamburger Soup recipe:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 c. water
28 oz. can tomatoes (undrained)
2 T. beef bouillon or 6 cubes
2 c. frozen hash browns (I just grated up some potatoes)
1 c. frozen peas and carrots
sour cream (optional)
In a crock pot, combine all ingredients except sour cream; mix well. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir before serving. Serve with sour cream, if desired. I also added
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
bay leaf
and I topped it with grated Romano cheese. I'm really digging some Romano cheese lately. Also I would add a smidge less onion, maybe 1/2 cup, and I would grind up the tomatoes in the blender next time, because the chunks really were too large.
January 11th
Here's where it starts. Monday, January 11th.
Breakfast on monday is pancakes, always pancakes. That went just fine. I made the regular batch instead of the double because Russell is spending the week at Grandma's and he's one of the piggiest pancake eaters.
But then dinner: I had planned Supper Nachos. This is one of our party dinners because it involves tortilla chips, but sometimes we have it on weeknights. Instead of this, though, I made the Southwest chicken I was going to make on Sunday, with refried beans and spanish rice on the side. I taught the children how to get your mexican-food-platter going, with cheese over everything. And they balked, and they claimed they were full, and they pouted, and they dragged their feet. I finally had to make deals with both of them, involving them eating the beans and rice and me eating their chicken. Wah Wah!! Mom made something I don't recognize! Wah. Now I admit, this will probably not show up in my rotation again without some major modifications, but come ON!! They were balking before they'd even tried it. Eric especially. Here's the recipe, in case you love tomatoes more than me:
4 boneless skinless chix breasts
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c. picante sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
avacado slices
chopped cilantro
Sprinkle chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken and garlic in oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add picante sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes (I left mine for like 45 minutes because the chix was so fat). Remove chicken to serving platter. Keep warm. Stir sour cream into skillet juices until well blended and heated through. Spoon over chicken. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serves 4.
Mine may have been too tomatoey because I'm using a type of picante sauce called Herdez, and it is really tomatoey. Also the chunks are really big. Plus we don't eat avocados and I didn't have any cilantro, so maybe that affected the taste. It wouldn't have mattered for the children though, since they barely even tasted it.
Breakfast on monday is pancakes, always pancakes. That went just fine. I made the regular batch instead of the double because Russell is spending the week at Grandma's and he's one of the piggiest pancake eaters.
But then dinner: I had planned Supper Nachos. This is one of our party dinners because it involves tortilla chips, but sometimes we have it on weeknights. Instead of this, though, I made the Southwest chicken I was going to make on Sunday, with refried beans and spanish rice on the side. I taught the children how to get your mexican-food-platter going, with cheese over everything. And they balked, and they claimed they were full, and they pouted, and they dragged their feet. I finally had to make deals with both of them, involving them eating the beans and rice and me eating their chicken. Wah Wah!! Mom made something I don't recognize! Wah. Now I admit, this will probably not show up in my rotation again without some major modifications, but come ON!! They were balking before they'd even tried it. Eric especially. Here's the recipe, in case you love tomatoes more than me:
4 boneless skinless chix breasts
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c. picante sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
avacado slices
chopped cilantro
Sprinkle chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken and garlic in oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add picante sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes (I left mine for like 45 minutes because the chix was so fat). Remove chicken to serving platter. Keep warm. Stir sour cream into skillet juices until well blended and heated through. Spoon over chicken. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serves 4.
Mine may have been too tomatoey because I'm using a type of picante sauce called Herdez, and it is really tomatoey. Also the chunks are really big. Plus we don't eat avocados and I didn't have any cilantro, so maybe that affected the taste. It wouldn't have mattered for the children though, since they barely even tasted it.
January 10th
Breakfast at Grandma's, instead of the cold-cereal we would have had at home. I think she served Biscuits and Gravy, one of Seth's all-time favorites.
Dinner was at home, but it was no big deal. I had planned to make Southwest Chicken with refried beans, but instead we took the we-just-got-home-and-unpacked route with super-easy spaghetti and frozen meatballs. Also salad. I bought lettuce this week, so we're having salads again.
