Oct 4 - Oct 11

Sun. Oct. 4th ~ Chicken Fajitas

Mon. Oct. 5th ~ Spanish rice

Tues. Oct. 6th ~ Roast in the crock pot w/ onions and baby carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy

Wed. Oct. 7th ~ Spaghetti, garlic bread...a veggie of some sort, maybe salad...not sure yet

Thurs. Oct. 8th ~ Fried Chicken, roasted potato fries, creamed corn

Fri. Oct. 9th ~ Mom's yummy pork chops

Sat. Oct. 10th ~ I will be in Massena with Erin, so we'll grab a bite at the crop we're going to, Gene and Kate will probably have left overs

Sun. Oct. 11th ~ Gene and I are going out to dinner w/ friends

Finally trying to get on track again...

Things have been busy and crazy around here for what seems to be months! I don't' see October being much better with so many things on the calender, but I'm going to do my best to plan and cook meals when I can. :) Gene is on leave this week, so he will be helping out preparing dinners. :) He's a good cook when he wants to be. We're trying a few new recipes this week. After we try them, I'll post the recipes...I have to be sure that I don't have to "tweek" them before posting them.

Sun. 9/27 ~ Gene cooked his favorite dish to make, beef rouladen, red cabbage and a German potato dumpling w/ brown gravy. So yummy! The recipe for this has been posted before. Look in older posts 12/20/08

Mon. 9/28 ~ Loaded baked potato chowder w/ fresh crusty bread & butter and home made apple crisp

Tues. 9/29 ~ I'm going out with friend for dinner at Texas Roadhouse, so I'll be having a nice juicy steak and loaded sweet potato...Gene and Kate will be fending for themselves.

Wed. 9/30 ~ Mexican chicken lasagna and tossed salad

Thurs. 10/1 ~ Home made macaroni and cheese

Fri. 10/2 ~ It's Kate's school's homecoming game, so we'll be heading to that right after I get off of work @ 5. We'll be eating from the concession stands...Kate says they have awesome hot dogs! LOL

Sat. 10/3 ~ Kate's homecoming dance...not sure if I'll cook, make Kate a little something then go out on a date with my honey or what...it's still up in the air.

Looking for a recipe.....

I don't have a menu to post because the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy and we're expecting company (mom and Trumy) this weekend so who knows what we'll do...I know a trip to Texas Roadhouse is going to take up one of the nights they are here. I'll play the rest by ear.

I am so bummed! I've been looking all over for my meme's zucchini bread recipe and can not find it anywhere. I know I gave several people the recipe last summer. If any of you have it, could you please send it to me? I have a bunch of zucchini just waiting to be made into that yummy bread!

Thanks a bunch!

Sorry..nothing new right now

Once again, I've been slacking. Rest assured, we have been eating. LOL Things have been busy around here lately, so I haven't had a chance to sit down and really plan meals. Hopefully next week I'll have a menu up and who knows, maybe even some recipes. :)

Last night I grilled up some yummy steaks and we had the most amazing corn on the cob (for all you locals, you must stop by Best By Farr...their corn on the cob ROCKS!)

Tonight I am grilling ham steaks w/ spicy pineapple rum sauce and I've made a tossed salad & creamed corn to go with it.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring.........

A little "tweaking" to the BLT Mac and Cheese recipe

We had the BLT Mac and Cheese last night and it was very good, but I did do a little "tweaking" to the recipe. With a pound of pasta, it seemed like 8 slices of bacon and 4 oz of cream cheese just were not enough. I had a pack of already cooked bacon in the fridge, which had 15 slices, so that is how much I added. I wouldn't have wanted any less than that. Also, I actually ended up using a full brick of cream cheese (8 oz). The last 4 oz added at the end of cooking b/c it just seemed so dry to me. I didn't do this last night, but next time I think I will...stir in a little butter, too. Also, I think I'll use 2 leeks next time instead of 1 and adjust the salt and pepper according to taste. It really is a yummy dish! Hope some of you will try it!

