New Cookbook!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has already made a week's worth of progress on all those resolutions! ; )

We had a wonderful Christmas with my parents, my sister and her family, and a long-time family friend. It was very peaceful and relaxing.  And most of all...it was wonderful to have family around and feel like it was a "vacation" without going anywhere!  Seriously. Loved. It.

I was at Barnes and Nobles returning a calendar the other day and I saw this Vegetarian Cookbook.  The thing that really appealed to me was that a HUGE majority of the recipes seemed normal.  They just used normal ingredients.  AND there are multiple pictures per recipe!  I am horrible at trying a new recipe without a picture.  I just don't have any motivation to try anything new without a picture to make it seem delicious or interesting.

There are so many I can't wait to try:

Tortellini with Nutty Herb Sauce
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Sweet Potato Ravioli
Potato, Leek, and Spinach Quiche
Vegetable Samosas
Mushroom Risotto
and many, many more!!

I love getting new inspiration and feeling motivated to try new things!  In fact, I think I'm just going to make the list above my menu for this week.  Strap on your seat belts, family...we're going for a ride! ; )  That way, if I can just remember to take pictures every night, I will have six weeks of Meatless Mondays to post!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

{Meatless Monday}

Hope your Monday has been a good one!!  Mine was pretty good...I just know that I ALWAYS have huge expectations of all the things I want to do.  And it's all very unrealistic...but for some reason, I repeat it every week!  ; )

This soup is a FAVORITE in our family.  Especially when I make bread bowls.  All my kids LOVE eating their soup in bread bowls, but unfortunately, I don't always have time to make them.  So it is quite a treat when I do!

Here's what you'll need:

3 cups broth
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped
3-4 med. potatoes, diced

Boil all together until vegetables are tender...about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile...  make a white sauce...

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
2 cups milk

1 1/2-2 cups cheese (a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar is best...I also love a little pepper jack!)

Melt butter in saucepan until just slightly browned.  Stir in flour until paste is made.  Whisk in milk and stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens.

At this point, you can add the cheese to the sauce...  Or you can add the sauce to the veggies and THEN add the cheese.  Basically, you just stir everything together, add extra milk if necessary and season with salt and pepper.  If you want it chunky, leave as-is.  But if you want it creamy, grab your potato masher and go to town until the soup is your favorite consistency!

Serve in a delicious homemade bread bowl and top with extra cheese.  This is often requested for birthday dinners by our children.  There is just something extra special about your very own bread bowl.

Six Week Menu

I am SO excited to share this with you!!  It has been a wonderful thing for me...it has changed my life when it comes to cooking!  I love, love, love having it all planned out and my favorite part is that ALL the thinking has been done!  It makes shopping day so easy.  

Obviously, my six week menu is an all vegetarian menu...so you probably can't just "copy and paste" for your family.  But I really encourage you to try this out!  Go through your recipe books, the blogs you follow, the things you've found on Pinterest and MAKE A LIST!  Then separate them into "weeks" with a good variety.  Since this is Winter, I included one soup recipe every week.  I figure during the Summer, I can swap them out for our favorite salad recipes.  

I have a large family, so we rarely have a lot of leftovers.  Whatever leftovers we have just get taken for lunch or eaten after school.  I plan on making a new recipe each night, but sometimes when we happen to have a good amount of leftovers from a couple nights, I will just serve those instead of making what is on the menu.  It is very flexible.

One huge benefit of having EVERYTHING planned for me is that I was able to think about what kind of meal we need on each day.   For instance, on Mondays, I teach piano from 3:30 to 5 pm, so I chose a quick and easy meal for each Monday...one that could be done in under 30 minutes.  

And on Tuesdays, I teach a children's choir from 5-6 pm, so I chose a meal that I could make ahead in the afternoon and then my kids could pop it in the oven while I am gone to choir and then we can be eating by 6:20 pm.

Every other day is fairly unscheduled, so I was able to use those nights for recipes that took a little more time.  Fridays are often our date night, so every Friday I chose a very easy meal that my kids can cook.  I have 3 older girls who are all very handy in the kitchen, so it isn't a problem.

When I say ALL of the thinking has been done...I mean ALL!!  

