Week 54 Menu and Kitchen Tip #5

Wow, it's hard getting back into the swing of things after our vacation last week. It was really nice to eat at great restaurants and have a break from cooking. I'm going to try to be realistic while I plan my menu this week and make things that are easy and work with our crazy schedule this week.

Speaking of crazy schedules, my Kitchen Tip for today is a time saver that I haven't taken advantage of until last week. My husband bought me this rice cooker for Christmas last year, but I've only used it to make rice. I read in the manual that it steams vegetables too. So, last week while I was teaching piano lessons I put my rice cooker to work steaming some red potatoes. It worked great -- cooked perfectly! Then I steamed some broccoli and then put all the veggies in the rice cooker and left it on warm until we were ready for dinner. So, my kitchen tip for today is use your rice cooker to steam things other than rice, like veggies!

Now on to my menu for this week:

Monday: sloppy joes, oven baked potato chips

Tuesday: tinfoil dinners

Wednesday: chicken manicotti

Thursday: breakfast for dinner, maybe waffles

Friday: mini turkey meatballs, potatoes

Saturday: easy

Sunday: grilled steak and rice (this has been on my menu for a few weeks, maybe I'll make it this week)

All right, there's my menu. If you've planned your menu for this week, please share! Have a good one!

One Hour Rolls

These rolls are amazing! I've been making these rolls since 2001 when I was a newlywed and my sister-in-law shared the recipe with me. The rolls are light, fluffy, easy to make and they only take one hour! And delicious too! I've made these rolls more times than I can count, so I've perfected the art of making them. Here are some step-by-step instructions with pictures for you. Here's what you'll need. I buy pretty much all of the ingredients in this recipe at Sam's club, thus the huge containers. You need warm water, yeast, oil, sugar, salt, egg and flour. In the mixer bowl, add warm water (not hot), oil, sugar and yeast. Mix together. After ten or fifteen minutes the yeast mixture should be puffed up like this. Time to add the salt and beaten egg. Then mix in the flour. (I've used a mixture of half wheat and half white flour successfully.) Keep adding flour until the dough is manageable. It will be a little sticky, b

The Best French Bread I've Ever Made

This is the best french bread I've ever made. I got this recipe from my friend, Nikki, who gave us some of this bread as a thank you for my hubby helping them move a piano. I remember it being delicious and we gobbled it up fast. I was intimidated for some reason by the recipe and waited a few years before I made it. We needed some bread for to make some turkey, provolone, avocado sandwiches, so I made some of this bread and it was perfect! We sliced one loaf like they do at Subway. Then later I made normal shaped sandwiches with the rest of the bread. Delicious... light and fluffy and yummy! Update 2/22/12: This is still my favorite bread after making it for a year! It turns out perfect every time and it's gone in a flash! printable recipe French Bread recipe from my friend, Nikki Yield: 2 loaves Ingredients 2 c. warm water 1 pkg (or 1 heaping Tbsp.) yeast 1/4 c. granulated sugar 1 T. olive oil

Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room. This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's). Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen. Use your garage! I use my garage quite often to cook things in. I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door. I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking. I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage: my crockpot and my food dehydrator. Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight. I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench. Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage. I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours

What is on your menu this week?

Search This Blog