Menu Plan Monday - 4/16/12

I just love this picture of J asleep in my arms. He fell asleep this way one night and so L snapped this picture. It is hard to believe this little boy is turning 4 come May, and I am thankful more than words can say.


A couple notes on last week's meals ... The eggplant Parmesan totally bombed! We still ate it, but it was more like eggplant Parmesan SOUP. I think I'll hold off trying again for a while. We did enjoy the Rigatoni/chicken dish. It was pretty good.

Here's what's cooking at our home this week:

Monday

Spaghetti with Corn and Garlic Toast

This is a regular meal in our rotation that my husband really loves. I use a store bought sauce that I spruce up with diced tomatoes, fresh green pepper and a splash of olive oil.

Tuesday

Peanut Coconut Curry over Jasmati Rice

I think this was a Pinterest dish, and it has definitely made it into our regular menu rotation. It has sort of a Thai feeling because of the peanut sauce but I love having an opportunity to add coconut with the coconut milk and then cooking the chicken in coconut oil. I love how these flavors blend together. 

Wednesday

Fresno Potatoes with Chicken and Broccoli

Another find from Pinterest ... mainly the picture caught my eye. I like the mixture of ingredients as I've rekindled an interest in bacon, having it in moderation. I decided to add chicken and broccoli too since I think they'll blend nicely.

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday

Pizza dinner at church volunteer event

We have a really neat event at our church this week called "Ignite". It's a time for the people who volunteer at church to gather and worship together and just encourage one another. They are feeding us dinner too.

Saturday

Mystery Shop at an Italian Restaurant

One of the ways I'm bringing in a little side income is through Mystery Shopping. Since I joined last year, I've gotten a few free car washes, several free dinners and picked up some cash after visiting and reviewing the Humane Society and the food areas of our student union.

Sunday
Always my night off!


Special Treats:
I will be making Parsnip Cake this week along with some more homemade coconut/chocolate granola bars. I am trying to have some healthier things around for snacking instead of buying cookies or candy. I also found a new "treat" at the store, Yoplait's Greek Vanilla Yogurt. It satisfies my cravings for ice cream because it's so nice and thick.

Click on the links below to see what others are making this week!

I am also linking up to:

On the Menu Monday At Stone Gable

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan Monday - 4/09/12 and Easter Fun

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

J's Colorful Easter Picture 

Ta-Da! All Done with Our Eggs!

 Our Finished Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

We celebrated Easter at home this year. Plans with my husband's sister fell through, so we enjoyed some down time as a family. J got to discover some new toys, stickers and a little bit of candy in his Easter basket then we had fun coloring some Easter eggs. I found a website on how to do natural egg dyeing and the eggs turned out nicely. I had no idea they would look so unique! We used (clockwise in the egg picture) blueberries, curry powder, grape juice/red wine, coffee grounds, spinach and another from blueberries. We started coloring the eggs before church and decided to let them soak while we were gone, which is why I think the colors turned out to be so deep. We used Surviving Motherhood's  post on Dyeing Eggs Naturally.

Here's what's cooking at our home this week:

Monday

Hamburgers and Cottage Fries
I didn't end up making this last week, so I made it Monday night. The Cottage Fries were a last minute idea after seeing the latest FoodWishes.com video on You Tube. I will definitely be making them again as they were really good.


Tuesday
Cream Cheese Corn Dish with Small Shells

I found this yummy looking dish on Pinterest and modified it by adding macaroni to make it a main dish. For a little spice, I think I'll add Sriracha sauce.

Wednesday

Lighter Eggplant Parmesan 

I really like Skinnytaste.com for the way they take many favorite recipes and make a lighter/healthier version. Earlier this year, I used eggplant in my cooking for the first time. Since we enjoyed it, I'm going to make this classic but "lighter" eggplant dish and see if this becomes a regular meal for us.

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday

Rigatoni d' Maggiano with Steamed Broccoli 

This somehow didn't make it to our dinner table last week, so I'm adding it to this week's menu. This recipe is a copycat of the dish made by Maggiano's.

Saturday

Date Night or Dinner Out

Sunday
Always my night off!

I am also linking up to:

On the Menu Monday At Stone Gable

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

Click on the links above to see what others are making this week!

Thanks for visiting!

Homemade Coconut Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

For a while now, I have been wanting to make homemade healthy snacks. I have become wary of all the artificial ingredients in so many things we eat, so making them myself allows me to use natural ingredients. It also saves us a little money instead of buying them at the grocery store. 

