Menu Plan Monday September 21, 2009

Okay, so it is really Tuesday....and the latest I've ever posted a Menu Plan Monday. But, whose counting? :)

Last week, I had success with two great new recipes: sweet potato fries and The Best Carrots You'll Ever Taste. I recommend both! The sweet potato fries are a delicious alternative to our regular oven baked fries. For the carrots, I substituted chicken broth for the wine. We prefer brown sugar glazed carrots, but this has to be the best herb carrots dish I've tried. I also tried Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Cooking During Stolen Moments (one of my new favorite food sites). It was very tasty, and hearty. Plus with a cold, it hit the spot. I don't know if I make it too often, however, as I have mashed potato soup that tastes quite similar and it is easier to make. Nonetheless, it was a nice change of pace that I can make on occasion.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This week, we're having nice warm weather (in the 80s and 90s). I'd love to start more fall recipes, but the rainy weather will come soon enough, so I'll enjoy the warmth a bit longer!

Sunday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup (roll over from last week)

Monday: Blackened Chicken Caesar Sandwiches ...since it is Tuesday, I've already made this. I decided to turn it into a salad. The chicken was good, but we both agreed it would've tasted better if I'd made it into a sandwich. As a salad it was a tad boring.

Tuesday: Hot Dogs, Sweet Potato Fries and Fresh Fruit.

Wednesday: I'm making a surprise dinner for our wedding anniversary. It consists of this main dish...(don't peek Ben) and the rest that I'll reveal later this week.

Thursday: Not sure, I have a long work day, so I'm toying with breakfast for dinner or tacos.

Friday: Chicken Gravy with Homemade Noodles. A new recipe. I am planning on making the noodles from scratch too. I'll serve this with salad.

Saturday: Eating Out.

Check out more menu's at Laura's I'm an Organizing Junkie. This week, there are over 400 menus. This is a new record!

Anniversary Trip to the Coast

Our anniversary is next week. To celebrate, Ben treated me to an overnight trip to the coast. As usual, he did a wonderful job planning!

Thursday afternoon, we drove down to Lincoln City. Ben reserved a very nice room at a beach front hotel!

Surftides Hotel

Our fancy room......

Check out the view from our room!

We were blessed with excellent weather

Getting ready for a morning walk




Ben caught me spinning!

After we walked the beach, we walked the downtown stores, picked up some salt water taffy and visited the outlet stores and made our way home. It was the perfect celebration!

Menu Plan Monday, September 14, 2009

Last week's menu winner definitely had to be the Perfect Every Thyme Grilled Chicken. I expected the honey taste would be stronger than it was. Yet the chicken was not bland. I let it marinade overnight as directed. As a result the meat was very tender and juicy. It is a nice switch from a citrus based marinade. I will add this to my summer meal rotation.

Perfect Every Thyme Grilled Chicken

Here's the menu for this week!

Monday: Butterflied Pork Chops. However, instead of cooking the sweet potatoes with the pork chops, I'm going to try sweet potato fries. The fries are a new recipe. Another new recipe I'll also make with the chops is The BEST Carrots You'll Ever Taste, from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. The directions seem to be missing a step at the end, but the ingredients look good. I think I can figure it out.

Tuesday: Lemon Crockpot Chicken. I am not sure if I still want to make this as four breasts are a big sacrifice if I don't like it. However, I need to use up the sour cream I bought for it, so I figured I might as well take the chance. Plus, I am curious to see what it tastes like.
I'll serve it with fresh fruit and corn on the cob.

Wednesday: Leftovers!

Thursday: Another new recipe: Blackened Chicken Caesar Sandwiches. (I am toying with omitting the sandwich and turning this into a salad.) Served with corn on the cob and hopefully a peach crisp.

Friday: I think we're eating out. :-)

Saturday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup

For more menu's check out Laura's I'm an Organizing Junkie. I just love reading through the menu's each Monday. I get so many new ideas every week.

The Perfect Background Music....

Menu Plan Monday...Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Last week's big challenge was Friday's Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken. This was my first attempt at cooking the chicken in a crockpot. I have a few observations.

1. My crockpot (4-5qt) seems large for the two of us, but I purchased a 2.6lb chicken and that was just large enough. I planned to wrap a few potatoes in the foil balls to place below the chicken. When I tried, the chicken didn't fit. So, I just stuck with 4-5 balls of foil.

