Menu Plan for 4/17 - 4/23

After all of the storms over the weekend, it's absolutely beautiful here today. The sun is shining and the temps are in the 70s.

My kids and I are heading to Sam's Club for their "Taste of Spring". It will probably be crazy with lots of people but my kids love to run around trying all of the samples. They are willing to try foods that they would never try at home. Funny how samples work that way.

Here's our menu for the week:

Sunday - hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes & gravy

Monday - ziti with hot sausage sauce

Tuesday - grilled pork chops with taco potato skins & a side of corn

Wednesday - Asian noodle bowls with chicken pot stickers

Thursday - breakfast for dinner...raisin bread French toast with turkey bacon

Friday - focaccia deli sandwiches with pasta salad

Saturday - chicken blt pizza

Enjoy the week!!


 Linking up to:

Menu Plan Monday
Marvelous Menu

Crockpot Chuck Wagon Beef Sandwiches

I love using my crock pot on busy days. Last Thursday, I had one of those days where I was lucky to spend 15 minutes at a time at home for the whole day.

I decided to try a new recipe called Chuck Wagon Beef Sandwiches from the cookbook Fix it and Forget It. The meat held up really well for the cooking and even for reheating that evening.

Chuck Wagon Beef Sandwiches

4 lb boneless chuck roast
1 tsp garlic salt ( I used garlic powder)
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. oil
6 - 8 garlic cloves, minced
1 lg. onion, sliced
1 c. water
1 bouillon cube - (I used 1 c. beef broth for the water and bouillon)
2-3 tsp. instant coffee
1 bay leaf or 1 tbsp. Italian herbs (I used both)
3 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp cornstarch (I didn't use the water or cornstarch to thicken the broth)
sandwich buns
butter flavored non stick spray

Sprinkle roast with garlic powder and pepper. Brown on all sides in oil in pan. Place in slow cooker.

Saute garlic and onion in meat drippings. Add water, bouillon cube (in my case beef broth) and coffee. Cook over low heat for several minutes, stirring until drippings loosen. Pour over meat in cooker.

Add bay leaf or herbs. (I added both)

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. (I cooked it on high for 5 hours).

Remove bay leaf. Remove meat to a serving plate. Shred the meat using two forks. Cover and keep warm.

Lay sandwich buns on a baking sheet. Lightly spray the buns with butter flavored cooking spray. Stick the pan under the broiler until the buns are lightly toasted.

Linked to:

What's Cooking Wednesday

What's on the Menu Wednesday

Menu Plan Monday

Last week went so fast and Monday is here already.

Nothing really fancy on our menu this week. My kids and I are suffering from allergies/colds so I figured that I would just take it easy and not make anything over the top.

Last week's storms left some damage in our immediate area. We were without electricity for about 15 hrs. Even so, that's nothing compared to the baseball-sized hail some people had to deal with from storms over the weekend. We were out grocery shopping in that area but when I realized that storms were moving in faster than the forecasters were predicting, we headed home. I'm so thankful that we decided to do so. We might have been caught right in the middle of it. Storm season is here rearing its ugly head.

Sunday  - beef barley vegetable soup

Monday - 4 ingredient chicken casserole

Tuesday - chicken cacciatore over egg noodles

Wednesday - steak salad (didn't have it before) - using this marinade

Thursday - baked fish w/spinach & cheese, rice and green beans - this turned into southwest macaroni. So I think that I will move the fish to Friday and the ravioli to next week.

Friday - beef ravioli & salad

Saturday - Italian hoagies and antipasto salad


Have a wonderful week!!

Linking up to:

Ask Ms Recipe

Menu Plan Monday

Jumbo Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Let me tell how quickly I decided to make this cook recipe.....

I'd just put my daughter into the tub to play in a bubble bath. About 5 minutes later I decided to sit down at the computer to check my blog. My husband and son were moaning about not having any dessert but I told them that it wasn't happening because I didn't have time to squeeze it in. I always check my "blogging buddies" list on my blog to see what my friends are cooking or baking. My friend, Amanda @ Amanda's Cookin', baked chocolate peanut butter cookies. MMM!!! Just what I was searching for....a quick, easy recipe that would satisfy their needs for dessert.  Plus, how did she know that I'd been craving chocolate and peanut butter?

This recipe is very easy to whip up. The peanut butter definitely shines through. I had to add about 3 more tbsp. of milk to my cookies because the dough was a bit dry. I also used a large ice cream scoop to make the cookies jumbo sized. The truth is that I really didn't feel like standing in the kitchen scooping out multiple trays of cookies. I added 4 minutes to the baking time.

Here are the cookies right out of oven and still warm. So good!

The next time I make this recipe I'm going to add some chocolate chips. I might dip them into chocolate, too!

Jumbo Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Amanda's Cookin'

1/2 cup shortening (or butter flavored shortening)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp milk + more if dough seems a little dry. I used 3 tbsp more
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375*.

Combine shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.

Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Drop by large tbsp (or use a large cookie scoop) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.

Bake for 10- 12 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.

March Cookie Carnival Round Up - Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies

 It's time for another Cookie Carnival Round Up!

There were two chocolate cookie recipes to choose from this month:

Choc. Mint Sandwich Cookies 

Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies

Everyone in this round up chose to make the Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies from Quaker Oats. I must say, these cookies are so good! My cookie monsters gobbled them up quickly. This recipe is a keeper for us.

Check out what everyone else had to say...

Katrina @ Baking and Boys made some healthy changes to her cookies. She said that they were really good.

Tessa @ The Cookin Chemist - Said that she's more of a vanilla girl than chocolate but you should check out what her hubby did with them!

Shonda @ The Knowlton Nest added wheat germ to her cookies to make them healthier.

 Ana @ Anasbageri described her cookies "more like small cakes, very light, pleasant and sweet".

Barb @ Mom's Fridge said "With a name like that, how wrong could you go with this recipe? Answer: there's nothing wrong at all here--just plenty of deliciousness.".

Vivian @ Let's Try These said "I kid you not, this is one killer cookie recipe.".

and  my cookies Tami @ Tami's Kitchen Table Talk said "These cookies are soft and chewy and down right delicious!".

WAIT!!  We have 3 more bakers to include this month! The first two became victims of the Internet in outer space. Not sure if they just disappeared or if I'm having trouble with my email address again. For this reason, I am changing the email address connected with the Cookie Carnival - details to follow! I will email everyone about it and you will see the changes here on my blog. The last baker to be shown is Krista. Somehow I overlooked her entry. I apologize!! I have all of the entries for the month staring me in my face when I do the round up but I just skipped it and marked it "read". I'm a dork for doing this. I'm so sorry!!

Juliana @ Horneando Algo used mini M&Ms in place of the nuts. Oh yeah! A girl after my own heart!!

Tiffiny @ The Bake - Off Flunkie added chocolate chips to her recipe but that's not all...she froze the cookie dough and then bake them for a wonderful chewy cookie. Check out her results. Clever!

Krista @  Meet the Swans added peanut butter cups to her cookies. Who could resist these?

 Please take a few minutes to check out the blogs from all of these great bakers. Share some bloggy love!!

Thanks for this AMAZING round up!!

If you would like to join us in baking with the Cookie Carnival, click here to read more about it.
Everyone is welcome here!!

Happy Baking!
Tami