Menu Plan Monday ~ Week of Sept 19

Tomorrow's hubby's 40th birthday.  He and I are going out to dinner to celebrate.  The boys are going to dance with grandma so they are not going out with us. 

Monday - ranch chicken, pierogis, and peas

Tuesday - out to dinner to celebrate hubby's birthday

Wednesday - sweet and sour meatballs (freezer) with rice, corn

Thursday - pot roast in the crockpot, steamed carrots, roasted potatoes

Friday - orange chicken with rice, corn or green beans

Saturday - pot roast hash with green beans, biscuits with jelly

For more great menus, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Planning Monday.

Happy eating,
Traci

Beanie Weenies

This is another easy meal to put into the crockpot.  It made more than enough food for my family of four that I put half of it in the freezer for another meal.:)

This was another homerun for my family.

Beanie Weenies

Stars of the recipe:

• 2 small cans of pork and beans or one large can
• 1 small can of Great Northern beans, drained
• 1 16 oz. package of hot dogs, sliced
• 1 lrg onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup of ketchup
• 3 Tbsp. of mustard (or more to taste)
• 2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce (or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

Steps:

1. Place all the items in the crockpot.  (I gave it a stir.)
2. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Enjoy!  I served mine with green beans and biscuits with apple butter.

  
Happy eating,
Traci

Sausage and Sauerkraut in the Crockpot

I'm loving my crockpot and freezer cooking!  With my schedule this year, I'm able to feed the boys (big and little) a hearty meal within about 20 minutes of my arrival at home.  My hubby leaves for work less than an hour after I get home and I need to feed him before he leaves.  So I decided to utilize both crockpot and freezer cooking for this month's meal plan.  It's worked out wonderful.  This week I was the only one who ate out for dinner and that's because I stayed late at work to get some things done and left immediately after I got home to take the oldest to tap dance practice.  They ate out of the fridge that night.
This is one of the meals we enjoyed this week.  I prepped the meal and hubby put it into the crockpot for me.  I then enjoyed it for lunch the next day.  Someone told me that it smelled like a German festival in the teacher's lounge. 

Sausage and Sauerkraut

Stars of the recipe:

• 1 package of smoked sausage
• 1 jar or bag of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed off
• 3 Tbsp. of brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. of Dijon mustard

Steps:

1. Cut the sausage into rings.
2. In a bowl, mix the sauerkraut, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard together.
3. Place sausage and sauerkraut into the crockpot.
4. Cook on low for 4 hours.
5. Enjoy with mashed potatoes or roasted red potatoes.  (I also had corn and baked apples with it.)

Happy eating,
Traci

Menu Plan Monday ~ Week of September 12

We usually eat at my in-laws on Sundays.  Since we had a church picnic on Sunday afternoon and my mother-in-law had a class, I fixed our dinner on Sunday evening.  Needless to say, the meal was a success.  My husband who doesn't like eating left overs for lunch is planning to eat those for his lunch today.:)

Sunday - crockpot pizza, garlic bread, left-over veggies and fruit from the picnic

Monday - breakfast casserole in the crockpot, biscuits and jelly

Tuesday - honey mustard chicken, mac and cheese, veggies

Wednesday - Cincinnati chili over spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Thursday - sausage and sauerkraut in crockpot, baked apples, biscuits or rolls

Friday - nachos made with Fritos instead, salad

Saturday - beans and weenies in crockpot, veggie, biscuit or roll

For more great plans, visit Menu Planning Monday at I'm an organizing junkie.

Happy eating,
Traci

Crockpot pizza

My mother-in-law found this recipe in the newspaper.  She thought I would like to cook it for dinner one night.  When I made it yesterday, we were impressed with how much it did taste like a pepperoni pizza even with no crust.  I was also impressed with the simplicity of the recipe.

Stars of the recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups browned ground beef (I omitted this.)
• 2/3 box of rigatoni (I used rotini.)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4 cups of mozzarella cheese (I used 2 cups.)
• 2 jars of pizza sauce (I used 1 jar and added some water.)
• 1 package of pepperoni (I used 1/2 package.  Next time I'm going to cut the pepperoni into smaller pieces.)
• salt and pepper taste

Steps:

1. Place all items in a crockpot that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (I used a 3 quart crockpot.)
2. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.  (Mine was done in about 3.5 hours.)

