Lesson Learned

I have been working on baking and cooking more and more. This week I made Calzones for supper. I made the pizza crust and set in on the stove to rise. At the same time I turn on the oven to begin preheating it. My mistake...I did not realize that I set the bowl on the burner that vents the oven. I came back 20 minutes later to check my dough and then went on the split it and roll it out and the dough on the bottom of the bowl was baked. I was able to save most of the dough and toss the baked stuff before others walked in the kitchen, but I have learned my lesson... make sure the bowl of dough that is rising is not on the burner that vents the oven.

I am fairly new to the kitchen and I am an over all klutz. Mishaps seem to fallow me every where, yes even into the kitchen. This is nothing new to my family, I was really glad I was able to save most of it. I also did not burn any thing that night. That is a trade mark for me, I am so afraid of under cooking something and getting everyone sick that I tend to make sure everything I cook is well done. I did not burn these... I was very proud about that.

If you want some great recipes go and check out Home Ec 101. I get 3-4 of my meals a week from that site, yes some are repeats, but when you have children and you find a recipe they love it is a great thing.

Menu Monday

Here is what is on the menu for this week...

Chicken Curry

roast w/mash and HM bread

Bacon Cheeseburgers

Calzones

Chicken Strips w/ fries

We will be gone this weekend for a hockey tournament, so I only need five meals and hopefully some left overs for lunches.

Menu Monday

Here is my plan for the week... we got some help with food money so I am taking and planning some good homemade food for us. On to the list...

Thai noodles with shrimp and bean sprouts

Pizza

Country style Cube Steak

Chili

Chicken Curry

Taco Soup

beef roast with potato bread

We have hockey every day but Wednesday, so these meals are meant to be quick or slow cooked and we will be making the pizza Wednesday as that takes a little longer.

Swedish Apple Pie

The first weekend of October the boys went out hunting and us girls stayed back and made a great Swedish Apple Pie.

Swedish Apple Pie

-apples -1T sugar -1t cinnamon

Topping:

-3/4 cup butter, melted -1 egg -1 cup sugar -1cup flour

Fill pie plate 3/4 full of peeled and sliced apples. Sprinkle apples with sugar and cinnamon. Mix topping ingredients and spoon over apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Malia Eating Spaghetti

I made spaghetti for Malia last week. My mom gave us some gluten free rice noodles and I made up a meat sauce. She loved it and it was nice that she could eat a meal with us and she did not break out from it. She ate most of the food on her plate. I know need to find more meals like this or she needs to grow out of this allergy of hers.

Fearless Friday- Beef Stroganoff

This week I made a great beef stroganoff, well it was better the second day, but the next time I make it there will be some fixes. My day started by making some cream of mushroom soup. It turned out great and I was able to make it for the beef dish by making it with beef stock instead of chicken broth. Here is how I made my beef stroganoff.

(all these dishes did drive me nuts!)

Beef Stroganoff
2-3 lbs stew meat
olive oil

1 med. onion
4-6 fresh mushrooms

11oz. beef stock
11oz. cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

brown or white rice

Dust meat with flour and fry in olive oil. Remove from pan and add the diced onions and mushrooms. Add the meat back in and pour in the beef stock and soup. Simmer covered for about 30 minutes. While that simmered I made the rice. I stired in the sour cream right before serving. Next time I will mix the same up to the point of simmering and at that point I will put it into the crockpot and leave it there on low for a few hours. The meat was very tough and need more time cooking to tenderize it. I loved serving it over rice because the rice soked up all the sauce. I also cooked the rice in half water half beef stock, so there was extra flavor there too.

I do need some ideas for the rest of the cream of mushroom soup. I am pretty sure I will not be buying canned cream of ______ anytime soon. It was very easy to make, even if you do not follow the directions exactly (one of my down falls) and mix the butter, mushrooms and flour together right away.

Yes, there was some downfalls to this dish, but all in all it was a great dish that could have been better by either using a more tender cut of meat or cooking the meat that I had longer.

Side note: I do not cook with fresh onion ver often. I did with this recipe and I had the whope house in tears. My husband and boys were whinning that they were not going to eat this if it tasted like onions and that their eyes hurt. It was funning and made me realize that I really need to start cooking more often using fresh stuff. Also they loved the dish and you could not taste the onion at all.

My menu for the week

This is the first time I have done this. I am horrible at planning menus. I think this will help the "what are you hungry for" question my husband and I ask each other each night.

Monday: Chili (stew meat, beans, chili seasoning, crushed tomatoes) and cornbread
Tuesday: casserole (ground beef, pepperoni, cheese, ricotta cheese, pasta, pasta sauce)
Wednesday: Chicken bundles (first time trying this one), canned veggie, pasta
Thursday: left overs
Friday: Chicken Pilau (I have to learn how to reheat the batch that is in my freezer)
Saturday: In-Laws taking us out
Sunday: Roast, carrots, potatoes