Week 67 Menu and New Year Resolutions... a little late

This week I've been thinking of a New Year's Resolutions that will make life in the kitchen easier at my house. It's still January, so I guess it's not too late to post resolutions. Here they are:

1. Make very realistic menus for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. I teach piano until dinnertime two of these days and the kids have gymnastics until dinnertime the other night. So, if you look at my menus hopefully these days will have quick and easy dinners or dinner that I can prep while the kids are still at school and throw in the crockpot or bake right before dinner.

2. Make bread at least twice a week. I've realized that my bread doesn't stay soft for days and days, but I'm tired of buying bread and having it be dried out. Making bread isn't that hard and it doesn't take that long if I plan ahead a little bit.

3. Stick to my food budget. I've never been very good at sticking to a set budget for food, but I'm going to do better.

4. Since my baby is entering the baby food stage of his life, I'm going to try to make more of my own baby food instead of shelling out $.50 for each little jar.

Basically, I want to eat healthy, cheap, easy to prepare, home-made food, so hopefully now that I've written my goals down, I'll do better at doing them.

So, here's my menu for this week:

Monday: Swedish meatballs, steamed potatoes, IKEA gravy

Tuesday: breakfast burritos

Wednesday: crockpot taco soup or chili w/cornbread muffins

Thursday: chicken spaghetti

Friday: honey-lime chicken enchiladas

Saturday: steaks, Maggie's quinoa salad

Sunday: chicken salad sandwiches in either bread or soft-wrap bread

Thanks to Maggie, Meagan, Laura, and my sis, Lis, for posting their menus last week. What's on your menu this week?

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

Havreflarn (Swedish Oat Crisp Cookies)

We had some teenagers over for a Swedish themed dinner last night. They were participating in a "missionary for a day" activity. They were paired up into companionships, like the official missionaries for our church and were assigned to a family for dinner. They ate with us and then taught us a lesson about Heavenly Father's plan for us. My husband served a mission in Sweden. He lived there for two years and loved it. Swedish meatballs are a staple at our house. (They're super easy to make and my pickiest eater's favorite!). When we visit IKEA we usually stock up on the cream gravy packets and jars of Lingonberries. We were out of lingonberry, but after a few phone calls, I found some at one of our local grocery stores. We ate meatballs, gravy, lingonberry, mashed potatoes (I ran out of time, other wise I would have steamed little red potatoes from our garden) and green beans (though my husband doesn't remember eating them in Sweden

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

What is on your menu this week?

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