I saw several yummy-looking recipes on Pinterest and decided to make this one I adapted a bit. A couple things I added were coconut oil and shredded coconut. After reading so many good things about coconut oil, I am trying to integrate it into our daily meals. I even added a tiny splash of coconut extract to enhance the coconut flavor. I love how they turned out. For an extra treat, you can spread some peanut butter on top too. If fact, I like the peanut butter so much that I'm going to add some to the next batch.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups instant oats
• 1-1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped semi sweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• A splash of coconut extract

Instructions:

1. Mix the oats, rice cereal and shredded coconut together in a bowl.
2. In a medium pan, combine the coconut oil, honey and brown sugar.
3. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat until it all foams/boils together (about 1-2 minutes).  If you don’t boil it long enough nothing will stick together.
4. Once the sugar/oil mix comes together, add it to the oat mix with a splash of coconut extract (if using) and stir until it’s completely combined.
5. Lay it out in a square pan evenly (if you use coconut oil, you do not need to spray the pan).
6. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave. Once the oat mix cools off a bit, spread on top of the granola bars.
7. Refrigerate bars until chocolate is set. You can then eat them cold out of the refrigerator (which is how we liked them) or let them come to room temperature. Just cut them, serve and enjoy!

Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan Monday - 4/02/12 and Spring!

Some musings about Spring at our house: 

It's amazing what happens when you clean out your mucky bird bath and the water is crystal clear. It brings all kinds of birds, and critters too. I mentioned earlier that our ducks have returned. The neatest part is that they visit every day! They get their fill of spilled bird seed and then enjoy hanging out by the bird bath. I know from past experience this will happen for about a month or two, and then we don't see them until the following year. I'm thinking they leave to go tend to their nest and later the hatchlings at the pond nearby, so they don't have time for their daily visits anymore. But we're enjoying the visits while they last! The chipmunks are back along with our grackles and cow birds. We even have a crow who is enjoying a cool drink at the bird bath every day now. Since we live in a suburban area right next to a road, it's not too hard to keep track of the wildlife since there's not an overabundance like in the country. It makes me appreciate what we do have! 

Now....on to the Menu-

Here's what's cooking at our home this week:

Monday

Taco Bar
Monday nights I need something quick and easy since we meet with our small group from church. We haven't had tacos in a while, so I am making a taco bar tonight!


Tuesday
Rigatoni d' Maggiano with Steamed Broccoli 

My sister passed this recipe along. We don't have a Maggiano's restaurant in Madison, but we've visited the one in Schaumburg, IL and liked it a lot. This rigatoni dish sounds pretty tasty.

Wednesday

Steak House Mac N' Cheese 

I'm always looking for different ways to spruce up mac-n-cheese, which is one of my husband's favorite meals. I love blue cheese and think the bacon/blue cheese/spinach combo in this one will be good. See this link for some fun ways to spruce up your Mac-N-Cheese from Taste of Home's Love and Homemade site. I think I'll try the Reuben one next!!

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday

Homemade Spaghetti with Mexicorn and Garlic Toast

This is the dish my husband said he can eat every week. This week I'm trying Mexicorn for a little zip.

Saturday
Hamburgers with Parmesan Potato Wedges

We haven't done basic burgers in a while so we'll cook up those with some potatoes. 


Sunday
Always my night off!

I am also linking up to:

On the Menu Monday At Stone Gable

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

Click on the links above to see what others are making this week!

Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan Monday - 3/26/12

Our ducks are back!!! I'm so excited to see our ducks. They just showed up again for the first time late Sunday afternoon. We live in a very urban area, so it's really neat that these ducks come and hang out every year. I shared about them in this post last year . The funny thing is that we were at the lake earlier in the day and J had wanted to see the resident ducks, but he decided it was too cold and windy by the water. Later on the way home, he was really sad he didn't get to see them. Well, the first thing we saw when we got home and looked out the window were our ducks! We were so excited to see them and it was such a treat for J.

I did a little gardening this weekend when a friend offered free lilies to dig and transplant. I hope they do well! I also bought all my gardening seeds over the weekend and will begin planting them in starter containers. Since we only have a small garden area, I'm also thinking of purchasing a half share in a CSA this year. More to come on that soon.

For some reason, it was really hard to come up with menu ideas today. It took me most of the day to put my menu and grocery plan together and now I need to shop tomorrow.

