Month: November 2015

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Menu Plan Monday – Week of November 30, 2015

Posted on by traci

I’m back at work after a week off.  So it’s back to the daily grind.

On Saturday, I asked the boys what they wanted to have for dinner.  The Imaginative One asked for brown sugar ham, and the Wee One asked for chicken noodle soup.  Actually, he asked for chicken nugget soup.  At least that was the joke on Saturday.  The Wee One loves chicken noodle soup.

christmas-menu-plan-monday

Anyway, onto the menu,

Monday – Brown sugar ham & leftover Thanksgiving side dishes

Tuesday – Leftover turkey corn soup and turkey pot pie with 7-up biscuits

Wednesday – chicken noodle soup

Thursday – honey dijon pork chops, rice, either corn or mixed veggies

Friday – Homemade pizza

A few notes:

  1. I don’t include Saturdays and Sundays because those are always up in the air what I make or what is going on.
  2. Breakfasts and lunches are left to the individuals.  We have food for both, but I don’t plan them out.

For a printable version of the menu, click here.

Happy Eating,
Traci

Posted in lesser known recipes, Uncategorized

Lesser Known Recipes – 2010

Posted on by traci

I started my blog in 2010 and then stopped it for a year and a half in 2014 until September 2015.  I’m going through all the recipes I’ve posted in the last 5.5 years.  According to the stats, these are the lesser-known recipes on my blog.  Some of them need pictures which I hope to get on the blog soon.

Onto the list:

  1. Easy Peasy BBQ Chicken – Only 3 views – There is no picture of this recipe.
  2. Quick Pizza Sauce and Quick Pizza Dough – Only 3 views

  • Sauerkraut and Sausage Skillet – Only 4 views – There is no picture of this recipe.
  • Microwavable Chex Mix – Only 9 views – There is no picture of this recipe.
  • Whipped Fruit Dip and Strawberry Fruit Dip – Only 14 views – I’ve recently reposted the whipped fruit dip as a pudding fruit dip with a picture.
  • Sweet and Salty Halloween Treats – Only 15 views – Again there is no picture of this recipe.  This was a favorite at my church.
  • Brown Sugar Carrots – Only 17 views – One of Hubby;s favorite ways to eat carrots.Brown Sugar Carrots

     

  • Saltine Chocolate Pieces – Also known as Christmas “Crack” – Only 18 views – There is no picture of this recipe.
  • Sweet and Sour Chicken or Pork – Only 20 views – There is no picture of this recipe.
  • S’Mores Snack Mix – Only 23 views – I have stock pictures but no real pictures of this mix.  This is one of the boys’ favorite snack mixes.  They love making mini S’Mores.
    • Posted in breakfast, Cinnamon, Oatmeal, Pecans, Recipes

    Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

    Posted on by traci
    Snickerdoodle oatmeal
    Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

    Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

    Stars of the recipe:

    • ½ c. quick cooking oats
    • ⅓ c. milk of your choice
    • ⅔ c. water
    • pinch of salt
    • ¼ tsp. butter
    • 2 tsp. maple syrup
    • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    • 1 tsp. sugar
    • 1 Tbsp. Chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

    Steps:

    1. In a large microwavable bowl, combine oats, milk, water, and salt.
    2. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
    3. Top with butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon.  
    4. Stir to combine.
    5. Top with sugar and chopped pecans or walnuts if desired.
    6. Enjoy!

    For a printable version of the recipe, click here.

    Happy Eating,
    Traci

    Posted in DIY, Drinks, easy, Recipes

    Honey Vanilla Creamer

    Posted on by traci

    I made this for my coffee and then shared it with Hubby.  Hubby loves the flavor combination.

    honey Vanilla Creamer #3Honey Vanilla Creamer

    Stars of the recipe:

    • 1 (14 oz.) can of condensed milk
    • 1 3/4 c. heavy cream or milk
    • 1/4 c. honey
    • 2 tsp. vanilla

    Steps:

    1. Combine all ingredients in a mason jar or some other type of jar.
    2. Shake the ingredients until combined.  (I shake it up each time I use the cream.)
    3. Use about 1 Tbsp. Or more in your coffee.
    4. Enjoy!

    Happy Eating,

    Traci

    Posted in christmas making and baking

    The Boys’ Top 5 Favorite Christmas Treats

    Posted on by traci

    We will start our annual Christmas-making and baking as soon as Thanksgiving is over. The boys look forward to this annual tradition.

    Hopefully, this tradition will become a favorite childhood memory. I know they look forward to the treats and have been begging for “test runs” of some of their favorite treats.

