Apple Crisp two ways

I haven't posted in so long but lately I've been debating if I want to return to blogging or just stick with Facebook.   One of my friends was saying on facebook that he was craving apple crisp and I went looking for my post (I was sure I had blogged my apple crisp recipes before) but I guess that was done on my old blog that no longer exists.   I have a file with transcripts from that old blog, but unfortunately it is just text and none of the great pictures that accompanied those posts, many of which are photos of the kids that have subsequently been lost for good when my external hard drive crashed a few years ago.  I found the file, amazingly, and just had a fun time scrolling through posts to find the one I was looking for and enjoying the fun stories of my kids when they were little (so glad I took the time to blog them since I don't keep a diary or journal)  So, for my friend Bill, I return to blogging, at least for the time being, to post my two favorite easy apple crisp recipes.

Here is the blog post from 11 years ago (minus the photo, obviously)

This afternoon as I was sitting in the lazyboy watching a video and enjoying the quiet as Lydia napped, this paper floated down from behind me and into my lap, a "request" from Uncle Sam (aka. Stephen).    (missing photo was here)

Sorry I couldn't get the scan to be better.  It says "WE WANT YOU! to make a apple crisp! signed: Uncle Sam Ü "  With the typical Uncle Sam with his finger pointing directly at you.

Now how could I deny him?  I even went "all out" and used the "good recipe" usually reserved for a special person or occasion as it requires dipping into the "reserves" of our precious cake mixes (which can be bought here but they cost at least 3 or 4 times what they would in the states).  It is one of our favorite recipes though ... those of us with good tummies will enjoy it tonight.

"Special Friend" Apple Crisp

6 large apples  (I am using Fuji and Granny smith)
1 cup water
1 pkg. white or yellow cake mix
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Arrange in a 9x13 pan.  Pour water on top.  In another bowl, mix cake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.  Combine well and dump on top of the apples.  Don't stir!  Bake at 250 degrees for 50 - 55 minutes.



When I don't have a cake mix to use, this is the recipe I fall back on.  As you can tell, both of my favorite recipes are ones that don't call for oats in the crumb topping.  I don't have anything against oats (although I hate oatmeal), I would just rather have them baked into a cookie or a loaf of bread.

Flash Gordon Quick Apple Crisp

4-5 apples
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter

Peel, core and slice apples.  Place in a 9" pie pan.
In a separate bowl mix sugar, flour, salt, spice. Add melted butter.  Mix well then crumble over the apples.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

Meal Plan October 22 - 28 Pantry Manna

Last week was one of those weeks.  You know, the kind that stretch your faith and test your sanctification.  The kind that come around every once in a while to see if what you say to everyone else about trusting the Lord is something you really believe after all.  We were caught by surprise by an exorbitant utility bill that came in last week and received some other news from back home that was unpleasant and unexpected and promises to bring us some challenges after the new year. Some new challenge or disappointment seemed to pop up each day threatening to pull me into a pit of worry and doubt.  It is easy to get discouraged when we put our focus on ourselves.  Then today I read an update from a dear friend who is literally fighting the battle for his life and my own little hiccup in life pales completely in comparison.  And yesterday we had the privilege of sharing the Good News of the gospel with a new friend using this incredible tool which is the reason why we are here in Spain in the first place.  And God has done other things just today and even last week sprinkled in between the tough days to remind us that He really does care for us.  He showed us His love through our church family, supporters back in the States, our Pastor, and even through our neighbor, who showed up Sunday night with some fresh picked egg plant and a couple pomegranates.  This is the same neighbor who just a few years ago seemed to be in a perpetual state of anger at us for all the excessive noise we apparently generated on a daily basis.  The only time we ever saw or heard from him was when he would come upstairs and yell at us.  Saturday he even asked my husband if they could meet regularly to give him English conversation practice.  
  Today I was trying to come up with a plan for meals that would work with our schedule this week and be possible to carry out without a trip to the store, at least for a few more days.  I pulled together this dish grabbing ingredients that were in the freezer, pantry and fridge.  There wasn´t really enough chicken for a whole meal by itself but diced up and added to steamed broccoli and some cooked ¨ble¨ (cracked wheat that is cooked kind of like rice but is more filling and more nutritious than white rice -- at least I think so.  please don´t burst my bubble if I am wrong) and covered with a gravy made from chicken broth it became a hearty filling meal.  I decided to coin a phrase for this kind of thrown together improvised meal.  I am calling it ¨Pantry Manna¨ from Exodus 16:15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.  
I read that verse to the family as I explained the way I named our ¨casserole¨ and it was a reminder that The Lord has given us our food to eat not just today but every day.  We can either look at it and say "What is that?" or we can be thankful to Him for once again giving us just what we need (and most of the time SO MUCH MORE).  One great thing about this "manna" verses the kind in Exodus is that the 3 servings that were left in the pan can be stored in the fridge in tupperware and brought to school for the kids´ lunches tomorrow.  No waste.  :-)

"Pantry Manna" Version 1.0

Monday 10/22
Pantry Manna version 1.0

Snacking meal --  peanut butter on integral Maria cookies (kind of like graham crackers)
fruit: apples, bananas or pomegranate that the neighbor brought to us last night.



