Category: MEMES & LINK PARTIES

SLOW COOKED BEEF & MUSHROOM STROGANOFF ~ BLOG 365.329

This is the PERFECT cozy recipe for cold fall and winter nights.

SLOW COOKED BEEF & MUSHROOM STROGANOFF

2 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into 3 x 1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces BEECH mushrooms or 1 pound fresh sliced mushrooms
1 LARGE Vidalia onion, chopped
1 can Campbell’s cream of celery soup
2 tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
FRESH ground sea salt & black pepper
Prepared egg noodles

  • Add beef pieces in slow cooker.
  • Whisk together the liquid aminos, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, condensed soup and seasoning.
  • Fold in onions and mushrooms.
  • Cook, covered on low, 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.

 

  • Transfer steak and mushrooms to a serving dish and keep warm.
  • Skim fat from the juices.

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons hot water
1 cup sour cream

  • Whisk together the hot water and cornstarch until smooth.
  • Stir cornstarch mixture into pan juices.
  • Cover and continue cooking 10-15 minutes until sauce thickens.
  • Stir in sour cream until smooth and consistent.
  • Fold in egg noodles and pour over beef and serve immediately.

NOTE: I prefer the Beech mushrooms because of their nutty flavor.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, RECIPES & MENUS week 47 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.328

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

It was a busier than usual week plus mom had her knee replacement surgery last Wednesday. And this will be a “short” week, so let’s just jump into it.

Happy Thanksgiving week! I won’t be hosting anything this year, but going to a friend’s house with a couple favorite recipes in tow. The thing is though that when you host Thanksgiving you have the leftovers and more time that weekend for family time. Fortunately, for me anyway, the friend hosting is a snowbird and leaving the next day so I still get leftovers 🙂

When I was a kid we always hosted Thanksgiving and my dad would put up the tree the day after, sit me down with a pile full of presents to wrap, Christmas cards to address, football on television, a freshly made leftover turkey sandwich… aw the memories…

Not having the weight of getting the house ready though has freed me to concentrate on BLOGMAS which I will begin on Friday November 28th. I’m also going to do it a little different this year in hopes of freeing up some extra time. There will only be 10 actual blog days for BLOGMAS, each of which will cover multiple topics that have been grouped together to make things easier. I hope you can play along and enjoy the simplicity of this year 🙂

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY, WHAT’S ON MY MIND, PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & DVR/TV
  • TO DO: LAUNDRY & CLEANING I got all the laundry done yesterday.
  • TO DO: GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’m avoiding as many stores as possible this week. I will do virtually no Eagle’s shopping either. Mom does have a late PT appointment on Wednesday, her first since last week’s knee replacement.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING Menus are planned through the rest of 2025 and I’m making them as anti-inflammatory as possible.
  • DVR/TV Who has had time?
  • THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY Cold foggy mornings when I wake up early and snuggle deeper into my winter quilt to read for a bit before coffee, soft fuzzy slippers to slide into when I do get up followed by a hot cup of coffee to sip while I check the weather and decide what to wear.

READING TIME

I’m back to falling asleep quickly, but need to spend more time reading!

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀
11/24 MONDAY
11/25 TUESDAY
11/26 WEDNESDAY
11/27 THURSDAY
11/28 FRIDAY
11/29 SATURDAY
11/30 SUNDAY
DINNER
 Auxiliary meeting night so it’s CORN/YOYO
 SPAGHETTI BOLEGNESE and PARMESAN MEATBALLS
 CHICKEN BROCCOLI SOUP with BUTTER BISCUITS
 THANKSGIVING @ SHIRLEY’S I’m bringing the stuffing and dessert and bringing home leftovers 🙂

 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
 LASAGNE & GARLIC BREAD
 BEEF BARLEY STEW
DESSERT
 
 
 

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Don’t judge, but my tree is up 🙂 since we aren’t hosting Thanksgiving I got a jump start on Christmas decorating. The new star for the tree top arrived and we love it.

There are 2 barns in particular that I just love to see when we take the back route to town. If I’d have had to make a prediction years ago I would have picked the one still standing as the one that would falls first. If we get a good wet snow this year I really believe the second one will fall completely.

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

  • SLOW COOKED MUSHROOM BEEF STROGANOFF
  • CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE BARS

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

AZZOLINA SPAGHETTI ~ BLOG 365.324

This recipe was printed on an old dot matrix printer on February 10, 1984 and noted that it was from P.J. Azzolina’s grandfather. So, I did a little research and found that AZZOLINA is an Italian surname, but it also translates to Little Azure or Cornflower or Sky Blue. But when you google AZZOLINA SPAGHETTI it brings up a recipe for Assassins Spaghetti. 🙂

AZZOLINA SPAGHETTI
24 ounces tomato paste
6 cups chicken broth
28 ounce can peeled, whole tomatoes, trimmed and mashed
1 LARGE onion, FINELY chopped
1 pound mild Italian sausage, each sausage cut into thirds
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons Avocado or olive oil
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
pinch red pepper, to taste
Pinch baking soda

  • Heat oil in large skillet.
  • Saute’ onion until tender.
  • Add sausage and brown on all sides.
  • Remove onions and sausage from oil and drain well.

 

  • In a large dutch oven stir together the tomato paste, broth and tomatoes.
  • Stir in seasonings, sugar and baking soda.
  • Fold sausages into sauce.
  • Bring to a SLOW simmer.

