Week 14 Menu (July 19-25)

• Sunday - PB&J Sandwiches
• Monday - Tater Tot Casserole
• Tuesday - Roast Chicken, mixed veggies, and biscuits (I moved it from last week's menu to this week's)
• Wednesday - Chicken Taco Soup (I will be substituting chicken broth for the beer, 2 cups leftover roast chicken for the 3 chicken breasts, and will use the taco seasoning recipe mentioned in the Oct. 17, 2006 review by RaisinKane aka Patti)
• Thursday - Chicken Quesadillas with guacamole, salsa, and sour cream
• Friday - Pulled Pork & Slaw Sandwiches (slaw recipe, I use the sauce from this recipe and then just add a bag of pre-made coleslaw veggies, and pulled pork ideas)
• Saturday - We have a College/Careers Group activity (we'll be grilling burgers and dogs, etc.)

Tyson Skillet Creations - Try It For FREE

I happened to be checking out someone else's blog and saw this post for a FREE Tyson Skillet Creations. I already have a coupon like the one mentioned in the post so no need to print a new one, but thought some of you who are big "couponers" might enjoy checking this out. I know that I will pick one up (it will come in handy when baby #3 arrives), using the coupon, and sending in the rebate form!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Aunt makes the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever. I made them for dessert last night and thought that I would share the recipe with all of you.

DeeDee's Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 cups all-purpose flour (you can also make them into chocolate chip oatmeal cookies by substituting 1 3/4 cups oats for 1 1/2 cups of flour)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In large mixing bowl, cream butter, oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.

3. In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture 1 cup at a time.

4. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes (DO NOT bake for more than 10 minutes or they'll burn). Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for another 5 minutes (the cookies will finish cooking during this time), then place on a rack to cool.

The best part is that you can make a huge batch and freeze the dough in long "tube-shaped" sticks or individual balls for baking later.

"American Fries"

I wanted a nice potato dish to serve alongside my quiche and this is what I came up with:

• 5 Russet/Idaho potatoes, washed and cubed (1/2" size)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon bacon drippings
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• onion powder*
• parsley*
• basil*

1. In a large skillet, wok, saute pan, or electric skillet (needs to have a lid or something that you can use as a lid), combine oil, butter, and drippings over medium to medium-high heat until hot.

2. Add potatoes, stir until all pieces are well coated. Cook 8-10 minutes, turning often.

3. Add seasonings, mix well and cover; turning and covering every 4 minutes until done.

I make these while the quiche is in the oven and they are usually done cooking before the quiche, so about 20-30 minutes.

*use as much or as little as you desire

Quiche

Last night, I decided to make quiche for dinner as I had just stocked up on eggs. I have never made quiche, so I looked up the highest rated quiche recipe on allrecipes.com (one that included bacon and spinach because I had them on hand). It turned out to be absolutely delicious! Here is my variation on Clark's Quiche (allrecipes.com).

• 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz. sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked (deep dish) pie crusts (I like to buy Pillsbury pie crusts when they are on sale and I have a coupon, then I freeze them to save for things like this)
• 1/2 pound thick sliced bacon
• 3/4 cup finely diced smoked ham
• 3/4 cup sausage, browned
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or bacon drippings)
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 cup Mexican Blend shredded cheese
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• salt (optional) and pepper to taste (I found that the combination of meats made it unnecessary for the salt to be included)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. Cook spinach in skillet with a teaspoon of bacon grease over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Allow to cool, then set aside.

2. Heat olive oil (or bacon grease) in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Stir in mushrooms, and cook for 2 minutes, or until soft. Stir in ham, browned sausage, and cooked bacon. Remove from heat.

3. In a large bowl, combine spinach, sour cream, salt and pepper. Divide, and spread into pie crusts. Layer with meat mixture. Mix together cheeses, and sprinkle over pies. Whisk together eggs, half-and-half and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, and pour over pies.

4. Place pies on middle shelf in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. The top will be puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven, and let stand for 10 minutes.

One quiche easily feeds 4-6 people (if you have a side dish, I do homemade "American Fries").