Tuesday 10/23 (parent meeting after school)
lentil soup with Spanish chorizo
salad



Wednesday 10/24
Ikea meatballs in crockpot
Baked sweet potatoes


Thursday 10/25
broccoli, ham and cheese quiche (modified from this recipe)
tossed salad



Friday 10/26 (youth group party at the house)
ham and cheese sandwiches
pepperoni pizza puffs
chips and onion dip
veggies and ranch dip


Saturday 10/27  (Major fund-raising event for ds#1's senior class fund)
midday meal  clean out the fridge of leftovers
evening: hotdogs and "fair food" at the school Fall Festival

Sunday 10/28
Swiss Steak (in the crockpot)
Mashed potatoes
whatever veggie is a good price at Wednesday´s market (broccoli, cauliflower or maybe brussel sprouts)

Needing some menu inspiration?  Head on over to Laura´s for Menu Plan Monday and see tons of great Menu plans for the week.

WFMW Sandwiches for a crowd

I was so excited Saturday to think I had come up with an original idea that solved my dinner dilemna when my family got home from choir practice after 9pm ravenously hungry.  My menu plan had grilled cheese sandwiches on the plan and I had all the ingredients.  The problem was that Friday night a piece fell off the hood of my range and landed on my new (less than 6 month´s old) glass top stove and broke it.  I was unsure about using the burners until I talked with our landlord.  Plus the nice big griddle that I used to use on my old gas stove will not work on the new stove due to it not being flat on the bottom.  I was looking at a long process of cooking up 1 or 2 sandwiches at a time on the back burner of the stove to feed all 6 hungry mouths.  Then I thought, what if I just put all the sandwiches together on a big cookie sheet and put them in the oven under the broiler?  I did just that with enough room for 9 sandwiches on my cookie sheet.  I watched them carefully and when the tops were nice and golden brown I flipped them over to do the other side.  We all LOVED how they turned out.  The cheese inside was melted perfectly and there was a nice balance on the bread between being soft from the melted butter and having a little crunch from the toasted edges.  The best part was that all the sandwiches were done at the same time and we were able to sit down together and eat without Mom in the kitchen as the short order cook.  Totally works for me and I think it may be the way I always do grilled cheese, at least whenever I need to make them for more than just one or two of us.

Check out what works for others on this week´s Works For Me Wednesday link up.

Oh, and what a surprise to head over to Laura´s blog Monday and see her weekly plan including Oven Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  Great minds think alike I guess.  (but I do like my idea of using the broiler setting so I can easily see exactly how toasted my bread is getting and when to flip them over).

Menu Plan October 15-21

Kept to the menu plan as well as I could but had to do some menu changes when the only store that I have found here that sells cottage cheese was all out.  The saddest thing was that I couldn't even find a shelf tag or an empty spot where it should have been so now I am fearing that they may have discontinued selling it.  That means my poor broccoli egg casserole will have to go off the menu rotation for a while.  I hope I am wrong and that the next time I go to the Lidl they will have the cottage cheese back in stock.  This also means I won't be putting lasagna on the menu either (since I usually use cottage cheese to substitute for ricotta) until I can afford to go to the wholesale club store and buy a large tub of ricotta.  Maybe next payday I will schedule that trip for ricotta and replenish my supply of pepperoni so pizza can go back on the Friday night rotation too.  Once I get the ricotta I will plan a marathon cooking day and fill the pasta that I bought when in Germany and France this summer and found the right kind of pasta to make stuffed shells.  They are so much work in the initial prepping but they will be a great quick and easy meal to pull out of the freezer during the holidays.  I know it is only October, but it's time to start thinking ahead to those weeks when things are REALLY crazy busy and money is even tighter because of all the extra expenses that happen around the holidays.

I almost ditched the idea of sausage gravy and biscuits for Friday morning's brunch but I am so glad I went ahead and bought the pork the night before.  Everyone loved it, even my son's friend who had slept over the night before.  Big breakfasts are definitely NOT the norm here in Spain.  Check out my photo I snapped on instagram right before digging in.  I will be putting this sausage seasoning spice on my wish list for anyone visiting us or sending us a package to include in their box or suitcase.  It turned plain old ground pork from the butcher shop into the tasty breakfast sausage we have been craving for the last 10 years of living overseas.  

This week is starting out with one child sick with what is probably a throat infection (we'll find out at the doctor's office tonight) and one with a birthday party to attend.  Visitors, dentist appointments, church services and choir rehearsals will keep us running to and fro all week but at least the week will end with a dinner invitation after church to the home of one of our teens so I don't have to plan a meal for Sunday.  That will be a nice break for me.