So here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday

Reheated Shepherd's Pie Leftovers
I was able to freeze a few servings of the Shepherd's Pie I made last week. Monday nights we meet with our small group from church, so I always try to do something simple. I just reheated the leftovers and we had a nice meal!


Tuesday
Dublin Coddle 

This is a re-do since I didn't end up making it last week.

Wednesday
Indiana Chowder 

I was having "menu block" today and started browsing the menu link-ups for the week. I happened upon this recipe from Crystal & Co. The combination of ground beef, tomatoes, peas and corn sounds really good.

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday

Indian Chicken with Peas over Basmati Rice

We love eating Indian food and this looks like a fairly easy recipe so we'll give it a try.

Saturday
Out to Dinner with Aunt Carrie

Sunday
Always my night off!

I am also linking up to:

On the Menu Monday At Stone Gable

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

Click the buttons above to see what others are making this week!

Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan Monday - 3/19/12

Picture credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art

We continue to have just incredible weather here!! I personally cannot remember a March I've spent in Wisconsin where the temperatures stayed in the 70's and 80's for a few weeks. It is absolutely lovely. The cool evenings that come after the warm weather are just perfect for keeping the windows open at night. Since we've been out enjoying the weather a lot, I just got online here today to post my menu for the week.

Here is what's cooking at our house:

Monday
Sandwiches

Tuesday
Homemade Spaghetti 

My husband loved the sauce this week. I just used our Roundy's brand Chunky Garden sauce with the addition of diced tomatoes and ground beef. I will post soon about these diced tomatoes, as they came from a restaurant sized jar. They were bigger chunks than the petite diced ones I'd been using and we loved the change!

Wednesday
Irish Shepherd's Pie 

I finally found ground lamb! Although at $9.99 a pound, this is a once a year meal for us. I intended to make this for St. Patrick's Day, but we are a week late since it took a while to find the lamb. 

Thursday

Homemade Fish Sticks with Steamed Broccoli 

I've really been enjoying this new blog called The Prairie Homestead. She has fabulous ideas for getting back to the simple ways of life, integrating small changes at a time. I can't wait to try these fish sticks. I've been wanting to add more fish into our diet so I was glad to find the recipe.

Friday

Dublin Coddle

This was a recipe I found on Google the other day. I was searching for recipes with root vegetables and ended up finding this one. I love rich and hearty stews and have been trying to make more meals with sweet potatoes since they not only taste so good, but are good for you. This will be fun to try! I like the name too :o)

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Always my night off!

I am also linking up to:

SusieQTpies Scraps of Life

 Click the buttons above to see what others are making this week!

Thanks for visiting!

"Tracey's Kitchen" Posts Now Here!!

Picture Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art

Since I began blogging over two years ago, I've always maintained two blogs. This one has been my main one, and then I have a recipe blog called Tracey's Kitchen. I recently made a decision that it would be easier to keep up with ONE blog instead of two, so I decided to move my Kitchen posts over here for the time being! You'll be seeing my menu plans and recipe posts here in the near future.

Thanks for visiting!

My Latest Recipes (Salmon Cakes & Shepherd's Pie)

Here are two new recipes I posted this week on my blog Tracey's Kitchen.

Easy Salmon Cakes

Shepherd's Pie

Enjoy!!

New Recipes Posted

I have some new recipes on my other blog Tracey's Kitchen. See below for details.

Just My Mac-N-Cheese


Fancy Mac-N-Cheese


February recipes:
Spinach and Mushroom Egg Strata
Sweet Potato Tray Baked Chicken
Papa's Hungarian Goulash
Simple Mexican Rice

Just a Little Taste....Take 2

OK, I'm still juggling and I have not yet conquered the Marriage Post. It is in the works though. Seems like we are just running, running, running (and just started potty training)!

I was able to get a couple of my latest recipes up on Tracey's Kitchen if you're interested ....

Sweet Potato Tray-Baked Chicken (click on link)










Papa's Goulash (click on link)

A Few New Recipes

Here are the latest recipes over on my blog called Tracey's Kitchen. Hope you enjoy them!


Corned Beef and Cabbage Slow Cooker Meal


Dad's Chili


Quick Chicken with Saffron Rice Meal

Quick and Easy Beef and Bean Burritos

I made another new dish tonight. Actually, I've made burritos before but never made ones this good. I love the Pioneer Woman. Follow the link to Tracey's Kitchen for the recipe.