Happy eating,
Traci

Crockpot hamburger patties

Last week, I found a new website called Crock Pot Girls.  It is jammed packed with different crock pot recipes from readers.  When I was creating my menu, I decided to check them out and see if there were any recipes that our family might enjoy.  This is one of the recipes from their site.

Stars of the recipe:

• 4 - 6 hamburger patties
• worcestershire sauce
• tiger sauce (Didn't know what this was.  In the comments, I found out it was like A-1 sauce.)
• onion, cut into rings
• can diced tomatoes (Used crushed tomatoes instead)
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Put some of the tiger sauce or A-1 sauce in the bottom of the crockpot, then layer patties. 
2. Season patties with salt, pepper, and sauces, next layer with onions and tomatoes. 
3. Cook 6 to 7 hours on low.

(When I made the patties, I put a mixture of garlic and black pepper and some worcestershire sauce with the ground beef.  Then I made the patties.)

Happy eating,
Traci

September menu plan

I can't believe fall is almost here.  The Wee One informed hubby and I, fall is his favorite season because he can rake up the leaves and then jump into them.  He informed us he's not going to wear shoes when he does that so he doesn't get leaves in his shoes.

Week of September 4, 2011

• Sunday - hamburger patties in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, veggies, Italian bread
• Monday - western omlette casserole
• Tuesday - slow cooker chicken and gravy over rice, veggie, salad
• Wednesday - tacos, Rice a Roni, raw veggies
• Thursday - bacon ranch chicken, egg noodles, veggie
• Friday - apricot glazed pork roast, mashed potatoes, veggie
• Saturday - crockpot pizza, garlic bread

Week of September 11, 2011

• Sunday - dinner at in-laws
• Monday - breakfast casserole, fruit, biscuits and jelly
• Tuesday - honey mustard chicken (freezer), mac and cheese (freezer), veggies
• Wednesday - Cincinnati chili over spaghetti, garlic bread
• Thursday - sausage and sauerkraut, cooked apples, biscuits
• Friday - nachos
• Saturday - beans and weenies, biscuits, veggie

Week of September 18, 2011

• Sunday - dinner at in-laws
• Monday - easy ranch chicken, buttered noodles, veggies
• Tuesday - pizza burgers (freezer), steamed carrots, chips
• Wednesday - sweet and sour meatballs (freezer), rice, veggies
• Thursday - pot roast, carrots, and potatoes
• Friday - orange chicken over rice
• Saturday - hash in the crockpot, biscuits or rolls with jelly

Week of September 25, 2011

• Sunday - dinner at in-laws
• Monday - sloppy joes (freezer), fries, raw veggies
• Tuesday - quick and easy potato soup with rolls
• Wednesday - pepper steak over rice
• Thursday - French fried onion chicken with green beans
• Friday- crockpot ravoli, salad, garlic bread
• Saturday - cinnamon french toast casserole

Happy eating,
Traci

Menu planning ~ Week of September 4, 2011

Before I begin with my menu planning, I want to wish my sister a happy birthday.  We are getting together tomorrow to celebrate.  Happy 34th birthday ~ You are getting older, I'm just getting gray hairs. (One of my students walked up to me and let me know that I had a gray hair on the back of my head.)

It's so hard getting home at 4:30ish and having to have food on the table between 5 and 5:10 for hubby to go to work.  I have to have a menu in order for it to run smoothly.  During the majority of last school year, I did create a monthly menu and then April came and I totally stopped creating them.  So a couple of weeks ago, I got back on board and created a menu.  It went great until the end of last week.  I changed up Thursday's meal because I didn't get home until 4:45 and needed a quick meal.  It was too hot to cook anything on Friday so I just stopped and got food on the way home.  Yesterday's meal was going to be meatloaf.  Again it was so hot that I made quick and simple orange chicken which warmed up the oven for less than 20 minutes.

This week and during all of September, I'm going to utilize my crockpot and freezer cooking. 

Sunday - We usually have dinner at the in-laws.  My mother-in-law is on her way back home from South Carolina and my father-in-law has to work.  So I had to plan on having dinner at home.  We are having hamburger patties in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, Italian bread, and veggies.

Monday - going out with mother and sister and going to leave a western omelette casserole for hubby to cook for his dinner

Tuesday - chicken and gravy over rice, veggie

Wednesday - tacos from freezer, Rice-a-Roni, raw veggies

Thursday - ranch bacon chicken, egg noodles, veggie

Friday - apricot glazed pork roast (crockpot), mashed potato, veggie

Saturday - crockpot pizza, garlic bread

 
Happy eating,
Traci