mock lasagna, family favorite for 40+ years

when we were first married (42 years now) LOL, I found this recipe in an old magazine of my hubby's grandmother's, when we traveled to Onieda New York in the winter with a 6 month old baby...
she lived in a wonderful old house that held many treasures...

I love old recipes that call for a different that usual ingredient...with this one, it is that you do not have to boil the noodles first...you just layer the noodles in between really hot sauce and it cooks like that...dumb me, one time when I went back to work, I made the casserole the night before and it was really gummy when I went to cook it...

hubby absolutely loves this dish and it usually is the first fall dish I make when I can finally turn the oven on after a summer time out...

this is the original recipe:  (but for our family I double the recipe)

1 can (1 lb 12 oz) of stewed tomatoes
1 can (16 oz) tomato sauce
seasonings
2 cups of water
1 pkg of wide noodles (uncooked)
mozzarella cheese
cooked hamburger
I add, cooked Italian sausage

a change to the original is that I completely blend the stewed tomatoes till no real pieces are left...some of my family hate to bite into pieces of tomato...it blends well with the tomato sauce...

heat the sauce to boiling and then simmer for 15 minutes and add the hamburger and sausage...

as with a lasagna, add a thin layer of sauce in pan and then layer noodles (1 layer) then more sauce, another layer of noodles and sauce, ending with a good (make sure every thing is covered)...

spead mozzarella cheese

cover with foil and bake 350 for approx. 45 minutes...let sit for about 10 minutes...when you cut it, it cuts like lasagna...

so yummy you will love it...

Chicken and wild rice casserole

Have posted about this many times previously...my all time favorite...love this so much as does Tim...little boy is addicted to it...makes great leftovers too...we have this at least once a month..

It is the chicken and wild rice casserole on Southern Plate...here is how I do it:

For my family, I do 4x's  the recipe...

To diced and cooked chicken, I add 4 packets of Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice (I use the brown rice with wild rice one) the brown rice gives it a little nuttiness...
2 large cans (22 oz) cream of chicken soup
16 oz of sour cream
frozen peas
almonds

mix together and layer with crushed Ritz crackers with some melted butter on top...

bake at 375 for about 1/2 hour...

totally yummy

Weekly menus for week of 1/30 through 2/5

Since I already posted monthly, I am now ready to post the weekly ones with sides...

Excited about this week's...some of my favorite's are listed here...

Saturday 1/30................chicken and wild rice casserole (Tim and my favorite...)

Sunday 1/31..................mock lasagna
                                      green salad
                                      garlic bread

Monday 2/1..................loaded baked potato soup
                                      artisan bread

Tuesday 2/2..................roasted chicken
                                      rice a roni
                                      green beans
                                      biscuits

Wednesday 2/3............korean beef
                                     brown rice
                                     broccoli

Thursday 2/4.............. chicken lazone
                                    buttered carrots

Friday 2/5.................. bisquick sausage muffins
                                    wild rice pancakes

yum cannot wait

February menu ideas

if I do not make menus, I do not cook and we eat out a lot...much better for me to know what I am doing...
we do our big shopping once a month, at the commissary, since we get paid on the first of every month...

a while back, I always did menus by the month, then I found it much easier to do by the week...so now, I am going to make a loose idea of monthly menus and fine tune them weekly...

so here goes...in no particular order...

chicken lazone
chicken and wild rice
cashew chicken
korean beef
spaghetti
swedish meatballs
tator tot casserole
sausage muffins with bisquick
ham
mock lasagna
carbonara
roast chicken
layered chicken bake
swiss steak
steak ale pie
applebees chicken salad
honey sesame chicken
taco casserole
pork ribs
chimichangas
southwestern casserole, on moms' dutch oven fb
stuffed shells
frito casserole
poppy seed casserole
mac n cheese
sausage corn chowder
hamburger soup
baked potato soup
hamburger/rice/gravy

now I am ready to go shopping...
am excited about this month's recipes

Anchos for a late lunch

hubby and I decided to go to Anchos for a late lunch and we have never had a bad meal there...

for my non Calif. friends, Anchos gives a taste of South Western Mexican food...the very best...

their chips and salsa are the best and they bring nice fresh warm flour tortillas to your table with butter...(I could eat these and nothing else...yum...)

hubby always gets the steak fajitas and I get the cheese enchiladas...

we had a nice lunch and now are too full to make dinner...

smoked pork chops with apples, onions and cranberries

this is not really my kind of dinner...but everyone else loves it...

