I constantly have a cup of hot tea with honey in my hand and today I realized I had all the ingredients for chicken noodle soup – score.

I got this recipe from Penzeys years and years ago.  I think they actually called it Turkey Noodle Soup because it was in the issue after Thanksgiving.  So use chicken or turkey, regardless, it’s my favorite on a cold day or on a super hot day in the middle of the summer when you have a cold.

The boys love it too.  It’s funny because JJ likes just the broth and Henry likes no broth but all the noodles and veges.  Kinda like Jack Sprat, they end up “licking the platter clean”.

This recipe is usually my starting point, and then I tweek it with more noodles or more broth but always more salt because I make my own chicken stock which always needs salt…

Chicken Noodle Soup
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 cup celery slices
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded chicken/turkey
6 cups fat-free sodium less chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cups carrot slices
1 tablespoon lo-sodium soy sauce
cooking spray
3/4 cups chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat.

2. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add carrot, onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes until lightly browned.

3. Add celery, salt and pepper; sauté for 3 minutes.

4. Add broth and next three ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat ad simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Add shredded turkey, cook three minutes.

6. Discard bay leaf.

Serve with crunchy garlic cheese bread and a green salad.

Calories 280
Fiber 2.3
Fat 7.2

I’ve really been trying to stick to a grocery budget, so my meal options have been dictated by sales ads and what’s in my pantry already.  I felt like an 80-year old, when I actually got a rain check for chicken drumsticks that were on sale last week and Shop and Save was out of them.  I used it this week- I can’t believe I remembered it- and saved almost $4 on my chicken.  Is it sad this is something I get excited about?!?! I also get joy from reading my total savings that Shop and Save prints on the bottom of my receipts and then excitedly retell it to John when I get home.  He does not find the same excitement in this ritual as I.  Anyways, happy dinners this week to you!

Make sure to check out orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas!

MONDAY: Cheesy Beefy and Rice Cassarole in burritos

TUESDAY: NEW! Crock Pot Chicken Drummies

adapted from savingdinner.com

Crock Cooker Chicken Drumsticks
Serves 6

12 ounces chili sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons salsa
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 pounds skinless chicken drumsticks

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients, except chicken; blend well. Place chicken in a slow cooker and pour sauce over the top. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

WEDNESDAY: Chicken Soup and Dollar Roll Sandwiches…Bringing to Hogans for dinner

THURSDAY: Leftovers

FRIDAY: Bacon and Eggs

SATURDAY: Sloppy Joes

SUNDAY: Creole Shrimp….sub canned fire roasted tomatoes…so good!

I mentioned on my first smoothie post that I embarked our smoothie endeavors because I was given the Montel Healthmaster.

That is the reason for the name of this drink.  I had my most fearless smoothie/ juice testers with me, Henry and George.  They have seemed to be my best testers, I guess because they are younger and more trusting…

I have been having better luck with the kids when the drinks are more smoothie-like with yogurt,fruit and sneaking some spinach in there too.  The all-vegetable drinks, have been a harder sell.  They will taste them but not gulp them done, which is what the case was this one.

This Montel drink tasted much like a V-8, although I was pretending it was a Bloody Mary.  I really enjoyed it, but I think I will half the recipe next time since I won’t have anyone to share it with me.  I loved the kick the jalapeno pepper gave it too.

Montel’s Top Five Healthy Drink

2/2 kids didn’t like it…I loved it.

3 medium vine ripe tomatoes

1 celery stalk

1 red pepper, seeded

1/4 jalapeno pepper

2 small carrots

sea salt to taste

1-1/2 cups ice cubes

1/2 cup water

Add all ingredients and blend.

Check our orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas!

MONDAY: Frozen Pizza — I have a deacon’s meeting

TUESDAY: Cuban Pork, potatoes and steamed carrots

from Leanne Ely of savingdinner.com

1/3 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 cloves of garlic

1- 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1 -1/2 pounds of pork loin roast

Put all ingredients in a plastic Ziploc bag – freeze for later or marinate ingredients for a couple of hours.

Set oven to 375 degrees.

Place pork in roasting pan, reserving marinade.  Roast pork for 45 minutes, or until it reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees.

In a pan, bring reserved marinade to a boil.  Let pork sit for 10 minutes and serve with sauce on the side.

WEDNESDAY: The Stokke’s are bringing us dinner!!

THURSDAY: Leftovers

FRIDAY: Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole — this was in my freezer

SATURDAY: Sloppy Joe’s…I have girls night at Stir Crazy – yum!

SUNDAY: Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

I don’t think I would call this one a smoothie, but a smooth drink maybe.  I tweeked the recipe a little so I included the original recipe as well as my revisions.

The kids loved it and said I needed to “keep bananas and peanut butter around all the time so we can always make this one”.

