yuck

That's how I've been feeling lately. The past three weeks have been filled with sickness at our house. It started with the kids and worked it's way to my husband and I. Everyone else kicked that nasty virus, but unfortunately, mine turned into bronchitis. Also, my camera was broken for a few weeks, and since I have been told that the pics add so much to the recipes, I had been delaying posting a couple of great recipes. So...once again, I'm apologizing for my absence. I do have some updates--I did the freezer meal swap and loved it. I'm hoping to have a whole post about it this week. Also, I've gotten some new recipes that I plan to try and then share soon. Tomorrow, I'm making this bbq shredded pork recipe that I've made once before and loved--pics and the recipe by the end of the week! :)

AWOL

So, I know I've been absent for a while, but in the meantime I've painted several rooms in my house, completely reorganized the kids toys, and gone to visit my grandparents and extended family in A-town and taken the kids to the fair. :) But enough excuses...tomorrow, I'm getting together with some friends in Cedarville to plan a freezer meal swap. If you've never heard of one, basically, each person makes enough of a recipe (or two) for each family that's participating and then you bring the food together and swap. So you cook a large quantity of food on one day and end up with 4-12 (depending on how many are in your group) meals to freeze and pull out later. I've never done a meal swap before, but I'm really looking forward to it. I mean, what's not to like about having lots of meals already made in your freezer?? :) I plan to post pics and recipes from our experience to let you know how it goes. Maybe some of you want to try this yourselves? Or maybe some of you have done it already? If you have, I'd love to know what has worked well for you and even what hasn't worked well. Thanks!!
:)
Heather

new recipes

A few new recipes are coming soon:
Sesame Stir Fry (adapted from the Pioneer Woman)
and
Mexically Pie
be on the look out! :)

Menu?!

After having my mom visit, followed by my whole family, I got a bit caught up with some projects around here--including painting our bedroom! However, in the meantime, I let everything else go by the wayside. Here's a glimpse of our menu for the week...better late than never, right?

Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Roasted Chicken w/ potatoes and carrots
Wednesday: leftovers (church night!)
Thursday: Sweet and Sour Pork
Friday: Taco Casserole (recipe and pics to come)

Oops!

I just realized that I never posted our menu for this week. Monday, the day I typically post the menu, was extremely chaotic--quick summary: groceries, call from my hubbs saying he was being taken by ambulance to the ER, quickly lining up childcare for my kids, zooming to the ER, hanging out there for a while, taking my dehydrated and sinus infected husband home, back to grocery store to get Rx, then home to take care of all three of my boys! CRAZY! Anyway, he's on the mend, but now my littlest one (almost 2) seems to have a cold or virus of some sort...like I said, CRAZY week! But enough about that, let's get back to the menu:

Monday: Chicken Ring
Tuesday: Meatloaf
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Raspberry Balsamic Chicken (it keeps getting pushed to the back burner, but I really want to make it, it's SO yummy!)
Friday: Brats (hubbs fav)
Saturday: Church picnic
Sunday: Shredded Pork Sandwiches--great recipe to come!

The Menu

After a busy weekend, I'm a little late posting this, but...better late than never, right? With soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the meals need to be quick and easy, so...here's the quick and easy for this week:

Monday: leftovers--we had so much leftover from last week!
Tuesday: Beer Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday: Meatball Subs--using the other half of the meatballs from last weeks spag and meatballs that I stuck in the freezer!
Thursday: French Toast, sausage links, and scrambled eggs (at the request of the birthday boy)
Friday: Raspberry Balsamic Chicken

Chicken Popovers

At the request of my dear friend and neighbor, Nancy, I'm sharing the recipe for chicken popovers. I had these for the first time when we visited my sis-in-law in Michigan over a year ago. She made them in front of me and I immediately got the recipe. Since then, I've made them at least 7 or 8 times and lost the recipe, but I can pretty much wing it. Here's the basics:

