South Beach Friendly Menu for the Week

Menus for the next several days include....

Asian marinated flat iron steak with stir-fry broccoli, water chestnuts and peppers and onions.

Baked chicken, roasted vegetables, salad

Chicken and quinoa salad with zuchini, onions and broccoli (using left over baked chicken) dressed in a lemony, garlicky, olive oil based dressing.

Broiled shrimp, vegetables and salad

We are big leftover fans.  I tend to cook a big batch of whatever and we have it for at least two days. 

So far the kids are game with the South Beach plan.  Of course, I will allow them a side of rice or potato or pasta.

What's For Dinner

Here's what is on tap for dinner the next several days...

Easy Broccoli and Cheese Soup with Homemade Yeast Rolls

Creamy Chicken and Biscuits (kind of like chicken pot pie, only topped with biscuits instead of a crust)

Grilled Pork Chops and Applesauce with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Homemade Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Tossed Salad

Roast Chicken, Dressing, Green Beans and Salad

I don't know about you but I am so looking forward to Fall flavors...apple, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, cinnamon and spices...and comforting soups and stews and such. 

However, living in the South, the weather still warrants grilling out!

Blueberries and Cream Pie

Yesterday I came across some blueberries in the freezer.  Not enough for a cobbler, but I really wanted to make a dessert.  Then I found cream cheese. 

This is what I made:

I made a pie crust and pre-baked it for a few minutes. You can use a refridgerated store bought one if you wish.  Preheat oven to 400.

1 block cream cheese, softened
1 egg
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp AP flour

Cream these together till well blended.

2 1/2 c frozen blueberries (or fresh would be fine)

Stir berries into cream cheese mixture.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Mix together:

1 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened
3 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp chopped walnuts

Remove pie from oven.  Sprinkle nut mixture over pie and bake 10 more minutes.

Let cool on counter, then chill in fridge.

Enjoy!

Mini Veggie Frittatas

One thing I enjoy as a homeschooling mom is that I have time to fix healthy breakfasts for my kids.  Here is one that they loved so I thought I would share!

First, let me just say that I LOVE frozen, chopped veggies.  They make my life so easy in the kitchen.

Mini Veggie Frittatas
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach (loose packaged...not the spinach-cicle in a box)
1/2 cup frozen chopped onions
1/2 cup frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 cup each diced ham and real bacon crumbles (found in the salad section, not to be confused with Bacon-bits.  This is the real thing, baby!)
5 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375.
Spray muffin tins (I used 8 cups in the pan, so spray about half of the cups) with non-stick spray.  Put all the frozen chopped veggies in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for about 2-3 minutes, stopping every minute or so to check the broccoli for tenderness.  Mix into beaten eggs.  Stir in bacon and ham.  Fill as many muffin cups as you can, about 3/4 full.  Bake for about 15 minutes until puffed up and when touched, feel springy. (may take a little longer than 15 minutes.)

Remove from heat and sprinkle cheese on while hot. 

We served ours with cantaloupe, fresh pineapple and whole wheat toast.

Enjoy!

My Love Affair With My Slow Cooker

This week's menus are all about my slow cooker. 

Can I get an "Amen"?

We have the following options:

Creamy Broccoli Soup with homemade rolls

Swiss Steak and Egg Noodles with salad

French Dip Sandwiches  with Fresh Fruit on the side

Braised Chicken Breast with Israeli Couscous (Couscous with golden raisins, toasted almonds, and green onions added)


Of course it's just the main course that gets the slow cooker treatment.  But it only takes a few minutes to prep a side dish or salad (barring the rolls of course...but those yeast rolls are so worth the time it takes!  And with my Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough attachment...the actual mixing time is only a few minutes.  The bulk of the time goes into rising, which I consider free time. :)  )

Are you having a fling with your slow cooker right now?  Have you whispered words of love to it lately?  If not, Fall is the perfect time to rekindle the flame. 