I have not really ever bought smoked pork chops before but they were marked down ridiculously at the market and I thought why not?  so I googled several recipes on how to cook them and then I decided to try my own...

I first, lightly browned them on both sides with some seasonings and then put them into a baking dish with some chopped onions and cut up apples and then poured some cranberry juice over the top and baked for about 25 minutes...

to go with them, I roasted some potatoes and made some buttered carrots...
then for a treat for hubby (he and daughter are only ones that eat this) I decided to satuee some cabbage...
for this, I but some diced onions in some butter and let them cook till were translucent, and then added one bag of cole slaw mix with carrots and let them sweat down...I added some garlic salt, onion powder, pepper and celery salt...

Samantha is vegan, and she loved the potatoes, carrots and cabbage (she said it was the best I have ever done...)

everyone loved dinner...

Bucket List Burgers

this is our favorite dine out place to eat...such good hamburgers...oh my...
it is the kind of place where they have papers and pencils and you write down exactly what you want on your burger...

Tim, ever eating healthy always gets the turkey burger with pineapple and teriyaki sauce, on a honey wheat roll...

hubby gets practically everything on his 1/2 pound burger and I get bacon, cheese and carmelized onions...

the fries and onion rings are so big that we share...

a nice night out...

ham and cheese twice baked potatoes

I have been making these for many many years and everyone in this family loves them...tonight, I made enough for the little kids to take dinner home too...

these are a little time consuming but worth the trouble...

tonight, I made enough for 11 people...LOL

I bought the big baking potatoes (and will not do that next time, they were almost too big to handle when they were hot...)...baked them at 375 for about 45 minutes...
while still hot, I scooped the insides out, trying hard to leave enough potato to hold the peel together...then mashed the potatoes...

added butter and cheese with some seasonings (I use garlic salt and pepper) and added 4 beaten eggs...

scooped them back into the potato shells and topped with more cheese...

yummy

peasant bread

http://www.yummyhealthyeasy.com/2014/05/peasant-bread.html


you must try this...very yummy...and so not hard to do...

I love making yeast breads, but they are way too much work for how I feel right now...I was very intriqued to see this recipe and I was kind of doubtful that it would work...(NO kneading???)...
but I made it and everyone loved it very much...

will definitely make it again...

would try with some garlic and cheese in it

baby bow tie pasta with Italian sausage in tomato, vodka sauce

I had bought a jar of tomato vodka pasta sauce and wanted to use it...and at the commissary they sell in the frozen food section a bag of precooked, sliced Italian sausage...I love to stock up on this to use at a moment's notice...

so I sauteed the sausage for a few minutes in a skillet and then added the sauce and brought to a boil, I then added the baby bow tie pasta and then let cook till pasta was al-dente...when it looked like it might need a little more liquid, I added some milk...topped with mozzarella...

this was so yummy and so so easy...

will definitely make this again...

made a homemade yeast bread to go with dinner...

Sunday afternoon tradition of tuna sandwiches

before Tim had to take over as Saturday Editor at the newspaper our every Saturday afternoon treat for him and me was to have tuna with chips and dip and take an hour to watch a show we had DVR'd...and then the Editor thing happened...so we switched to Sunday instead...

we do our errands (ie Target) in the morning, get coffee and come home and watch our shows and have the prerequisite tuna...it is a habit we both love...and we have not gotten tired of it...

