Well, it was a wild weekend of not eating at home.  The kids were gone and we took the opportunity for date nights, but now I’m back in the kitchen.

The biggest cooking event this week is my brother’s birthday.  He wants Shepherd’s Pie.  He’s bringing his girlfriend (whom we have never met).  And I have to make a humble Shepherd’s Pie.  Sigh.  You can be assured that I will be piping on the mashed potatoes in rosettes.  He also wants a cream cheese pie with cherry topping, again, a favorite, but not spectacular.  I’ll at least do a shrimp cocktail appetizer.   Oh, and he wants fudge, so I’m trying a recipe with marshmallow fluff that people seem to love. 

I’m planning a simple baked spaghetti with a salad and maybe some bread and garlic butter.    The baking allows the sauce to really get into the pasta.  This also allows me to make it early in the day when I have time and then just have someone pop it in the oven.

Romano Chicken is  chicken braised in an herbed tomato sauce, covered with mushrooms and onions, and then romano cheese.  Maybe a little more cheese than the recipe calls for…  I’ll serve that with a Caesar salad and some bowtie pasta.

CranApple Pork Tenderloin is something I haven’t made in a while.  It’s somewhat seasonal unless you keep cranberries in your freezer.  I may or may not puree the sauce because the boys like cranberry sauce as a side…maybe some of it?  This will be served with potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary, and teriyaki brussels sprouts.  However, because I am lazy prone to making my life easier, I will just roast the sprouts and toss in the teriyaki near the end.

Planning in a few graze/leftover nights, and possibly some hotdogs roasted over a fire in the backyard if the weather cooperates.

Have a great week!

I know what’s for dinner. What I don’t know is how it got to be October already.  By now the cider should be nice and sweet, and since the kids have a half-day this week I’ll con them into picking apples with the promise of cider and donuts to follow.  If you have room in your freezer – buy a few gallons of cider you like, pour 1.5 cups from each (assuming a 10% expansion rate), and freeze.  It’s great to pull out on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Ok, back on topic.

This week the boys were kind enough to request some meals, and my husband put all his meetings on the calendar, so my planning went a lot easier.

Tonight will be chicken fingers (I marinate the chicken in a garlic buttermilk bath first), roasted carrots, and parmesan potatoes.  This is the same chicken that I bought for vineyard chicken last week, but I was unable to keep fingers out of grapes, so after 2 trips to the store I gave up!

Brian wants to make guacamole, so to round out the meal we’ll have pork soft tacos (love this recipe) and a fruit salad and some chips and salsa.

Wednesday is pasta night, and it will be Penne and Sausage in Creamy Tomato Sauce served with green beans with shallot butter and almonds.  I’m testing a pumpkin biscuit recipe for Thanksgiving that should go nicely with this.  I’m also going to attempt a compound butter from cream.

Also going to try a member suggested recipe, Italian BBQ Cube Steak.  Will serve this with garlic butter Texas toast and BLT salad.  I have high hopes for this meal.

The boys will be quick to point out that there are no desserts on the menu – I’ll think of something…

Back on track!  Last night I roasted a ham.  Nothing special, just cut off the hard skin and roasted it in my Le Creuset roaster.  It was left plain so that I could turn the bone and leftovers into split pea soup.   There were some green beans on hand, so I steamed them.  But that was boring so I browned some almonds in butter, then added back beans to warm, then plated and topped them with gorgonzola.  Also made yet another batch of crockpot applesauce because the boys like it so much.  It’ not really cheaper to make your own, but I like to do it.  Plus, the less expensive brands have high fructose corn syrup, and I try to eliminate that where I can.

Brian is craving chili with frito scoops.  I’m going to make Christina’s Springfield Chili again.  It’s really good. 

Kevin wants hot dogs.  I don’t quite know how to take that.

I’m going to test a chicken recipe where the chicken is cooked in a salsa/mustard combination.   Will serve it with rice, guacamole, chips, and fruit.   I think this also comes from Christina.

Gonna make Friday a leftover/empty the ‘fridge day.  Saturday is girls’ night in, which is only partially planned.  TENTATIVELY it’s artichoke chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted sprouts, ginger ale glazed carrots, and a pumpkin maple custards.  I’m guessing it’s gonna be hard to get the boys to leave…