menus

Just a start of what I prepare for dinner.
More to come.
All directions/recipes available upon request.

 Bacon, eggs and hashbrowns
 Tacos
 Chili
 Blt's
 Chicken pasta salad (with peas, bacon and parm)
 Ham, rice and pineapple
 Grilled chicken sandwiches
 Waffles and sausage
 Mac and cheese and keilbasa
 Leftovers
 Grilled chicken salad
 Baked potatoes
 Hamburgers

Egg Rolls

After a very long hiatus (6 years), we made egg rolls tonight. 

We have been dissatisfied with everything out there. 

I mixed 1# ground pork(not sausage with added flavorings and chemicals) with 1TB soy sauce, 2 tsp corn flour, 1tsp sesame oil and a bit of garlic. Let marinate in fridge awhile.

Brown the pork, chopping into small bits as it cooks. 

Meanwhile, 1/4 head red cabbage, 1/2 head green cabbage, 1 carrot get shredded. 3 sliced green onions. More soy sauce, garlic, pepper, salt and a bit of mustard powder. I can't tell you how much.

Mix it all together with the pork.

I heated oil in a large pan while Age scooped and rolled.

Start frying.

Golden Brown and Delicious. (GBD)

I think we need a bigger plate ;)

We made a double batch. Each pack of egg roll wrappers has 20. They can be found refrigerated near tofu and bagged salad at the grocer. Ours made 38. I stripped the last two and fried them.

Next time we won't wait so long.

Apple of my Pie

Expecting my brother, his girlfriend and two others, I made Nutella cookies and apple pie.
Though usually undeterred by snow, they hit a strong storm before the pass and decided to turn back.
That leaves lots of cookies and pie for my family.
yum.

Dinner!
It would seem as though my main responsibility in this household is preparing food.
I try to menu plan, but rarely get more than 5 days.
The last brainstorm was a doozy.
I shall enlighten you.

homemade pizza topped with pepperoni, red onion and mixed bell peppers.

Green curry chicken served over rice.

Stuffed green peppers

Baked chicken (in crock pot) with garlic smashed potatoes, biscuits, something green and chocolate chip cookeys.

Chicken Pot Pie- home made, assuming there is left-over chicken.

Potluck at church!

Meatloaf, smashed potatoes and something green.

Orichette with brown butter pecans and bacon

Thyme Steak, broccoli, baked fries, corn

Broccoli-cheddar soup with ham

Friend's house for dinner.

Pizza. Maybe Papa Murphy's.

Homemade hamburger helper.

Lentil soup.

From there, I don't yet know. I hope I've inspired you. Not one single person follows this blog, so I assume it won't help. Maybe I will just reference this in the future.

Cinnamon-Cream Molasses Cookeys

The last time I made these, they were all gone in two hours.
Makes 3 dozen

4 1/2c flour (I substituted 1c for whole wheat)
1tsp B. Soda
2tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp salt

3/4c shortening
3/4c sugar
1 egg
1c molasses

Mix sugar and shortening until fluffy. add egg. add molasses.

Sift together dry ingredients. pour in (gradually add if mixing by hand). Mix until it just comes together.
Chill for a bit in plastic wrap or Tupperware.

Get ready to roll.
Preheat oven to 350°
Grease or line baking trays.
Roll out dough to 1/8" thin. (this time mine were a little dry and cracking, as you can see. I let it sit at room temp for 20 minutes and it was a bit easier to work with.)

Using a 2" round cutter, cut an even number of discs.

Now, throw (exactly)half of them on the trays and get them baking. 10-12 minutes.
Set your timer, it is your best friend. Don't forget to lovingly rotate your cookies. Cool on rack.

Meanwhile, with the loner cookie dough discs, find yourself a blade. Either a tiny, fancy cookey cutter or as in my case, a knife. Cut out the centers. I made kind of a diamond shape. Let go of your perfection, they are not coming from a fancy bakery downtown, they are coming from your kitchen!

Now, with those centers, you can do one of two things. Or maybe both.
1. Toss those little cut outs onto a sheet pan and bake little tasties for the kids.
2. Ball them up, roll them out and cut an even number of circles, affectively coming "full circle" on the "circle of life" of a cookey. get it? I thought it was punny.

My little thief helping out.

Back to the cookeys. Bake them all off. cool. you will have a lot! But remember, the number will be cut in half as these are sandwich cookeys.

My other boy impatiently asking repeatedly for a cookey.

Time to make some filling.
1Tb butter, soft
1c icing sugar
1/2tsp cinnamon
1TB boiling water (make yourself some tea, as you went to all the trouble to boil 1 measly tablespoon of water!)

Mix together. Voila! Cream filling.
Can you guess what we are going to do next?
Yup, spread and squish.
Spread some frosting, squish together.
Spread and Squish.

Then eat.
I suggest you hide some. They won't last very long, but you can freeze them nicely.

Note: I baked these in the evening, planning to spread and squish come morning. Bad Idea!
Not only did my 5yo son get into them and steal three bottoms, but my husband and our friend had some too-about 7 tops! I warned you, they are tasty, even before the frosting.

BBQ Pork (not to be confused with Pulled Pork)

My mother has made this for years. It is amazingly delicious. I was a very picky eater growing up, but even I ate this up.
For time's sake, I decided to test it as a crock pot meal. Oh yeah! Excellent. Mom used to spend hours doing this the arduous way with the oven and stove top. Not me, I like my supper to cook while I take a nap.

Here's what you'll need:
3#          pork roast
2TB       butter
1/4c       mutilated onion (we used about 1 cup, and it was awesome)
1 bottle  chili sauce (look by the ketchup at the store)
2TB       brown sugar
1tsp       mustard powder (not to be confused with mustard gas)
2TB       W. sauce- you know the one. You can't pronounce it either.

Get out your finest crockery and dump it all in.

High for 4 hours
Low for 8 hours

Using your tongs, chomp it up.
Put some rice on to cook.
Crack open a can of pineapple rings

Eat until you have to unbutton your pants.
Then take two more bites.

Green Bean Saute

I love these, and there are many versions of it. Here is my rendition:

1. Some green beans-fresh is ideal. I don't know how much, it depends on how many you are serving and I never weigh them out when I buy them.

2. Shallots. yum.

3. Walnuts (or sliced almonds)

4. Little butter and oil

Start some water boiling.

Trim the ends of the beans and slice them in half. They look nice for guests if you slice at an angle.

Toss in the beans and a little salt. Boil 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile.....

Remove skins from shallot(s) and slice thin. 

Roughly chop walnuts (or take out some almonds).

Drain beans and bathe in cold water.

melt butter/oil in saute pan.

Toss in the shallots and stir as you cook 2 minutes over medium heat.

Add the beans and nuts; a little salt and pepper

Saute about 2 minutes more, tossing as you go along.

Plate

Eat.

Sorry, no picture. I ate them.