I have said before, we had tuna a lot growing up...tuna sandwiches and tuna casserole...but since we were poor, our tuna was never really dressed up...it was not until I got my first nursing job that I really tasted tuna...there was an older black man (name was Art) who really taught me about tuna...he made tuna with onions and celery and whatever else and I had never had it like that and he made the best ever tuna melts...with this dressed up tuna, american cheese all on rye bread...I loved this sandwich so much and whenever I make tuna melts, I always think of him...

today, we had no eggs to dress up our tuna and so I decided to make just tuna with mayo and some seasonings, and piled it on potato bread with american cheese...it was so good...
Tim was happy too...

new menu posts from 1/25 through 1/31

been thinking all week about this menu rotation...kept the paper beside my bed, cause I would think of something while in bed and not want to get up to write it down (cause I sure would not remember it by myself in the morning...)  LOL

here goes:

MOnday 1/25............sausage, wild rice and corn chowder
                                  artisan bread

Tuesday 1/26.............john wayne casserole
                                   biscuits

Wednesday 1/27.......twice baked potatoes with ham
                                  green salad

Thursday 1/28.......... roasted chicken
                                  mashed potatoes with gravy
                                  maple glazed carrots

Friday 1/29.............. korean beef
                                 brown rice
                                 broccoli

Saturday 1/30..........layered chicken bake

Sunday 1/31............chicken/bacon carbonara
                                green beans
                                garlic bread

breakfast, lunches and dessert

bisquick mini sausage pies, egg salad, blondies

happy eating

sloppy joes for dinner

I completely went off of menu rotation...chicken carbonara was on board to be tonight's dinner and I just was not feeling it...
and I like sloppy joes, I don't love them but for some reason for a couple of days, I had been thinking of them (sort of like craving, I guess...)  and everyone in the family does love them...

I have said before that I was the second oldest to 12 kids from a very poor family...we ate a lot of oatmeal and to this day, I cannot stand it...there were also many nights we went to bed without dinner...my mother tried, I have to give her credit...she did not have a lot to work with especially with so many kids...but I do not really think I got my love of food from her...she cooked with a purpose, to feed 12 kids with no resources (to speak of)...it had to have been very hard on her...she was a wonderful baker when she could however...great cinnamon rolls, cookies and angel food cakes from scratch with coffee flavored icing...I am sure with more ingredients on hand, I feel that she would have been able to do great things...
when I got married, I wanted to do everything right...(well right for me and my new hubby)...but new hubby had a mind of his own and was very opinionated on what he liked to eat...and he came from a family (Italian) that loved their lasagna, etc. but they were very big on meat and potatoes.., and that is not what I was used to...I wanted to branch out, I had not even had bacon or pork chops or steak or things like that until I moved away from home...I was used to casseroles and mac n cheese...and I wanted to expand those casseroles that I was brought up on and make them better...he wanted nothing to do with them...
enter,,,kids...and I made the things I loved for them and me and if hubby wanted to eat, he had to eat with us and he learned to like some of them too...

reason for posting this today...old habits die hard...when the kids were little, I was so determined to make good healthy meals for them and I was into the whole color thing too, where I matched foods that seemed to compliment each other and those menus have stuck with me...such as dinner tonight...do not think I could ever imagine sloppy joes without tator tots and green beans...and yet it is one of my family's favorite meals...

tonight:

sloppy joes
tator tots
green beans
jiffy corn casserole

there is not really a secret to sloppy joes...I make with McCormick's seasoning mix...I have thought many times of making my own...but when this one is so easy, why make myself do more work?

yummy

Jiffy corn spoon bread casserole

http://www.jiffymix.com/recipe.php/jiffy+corn+muffin+mix/156-spoon+bread+casserole

this is the link from the Jiffy company itself, although if you google this recipe, you will get tons of other ideas...

