Bread Bowls for Soups or Salads

Jared and I were huge fans of the bread bowl salads at Perkins and were very sad when they took them off the menu. I was determined to learn to make my own so that we could still have them once in a while. You can use frozen bread dough or your favorite bread recipe.

Tex-Mex Stew

I found this recipe in Parent's Magazine and thought it looked very similar to my Cowboy Skillet recipe, which everyone in my family loves, so I thought I'd give it a try. It also looked like a pretty easy recipe for a weeknight meal.

Fingerprint Christmas Cards

We had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends. I thought that I'd share a quick project that the kids and I did together this year. I'd have posted earlier but time got away from me.

Mr. R., Miss E., Miss A., and I made up some fingerprint Christmas cards as one of our 12 days of Christmas activities.

First, I printed up 2 cards with this text onto one piece of cardstock. 

Then I cut it in half using a paper cutter and folded it.

Our Christmas Tree Fingerprint Cards

Step 1: draw a zigzag line for the tree with green permanent marker, colored pencil, etc.
Step 2: draw the outline of the tree's trunk in brown
Step 3: fill in the trunk with zigzags
Step 4: using yellow paint, place a fingerprint at the top of the tree for the star (I later painted the outline of a star in black over this but forgot to take a picture)
Step 5: using all different colors, place fingerprints all over the tree for ornaments

Mr. R and Miss A painting their tree cards

Miss E painting hers.

We also painted the front of a Christmas card to look like Christmas lights. Yes, this was another idea that I found using Pinterest.com. The original creator's instructions can be found here. I liked the the original "landscape" format better than my "portrait" format but forgot to plan accordingly when I printed the text for the inside of the card. 

Step 1: using all different colors of finger paint, place fingerprints all over the front of the card.
Step 2: draw lines connecting each finger print, so they look like a strand of Christmas lights.

Roasted Red Pepper, Feta and White Bean Dip

I saw this recipe in Parent's magazine the other day and thought it sounded just delicious. I'm a huge fan of bean dips. They're so creamy and flavorful (and they are usually fairly inexpensive to make). I made it for one of our college/career activites and it was delicious.

Menu: November 28-January 1

Things are getting busy with Christmas and New Year's fast approaching so I will be making up a 5 week menu. That way I will be set till next year on planning as I am hoping to get some other posts completed/edited in the next few weeks (holiday traditions/money savers, product reviews, book reviews, updating the master list, etc.).

November 28-December 4

• California Medley Soup and dinner rolls
• Pasta Primavera, side salad, and breadsticks
• Tacos
• Sloppy Joes, carrot sticks and French fries
• Turkey, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and dinner rolls

December 5-11

• Turkey Tettrazzini
• Beef and Broccoli
• Chicken Turkey Taco Soup
• Red Beans and Rice
• Jambalaya

December 12-18

• Shrimp & Veggie Stir Fry with rice
• Smoky Chipotle Meatloaf, veggies, and mashed potatoes
• White Bean Stew with Pasta
• Homemade Personal Pizza
• Peppery Beef Sandwiches, glazed carrots, and side salad
• The Christmas Party for our college/career class is this Saturday. We plan to have a bunch of appetizers and things (and yes, I did get most of these ideas from my new addiction idea board Pinterest):
• Pizza Bites and Garlic Herb Bread Bites with Marinara sauce on the side
• Mississippi Sin Dip (I substitute bacon crumbles for the ham)
• Christmas Tree Veggie Tray with Ranch Dip
• Taco Dip and Tortilla Chips
• Roasted Red Pepper, Feta and White Bean Dip
• Cocktail wieners (Lil' Smokies, BBQ sauce-not a vinegar based sauce, and grape jelly) with pretzel sticks
• Brownies (PB & Caramel and Cream Cheese)
• Cranberry Punch
• Hot Chocolate Bar

December 19-25

• Beef Tips with herbed pasta and glazed carrots
• Grilled Venison, mixed veggies, and biscuits (Jared got a deer opening day and has declared that we will be grilling venison this week. Haven't decided on a cut or recipe yet but here is a good resource for venison recipes.) If you have any good venison recipes, please share. :o)
• Chicken and Corn Chowder
• Lasagna, mixed veggies, side salad, and French bread
• We'll be at various relatives' homes and I will be bringing sweet potatoes, cocktail wieners, Paradise Pumpkin pie, and a few ingredients.