Banana Peanut Smoothie

adapted from the HealthMaster Recipe Book

Kid Rating—–5/5 kids LOVED it!

2 cups vanilla soy/I used 2 cups of skim milk

3 bananas peeled

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup of ice

I added 1 scoop of 100% vanilla whey protein powder

Put it all in the blender and let her rip!

This week,  I’m starting and ending the week with new recipes, so I’ll let you know how those turn out.  I did finally find a pizza sauce recipe that John and I both like, although it’s a bit spicy.  So you can check that out on Friday too.

For more menu ideas, go to orgjunkie.com!

MONDAY: NEW!  CREAMY CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE

TUESDAY: CHICKEN CHILI

WEDNESDAY:LEFTOVERS

THURSDAY: EGGS AND BACON

FRIDAY: HOMEMADE PIZZA

A mom at JJ’s school gave me 2 packages of Betty Crocker’s Pizza Dough, apparently you just add water.  She works at a market and they had overstock, so she passed some on to all of us.  I tried it last week and it was pretty good and easy.  I tried a new recipe for my homemade sauce and really liked it….

cooking spray

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon if dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 – 12 ounce can of tomato sauce

Place medium sauce pan coated in cooking spray over medium heat until hot.  Add garlic, saute 2 minutes.  Add oregano and next five ingredients; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes until thick, stirring occasionally.

SATURDAY: DATE NIGHT & COUPLES SHOWER FOR LUCY AND BRANDON

SUNDAY: NEW! APPLE FILLED PORK ROAST

I know I’m totally late posting this – I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner!

Let’s see, last week menus were yummy, although I did remember why we haven’t done Steve’s Mac and Cheese for a while, something wasn’t quite quite–sorry Steve!  I also shouldn’t freeze the Chicken Tetrazzini again, it didn’t turn out great.  We had the Oliver’s over for dinner Thursday night and did my regular Spaghetti and Meatballs but doubled everything but the noodles and it was an improvement.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week and you can check out other menu ideas at www.orgjunkie.com.

MONDAY:  Henry’s Birthday Dinner at Chuck E. Cheese’s

TUESDAY:  Eggs to serve with bacon and toast

WEDNESDAY: (NEW!) “Chili” with Vegetables from Penzey’s Spices Fall Catalog (I’m freezing half)

1⁄2  lb. ground turkey
1⁄2  lb. ground beef (round)
1  TB. olive oil
1  15 oz.  can black beans
1  15 oz.  can red beans
2 tsp. SOUP BASE—BEEF, CHICKEN
or VEGETABLE
1  large onion, chopped
5  cloves garlic, chopped (1 rounded tsp.
MINCED GARLIC)
1  medium green bell pepper, chopped
2  carrots, peeled and chopped
2  whole tomatoes, chopped
1  15 oz. can diced tomatoes
2  15 oz. cans tomato sauce
2  stalks celery, chopped
2  parsnips, chopped (1 Cup)
1⁄4  Cup cider vinegar
1⁄4  tsp. CRUSHED RED PEPPERS
1-2 tsp. salt (to taste)
1⁄2-1 tsp. PENZEYS FRESHLY GROUND
PEPPER to taste
1⁄2  tsp. GROUND CUMIN
1⁄2  tsp. BASIL
1⁄2  tsp. OREGANO
1⁄4  tsp. PAPRIKA

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a stock
pot. Add the turkey and ground round and
cook until nicely browned. Drain. Add the
remaining ingredients to the pot, starting
with 1 teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat and
let simmer for at least 1 hour or until all the
vegetables are cooked through. Taste before
serving and add the rest of the salt as desired.
Serve over spaghetti topped with freshly
grated Parmesan cheese.
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 8-10

THURSDAY: NEW! Grandma Rattini’s Gnocchi; This is out of a company cookbook that John’s company put together a few years ago for their clients.  I’ve been slowly going through it and rating the recipes as I go.

2 eggs

1 cup cold water

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups of flour

2 tablespoons dried chives

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Fill stock pot about half full with water and bring to a boil.

2. Mix eggs, cold water, salt, baking powder and chives until well blended.  Add flour until dough becomes sticky and firm,

3. Drop large teaspoons full of dough into boiling water until you have used up all the dough.

4. Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium-low heat in saucepan.  Cook until browned.

5. Uncover stock pot and boil gnocchi for an additional 5 minutes.

6. Place cheese in a large serving dish.  Add gnocchi and melted butter.  Mix well and serve immediately.

FRIDAY: Beef Macaroni Skillet

SATURDAY:  Henry’s Birthday Family Party…BBQ Pork Steaks, Corn on the Cob, Baked Beans..not sure what else yet besides a train cake

SUNDAY: Cube Steaks with Rice a Roni; This is a staple of John’s family’s and I didn’t know what a cube steak was before we got married.  All he does is batter them with flour salt and pepper and pan fry them.  It’s cheap and delicious.