2. I was nervous about overcooking the chicken. The recipe said 4-6 hours, but some commenters mentioned theirs finished early. So, I baby-sat that guy and tested it with my thermometer after two hours, three hours, and 3.5 hours. I let it go to the 4, but should have pulled it after 3 hours and 45 minutes as four was too long....190 degrees. By then the meat was falling off the bones and the breast meat was just a bit too dry. However, the dark meat was quite flavorful, and I appreciated how the aluminum balls held up the chicken and let all the meat drip to the bottom. I shredded the breast meat, and turned it into sandwiches.

3. I don't know if I'll make this again. It was easy, but the smell of cooking meat in that hot heat was rather strong. I just might have to get used to that.

Here's this week's menu.

Monday: Labor Day. We had company over and served meatloaf with honey glazed carrots, and Kelli's foolproof buttermilk biscuits.

Tuesday: I'm finally getting to the Perfect Every Thyme Grilled Chicken. It is marinating as I type and my husband is planning on grilling it shortly.

Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff (I use the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

Thursday: Leftovers.

Friday: I planned to make Taste of Home's Butterflied Pork Chops. It is a delicious autumn dish that I made last year for our anniversary. However, after reading Laura's post, I think I'm going to try the Honey-Soy Pork Chops instead. Grilling season will end soon, and it is going to be warm again this week. I have to take advantage of the sunny days!

Saturday: Hashbrowns for Breakfast. And I cannot go wrong with Best Chicken Ever for dinner!

Sunday: Leftovers/FFY

For more menus visit Laura's at I'm an Organizing Junkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday August 31, 2009

We had a delicious menu last week....even if it wasn't quite what I'd planned. I couldn't figure out what to make on Monday. Nothing sounded good. At the grocery store, I picked up an 8 piece fried chicken from the deli. We made that stretch over two meals. I served it with the best biscuits ever (courtesy of Kelli's There's No Place Like Home) Before this recipe, I struggled making biscuits. These are foolproof. Once I forgot the baking soda. They didn't brown, and weren't as flaky, but Ben still loved them! You have to try them for yourself. The only problem is they don't taste very good the next day, so you'll want to eat them the same evening. My other success was the Italian Roast from Heavenly Homemakers. I raved about it in this post. I highly recommend it. I used some of the leftovers for tacos last week too.

Foolproof Buttermilk Biscuits

This week's menu will likely change as well, but here goes!

Monday: I planned burgers, but we went out to dinner for Pizza with friends instead.
Tuesday: Burgers on the grill (roll over from last week) with corn on the cob.
Wednesday: Perfect Every Thyme Grilled Chicken (another roll over from last week)
Thursday: Chimichurri Cheesesteaks with the leftover roast (gotta use it up!)
Friday: Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken. Apparently, my success with the roast has left me more confident in using my slow cooker! I'm going to take some of the reader's suggestions and wrap a couple of potatoes in the foil balls. We'll see if it tastes okay.
Saturday: Pancakes for breakfast and leftovers for dinner.
Sunday: Leftovers for dinner (I anticipate a lot of chicken leftover!)

For more menu plans, visit Laura's Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Crock Pot Italian Roast

I enjoyed participating in Crock Pot Wednesdays last week at Dining With Debbie. (I featured my favorite Beef Stew Recipe). I didn't get to the lemon chicken I planned to make this week. Therefore, all yesterday and today, I thought that it was too bad I wouldn't participate, but at least I'd go and check out the recipes. I thought this right up until Tuesday morning when I cut my roast in half and dumped it...in my crock pot. I would have a recipe to share this week after all!

Italian Roast Wraps is a new recipe I found on Laura's Heavenly Homemakers site. (One of my favorite blogs). Before today, I have never been too successful at cooking a roast in the crock pot. I had a pretty good barbecue roast recipe, but I also wanted a non tomato recipe. My roasts typically ended up over cooked, dry, and chewy. I decided to try one final time. It was so worth it. This recipe is absolutely incredible. It is moist and flavorful. My husband loved it as well! In her recipe, she serves it in a wrap with tomatoes and sour cream. Ben declared it was so good, we should just have it plain. So we did.

Italian Roast Wraps

This is going in my permanent family cookbook. I love it and will make it again.

Notes: I used a frozen 2.5lb rump roast (and I was very skeptical that it wouldn't cook in time) and it cooked perfectly in the five hours allotted.

I had to cut the roast in half to make it fit in the crock pot.

Also, the recipe didn't say whether to trim the fat before I cooked it, so I left it on and trimmed it afterward. (Plus it I froze it before I thought about trimming the fat, and I didn't want to deal with it once I considered it).

I ended up using a whole packet of Italian seasoning. I think half wouldn't have been enough.