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.

Menu: October 3-30

I thought the 2 week menu worked really well but liked the 3 week even better. With that said, I'm going to attempt a 4 week menu to see which I like better. What's your favorite?

October 3-9

• Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (I know this recipe uses regular rice but I will substitute it for wild rice), and homemade bread or dinner rolls.
• Hamburgers, French fries, veggie sticks, and grilled veggies
• Swedish Meatballs over pasta and mixed veggies
• Baked Chicken, zucchini parmesan, garlic herb pasta, side salad and breadsticks
• Lasagna, side salad, mixed veggies, and French Bread

October 10-16

• Baked Potato Soup
• Mediterranean chicken wraps or pitas and either a hot spinach salad or a homemade mushroom soup
• Chicken and Shrimp Stir Fry (I'm using this recipe for the sauce) with rice, carrots, peppers, onions, and broccoli over rice
• Jambalaya
• We're having friends over for the big game so we're splurging a bit on extras - Brats, chicken wings, potato salad, veggie tray, crackers and cheese.

October 17-23 (crockpot week, if you need more crockpot ideas check out A Year of Slow Cooking)

• Cranberry Pork Loin, wild rice, mi,xed veggies, salad
• Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup and fresh dinner rolls
• Honey Garlic Chicken, rice, and roasted veggies
• Crockpot Chile Verde with tortillas, and black beans and rice
• Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, fresh veggie tray (in keeping with the "buffalo" style), and fruit salad - here is a recipe for buffalo sauce

Anyone have a crockpot recipe that they really enjoy that I've not listed before?

October 24-30 (Bean Week) - Sunday is our anniversary. We've been married 7 years. 

• Chili and cornbread
• Minestrone Soup and bread bowls 
• Red Beans & Rice
• White-Bean Stew with Pasta (Parents Oct 2011 p.168)
• Beef and bean chimichangas, and rice

Weekend Baking

• Zucchini Bread
• Banana Bread
• Cake Mix Cookies - I'm wanting to try a spiced oatmeal raisin.
• Chocolate Zucchini Cake (for our anniversary) 
• Dinner Rolls  - I'm going to make up a bunch and then freeze the dough for use later (similar idea to the way Rhodes does it)

Chicken and Stuffing Bake Three Ways

When Mr. R. was born, one of our friends brought over this wonderful dish for dinner. I'd never had it before but instantly loved it. It's such a simple yet hearty dish with lots of flavor. Since then I have discovered that there are several ways to make this dish so I am including three recipes. You can mix and match different features of each recipe to come up with the perfect combination for your family.

Caprese Pizza

I really enjoy watching cooking shows because they generally get my creative juices flowing with ideas for new recipes. I happened to watch a show on Cooking channel the other day while feeding the baby when I had a scrumptious idea pop into my head. I do not remember what show it was but the theme was Caprese dishes (Caprese salad and caprese spaghetti were the two main dishes presented).

Menu: September 12 - October 2

We've got a lot going on as usual so I thought I'd try to get a jump on things by attempting a 3 week menu. I really like the 2 week menu format that I've been doing lately. What do you think?


September 12-18

• Smoky Chipotle Meatloaf, garlic herb cheddar mashed potatoes, glazed baby carrots and dinner rolls
• White Chicken Chili and jalapeno cheddar corn bread
• Baked Chicken, zucchini parmesan, garlic herb pasta, side salad and breadsticks
• Personal Pizzas
• Pulled Pork and slaw

September 19-25

• Steak Fajitas and cilantro lime rice
• Breakfast-for-Dinner: waffles, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, and turkey sausage links
• Easy Chicken and Stuffing Bake , mixed veggies, and dinner rolls
• Mediterranean chicken wraps or pitas and either a hot spinach salad or a homemade mushroom soup
• Peppery Beef Sandwiches, side salad, and veggie tray

September 26-October 2

• Tacos
• Quiche and American Fries
• Aussie chicken, onion rice, and glazed carrots
• Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup
• Stuffed Pepper Soup and Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Need some more ideas? Check out the master list. 

Harvest Time Ideas

With Fall fast approaching, I have begun the task of harvesting the fruits of my labor - from tomatoes and peppers to melons and summer squash. Here are things that I do with my "extra" produce (what I don't eat up or share).

Ricotta Eggplant Rolls

With a surplus of eggplant in my garden I've been looking for some new recipes. I happened up a recipe for Ricotta Eggplant Rolls and thought that I'd try to lighten it up a bit. Here's my version and it is just as delicious!