I had previously made this and it was all right...then I made it about 2 weeks ago, and we fell in love with it...Tim and I had leftovers for breakfast, it was that good...

so I am making again tonight to go with sloppy joes...

so good...I did not make this version with eggs tonight, but might try it next time...

yummy

Friday night dinner, easy meatball soup

this was a long hard week...I was tired...I wanted super easy and this fits the bill...

cannot remember how I came up with this soup, but everyone loves it and it is so easy to make...the recipe is so interchangeable too...many ways you could do things differently...

here is what I do:

when I made up this recipe I wanted a rich nice broth and remembered that I like the broth fro the McCormick's beef stew seasoning mix and so I decided to use that...

2 packages of beef stew seasoning mix
6 cups of water
1 bag of frozen meatballs
1 bag of frozen peas (since I started this recipe with peas, this is what we prefer, feel free to use whatever you like...I have used corn before but like peas better)
1/2 bag of egg noodles or any other pasta you like...I have made with ditalini previously and we liked it...

add the meatballs to the water and seasonings...bring to a boil and add the noodles...I add the peas close to the end as they keep their color...I cook till the noodles are al-dente...

serve with biscuits or an artisan bread...

yummy

Thursday night California Pizza Kitchen

Tim took us out to dinner tonight...

this was a nice surprise...we got him from work at the newspaper and he said he would like to take us out, whom am I to refuse an offer like that?
we never go to CPK, mostly cause hubby does not like it there...I go to lunch there with my neighbor sometimes as she loves it and her hubby does not either...

but it was so nice and it was quiet too...a great plus when you have just left a classroom full of 2nd graders...

Tim got the potato soup and a personal pizza...looked great...I got the pea soup (yum) with a Calif. club sandwich and hubby got the rib eye steak (had fingerling potatoes and an arugala salad)...
This was such a nice afternoon, we took awhile and ate slowly...absolutely wonderful...

we got the mac n cheese bites for an appetizer and oh my heavens, what a good thing to eat...I want them again...I could eat those for a meal by themselves...

the pea soup there is wonderful and I have never thought of adding barley to the soup...will try this when next I make pea soup...

Thank you Tim for a nice day

yummy...sausage hashbrown casserole and wild rice pancakes...

I have a migraine today...and usually when I have one of these, I work hard all day to get rid of it and by about 4 or so most of the pain is somewhat lessened...not today...
but I promised little boy dinner tonight and so since a promise is a promise I made dinner anyway...
little boy was very happy...

he loves this dinner...he said I am the best cooker and when he gets big he is going to buy a restaurant and I will be the cook...hahaha

so I have posted about this casserole previously...love, love love it...

I use 2 bags of frozen hash browns
24 ounces of sour cream
lots of cheese
2 tubs (?) of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage
seasonings
8 lightly scrambled eggs

cook sausage and mix together and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes...

what I have found that works good for this recipe...thaw the hash browns a little and then I lightly fry them in a little oil...(the original recipe did not call for frying first, but we like the coloring)...

lay a layer of cheese on top...

try it, you will love it, I promise it

almost forgot...the pancakes...

I had never thought of adding wild rice to the batter but I saw on Pioneer Woman a recipe that looked to die for...so I made my usual pancakes, thinking I would make plain ones for the little kids and then I added 1 cup of cooked wild rice to the rest of the batter...they were sooooo yummy and what it really added was some nuttiness to the pancakes...once the little kids got here, they did not want the plain ones, so I made some more wild rice ones...Tim loved them also...

Tuesday night dinner, for a cold rainy day...beef stew

it is cold and rainy here, more of a drizzle...but it is nice and I love it...much better than the horrible heat that we get...temps in the 60's and drizzly, most definitely my kind of day (and night...)

there is no secret to my beef stew but it is yummy...

I use the McCormick's seasoning packet and then add what we like to it...

to the seasoning packet, I add 6 cups of water and then I add the beef that I have had cooking all day in the slow cooker, all diced up nicely...

