My menu

Okay those of you who know me know that I am crazy scheduler/planner. When I go grocery shopping I make a menu for at least 2 weeks and buy everything that I will need to complete those meals. Chris told me to post my menu so here is the last two weeks and then next week. It always turns out that the menu lasts longer than the two weeks because things always turn up like birthday parties and last minute date nights and stuff but anyway here it is.

Mon 17th (St Pattys Day) - corned beef and cabbage (not a normal thing in our household but we love it once a year)
Tues- Homemade Pizza and green salad (Winco sells balls of dough for 98cents, which totally takes a big step away, and then I just add what we like on it. I make my own sauce out of tomatoes, olive oil, basil and garlic.)
Wed - ***Random Date Night
Thurs - Cream Cheese Chicken (recipe from this blog) over pasta with brocolli on the side.
Fri - BBQ Bacon Hambergers with fries (we mix in BBQ sause while shapping our hamburger and also put sause on the bacon and BBQ it as well. - it is delicious and adds flavor that you will make you never go back the old way. - family secret)
Sat - ***Birthday party we were asked to bring a side so I brought jello dump salad
Sun - Easter Dinner - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Jello Salad, green salad, carrots, green beans, rolls and carrot cake.

Mon - Leftovers from Easter Dinner
Tues - Sloppy Joes ( I have a really random recipe that is delicous and you just put it on a bun, we ate it with corn and chips)
Wed - BBC bowtie pasta (this is a recipe I got from real simple - it is delicious and only takes 20 minutes from start to finish - it has bacon, brocolli, corn (sometimes chicken chunks) and bowtie pasta - it is yummy)
Thurs - Hot BBQ ham sandwhiches
Fri - *** Date Night
Sat - BBQ chicken with aug potatoes
Sun - Pork chops with rice and squash

Mon - Homemade Chicken Pot Pie (recipe from family fun you make the "gravy" add chicken and veggies put in cassorole dish and raw biscuits on top (I use a can of refridgerator biscuits) and then bake - it is really yummy)
Tues - Homemade pizza again (I bought two dough balls when I went to the store and so I need to use the rest of the pepperoni and bell pepper)
Wed - Tacos with mex rice and refried beans (rice - tomato sause, oil and garlic salt and the beans - can of pinto beans put the whole thing in a fry pan (don't drain) add pepper and salt and garlic to taste (I like mine peppery) and smash them up and the liquid cooks off and simmers away and the beans are delicious) I make extra for later.
Thurs - Lazagana (beef, cheese, sause and cottage cheese and noodles in layers) with salad and bread and a veggie.
Fri - Chicken Enchiladas (chicken, tortillas, cheese and green ench sause) with leftover rice and beans.
Sat - Chinese noodles and chicken with veggies (slice chicken breast really thin and marinate in soy sause, vinigar, garlic and b sugar and fry until done remove from pan, and take top ramen cooked until still a little firm, drained put on fry pan that you cooked chicken in with oil and soy sause - and fry until a little crispy) eat with steamed veggie.

Thats all folks!

farmer basics

Things that I can remember making in the past week or so.
Spinach Alfredo Lasagna
1. 12 oz. lasagna noodles
2. 1 lb bulk pork sausage you can also use a couple shredded up chicken breasts
3. 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained or use a few handuls of fresh spinach chopped up
4. 1 jar alfredo sauce (I make my own: ½ cup butter, 8 oz. cream cheese, ¾ cup parmesan cheese, 1 cup milk (just melt all together until smooth.)
5. ½ tsp salt
6. ¼ tsp pepper
7. 1 egg
8. 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
9. 1 carton ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
10. ½ cup parmesan cheese
11. 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Soak noodles in hot water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in skillet, brown the sausage. Drain noodles; set aside. Drain sausage and add spinach, alfredo sauce, salt and pepper. Combine egg and cheddar, ricotta, and parmesan cheeses; mix well. In an ungreased 9x13 pan, layer 1/3 of sausage mixture, noodles, and cheese mixture. Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Ham hock soup (with my left over Easter ham

1 pound navy beans
2 quarts boiling water
2 ham hocks or a meaty ham bone
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
chopped ham or ham from the meaty bone
salt and pepper to taste (I add a little seasoned salt along with regular)
PREPARATION:
Wash beans; place in a large bowl and add boiling water. Let beans soak for a few hours. Simmer ham bone or hocks with the beans until beans are tender. Remove bones and chop ham. Add chopped onions and celery. Add water to make about 1 gallon. Add ham meat, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook about 30 minutes longer. Navy bean soup recipe serves 12 or more.

I had this last night at a Relief Society Party. Everyone loves this recipe
Sweet and Crunchy Chinese Salad
1. ½ cup red wine vinegar
2. ¼ cup vegetable oil
3. ¼ cup water
4. 1 tbsp. soy sauce
5. 2 tbsp sugar
6. ¼ cup butter
7. 2 pkgs. Ramen noodles
8. ½ cup slivered almonds
9. 1 head bok choy or romaine lettuce or a combination of both
10. 4 scallions, finely chopped
11. ½ cup dried cranberries or 1 can mandarin oranges
12. ¾ lb. cooked chicken, chopped
In medium jar, combine vinegar, oil, water, soy sauce and sugar. Shake thoroughly to combine, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Discard flavoring packet from noodles. Break the noodles into small pieces. Sauté noodles and almonds, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Combine the bok choy or lettuce, scallions and dried cranberries in a large bowl. Toss with dressing (you probably won’t need all of it), noodles, nuts, and chicken just before serving, so the salad doesn’t wilt.