Here's the plan that is linked up at Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Monday 10/15 (sick ds#3 has Dr. appt and dd has an afternoon birthday party invite)

Cheeseburgers

cucumber and carrot sticks

chips

chocolate cupcakes for dessert (for the kids -- hubby & I are supposed to be on a diet.  We did cheat and eat a cupcake yesterday when my daughter made them but today I. must. resist.)

Tuesday 10/16  (supposed to have visitors for lunch)

Chicken fettucini alfredo (carried over from last week)

fresh steamed broccoli

tossed salad

fresh hot spanish bread from the local store.  YUM

Wednesday 10/17 (prayer meeting night and morning market day)

Lentil soup with Spanish chorizo

rice

salad

Thursday 10/18 (dd has dental appt and dh has class at night)

Taco salad

Friday 10/19 (I am hosting a coffee/craft/cooking "class" in the morning so will need to have my midday meal prepped early or cooking in the crockpot) 

Italian sausages and peppers in the crockpot (saving some to use next week in Lasagna Soup)

Buttered noodles

Bruschetta

Oatmeal blueberry bars for dessert (since that is the recipe I am teaching the ladies in the morning.  I double it and use blueberry jam instead of raspberry)

Saturday 10/21 (another long afternoon-evening at the church for youth group and christmas cantata rehearsal)

Midday meal:  Clean out the fridge of leftovers

Late supper after church activities:  Toasted cheese sandwiches and raw veggies.  Check back here in a couple days for my Works for me Wednesday post explaining how I discovered I could streamline the process of making grilled cheese for a crowd.  Necessity was the mother of invention but I am thrilled with my "discovery".

Check over at Menu Plan Monday for tons of other great menu plans this week.

Menu Plan For October 8-14

      "The Haul" from last week's market trip. Over 50 lbs of produce for only a little more than $20.



As usual, we didn't follow last week's plan 100% but we did fairly well.  Thursday at the last minute I found out one of my son's friends was coming over for the afternoon/evening and I didn't really want to be experimenting on a new meal creation with a guest so I ran out to buy flour tortillas and Doritos to have soft tacos and chips with guacamole.  What a surprise to hear David say that he had never had a taco before and didn't know how to put it together!  We showed him how to do it but he wasn't very adventurous and only ended up putting meat and rice in his tortilla shell.  Oh well, more fixings left for the rest of us.  :-)  Just more proof that Mexican food and Spanish food are not the same thing!


I thought I had a plan for this week but then I remembered to check the calendar for after school parent meetings and the like so I had to do a little rearranging to the plan.  I will still have to go to the store for a few ingredients but hopefully can keep the cost as low as possible without the crew feeling deprived.  I have one zucchini left from my market trip the other week that I didn't use for last week's soup that I hope to make into zucchini bread for breakfast and morning snacks for the kids to take to school.  If it's not too hot to use the oven I will make that tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here goes this week's plan:

Monday 10/8
chicken parmesan (or chicken sandwiches for those who prefer their chicken patty plain)
rice
carrot sticks

Tuesday  10/9
Broccoli/egg/cottage cheese casserole with ham chunks added
tossed salad

Wednesday 10/10
Skyline chili (using leftover chili from yesterday's Sunday dinner over spaghetti and topped with cheese)
salad

Thursday 10/11
Porkchops and scalloped potatoes
winter squash

Friday 10/12
A holiday in Spain and the kids have no school.  I think I will try to make a big breakfast to eat while we watch the rebroadcast of the VP debates.  Going to try out my friend's sausage seasoning that she gave me to see if I can make sausage gravy over biscuits and see if it will taste anything like what we miss from the States.  Will serve with scrambled eggs as well.

Unsure if we will go somewhere for the day so we may end up doing picnic food or just falling into the pizza Friday that the family now expects.

Saturday 10/13
Chicken fettucini alfredo  before leaving for our long afternoon at the church
Sandwiches once we get home from choir rehearsal around 9

Sunday 10/14
Ikea meatballs and gravy
mashed potatoes from the crockpot
vegetable (whatever is a good price at Wednesday's market.  See the photo above for what I found last Wednesday)


Want to see more great menu plans?  Hop on over to Laura's blog for Menu Plan Monday and see hundreds of others blogging their menu plans for this week.

Menu Plan Monday Week of October 1

I missed posting last week as my menu "plans" were not very exciting.  We were in those last few days of the month when the challenge is to see what I could feed my family of six with just the spare change I could round up in the house.  I managed to do fairly well since there were still a few packages of meat in our freezer.  Monday I cooked up some boneless chicken breasts the kids' favorite way (dipped in egg and bread crumbs then fried in olive oil) and then went to the local fruit and veggie store where I could buy potatoes buy the pound self serve style.  I bought a kilo and a half of potatoes and felt bad when I had to pay the cashier the 62 cents in almost all 1 and 2 cent pieces.  Haven't felt quite that broke in a while.  I used the fun french fry cutter that we bought at a flea market in Germany this summer to make homemade french fries from those spuds and then made a nice salad.  The kids were thrilled and none the wiser that we were eating a "crisis mode" meal.  The rest of the week's meals were soup (once homemade, once from a can), spaghetti, sloppy Joes, etc.  Not exactly inspiring, but it is what life is like when waiting for payday.
Payday has come but we still need to be very careful and I am doing my best to plan in such a way as to buy the least possible at the grocery store.  The other challenge is to figure out how to provide non/carb or low carb choices for my husband and I who are trying to lose some pounds.  Any ideas of low cost, low calorie or low carb meals would be appreciated.