    Here are some of their top 5 favorite treats I make every year:

     Mock Thin Mints – The Imaginative One loves this treat. This year I need to get a picture of this treat.

    Christmas boys

    #1 – Watermelon Cookies – We changed the flavors of the Kool-Aid used in the cookie. I highly suggest a flavor of Kool-Aid, such as cherry, for red cookies. You can use green sugar for a cookie that looks festive.

    #2 – Peanut Butter Blossoms – The boys have already begged me to bake this one treat for them. They love to help roll the cookie balls in sugar and then put the Hershey Kiss on top. The batch of cookies we baked was eaten within 3 days.

    #3 – Snickerdoodles – This is one of the Imaginative One’s favorite cookies. We roll them in green and red sugar to make them more festive.

    #4 – Rolo Turtles – This is another treat the boys begged me to allow them to make. They like the turtles with M&M’s instead of pecans. We made a small batch on Monday. We divided them up into 3 parts so that they each only had a certain amount to eat.

    What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

    Happy Eating,
    Traci

    Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, menu plan monday

    Menu Planning Monday – Week of November 23

    Posted on by traci
    Menu Plan Monday

    Hello!  Happy Thanksgiving week!

    Last week, I didn’t make a menu s,o our eating was crazy.  Actually, it was a crazy part of the week.  This week, I will have a plan since it’s Thanksgiving week.  I need to simplify my life this week.

    My Menu

    Monday – Leftovers from Saturday’s and Sunday’s meals – either chili or cheeseburger pie – If you don’t want either of those, you can make yourself a sandwich.

    Tuesday and Wednesday – One day, we will have pumpkin chili and the other day we will have pulled pork sandwiches from the freezer.  We have new bbq sauce from Jungle Jim’s that Hubby wants to try.

    Thursday – Thanksgiving Dinner (Link with menu and printables)

    Friday – Leftovers

    Prep for this week:

    Monday – peel and cut potatoes, soak potatoes in water, peel and cut up carrots, hard boil the eggs in the oven, and pull out the Cool-Whip from the freezer.

    Tuesday – peel eggs & put in red beet/vinegar mixture, drain potatoes and cook in the slow cooker, make mashed potatoes, make the pumpkin pie sheet cake, make the makes it own crust apple pie, & white salad

    Wednesday – Make Honey Glazed Carrots, Macaroni and cheese and Cheese, and Stuffing; cut up veggies for the veggie tray; make Monkey Bread for breakfast and Young’s Dairy Pumpkin Muffins, pull pulls, cranberry relish, and pumpkin butter out of the freezer.

    Thursday – Make green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole, Bake the rolls, Whip the whipping cream, put together the relish and veggie tray, and enjoy the dinner

    Have a great Thanksgiving!
    Traci

    Posted in Dips, easy, Family Recipe, Ingredients, pudding, Recipes, whipping cream

    Pudding Fruit Dip

    Posted on by traci

    About 15 years ago, my mother-in-law and father-in-law were on the Adkins diet.  They created a dip/ dessert that we used to eat with cut strawberries.  Their recipe contained sugar-free pudding.  Usually, the pudding was either cheesecake-flavored or white chocolate flavored.

    When I was a new teacher, I would make this recipe with regular pudding to take to carry-ins.  One of the retired teachers loved this dip.  She would request it every time there was a carry-in.

    I posted this recipe back in 2010 when this blog was still new.  I didn’t have any pictures to go along with the recipe.  This would be a good side dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  You can serve it with a tray of fruit.  That way, people can pick and choose their favorites.

    Pudding Fruit Dip

    Stars of the recipe:

    • 1 c. heavy whipping cream
    • 1 small box of pudding mix (I highly suggest white chocolate flavor or cheesecake flavor)

    Steps:

    1. Pour the whipping cream into a mixing bowl.
    2. Open the box of pudding and pour it over the whipping cream.
    3. Using a hand mixer, whip the pudding and whipping cream until it is stiff.  (I usually start at the lowest and gradually move toward the highest setting.)
    4. Serve.
    Posted in countdown to Thanksgiving, Menu planning

    Thanksgiving Menu with Printables

    Posted on by traci
    Countdown to Thanksgiving

    It’s a week until Thanksgiving s,o I thought I would share my menu for next week. I will include grocery list and a printable of the menu with a link to all of the recipes on my two cooking blogs.

    The grocery list is divided into different areas of the grocery store. It also has a key to all the recipes so you can cross out the ingredients you don’t need if you are not going to cook those recipes.

