Where did the week go?

Thursday- I can't believe it's Thursday already and I've only posted Monday's recipies! Wow! So sorry. Tuesday we were "out of town" and ate out so I don't have anything to share with you except that we ate at Bennihana and OH MY! So fun and ssssooooo full!!!

Wednesday, for lunch we had leftovers from the fridge since it was exploding out at us. Wednesday night, we had tacos. I didn't get a picture of them since we ate late and were starving & I couldn't be bothered with the little thing called a camera or else it may have been my dinner :) They are super easy though. I just brown a pound of hamburger meat, drain, return to pan and add 1 packet of taco seasoning mix with 3/4 cup of water. Cook a bit. Then I warmed up a can of refried beans (I know, you're thinking, how classy!). Warm up some taco shells (as many as your family will eat). We use all soft shell, because that's what we like and I can't keep hard shells good for any amout of time so they end up going bad on us. Cut up some lettuce and onions, have some sour cream, salsa or taco sauce ready, and some shredded cheese. If your family will eat tomatoes, have some cut into chunks as well. Easy and Yummy!

Thursday lunch, again was leftovers and you'll be happy to know, our fridge is almost able to close again!

Thursday dinner-

Stuffed Shells
I've been making this dish for 11 years and do not remember where I got the recipe.

12 jumbo pasta shells
1 beaten egg
1 (12 ounce) low fat cottage cheese, drained
1/2 cup  shredded motzerella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
homemade pasta sauce (following)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook shells for about 18 minutes or until tender but still firm. Make sure you stir often so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan and do NOT over cook them or you won't be able to stuff them. Drain well and leave in colendar to cool for a few minutes, so that you can handle them.

For filling: sitr together egg, cottage cheese, motzerella cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, oregano, and garlic powder. Spoon into cooked shells. Spoon a little bit of pasta sauce on the bottom of a sprayed baking dish. Arrange shells over sauce. Cover shells with remaining pasta sauce. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through. Add some motzerella cheese on top and broil until brown (mine got a little more than brown tonight...sorry, but still sooo good!). This is great with some yummy garlic toast.  EnJoY!

*Now here's the thing. I make my homemade pasta sauce and at least triple the recipe. This way all I have to do is ladle 4 large ladle fulls into gallon size baggies and freeze. Then when I am ready to have pasta I pull the baggie out and run some water on it until it's thawed. Sooooo good and easy! When I run out, I make a triple batch again, freeze, then enjoy some more.

Homemade Pasta Sauce
(From Paula Deen on foodnetwork.com)
(This is a single recipe, if you are going to triple it, just triple the amounts)

1 1/2 lbs hamburger
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 clove garlic- chopped
2 (6 ounce) tomato paste
1 (8 ounce) tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 ounce) stewed tomatos
1 Tbs. Italian seasoning
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Brown beef in large pot. Drain fat. Add onions, green pepper, and garlic, saute until onion is tender (about 5 minutes). Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, 1 cup water, and seasonings. Simmer 30 minutes.

Monday- donuts, corn dog muffins, & pork chops with green beans

Monday mornings are our grocery mornings. I have decided that, for the summer, we will have donut mornings then head to the grocery. It's a good little treat for the kiddos, and gives us something to look forward to. I'm a very scheduled person, so I do have a summer schedule that we try to follow, but will deviate if something comes up. I also think that it helps the kids to know what's going to happen and keep them ready for school.

Lunch today was a new experiment. My daughter LOVES hotdogs. I'm not sure who she comes from, because I do NOT like hotdogs. I will eat them if I have to, but I'm not excited about them. My son is the same way. He'll eat them if I serve them, but won't ever ask for me to make them. But I know they are a kids food and they are so easy to do for lunch. I found this little recipe in a Fun Food magazine and thought that it'd be a different way to try them. It also camouflaged the hotdog taste a lot!

Corn Dog Muffins

(Recipe from Taste of Home, Fun Food, summer 20008 magazine)
1 box Jiff corn bread mix (or any mix, but I really like Jiff corn bread mix)
1 Tbs brown sugar (next time, I'd use 2 or 3, but just because we like our corn bread sweet)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 (11 ounce) can of whole kernal corn, drained
3 hot dogs, cut up

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers. In a medium bowl, mix the corn bread mix and brown sugar. Add the egg and milk and mix to combine. Stir in the corn and hot dogs. Your batter will be thin. Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full (I filled them to the top and was fine). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. This made 12 muffins for us.
Serve and EnJoY!

