This Week's Menu

The week is once again getting away from me!  Here goes...

M- Baked Potato Soup
  This was pretty good... the consistency wasn't what I usually go for but it was a nice warm comforting bowl of goodness.

T- Pop Up Pancakes
   These were AWESOME!!!   Our family loved them and we'll be making them often...!!

W- Provolone and Mushroom Patty Melts
  These were good sandwiches.... I think I would do better the 2nd time around...  I didn't cook the patties thoroughly and the bread was a little burnt...  The mushroom and onion mixture was really great, though  :)

Th- Leftovers
 I don't believe we have any leftovers!  I better start thinking of something....  ;)

F-Pizza

One Year Plan Check-In

My One Year Plan is not going very well at all.  I seem to get off track very easily and it is hard for me to get back ON track. 

After Odin was born I lost all of the pregnancy weight, plus some.  Then when I started trying to get pregnant again I started putting on weight... and have been stuck in the same cycle since then....including being pregnant with twins during that time!  Nothing seems to "stick" for me.  I really feel it is the food-mind connection that is my problem and I am trying to get myself wrapped around it and get it figured out...  Plus I am tired of beating myself up over it all, too...

So... I hope that the next time I check-in I will have better news to report.  Until then...

Catching Up...

Many of you probably read my Family Blog and read that my Great Grandma passed away last week... since then I've been physically and emotionally drained from everything and have been trying to get on track all week... So, here I am...!

M- Orange Peel Beef
     After making the Mongolian Beef last week, Britt asked if I could find a recipe for Orange Beef which is one of her favorites.  I made this one and she thought it was just "okay"...  I really liked it... but I would have to say that the Mongolian Beef was better.  One thing that I would adjust if I made this again would be to make double the sauce.  There wasn't very much and I think Britt would've liked it better if there'd been more...

T- Salmon and Vegetables baked in foil
  This was delicious!  I served it with broccoli and long grain and wild rice.  YUM!!

W-  Sushi from 101 Sushi
   This was our first sushi from 101 Sushi and we thought it was very good...and it's very reasonably priced.  Every M, W and F you can get 2 rolls and a miso soup for $7.95.   They were also very friendly when I went to pick up the order... they invited Odin to the bar to watch them prepare the sushi.  It was great!  I highly recommend 101 Sushi in Fargo!

Th- Chicken Fried Steak
  Again.  This is Britt's all-time fave so it gets requested often.  :)

F- Papa Murphy's (I hope!!!)

Mongolian Beef

Oh wow.  I can still smell the aroma of this evening's dinner and it makes me happy...and proud.  I can't believe I made it.  Seriously.  It wasn't hard, either.  I would just suggest that you measure out everything before you start so that you can just dump when it is time.  I served ours over brown rice and with broccoli on the side.  (Britt requested white rice next time and I think I'll indulge her...but I'll stick to my brown.)

Mongolian Beef

Baja Tacos

On Monday night we ended up going out to eat and we did NOT go to Hu Hot..... we let Odin choose so it was Applebees....which I was okay with.  I had their Santa Fe Chicken Salad (or whatever it's called now) and it seemed to be a different recipe than the last time I've had it...It was yummy!

Last night I made the Baja Tacos and these were really good...(Britt said it was the best soft taco she'd ever had!  Even better than the beef. I was shocked.)  A great meal for a crowd, too... we had SO much I ended up taking half of the leftovers to my sister and we plan to make taquitos with it tomorrow night...

Baja Tacos (taken from Healthy Cooking magazine)

1 boneless pork sirloin roast (3 lbs)
5 cans (4 oz) chopped green chilies
2 Tbs reduced-sodium taco seasong
1 Tbs ground cumin

Cut roast in half and place in the crockpot.  In a small bowl combine the chilies, taco seasoning and cumin.  Pour over pork.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat is tender.

This recipe calls for mozzarella cheese which sounded interesting...and tasted good to me.  We also added shredded lettuce and guacamole and/or sour cream..oh and Britt squeezed some lime juice on hers!

This Week's Menu

I really like having this blog to stay accounted to... I have NO PLANS as of this moment of our menu for the coming week...So, tonight, as I watch a little football I will start perusing the internet and a few of my recipe files and pull something together!  We desperately need a grocery trip in the morning (out of milk!!) so hopefully I'll get us all set up for the week...

