Menu Plan Monday - Week of 12/14/09

I hope all of you are able to enjoy this week without too much stress before Christmas! I've got a couple of parties and a shopping trip with my dad this week, plus all of our normal weekly activities, so it will be a busy one!! Lindsay and I made our weekly trip to the grocery store today and it was pretty crazy, so I'm already dreading next week's trip. Score one for menu planning - I can get in and out of the store with only the items on my list and not spend forever wandering the aisles trying to decide what I need!

Mon - Lance & Lindsay are on their own - I have a Christmas party!

Tues - 15 Bean Soup

Weds - Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

Thurs - Left overs

Fri - Marinated Chicken Drumsticks, Sauteed Spinach

Sat - Hopefully more left overs :)

Sun - Simple Supper Sunday

For more dinner ideas visit OrgJunkie.

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 12/7/09

Ok, so it's Thursday night and I haven't posted my menu plan in a few weeks. Sorry about that, I will try to do better! I'm not even going to start giving you a long list of excuses!


Weds - Spinach & Asiago Cheese Sausage, Baked Acorn Squash



Thus - McAlister's (going to Athens to see the Christmas Lights)



Fri - Pork Cutlets, Corn on the Cob, Fried Squash



Sat - Hmmm...not sure



Sun - Simple Supper Sunday

For more dinner ideas, visit OrgJunkie!

Menu Plan Monday - week of 11/16/09

Here is what's cooking at our house this week!!

Mon - Baked Penne Pasta, spinach, mashed potatoes

Tues - Taco Ring, chips & dip

Weds - Left overs

Thurs - Pork cutlets, baked sweet potatoes, broccoli

Fri - Crock pot chicken & potatoes, steamed cabbage

Sat - Left overs

Sun - Simple Supper Sunday

I am also going to bake some cookies with Lindsay (hopefully tonight). Here's the recipe that we are going to give a try:

Stamped by Design Cookies

1 pkg. chocolate or white cake mix
2 eggs
1/4 c. vegetable oil
sugar

Icing:

2 c. confectioners sugar
2 to 3 Tbsp. milk
food coloring

In large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, and oil. Roll into 1 in. balls.; place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheet. Flatten with glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 min. Lightly press a 1 1/2 in. cookie cutter onto cookies, making a slight indentation. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk confectioners sugar and milk to achieve drizzling consistency. Tint w/ food coloring if desired. Place icing in a small, heavy duty plastic bag; cut a small hole in a corner of bag. Carefully pipe icing into indentation.

Menu Plan Monday - 11/2/09

Can you believe that it is already November? Wow, life is getting ready to be really crazy around the Barker house (as if it's not already)!

I did not get to make my Dinner in a Pumpkin on Sunday, so I am going to give it a try this week, assuming I can find a pumpkin. Pretty much all of my menu plan from last week got derailed in some form or fashion, so there are a couple of repeats this week!

Monday
B: Oatmeal
D: Crispy Ranch Chicken (hold over from last week), green beans, Fire crackers

Tuesday
B: Cereal
D: Dinner in a Pumpkin,

Wednesday
B: Pigs in a Blanket
D: Rotel King Ranch Chicken, Salad, Beans

Thursday
B: Breakfast Casserole
D: Left overs

Friday
B: Blueberry Muffins
D: Pork Cutlets, Fried Squash, Salad

Saturday
*Out of town*

Sunday
B: Peanut Butter Toast
D: Simple Supper Sunday

Check out OrgJunkie for more recipe ideas!

Daily Deals

I've kind of become addicted to daily deal websites! Daily Deal websites are well, just that, websites that offer a daily deal. Some offer multiple deals...once one deal sells out, they offer another product until it sells out and so on... You can find some GREAT prices on stuff by checking out these websites. The best deals usually go very fast, so you have to pay attention! The only problem with that is that a lot of the websites reset at midnight, so the new deal comes up while I'm snoozing away!!

I am by no means sitting at home just buying stuff because it is a good deal. I'm not insane! I've actually only purchased one thing thus far through one of the Daily Deal websites. But it is lots of fun to check them out and see what they are offering!!

Here are a few Daily Deal websites that I check out:

mamabargains.com
kidsteals.com
babysteals.com
woot.com
kids.woot.com
1saleaday.com

Many of these sites, such as 1saleaday.com have several different divisions, so the site offers a deal in several different categories.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg in Daily Deal websites. Do you have any that you enjoy looking at? Please leave a comment and share!!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

I love fall!  I love pumpkin...pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread...  MMmmmm!!  Most of my favorite pumpkin recipes fall into the "sweet" category, so I was excited to find a great recipe that we can have for dinner!  

Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 medium pumpkin

2 to 3 lbs. ground turkey or beef

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 can cream of mushroom or tomato soup

1/3 can of water or milk

6 c. cooked rice

1/2 c. chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped onion

Wash and clean pumpkin.  Brown the ground turkey/beef.  Combine all ingredients and stuff in pumpkin.  Put on the pumpkin "lid".  Bake at 375 degrees for one hour or until pumpkin is tender.

Doesn't this sound yummy?  I can't wait to give it a try.

Menu Plan Monday -week of 10/26/09

Maybe I should start doing Menu Plan Tuesday because that always seems to be the case for me (at least the past couple of weeks)!  I have really been enjoying my menu planning and I'm thankful to have my plan to "fall back on" when our schedule gets rearranged.  

Monday

B:  We skipped breakfast for some reason!

D:  Out for dinner

Tuesday

B:  Snacks

D:  Chili Lime Drumsticks, Baked Acorn Squash 

Wednesday

B:  Oatmeal, Bananas

D:  Roasted Pork Loin, Fried Okra (didn't get to this last week)

Thursday

B:  Breakfast Casserole (from freezer)

D:  Left Overs

Friday

B:  Cereal

D:  Crispy Ranch Chicken, Roasted Potatoes

Saturday

B:  Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Burritos

D:  Left Overs

Sunday

B:  Left Over Burritos

D:  Dinner In A Pumpkin (I'll share this recipe in a separate post)

For more dinner ideas visit OrgJunkie.