Here is the tentative plan for this week.  I am still waiting for "inspiration" for Sunday's meal which must be something that can either be made ahead and then just heated on the stovetop or in the microwave when we get home from church (ravenous as we leave around 8:30am and don't normally get home until after 2pm) or something that can be cooking in the crockpot the whole time we are away (Usually the way to go).

Monday 10/1
Lentil soup and fresh spanish bread

Tuesday 10/2
Pork chops
apple sauce  (Can't you just hear Peter Brady saying "pork chops and apple sauce"? )
fresh green beans

Wednesday  10/3
Cream of Zucchini soup
carrot and celery sticks

Thursday 10/4
Taco Rice (Gonna kind of make this up as I go .... thinking to try and prepare the meat like for tacos but serve it all over rice so I don't have to go buy tortillas)

At some point in the day, either for breakfast if I can get up early enough to make them in the morning or for dessert after the evening meal, I plan to make my homemade cinnamon rolls in celebration of National Cinnamon Roll Day.  Not sure where I heard about Sweden's fantastic holiday, but I am feeling the need to have a little Swedish celebration in our Spanish home with my Christmas morning family tradition.  The kids will be pleasantly surprised! (I don't think any of them will be reading this blog post before Thursday so I'm sure it will be a surprise).  The recipe I use is here. (but I love the frosting recipe here.  Or I could think "outside the bun" and try Cinnamon bun pancakes from this recipe. (Has anyone ever tried this recipe?  Let me know how they turned out, please)

Friday 10/5
Some variation of pizza or pepperoni rolls.

I'm thinking these Pepperoni Pizza Puffs look interesting.

Saturday 10/6  The schedule will have us out from about 2:30 till well past 8:30 pm so I am hoping to have a hot meal for mid day meal to fill us up and hold us till we get home at night.

lunch:  Broccoli casserole, tossed salad, muffins
dinner:  hotdogs and beans from the crockpot.

Sunday:  awaiting inspiration and your suggestions.

Needing more inspiration?  Head on over to Laura's blog for all the rest of the Menu Planning Monday links.

Menu Plan Sept 17 -23

This whole menu planning is truly a work in progress.  Little by little we are working out the bugs in the plan and figuring out how to flex with unexpected changes in the schedule.  This past week we did have most of the planned meals (except the sweet and sour pork) but not always on the day I had written down in the menu plan.  A couple of doctor´s appointments, a parent-teacher night, some last minute overnight guests and a school committee meeting managed to sneak their way onto my calendar and some flexing had to happen.  I didn´t have my menu plan posted anywhere so one day I came home after being out all morning at the doctors and my dh had thrown a meal into the crockpot using stew meat (pork), potatoes, and carrots that he found in the vegetable drawer.  It was a great blessing, and just meant that the sweet and sour pork recipe would just go back in the bin to be recycled onto a menu plan in the future when there is another good price on pork.

Here is the plan for this coming week:

Monday: Hotdogs and chips (I was going to have the corn chowder but it was put into the crock pot too late so we will have it tomorrow)

Tuesday:  Corn Chowder (using this crockpot recipe, or this stove top recipe  -- can´t decide which)  Obviously I went with the crockpot recipe, but I think I will be trying out the other one too since it is creamy and cheesy so I think it will be a whole different taste experience).

Wednesday:  My eldest son turns 17 so he will plan the menu for his birthday meal.  Unfortunately it is a day where he stays late after school getting home around 5:30 and then we leave around 6:30 to drive downtown for prayer meeting at church so we will probably have to do the meal before church and then have the cake and presents when we get home around 9:30pm.   
UPDATE:  He gave me his requested menu ... cheese ravioli, Spanish chorizo, cauliflower.  And I think I heard rumors of a Hobbit themed cake.  Not sure how I am going to pull that off.

Thursday:  Taco salad

Friday:  baguette pizza

Saturday:  Leftovers

Sunday:  Pot roast, mashed potatoes, whatever veggie is on sale for a good price at the outdoor market this week.

Don't forget to head on over to Laura's blog for Menu Plan Monday to see what others are feeding their families this week.  It's a great place to go when you need a little inspiration in your meal plans this week.

Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

I got this recipe off the internet a LONG time ago.  Unfortunately the original web site has long been shut down so I can't give you a link to the recipe.  I sure wish I had known that Steph was closing her site because she had some great recipes but I did not print out many of them --- which I would have done had I known they would disappear on me one day.  This is definitely one of my family's favorite meals.

Steph's Chicken and Dumplings

1 large fryer chicken, cut up (you can use boneless, but add extra bouillon)
2 celery stalks, sliced (optional.  I almost never have this in the house)
4 carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
water

1. Combine everything down to the water in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 2 hours or until chicken is done.