    You could also visit my Countdown to Thanksgiving for other recipes if you would like something different ththanhat I put on my menu.  🙂

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    For starters, I will have a veggie tray and a relish tray. Veggies on the tray will be cucumber, celery, carrots, and mini bell peppers. We will have peanut butter, hummus, and ranch for the veggies. They love celery with peanut butter. I got black and green olives, bread and butter and dill pickles for the relish tray. Simple but delicious.  🙂
    I will make the veggie tray on Wednesday, so it’s ready. The relish tray won’t take long, so it will be done before people come on Thursday.

    My mother-in-law is making the turkey. I’ve provided a great recipe for turkey breast recipe. It also includes an easy gravy dish.

    Onto the yummy part of the meal:
    On Wednesday, I’m going to cook the stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes. They will put into baking dishes to be warm on Thanksgiving.
    On Thursday, while serving Thanksgiving lunch to the veterans, I will have the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and honey-glazed carrots cooking away.
    I’ve already cooked up the cranberry relish and froze it, so it’s one less dish to worry about.

    I included two types of bread with the menu. One is a sweet bread baked as muffins. We love Young’s Dairy pumpkin bread around here. I’ve decided it would be better served as muffins for Thanksgiving. You certainly bake it ahead of time and then freeze it. Take them out of the freezer on Wednesday to thaw out.
    The other bread is my pull-apart dinner rolls. You need a bread machine for these rolls. If you don’t have a bread machine, fill free to change the bread with already-bought rolls. Anything to make your life easier. I’ve already made the dough and then flash-froze the rolls. I’ll pull those out of the freezer on Wednesday, let them rise, and then bake them before leaving to serve the veterans.

    I have 3 desserts and homemade whipped cream on the menu. You could make these desserts on Tuesday and store them in the fridge until Thursday. Grandma’s White Salad is better when it sits for a while. The other two recipes are for the Makes it’s Own Crust Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie Sheet Cake. I would make the whipped cream on Thursday morning, though. It doesn’t take long to make – five to ten minutes.

    I hope you enjoy my Thanksgiving Day dinner menu, and that it’s a blessing for you.

    ThanksgivingGroceryList

    ThanksgivingDinner (1)

    Happy Eating,
    Traci

    Posted in green beans, side dish, slow cooker, Thanksgiving

    Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole – Countdown to Thanksgiving

    Posted on by traci
    Countdown to Thanksgiving

    Green bean casserole is a frequent dish on many peoples’ Thanksgiving tables.  I’ve changed it by using frozen green beans instead of canned green beans.  So it has more of a fresh taste to it.

    I will cook it up in my casserole crock pot on Thanksgiving Day.  Right before dinner, I’m going to place the crock in the oven to brown up the French onions.

    Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole

    Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole

    Stars of the Recipe:

    • 1.5 (10.75 oz) cans of cream of mushroom soup
    • 1/2 c. of milk
    • 1 (6 oz.) can of French fried onions, divided in half
    •  2 (12 oz.) bags of frozen green beans
    • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Steps:

    1. Combine the soup, milk, salt, pepper, and onion powder in a large bowl.
    2. Add the green beans and half of the French fried onions.  Stir to combine.
    3. Place in the crock sprayed with cooking spray.
    4. Cook on high for 2 and 1/2 hours.
    5. Add the other half of the French fried onions.
    6. Place the crock without lid in the oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake for 10 minutes.
    7. Serve!

    Happy eating,
    Traci

    Posted in side dish, slow cooker, Thanksgiving

    Slow Cooker Stuffing – Countdown to Thanksgiving

    Posted on by traci
    Countdown to Thanksgiving

    Hubby and the Wee One love stuffing.  So when I made this stuffing, they thought it was delicious.  In fact, they took seconds when I served this side dish.

    This is also an easy side dish.  It only takes about five minutes to prepare.  Then I allowed the slow cooker to do the cooking.

    My plan is to do the stuffing on Wednesday.  Then I will put it in a dish to be warmed up on Thanksgiving.

    Slow Cooker Stuffing #1

    Slow Cooker Stuffing

    Stars of the Recipe:

    • 2 boxes Stove Top stuffing (I bought turkey flavored.)
    • 3 c. chicken broth
    • 1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of mushroom soup

    Steps:

    1. Spray the crock with cooking spray.
    2. Place all the ingredients in the crock.
    3. Stir together until combined.
    4. Cook on low for 2 to 4 hours.

    Happy Eating,
    Traci