How did we end up here?!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Menu 11/21 - 11/27/11 and Thanksgiving

I am SOOOOO excited that this is a two-day week for school! Not because I don't like being there... quite the contrary. I have a wonderful class, and my 4 first grade teammates are people I count as wonderful friends with whom I like spending time. BUT, not having to do so much school prep this weekend, combined with looking forward to some family time in the coming week DOES have me feeling happy!

We are REALLY trying to use just about EVERYTHING we can from our chest freezer. It needs to be defrosted, and I am already planning (as in, on paper with lists and everything!) for some "freezer cooking" days during my Christmas break from school. That will be a much more satisfying project if I can easily store everything.

So here's the plan and some notes:

Monday: Chili-Cornbread Bake (from the freezer), green salad.

Tuesday: I have class and we always order pizza. I'll be leaving early to go to the college to watch Nephew play in his youth football league championship game - wheeeeee!!! Meanwhile, GrandmaT and Mr. Mamie (who also has a class on Tuesdays) will heat up some Vegetable-Barley Soup from the freezer and have green salad and breadsticks if they want. The soup was a random creation a couple months ago and is very good.

Vacation begins on Wednesday! I'll be spending the day making my contributions to the family Thanksgiving dinner (more on that below). For Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we'll be eating odds and ends from the freezer, plus any Thanksgiving leftovers we tote home. Not really making a "plan," but options include:

Oven Tacos (filling made and in freezer).
Burgers (there's two beef and one veggie patty) and Oven French Fries (we did buy 20 pounds of potatoes yesterday!).
Grilled hot dogs and/or chili dogs and/or Zippy Dogs (there's a good number of Costco hot dogs available).
Pot Stickers (there's at least 1/2 a bag of LingLing Pot Stickers from Costco).
Chicken Enchilada Casserole - I made a big pan a couple weeks ago and half of it went into the freezer. It's a made-up "recipe" of just layers of flour tortillas, shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, and shredded cheese.
Marinated chicken and pork chops - there's one of each, so that'll make a "mixed grill" night! :)

Thanksgiving will be at GolfDad's, with everyone contributing elements of the dinner. GolfDad will be grilling a turkey breast (or two) on his charcoal grill.

Mrs. Igor is supplying her delicious homemade apple sauce, cranberry relish, her brother's "famous" stuffing, and her first attempt at Mom's Cherry Pie.

Mr. Mamie will be making a salad of romaine, spinach, craisins, mandarin oranges, and slivered almonds.

I will be doing EITHER Mom's Baked Mashed Potatoes OR Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Honey-Glazed Carrots, Freezer Dinner Rolls, Mom's Perfect Pumpkin Pie, and possibly an apple pie. Potatoes and carrots will be prepped on Wednesday, and the pie(s) will also be made. I actually already did the rolls last weekend, and they are just waiting in the freezer.

It's going to be a nice 5-day weekend of food, family, games (Uno and Hand-and-Foot) after the Turkey Day dinner, NFL games, and long walks. I'm sure we'll see whichever of Mr. Mamie's family who comes down to this area for the holiday as well. And with luck, Chirstmas lights will be up on the house before Sunday night!

Have a good Thanksgiving, whatever you do and wherever you are!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

What I'm Reading on a Perfect Saturday

Here's the book I just picked up at the library, sitting in my lap waiting to be opened... so excited!

And, errands are done, laundry is going, dinner has been started, the MacBook is downloading new audiobooks, there's not much schoolwork to do since it's a two-day week coming up, the Village high school won the state 3-A football championship last night in a snowstorm ... Yes, is about a perfect Saturday!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Menu: 11/12 - 18/11

I'm including this weekend, since I didn't have anything planned yet for these days in my last menu post. I have parent-teacher conferences Monday - Wednesday, so we'll be having easy CrockPot meals all three of those nights.

