Sunday, March 31, 2013

What's for dinner



Someone asked to see how I did this and I thought I'd copy it here too...

Here are my menu ideas for this year.  It takes me a few really good days of brainstorming to get the list and then its just a graph of the year.  I fill in birthdays and holidays and then rotate in the things my family will eat.  The first 7 are the only things everyone likes and the rest are either things only some people like or are seasonal, so I don't do them as often. I usually write the ideas on my calendar and when I make a shopping list buy the stuff I need for the next week or two.  I rearrange A LOT and sub in new ideas or quicker ideas often, but this helps :)

Menu ideas
1.     Hawaiian haystacks 
2.     Tacos
3.     Meatloaf
4.     Chicken nuggets
5.     Chili-Halloween
6.     Alfredo
7.     Pizza
8.     Potato latkes (pancakes)
9.     Baked potatoes
10.  Potato wedges
11.  Pork chops Fathers Day
12.  Meatballs
13.  Puffy pancakes & sausage
14.  Waffles
15.  Egg fried rice/peas & carrots
16.  Baked chicken
17.  Pollo verde & mashed potatoes
18.  Beans & rice
19.  Cobb salad
20.  Tsuvan - cabbage , onion , carrots , broccoli ,steaks & noodles
21.  Buuz –for New Years & AJ’s Birthday
22.  B.L.T.
23.  Chicken enchiladas (corn tortilla & green chillis)-D’s Birthday
24.  Stir fry
25.  Tuna Casserole /Tuna & Crackers 
26.  Teriyaki Chicken
27.  Grilled Cheese
28.  Paella/Cheesy Spanish Rice & Chicken
29.  Burritos
30.  Taco Salad
31.  Pesto Pizza Southwest Alfredo chicken pizza
32.  Bourbon Chicken n rice
33.  Chicken n rice
34.  Stuffed Peppers
35.  Soup (potato, lentil, chick noodle, zucchini, minestrone, tomato)
36.  Cabbage bread Husband’s Birthday
37.  Mom’s peasant style risotto Mother’s Day
38.  Hearty Vegetarian Rice Skillet
39.  Tatertot casserole
40.  Spaghetti
41.  Sausage spinach rotini
42.  Boy Scout Tomato hamburger pepper onion corn over rice
43.  Cheese rice and broccoli and chicken
44.  Stuffed Poblanos
45.  GSG Coconut Rice
46.  Fried eggs/ breakfast sandwich/ breakfast burritos
47.  Santa Fe Breakfast Skillet (chilli,hashbrowns, salsa, egg, chicken, cheese) My Birthday
48.  Macaroni & Cheese J’s Birthday
49.  Corned Beef-St Patricks Day
50.  72 hour kits
51.  Egg Salad Sandwiches/deviled eggs-Day after Easter
52.  Skillet Lasagne
53.  Bratwurst-fourth of July, AP's birthday?

Saturday-leftovers, nachos, quesadillas, pizza, ramen, etc.

Click on the pictures to see them full size, notice I did it in pencil.  That way I can easily make changes.


Update:  Its June and my oldest daughter and I decided to go on a health kick and cut waay back on meat.  Instead of redoing the whole year's menus, I just thought up a bunch of healthier menus and substituted those into my menu in place of the least healthy dinner ideas.  It was easy and didn't take much time at all.


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Creamy Garlic Sauce for Papa Murphy's Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza

 Papa Murphy's Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza Copy Cat

I made this pizza for a vegetarian family get together, but all over the internet, copy cat recipes said to use Ranch salad dressing for the sauce (sounds strange eh?).  I did that and well, it tasted like a salad on pizza crust.  It wasn't the addictive pizza I remember, so I came up with my own creamy garlic sauce and made another pizza.  This one was MUCH, MUCH better and tasted like what I remember.  We did half the pizza with veggies and half with southwest grilled chicken (taco seasoning + chicken).  They were both delicious.

Creamy Garlic Sauce for one 12" pizza.

1 1/2 Tbs butter
1 1/2 Tbs cream cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/2 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (optional)
pinch of dill (optional)
2 1/2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Melt the butter and cream cheese together over medium heat, it might not completely combine, but it gets close.  Dissolve cornstarch into cold milk.  Stir milk into butter/cream cheese mixture and bring to a boil.  Cook until thick then add seasonings to taste.  I just guesstimated how much to use.  Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese.  I think you could add minced garlic at the beginning with the butter too.  There are so many variations possible.

Pizza Veggies
-baby spinach
-sliced zucchini
-chopped onions (red and white)
-chopped tomato
-chopped mushroom
-artichoke hearts

Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese

The crust I used in the picture above is a great gluten free crust that I found here.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Holler

My daughter told me I needed to update my blog title, so how about Wiggle, Poke, Giggle, Sit, N' Holler.  No, not nearly as catchy.  Anyway, Number 5 seems to be sleeping quite well at night, but during the day he is captain fussy.  We love him, but he's a challenge.