Menu Plan for the week of April 27th through April 3rd, 2020

Here's my menu plan for the week. But first, I have to share the recipe I made last night on a whim! It was delicious!

https://www.wellplated.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/

We had it over Jasmine rice with naan. The sauce is so good you'll want to eat several pieces of naan just soaking up the goodness! Oh my goodness! So delicious! Make it, eat it, love it!

Monday -       Ham and Shrimp over Grits with Asparagus
Tuesday -       Beef and Bean Tostadas
Wednesday -  It happens to be MY birthday this week and I WILL eat Chinese food!
Thursday -     Burgers, Potato Wedges and Salad
Friday -          Pizza
Saturday -      Date Night - Kids eat Left-overs or Quesadillas and parents eat take-out
Sunday -        Leftovers or Nachos

Ham and Shrimp over Grits

Cook grits according to package. Add butter or cheese or garlic or whatever you like.

Saute 2 cups of cubed ham in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and 1 Tablespoon of butter. When hot and a little browned stir in 1 pound of peeled, deveined small shrimp and a 1/4 cup white wine and 1/4 cup broth. Cook until shrimp is pink. Spoon over grits and serve with broiled asparagus.

Beef and Bean Tostadas

Put taco meat and beans on tostadas and top with veggies. Ha! How is something so simple so good?! I'm going to experiment with making refried beans in the instant pot this week. Unless I get busy then I'll just open a can.

Three Birthdays in Quarantine

As promised, here are some pictures from last week's birthdays!

First, we celebrated our Busy Lizzy! Sweet Lizzy had been planning her 13th birthday since her 12th birthday. It would have included a party at Totally 80's Pizza in Fort Collins with her Olive Tree friends and a gymnastics themed sleepover with her Laramie friends. Hopefully, once stay-at-home orders pass we can do these things for her. Instead, we had a sweet and simple day. I bought her requested favorite breakfast foods (Fruity Pebbles and grape juice) then we got Chili's for lunch and ate it while social-distancing with my parents. My mom is Lizzy's best friend. They knit, sew, and eat Subway every Sunday after church.

Lizzy's Birthday morning 

We replaced Lizzy's cracked and broken hand-me-down iPhone with a new iPhone 7. She was very surprised.

We let Lizzy pick any movie to watch and she picked "Doc Hollywood". While we had to edit it quite a bit, it was funny and took Mike and me back in time. (See what I did there with a Michael J. Fox reference?!)

Lizzy insisted on making her own cake and it was amazing!

Rachel added the gummy bear. Isn't it beautiful?!

The next day was Josiah's 26th birthday. Since he lives in Fort Collins, we weren't able to see him. We sent a fun card and talked to him a few times during the day. Jacob was the Dungeon Master for an online D&D party that night for Josiah and his friends, which we were told was really fun! Michaela sent me a few photos of this amazing guy!

Josiah and Teddy 

Josiah, Gabriel, and Michaela

Josiah leaves for boot camp on May 18th. He's joined the Army Reserve. After May 4th he can't see anyone but his own family to quarantine. We do and will miss him so much!

Finally, we celebrated Tim's 18th birthday. It's very hard to know what to do to make an 18-year old's day fun and special when you can't leave the house. Like we did for Lizzy, I "made" his favorite breakfast foods (Lucky Charms, a Frappuccino, and a Bacon & Gouda sandwich).  His sweet girlfriend, whose name also happens to be Makayla, took him out to lunch. We ordered pizza for dinner and watched Happy Gilmore (his request). I think he had a nice day. Once the golf courses open he'll have a big golf day with his brothers and dad. 

This year's birthdays were certainly memorable and unique. Back in the day, during this week, we would wake up early each of the three days to decorate and set-up for the next birthday. It was exhausting but so much fun! We'd go from a fairy theme to an army guy theme to a fishing theme all within 72 hours! By the third day, I'd pray that Tim wanted ice cream instead of cake! He never did. 

Menu Plan for the Week of April 20th through 26th, 2020

It's "birthday week" at the Stephens' house which means fun meals and celebrating!

Of the twelve of us, there are five birthdays in April! Three of which are one after another this week!

For all three we will celebrate in isolation and make up for the lack of party guests with extra cake and, possibly, wine.

Monday -       Burgers, Waffle Fries and Veggies
Tuesday -       Lizzy's Birthday - Lettuce Wraps & Potstickers
Wednesday -  Joe's Birthday - Shrimp Tacos with Coleslaw
Thursday -     Tim's Birthday - Undecided
Friday -          Pizza
Saturday -      Date Night - Kids eat Left-overs or Quesadillas and parents eat take-out
Sunday -        Baked Potato Skins and Wedge Salads

I don't have many recipes to share here but I do really like this lettuce wrap recipe:

https://damndelicious.net/2014/05/30/pf-changs-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

I actually like every recipe I have tried from that website. Yum!