This recipe makes 2 (9 inch) pies of quiche. Trust me, you'll want the extra pie for breakfast the next morning:)

You can also make the quiche in a 9x9x2 baking dish if you don't have more than one deep dish pie plate on hand.


Other Crust Options:
If you don't want to take the time to make a pie crust, you can also use

• Crescent Roll Dough
• Biscuit Dough (rolled very thin)
• Hash Brown or Bread/Cracker Crumb Crust

Week 13 Menu (July 12-18)

Last week, I totally switched the menu around from what it was suppose to be, so I will be using a few of the meals from the menu this week. If you would like to make some of my substitution meals from last week, just take a look at that menu as I posted my changes.

• Sunday - We had a Scripture Collating Day at church, so we ended up just doing Burger King (I know not very healthy) as they have 99 cent kid's meals on Sundays.
• Monday - Sausage, mushroom, and cheese calzones (I was originally suppose to make tacos)
• Tuesday - Quiche and American Fries
• Wednesday - My mother-in-law has asked us over for dinner:)
• Thursday - Waffles with Sour Cream and Fruit Syrup
• Friday - Roast Chicken, mixed veggies, and biscuits (It ended up being just the kiddos and I, so we had grilled ham & cheese sandwiches instead)
• Saturday - Chicken-n-Dumplings (After dealing with 2 sick kids all day, I wasn't feeling up to making supper so the hubby made dinner - "breakfast burgers")

Blueberry Banana Muffins/Bread

Yummy!

These are my husband's absolute favorite muffins and I finally got the recipe from my mom (who got it from my aunt). So, our two and a half year old son and I made a batch this afternoon. When my husband got home, our son told him, "Daddy, we just murdered some blueberries!"

Butter Crescent Rolls (or Croissants)

I stuffed these ones with cheese. Yummy!

I love crescent rolls and croissants (and so does my family) so I was quite excited when I found a fairly quick and easy recipe to make them from scratch. They are super light and fluffy, buttery and delicious! I also use this recipe for making pigs in a blanket, which the kids adore. :)

Week 12 Menu (July 5-11)

For starters, I ended up switching a couple of items on this week's menu with those of the previous week, but I will note where I made changes.

• Sunday - We have a big church dinner/picnic in celebration of Independence Day so I don't have to do any cooking, I just have to bring along some fresh fruit.
  
• Monday - Hawaiian Wraps (spinach, ham, swiss, pineapple, and mayo sauce wrapped in garden veggie tortillas, Chips & Salsa (I switched and made this on Thursday last week, so I'll be having the chicken salad sandwiches instead)
  
• Tuesday - Crockpot Chicken-n-Rice (I ended up making the Meatloaf, etc. that was scheduled for Thursday)
  
• Wednesday - Leftovers (Bought some cheap pizzas from P-n-S instead)
• Thursday - Meatloaf, Potatoes, Veggie, and Dinner Rolls (I was actually craving tacos, which doesn't happen very often, so I decided to make tacos instead as I had scheduled tacos for next week Monday)
• Friday - Waffles with Sour Cream and Fruit Syrup (the hubby surprised me with date night, he figured it might be the last one before baby #3 comes)
• Saturday - Calzones (had some friends invite us over for a picnic, so I made up some boxed pasta salad mix to take with us instead)

Chicken Enchiladas

This is for a double batch (I use for dinner the day I make it, and then freeze the other pan so I can use it later).

• 1 (26 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons butter/margarine
• 3 bunches green onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 roasted red pepper, chopped (or about 1/2 cup)
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (if using leftover roast chicken, you can just chop it as it will shred itself while you heat and stir it)
• 1 (7 oz) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
• 16 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 4 cups shredded Mexican Blend cheese, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a small saucepan over low heat, mix the soup, sour cream, chili powder, and milk until smooth; set aside.

3. Melt butter/margarine in a large sauce or saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until tender. Stir in the chicken, chile and roasted red peppers, cayenne pepper, 1 cup of the shredded cheese, and 4 tablespoons of the soup mixture. Cook and stir until heated through.

4. Spread 1/2 cup of the soup mixture into each of two 9x13 baking dishes. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, and place, seam-side-down, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture on top, and sprinkle each dish with 1 1/2 cups cheese.

5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Source: allrecipes.com and my own ideas