Here ya go, Tara.....some recipes

Stuffed Green Peppers

6 green bell peppers
2 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 cup instant brown rice
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup grated parm cheese
1/8 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 spaghetti sauce
Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder, all to taste

Clean peppers with cool water. Cut off tops and scoop out all seeds and membranes. Place in 9 x 13 pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl until well blended. If mixture seems too wet, add more rice. Once ground beef mixture is well blended, stuff inside of each pepper. Spoon more spaghetti sauce over each pepper (I poured alot in the bottom of the pan, too). Recipe says to put the tops back on the peppers, but I didn't. Bake at 350 for aprx. 30 - 35 min.

BLT Mac and Cheese ~ This recipe can also be found in the Pamp. Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner cookbook

5 cups water
8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, drained on a paper towel and chopped
4 oz sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
4 oz cream cheese
1 lb cellentani or cavatappi pasta
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 large leek (white and light green portions only)
3 large plum tomatoes

Bring water to boil in stockpot. Add pasta, cream cheese, grated cheeses, salt and pepper.Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. As pasta cooks, slice leek in half lengthwise then crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place into bowl and swish in cold water to remove dirt. Lift leeks out and stir them into pasta mixture. Cook, uncovered, 5 - 7 minutes or until pasta is at desired tenderness. Cut tomatoes lengthwise, remove cores and seeds. Dice tomatoes, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish. Remove stockpot form heat, stir in remaining tomatoes and bacon. Serve immediately. 6 servings

Artichoke Chicken w/ Roasted Potatoes ~ 29 Minutes to Dinner Pamp. Chef Cookbook

Potatoes and Chicken

3 small red potatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp rosemary herb seasoning
2 tsp olive oil, divided

Artichoke Topping

1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated and divided
2 tsp mayonnaise

Preheat broiler to HIGH. Cut potatoes in quarters then place into small micro cooker along with water and salt. Microwave on high 6 -8 minutes. Drain. Set aside.

Chop artichoke and parsley, place into bowl. Set 2 TBS grated Parm. cheese aside; add remaining cheese and mayo. to artichoke mixture and mix well.

Flatten chicken to 1/2 inch. Sprinkle both sides w/ 1 tsp rosemary seasoning.

Add 1 tsp olive oil to skillet, heat over medium-high heat for 1 - 3 minutes. Add remaining 1 tsp of oil to the remaining 1 tsp of the seasoning mix to potatoes; stir to coat.

Place chicken and potatoes, cut side down, into skillet. Cook 3 - 4 minutes. Turn chicken and potatoes over, cook and additional 3 - 4 minutes.

Remove potatoes from skillet; set aside and keep warm. To finish chicken, spread artichoke topping evenly over chicken, sprinkle with reserved cheese. Place skillet as close as possible to heating element in broiler (if your skillet can not go into oven, you can use a cake pan, etc.), broil 4 - 6 minutes or until topping is golden. 2 servings.

*** I have not made this yet, but it looks so yummy! I know I can simplify this recipe even more. :)

Menu for Aug. 1 - Aug. 7

Sat. Aug. 1 ~ We had a long, but great day at the Clayton Boat Show and Auction, so when it was dinner time we kept it easy. I threw some hot dogs on the grill. Katie made kidney bean and pea salad and we also had salt potatoes. Easy, but yummy!

Sun. Aug. 2 ~ Buffalo Chicken Wings (per Katie's request)

Mon. Aug. 3 ~ BLT Mac & Cheese

Tues. Aug. 4 ~ Artichoke chicken w/ roasted potatoes

Wed. Aug. 5 ~ Turkey gyros, cucumber salad

Thurs. Aug. 6 ~ Grilled herb rubbed pork chops, pasta salad, veggie

Fri. Aug. 7 ~ So far, nothing planned for Friday. We're calling it a Yo-you night for now.