Halloween Menu: Monster Eyes and Witch Fingers

Monster Eyes:

Jumbo shell pasta, boiled according to package
ricotta cheese
meatballs
marinara
sliced black olives

Pour 1/4 c sauce into bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Arrange the shell pasta in the pan.  Fill each with 1tsp ricotta, then stuff with 1 meatball in each, topping each meatball with an olive slice.  Pour marinara over all, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees until heated through.

Witch Fingers

Canned breadstick dough
sliced almonds
green food color
parmesan cheese and garlic salt

Cut each strip of dough into 'finger' sized strips.  Twist until knobby and lay on prepared sheet pan.  Press one almond slice on the tip of each 'finger', then brush the almond with green food color mixed with a tad bit of water.  Sprinkle with garlic and cheese and bake according to directions on breadstick package.

Great for sopping up the monster blood.  :P

Apple Dumpling Time

Forget Apple Blossom Time...it's Apple Dumplin' Time around here.

Make these dumplin's today.  They will make you want to kiss me, slap me, and possibly write bad checks, all at the same time.

Apple Dumplin's

2 cans crescent rolls
2 Golden Delicious apples, peeled and each one cut into 8 slices
2 sticks of butter (I know...bad, bad bad) (salted is better than unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar (again..bad, bad, bad)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup apple juice
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Wrap one apple slice in one crescent roll.  Lay them all in a 13 x 9 casserole.
In a pot, melt 2 sticks of butter.  Turn off heat and  stir in sugar and vanilla.  Pour all over the crescent rolls and apples.  Pour the apple juice around the rolls in the pan.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for about 40 minutes until browned.  These are best when they are room temperature and wonderful when served with vanilla ice cream.

Can You Tell I Love Food?

Can you tell I love food?  And I love to eat?  Last night we went grocery shopping and during the check-out process my daughter exclaimed, "Wow. We sure do buy a lot of food."  To which I replied..."I know.  You guys eat, like, EVERY DAY. "  To which the bag boy snickered.

Here are some of our plans for dinners for the coming days:

Taco Pizza.  (If I put lettuce on top, does that count as healthy? I do add corn and beans to my taco meat if that makes it any better...)

Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Spinach, Broccoli, Chopped Ham and Cheese.

Chicken Pot Pie (homemade, of course.)

Grilled Steak and Onion Sandwiches on Hoagie Rolls with Swiss Cheese, fresh fruit

Easy Paella ( made with packaged yellow rice, kielbasa, shrimp and frozen peas.)  We will make this our first week of school, as our first history lesson focuses on Spain.  Cause I'm kooky like that.

Saturday is my birthday, so my folks are cooking me dinner-Steak, Salad and my favorite Black Forest Cherry Cake!

I'm considering starting another blog devoted to fun lunch ideas for stay at home moms....what say you?

Now Hiring: One Lunch Lady

Okay-first of all, Yay!  I have had over *2000* views on this thing I call a blog. Wow.  I can't believe anyone reads any of this stuff. But I sure am glad you do!  (And if you leave a comment I will love you forever.)

After posting about the 'confessions' of a homeschool mom, a friend of mine couldn't get the idea out of her head about hiring a lunch lady.  Seems she is as sick of fixing lunches as I am.  I think she prefers that her Lunch Lady do clean up duty as well, but I digress...

I actually don't mind fixing the lunch.  I HATE planning the lunch.  My kids rarely eat sandwiches,so finding quick healthy meals is a bit of a challenge. 

I decided to post some ideas of the 'different' lunch ideas that we have, in hopes that you will comment with some of your ideas.  We can be like the Lunch Lady Village.  No hair nets required.

Some of my lunch ideas are:

Stuffed Baked Potatoes (filled with chopped ham, chopped broccoli, chopped spinach, cheese, bacon bits.  Or what ever veggie and meat your kids like.)

Pasta Alfredo with Chicken and veggies.  (I use the Knorr Pasta Sides and the Tyson pre-grilled chicken, then add Steamfresh veggies like the zucchini, carrot and cauliflower blend.)