M- Mongolian Beef

T-  Out, I hope!  I really want to go to Hu Hot.

W- Baja Tacos

Th- Scrambled and Poached Eggs

F- Pizza

Survival Week

Wow.  Last week ended up being a Survival Week for us.  Britt has been working on a big project at work which is reaching it's peak this weekend...and we also had the first day of preschool AND a trip out of town to visit my Grandma.  Phew!  So, needless to say we didn't follow our menu all that closely!

We did make a new Homemade Pizza recipe... Well, the dough was new, toppings the same.  I followed this recipe for the dough...mostly because I was so doubtful that it would work!  And it didn't contain yeast which I'm always a little afraid of  :)  I made one substitution as I only used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup olive oil. (I couldn't imagine using 2 sticks of butter!!!)

The crust was pretty good...definitely something I'd like to play around with.  Britt really liked it and Odin, too.  I like my crust to be a little more cracker-y and I'm wondering if this could ever achieve that.  I may try pre-baking the crust for a bit before adding toppings...and I may also try rolling it out thinner.

The only other meal I threw together was a Baked Potato night.... We baked the potatoes in the oven (the best!!) and took out all of our leftovers from the fridge and topped 'em off!  

Shredded Beef Enchiladas

On Sunday night I made our favorite shredded beef recipe...which I've mentioned on this blog before!   Last night I decided to use the leftovers for enchiladas.  I searched for a basic enchilada recipe online and then just tweaked it for us and here's what I came up with:

Cover bottom of a baking pan with enchilada sauce.  

Combine and melt 4 oz cream cheese and 1 cup salsa on the stove.  When well melted add the beef and warm completely.

 Fill corn tortillas with beef mixture, roll up and place in pan.  Drizzle enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes!

These were DELICIOUS.  And we had enough leftover for another meal.  PLUS we still have enough beef for taquitos!  Talk about a meal that stretches... 

Weekly Menu

M- Shredded Beef Enchiladas

T- French Toast

W- Taquitos or leftover enchiladas

Th- Some sort of Salad.  Still searching!

F- Pizza

Apple Bars

Make these.  Gather all of the ingredients and make them.  Now.  You won't be sorry. 

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, the Fall weather inspires me in the kitchen...:)  and I was really wanting to make something with apple, but my apple crisp NEVER turns out like my Moms (and I use her recipe.)  So, I found this recipe and it was SO GOOD!!!!  I am also watching my calories pretty closely right now and one serving of these is only 119 cal.  SO worth it. 
 

Apple Squares

I read many of the reviews and made some adjustments to the recipe.  I doubled it with the following exceptions:  I used 2 cups of chopped apple...and I didn't double the topping (it was more than enough).  I baked it in a 13x9 in pan and it made 32 servings!

Wild Rice Soup

Another sign that Fall is here is that I start getting a strong urge to make soup!!  Last winter I started making a variety of soups homemade (mostly... you'll see). 

One of our favorites from last winter was Wild Rice Soup.  It's even better the 2nd day when it gets really thick!  I made this for the whole extended family and served with some bread from Breadsmith.  Yummy!!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite Fall treats (and, well...anytime, really) is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!  I have made several different recipes over the years and have settled on this one for awhile...  My family seems to love anything with oatmeal in it, so these go over wonderfully...Since this week was feeling a little bit like Fall I decided it was TIME to make these  :)

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thai Beef Salad

This recipe I found on the Cooking Light Magazine website...and it was a BIG winner in our house!  On top of being very flavorful, one serving has just 217 calories!!!  I will say that I was a bit hungry sooner after this meal than most, but next time I will probably just add a little more meat and a lot more veggies...

Thai Beef Salad

Oh My!

Yikes!  It's Thursday already and I haven't posted anything this week!  Where has the time gone???  It's been a busy week...what can I say?

So, on Monday I made the Brown Sugar Chicken...and sadly, it was a total bust.  It ended up being very dry and I couldn't eat it (which says something because I can eat most anything).  I used chicken breasts which we thought might've been the reason for it being so dry (as opposed to thighs).  I also wondered if it got overcooked.  It was a real disappointment because the smell of it in the crockpot all day was AMAZING. 

The only other meal I have made as planned is the Buttermilk-Oatmeal Pancakes.  Again.  I made them for a crowd and we all were happy.  :)

My good friend Kate is in town and we had Five Guys Burgers last night.  YUM.