Meal Plan Monday

Oh, Meal Plan Monday...it's been a long time! LOL! I've been really lax about meal planning lately, but I'm trying to get back into it! So here's our menu for the week (I linked the recipes that I could):

Monday: Penne and Vodka sauce with Cheesy Garlic Bread and Salad
Tuesday: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches with Fresh Pear Slices
Wednesday: Steak Au Poivre with Mashed Potatoes
Thursday: Double Thick Baked Potato Cheese Soup in the crockpot
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Mini-Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes

A Kitchen Challenge

If you've read my blog before, you know I'm not much of a cook. It's not that I can't do it, I just don't really enjoy it. I seem to lack that gene that can figure out how to throw together a can of this, a box of that, a few herbs and voila! dinner is made. Since my hubby LOVES to cook (in the same freakish, over the top way I love to craft) there has never been much of a reason for me to broaden my culinary horizons before.

Now that baby #4 is on the way and our evenings are getting busier, I'm finding that it's easier to (gasp) cook something fast myself instead of waiting for the hubs to come home.

So, I have challenged myself to find a few recipes that I can cook relatively quickly that won't make the whole family pray for take out. I'm starting small by broadening my crockpot recipes (I have had a request for recipes that do NOT use cream of anything soup - I can't say I disagree). I do hope though to add a few meals that don't involve the crockpot too.

For my first venture, I tried a Chicken in a Marsala Herb Sauce recipe from Stephanie Cooks. The original recipe is here.

I pretty much followed her recipe exactly, except I used 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead. At the end, the sauce was not as thick as I wanted it to be. So the real cook in the family showed me how to transfer the liquid to the stove top and thicken it to make a gravy.

It was a really good meal! I wish I would have taken a picture (note for future meals) because it even looked pretty (something I find hard to do with crockpot meals). Even my husband, who normally does not care for crockpot meals, liked this one.

I'm adding this recipe to my "can cook" list.

Just checking in...

I haven't disappeared. I've gotten swamped by the fall rush. Pinky started preschool and Sunday school this year and with the start of fall activities, everything has just been a blur. I do have a few posts I'm working on, but thought I would share some of my "busy day" crockpot meals. Perfect for all those busy back-to-school nights.

Crockery Pot Beef with Mushrooms
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 lbs. beef sirloin tips
1/2 c. chopped shallot
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 can beef broth
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. tomato paste
1/4 c. dry red wine
3 tbsp. flour
buttered noodles

Combine 1/2 cup flour with the salt and pepper and toss with beef cubes to coat thoroughly. Place in crockpot. Add shallots and mushrooms. Combine beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato paste. Pour over beef and vegetables; stir well. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.

One hour before serving, turn to high setting. Make a smooth paste of red wine and 3 tablespoons flour; stir into crockpot, mixing well. Cover and cook until thickened. Serve over hot buttered noodles.


Double Thick Baked Potato Cheese Soup
2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
2 cans (10.5 oz each) cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 1/2 cups finely chopped green onion (I used 1/2 cup finely chopped vidala onion)
1/4 tsp red pepper
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
Black pepper

Combine potatoes, soup, onion (1cup green onions or all regular onion), garlic powder and red pepper in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or on LOW 8 hours. Add cheese, sour cream, and milk; stir until cheese is completely melted. Cover and cook on HIGH an additional 10 minutes. Season to taste with black pepper. Garnish with remaining 1/2 cup green onions.


Chicken and Mushroom Fettuccine
1 ½ pounds chicken breast tenders
2 packages (8oz ea) cremini mushrooms, cut into thirds
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 packages (8oz ea) cream cheese, cut into chunks
1 cup (2sticks) butter, but into pieces
1 ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional for garnish
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 package (1lb) fettuccine

Spray inside of 5 qt crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange chicken in single layer in bottom of crock pot. Top with mushrooms. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, and garlic powder over mushrooms. Stir together cream cheese, butter, Parmesan cheese and milk in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until smooth and heated through. Pour over mushrooms, pushing down any that float to surface.

Cover and cook on low 4 – 5 hours or high 2 to 2 ½ hours. Serve over cooked
fettuccine.

Meal Plan Monday

Thought I would share our meal plan for the week. Typically we plan for 2 weeks at a time, but since we will be travelling at Christmas, we cut back so as to not have a ton of leftovers in the house. Our plan this week includes 2 crockpot meals.

Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Simsbury Chicken
Wednesday: Crockpot Cheese Ravioli (back by popular request)
Thursday: We have a Christmas party to attend so no cooking for us!
Friday: Salsa Chicken in the crockpot
Saturday: Pasta Alfredo with Mushrooms
Sunday: Pizza

The Salsa Chicken is a new recipe for us. It's gotten great reviews online and seems like something we would like, so I'm going to try it. Here's the recipe:

Salsa Chicken
1.5lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
16oz jar of salsa
sour cream
prepared rice
corn/black beans (optional)

Place chicken in crockpot, salt & pepper to taste. Cover with salsa. Cook on low for 6 hours (or longer if using frozen chicken). Shred chicken in pot with fork & add sour cream to taste (about 8 oz). Continue cooking until sour cream is heated through. Serve over rice.

What's Cooking?

It's no secret that around here my husband is the king of the kitchen. I don't like to cook, don't want to cook, and I'm very happy to leave that aspect of our lives to Hubby. However, there are some nights that it's very convenient to have dinner ready when Hubby comes home from work (like tonight when I'm watching baby C). So, I have turned to our crockpot. I am absolutely determined to find recipes that are easy, quick, cheap, and tasty. I've attempted only one so far - Applesauce Chicken (insert gagging sounds here). It was terrible.

Today is my second attempt. After my last failure, I joined a Crockpot Moms group on cafemom.com. I'm making their Crockpot Ravioli recipe (posted below). They rated it a 10, and it looks pretty simple. As a bonus, I'm pretty sure even Pinky will eat this one. So far it smells really good, and it tasted pretty good when I sampled it. I'm just hoping it doesn't end up a soggy mess and that it isn't finished too early!

I'll post later to let you know our thoughts on this one.

Crockpot Ravioli
1 (25 ounce) bag cheese ravioli
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2-3 teaspoons red pepper flakes
Italian spices and other seasonings to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
(I also added sliced mushrooms and crushed garlic to the sauce and doubled the recipe so we would have leftovers)

Pour about half of the pasta sauce in the bottom of crockpot. Add frozen ravioli. Pour additional pasta sauce, tomato sauce, and red pepper over ravioli. Sprinkle Italian seasonings over sauces. Sprinkle cheese on top. Turn crockpot on low and cook for 4-5 hours (until ravioli are tender)

UPDATE: Okay, this is definitely a hit! Pinky had 3 bowls. 3!! We won't count how many Hubby and I had...