Saturday 11/12: Stauffer's Lasagna (on sale at Walmart; Mr. Mamie's request), green salad, bead sticks from the freezer.

Sunday, 11/13: Chile-Chicken Enchiladas, Mexican rice (from a box), green salad (enchiladas were Mr. Mamie's request).

Monday, 11/14: CrockPot Gravy Pork Chops, egg noodles, green salad.

Tuesday, 11/15: Beef stew done in the CrockPot, Freezer Dinner Rolls (made last weekend), green salad.

Wednesday, 11/16: CrockPot Lemon Chicken, Rice Pilaf with Orzo, green salad.

Thursday, 11/17: TBD - I am taking the day off of school to accompany Mr. Mamie for some minor outpatient surgery. We are hoping that things work out so that we can eat at the new Paradise Bakery that recently opened in the BigTown. It will depend on what time the surgery ends and how he feels. Otherwise, I'll pull something easy out of the freezer.

Friday, 11/18: Oven Tacos and toppings. We had these for the first time recently and LOVED them. The filling receipe made plenty extra to freeze.

Saturday, 11/19: Taco Burgers (patties are already made and in the freezer - they can be grilled from frozen), Oven-Baked French Fries.

Sunday, 11/20: Chicken Enchilada Soup, green salad.

Don't forget to check out my yummy oatmeal cookie recipe post!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Grammie's Oatmeal Cookies

I wrote this recipe down from Grammie's files on January 1, 1993. I love, love, love these cookies and make them often! They are easy to make on the spur of the moment, because you don't have to worry about softening butter.

Grammie's Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
•    2 eggs
•    1 cup oil    (I use canola)
•    1 cup sugar
•    I cup brown sugar
•    1 teaspoon vanilla
•    1 1/2 cups flour
•    1 teaspoon soda
•    1 teaspoon salt
•    3 cups oats (old-fashioned or quick; NOT instant)
•    1 cup chopped nuts (pecans and walnuts both work great)

Directions:
1.    Beat eggs; add oil, sugars, and vanilla.

2.    Mix in flour, soda, salt, oatmeal and nuts.

3.    Drop by tablespoons on ungreased cookie sheets - I use my cookie scoop and then flatten the cookies out with the palm of my hand. I also use parchment paper on my cookie sheets.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes until lightly browned.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is about the easiest recipe EVER. Seriously. It was told to me over the phone by a colleague in about 30 seconds. I made a batch today and will make another one Monday evening to take to my night class on Tuesday.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

One box of spice cake mix.
One 15 ounce can of pure pumpkin (NOT "pumpkin pix mix").
One cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350; line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine spice cake mix and pumpkin - I used my stand mixer.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto cookie sheets. I used my cookie scoop. They don;t have to be too widely-spaced, as they don't seem to spread much.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Let cool on trays one minute then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

I am quite sure that chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts, could be happily substituted for the chocolate chips - I may do this on the next batch!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Menus 11/7 - 13/11

Monday: CrockPot Chicken fajitas, Spanish rice (from a box) [fajitas got bumped from last week]. We sill substitute black beans for the kidney beans in the recipe.

Tuesday: I will have pizza at class; Mr. Mamie will be headed up north and will take snacks for the road. GrandmaT will have something from the freezer.

Wednesday: Taco Soup - I don't have a link for the recipe I use, but it involves ground beef, diced tomatoes, green chilies, corn, various beans... you get the idea. We'll have green salad and tortilla chips with the soup. Mr. Mamie will still be gone.

Thursday: Going out to dinner with my fabulous first grade team before our school's Literacy Night. Mr. Mamie will return sometime late this afternoon or evening; he and GrandmaT will have leftover soup or whatever else they want from the fridge/freezer.

Friday: Burgers on the grill, oven-baked french fries. I keep a pre-mixed container of the potato seasoning in my spice cabinet, and we use it A LOT.

Saturday and Sunday are TBD, depending on the weather and my mood!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)