I add 2 bags of frozen stew vegetables (which has potatoes, onions, celery and carrots, the have to have corn and some peas...cook until potatoes are fork tender...

we like ours on the thicker side, so I make a cornstarch thickener to the stew...

very yummy

Monday night family dinner homemade chicken pot pie

everyone in this family loves this...been making since I was first married (42 years?)  and I always make 2 extra smaller round pans of this to give away to friends...

my next door neighbor (she is a teacher) and I like to make dinners for them...her hubby loves my spam pie

Zoie loves making her own little pie, her own way...

the sauce is made like this

make a roux with 8 tablespoons of butter, 7 tablespoons of flour, one can of evaporated milk and one can of chicken broth...
and of course seasonings...

you can make your own crust and add diced cooked chicken and whatever veggies you want...I always just add a pkg of frozen peas and carrots...


so yummy definitely a family favorite

Sunday night family dinner...salisbury steak meatballs

we love salisbury steak in this house, but I usually make patties in gravy with mashed potatoes...I saw this idea on Pioneer Woman online and I was intrigued...meatballs?  well, why not?

her recipe looks interesting, but everyone likes my recipe so that is what I used...

with hamburger (I make like 2 + pounds for this family)
then I use either Mrs. Cubbison's or Stove Top cornbread stuffing and depending on how much meat I use (for this much I used approx. 3/4 of the pkg)
lots of seasonings (garlic salt, pepper, onion powder and parsely)

made into meatballs, add some sliced onions with a little butter and since I am not feeling 100%, I used jars of beef gravy
we served over buttered noodles
leftovers of the fantastic jiffy corn casserole
artisan bread

everyone loved it, yummy

new menu posts for 1/18 through 1/24

having 3 whole days off this week, is so nice...wish we had 3 days every week...I get more done that way...LOL

here goes...........

Monday 1/18............salisbury steak meatballs
                               buttered noodles
                               carrots

Tuesday 1/19........... homemade chicken pot pie (my family's favorite)

Wednesday 1/20.......tator tot casserole
                               green salad
                               artisan bread

Thursday 1/21..........beef stew
                               biscuits

Friday 1/22..............poppy seed chicken
                              rice
                              broccoli

Saturday 1/23..........bacon carbonara
                              green beans
                              garlic bread

Sunday 1/24............breakfast (sausage and hash brown casserole)
                              dinner:
                              twice baked potatoes
                              chef's salad
                             

Saturday night family dinner spiral baked ham

I love ham...love it...and most stores now are clearancing their hams and we got this for very cheap...

since there is no school, I had more time to bake it...

with it I paired:

homemade potato salad, everyone loves my potato salad
baked beans
jiffy corn casserole (the last time I made this, I remember I was not crazy for this all that much, but tonight it was so good...)

just Tim, cat and me for dinner so we have lots of leftovers...yummy

Thursday night Applebees

we decided to get an early diner after Tim got off work and went to Applebees...
I always get the same thing...I love their chinese chicken salad, but in a tortilla wrap...so good...in fact, I have found the copycat recipe for this and make if often at home too...

cat got soup and salad, Tim got their new breakfast all day burger...it is a cheeseburger with hashbrowns and a friend egg on top of the burger...this was his second time getting it, so he must like it...last time he gave me a bite and it was OK, not some thing I would order for myself...

the kitchen this time, did not make my wrap correctly, so when I picked it up, everything came out the bottom and for the first part of the wrap, I took it apart and put it back together myself...
and can I say here, that my copycat recipe for the sauce for this salad is so spot on...

so the manager came around and asked if everything was ok, and we said yes...then I decided to say, that I was not complaining but for the next person, could he please make sure that they wrapped it better...much to my surprise they took my entree off the bill...I even tried to protest with the waitress, but it was a nice gesture...

it was a very nice time with the cat, Tim and me...perfect time to go as it was not noisy and we had a great time (we need more of those...)

we also got the pretzel appetizers with a beer cheese dip which was fantastic...

brownie cookies

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/brownie-cookies/

I decided that every Sunday I would bake something sweet...I love to bake and am pretty good at it...just do not have the time to do all I need to do everyday...
but I love my family, and love to do things for them...they were definitely thrilled when they saw baking cookies...

for awhile I have been craving a nice thick but difinitely moist brownie cookie but I want it to crackle on top...

these were very good, but they spread out a little too much for my liking and no crackle...

family loved them but am still on the hunt for the crackle...