Dinner was at home, but it was no big deal. I had planned to make Southwest Chicken with refried beans, but instead we took the we-just-got-home-and-unpacked route with super-easy spaghetti and frozen meatballs. Also salad. I bought lettuce this week, so we're having salads again.
January 9th
Happy Birthday, Bro! You know who you are! We bought a van on your birthday!
So we were at my in-laws, though. Which means I didn't cook squat. I did toast me a bagel, but that doesn't count.
For breakfast I had planned french toast, because I also went a little bread-crazy at the bread store, but that'll have to wait until we're home on a Saturday.
For dinner I had planned Seth's favorite casserole, which is a standard at our place involving carrots, potatoes, and hamburger meat, and oddly-enough, named after a different Seth. I'll shoot you the recipe later, because it's bound to show up again.
So we were at my in-laws, though. Which means I didn't cook squat. I did toast me a bagel, but that doesn't count.
For breakfast I had planned french toast, because I also went a little bread-crazy at the bread store, but that'll have to wait until we're home on a Saturday.
For dinner I had planned Seth's favorite casserole, which is a standard at our place involving carrots, potatoes, and hamburger meat, and oddly-enough, named after a different Seth. I'll shoot you the recipe later, because it's bound to show up again.
January 8th
Breakfast: apple pumpkin muffins. These I got from Cindy Savoldi, and they're really delicious. The streusel topping really does it. The only problem is that it takes for-evah to make them. I got all the wet and dry ingredients all measured out and ready the night before and it was still 40 minutes until they were in the oven next morning. Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. finely chopped apples
In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Stir in apple. Spoon batter into 18 paper-lined muffin cups; sprinkle streusel topping over batter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Streusel topping: 2 T. flour
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
4 t. butter
knife or pastry-blender this until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Dinner: planned Burgundy Chicken which I'll have to try and give out the recipe for later, because instead of having dinner at home, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend so we could buy our new van. It's about a four hour drive away. Instead of this dinner, we had Bagel-Meat sandwiches and cheese and crackers in the van on the way down, it being one of our goals not to spend money on eating out in January. But the bagel-meat sandwiches were delightful. Also we ate Grandpa's leftover San Luis Valley Pizza Company pizza when we arrived, and it was Fabulous!!
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 c. finely chopped apples
In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Stir in apple. Spoon batter into 18 paper-lined muffin cups; sprinkle streusel topping over batter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Streusel topping: 2 T. flour
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
4 t. butter
knife or pastry-blender this until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Dinner: planned Burgundy Chicken which I'll have to try and give out the recipe for later, because instead of having dinner at home, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend so we could buy our new van. It's about a four hour drive away. Instead of this dinner, we had Bagel-Meat sandwiches and cheese and crackers in the van on the way down, it being one of our goals not to spend money on eating out in January. But the bagel-meat sandwiches were delightful. Also we ate Grandpa's leftover San Luis Valley Pizza Company pizza when we arrived, and it was Fabulous!!
January 7th
Breakfast: Fruit and toast. Pretty easy. I just open a #10 can of peaches from Sam's, put a loaf of bread near the toaster, and get out the butter. This morning we actually had bagel toast because I went slightly bagel-crazy at the breadstore on Tuesday. 1.89 bagels were buy-one-get-one, so I bought two and got two. So, four total. But then if you spend so much you get one free, and I got two free, and all that was on the free shelf was, you got it, Bagels. So two more bags, for a total of six. We were pretty liberal with the bagels that whole week.
Dinner: Quiche. I got a bag of some kind of yellow stuff with chunks from The Place last summer. I just squeezed half of it into a pan and baked it, only to discover when I took it out of the oven that it was quiche filling. Then this next part still has me buzzing with how fantastic it is: on our way home from Webelos, Eric and I stopped at the store for a certain meat deal that was sold out. Ok, so be it. But PIE CRUSTS!! Pie Crust 2-packs were on sale for a buck!! I put four in our basket. Then on the back of each box I noticed a coupon for a dollar-off-two-boxes, bringing the per-box total to 50 cents and the per-crust total to 25 cents. I came home with eight boxes-- and I'm still super-psyched about having so many pie crusts ready to go!! Anyway, that was serendipitous, because I had already planned quiche for thursday, and therefore had the crust all ready to go. I told the children it was a fun breakfast pie called quiche and they ate their pieces pretty well. I thought it was astonishingly delicious, especially for something from The Place.