For dinner I decided to try a recipe that I found on the Southern Living website. I mean, it HAD to be good, right?! Well, it didn't let me down. This is probably going to be my new "go to" website for dinners for while. It was quick and easy and sooo yummy!

Pork Chops with Roasted Green beans and pecans

(Recipe from Southern Living Magazine website)
2 lbs fresh green beans (or as much as your family will eat)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
4 bone-in pork chops
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (or plain breadcrumbs, they were just as good)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. lemon zest
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup veggi oil
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash beans and snap ends (if you wish, they didn't, but I did since I don't like to eat the ends). Combine the beans, 1 Tbs. olive oil and 3/4 tsp salt in a large bowl and toss to coat. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet with sides (also known as a jelly roll pan). Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until beans are tender and slightly browned.

Sprinkle pork chops with pepper and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. In a shallow pie pan mix together the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and thyme. Dredge the pork chops in this mixture.

Cook the pork chops in 1/4 cups veggi oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes, depending on their thickness, on each side or until done. (I only cooked ours for 2 to 3 min per side since they were pretty thin)

Stir pecans and butter into the beans and cook another 5 minutes, or until the pecans are golden. Serve the chops with the beans. EnJoY!

I LOVED the pecans with the beans. It gave the beans a little extra flavor. Soooo good! I'll be making my beans this way for quite a while!

Summer menu and shopping list

Well, it's summer now and I have both of my kids at home all day, every day now. That means I have a lot of meal planning to do as well as activities. I'll be doing this weeks' menu then take 2 weeks off. I'm trying some new recipies this week and hope they are good. They look like they will be. So without further adu:

Menu:

Monday: breakfast- donuts
                lunch- corndog muffins
                snack- homemade ice cream
                dinner- pork chops with green beans and pecans

Tuesday: breakfast- Eggos
                 lunch- grilled cheeses with spaghetti o's
                 snack- from the snack basket, on the go
                 dinner- out

Wednesday: breakfast- breakfast tacos
                      lunch- cold meat sandwich picnic lunch
                      snack- popcorn & a movie at home
                      dinner- tacos

Thursday: breakfast- cereal
                  lunch- PB & J's picnic lunch
                  snack- fruit snacks
                  dinner- stuffed shells

Friday: breakfast- french toast
             lunch- leftovers
             snack- dirt cake
             dinner- chicken and corn pies with cornbread crust

Saturday: dinner- lime shrimp lettuce wraps with broccoli salad

SHOPPING LIST:
1 bundle green onions
3 c. small broccoli florets
celery
1 head of iceburg lettuce
fresh thyme
ginger root
1 head garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow onion
4 limes
2 lemons
2 lbs. green beans
bacon
hotdogs
3 or 4 bone-in pork chops
3 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

2 lbs hamburger
1 lb shrimp
1 lb cold meat, sliced
bread
corn and flour tortillas
raisins
mayo
honey
taco seasoning packet
1 (5 ounce can) water chestnuts (optional)
11 ounces can whole kernel corn
12 ounces tomato paste
16 ounces tomato sauce
29 ounces stewed tomatoes
10 ounces Mexican diced tomatoes with lime juice and cilantro
10 ounces Enchilada sauce
salsa
Spaghetti O's
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 boxes Jiff cornbread mix
jumbo pasta shells
popcorn packets
cereal
gummy worms
Oreo's
2 (3.5 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix
 soy sauce
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
12 ounces cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzrella cheese
shredded cheddar cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
olive oil
vegetable oil
Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
chili powder
Italian seasonings
sugar
vanilla extract
brown sugar
powder sugar
rock salt
butter
milk
2 cups half and half
eggs
sour cream
honey roasted sliced almonds
1/4 c. chopped pecans
Eggos
frozen corn
Cool Whip

I have included every ingredient you will need this week. Look through the list to see what you will need and what you already have on hand. I keep my kitchen very well stocked, so my grocery list is not nearly this long. For instance, you probably already have salt, pepper, sugar, butter, vegetable oil, and mayo on hand.

I'll be back Monday night with the recipes for the day and our take on dinner. I read the reviews for the pork chops with green beans and pecans and everyone loved them. So I am really looking forward to dinner.