Wednesday night busy family dinner bacon cheeseburger meat loaf

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

this is the recipe I used and the 2nd time I have made it...think this is my go to meat loaf recipe from now on...everyone loves it...the flavors are fantastic...

paired with

baked potatoes
maple glazed carrots
garlic cheese biscuits

made enough to send dinner home with the littles...they were so busy tonight...after Hearts, we had science fair (1 got 1st place the other got 2nd place) and then Sian had a band concert...

they were happy with dinner...

Tuesday night family dinner, huli huli chicken

well this dinner was roughly based off a recipe I found online and I did not have all the ingredients for the sauce...so here is my version and even tho I did not eat (heart failure again)...everyone else said it was fantastic...little boy said I should open a restaurant, and Samantha went vegan but still had some of the rice with sauce...

this is the recipe I started with:

http://bakeitafterall.blogspot.com/2011/01/huli-huli-chicken.html

and here is where I differed:

I wanted to bake the chicken, but I like my chicken with some color to it, so I seared it in a skillet with a little butter first...and made the sauce while it was cooking...

sauce:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2/3 cup pineapple tidbits/chunks
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

then I placed chicken in baking dish, and poured the sauce over it and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes or so...it came out fork tender and everyone loved it...

the name (from what I gather) huli huli means to turn turn, so every 5 minutes or so, I turned the chicken over in the oven..

I paired this with broccolli (sp ?) and brown rice and biscuits...

will definitely make this again...

I also thought this might be good as diced chicken cooked in skillet with the sauce poured over it...

Monday night family dinner homemade mac and cheese

I love mac and cheese any way....and am always looking out for new ways to make it...came across this one recipe that seems pretty popular...
slow cooker mac and cheese and when I made it we all loved it, except for the way the eggs make it seem curdled at the end...

so I thought about trying without the eggs and bake in the oven and see how that went...

it went fantastic...so yummy...so good...will be my go to mac and cheese from now on...

here is what I did...

for 2 cups of elbow macaroni (tho I added 4 cups cause I knew I wanted to send some home with the little kids...)
I added:
3 cans of evaporated milk
3 cans of cheddar cheese soup
cheese (as cheesy as you like it)
seasonings
24 ounces of sour cream
1 1/2 sticks of melted butter

mix altogether and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes...

I paired with artisan bread, green beans and little smokies with bbq sauce...sent enough home with littles for their dinner and even the other grandma said it was yummy...

pulled pork Sunday dinner

yesterday, I put a huge pork shoulder into my slow cooker with some coca cola (about 1/3 of the slow cooker) and put it on high for 10 hours...I put in frig overnight...then, today I trimmed it up and chopped it up and oh my...it is so delicious and so moist and tender...melts in your mouth...love how it came out...will definitely do it this way again...and we have tons leftover, maybe I will make tacos from them...

so tonight:

pulled pork on buns with bbq sauce (I do not like mine smothered in sauce, so I just add a little sauce to both sides of the bread)
baked beans
green beans
homemade cole slaw...

everyone was happy...

yummy

new menu posts from 1/11 through 1/17

already half way through the month, wow...

here goes:

Monday 1/11............slow cooker huli huli chicken (one of Tim's favorites...)
                                 brown rice
                                 green beans
                                 homemade egg rolls

Tuesday 1/12...........stuffed pasta shells
                                 green salad
                                 garlic bread

Wednesday 1/13......bacon, cheese mini meat loaves
                                 mashed potatoes
                                 maple glazed carrots

Thursday 1/14..........loaded baked potato soup
                                 artisan bread

Friday 1/15..............salisbury stk meatballs
                                buttered noodles
                                brussel sprouts

