Monthly Menu: November 2011

AFter reading this book

I decided taht I would try to cut back on my grocery bill by shopping only twice a a month instead of every week.

ITw as a challenge to plan 2 weeks of menus. I had to dig through old cookbooks and recipe boxes to jumpstart my creative cooking juices, but I can tell you that it really did make a difference to my grocery bill! And who doesn't love saving time,money and gas by staying away from the gorcery store! Not to mention the hassle of the actual shopping and unloading.

So, here's what I made in November. I will try to add the recipes for specific dishes as time allows.

1st: Meatloaf (the GOOD kind. My kids even like it)
2nd: Hamsteakd with green beans and baked potato...so easy!
3rd: tostados
4th: chicken potato bake. yum
5th: Costco Pizza (ok! I went to costco that day and capitalized on the $6 pizza!)
6th: Broccoli and cheese soup
7th: chken linguini
8th: Beef Stroganoff
9th: Lemon Parmesean pasta
10th: sweet and sour chicken
11th: creamy enchiladas
12th: Chipotle pans! SO GOOD!!!
13th: leftover rice/chicken
14th: Wild rice and chicken soup in bread bowls
15th: baked pork chops with sauted apples and green beans
16th: sesame noodles
17th: chicken kiev
18th :burgers, potato salad and baked beans (reliving those long gone summer days)
19TH: crockpot tortilla soup
20th: pizza...again....but it was home made this time.
21: shepherd's pie
22: leftovers
23: leftovers (I was making sure that they'd be good and ready for Thanksgiving!)
24: Thanksgiving Turkey
25: Turkey leftovers
26: Turkey soup
27: Beef and broccoli stirfry
28: BAked Potato bar
29: More turkey soup
30: Lasagna

There you go! I'll put up December's menu next month. I should mention that I don't hold myself to the planned menu. SOmetimes I swap one meal for another, or I just make leftovers work when I'm super tired or busy (as noted above!) BUt I do have somethign planned for each day. This actually made my menu stretch out even more so that I could use some of my november menu ideas for the first week of December, which cuts down on December's budget even mroe. I would estimate that I saved appx. $75-100 in Nov. by shopping this way. I'm hooked on this idea. Maybe soemday I"ll be organized enough to shop just once a month. Maybe.

Apple Sauce Cookies

Ok, last apple recipe...for now.

When I make dehydrated apples, I use one of those hand crank thingies



And I love it! It makes my life so much easier. When my dehydrater is full of apple slices, my sink is full of peels. I boil the peels and cores down wiht about 1 cup of water and then mash them trough a old fashioned food mill that my mom picked up at an antique store eons ago. I love that thing. And it gives me about 2 cups of yummy fresh apple sauce.

So the other day I decided to use my fresh apple sauce to make some applesauce cookies.

Here's teh recipe I used with my modifications noted.

http://www.food.com/recipe/applesauce-cookies-298710

Modifications:
1 cup butter instead of 2
almost 2 cups of applesauce instead of 1
Extra 1/2 cup flour (appx)
I only added 1/2 cup chocolate chips and you definilty need 10 mins in the oven.

Apple Presents

Another great apple recipe! This one is from



1 tsp orange zest
1/3 cup fresh squeezed OJ
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 medium granny smith apples peeled, cored and sliced
1 tube of refigerated bread stick dough (I used crescent rolls and it worked well!)
1 tb. melted butter (I omitted this)

Pour the OJ in the bottom of a deep dish plate or glass bakign pan. Make the cinnamin sugar and add the orange zest to it. Then you open up one of the crescent rolls, spinkle it with cinn-zest sugar (my variation) place 2 to 3 pieces of apple near the end, and roll the apples up in the dough. PLace them seam side down in the pan. Sprinkle them with more cin-zest sugar (brush with butter first if you're using butter) and bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes or so.

It's a lighter, tastier variation of McD's apple pie.

Apple BRownies

HEre's a great way to use up some of those autumn apples that may be hanging around your kitchen.

Apple Brownies

1 TBL soft butter

1 cup sugar
(mix)

Add 1 egg
mix well

Add Pre mixed Dry stuff:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp b.p.
1 tsp cinn.

Blend all

Add 3 medium chopped apples. ( I used 2 cameos and that was plenty. I did not peel)

Nuts if desired (I did not add them)

Batter will seem very scanty and dry. It will look like too many apples.

8x8 or 9x9 square baking dish greased at 350 for 40 mins.

Very good wtih whipped cream. Crsipy top with warm chewy middles. Really good.

Salad Sonora

1 cup lentils
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1.5 tsp chili powder
.5 tsp ground cumin
1 cup corn cernals drained
1 cup salsa
4 oz green chiles
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 cup sliced olives
.5 cup fresh cilantro


wash lentils. place in saucepan with onion , garlic,chili powder cumin and 2 cupswater. heat to boiling, cover, reduce to simmer for 10-12 mins or jsut unitl lentils are barely tender. drain if needed. combine withall remaining ingredients,cover andchill several hours or overnight. serve in a taco bowl on thin sliced veggies wor with tortilla chips.

Pinto bean fudge

2/3 cup canned milk
1 to 1 1/2 cups minature marshmallows
1 to 1 1/2 cups strained pinto beans
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 to 1 cup sugar
1/2 cup nuts
1 to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips


Combine sugar and milk in kettle then boil fivem inutes stirring constantly. Add remianing ingredients and stir until marshmallows melt then pour into buttered pan. Cool and cut into squares.

ham and bean soup

3/4 lb fully cooked ham
1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves
2 16 oz cans white beans
3 cupschicken broth
2 cups water
1 cup potatoes
3/4 cup carrots
3/4 cup celery
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 tb fresh parsely



IN saucepan,saute onion, garlic and onion till tender. Add next seven ingredients. Cover andsimmer 30 minutes or so. Add peas. cookfiveminutes. add parsely and serve. Really good.