Menu Planning


Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie
DATE BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER
Monday

3/30

CEREAL SANDWICHES Recipe Experiment Night

Tuesday 3/31

TOAST LEFTOVERS Chicken Enchiladas Suiza
and
Refried Beans
Wednesday 4/1 YOGURT SOUP Orange Honey Chicken
Thursday 4/2 FRUIT CHEESE & FRUIT Tuna Noodle Bake
Friday 4/3

OATMEAL C.O.R.N.

Chicken Fried Chicken
with mashed potatoes and
Peppered Gravy

Saturday 4/4 Blueberry Crumb Cake leftovers Roast Chicken w/ Lemon Herb Sauce
and
Maple Glazed Carrots
Sunday 4/5
Huevos con Yummy Deviled Eggs Carnitas ~ Traditional Style
with the leftover
Refried Beans

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Sweet & Sour Meatloaf ~ Simply Delicious Sunday

SWEET & SOUR MEATLOAF
MEATLOAF
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped fine*
1 teaspoon minced garlic, jar
1/2 cup grated carrots*
1/2 cup grated mushrooms*
5 ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 Jumbo eggs
3 slices sourdough bread, staled and broken into pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
TOPPING
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Whisk eggs together with milk, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl.
  • Add bread and soak a few minutes.
  • Add onions, mushrooms, carrots, pork, beef and cheese mixing well with your hands so that it is all incorporated.
  • Mold into a loaf pan**.
  • Combine the ketchup and brown sugar until well mixed.
  • Spread topping over top of meat mixture.
  • Bake 1 hour.

*I run these through my Kitchen Aid shredder and it makes quick work of all the chopping and you get finer pieces to work into the meat.
**I usually make this 1 1/2 times and use a 9×9 stoneware cake pan so that it has lots of crispy edges and then we have leftovers for sandwiches. We LOVE meatloaf sandwiches!

I also watch for sales on chops and steaks so I can grind my own meat. Sooooooooo much better flavor and you know exactly what’s in it!

SWEET & SOUR TOMATOES
or SWEET & SOUR TOMATOES AND SNOW PEAS
3 Large tomatoes, washed and chopped
1/2 pound snow peas, washed and trimmed
3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar

  • Chop tomatoes into a large bowl.
  • Whisk together the vinegar, oil and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
  • Toss tomatoes with vinegar mixture.
  • Chill 24 hours before serving.

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If you like to play along, please add a link to this post on your post and sign Mr. Linky. Be sure to include your recipe in parenthesis following your name. Thanks and have fun.

Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The original recipe didn’t have chocolate chips and I thought was way to bland. So I increased the salt, added the chocolate chips and another fun substitution is to use half butter and half peanut butter.
ORANGE OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup butter*
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 Jumbo eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup orange juice (with pulp)
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup milk chocolate chips

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream butter, sugars and eggs.
  • Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda.
  • Gradually add to butter mixture.
  • When well mixed gradually and alternately add orange juice and oatmeal until well blended.
  • Add the chocolate chips first and then fold in the raisins.
  • Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 12 minutes.
  • Cool on wire rack.
  • Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator!
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Mutterings


Hosted by Luna Nina

Luna Nina says … and I think … ?
1. Road trip :: Bar hopping according to the guys

2. Pool hall :: Hangout

3. Extraordinary :: Outstanding

4. Jackson :: Hole, Wyoming

5. Heartfelt :: Sincere

6. Wet :: and wild
7. Strangle :: Choke

8. .com :: Yuppie

9. Touched :: By An Angel

10. Insipid ::Ridiculous

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The fountain of Youth ~ Chocolate

Okay, so it’s not really the fountain of youth, but chocolate always makes me think of being a kid so I was hoping they were connected. Here are a couple of recipes to get us in the mood for Joy’s upcoming Chocolate round-up.

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL LOGS
4 cups oatmeal
2/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag milk chocolate chips

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Melt butter and honey together. Add vanilla.
  • Mix oatmeal, salt and brown sugar together.
  • Toss chocolate chips in the oatmeal mixture.
  • Pour butter mixture all over oatmeal mixture and toss until well coated.
  • Press into a 9×13 pan.
  • Bake 25 minutes.
  • Cool 20 minutes and then cut into logs.

BROWN VELVET CAKE
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 Jumbo egg
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
  • Stir sugar into the buttermilk.
  • Whisk the egg until beaten and add to the buttermilk.
  • Add chocolate and vanilla to the buttermilk mixture.
  • Add in the dry ingredients slowly, blending well.
  • Spread into a 9×13 pan or 2 round layers.
  • Bake 35 minutes.
  • Top it with Mocha Caramel Frosting or Chocolate Butter Cream Icing.

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Have you ever looked at your hands?

About the PhotoHunt: A theme is given for each Saturday. Post a photo that best represents the theme. New and old photos welcome but must be from your personal collection and not photos obtained from the web. Play along once a week by posting your photo on your site.

I didn’t take this picture, but this email came my way a while back with the picture attached. It fits for today’s photo hunt theme and it was such a good story which I originally ran the picture and the story here, I figured it bears repeating.

About the PhotoHunt: A theme is given for each Saturday. Post a photo that best represents the theme. New and old photos welcome but must be from your personal collection and not photos obtained from the web. Play along once a week by posting your photo on your site.

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What? Don’t I belong here?


Is hosted by Misty at Camera Critters.

Dickens likes to sit in front of heat registers while Sady will crawl in under any blanket and sweatshirt she can find.

If the sun is shining you might find them both curled up in front of the window.

But Dickens has found a new hiding place on this shelf, which is where you will find her a good deal of the time when the BIG black one is in the house. She never knocks anything off either.
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Friday Fill-Ins

This week, she took the first sentence in 6 of her favorite books…

1. “In a hole in the ground there lived a rabbit. His name is Bugs Bunny.”

2. “It’s still cold and snowy here, but that ain’t no matter.”

3. “After dark the rain began to fall again, and then the wind kicked in and kept me up all night.”

4. “I wish I had the treasure from the hold of the spanish galleon.”

5. “There was a hand in the darkness and it reached into the light and all things turned bright.”

6. “Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, planned attacks can too.”

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watch the Stargate Movie I missed the first time around, tomorrow my plans include finishing painting the dining room wallpaper and Sunday, I want to finish some more quilting!

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