Saturday 1/16..........baked spiral ham
                                potato salad
                                corn casserole
                       
Sunday 1/17............slow cooker mac and cheese
                                bbq smokies
                                biscuits
                                peas

yummy

million dollar spaghetti

this is the 2nd time I have made this dish...was requested by my daughter for tonight...she is having someone over and wanted to spoil them with dinner...

and yes I know we had pasta for dinner last night also, but am doing requests this week from my family and it just happened this way...

this recipe is basically a baked spaghetti with a creamy center between 2 layers of pasta, topped off with the spaghetti sauce...

made dinner early tonight so it would be done for Samantha and her friend and this is also Tim's first day back to work as Editor and I wanted to make him happy...

recipe from here:

ashleykaitlin.blogspot.com/milliondollarspaghetti

so yummy

applesauce bread

have been making this for a very long time and it is one of hubby's absolute favorites...

!/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
16 oz of applesauce
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
3 tbsp milk
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
chopped nuts if desired

mix ingredients and bake at 350 for approx 50-60 minutes...

yummy

egg salad

never thought I would have to make a post about egg salad but here I am...

I was raised on egg salad, was a special treat for 12 poor kids...now I am very picky about my egg salad...
actually I am very picky about a lot of my foods...and I sometimes wonder why I am like that, afterall I was raised very poor, most nights going to bed without dinner...we relied on the goodness of other people sometimes bringing us vegetables from their gardens or something they had baked...we had oatmeal every single morning and now I cannot stand oatmeal because of that...

now, I have to know where the homemade food comes from (like to know if your kitchen is at least clean)...and I have to have only Kraft mayo, Oscar Mayer hot dogs, solid white tuna, etc...for me to eat it...

so you know if you get food from me, it is in a clean kitchen and only the best ingredients have been used...LOL

most everyone in my house loves egg salad, but like I said, I am picky...I like the eggs shredded on the smallest grater, by hand (I know, I know, sorry) and I like no chunks in it at all...
then I add pepper, just the smallest bit of garlic salt and onion powder and then add enough mayo to just coat the eggs...(cannot stand too much mayo)...

I like to bring this to school and hand it out to people for lunch...

yummy

chicken lazone, my version

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

I mde lots of people happy tonight as this is everyone's favorite...

did not disappoint either

Rainy day slow cooker pot roast

Still attempting to recover from whatever I have (flu gone into Chf) and it is very rainy for So. Cal. It was delightful to come home from school to dinner already mostly done for me...

I had 2 roasts cooking all day in the slow cooker with packets of onion soup mix...I intentionally made too much so I could send dinner home with the little kids...they have science projects to finish and I wanted them to have a good dinner...

Sending home the leftover mashed potatoes from the other day, some boiled carrots and gravy...for us, I made boiled potatoes.

With CHF I usually do not eat much...so it is tonight even tho I love pot roast..

Everyone else loved it

new menu posts from 1/6 through Sunday 1/10

a little late this week, so this week it will be from Wednesday 1/6 through Sunday 1/10

here goes......

Wednesday 1/6..............pot roast
                                       boiled potatoes
                                       boiled carrots and onions
                                       biscuits

Thursday 1/7.................grilled huli, huli chicken
                                      white rice
                                      brussel sprouts

Friday 1/8.....................bacon cheese mini meat loaves
                                      baked potatoes
                                      green beans

Saturday 1/9.................stuffed shells
                                     green salad
                                     garlic bread

Sunday 1/10.................million dollar casserole (daughter is waiting for me to make this, till she goes on a diet...)
                                     green beans
                                     artisan bread (Tim and Zoie loves this 3 cheese semonila bread from Ralph's)

yummy sound good and aomw of my family's favorites...

creamy pasta and ham bake

this is the second time I have made this recipe...we love it...tho I do think next time I will try it without the eggs...I am not crazy when at the end, the eggs seem to curdle...

http://chindeep.com/2010/04/25/rainy-day-rituals/

meatball stroganoff fettuccine

http://www.barefeetinthekitchen.com/2014/11/meatball-stroganoff-fettuccine-recipe.html

with peas...

