Menu Plan Monday – Better Late Than Never…

It’s football playoff season, and we love to entertain this time of year, so this should be a great week of eating, visiting with friends and watching football.

Here’s our menu plan for the week…

Monday – pork chops and scalloped potatoes

Tuesday – grilled chicken salad and garlic bread

Wednesday – leftover buffet

Thursday -meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls

Friday – chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice

Saturday – spicy beef sandwiches (recipe to come later!)

Sunday – crab legs, shrimp, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and lots of football munchies for the playoff games!

Don’t forget to head over to Meal Plan Monday for even more meal and recipe ideas!

It’s Chili Season!

Football, snow, fire in the fireplace… it’s that time of year when I want me some CHILI!

I’ve been meaning to share my favorite chili recipe for some time now, and with all the snow and cold weather we’ve been getting, now couldn’t be a better time to make a big pot of chili.

This chili recipe is very easy, but also very delicious. My family loves it and asks for it over and over again.

My Favorite Chili Recipe

Ingredients:
1 ½ – 2 lbs ground beef
½ chopped onion
1 green chili pepper
Large can crushed tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
Chili powder to taste
Red pepper to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Chili seasoning – ½ of packet
3 small cans V-8 juice

Directions:
Brown ground beef (season with salt & pepper) and add chopped onion, chili pepper and chili seasoning.
Combine remaining ingredients in large pan or crock pot.
Add ground beef mixture. Add remaining seasonings. Mix and simmer.
I use a dutch oven to cook my chili in right on the stove top, but a crock-pot would work great as well.
Serve with crackers and corn bread.

That’s it! See… I told you it was easy

My Favorite Thanksgiving Dish… Sweet Potato Casserole

Everyone has their own favorite dish for Thanksgiving… mine is the sweet potato casserole.

My mother in law is usually in charge of making this dish, but she shared her recipe with me so I can make it at home as well.

This sweet potato casserole uses pecans as the topping instead of marshmallows.

The recipe follows. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

* 1 (40 oz) can cut sweet potatoes, undrained
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/3 cup butter
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Cook sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan for 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain and mash the potatoes.
2. Mix the mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, 1/3 cup butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Spread evenly into a buttered 2 quart baking dish.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, chopped pecans, flour, and 1/3 cup melted butter. Sprinkle on top of the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

9 Simple Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries

It never fails, we budget for our groceries, but the bill always ends up being more. We underestimate, run out of things faster than expected and overall, everything is becoming just too darned expensive! To make things a little bit easier, here are 9 simple ways you can start saving money on your groceries.

1. Go with a List: Yes, I know…it’s a pretty obvious suggestion, but it’s amazing how effective it can be. You can purchase only what you need and avoid all the other yummy distractions of the grocery store.

2. Meal Planning: Planning your meals in advance makes it easier to get your list together and ensure you buy only exactly what you need. You can get help with your meal planning at Dine Without Whine AND they actually put your grocery list together for you too.

3. Eat Before You Go: Another classic tip. If you’re hungry, you’ll want to buy (and instantly eat) everything! Have a meal or good snack before you go to avoid impulse purchases.

Continue reading…

Better Homes and Gardens Budget Meals: Save big $$$ with smart ways to shop and efficient ways to cook

Save money and eat well with the healthful, delicious, and affordable recipes in Budget Meals Everyone is pinching pennies these days. But it’s hard to find the time (and the energy) to devise effective ways to slash your food bill. Now, Budget Meals comes to the rescue with more than 350 everyday and party-special recipes designed to save you money without scrimping on flavor. With recipes including entrees, soups and stews, skillet meals, pastas, salads, side dishes, and eve (more…)

The Importance of Family Meal Planning

What has happened to us? There once was a time when we would all come home from school or work and sit down with our families and enjoy the ritual of family mealtime. It was the best meal of the day, offering a wide variety of nutrition and family conversation.

Today, less than half of American families eat dinner together and when they do, these meals last less than 20 minutes and are lacking in proper nutrition.

The fact is our life styles have changed from those magical days of Ozzie and Harriet. Thanks to the Internet, cell phones and palm pilots, business is conducted on an almost 24/7 basis. Even conversations with our children are often times through text messages or cell phone.

Continue reading…

10 More Reasons to Gather Around the Dinner Table

I received a lot of compliments on my post about “24 Reasons to Gather Around the Dinner Table” – well, compliments and a challenge: come up with even more reasons families should sit down to dinner together.

But first, if you find the idea of family meals daunting, take a look at Dine Without Whine. It’s a monthly subscription, which gives you weekly meal plans, recipes and grocery shopping list. Dine Without Whine definitely simplifies meal planning and preparation.

Ok, now back to my challenge. It’s been hard, but here you go, 10 OTHER reasons to gather around the dinner table:

1. You’ll have a ready audience for your jokes.

2. You can get instant feedback on new recipes you’ve been wanting to try.

Continue reading…

Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy

If you have diabetes, it’s important to watch what you eat to maintain your health. Meal planning can help manage your diabetes, as well as save you time and money.

The bestselling Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy is a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide to all aspects of meal planning for you.

Meal planning is one of the most crucial—and sometimes most difficult—aspects of managing diabetes, but this book makes meal planning simple.

This newest edition incorporates the most recent nutritional recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (more…)

Menu Plan Monday – Vacation & Baseball Edition

Hubby is on vacation this week, and we are finally catching a baseball game (first this season) on Friday. Should be a fun week! Here’s our menu plan for the week…

Monday – hubby is grilling ribs, baked beans, corn on the cob

Tuesday – spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread

Wednesday – grilled chicken, mac & cheese, corn

Thursday – chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice

Friday – baseball game… hot dogs & beer at the ball park!

Saturday – brisket on the grill

Sunday – headed to family’s for dinner

Don’t forget to head over to Meal Plan Monday for even more meal and recipe ideas!

My Favorite Meatball Recipe

My family always asks for my meatball recipe, so here it is:

1 lb ground beef
1/4 onion (grated, you want the juice from the onion for moisture)
1 egg
Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
Italian bread crumbs (1/2 cup)
Milk (1/4-1/2 cup depending on how moist you want the meatballs)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic salt

1 jar Ragu Parmesan and Romano spaghetti sauce

Comgine all ingredients except spaghetti sauce. Form meatballs, and brown in large skillet or dutch oven. Simmer in spaghetti sauce on low for 30 minutes.

Oven: you can bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes instead of simmering on the stove-top.

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