Closed for Now

So, yeah, I haven't totally abandoned this blog... I promise. But, I've decided to just maintain it as a recipe archive for the time being. I simply don't have time to keep up with multiple blogs at this phase in my life. I'll be moving my food-related posts over to my main blog, Tiny Blessings, for the foreseeable future. Thanks for visiting!

Menu Plan 2/24

A bit late, but here's my plan for the rest of the week. Wednesday and Friday are a little challenging for me- with the beginning of Lent, I won't be eating meat on Fridays, nor on Wednesday of this week. The rest of the family, though, will be eating meat as usual. Here's my plan:

• TUESDAY: steak fajitas, rice, stewed tomatoes
• WEDNESDAY: Potato soup for me (which DH doesn't like)... Hamburger Helper Chili Mac (which I can't stand) for DH... the kids can choose.... everyone will be happy!
• THURSDAY: Roast Chicken in the Crockpot, stuffing, green beans
• FRIDAY: leftovers for the meat eaters, and a new hash brown soup for me-- I'll post the recipe on Friday
• SATURDAY: honey dijon pork loin (pre-seasoned from the grocery store), steamed mixed veggies, parslied potatoes
  

Check out Menu Plan Monday for hundreds of other menus.
Stop by my main blog to enter my coupon giveaway~ deadline is 7pm this Friday!

Menu Plan Monday 2/16/09

This week all of our meals will be made from what's on hand, with one exception: the BBQ ribs my husband has requested. Since these are all ingredients I have on hand, that pretty much also means that these are some of our family's favorite meals. I'll be making a run to two different stores to hit some sales, but other than the ribs and milk, we already have all we'll need for this week's meals.

• MONDAY: my favorite vegetable soup, cold meat and/or grilled cheese sandwiches
• TUESDAY: buffalo chicken subs (chicken tenders sauted in buffalo sauce with lettuce and blue cheese dressing on a sub bun) for the adults, chicken nuggets for the kids; *new recipe* parmesean roasted potato wedges (crockpot), grape tomatoes
• WEDNESDAY: ham steaks, macaroni & cheese, peas
• THURSDAY: our favorite BBQ ribs in the crockpot, corn
• FRIDAY: our favorite beef enchiladas, stewed tomatoes, sweet corn cake

My project for today is to reorganize the pantry and the stockpile-- I'm guessing that there's enough there to eat for at least two more weeks!

Family Favorite: Crockpot Vegetable Soup

This is my own recipe, basically learned from my mom, but now tweaked to suit my (and my husband's) taste. Mom always saved all the leftover vegetables in the freezer, until the container was full. I do that, too... but sometimes we don't have enough leftover vegetables to make soup when we want it, so I came up with this combination of canned veggies that also works well. You could always add/subtract any veggies that you like... green beans, etc. The soup has a tomato broth that we love... credit for that goes to mom. There's nothing better than coming home on a cold day and smelling this soup!

Amy's Easy Homemade Vegetable Soup
2 cans diced tomatoes

2 - 20oz cans Veg-All Homestyle (big chunks of potatoes, carrots, etc.)

1 can corn1 lb stew meat, cubed (Optional- I would leave it out, but DH prefers to have meat in the soup. It will cook in the crockpot. You can brown it if you prefer, but it will cook just fine in the broth.)

2 TBSP cilantro

2 TBSP dried onion flakes

2 TBSP Mrs. Dash

OPTIONAL: a small can of tomato sauce, to make a richer broth

Place stew meat in bottom of crockpot, add dried onion and Mrs. Dash. Dump in the canned vegetables and tomato sauce, top with cilantro. Fill the crockpot the rest of the way with water. Cover and cook on low all day (8 hours or more).

Forgive the repeat-- I'm pulling this out of a previous post that contained several recipes in order to link it up with my menu plan for today.