Menu Plan for 11/9-11/15/09

Elk season. The time of year when men lose their minds and women become hunting widows. The time that "spare no expense" takes on a new meaning and "honey-do" lists are a distant memory. Granted, it only lasts for 2 weeks, but a lot can be learned about a spouse during that time. For instance, I discovered that my husband can come up with a thousand excuses as to why we should NOT go shopping in the rain. (He is ever so thoughtful to try and protect me from illness or accident, don't you think?) But on opening day of the hunting season, he will pull out rain gear (with the tags still attached!) and "sacrifice" himself to feed our family. Now that's a man. Luckily for me, my man was able to fill his elk tag in the first hour that he was "self-sacrificing"! Even better? He'll be free to help me with the grocery shopping this week! I am a blessed woman.


Monday: Banana bread with cream cheese, homemade hot chocolate
Chili nachos (leftover from Sunday), apple slices
*Homemade macaroni & cheese, meatloaf, green salad

Tuesday: Oatmeal, fruit
Corndog muffins, carrot sticks with ranch
Elk steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed broccoli

Wednesday: Poached eggs, toast
Vegetable soup, crackers, orange slices
*Cinco de Mayo, tortilla chips


Thursday: Buttermilk biscuits with honey, fruit smoothies
Leftover vegetable soup, crackers, frozen chocolate banana
Chicken Curry, brown rice, cottage cheese with pineapple slices


Friday: Blueberry Coffeecake, orange juice
Toasted tuna-fish sandwiches, carrot sticks
Crockpot Pinto Beans & Rice, cornbread


Saturday: Waffles
Leftovers
Potato Corn Chowder, spinach salad (Tanner's choice for his 14th birthday dinner!)


Sunday: Granola
Leftovers
Beef Stew, sourdough
Dessert: Birthday cake...yet to be determined


*Recipes*

Creamy Macaroni & Cheese
(Plan on taking the stairs this week as this is NOT on the "low-cal" plan!)


24 oz. uncooked elbow macaroni
1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cut into chunks
1 cup shredded cheese (Swiss, monterey jack, cheddar, mozzarella...your choice)
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted + 1 can milk
1/2 cup cottage cheese
4 Tb. unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour


Cook macaroni until al dente. Drain. In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to make roux. Cook 1 minute. Add soup and milk. Stir. Add all of the cheeses. Stir constantly until cheese is melted. Add macaroni back into pot and stir well.


Cinco de Mayo (taken from "Mega Cooking")


2 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 lb. ground sausage (beef, pork or turkey)
1/4 chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
32 oz. stewed tomatoes
24 oz. frozen or canned corn
1 (12 oz.) can tomato paste
2 t. chili powder
1 t. salt
1/2 cup black olives, sliced


Cook the ground beef and sausage until done. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Pour mixture into greased baking dish.


Mix up your favorite cornbread recipe. Pour evenly over top of meat mixture. Bake at 350 F. for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup cheddar cheese over top of casserole. Garnish with a few dashes of paprika. Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream.

Changing Lanes

Ready for another confession? Sometimes my well planned ideas just don't pan out. Kind of like trying to change lanes without knowing where you're going. All it does is just confuse the other drivers and makes you second guess why you even got in the car to begin with! That's how I'm feeling about my choice in science. We started out, heading in the right direction, but somehow got all turned around and lost our way with our science curriculum. It is a good curriculum, but a little more than I can handle at the moment. There is a lot of reading. Let me re-emphasize that. THERE IS A LOT OF READING!!!!


Here's the deal...I love to read. Adore it in fact. I may even be referred to as a book "junkie". I am a regular visitor of our local library, and have accounts for several online bookstores. Eyebrows are being raised because the UPS man is a regular visitor at our house. I have bookshelves in every room and still not enough room to house all of the books. I would rather read than eat...okay, maybe not that extreme...how about read while eating? The ultimate multitasker. It's a gift.

What I don't like is having to read material that is too easy for the middle schoolers, but way over my 3rd grader's head. (Okay, it's pretty much over my head too, but please don't tell my children!) I wanted to learn...I mean, my kids wanted to learn about "flying creatures", but so far, we are just learning about kingdoms and classes. Now, don't get me wrong, that's great if they are going to be zoologists or veterinarians, but for the everyday...not so great. Really, how often are they going to go outside and classify birds. If there is a bird that they can get up close and personal with, they're going to find a box, make a nest, and hide it in their room. (That's so I can't find it!) I would much rather have them running around in the woods with their magnifying glasses, drawing pictures of little critters, or observing and writing about them. Isn't THAT how kids learn?


So, we are "changing lanes". But this time, we know where we're heading. Back to nature and the library. Back to the simplesness of discovery and notebooking. Call it a homeschooling "perk". Or call it what it is. Learning to love science again!


For free notebooking pages, click here.

Fall and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

As I mentioned in a previous post, this week is a busy one. With our first major storm approaching, we have been keeping a frantic pace, trying to finish outside projects. With minutes to spare, we did it!