2. Remove chicken and let stand until cool enough to handle. Remove skin and bones. Tear meat into pieces and return to pot. Add more salt and pepper if you want. (If I'm going to be serving a large crowd, I add more broth at this point.) Return soup to a simmer.  (Usually I diverge from the original recipe at this point.  I make a roux of butter and flour, add salt and pepper and then add the broth to make a medium thick sauce.  Then I add the chicken pieces and veggies back in the pot)

3. In a mixing bowl, combine dumplings ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough. Drop by Tbsps into simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Dumpling recipe A (my family's favorite)
2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 milk
4 Tbsp. oil

Dumpling recipe B (southern style)  I have never tried this but I put it in since Steph had it in her original recipe and some may prefer a more dense dumping.  I am so pleased with version A that I've never tried anything else.  We usually make 1 and a half times the recipe A which just covers the entire top of my pot and allows plenty of dumplings for my family of 6 healthy eaters.

2 c flour
1 c chicken broth
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten

The Master Meal List

Here is a quick list of the family favorite meals I came up with yesterday.  I will try to update it with links as I can in the next few days.  I grouped them in the first categories I could think of but may tweak the categories as I look at our schedule and see what kind of plan will work best for us in coming up with a weekly plan.  Crock Pot meals have an asterix by them.

Now that I have a place to start (the main dish), I plan to gradually (one bite at a time) work up full menus adding side dishes to each main dish and then maybe even make up the grocery list of ingredients needed for each full meal.  I think this will give me a huge head start on my weekly menu planning and make it easier in the long run to keep at it for more than just a week or two.

Soups:
*Chili
*Baked Potato Soup
*Lasagna Soup
*Beef Stew
Lentils
White Beans and Ham Soup
Cream of Broccoli
Cream of Zucchini
*Chicken Tortilla Soup (Ok, this one will be new but I think the family will love it)

Chicken Dishes:
Landlubber's Paella
Chicken and Dumplings
Escalope de Pollo
Salsa Chicken
Chicken Parmesan
Foil Pack Taco Chicken Dinner
*Sunshine BBQ Chicken
Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

Beef Dishes:
*Swiss Steak
Beef and Broccoli
Beef and Peppers Stir Fry
Ikea Meatballs and brown gravy
Sloppy Joes
Baked Burritos
Tacos
Taco Salad
Baked Bean Casserole for Baked Bean Haters
Cheeseburgers
*Pot Roast
Meatloaf
*BBQ Meatballs

Pasta Dishes:
Spaghetti and meat sauce
Homemade Macaroni and cheese
Goulash
Lasagna
Stuffed Shells

Pork/Other:
BLT's
Sweet and Sour Pork
Fried Rice
Jewish Hotdogs
Pigs in a Blanket
Pizza
Bruschetta
*Hotdogs and beans
Baked Ham
Pork Chops
Hotdog Crown Casserole

Breakfast/ Egg Dishes:
Pancakes (regular recipe, banana cinnamon recipe, pumpkin recipe)
Toni's Apple Puff Pancakes
Omelettes
Spanish Tortilla
Quiche
Broccoli/Cottage Cheese/Egg Casserole

So, what do you make regularly for your family that would go on your Master Meal List?

WW: Views of my kitchen

Here are some views from my kitchen this past week.

One of the parents at the kids' school who knows I always order tea instead of coffee when I go out gave me this box of tea from her family restaurant. I guess they had received several boxes of it by mistake and it wasn't selling so she gave me an extra box. Good thing I am not hyper-sensitive ...Read the label carefully.:-)

The apartment was chilly the other day and it was downright cold outside. (OK, it was just below freezing so I know that is a heat wave to my Michigan friends .... but it is cold for Madrid) so I pulled out my big Tupperware bowl and made homemade bread for supper. YUM

Today I went to the outdoor market for the first time since before Christmas. Here is the haul for today .... 2 kilos zuchini, 2 kilos lemons, 4 kilos granny smith apples, 3 small trays of cherry tomatoes (in the white bowl), 2 kilos cucumbers, 2 heads of iceburg lettuce and 3 bags of "gourmet" salad greens. Any guesses on the grand total for this (aprox 25 lbs of produce)? (Reminder for you non-metric readers: 1 kilo = 2.2 pounds)

Thanksgiving timeline

This is just one of a few ways I am making sure that next Thankgiving goes smoothly --- posting my tentative timeline to (hopefully) ensure that all food is hot and ready at the same time.

Goal for dinner to be eaten is 3:00pm (which should ensure that we at least eat by 4:00 --- but I will still shoot for 3)


Turkey stuffed and in the oven bag and in the oven at 8:30 if I am also cooking ham, or 11:00 if it is the only meat.

Ham (if we have it) goes in oven around 12:30

mashed potatoes. Peeled and cut up early in the morning. Cooked on the stove early and then kept warm in crockpot or over really low flame. Mashed at 2:45 by my husband, the master masher. I am so glad he will be here and can work his magic on the potatoes.

