This Week's Menu

First of all, I apologize for neglecting the blog. Last week was crazy and this week coming up isn't going to be much better. In fact, I think it's going to be worse. However, I do best under pressure and I'm not going to have time to just sit! Therefore, there should be more posts this week. I'm going to continue the Gifts From the Kitchen, as well as sharing a few of our favorite recipes that we'll be enjoying this week.

This week we have Scouts, we're going to a concert to see a quintet and Elisabeth von Trapp, there's a Holiday House shoppe at the elementary school, candy grams at the the middle school, and Chanukkah! Now on to the menu!

Monday- Pan fried pork chops
                Creamy macaroni and cheese
                Green beans

Tuesday- Beef stew
                Biscuits

Wednesday- Beef bites
                     Latkes
                     Cauliflower au gratin
                     Chocolate cake with gelt

Thursday- Creamy Italian chicken
                  Rice
                  Carrots

Friday- Out (date night)

Saturday- Whatever you can find

Sunday- Roast beef
              Mashed potatoes
              Peas
              Gravy
              Apple dumplings

For more menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

A Sweet "Recipe"

I apologize that there are no recipes again today. Rhonda had her Science Fair/STEM competition today and it took way longer than I had hoped/thought. So, here's a cute little "recipe" for Christmas Cheer from my copy of Gifts From Your Kitchen (1955). It's attributed to Clementine Paddleford, a Food Editor of the New York Herald Tribune and This Week magazine.

Christmas Cheer Recipe

Take a bushel of tinsel, sprinkle well throughout the house. Add two dozen stars and one christmas tree Take a generous spray of mistletoe, an armload of holly and a full measure of snow laid in curved hills along the window sills. Toss in a Christmas carol, and season well with good will and friendly laughter. Light the candles, "one for adoration, two fro celebration." Let the first burn brightly, and may those you love be near. The yield: One Happy Christmas.

Dorothy's Diary

Hello Blog Readers! (do I even have any? haha)

I know I was going to post a Q&E recipe today, but I've been obsessing over Dot's Diary! I was perusing blogs this morning and this link caught my eye and I've been reading it *all day*!

Dave, Dorothy's (Dot) son, received two of his mother's diaries from when she was a young girl (1945&46. Dot was 17&18, I believe). It is such a fascinating look into a slice of history. I love the language and the pictures that go along with the posts. It's just fabulous! It almost makes me want to start a diary. Somehow though, I don't think it would have quite the same punch as Dots. I can just imagine the entries:

December 11-Tuesday

Yelled at the kids
Made meatloaf
Went to bed at 11

Certainly not as glamorous as Dorothy's life!

I promise to post not one, but two (maybe even three!) Q&E Gifts from the Kitchen recipes tomorrow!

Quick and Easy Gifts From the Kitchen-Day 1

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes. It is so quick and *so* easy! It only takes two ingredients. Can't beat that! I got the recipe years ago from a boyfriend's mom, but I've seen it floating around the net since.

Fantastic Fudge

12 oz candy chips-and flavor (chocolate, peanut butter, mint, ect.)
1 can frosting-any flavor (make sure you get regular frosting and not whipped!)

Prepare your pan: line an 8x8 pan with foil and either spray with Pam or grease with butter. Melt the chips either on the stove top in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir in the frosting. Spread into your prepared pan and put in the fridge to set up. Cut into squares and store in a container in the refrigerator. That's it! Enjoy!

I thought I had a picture of the fudge in the pan, but I don't. And the fudge is gone already!

Week in Review and Menu Plan

For this weeks menu, please scroll down! Thank you!


Hello!

This was a busy week! I did some volunteering, went to an assembly, went Christmas shopping with my mom, and went tree decorating/caroling with my youngest daughter's Girl Scout troop! Whew! I also tried my hair a new way, played racquetball, rearranged my kitchen a little bit, cleaned up the house a little bit, and put up the tree. I also made popovers for breakfast one morning and thought I'd share that recipe with you.

I love to read, especially cozy mysteries. One of my favorite authors is Joann Fluke who writes the Hannah Swenson/Lake Eden series. Hannah is a small town sleuth who owns and runs The Cookie Jar, a bakery/cafe in Lake Eden, Minnesota. The books are fun reads and include delicious recipes, of which I've made several. The popovers are from The Key Lime Pie Murder.

Popovers

4 eggs (Measure your eggs. They should equal 1 cup. If they don't, you may have to add some or take some away. When I made mine, I had to add an extra egg. Made all the difference as the last time I did not measure and they didn't turn out nearly as well.)

2 cups of milk

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Lightly beat the eggs together until they are a uniform color, but not fluffy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Dump in the flour and add the salt. Mix with a spoon until the flour is just incorporated into the wet ingredients. If you used a cinderella bowl as I did, you can pour your batter into your prepared pans. Fill them almost all the way to the top. If you don't have a cinderella bowl, transfer your batter into a vessel with a spout. Bake your popovers for 30 minutes at 450 degrees, no peeking! Remove the popovers from the oven and pierce the top with a sharp knife to let out the steam. Let cool for a moment and then remove to a serving basket or platter. Enjoy!

I have no idea why the ones in the light metal pan rose so much higher than the ones in the dark metal pans, but they all tasted fabulous! Now on to this weeks menu!

Monday-Kielbasa, fried cabbage, pirogi
Tuesday-Ham, macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach
Wednesday-Meatloaf, leftover macaroni and cheese, peas
Thursday-Beef Stroganoff, noodles
Friday-Date Night
Saturday-Chili
Sunday (second night of Hannukah)-Brisket, latkes, broccoli, gelt cake

For hundreds of menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

What's Coming Up

Whew! Yesterday was so busy! I went Christmas shopping with my mother, went to dinner with a visiting friend, and then did some things at home. I was exhausted!

