Menu Plan Monday 4/26/10

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  Chicken Cacciatore (Don’t Panic-Dinner’s in the Freezer cookbook) *new*
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  Chili Con Carne and White River Sour Cream Cornbread (Don’t Panic-Dinner’s in the Freezer cookbook) *new*
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  Beef Pita Tacos (Don’t Panic Dinner’s in the Freezer cookbook) *new* and Whole Wheat Pita Bread *new*
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  Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese Bake (Jamie’s Food Revolution) This was ok but the kids didn’t like the cheese sauce with the Parmesan so next time I’ll make it full cheddar. *new*
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  Zuppa Toscana (not even sure where I got my original recipe for this Olive Garden clasic, recipe for how I make it at the bottom of the post)
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  Breakfast  for dinner pancakes or muffins, eggs of choice (scrambled or omelet) and bacon (looking for a pancake or muffin recipe I want to try this week will post when I find one that I have the ingredients for)

I’m trying to post more so I plan on coming back and posting pictures and recipes as I make them. My husband always jokes when I ask if he liked what I made because he says I won’t make it again since I always have new meals we’re trying with few favorites in between.  If you want to check out more menu plans check out Orgjunkie!

 

Zuppa Toscana

 

• 1 lb  italian sausage ( I use turkey or chicken italian sausage)
• 4-6 bacon, cut into 1/2” slices (can use turkey bacon but I prefer the good stuff)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2-1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 2-3 potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and slice into 1/4”-1/2” pieces
• 1 cup cream (I use whatever I have on hand, cream, half n half or milk. I do prefer cream or half n half)
• 1 bunch of Kale, cut or tore into pieces

Brown crumbled italian sausage, drain and set aside. Cook bacon, be sure not to crisp, drain and set aside. Cook onion in a little olive oil until translucent, 5-10 mins, then add garlic and red pepper flakes until fragrant. Add chicken stock, sausage, bacon, and potatoes, cook until potatoes are tender. Then add cream, simmer for 5 mins. Add kale and simmer a few minutes longer. Salt and Pepper to taste.
I know these aren’t the best instructions but I’m a cook by taste type of person and it really just comes together.

Beef Pita Tacos and Annie’s Whole Wheat Pitas

The main recipe from “Don’t Panic Dinner’s in the Freezer” started with the first 3 ingredients. I thought it was a little bland so I added a few more seasonings and cooked it longer to blend the flavors. Served with some of Annie’s Whole Wheat Pita’s
Beef Pita Tacos (4 servings, 3 cups of mixture, enough for 8 tacos)

• 1lb lean ground beef
• 1 cup salsa
• 1-8 oz can stewed tomatoes
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/2-1 t garlic powder
• 1/2-1 t onion powder
• 1/4 t red pepper flakes
• 4 pita breads, cut in half

Brown ground beef, drain. Stir in salsa, stewed tomatoes, and seasonings; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins, until thickened.

Yummy!

Time for a change…

It’s been a while and I figured it was time to go back to blogger.  I wanted to go to something that didn’t have issues where you can comment without getting an account. Hopefully this will be good for me and I’ll want to post more.

Recap of the past month since I’ve been slacking on updating lately.

• We had a lovely Easter with my parents. The kids had so much fun with the goodies in there baskets as well as egg hunting.
• I finally got a new computer. Dual core with 1T harddrive and 8 gigs of memory. I’m in heaven! Had a few compatibility issues with Windows 7 and my Photoshop but eventually we found a way around it without me having to spend more money on a newer version of Photoshop. I must say I’m loving the virtual drives. My husband prefers Linux so he uses a virtual drive for Windows when he has to use it for certain programs, mostly school related.
• New goodies at both of my CT’s Peppermint Creative and Digital Design Essentials.  I haven’t gotten a chance to make anything with some of the new products but that is on my todo list for today so hopefully I’ll have a few more pages up soon!  Both of these are Peppermint Creative goodies. Ingrid is our new template maker and she has some super cute sets out.

Now for my Menu Plan this week

• Lime Chicken Soft Tacos (My fav chicken taco recipe)
• Mini Cheese Meatloaves (Has these last night and yummy) *new*
• Chicken Thighs with Balsamic Garlic Sauce (ummm in the process of trying to find this recipe… not exactly sure if it was a bookmarked online, from one of my cookbooks or even one of my many magazines. Oops) *new*
• Slow Cooker TexMex Chicken & Beans *new*
• A Cracking Burger (Jamie Olivers Food Revolution cookbook) *new*

As always, you can check out many more menu plans at Orgjunkie
Think that’s all I have for now. The plan is to update at least weekly if not more, hopefully I can do just that. Loving this windows live writer so far!