I have been baking bread for about 10 weeks now and I am totally in love.  I borrowed The Tassajara Bread Book from the library and gave it a go.  I had to renew the book twice and just got my own copy last week.   The Tassajara Bread Book is not with my other cookbooks in the kitchen, but sits on my end table because I just love to peruse it that frequently.  I just love it, read the description on Amazon, I  love it when recipes have a story and almost all of these have a story.

I have been making 2 loaves approximately every 1-1/2 weeks.  I have alternated between the Tassajara Yeasted Wheat Bread and the White Egg Bread, but also have made a half and half variation of my own design.

There are several things that have come out my bread making endeavors.  First, I am SHOCKED that John loves the bread – even the wheat.  He is fully supporting my endeavors – which is always awesome.

Second, Henry LOVES making bread with me.  He’ll see me getting the bowl out and immediately grab a chair so he can help.  It is where his desire to come a bread maker when he grows up I described in an earlier post.  It’s cute because there are several occasions where the bread needs to “rest” in order to rise; at these points, Henry puts the towel over the bowl, tucks it in and put the bread “down for a nap”.

And lastly, in some ways it is preparing me to have an infant again.  I know it sounds silly, but the routine of several short “naps” and then nurturing and napping nurturing, napping…it’s kind of the same rhythm without the crying or the hormonal shifts.

What is also fun, is that my good friends Missy and Greta got into the bread making about the same time and I didn’t even realize it.  So it’s been fun to share recipes and figure it out together.

Critiquing last weeks menu…I wouldn’t do the meatloaf recipe again.  I felt like it took double the time to cook and the inside was still a little mushy.  We like a firmer loaf around here with crispy edges.  It was the second time I did the Manicotti, although John and I love it, it was hard selling the boys on it each time.  I am going tot make it for some new parents in a couple weeks because it was yummy, a little different and easy to freeze.

There’s nothing new on the menu this week, except we haven’t done Steve’s Mac and Cheese for a long time so I don’t really remember it.

For more recipes, check out: orgjunkie.com

MONDAY:  Chicken Tetrazzini

TUESDAY: Chili and Cornbread

WEDNESDAY: Steve’s Mac and Cheese

1 – 16 oz package of elbow macaroni

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup Velveeta cheese

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 egg

2 – 1/2 cups of 2 percent milk

Paprika for sprinkling on top

1.  Cook the elbow macaroni as directed.  Cut up butter into small pieces and place in the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking pan.

2.  Drain macaroni.  Place half of the macaroni over butter in baking dish; sprinkle half the Velveeta and shredded cheddar cheese on top of pasta.  Beat egg and milk with a whisk until well blended.  Pour half of egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish.  Repeat layers of Macaroni, cheeses and egg mixture.  Sprinkle with paprika.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, stir until well blended.  Bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes 16 (1/2 cup) servings.

THURSDAY: Chicken Paprikash; I am part Hungarian and this was a staple of my family growing up.  Just don’t tell my Mamama that I do it all in the microwave.

FRIDAY: Picnic at Jazz Band Concert at Early Years Center; probably PBJ, string cheese, fruit and some sort of yummy dessert.

SATURDAY:  Rachel and Steve’s Couples Shower

SUNDAY: Egg Noodle Lasagna

This week is all about making what we have and stretching our food budget until the 15th.  Luckily,  I have a few menus that I split from the previous weeks and froze for just such an occasion.

The new recipes I tried from last week were big hits, which were the Beer Brined Chicken and Katy’s Chicken Enchiladas.  So yummy!

MONDAY: Northwoods Chicken

TUESDAY: Mega Marvelous Meatloaf (freezer recipe from Leanne Ely, savingdinner.com)

2/3 cup dried stuffing mix
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 1/3 teaspoons garlic powder
2/3 teaspoon thyme
1/3 cup ketchup
2/3 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Seal the bag and blend the mixture together by squeezing and kneading the bag.  Unseal the bag, starting at the bottom of the bag, roll the mixture to force out any air then seal the bag again.  Insert this bag into a gallon sized plastic freezer bag and place a copy of the recipe into the 2nd bag as well and seal it.  Place your label on the bag or write the name and date on the bag and place in the freezer.

When you want to have this meatloaf for dinner, thaw in the fridge overnight and then:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place meatloaf in a loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour or until done.

WEDNESDAY: Eggs to serve with bacon and toast

THURSDAY: Beef and Tomato Manicotti (in the freezer)

FRIDAY: Chicken Tetrazzini (in the freezer)

SATURDAY: House Group BBQ

SUNDAY: Crock Chili and Cornbread