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P.S. For those of you wondering, my computer is not working right now, so no Menu Planning Monday this week.

Lazy Mornings

Can you tell it's been a bit of a lazy morning around here?

Menu Plan Monday - Nov. 8

Reviews from last week:

I finally went grocery shopping on Tuesday, so we didn't have to scrounge as much as I thought. It's always nice to have restocked shelves!

I made the herbed quinoa on Friday night. This was my first experience having quinoa. It was OK. I'm not sure if it was this recipe that I wasn't a big fan of or the texture. The dish turned out a little too lemony for my liking. I'll make quinoa again, but try a different recipe some time.

I made the Cheesy Chicken Lasagna for church on Sunday and also froze a pan of it. I liked it OK, but didn't love it. I think it needed a little more richness or spice. It was also a little dry. I think next time I make it I'll try adding spinach and a creamier sauce (maybe some cream cheese, more milk, half and half).

I also made a spice cake with my new mixer! This was my first time making a spice cake and it turned out OK. It really needs some kind of caramel sauce or icing. I decided not to do any icing, because my husband doesn't like cream cheese or sour cream icing. It definitely needed something!

This week:

Breakfast: Peanut butter baked oatmeal

Monday: Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Tuesday: Hamburgers on the grill (stuffed with onion, jalapeno, bacon, cheese, ranch dressing), Homemade buns, fries

Wednesday: Crock-pot Philly Cheesesteak Soup, rolls

Thursday: Leftovers or soup/sandwiches

Friday: Skillet Tacos

Saturday: Grilled Chicken, squash and onions

Sunday: Homemade pizza

Find more meal plans and recipes here.

Hello, Beautiful!

Meet the newest addition to my kitchen. My brand new, $18, long-sought-after, beautiful KitchenAid mixer. Thanks to a wonderful deal between Lowe's and Facebook, Chris was able to score this lovely lady for just $18.10 last night! That's pretty much stealing it as far as I'm concerned. I've wanted a KitchenAid mixer for a REALLY long time, but couldn't ever justify spending the ridiculous price. I am so thankful for this great deal and the opportunity to do some baking!


P.S. I'm thinking about naming this lovely lady. Any suggestions?

Gathering Pecans

This is what has been taking up a lot of our time. We've picked up about 25 gallons of pecans so far. Chris says we're about 25% done! We're going to be doing this for a while.

Menu Plan Monday - Nov. 1

Yay! It's November!!! I can't believe how fast October passed by, but I'm thankful to be in the season of thanksgiving.

Reviews from last week:

The meatball recipe I used was really good. As always, I changed it up a bit. I only made half the recipe. I also added jalapenos and onion. They turned out pretty good. I served them over rice with some white gravy. They would also be good in spaghetti sauce.

The Mexican Corn and Bean Chicken recipe was also good. Because I don't know how to follow a recipe, I ended up adding too much liquid (salsa and water), so it was kind of soupy. It turned out OK, because I made pinto beans to go with it. We ended up adding a big pot of beans to the chicken and had it as soup. With some crushed tortillas and shredded cheese....delicious!

The Italian Stuffed Shells were also very good. It was a bit labor-intensive, but good. I made one dish for supper that night and put a dish in the freezer. I loved the combination of the sausage and spinach together. I did add some cream cheese to the egg/cheese mixture to make it a little creamier.

This week:

It's "Scrounge Week," meaning I need to go grocery shopping. So in the meantime, we will scrounge up the remaining items in the pantry and freezer to make decent meals. Not my favorite thing to do, but we'll manage.

Monday: Chicken pot pie

Tuesday: Breakfast Ring (with bacon)

Wednesday: Good Earth Tuscan Chicken with Penne Pasta (I haven't tried to Good Earth brand of boxed meals before, but I got this one on sale. We don't do a lot of boxed meals, but I'm excited to try this!)

Thursday: Soup and sandwiches

Friday: Herbed Quinoa

Saturday: I'll have to figure this out after I (hopefully) go grocery shopping this week.

Sunday: Lunch at church - -Cheesy Chicken Lasagna