I have created a shopping list for each week and simply made multiple copies.   I put my full six week menu and all the copies of the shopping lists in a folder on my "office" counter in the pantry.  I also made an index card for each week's menu that I put on the side of my fridge so that anyone can quickly look and see what we are having that night.  That way I don't have to be going to the folder all the time and my kids or hubby could (in theory ; ) start preparing because they would KNOW what I was planning on making.  

On Monday morning when it is time to go to the grocery store, I simply pull out a copy of that week's shopping list...cross off the items I know I have in my fridge or pantry...add things like milk or bread, etc...and off I go!  

I. love. it.

So....here it is!  Most of the recipes are ones I have already posted.  I have made them all links for you.

Six Week Menu

Week One

M   mexican haystacks

T    mediterranean mac n’ cheese

W roasted cauliflower soup

Th black bean burgers

F egg and rice burritos

Sat pita pizzas

Sun baked ravioli

Week Two

M    black beans n' rice

T     fettucinne alfredo

W    tortellini spinach soup

Th   southern-style sliders

F     breakfast for dinner

Sat  bean and rice burritos

Sun  florentine artichoke bake

Week Three

M fried rice

T potato corn chowder

W spinach stuffed pizza

Th    spaghetti with artichokes

F noodles and white sauce

Sat baked potatoes florentine

Sun pasta bake

Week Four

M     hummus wraps

T  veggie tetrazzini

W     broccoli soup

Th greek spinach burgers

F      pesto pizzas

Sat asparagus mushroom quiche

Sun  calzones

Week Five

M spaghetti with sauteed cabbage

T      bean and rice enchiladas

W   creamy potato asparagus soup

Th    vegetarian lasagna

F boiled egg quesadillas

Sat   southwest salad

Sun   roasted vegetable minestrone

Week Six

M tortilla soup w/ black beans

T pasta w/ red pepper sauce

W vegetable pot pie

Th noodle stir-fry

F chili-cheese hashbrowns

Sat bbq quesadillas

Sun veggie ensaladas

Here are two sample shopping lists...

Grandpa Leavitt's Fudge

Just posted my Christmas fudge recipe over at my other blog...check it out here.

Here's a little peek at the rich, creamy, yumminess!  ; )

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season!  I'll be back here on Monday with another Meatless Monday!  Have a great weekend.

Spaghetti with Savoy Cabbage

{Meatless Monday}

Better late than never??  ; )

This recipe was quite a surprise!  I saw it and thought it looked interesting...so I tore it out of my Martha Stewart Living magazine.  It was on the side of my fridge for many months, when I finally had half a head of cabbage that needed to be used and I remembered this recipe.

I did not use Savoy cabbage...I just used the plain cabbage from the grocery store.

I really liked the cabbage once it was sautéed.  And the breadcrumbs really added to the flavor.  I took their suggestion and topped the whole bowl with some fried eggs.  And we ended up really liking it.  In fact.... (drum roll, please....)  ALL of my kids ate their plate full without a word of complaint and my youngest asked for seconds and thirds!  That sealed the deal...it's a KEEPER!

Here's what you need!

• 8 ounces spaghetti or angel hair pasta
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 garlic clove, very thinly sliced or minced
• 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I just used our own whole wheat bread)
• 9 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage (from 1 medium head)
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (1 ounce), plus more for garnish
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 
  
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain, but 
• reserve 1/2 cup liquid.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Cook garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in breadcrumbs. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring, until breadcrumbs are golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes.  Set aside.  
• Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a large high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss to coat. Cook, stirring, until slightly wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water. Cook, covered, until tender, about 4 minutes. Uncover, and let any water in the skillet evaporate. Stir in cream. Cook until sauce is reduced and thick enough to coat cabbage, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
• 
  

• Add pasta and reserved 1/2 cup cooking liquid to cabbage. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in cheese. Transfer to a platter. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over top, and garnish with more cheese.  Top with fried eggs, if desired.

 If I were serving this for someone other than my family, I would have fried the eggs in a prettier fashion.  But I just threw four eggs in the breadcrumb skillet (so they'd have all that yummy flavoring), then basically cut them apart to flip and then top off the bowl.  Here's what it looked like before I served it.