Baked sweet potato casserole -- I will peel, cube and boil the potatoes on Wednesday and put them in the fridge overnight. Thursday at 10 am I will assemble the casserole with brown sugar, pineapple and mini marshmallows. Goes in the oven at 2:00

Broccoli casserole -- Wed. I will cut the fresh broccoli into small florets. I will also crush the required Ritz crackers. Thursday while the sweet potatoes are assembled I will steam the broccoli and melt the butter to mix with the crackers for the topping. Approx 10:15 the broccoli, cheese butter and toppings will go in the casserole dish. Goes in the oven on the other rack at 2:00 with the sweet potatoes.

Corn -- frozen corn goes on the stove top around 2:40

Turkey is removed from the cooking bag around 2:00 and carved around 2:45.

Gravy: Made on top of stove from the turkey drippings approx 2:45

Thanksgiving Menu 2008

This is the plan for what will grace our Thanksgiving table this year.
The timeline to get it all done at the same time is here.

Turkey and stuffing

Baked Ham with brown sugar and pineapple glaze (maybe. I will do it if the turkey looks too small to me when I pick it up at the butcher tomorrow.)

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Baked sweet potato casserole with brown sugar, pineapple & mini marshmallows

Broccoli and cheese casserole topped with crushed Ritz crackers and butter

Salad (my guest is bringing this -- the recipe with raw cauliflower and bacon bits)

corn

bread (baguettes) fresh baked locally

relish tray

one lone can of cranberry sauce (it seemed way too expensive at the import store so I only bought one can. Everyone will be able to have a spoonful or two instead of large servings of the stuff.) Supplemented perhaps with a jar of Lingonberry jam from Ikea (they always garnish their plates with it)

Desserts (YUM!)

A variety of pies. Final round up still to be determined based on what our guest decides to make. Possible finalists include:
pecan pie, chocolate pudding pie (homemade pudding), chocolate chip pie,
apple pie (or apple crisp), pumpkin pie(s)
Crunch bars (if any is left of the batch we made today)
Soft gingersnap cookies
vanilla ice cream to turn pies a la mode
whipped cream for topping the pumpkin or chocolate pies
pumpkin bread
zucchini bread


Beverages
apple juice
cranberry juice mixed with lemon-lime soda
sweet iced tea
coffee
hot tea
hot spiced cider (packets)

Holiday Bites #10 Making lemonade

Making lemonade? What does lemonade have to do with the holidays? Well, we had a few "lemons" this morning and grabbed the oppportunity to make some lemonade, figuratively that is. This has been a productive morning. In fact, a little more productive than I had originally planned. I am several years away from being a "senior" but I am sure having enough "senior moments" creeping into my daily life lately. My short term memory has been shorting out and I get so easily distracted that I find I don't even finish my
Well, the plan on our menu for the last few weeks has been to make pepperoni rolls . Each Friday it has been scrapped because I was just too tired or short on time to mess with it. Today was the day to break out the flour cannister and get kneading.
I measured the 6 cups of flour into the mixing bowl and proceeded to measure and add the yeast. As I was mixing it together, my niece (who was reading the recipe --- hmmm what a novel idea) noted that the instructions said to mix the yeast with the water first. "Oh, so does my pizza recipe but I use the fast acting yeast and do the other method of mixing it with the flour and then using slightly hotter water. It'll be fine." I reply.
Then I decide to read the recipe too and the next thing it talks about is that you need to add the flour slowly because it may not use all 6 cups. Oops! Now I have a problem.
"I know what to do. Let's just take this flour and yeast and add what we need to turn it into my pizza dough recipe and we'll freeze it to have on another day in the future. My dough recipe calls for 2 cups and I usually double it to have enough to feed my crew on pizza night. OK, we'll triple the recipe. I'll just add 2 more TBSP of yeast, the salt, 2 cups of flour, the wet ingredients etc. Here, Jenny, why don't you mix it together and I'll prepare the counter."
My niece mixes away and asks me if the dough usually looks this way (it was pretty dry). Did anyone catch what I did wrong in the paragraph above? I added an extra 2 cups of flour, which in effect gave me enough flour for FOUR batches of dough. Oh brother! We quickly heated up some more water, added an extra tbsp of yeast to it along with the oil and honey and mixed it up. Once we got kneading, it started to look better and I now have 2 portions of pizza dough in the freezer, each one the amount I normally use on pizza night. I'll pull them out and let them thaw and rise for pizza night sometime in December. I'd been meaning to work ahead in the kitchen anyway, using some freezer space to store up some timesavers for December meals.
I washed the bowl and we started on today's recipe which is rising as I type. But I was on a "make ahead" roll..... I looked at the two squash sitting on my counter and decided to cut them and cook them up for Thanksgiving. I love winter squash at Thanksgiving but it always takes so long to peel and cut up that it stresses me out. Someone told me I could just cut it in half, scrape out the seeds and bake in an oven or microwave until the flesh is tender. Let it cool and scrape out the cooked squash. This is my plan for this afternoon. I will throw the cooked squash in a freezer bag and then mash and add seasoning on Thanksgiving day when all I have to do is defrost and heat it up. Yeah! Works for me. (hmm, maybe I should have saved this post for Wednesday. )
What can you do today to stock your freezer? Can you double whatever you are preparing for tonight (on purpose)? Oh, and if you are like me, you may have a mishap or two this week ..... be creative and see if there is any way to salvage the thing before throwing in the towel. And remember, as my niece said through her chuckles, this is the thing memories are made of.

