Menus 10/25/10 - 10/31/10 + Re-cap of Last Week

(Of course, I do my menu planning on Sunday, but....) 

Re-cap and reviews from last week:

The Chicken Indonesian, was so-so, mostly because there just wasn't enough cooking liquid. if I tried it again I would double or triple the amount of liquid that goes into the Crock-Pot.



Ruby Tuesday Potato-Cheese Soup got skipped because we had so much yummy taco soup left from the night before that there was no need to make a whole new dinner. People at school were ogling my taco soup at lunch!


Niece helped me make the Shepherd's Pie,which was a huge hit. We've had it before, but not for quite some time. I love that fast the she actually likes to do scut-work like potato peeling!


GolfDad showed up to have some Pumpkin Chipotle Chili with us, and we all agreed that it was pretty good. We have versions of chili that we like better, but this was a nice change, seasonal, and a good way to add in some fiber and vitamins (from the pumpkin). There's plenty left, and the kids, Mr. Mamie, and I all said we'd be happy to have it for lunch. To my surprise I was out of my pre-made bag o' mix for  Sinfully Sweet Cornbread, and even worse, also out of corn meal! GolfDad drove home and returned with a bag of Marie Calendar's cornbread mix, which was fine. Niece made some chocolate pudding for dessert... and dropped one (plastic) bowl of it down the leg of her jeans and onto the kitchen floor - quite hilarious!


Menu this week: 

Monday, 10/25: Shredded beef tacos, using a chuck roast from the freezer. I'll drop it in the Crock-Pot with some salsa and a can of diced green chilies. We cook out corn tortillas on the electric griddle, which I highly recommend!


Tuesday, 10/26: Football play-off game for Nephew, so something easy like sloppy joes. I have a Ziploc bag of already-cooked sloppy joe meat in the freezer, yay!


Wednesday, 10/27: Pork Scallopini, stuffing (from a box mix), green salad. Mr. Mamie's class is canceled tonight, so no need to do a soup/Crock-Pot meal.


Thursday, 10/28: Kids are here tonight, and Mr. Mamie has class, so it's going to be a casserole that will keep warm. I have a recipe for Turkey Tetrazini that my stepmom (CrochetMom) used to make when we were kids - I wrote a note written on it that I got it from her when she and Travellin'Dad (and BuffSister) lived in Eugene, OR in 1991. I've made it plenty of times in the last almost-20 years, and I'll have to do something about posting the recipe here.


Friday, 10/29: The kids are here again, and it's Halloween at school I'll be wiped out - seems like a good night for our trusty Zesty Crock-Pot Roasted Chicken, with a side of rice or couscous and a green salad.


Saturday, 10/30: This will be *the* trick-or-treat night in our community (being that Halloween falls on a Sunday). Thus, we'll have our traditional "Halloween Ham Casserole" - which we did NOT have last year because everything was topsy-turvy with my mom (turns out October 31, 2009 was her last day on Earth, dammit). We DID have it for GrandmaT's birthday in January, and at the time I said that I would post the recipe. After scouring the blog, it looks like I never did. OK, add that to the to-do list....


Sunday, 10/31: I have another chuck roast in the freezer, so I am thinking of doing Mrs. Chili's BBQ beef on homemade whole wheat hamburger buns. I've got two butternut squash (squashes?) sitting on the counter, so I might also try this butternut squash gratin.

Baking, etc:

Last weekend Niece and I made this Paula Deen fresh apple cake recipe from Food Network, and it was a hit! Not hard to make, either. The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies were delicious and decadent, and much-enjoyed in my school lunches.  There are 3 or 4 left in the jar, but knowing Mr. Mamie, those won;t last much longer....

Today (Saturday 10/23) Niece helped me make some caramel dip, into which she, Nephew, Mr. Mamie, and I dunked NUMEROUS slices of Granny Smith apples. There's quite a bit left, so no doubt we'll be "dipping" into it again tomorrow! I think I'll go with a plain, simple cookie this week - I have some "heart-healthy" oatmeal cookie baking mix that we picked up at Lehi Roller Mills while on a trip a while back, and that's sounding good to me right now after all that rich caramel dip.

I imagine that since I didn't bake bread last week, it will be time to do it again this week - a loaf of our usual Amish White and one of wheat bread.

Happy cooking and eating!

~Mamie
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!