For Shrimp Tacos I simply saute shrimp in garlic butter which we put in tortillas topped with shredded cabbage, chipotle ranch and feta cheese! Super delicious!

I'll share pictures of our celebrations throughout the week!

Menu Plan for April 13th through April 19th, 2020

Here's my menu plan for the week:

Monday -       Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Salad
Tuesday -       White Chicken Chili
Wednesday -  Chili Dogs and Tater Tots
Thursday -     Ham and Bean Soup
Friday -          Pizza
Saturday -      Date Night - Kids eat Left-overs or Quesadillas and parents eat take-out
Sunday -        Huevos Rancheros Tostadas (basically a tostada with a fried egg on top)

Meatloaf

2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 1/2 cups of milk
9 slices of white bread with crust removed
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 eggs, beaten

Sauce

1 1/2 cups ketchup
a dash of Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Soak bread in milk for several minutes. (I make the sauce while it soaks.) Once the bread is really mushy add remaining ingredients and mix together with your hands, thoroughly. Form into loaf and place in 9X13 pan. Spoon 1/2 of sauce on top and bake at 350 for 1 hour. (If you use a high-fat ground meat mixture, drain the pan once or twice while baking.) Remove from the oven and spoon on the remaining sauce. Turn oven to broil and broil meatloaf for a few minutes watching carefully so as not to burn. Let sit for 15 minutes before eating.

White Chicken Chili

8-10 cups chicken broth (I made mine using the bones from last weeks Roast Sticky Chicken)
4 cups shredded chicken (I save the leftover shredded chicken from tacos for this purpose)
2 small cans green chilis
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans white beans, drained
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups corn kernels, canned or frozen
12 oz. cream cheese, in chunks

Saute onion and garlic until tender. Add remaining ingredients except for cream cheese. Simmer for 20 minutes then add cream cheese and stir until melted. If you desire a thicker soup, pulverize one can of beans in a food processor before adding.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese and tortilla chips.

Chili Dogs

Hot dogs + Chili + Buns = Eli's Favorite Food (at least this week)

Ham & Bean Soup

8-10 cups ham broth (I made mine using the bone leftover from Easter)
2 cans white beans, drained
4 cups diced ham
4 stalks celery, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
2 cups frozen peas
1 onion, diced
2 teaspoon garlic

Saute veggies until onion and celery are tender. Add the rest of ingredients except peas. When carrots are tender add peas. Serve with Cheddar Biscuits or Corn Bread.

Christ in the Passover Celebration

We had the most lovely celebration last night. It was thoughtful, subdued and beautiful. Subdued is hard to find at my house and I was thankful for the quietness of the evening.

Mike and I combined the books we had on the subject of "Christian Passover" to create a simple, yet thoughtful, presentation to the kids. We wanted to be sure they understood that we weren't pretending to be Jewish or making light of what the Passover means to our Jewish friends. We simply wanted to celebrate who Christ is, was and forever will be in light of the Passover celebration. Maybe next year I'll compile what we did, to share.

The kids and I spent the afternoon cooking and decorating. I will list the recipes I used at the bottom of the post. Everything turned out delicious!

Rachel and Lizzy

Rachel mixing the potato mixture for Latkes.

Ben, while handsome and present, was really not helpful at all. ;-)

The table setting. How odd it is that 8 guests seemed so lonely and small.

 Our seder plate. Mike bought this for me when he went to Israel for work several years ago. 

Isn't' it just lovely?!

The complete meal minus the wine/grape juice. We set this aside for Tim, who had to work. 

Many of our family dinners turn into a jovial, rowdy feast. This can be super fun but I really didn't want this dinner to devolve into jokes and chaos. Like Mike says, "Can't our dinners be more like dinner at a parochial school and less like dinner at a frat house?!" This celebration was thankfully subdued and relaxing. 

Here are the recipes I used:

Roast Sticky Chicken 

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 onions, quartered
•  2 whole chickens

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion into the cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hours. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place chicken in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 5 hours. 

* I used one whole chicken and 4 large breasts. I also splayed the chicken and put a layer of sliced onions under the chicken.

Before

After

Matzo Ball Soup

1 package Matzo Ball mix

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped

1/2 onion, diced

1 T minced garlic

1 cup frozen peas

8-12 cups chicken broth

Prepare Matzo ball mix and chill until ready to form into balls and cook. Saute veggies in olive oil until onion is tender. Pour in chicken broth and simmer until carrots are tender. Add peas. Bring to a boil and drop in Matzo balls. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Serve. 

Latkes

4 potatoes

1/2 yellow onion

2 eggs

1/4 cup plain bread crumbs or Matzo meal

2 t salt

1 t pepper

vegetable oil

Using a box grater or food processor grate potatoes, unpeeled, and onion. Place in colander and press down trying to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Pour into a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a large cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat until it sizzles/bubbles when you drop a tiny piece of grated potato into it. Gently form potato mixture into small patties and place in oil. Cook until golden on each side. Place cooked latkes on a paper towel covered cookie sheet and keep warm in a 200-degree oven until ready to serve. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

These were amazingly delicious! 

