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This is entry #1 in my attempt to make a slow cooker meal every Monday in an effort to have a hot meal for my family on one of our busiest days of the week.
SLOW COOKER MINESTRONE SOUP
Combine 1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained), 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 cup each chopped celery, onion and carrot, mix Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup Starter seasoning mix with 5 cups of water and cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH.
Add baby shell pasta and continue to cook on HIGH for an additional 10 minutes.
We sprinkled ours with freshly grated parmesan cheese and served with crusty rolls.
Lovin' my slow cooker!
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Image source from TheUnseasonedWok on www.flickr.com/creativecommons.
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Linked to: Savvy Homemade Monday, Made By You Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Amaze Me Monday, Making the World Cuter, Homemaker On a Dime, So Very Creative Party Time, The Gunny Sack, Boogieboard Cottage, Tip Me Tuesday, Kissed By a Frog, Blue Cricket Design, Night Owl Crafting.
Fall to me means crisp weather, hoodies, and apple-picking season.
I've always loved apple dumplings and was happy to find this recipe on Pinterest. I made a few moderations based on what I had on hand, and they turned out deeee-licious!
I used Gala apples. They're small and sweet for baking. We didn't actually "pick" these. More so "chose" them from the local supermarket display. ;)
Peeled and cored them, then pre-mixed the required sugar with Epicure's apple pie spice.
Filled 'em up with sugar & spice and topped with butter. I surrounded them with pre-packaged pie crust which just happened to be on sale. I used approx. 5 single crusts for 1 doz. dumplings.
Here they are, freshly baked at our friends' home.
We served each with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream, although a vanilla sauce would be heavenly. (Pls send me a message if you have a good one.)
Again, the original recipe can be found here. I will definitely make a batch or two of these and freeze them for the upcoming Thanksgiving season.
Happy Fall! :)
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Linked to:
Tip Me Tuesday, Made By You Monday, Making Monday Marvelous, Craft-O-Maniac, Fingerprints On the Fridge, Show & Tell, Works For Me Wednesday, The Girl Creative.
I tripled this recipe, ready to give away as part of our meals ministry through church.
We want to provide practical assistance to friends, neighbours and congregants with "pop-in-the-oven" meals when they are going through a transition and/or rough patch in life (ie. birth or death in the family, illness, move, lay-off, etc.).
My hubby and I first experienced this through our home church in Ontario, shortly after we had brought home our first bundle of joy.
It was a HUGE help while we were trying to figure out our feedings and sleep schedules - nevermind the baby's!
This was one of the meals prepared for us.
We vowed to pay it forward whenever we could.
Here's the easy-peasy, but yums recipe:
Chicken Casserole
Makes 1 large lasagna-dish sized casserole to feed 4-6 people.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1 bag frozen mixed veggies, thawed
1 can cream of chicken soup (reduced fat works fine)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (reduced fat works fine)
2 boxes chicken stuffing mix
Combine first four ingredients in a large frying pan/skillet and heat through. Prepare stuffing according to directions. Pour chicken mixture into large casserole dish and top with fluffed stuffing. Freeze or pop into oven and cook an additional 20-30 mins. or until bubbly and crusty.
We like ours with whole wheat buns.
P.S. Substitute chicken for leftover turkey with the same yummy results.
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Image source (cause I forgot to take a pic.)
Linked to: Blue Cricket Design, We Did It Wednesday,Sugar & Spice, Today's Creative Blog, Works For Me Wednesday, Toot Your Horn Tuesday, Running with Glitter, It's a Keeper Thursday, Fireflies and Jellybeans.
This recipe was passed on to me by my sister-in-law, Cheryl.
A little info about Cheryl:
Cheryl started dating my oldest brother when I was around 1 year old.
They were married when I was three, and I was their flower girl.
I still have the dress I wore!
Basically, I cannot remember Cheryl NOT being a part of our family.
Or this meat pie, actually, because she's kindly made it
for many of our family gatherings.
We almost always have the ingredients on hand here at our house,
so it's a classic "go-to" in a pinch.
5 Ingredient Meat Pie
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can peas
1 can beef gravy
1 small onion, chopped
1 frozen pie crust (top & bottom)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Poke bottom crust of pie with fork, place it (unfilled) in oven
and bake for 15-20 minutes.
This helps to alleviate a soggy-bottomed crust, because really, who wants THAT added to this already cruel world? ;)
Whilst the crust is baking...
Brown ground beef and onion together. Drain if necessary. Add beef gravy, then peas - stirring carefully to combine. Simmer a little.
Remove crust from oven. Pour in cooked beef/onion/peas/gravy mixture.
(Tip: If you want to stretch this further, you can divide this mixture into 2 separate pies - although filling will be substantially thinner.)
Place uncooked pie crust on top and pinch sides to seal into bottom crust.
With fork, poke a few holes through top crust to let steam escape.
My sis-in-law sprinkles paprika on the top, but I forgot. And besides, then I'd have to change the name to "6 Ingredient Meat Pie" and, honey, I just ain't got the time.
Bake 20 mins. or until pie crust has browned to your liking.
Slice and serve w/a side o' mashed taters and a bit more gravy, if desired.
Enjoy and let me know if you try it and like it.
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Linked to Made By You Monday, Homemaker Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Market Yourself Monday.
I can't remember where I saw the gross interesting recipe for these (if it was on your blog, be sure to say so in the comments), but last night was a "stay up late" kinda night since today is a holiday (Family Day) in our province.
Perfect time to try this gross fun treat for the kidlets!
All ya need is...
Then ya have fun doing this...
And after boiling for 8+ mins, you get this...
Our kids LOVED them!