The bounty that we received from our garden this year was well worth the hard work that went into it. We successfully harvested onions, cucumbers, beets, peas, black, pinto and green beans, zucchini, carrots, Swiss chard, lettuce, potatoes, amaranth, and more tomatoes than we knew what to do with! What was once a beautiful "oasis", has now turned into a very large compost pile! The bean arbor's are put away, the tomato cages dismantled and the water system have all been stored for the winter and it is time for the garden and the gardeners to rest a spell.

We can also put a check next to stacking the firewood and cleaning the chicken coop. With the entire family pitching in, the outside is ready for the long, cold winter. And so are we!

I visited another blog recently and "borrowed" her recipe for Pumpkin Spice Lattes. As usual, I couldn't leave the recipe in its original form...it needed "tweaking". So I tweaked. But just a little...

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

3 cups milk
3 T. canned pumpkin
3 T. pure maple syrup
3 T. pure vanilla
3/4 t. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup very strong, brewed coffee

Whisk together everything except the coffee in a medium saucepan. Heat until temp. reaches 160 F. Add hot coffee. Pour into coffee mugs and top with freshly whipped cream. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. This fills 2 large "to-go" mugs or 3 human-sized mugs. The original version called for 3 T. white sugar, since we don't use white sugar too often, I replaced it with the maple syrup. The maple and pumpkin mesh very well together!

Mouth-watering Beef Stew

During the colder months of October-April, we rely on 2 favorites for quick, easy, Sunday dinners. One is chili and the other is beef stew. They're not quick as in fast, but once they're in the crockpot, the only thing to worry about is what to serve with them! (Usually cornbread, biscuits or sourdough!) Today I'll share my beef stew recipe. Recently, someone asked for the recipe, and I realized that I didn't have a "recipe" to share! I'm not one to measure or weigh ingredients...again, the "wing it" mentality. So today, I did the correct thing and wrote it all down as I went. Strangely enough, I had never thought to do that before! Looks pretty good on paper, but wait until you try it! Delish!


I start this in a dutch oven on the stove, then transfer to the crockpot. If I'm going to be home all day, I will sometimes put it in the oven. It really depends on what else is going on!




Mouth-watering Beef Stew


1 1/2 lbs. stew meat
1/2 cup flour
2 T. oil (I use coconut oil)

1 cup Merlot (Remember, the alcohol cooks out...this really adds alot of flavor!)
8 cups water (can use 2 quarts of beef broth or homemade stock)
6 T. organic beef soup base, if using water only
1 quart stewed tomatoes
3 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3-4 potatoes, depending on size, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked barley
1 t. each: dried oregano, dried basil, dried marjoram
2 bay leaves, broke in halves to release flavor
1/2 T. salt (or to taste)
1/2 T. ground pepper (or to taste)


Cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Mix with flour. Heat oil in cast-iron pot and add meat/flour mixture. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. (The meat will still be pink.) Add Merlot and turn down to medium/low heat to simmer for 3-5 minutes. The flour and wine will make a thick roux. Add water and soup base, or beef broth. Stir well to release roux from bottom of pot. Now you can add this to your crockpot if you desire. Add remaining vegetables and spices to the pot. For the crockpot, set on low for 8 hours. For the oven, 325 F. for approximately 4 hours. Or, if you wish, leave on the stove to simmer until veggies are cooked through. Remember to remove the bay leaves BEFORE serving! (We once had to "award" the person/persons who "found" the bay leaves...Momma forgot about them!)





Next week, I'll share my chili recipe. But first, I need to make it so I can write down the correct measurements...this could get to be a chore!

The last couple of days have been tough on me emotionally. My daughter, Valerie, moved away. It's not as if she moved to another state, or even to another town. In fact, we live in the same town. We live outside the city limits, she lives inside. And, it's not as if I didn't know this day was coming. She married her beloved husband, Jake, on July 3 of this year. While he is serving with the Army in Iraq, she is staying here, (well, not HERE), and attending nursing school.

Valerie actually moved out about a year ago. I was okay with that since she just moved across the road. Whenever she needed me, I was a holler away. I enjoyed it when she brought up her laundry because I knew that for a couple of hours, she was "home". There were times that I would make one of her favorite meals, just so I could hear her say, "I'll be right there!" And she was. I'm sure that she knew of my deviousness, but she never said anything about it!

As my husband & I were helping our #3 daughter move into her new apartment, I was filled with such pride. My little girl is all grown up. She is an independent young woman with hopes and dreams of her own. She has the courage to venture into new territory, even if it frightens her a bit. And while she doesn't "need" her momma & daddy quite as much, she respects our need to feel needed.

Today I am grateful that Valerie only moved to town. Because for all of my bravado, (at least, in front of Valerie), I am not ready to let go...at least, not all at once.

Shopping results!

Oh my goodness...shopping was difficult today! I cannot believe the amount of people in the stores, and not just 1 or 2 stores, but all of them! Even the feed store was busy today. I guess the bright, sunny weather brought people out of hibernation! In the Pacific Northwest, you just have to take advantage of every dry day...but in the grocery stores? Maybe I'm missing something...

