MPM-October 28-November 3

Have I really not posted since October 15? Wow! All I can say is that I've been super busy around here. We had a Cub Scout camp this past weekend, my oldest son is gearing up for a Lego robotics competition this weekend, and we have been house hunting. Plus we've started rehearsals for the Christmas program at church. Just crazy. If it makes you feel any better, my house isn't even decorated for Halloween yet. Of course, it's not my house (and boy I can't wait until I have one!), but I'm still going to throw up a few seasonal things. I should have some time today to assemble some things (I hope!).

On to the menu. It's been colder than usual here lately, though Thursday it's supposed to be pretty toasty (almost 80!). Lots of comfort food on the menu though, to go with the colder weather.

Monday

Pan fried pork chops
Parmesan potatoes
Creamed spinach
Corn

Tuesday

Peanut soup
Crusty bread

Wednesday

Pasta bake
Salad

Thursday

Not entirely sure yet. Something Halloween-y

Friday

Date Night

Saturday

Leftover Feast

Sunday

Meatball stew
Garlic bread

As always, for more menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

French Dip Sandwiches (Crocktober Recipe)

I have a special treat for you today. I actually took a picture of the finished product! Woo hoo! As promised, here is the first in a string of crock pot recipes, all in celebration of Crocktober. Friday I will begin a 13 Days of Halloween series with crafts, decorations, and fun recipes.

This recipe is tried and true. I have made it many times and it never disappoints. It is deceptively simple (four ingredients!), incredibly easy, and quite delicious. I believe I found this recipe in an old freezer cooking cookbook, but for the life of me I can't remember. I do know that this is not my original recipe and I in no way claim that it is. All I can say is that it is quick, easy, and tasty. Yes, I know I just said that but it really does need repeating. Try this. Please. So, so good.

French Dip Sandwiches

Chuck roast or tri-tip roast (I used a chuck roast. Two, actually)
1 can Campbell's Beef Broth
1 can Campbell's French Onion
1 can Campbell's Beef Consumme

Put your roast in the crock pot. Pour the soups over the meat, cover, and cook on low 8-10 hours. I do not recommend cooking on high. Cooking this cut  of meat on low makes it supremely tender and I don't just get that from cooking it on high. I've tried.

Once your meat is done cooking, take it out of your pot, reserving the liquid. Shred the meat using two forks. Assemble as follows: take a sandwich roll, split it, and put a bit of the liquid on the bottom of the roll. Add meat, fold the top over, and cut in half. Server with the au jus on the side for dipping. I like to round out the meal with potato chips and carrot sticks. Enjoy!

Menu for October 14-19

Another Monday, another menu. Okay, so it's really Sunday, but I have a busy week this week and it was just easier to do it today :) Because I have some fun stuff starting on Friday and going straight through until Halloween, this week features four(!) crock pot recipes! Two of them are tried and true and two are new to me. I'm excited to try them and report back here.

Monday-Either kielbasa or ham steaks, homemade gf creamy macaroni and cheese, fried cabbage

Tuesday-French Dip (crock pot), carrot sticks with dip, potato chips

Wednesday-Creamy Italian Chicken (crock pot), rice, green beans

Thursday-Super Simple Cranberry Roast (crock pot), Potatoes au gratin (crock pot), peas

Friday-date night

Saturday-leftovers

Sunday-Loaded Baked Potato soup (may do in crock pot), biscuits

Looking for menu ideas? Check out orgjunkie.com for more!

Crocktober Recipe (Curried Chicken)

Yesterday I promised another Croctober recipe today. And I do have one. However, as I finished putting it into the crockpot, I realized I had forgotten to take pictures. I thought to myself, I will just have to take a picture of the finished product. It will be a nice change to see the end result on the blog for once! Did I take said pictures? Of course not. This cold has really addled my brain. I'm lucky I can remember I have four kids right now! The recipe is so simple though, that you really don't need pictures to guide you. There just nice to have. And I promise the next recipe will have them.

The original recipe for this Curried Chicken came from a Fix It and Forget It Cookbook. I honestly can't remember which one, but I think it was the Holiday one. At any rate, I pretty much just throw things in the pot now :)

Curried Chicken

1 pound chicken (I use tenders)
2 cans cream soup (I use a modified version of this recipe. It works just fine.)
8 oz cream cheese
2-4 tbsp curry powder (or to taste)

Throw everything into the crockpot and cook on low 4-6 hours or on high for 3-5 hours. Serve over rice.