Blaise (who is 6 and ate his with ketchup) said,
"Mom, these noodle things you made are FANTASTIC!"
So, there ya go.
Probably not fare-worthy for The Oscars,
but my little treasures give them 2 doggy-noodled thumbs-up.
...it's just a frozen pizza kinda day.
I've strayed from menu-planning and the results have not been good.
Eating out more, which is costly and rarely healthy.
Dinner time becomes a frenzy of "what to make?"
Vowing to get our family back on track, especially as we're getting
busier and busier with pre-Christmas ministry prep.
Utilizing some quick and easy casseroles and the trusty crock-pot.
WEEKLY MENU PLAN
Monday
Smoked BBQ Ribs
Baked Beans
Cole Slaw
Tuesday
Chicken & Stuffing Casserole
Wednesday
Soup & Sandwiches
Thursday
Pierogie Casserole
Friday
Roast Chicken
Crock Pot Curry Vegetables
Fresh Rolls
Saturday
Lasagna
Caesar Salad
Fresh Bread
Sunday
Crock Pot Stew
Fresh Rolls
Staying on this type of plan not only helps us eat healthier and save money, but also yields more leftovers for lunches.
Bon Appetit!
Linked to:
Mom-Monday
Menu Plan Monday
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Photo courtesy of www.natcreole.com.
We leave for our family summer camping vacation in 5 days.
I'm a little excited.
Okay.
A LOT EXCITED!!!!
Having been to Disney back in May, this trip will be very budget-conscious.
Thankfully, having an RV w/stove, fridge & microwave means we can cook a lot of our meals at "home sweet trailer."
Here's an attempt at my camping meal plan for 1 week.
Monday
* Spaghetti, Marinara Sauce & Grilled Garlic Bread
Tuesday
* Hot Dogs, Potato Chips & Veggies w/Dip
Wednesday
* Out for Supper (shopping in the USA)
Thursday
* Swiss 'N' Shroom Burgers w/Garden Salad
Friday
* Grilled Brats & Peirogie Casserole
(minus the bacon, cooked on our stove-top)
Saturday
* Cajun Spiced Chicken Breasts & Grilled Veggies
purchased from local Farmer's Market this morning
Sunday
* BBQ @ Great Train Robbery
Is your family taking a vacation this summer?
Where to?
Here's to a summer filled with good memories.
CHEERS!
P.S. Happy Birthday today to my wonderful Father-in-Law.
Linked to:
Mom Mondays
Meal Plan Monday
Menu Plan Monday
Making Your Home Sing Monday
I haven't posted our meal plan in awhile, so giving it another go:
Monday
Tuna Melts & Soup
Tuesday
Out for Dinner
We're taking Mom, who is visiting from Ontario, out for supper at a nice local family restaurant to celebrate both her birthday (May 1st) and Mother's Day.
Living so far from family, we've learned to intentionally celebrate events when we get together.
Wednesday
Chicken Enchiladas with Southwest Simmered Rice
Thursday
Out for Dinner
This is the date of my Dad's birthday.
Jason is off to Ontario for 4 days, so Mom and I and the kids will go out to celebrate and reminisce about a man we both love so much and miss so greatly.
Friday
Spaghetti, Caesar Salad & Multigrain Toast
Saturday
Pizza Bagels & Salad
Sunday
Shepherd's Pie
Linked to:
Menu Plan Monday
We are out for dinner twice this week and are very excited about Bria's upcoming Birthday Party on Saturday as well as her choir singing with the local symphony that same evening.
Monday
Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
(Made with yesterday's leftover roast beef)
Tuesday
Spaghetti, Caesar Salad & Multigrain Toast
Wednesday
Out for Dinner
Thursday
Clam Chowder, Salad & Dinner Rolls
Friday
Home-Baked Pizza & Salad
Saturday
Our for Dinner
Sunday
Traditional Turkey Dinner - just for fun!
Linked to:
Menu Plan Monday
Mom Monday
Well, according to this we're not exactly hitting the mark of good health,
but we'll keep trying.
Monday
Chicken & Stuffing Bake
(we omit the sour cream)
Tuesday
Tuna Melts & Soup
Mix together tuna in water (drained), finely chopped onion, chopped celery, low-fat mayo, spread over sliced buns, top with marble cheese
& bake at 350 until cheese bubbles.
Wednesday
Chicken "Waheeta's" (Fajitas) & Mexican Rice
Thursday
Crock-Pot Beef Stew & Buns
Made according to this.
(We never ended up making this last week,
due to going out to friends for din.)
Friday
Angel Hair Primavera (Sabourinized)
We use spaghettini & our veggies aren't necessarily "julienned."
Saturday
Pizza Bagels & Salad
Sunday *Valentine's Day*
Order take-out! Lovers shouldn't cook on this day. LOL
Linked to
Menu Plan Monday
Meal Plan Monday
Image from Bodiglyphix.
I've adopted this idea from a few sites I find to be very helpful in terms organizational tips and recipes: Alison, Laura and Kindra.
I should note that my Hubby basically refuses to eat anything that doesn't have a minimum 2:1 meat/veggie ratio. I'm working on him. ;)
Hopefully this will alleviate the helter skelter we often experience, especially on Tues, Wed, Thurs when at least 2 of us are out to evening activities!
Monday
Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry
Tuesday
Spaghetti, Caesar Salad & Multi-Grain Garlic Toast
Wednesday
Pierogie Casserole
Thursday
Soup & Sandwiches
Friday
Out for Dinner
Saturday
Home-Baked Pizza & Salad
Sunday
Crock-Pot Beef Stew & Buns
(Made according to this.)
Linked to Menu Plan Monday.