Holiday Bites #4: Time is money

I made soup yesterday for lunch. Awesome soup. Rib-sticking soup. The best I've had in a long time. I made Baked Potato Soup using this recipe as a foundation but making a few substitutions based on what I had in the house and the comments others had left on the site. (I used half milk and half chicken broth, seasoned salt for regular salt and threw some chives in for color). The best thing I did was since I didn't have fresh green onions I used up the last handful of frozen chopped onion in my freezer. A few weeks ago I was at the grocery store and saw that they sold chopped onion in small freezer bags right by the frozen peas and corn. It was less than a euro for the bag so I decided to "splurge" and try it out. Oh my word! What a time-saver! I will not allow myself to stop and figure out what I am paying in a per kilo price for those onions vs buying fresh ones and chopping them myself because "time is money". With all the extra busyness of the holidays I allow myself a few conveniences that I might not ordinarily have in the grocery cart. I think frozen chopped onions are going to be one of those. Another is what I brought home from my morning at IKEA today. Frozen Swedish Meatballs. Yes, I am paying 7 euros a kilo for the frozen ones and it is only 4.35 to buy a kilo of ground beef, but then I have to mix up the meat, form it into tiny balls,brown them, and freeze them. All that time and effort is worth more than 2.65 to me. I now have 5 bags of meatballs in the freezer and a couple packages of brown gravy mix. On busy days I know I can pull a bag out and heat it on the stove (or throw it in the crockpot early in the day) and turn it into one of several easy meal options. This Sunday it is going in the crockpot with spaghetti sauce for meatball subs. Another day they can go over rice with brown gravy. Or thrown in spaghetti sauce. Or in BBQ sauce. Get the picture? Better food than making sandwiches and a lot cheaper than a trip to McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
Today's Holiday Bite is to think of one or two convenience foods, or staple foods that you can pick up the next time you are at the store to have in your freezer or pantry. With the extra running around that goes with the Holidays it will remove some stress when you know that a home-cooked dinner can be on the table just minutes after coming home, and all the ingredients are already there waiting for you.
What is your favorite "pantry meal"? What convenience food or short cut tip do you just love?

Wordless Wednesday: "Afternoon Tea"

Click here for the recipe for these apple puff pancakes.

Eat one for me, please

To all my friends and readers in the good old USA ...
do you have a chick-fil-A restaurant near you? They are having a promotion today (July 11) that anyone who comes in dressed like a cow gets a free meal. Get moooooving girls and tape some black paper spots on your cutiepies and solve the dinner dilemna tonight. Enjoy one for me cause I am seriously craving a chick-fil-a right now.
http://www.chick-fil-a.com/#kidsandfamilyzone

Oh, and it would be really cute if you took pictures of all those adorable cow outfits to share with me. I´d really love to share your chicken sandwhich and waffle fries but since that isn´t possible I´ll have to be content with cute, calorie free photos.

The Thanksgiving Spread

Head on over to Looking Toward Heaven to see what others have on their menu and pick up a few new recipes to try too.


We sat down as a family and set the menu for Thursday. We still don´t know for sure how many guests are coming so if all 9 decide to come we will add the ham to the menu to help stretch the turkey.

Turkey and gravy
Ham
mashed potatoes
stuffing
sweet potatoes
Broccoli casserole
Cauliflower with hollandaise sauce
corn (still up in the air)
cranberry sauce
jello salad
Oatmeal dinner rolls or fresh hot bread from the Shell station around the corner
pumpkin bread

Beverages: apple juice, cranberry juice, grape juice, Sprite, water, KoolAid

Dessert: chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie or apple crisp, whipped cream

Here is the recipe for the rolls. I love them but the consensus was to pass on them if I didn´t have the time to do them this year.

Oatmeal dinner rolls

2 cups water
1 cup quick cooking oats
3 Tablespoons butter
2 (1/4 oz) envelopes active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 cups flour
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in saucepan. Stir in the oats and butter. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool to 110 degrees. Stir together yeast, ½ cup warm water, and 1 tsp. sugar in a 2 cup measuring cup. Let stand 5 minutes to proof the yeast.
Beat oat mixture, yeast mixture, flour, salt and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (aprox. 5 minutes). Place in a well greased bowl turning to grease top Cover and let rise in a warm place free form drafts aprox 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch down the dough, divide in half and shape each portion into 16 balls. Place evenly into 2 lightly greased 9 inch round cake pans. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Yield 32 rolls.