Franz Bakery Outlet

4 loaves whole wheat bread $8.00
2 (6 pack) whole wheat bagels $3.58
2 (8 pack) hamburger buns *FREE*

Subtotal: $11.58

Grocery Outlet

1 quart 1/2 & 1/2 $1.89
6 (1/2 gallon) whole milk $10.14
2 lbs. grated Mexican cheese $5.99
2 bags coleslaw mix $2.38
4 sweet, red peppers $2.00
18 double rolls of t.p. $9.99

Subtotal: $32.39

Winco Foods

1 large bag of organic salad mix $4.98
celery (1.71 lb.) $1.33
Granny Smith apples (4.33 lb.) $4.24
bag of bean sprouts $.98
1/2 lb. smoked salmon $4.32
2 tomatoes (.92 lb.) $1.18
2 lemons $.56
bulk nutritional yeast (.22 lb.) $1.51
bulk parsley (.12 lb.) $.60
tortilla chips $2.38
1 lb. fresh mushrooms $3.56
2 dozen eggs $4.98 (Dang chickens are molting, so no eggs!)

Subtotal: $30.62

Country Village Nutrition Shoppe

1 gallon whole, raw Jersey milk $11.99
2 pints organic heavy whipping cream $8.58
1 quart organic vanilla yogurt $4.99
3 boxes organic mac & cheese $5.67

Subtotal: $31.23

Grand total: $105.82

Menu Plan for 11/2-11/8/09

Wow! Can you believe that it's already November? Winter is fast closing in, so this week my family will be wrapping up the last of the summer and fall chores. This week, we'll be moving our daughter, Valerie, to her new apartment, cleaning up and putting to rest the vegetable garden and flower pots, stacking the last of the firewood, and cleaning out the chicken coop. When all of that is done, my husband & I will finish painting our bedroom and bathroom, a project that we started 2 years ago! All of this will be going on, while we continue our regular routine...at least, that's the plan!

On another note, the virus that I have been battling with the last 2 weeks has struck again! We've got 2 kiddos down for the count...praying for this to be over soon!

The crockpot will be getting a work-out this week!


Monday: Crockpot Whole Grain Breakfast Cereal, blueberries
Leftover Beef Stew, toast
Crockpot Chinese Pepper Steak, brown rice, salad (see Wednesday's post)

Tuesday: Plum Smoothies, cinnamon toast
*Homemade Cream of Mushroom soup, crackers
Apple Cinnamon Pork Tenderloin, (using crockpot)Broccoli Salad, sourdough bread

Wednesday: Apple Pan Goody
Toasted tunafish sandwiches, sliced apples
Cincinnati Chili, (started in the crockpot!), green salad

Thursday: *Nutmeg Coffee Cake, fresh orange/grapefruit juice
Organic boxed macaroni & cheese, carrot sticks
Chicken/Apple sausage, quinoa, steamed broccoli

Friday: Cream of Wheat pudding
Simple nachos, tangerines
*Salmon quiche, coleslaw, buttermilk biscuits

Saturday: Whole wheat waffles, hot chocolate
Leftovers
Lentil Burritos, (crockpot), green salad

Sunday: Homemade granola
Chili, (crockpot), cornbread

Desserts/Snacks: Oatmeal cookie/ice-cream sandwiches, pumpkin bars, spiced apple cider, popcorn

The desserts and snacks will be from recipes I have found. They are not considered "healthy" in their present form, so I'll be doing a little experimenting this week to fix that!

*Recipes*

Homemade Cream of Mushroom soup (from "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook")

1/2 lb. of fresh mushrooms, chopped
2 slices of sweet onion, chopped
2 T. unsalted butter
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
1 cup boiling water
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup cream
2 egg yolks, beaten slightly

Saute the mushrooms & onion in the butter, then transfer to a stockpot, add the chicken stock, and simmer for half an hour. Strain through a sieve. Add the tapioca and boiling water. Simmer 10 minutes. Season as you like. Just before serving, add the cream and egg yolks. Heat thoroughly, taking care not to allow soup to boil. Serve immediately. Serves 6

*Nancy's Nutmeg Coffee Cake (from "The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen" cookbook)

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
2 cups packed light-brown sugar (I use sucanat)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 t. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Use a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in the butter until the mixture looks like sand. Spoon half the mixture into a square 9-inch pan, evenly pressing over the bottom.

Add the egg, sour cream, nutmeg, and baking soda to the remaining flour mixture; mix until well combined. Spoon the batter over the mixture in the pan, spreading evenly. Mix the walnuts and cinnamon in a small bowl and evenly sprinkle over the batter in the pan.

Bake until center is set-about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cut the warm cake into 9 3-inch squares. Serve warm (the crust will be soft), or allow to cool (the crust will be crunchy). Store, covered, in the pan up to 2 days.

*Salmon Quiche* (from "Eat Your Way Through the USA", Alaska)

4-5 oz. smoked salmon, flaked
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 T. flour
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 t. salt
1/8 t. red pepper sauce

Toss salmon, cheese, and onion with the flour. Spread in greased pie pan. Beat eggs slightly, then beat in remaining ingredients. Pour over salmon mixture. Cook uncovered in a 350 F. oven 35-40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. You'll want to double this! Excellent for leftovers!