cranberry bliss bars, definitely a must try...love these things

http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/11/14/cranberry-bliss-bars/

chicken lazone (my version)

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicken-lazone-my-version.html

link to my previous post with this recipe...

this has quickly become a family favorite with everyone loving it...Tim even said tonight that this is his new favorite dinner...

so glad that I found this recipe and tried it when I did...

weekly menu posts from 11/21 through 11/28

I am a day early posting menus, although I did not get them posted last week at all...super busy, super stressed, a lot going on...

here goes:

Saturday 11/21.............chicken lazone, my version
                                     green peas
                                     cranberry bread

Sunday 11/22...............breakfast:  sausage, cheese hashbrown casserole
                                     dinner:  sausage, chicken corn soup

Monday 11/23.............hand held beef pies
                                     green salad

Tuesday 11/24............cube steak (country style steak
                                    mashed potatoes
                                    carrots

Wednesday 11/25.......tuna melts
                                    tator tots
                                    raw veggies

Thursday 11/26          turkey
                                   ham
                                   mashed potatoes
                                   corn casserole
                                   sweet potatoes
                                   applesauce bread
                                   sausage cornbread dressing
                                   pumpkin pie

Friday 11/27..............ham casserole (Chin Deep, rainy days)
                                  cole slaw

Saturday 11/28..........slow cooker turkey pot pie stew (recipe on facebook)

Disney night out...Mimi's cafe for dinner

when in Anaheim, the cat and I always eat at Mimi's cafe...love it there and it is usually within walking distance of our hotel...so I am not sure why we never go to the one in Mo Val? dinner last night was so good...I had not eaten all day (felt quesy) and so I decided that maybe I just needed to eat...I ordered the turkey dinner, cat got the NY steak and it was just what the doctor ordered...and the warm little loaves of sourdough bread? to die for...so good...I almost thought of just eating there on Thanksgiving...they are only charging 18.99 a person for turkey dinner including pie...they are also selling whole turkey dinners to feed 10 people for 89.00 (which is not bad) or 42.99 just for the sides and dessert...
just for info sake, they are building a Panera right next to the Mimi's, which Tim and I love...

the last time we went to Mimi's, I had the meat loaf which was just as good as the turkey dinner...
their desserts looked so yummy too...

Wednesday spam pie and sausage pie

this was the day before Zoie's birthday and we also did not properly celebrate Sian's birthday, so we invited her to spend the night with Zoe and I asked both girls what they wanted to eat and they rushed to say "spam pie"...

I have written about this pie before how I found the recipe in a magazine add for Hormel Spam soon after we were married...I was brought up on Spam but hubby hates it...
so for dinner after I made the Spam version, I also made hubby a sausage pie and it turned out wonderfully...he said he definitely wants to have this again...

for both, I line a pan with crescent rolls
(the sausage one, I used a round cake pan and it took one roll of biscuits) and mixed together 2 eggs, some cooked breakfast sausage and about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of diced cheddar and jack cheese...
mix ingredients together and spread into prepared pan, baked at 350 for about 30 minutes...it was so
yummy...

same prepardness for the spam pie (for this one, I used a large casserole pan and also one round cake pan) and mixed 2 cans of spam, 6 eggs and about 3 cups of assorted cheeses...bake the same...I always have to make more than what my family will eat as when friends hear what I am making, they all ask for some...my next door neighbor especially loves it...

all together?  a great birthday dinner...Zoie made a purple leopard cake with lemon frosting...no offense but I skipped dessert...

Tuesday night hamburger soup

this was so good for dinner as it was cold here for California standards...and I said that we need to have soup one night every week...

Zoie, my 14 year old actually made the whole dinner tonight, it is that easy...

I browned 2 pounds of hamburger (well Zoie did) and then she started the broth...
she added one large can of tomato sauce (30 ounces) to 9 cups of water, and 2 packets of onion soup mix...she also added garlic salt and pepper to taste...

it is a good thing I bought a new soup pot, this was perfect for this...(can you believe that after 42 years of being married, I never had a proper soup pot?)

so she added the browned hamburger to the soup base, and one bag of frozen corn and one bag of frozen carrots..and once it started to boil she added a few handfuls of ditalini...she cooked it until the pasta was al-dente...

yummy so so good...everyone, including little boy had seconds and it made wonderful leftovers for the next day...

slow cooker mac and cheese

Been craving this for weeks....love a good mac and cheese...made this one previously and we all loved it...    

To al-dente cooked elbow macaroni I added, (2 cups of macaroni):

2 cans of cheddar cheese soup
16 oz sour cream
1 stick of melted butter
2 eggs
Cheese
2 cans of evaporated milk

Mixed all together and added to crock pot on low for about 2 hours...I do need to check next time cause a full 2 hours was a little long...the original recipe calls for stirring midway through, and then sprinkling some cheese on top to melt...