Menu Plan Monday May 28- June 3

This is just my second week at posting my menu over at Laura's. I was feeling rotten most of the day yesterday and never did get to planning the week's menu and posting it. I am doing this early Tuesday morning but postdating it for Monday (cheating, I know, but I like to have my posts on separate dates.) I had one request for my paella recipe from last week so I will add it to this post. We stuck to the menu well last week except the day I scheduled quiche turned out to be cold and rainy so I decided to do beef stew in the oven instead. I thought our soup and stew meals were done until next fall, but it looks like we still have a few more cool days before we are entrenched in the 100 plus degree weather of summer.

Here is the plan for this week:
Monday- cheeseburgers, potato salad, chocolate cake
Tuesday- Chicken & gravy (using leftover rotisserie chicken from Sunday), rice, broccoli
Wednesday- hotdogs and beans in crockpot (I'll be out all morning at Ikea and the kids have a school program at night so we need something quick to eat when they get home from school), leftover potato salad, cucumber slices
Thursday- Baked burritos (prepare ground beef with package of burrito seasoning, fill flour tortillas with the meat. Make a cheese sauce with a simple white sauce and add shredded taco cheese and stir until melted. Pour a little on the bottom of your casserole dish, arrange burritos on top and cover with the reamining cheese sauce. Bake at 350 approx 20 minutes or until everything is bubbling hot) Serve with sour cream, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, salsa etc.
Friday- quiche (one ham and broccoli with cheese, the other bacon and cheese)
green salad
Saturday- breakfast for dinner: sausages and eggs
Sunday- spaghetti and meat sauce, garlic cheese bread, salad

Here's the paella recipe from last week. It turned out great and was a nice welcome home meal to my hubby after a long day.

Landlubber's Paella (no seafood)

1 red bell pepper
5 ¾ cups chicken broth (1 lg. can)
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts,
cut into bite-sized pieces
salt to taste
shake or two of powdered garlic
1 tomato, cut into cubes (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
Colorante (or use lots of yellow liquid food coloring)
2 cups rice (not long grain)
1 small can of peas or 1-1.5 cups frozen peas
olive oil


Cut up chicken and bell pepper (cut pepper into strips). Put enough olive oil in a paella pan to cover the bottom. As oil begins to heat, put in the pieces of bell pepper and lightly brown in the oil. Then remove the pepper from pan and set aside on a plate. Add chicken to oil and lightly brown; then add the tomato and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth, peas, colorante and garlic. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes at a light boil. Add rice and salt; cook 10 minutes at a good boil. Add the bell peppers, arranging them nicely on the top and cook on low 10 minutes more. Cover and let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Tastebud homesickness

My friend Julie (at least she used to be Ü) changes the photo on her header bar with great regularity. I stopped by this afternoon and saw the most incredible close up shot of a S'more. You know, that ooey, gooey, chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker sandwich that is synonymous with barbecues, Memorial Day, 4th of July and other assorted summertime get togethers where there is an open fire or grill to toast those delicious white globs of sugar.

Here is what I posted in her comments:
OK, I just HAVE to come out of lurking to comment on that incredible picture in your header bar. THAT IS JUST SOOOOO UNFAIR!!!! I am referring to the fact that unless you can and want to spend a small fortune (and I am not kidding) at the American import store -- NONE of the ingredients in that S'more are available in Spain. No graham crackers (boo hoo), no "real" marshmallows (boo hoo hoo), and no Hershey's bars (Waaaaaaaa!) There are substitutes for all three (Maria cookies, strawberry flavored marshmallow that only melt .. they do not toast, and many other brands of milk chocolate.) Somehow trying to put the substitutes together make you end up with "Whatwas that?????" rather than "S'more ... and make it snappy!"
I am jealous .. and I hope you change your header soon. Great photo though. Loved the angle.

Living overseas affords my tastebuds an incredible array of great food choices, things which I miss when I am not here. Some of my favorite things here are lentils, chorizo (sausage), several different cheeses, Napolitanas (pastry filled with cream or chocolate), churros with super thick hot chocolate, lemon soda, Casera (another soda that is practically no calorie and has a very light flavor), croquettes, spanish tortilla, and the delicious long loaves of bread that we buy almost daily.

There are a few items that my tastebuds miss from the good old U.S. of A. A few, but not an exhaustive list by any means, are Reese's peanut butter cups, Reese's pieces, York peppermint patties, mild italian sausage, breakfast sausage, some cuts of meat like Swiss steak and thick, butterfly cut pork chops, cheap turkey available year round, Marshmallow fluff, Froot Loops, and all things cranberry or grape flavored. Many of these things I don't really think about and miss that much because I am enjoying the "unique to Spain" things. It's just that every once in a while I am hit with a taste memory that triggers a craving that cannot be satisfied. I will be dreaming of s'mores tonight I think.

Good thing I have friends coming to visit me in July. I'm thinking I need to add marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey bars to the grocery list I am giving them for one of their suitcases.