Week 36-Retrospective

Mon – oatmeal
Tues – shredded beef and potatoes
Weds – chicken fingers and sweet potato fries
Thurs – steak, shrimp, cheeses, munchies
Fri – lentil soup
Extras – pizza; homemade tortillas for chip plate
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It's the last day of the year, so I'm offering a "retrospective" of the week's menu, since no plan was ever made. End of the year, time to clean the cupboards and work through the holiday left-overs. Enjoy the night (complete with a Blue Moon), and happy cooking in the new year.

Oatmeal for dinner

We spent this afternoon and evening driving back from family Christmas celebrations in Iowa. We made a mid-afternoon fast-food stop, and snacked on some party mix en route. By the time we got home the kids were ready for a warm bath and I was ready for a bowl of hot oatmeal. Simple, warm food to get us ready for bedtime and help soothe stomachs full of rich holiday fare.

Made me feel like I was in a Quaker Oats ad. I guess the house couldn't be chock-full of unpacked luggage, bags, boxes and new toys for that little illusion of contentedness to work. Anyway, for now the kids are all nestled snug in their beds and giggling their heads off about something or other. For my part, I'm going to go make a nice hot tea. Happy holidays.

Week 35-Ready for Christmas

Mon – Au Jus French Dip (4-ingredient slow-cook recipe from HyVee cookbook)
Tues – Left-over lasagna
Weds – Chicken Noodle Soup (Deceptively Delicious cookbook)
Thurs – Oyster Stew
Fri – tbd (Christmas!)
Extras – Chicken Fingers
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Somehow everything from last week's menu plan did eventually get made, so I picked some less involved items for this week. Have a bit to do before Christmas and I don't want extra time in the kitchen. I am planning to make a Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake that I made for a bake sale, but have never actually tasted for myself. I have a great aunt visiting who celebrated her 90th birthday this past weekend and want to have a nice dessert on hand. Otherwise, there's a Christmas party for tonight, then putting together our final cards for the mail by tomorrow. Good luck with your preparations this week, and happy cooking.

Cookie Time!

My 4-year-old and I had fun decorating some cookies earlier this week. She vastly preferred the taste of the canned "squirty" frosting to the Royal Icing I made. Youth! Anyway, it made for nice variety when we decorated -- especially after I chilled out and let us both enjoy the festive mess.

As a side note, she did her decorating while topless, sporting a Superman cape. Wonder if that would pass muster in professional bakeries for food prep. The baker wears a hair net, but no shirt. Maybe if s/he's not otherwise hairy? Hmm.

Week 34--What was I thinking?

Mon – Red Lentil Soup (Le Creuset recipe I sampled at Cook's on Grand last week)
Tues – Turkey pot pie (Taste of Home)
Weds – Maple glazed meatloaf (newspaper recipe)
Thurs – Rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies
Fri – Goulash and biscuits
Extras – Cuban rice (rice w/tomato sauce
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Made this menu plan on Saturday when it seemed like spending a couple hours making dinner each night this week would be simple. Wrong! So here I am at Wednesday and I haven't followed the plan too closely. At any rate, I'm showing what I planned, and these items will probably show up for the next couple weeks until I actually get them all made. As for last night, I ended up just frying chicken tenders with lemon pepper seasoning, making a side of rice and heating up a pre-fab (store-bought) Indian side dish. Lovely. Happy cooking.