Dinner: Quiche. I got a bag of some kind of yellow stuff with chunks from The Place last summer. I just squeezed half of it into a pan and baked it, only to discover when I took it out of the oven that it was quiche filling. Then this next part still has me buzzing with how fantastic it is: on our way home from Webelos, Eric and I stopped at the store for a certain meat deal that was sold out. Ok, so be it. But PIE CRUSTS!! Pie Crust 2-packs were on sale for a buck!! I put four in our basket. Then on the back of each box I noticed a coupon for a dollar-off-two-boxes, bringing the per-box total to 50 cents and the per-crust total to 25 cents. I came home with eight boxes-- and I'm still super-psyched about having so many pie crusts ready to go!! Anyway, that was serendipitous, because I had already planned quiche for thursday, and therefore had the crust all ready to go. I told the children it was a fun breakfast pie called quiche and they ate their pieces pretty well. I thought it was astonishingly delicious, especially for something from The Place.
January 6th
Breakfast: Toad-in-a-hole. I sometimes call this Pig-in-a-hole because it sounds funny. Funnier. Anyway, I got the "recipe" for this from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook, and I really like it. My family really likes it. Seth had two this morning, so, his compliments to the chef.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Comfort Meatballs with mashed potatoes. Obviously from her cookbook. These were delicious. I would add a smidge less onion next time, but next time is still two times away, because I had to double the recipe, which I then divided into three dinners-worth. Confusing? I know. It's a pound and a half of meat, and we usually just go One Pound. So when I doubled it, it was three One Pound sections, two of which are in the freezer. Does anybody know if mashed potatoes freeze well? Because then I could just have the whole dinner ready to thaw and serve. Look into these meatballs. They're like little mini meat-loaf-balls or something.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Comfort Meatballs with mashed potatoes. Obviously from her cookbook. These were delicious. I would add a smidge less onion next time, but next time is still two times away, because I had to double the recipe, which I then divided into three dinners-worth. Confusing? I know. It's a pound and a half of meat, and we usually just go One Pound. So when I doubled it, it was three One Pound sections, two of which are in the freezer. Does anybody know if mashed potatoes freeze well? Because then I could just have the whole dinner ready to thaw and serve. Look into these meatballs. They're like little mini meat-loaf-balls or something.
Tuesday January 5th
Breakfast: planned cream-o-wheat, actually had oatmeal. I make my own instant oatmeal packets with a recipe I got online at http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/frugal/breakfast.htm and the children tolerate them reasonably well. I dehydrated my own strawberries and blueberries to put in them, too, to make fancy flavors.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili, from her cookbook. My friend Jess went with my sister-in-law Gretchen and me to the book signing. We had to leave without getting our books signed because of the extreme enormity of the crowd and due to Jessica's curfew of 10pm. The missionaries were coming for dinner and we fed them chili last month when they came over, too, but I forged on, because New Recipe! It was pretty good chili, made especially delightful by sour cream, cheddar, and fritos piled high. Even the children thought it was pretty good. No big tomato chunks.
Dinner: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili, from her cookbook. My friend Jess went with my sister-in-law Gretchen and me to the book signing. We had to leave without getting our books signed because of the extreme enormity of the crowd and due to Jessica's curfew of 10pm. The missionaries were coming for dinner and we fed them chili last month when they came over, too, but I forged on, because New Recipe! It was pretty good chili, made especially delightful by sour cream, cheddar, and fritos piled high. Even the children thought it was pretty good. No big tomato chunks.
The Explanation
Here is what I did: I sat down one day (January4th) and wrote up a list of all the breakfasts we'll have for the months of January and February. Then I also wrote up a list of all the dinners we'll have for January and February. Lunches I left to chance and leftovers. Many of the dinners and several of the breakfasts will be new recipes, gleaned from ward and community cookbooks. So I'll be web-logging my success or anti-success with the menus and the recipes. Looks like I'll have to catch up a bit...
Monday, January 4, 2010
Speaking of AWESOME~
I can't come up with original web content myself, but I can poach stuff like this from other sites. This is, once again, from verydemotivational.com .
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