Menu 1/17-1/22

Last week went alright. Wednesday both of us had the day off so we spent some time together and went out to eat at Olive Garden instead of enchiladas. We had a gift card ;) Gotta love those. And my sweet and sour pork was a disaster. I can NOT for the life of me make it. I don't know why. I just seem to fail. Perhaps it is because I don't have a fryer. But one day I will succeed. And Friday I didn't feel like coming home to make pizza dough so we had Papa John's instead. I'm already working on my February menu! Just need to make a few changes here and there. Then I will also make sure I have ingredients for what I need.

Monday - Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce

Tuesday - chili and cornbread

Wednesday - chicken fajitas

Thursday - Steak and potatoes (yummmmm!)

Friday- home made pizza

Saturday - leftovers

Challenge 2011!

Ok, I have made a couple of resolutions this year and so far a couple of them are stuck in limbo. I'm asking for you, my readers, help to me keep with these little goals. Now mind you, I have one that I've made for myself that I have NOT even started yet so I'm not going to post about that one.

1)Menu plan! I want to get my month planned out and then be sure to post on Mondays in conjunction with Menu Plan Monday on Orgjunkie.com

2)attempt to blog all my recipes that I have written up with photos

3)Work on my organizing list. I have thanks again to Orgjunkie.com started a list of 22 things that I need to organize in my house. Granted it says 52 weeks for her site, but I can't think of 52 things! I'll post that list and what has been completed WITH photos on Fridays.

4)Save up for a down payment on a house. Ok, first of all, this should be easy for us since we have 1 debt and that will be paid off by July. So....now just to save our money instead of spend our money.

5)Try at least 50 new receipes. That is less than a new one a week. I can do that. And to blog about them.

Sounds not too bad right? I think I can handle. Now...just to actually do :)

Menu Plan 1/10 - 11/15

So far this year hasn't shaped up very nicely. I have been sick more days than healthy so far this year! And I rarely get sick. So for me, not happy at all about it. Last week's menu went pretty ok with the exception of I didn't make the veggie soup as planned. And other than that I made what I thought I would. Which is great! So you will see veggie soup for Tuesday which is going to be made. Wednesday I have the day off because I worked Saturday so I plan on making some homemade bread that day and work on my 52 weeks of organizing. Be sure to look up Orgjunke.com for both.

Monday - Mac and Cheese*using my mom's cheese sauce*

Tuesday - Beef Veggie Soup and bread

Wednesday - enchiladas*beans and cheese*

Thursday - sweet and sour pork with rice noodles

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - leftovers or whatever we find in the freezer

Happy New Year!!!! (five days late...)

Man, the time has gotten away from me. I apologize with my whole heart! I have no good excuses for you. My birthday is over, of which I got a Wii from my mom and dad. I love them so much! And my mom in law gave me socks! I love her so much! Christmas is over and it was a wonderful time with my family on both sides. New Years was spent with hubby's family on his dad's side. It is wonderful to see how that side of the family really took in my mom in law when hubby's dad died when he was just a year and half. Such a huge blessing to have such a caring family! I can't imagine why people don't like their in-laws.

This past December I made a few resolutions for the New Year. One was to get our budget down to only spending what is absolutely necessary. Food and shelter. So far so good. It helps when you get your hubby a Miata calendar for Christmas for us to write what we spend down on :) In order to help with that spending goal I have made the menu plan for the entire month of January excluding weekends. Now my goal is to spend less than $200 for the month on groceries. Now, I don't know if that will be feasible right now due to the fact that we are just starting. But I have made it on $300 a month, so I'm sure I can do $200. Plus this will help out on our eating out budget to be much lower. ***DISCLAIMER*** we are not in debt up to our eyeballs. I just want to live within in a single salary if possible.

SO with out further ado....my menu plan for this week! (I won't overload you with the entire month)

Monday - Pizza Pasta Casserole * this was from the freezer and wasn't made due to me being sick*

Tuesday - Veggie Soup and bread *this wasn't made because day 2 of being sick, but I did warm up the Pizza Pasta Casserole for the hubby to eat when he got home for lunch/dinner from work

Wednesday - tacos * I made a taco seasoning mix from someone I found online and not a fan too much of it, so I'm glad I didn't make it all with the taco seasoning. will have to find something else.

THursday - Chicken stir fry and rice

Friday - home made pizza *Taking this over to hubby's mom's house for dinner before she leaves for Phoenix. She's visiting her friend out there and going to a work conference.

Saturday - leftovers *I'm probably going to make the veggie soup today because it will be a nice crockpot meal.

Cinnamon Rolls

I promised co-workers that I would bring in homemade cinnamon rolls one Saturday that we all were working. Well, needless to say I keep my promises! I searched my Better Homes and Gardens 14th Edition Cookbook. A little time consuming, but well worth it. Here you go, its the recipe I used for them. Let's just say, they were a hit.


Ingredients

Dough:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons from a jar)
1 cup milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Middle:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter

Icing:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons cream or half and half (I used about 1 1/2 TB of water)

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups floor and yeast. In a small saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter and salt until just warm about 125F. Add to flour mixture along with eggs, beat with a electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Turn up the speed to high and beat for another 3 minutes. Use then a spoon to stir in remaining 2 cups of flour. Turn out dough on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Shape into a ball and put in a lightly greased bowl and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours in a warm place or until doubled in size. During this time I make the middle by combining all the ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. I stuck it in the fridge to wait. After the dough rises, punch down and divide in half. Cover and let rest another 10 minutes. After it has rested flatten out into 2 rectangles that equal about 12 inches by 8 inches. Rough guess is alright. Sprinkle filling all over the dough except for 1 inch from the long side. Start rolling from the long side. Pinch dough to seal seams then slice into 12 pieces, about an inch big. Arrange in 8x8 pan that has been rubbed with butter. You will need 2 pans for this recipe if you do it in that size pan. I just used a 9x13 and it worked fine. Cover again and let rise again for about 30 minutes. Cook in oven at 375F for about 22 minutes or until golden brown. Make the icing now. Allow to cool slightly and then drizzle your yummy icing. Enjoy!

Menu 11/15-11/20

This week will be interesting because hubby is working all but Thursday and Friday. And I am heading down south to his aunt's house to help set up Christmas on Friday and staying thru the weekend. I'm so excited! It will be the first time I have been able to help set up. I have enjoyed the open house and am ready to help! You can check out her site Christmas Notebook to see what she does. Also get some more menu ideas at Orgjunkie.

Monday - Own our own, I'll probably just eat some soup and A will eat a pizza

Tuesday - I'm going to a friends house for dinner and A will be on his own

Wednesday - Chicken Pot Pie Stew. I will get this done! I have had it on the plan for way too long

Thursday - homemade pizza

Friday - on the road with Mom in law to head to Aunt Rhonda's!

Saturday - Aunt Rhonda's house

Freezer day 11/10/10

Oh how I love cooking! I am so thankful God has blessed me with the skills to cook and make yummy food. I have been cooking all morning. I got up at 8:30am this morning because I slept in and it was yummy too. My two favorite things are sleeping and cooking. I had made my list of things I was going to make. This past weekend I went to Sam's and Meijer's to get stuff to prepare.

Food to make:
lasagna roll ups
spaghetti sauce
cannelloni
meatballs
pizza pasta casserole
BBQ
pizza dough
enchilada sauce
fake egg mcmuffins

Here are some pictures of what I have done so far today.