I loved that most of the liquid was water and pasta water with just a few tablespoons of the cream.  I really can't wait to make this again.  Try it...it is really quite easy and I loved the different textures.  And best of all...there was no mutiny at the dinner table!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Before I get started on my MANY hours of cooking, I thought I would do a quick post.

I am thankful for so many things today...
Family
Friends
Health
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
and all the other wonderful blessings I enjoy in my life.  Life is good.  Somedays it is harder to remember than others.  That is why I LOVE Thanksgiving.  But I must confess that my love of today is often muddied by the hours and hours of cooking I have to do just for our small family to have one meal.  We have so many years (like this year) where it is just us...and it is hard to simplify since there are so many favorites and we ONLY make them at Thanksgiving.

So this is what we have decided on...
Turkey Breast--cooking right now in the crock pot!! Hooray!  So EASY!! I was adamant that I did not want to do a big bird.  I am a person that doesn't want turkey leftovers, so I just bought the smallest one.
I put it in breast side down with some minced onion, salt and pepper, one can vegetable broth and about 3 T butter.  (p.s.  It was AMAZING.  Hands-down the most moist turkey breast we've ever had.  We have found a new tradition!!)

Sourdough Artichoke Stuffing--my FAVORITE thing.  I never liked stuffing until I found this!

Corn with Wild Rice--from the Pioneer Woman...she really should have been on my list of things I am grateful for!!  ; P  My whole family L.O.V.E.S. this recipe!  It is a must have!

Mashed Potatoes--this has become strictly my husband's affair.  While I avert my eyes, he adds all sorts of yumminess including butter and cream cheese.  I just can't bring myself to pour in the amounts that he likes, so I just try to turn a blind eye and add a few extra minutes to my workout the next day!  ; )

Sweet Potatoes--I have done these all sorts of different ways.  Growing up, my mom made a sweet potato and apple dish that I loved.  But when I make it, I am the ONLY one who eats it and it is just not worth the effort!  This year, I was just planning on some brown sugar/marshmallow goodness.
(p.s.  My neighbor ended up calling me right after I posted offering a pan of her sweet potatoes that she had quadrupled.  They were mashed with lots of butter, I'm sure, and topped with brown sugar and pecans and they were a HIT!  They were the only thing I went back to for seconds, thirds, and much much more than I should have eaten! ; )

Whole Wheat Rolls--Homemade of course!!  Those were the ONLY thing I got done yesterday...well, and I made the crust for the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE WHOLE MEAL....

THE PIES....We are doing three pies this year...

Lemon Meringue...my kids favorite thing to make!  It really is a fun recipe to involve your kids in.  They love watching the filling go clear and get thick.  And then watching the egg whites beat into creamy white fluff and getting to spread it over the pie...what's not to love?  My four-year-old did the peaks all by himself...he was so very proud!  I have always thought that this was the prettiest pie of all!

Apple...I can my own apple pie filling every fall, so this one is SUPER easy.  I make the crust, dump in a jar, and top it with crumb topping.

Pumpkin...we LOVE pumpkin pie around here and this year I am trying a new recipe.  I got it off of a blog I follow...Ancestral Pumpkin Pie.  I'll let you know what we think!!  (p.s.  YUM...very rich and flavorful.  I think it's a keeper!)

Hope you all have a wonderful day!  If you'd like to see some cute and simple Thanksgiving crafts my kids did,  check out my other blog post HERE.

Broken computer!

I am sorry that I have gone missing for the last month...my desktop computer went kaput, and I haven't even had time to try and get it fixed. My hubby has a laptop from work...so if it is ever free, I will try to upload some pics. I do have 2 new recipes to post...but most of all I wanted to post my four-week menu plan that has changed my life this last month! I LOVE IT! Menus are all written out, as are the shopping lists, and all the thinking has been done in advance. It really has made dinner time SO much easier. I will be sharing that soon.

First I have to deal with my computer...I have been avoiding it because I don't want to face the reality that it might have crashed and I might have lost a lot of stuff! :(

One downside of the meal plan is that I am not trying new recipes as often as I used to...so I don't think I will be able to post a new recipe every Monday...but I am aiming for twice a month, so we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for your patience...and hopefully I will be back soon!