Hawaiian haystacks, chili, spaghetti, stew, fajitas...

those are some favorites too.

BASICS?....

Stokes Basics

Ok so i have had some request for the basics - no need to just put your fanciest meal - tell us what your making for dinner - whether it is a recipe or not - If you are like me you just slap some things together and call it dinner...

here is what we had for dinner last week - 

Monday - Baked Chicken w/ Spaghetti Sauce

Just stuck the chicken in a baking dish poured Spaghetti Sauce and a little salt & pepper & Baked till done ate over pasta!

Also had Asparagus and Salad and Cottage Cheese

I don't know why cottage cheese always goes with red sauce in my mind?

I think the Monroe's did it to me w/ their Spaghetio's & Cottage cheese?

Anyway..

Tuesday - Leftovers - Spaghetti & Chicken

Most of our meals last 2 days - Only 2 Adults Eating... Kind of nice

Wednesday - Pork Chops & Pinapples MMMMMM

Just threw 4 chops in a skillet with 1/2 a cup of chicken stalk some seasonings  and garlic 

threw some fresh Pinapple in cooked till meat was browned and stalk was mostly gone - ate it over Rice

Thursday - Fakie Pizzas

Flat Bread or Pita Bread

Pizza Sauce 

Cream Cheese

Turkey Pepperoni

Spread Cream cheese onto the Flat Bread

spread sauce over that place pepperoni on top 

Microwave for 45 seconds 

i know it's weird but I really liked it!

Friday - Pulled BBQ Pork Wraps

{Wraps} Because my silly husband was already passed the store when I called and asked if he would bring buns home...

MMMM these were so good & soo easy - 

Throw A Giant pork Roast into the crock pot

with a bottle of your Favorite BBQ Sauce

Cook on High for 6 hours

Shredd the meat...

And you are done

Saturday - Leftover Pork Roast

Sunday - Strawberry Shortcake! Love Grandmother White!

Make the Shortcake Recipe on the side of your Bisquick Box

Spread the mix onto a cookie sheet ( I think we triple or quadruple the recipe)

About 1 1/2 inches thick

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes as instructed

Mix 5 basket of strawberries (smashed)

1 pint of Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Quart of Half & Half

1 cup of sugar or until sweet enough for you...

pour mixture over top and Enjoy!!!

If you feel so inspired - let us know what you had for dinner last week- even if they are not really recipes - or give us your menu plan for this week - I am not personally that organized - but that is just me --- 

Thanks

Chris Stokes

OK .... so what are we all making for Easter Dinner?!
Can you believe it is here already - Wasn't it just CHRISTMAS last week!? -
Come on I need some assistence! We are very new to this cooking our own Holiday meals thing - What are some of your Family Favorites and traditional dishes! Help Me out over here - I have no family to Mooch off of this year!

By the way found this great Easter Egg Decorating Idea off of a friends Blog --- Idea coming from none other than MARTHA herself - I have to say the lady drives me bonkers - but they are coming up with some great ideas over in her "evil" little workshop! JK - she is great.

Stenciled Eggs

Martha did it again! Here is the project in her own words:

With stencils made of waterproof vinyl adhesive tape and cut-out shapes, you can create perfectly rendered patterns on your Easter eggs. Make plaid, polka-dotted, punctuated, or monogrammed eggs, or create your own designs. Any color that you cover with tape will remain unchanged throughout the process. The instructions below are for creating the plaid egg.

Tools and Materials

Eggs
Food coloring
Waterproof vinyl adhesive tape and stencils
Burnishing tool (available at art-supply stores)
Small bowls
Paper towel


Stenciled Eggs How-To

1. Start with a white egg or one dyed a pale color. Band the egg twice lengthwise with a 1/4-inch-wide masking tape, repositioning as necessary to get a tight fit. Firmly rub the tape with your fingernail or a burnishing tool so that the dye can't seep underneath.

2. Dip egg into dye, raising and dipping until the color deepens as desired. Blot egg with a paper towel. Let dry ten minutes. Remove tape.

3. Band the egg's width with tape at its widest point, then repeat to make smaller circles around each end. (Try alternating wide strips of tape with narrow ones.) Burnish, dye, and dry as before.

4. Remove tape. If you used a raw egg, carefully blow out contents

Addicted

This is so easy & really so, so good & completely stolen. My sister went to Cafe Rio when she was out west & loved their cilantro dressing so she found it on the internet. I highly recommend it. It's always a huge success with some tortilla chips around here...