Subway day.  Okay-this *is* a sandwich, but I buy sub rolls and lay out all the cold cuts and cheeses, shredded lettuce, and different sauces like BBQ, honey mustard, Italian dressing, and let them build their own. 

Wraps.  Cook breaded chicken tenders, wrap in a flour tortilla with fresh spinach, cheese, choice of dressing.

Okay-your turn!  Share your lunch ideas in the comments section!  I can't wait to see what you all come up with...

Menus

Asian Noodles with Veggies and Chicken with Peanut Sauce

Chili Dogs and Tater Tots

Hawaiian Meatballs and Rice with Pineapple

Ham, Cheddar and Broccoli Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Fried Fish, Hush Puppies and Fresh Corn On The Cob

Baked Ziti

Menus

Here are my menus for the next several days...

Asian Noodle Salad with Sliced Beef and Mandarin Oranges

BBQ Pork Sandwiches With Cole Slaw and Baked Beans

Grilled Lemon Chicken, Loaded Baked Potato Salad, Grilled Corn on the Cob

Grilled Steak, Veggie Packets on the grill (Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower), Rolls

Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I don't know about y'all, but I love summer and grilling out!

Friday Feedings

Our upcoming menus are as follows:

Braised Pineapple Chicken with Rice and Mandarin Oranges

BLT Wraps with Sweet Potato Fries and Fresh Fruit

Taco Soup (complete with pinto beans, black beans, ground turkey, corn and tomatoes) garnished with avocado, sour cream, cheese, salsa

Teryaki Turkey Burgers on Whole Wheat Buns, Pasta Salad (pasta, cucumber, celery, grape tomatoes, green onions)

Fish Fillets, Grilled Corn On The Cob and Tossed Salad.

I am soooo looking forward to warmer weather and chillin' and grillin'!

Menu Monday

Our menus for the week look like this:

Hot dogs, baked beans, cole slaw and tater tots.  (Here in the South, we like slaw on our 'dawgs')

Spanish tortilla, salad (Spanish tortilla is not a 'wrap', but a potato and egg 'omlette' of sorts to which you can add other veggies like bell peppers, asparagus, etc.)

Chicken and bowtie pasta with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

Baked lemon-herb chicken, roasted potatoes, peas

Chicken Parmisian with pasta and marninara sauce

Menu Mondays

I admit-this week's menus are a little 'uninspired'. But here they are!

Suppers (because 'dinner' is 'lunch' here in the South! )
Taco Salad with Chips and Salsa

Cheeseburgers and French fries

Grilled steak, salad and Grilled Veggie Packets (squash, potatoes, onions and bell peppers)

15 Bean and Ham Soup

Chicken Quesadilla Pie

Grilled Chicken Tenders, Green Beans, Orzo Pilaf


Dinners (or 'Lunches')
Sack Lunches today as we will be 'car schooling' today....

Fish Sticks, Fresh Fruit, Vegetable of choice

Chicken Strips, Chips, Fruit

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta with Garlic Butter

Soup and Sandwiches

Lunch Lady Blues

One big adjustment about homeschooling is lunchtime. No one prepared me for this.  In public school I just had to make sure they had money for lunch-someone else cooked it, served it, and cleaned up the mess.  But the most difficult thing is coming up with a menu.  I could follow suit with public school and serve hot dogs, pizza, nachos, etc on any given day of the week, but I prefer healthier choices.

Here are our lunch plans for the next few days:

Linguine with meatballs and marninara (frozen meatballs and jarred sauce)

Tuna salad wraps with cucumbers and fruit

Chicken sandwiches with chips and fruit (frozen Morningstar Farms chicken patties on whole wheat Natures Own sandwich rounds)

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches with chips (okay-sorta healthy...right?)

Fish Sticks, salad, and fruit.

Any great lunch ideas you all would like to share? Something somewhat nutritious, quick to fix, and kid friendly?

Oh- big eye opener during our public school days...when the food truck was parked next to the cafeteria unloading as I was driving by and the signage on the truck read "________'s Institutional Foods". Wow. Had me thinking of lock downs and solitary! Institution.  My kids were in an institution! Ack!