Menu Plan for the Week of November 1, 2010

I haven't posted a menu plan in ages ... in fact I even took the sidebar of the list off since I was just rotating through the basics. Well, I've had my fill of the basics and want to better track our groceries to pinch pennies soooooo....



MONDAY
Breakfast - Cereal/Oatmeal with fried ham
Lunch - Bean Burritos
Dinner - Spaghetti/Spaghetti Squash with Italian Sausage
*Start 2 loaves of Italian bread after breakfast.
**Make muffins after lunch for Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY
Breakfast - Pumpkin Muffins
Lunch - Mac 'n Cheese
Dinner - Chili and Cornbread (courtesy of Grandpa and his traditional Halloween Chili)
*Make cornbread after breakfast.
**Stir together pancake dry ingredients after lunch.
***Defrost chickens after dinner.

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Baked Potatoes
Dinner - Roast Chicken, Acorn Squash, Baked Rice and Applesauce

THURSDAY
Breakfast - English Muffins
Lunch - Ramen
Dinner - Crustless Quiche with Fruit Salad

FRIDAY
Breakfast - Toast
Lunch - PB&J or Ham Sandwiches
Dinner - Pizza
*Make pizza dough after breakfast and refrigerate.
**Defrost pork loin.

SATURDAY
Breakfast - Chocolate Waffles
Lunch - Cheese Quesadillas
Dinner - BBQ Pork, Fried Potatoes and Green Beans
*Make Sunday bundt cakes and defrost sausage.

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Bundt Cake and Sausage
Lunch - Tacos
Dinner - Nachos (actually we have a special recipe but I forgot the name of it in Spanish ... it's essentially tortilla chips, black beans, Salsa, a fried egg, shredded cheese and sour cream ... the kids love this surprisingly.)

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 T minced garlic (oh, yeah, we love garlic!)
1 bell pepper, diced
2 cans V8 or 1 can tomato sauce plus one can water or 2 cans diced tomatoes pureed
4 cups red beans or pinto beans or whatever kind of beans
1 package sausage, sliced
1 t garlic salt
6 splashes of hot sauce
1/4 cayenne pepper
1/2 t oregano

Saute veggies. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until dinner time. Serve on top of rice. Yum, yum, yum!

Fall has fallen and Anna is seven ...

It was so difficult to remain focused this week. Cool fall weather, beautiful leaves, a darling baby and a birthday dominated our thoughts, senses and emotions.

Big brother Timothy with fast growing baby Elijah.
Elijah had his 2 month check up this week and is TEN pounds! He's up to the 25th percentile in weight and 20th percentil in height. He's really thriving in the outside world.
"I love this baby!" shouts Timothy.
Elijah responding, "Oh, brother."
Exhausted from all this lovin'.
Anna's birthday breakfast ... butterfly balloons and Lucky Charms ... her choice ... not mine.
Anna has wanted this leopard for 2 years ... I finally figured after that long waiting she'd be pretty surprised and she was. She even took it with her to her birthday dinner at Red Robin and put it in a highchair drinking half and half from my coffee. The staff at Red Robin certainly has a sense of humor and humored us greatly. It was a special dinner with just Mom and Anna.
Anna was very excited to get a Lego house. We have a veritable Lego village in our play room and a few of the other kids have genuine Lego houses. She liked this one because it came with a dog ... that's my Anna.
Timothy used his own Legos to build Anna a horse pulled wagon and picnic table. He even wrapped them with scraps of paper and a ton of box tape. Rachel wrapped up a few of her toys and gave them to Anna. Very sweet. Now, Lizzy on the other hand, used the distraction of the wrapping of random presents to sneak a piece of Anna's gum ... oh, Lizzy.
Luke studying chess while holding Elijah's hand. How sweet is that?! I'm pretty sure if Luke has any say Elijah's first words will be, "check mate."

To cap off the week we went to Park Day where they older kids play soccer, the girls play and I get to visit with friends. It was cool and cloudy but the leaves were beautiful and everyone was happy.

Hiking Horsetooth

While the girls, Elijah and I prepared for Anna's party the boys took the morning to go hike Horsetooth. Poor Josiah had class but Mike, Luke, Benjamin, Jacob and Timmy left early and had lunch over looking Fort Collins.

Resting along the way ... Benjamin, Timothy, Jacob and Luke.
The view on the way up ... well, and probably on the way down too ... ha.
Benjamin, Luke, Jacob and Timothy. I was nervous for Timothy to do this as he seems young and has asthma but he did great. No problems at all. Cutie!

Yes, these are my very silly boys ...


Luke











Benjamin











Jacob ... the mom in me thought or screeched, "Are you on the edge of a cliff?!!?" He wasn't. Very funny boys.










Timothy

More of the view on the way up ...

At the top ... they called us from here.
The view from the top! Worth the climb! We live in such a beautiful place!

Anna's 7th Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated Anna's 7th birthday! What a wonderful, wonderful day!

Rachel, Jennifer Andreski, Jaylee Box, Elizabeth, Anna and Sophie Singer
Preparing for the pinata. These sweet children lined up to take turns to hit and then decided to just let Anna hit the pinata until it broke! What amazingly gracious children!
Anna swinging! My brother, Patrick, was master of the pinata.
Gathering the goodies!
A combination of fairy, princess, bride, butterfly girls! So sweet fluttering around the backyard all day!
Opening presents. Anna was very blessed by generous friends and family.
The older kids played football, tug 'o war and tied themselves in knots while the butterfly girls frolicked.
The butterfly cake.
Baxter and Kathrine Ong with Mary

Pumpkin Biscuits

PUMPKIN-PECAN BISCUITS

2 c. all-purpose flour 1/4 c. sugar 4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. each ground cinnamon and nutmeg 1/2 c. butter, cut into pieces 1/3 c. chopped pecans, toasted 2/3 c. mashed, cooked fresh pumpkin, or canned solid-pack pumpkin 1/3 c. half and half 1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 2. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles small peas. Stir in pecans. 3. In a glass measuring cup, combine pumpkin and half and half. Stir into flour mixture. Dough should be stiff. 4. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead several times. If dough is too wet to handle, add more flour. Pat dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out with 2-inch cutter. 5. Place biscuits on lightly greased baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. 6. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with butter and honey. Makes 12 to 16. *I omitted the pecans because I have a few "nut haters" in my midst ... crazy people I tell you. **I used pumpkin from our garden ... yum. ***As always I used part whole wheat flour ... I think maybe 1/4 of it was whole wheat. With biscuits if you use too much whole wheat they are too heavy and dense. These are hands-down the best biscuits I've ever made. I made them the night before and froze the uncooked biscuits. They are light and soft and not crumbly. Wonderful.

Pumpkins and squash and children oh my ...

Today we picked 22 pumpkins, 31 spaghetti squash, 23 acorn squash and 25 pounds of potatoes from our garden! Who knew so much could fit in such a small space! The spaghetti squash must be the dominant squash as it suffocated the watermelon, cantalope and eggplant!

Rachel and Elizabeth
Elizabeth, Anna, Ben and Timothy
Timothy
Rachel
Anna more interested in bugs than gardening.
Benjamin
The bounty.
And to cap off the day Timothy caught an itty bitty garden snake which I made him release when the sun set. I hate snakes (but he was kinda cute)!