1 1/3 C Sour Cream
3/4 Mayo
1 Bunch Cilantro
1 package Ranch Dressing Mix
4 T salsa verde
2 cloves Garlic
1/8 t tobbasco sauch
1 juice of lime

Just put it all in the blender & mix it all up & YUMMMMMM!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Corned Beef Hash Patties1-1/2 cups shredded and coarsely chopped, cooked corned beef brisket 3 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and coarsely shredded 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 cup butterIn a large bowl, combine corned beef, potatoes, onion and pepper. Shape mixture into four patties, each about 4 inches in diameter. In a very large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add patties and cook for 5 minutes. Turn and cook for 5 minutes more or until golden brown. Serve patties hot and crispy from the skillet. Makes 4 servings.

Sugar?

I Read this - this morning - & thought it was funny - Funny because it is true - I think we have all set out to make sure our little babies get only the best of nutrition and somewhere along the way reality sets in - This is the story of my life - Brayden is getting better - but usually will not touch anything green with a ten foot pole!
What kinds of things do you do or offer your children to try to integrate healthier items into their diets?

Do you know that I once had a theory that if you fed Children nothing but nutritious foods, with no additives, preservatives, or sugar, they would learn to prefer these foods?
I should have recognized the reality at the first birthday party, When tradition triumphed over nutrition and I made a chocolate cake for the guest of honor. He put a fistful in his mouth and gave me a look I would not see again until I brought our next baby home from the hospital and told him that the baby was going to stay. The cake look, roughly translated, said,

" You've been holding out on me."

He of course set about catching up... The barber gave him lollipops the dry cleaner a tootsie roll. At the circus he had cotton candy, which is the part of the balance of nature designed to offset wheat germ.
The other night for dinner he was having vegetable lasagna and garlic bread, picking out the zucchini, the spinach, even the parsley - "all the green stuff" - Eating only the parts of the bread that had butter.

"Know what my favorite 

food is, Mom?" He said. "Sugar."


Anna Quindlen
Living Out Loud (1988)

Bread Machine Wheat Bread...

Well - I have always been sort of intimidated by our food storage -- And I have all this wheat that Carol has been so kind kind to give us - She often gives food storage or preparedness items to us for Christmas - She has given me all the tools to be able to do this - I even Have a wheat Grinder! - so what am I so afraid of - well I thought recently that maybe if I had a Breadmaker recipe to use my wheat in it wouldn't be so scary - so I search the internet for a recipe with whole wheat flour that I could do in the bread machine &  yesterday I buckled down & Tried it out --- And you know what - not so scary --- 

Brayden Actually did most of the work - Go Brayden...
I felt Really fancy at the store buying Vital Wheat Gluten & Flax seeds -
What the heck is that!

It really came out so perfect ---
Tastes just like the fancy bread I've been buying lately!
Even Better! Yay Me!
Can you tell that I am
quite Proud of Myself!


So Here it is ---

100% Whole Wheat Bread

For 1 1/2 lb. bread machine
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
3 cups 100% Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup sunflower sesame or flax seeds, or a combination
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Put all of the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed.
Making sure to not let the Yeast touch the water yet
( I make a little hole in the flour and pour the yeast into that)

Program for basic white bread, and press Start.

And Walla! Almost no thinking invovled - My kind of baking!

Good Luck!

Yummy Italian dessert!

Olive Garden's Chocolate Ricotta Pie

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Filling:

1 lb ricotta cheese

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup toasted almonds

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

MIX graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar together in a bowl. Shape inside 9” pie plate. If crust is too crumbly, add a small amount of butter so crumbs will hold together. Allow to cool.
COMBINE ricotta, confectioner’s sugar, and almond extract in a bowl and set aside.
COMBINE almonds and chocolate. Chop together in a food processor; do not chop too fine.
FOLD together cheese mix and chopped almond & chocolate and chill.
WHIP heavy cream until stiff. Fold into ricotta and chocolate mix half at a time.
SPOON into chilled crust and let sit overnight before serving.

Serve with chocolate sauce, if desired

white chile

Here's what we ate tonight after coming in from playing in the snow.
White Chile
couple breasts of chicken cooked and cubed
1 can of chicken broth
1 cut up onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
two cans of northern white beans drained
1 diced green pepper
1 can diced green chiles
I also chopped up some cauliflower very finely and threw it in so I could get another veggie in my kids tummy. It's the right color and doesn't change the flavor at all...in my opinion.
Throw it all in a pot and let it simmer for a good long while until the veggies are cooked. Top with lots of monterey jack cheese and tortilla chips. Mmmmm...was it good.

cream cheese mmm...

Hey ya'll. I'm new here...but I've been mentioned. I guess I'm the cream cheese girl. Inspired by that comment I decided to make an old favorite of mine that I haven't made in awhile. My cream cheese enchiladas.
Corn or Flour Tortillas ( I like corn better)
filling for enchiladas are as follows
three to four chicken breasts
cup of cooked rice (I use brown)
cube of cream cheese
can of diced mexican style tomatoes
mix and fill up tortillas. top with green enchilada sauce and cheese. serve with salad and black beans. mmmmm....now I am going to go enjoy this meal. Happy eating.
-April