Chicken Popovers

Ingredients:
2 tubes of pilsbury crescent rolls
1 lb (or a little more) of chicken, cooked and cubed
4 oz (half a block) of cream cheese, softened/at room temp
1/4 cup of butter, softened/at room temp
couple shakes of garlic powder
couple shakes of onion powder/flakes
1/2 tsp of salt
approx. 35-40 garlic croutons

1. Cook and cube chicken, then preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, butter and seasonings, then add chicken and stir until well mixed
3. On a baking sheet, lay out two crescent roll triangle and press the seams together making a rectangle.
4. Spoon a couple spoonfuls of the chicken mixture and seal the crescent roll around the mixture.
5. Repeat until all the crescents and mixture are gone--should make 8 popovers
6. Press 4-5 croutons onto the top of the popovers and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

What's for Dinner

Due to various members of my family being sick--including but not limited to me--a couple of the recipes I had planned to make last week are reappearing because they did not get made. Thankfully, we're all on the mend! :)
Monday: Chicken Popovers
Tuesday: Taco Casserole (recipe to come)
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Friday: leftovers/date night?
Saturday: Ribs

Mongolian Beef

So ever since a girls day I had back in April, I've been wanting to make Mongolian Beef. However, two picky little eaters and the lack of a good recipe has kept me from trying it. Then last week, much to my delight, I came across this food blog that looks quite promising: A Year of Slowcooking. I'm continually amazed at what tasty food can come out of my crockpot and how much more I enjoy the hours between 4 and 6pm. You moms out there know what I'm talking about--the kids are getting hungry, tired of each other, tired of you and yet want your full attention and you're trying to be loving and patient and kind and cook a healthy and tasty meal. Yet all you want to do is scream and run to the nearest spa and get a pedicure? Well...the crockpot doesn't give me a pedicure, but it sure does free me up to at least pay a little more attention to my kids--or check my facebook. Anyway, without further ado, here's the recipe. It should be noted that this only makes enough to serve approximately 2 people-double or triple accordingly. Also, this recipe is designed to be gluten free, but you can use regular soy sauce.
**pics to come later--when the rice is done. currently just looks brown and lumpy**
Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:
--1 1/2 pounds flank steak
--3 cloves of garlic, minced
--4 sliced green onions--one is for garnish
--1 t dried minced onion (or 1/2 fresh onion, diced very small)
--1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce (I used La Choy)
--1/4 cup white wine
--1/4 cup cooking sherry*(I didn't have cooking sherry or white wine vinegar
--1/2 T white wine vinegar* so I used red wine vinegar and red cooking wine)
--1 t sesame oil
--1 t molasses
--1 t ginger
--1/4 t black pepper
--1 t red chili pepper flakes
--1/2 T peanut butter (if allergic, use black bean paste)
--3 T brown sugar
--1/4 cup cornstarch (to dredge meat--don't add to sauce mixture)


1. slice your meat in thin strips and toss in a Ziploc bag with cornstarch.
2. add all of the liquid and dried spices to your crockpot, and the peanut butter, and mix well. Add the garlic and three of the sliced green onions. If you are using fresh onion, add that now, too.
3. put your meat on top, and toss gingerly to coat.
4. cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. (Flank steak is thin and have very little fat, and will cook quickly. There isn't a lot of liquid in this dish, so if your crock tends to cook hot, please check it after 3 hours. The meat is done when it is no longer pink and has reached desired tenderness. I cooked our meat in a 6qt oval crockpot and it was done after 3 hours on low.)
Serve over steamed or fried rice, and garnish with freshly sliced green onion.

source: A Year of Slowcooking

Menu Monday

Here's what I'll be making this week:

Monday: Mongolian Beef(recipe to come), rice, green beans
Tuesday: Cornflake Chicken, corn, fruit salad and rolls
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: Chicken popovers, peas, fruit, rolls
Fri-Saturday: trip to Indy to see the Browns!
Sunday: brats, beans, fruit