Menu Plan Monday 9/14/09 - 9/20/09

Ready for a new week!

I've been looking through my cookbooks. I'm trying to pull out some forgotten recipes, so hopfully we'll enjoy some old favorites. We're trying a couple new things, too, and I'm planning to double the Lazagna and putting the extras put in the freezer.

It should be a good week! Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday!

Monday:

busicuts and applebutter (made in my tiny Crock Pot on Saturday)

Grilled Cheese sandwiches and fresh peaches

out to dinner -- Little Birthday Celebration :)

Tuesday:

Cereal

Soup, crackers, cheese

Lazagna, peas, salad, bread

Wednesday:

oatmeal, eggs and potatoes

grilled sausages, couscous

out to McAllen for church

Thursday:

"Cakes"

Grilled Turkey and cheese

Peppersteak, rice

Friday:

Oatmeal

Chilequillas w/ fresh salsa

Chicken Enchiladas, rice, beans

Saturday:

Waffles

BLT (turkeybacon)

Chicken Tostadas

Sunday:

Cereal, fruit

out

Fajita, rice, beans, salsa

We make fresh salsa a lot lately, the nice thing is, you can really suit it to your own taste. We make a cooked salsa, which is suprisingly simple, I usually use roma tomatoes they are the best price here and pretty flavorful, too.

here's what I do:

4-5 roma tomatoes

3-4 jalepenos or serrano peppers, (we've been using serranos lately, they have a different flavor - I think they are a little milder, too. this still makes a medium spicy salsa, so you may want more or less depending on your own taste)

2 cloves of garlic

chunk of onion

put it in a sauce pan with water to boil bring up to a rapid boil for a few minutes, then turn off. I let mine sit for a while and get back to it when I can (I get a little busy sometimes...) Take out tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onion with a slotted spoon and put in blender, blend till smooth, add a little water from that you boiled in if you need to loosen it up a little. Salt to taste and eat it hot or let cool and refridgerate. Easy!

You can even do this in the mictowave! Put the stuff in a microwave in water in a bowl, and microwave on high for 5 minutes then follow the rest of the direcitions. Even Easier!!

Love in Christ!

Picture catch-up time!

We've been busy and the kids are growing. Here are some moments from this summer:

Theona took a ballet class this summer. She loved it and we are considering continuing it this school year. After class one day we swung by Papa's work for a quick "Hello" and watched part of ICE AGE 3 before heading home.

We went Thrift Shopping in McAllen (One of my favorite hobbies!) Jecoa helped scope out some old kitchen electronics and toys.

We spent a night at South Padre Island (this deserves it's own post!) We had a blast at the beach, checked out a Sea Turtle rehabilatation center, and attended a friend's wedding on the beach before heading back home. It was a beautiful little weekend getaway! It was my (and the kids) first time to go to the Gulf of Mexico. It was so nice, now that I know how close it is we won't be strangers!

We had a friend from bible college over He was in town visiting his inlaws, who live near us. (Small world, huh?!) We sure had fun catching up with him and his wife, and getting to see their four beautiful children. Elihu kissed their baby! ha ha. You can come over; he'll give you a kiss, too!

That's it for now. Hope to share more soon!

Love to All!

Best. Venison. Ever.

It's a little surprising that I'm posting two food posts in a row, but Last night the dinner I made was unexpectedly DELICIOUS.

We had been given some Venison that was taking up space in my freezer, and though I was hesitant to cook it, fearing game-y, tough results, I pulled out the Slow cooker and decided to give it a go.

I had some two large strips and two small. I think the meat was from the back. I was going for stew-type results, so I salted, peppered and paprika-d, coated with flour and browned it in a pan with a little oil. I put it in the Crock with a few cloves of garlic, a can of diced tomatoes, a hand full of baby carrots and diced up1/2 each of a green bell pepper and a red one. I added no liquid, but when it was pretty much done and I checked it, The liquid released from the meat was about as high as the meat, but I thought it needed a little something else. I added 1 cup of water with two tomato bullion cubes dissolved in it and a bay leaf. (Next time I would do this in the beginning.)

An hour later (on low) when we were ready to eat, the meat was just about falling apart. I made seasoned rice and served it up over the rice for me and next to it for Abe and the kids. (And some green beans that needed to be eaten.) We also had the neighbor over. He lives alone and I know he hunts, so I figured he was up for an adventurous meal.

Mmm. It was good. I think I could have fed this to Jenni (or anyone else not inclined to eat deer meat) and we all would have enjoyed it. Maybe I got a particularly nice piece of venison, but I would try this again anytime I was unsure about how to cook a wild piece of meat. Not really "stew", but delicious! And if I'm ever out of wild meat, I may just try this with a roast or something. YUM!