Next week I'm going to be sharing some quick, easy, and tasty ideas for Gifts From Your Kitchen! Stay tuned!

A sad day and an outfit

Today we had to put one of our dear furry sweethearts to sleep. It made me so very sad. His name was Dudley (named after Dudley Dursley) and he was the sweetest, most wonderful, laid back cat you've ever met. Out of everyone in the family my oldest daughter (Rhonda) and I had the hardest time, but we're doing much better now. I'm going shopping with my mother tomorrow and I'm going to get a cat ornament with his name on it for the tree.

Yesterday, Rhonda had her honor roll assembly. She's in 7th grade, taking two high school classes, and got one B (in French). Very proud of her! I had been wearing my jeans for cleaning that morning, but made the choice to change before going to the assembly.

I have a slightly vintage style. It would be more vintage if I could actually fit into some of the actual vintage clothing I own. I usually dress modern with vintage inspiration and just about everything I own come from the thrift store (I'm a thrift store junkie. I *love* it!) When I make the choice to do my hair and wear make up (which I am trying to do more of...on both accounts), I try to do it with a bit of vintage flair also. Here's what I wore yesterday.

 Red sweater that has a small zipper at the back at the neck, large "pearl" earrings

 Skirt detail, Mary Jane type shoes, mess in the background.

Hair detail

Jumping on the Christmas Train

I realize that in the blogging world, holiday crafts, decor, and food come way earlier than the holiday or even the month that the holiday occurs. It's understandable. Much like retail, you have to be ahead of the game when it comes to preparing for seasons or holidays. So, I apologize for bringing you Christmas things so late! Hopefully you'll still enjoy and perhaps draw some inspiration!

First up: Grinch Mousse!

Way back in October, I found this recipe in a Woman's World magazine and made it for the kids. It was pretty darn tasty and I thought I'd like to make it again. Yesterday, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was on, so I thought I'd make it as a special treat for the kids to enjoy while they watched this seasonal favorite. While mixing up the mousse I had the idea to color it green and add yellow M&M eyes (thank goodness there was Halloween candy lying around! All of my candy that is out is red and green now!), making it Grinch Mousse! The other change I made was to use eggnog in place of the milk which gave it a faint eggnog taste. All in all, the kids really enjoyed it!

Here's how to make your own Grinch Mousse (How the Grinch Stole Christmas will be on again Sunday, December 2 on ABC Family)

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream (or eggnog)

1 small container (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed

50 drops of green food color (or enough to reach your desired shade of green)
Yellow M&M's (I had to use what I had so it was a combination of regular and peanut. The photo shows peanut)

Beat cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer until fully smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar, then milk (or cream).   Beat about 1 minute on medium to medium-high speed.  Fold cool whip into cream cheese mixture, and stir until fully combined. Add food coloring until the mixture is a uniform color. Add the eyes and you're done!

Choices

Yesterday I mentioned a new to me blog where I had read an article that really stuck with me. Today, I'm going to share it. Perhaps it will motivate someone else :)

The blog is The Glamorous Housewife. Way back in 2009, Bethany (The Glamorous Housewife), made this post. In it, she references this post by Super Kawaii Mama. Candice's article is about why women let themselves go and Bethany's is about what you can do to stop. Both are excellent reading and I recommend them, especially if you happen to be a woman who has let themselves go. And if you are one of them, don't be embarrassed about it. I think the majority of women have been there. I know I have. In fact, it's something I'm still working on. And let's not even talk about the men!

What really stuck with me, though, was something Bethany said about making choices. Most of us have been told at some point "you have a choice." It's true, though I've never really thought about my mundane activities in that way before. But after reading the post I started to. And I was amazed about how much time I waste with poor choices. Okay, not really amazed. I know I make poor choices, but I didn't really consciously realize I was making a choice. Simplistic? Probably. But  I never had thought about my reading facebook was choosing not to vacuum. Or that watching tv was choosing not to mop my kitchen floor. I didn't say to myself "Self, you have a choice. You can play a game on the computer or you can fold the clothes in the dryer." I will admit though, that I just did what was easy, because quite frankly, I'm fairly lazy. It's easy to procrastinate. Or do things half way so that it's "mostly" done and I'll "come back to it." It's easy to put on a pair of jeans instead of dressing nicely. To just go to bed instead of setting my hair. To sleep a little extra instead of getting up and making my kids a good breakfast (they eat, it's just usually cereal. Which they like, but still).

This week I'm making a real effort to make everything a choice and hopefully, make the right ones!

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Blogging is something I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. I've even started a few that have fizzled after days, weeks, or months. However, yesterday I was reading a new to me blog and something I read really stuck with me. It's not new advice, but I guess it came along at just the right time. I will share that blog (and the post) tomorrow. Today though, is Monday! And you know what that means! That's right! It's time for Menu Plan Monday, hosted by orgjunkie.

I really struggled with my menu this week. Nothing really sounded good to me. This menu is pretty thrown together, but I think the family will enjoy it. If not, there's always peanut butter and jelly! On to the menu!

Monday-Potato soup, salad, biscuits

Tuesday-Comforting Cube Steaks, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday-Chicken Paprika, rice, peas

Thursday-Beef stew, biscuits

Friday-Out (date night)

Saturday-Friend's house

Sunday-Stuffed pork chops, green beans, sweet potato fries, peppermint ice cream with sugar cookies

For more menu planning ideas, visit here!