*Note* I don't use actual curry powder as I don't like spicy. I toss in corriander, tumeric, cumin, black pepper, red pepper, cinnamon, and ginger (which is almost all of the spices in curry), I just don't use a lot. DH, who does like spicy, adds a hot curry powder to his).

Hope you enjoy!

Feed A Cold...

Starve A Fever.

I, like I'm sure many of you do, like to think of myself as SuperMom. It gives me great pleasure to know there are things that I do that would put a lesser man (my husband) to shame: laundry, dishes, cleaning. The usual. I pride myself on my multitasking. And even when I get the sniffles or I'm feeling a bit run down, I can still get things accomplished. I'm SuperMom after all! But a fever, a fever is my kryptonite. It knocks me down and hold me there until the dishes are piled up, there are no clean clothes to be had, and the house is a nightmare. The kids are forced to buy their lunch from school and supper is whatever my husband can throw together (he comes up with interesting concoctions!).

Tuesday, I had a scratchy sore throat, but by Tuesday evening I had a full blown fever. I was down for the count. I stayed in bed most of yesterday, thankful and blessed that my MIL made lunches for the kids and even made them supper. I was still feeling poorly this morning too, and she made lunches again.

Thankfully I started feeling better (though I still have a low grade temperature) and there is a load of laundry in the washer and supper in the crockpot.

So, I apologize for my absence and I look forward to sharing a crocktober recipe with you tomorrow!

October 7-13 Menu

It's been awhile since I've posted a weekly menu. I've been making them, I just don't think about posting them until around Tuesday and by that time I feel it's a little too late. But I was making my grocery list for tomorrow and thought I'd just go ahead and post my menu now. The weatherman is calling for a lot of rain this week so there are warm, comforting recipes on the menu this week!

Monday-Pan fried pork chops, roasted potatoes, corn fritters

Tuesday-Spirit Night for the elementary school at a local Italian restaurant

Wednesday-Braised chuck steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetable medley

Thursday-Curried chicken (crock pot), rice, cheesy green beans

Friday-Date Night

Saturday-Fend for yourself night (kids are with in laws)

Sunday-French Dip (crock pot), carrots, potato chips

For lots of menu ideas check out orgjunkie.com!

Fall Festival of Folklife

Today I ventured over to the annual Fall Festival of Folklife in my town. It was the first time I've been there in several years but I can honestly say not much has changed. This year was the 40th anniversary of an event that was originally only supposed to be three years. It was arranged to be part of the Bicentennial Celebration and run from 1974-1976. It has grown from 50 demonstrator/crafters to over 200. There are activities for children, musical performances, dancing (traditional types), different handicraft demonstrations, and lots of food. I had such a good time, I just may go again next year!

 An awesomely tall scarecrow

 Hand whittled faces

 Fun painted hubcaps!

 Civil war reenactments

 Lots of music

 Can you see the 40 in there? Loved this display.

Besides delicious food, I bought myself a tote bag with the 40th logo on it and several books the local library was selling (only .50 cents a piece!)

It's Crock-tober! (beef stew)

The other day I got an email from Saving Dinner that talked about it being crock-tober and I just thought that was too cute! As you might surmise from the "crock" part, we are talking about crock pot cooking. While I don't use my crock every day, I do use it quite often and even more so in the Fall and Winter. It's so gratifying to do a little bit of work in the morning (or even the night before) and not have to worry about supper. It's even nicer if the air is crisp and you've been out, to come home to a warm and cozy house with the delicious aroma dinner in the air. I thought it might be fun to share some crock pot recipes with you throughout the month of October. Perhaps you'll enjoy them too!


Jenn's Beef Stew (original recipe)

2 lbs stew beef
6 cups beef broth, divided
6 turnips, peeled and diced
a handful of baby carrots, diced
2 envelopes beef gravy mix

Mix everything but three cups of the beef broth together in the crockpot. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on high for 6-8 hours. Stir in the remaining three cups of beef broth. Serve with a green salad and rolls.

Modified Recipe (GF)

Exactly the same, except instead of gravy mix, mix in about 1/2 cup of gf cornstarch with some of the beef broth.

Stew before the beef broth was added. I don't usually like using a lot of plastic, but darn it! Those crock pot liner bags are genius! Also, hungry children took precedence again over a photograph of the finished stew!