Happy eating

Friday night dinner tator tot casserole with chicken

this is what I made...

http://www.plainchicken.com/2015/07/cracked-out-tater-tot-casserole.html

but I added diced cooked chicken to make it a main dish...

now, I am going to be honest here...and maybe this was my fault...I was doubling the recipe and it might have gotten mixed up somehow...to me, this dish was very sour creamy (is that a word?)...the little kids liked it, but the adults not so much...

however, I really like this idea and would definitely try this again with some changes...

I think one way I went wrong was that I did not add enough tator tots and the original recipe calls for a bag of tator tots and in doubling, I neglected to add 2 bags?  but it seemed to me at the time that it would be just way too much...
I also think layering some tator tots on top would have helped...

so I would try again, but really watching the recipe and doubling, etc.

the chicken needed to be cut in larger pieces too, as they seemed to be lost with the other ingredients...

Veteran's Day post with Olive Garden

So there were so many possibilities for Veteran's day this year...many of our favorites were offering great deals for military...we had our pick of some fantastic food...and if he had had not had dialysis we would have gone out for lunch too...but we picked Olive Garden...they gave the veteran a free entree and then 10 percent off the rest of the table...it was absolutely packed but once we got seated the food was delicious...I got lasagna with Italian sausage and hubby got spaghetti with sausage...so so good...thank you very much Olive Garden...

new barley soup recipe I want to try

http://thefoodcharlatan.com/2014/10/02/beef-barley-soup-recipe/

Monday night family dinner beef, bacon and barley soup

have used this recipe previously and we all loved it...very good tonight...love barley...

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/slow-cooker-beef-bacon-and-barley-soup/170e9b81-8754-47ec-b280-ba2516678882/

Sunday night family dinner bacon cheese mini meat loaf

http://www.auntbeesrecipes.com/2015/06/bacon-cheeeseburger-mini-meatloaf-patties.html

these were so very yummy...so yummy...will definitely make these again, everyone loved them...I made them with homemade mashed potatoes...little boy spent the night and was in mashed potato heaven...said he has never had real "smashed potatoes" with the lumps and skins before...he is not known as a big eater, and he ate everything on his plate...LOL
also made maple carrots and garlic cheese biscuits...

oh, by the way, I added italian sausage to the meat loaves...

weekly menus from 11/8 through 11/14

didn' do this as my hand was broken (well still is)...

trying again...here we go...

Sunday 11/8...........mini bacon cheese meatloaf
                               home made mashed potatoes
                               carrots
                               garlic cheese biscuits

Monday 11/9.........beef, bacon and barley soup
                              artisan bread

Tuesday 11/10,,,,,,bacon, corn and cheese pancakes
                              chciekn apple sausage

Wednesday 11/11.Veterans Day
                              eating out

Thurday 11/12......cracked out tator tot casserole
                              green beans

Friday 11/13.........cheddar beef pot pies

Saturday 11/14.....parmesan chicken casserole
                             green salad
                             garlic bread

Saturday night broken hand cheesy chicken taco rice skillet

very good...

http://hostthetoast.com/one-pot-cheesy-chicken-taco-rice/

sweet potato quick bread

this recipe resembles my pumkin bread, tho not as moist, was very good however...

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sweet-potato-cinnamon-bread?trkid=FBPAGE_TOH_20151107_Breakfast_Dessert

million dollar casserole

which is basically a baked spaghetti with a creamy mixture in the middle of two layers of cooked spaghetti...

made enough for us, my neighbors and to send home with the grandkids...

so good and plenty of leftovers too...

http://ashleykaitlin.blogspot.com/2011/01/million-dollar-spaghetti.html

broken hand dinners, twice baked potatoes with ham

super easy with one hand,

baked a ton of potatoes (everyone loves them and I made enough for 9 people)
hollowed them out and mixed into, some cheese a little butter and 3 mixed eggs...then stirred in cubed ham...
baked at 375 for about 20-25 minutes...

yum

one broken hand dinner, macaroni and cheese

craving this one night, I made it super simple that way my mom used to do it...

I layer cooked elbow macaroni, with chesse with a couple of layers, add 2 cans of evaorated milk over the top and add some seasonings and bake
375 for about 30, till milk is absorbed...

broken hand and cat's away dinners...

let me explain...it has been about 3 weeks now since I fell and actually broke a bone in my hand...it has been in a temporary spling until I can see an ortho specialist and that is proving hard to fnd an ortho to see you...they did not have an opening until 11/12...so, I wait, I am taking that to mean that the fracture is not that bad...at first it hurt, now it is just achy...at least with a temporary splint I can unwrap it to take a shower and do dishes and a few dinners...the first week or so, we ate out, now that I am getting used to it, am using it more and more tho I do require a lot of help stirring...

the hubby was in the hospital twice within those 3 weeks, hence my saying of when the cat is away, the mice will play, only we were not playing...hahaha

we went throught the easy dinners I could cook with some small amount of help...'
egg salad
tuna salad
tuna melts
breakfast for dinner (we had that a couple of times)
spam pie

etc.
if it was easy, I tried it...and it seemed to work...