Menu Plan for the week of April 6th through April 12th, 2020

Here's my menu plan for the week:

Monday -       Sausage, Shrimp, Peppers, and Potatoes
Tuesday -       Shredded Chicken Tacos or Tostadas
Wednesday -  Passover Dinner - Roasted Chicken/Lamb, Potato Pancakes, Cucumber Salad, Matzo                           Ball Soup
Thursday -     Beef Vegetable Soup
Friday -          Pizza
Saturday -      Date Night - Kids eat Left-overs or Quesadillas and parents eat take-out
Sunday -        EASTER - Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Asparagus, Bunny Biscuits, Fruit Salad (green                            grapes, fresh pineapple and fresh strawberries) and Deviled Eggs

Sausage, Peppers, and Potatoes

1 Kielbasa or other large sausage
1 bag mini-potatoes, whole, or 6 regular potatoes, cubed
1 bell pepper, cubed
1 onion, cubed
1 head of garlic, separated and cleaned
1 small butternut squash, cubed
1 bag of small shrimp, cooked

Cut all ingredients except the small shrimp to approximately the same size. Toss all of the ingredients except the shrimp onto a large roasting pan or cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning or Old Bay seasoning or a generous amount of salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for approx. 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft when punctured. While this is cooking defrost cooked shrimp by running under cold water. Five minutes before taking the pan out of the oven toss in the shrimp to heat through. Take out of the oven, taste to see if it needs more seasoning and serve.

Shredded Chicken Tacos 

4 chicken breasts
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t garlic salt
1 can refried beans
taco shells, tortillas or tostadas
shredded cheese
sour cream
salsa

Place chicken breasts and seasoning in a crockpot and cook all day on low. Shred with forks when done and fill tacos, tortillas or tostadas adding whatever toppings you like.

Passover Dinner

I haven't figured out my recipes for this yet. Several years ago I did this to teach the kids how the Passover points to Christ. Once all of the kids got older, I found it more difficult to do this activity because life became so busy with jobs and sports and practices of this or that. This year, since I have all the time in the world at hand, I thought it would be a great time to do this again. I just wish I could invite all of our extended family and older kids to join us. Jews for Jesus has great resources for this! When Mike went to Israel several years ago one of the gifts he brought home was a Seder plate for such an occasion. I'll post about our evening later in the week.

Beef Vegetable Soup

8 - 12 cups beef broth
1 pound ground beef, cooked
1 cup of each kind of vegetable I have on hand, chopped or diced
I will include onion, garlic, green beans, carrots, zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 T Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese

Saute veggies in olive oil then add remaining ingredients. Simmer until carrots are cooked through and serve topped with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

I'll post my Easter recipes later in the week. :-)

Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes!

A few weeks ago, when people lost their minds and stormed the grocery stores, I was stunned to see how much worthless food people bought! I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes worthless food is delicious and we all need a treat now and then! But, if you think the apocalypse is upon us and you're down to your last $100, don't stock up on a carnival-themed, sugar-laced cereal or neon-colored yogurt!!! Buy food that you can stretch, make last and fills you up with nutrition! A whole chicken to shred and make soup with or beans and rice or POTATOES!

A while back our local, little grocery store had 5-pound bags of potatoes for $1.50. Each bag had approximately 6 to 8 potatoes. Even if you just eat a good-ole, plain baked potato that's a cheap meal but what if I told you I could double that?!  

First, wash the potatoes well and put a small slice down the long side. By that I mean if you set the potato on the counter so that it is sitting on the flat-ish side, you want to put a small slice not on the top which is flat but on the side. 

Then, bake potatoes in the microwave or oven. In the microwave, it should take approximately 10 minutes and in the oven, it should take between 60 and 75 minutes. Check on the smaller potatoes 3/4 of the way through the cooking time because they will cook faster than the large potatoes.

Next, let cool for ten minutes or so. Once you can handle them, without burning your hand, slice in half length-wise. Scoop the insides out and place them in a bowl and line a cookie sheet with the skin shells to freeze for future use.

Now, with the yummy, white insides you could make potato soup, mashed potatoes, the topping for Shepherd's Pie, Potato Bread or use to thicken soup. 

With the nutritious skins, you can make filled potato skins! Top with pizza fixings or taco fixings or broccoli and cheese or bacon bits, cheese, and sour cream ... so many options! We like this for dinner on Sunday nights because it's easy and I can use up any leftover meat or veggies from the week. 

The skins freeze well. The inside of the potato gets a bit grainy when you freeze it unless you add broth or dairy to keep it from drying out. 

There ya go! Two meals for the price of one!