this was good...not as good as my usual beef stroganoff...want to play with the recipe a little and see if I can make it as good as mine

New Year's dinner

I am not feeling 100% yet from this stupid flu...3 weeks and still feeling yucky...mine turned into pneumonia and then to COPD and CHF...so tired of not feeling good...

very simple for dinner

spiral ham
homemade mashed potatoes
green beans
applesauce bread

everyone was happy

pepperoni cheese bites

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/pepperoni-bites/

these were very good for New Year's Eve dinner...
I did not exactly follow the recipe and my version did need more seasonings...

New Year's Eve dinner

since I had the flu so bad for Christmas Eve and it was not our normal food that we enjoy, I tried to make New Year's Eve much better and I think I accomplished this...

menu:

homemade macaroni salad (everyone loves my recipe)
sausage cheese balls
pepperoni cheese bites (http://www.browneyedbaker.com/pepperoni-bites/)
deviled eggs
assorted veggies and dip
homemade egg rolls

simple...

and toll house chocolate chip pie

was very yummy and everyone loved it

our family's top recipes for 2015 part two

part two of our favorite recipes from 2015

6.    I make several different types of chicken salad, this is one of my favorites...I made for teachers at our school, last month and they loved it also

http://chindeep.com/2011/07/19/chickadee-cottage-chicken-salad/

7.    creamy pasta and ham bake

http://chindeep.com/2010/04/25/rainy-day-rituals/

8.    toll house chocolate chip pie (made this for New Year's Eve and it was delicious...)

https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/28218/nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-pie/

9.    sausage, hashbrown casserole

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/10/sausage-hashbrown-and-cheese-casserole.html

10.   huli huli grilled chicken

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2015/06/grilled-huli-huli-chicken.html

11.  spam pie and sausage pie

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/11/wednesday-spam-pie-and-sausage-pie.html

12.   bacon, cheese mini meat loaves

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/11/wednesday-spam-pie-and-sausage-pie.html

our family's top recipes for 2015 part one

2015 was a great year for new-ish recipes that are now in our menu rotations...

1.    chicken lazone

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

2.    million dollar casserole

http://www.plainchicken.com/2013/07/million-dollar-spaghetti.html

3.    hamburger soup

http://www.plainchicken.com/2013/07/million-dollar-spaghetti.html

4.    my own sausage, wild rice and corn chowder

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/08/chicken-sausage-wild-rice-corn-chowder.html

5.    slow cooker mac and cheese

http://momsdutchoven.blogspot.com/2015/09/slow-cooker-mac-and-cheese.html

end of the year...man what a year

the last week of school, I came down with the flu...I had heard from people that had had the flu that it was horrible...a friend of mine was out for 3 weeks with this...I hoped it would stay away from me...

it did not...

it started with a cough and then just gets much worse...I still tried to do what I had to do...but that Friday, I had to give in...I was sick...the body aches were the worst I had ever had...but I still had kids to get to school, help some teachers with last minute Christmas crafts, etc...I worked through, the very best that I could...I also tried to keep the home fire alive also...

made a lot of soups...told family to have a peanut butter sandwich on several occasions...it was sad to me however when I could tell it would not be the normal Christmas we were used to...I just did not have what it took to do our Christmas...

Christmas Eve is our night...that is when I go all out...I always make Swedish Meatballs, this great cheddar potato casserole that everyone loves and then tons of appetizers...I did what I could...made the meatballs, using frozen meatballs (it was not the same)...my daughter did the potato casserole, and we did a few store bought appetizers...in the end I could not even eat anyway...but at least I tried...

Christmas morning, I got up and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast...

Christmas night Samantha and I did a simple turkey dinner...turkey, dressing, gravy and mashed potatoes...Sam made a creamed corn casserole...once again, I could not eat...

I for one, am glad that 2015 is over...and I am starting to feel a little better each day...