December 26-January 1

• Roast Beef Sandwiches with homemade bread, mixed veggies, and side salad 
• Chili
• Pigs in a blanket, hashbrowns and fresh fruit
• Sub sandwiches and salad
• Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon
• Go Pack! We were able to get tickets for the Packers vs. Lions game today so no cooking for me. :o)

Chicken Pot Pie

I've made Chicken Pot Pie several different ways since we got married.  I like to take all the leftover bits from different meals throughout the week and throw them together for a flavorful and simple dish. I also have several different crust options.

Menu: October 31-November 27

I've decided that the 4 week menu format is the easiest for me to use. It takes a little more time to prepare but saves more time (and money) in the long run.

Week 1 (October 31-November 6)

• Roast Chicken, veggies, mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls
• Chicken Enchiladas with rice and beans
• Chicago-style Stuffed Pizza (Andrea's Recipes has really good instructions for "how" to make the pizza although I will probably stick with our families favorite toppings for filling ideas and my crust/sauce recipes.)
• Chili, cornbread, brownies, hot apple cider, and spiced cranberry punch. We serve this every year at our College/Career group's hayride, which is today.
• Chicken Pot Pie

Week 2 (November 7-13)

• Chicken Quesadillas
• Stromboli and mixed veggies
• Beef Tips with herbed pasta and glazed carrots
• Jambalaya (It is Jared's birthday today and this is his favorite dish.)
• Steak, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, and dinner rolls

Week 3 (November 14-20)

• Chicken Taco Soup
• Swedish Meatballs, garlic herb pasta and mixed veggies
• Sub Sandwiches, fresh fruit, and side salad
• Parmesan Ranch Baked Chicken with roasted red potatoes, mixed veggies, and dinner rolls
• Homemade Pizza

Week 4 (November 21-27) - Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

• Fettuccine Primavera, side salad, and French bread Ok, I decided on something a little more simple after looking over my "To Do" list. Option #2 - Chicken, Vegetable, and Rice Casserole
• Grilled Venison, mixed veggies, and biscuits (Jared got a deer opening day and has declared that we will be grilling venison this week. Haven't decided on a cut or recipe yet but here is a good resource for venison recipes.) If you have any good venison recipes, please share. :o)
• We are going to spend Thanksgiving at home this year with Jared's parents, and are seriously thinking about doing a 5k that morning (cinnamon rolls or muffins for breakfast). The dinner plan is as follows:
• Steaks with sauteed mushrooms and onions (if you're more traditional, here is a really good turkey recipe and also a crockpot ham recipe)
• Baked sweet potatoes and roasted red potatoes (Mr. R does NOT like sweet potatoes)
• Corn, glazed carrots, and sauteed green beans w/garlic
• Green salad
• Dinner rolls (I make up a big batch then freeze the dough to thaw and rise later just like Rhodes)
• Dessert...still thinking
• Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches (making homemade bread) and tomato soup
• Sweet Potato Waffles topped with fresh berries and cheesy scrambled eggs
• Fajitas, black beans and rice
• Planning to take something in for our College/Career Sunday School class - thinking either a Breakfast Braid or Crockpot Breakfast Casserole.

White-Bean Stew With Pasta

I happened to see this recipe in Parents magazine (October 2011, p. 168) and thought it looked delicious. Can't wait to try it!

Spiced Carrot Oat Cookies

I love cake mix cookies. In fact, I haven't tasted one yet that I didn't like. After some gloomy fall weather I decided that I wanted to try some cookies using my spice cake mix. This is what I came up with and they were delicious!

Easy Potato Soup

I really enjoy potato soup but it can be somewhat time consuming to make. Today I was running low on time and decided to try something new.