MEATBALLS
5 slices QUALITY bread, crusts removed
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
2-4 LARGE eggs,
2 tablespoons Parsley
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Powdered Romano cheese

  • Add meat to a large bowl.
  • Shred bread into bowl.
  • Add Parsley, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and Romano cheese.
  • With wet or gloved hands mix all together and form meatballs, adding more Romano as necessary to attain the proper texture.
  • Quickly sear meatballs and drain on paper toweling.
  • Add meatballs to sauce and simmer ALL day!

NOTE:

  • Original recipe called for Hunt’s tomato paste and whole tomatoes, but I prefer CENTO or DELALLO San Marzano brands.
  • It also called for a choice of veal or pork, but I don’t use veal.
  • It also called for water and I substitute homemade chicken broth.

BAKED CHICKEN MARSALA ~ BLOG 365.322

Not a great picture, but oh so good. Baking this makes for the most tender chicken!!!!

BAKED CHICKEN MARSALA

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half to make thin steaks
4 tablespoons Italian seasoning
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
4 tablespoons avocado oil

  • Preheat oven to 375°.
  • Grease 13×9 baking dish and set aside.
  • Generously season chicken with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Rub chicken pieces with Italian seasoning.
  • Heat oil in large skillet until shimmering.
  • Add chicken pieces, browning 2 minutes per side.
  • Transfer chicken to baking dish in a single layer.

SAUCE

1/2 cup butter, cubed
8 ounces beech mushrooms, trimmed
1 shallot, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
2 cups homemade chicken stock
3/4 cup Marsala wine
1 tablespoon FRESH chopped Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

  • Heat butter over medium heat.
  • Add shallot, garlic and mushrooms, cooking until tender.
  • Stir in stock, wine and parsley, cooking and simmering to a SLOW boil.
  • Whisk together the cream and cornstarch until smooth.
  • Stir cream mixture into stock mixture and continue to simmer until thickened to desired consistency.
  • Add butter piece by piece, stirring until smooth.
  • Pour sauce over chicken.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Bake uncovered 15-20 minutes until cooked through.
  • Serve immediately.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, MENUS & RECIPE LINKS week 46 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.321

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

Last week was busy, but I’m so glad I broke it up with a lunch date with hubby, a little junk hunting for some craft parts and then the painting class. It was a super small class (just the 3 of us), but that made it really nice. And then on Saturday I went for a GIRLS DAY OUTING to a first annual craft fair at a fairly local (less than 40 miles away) casino along with lunch and then drinks at a favorite haunt on the way back. Now this week I will catch up on all the things I DIDN’T get done last week. 🙂 

Public service announcement: 10 days until Thanksgiving and only 38 days until Christmas!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We’re having our traditional start to winter with much cooler and wet weather here (50’s for highs and 30’s for lows), so it’s definitely sweatshirts, flannels and UGGs for me this week.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY, WHAT’S ON MY MIND, PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS & DVR/TV
  • TO DO: LAUNDRY & CLEANING I have a bit of clutter to finish cleaning up from the Christmas set up and a couple of loads of laundry to do.
  • TO DO: GROCERIES & ERRANDS I made a list last night and hubby has a couple errands he’s added to my list so I guess we’ll be heading to town today to get our personal shopping done instead of trying to cram it into the same day as the Eagle’s shopping.
  • PROJECTS & TRAVELS I finished my Nutcracker painting and am hoping I can make the MAGI date work to take that class still. If I can’t, I will probably try it on my own, but classes are more fun 🙂
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING Good through the end of the year 🙂
  • DVR/TV We watched a silly movie on Netflix PLAY DATE with Kevin James, Sarah Chalk and Alan Ritchson.
  • ON MY MIND Happy heavenly birthday daddy. I really miss you! Getting ready for my mom’s knee replacement Wednesday. Dealing with the new angst (2 women quit the kitchen with no notice) of Eagle’s issues (AGAIN) and the strain of having to go back to covering the kitchen on a day I previously gave up and finding someone to cover yet another.
  • THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY The feel of freshly laundered sheets, laughing until I cry with good friends, the smell of fresh baked cinnamon rolls, curling up under a soft blanket with a good book, …

READING TIME

I’m still trying to finish THE BOOKCLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN by Marie Bostick, but have also started FORGET ME NOT by Stacy Willingham. I really enjoyed the thought provoking way she told A FLICKER IN THE DARK so thought I’d try another of hers.

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀
11/17 MONDAY
11/18 TUESDAY
11/19 WEDNESDAY
11/20 THURSDAY
11/21 FRIDAY
11/22 SATURDAY
11/23 SUNDAY
DINNER
 CHICKEN MACARONI SALAD & BUNLESS BURGERS
 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
 FLYING FARMER SALAD
EFFIE’S DELICIOUS DISH 
 CHICKEN CARBONARA
 APPLE BBQ CHICKEN SALAD
DESSERT
 
 
 STUFFED SNICKERDOODLES

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Saturday’s GIRL’S DAY OUTING LUNCH was fantastic. I LOVE this group of friends from the Eagles. Our ages are REALLY varied, but that’s okay!! I didn’t get any pictures of the craft fair, but it was a first annual and was pretty good also. I was looking for specific items and I found the main one (a new tree skirt for this smaller tree), so was happy with the day. 🙂

Out of all of us there was A LOT of the same meals ordered, but these were the best in my opinion ~ Shrimp Tacos and a Lemon Ricotta Chicken Papperdelle. There was also a popular Wild Rice Butternut Squash dish, but it didn’t photograph well.

A little indulging is ALWAYS allowed during this season!

No judging allowed! Our tree is up! BUT, we’re not having Thanksgiving here 🙂 I did also order a new tree top star that will be here on Wednesday.

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

  • BAKED CHICKEN MARSALA 
  • AZZOLINA SPAGHETTI

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS